Lewis & Clark College

The Pioneer Log: Lewis & Clark College’s Student-Run Newspaper

Volume 95, No. 3

Lewis & Clark College Student Newspaper

Pioneer Log Staff

2020-10-16

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Lewis & Clark College: Pioneer Log / Mossy Log

By VENUS EDLIN
THE ASSOCIATED Students of
Lewis & Clark (ASLC) held their
first two Senate meetings via Zoom
on Sept. 29 and Oct. 6, after the senatorial
elections.
At the Oct. 6 meeting, Vice President
of Student Life and Dean of Students
Robin Holmes-Sullivan spoke to those in
attendance. Afterward, the budget was
voted on and passed unanimously.
According to ASLC President Mikah
Bertelmann ’21, this timeline was unusual.
The budget was passed after Student
Organizations Coordinator (SOC) Quentin
Gaul ’22 was elected in the previous
meeting.
“COVID pushed back our timeline
for passing a budget due to enrollment
concerns last spring,” Bertelmann said.
“Typically the Student Organizations
Committee will present a budget in April
for Senate approval, but we postponed
that vote until October. Thankfully, the
budget was able to accommodate giving
each organization more.”
On April 11 the Senate created a
recommended budget allocation for
the to-be-elected SOC. ASLC cut 13.5%
from the recommended amount for each
student organization in light of updated
enrollment numbers due to the pandemic.
Gaul made any final adjustments before
the budget was passed.
Enrollment was less than initially
projected before the coronavirus, yet the
difference was minimal. For example, LC
enrolled 513 out of the projected 526 first-
years. Over 100 of these students chose to
defer.
“Unfortunately, we had less money
than usual to give out because the money
that we give out is based on student
enrollment,” Gaul said. “Thankfully, it did not (impact the amount) as much as
we were worried about. I’m glad that we
still have a good amount to give out to
students.”
The Senate’s first vote of the semester
was the SOC election. Gaul, the interim
SOC, ran against Frances Haas ’23, a
former ASLC senator. The vote resulted
in a tie. Two senators, Jeni Baez ’24 and
Olivia Weiss ’23, were not in attendance
and voted by email. ASLC Vice President
Jeremiah Koshy ’21 broke the tie. The decision weighed heavily on Koshy
who said he thought about it days after.
“I know I have to vote because that’s
what my role requires at that point,” Koshy
said. “But I would not want to put anyone
else into that position because I know both
the candidates and I’ve worked with both
candidates before.”
Gaul was not expecting the tie,
especially considering she thought she
would be running unopposed until shortly
before the election.“I didn’t think it was going to be as
dramatic,” Gaul said. “But I’m glad that
senators and representatives had the
chance to have that discussion. It probably
would have been good to have even more
time to just answer their questions.”
Since the beginning of the school year,
Senate has been conducting its business
via Zoom. Public Senate meetings, which
are open to all undergraduate students,
are still digitally accessible. According to
“Pandemic” continued on page 3Vol. 95 No. 3 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2020 www.piolog.com
SCOTUS Criticism
President Donald Trump nominated Judge Amy
Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. Is some of the
criticism she has received inappropriate?
See page 4Teressa Raiford, the founder of Don’t Shoot PDX, is
not on the ballot this November, but is still running a
strong write-in campaign for mayor of Portland. Raiford Runs
See page 6Students have been finding ways to cope with the
added stressors of the COVID-19 pandemic and tend
to their mental health.Mental Health
See page 10In this episode of The PioPod, hear reporters
discuss how COVID-19 has impacted College
Outdoors and Student Support Services. Also,
tune in for a spooky history of LC’s Corbett
House.COVID-19 & Creeps
The short film “Blue: A Kaleidoscope,” created by
Daniyal Afzal ’13, examines trauma and violence
against women at the virtual Alumni Film Festival.Alumni Film Festival
See page 8
Due to COVID-19, this newspaper is intended for single use. After a thorough read, please keep it for your personal records or recycle.ASLC passes fall budget, elects new
student organizations coordinatorCOVID-19
emphasizes
access need
By JILLIAN JACKSON
THE DISABLED Student Union
(DSU) and the Office of Student
Support Services (SSS) both claim
that the COVID-19 pandemic threatens
the accessibility of a Lewis & Clark
education.
Associate Dean of Students and
Director of Student Support Services
Kayleigh McCauley believes that the
pandemic is just one of many issues
impacting student academic performance
this semester.
“We have also seen the impact of
COVID-19, racial injustice and recently
the Oregon wildfires, on mental health,”
McCauley said. “These compounding
issues make it challenging for students to
remain fully engaged in their academic
studies.”
The Office of Student Support Services’
involvement in the College of Arts and
Science (CAS) has intensified since the
pandemic began.
“Compared to last year at this
time, the number of CAS students with
accommodations is higher,” McCauley
said. “We are currently working with
roughly 10% of the CAS student body.”
While the transition to hybrid and
online learning can be difficult for anyone,
chair of the DSU Hope Smothers ’22
believes that “our union is overwhelmingly
still disproportionately affected by COVID.”
Smothers said that many classes are
failing to address “access needs” in the
hybrid or virtual Zoom environment. For
example, one access need might involve
someone turning off their camera in class
to prevent chronic migraines.
“Student need” continued on page 3
Company change, pandemic cause custodial staff stress
By IHSAAN MOHAMED
ON MARCH 16, Dean of the
College of Arts and Sciences
Bruce Suttmeier confirmed what
many had predicted: an end to typical
life on campus. The COVID-19 virus
had turned into a serious threat, and
Lewis & Clark was one of thousands of
institutions nationwide that closed its
campus in response.
For LC’s custodial staff, things were
more complicated. Since 1995, the
college has outsourced custodial services
to a company called Skyline. As the
pandemic spread across the U.S., the
Skyline workers, like millions of other
Americans, feared they would lose their
jobs.
Another source of anxiety for
custodial staff was the fact that LC’s most
recent contract with Skyline was ending
on May 31. Workers felt uninformed
about the end to Skyline’s contract and
feared that if LC signed with a different
cleaning company, they would lose their
seniority and benefits.
On March 14, conscious of the
impacts that the pandemic could have on
the Skyline workers, Associate Professor
of Sociology Bruce Podobnik offered a custodian his personal phone number
and business card.
Two weeks later, Podobnik received
a phone call from that same custodian.
“He said (the custodial staff)
had been informed by the company
they worked for that they were being
furloughed,” Podobnik said. “They were
worried about losing their pay, losing
their vacation hours and losing their
healthcare coverage.”
Podobnik began meeting regularly
with the staff and sending updates to
LC faculty and administrators. Some
administrators, including Suttmeier,
pointed out that the custodial staff were
not employees of the college. “They
deserve to be treated like full members
of our community,” Podobnik said. “And
the college shouldn’t just wash its hands
of the situation.”
On May 30, Podobnik voluntarily
created a GoFundMe campaign to
support the custodial staff. Podobnik
sent it to LC community members
and many students began boosting
the campaign through social media.
However, citing LC’s 501(c)(3) nonprofit
status, administrators declined to
have the college, as an institution,
publicly promote the campaign. Some administrators did choose to make
private donations.
In mid-June, Podobnik emailed
President Wim Wiewel and Alice Wiewel,
his wife, to request that they “make a
public, significant donation in support
of the workers who clean our campus
community.” Lauding the campaign’s
success, Podobnik stated that it was
“time for individuals of your stature in
the community to step up and publicly
join the effort.” Wiewel responded, via
email, by acknowledging Podobnik’s
good intentions but said he has “been
bothered by the nature of (Podobnik’s)
campaign, however well-intentioned,
and some of the things (Podobnik) has
stated.”
According to Wiewel, Podobnik’s
campaign had circulated inaccurate
information about LC’s contract with
Skyline and the workers’ eligibility for
unemployment benefits. These factors
led Wiewel to decline to publicly support
the GoFundMe campaign on June 15.
“I do not wish to make a public
donation or appeal,” Wiewel said in an
email. “That also covers debating the
matter publicly.”
Wiewel did not provide additional
comment on his decision.Over the course of June, 536
members of the LC community donated
$24,802 to the 29 custodial staff, each
of whom received a donation of $825.
Podobnik described the experience of
giving the donations to the custodial
staff as “very emotional and powerful.”
Since 2005, the Coalition for English
Education & Social Advocacy (CEESA),
a student group at LC, has also focused on creating a strong support system
for the custodial staff. CEESA leaders
often form close relationships with
the custodians and are recognized as
advocates by them.
In late April, two former leaders,
Alexa Cid Carrera ’21 and Diana Pacheco
’22, were contacted by individual
workers as they became increasingly
“Custodial staff” continued on page 3
KAMRYN FORD /THE PIONEER LOG
JO TABACEK/THE PIONEER LOG
Most on-campus activities have gone digital, including ASLC’s Senate meetings which are held every Tuesday from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
A custodial worker dusts the top of a shelf on the upper floor of J.R. Howard Hall.LC replaced Skyline with A&A Maintenance, 90% of custodial staff previously employed were rehiredFRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2020
NEWS 2
RHMS, Forensics Club co-host debate streams
Discussion of vice presidential debate struck by Zoom bombing, sponsors adapt for future live events
By BELLA MET
ON SEPT. 29 and Oct. 7, the
rhetoric and media studies
(RHMS) department and
the Forensics Club co-hosted live
streams for the presidential and vice
presidential debates.
According to Director of Forensics
and Instructor Joseph Gantt, the
presidential debate watch party
had up to 25 participants total,
including a panel of staff members
from the RHMS and political science
departments. The vice presidential
event had a similar number of
participants.
Early on during the vice
presidential debate watch party, the
event experienced what is known as
a “Zoom bombing.” Zoom bombing
is where a meeting becomes intruded
by “Zoom bombers” who tend to
utilize hateful or obscene language
and partake in lewd actions. During
the live stream event, racial slurs,
fatphobic comments and derogatory
terms for women were said and the
“Zoom bombers” drew phallic objects
on the shared screen.
Yancee Gordon ’21, a RHMS
major, was watching the stream when
the Zoom bombing occurred.
“The Zoom bombing was
confusing at first,” Gordon said via
email. “Since most Lewis & Clark
students are pretty casual and don’t
mind jumping into conversation, I
didn’t immediately recognize that it
was someone who was not supposed
to be there. Once I heard the awful
language they were using, however, I
felt really uncomfortable.”
Gantt handled the situation
by immediately ending the Zoom
meeting and moving to a private
link created by one of the panelists,
Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Media Studies and Director of General
Education and Ethnic Studies Kundai
Chirindo.
Once there were no more
disruptions, the debate was
underway. Participants and staff
members utilized the chat function
and made comments throughout.
They mentioned fracking, and
phrases that Sen. Kamala Harris
said such as, “Mr. Vice President,
I’m speaking.” They also asked the
panelists why candidates would
ignore the questions posed to them by
the moderator and discuss whatever
they wanted. Some joked about
cutting Vice President Mike Pence’s
microphone while others enjoyed the
unexpected spotlight stealer: the fly
that landed on Pence’s white hair.
In a forum after the debate,
students asked about how many questions Pence answered and
why Harris seemed to take Pence’s
bait regarding her controversial
prosecutorial record. Panelists
opened up the floor to their own
questions for the participants to
engage with. Panelists discussed how
Harris acted more like her nickname
“Momala” (a nickname given to her
by her stepchildren) than a former
prosecutor in order to be viewed
as more relatable. There were also
discussions of racial and gendered
expectations that allowed Pence to
go on speaking over Harris and the
moderator without repercussion.
Panelists said this vice
presidential debate was more
important than others in the past,
though still inconsequential to the
race in terms of voter influence.
During the debate, Harris and Pence were asked if, in the event of
“presidential disability,” relating to
both presidential nominees’ ages
and President Donald Trump testing
positive for COVID-19, they are
qualified to become president. Harris
listed her capabilities by way of her
resume while Pence discussed his
work and on-the-job experience over
the past four years.
These events were coordinated to
engage students in the election as a
continuation of department tradition,
though the debates are typically
watched in person. Gantt said that
Zoom, despite technical difficulties,
does have its benefits. He said that
the chat feature allowed for further
engagement in real time because
conversations would have to be
withheld until the end at an in-person
event. Gantt also said the event served as a way to come together during the
pandemic.
“We wanted to do all four debates
at this time because I think there’s
a need for connection, as much as
we possibly can and anything we
can do to promote community on
campus (during) this semester is a
good thing,” Gantt said. “So having
more opportunities rather than fewer
opportunities was something that we
thought would be helpful.”
Daniel Newcomb ’22, an RHMS
major present at the livestream,
commented on how the event added
to the socially-distanced community
and made the campus seem less small.
“I like seeing the scheduling of
events and being able to hop (onto)
them at my convenience, though part
of that may just be that Gantt also has
semi-in-person classes where I first
heard of the debate watch,” Newcomb
said via email. “I genuinely don’t
think I’d come to the debate Zoom
parties if I didn’t have that in-person
connection of someone asking me to
my face if I wanted to come.”
Although the second presidential
debate was canceled on Oct. 9, the
RHMS department has a live stream
planned for the third debate, and
there is an election night watch
party sponsored by ASLC. However,
due to the complications at the last
event, there will be more precautions
for those who can attend, such as
spreading a more private link and
having panelists keep an eye on who
is in the meeting rooms prior to
being let in. For more information
on these upcoming events, reach out
to the department (rhms@lclark.
edu), Gantt (jgantt@lclark.edu) or
another RHMS faculty member. The
department’s administrator, Terry
Moore (terry@lclark.edu), can also
provide more information.MAYA WINSHELL/THE PIONEER LOG
Health Service, CVS Caremark provide flu vaccines
By JACOB MUSCARELLA
OVER THE PAST two weeks, Lewis
& Clark held two flu vaccine
clinics on campus in Pamplin
Sports Center.
While these clinics happen annually,
LC emphasized that flu vaccinations
are even more important during the
coronavirus pandemic. The details
of these clinics were shared with the
student body through emails distributed
by Associate Director for Health
Promotion Melissa Osmond.
On Sept. 23, Osmond sent out an
email to LC students with a message
from Chief Psychologist and Associate
Dean of Students for Health and
Wellness John Hancock.
The clinic on Sept. 25 was held
through Health Promotion and Wellness and the LC Health Service. Students
wanting to receive a vaccine had to make
an appointment through the Health
Information Portal, and their accounts
were later billed $30.
If students have insurance through
LC, they will be fully reimbursed for
their vaccines. However, students with
other insurance plans might have to
cover the costs themselves, depending
on their coverage.
Another email sent by Osmond on
Sept. 29 contained more information
provided from Health Service about the
second clinic. This clinic, held on Oct. 6,
was larger than the first and was offered
through CVS Caremark Pharmacy. For
this clinic, students’ health insurance
plans were billed directly by CVS
Caremark.
In a separate email, Osmond said that although she did not have exact
data, both clinics were at full capacity.
“I do know that the CVS clinic had
a capacity to do approximately 200
vaccines and the registration was full
several days before,” Osmond said. “We
expected the demand to be more this
year due to COVID-19, but we weren’t
expecting it to be so high. But that is a
good problem to have.”
Hancock explained why it is
important for students to get vaccinated
this year.
“If fewer students have the flu, it
allows the healthcare professionals
in the Health Service to provide more
care for whatever other healthcare needs students have,” Hancock said
via email. “Having more students
vaccinated against the flu will support
our providers in diagnosing Influenza
and COVID-19 in symptomatic students.
A timely and correct diagnosis will also
lead to appropriate treatment and help
determine if students need to be in
isolation related to COVID-19.”
Osmond echoed these sentiments in
her email.
“According to CDC estimates, last
year’s flu season saw 38 million people
sick with flu-like illness, 400,000
hospital visits, and 22,000 deaths in the
U.S.,” Osmond said. “Now add COVID-19
on top of that and the potential to overrun hospitals and outstrip the capacity of our
healthcare system is a real concern. The
more vaccinated (people are) this year,
the fewer people contracting influenza,
the more resources we have to fight
COVID-19 and care for those who do get
ill.”
For students who missed out on
these two clinics, Osmond said there will
be opportunities to get a flu vaccine in
the near future.
“We will have other clinics,” Osmond
said. “In fact we are working with CVS
to schedule (one) for later in October.
Contact the Health Service at health@
lclark.edu or 503-768-7165 (for more
information).”
MAYA WINSHELL/THE PIONEER LOGNews Editors
Venus Edlin
Jacob MuscarellaArts Editors
Justin Howerton
Aubrey Roché
Sports Editors
Aidan D’Anna
Henry GoodierOpinion Editors
Amatullah Aman
Bella MetFeatures Editors
Madeline Cox
Yasmin Kemer
The Backdoor Editor
Mackenzie Herring
Faculty Advisor
Molly RobinsonCopy Chief
Tyler Short
Web & Social Media Manager
Alex BarrVisuals Editors
Amelia Madarang
Jo Tabacek
Toby Bazeley
Rachelle Binder
Amelia Doyle
Jillian JacksonGabe Korer
Gabriel Mantione-Holmes
Tor Parsons
Julia WarlingStaff Writers
Emery Anderson
Umi Caldwell
Gabriel Mantione-HolmesSofia Reeves
Maya Winshell Photographers & IllustratorsEditor-in-Chief
Nicholas NerliManaging Editor
Ihsaan Mohamed
Director of Broadcasting
Charlotte Powers
Business Manager
Stuart Myers
CDC, LC health staff stress the importance of getting vaccinated during the COVID-19 pandemicContinued from page 1
“Every single class should be
going over access needs every single
session,” she said.
McCauley has been suggesting
that students and faculty think about
the universal design, which is a
system to make content accessible to
everyone. Suggestions for universal
design include adding captions
to video content and reposting
questions asked aloud in the chat
feature for students with sensory
processing disabilities.
“When sharing information with
others, consider all types of learning
styles,” McCauley said. “I want
students to know that you are not
alone in this pandemic.”
Even with an additional month
of preparation in the summer
on the part of SSS, accessing
accommodations this semester has
proved difficult.
Associated Students of Lewis
& Clark Senator Madeleine
Macwilliamson ’24 reported
online malfunctions with the
accommodations application
process on ASLC’s senator and
representative goals document.
Macwilliamson, who is abled,
discovered that a friend with ADHD had not received accommodations
in time for midterms. The friend
wished to remain anonymous and
declined to comment.
To apply for accommodations
students have to click a link to the
intake form on
the LC website.
The intake form
is a crucial part
of the process
where eligible
students submit
educational or
medical records.
McCauley
acknowledges
that the link,
which requires
an LC username
and password
to login, posed
difficulties for
new students.
“I know of a few first year
students who had problems with
logging in because of the IT change
in email address formats,” McCauley
said.
Macwilliamson and her friend
did not know the IT change was the
source of the problem. As a senator,
Macwilliamson felt the need to speak up about this confusion.
“You wouldn’t be able to get the
form, which meant you had to email
the appropriate person at Student
Support Services,” Macwilliamson
said.
Macwilliamson claims this
creates too much confusing red tape
for first years and transfer students.
McCauley provided some clarity
in recommending that all students
experiencing issues with the intake
form email access@lclark.edu.
Smothers thinks that ASLC has
taken away financial tools that
might have helped disabled students
during this unprecedented time. She
called ASLC cuts to the DSU budget
from $3,320 last year to $2,548.21
this year “extreme.”
ASLC’s Student Organizations
Committee (SOC) cited high weekly
meeting costs and lack of detail in the
DSU’s applications as contributing
factors to the cuts.
“All of our leaders during the time
of the insanely rushed and scattered
budget process were incapacitated
to lead, let alone fight for equity-
based treatment
in the process
due to feeling
the constraints
that COVID had
placed on us,”
Smothers said.
Chair of the
SOC, Quentin
Gaul ’22
explained that
additional ASLC
funding for the
DSU remains
possible. Many
allocation
decisions were
made before the pandemic.
“Once the final budget was passed
last Tuesday, I did reach out to DSU
to say that we would love to allocate
more money and work with them on
submitting a more detailed itemized
budget so that we can get them more
funding,” Gaul said. “I’m really
hoping to work with them soon to
increase their budget.”FRIDAY , OCTOBER 16, 2020
NEWS 3
Neighborhood association discusses
relationship with LC amid COVID-19
By JULIA WARLING
IN PREPARATION for the Fall 2020
semester, Lewis & Clark decided to
close its campus to all members of
the public. Beginning Aug. 1, anyone
unaffiliated with LC was prohibited
from entering campus, primarily to
limit the spread of COVID-19 and
protect residents of the Collins View
neighborhood.
“We’ve closed the campus to
limit intermingling,” David Reese,
vice president, chief of staff, general
counsel and board secretary for the
college, said. “We closed Trail #5 going
down to Macadam because it goes
close to some neighbors’ houses and
they asked us to do that.”
Prakash Joshi ’74 is the
transportation chair of the Collins
View Neighborhood Association
(CVNA) board. In an interview, he
discussed how Collins View residents
have been impacted by LC’s campus
closure.
“There was a sign posted at Lewis
& Clark saying the campus is closed
now, off-limits to anybody,” Joshi said.
“Which is fine. We understand that.”
LC announced the closure of its
campus in late July, when President
Wim Wiewel announced the decision in
an email sent to community members.
The Collins View neighborhood
surrounds LC’s three campuses.
“We found out through the
president’s letter ... the community
was shared on that ... but the process
of how (LC) would be implementing
(safety measures) was not clear to us
... And that’s what would (have been)
good to have.” Joshi said. Wiewel’s letter was not sent directly
to the CVNA. Instead, it was forwarded
by Mark Duntley, the college’s liaison
with the association and the dean of
spiritual life. The CVNA has many
concerns regarding the fall semester.
“The neighborhood is not closed to
the college,” Joshi said. “We would never
do that ... but (students are) going past
you without masks, going within inches
of you, breathing heavily, coughing.”
When students first arrived on
campus, the neighborhood community
was unsure about how responsible the
students would be. Since the semester
has started, they have gained more trust
in the campus population as they see the proof that students are being more
careful while out in public.
“At the last CVNA Board meeting
on Oct. 7 on Zoom, I shared my screen
and showed them the testing results on
the ‘COVID-19 Confirmed Cases Status
Report’ page,” Mark Duntley said via
email. “It was clear that they appreciated
the way the college — and the students
in particular — have been committed
to health and the safety of the campus
community and the wider community.”
Since the school reopened in the fall,
students have been encouraged to take
precautions when interacting with the
people around them, and a student-led
COVID-19 task force was created with the support of Robin Holmes-Sullivan,
the vice president of student life and
dean of students.
“We meet weekly and discuss current
COVID-related issues affecting students
both on and off-campus,” Olivia Weiss
’23, one of the task force’s co-chairs,
said via email. “We usually compile a list
of specific questions/concerns that have
been brought to our attention in the past
week. Additionally, Robin often asks our
input on current policies or how students
are reacting to certain decisions. We
also have begun brainstorming ways
... to encourage students to continue to
practice safe and healthy habits.”
Joshi said the college has not
adequately updated the CVNA
and would like to regularly receive
information about the school’s
protections against COVID-19.
“We just need some answers ...
because our sense of confidence and
security comes from how we come
across with people and how safe they
are,” Joshi said. “If you knew that
somebody was safe or not, then you’d
feel more confident being around them.
But if you didn’t know that you would
keep your distance and you would
observe some caution.”
Reese said that LC strives to promote
safe COVID-19 precautions as well as
open information to all community
members, including Collins View
residents.
“We want to be transparent,” Reese
said. “We have the webpage both
for transparency with students and
faculty in the community, but also the
neighborhood. We want to be a good
neighbor. We want our students to be
good neighbors to those who live here.”
JO TABACEK /THE PIONEER LOG
Neighbors to the college put up signs to ensure safe traveling during the pandemic.Continued from page 1
concerned about the status of their
jobs. Carrera and Pacheco began
contacting LC administrators
requesting information in order to
formulate a plan to advocate for
the workers. According to Carrera,
neither she nor Pacheco ever received
a response. Aware of the limited
resources CEESA had, they began
researching different organizations
who could assist them.
“We were trying ... to connect
them to organizations that could
provide financial support and food
resources,” Carrera said. “But at the
end of the day, all they really wanted
was to keep their job, that was their
main objective.”
