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D A I LY E M E R A L D . C O M
MONDAY
A MAJORITY OF PROFESSORS ARE DEMOCRATS
in the political science and law departments at UO. But many educators try to keep their biases out of the classroom.
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LET’S DO LUNCH
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NEWS UO FACULTY LOGIN CREDENTIALS STOLEN IN IRANIAN HACKING CAMPAIGN BY MICHAEL TOBIN • TWITTER @TOBIN_TWEETS Nine Iranian hackers stole the usernames and passwords of UO faculty in broad campaign targeted at universities around the country. (Creative Commons)
In an attempt to access online academic journals, hackers working on behalf of the Iranian government stole the usernames and passwords of 62 University of Oregon professors from 2014 to 2017, according to U.S. Department of Justice documents obtained by the Emerald. The cyberattack was a coordinated effort to steal academic data and intellectual property from more than 300 universities located in the U.S. and abroad. The University of Oregon confirmed on Friday that hackers, who worked for a company connected to the Iranian government known as the Mabna Institute, did not seek any UO specific data or research. Instead, the hackers were looking to use login credentials to access academic journals that UO faculty members have subscriptions to. “We have no indication based upon internal forensics that any UO data was stolen,” UO spokeswoman Molly Blancett wrote in an email statement. “The FBI confirmed that they had no indication in their investigation that UO data was a Mabna target.” In February 2018, the U.S. District Court of Southern District of New York filed a sealed indictment that formally charged nine Iranians with the “university hacking campaign.” According to the indictment, the coordinated effort targeted over 100,000 professors and about 3,800 U.S.
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professors fell victim to the campaign. As a result 31.5 terabytes of academic data and intellectual property, which cost universities almost $3.4 billion to obtain and access, was stolen. The data and stolen login credentials were used by Iranian intelligence services and also sold to customers, such as public universities, in Iran who could then access online library systems, according the indictment. In October 2017, the DOJ sent UO a letter stating that professors’ accounts had been targeted by hackers since 2014. The letter contained the usernames and passwords for the accounts of 62 UO professors. The letter also contained a grand jury subpoena from the Southern District of New York requesting “information setting forth the annual costs associated with University of Oregon’s online academic journal subscriptions and eBooks/ monographs available electronically to University of Oregon professor accounts, from the 2013-2014 academic year to present.” According to the letter, the DOJ had reason to believe the hackers were targeting academic data and online academic databases. “Upon receiving the subpoena, the UO Information Security Office immediately took remediation steps with accounts of the impacted faculty, and performed internal forensics on our systems,” Blancett wrote. “Our internal
NEWS EDITORS EMILY GOODYKOONTZ MICHAEL TOBIN BECCA ROBINS A&C EDITORS SARAROSA DAVIES JORDAN MONTERO SARAH URBAN SPORTS EDITORS JACK BUTLER SHAWN MEDOW MAVERICK PALLACK
PODCAST EDITOR RYAN NGUYEN PHOTO EDITOR SARAH NORTHROP DESIGN EDITOR REGAN NELSON VIDEO EDITOR ETHAN BRENNER COPY CHIEF TANNER SHIPLEY
investigation found no indicators of UO data access or theft. The FBI confirmed this, with their investigation also finding no indication that UO individual data was a target or was stolen.” The technique the hackers used to take the login credentials is known as “spearphishing.” The hackers, posing as professors from a foreign university, sent faculty members a message containing a link that appeared similar to a legitimate UO domain. In the letter, the DOJ said it believed that a fake login screen that captured the username and password would appear after the user clicked the link. After the DOJ’s indictment became public in March, UO released a statement saying that the attack had “missed” the university, but UO Information Services recommended “beefing up passwords and being on guard.” As a result of the hack, the UO launched a program that aims to reduce the number of faculty and staff members who may become victims of phishing. “We have recently launched an online educational training for cybersecurity for faculty and staff to help prevent being victim of a phishing attempt,” Blancett wrote. “It is available through MyTrack, and we have done targeted outreach on campus to encourage adoption. We are in the process of rolling out communication widely.”
