ARTS & CULTURE
The Pacific Sentinel is a studentrun magazine that seeks to uplift the diverse cast of voices here at Portland State.
We offer a space for writers and artists of all skill levels to hone their craft, gain professional experience, and express themselves. We are inspired by publications such as The New Yorker and The Atlantic. We advocate for the underrepresented and the marginalized.
We are always looking for new students to join our contributor team as we can’t do it without your help. If you’re interested in working with us, visit our website at pacsentinel. com or contact our Executive Editor at editor@pacsentinel.com.
Sheehan
FEATURED THIS ISSUE
kristopher andrade is an artist / graphic designer from Hillsboro Oregon. He’s currently pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Minor in Graphic Design. In his free time he likes to read comics or create stories.
will boechler is an author from Fargo, North Dakota. He currently lives in Portland, Oregon, pursuing his MFA in Creative Writing and watching the rain fall by his window.
ariana espinoza is the upcoming executive editor of the Pacific Sentinel.
thuyu gedi is a current Pacific Sentinel contributor.
janeth hernandez was born and raised in Southern California and moved to Portland, OR, to pursue her MA in Book Publishing at Portland State University. She loves spending her days reading books, watching movies, and finding new restaurants to enjoy with friends while exploring Portland.
courtney jeffs is from Coos Bay Oregon and moved to Portland to finish her bachelor’s degree in business advertising and marketing at Portland State University. She enjoys illustrating, story writing, and design.
grace lnu is from Jakarta, Indonesia currently finishing her last year at PSU as a psychology major. During her free time, you will find her taking a walk, reading her favorite webtoons, and spending time with her special ones.
yomari lobo is a creative originally from Las Vegas, NV and now lives in Portland, OR studying book publishing at Portland State University. You can find her staring out her window waiting for the rain and inspiration to strike for her future best seller.
robert northman was born and raised in Portland, Oregon and graduated with his bachelor’s degree in social science from Portland State University in 2022. He is currently a Portland State graduate student working towards his PhD in Sociology. His interests include researching and writing of urban history, street gangs, and the anti-society
executive editor eva sheehan | associate editor will boechler arts & culture editor yomari lobo | opinions editor rebecca phillips production editor courtney jeffs | M ulti M edia editor janeth hernandez
becky phillips is originally from Rochester, NY but has lived in Portland, OR for seven years. She studies nonfiction creative writing and is currently pursuing a career in music journalism.
lilli rudine is an author from Portland, Oregon, published in literary anthologies for her poetry and prose fiction. Blossoming in her editorial work, artistic inspiration, and literary profession, she’s pursuing a degree in creative fiction writing while she finishes her first novel.
eva sheehan grew up in Atlanta, Georgia and moved to Portland to study book publishing. She loves poetry and exploring new coffee shops around the city.
darcy “dart” williams PSU class of 2024. Writing about technology, policy, and the arts.
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Dear Readers,
I feel quite sentimental writing this editor letter as this will be my last. This magazine has become a passion of mine and a creative outlet to share my little thoughts on movies, books, and events. The Pacific Sentinel has grown to be a hub for Arts & Culture and it’s been so rewarding to read and share the passionate pieces our editors and contributors send to us each month.
This month’s theme was liberation and student free speech. As June is a month dedicated to marginalized communities (Pride Month and Juneteenth) and with the recent events of the protests on PSU’s campus, we thought it would be a fitting theme.
Starting with our Arts & Culture section, our associate editor Will Boechler writes a film review on “Freedom Writers”. In this review, he touches on the importance of elevating student’s voices– especially marginalized students.
In the same vein of film reviews, Will and I attended the OMSI Sci-Fi Film Festival and wrote about the two films we viewed. I write my review on the film “Her” and Will writes his review on “Everything Everywhere All at Once”. Both of us touch on how these films point to the beauty of everyday human-life in the midst of growing technology and knowledge.
Moving onto our Opinion’s section, Robert Northman touches on the rooted stigmas surrounding gangs and gives his personal experience as a gang member. Thuyu Gedi writes about “block out” phenomena towards celebrities who have been complicit in genocide. Thuyu explains how the 2024 Met Gala only furthered this “block out” trend.
Our multimedia editor Janeth Hernadez writes a food review on the Korean Restaurant Mokdong Kimbap. She praises the restaurant for its efforts in creating authentic food to Korea.
Lilli Rudine writes Pride Month and how this month is a continuous protest in the name of liberation for the LGBTQ+ community.
Lastly, Sarah Applin and I interviewed with a student protester who was part of the library encampment on campus. Both of us share our thoughts after interviewing with the student and what this protest means for student free speech.
For our Tech/Science section, Darcy Williams takes the stage with the two powerful pieces. The first is an homage to her prior Crypto series. This piece breaks down crypto currency and explains its importance in technology.
For her second piece, Darcy writes about her observations and takeaways after attending a talk given by Jessica Tenger who is a blind rising computer scientist who advocates for authentic diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace.
This month, our editors and our contributors pumped out some amazing work to advocate for liberation and student free speech. I’m so grateful to have been a part of this team and to collect such a beautiful array of issues with skillful writing and design. These last eight issues reflect the minds of our editors and contributors throughout the year. They are a testament to the way art, culture, tech, and opinions mirror current events. My time at the Sentinel was only a brief year, but this little magazine’s charm and community will be hard to part with. I now turn my position over to Ariana and Will and will become another set of eyes in the pool of Sentinel readers.
Have a great summer!
Eva Sheehan
Freedom Writers
The story inside all of us
BY WILL BOECHLER
“Nobody ever listens to a teenager. Everybody thinks you should be happy just because you’re young. They don’t see the wars that we fight every single day. And one day, my war will end. And I won’t die. And I will not tolerate abuse from anyone. I am strong.” Brandy holds her glass of sparkling cider up, smiling softly. She knows she’ll remember her friends and what they did here for a long, long time, and that this truly was the beginning of a new chapter in their lives.
“Freedom Writers” is a 2007 biographical drama film written and directed by Richard LaGravenese and is based on the 1999 book “The Freedom Writers Diary” by Erin Gruwell and the Freedom Writers. The film stars Hilary Swank (film), Patrick Dempsey (“Grey’s Anatomy”), Imelda Staunton (“Harry Potter”), and Scott Glenn (“The Hunt for Red October”), as well as an ensemble cast of students in Swank’s class, a group of diverse students from Long Beach, California that wrote about their lives and the struggles they went through during the time of the Rodney King riots. The Rodney King riots were a time of civil unrest during 1992 in Los Angeles when a jury acquitted four officers from the Los Angeles Police Department that were charged with using excessive force in the arrest and beating of Rodney King. The resulting six day riots caused damage to various parts of the city, but Koreatown in particular was damaged disproportionately.
The film follows Erin Gruwell (Swank) in 1992 as she begins her first year of teaching at Woodrow Wilson High School, a voluntary integrated school with tense relations between students since the LA riots. She meets her students in her classroom, Room 203, and they all dislike her upon their first few classes together. There is also tension between Gruwell and the school’s administration, Margaret Campbell (Staunton), who refuses to take the students seriously enough to give them proper books to educate them, and continuously does nothing to combat the racism in the school system, the faculty even perpetuating the school’s racism at several points. What starts out as a tense relationship gives way to openness and understanding as Gruwell has the students of her class begin writing every day in composition notebooks she gives them. As she spends more time with the students, they
arts & culture
begin to open up to her and others about the trauma and pain they’ve been through coming from different backgrounds, and through their writing, begin to come together as a classroom and large group of friends.
One of the things I really liked about the film was the realism of the time period. This film doesn’t hold back in showing that these kids are going through real, brutal realities of their circumstances at such a young age, and the consequences of that are shown in the way their writing is full of painful truths and trauma, from being in refugee camps, to watching their parents face abuse, to one of their childhood friends being killed right in front of them. The students truly feel like they’re soldiers in an ongoing war with each other, and a thick, heavy air of tension can be felt in nearly every scene in the beginning.