LC began accepting new contract
bids from cleaning companies in early
June. A committee of administrators
across all three schools was formed
to evaluate each company’s proposal.
Skyline was invited to make a bid,
but chose not to. A&A Maintenance
was ultimately selected by the
committee as LC’s new cleaning
company. In an interview, Chief
Financial Officer and Vice President
for Operations Andrea Dooley did
not specify why. However, she felt
confident in the decision because
A&A is on a list of companies deemed
responsible employers by Service
Employees International Union, the
union that represents current and
former custodial staff.
According to an Aug. 3 release by
LC, “A&A ... hired all former Skyline
custodial employees who applied
for positions — approximately 90
percent of the previous staff.” It is not
known why 10% of Skyline workers
chose not to apply for positions with
A&A.
In a statement to The Pioneer
Log, Wiewel praised Dooley’s efforts
in forming LC’s new relationship
with A&A.
“The rebidding process and
transition to a new custodial
services company was handled
very well by Andrea Dooley, our
chief financial officer and vice
president of operations,” Wiewel
said. “A responsible steward of our
financial resources, Andrea worked
with a committee to secure A&A
Maintenance as a partner committed
to a diverse and inclusive workplace
and employee wellbeing.”
After A&A was selected, some
community members objected to
the company’s use of E-Verify, a
controversial service that checks
whether employees are eligible to
work in the U.S. Popular among
political conservatives, E-Verify
has been criticized for targeting
undocumented workers, as well as a
history of data errors. According to
Dooley, LC ensured that A&A did not
use E-Verify on any custodial staff
currently working at the college.
“A&A did not use E-Verify in
hiring the employees working on our
campus,” Dooley said.
However, Dooley is not aware if
A&A plans on utilizing E-Verify on
future hires.
Also, A&A protocol requires
employees to work for a certain
amount of time before they receive
medical benefits. A&A custodial
staff did not have health coverage
until the end of September, and
consequently, affordable access to
COVID-19 testing. LC chose not to
offer or require COVID-19 testing
from the A&A employees. A&A did
provide custodial staff with personal
protective equipment, including
masks.
Dooley explained that, unlike
students, A&A employees, as well
as LC faculty and staff, are not the
target populations of college-funded
COVID-19 testing.
“We’re focusing our resources
and our testing on what we
perceive to be higher risk areas,”
Dooley said.Cleaning
staff keep
positions
Continued from page 1
Koshy, the new system is more
accessible.
“We are on Zoom, and of course
that has its own challenges,” Koshy
said. “The good side is that we can
easily do transcriptions. We have
a whole system that allows for
transcriptions, which is not only
more accessible for people who are
under meeting but is available for
everyone who is not in the meeting.”
Minutes from meetings are
available on the ASLC portion
of the LC website. Recordings of
some meetings are also available.
Bertelmann also sends out recaps
of these meetings to the student
body.
“My weekly emails that come
out each Friday morning outline
the highlights of the Senate,”
Bertelmann said. “If you aren’t
able to make it, this is a great place
to start and our website has more
detailed minutes.”
Before this year’s Senate
meetings, students voted in the
election. Twelve students ran to
fill 12 spots in the Senate. Voter
engagement was historically low.
Bertelmann said the pandemic
contributed to this low voter
turnout.
“COVID definitely made it
challenging to engage with students
in voter participation,” Bertelmann
said. “Traditionally, our elections
committee will actively table during
voting week, host a forum with
pizza for students to learn about
candidates, and often candidates
will go around and talk to people.”
Nine of the 12 senators are
first years. Though inexperienced,
Koshy has been impressed by the
newly elected senators.
“I will give full credit to the
Senate this year, that they’re all
really on the ball,” Koshy said.
“They’re all up for the challenge,
very much to my pleasant surprise.”Pandemic
challenges
LC Senate Student need for accomodations
increases during hybrid learning
UMI CALDWELL/THE PIONEER LOG
Associated Students of
Lewis & Clark Senator
Madeleine Macwilliam -
son ’24 reported online
malfunctions with the
accommodations appli -
cation process on ASLC’s
senator and representa -
tive goals document. By JACOB MUSCARELLA
BARRING ANY surprises in next
week’s confirmation hearings
in the U.S. Senate Judiciary
Committee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett
is poised to become the next associate
justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Barrett will be replacing the late
Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
While there were many names on
President Donald Trump’s shortlist
of potential nominees, Barrett was a
favorite among evangelical Christians,
a group that makes up a significant
portion of the president’s base going
into the 2020 election.
In the weeks that have followed
Trump’s announcement of Barrett’s
nomination, I have seen a wide range
of criticism of Barrett. Though I think
Barrett is deserving of serious criticism,
it is important to be mindful of the way
we criticize her. As liberal arts students
at Lewis & Clark, we are taught to be
critical thinkers. When we talk about
political figures who we do not like, we
should ground our positions concretely
rather than resorting to stereotypes,
surface-level characteristics or labels
like political party affiliation that do not
tell the whole story.
Criticism of Barrett should not be
solely centered on her gender. I do not
expect this to be common at LC, but I
remember seeing Tweets wondering
how Barrett could be an effective justice
as a mother of seven, implying that
she should prioritize taking care of her
children over her career. This line of
criticism is grounded in sexism and
gendered stereotypes that should have
no place in our political discussions.
The second main criticism I have
taken issue with is that her religious
identity should disqualify her for the
job. It is true that Barrett is a devout
Catholic, but that alone should not
have an impact on attitudes toward her
fitness for the court. After all, there are self-identified Catholics of all political
leanings serving in our government,
including liberal figures like Associate
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Speaker of
the U.S. House of Representatives
Nancy Pelosi and current Democratic
presidential nominee Joe Biden. We
should have no sort of religious test
when it comes to deciding who serves
in our government. Beyond this being
a violation of the U.S. value of religious
freedom – which admittedly is often
unfairly twisted to achieve political
objectives – a religious test could just
as easily be used to disadvantage other
religious groups like Jewish people and
Muslims.
However, where Barrett deserves
criticism is applying her religious beliefs
to her interpretation of the Constitution.
In a 2006 commencement speech at
Notre Dame Law School, both her alma
mater and where she taught law, Barret
said that the legal career is a vehicle for
“building the kingdom of God.” The idea
that any judge might use their career
as a means to further their personal
religious doctrines is a dangerous
infringement upon the separation of
church and state valued in the U.S.
Barrett has already made clear her
support for spreading Catholic doctrine
through law and past comments. In
1973, the Supreme Court extended the
right to privacy to include a woman’s
right to an abortion in Roe v. Wade.
Although the case included limits on the
right to abortion, it was still a landmark
case that gave women the control
over decisions that impact their own
bodies. In 2006, Barrett was among
several people who signed onto an
advertisement in a South Bend, Indiana,
newspaper that called for the Supreme
Court to overturn Roe and “protect the
lives of unborn children.”
Although Barrett has said before that
Roe is precedent that she is compelled
to uphold, she would not be bound by
precedent as a Supreme Court justice. She would be able to overturn previous
decisions using whatever reasoning she
would like. This would allow her to make
decisions based on her religious beliefs
so long as she claims her viewpoint is
grounded in the Constitution.
As a member of the Supreme
Court, Barrett will be influential in
making decisions that affect the lives
of Americans, and in particular LC
students. Beyond what I have discussed,
there are concerns of how Barrett will
approach cases on healthcare, LGBTQ+
rights, voting rights and other civil
rights issues, especially with Associate
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel
Alito recently signaling their support for
overturning same-sex marriage.
Barrett’s lack of experience should
also be questioned. After attending
Notre Dame, Barrett clerked for the late
Associate Justice Antonin Scalia before
returning to her alma mater to teach law
starting in 2002. In 2017, Barrett was
appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Seventh Circuit, where she has
served since. In other words, she has
served as a federal judge for less than
three years.
In contrast, Associate Justice
Stephen Breyer served on the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
for 14 years before being nominated to
the Supreme Court by former President
Bill Clinton, and Associate Justice Neil
Gorsuch served on the Tenth Circuit
for 11 years before being nominated by
President Trump. Few justices in recent
history have been nominated to the
Supreme Court with as little experience
as Barrett, bringing into question her
fitness for the job.
However, there is no set requirement
for past experience before being
nominated to the court. Outside of
teaching law, Associate Justice Elena
Kagan had only served as the Solicitor
General for the Supreme Court for just
over a year before she was nominated
by former President Barack Obama. While a lack of experience as a federal
judge should not be disqualifying in the
nomination process, it is fair to question
whether Barrett’s limited time as a
federal judge has adequately prepared
her for sitting on the most important
court in the country.
Barrett is certainly deserving of
criticism for her goals in the legal
profession and her interpretation of
the Constitution. However, we must be
careful not to resort to sexist attacks
or complaints grounded in religious
identity alone. As LC students and global
citizens, we should hold ourselves to a
high standard and ground our criticism
of those we disagree with in facts and reason. Criticism purely grounded in
emotion and assumptions is neither
productive nor constructive and will
not give any credit to any arguments we
seek to make
Though we cannot know for sure
where Barrett would come down on
every issue brought before the Supreme
Court, we must be serious in how we
evaluate her. After all, the position she
has been nominated for lasts for as
long as she is willing and able, and as
someone under the age of 50, Barrett’s
impact on the court could last for
decades to come and will shape the
country that future generations will
have to live in.FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2020
OPINION 4
Unless otherwise stated, the views expressed in the Opinion section are those of the authors and are not held by The Pioneer Log or its editorial board.Criticizing judgements of SCOTUS nominee
Evaluations of Amy Coney Barrett should focus on her legal record and experience, not her person al life
MAYA WINSHELL/THE PIONEER LOG
Sen. Harris and Vice President Pence sparred in a debate full of rule-breaking and double standardsDespite help from fly, Pence plunges as Harris soars
By CHARLOTTE POWERS
THE VICE Presidential debate
on Oct. 7 was a stark contrast
from the presidential debate the
prior week. Vice President Mike Pence
and California Sen. Kamala Harris
discussed and criticized one another’s
campaign platforms. Although the
debate was perceived as more dignified
than the Sept. 29 presidential debate,
racism and misogyny were very much
present. After watching an hour and a
half of this event, I felt Harris won by
exceeding margins.
To start, Harris answered most
of the questions posed while Pence
struggled to answer his own. There
were times when Harris failed to
answer, particularly when pressed on
her campaign’s stance on the Green
New Deal and fracking, but overall,
she clearly explained how the Joe
Biden/Harris ticket would approach
the numerous
problems grappling
the nation.
When asked
how the Biden
administration
would approach
climate change,
she explained
how Biden would
invest $1.7 trillion in clean energy over
the next 10 years. When Pence was
asked the same question, he wanted to
continue criticizing Biden’s tax plan. I
do not know what was more infuriating:
the fact that Pence cannot answer a
question when asked, or that he states
“the climate is changing” without
tying the rise in CO2 levels to human
activity. Harris’s answers offered more
clarity, and subsequently, provided
more comfort about how the Biden
administration would tackle dire crises like climate change and the COVID-19
pandemic.
Debate
moderator Susan
Page had to tell
Pence his time
was up far more
than Harris.
Even though fact-
checkers confirmed
Pence and Harris
were given equal time to speak, it still felt
Pence had more because he refused to
end his statements when the time came.
Harris offered clear and concise answers
to her questions and did not interrupt
Pence’s responses. The same cannot be
said for the vice president, who failed
to answer many questions within two
minutes and interrupted Harris so
much that the moderator had to remind
Pence of the rules his campaign had
agreed to so that he may attend the
debate. These errors punctured Pence’s “gentlemanly” disposition and revealed
the vile, disrespectful man that lies
beneath.
The misogyny Harris experienced
on that stage is what women face every
day in the workspace. While Pence
condescendingly praised the senator
for all her accomplishments and bared
his teeth, Harris also showed her
teeth, but through a strained smile.
If the Democratic Party nominee
called out Pence’s condescension and
inappropriate behavior, Harris would
risk coming across as domineering,
aggressive and unwomanly, which
conservatives would have associated
with the “angry black woman”
stereotype. This misogyny and racism
resembles what Michelle Obama
experienced throughout the Obama
administration. Knowing the endless
discrimination the first lady faced, it is
understandable why Harris would want
to monitor her behavior on the debate stage. Nevertheless, the gendered
and racial double standards Harris
faced that night are
something women
running for political
office and across the
nation have dealt
with far too much in
this “woke” era.
Last week’s
debate clearly
demonstrated
Harris’s
commanding presence as well as the
frightening reality that is Pence’s
temperament. I find the vice president
to be incredibly dangerous because his
calm, collected disposition makes his
distribution of lies far more believable
than President Donald Trump’s erratic
behavior. Pence blatantly lied when he
said Breonna Taylor had received proper
justice, despite her killers not being
charged with murder. He blatantly lied when he said that the hearts inside
the Trump administration “(break)
for any American innocent life ... But
(that he) trusts our justice system, a
grand jury that reviews the evidence.”
I know that almost every word Pence
said that night was untrue. You might
know that almost everything he said
that night was untrue. But undecided
and ignorant voters do not, and that is
what frightens me most.
The vice presidential debate
revealed many things: that politics is
more divided than ever before, that
racism and misogyny are still very
much present in the political field,
that a fly can make national news and
that politicians can mask falsehoods
as truths with ease. I know many LC
students rightfully dislike Harris,
given her controversial prosecutorial
record. I do not think Harris is the
perfect candidate, but when in U.S.
history has there ever been one? Why
should Harris suddenly be criticized
for not meeting
that standard
when previous
vice presidential
candidates have
not been held to
it? We should
criticize Harris’s
past, and hold her
accountable in
remedying those
mistakes, but first, we need to elect
her so the accountability is even more
warranted. Biden and Harris are not
perfect candidates, but they are far
better than the goons we currently
have in the White House. Vote for
the Biden/Harris ticket if not for
yourself, and your future, then for
the millions of Americans whose lives
have diminished under this current
administration.I do not think Harris is
the perfect candidate,
but when in U.S.
history has there ever
been one? MAYA WINSHELL/THE PIONEER LOG
After watching an hour
and a half of this event,
I felt Harris won by
exceeding margins. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2020
OPINION 5
Unless otherwise stated, the views expressed in the Opinion section are those of the authors and are not held by The Pioneer Log and its editorial board.By CHARLOTTE POWERS
DURING MY FIRST year
at Lewis & Clark in my
Comparative Politics class,
my political science professor
referred to Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell as a “master of
parliamentary procedure.” Over the
past three years, I have pondered
over this statement and studied
the senator’s various actions.
After taking great interest in his
political schemes, I have come to
the conclusion that McConnell’s
political strategies are purely based
in conservative ideology and meeting
the desires of Republicans, rather
than all Americans, in order to
expand his own political command
and career. Politicians like McConnell
make it our obligation, as students,
to study our government’s legislative
and judicial process considering they
create laws that affect our current
and future wellbeing.
McConnell’s current plan to
confirm Amy Coney Barrett as the
next associate justice of the Supreme
Court is a perfect example of the
senator’s abuse of power. Following
the death of Associate Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG), the
majority leader released a statement
acknowledging that, “The Senate and
the nation mourn the sudden passing
of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and
the conclusion of her extraordinary
American life” but that “President
Trump’s nominee will receive a vote
on the floor of the United States
Senate.” McConnell’s statement
on RBG’s passing came across as minimal and inauthentic because his
intentions of stacking conservative
courts and increasing his political
power were plainly visible.
The Senate majority leader
possesses an incredible amount of
control over what happens on the
Senate floor. While the majority
leader is expected to balance the
viewing and voting of bills from
both parties, McConnell, over the years, has expedited the voting and
passing of conservative bills and
procrastinated the execution of
liberal ones.
The senator has received ample
criticism from both liberal and
conservative voters for rushing
Barrett’s nomination given what
he said in 2016. Four years ago,
former President Barack Obama
nominated Judge Merrick Garland to
the U.S. Supreme Court nearly eight
months before the general election.
McConnell was adamant that a new
justice should not be confirmed
by a “lame duck” president.
“The American people
are perfectly capable
of having their say on
this issue, so let’s give
them a voice. Let’s let
the American people
decide,” McConnell said
in 2016. “The Senate will
appropriately revisit the
matter when it considers
the qualifications of
the nominee the next
president nominates,
whoever that might
be.”
These words
have carried
no weight considering McConnell is now
fervently pushing for Barrett to be
the next Supreme Court justice,
despite the nomination taking place
less than a month before the election.
It is ironically frustrating to watch
McConnell take away the nation’s
voice that he so firmly advocated for
just four years ago.
According to a report completed
by Barry J. McMillion, an analyst
of the federal judiciary since 1975,
the average number of days it takes
to confirm a new Supreme Court
justice is 67 days (2.2 months), while
the median is 71 days ( 2.3 months).
The confirmation of a new justice
has always been a lengthy process
and McConnell’s fast-tracking of the
nomination is not only disrespectful
to the late justice, but it compromises
and ignores a centuries-old judicial
process designed to select a justice
most qualified for the position. The
dismantling of U.S. governmental
proceedings is clearly not an issue
for McConnell, so long as his political
power and standing continue to
grow.
With Barrett’s nomination being
his priority issue, McConnell has
blocked or suspended voting on
more than 275 bills. These bills
include providing COVID-19 funding
for millions of Americans, USPS
funding, fighting voter suppression,
raising the federal minimum wage
and addressing climate change.
They also include implementing
immigration reform, protecting the
LGBTQ+ community, instituting gun
violence reform, making healthcare
more affordable for all Americans and reallocating funds within our
country’s police departments.
McConnell’s aim to mold a future
dominated by conservative leadership
delays the addressing of other crucial
issues, especially ones related to the
COVID-19 pandemic. If McConnell
has proven anything as the Senate
majority leader, it is his belief that
the well-being of Americans falls
short to his own political ideals.
I feel our everyday news cycles are
dominated by the happenings of the
executive branch, instead of
including all branches. LC students
should investigate our government’s
legislative and judicial process.
While a good majority of legislative
and judicial affairs happen behind
closed doors, it is our job, as
politically aware and invested college
students, to actively question and
challenge political leaders like
McConnell who work to skew the
judicial system in ways that will
damage our futures. Enroll in a
political science course, read a
professor’s article on legislative and
judicial review or join College
Democrats. There are so many ways
to learn about and change the ways
our representatives represent us.
This may not seem like an immediate
concern considering our world is
currently turned upside down by
COVID-19, but McConnell’s current
political yieldings will create
consequences that will affect our
generation for years to come. It is our
obligation to this earth, to future
generations and to ourselves to
prevent such yieldings from
becoming irreversible.
AMELIA MADARANG/ THE PIONEER LOGMcConnell rejoices as judicial norms collapse
By MACKENZIE HERRING
MOST LEWIS & Clark students
have been thoroughly
bombarded by campaigns
this fall due to the upcoming election.
Whether it be by the emails that get
progressively more dramatic and
personal, by texts from overworked
volunteers or by companies who
seemingly developed a passion for
voting rights overnight, I assume you
are tired. I would also venture a guess
that you are not necessarily happy
with the current state of the election
cycle, or the candidates themselves. I
share this opinion.
Despite the shared dissatisfaction
I sense from LC students, I know that
for some people this means deciding
not to vote. I do not know more than
you on this subject, and I recognize
how disappointing the ballot is this
year. Regardless, I know that I and
many others chose this campus
because the students care about the
world around them. In my four years,
I have seen protests, student-run
elections, petitions, campaigns and
widespread movements started by
LC students in the midst of difficult
academic schedules. We joke about
our apathy, but I find comfort in our
desire to defend our beliefs.
The last election should have told
you that your vote matters. The last
election should have illuminated
the dangers of third-party voting
with such a dangerous candidate
as President Donald Trump. I
expect Joe Biden
will be absolutely
disappointing but I
find the possibility
of another four
years with Trump,
the appointment of
Amy Coney Barrett
or another national
affirmation for the far-right to exceed
that fear.
I had a long digital discussion with someone this summer who is
voting third party. I know they are
aware of the implications of their
vote. Unfortunately,
the further we talked,
it became clear that
he was not observing
the same election. He
was a white man and
it is more challenging
to share
the fear
that you
have with
someone
else if they do not
have an equal personal
stake. I have so much
privilege, and I know
I am not a morally
superior contradiction to his beliefs
or actions, but it was so hard to hear
about how little he cared to get Trump out of office.
I am not upset with people who
feel disillusioned with the current
state of voting or arrive
at a different opinion
than me. However, I
implore you to examine
whether a third party
vote means the same to
you than a friend who is
fundamentally treated
differently or has had
their fears validated by
Trump’s first term.
There is not much
that The Pioneer Log article can
convince you of that the past four
years have not. If anything, please
consider whether the practical effect
of voting for the people who will be
most affected by the outcome of the
election outweighs a vote for you in
idealistic solidarity. UMI CALDWELL/THE PIONEER LOGA master manipulator of Senate procedure, the majority leader pushes American politics to insanity
MAYA WINSHELL/THE PIONEER LOG
By BELLA MET
DURING quarantine, I was
bored and blue. I spent my
time walking my dog or
scrolling through Instagram. My
father encouraged me to find a more
fulfilling activity so I looked through
our myriad of cookbooks. I have
always wanted to bake more as I crave
baked goods, but I have never found
the time to. The first thing I baked
was Milk Bar’s Crack Pie, a pie with
an oatmeal cookie crust and a gooey
golden filling. As weeks passed, I
made cookies, lemon meringue pie,
Ligurian focaccia bread and much
more. Baking was the sweetest activity
during isolation and it transformed
the way I view myself and the world
around me.
Many people took up baking bread
during quarantine and posted about it
on social media. According to CNBC’s
Make It, in March, there were 12,000
posts tagged with #quarantinebaking.
However, baking is not as simple
as the box cakes make it seem. It is
a science. Nobody is born a baker
like Mary Berry. Things can go awry
quickly. And even with thorough
study, things can be inedible. For
example, my meringue pie took three
days to make. Despite the flops, once
my pie had a broiled brown meringue
top, I felt a sense of accomplishment
I had lacked for months. I took what
I researched and learned to make
something.
Since baking takes time and
patience, it can also be meditative.
According to articles from The New
York Times as well as psychological
studies, baking is a mindfulness
practice, thereby decreasing the
feeling of negative emotions. Instead
of constantly thinking about the
global pandemic, I put effort into
something rewarding that increased
my self-esteem and overall happiness.
Making s’mores cookies filled me with nostalgia for weekends camping with
my dad. When I made the focaccia, I
began reminiscing about the time I
spent at the beach in Pietro Ligure,
Italy. It was also satisfying to press
divots into the dough delicately
with my fingers to allow the olive
and salt brine to seep through.
Baking provided stress relief, but it
also allowed me to connect to old
memories of better times.
Baking is also just fun. I began
to not bat an eye when flour spread
over the counter or something did not
taste right; in fact, that merely fueled
my creativity. I learned to eyeball
the ingredients I was putting into
my mixtures and my palette began
to slowly recognize the necessity for
certain flavors. When I made mistakes,
I developed my own creations. If they
were bad, I laughed at myself while
continuing to belt Coldplay. That kind
of creativity allowed me to express
myself in a new way. As cliche as it
seems, baking showed me that what
is on the inside is more important
than what is on the outside. My baked
goods rarely looked pretty but that did
not stop my parents from enjoying
them. Watching my family devour
what I baked gave me great pleasure
as I was able to share delectable treats
with them.
So next time you are sitting in
isolation, as glum and bored as I
was, consider taking a look at what
you have in your pantry or what is
available for a low cost at Fred Meyer
or Maggie’s and get to baking.
The last election
should have told
you that your
vote matters.We joke about
our apathy, but
I find comfort
in our desire
to defend our
beliefs. Quarantine baking:
feast your pies on thisDespite electoral displeasure,
eligible voters must take action
PHOTO COURTESY OF BOB KUPBENSFRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2020
FEATURES 6
By ALEX BARR
A S I APPROACHED the Corbett
House at 9 p.m. on a Thursday,
camera and phone flashlight
in tow, I wondered why I cared so
much about this ghost story. My
answer then came readily: the story
is inaccurate.