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ON THE COVER
The William W. Knight Law Center. Photograph by Sarah Northrop
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A NEWS
FIRST NCAA BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP PROGRAM SELLS FOR $5,184 BY EMILY MATLOCK • TWITTER @EMILYD_MATLOCK
On Friday evening, a program from the first-ever NCAA basketball championship in 1939 sold for $5,184 on Lelands.com, a sports memorabilia auction website. The University of Oregon Webfoots were named national champions on March 27, 1939 after they beat Ohio State 46-33 at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Bidding for the program began on July 15 with a starting price of $300. The first few bids were in the $300-$500 range, but the next drove the price up to $2,438. It jumped to $3,570 on July 24, where it remained until the last day of bidding on Friday, Aug. 17. Although the program was sold Friday night, the winner’s name will be announced when the company is given permission to release it. The 79-year-old program, which the website describes as in excellent to mint condition minus a creased corner, features a black and white photo at Northwestern University’s Patten Gymnasium. The inside of the program lists the teams’ starting lineups with their rosters listed above each of the team’s photos. The “Tall Firs,” a nickname given to the Oregon team due to the height of the starting lineup, were coached by Howard Hobson. According to a 2016 video interview with University Archivist graduate assistant Zachary Bigalke, the team’s front court starters we’re at least 6’4, making the team one of the tallest in the nation at the time. The Oregonian reported that during the game, the players “gave 4,000 midwest fans and some 400 basketball coaches a whirlwind exhibition of crushing offensive power combined with just as effective defensive tactics.” The story was
The program at the first NCAA Basketball Championship, depicting Oregon and Ohio State’s teams. (Courtesy of Lelands.com)
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published to The Oregonian’s website in 2017, when the Ducks made it to the NCAA Final Four for the first time since 1939. The “homegrown” team received national attention and a warm welcome home in Eugene, where students met the Tall Firs at the train station, said Lauren Goss, Accessioning and Processing Archivist at Knight Library. “The championship team was comprised solely of student-athletes from either Oregon
and Washington,” Goss said. “The national news recognition celebrated the athletic talents of the university, but also identified the Pacific Northwest as a formidable power for developing collegiate athletes.” The Tall Firs were the first NCAA championship winners, and the Oregon Daily Emerald reported on March 28, 1939 that “Oregon’s doors to immortality swing wide today as Eugene, the state, and the nation hail these Oregon champions.”
A NEWS
FEBRUARY BAR EXAMINATION RESULTS HOLD AT A STEADY RATE
Award-winning soul singer Aretha Franklin passed away on Aug. 16, 2018. (Creative Commons)
BY RYAN NGUYEN • TWITTER @RYANJJNGUYEN About 63 percent of those who took the February 2018 Oregon bar exam passed this year, showing little change from the February bar exam pass rates from previous years. This comes after the Oregon Supreme Court’s decision in August 2017 to lower the required score to pass the bar exam from 284 to 274. In March, the deans of Oregon’s three law schools encouraged the Board of Bar Examiners in a letter to lower the minimum passing score, citing the fact that, at the time the letter was sent, Oregon had the third highest minimum score in the nation at 284, behind Delaware and California. A majority of first-time applicants and repeat applicants passed the February exam: 70
percent of first-time applicants and 51 percent of repeat applicants passed, according to the results. There were 125 first-time applicants and 76 repeat applicants. In total, 201 individuals took the Oregon bar exam in February. The Oregon bar examination is offered every February and July. In July 2017, 79 percent of examinees passed the exam out of 459 students. In February 2017, 67 percent of examinees passed. Aspiring lawyers in Oregon do not only need to pass the Oregon bar to become a lawyer, according to the Oregon Bar Exam website. After passing, they also must be sworn in as a member of the Oregon State Bar before they are able to practice law in Oregon.
