pg. Kenneth Parcell
Guest lecture forgotten by attendees in record amount of time.
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Administration to combine BFFC and Sherwood into Narcissa Whitman Center for Obsessing Over Physical Appearances
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JOKES! | Time is a construct | Whitman news not a real thing
BREAKING DOWN THE FLOOR POLICE INACTION LEADS TO DESTRUCTIon OF THE CONDEMNED HOUSE T
by EVELYN LEVINE Party Survivor
he Walla Walla Police Department decided to implement a new strategy with the parties at Condemned: Do nothing. “Because parties are nearly every weekend, we thought to try to let the party manage itself this time. Even students get tired eventually, and maybe the draw of the party would lessen if it was completely available,” said Chief of Police Bott Scieber. The non-themed party started on Saturday, March 23. This Is a Cake Cover Band played. The floor slumped underneath the weight of all the people, no doubt breaking fire code as usual. Smoke began to fill the hallways, and partygoers say that by one a.m. the visibility was around five feet, maybe six. Later, the house was still packed and the party could be heard from Anderson Hall. By two a.m. This Is a Kinks Cover Band was playing. Partygoers arrived with one coat and left with another. According to one partygoer, it became so routine that a homemade “Leave a coat; take a coat” sign was written on a piece of notebook paper and taped up by the coat pile. The inside of Condemned was littered with empty cans of PBR and Natty Light and a few Old English 40s. The lawn was strewn with cigarette butts and the empty boxes of American Spirits they originated from. Guests arrived wearing face paint, neon, tails and cat t-
Bridges ditches fundraising campaign, builds pancake empire by KEENAN HILTON Friend of Kel
“M
y idea was simple. It got at the heart of things,” Bridges explained earnestly. “Most people make plans for the future. The true genius of this campaign was that I identified now as the time frame,” he said. Recently, however, a cloud of confusion has descended upon campus. Students have begun plastering “Now is the Time” stickers on their computers, binders and water bottles. One student was even so audacious as to put a sticker on a paper towel dispenser in Olin. At first glance, it seems as if students are merely taking part in achieving administrative goals, but a closer look reveals that these stickers are not at all related to the financial campaign. The stickers depict a gas can draping our Mother Earth with an opaque shroud of oil. They were designed by a secretive activist group on campus known only as “the CCC.” Given my prestige as a reporter for the Pioneer, I was able to score an interview with sophomore Colleen Smythe, the self-described “Ra’s al Ghul” of the Whitman divestment campaign. She described the group’s aim to divert the college’s investments from fossil fuel companies and their supporters to more sustainable options. “We thought that [our use of the “Now is the Time” slogan] would give old man Bridges something to furrow his brow over,” Smythe said. “Consider it a challenge ... our administration is steering the college against the tides of history. Unless they change their tune, I may very well begin publicly referring to Bridges and his cohorts as mere suits, snoots, squares and phonies!” When asked for his opinion of the stickers, Bridges gave me a puzzled look. When I handed him a sticker his eyes went wide. “Whoever these stickermakers are, they’ve been caught red-handed,” said Bridges, his eyes still wide. “I thought of the slogan first. And I have proof.” His eyes grew wider still. “It’s troubling and confounding that [the sticker-makers] didn’t notice the flags all over campus. I definitely had the idea first. Put that in the paper!” Bridges stood, threw the sticker to the ground
and waved his arms frantically. “People of Whitman, students and stoats alike, pay no attention to the stickers!” The CCC’s protest has run into challenges. Whitman’s investments are controlled by over 50 managers, and the administration does not hold the reins tightly. “I’m just a man!” insisted Bridges. “The managers are more than that. They’re investment professionals ... They probably studied economics!” Critics of the Divestment Campaign often point to the fact that there are very few investments that make it rain quite like fossil fuels. “They rightly raise concerns about where investments will be diverted,” admitted Smythe. “The college has a unique opportunity to combat climate change, though. This is a critical time for the college, for the country, for our species. We co-opted the phrase ‘Now is the Time,’ and we mean it, by golly!” When I asked Peter Harvey, Whitman’s treasurer and chief financial officer, about the college’s investments as related to our changing climate, he clearly misunderstood the question. “We in Memorial are letting out a huge sigh of relief,” said Harvey expressively. “The crash of 2008 really gave us a scare, but the investment climate has really been improving lately. We’re pleased as punch,” Harvey beamed. As I clarified what CCCers meant by climate change, Harvey became preoccupied, checking his watch and giving a slapstick double-take. He began packing up his things. “Excuse me, I need to slip into my lilac zoot and get down to the fairgrounds!” Harvey said with a conspicuous wink. “That’s on record.” He winked again for good measure and left. At the end of the day, confusion abounds over the “Now is the Time” campaigns. “We at CCC HQ have worked tirelessly to engage the administration, the trustees, the finance committee and the student body,” panted Smythe. “The League of Shadows ... erm, I mean the CCC, is committed. The college as an institution will have to take a stand one way or the other.” “Someday I’ll own a branch of the International House of Pancakes,” concluded Bridges.