The story begins with Harriet
“Sunny” (in reference to her long
blonde hair) Corbett. According
to her obituary published in The
Oregonian, she was born on Nov. 3,
1922. Her parents were Hamilton
F. Corbett, Portland socialite and
renowned entrepreneur, and Harriet
Cumming Corbett, a member of The
Portland Garden Club.
The Corbetts and Lewis & Clark
have had close ties since the college’s
beginnings. According to LC’s The
Chronicle Magazine’s Summer
2000 Issue, the
college might not
have survived
without the help
of Sunny’s great-
grandfather,
U.S. Sen. Henry
Winslow Corbett.
“Sen. Corbett
was a trustee and
one of the largest
donors to the
Albany Collegiate
Institute, the
forerunner of Lewis & Clark College,”
Michael Mooney, former president of
LC, said in The Chronicle Magazine.
“His generosity saved the fledgling
College from foreclosure in its early
years.”
In the summer of 1999, Sunny
passed away in Pennsylvania.
Following in the footsteps of her
great-grandfather, she left LC a $4.3
million gift as a part of her estate.
LC used this money to purchase the
Corbett House from the Sisters of St.
Francis, who had bought the estate
from Sunny’s father in 1942. Since
then, LC has closed off the Corbett
House and it is locked at all times.
However, according to the digitally-
published accounts of four students
who allegedly spent a night in the Corbett House, the house remains
occupied by a paranormal presence.
The online article, written by
Brennan Klein, elaborates on the
four students’ experience and the
history behind the haunt, which
was published by The 13th Floor
(the13thfloor.tv). According to urban
legend, Sunny fell in love with the
Frank family’s son, Frederick. Sadly,
their love never came to fruition, as
Frederick was sent away to fight in
World War II, where he tragically
died in a training exercise at the age
of 20. Sunny, overcome by grief, was
allegedly sent away to an institution
in Pennsylvania to recover.
While there is no evidence that
explicitly proves the validity of this
urban legend, the timeline does check
out. Past coverage on the history of
the Frank family by The Pioneer Log
confirms that “Fred Frank died in a
plane crash in
1942.” In Sunny’s
obituary in The
Oregonian,
it states that
she moved to
Pennsylvania in
the early 1940s.
Beyond this
general overlap
of time, there
are no other
historical records
I could find that
corroborates the story of Frederick
and Sunny’s love affair or that
she spent time in an institution in
Pennsylvania.
The stories surrounding the
haunting of the Corbett House have
always alleged that the poltergeist is
the spirit of Sunny Corbett. Many,
including Klein, cite the phantom’s
reported fascination with long,
blonde hair as evidence to support
this claim, as Sunny earned her
nickname for her own golden locks.
After reviewing the aforementioned
evidence, an important question
came to my mind: “What if the
ghost is Frederick Frank?” Sunny
Corbett lived for many years after
Frederick died. The idea that she
would come back to haunt this home when she spent the rest of her life
in Philadelphia seems far-fetched.
However, for Frederick, who only had
20 years of memories, returning to
the home of his longtime childhood
friend appears plausible.
According to Klein, the four
students who stayed the night in the
Corbett House experienced hallmark
indicators of paranormal encounters.
The first sign was that two of the
students smelled rotten eggs, or
sulfur, upon entering the house.
The four students then moved
upstairs. The two other students,
who did not smell the sulfur, felt
increasingly worsening abdominal
pain as they neared the second floor.
When they reached the second
floor, they began to walk down the
hallway when one of the students
felt a strand of her long blonde hair
being lifted into the air. She turned to chastise her friend behind her for
playing a prank, but was instead met
by her friend’s shocked face from 10
feet away. The other student had not
touched her.
After witnessing this, LC’s very
own mystery gang rushed downstairs
in fright, called Campus Safety and
requested to be let out of the house.
Much to the students’ chagrin,
Campus Safety informed them that
they were responding to an emergency
at one of the dormitories and that the
wait would be 20 minutes.
Immediately after ending the
call, the students heard noises all
throughout the house. The grand
piano’s keys played on their own,
then a vacuum switched on in a
nearby room.
Eventually, Campus Safety
arrived to liberate the students
from their night of terror. When the officers opened the front door, every
light in the house switched on, even
though only one room was wired for
electricity.
After spending a great deal of
time researching, investigating and
spending time near the house, I find
myself leaning towards the unfamiliar
side of skepticism. Typically, I am
the first to cry “ghost,” but Corbett
House takes the super out of the
supernatural. Its stories, both in lore
and eyewitness testimony, fall flat in
a vacuum of basic paranormal logic.
Not to mention, I gave the ghost plenty
of opportunity to communicate via
camera microphone, audio recorder
and the ever-present opportunity to
possess me.
At the end of the day, even
beneath the full-moon-glow of a brisk
October night, Corbett House is just
as it seems: a house. Investigative LC students experience potential paranormal activity at Harriet Corbett’s infamous home Corbett House urban legend sparks curiosity
By AMELIA DOYLE
THIS FALL, colleges across the
country had to change the way
they teach and interact with
students, as well as the way students,
faculty and staff would interact with
each other. At Lewis & Clark, classes that were previously taught in person
are now taught using hybrid and fully
online approaches. The college also
requires students, faculty and staff to
wear masks in all public spaces. These
daily routines are now the new normal.
As students who are responsible for
the safety and well-being of other students during this time, resident
advisors (RAs) have had to tackle these
challenges head-on. RAs are placed in
dorms to help students navigate their
college experience, whether through
questions about campus life, classes or
what type of clubs are available. As a
result of the pandemic, students are in their dorm rooms and community dorm
room spaces more than ever.
Ezri Rayes ’22 is a second-year RA
who lives and works in Copeland Hall.
“Campus Living took a great stance
of being transparent about what they
knew and what they didn’t know and
getting the information to us,” Rayes
said. “(But it still) felt really chaotic
because there were so many things that
were unanswered.”
Rayes also shared that as time went
on, more questions
were answered, and
that Campus Living
reminds RAs that if
they need help they
can call their area
director.
RAs are also
trying to adjust to the
new aspect of being
online with their
residents instead of
in-person. Usually,
an RA would conduct
one-on-one discussions in person with
resident students, however, that is no
longer an option.
“Especially in a role where you
are supposed to be leading and/or
helping, it’s hard to do that from such
a disconnection perspective,” Ava
Schmidt ’23, an RA for Odell Hall, said.
Schmidt is creating ways in which
she can interact more with her residents
by being around them frequently in the
common areas, and actively trying to get
people on her floor involved in Zoom
activities. She is also trying to set up
community builders where people can
safely social distance in the common
rooms. In addition, she is trying to explore different projects students can
complete in their dorms over Zoom,
such as crafts.
Rayes noted that health precautions
have complicated the way RAs
communicate with their residents.
“It is really hard to communicate
because it’s like the best I feel like I
can do is send out emails,” Rayes said.
“Within my emails, (I) try to let my voice
be in there. I think before, I tried to be
more formal.”
Erin Shaw ’22 is
an RA for Copeland
Hall who has made
efforts to engage her
residents.
“Events that we
are having, I think, is
a big way that people
can adjust and I think
also one-on-ones are
really helpful,” Shaw
said.
For Schmidt,
acknowledging the
greater role RAs have had to take on
during these times is important.
“The RA role has always been
about support in some capacity but I
do feel like it is more about that now,”
Schmidt said. “With the coronavirus,
I understand that my role is more
important now than ever.”
RAs have always been part of
building a community at LC. Now their
role in our community is more essential
than ever before. They are trying to
overcome the disconnect in dorms while
staying in the lines of safety. They are
working to make residents’ time here as
positive as possible under the difficult
circumstances currently facing LC.
Resident advisors adjust to pandemic, campus life changes
RAs share their efforts to incorporate community building activities despite restrictions due to safety concernsALEX BARR/THE PIONEER LOG
Corbett House sits vacant on the Lewis & Clark graduate campus, as it has since it was purchased by the college nearly 20 years ago.When they reached
the second floor, they
began to walk down the
hallway when one of the
students felt a strand
of her long blonde hair
being lifted into the air.
RAs have always
been part of building
a community at
LC. Now their role
in our community
is more essential
than ever before.
ALEX BARR/THE PIONEER LOG
Copeland RA Ezri Rayes ’22 discusses the experience of overseeing Copeland, LC’s largest undergraduate dormitory on campus.FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2020
FEATURES 7
By TOR PARSONS
THE 2020 ELECTION for the
position of Portland mayor is
shaping up to be an unusual
one, chiefly because there are three
major candidates vying for the
seat. Portland’s mayoral elections
are designed to prevent this from
happening: in May, a primary election
is held, and the top two vote-getters
will go on to compete in the general
election in November. This year, the
top two candidates in the primary
were incumbent Mayor Ted Wheeler
and challenger Sarah Iannarone, so
only their names will be listed on the
ballot for mayor. However, anti-police
brutality activist Teressa Raiford, who
finished a distant third in the primary
with 8.4% of the vote, is gaining
momentum as a write-in candidate,
owing to her increased recognition
and visibility in Portland during
the months of anti-racism protests.
This is the second in a series of three
articles, each focusing on one of the
three major candidates for mayor of
Portland.
Raiford, who is a fourth-generation
Portland resident, is best known as
the founder of Don’t Shoot PDX, a
nonprofit she started in 2014 inspired
by the still-unsolved 2010 murder of
her 19-year-old nephew Andre Dupree
Payton. Even before she founded Don’t
Shoot PDX, Raiford was well-known
as a community organizer and police
accountability activist within Portland’s
Black community. Her campaigns against gun violence led to an invitation to the
White House to meet First Lady Michelle
Obama in 2013. While this is Raiford’s
first campaign for mayor, she has vied
for several other local positions in
the past, including unsuccessful runs
for Portland City Council in 2012,
Multnomah County commissioner in
2014 and Multnomah County sheriff
in 2016. If elected, she would be
Portland’s first Black mayor, as well
as the city’s first woman to hold the
position since Vera Katz, who served
from 1992 to 2005.
Raiford’s organization, Don’t Shoot
PDX, has been integral to Portland’s
protests. In June, the group sued
the City of Portland over medical
complaints caused by the police’s
use of tear gas, as well as the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security over
President Donald Trump’s deployment
of federal officers to Portland. A judge
ruled in favor of protesters in the city
suit, while the federal suit is ongoing.
Don’t Shoot PDX also organized “Riot
Ribs,” an all-you-can-eat barbecue
for protesters over the summer, and
started a donation drive to help Oregon
residents who had to evacuate from
areas affected by recent wildfires.
Raiford has a long history of dealing
with racial injustice. Her parents
owned the Burger Barn, a North
Portland restaurant well-known as one
of the city’s preeminent Black-owned
businesses in the 1970s and 1980s.
On March 12, 1981, when Raiford
was 11 years old, two Portland police
officers tossed dead opossums on the restaurant’s doorstep. The incident
was investigated as a hate crime and
resulted in the firing of both officers.
At that time, protests broke out against
the firing of the officers, led by police
officers’ families, and they regained
their jobs.
During her campaign for mayor,
Raiford has focused on continuing to
manage Don’t Shoot PDX and fighting
for racial equity. The majority of
the campaigning has been done by
volunteers. Perhaps due to this less
targeted approach, Raiford has not
garnered as many endorsements as
her rivals. Wheeler has been endorsed
by numerous city organizations, from
blue-collar organized labor such as
the Teamsters and the Northwest
Carpenters Union, to business leaders
including the Portland Business
Alliance. Meanwhile, a coalition of
14 Black community leaders have
endorsed Iannarone. Raiford’s lone
endorsement from a prominent figure
or entity comes from Portland Trail
Blazers basketball star Damian Lillard,
arguably Portland’s most nationally
known Black resident.
As a write-in candidate, no polls
have been taken on Raiford’s chances,
and no write-in candidate has ever been
elected mayor of Portland. However,
she will likely garner a significant
share of the vote if her momentum on
social media and in Portland’s ongoing
protests are any indication. If Raiford
does end up winning, it will be far from
the most unexpected thing to happen
in 2020. The founder of Don’t Shoot PDX is challenging Mayor Ted Wheeler and opponent Sarah IannaroneTeressa Raiford runs write-in mayoral campaign
By JULIA WARLING
WHILE ELECTION years are
always eventful, no one
expected a year like this. With
so much uncertainty in the country, this
election will have a big impact on the
country’s future. Accordingly, the Lewis
& Clark College Democrats (Dems) are
here to help spread awareness through
political education and community
outreach.
“So far this year we’ve been having
weekly online meetings ... to discuss
current political news and talk about
ways in which we can help advance
Democratic causes,” Co-President Mateo
Kaiser ’23 said. “We’ve also partnered
with the Sister District Project which is
an organization that connects Democratic
activists in solidly blue states with
campaigns in swing states where our time
can make a difference, particularly at the
state legislature level.”In addition to hosting these virtual,
federal-focused events, the club has
been working on sharing information
on campus about the Oregon political
scene.
“We are currently trying to get
some posters and flyers designed
right now to help give information
about voting registration, deadlines
and how to do that in Oregon or any
other state,” Cass Orr ’24, the Dems’
social media manager, said. “Also,
we are currently trying to make IGTV
videos about the debates and also any
current news about what’s been going
on in Oregon.”
Leading up to the election, the
club will be participating in several
other events, including debate watch
parties, making phone calls to young
voters, letter-writing sessions and
Zoom discussions with Democratic
candidates such as Brian Farkas and
Frances Jackson, who are both running for North Carolina state legislature.
Most of these events will be hosted
by College Democrats of Oregon or
College Democrats of America.
“In the weeks leading up to the
election and through Nov. 4 we will
be intensifying our efforts to get
students involved in helping Democratic
campaigns, and making sure that
students vote in this watershed election,”
Kaiser said. “Since many students at
Lewis & Clark come from Colorado and
Wisconsin, two crucial swing states, it
is particularly important to make sure
that students have a plan to vote this
November.”
Although the amount of young
voters has increased in recent years,
the turnout has statistically been
lower than that of any other age
group, and was less than 50% in both
2012 and 2016, according to the U.S.
Census Bureau in 2017.
“One of the reasons why issues
and candidates that young voters
support often get ignored is due to a
huge turnout differential based on
age,” Ben Gaskins, associate professor
of political science and the club’s
faculty advisor, said via email. “This
creates a self-reinforcing cycle: older
voters participate at greater rates, so
the issues and candidates they care
about get more focus, which makes
younger voters tune out and get
cynical about the system, and that lack
of involvement further entrenches
powerful interests in their political
influence.”
A common trend among young
voters is to vote third party, or to abstain
from voting altogether. However,
Gaskins believes that students should
choose to vote with one of the two main
parties.
“Not voting (or supporting third
party candidates) causes your influence
to wane, and this is directly at odds
with making the changes students
want to see,” Gaskins said. “Direct
action is vital, but should be coupled
with voting in primaries and general
elections, especially at the state
and local levels. Make your voice
heard ... students have an incredibly
important role to play in American
democracy and should be front and
center of making that democracy
work better.”LC College Democrats encourage
students to take political actionCollege Outdoors takes
COVID-19 precautions
By MADELINE COX
DUE TO COVID-19, College
Outdoors (CO) has had to
make significant changes to
their programming this semester.
Normally, during the week before New
Student Orientation, CO staff lead
New Student Trips (NSTs) around the
Pacific Northwest that give students the
opportunity to participate in outdoor
activities including hiking, surfing,
rafting and backpacking. This year,
these trips were replaced with Virtual
New Student Trips (V-NSTs). These
virtual sessions consisted of ice-breaker
activities and games such as Pictionary
and Lewis & Clark trivia. Current
students were also able to answer
questions about life at LC and what
this year may look like, according to
Assistant Trip Leader Grace Ralston ’21.
“I think V-NSTs successfully achieved
the same goal that NSTs have of creating
community and giving new students
a way to connect with their peers and
fellow upperclassmen before arriving on
campus,” Ralston said via email.
Since V-NSTs were conducted online,
they were accessible to a wider range of
students than regular NSTs.
“One of the best parts about V-NSTs
had to be the fact that everyone could
participate,” Ralston said. “Because
they were free and available at various
times throughout the day, only requiring
internet access and a device to attend with,
everyone was able to join. This meant that
students with disabilities, international
students and student-athletes could all
participate in NSTs when they were not
able to before.”CO has also had to adapt their regular
programming during the semester to
comply with COVID-19 regulations.
Students can no longer rent gear from
the CO warehouse, trip registration
is now being conducted online and
trips that required transportation are
no longer running. Even with these
restrictions, CO is still offering a variety
of trips and workshops happening on
and near campus.
“All the trips we are running at
this time are trips that do not require
transportation to get there, which means
they are close to campus and many of
the hikes can be done by residents even
when they are not on a trip,” Ralston
said. “We have also been able to offer a
bunch of fun trips we haven’t had in the
past such as natural fiber basket weaving
and nature meditation.”
Other programs being offered this
semester include dutch-oven cooking
clinics, overnight backpacking trips in
Tryon, trail running and mushroom
foraging and identifying clinics. Students
can view and register for trips on the
College Outdoor Trip Calendar on the
LC website.
Ralston encourages students to get
involved in CO this semester. CO offers
office hours every day and open house
every other Wednesday. According to
Ralston, students can meet CO leaders
and other students who are interested
in getting involved during open
house. Students can also apply to be a
student coordinator for CO by filling
out an application on their website.
To be added to the CO mailing list and
receive their weekly newsletter, email
outdoors@lclark.edu.
PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
MADELINE COX/THE PIONEER LOG ALEX BARR/THE PIONEER LOG
Teressa Raiford is running on a platform of anti-police brutality and racial equity.FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2020
ARTS 8
By VENUS EDLIN
ENOUGH OF boring Instagram
live streams; it is time that the
entertainment industry steps it up
like many drag performers have done on
virtual platforms.
Live events seem further out of reach
than ever as so many performers turn to
virtual events as a temporary solution.
However, many virtual events have
become monotonous and lack the flair
and energy of stage performances. On
the other hand, virtual drag shows, like
Biqtch Puddin’s weekly show on Twitch,
a live streaming platform, have utilized
the crafty drag spirit to bring creative,
inventive shows to the forefront.
Demand is up for this kind of
performance in light of the pandemic.
According to the 2020 Music 360 Report
by MRC Data, 47% of music listeners feel
it is important for the industry to offer live
stream performances or virtual concerts,
even though only 25% of music listeners
have tuned in to one of these shows.
This is no surprise, as many music
stars like Hozier, Coldplay’s Chris Martin
and Lizzo have all performed in their
homes for free on Instagram live. These
shows serve as pro bono opportunities for
people who cannot afford to go to concerts
to experience something more akin to live
music. These in-home live streams started
off as charming and quaint but quickly
grew tiresome, especially when competing
with drag performers on Twitch who
can eat a jar of mayo, perform burlesque
or become the coronavirus through the
magic of makeup.
However, the prevalence of online
drag during the pandemic is not a new
phenomenon, as it has existed on the
internet for over a decade. Drag queens
like Willam, Jasmine Master and Soju
have been posting YouTube videos for
over 10 years. More recently, Trixie
Mattel and Katya Zamolodchikova have
risen to YouTube stardom with their
series “UNHhhh.” Twitch’s first-ever drag
performer partner Deere founded The
Stream Queens in 2019 as a collective for
drag queens on the platform.
The embedded online drag community
has served as a springboard for what
virtual drag now looks like. Biqtch Puddin’
now has over 20,000 subscribers on
Twitch. One of the winners of “The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula” season three, drag
king Landon Cider, also launched his own
Instagram drag show in April. He has over
160,000 followers on Instagram.
Why have these shows been so
successful, excluding the fact that drag
is just entertaining? Drag is always
a production, even at home, because
makeup, costume and sets must be
considered very intentionally; thus, drag
is even more demanding than a musical
performance or a Shakespeare recitation
live stream. The digital drag production
value is high, though sometimes rough,
and events are accessible because the
price is a suggested donation.
Now, other performers like Billie
Eilish, BTS and Rolling Loud are raising
the stakes. These shows feature multiple
cameras, interesting locations and high-
quality audio. The only issue is that shows
like this tend to charge between $10-$30,
which is a huge barrier for many fans,
even if the proceeds may go to charity.
While that price range is affordable for
a live concert, a digital concert does
not warrant the same cost because the
in-person experience is lost. Winner of
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” season seven Violet
Chachki charged a similar price for her
show “Digital Follies,” but the price tag
is warranted given that the hour long
show was downloadable, and that she had
received little return from her tour “A Lot
More Me” that had been canceled due to
the pandemic.
Performers do deserve to get paid, but
regular people should also have access to
interesting and provocative digital content
in these unprecedented circumstances
without an added charge. Drag performers
are proving that quality online shows with
accessible pricing can still pay the bills.
By ALEX BARR
Warning: This article discusses sexual
assault.
THE SHORT FILM “Blue: A
Kaleidoscope,” created by
Daniyal Afzal ’13, opens up with a
black screen. The disembodied voices of
Pakistani women echo:
“This is what happens when you let
your daughters play outside wherever
they want.”
“What an insolent, she’s disgraced
the whole neighborhood.”
“Shame on her.”
“Blue: A Kaleidoscope,” based on a
BBC report written by Amber Shamsi
in 2015 entitled “How a rape was
filmed and shared in Pakistan,” follows
a Pakistani woman, Zohra, as she
attempts to navigate the vicious riptide
that is post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD). The depiction of Zohra’s day-
to-day experiences detail the intimately
abrasive, muddled and confusing
experience of traumatic flashbacks.
The story explores the chilling depths
of Zohra’s sexual assault. “Blue: A
Kaleidoscope” drags the viewer beneath
the crashing waves of pain, anxiety
and fear through its depiction of an
inescapably ugly truth.
On Oct. 7, Afzal and Urooj Azmi,
the editor, sound mixer and director of
photography for “Blue: A Kaleidoscope”
attended a virtual screening of the film,
held by Lewis & Clark’s “Homecoming
@Home,” as a part of the Alumni Film
Festival. Following the screening, Afzal and Azmi stayed behind for questions
from the virtual attendees. The duo,
described by Azmi as, “partners
in crime,” elaborated on the film’s
production and message.
“Is she (Zohra) supposed to represent
the specific person who was assaulted
in that BBC article that you have been
referencing? Or is she supposed to be a
stand-in character for all of the girls in
the city and the woman who has been
assaulted?” a virtual attendee said.
Afzal began to answer the question
before pausing and redirecting.
“Actually, you know what? I’m just
going to have Urooj (Azmi) jump in,
because my thing from the get-go has
always been that as a man, I still would
not be able to understand this,” Afzal
said. “I’ve made a film. I’ve written
the film. I’ve done my research. I’ve
presented the idea ... but as a man I still
would not be able to understand the
pain.”
Azmi, a Northwestern University
graduate, flashed a bright and
passionate smile as she picked up
where Afzal had left the previously-
posed question.
“I’m really glad you brought that up
because we actually had this discussion
during the production phase of the film,
where we were talking about what the
character — who the character is. And
to me, she was always ... a metaphor,
exactly like that it’s, of not just Pakistani
women.” Azmi explained.
Afzal spoke to the role he hoped
his film would play in the ongoing
conversation about women’s rights in Pakistani culture after he heard of
a recent incident in which a Pakistani
woman was assaulted by three men in
front of her children while they were
pulled over on the highway.
“At that point, my team and I were
like, you know, screw festivals,” Afzal
said. “I don’t want to talk about festivals.
I want to talk about things like, where the film has a potential to just go get
screened internationally, I want to put
this out on the internet and I’m going to
put my credit card on it.”
While “Blue: A Kaleidoscope”
engages with painful and ugly concepts,
it brings the experience of PTSD and
sexual assault to light in a uniquely
uncomfortable and immersive short film. The film transitions between
reality and flashback both relentlessly
and seamlessly, using layered tracks
of hypnotic disembodied voices,
combining vivid cinematography with a
skin-tingling score.