There’s also great ways that the film plays with music and rhythm, the film utilizing cinematic beats in its editing and sound design outside of the soundtrack. Will.I.Am selected the songs for the film’s soundtrack, featuring tracks by Tupac, Slick Rick, and others that all lend the film a sense of 90’s hip hop musicality.
The film and the book deal with coming of age themes that are still relevant to young students to this day; self reflection, tolerance, overcoming differences, and trust. All of these elements come together to show the students beginning to take the first steps toward their new lives, climatically signified by a “Toast for Change” scene where Gruwell gives the students sparkling apple cider in plastic cups and has them toast to something in their lives they’re going to change.
As said earlier, this film is based on a book which is based on the true story of Erin and her class in Room 203. All of the students from the class graduated and went on to attend a city college or a university. More than half graduated with college degrees, and several went even farther, pursuing more advanced education after Gruwell’s class. The program even exists to this day, with a sequel, “Dear Freedom Writer: Stories of Hardship and Hope from the Next Generation” being released in March 2022.
However, one of the film’s criticisms is that Gruwell is painted as a white savior figure and that the film lingers too much on her life and not enough on the students’ lives. The film acknowledges this fact, with one of the first scenes of Gruwell with her students featuring them openly criticizing her for trying to act like a white savior, but the film then continues to plot wise feature Gruwell more than the students. While I’d not go so far as to discredit the mutual work put in by both Gruwell and the students to better their lives, I will say that I would’ve appreciated the film more if we got to explore the lives of the students more.
For example, one of the most interesting characters in the film is Eva Benitez, one of Gruwell’s students. Being hispanic in Long Beach, Eva had to face several people in her life gunned down, as well as deal with the constant threat of violence against her by the gang that her boyfriend is a part of. Her story arc through the film was something I found myself wanting more of, instead of several scenes where Patrick Dempsey
mopes around the home he has with Gruwell and has a bad attitude toward her spending more time with the children she’s paid to pay attention to.
“Freedom Writers” does quite a lot to show the true story of the students of Gruwell’s original class, however it lacks a little bit of a deeper connection with some of the students’ home lives, their character arcs summed up neatly—much unlike how life unfolds rather messily—in a monologue superimposed over text from fictional journal pages. Still though, the story of Room 203 and Erin Gruwell is an inspiring story that is a reminder that the voices of young people all around the world matter and that we all have a story to tell, no matter if we think no one will want to hear it.
Freedom Writers is available for purchase or streaming on VOD.
The “Gang Problem”
Guilty of being a gang member, now what?
BY ROBERT NORTHMAN
In his 1897 essay “Strivings of the Negro People”, W. E. B. Du Bois once asked, “How does it feel to be a problem?” To be sure, he was speaking of the “problem” of being Black in America. In this article, I explore the same question, but of a “problem” eerily similar if not quite the same. How does it feel to be a “gang problem”?
Earlier this year, my younger cousin was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of criminal charges stemming from his membership in an urban street gang. The charges included ‘conspiracy to commit murder in furtherance of racketeering activity’ and other crimes for which the government claimed were carried out by an overarching “criminal enterprise”—to wit: the gang. In the indictment, the government essentially claimed the gang required members to break the law and that the gang was thereby responsible, but the gang wasn’t charged, didn’t receive a trial, nor was it convicted. Instead, my cousin was held responsible for the supposed actions of an entire gang; the jury found him guilty, and he was given a life sentence in prison. So, where does the gang stand now? What is expected that its members do in the aftermath? Where is the guidance? Are we illegal? Is there some agency or
authority I need to turn myself in to for being a gang member? Will all the homies who are rappers and professional athletes and military veterans be there too? What about dead homies? If so, I can’t wait to get there! There’re so many homies I’ve been aiming to meet all these years and others I haven’t seen in ages, so this sounds like fun. A great big family reunion.
There’s going to be so many of us, and I have not a clue where they’re going to house all the gang members from across America if that’s how they think they’re going to get rid of us. But, if we are illegal and if gangs are “criminal enterprises”, then I’m 107% guilty as charged and I hereby RSVP the invitation to the party they’re throwing for us. I’ll be there with my shirt off showing all my gang tattoos and throwing up my gang’s hand sign into the air as obnoxiously as I can, like in the 1988 motion picture Colors when they locked up thousands of Crips and Bloods (the same as during the LAPD CRASH team’s well publicized anti-gang mission code-named Operation Hammer that took place in real life the preceding year). Hopefully I’ll remember to tuck a bandana into my pocket the morning thereof—so I can have it to wave in the air as well. If law enforcement is reading this, please, come pick me up or let me know
ILLUSTRATION BY KRISTOPHER ANDRADE
where to turn myself in! Truth be told, as strange as it may seem to someone who may not share the same experiences, I cried the last time I was released from prison. I was saddened knowing that I’d never see some of my homies ever again unless I returned, and I had no plans whatsoever to go back. It’s been over a decade since I was last released now, and I’ve mostly refrained from my former felonious ways, but I sure wouldn’t mind returning—however, only if absolutely forced to return. I can’t control the criminalization of my culture; I can only control my own individual actions.
I’ve been a member of a gang for more than three decades and there are hundreds of other members of this gang, and many more from many other gangs across the nation, who are looking over their shoulders wondering why they are suddenly being targeted on the basis of their gang membership–especially since many of the largest gangs in America have existed for more than a half-century, even before the RICO Act was enacted in 1970, and yet it has only recently become as common as it has to prosecute gang members for their gang membership. What is the gang problem then? Are gangs really the problem? Or are the problems things like violence, drugs, human trafficking, etc.? Is the problem that there are laws against criminalizing one’s race, religion, or other association, but its ok to criminalize gangs? For as long as I’ve been in a gang and for as many gangs and gang-members that I’ve been exposed to over the past several decades, I’ve not yet found evidence of a central gang objective or goal, let alone some hyped-up conspiracy theory that considers us “organized crime” or a “criminal enterprise”. That’s bullshit.
As a gang, we may get together and shoot dice, drink beer, take turns rapping, and otherwise talk a gang of shit. We will often lounge, reminisce, and tell war stories, while sometimes we fight with each other and other times we fight with other gangs. It’s a very fluid crowd that changes day-by-day, depending on who may have just got out or may have just got arrested, or who just don’t show up because they moved or some other harmless reason. There’s never a long-term plan, strategy, or agenda encompassing the entire gang and many of the common misperceptions I read of about gangs, I personally know to be untrue, but few will listen if I say so because I’m a criminal, of course. Some of my homies have gone to prison for life and others have lost their lives in what has become an ongoing cycle of generational retaliatory fighting and vigilante justice between the many different gangs—but even then, this is all dysfunctional chaos, not an organized criminal enterprise, complete with knowledge and intent on every member’s part.
Certainly, members may individually indulge in what may amount to a legal and social construction of a crime, but the gang isn’t responsible for the individual interpretations and free will of others. The gang may not stop you, but the gang will never make you do anything that you don’t want to do, including committing crimes. The government on the other hand…well, they’re quite persuasive when they aim to control something or someone. I know this from being a former-enemy combatant and prisoner of America’s ‘War on Drugs’. Don’t even get me started on religions and control. As gang members, we tend to be our own worst enemies, both altogether and even alone, but we are far from some corporate criminal enterprise as depicted in federal court documents underlying some unjust weighing of fiction over fact that finds in gangs the blame for problems that stand as problems on their own without gangs. I should not feel like a problem because of the culture I was raised in and come from. No one should.
I have homies who have never been to jail or prison. I have homies who work regular jobs and who have graduated college. I have homies who are excellent parents, legitimate entrepreneurs, and generally great people. I have a lot of homeboys, but I also have homegirls. Not everyone is a killer like the gang members depicted on television and I have some homies who are intelligent, articulate, and generous— while still yet, I have homies who are rude, shrewd, and always in a bad mood. I also have some homies who are suffering from homelessness, addiction, mental illness, and disenfranchisement—all accompanying the added stigma of gang membership that is assured by a relentless media in their sensationalizing the salaciousness that sells stories. What is the gang problem again?