shirts while carrying strange pipes and unrecognizable musical instruments. Witnesses say it was like Burning Man, but with much less faux fur. This Is a Beatles Cover Band played as the sun rose. The party did not stop. By that time the floor had actually broken in some places, exposing the basement. Guests fell into the basement, and those without injuries continued the party there. Finally the cops came. “We admit it was the wrong move. However, we will not apologize for our attempt. At that point the party was an actual safety hazard, and it is our duty to protect the citizens of this fine city,” said Scieber. Neighbors claim the song “Thrift Shop” by Macklemore played a total of 35 times, approximately once per hour. Some say the house was actually emitting smoke from cracks in the wood paneling, and when the doors opened, a cloud would follow. “The herb could be smelled from two blocks away,” said neighbor Rudolph Davenport. It is not likely that Condemned will be hosting any parties in the near future, since the house currently has no floor. In fact, the repair bill has now overtaken the value of the house itself. Residents of Condemned say they will start taking up a collection to fund the house’s construction needs. If you feel compelled to donate, any member of the house will gladly receive your contribution. If the funding fails to collect the money needed, Condemned will be no more.
B. MIXWELL teaches movements of love by ADAM BRAYTON Madam Braze-on
I “I mean, I don’t want to know why they’re just so shrivelly and hairy and sometimes lopsided and sweaty and gross. I don’t think that’s a crime.” Sophomore girl
n the new title-taking wave that is sweeping campus campaigns and organizations, there is a new player that hopes to re-imagine itself in a way that another campaign has already imagined itself: the Green Dot Program. Sexual Misconduct Coordinator Barbarella Mixwell announced on Tuesday, March 26 that the Green Dot Program would no longer be called as such at the start of the 2013-2014 academic year. Instead, it will adopt the name of the campaign to promote civil rights education in local elementary schools: Whitman Teaches the Movement. “Instead of having the ambiguous title of ‘Green Dot,’ which takes a lengthy explanation of why green dots have anything to do with sexual misconduct, we’re going for something more visceral entirely,” said Mixwell. “Under the new banner of ‘Whitman Teaches the Movement,’ we want to promote safe sex by making sure people know how the sex ‘moves’ actually work.” Over spring break, a joint effort was made by members of the Pioneer’s Sexual Misconduct Article Writing Squad (which actually just means Rachel Alexander) and Mixwell to produce a 120-student survey that was totally representative of the views and ideas of the entire student body. The results were staggering: Instead of pointing toward sexual malignancy, it mostly hinted at complete sexual ignorance. “Wait, the clitoris is a sex thing?” said one junior male in response to one of the survey questions. “I was convinced that it was just one of the characters from that one Shakespeare play. Or maybe that was Cleopatra. I can’t remember.” Another student’s views on sex and women seemed entirely founded on male comedy routines and YouTube videos. “I like women. I like the concept of a woman. I like to take that concept and re-
duce it to an object. I like to take those objects and put ‘em in my videos and have them shake they jiggly bits so they looks like hoes,” said one male first-year who was clearly quoting the satirical rap song “Fuck Shit Stack” by comedian-musician Reggie Watts with utmost seriousness. This trend seems to take root mostly on the male end of campus. The women in the survey seemed to have it all mostly together, except for things they probably just didn’t want to know about balls. “I mean, I don’t want to know why they’re just so shrivelly and hairy and sometimes lopsided and sweaty and gross. I don’t think that’s a crime,” said one sophomore female in the survey. This sentiment was echoed 27 times. In this new “Whitman Teaches the Movement” campaign, Mixwell plans on combatting the sexual ignorance that leads to sexual misconduct by using the awe-inspiring power of metaphor. “Imagine a baby who has one of those toys where certain shaped blocks go into certain slots,” said Mixwell. “The stupid, uninformed baby will try to put the triangle block into the square slot, and no matter how hard it tries it just isn’t going to work as the baby planned.” This contrasts with the figure she called the “smart baby.” “The smart baby will take the care and finesse of taking the crescent block and gently and slowly pushing it into the correct crescent-shaped slot, which is rewarding for everyone.” When asked why she chose babies, Mixwell tied the metaphor back to the image of movement. “Babies spend two years trying to master basic human locomotion. I want to inspire students to take the same amount of time and effort to learning a completely different movement: the movements of romance and sexual intercourse,” she said. see SEXY TIMES, page 2