You can stream “Blue: A
Kaleidoscope” by visiting Arash Visuals
Inc.’s Instagram, @arashvisualsinc.“Blue: A Kaleidoscope” screened at Alumni Film Festival
The short film examines the aftermath of sexual assault through the lens of Pakistani cultureVirtual events could
learn from drag showsDive into current politics,
power with podcast “Sway”
By NICHOLAS NERLI
TO APPRECIATE The New York
Times’ latest podcast, “Sway,”
listeners must be diligent and
research its host, Kara Swisher. A pioneer
of technology journalism, Swisher built
her career covering Silicon Valley where,
beginning in the 1990s, she earned a
reputation as a cutthroat, exhaustive
interviewer. As she once told Rolling
Stone, her style of questioning makes
the most powerful turn fragile, and by
the end of an interview, many “wilt.”
Her abrasive nature and willingness
to conduct highly personal interviews
perfectly complement the mission
of “Sway”: examining authority and
detailing how it impacts the average cog
in our social machine.
Swisher is also known to be
friendly yet opinionated, driven by her
progressive politics and personal life.
Listeners will frequently hear Swisher
laughing with her guests, discussing
life stories and arguing with those who
disagree with her liberal ethic. “Sway” is
rightly classified as a work of The New
York Times’ Opinion section, though the
podcast’s partiality should not dissuade
potential listeners. Swisher’s steadfast
demand of answers is exactly the sort of
interviewing that holds industrial and
political titans accountable.
Fittingly, this podcast on power
features Rep. Nancy Pelosi, speaker
of the U.S. House of Representatives,
as its first guest. In a wide-ranging
interview, Swisher and Pelosi discuss
the business of the House, technology
monopolies, President Donald Trump,
Qanon and much more. The evident
friendship between Swisher and Pelosi
does not impede hard questioning. At
one point, Swisher even asks 80-year-old
Pelosi if she is effective enough to lead
the ever-diverging Democratic Party.
The highlight of the interview comes
when Pelosi calls Facebook “totally
disreputable” and charges its executives
with endangering democracy and failing
to control misinformation. At a time
when Congress is looking to strictly
regulate Silicon Valley, these words from
the nation’s top Democrat seemingly
foreshadow future battles between
lawmakers and technology giants.
Swisher’s second guest is California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who many expect
to be a future presidential candidate.
Throughout his career, Newsom has
frequently defied political superiors,
perhaps most notably in 2004 when, as
mayor of San Francisco, he directed the
city to issue same-sex marriage licenses,
then a violation of state law. Swisher
asks Newsom about his maverick style of
governing, comparing
the 2004 incident to
his recent executive
order that bans the
sale of gasoline-
powered cars by
2035. While Newsom
denies a history of
legal disobedience, he
does acknowledge the
importance of elected
officials taking bold
but necessary steps
that may disrupt the status quo.
No interview is as provocative as
that with Elon Musk, who begins by
condescendingly asking “what’s the point
of this podcast?” A lively conversation of
Musk’s technological ventures ensues,
though the heat of the interview revolves
around politics and policy. Swisher is
audibly disturbed when Musk says he
may vote to reelect Trump. However,
this comes as no surprise when one
considers that Musk, a staunch capitalist,
has a history of surprising (some may say reckless) decisions that benefit
his business interests. This interview
best displays Swisher’s talent as an
interviewer and benefits from her vast
knowledge of the technology industry
and its power players.
Other episodes of “Sway” include
interviews with Alexander Vindman, the
star witness of the Trump impeachment,
Moncef Slaoui,
the scientist
leading Operation
Warp Speed, and
rapper and activist
Killer Mike. Left-
leaning political
junkies will
appreciate “Sway”
for its lengthy,
hard-nosed
conversations with
Democratic leaders
and key governmental figures. Even so,
anyone interested in power and wealth
will benefit from Swisher’s ability to ask
difficult questions and receive answers
the public has not yet heard. “Sway,”
with its concept of pressing figures of
authority, is the sort of project that
every journalist dreams of. Luckily for
listeners, Swisher is exactly the journalist
that makes the vision of “Sway” a reality.
“Sway” is available on sites like Apple
Podcasts and Spotify, as well as on The
New York Times’ website.
MAYA WINSHELL/THE PIONEER LOGUMI CALDWELL/THE PIONEER LOG
ALEX BARR/THE PIONEER LOGAnyone interested in
power and wealth will
benefit from Swisher’s
ability to ask difficult
questions and receive
answers the public has
not yet heard.FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2020
ARTS 9
Time-Based Art Festival stuns on last night
The annual festival examined notions of time through in-person and virtual displays, performances
Commentary: hyperpop
finally poised to take offSpooky season recommendations
for suspense-lovers, faint-hearted
By JUSTIN HOWERTON
THE PORTLAND Institute of
Contemporary Art (PICA) hosted
its 19th annual Time-Based Art
Festival from Sept. 10-30. Due to the
coronavirus pandemic, the festival had
to adopt a primarily virtual format, but a
few outdoor events allowed the Portland
community to engage with artistic practice
and performance in-person.
One could argue that the festival’s
intentionally vague theme of time serves
a practical purpose: under such a broad
category, nearly any artist can exhibit any
artwork. While the pandemic continues
to loom in the background, the theme
of time this year seemed all the more
relevant and appropriate given that, on the
collective and individual level, the public’s
conception of time has been radically
altered by quarantining, social distancing
and other isolating measures.On Sept. 30, PICA, through the efforts
of Portland’s Mobile Projection Unit
(MPU), an outdoor video projection studio
founded by Sarah Turner and Fernanda
D’Agostino in 2018, hosted a screening
of the video piece “Against the Current”
that was projected onto the Markham,
Burnside and Morrison bridges. PICA’s
catalog for this year’s festival notes that
“Mobile Projection Unit (MPU) is a roving
studio that presents new, experimental,
site-specific outdoor video projections
throughout Portland, Oregon.” On the
concluding night, PICA arranged for a
collection of speakers and projectors to
occupy the spaces below the bridges along
the Eastbank Esplanade. The artists who
collaborated on this event displayed the
bizarre videos, which were accompanied
by ethereal, ambient audio tracks, onto
the undersides of the bridges. The water
below the bridges reflected the videos back
towards the audience. While most of the videos, which worked
as compositions of brightly distorted colors
and physical bodies in motion, remained
incomprehensible to the unfamiliar
viewer, the visual effect of the media
reflected in massive proportion along a
bridge’s underside and the water below
was impressive in and of itself; the MPU’s
use of public space seemed ingenious
and accessible even if the reflection was
blurrier than I had expected. One of the
scenes depicting standing figures in a field
stood out as one of the more unsettling
scenes of the video series, which played
predominantly below the Morrison bridge.
Most of the videos seemed to examine
motion, projection and space through the
architecture of Portland’s bridges.
Situated along the Eastbank Esplanade,
the event drew critics, neighbors and
random passersby as “Against the Current”
demanded the attention of anyone lucky
enough to pass it.
JUSTIN HOWERTON/THE PIONEER LOGJUSTIN HOWERTON/THE PIONEER LOG
Crystal Cortez helped produce the audio. The event incorporated Portland’s Willamette River, playing with the motion of water. One of the scenes included figures with odd facial coverings frolicking in a field. JUSTIN HOWERTON/THE PIONEER LOG JUSTIN HOWERTON/THE PIONEER LOG
Strategically placed projectors display video media onto and below the Morrison Bridge.
SOFIA REEVES/THE PIONEER LOG
By TOR PARSONS
WHAT WOULD you expect
a musical genre called
“hyperpop” to sound like? Who
would you expect to listen to hyperpop? If
your answer to the second question is “a
cyborg gangster in a ‘Blade Runner’-esque
dystopia,” you are not far off the mark.
Hyperpop hardly sounds like the name
of a real kind of music; rather, it sounds
like a creation of a hack science fiction
writer. Nevertheless, hyperpop is real and
destined to only become more popular.
Hyperpop is a visual aesthetic and an
artistic movement just as much as it is a
style of music. It might be described as
anti-anti-establishment. In response to
music snobs taking “generic” pop music
less seriously than genres like indie rock
and hip-hop, hyperpop is a reaction
against the criticism of pop, emphasizing
and glorifying all the tropes of mainstream
pop. Pop songs have heavy bass; a
hyperpop song may turn up the bass to
an absurd level. Pop songs have a fast
tempo; a hyperpop song will speed up the
tempo so much that it is nearly impossible
to dance to. Pop stars emphasize their
youth and beauty; a hyperpop star will
decorate their album covers and photo
shoots with hearts, candy, pastel colors
and other symbols of childlike femininity.
In short, hyperpop is exactly what the
name suggests: pop taken to cartoonish
extremes, equal parts earnest and ironic.
Though not as terrible as this description
makes it sound, it is definitely eccentric.
Hyperpop also brandishes a
homemade aesthetic. Whereas a pop star
like Dua Lipa or Ariana Grande will be
backed by production, songwriting and
fashion teams, each comprised of several
people, a hyperpop album is typically the
work of a single person, or sometimes
a duo, mixing tracks on a laptop. This
do-it-yourself ethos extends beyond the
music itself: hyperpop album covers often
include collages from movie posters and
comics, and costumes tend to be self-
designed. For instance, on the cover of her
debut album, hyperpop artist SOPHIE
wears a dress made out of cellophane.
Queer themes, while increasingly
prominent in mainstream pop as well
(see Janelle Monáe, Lizzo), are integral to
hyperpop. Some of the biggest hyperpop artists, including SOPHIE, Kim Petras
and Laura Les of duo 100 Gecs, are
transgender women.
Where did hyperpop come from? The
term is of unclear origin and has only
existed for the past few years. It first came
into general use around 2016 on a Reddit
forum dedicated to PC Music, a British
record label promoting experimental
music made by amateur musicians on
computers. Canadian performer Grimes
has been a key figure in the development
of hyperpop. Her musical and visual
styles juxtaposed doll-like femininity with
dark and aggressive lyrical themes, set to
laptop-made electronic pop music, before
any of these became signature tropes of
hyperpop. Marina and the Diamonds’
2012 concept album “Electra Heart,”
which affectionately satirizes pop-idol
worship, has also been mentioned as a
precedent to hyperpop. The songwriter
and producer Charli XCX, who has
worked with pop megastars including
Iggy Azalea, Shawn Mendes and Troye
Sivan, is sometimes associated with
hyperpop, although she has had more of
a role in popularizing hyperpop — Charli
XCX has featured Kim Petras, SOPHIE
and PC Music label founder A.G. Cook on
her albums — than in creating it herself.
Where is hyperpop going next? Well,
as the involvement of a mainstream
figure like Charli XCX in the hyperpop
scene suggests, its popularity can only
increase. These last few years have been
unusual ones in the music world: last
year, the charts were ruled by a goofy
cowboy rap song and the nightmare-pop
of Billie Eilish, while this year, Taylor
Swift went from pop diva to pensive
singer-songwriter in her album “folklore.”
In such a rapidly changing time, in terms
of music and everything else, hyperpop is
due for a big break of its own.
ALEX BARR/THE PIONEER LOGBy TOBY BAZELEY
WITH HALLOWEEN
right around the corner
and normal festivities
not possible due to the COVID-19
pandemic, there is no better way to
celebrate the spooky season than with
some movies. With so many films
to choose from, this is in no way a
complete list of the best Halloween
movies, but these recommendations
should provide some options for those
who want scares, thrills or laughs.
Horror
“The Blair Witch Project” (1999), the
movie that sparked the sub-genre of
“found footage” horror movies, follows
three film students who venture into
the woods of Burkittsville, Maryland to
find the fabled Blair Witch, a witch who
was rumored to terrorize the forests.
One year later, with no sign of the
students, all that remains is the footage
they shot, which was compiled and
turned into a movie. The producers
of the film advertised it as entirely
unedited and even included missing
posters of the movie’s three supposedly
“real” characters on the internet. The
inventive film uses its simplicity to draw the audience in and delivers a
terrifying payoff. The movie can be
rented or bought on Amazon, YouTube
or iTunes.
Stanley Kubrick’s classic horror
“The Shining” (1980) is set in a remote
hotel where writer Jack Torrance
is hired as the off-season caretaker.
What ensues is the psychological
torment of Torrance, which sends
him down a dark and violent path.
His son discovers a psychic gift called
“the shining” that shows him horrible
visions of the hotel’s past and future.
Kubrick keeps the audience guessing
and scared, making the nearly 2.5 hour
run time suspenseful and enjoyable
throughout its duration. As with “The
Blair Witch Project,” it can be rented
on Amazon, YouTube or iTunes.
Thriller
Perhaps the quintessential
psychological thriller, “The Silence of
the Lambs” (1991) follows FBI trainee
Clarice Starling and psychiatrist-
turned-cannibal serial killer Hannibal
Lecter. With a new murderer to catch,
Starling is sent to talk to Lecter, who
is believed to have insight that could
help catch the new killer. What follows
is a mesmerizing movie that thrills and scares without relying too heavily
on blood and gore. It is available on
Netflix or Showtime.
A classic thriller from M. Night
Shyamalan, “The Sixth Sense”
(1999) takes place a year after child
psychologist Malcolm Crowe is
confronted by an angry ex-patient,
causing Crowe to shut down his
practice. Now, he has taken up his first
new client: a boy who claims to have
a psychic gift. The film is equal parts
mystery and thriller and manages to
keep the viewer on the edge of their
seat. It can be rented on Amazon,
iTunes and YouTube.
Comedy
A horror-comedy with a social message,
“Ready or Not” (2019) follows a bride,
Grace, who could not be happier on
her wedding day, which takes place on
her groom’s luxurious family estate.
However, her joy fades into horror
as she is informed she must play a
terrifying game of hide and seek. Giving
a clear critique of the upper class, the
movie delivers horror and humor with
little nuance in the best possible way.
“Ready or Not” is available on HBO.
Shot like a documentary, “What We
Do in the Shadows” (2014) tells the tale
of three old-world vampires struggling
with life in the modern world. Viago,
Deacon and Vladislav struggle with
avoiding sunlight, paying rent and
keeping up with the chore wheel. It is
a fun and hilarious take on the classic
vampire movie, and with the only gore
and violence being played for laughs, it
should be enjoyable for even the most
squeamish of audiences. It is available
to rent on Amazon, iTunes or YouTube.
Cult Classics
This list would not be complete without
mentioning “The Rocky Horror Picture
Show” (1975). With a plot so ridiculous
that it cannot be summed up in just a
few sentences, the movie is perfect for
those looking to laugh, sing and, above
all, have fun. It is a movie best watched
with friends — social distanced of
course — and can be rented through
Amazon, iTunes and YouTube. Keep an
eye out for drive-in theaters that might
be showing it.By TOR PARSONS
THE NORTHWEST Conference
(NWC), to which Lewis &
Clark’s sports programs
belong, is celebrating 25 years in
the National Collegiate Athletic
Association (NCAA) in January
2021. The conference is composed
of nine members, all of which are
smaller private colleges in Oregon
and Washington, and was first
certified by the NCAA as part of its
Division III in 1996.
While this is a significant
milestone for LC’s athletic
programs, the NWC was already
quite old when it joined the NCAA.
Founded in 1926, the NWC was
one of the first organized athletic
conferences on the West Coast.
The first iteration of the NWC
included sports teams from six
colleges: Willamette University in
Salem, Oregon; Pacific University
in Forest Grove, Oregon;
Whitman College in Walla Walla,
Washington; the University
of Puget Sound in Tacoma,
Washington; Linfield College in
McMinnville, Oregon; and the
College of Idaho in Caldwell,
Idaho. All of the founding schools
except for the College of Idaho are
still NWC members.
LC, which at the time was
called Albany College, joined
the conference in 1931, then
dropped out in 1938. The college
was preparing to move its main
campus from Albany, Oregon, to
Portland in 1939. After Albany
College moved to the Fir Acres
estate in 1942 and changed its
name to “Lewis & Clark College,”
it rejoined the conference in 1949,
and LC has been a NWC member
ever since.
The NWC remained separate
from the NCAA, the organization
that regulates most college sports
in the U.S. and Canada, until 1996.
According to its website, the NWC
joined the NCAA out of a desire
to “foster equity, sportsmanship and genuine concern for the
student-athlete in all endeavors of
competition.” Previous decisions
in the NWC had been motivated
by equity as well; for instance, in
1984 it merged with the Women’s
Conference of Independent
Colleges, changing from a male-
only institution to a co-ed
partnership.
NWC teams compete in
NCAA’s Division III, the third
and lowest tier of intercollegiate
sports in the country. Division
III schools are typically small
and private, and cannot offer
athletic scholarships, a privilege
the NCAA only affords to Division
I and Division II schools. There
is an annual Division III football
championship, the Stagg Bowl,
but Division III sports teams
otherwise do not often play
teams outside their individual
conferences and cannot face teams
from other divisions.
So, what is the NWC doing to
celebrate its 25th anniversary in
the NCAA? Owing to restrictions
on group activities due to the
ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,
little can be done. The NWC
Presidents’ Council voted in
August to suspend all conference
competition in all sports until
Jan. 1, 2021, and possibly further
depending on the state of the
pandemic. Nonetheless, the NWC
has released a series of videos
and articles on their website
and social media platforms
celebrating the anniversary,
in which NWC Assistant
Commissioner Rosie Phillips
discusses accomplishments in
the NWC with notable coaches
and athletes from NWC member
schools. LC’s features focus
primarily on basketball. Phillips
interviewed former LC Head
Women’s Basketball Coach Juli
Fulks, and a feature was posted
to the NWC website on current
Head Women’s Basketball Coach
Kristina Williams ’13.By RACHELLE BINDER
STAYING MOTIVATED and
receiving an education is not easy
during the ongoing COVID-19
pandemic. According to a Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) study, 41% of people reported
struggling with mental health issues
related to the pandemic. 75% of 18
to 24-year-olds reported adverse
mental health issues, revealing the
vulnerability of college students.
Since the world is going through a lot
right now, it is crucial to prioritize
our mental health.
As schools strive to limit the spread
of the virus, online instruction has
become the new norm. Many of the
students attending classes on Zoom
report experiencing “Zoom fatigue,”
the tired, sluggish feeling one gets
after a full day of using the video
conferencing platform. Contributing
factors to Zoom fatigue include
online distractions, such as scrolling
through social media or viewing
yourself on camera. Processing
information through a computer
microphone or speaker, which
requires increased attentiveness,
could also be possible factors. Zoom
calls are taxing in comparison to
face-to-face interaction. Consider
reducing Zoom fatigue by scheduling
breaks between classes, hiding self-
view, attending class at a desk rather
than a bed and reducing distractions
by turning off your phone and closing
social media applications.
This semester has been unusual for
in-person students at Lewis & Clark. Necessary restrictions to mitigate
the spread of COVID-19 make the
typical social college experience much
lonelier.
“Most of us crave the company
of others,” Assistant Professor with
Term of Psychology Amelia Wilcox
said. “This is why it is so hard for
people to follow the rules of social
isolation. I think it is important
to know that we can be distanced
without isolating.”
The college experience during the
pandemic does not have to be in total
isolation. To create a social circle among other students at LC, Wilcox
suggests taking a masked and socially
distanced walk with a friend, video
calling or any other way of connecting
with students that are safe.
As a young adult, recognizing and
understanding what you are going
through is crucial.
“Having feelings of sadness and
anxiety right now is normal,” Wilcox
said. “Try to be kind to yourself
and your friends for having normal
reactions to the losses that are a real
part of responding responsibly to the
pandemic.” There are many simple tools and
strategies for emotionally supporting
ourselves. Wilcox recommends
sleeping well, exercising, eating
healthy and connecting with loved
ones even if it is virtually. LC’s
Wellness Center offers plenty of
online resources and services for on
and off-campus students in Oregon,
such as telehealth appointments.
Zoom rooms are also available in the
Wellness Center and can be reserved
for virtual appointments with an off-
campus counselor or therapist.
In November, most LC students will return home and quarantine for
the winter. Anthony Fauci, director of
the National Institute of Allergies and
Infectious Diseases, said we need to
prepare to “hunker down” in fear of a
“twindemic” of COVID-19 and the flu.
Preparation should include tending to
the needs of your mental health and
doing things that make you feel good.
“It could be binge-watching your
favorite show, reaching out to a friend
through Zoom, playing a video game,
reading a book,” Associate Dean of
Students for Health and Wellness
and Chief Psychologist John Hancock
said. “It is important that everyone
has a list of things they can do in
an isolated environment to keep a
positive mood.”
As the days get shorter and colder,
staying indoors may bring concern
for those who struggle with seasonal
affective disorder. Hancock suggests
going outdoors when sunnier weather
is present is good for one’s emotional
health.
The past eight months of living
through a global pandemic have
been stressful. As the world dwells in
suffering and uncertainty, it is crucial
to keep our mental health in check
just as much as our physical health.
In the U.S., many are under stress
from issues including racial injustice,
the 2020 general election, climate
change and the economic recession.
It is critical to remind ourselves that
these times will pass and that we are
all struggling in different ways. Giving
grace, reaching out and showing
support to others is an essential job
for these times. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2020
SPORTS 10
By AIDAN D’ANNA
TEN YEARS AGO , athletic events
at Lewis & Clark were mainly
in-person. Some games were
recorded as audio files and posted to
the LC Pioneers website, and some
were filmed with a laptop web-camera,
but by and large, the only way to watch
an LC athletic event was to physically be
present at the game.
In 2010, current Director of Athletic
Communications and Play-by-Play
Broadcaster Ryan Goff changed that by
pitching the idea for Pio Stream to the
LC athletics department, a new way for
students and alumni to feel like they are
present at sporting events even when
they are unable to physically attend.
“(We wanted to) try to make it
available to parents and alumni and the
community to watch,” Goff said. “The
goal in 2010 was just to try to make it
a little bit more like the experience of
watching sports on TV, as opposed to
just a single camera.”
Since 2010, Pio Stream has expanded
to provide live, high-quality multi-
camera footage largely shot by student
employees of every LC home game for all
19 varsity sports.
However, the Northwest Conference’s
decision to suspend all conference play
until at least January 2021 put a hitch in
Goff’s plans for Pio Stream.
“Pio Stream was always primarily
competition-based. But in March with
the pandemic, the Northwest Conference suspended and then ultimately canceled
the rest of the season. So we tried to find
a way to continue to put the focus on our
student-athletes, and our alumni,” Goff
said.
Goff found this focus by launching
LCPioneers.com Live, a show that
broadcasts live Tuesday through Friday
from 11:30 a.m. to noon on the LC
Pioneers Facebook page. The show’s first
post was on Mar. 31. LCPioneers.com
Live gave the LC community a chance
to stay connected with athletics amidst a
mostly virtual world.
“It’s a chance for us to spotlight an
interview with athletes, coaches and
alumni, or even the general Lewis &
Clark College community,” Goff said.
As the host of the show, Goff has
interviewed guests ranging from golf
student-athlete Matt Siemer ’22 to Vice
President of Student Life and Dean of
Students Robin Holmes-Sullivan.
On Oct. 1, Goff interviewed Head
Women’s Volleyball Coach Emily Hayes.
“(The show is) making us all better,”
Hayes said. “It’s a virtual way to be in
touch with people. You think about all
the things that we’re missing out on in
person right now. Obviously, we would
be competing, we’d be having alumni
events in person, I’d be able to be
connecting with our alums face to face.
And so having this structured way that
anyone can log on, and get a sense more
of what Lewis & Clark is … that’s why it’s
special and unique.”
During her interview, Hayes discussed additions to her staff as well as
returning assistant coaches, COVID-19
protocols for practicing in the gym
and highlighted some of her players,
both returners and first-year student-
athletes. She also took the opportunity
to promote what she sees as her team’s
greatest strength.
“I think the culture of the volleyball
team is pretty unique and just a special
culture to be a part of … the mindset
that our team takes on is one of
gratitude all the time,” Hayes said.
Goff said that he plans to continue
airing Pio Stream once sports seasons
resume in the spring, in addition to
regular broadcasts of all home sporting
events.
“We’re trying to make Pio Stream
one of the best possible broadcasts
that anyone can watch at the NCAA
Division III level,” Goff said.
At its heart, Pio Stream and
LCPioneers.com Live are both meant
to serve as avenues for connection
within the LC community by bringing
sports to virtually to every corner of the
world.