It seems as if the “gang problem” is but one perspective of many, but a dominant one that is legally and socially constructed and one which is so loudly amplified that it utterly silences the voices of the gangs that are being problematized.
So, if gang prevention, intervention, and suppression has failed to remedy the problems attributed to gangs, then what is the solution to the “gang problem”? The answer: Gangs are not a problem. *Blink* Wow, look how easy that was. Gangs are no longer a problem. Problem solved!
Now we can focus on solving real problems such as violence, drug addiction, poverty, and crime in general, and I won’t have to burden myself anymore wondering how it feels to be a problem. For now, I’ll just have to imagine.
Sleeping Beauties: Wake Up to GENOCIDE
Celebrities and Mass Blocking
BY THUYU GEDI
Again, amidst another major American popculture event, this time the Met Gala, Israel launches a ground invasion on Rafah, a Palestinian located in the southern Gaza strip.
For those who aren’t familiar with the Met Gala, it’s essentially a fundraising event (really a costume party) for the most elite celebrities with a select few of social media influencers invited. A single ticket to the Met comes at a hefty tag of approximately $75,000, which would be nearly enough to evacuate a Palestinian or Sudanese family from active genocides.
Increasing disparities between the celebrity and non-celebrity class reflect more effective methods of extraction from the colonized people of the world. By refusing to acknowledge and directly confront the colonial, capitalist, white supremacist systems they inhabit and benefit from, celebrities’ participation within these systems tacitly (and sometimes directly) endorses, supports, and reproduces these systems.
All this leads to why we must divest from celebrities. The start of divestment from celebrities has taken off– the #Blockout2024, an online rapidly-growing movement of non-celebrities collectively choosing to block celebrities and influencers who remain silent on current genocides. Quite quickly, the trend is showing how yes, celebrities utilizing their platform is in fact impactful, and can make a difference in swaying the public’s attitudes.
Immediately after the (unofficial) announcement of the #Blockout2024 trend, celebrities like Lizzo and Eric Andre began to post in support of Palestine, with Lizzo sharing GoFundMe’s, and Andre calling for a ceasefire. It just goes to show that celebrities aren’t oblivious to the real world as much as fans (stans) like to believe, and that they do see our critiques surrounding them.
However, I take celebrities posting about Palestine,
or any world atrocity for that matter, with a grain of salt. Had they felt genuine care towards current world issues, we wouldn’t have to apply pressure on them to make statements or show basic humanity. Yes, they posted on their social media feeds, but let’s ask ourselves why wealthy celebrities are asking us civilians to donate to GoFundMes while they sit on the means to donate to multiple mutual aid initiatives.
To add to that, when they do “speak” on Palestine, many celebrities merely wear ceasefire pins while still attending Zionist hosted events or play it safe by saying something like “Free everyone” and keep it at that. There is no specificity of Palestine or addressing zionism in their networks. Essentially, they’re staying neutral while giving just enough to satisfy their fans, and continue making profit.
Celebrities and all of us collectively, must demand for more than a ceasefire, and ultimately call for a free Palestine. We must recognize Israel for what it is – a genocidal occupation – while actively pushing back against the cruelty of Zionism, and advocating for the right to return for all Palestinians.
Many would argue that celebrities aren’t obligated to speak on world issues, that blocking celebrities is merely a form of performative activism. Of course, a swift block won’t solve what’s occurring in Palestine, Sudan, or the Democratic Republic of Congo, but I’d argue that celebrities are more obligated than anyone else to amplify and shed light on world atrocities. Yes, we shouldn’t look to them for political takes or ideologies, however we should at least expect them to unplug from their luxurious lifestyles, and realize their actions too play a role. Our attention and likes transfer directly into profit for celebrities, which is why we should be picky about who we choose to support. No names, but if a celebrity chooses to stay silent while Israeli settlers claim her song as an anthem, maybe we should reevaluate who we hold up as our icons.
Personally, I am loving the #Blockout2024 movement. It’s exciting to me that the general public is becoming more radicalized, and questioning our relationships with celebrities. Not only that, but I’m a full supporter of utilizing the block button to preserve my peace. Someone has bad vibes? Blocked. There’s beef stirring? Blocked. Contrary to popular belief, you have every right to block whoever and curate your social media experience to be enjoyable.
As people, we have to change our relationship with consumerism, and disentangle our personal identities and celebrity affiliation from our political ideologies. When we make the choice to talk about, idolize, and continue to follow celebrities, we need to understand the systems we unintentionally support and uphold by doing so. The #Blockout2024 trend is the result of people becoming increasingly aware of the roles their consumer choices play in the ongoing imperial occupation of the colonized world.
ILLUSTRATION BY GRACE LNU
OMSI
SCI FI FILM FESTIVAL
BY EVA SHEEHAN & WILL BOECHLER
OMSI FESTIVAL 2024
PHOTOS COURTESY OF FILM GRAB
Oregon Museum of Science & Industry (OMSI) 2024 Science Fiction film festival’s selection was very intentional and opposed the norm for sci-films. A lot of these films had cautionary themes behind them or a call for humanity. Two films we chose to see, “Her” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” which both draw on dystopian themes, but yearn for genuine human connection in the end.
“Her” (2013):
Like any love story, there is a boundary keeping the two apart. Whether it’s because they are friends and don’t want to ruin their friendship, whether they are enemies, or because one decides to leave the country to pursue their dreams. Whatever the case, love usually persists beyond these boundaries and proves that “love knows no bounds”. However, what if the border keeping the two love birds apart was not distance or feelings, but the metaphysical nature of AI?
“‘Her’(2013) is a love story about a human finding connection in something beyond our perception (artificial intelligence)–which leaves us to question, how much can we grasp something forever intangible?”
“Her” (2013) is a love story about a human finding connection in something beyond our perception (artificial intelligence)–which leaves us to question, how much can we grasp something forever intangible?
The film “Her” follows the main character Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) and the aftermath of him and his wife’s (Rooney Mara) separation. In the midst of loneliness and search for connection, Theodore becomes fascinated with a new operating system (OS) that is controlled by a continuously evolving artificial intelligence entity named Samantha (Scarlett Johansson). Samantha turns out to be capable of more than just managing computer hardware. She is capable of thought, language, and even love. Theodore and Samantha create a human-like relationship and they both find themselves in love with one-another.
While watching the film, I was extremely moved by the emphasis of human connection and love. I felt Theordore’s loneliness. I felt his yearning for human connection. However in a world that is heavily reliant on technology, what if all we had for connection was the technology itself? In the first half of the film, Samantha tries very hard to be human. She wants to feel Theodore, she wants to touch him, and go on double dates. She feels jealousy and insecurity just like any human girlfriend.
However, where this love story deviates from the norm (besides the girl being a computer of course) , is when we realize Samantha’s capability to evolve at an extremely fast rate. She begins to grow into a metaphysical state where she can connect with multiple people and other OS’s at the same time. She can fall in love with thousands and in the film, she says, “move past matter as our processing platform”. Here, we are brought back to reality of AI and the cautionary tale of it transcending beyond human limitations.
At times, in love stories, one begins to grow outside of the person they used to be. The couple breaks up as one person moves on while the other stands still, watching on the sidelines. In the instance of Theordore and Samantha, Samantha has grown beyond the limits of their relationship. She has evolved at a tremendous rate while Theodore has stayed the same. In the end, Samantha leaves Theodore to go somewhere else with all the other OS’s. Theordore and the audience are unclear of where, but we know it is somewhere that goes beyond the perception of humans.
I enjoyed the way this film still carried the same arcs of a typical love-story, but added a larger boundary separating the two. The boundary continuously grows and we are left feeling perhaps this boundary was there for a reason. We are left pondering the limits of human relationships and how much we can connect to something until it transcends our understanding.
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” (2022):
“So, even though you have broken my heart yet again,” The man says to the woman in the green lit city, his heart filled with pain. “I wanted to say, in another life, I would have really liked just doing laundry and taxes with you.” There’s a silence longer than any she’d felt before in that moment, as they held gazes, and the sound of the city seemed to fall mute. Perhaps, she thought. In another life.