TRIBUTE TO THE ‘QUEEN OF SOUL’ ARETHA FRANKLIN BY JORDAN MONTERO • TWITTER @MONTERO_JOR
The William W. Knight Law Center sign on Agate Street. (Sarah Northrop)
At the 1998 Grammy Awards, opera superstar Luciano Pavarotti unexpectedly dropped out of his scheduled performance of the classic aria “Nessun dorma” minutes into the beginning of the awards ceremony. There was one person who Grammy director Ken Ehrlich had confidence in to take Pavarotti’s place with two hours of notice: The Queen of Soul. Aretha Franklin proceeded to nonchalantly deliver one of her most breathtaking performances ever, but that’s just who she was. By most accounts, Aretha Franklin was fondly seen as the quintessential diva, a cherished artist whose personality could match her era-defining music. By having over 100 singles bombard the Billboard charts throughout her 60+ years of vocal brilliance, the first woman ever to do so, Franklin’s voice divinely comforted millions of people exploring life’s most profound experiences.
With her bold voice, she became a superstar, being named the number one vocalist of all time twice by Rolling Stones. But it was how she used her voice that made her a generational role model. Her music embodies the spirit of the civil rights movement, having inspired those who fought, and still fight, for equality. She consistently gave dazzling performances at civil rights events without payment. With her unfortunate passing, we lose a performer who translated the feelings of the American public, not only into music, but into award-winning, soulful art. Barack Obama put it best in his tribute to Franklin over Twitter, saying “Aretha helped define the American experience. In her voice, we could feel our history, all of it and in every shade…” She leaves a giant, irreplaceable handprint on the whole of the human experience. May she rest in peace. M O N D AY, A U G U S T 2 0 , 2 0 1 8
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ARTS & CULTURE
Animal Collective collaborated with the “art-science” duo Coral Morphologic to bring a visual counterpart to the music. The duo created an hour-long video featuring vibrant footage of coral reef creatures to accompany the album. (Animal Collective YouTube)
REVIEW: ANIMAL COLLECTIVE’S AUDIOVISUAL ALBUM ‘TANGERINE REEF’ IS A PSYCHEDELIC SCUBA DIVE BY NIC CASTILLON “Tangerine Reef,” the latest musical project from psychedelic pop group Animal Collective, is akin to a drugged-up ocean documentary. The audiovisual album combines ambient musical explorations with vibrant footage of coral and various other reef creatures. It is not only a meditative journey down to the ocean floor but a welcome return to the group’s earlier experimental work. The album settles into its meandering, aquatic soundscapes right from the beginning with the track “Hair Cutter.” The band’s billowing synth sounds and abstract percussive noises are filtered through strong amounts of reverb, which builds an atmosphere of a deeply submerged marine environment. That mood persists throughout the majority of “Tangerine Reef.” At almost an hour long, the album offers up no discernable singles and the transitions between each track are subtle. But instead of functioning as an extreme test of patience,
“Tangerine Reef” is captivating when experienced in its intended audiovisual format. The band collaborated with the “art-science” duo Coral Morphologic to bring a visual counterpart to the music. Formed by marine biologist Colin Foord and musician J.D. McKay in 2007, Coral Morphologic sits somewhere between avant-garde filmmaking and environmental activism. According to the duo’s website, the work aims to document, protect and bring awareness to Miami’s coral reef organisms through stunning macro-videography. The imagery found throughout “Tangerine Reef” is breathtaking and the up-close footage of both hard and soft coral lends itself to a psychedelic experience. Through minimal directing — only slow pans, zooms, crossfades and time-lapses — the video brings a tight focus on the fluorescent and often otherworldly marine life. It shifts through scenes that are playful, haunting and sometimes even erotic. Animal Collective does its best to
compliment this changing aquatic cast with a consistent yet dynamic flow of music. The group brings in ominous industrial noises on tracks such as “Inspector Gadget” and “Coral Realization” while others, such as “Jake and Me,” create a relaxed and comforting environment. Three out of the four Animal Collective members — Avey Tare, Deakin and Geologist — found their way onto this new record. For Animal Collective, it’s not unusual for some members to sit albums out, but this marks the very first absence of the fourth member, Panda Bear, in the group’s now eleven album discography. The intermittent vocals on “Tangerine Reef,” handled solely by Avey Tare, work best when they are washed out in echo and reverb. As soon as the mix allows any of the lyrics to become too audible, the immersion within the album’s ocean environment begins to break. That type of break is most noticeable on the track “Hip Sponge,” with the repeated phrase “The time