“It is an amazing morale boost
and source of connectivity for the
institution, much less the athletic
department,” Hayes said. “It gives the
chance for our student-athletes and
coaches to have a voice, our alumni
have a voice, as well as Lewis & Clark
staff and faculty and so I feel like it is
an awesome, stellar, amazing thing
that brings us together every week.” Pio Stream launches new show to
connect to broader LC communitySocial isolation contributes to Zoom fatigue
As students adjust to their “new normal,” studies show that their mental health may be suffering
EMERY ANDERSON/THE PIONEER LOG
NWC celebrates 25
years in the NCAA
PHOTO COURTESY OF LC PIONEERS
LCPioneers.com Live is hosted by Ryan Goff and airs every Tuesday through Friday at 11:30 a.m. on the LC Pioneers Facebook page.By GABE KORER
WHILE DIVISION I
conferences such as the
Big 10 and Pac-12 reversed
their decisions to postpone the 2020
college football season, Division III
conferences remain committed to
a spring reopening. The Northwest
Conference (NWC), which includes
Lewis & Clark, has postponed games
until January 2021, when it plans
to hold a four-to-five game football
season.
Pressure
from coaches and
student-athletes,
as well as concerns
over revenue,
prompted the
decision to renew
the 2020 season.
As a primary
source of funding
for college
athletics, football
makes more
money for FBS
schools (Division
I Football Bowl
Subdivision) than
every other college sport combined.
While this is not the case for Division
III schools like LC, sponsoring football
can still mean an increase in spending
revenue as high as 40% for smaller
institutions.
Another concern for Division I
colleges was recruitment. With NCAA
COVID-19 guidelines and travel
restrictions still stringent, coaches
have had limited opportunities to
scout and meet with high school
student-athletes. This makes the
college regular season more valuable,
as it serves as a platform for coaches
to promote their brand of football
and allows them to achieve notoriety
for their program — both important
aspects of recruitment.
Since the majority of Division
I conferences planned to continue
college football as early as Aug. 17,
conferences that initially decided
to postpone faced pushback from
universities that did not want to fall
behind in recruitment. As a Division
III school, LC did not have that issue
because other Division III schedules were similarly postponed and
Division III three student-athletes
tend to commit later (making a spring
reopening more feasible).
In order to stop the spread of
the virus that causes COVID-19,
Division I programs are subject to
NCAA guidelines along with specific
conference measures. These limit
crowd sizes, ensure regular testing
and embed social distancing practices
prior to games.
Players and coaches also have to
wear masks on
the sidelines and
quarantine for up
to two weeks if
they test positive
for COVID-19. So
far, each of the
conferences has
managed to avoid
major setbacks,
though individual
teams have faced
problems with
maintaining their
schedules. The
University of
Notre Dame, for
instance, had to
postpone a game against Wake Forest
University in late September due to
several positive COVID-19 tests. It
remains to be seen whether COVID-19
outbreaks will prematurely end the
Division I college football season.
For their part, the NWC has
cited COVID-19 concerns as
the fundamental reason behind
postponing games and has urged a
return to athletic competition that is
safe.
“The NWC has been working
diligently over the past several months
to plan for the safe reopening of
campuses this fall while prioritizing
the health and well-being of
students, faculty, staff and campus
communities,” their website said.
As a part of the NWC’s decision,
practices and non-conference activities
are permitted insofar as they adhere to
state and COVID-19 directives. The
Presidents’ Council for the NWC has
left open the possibility of additional
updates, which may appear in the
coming months based on the changing
status of COVID-19 in relation to the
NCAA’s guidelines.By AUBREY ROCHÉ
IN A NORMAL year , Intramural
Sports would host matches of
futsal, volleyball, soccer, tennis
and basketball, as well as an annual
badminton tournament and the
Thanksgiving Turkey Trot 5k run.
However, this semester’s social
distancing requirements and limits on
crowd sizes have caused Intramurals
to explore new ways of offering
organized group activities.
Aaron Campbell, head track
and field coach and director of
intramurals, described adapting to
COVID-19 restrictions as challenging.
Trying to find activities that not only
follow social distancing requirements
but are also fun and contribute to
community engagement is no easy
feat. Intramural basketball and soccer
usually have the highest numbers of
participants, yet these sports require
close contact with others and sharing
equipment, both of which must now
be avoided.
“The social distancing component
is definitely our biggest challenge in
terms of what we can do and what
those sports are,” Campbell said. “We
were … figuring out what protocol
looks like (and) what is going to
be safe but also going to have those
elements of intramurals that we’ve
liked since the beginning.”
In place of futsal, which normally
begins during the fall semester,
Intramurals has introduced a game called Kubb, pronounced “koob.” Kubb
is played by two teams, where players
throw batons to try and knock over the
other team’s Kubb blocks. Once each
block has been knocked down, the leading team has the chance to knock
over the “king” Kubb block, which
is in the center of the playing area.
Knocking over the “king” Kubb block
wins the game. Michael Mulrennan ’22 described
Kubb as similar to bowling, as the
objective is knocking over pins or
blocks. He introduced it as an idea for
Intramurals this year after learning how to play over the summer. There
has been positive feedback from
students who have participated in
Kubb games so far. Mulrennan said
that there was a bit of a learning curve
at first, in figuring out how to play a
new game, but teams adapted quickly
and had fun while playing, despite
distancing requirements.
“Doing an activity together was a
really powerful and important thing,”
Mulrennan said. “Intramurals has a
great community, and it was really
fun to share that with some new
people, and some freshmen, and get
them outside and playing again.”
Mulrennan highly encourages people
to sign up for Kubb and hopes to have
more teams play in the upcoming weeks.
Games last 45 minutes to an hour, and
according to Mulrennan are “a great way
to get outside and have some fun.” Sign-
ups are always open, and you can sign up
a team of three to five people by emailing
intramur@lclark.edu.
Intramurals is planning to host
kickball later in the semester, and in
the spring they are hoping to be able
to return to some of the sports they
have done in the past. Regardless of
the necessary changes to the structure
of the semester, Campbell is remaining
optimistic and flexible.
“We want to try new stuff, we’re not
afraid to see how things go,” Campbell
said. “This was a good opportunity to
say alright, we’re in a different spot, let’s
get something new out, so that’s where
Kubb came up, and we’re rolling with it.”FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2020
SPORTS 11
By GABRIEL
MANTIONE-HOLMES
THE RAIN IS coming and
sunny days will soon be only in
daydreams and fond memories.
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is
a mood disorder related to seasonal
changes. Students, faculty and staff will
be at greater risk of experiencing SAD
from lack of sunlight exposure with the
rainy season moving in. According to
the Mayo Clinic, SAD may be affected
by lowered serotonin and melatonin
levels.
This is not a normal rainy season.
The vast majority of people have
been quarantining and socially
isolating themselves over the course
of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Quarantining and social distancing can
lead to lower levels of vitamin D due to
prolonged hours indoors.
Vitamins should only be used
if there is a deficient level in your
body. To avoid intaking potentially
hazardous levels of vitamins,
the National Institutes of Health
recommend following dietary reference
intakes (DRI). The Food and Nutrition
Board of the Institute of Medicine and
the National Academy of Sciences issued the DRIs as nutritional intake
guidelines; the most notable DRI is
the recommended dietary allowances
which look at sufficient nutrient
requirement intake. For those living
in Portland and performing proper
COVID-19 isolation techniques, you
should look into taking at least some
form of vitamin D.
You can also work around the rainy
season by investing in a sun lamp. The
Mayo Clinic advises that you position
your face 1.25 to two feet from the lamp
for 20 to 30 minutes. Another option
is to take a vitamin D supplement with
a liquid after you eat, which does not
take half an hour of your day.
There are two different forms of
Vitamin D: D2 and D3. Vitamin D2 is
naturally produced in humans; Vitamin
D2 in plants. Thus, vitamin D3 is better
absorbed by humans according to the
National Library of Medicine, despite
Vitamin D2 being cheaper to produce.
Investing in a sun lamp is also another
way to combat SAD.
An international research
partnership between the University of
Georgia, the University of Pittsburgh
and the Queensland University of
Technology in Australia conducted a
review of over 100 articles and found a relationship between vitamin D and
SAD.
According to Professor of Psychiatry
Alfred Lewy at Oregon Health &
Science University, 5% of the Portland
metropolitan area’s population is
severely affected by SAD and another
15% are moderately affected.
Vitamin D is not the only beneficial
vitamin or supplement. Iron deficiency
is the most common deficiency
worldwide and is especially prevalent
in people who menstruate. Hormonal
birth control can help with iron-
deficiency anemia. Along with iron
deficiency, students suffering from
sleeping or following a plant based diet
might want to look into melatonin or
vitamin B.
The University of Georgia Health
Center reports that most college
students get 6 to 6.9 hours of sleep per
night. If you are having trouble sleeping
or want to change your sleep schedule,
using melatonin supplements can help.
You can help promote sleep by taking
one to three milligrams two hours
before your desired bedtime.
If you have bad reactions to
melatonin try incorporating lavender
or magnesium into your nightly
routine instead. Both have large bodies
of scientific work that link them to
better overall sleep. With lavender,
studies show that smelling or ingesting
80 mg of a lavender oil supplement in
the evening will improve sleep. With
magnesium, 500 milligrams taken
daily improves sleeping.
Plant-based diets have been linked
to vitamin deficiencies due to their
more restrictive nature. According to
the Mayo Clinic, if you follow a plant-
based diet you are at a greater risk for
deficiencies in omega-3 fatty acids,
vitamin B-12, iron, zinc and iodine.
The Harvard Health Publishing Staff
warns that vitamin B12 deficiency
can lead to deep depression, paranoid
delusions, memory loss, incontinence,
loss of taste and smell and more.
Vitamin deficiencies are a serious
matter. Waiting too long to get the
proper vitamins may be detrimental
to your health. Most LC students
are already at risk for a vitamin D
deficiency due to the campus’ location
and the time of year. If you think you
might be deficient it is worth your time
to purchase vitamins.How to take the proper vitamins
for a happy and healthy lifestyle Intramurals introduce “Kubb” to Lewis & Clark
LC Intramural Sports discover new ways to socialize through Kubb, the wooden block Nordic lawn game
Pac-12 and Big 10 set
to reestablish football
A group of LC students celebrate in the Pamplin gym and pose for a photo after winning the Spring 2019 intramural championship.
Supplements melatonin, B-12, D-3 and iron rest atop a copy of The Pioneer Log.
GABRIEL MANTIONE-HOLMES/THE PIONEER LOG UMI CALDWELL/THE PIONEER LOGPHOTO COURTESY OF INTRAMURAL SPORTSFRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2020
12
“Manifest Destiny” top spurs varied community response
By JUSTIN HOWERTON
MEMBERS OF the Lewis &
Clark community recently
caught Astra Pellatz ’21 on
campus sporting a new tee from the
alternative fashion company Urban
Outfitters which brandished the text
“Manifest Destiny.” Pellatz received
varied responses from students and
professors alike.
Pellatz, a self-proclaimed new-
age spiritualist, claims that the text
on their shirt merely spoke to one of
their meditative practices and was not
intended to cause emotional harm or
discomfort.
“In no way did I mean to upset the
status quo,” Pellatz said. “My friend
bought me this shirt as a parting gift,
and it’s honestly insulting to face an
accusation of insensitivity when I’m
so often discriminated against by my
peers for my own spiritual practices.” When asked to expand on the
exact nature of their friend’s “parting,”
Pellatz declined to comment. However,
they did continue to defend their
practices as a staunch spiritualist while
drawing on a personal anecdote to
illustrate their point.
“As a spiritual apprentice myself,
I have learned to manifest my dreams
into realities,” Pellatz said. “This year
I was able to manifest a healthier
relationship with my mother into
existence. After getting caught stealing
some of her prescribed Xanax, I was
forced into rehab. And that time away
from her has forced me to realize that
living apart has been so beneficial for
the both of us. Our relationship has
never been better.”
Pellatz was allegedly on campus
to pick up their latest basalt shipment
as president of the Astrological
Phenomenological Ecological Demisexual
Club when they were spotted by numerous people. Taylor Schinfield ’23 happened
to see Pellatz leaving Templeton with a
hula hoop draped over their shoulder
and noticed the text.
Despite not knowing Pellatz on a
personal level, Schinfield expressed
support as he considers himself a
similar practitioner of non-Western
spirituality.
“I don’t get what the big deal is,”
Schinfield said. “So what if the term
‘Manifest Destiny’ implies a history of
ruthless colonization and Indigenous
displacement and genocide? That was
so long ago, and people should realize
that stuff like that is not happening
anymore. ‘Manifest Destiny’ has taken
on a new meaning in our generation’s
spiritual context and nomenclature.”
Some members of the community
have followed Pellatz’s lead by
incorporating their own questionable
ideologies into different aspects of
their wardrobes. Many “Self Love is Self Loathing” buttons
have appeared on the frayed
jackets of freshmen, and “Real
Women Vote for Trump” hats
have become the latest arbitrary
fashion accessories of LC
students attempting to
express some semblance of
individuality.
At the time of publication,
administrators have neither
censured nor applauded
Pellatz’s controversial tee.
President Vim Vievel did
opt to email a bulletin
to the LC community
advocating for the
“common interest” and
“multiculturalism,”
but he ultimately
declined to speak
to The Pioneer
Log regarding the
situation.There is no scaling
back this Libra season
By VENUS EDLIN
WHEN STUDENTS saw a
large glass bowl full of keys
in Associate Professor of
Philosophy James Gritzhaver’s home, they
were cautiously curious. Either their worst
fears or greatest desires were confirmed
when they saw several keychains for Club
Privada, a swingers club in Portland.
Zoom has unveiled a whole new world
of information as professors call-in from
home, revealing remarkable things in the
background. This includes the discovery
that one beloved professor gets it on with
more than just his husband. Swingers have
sex with people other than their partners,
often randomized by participants pulling
car keys from a bowl before they leave with
whoever owns the key.
Gritzhaver said he is not embarrassed
and encourages students to ask questions.
“Philosophy is inherently deeply
personal anyway,” Gritzhaver said. “I was
not trying to hide my sexcapades, in fact,
I think we need to be more upfront about
the freaky sex we have. We are all adults
here.”
His student Mahsa Bates ’21, a self-
proclaimed slut, was surprised to find
out that Fritzhaver is a swinger, but is
supportive.
“I just started my OnlyFans a week ago and I was worried about how I
would be received on a college campus,
especially if professors found out,” Bates
said. “But I am more comforted than ever
knowing that not all of my professors just
have vanilla sex in missionary.”
Gritzhaver confirmed that it is
true he does not just have vanilla sex
in missionary, even when he is not
swinging. He found comradery in the
philosophy department when students
saw Associate Professor of Philosophy
and Department Chair Robert OdenLi
with shibari rope and impact toys,
such as paddles, on his wall when he
accidentally panned his camera during a
Zoom class.
Ana Sechs ’22 has been inspired by
the recent unveiling of the kinkiness
coming from the philosophy department.
Sechs even plans on frequenting Club
Privada post-pandemic with her partner.
“I used to hide all my sex toys in my
dorm closet when we had class, but now
I proudly display on the shelf behind
me,” Sechs said. “I do not just have the
basic stuff like a vibrator and classic
dildo, either. I feature my pastel pink
ponytail buttplug and, on the floor, an
exercise ball with a dildo attached.”
Not all have been supportive though.
Don Askiss ’21 said teachers and students
alike should keep it in their pants.“It has become so difficult to focus in
class and some of the stuff people do is
disgusting,” Askiss said. “But I can not
lie, it does turn me on a little.”
In light of these events, the
psychology department is planning
a study to discover why philosophy
professors tend to be more kinky and
adventurous with sex. Adjunct Professor
of Psychology Besel Ford-McCain is
heading the study.
“We know that most of the staff is
queer because this is a liberal arts school,
which just makes kink all the more
common,” Ford-McCain said. “But we
think some sort of special psychological
phenomenon is happening in the
philosophy department.”
Gritzhaver said sex he engages in
is nothing special and that maybe the
psychology department should be less
boring.
“I think they need some sex,”
Fritzhaver said. “It must have been a
while.”
Student Engagement plans to hold
a forum to discuss non-normative sex.
She Bop, a Portland sex toy store, is
sponsoring the event and giving out
one penetrating sex machine to a lucky
student.
The owners of Club Privada declined
a request to comment.Zoom indiscretion inspires
campus to be more kinkyThe Backdoor is a work of humor and fiction
Spiritually obsessed wook on campus sports new Urban Outfitters shirt with controversial text
MAYA WINSHELL/THE PIONEER LOG
MAYA WINSHELL/THE PIONEER LOG
By AMELIA MADARANG
Libra (Sept. 24-Oct. 23)
People born under the sign of Libra
are associated with the planet Venus
which causes a strong emotional
disposition. As Venus shines on you
during Mercury’s retrograde, you
need to take this opportunity to have
a (coronavirus safe) hot girl semester.
Shoot your shot and the stars will be
behind you. You majestic freak, you.
Scorpio (Oct. 24-Nov. 22)
You are caught in the seasonal
Mercury retrograde until November,
this may push you to be a really loving
person, or perhaps the stars are
pushing you to be a serial killer. Either
way, if you are looking for that passion
in this time of uncertainty, Libras will
be a great person to turn your mommy
issues to.
Sagittarius (Nov. 23-Dec. 22)
You usually do not believe in
horoscopes but ever
since you found
out “having a
Subaru isn’t
a personality
trait” you have
been turning
to the stars
for guidance.
If you have
something on
your mind, you
should just say
it and if a Taurus
gets upset that’s their
bloody problem. Also,
slide into a Libra’s
direct messages on
Zoom.
Capricorn (Dec. 23-Jan.
20)
Your perspective on
life is realistic and
materialistic and you try to turn
everything to your own advantage.
I hate you. Loving capitalism is
so embarrassing. That being said,
everyone needs a partner in crime.
Right now your Sun is in Libra and
this span will be rather serious for
you. Buy them a gift or something.
Aquarius (Jan. 21-Feb. 19)
While Mercury is backtracking and
backpacking through Scorpio, you
may find it hard to connect with any
Scorpio beyond a surface level. You
do not need to force a connection.
Sometimes it is self-care to cut people
off and go for those Libras who you
have an instant connection with.Pisces (Feb. 20-March 20)
Honestly, you suck and I wish you were
a Libra. Please change.
Aries (March 21-April 20)
Mars is in retrograde for you until Nov.
3 at 7:69 p.m. You are associated with
the planet Mars so this will be rough,
but it gives you an opportunity to
recuperate and refocus your energy so
you are spending it on what matters
most in your life. Cough like that Libra
you ghosted, cough cough.
Taurus (April 21-May 21)
You are usually very sensitive and
succumb easily to your feelings; in
other words, you are a pissbaby. This
is not the time to be in your feelings.
It is the time to stand up for yourself
and fight any Sagittarius that says
otherwise. Also, hook up with a Libra.
Gemini (May 22-June 21)
Are you caught in a love triangle? Do you
have several relationships at the same
time, you two-faced goose?
I know these last
few months have
been weird and
you are just waiting
for that lunar
eclipse in Nov.
to set things
right. Whatever
situation you are in
a Libra can be a great
addition.
Cancer (June
22-July 22)
This water sign
is associated with
the moon and
lucky for you there
are two full moons
occurring in October.
Wow, astronomy is
hard. Use this time
to stop pining and
take action! That Libra cannot wait
forever!
Leo (July 23-Aug. 22)
You need to stop sitting with goblin
posture during your virtual classes.
All the Libras are talking about it. It is
honestly concerning.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 23)
The sign Virgo is associated with the
planet Mercury but Mercury’s retrograde
will not be hitting you the hardest. So,
you have no excuse to gatekeep that
thing you think makes you unique. If
you say “You did not know that” one
more time I will scream. Be like a Libra
and do not be a dick.MAYA WINSHELL/THE PIONEER LOGFRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2020
NEWS 2
RHMS, Forensics Club co-host debate streams
Discussion of vice presidential debate struck by Zoom bombing, sponsors adapt for future live events
By BELLA MET
ON SEPT. 29 and Oct. 7, the
rhetoric and media studies
(RHMS) department and
the Forensics Club co-hosted live
streams for the presidential and vice
presidential debates.
According to Director of Forensics
and Instructor Joseph Gantt, the
presidential debate watch party
had up to 25 participants total,
including a panel of staff members
from the RHMS and political science
departments. The vice presidential
event had a similar number of
participants.
Early on during the vice
presidential debate watch party, the
event experienced what is known as
a “Zoom bombing.” Zoom bombing
is where a meeting becomes intruded
by “Zoom bombers” who tend to
utilize hateful or obscene language
and partake in lewd actions. During
the live stream event, racial slurs,
fatphobic comments and derogatory
terms for women were said and the
“Zoom bombers” drew phallic objects
on the shared screen.
Yancee Gordon ’21, a RHMS
major, was watching the stream when
the Zoom bombing occurred.
“The Zoom bombing was
confusing at first,” Gordon said via
email. “Since most Lewis & Clark
students are pretty casual and don’t
mind jumping into conversation, I
didn’t immediately recognize that it
was someone who was not supposed
to be there. Once I heard the awful
language they were using, however, I
felt really uncomfortable.”
Gantt handled the situation
by immediately ending the Zoom
meeting and moving to a private
link created by one of the panelists,
Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Media Studies and Director of General
Education and Ethnic Studies Kundai
Chirindo.
Once there were no more
disruptions, the debate was
underway. Participants and staff
members utilized the chat function
and made comments throughout.
They mentioned fracking, and
phrases that Sen. Kamala Harris
said such as, “Mr. Vice President,
I’m speaking.” They also asked the
panelists why candidates would
ignore the questions posed to them by
the moderator and discuss whatever
they wanted. Some joked about
cutting Vice President Mike Pence’s
microphone while others enjoyed the
unexpected spotlight stealer: the fly
that landed on Pence’s white hair.
In a forum after the debate,
students asked about how many questions Pence answered and
why Harris seemed to take Pence’s
bait regarding her controversial
prosecutorial record. Panelists
opened up the floor to their own
questions for the participants to
engage with. Panelists discussed how
Harris acted more like her nickname
“Momala” (a nickname given to her
by her stepchildren) than a former
prosecutor in order to be viewed
as more relatable. There were also
discussions of racial and gendered
expectations that allowed Pence to
go on speaking over Harris and the
moderator without repercussion.
Panelists said this vice
presidential debate was more
important than others in the past,
though still inconsequential to the
race in terms of voter influence.
During the debate, Harris and Pence were asked if, in the event of
“presidential disability,” relating to
both presidential nominees’ ages
and President Donald Trump testing
positive for COVID-19, they are
qualified to become president. Harris
listed her capabilities by way of her
resume while Pence discussed his
work and on-the-job experience over
the past four years.
These events were coordinated to
engage students in the election as a
continuation of department tradition,
though the debates are typically
watched in person. Gantt said that
Zoom, despite technical difficulties,
does have its benefits. He said that
the chat feature allowed for further
engagement in real time because
conversations would have to be
withheld until the end at an in-person
event. Gantt also said the event served as a way to come together during the
pandemic.
“We wanted to do all four debates
at this time because I think there’s
a need for connection, as much as
we possibly can and anything we
can do to promote community on
campus (during) this semester is a
good thing,” Gantt said. “So having
more opportunities rather than fewer
opportunities was something that we
thought would be helpful.”
Daniel Newcomb ’22, an RHMS
major present at the livestream,
commented on how the event added
to the socially-distanced community
and made the campus seem less small.
“I like seeing the scheduling of
events and being able to hop (onto)
them at my convenience, though part
of that may just be that Gantt also has
semi-in-person classes where I first
heard of the debate watch,” Newcomb
said via email. “I genuinely don’t
think I’d come to the debate Zoom
parties if I didn’t have that in-person
connection of someone asking me to
my face if I wanted to come.”
Although the second presidential
debate was canceled on Oct. 9, the
RHMS department has a live stream
planned for the third debate, and
there is an election night watch
party sponsored by ASLC. However,
due to the complications at the last
event, there will be more precautions
for those who can attend, such as
spreading a more private link and
having panelists keep an eye on who
is in the meeting rooms prior to
being let in. For more information
on these upcoming events, reach out
to the department (rhms@lclark.
edu), Gantt (jgantt@lclark.edu) or
another RHMS faculty member. The
department’s administrator, Terry
Moore (terry@lclark.edu), can also
provide more information.MAYA WINSHELL/THE PIONEER LOG
Health Service, CVS Caremark provide flu vaccines
By JACOB MUSCARELLA
OVER THE PAST two weeks, Lewis
& Clark held two flu vaccine
clinics on campus in Pamplin
Sports Center.