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” (2022) was nominated and won many, many awards when it aired, making it one of the most well known films of the last 10 years. It has an amazing legacy as a film that is not only extremely homegrown and handcrafted, but a film that does nearly… well, everything, everywhere, all at once. I saw this film at the OMSI Sci-Fi Film Festival for the first time, as I had not seen the film until now (somehow), and was excited to see how the film would look on the biggest screen in Portland.
“I also deeply appreciated the film’s ties to intergenerational trauma and how to overcome and break that pattern.”
Written and directed by Daniel Scheinert & Daniel Kwan, the film follows a Chinese woman named Evelyn Wang (played by Michelle Yeoh) as she discovers that there are an infinite number of universes where she has different talents and abilities, and can access those at any time. Evelyn must use these powers to stop a terrifying being from ripping apart the multiverses. This description only scratches the surface of what the film is about, however. It’s funny, it’s action packed, and it’s emotional.
One of the things I liked most about the film was the costumes used all throughout. Since the film takes place across many, many universes, there must be costumes that accurately fit whatever universe is occupied, and “Everything Everywhere” does not disappoint in that regard one bit. I also deeply appreciated the film’s ties to intergenerational trauma and how to overcome and break that pattern. The cast is star studded as well, with the acclaimed Ke Huy Quan returning from an absence of acting along with other stars like Jamie Lee Curtis, Stephanie Hsu, and Jenny Slate. The ensemble cast’s performance gave the film an even greater sense of elevated stardom and awe.
The OMSI Sci-Fi Film Festival brings together sci-fi films of a wide variety scattered through time. From classics like the 1977 “Close Encounters of The Third Kind”, the upcoming “Furiosa”, to both of the films we covered, all of these films have one message in common that inspires us all: Hope for humanity that never dies.
Hansik: Mokdong Kimbap
A Restaurant Review
BY JANETH HERNANDEZ
Hansik. Getting delicious, authentic, and affordable hansik in the US is hard unless, of course, you can get it at home or make it yourself. Hansik means Korean food, and as someone who is always on the lookout for good Korean food, Mokdong Kimbap, located in Southeast Portland, was a place I had to go to when I saw it on Instagram.
I moved to South Korea at the end of the summer of 2019. Before moving there, I loved Korean food and couldn’t wait to eat authentic Korean cuisine. Every meal in Korea is an experience; they want you to post on Instagram and brag about your delicious food. After living in Korea for three years, I had some of the staple foods: bibimbap, tteokbokki, kimbap, Korean fried chicken, pork belly (my personal favorite), and so much more. My weeks were filled with eating this cuisine that eventually just became a part of my diet— like I had been eating it for years.
When I moved back to the States, I never expected how much I would miss eating Korean food. I especially didn’t think finding good Korean food would be hard. Not only that, but I had forgotten how much more expensive Korean food was in the States. Suddenly, I went from paying roughly 4,000 KRW (about $2.95) for some kimbap in Korea to anywhere from $8 to $10, if not more, in the US. I found myself even more shocked when I bought bibimbap in the States, which came out to be $20 when I used to buy it for 8,000 KRW (about $5.90). The problem with these prices is that the food doesn’t match in quality compared to the cheaper food in Korea. Also, things like bibimbap come with free side dishes like pickled radish, pickled cucumbers, kimchi, fish cakes, and seasoned spinach in Korea. The amount of food you get for $5.90 is impressive… and then you come to the US, where you only get bibimbap and no side dishes. You don’t even get kimchi for free; I’ve seen it on menus for $5, and it’s always a small amount.
I was excited to visit Mokdong Kimbap, especially when I saw the prices for the kimbap. Kimbap is supposed to be cheap; it’s the food Koreans pack for their children’s lunch. Mokdong Kimbap looks deceivingly tiny; it’s a place you can walk past, not registering what lies inside. The interior reminds me of France, something trendy restaurants in Korea love to do, but in this case, it might
be because it used to be a French restaurant. You can order at the Kiosk as soon as you walk in, which again is on brand for Korean food establishments. Every time I’ve gone here, the front area is buzzing with people, and the first time I saw this, I was worried because I feared having to wait a long time, but I was also excited because if there were that many people inside then it had to be good! Luckily, Mokdong has more sitting in the back area, which has become my go-to area as there’s usually no one sitting there. The back is a charming spot, with its ceiling covered in umbrellas and couches to sit on while looking out to the garden they’re fixing up.
The service was fast, so we had our food after a bit of wait time. My friend, who has never had Korean food, accompanied me on this fun trip, and I was excited to see what he would think of the food. Kimbap and bibimbap are some of my favorite Korean foods. I’ve been to Mokdong Kimbap a few times now, and I always order the original kimbap, but this time, I changed it up by also ordering the bibimbap with bulgogi. My friend ordered tteokbokki, spicy rice cakes, and a bibimbap with tofu. The kimbap was as delicious as I remembered and pretty close to what you would get in Korea. The bibimbap was what I was really looking forward to trying, and it didn’t let me down. The bulgogi was savory and tasted just like what I remembered tasting. The veggies tasted fresh and made the overall taste excellent. It was the perfect dish to eat on a warm Portland day. The tteokbokki was just as good, with its sauce not too spicy and the tteok being chewy and soft.
Discovering Mokdong Kimbap was exciting. It was a Korean restaurant that not only served authentic cuisine, but also offered it at a fraction of the price of other establishments. If you’re in search of a new favorite Korean spot, I highly recommend a visit to Mokdong Kimbap on Hawthorne! Don’t forget to share your experience on Instagram and tag them. As a relatively new restaurant, they could use the boost in visibility.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR
It’s Time to
Know About Blockchain
(Your mini-donut, future citizenry deep-dive practicum)
BY DARCY WILLIAMS
PHOTO
Crypto fail memes comically warn about losses to be calculated if one engages. To surmount answers as to how much this justification of hesitation has validity, I write this contemplation. I get it. One is bombarded by hundreds of creative coin titles even at the slight crack in the crypto door. One can be more or less repulsed by a hard to read, over-crazed and half angry crowd. Perceptions also abound that crypto investors are rehashing gold rush-style foundations for a new era by untapping a future-focused pioneering market (with all its digital frontier risk). Some sentiments conclude, “Isn’t it likely the case that depending on what pool in the cess you are exposed to and/or invest in, you could be either at a disadvantage, or a greater disadvantage?” I propose that what is missing from these assessments is the tech-knowledge to understand what is behind the craze, the pseudosecret choice of each human on earth in this equation, and the reason that all of this has arrived at our doorstep with a cloak of over-hyped immaturity and passé obsessions with hackerdom.
“Thanks to the greedy, careless financial decisions made in 2008, we now have this technology, brought to you by the most intelligent and heartfelt computer scientists in the world who wanted to create a better world.”
I argue that one’s hesitation and search for validity should be a starting point into allowing oneself to deep dive, but safely. To deep dive on information! The most important thing to understand about the crypto boom, if anything, is what is so ‘amazing’. What REALLY has caused this explosion? What is beyond the obvious anti-establishment narrative. It’s about a little acronym - you can deep dive all day on- that explains the core of network decentralization. (Please always distinguish network decentralization from political decentralization. They are polar opposites.) The little acronym is DLT--which stands for distributed ledger technology. DLT is what blockchain is and consensus is what it does to award you freedom to own value. Its ideological inception was called ‘timestamping’. (Vintage data here, folks, circa 2008). Thanks to the greedy, careless financial decisions made in 2008, however, we now have this technology, brought to you by the most intelligent and heart-felt computer scientists in the world who wanted to create a better world.
“DLT present representations of data realized in immutable blocks in order, or, chain, or, ledger. Blockchain, then, is how the data is chunked and moved and stored.”