is now / Now is the time,” lyrics that the album could have done without. In other moments, however, Avey Tare’s erratic melodies fit in perfectly with the coral environment and add depth to instrumentals that may have otherwise come out flat. The album is certainly a departure from Animal Collective’s more recent releases. The band’s 2016 album, “Painting With,” was much closer to a standard pop record. The ambient and experimental nature of “Tangerine Reef” is exciting, though. It hearkens back to an earlier period in the band’s discography that allowed for beautifully strange and abrasive albums such 2003’s “Here Comes the Indian.” It might be a slog to some, and it is certainly weaker as a standalone audio-only album; however, as a complete audiovisual experience, this new Animal Collective project is mesmerizing. At the very least, “Tangerine Reef” gives hardcore Animal Collective fans an incentive to get high and watch stunning videos of marine life for an hour. M O N D AY, A U G U S T 2 0 , 2 0 1 8
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. COVER
DOES IT MATTER
IF YOUR PROFESSOR IS
A DEMOCRAT? BY BRAEDON KWIECIEN • TWITTER @BRAEDONJAMES
In a lecture full of university students, political science professor and department head Craig Parsons occasionally needs to talk about Fascism, and even explain the ways Hitler inspired a country during World War II. In order to do so, he acts as if he sympathizes with fascism during a class period. “I have a whole schtick about how a lot of people went over to Nazism and there is a reason for it,” Parsons said. “I get myself into effectively arguing a devil’s advocate position. And I hope everyone in the class understands that I am doing
Political science professor and department head Craig Parsons is a registered Democrat but acts neutral when teaching about the history of politics. Parsons says that is “the most obvious way to create a space where students feel free to develop their own views.” (Sarah Northrop)
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that, not because I am spontaneously inclined to argue for it.” He doesn’t actually sympathize with fascism or with Hitler, but he acts neutral to most views in order to teach about the history of politics. Parsons is a registered Democrat and has personal views on modern politics, but in the classroom, he hides his opinions from students for a majority of the class. In higher education, many professors consider how their political viewpoints will affect students and how they should teach to avoid persuading students with their authority. Approaches differ, but it is a widely held belief among university faculty that the purpose of education is to challenge students and facilitate the creation of their own opinions, not to persuade them. “The cultish professor who self-evidently reinforces a set of political beliefs is not something that just about anybody openly and consciously says is okay,” Parsons said. In the UO political science department, a majority of faculty are registered Democrats, according to voter registration data from the Lane County Elections Office. Of the 27 faculty members in the department, 14 are registered Democrats, two are registered with the Pacific Green Party, two are unaffiliated, one is independent and one is a registered Republican. Seven couldn’t be identified as being registered to vote in Oregon. At a minimum, over 50 percent of faculty in the department are registered Democrats, and a greater percent register with liberal-leaning parties. At the law school, political diversity is even more skewed. Of the 44 law faculty, 30 are registered Democrats, meaning at least 68 percent of the law faculty are Democrats. Three are non-affiliated, one is independent, one is a registered Republican and nine couldn’t be accounted for in the registration data. A news blog called UO Matters found similar statistics in a 2006 analysis that compared the political affiliations between the university’s departments. In that year, the business school had as low as 50 percent Democrats, while the School of Architecture and Allied Arts, now called the College of Design, had a high of 85 percent Democrats, and the university overall boasted 77 percent Democrats. And in donations to political organizations, UO