While these clinics happen annually,
LC emphasized that flu vaccinations
are even more important during the
coronavirus pandemic. The details
of these clinics were shared with the
student body through emails distributed
by Associate Director for Health
Promotion Melissa Osmond.
On Sept. 23, Osmond sent out an
email to LC students with a message
from Chief Psychologist and Associate
Dean of Students for Health and
Wellness John Hancock.
The clinic on Sept. 25 was held
through Health Promotion and Wellness and the LC Health Service. Students
wanting to receive a vaccine had to make
an appointment through the Health
Information Portal, and their accounts
were later billed $30.
If students have insurance through
LC, they will be fully reimbursed for
their vaccines. However, students with
other insurance plans might have to
cover the costs themselves, depending
on their coverage.
Another email sent by Osmond on
Sept. 29 contained more information
provided from Health Service about the
second clinic. This clinic, held on Oct. 6,
was larger than the first and was offered
through CVS Caremark Pharmacy. For
this clinic, students’ health insurance
plans were billed directly by CVS
Caremark.
In a separate email, Osmond said that although she did not have exact
data, both clinics were at full capacity.
“I do know that the CVS clinic had
a capacity to do approximately 200
vaccines and the registration was full
several days before,” Osmond said. “We
expected the demand to be more this
year due to COVID-19, but we weren’t
expecting it to be so high. But that is a
good problem to have.”
Hancock explained why it is
important for students to get vaccinated
this year.
“If fewer students have the flu, it
allows the healthcare professionals
in the Health Service to provide more
care for whatever other healthcare needs students have,” Hancock said
via email. “Having more students
vaccinated against the flu will support
our providers in diagnosing Influenza
and COVID-19 in symptomatic students.
A timely and correct diagnosis will also
lead to appropriate treatment and help
determine if students need to be in
isolation related to COVID-19.”
Osmond echoed these sentiments in
her email.
“According to CDC estimates, last
year’s flu season saw 38 million people
sick with flu-like illness, 400,000
hospital visits, and 22,000 deaths in the
U.S.,” Osmond said. “Now add COVID-19
on top of that and the potential to overrun hospitals and outstrip the capacity of our
healthcare system is a real concern. The
more vaccinated (people are) this year,
the fewer people contracting influenza,
the more resources we have to fight
COVID-19 and care for those who do get
ill.”
For students who missed out on
these two clinics, Osmond said there will
be opportunities to get a flu vaccine in
the near future.
“We will have other clinics,” Osmond
said. “In fact we are working with CVS
to schedule (one) for later in October.
Contact the Health Service at health@
lclark.edu or 503-768-7165 (for more
information).”
MAYA WINSHELL/THE PIONEER LOGNews Editors
Venus Edlin
Jacob MuscarellaArts Editors
Justin Howerton
Aubrey Roché
Sports Editors
Aidan D’Anna
Henry GoodierOpinion Editors
Amatullah Aman
Bella MetFeatures Editors
Madeline Cox
Yasmin Kemer
The Backdoor Editor
Mackenzie Herring
Faculty Advisor
Molly RobinsonCopy Chief
Tyler Short
Web & Social Media Manager
Alex BarrVisuals Editors
Amelia Madarang
Jo Tabacek
Toby Bazeley
Rachelle Binder
Amelia Doyle
Jillian JacksonGabe Korer
Gabriel Mantione-Holmes
Tor Parsons
Julia WarlingStaff Writers
Emery Anderson
Umi Caldwell
Gabriel Mantione-HolmesSofia Reeves
Maya Winshell Photographers & IllustratorsEditor-in-Chief
Nicholas NerliManaging Editor
Ihsaan Mohamed
Director of Broadcasting
Charlotte Powers
Business Manager
Stuart Myers
CDC, LC health staff stress the importance of getting vaccinated during the COVID-19 pandemicContinued from page 1
“Every single class should be
going over access needs every single
session,” she said.
McCauley has been suggesting
that students and faculty think about
the universal design, which is a
system to make content accessible to
everyone. Suggestions for universal
design include adding captions
to video content and reposting
questions asked aloud in the chat
feature for students with sensory
processing disabilities.
“When sharing information with
others, consider all types of learning
styles,” McCauley said. “I want
students to know that you are not
alone in this pandemic.”
Even with an additional month
of preparation in the summer
on the part of SSS, accessing
accommodations this semester has
proved difficult.
Associated Students of Lewis
& Clark Senator Madeleine
Macwilliamson ’24 reported
online malfunctions with the
accommodations application
process on ASLC’s senator and
representative goals document.
Macwilliamson, who is abled,
discovered that a friend with ADHD had not received accommodations
in time for midterms. The friend
wished to remain anonymous and
declined to comment.
To apply for accommodations
students have to click a link to the
intake form on
the LC website.
The intake form
is a crucial part
of the process
where eligible
students submit
educational or
medical records.
McCauley
acknowledges
that the link,
which requires
an LC username
and password
to login, posed
difficulties for
new students.
“I know of a few first year
students who had problems with
logging in because of the IT change
in email address formats,” McCauley
said.
Macwilliamson and her friend
did not know the IT change was the
source of the problem. As a senator,
Macwilliamson felt the need to speak up about this confusion.
“You wouldn’t be able to get the
form, which meant you had to email
the appropriate person at Student
Support Services,” Macwilliamson
said.
Macwilliamson claims this
creates too much confusing red tape
for first years and transfer students.
McCauley provided some clarity
in recommending that all students
experiencing issues with the intake
form email access@lclark.edu.
Smothers thinks that ASLC has
taken away financial tools that
might have helped disabled students
during this unprecedented time. She
called ASLC cuts to the DSU budget
from $3,320 last year to $2,548.21
this year “extreme.”
ASLC’s Student Organizations
Committee (SOC) cited high weekly
meeting costs and lack of detail in the
DSU’s applications as contributing
factors to the cuts.
“All of our leaders during the time
of the insanely rushed and scattered
budget process were incapacitated
to lead, let alone fight for equity-
based treatment
in the process
due to feeling
the constraints
that COVID had
placed on us,”
Smothers said.
Chair of the
SOC, Quentin
Gaul ’22
explained that
additional ASLC
funding for the
DSU remains
possible. Many
allocation
decisions were
made before the pandemic.
“Once the final budget was passed
last Tuesday, I did reach out to DSU
to say that we would love to allocate
more money and work with them on
submitting a more detailed itemized
budget so that we can get them more
funding,” Gaul said. “I’m really
hoping to work with them soon to
increase their budget.”FRIDAY , OCTOBER 16, 2020
NEWS 3
Neighborhood association discusses
relationship with LC amid COVID-19
By JULIA WARLING
IN PREPARATION for the Fall 2020
semester, Lewis & Clark decided to
close its campus to all members of
the public. Beginning Aug. 1, anyone
unaffiliated with LC was prohibited
from entering campus, primarily to
limit the spread of COVID-19 and
protect residents of the Collins View
neighborhood.
“We’ve closed the campus to
limit intermingling,” David Reese,
vice president, chief of staff, general
counsel and board secretary for the
college, said. “We closed Trail #5 going
down to Macadam because it goes
close to some neighbors’ houses and
they asked us to do that.”
Prakash Joshi ’74 is the
transportation chair of the Collins
View Neighborhood Association
(CVNA) board. In an interview, he
discussed how Collins View residents
have been impacted by LC’s campus
closure.
“There was a sign posted at Lewis
& Clark saying the campus is closed
now, off-limits to anybody,” Joshi said.
“Which is fine. We understand that.”
LC announced the closure of its
campus in late July, when President
Wim Wiewel announced the decision in
an email sent to community members.
The Collins View neighborhood
surrounds LC’s three campuses.
“We found out through the
president’s letter ... the community
was shared on that ... but the process
of how (LC) would be implementing
(safety measures) was not clear to us
... And that’s what would (have been)
good to have.” Joshi said. Wiewel’s letter was not sent directly
to the CVNA. Instead, it was forwarded
by Mark Duntley, the college’s liaison
with the association and the dean of
spiritual life. The CVNA has many
concerns regarding the fall semester.
“The neighborhood is not closed to
the college,” Joshi said. “We would never
do that ... but (students are) going past
you without masks, going within inches
of you, breathing heavily, coughing.”
When students first arrived on
campus, the neighborhood community
was unsure about how responsible the
students would be. Since the semester
has started, they have gained more trust
in the campus population as they see the proof that students are being more
careful while out in public.
“At the last CVNA Board meeting
on Oct. 7 on Zoom, I shared my screen
and showed them the testing results on
the ‘COVID-19 Confirmed Cases Status
Report’ page,” Mark Duntley said via
email. “It was clear that they appreciated
the way the college — and the students
in particular — have been committed
to health and the safety of the campus
community and the wider community.”
Since the school reopened in the fall,
students have been encouraged to take
precautions when interacting with the
people around them, and a student-led
COVID-19 task force was created with the support of Robin Holmes-Sullivan,
the vice president of student life and
dean of students.
“We meet weekly and discuss current
COVID-related issues affecting students
both on and off-campus,” Olivia Weiss
’23, one of the task force’s co-chairs,
said via email. “We usually compile a list
of specific questions/concerns that have
been brought to our attention in the past
week. Additionally, Robin often asks our
input on current policies or how students
are reacting to certain decisions. We
also have begun brainstorming ways
... to encourage students to continue to
practice safe and healthy habits.”
Joshi said the college has not
adequately updated the CVNA
and would like to regularly receive
information about the school’s
protections against COVID-19.
“We just need some answers ...
because our sense of confidence and
security comes from how we come
across with people and how safe they
are,” Joshi said. “If you knew that
somebody was safe or not, then you’d
feel more confident being around them.
But if you didn’t know that you would
keep your distance and you would
observe some caution.”
Reese said that LC strives to promote
safe COVID-19 precautions as well as
open information to all community
members, including Collins View
residents.
“We want to be transparent,” Reese
said. “We have the webpage both
for transparency with students and
faculty in the community, but also the
neighborhood. We want to be a good
neighbor. We want our students to be
good neighbors to those who live here.”
JO TABACEK /THE PIONEER LOG
Neighbors to the college put up signs to ensure safe traveling during the pandemic.Continued from page 1
concerned about the status of their
jobs. Carrera and Pacheco began
contacting LC administrators
requesting information in order to
formulate a plan to advocate for
the workers. According to Carrera,
neither she nor Pacheco ever received
a response. Aware of the limited
resources CEESA had, they began
researching different organizations
who could assist them.
“We were trying ... to connect
them to organizations that could
provide financial support and food
resources,” Carrera said. “But at the
end of the day, all they really wanted
was to keep their job, that was their
main objective.”
LC began accepting new contract
bids from cleaning companies in early
June. A committee of administrators
across all three schools was formed
to evaluate each company’s proposal.
Skyline was invited to make a bid,
but chose not to. A&A Maintenance
was ultimately selected by the
committee as LC’s new cleaning
company. In an interview, Chief
Financial Officer and Vice President
for Operations Andrea Dooley did
not specify why. However, she felt
confident in the decision because
A&A is on a list of companies deemed
responsible employers by Service
Employees International Union, the
union that represents current and
former custodial staff.
According to an Aug. 3 release by
LC, “A&A ... hired all former Skyline
custodial employees who applied
for positions — approximately 90
percent of the previous staff.” It is not
known why 10% of Skyline workers
chose not to apply for positions with
A&A.
In a statement to The Pioneer
Log, Wiewel praised Dooley’s efforts
in forming LC’s new relationship
with A&A.
“The rebidding process and
transition to a new custodial
services company was handled
very well by Andrea Dooley, our
chief financial officer and vice
president of operations,” Wiewel
said. “A responsible steward of our
financial resources, Andrea worked
with a committee to secure A&A
Maintenance as a partner committed
to a diverse and inclusive workplace
and employee wellbeing.”
After A&A was selected, some
community members objected to
the company’s use of E-Verify, a
controversial service that checks
whether employees are eligible to
work in the U.S. Popular among
political conservatives, E-Verify
has been criticized for targeting
undocumented workers, as well as a
history of data errors. According to
Dooley, LC ensured that A&A did not
use E-Verify on any custodial staff
currently working at the college.
“A&A did not use E-Verify in
hiring the employees working on our
campus,” Dooley said.
However, Dooley is not aware if
A&A plans on utilizing E-Verify on
future hires.
Also, A&A protocol requires
employees to work for a certain
amount of time before they receive
medical benefits. A&A custodial
staff did not have health coverage
until the end of September, and
consequently, affordable access to
COVID-19 testing. LC chose not to
offer or require COVID-19 testing
from the A&A employees. A&A did
provide custodial staff with personal
protective equipment, including
masks.
Dooley explained that, unlike
students, A&A employees, as well
as LC faculty and staff, are not the
target populations of college-funded
COVID-19 testing.
“We’re focusing our resources
and our testing on what we
perceive to be higher risk areas,”
Dooley said.Cleaning
staff keep
positions
Continued from page 1
Koshy, the new system is more
accessible.
“We are on Zoom, and of course
that has its own challenges,” Koshy
said. “The good side is that we can
easily do transcriptions. We have
a whole system that allows for
transcriptions, which is not only
more accessible for people who are
under meeting but is available for
everyone who is not in the meeting.”
Minutes from meetings are
available on the ASLC portion
of the LC website. Recordings of
some meetings are also available.
Bertelmann also sends out recaps
of these meetings to the student
body.
“My weekly emails that come
out each Friday morning outline
the highlights of the Senate,”
Bertelmann said. “If you aren’t
able to make it, this is a great place
to start and our website has more
detailed minutes.”
Before this year’s Senate
meetings, students voted in the
election. Twelve students ran to
fill 12 spots in the Senate. Voter
engagement was historically low.
Bertelmann said the pandemic
contributed to this low voter
turnout.
“COVID definitely made it
challenging to engage with students
in voter participation,” Bertelmann
said. “Traditionally, our elections
committee will actively table during
voting week, host a forum with
pizza for students to learn about
candidates, and often candidates
will go around and talk to people.”
Nine of the 12 senators are
first years. Though inexperienced,
Koshy has been impressed by the
newly elected senators.
“I will give full credit to the
Senate this year, that they’re all
really on the ball,” Koshy said.
“They’re all up for the challenge,
very much to my pleasant surprise.”Pandemic
challenges
LC Senate Student need for accomodations
increases during hybrid learning
UMI CALDWELL/THE PIONEER LOG
Associated Students of
Lewis & Clark Senator
Madeleine Macwilliam -
son ’24 reported online
malfunctions with the
accommodations appli -
cation process on ASLC’s
senator and representa -
tive goals document. By JACOB MUSCARELLA
BARRING ANY surprises in next
week’s confirmation hearings
in the U.S. Senate Judiciary
Committee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett
is poised to become the next associate
justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Barrett will be replacing the late
Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
While there were many names on
President Donald Trump’s shortlist
of potential nominees, Barrett was a
favorite among evangelical Christians,
a group that makes up a significant
portion of the president’s base going
into the 2020 election.
In the weeks that have followed
Trump’s announcement of Barrett’s
nomination, I have seen a wide range
of criticism of Barrett. Though I think
Barrett is deserving of serious criticism,
it is important to be mindful of the way
we criticize her. As liberal arts students
at Lewis & Clark, we are taught to be
critical thinkers. When we talk about
political figures who we do not like, we
should ground our positions concretely
rather than resorting to stereotypes,
surface-level characteristics or labels
like political party affiliation that do not
tell the whole story.
Criticism of Barrett should not be
solely centered on her gender. I do not
expect this to be common at LC, but I
remember seeing Tweets wondering
how Barrett could be an effective justice
as a mother of seven, implying that
she should prioritize taking care of her
children over her career. This line of
criticism is grounded in sexism and
gendered stereotypes that should have
no place in our political discussions.
The second main criticism I have
taken issue with is that her religious
identity should disqualify her for the
job. It is true that Barrett is a devout
Catholic, but that alone should not
have an impact on attitudes toward her
fitness for the court. After all, there are self-identified Catholics of all political
leanings serving in our government,
including liberal figures like Associate
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Speaker of
the U.S. House of Representatives
Nancy Pelosi and current Democratic
presidential nominee Joe Biden. We
should have no sort of religious test
when it comes to deciding who serves
in our government. Beyond this being
a violation of the U.S. value of religious
freedom – which admittedly is often
unfairly twisted to achieve political
objectives – a religious test could just
as easily be used to disadvantage other
religious groups like Jewish people and
Muslims.
However, where Barrett deserves
criticism is applying her religious beliefs
to her interpretation of the Constitution.
In a 2006 commencement speech at
Notre Dame Law School, both her alma
mater and where she taught law, Barret
said that the legal career is a vehicle for
“building the kingdom of God.” The idea
that any judge might use their career
as a means to further their personal
religious doctrines is a dangerous
infringement upon the separation of
church and state valued in the U.S.
Barrett has already made clear her
support for spreading Catholic doctrine
through law and past comments. In
1973, the Supreme Court extended the
right to privacy to include a woman’s
right to an abortion in Roe v. Wade.
Although the case included limits on the
right to abortion, it was still a landmark
case that gave women the control
over decisions that impact their own
bodies. In 2006, Barrett was among
several people who signed onto an
advertisement in a South Bend, Indiana,
newspaper that called for the Supreme
Court to overturn Roe and “protect the
lives of unborn children.”
Although Barrett has said before that
Roe is precedent that she is compelled
to uphold, she would not be bound by
precedent as a Supreme Court justice. She would be able to overturn previous
decisions using whatever reasoning she
would like. This would allow her to make
decisions based on her religious beliefs
so long as she claims her viewpoint is
grounded in the Constitution.
As a member of the Supreme
Court, Barrett will be influential in
making decisions that affect the lives
of Americans, and in particular LC
students. Beyond what I have discussed,
there are concerns of how Barrett will
approach cases on healthcare, LGBTQ+
rights, voting rights and other civil
rights issues, especially with Associate
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel
Alito recently signaling their support for
overturning same-sex marriage.
Barrett’s lack of experience should
also be questioned. After attending
Notre Dame, Barrett clerked for the late
Associate Justice Antonin Scalia before
returning to her alma mater to teach law
starting in 2002. In 2017, Barrett was
appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Seventh Circuit, where she has
served since. In other words, she has
served as a federal judge for less than
three years.
In contrast, Associate Justice
Stephen Breyer served on the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
for 14 years before being nominated to
the Supreme Court by former President
Bill Clinton, and Associate Justice Neil
Gorsuch served on the Tenth Circuit
for 11 years before being nominated by
President Trump. Few justices in recent
history have been nominated to the
Supreme Court with as little experience
as Barrett, bringing into question her
fitness for the job.
However, there is no set requirement
for past experience before being
nominated to the court. Outside of
teaching law, Associate Justice Elena
Kagan had only served as the Solicitor
General for the Supreme Court for just
over a year before she was nominated
by former President Barack Obama. While a lack of experience as a federal
judge should not be disqualifying in the
nomination process, it is fair to question
whether Barrett’s limited time as a
federal judge has adequately prepared
her for sitting on the most important
court in the country.
Barrett is certainly deserving of
criticism for her goals in the legal
profession and her interpretation of
the Constitution. However, we must be
careful not to resort to sexist attacks
or complaints grounded in religious
identity alone. As LC students and global
citizens, we should hold ourselves to a
high standard and ground our criticism
of those we disagree with in facts and reason. Criticism purely grounded in
emotion and assumptions is neither
productive nor constructive and will
not give any credit to any arguments we
seek to make
Though we cannot know for sure
where Barrett would come down on
every issue brought before the Supreme
Court, we must be serious in how we
evaluate her. After all, the position she
has been nominated for lasts for as
long as she is willing and able, and as
someone under the age of 50, Barrett’s
impact on the court could last for
decades to come and will shape the
country that future generations will
have to live in.FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2020
OPINION 4
Unless otherwise stated, the views expressed in the Opinion section are those of the authors and are not held by The Pioneer Log or its editorial board.Criticizing judgements of SCOTUS nominee
Evaluations of Amy Coney Barrett should focus on her legal record and experience, not her person al life
MAYA WINSHELL/THE PIONEER LOG
Sen. Harris and Vice President Pence sparred in a debate full of rule-breaking and double standardsDespite help from fly, Pence plunges as Harris soars
By CHARLOTTE POWERS
THE VICE Presidential debate
on Oct. 7 was a stark contrast
from the presidential debate the
prior week. Vice President Mike Pence
and California Sen. Kamala Harris
discussed and criticized one another’s
campaign platforms. Although the
debate was perceived as more dignified
than the Sept. 29 presidential debate,
racism and misogyny were very much
present. After watching an hour and a
half of this event, I felt Harris won by
exceeding margins.
To start, Harris answered most
of the questions posed while Pence
struggled to answer his own. There
were times when Harris failed to
answer, particularly when pressed on
her campaign’s stance on the Green
New Deal and fracking, but overall,
she clearly explained how the Joe
Biden/Harris ticket would approach
the numerous
problems grappling
the nation.
When asked
how the Biden
administration
would approach
climate change,
she explained
how Biden would
invest $1.7 trillion in clean energy over
the next 10 years. When Pence was
asked the same question, he wanted to
continue criticizing Biden’s tax plan. I
do not know what was more infuriating:
the fact that Pence cannot answer a
question when asked, or that he states
“the climate is changing” without
tying the rise in CO2 levels to human
activity. Harris’s answers offered more
clarity, and subsequently, provided
more comfort about how the Biden
administration would tackle dire crises like climate change and the COVID-19
pandemic.
Debate
moderator Susan
Page had to tell
Pence his time
was up far more
than Harris.
Even though fact-
checkers confirmed
Pence and Harris
were given equal time to speak, it still felt
Pence had more because he refused to
end his statements when the time came.
Harris offered clear and concise answers
to her questions and did not interrupt
Pence’s responses. The same cannot be
said for the vice president, who failed
to answer many questions within two
minutes and interrupted Harris so
much that the moderator had to remind
Pence of the rules his campaign had
agreed to so that he may attend the
debate. These errors punctured Pence’s “gentlemanly” disposition and revealed
the vile, disrespectful man that lies
beneath.
The misogyny Harris experienced
on that stage is what women face every
day in the workspace. While Pence
condescendingly praised the senator
for all her accomplishments and bared
his teeth, Harris also showed her
teeth, but through a strained smile.
If the Democratic Party nominee
called out Pence’s condescension and
inappropriate behavior, Harris would
risk coming across as domineering,
aggressive and unwomanly, which
conservatives would have associated
with the “angry black woman”
stereotype. This misogyny and racism
resembles what Michelle Obama
experienced throughout the Obama
administration. Knowing the endless
discrimination the first lady faced, it is
understandable why Harris would want
to monitor her behavior on the debate stage. Nevertheless, the gendered
and racial double standards Harris
faced that night are
something women
running for political
office and across the
nation have dealt
with far too much in
this “woke” era.
Last week’s
debate clearly
demonstrated
Harris’s
commanding presence as well as the
frightening reality that is Pence’s
temperament. I find the vice president
to be incredibly dangerous because his
calm, collected disposition makes his
distribution of lies far more believable
than President Donald Trump’s erratic
behavior. Pence blatantly lied when he
said Breonna Taylor had received proper
justice, despite her killers not being
charged with murder. He blatantly lied when he said that the hearts inside
the Trump administration “(break)
for any American innocent life ... But
(that he) trusts our justice system, a
grand jury that reviews the evidence.”
I know that almost every word Pence
said that night was untrue. You might
know that almost everything he said
that night was untrue. But undecided
and ignorant voters do not, and that is
what frightens me most.