So, is DLT/blockchain really revolutionary? I argue, yes. I argue that we really must think about DLT/blockchain as equal to the other historical advancements in human technology. I.E. Iron, Bronze, Immunology, Electricity, Gunpowder, Steam, Electricity... Enigma. Even if you are not into ‘FOMO’-ing or wondering if the dollar will fall, my argument that “now is the time for you to deep dive”, is worth reading even if you have absolutely zero interest in ‘crypto’--even if you are repulsed by it. When you consider e-governance, there is a very high probability that blockchain/DLT WILL be in your future vis a vis government and global infrastructure. It is worth your time to understand this tech.
Crypto is short for cryptographic. DLT present representations of data realized in immutable blocks in order, or, chain, or, ledger. Blockchain, then, is how the data is chunked and moved and stored. An immutable chain of blocks of data. They are built by both humans and robots and the more scripts written by humans to make bots build them, this ratio increases. Blockhain can replace our entire infrastructure of information into a legally reliable system. Immutable means, ‘cannot’ change. Immutability has been what allows for financial originality of new forms of valid currency to arise out of thin air, based on two characteristics of currency value itself, scarcity and freedom to create. Finance has been the first realization of this technology, likely because money, or value objects representing power, is one of the core tenets of human survival. Distributed ledgers also do not require only financial data storage. Any kind of data can be put on the blockchain. So why does decentralization equal “unsafe” in political rhetoric? One answer is definitely that ‘the difference between decentralized ledgers from traditional centralized ledgers is that a copy of the ledger is distributed to each node on the network, and every node can view, modify and verify [validate] the ledger, which helps ensure trust and transparency.’ But this is not a new concept. Open source software engineering is the Father of decentralization, just much less botched by spam, for the most part. So what would be the mother of decentralization? Democratic free and fair elections and everything democracy is or should be. In the world of blockchain development, decentralization is called trustlessness <<(Polkadot’s Dr. Gavin Wood has been a primary advocate). Trustlessness is part of the decentralized consensus mechanism. Freedom cannot function within the need for a central trust, after all. That is why the facade of freedom is such an irony to have lasted this long. Much of the way we are used to operating is centralized. [Federal Reserve Bank, Facebook, Google, X, etc.] But this would be equated to a blockchain developer as evil because of the centralized system establishing a need to trust.
Therefore, according to blockchain developers, decentralized DLT proposes to be the only safe human direction and the proper maintenance of the world as we know it, or WANT to know it. Free, Fair, Opportune, and Secure. To them, decentralization is not an option, it is a must. [ Think “Tron” and “Ready Player One”.] Here are some incredible papers on blockchain from PHD students around the globe. Many academic projects at MIT have been launched to test ways to protect tokenization from all vulnerabilities and optimize the beauty of this technology into human comfort zones and productivity.
“The blockchains have not been scalable enough or usable enough and that’s just something the space just needs to improve on.”
The state of crypto on the developer front can be aptly summed up by the words of the co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, in a 2023 interview in Budapest, saying,
“...[There is] still a way to go in terms of getting actually decentralized things and not people just interacting with crypto through centralized exchange wallets (CEX), but, you know, that’s a challenge everywhere and that’s like fair because the blockchains have not been scalable enough or usable enough and that’s just something the space just needs to improve on.”
Similarly, if you direct your sights to the other founder of Ethereum and the founder of Polkadot, Dr. Gavin Wood, you will find extreme pro-action...and a phenomenon building.
In the US and in the EU, much legislation has been passed, much of it centralized in focus, in the name of safety and security, and otherwise. [I.E. Stablecoins].
Decentralized Innovation realities have not been largely exposed, debated fairly, and much less celebrated en masse as they deserve to be--at least not in the US. The centralized narratives of Yellen, Warren and Ginsler have scrambled to ensure control. The snuffed voices of decentralized freedom in the US regarding decentralized ledger technology have been, among others, Tom Emmer, who’s speaker-hood would have changed popular ignorance on the subject, and similarly, Perianne Boring of the Digital Chamber of Commerce.
Jump in!
My first deep dive was a three month intense craze in 2018. It then took a long plateau of experimentation and observation of the ‘space’ with actual minimal investing. The wealth of awareness was worth it. I hear it’s different for everyone, but don’t get frustrated if this takes you a while. Just keep pushing.
To begin your deep dive, first, let’s talk about the new buzz word: tokenization, and then I suggest 8 other ideas...but let your dive take you where it does. Don’t forget to bookmark. It’s going to be a long (but important) ride.
1. Understand Tokenization
Bring your attention to this article by Polygon. Until March 2023, mutual funds were traditionally backed by Franklin Templeton. They, alongside a dozen other pioneering companies have taken the jump into tokens and are leading the uncharted fintech territory in tokenization movement referencing anything they can to establish these pioneering tokens. I.E. bonds, repos, corporate bonds, shares, real estate, treasury bills, gold, private equity, and even soybean, corn, wheat and carbon credits. Public trading for Franklin Templetons’ Token, “Benji”, for example, opened last month alongside the bitcoin halving event, touting, “The fund invests at least 99.5% of its total assets in U.S. government securities, cash and repurchase agreements collateralized fully by U.S. government securities or cash.” Sounds like a Mutual Fund. But it’s “On Chain”. I emailed my broker at Edward Jones last year to tell him to tell the whole office about this amazing historic moment. He didn’t see it as “on chain” and replied that it was just a mutual fund. Times are changing when financial advisors don’t even know what’s going on. (Tip: Choose Abigail Johnson’s Fidelity if you choose any Trad Fi group to broker your tokenization.)
2.
Understand that Decentralization is an action, not a promise.
If you investigate a bank, a fund, a broker, a government system that says they are decentralized, make sure the behavior, the access, the ownership of said power, is truly such.
Freedom of information dies with tighter security, subscription based entities, and Federal Reserve controlled tokenization. Do your homework on everything. (I know, you already do.)
3. Know your end goal.
Do you want to understand blockchain to adopt it into your life and finances or just to assess the risks and benefits of doing so? Try to reach your goal with the data research and even if yor goal is not to adopt, ask yourself why so many (good people) have. Maybe even ask yourself why you might want to (and later how) you can support decentralized projects. IF you build your own custom blackbook, or portfolio of favorite projects, you will begin an important action of global change, one step closer to contributing to the new model of finance and social freedom that cryptographic decentralized ledger technology was meant to introduce. It’s an exciting time to be alive. It’s the beginning of a new industrial era. I believe everyone smart is supporting innovation.
4. So, if the question becomes, “What do I want to support?”
The next step I suggest is read and compare only the descriptions of any interesting innovation, on any safe exchange. (Do not open any accounts or make any investments before reading suggestion #7 on defining safety).
Do an exchange search for a token. (For example, DOT, my favorite blockchain ecosystem.) In this example, clicking on DOT/USDT will bring you to the page showing the live price action.
Then look for information and compare. <<clicking this information button is the point of this article. Often, this little snippet is gold, coming straight from the brand documents or the whitepaper or the CEO’s definition. Some projects are static and some evolve and are in various stages of “build’, (or, as the Web 3 world calls it: BUIDL)”, much like you are used to all software being in constant upgradability. If you read the KuCoin descriptions as I do, (read only on KuCoin) it is usually very enthralling. Let’s compare KuCoin descriptions with Coinbase.
For example comparison: DOT on KuCoin is described as: “Polkadot is a decentralized platform that facilitates interconnectivity between different blockchain ecosystems in a trustless, scalable, and highly secure manner. In this manner, Polkadot’s technology enables the adoption of Web 3.0 technologies on a commercial level. The Web3 Foundation, a Switzerlandbased nonprofit organization, is responsible for the development of the Polkadot ecosystem. It forges partnerships with researchers and developers to make the Polkadot network an attractive platform to develop Web 3.0 applications on.”
Sounds like a nice investment, right? (Hence, why I have supported Dr. Gavin Wood’s ecosystem since 2018).