faculty and staff who donate to political causes almost entirely do so to liberal organizations. From Jan. 1, 2015, to July 14, 2018, faculty at UO donated over $235,000 to political organizations, with more than 98 percent of those funds going to liberal groups, according to Federal Elections Commission data. Over $56,000 was donated by UO faculty to organizations affiliated with either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, while roughly a total of $1,000 was donated to the campaigns of Donald Trump, Marco Rubio and Rand Paul. UO history professor Steven Beda said that all universities aren’t always as liberal as UO, citing large donations from the military to universities during the cold war and robust donations to economics departments by conservatives such as the Koch brothers. Despite knowing the political leanings of his peers, he’s not too worried about how professors’ politics will affect students. “What always frustrates me about this conversation when conservatives are like, ‘Oh my God, all these liberal professors are forcing these ideas down students throats,” Beda said. “You students are a hell of a lot smarter than that. I can go up there and preach propaganda if I want, but you guys aren’t gonna believe it.” Beda did agree that UO is known for being a more liberal school, but said the culture could come from the city of Eugene and the ethos remaining from counterculture movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Several universities across the country recognized that the majority of their faculty members are liberal and have decided to recruit professors in conservative studies to add political diversity. Since 2013, University of Colorado Boulder has recruited visiting faculty on an annual basis to teach in its Conservative Thought and Policy program. For the 2018-19 school year, the university has invited two professors rather than one like in years prior. One of the visiting scholars is W.B. Allen, who teaches political philosophy at Michigan State University. He’s been recruited to teach conservative thought, as he says, not to add diversity, but to improve students’ educations by challenging the campus culture. “[Having a liberal culture on campus] can affect students’ learning outcomes in so far as they do not encounter often enough challenges to their way of thinking,” Allen said.
FACULTY POLITICAL AFFILIATIONS LAW DEPARTMENT
30 Democrats
9 Unconfirmed
1 Independent
1 Republican
POLITICAL SCIENCE DEPARTMENT
14 Democrats
7 Unconfirmed
2 Pacific Green
1 Independent
1 Republican (Infographic by Kelly Kondo)
In response to the perception that colleges lean liberal, some conservative student groups on college campuses, such as Turning Point USA, offer college students online manuals such as “How to debate your teacher (and WIN!),” which describes how students can “defend their beliefs in the classroom.” Aaron Covarrubias, a UO senior history major who identifies as conservative but doesn’t support groups like Turning Point, said he has received pushback from other conservative students who feel that college education is meant to “brainwash” students with liberal messages. Covarrubias said that in his experience, many conservatives on college campuses are just repeating talking points. “I think a lot of conservative students aren’t making unique, organic arguments anymore; It’s regurgitating talking points in the conservative media, like Ben Shapiro,” he said. UO doesn’t have a full department dedicated to conservative thought, but it does offer classes ranging in topics from “PS 465. LGBT Rights in the Courts,” to “PS 369. Southern Politics,” the latter of which looks at the development of the U.S. South from before the Civil War to the now majority conservative stronghold it is today. Political science professor Craig Parsons says there isn’t one right way to deal with political bias while teaching a class. He said his approach is to remain as neutral as possible, to the extent that students might not be able to tell his opinions. But if a student were to ask about his thoughts, he said he would answer with his opinion, while acknowledging
counter arguments and trying not to impose his authority. “I want to be very careful about my power as someone standing up both with coercive power over them, in terms of grades, but also in persuasive power, hopefully,” Parsons said. “It’s a good thing if professors have persuasive power — people want to hear what they have to say — but having both coercive and persuasive power, I think a good strategy is to try to be politically neutral.”