The vice presidential debate
revealed many things: that politics is
more divided than ever before, that
racism and misogyny are still very
much present in the political field,
that a fly can make national news and
that politicians can mask falsehoods
as truths with ease. I know many LC
students rightfully dislike Harris,
given her controversial prosecutorial
record. I do not think Harris is the
perfect candidate, but when in U.S.
history has there ever been one? Why
should Harris suddenly be criticized
for not meeting
that standard
when previous
vice presidential
candidates have
not been held to
it? We should
criticize Harris’s
past, and hold her
accountable in
remedying those
mistakes, but first, we need to elect
her so the accountability is even more
warranted. Biden and Harris are not
perfect candidates, but they are far
better than the goons we currently
have in the White House. Vote for
the Biden/Harris ticket if not for
yourself, and your future, then for
the millions of Americans whose lives
have diminished under this current
administration.I do not think Harris is
the perfect candidate,
but when in U.S.
history has there ever
been one? MAYA WINSHELL/THE PIONEER LOG
After watching an hour
and a half of this event,
I felt Harris won by
exceeding margins. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2020
OPINION 5
Unless otherwise stated, the views expressed in the Opinion section are those of the authors and are not held by The Pioneer Log and its editorial board.By CHARLOTTE POWERS
DURING MY FIRST year
at Lewis & Clark in my
Comparative Politics class,
my political science professor
referred to Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell as a “master of
parliamentary procedure.” Over the
past three years, I have pondered
over this statement and studied
the senator’s various actions.
After taking great interest in his
political schemes, I have come to
the conclusion that McConnell’s
political strategies are purely based
in conservative ideology and meeting
the desires of Republicans, rather
than all Americans, in order to
expand his own political command
and career. Politicians like McConnell
make it our obligation, as students,
to study our government’s legislative
and judicial process considering they
create laws that affect our current
and future wellbeing.
McConnell’s current plan to
confirm Amy Coney Barrett as the
next associate justice of the Supreme
Court is a perfect example of the
senator’s abuse of power. Following
the death of Associate Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG), the
majority leader released a statement
acknowledging that, “The Senate and
the nation mourn the sudden passing
of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and
the conclusion of her extraordinary
American life” but that “President
Trump’s nominee will receive a vote
on the floor of the United States
Senate.” McConnell’s statement
on RBG’s passing came across as minimal and inauthentic because his
intentions of stacking conservative
courts and increasing his political
power were plainly visible.
The Senate majority leader
possesses an incredible amount of
control over what happens on the
Senate floor. While the majority
leader is expected to balance the
viewing and voting of bills from
both parties, McConnell, over the years, has expedited the voting and
passing of conservative bills and
procrastinated the execution of
liberal ones.
The senator has received ample
criticism from both liberal and
conservative voters for rushing
Barrett’s nomination given what
he said in 2016. Four years ago,
former President Barack Obama
nominated Judge Merrick Garland to
the U.S. Supreme Court nearly eight
months before the general election.
McConnell was adamant that a new
justice should not be confirmed
by a “lame duck” president.
“The American people
are perfectly capable
of having their say on
this issue, so let’s give
them a voice. Let’s let
the American people
decide,” McConnell said
in 2016. “The Senate will
appropriately revisit the
matter when it considers
the qualifications of
the nominee the next
president nominates,
whoever that might
be.”
These words
have carried
no weight considering McConnell is now
fervently pushing for Barrett to be
the next Supreme Court justice,
despite the nomination taking place
less than a month before the election.
It is ironically frustrating to watch
McConnell take away the nation’s
voice that he so firmly advocated for
just four years ago.
According to a report completed
by Barry J. McMillion, an analyst
of the federal judiciary since 1975,
the average number of days it takes
to confirm a new Supreme Court
justice is 67 days (2.2 months), while
the median is 71 days ( 2.3 months).
The confirmation of a new justice
has always been a lengthy process
and McConnell’s fast-tracking of the
nomination is not only disrespectful
to the late justice, but it compromises
and ignores a centuries-old judicial
process designed to select a justice
most qualified for the position. The
dismantling of U.S. governmental
proceedings is clearly not an issue
for McConnell, so long as his political
power and standing continue to
grow.
With Barrett’s nomination being
his priority issue, McConnell has
blocked or suspended voting on
more than 275 bills. These bills
include providing COVID-19 funding
for millions of Americans, USPS
funding, fighting voter suppression,
raising the federal minimum wage
and addressing climate change.
They also include implementing
immigration reform, protecting the
LGBTQ+ community, instituting gun
violence reform, making healthcare
more affordable for all Americans and reallocating funds within our
country’s police departments.
McConnell’s aim to mold a future
dominated by conservative leadership
delays the addressing of other crucial
issues, especially ones related to the
COVID-19 pandemic. If McConnell
has proven anything as the Senate
majority leader, it is his belief that
the well-being of Americans falls
short to his own political ideals.
I feel our everyday news cycles are
dominated by the happenings of the
executive branch, instead of
including all branches. LC students
should investigate our government’s
legislative and judicial process.
While a good majority of legislative
and judicial affairs happen behind
closed doors, it is our job, as
politically aware and invested college
students, to actively question and
challenge political leaders like
McConnell who work to skew the
judicial system in ways that will
damage our futures. Enroll in a
political science course, read a
professor’s article on legislative and
judicial review or join College
Democrats. There are so many ways
to learn about and change the ways
our representatives represent us.
This may not seem like an immediate
concern considering our world is
currently turned upside down by
COVID-19, but McConnell’s current
political yieldings will create
consequences that will affect our
generation for years to come. It is our
obligation to this earth, to future
generations and to ourselves to
prevent such yieldings from
becoming irreversible.
AMELIA MADARANG/ THE PIONEER LOGMcConnell rejoices as judicial norms collapse
By MACKENZIE HERRING
MOST LEWIS & Clark students
have been thoroughly
bombarded by campaigns
this fall due to the upcoming election.
Whether it be by the emails that get
progressively more dramatic and
personal, by texts from overworked
volunteers or by companies who
seemingly developed a passion for
voting rights overnight, I assume you
are tired. I would also venture a guess
that you are not necessarily happy
with the current state of the election
cycle, or the candidates themselves. I
share this opinion.
Despite the shared dissatisfaction
I sense from LC students, I know that
for some people this means deciding
not to vote. I do not know more than
you on this subject, and I recognize
how disappointing the ballot is this
year. Regardless, I know that I and
many others chose this campus
because the students care about the
world around them. In my four years,
I have seen protests, student-run
elections, petitions, campaigns and
widespread movements started by
LC students in the midst of difficult
academic schedules. We joke about
our apathy, but I find comfort in our
desire to defend our beliefs.
The last election should have told
you that your vote matters. The last
election should have illuminated
the dangers of third-party voting
with such a dangerous candidate
as President Donald Trump. I
expect Joe Biden
will be absolutely
disappointing but I
find the possibility
of another four
years with Trump,
the appointment of
Amy Coney Barrett
or another national
affirmation for the far-right to exceed
that fear.
I had a long digital discussion with someone this summer who is
voting third party. I know they are
aware of the implications of their
vote. Unfortunately,
the further we talked,
it became clear that
he was not observing
the same election. He
was a white man and
it is more challenging
to share
the fear
that you
have with
someone
else if they do not
have an equal personal
stake. I have so much
privilege, and I know
I am not a morally
superior contradiction to his beliefs
or actions, but it was so hard to hear
about how little he cared to get Trump out of office.
I am not upset with people who
feel disillusioned with the current
state of voting or arrive
at a different opinion
than me. However, I
implore you to examine
whether a third party
vote means the same to
you than a friend who is
fundamentally treated
differently or has had
their fears validated by
Trump’s first term.
There is not much
that The Pioneer Log article can
convince you of that the past four
years have not. If anything, please
consider whether the practical effect
of voting for the people who will be
most affected by the outcome of the
election outweighs a vote for you in
idealistic solidarity. UMI CALDWELL/THE PIONEER LOGA master manipulator of Senate procedure, the majority leader pushes American politics to insanity
MAYA WINSHELL/THE PIONEER LOG
By BELLA MET
DURING quarantine, I was
bored and blue. I spent my
time walking my dog or
scrolling through Instagram. My
father encouraged me to find a more
fulfilling activity so I looked through
our myriad of cookbooks. I have
always wanted to bake more as I crave
baked goods, but I have never found
the time to. The first thing I baked
was Milk Bar’s Crack Pie, a pie with
an oatmeal cookie crust and a gooey
golden filling. As weeks passed, I
made cookies, lemon meringue pie,
Ligurian focaccia bread and much
more. Baking was the sweetest activity
during isolation and it transformed
the way I view myself and the world
around me.
Many people took up baking bread
during quarantine and posted about it
on social media. According to CNBC’s
Make It, in March, there were 12,000
posts tagged with #quarantinebaking.
However, baking is not as simple
as the box cakes make it seem. It is
a science. Nobody is born a baker
like Mary Berry. Things can go awry
quickly. And even with thorough
study, things can be inedible. For
example, my meringue pie took three
days to make. Despite the flops, once
my pie had a broiled brown meringue
top, I felt a sense of accomplishment
I had lacked for months. I took what
I researched and learned to make
something.
Since baking takes time and
patience, it can also be meditative.
According to articles from The New
York Times as well as psychological
studies, baking is a mindfulness
practice, thereby decreasing the
feeling of negative emotions. Instead
of constantly thinking about the
global pandemic, I put effort into
something rewarding that increased
my self-esteem and overall happiness.
Making s’mores cookies filled me with nostalgia for weekends camping with
my dad. When I made the focaccia, I
began reminiscing about the time I
spent at the beach in Pietro Ligure,
Italy. It was also satisfying to press
divots into the dough delicately
with my fingers to allow the olive
and salt brine to seep through.
Baking provided stress relief, but it
also allowed me to connect to old
memories of better times.
Baking is also just fun. I began
to not bat an eye when flour spread
over the counter or something did not
taste right; in fact, that merely fueled
my creativity. I learned to eyeball
the ingredients I was putting into
my mixtures and my palette began
to slowly recognize the necessity for
certain flavors. When I made mistakes,
I developed my own creations. If they
were bad, I laughed at myself while
continuing to belt Coldplay. That kind
of creativity allowed me to express
myself in a new way. As cliche as it
seems, baking showed me that what
is on the inside is more important
than what is on the outside. My baked
goods rarely looked pretty but that did
not stop my parents from enjoying
them. Watching my family devour
what I baked gave me great pleasure
as I was able to share delectable treats
with them.
So next time you are sitting in
isolation, as glum and bored as I
was, consider taking a look at what
you have in your pantry or what is
available for a low cost at Fred Meyer
or Maggie’s and get to baking.
The last election
should have told
you that your
vote matters.We joke about
our apathy, but
I find comfort
in our desire
to defend our
beliefs. Quarantine baking:
feast your pies on thisDespite electoral displeasure,
eligible voters must take action
PHOTO COURTESY OF BOB KUPBENSFRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2020
FEATURES 6
By ALEX BARR
A S I APPROACHED the Corbett
House at 9 p.m. on a Thursday,
camera and phone flashlight
in tow, I wondered why I cared so
much about this ghost story. My
answer then came readily: the story
is inaccurate.
The story begins with Harriet
“Sunny” (in reference to her long
blonde hair) Corbett. According
to her obituary published in The
Oregonian, she was born on Nov. 3,
1922. Her parents were Hamilton
F. Corbett, Portland socialite and
renowned entrepreneur, and Harriet
Cumming Corbett, a member of The
Portland Garden Club.
The Corbetts and Lewis & Clark
have had close ties since the college’s
beginnings. According to LC’s The
Chronicle Magazine’s Summer
2000 Issue, the
college might not
have survived
without the help
of Sunny’s great-
grandfather,
U.S. Sen. Henry
Winslow Corbett.
“Sen. Corbett
was a trustee and
one of the largest
donors to the
Albany Collegiate
Institute, the
forerunner of Lewis & Clark College,”
Michael Mooney, former president of
LC, said in The Chronicle Magazine.
“His generosity saved the fledgling
College from foreclosure in its early
years.”
In the summer of 1999, Sunny
passed away in Pennsylvania.
Following in the footsteps of her
great-grandfather, she left LC a $4.3
million gift as a part of her estate.
LC used this money to purchase the
Corbett House from the Sisters of St.
Francis, who had bought the estate
from Sunny’s father in 1942. Since
then, LC has closed off the Corbett
House and it is locked at all times.
However, according to the digitally-
published accounts of four students
who allegedly spent a night in the Corbett House, the house remains
occupied by a paranormal presence.
The online article, written by
Brennan Klein, elaborates on the
four students’ experience and the
history behind the haunt, which
was published by The 13th Floor
(the13thfloor.tv). According to urban
legend, Sunny fell in love with the
Frank family’s son, Frederick. Sadly,
their love never came to fruition, as
Frederick was sent away to fight in
World War II, where he tragically
died in a training exercise at the age
of 20. Sunny, overcome by grief, was
allegedly sent away to an institution
in Pennsylvania to recover.
While there is no evidence that
explicitly proves the validity of this
urban legend, the timeline does check
out. Past coverage on the history of
the Frank family by The Pioneer Log
confirms that “Fred Frank died in a
plane crash in
1942.” In Sunny’s
obituary in The
Oregonian,
it states that
she moved to
Pennsylvania in
the early 1940s.
Beyond this
general overlap
of time, there
are no other
historical records
I could find that
corroborates the story of Frederick
and Sunny’s love affair or that
she spent time in an institution in
Pennsylvania.
The stories surrounding the
haunting of the Corbett House have
always alleged that the poltergeist is
the spirit of Sunny Corbett. Many,
including Klein, cite the phantom’s
reported fascination with long,
blonde hair as evidence to support
this claim, as Sunny earned her
nickname for her own golden locks.
After reviewing the aforementioned
evidence, an important question
came to my mind: “What if the
ghost is Frederick Frank?” Sunny
Corbett lived for many years after
Frederick died. The idea that she
would come back to haunt this home when she spent the rest of her life
in Philadelphia seems far-fetched.
However, for Frederick, who only had
20 years of memories, returning to
the home of his longtime childhood
friend appears plausible.
According to Klein, the four
students who stayed the night in the
Corbett House experienced hallmark
indicators of paranormal encounters.
The first sign was that two of the
students smelled rotten eggs, or
sulfur, upon entering the house.
The four students then moved
upstairs. The two other students,
who did not smell the sulfur, felt
increasingly worsening abdominal
pain as they neared the second floor.
When they reached the second
floor, they began to walk down the
hallway when one of the students
felt a strand of her long blonde hair
being lifted into the air. She turned to chastise her friend behind her for
playing a prank, but was instead met
by her friend’s shocked face from 10
feet away. The other student had not
touched her.
After witnessing this, LC’s very
own mystery gang rushed downstairs
in fright, called Campus Safety and
requested to be let out of the house.
Much to the students’ chagrin,
Campus Safety informed them that
they were responding to an emergency
at one of the dormitories and that the
wait would be 20 minutes.
Immediately after ending the
call, the students heard noises all
throughout the house. The grand
piano’s keys played on their own,
then a vacuum switched on in a
nearby room.
Eventually, Campus Safety
arrived to liberate the students
from their night of terror. When the officers opened the front door, every
light in the house switched on, even
though only one room was wired for
electricity.
After spending a great deal of
time researching, investigating and
spending time near the house, I find
myself leaning towards the unfamiliar
side of skepticism. Typically, I am
the first to cry “ghost,” but Corbett
House takes the super out of the
supernatural. Its stories, both in lore
and eyewitness testimony, fall flat in
a vacuum of basic paranormal logic.
Not to mention, I gave the ghost plenty
of opportunity to communicate via
camera microphone, audio recorder
and the ever-present opportunity to
possess me.
At the end of the day, even
beneath the full-moon-glow of a brisk
October night, Corbett House is just
as it seems: a house. Investigative LC students experience potential paranormal activity at Harriet Corbett’s infamous home Corbett House urban legend sparks curiosity
By AMELIA DOYLE
THIS FALL, colleges across the
country had to change the way
they teach and interact with
students, as well as the way students,
faculty and staff would interact with
each other. At Lewis & Clark, classes that were previously taught in person
are now taught using hybrid and fully
online approaches. The college also
requires students, faculty and staff to
wear masks in all public spaces. These
daily routines are now the new normal.
As students who are responsible for
the safety and well-being of other students during this time, resident
advisors (RAs) have had to tackle these
challenges head-on. RAs are placed in
dorms to help students navigate their
college experience, whether through
questions about campus life, classes or
what type of clubs are available. As a
result of the pandemic, students are in their dorm rooms and community dorm
room spaces more than ever.
Ezri Rayes ’22 is a second-year RA
who lives and works in Copeland Hall.
“Campus Living took a great stance
of being transparent about what they
knew and what they didn’t know and
getting the information to us,” Rayes
said. “(But it still) felt really chaotic
because there were so many things that
were unanswered.”
Rayes also shared that as time went
on, more questions
were answered, and
that Campus Living
reminds RAs that if
they need help they
can call their area
director.
RAs are also
trying to adjust to the
new aspect of being
online with their
residents instead of
in-person. Usually,
an RA would conduct
one-on-one discussions in person with
resident students, however, that is no
longer an option.
“Especially in a role where you
are supposed to be leading and/or
helping, it’s hard to do that from such
a disconnection perspective,” Ava
Schmidt ’23, an RA for Odell Hall, said.
Schmidt is creating ways in which
she can interact more with her residents
by being around them frequently in the
common areas, and actively trying to get
people on her floor involved in Zoom
activities. She is also trying to set up
community builders where people can
safely social distance in the common
rooms. In addition, she is trying to explore different projects students can
complete in their dorms over Zoom,
such as crafts.
Rayes noted that health precautions
have complicated the way RAs
communicate with their residents.
“It is really hard to communicate
because it’s like the best I feel like I
can do is send out emails,” Rayes said.
“Within my emails, (I) try to let my voice
be in there. I think before, I tried to be
more formal.”
Erin Shaw ’22 is
an RA for Copeland
Hall who has made
efforts to engage her
residents.
“Events that we
are having, I think, is
a big way that people
can adjust and I think
also one-on-ones are
really helpful,” Shaw
said.
For Schmidt,
acknowledging the
greater role RAs have had to take on
during these times is important.
“The RA role has always been
about support in some capacity but I
do feel like it is more about that now,”
Schmidt said. “With the coronavirus,
I understand that my role is more
important now than ever.”
RAs have always been part of
building a community at LC. Now their
role in our community is more essential
than ever before. They are trying to
overcome the disconnect in dorms while
staying in the lines of safety. They are
working to make residents’ time here as
positive as possible under the difficult
circumstances currently facing LC.
Resident advisors adjust to pandemic, campus life changes
RAs share their efforts to incorporate community building activities despite restrictions due to safety concernsALEX BARR/THE PIONEER LOG
Corbett House sits vacant on the Lewis & Clark graduate campus, as it has since it was purchased by the college nearly 20 years ago.When they reached
the second floor, they
began to walk down the
hallway when one of the
students felt a strand
of her long blonde hair
being lifted into the air.
RAs have always
been part of building
a community at
LC. Now their role
in our community
is more essential
than ever before.
ALEX BARR/THE PIONEER LOG
Copeland RA Ezri Rayes ’22 discusses the experience of overseeing Copeland, LC’s largest undergraduate dormitory on campus.FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2020
FEATURES 7
By TOR PARSONS
THE 2020 ELECTION for the
position of Portland mayor is
shaping up to be an unusual
one, chiefly because there are three
major candidates vying for the
seat. Portland’s mayoral elections
are designed to prevent this from
happening: in May, a primary election
is held, and the top two vote-getters
will go on to compete in the general
election in November. This year, the
top two candidates in the primary
were incumbent Mayor Ted Wheeler
and challenger Sarah Iannarone, so
only their names will be listed on the
ballot for mayor. However, anti-police
brutality activist Teressa Raiford, who
finished a distant third in the primary
with 8.4% of the vote, is gaining
momentum as a write-in candidate,
owing to her increased recognition
and visibility in Portland during
the months of anti-racism protests.
This is the second in a series of three
articles, each focusing on one of the
three major candidates for mayor of
Portland.
Raiford, who is a fourth-generation
Portland resident, is best known as
the founder of Don’t Shoot PDX, a
nonprofit she started in 2014 inspired
by the still-unsolved 2010 murder of
her 19-year-old nephew Andre Dupree
Payton. Even before she founded Don’t
Shoot PDX, Raiford was well-known
as a community organizer and police
accountability activist within Portland’s
Black community. Her campaigns against gun violence led to an invitation to the
White House to meet First Lady Michelle
Obama in 2013. While this is Raiford’s
first campaign for mayor, she has vied
for several other local positions in
the past, including unsuccessful runs
for Portland City Council in 2012,
Multnomah County commissioner in
2014 and Multnomah County sheriff
in 2016. If elected, she would be
Portland’s first Black mayor, as well
as the city’s first woman to hold the
position since Vera Katz, who served
from 1992 to 2005.
Raiford’s organization, Don’t Shoot
PDX, has been integral to Portland’s
protests. In June, the group sued
the City of Portland over medical
complaints caused by the police’s
use of tear gas, as well as the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security over
President Donald Trump’s deployment
of federal officers to Portland. A judge
ruled in favor of protesters in the city
suit, while the federal suit is ongoing.
Don’t Shoot PDX also organized “Riot
Ribs,” an all-you-can-eat barbecue
for protesters over the summer, and
started a donation drive to help Oregon
residents who had to evacuate from
areas affected by recent wildfires.
Raiford has a long history of dealing
with racial injustice. Her parents
owned the Burger Barn, a North
Portland restaurant well-known as one
of the city’s preeminent Black-owned
businesses in the 1970s and 1980s.
On March 12, 1981, when Raiford
was 11 years old, two Portland police
officers tossed dead opossums on the restaurant’s doorstep. The incident
was investigated as a hate crime and
resulted in the firing of both officers.
At that time, protests broke out against
the firing of the officers, led by police
officers’ families, and they regained
their jobs.
During her campaign for mayor,
Raiford has focused on continuing to
manage Don’t Shoot PDX and fighting
for racial equity. The majority of
the campaigning has been done by
volunteers. Perhaps due to this less
targeted approach, Raiford has not
garnered as many endorsements as
her rivals. Wheeler has been endorsed
by numerous city organizations, from
blue-collar organized labor such as
the Teamsters and the Northwest
Carpenters Union, to business leaders
including the Portland Business
Alliance. Meanwhile, a coalition of
14 Black community leaders have
endorsed Iannarone. Raiford’s lone
endorsement from a prominent figure
or entity comes from Portland Trail
Blazers basketball star Damian Lillard,
arguably Portland’s most nationally
known Black resident.
As a write-in candidate, no polls
have been taken on Raiford’s chances,
and no write-in candidate has ever been
elected mayor of Portland. However,
she will likely garner a significant
share of the vote if her momentum on
social media and in Portland’s ongoing
protests are any indication. If Raiford
does end up winning, it will be far from
the most unexpected thing to happen
in 2020. The founder of Don’t Shoot PDX is challenging Mayor Ted Wheeler and opponent Sarah IannaroneTeressa Raiford runs write-in mayoral campaign
By JULIA WARLING
WHILE ELECTION years are
always eventful, no one
expected a year like this. With
so much uncertainty in the country, this
election will have a big impact on the
country’s future. Accordingly, the Lewis
& Clark College Democrats (Dems) are
here to help spread awareness through
political education and community
outreach.
“So far this year we’ve been having
weekly online meetings ... to discuss
current political news and talk about
ways in which we can help advance
Democratic causes,” Co-President Mateo
Kaiser ’23 said. “We’ve also partnered
with the Sister District Project which is
an organization that connects Democratic
activists in solidly blue states with
campaigns in swing states where our time
can make a difference, particularly at the
state legislature level.”In addition to hosting these virtual,
federal-focused events, the club has
been working on sharing information
on campus about the Oregon political
scene.
“We are currently trying to get
some posters and flyers designed
right now to help give information
about voting registration, deadlines
and how to do that in Oregon or any
other state,” Cass Orr ’24, the Dems’
social media manager, said. “Also,
we are currently trying to make IGTV
videos about the debates and also any
current news about what’s been going
on in Oregon.”
Leading up to the election, the
club will be participating in several
other events, including debate watch
parties, making phone calls to young
voters, letter-writing sessions and
Zoom discussions with Democratic
candidates such as Brian Farkas and
Frances Jackson, who are both running for North Carolina state legislature.
Most of these events will be hosted
by College Democrats of Oregon or
College Democrats of America.