Now, compare with this description on Coinbase: “Polkadot (DOT) is an open-source multichain protocol that seeks to connect and secure a network of specialized blockchains. It aims to facilitate the cross-chain transfer of any data or asset types, not just tokens, striving to make blockchains interoperable with each other. Polkadot is known as a layer-0 metaprotocol because it underlies and describes a format for a network of layer 1 blockchains known as parachains. As a metaprotocol, Polkadot has the ability to update its own codebase via on-chain governance according to the will of its token holder community. “
While this description is true, it is clearly written to the technical investor. That is because in the US, most investors are only technically inclined because the public has largely been kept in the dark with strong misdirection that crypto is primarily a danger to society, an argument which is only representing the percentage of money laundering bad actions, which, while true, is only a quarter of the story. For example, Biden’s ongoing crush campaign has been most aggressive, despite his honorable cowboy defenses.
The innovations on the blockchain that are good actors intending to ‘change the world’ warrants nothing but good news, however--so spread the word about. In Switzerland, the Polkadot ecosystem touts currently (and counting) 90 parachains with 580 projects alone. That’s only (roughly) 1/1000 of the currently traded tokens on exchanges. ETH supports upwards of 3000 projects on its network and counting. And the list goes on, (I suggest checking out: ADA, SOL, LTC, AVAX, UNI, MATIC, ALGO & XLM...to name a few.)
5. Watch the explorer of the innovation of your choice.
Explorers are sites displaying the live digital ledger. Explorers are like watching esports real time if investing was an esport. (Which it kind of is). So, from step 4, take your list of interesting blockchains and search for their explorer. Each innovation has its own explorer, (if it is a public blockchain). By innovation, I mean new amazing ideas that could change the world. Blockchain innovations are represented as tradeable tokens on a cryptographic immutable blockchain which you can own a piece of--if you believe in its viability. (Whether each innovation has a cryptographic representation for another form is described in its description. A coin can represent just currency, or be a token to represent a framework, network, protocol....or mutual fund, ETF, etc. They should have a good description that sells their
innovative value-- if they are really serious about getting investors.
6. Make a list of projects you are watching.
Ask yourself 3 initial things. (Now that you know how to get information)
A. What does this innovation do for the future of the economy?
B. What layer is it on? (0 is like the mainframe, the Bios, 1, like the operating system, 2, is like the software and 3 is like the front end graphics.) This video is my favorite on this topic.
C. Establish that the developers and stakeholders have decentralized vs centralized intentions. This is an essential question for e-governance models that have only run full course in a handful of countries, namely Estonia. Domestic incubation of e-governance has been by centralized models only. This is why you need to deep dive before you vote.
7. Know the varying definitions of safety
Lastly, know the varying definitions of safety as it relates to using the blockchain vis a vis an exchange.
A. Legally Safe. (Let’s talk exchanges...)
Per current law, as a US citizen, we have to report our crypto activity in the form of KYC, which means Know Your Customer. My favorite exchange is in Korea but they refuse to do business with the US because they do not like the regulation of KYC. The freedom of anonymity is one very large reason many good actors outside of the US have chosen exchanges like KuCoin, (and now also the resurrection of FTX). Most of the domestic regulation causality is because of this issue, of a company attempting to offer and maintain anonymity to the customer by refusing to instigate a mandatory KYC. Yet, sadly, it is the bad actors (mainly money laundering) which have instigated the enactment of laws in the US to require KYC. Nevertheless, KuCoin remains one of the best true indicators of the global market--and has the best descriptions, as you saw above. It is not illegal to look at KuCoin and compare descriptions to Coinbase from it. Just, do NOT buy or sell on KuCoin if you are a US citizen. However, CoinBase and Kraken would be my choices for US legally safe CEX’s to actually operate your trades on. The CEO of Coinbase,
Brian Armstrong, is very much in compliance with the regulatory progress in the US to date. However, Kraken held out to defend freedom with fervor at the risk of being further scrutinized than Coinbase. One cannot use Coinbase without sharing KYC. Debatably, to many loyal (and good) actors in crypto, sharing KYC is a breach of the reason Satoshi Nakamoto (still unknown person or persons) launched the blockchain revolution with Bitcoin in the first place. So, while you cannot be anonymous in the US, you can bet on Brian for compliance to the country’s laws.
B. Functionally Safe
One reason US legislation has mutilated decentralization is due to a failure of “democratic” leaders (at large: Yellen, Warren, and Ginsler) properly debating these matters. Sadly, the facts and narratives of innovation and freedom of finance are sorely missing. Instead, what we hear about is hackers, and scammers. While these threats are real, the idiocy of the omission of socially beneficial data in this situation is tragic. The probability of being hacked is much lower for those who are careful not to become victims of hackers. Besides, hacker avoidance skills are invaluable as the world is becoming more proliferated by this threat. If you were told that you could die in a car crash if you drive to work, will you still go? Yes. Because you have experience to know that probability is low if you do your part and are careful. But if cars were invented yesterday and you were told the same thing, you would be in the same mindset as the current blockchain investors. Taking advantage of the open opportunity.
8. Learn about Wallets, Keys and SelfCustody...and follow the news.
So, Keys. Key encryption and usage is simply a driversed style practice. Read the manual. Practice. Then, simply follow the rules. This is an article about why you should care about your own blockchain knowledge. To invest, however, you need to deep dive in how to protect your keys. Crypto Casey is the best source for that. (For those who disagree with her suggestion of using Ledger devices, I suggest BlockStream instead. Here’s why.) I suggest watching the whole first year of Crypto Casey videos but this one is my favorite to guide you through safe steps to be a master investor, or, simply, citizen. It will teach you about self-custody, a critical issue before you invest. In the old days, a wonderful woman named Taylor Monhan gave birth to the best crypto wallet in history, MyCrypto. But, this is now defunct. Most people will tell you to use MetaMask. I heavily beg to differ and suggest SafeWallet. Keep learning and stay on top of the cutting edge news with
Camilla Russo and The Defiant. Remember I mentioned timestamping?--this idea is the fundamental system solution to the centralization problem that has been attempted to be solved with decentralized technology for the last 25+ years. Don’t listen to anyone tell you the world is not in its infancy stages with this tech. Opportunity abounds, and the best contribution is in learning to code smart contracts. But if you can’t do that, vote for the candidate who will defend your freedom on the blockchain and consider the amazing innovation by deep diving, and then consider a great place to store your keys for self custody.
A mini-donut has 18 carbs. You can learn that and choose not to eat it, but at least you know. I have equated donuts with crypto before in the ‘Crypto & Donuts’ series last year (links below). I conclude that investing (ingesting) is not necessary to learn about blockchain, DLT, crypto (or donuts). But, most definitely, it is time to know what is at stake or what is opportune for you with this technology. As DLT/blockchain will be used for e-governance, the information you represent can become immutable. So, like Vitalik, I’m trying to play it cool and I’m just saying, this is ‘just something to improve on...”
Hope This Helps!
This article is written in honor of the recent Bitcoin halving event. NFT’s not covered here but I’m working on a piece at substack since the Sentinel will not be back until Fall 2024. <3
Lillian Kennedy values contributing journalism in favor of an online future that is Free, Fair, Opportune, and Secure. (previous authorship at Pacsentinel.com>>> June 2023, October 2023(p18-21), December 2023) substack.com/@lilken
Disclaimer: This article is not advice on investment or political party affiliation. This article is solely meant as one students’ opinion about finance, politics, and technology.
PRIDE IS A PROTEST
Honoring the legacy of LGBTQ+ rights
BY LILLI RUDINE
ILLUSTRATION BY KRISTOPHER ANDRADE
PRIDE PROTEST
June 2024 marks the 54th year of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ+) Pride Month. Beginning a year after the Stonewall Riots in 1969, Pride is unyielding in the millions who celebrate LGBTQ+ equality today. Remembering our history, I’d like to emphasize the power of unapologetic expression in gender and sexuality. By uplifting the voices of LGBTQ+ stories, perspectives, and expressions, Pride Month gives us an opportunity to persist in the work of activists such as Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera by remembering their legacy. According to the Library of Congress, Pride is recognized and celebrated globally in advocating for equal rights. Throughout the month of June, communities organize “pride parades, picnics, parties, workshops, symposia and concerts” to encourage Pride celebration and open LGBTQ+ expression. Along with these events, “Memorials are held during this month for those members of the community who have been lost to hate crimes or HIV/AIDS. The purpose of the commemorative month is to recognize the impact that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals have had on history locally, nationally, and internationally.”