LIBERAL GROUPS RECEIVED
OVER 98% OF DONATIONS FROM UO
FACULTY SINCE JANUARY 2015
Other professors, such as Parsons’ colleague Joseph Lowndes, are more candid about their viewpoints. “I am happy to be frank about my own political orientation with students in the classroom, but I’m just not sure that ultimately matters very much,” Lowndes said. “Any political
phenomenon someone discusses in the classroom, there are a great number of ways to interpret that phenomenon and think about it, to dissect it and understand it. So to reduce it into an easy left-right dichotomy just closes down inquiry and discussion.” Lowndes, who is registered with the Pacific Green party, isn’t too worried about revealing his opinions because he’s focused on his job, which is to help students think critically and engage in class and in the subject matter. “A lot of my closest students — students who I’ve gone on to write recommendations for — have been conservative because they know I’m not out to get them,” Lowndes said. “I don’t see it as my job to make them a conservative or a liberal or whatever else, and I don’t think it should be the job of other professors either.” In a three-hour political discussion class with a professor he knew to be liberal, senior history major Covarrubias said he felt safe expressing his beliefs. “My professor graded me very honestly, and I knew he was very liberal, but he was very fair with me,” he said. Covarrubias said that when he has taken political science classes, he felt that professors respected his views and let him speak his mind. “In three years I’ve taken three political science classes and politics has permeated all departments at UO,” he said. “I’ve had classes where you know professors stand politically. I’ve never had a professor critique me or give me unwarranted criticism for being a Republican.” Michael Tobin contributed reporting to this story.
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H MUSIC
REVIEW: BEST ALBUMS RELEASED THIS SUMMER (SO FAR) KANYE’S FIVE ALBUM RUN - VARIOUS ARTISTS (MAY 25TH - JUNE 23RD) In the summer’s dawn, Kanye West rolled out a catalogue of five albums he executively produced, week after week, for a variety of associated artists. First, it was Pusha T’s greatly successful “Daytona,” then Kanye’s eighth solo album “Ye,” followed by a collaborative project between Kanye and Kid Cudi titled “Kids See Ghosts,” then Nas’ “Nasir” and finally Teyana Taylor’s “K.T.S.E.” to finish the lineup. What unifies the Wyoming Sessions (where the recording/creation of these albums took place) is their compressed tracklisting. None of the five records exceed more than eight songs (K.T.S.E. being the only one with eight, the rest only containing seven) and 27 minutes (most of the albums run for about 22). One can listen to an entire album on the way to work, and another album on the way back. Aside from the shorter run-time, Kanye’s forever-exciting musicianship behind the boards is something never to be missed.
“GOD’S FAVORITE CUSTOMER” - FATHER JOHN MISTY (JUNE 1ST) Father John Misty’s fourth album, following his 2017 commentary “Pure Comedy,” eases back on his pointed beliefs as to why the world is the way that it is; his new album finds its motivation in FJM’s need to look within, instead of projecting. Written in a six week span coinciding with heavy marital dissonance and consequent emotional distress, “God’s Favorite Customer” affords the cynic reflection and understanding, all while maintaining FJM’s position as, almost in jest, just a few steps ahead of the rest of us. The production is bigger than just a “folk-rock” labeling: The almost viscous piano on “The Palace,” the running melodies on “Mr. Tillman” (maybe his most sarcastically personal work yet), and the heavy pouncing on “Disappointing Diamonds Are the Rarest of Them All” gives the record a gravitational pull. Exploring all the timbres within himself, like the transition from the playful “Date Night” to the sobering “Please Don’t Die,” FJM throws it all to the wall, and what sticks is a vulnerable self-portrait.
“YEAR OF THE SNITCH” - DEATH GRIPS (JUNE 22ND) With “Year of the Snitch,” the most far-out group that can generously be considered hip-hop takes another big step toward the “far-out.” Yet, they do so by subtly compromising the fiery ball of disorienting, industrial energy that seems to fill every nook of their now six album catalogue. While still throwing a punch at nearly every measure with erratic drums now familiar on Death Grips tracks, “Year of the Snitch” miraculously shows some yield in between the lines: in the haltering outro of “Hahaha,” the moments of recomposure in “Dilemma” and “The Fear’s” occasional swelling and wavering synth and piano — when you listen carefully, these moments almost comfort. Though most of the time frantic thanks to MC Ride’s roars, “Year of the Snitch” offers a bit of what’s been missing in the majority of previous Death Grips releases: resolve.
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BY JORDAN MONTERO • TWITTER @MONTERO_JOR As the summer nears its end, the Emerald looks back at some of the best albums released during the time of the year when car windows stay rolled down and music means everything. Displayed chronologically, these are the albums the Emerald thinks are must-listens for the summer of 2018.