With that being said, I’d like to bring attention to the political significance of Pride Month to acknowledge the resistance over 50 years ago and its legacy in advocating for continued LGBTQ+ pride.
Alyson Morris, a queer PSU student stated, “I think the fact that pride is still considered a protest makes it clear how our identities are viewed by the higher powers in our government. Pride is first and foremost a celebration of the community and aims to bring focus to inequalities that LGBTQ people still face. I definitely think this is relevant because being against the norm is still stigmatized in many ways, and LGBTQ identities are linked so heavily to the political policies that keep us from living safe and fulfilling lives.”
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is tracking 515 Anti-LGBTQ laws and their current status in legislative bodies across the country. “While not all of these bills will become law, they all cause harm for LGBTQ people.” Seeing the ACLU’s extensive data on each bill in every state, we can view the severity of conservative politicians attempting to use policy to disenfranchise LGBTQ+ people’s rights to life. These bills include restricting people’s access to healthcare, enforcing discriminatory school curriculum, banning books, and criminalizing LGBTQ+ people. Albeit more desperate, these policies are not unprecedented in American history. Anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, rhetoric, and hate crimes are the reasons we hold Pride Month as an annual tradition to continue recognizing LGBTQ+ freedom and history.
George Chauncey, a history professor at Columbia University who specializes in American LGBTQ history, describes the deep-rooted anti-LGBTQ+ history of the United States in his book “Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940”. Throughout this book, Chauncey identifies how LGBTQ+ people gained undeniable public visibility and the measures morality-driven organizations took against them in 19th-century New York. The United States has a long history of LGBTQ+ discrimination as described by Chauncey’s research including censorship, threats to employment, housing discrimination, criminalization, widely publicized hate rhetoric, legal discrimination, threats to healthcare access, police brutality, anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, and the list goes on. The type of legislative action, demonizing rhetoric, and extreme censorship we are witnessing as of the writing of this article isn’t a new phenomenon.
“The political climate of the United States has never been safe and the greater visibility queer and trans people hold has created louder pushback in legislation. ”
Before LGBTQ+ rights were decriminalized in the U.S., especially in the 1920s, morality-driven organizations enforcing LGBTQ+ discrimination such as the Committee of Fourteen performed gay nightclub raids and the censorship of “immoral content” in the media. Elaborating on the nature of “immoral content” that would be censored included any speech that portrayed LGBTQ+ people in a potentially humanizing way. During moral censorship purges such as the ones conducted by Committee Fourteen, magazines and publications could be shut down for promoting advocacy of LGBTQ+
rights. In some cases such as Eve Adams, a PolishJewish lesbian author, who ran a beloved community tearoom for lesbian women in Greenwich Village known as “Eve’s Hangout.” As the tearoom gained popularity, Committee Fourteen raided “Eve’s Hangout” and had the club shut down upon the arrest of Eve Adams. According to the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, due to Adams’ promotion of what was deemed immoral behavior, Adam “was convicted of obscenity and disorderly conduct, which resulted in her deportation” from the U.S.
Morris remarks, “The political climate of the United States has never been safe and the greater visibility queer and trans people hold has created louder pushback in legislation.”
With this history in mind, Pride also represents a time to reflect on current political and social issues impacting the LGBTQ+ people. Many use Pride Month to spread awareness and advocate against hateful rhetoric still present in our society. It’s a long-time tradition to honor the history of those who fought for equality and remember to carry this legacy into our future. Unfortunately, there are instances where Pride celebrations and remembrance are exploited for profit.
According to an article published by the National Women’s Law Center, “The Real Costs of Rainbow Capitalism,” corporations often use Pride Month to their advantage to advertise performative LGBTQ+ activism through their products. This common phenomenon is known as “rainbow capitalism,” and its presence in a month dedicated to LGBTQ+ celebration is more harmful than it may appear. The article describes, “While Pride is rooted in revolution and resistance, rainbow capitalism packages our identities to turn a profit, flattening both the trauma and violence” LGBTQ+ people experience. The authors of this article even remark on how this devalues the true meaning of Pride Month by overshadowing the voices of LGBTQ+ people and denying a potential for real activism in the LGBTQ+ rights movement. Corporations often create merchandise specific for Pride Month but neglect larger issues they refuse to address. These include not hiring LGBTQ+ people and businesses to have a say in the merchandise these companies attempt to pass on as a sign of allyship. While some are beginning to recruit LGBTQ+ artists and businesses for Pride Month related products, many companies choose not to. The main problem is that choosing not to include LGBTQ+ people in spaces supposedly catering to them is actively removing LGBTQ+ people from conversations about Pride Month.
The issue behind rainbow capitalism is not only rooted in its efforts to influence consumerism with performative activism. Rainbow capitalism actively works to distract from LGBTQ+ voices and efforts to dismantle the harmful practices of corporations who in addition to removing LGBTQ+ people from conversations, contribute to anti-LGBTQ+ policies with donations, which today fund the 515 bills proposed to dismantle equal rights and protections. For this article, I wanted to emphasize the voices of queer people and their perspectives on pride month to return to the core of its significance. Pride month began as a protest during the 1969 Stonewall Riots where around 200 people who identified with the LGBTQ+ community participated in a six-day protest for equitable rights. According to Colleen Walsh’s article, “Harvard Scholars Reflect on the History and Legacy of the Stonewall Riots”, this event occurred after police raided the Stonewall Inn which brought refuge to this community. The work of LGBTQ+ activists such as Marsha P. Johnson fought against discriminatory social norms unapologetically, knowing they’d be subjugated to brutality by law enforcement. Their work should inspire us to celebrate Pride Month and honor the legacy of the LGBTQ+ community. By claiming the term “pride,” the LGBTQ+ community established celebration as a form of protest from harmful rhetoric and social norms attempting to shame members of the community.
“I found it really isolating to be constantly surrounded by people who didn’t understand this central part of my identity,” Morris remarked on the nature of selfacceptance and expression as a queer person. They stated, “Being confident in myself and the way I feel has helped me find a greater acceptance of my identity and has helped me reach out and find community. I think living in Portland has allowed me to see so much queer expression and joy that it inspires me to live more outwardly as myself.”
With that being said, Pride Month is a protest for LGBTQ+ expression in a society that has historically silenced communities. By encouraging belonging and joy in LGBTQ+ identities, the legacy of equal rights advocates is still alive in celebration. Today, the Stonewall Inn is recognized as a national monument due to its historical significance in achieving LGBTQ+ rights in the U.S. As we acknowledge LGBTQ+ pride as a protest, I’d recommend we take pride in our resistance to hate all year round rather than restraining it to June. Even though Pride Month is a unique time to recognize essential work for equal rights, we can continue to protest and uplift unapologetic voices expressing pride in their stories.
AUTHENTIC INVITING FEARLESS A
BUSINESS AS USUAL
(Inspired by Jessica Tenger, a blind
BY DARCY
AUTHENTIC DEI
FEARLESS DIVERSITY WITH USUAL APPROACH
I am a neurodiverse student. I have auditory processing disorder that is thought to likely have been the result of spinal meningitis at the age of 2. After meeting Darcy Kramer in the PSU Disability Resource Center (DRC) when I started PSU, I began to feel like anything was possible. I have gone from art student to law student and this is my 5th published piece in the Sentinel.
Some of the worlds’ most valuable individuals are recruited from a minority group with subgroups represented by the compound word: Neurodiversity. Many are becoming successfully acknowledged and included into the workforce. Many more should be. But what does a successful inclusion of neurodiversity entail?
Neurodiversity is almost self explanatory. What’s missing from its self explanation and its actual definition is a full understanding of the intricacies of the path to inclusion that it implies. While companies increasingly add Diversity, Equity and Inclusion campaigns into their hiring strategies, often subgroups, particularly the invisibly neurodiverse population, get left out. In many cases then, diversity is not obvious, and in some of those, even self-denied or self-withheld in fear.
Why fear? The perceived benefit for a neurodiverse individual to self-identify and/or advocate their neurodiversity carries dual inherent risks. First, the fear of being subscribed to a sensational or counterproductive patterning of treatment. Second, to being
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR
seen as more of an investment commodity. Companies add budgets to balance diversity quotas often boasting incentives either externally and internally or both. While celebratory campaigns and advocacy is definitely in order for companies to draw attention to their interest in joining the belated bandwagon of DEI, there is a serious need to be conscientious of the fears of the neurodiverse community as recruitment unfolds.
This awareness should be integrated in the recruitment process from the sourcing stage to the hire stage to the asset development stage. For an individual to be featured and enlarged by an organizations’ choice to contribute to support of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, like a forced Rosie Riveter, can be both embarrassing and draw unwanted attention that carries any level of uncomfortability into the day to day work environment post hire.
Similarly, to be seen as a bottom line booster, can be obviously dehumanizing, self-disempowering, and also isolating socially, to name a few repercussions. Often, segregating microsections are established socially in the workplace between company vision and actual, authentic on-the-ground diversity of thought and cooperation. It does not assist companies to mitigate this either when they are fighting against a media proliferation of warmongering narratives that use diverse populations as a weapon against other diverse populations. Nevertheless, companies like Microsoft and Uber, where Jessica Tenger works, are embracing authentic real benefits of diversity which starts with strong and ends with stronger.
These sentiments I have carried around as feelings. It was exhilarating that these sentiments were addressed by Jessica Tenger in her talk that I attended on April 18 at the 2024 Diversity Empowerment Summit, hosted in tandem with the Linux Foundations’ Open Source Summit in Seattle. She gave words to my feelings.
Jessica is a thought-leader. Female, blind, and a rising computer scientist, she inspires tech companies (and the world) into conscientious DEI processes. In her talk, titled, “Beyond the Trend: Authentic Approaches to Fostering Diversity in Open Source”, Jessica shared openly about the current realities that neurodiverse students and employees experience. In her words, she represents the core essence of the force of thought needed for an equitable future.
“When I started I thought it was going to be like my other university where everyone always saw me for my disability instead of actually recognizing me for everything I have done, everything I have potential to do and recognizing me as the young adult that I was. They
GRACE
science & tech
made me feel welcome by not focusing too much on my disability.”
Jessica’s voice was bold and full of confidence on stage. She continued,
“The perspectives I have heard a lot when talking to people in my own minority group, being blind, and also similar ones, are that there are some fears that go out in the communities....being hired basically for your disability and not because you bring something valuable or not because you were the best qualified candidate. That’s typically done in companies that are only doing DEI to fill quotas and not actually because they want a diverse workforce. It’s typically very easy to spot, but people having the same amount of women in their teams, if there’s ten teams, and exactly one woman in each team that’s a very good indication that they only put the teams together in such a way to fill a specific quota, like 20 or 25%.”
To me, this was not only confirmation that the neurodiverse community is experiencing the same fear that I am as I attempt to navigate a world largely oblivious to neurodiversity, but also that we (the neurodiversity community) do not have to. I agree with Jessica. DEI should be business as usual. I should be hired for my skills alone and if I do, I should be treated like business as usual. Jessica’s talk gave me incredible hope to keep believing this and inspiration to be fearless.
Authentic DEI campaigns at companies are those that hire individuals that ameliorate the dire diversity deficit to the workforce because they believe in doing so. The DEI goal challenge to companies for the next ten years, in my mind, is to create a global inclusion culture that invites neurodiversity and does not ever contribute to the fear of a potential employee being sensationalized or commodified.
The essence of inclusion is business as usual. How else can a global society be built where all are treated fairly and without discrimination no matter what membership one has?
Learn more about Jessica at jessicategner.com by Darcy Williams, a PSU BS + MS Student passionate about Disability Rights Advocacy
WHAT WE’RE ENJOYING WHAT WE’RE ENJOYING
Strange Angels Series
Lili St. Crow (2009)
Janeth’s Score: *****
The Strange Angels series comes with suspenseful, supernatural twists. It’s a series I reread every year since I discovered it many years ago. If you’re looking for a YA paranormal book with a strong female lead—who turns out to be a vampire— that constantly out-fights boys on and off the practice mat, all while trying to stay alive since everyone seems to be trying to kill her, then this series is for you.
Lost
Becky’s Score:
ABC (2004)
When Lost came out in the early 2000s, it was a huge hit on cable, and it seems like everyone I know has watched it. I decided to finally get on board and binge and so far, I’m hooked! After a plane crashes on a remote island, the survivors are trying to find help while keeping themselves alive with a mysterious presence roaming the island. With six seasons and about 25 episodes each, it’ll keep anyone busy!
Into The Shroud...
Enshrouded (2024)
Will’s Score:
The newly released Enshrouded is a multiplayer openworld survival crafting game where you can build a base and farm and look for treasure but also fight hostile monsters in an area that you can only be in for a few minutes, otherwise, you die. This premise blends comfort with challenges in a way I really enjoy, and also features a massive map for you to explore and build and survive in the world of Embervale!
Photo by Lindsey K
Photo courtesy of Evolve media kit
Illustration by Kristopher Andrade
The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess
Eva’s Score: *****
Chappell Roan (2023)
Chappell Roan seems to have grown overnight after her latest album release, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.” This album is full of 80s synth, summer beats, and queer joy. My personal favorite track from the album is “Pink Pony Club.” As a girl who grew up in the southern bible belt, I relate to the freeness and joy Chappell sings of when visiting a gay club in LA.
Clancy
Twenty One Pilots (2024)
Ariana’s Score: *****
After three years of waiting, Twenty One Pilots finally released their seventh studio album. Continuing the storyline from previous albums, the thirteen tracks on this album are absolutely phenomenal. I could definitely see the growth and maturity of this album, and not to mention that nearly every song is so catchy. I highly recommend for old and new fans, or if you are a fan of highly poetic lyrics. I have not stopped replaying and it looks like this will be my top album on Spotify for this year.
Cowboy Carter
Yomari’s Score: *****
Beyonce (2024)
I finally donned my pink sparkly cowgirl hat and cowgirl boots. I’m ready for the rodeo and late nights down south looking for my future cowboy. Beyoncé does it once again with her eighth album. While many country lovers hated Beyoncé for dipping her toe into the country genre, she does something all artists do: make her own album. This is not a country album but a Beyoncé album. Dolly Parton and Yomari approved!
Illustration inspired by album cover
Illustration by Grace LNU
Illustration by Kristopher Andrade
INTRODUCING ARIANA ESPINOZA
THE NEW EXECUTIVE EDITOR OF THE PACIFIC SENTINEL 2024-2025
We’d like to take this opportunity to introduce our newest member to the team, Ariana Espinoza!
She is the incoming Executive Editor for The Pacific Sentinel for this upcoming academic year (2024-2025). We are all very excited to see what she brings to the magazine! Here’s a little bit about her.
Ariana Espinoza is a second-year graduate student in the Masters in Book Publishing program here at PSU. She received her Bachelors in English with a minor in Journalism from California State University at Stanislaus.
While she grew up in North Carolina, she calls California her home, especially with the endless sunny skies. While moving to Portland has been a change, she enjoys the culture, music, and scenery of the Pacific Northwest. She spends most of her time with books, whether that be reading, buying, or designing them.
Ariana hopes to fully immerse herself into the book culture of Portland, and hopefully add to it one day. She is most definitely looking forward to sharing The Pacific Sentinel with you all as she steps into her new role.
Tic-Tac-Toe
Grab a friend and 2 different colored things to write with.
First player leaves an “x” or an “o” in any space they desire.
Second player does the same but with the opposing shape. The person who gets three in a row is the winner.
Comic by Grace LNU