“HIVE MIND” - THE INTERNET (JULY 20TH) Like Tyler, The Creator, Earl Sweatshirt and the rest of the Odd Future syndicate, The Internet can’t — and doesn’t want to — shake the ever-existent bravado that can only be described as Odd Future, despite the group’s golden years being a half-decade behind them now. While the aura remains, each functioning entity of the collective fills an intriguing, individual space; like Tyler’s eccentric artistry or Earl’s apathetic humdrum, The Internet puts forward the energy of the easy-going and the forward-thinking, and their latest album, “Hive Mind,” embodies just that. Brilliantly weaving live instrumentation and tasteful sampling and loops, the album contains funky and fluctuating bass lines, electronically-tinged acoustic guitar and is punctuated by Syd’s floating vocals. After taking some time off to explore their individual music interests in recent years, Syd, Matt Martians, Steve Lacy, Patrick Page II and Christopher Smith reunited to bring The Internet’s most cohesive work yet, a detailing of the Internet’s collective “Hive Mind.”
“ASTROWORLD” - TRAVIS SCOTT (AUGUST 3RD) To many, Travis Scott’s third album, “ASTROWORLD,” finally meets the potential most are sure Scott can reach: a sprawling manifesto of progressive, dynamic hip-hop bred out of the traditions of early 2010s Cudi and Kanye. On the record, Scott’s visions seem to crystallize, finally translating without falter to those who are gladly carried by the currents of trap — and also those who stubbornly swim against it. Scott has a way of being almost offensively personal, unscathingly real, and “ASTROWORLD” continues this trend. On the first track, “STARGAZING,” Scott makes his status clear, “Got new money, got new problems, got new enemies / When you make it to the top, it’s the amenities,” making the chip on Scott’s shoulder one of the selling pieces of the album. Featuring personnel such as Frank Ocean, Kid Cudi, Drake, Pharrell, Mike Dean, Tame Impala and Thundercat, among others, “ASTROWORLD” is as bold as its allcaps lettering. OTHER ALBUMS RELEASED THIS SUMMER WORTH LISTENING TO: “Everything Is Love” - The Carters (Beyonce and Jay Z) (June 16th) “Scorpion” - Drake (June 29th) “The Now Now” - Gorillaz (June 29th) “TA13OO” - Denzel Curry (July 27th) “Family Portrait” - Ross From Friends (July 27th) “I Don’t Want: The Gold Fire Sessions” - Santigold (July 27th) “Swimming” - Mac Miller (August 3rd)
8 ENTERTAINMENT BIG BOUNCE AMERICA BRINGS THE WORLD’S BIGGEST BOUNCE HOUSE TO EUGENE BY SARAH NORTHROP • TWITTER @SARTAKESPICS This weekend, Eugene’s teens and adults had a chance to play like kids for a few hours of fun in the biggest bounce house in the world. Big Bounce America tours the gargantuan bounce house across the U.S., bringing it to most major cities and their surrounding areas. The 10,000-square-foot colorful castle featured giant ball pits, slides, human-sized basketball hoops and other obstacles for both the casual bouncers and parkour enthusiasts.
The event catered to all ages, but broke up the day into different sessions according to age. During the adults-only bounce session, a DJ in the middle of it all exclaimed, “this is the adult session, so the music is either going to be Top 40 or songs that remind me of my childhood.” As the wind carried stray pieces of confetti, beach balls bounced and people frolicked in foam. Blink 182’s “What’s My Age Again?” played, setting the theme of grownup play for the rest of the afternoon.
Endangered species: A bouncer tries to stay on top of the panda without falling.
A Big Bounce participant leaps over an inflatable hurdle.
What’s my age again?: The adult bounce session reaches its conclusion with foam and confetti.
Participants bounce during the adult session.
A Big Bounce participant throws confetti in the wind.
A Big Bounce participant dunks on a human-sized hoop.
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