“In the weeks leading up to the
election and through Nov. 4 we will
be intensifying our efforts to get
students involved in helping Democratic
campaigns, and making sure that
students vote in this watershed election,”
Kaiser said. “Since many students at
Lewis & Clark come from Colorado and
Wisconsin, two crucial swing states, it
is particularly important to make sure
that students have a plan to vote this
November.”
Although the amount of young
voters has increased in recent years,
the turnout has statistically been
lower than that of any other age
group, and was less than 50% in both
2012 and 2016, according to the U.S.
Census Bureau in 2017.
“One of the reasons why issues
and candidates that young voters
support often get ignored is due to a
huge turnout differential based on
age,” Ben Gaskins, associate professor
of political science and the club’s
faculty advisor, said via email. “This
creates a self-reinforcing cycle: older
voters participate at greater rates, so
the issues and candidates they care
about get more focus, which makes
younger voters tune out and get
cynical about the system, and that lack
of involvement further entrenches
powerful interests in their political
influence.”
A common trend among young
voters is to vote third party, or to abstain
from voting altogether. However,
Gaskins believes that students should
choose to vote with one of the two main
parties.
“Not voting (or supporting third
party candidates) causes your influence
to wane, and this is directly at odds
with making the changes students
want to see,” Gaskins said. “Direct
action is vital, but should be coupled
with voting in primaries and general
elections, especially at the state
and local levels. Make your voice
heard ... students have an incredibly
important role to play in American
democracy and should be front and
center of making that democracy
work better.”LC College Democrats encourage
students to take political actionCollege Outdoors takes
COVID-19 precautions
By MADELINE COX
DUE TO COVID-19, College
Outdoors (CO) has had to
make significant changes to
their programming this semester.
Normally, during the week before New
Student Orientation, CO staff lead
New Student Trips (NSTs) around the
Pacific Northwest that give students the
opportunity to participate in outdoor
activities including hiking, surfing,
rafting and backpacking. This year,
these trips were replaced with Virtual
New Student Trips (V-NSTs). These
virtual sessions consisted of ice-breaker
activities and games such as Pictionary
and Lewis & Clark trivia. Current
students were also able to answer
questions about life at LC and what
this year may look like, according to
Assistant Trip Leader Grace Ralston ’21.
“I think V-NSTs successfully achieved
the same goal that NSTs have of creating
community and giving new students
a way to connect with their peers and
fellow upperclassmen before arriving on
campus,” Ralston said via email.
Since V-NSTs were conducted online,
they were accessible to a wider range of
students than regular NSTs.
“One of the best parts about V-NSTs
had to be the fact that everyone could
participate,” Ralston said. “Because
they were free and available at various
times throughout the day, only requiring
internet access and a device to attend with,
everyone was able to join. This meant that
students with disabilities, international
students and student-athletes could all
participate in NSTs when they were not
able to before.”CO has also had to adapt their regular
programming during the semester to
comply with COVID-19 regulations.
Students can no longer rent gear from
the CO warehouse, trip registration
is now being conducted online and
trips that required transportation are
no longer running. Even with these
restrictions, CO is still offering a variety
of trips and workshops happening on
and near campus.
“All the trips we are running at
this time are trips that do not require
transportation to get there, which means
they are close to campus and many of
the hikes can be done by residents even
when they are not on a trip,” Ralston
said. “We have also been able to offer a
bunch of fun trips we haven’t had in the
past such as natural fiber basket weaving
and nature meditation.”
Other programs being offered this
semester include dutch-oven cooking
clinics, overnight backpacking trips in
Tryon, trail running and mushroom
foraging and identifying clinics. Students
can view and register for trips on the
College Outdoor Trip Calendar on the
LC website.
Ralston encourages students to get
involved in CO this semester. CO offers
office hours every day and open house
every other Wednesday. According to
Ralston, students can meet CO leaders
and other students who are interested
in getting involved during open
house. Students can also apply to be a
student coordinator for CO by filling
out an application on their website.
To be added to the CO mailing list and
receive their weekly newsletter, email
outdoors@lclark.edu.
PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
MADELINE COX/THE PIONEER LOG ALEX BARR/THE PIONEER LOG
Teressa Raiford is running on a platform of anti-police brutality and racial equity.FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2020
ARTS 8
By VENUS EDLIN
ENOUGH OF boring Instagram
live streams; it is time that the
entertainment industry steps it up
like many drag performers have done on
virtual platforms.
Live events seem further out of reach
than ever as so many performers turn to
virtual events as a temporary solution.
However, many virtual events have
become monotonous and lack the flair
and energy of stage performances. On
the other hand, virtual drag shows, like
Biqtch Puddin’s weekly show on Twitch,
a live streaming platform, have utilized
the crafty drag spirit to bring creative,
inventive shows to the forefront.
Demand is up for this kind of
performance in light of the pandemic.
According to the 2020 Music 360 Report
by MRC Data, 47% of music listeners feel
it is important for the industry to offer live
stream performances or virtual concerts,
even though only 25% of music listeners
have tuned in to one of these shows.
This is no surprise, as many music
stars like Hozier, Coldplay’s Chris Martin
and Lizzo have all performed in their
homes for free on Instagram live. These
shows serve as pro bono opportunities for
people who cannot afford to go to concerts
to experience something more akin to live
music. These in-home live streams started
off as charming and quaint but quickly
grew tiresome, especially when competing
with drag performers on Twitch who
can eat a jar of mayo, perform burlesque
or become the coronavirus through the
magic of makeup.
However, the prevalence of online
drag during the pandemic is not a new
phenomenon, as it has existed on the
internet for over a decade. Drag queens
like Willam, Jasmine Master and Soju
have been posting YouTube videos for
over 10 years. More recently, Trixie
Mattel and Katya Zamolodchikova have
risen to YouTube stardom with their
series “UNHhhh.” Twitch’s first-ever drag
performer partner Deere founded The
Stream Queens in 2019 as a collective for
drag queens on the platform.
The embedded online drag community
has served as a springboard for what
virtual drag now looks like. Biqtch Puddin’
now has over 20,000 subscribers on
Twitch. One of the winners of “The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula” season three, drag
king Landon Cider, also launched his own
Instagram drag show in April. He has over
160,000 followers on Instagram.
Why have these shows been so
successful, excluding the fact that drag
is just entertaining? Drag is always
a production, even at home, because
makeup, costume and sets must be
considered very intentionally; thus, drag
is even more demanding than a musical
performance or a Shakespeare recitation
live stream. The digital drag production
value is high, though sometimes rough,
and events are accessible because the
price is a suggested donation.
Now, other performers like Billie
Eilish, BTS and Rolling Loud are raising
the stakes. These shows feature multiple
cameras, interesting locations and high-
quality audio. The only issue is that shows
like this tend to charge between $10-$30,
which is a huge barrier for many fans,
even if the proceeds may go to charity.
While that price range is affordable for
a live concert, a digital concert does
not warrant the same cost because the
in-person experience is lost. Winner of
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” season seven Violet
Chachki charged a similar price for her
show “Digital Follies,” but the price tag
is warranted given that the hour long
show was downloadable, and that she had
received little return from her tour “A Lot
More Me” that had been canceled due to
the pandemic.
Performers do deserve to get paid, but
regular people should also have access to
interesting and provocative digital content
in these unprecedented circumstances
without an added charge. Drag performers
are proving that quality online shows with
accessible pricing can still pay the bills.
By ALEX BARR
Warning: This article discusses sexual
assault.
THE SHORT FILM “Blue: A
Kaleidoscope,” created by
Daniyal Afzal ’13, opens up with a
black screen. The disembodied voices of
Pakistani women echo:
“This is what happens when you let
your daughters play outside wherever
they want.”
“What an insolent, she’s disgraced
the whole neighborhood.”
“Shame on her.”
“Blue: A Kaleidoscope,” based on a
BBC report written by Amber Shamsi
in 2015 entitled “How a rape was
filmed and shared in Pakistan,” follows
a Pakistani woman, Zohra, as she
attempts to navigate the vicious riptide
that is post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD). The depiction of Zohra’s day-
to-day experiences detail the intimately
abrasive, muddled and confusing
experience of traumatic flashbacks.
The story explores the chilling depths
of Zohra’s sexual assault. “Blue: A
Kaleidoscope” drags the viewer beneath
the crashing waves of pain, anxiety
and fear through its depiction of an
inescapably ugly truth.
On Oct. 7, Afzal and Urooj Azmi,
the editor, sound mixer and director of
photography for “Blue: A Kaleidoscope”
attended a virtual screening of the film,
held by Lewis & Clark’s “Homecoming
@Home,” as a part of the Alumni Film
Festival. Following the screening, Afzal and Azmi stayed behind for questions
from the virtual attendees. The duo,
described by Azmi as, “partners
in crime,” elaborated on the film’s
production and message.
“Is she (Zohra) supposed to represent
the specific person who was assaulted
in that BBC article that you have been
referencing? Or is she supposed to be a
stand-in character for all of the girls in
the city and the woman who has been
assaulted?” a virtual attendee said.
Afzal began to answer the question
before pausing and redirecting.
“Actually, you know what? I’m just
going to have Urooj (Azmi) jump in,
because my thing from the get-go has
always been that as a man, I still would
not be able to understand this,” Afzal
said. “I’ve made a film. I’ve written
the film. I’ve done my research. I’ve
presented the idea ... but as a man I still
would not be able to understand the
pain.”
Azmi, a Northwestern University
graduate, flashed a bright and
passionate smile as she picked up
where Afzal had left the previously-
posed question.
“I’m really glad you brought that up
because we actually had this discussion
during the production phase of the film,
where we were talking about what the
character — who the character is. And
to me, she was always ... a metaphor,
exactly like that it’s, of not just Pakistani
women.” Azmi explained.
Afzal spoke to the role he hoped
his film would play in the ongoing
conversation about women’s rights in Pakistani culture after he heard of
a recent incident in which a Pakistani
woman was assaulted by three men in
front of her children while they were
pulled over on the highway.
“At that point, my team and I were
like, you know, screw festivals,” Afzal
said. “I don’t want to talk about festivals.
I want to talk about things like, where the film has a potential to just go get
screened internationally, I want to put
this out on the internet and I’m going to
put my credit card on it.”
While “Blue: A Kaleidoscope”
engages with painful and ugly concepts,
it brings the experience of PTSD and
sexual assault to light in a uniquely
uncomfortable and immersive short film. The film transitions between
reality and flashback both relentlessly
and seamlessly, using layered tracks
of hypnotic disembodied voices,
combining vivid cinematography with a
skin-tingling score.
You can stream “Blue: A
Kaleidoscope” by visiting Arash Visuals
Inc.’s Instagram, @arashvisualsinc.“Blue: A Kaleidoscope” screened at Alumni Film Festival
The short film examines the aftermath of sexual assault through the lens of Pakistani cultureVirtual events could
learn from drag showsDive into current politics,
power with podcast “Sway”
By NICHOLAS NERLI
TO APPRECIATE The New York
Times’ latest podcast, “Sway,”
listeners must be diligent and
research its host, Kara Swisher. A pioneer
of technology journalism, Swisher built
her career covering Silicon Valley where,
beginning in the 1990s, she earned a
reputation as a cutthroat, exhaustive
interviewer. As she once told Rolling
Stone, her style of questioning makes
the most powerful turn fragile, and by
the end of an interview, many “wilt.”
Her abrasive nature and willingness
to conduct highly personal interviews
perfectly complement the mission
of “Sway”: examining authority and
detailing how it impacts the average cog
in our social machine.
Swisher is also known to be
friendly yet opinionated, driven by her
progressive politics and personal life.
Listeners will frequently hear Swisher
laughing with her guests, discussing
life stories and arguing with those who
disagree with her liberal ethic. “Sway” is
rightly classified as a work of The New
York Times’ Opinion section, though the
podcast’s partiality should not dissuade
potential listeners. Swisher’s steadfast
demand of answers is exactly the sort of
interviewing that holds industrial and
political titans accountable.
Fittingly, this podcast on power
features Rep. Nancy Pelosi, speaker
of the U.S. House of Representatives,
as its first guest. In a wide-ranging
interview, Swisher and Pelosi discuss
the business of the House, technology
monopolies, President Donald Trump,
Qanon and much more. The evident
friendship between Swisher and Pelosi
does not impede hard questioning. At
one point, Swisher even asks 80-year-old
Pelosi if she is effective enough to lead
the ever-diverging Democratic Party.
The highlight of the interview comes
when Pelosi calls Facebook “totally
disreputable” and charges its executives
with endangering democracy and failing
to control misinformation. At a time
when Congress is looking to strictly
regulate Silicon Valley, these words from
the nation’s top Democrat seemingly
foreshadow future battles between
lawmakers and technology giants.
Swisher’s second guest is California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who many expect
to be a future presidential candidate.
Throughout his career, Newsom has
frequently defied political superiors,
perhaps most notably in 2004 when, as
mayor of San Francisco, he directed the
city to issue same-sex marriage licenses,
then a violation of state law. Swisher
asks Newsom about his maverick style of
governing, comparing
the 2004 incident to
his recent executive
order that bans the
sale of gasoline-
powered cars by
2035. While Newsom
denies a history of
legal disobedience, he
does acknowledge the
importance of elected
officials taking bold
but necessary steps
that may disrupt the status quo.
No interview is as provocative as
that with Elon Musk, who begins by
condescendingly asking “what’s the point
of this podcast?” A lively conversation of
Musk’s technological ventures ensues,
though the heat of the interview revolves
around politics and policy. Swisher is
audibly disturbed when Musk says he
may vote to reelect Trump. However,
this comes as no surprise when one
considers that Musk, a staunch capitalist,
has a history of surprising (some may say reckless) decisions that benefit
his business interests. This interview
best displays Swisher’s talent as an
interviewer and benefits from her vast
knowledge of the technology industry
and its power players.
Other episodes of “Sway” include
interviews with Alexander Vindman, the
star witness of the Trump impeachment,
Moncef Slaoui,
the scientist
leading Operation
Warp Speed, and
rapper and activist
Killer Mike. Left-
leaning political
junkies will
appreciate “Sway”
for its lengthy,
hard-nosed
conversations with
Democratic leaders
and key governmental figures. Even so,
anyone interested in power and wealth
will benefit from Swisher’s ability to ask
difficult questions and receive answers
the public has not yet heard. “Sway,”
with its concept of pressing figures of
authority, is the sort of project that
every journalist dreams of. Luckily for
listeners, Swisher is exactly the journalist
that makes the vision of “Sway” a reality.
“Sway” is available on sites like Apple
Podcasts and Spotify, as well as on The
New York Times’ website.
MAYA WINSHELL/THE PIONEER LOGUMI CALDWELL/THE PIONEER LOG
ALEX BARR/THE PIONEER LOGAnyone interested in
power and wealth will
benefit from Swisher’s
ability to ask difficult
questions and receive
answers the public has
not yet heard.FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2020
ARTS 9
Time-Based Art Festival stuns on last night
The annual festival examined notions of time through in-person and virtual displays, performances
Commentary: hyperpop
finally poised to take offSpooky season recommendations
for suspense-lovers, faint-hearted
By JUSTIN HOWERTON
THE PORTLAND Institute of
Contemporary Art (PICA) hosted
its 19th annual Time-Based Art
Festival from Sept. 10-30. Due to the
coronavirus pandemic, the festival had
to adopt a primarily virtual format, but a
few outdoor events allowed the Portland
community to engage with artistic practice
and performance in-person.
One could argue that the festival’s
intentionally vague theme of time serves
a practical purpose: under such a broad
category, nearly any artist can exhibit any
artwork. While the pandemic continues
to loom in the background, the theme
of time this year seemed all the more
relevant and appropriate given that, on the
collective and individual level, the public’s
conception of time has been radically
altered by quarantining, social distancing
and other isolating measures.On Sept. 30, PICA, through the efforts
of Portland’s Mobile Projection Unit
(MPU), an outdoor video projection studio
founded by Sarah Turner and Fernanda
D’Agostino in 2018, hosted a screening
of the video piece “Against the Current”
that was projected onto the Markham,
Burnside and Morrison bridges. PICA’s
catalog for this year’s festival notes that
“Mobile Projection Unit (MPU) is a roving
studio that presents new, experimental,
site-specific outdoor video projections
throughout Portland, Oregon.” On the
concluding night, PICA arranged for a
collection of speakers and projectors to
occupy the spaces below the bridges along
the Eastbank Esplanade. The artists who
collaborated on this event displayed the
bizarre videos, which were accompanied
by ethereal, ambient audio tracks, onto
the undersides of the bridges. The water
below the bridges reflected the videos back
towards the audience. While most of the videos, which worked
as compositions of brightly distorted colors
and physical bodies in motion, remained
incomprehensible to the unfamiliar
viewer, the visual effect of the media
reflected in massive proportion along a
bridge’s underside and the water below
was impressive in and of itself; the MPU’s
use of public space seemed ingenious
and accessible even if the reflection was
blurrier than I had expected. One of the
scenes depicting standing figures in a field
stood out as one of the more unsettling
scenes of the video series, which played
predominantly below the Morrison bridge.
Most of the videos seemed to examine
motion, projection and space through the
architecture of Portland’s bridges.
Situated along the Eastbank Esplanade,
the event drew critics, neighbors and
random passersby as “Against the Current”
demanded the attention of anyone lucky
enough to pass it.
JUSTIN HOWERTON/THE PIONEER LOGJUSTIN HOWERTON/THE PIONEER LOG
Crystal Cortez helped produce the audio. The event incorporated Portland’s Willamette River, playing with the motion of water. One of the scenes included figures with odd facial coverings frolicking in a field. JUSTIN HOWERTON/THE PIONEER LOG JUSTIN HOWERTON/THE PIONEER LOG
Strategically placed projectors display video media onto and below the Morrison Bridge.
SOFIA REEVES/THE PIONEER LOG
By TOR PARSONS
WHAT WOULD you expect
a musical genre called
“hyperpop” to sound like? Who
would you expect to listen to hyperpop? If
your answer to the second question is “a
cyborg gangster in a ‘Blade Runner’-esque
dystopia,” you are not far off the mark.
Hyperpop hardly sounds like the name
of a real kind of music; rather, it sounds
like a creation of a hack science fiction
writer. Nevertheless, hyperpop is real and
destined to only become more popular.
Hyperpop is a visual aesthetic and an
artistic movement just as much as it is a
style of music. It might be described as
anti-anti-establishment. In response to
music snobs taking “generic” pop music
less seriously than genres like indie rock
and hip-hop, hyperpop is a reaction
against the criticism of pop, emphasizing
and glorifying all the tropes of mainstream
pop. Pop songs have heavy bass; a
hyperpop song may turn up the bass to
an absurd level. Pop songs have a fast
tempo; a hyperpop song will speed up the
tempo so much that it is nearly impossible
to dance to. Pop stars emphasize their
youth and beauty; a hyperpop star will
decorate their album covers and photo
shoots with hearts, candy, pastel colors
and other symbols of childlike femininity.
In short, hyperpop is exactly what the
name suggests: pop taken to cartoonish
extremes, equal parts earnest and ironic.
Though not as terrible as this description
makes it sound, it is definitely eccentric.
Hyperpop also brandishes a
homemade aesthetic. Whereas a pop star
like Dua Lipa or Ariana Grande will be
backed by production, songwriting and
fashion teams, each comprised of several
people, a hyperpop album is typically the
work of a single person, or sometimes
a duo, mixing tracks on a laptop. This
do-it-yourself ethos extends beyond the
music itself: hyperpop album covers often
include collages from movie posters and
comics, and costumes tend to be self-
designed. For instance, on the cover of her
debut album, hyperpop artist SOPHIE
wears a dress made out of cellophane.
Queer themes, while increasingly
prominent in mainstream pop as well
(see Janelle Monáe, Lizzo), are integral to
hyperpop. Some of the biggest hyperpop artists, including SOPHIE, Kim Petras
and Laura Les of duo 100 Gecs, are
transgender women.
Where did hyperpop come from? The
term is of unclear origin and has only
existed for the past few years. It first came
into general use around 2016 on a Reddit
forum dedicated to PC Music, a British
record label promoting experimental
music made by amateur musicians on
computers. Canadian performer Grimes
has been a key figure in the development
of hyperpop. Her musical and visual
styles juxtaposed doll-like femininity with
dark and aggressive lyrical themes, set to
laptop-made electronic pop music, before
any of these became signature tropes of
hyperpop. Marina and the Diamonds’
2012 concept album “Electra Heart,”
which affectionately satirizes pop-idol
worship, has also been mentioned as a
precedent to hyperpop. The songwriter
and producer Charli XCX, who has
worked with pop megastars including
Iggy Azalea, Shawn Mendes and Troye
Sivan, is sometimes associated with
hyperpop, although she has had more of
a role in popularizing hyperpop — Charli
XCX has featured Kim Petras, SOPHIE
and PC Music label founder A.G. Cook on
her albums — than in creating it herself.
Where is hyperpop going next? Well,
as the involvement of a mainstream
figure like Charli XCX in the hyperpop
scene suggests, its popularity can only
increase. These last few years have been
unusual ones in the music world: last
year, the charts were ruled by a goofy
cowboy rap song and the nightmare-pop
of Billie Eilish, while this year, Taylor
Swift went from pop diva to pensive
singer-songwriter in her album “folklore.”
In such a rapidly changing time, in terms
of music and everything else, hyperpop is
due for a big break of its own.
ALEX BARR/THE PIONEER LOGBy TOBY BAZELEY
WITH HALLOWEEN
right around the corner
and normal festivities
not possible due to the COVID-19
pandemic, there is no better way to
celebrate the spooky season than with
some movies. With so many films
to choose from, this is in no way a
complete list of the best Halloween
movies, but these recommendations
should provide some options for those
who want scares, thrills or laughs.
Horror
“The Blair Witch Project” (1999), the
movie that sparked the sub-genre of
“found footage” horror movies, follows
three film students who venture into
the woods of Burkittsville, Maryland to
find the fabled Blair Witch, a witch who
was rumored to terrorize the forests.
One year later, with no sign of the
students, all that remains is the footage
they shot, which was compiled and
turned into a movie. The producers
of the film advertised it as entirely
unedited and even included missing
posters of the movie’s three supposedly
“real” characters on the internet. The
inventive film uses its simplicity to draw the audience in and delivers a
terrifying payoff. The movie can be
rented or bought on Amazon, YouTube
or iTunes.
Stanley Kubrick’s classic horror
“The Shining” (1980) is set in a remote
hotel where writer Jack Torrance
is hired as the off-season caretaker.
What ensues is the psychological
torment of Torrance, which sends
him down a dark and violent path.
His son discovers a psychic gift called
“the shining” that shows him horrible
visions of the hotel’s past and future.
Kubrick keeps the audience guessing
and scared, making the nearly 2.5 hour
run time suspenseful and enjoyable
throughout its duration. As with “The
Blair Witch Project,” it can be rented
on Amazon, YouTube or iTunes.
Thriller
Perhaps the quintessential
psychological thriller, “The Silence of
the Lambs” (1991) follows FBI trainee
Clarice Starling and psychiatrist-
turned-cannibal serial killer Hannibal
Lecter. With a new murderer to catch,
Starling is sent to talk to Lecter, who
is believed to have insight that could
help catch the new killer. What follows
is a mesmerizing movie that thrills and scares without relying too heavily
on blood and gore. It is available on
Netflix or Showtime.
A classic thriller from M. Night
Shyamalan, “The Sixth Sense”
(1999) takes place a year after child
psychologist Malcolm Crowe is
confronted by an angry ex-patient,
causing Crowe to shut down his
practice. Now, he has taken up his first
new client: a boy who claims to have
a psychic gift. The film is equal parts
mystery and thriller and manages to
keep the viewer on the edge of their
seat. It can be rented on Amazon,
iTunes and YouTube.
Comedy
A horror-comedy with a social message,
“Ready or Not” (2019) follows a bride,
Grace, who could not be happier on
her wedding day, which takes place on
her groom’s luxurious family estate.
However, her joy fades into horror
as she is informed she must play a
terrifying game of hide and seek. Giving
a clear critique of the upper class, the
movie delivers horror and humor with
little nuance in the best possible way.
“Ready or Not” is available on HBO.
Shot like a documentary, “What We
Do in the Shadows” (2014) tells the tale
of three old-world vampires struggling
with life in the modern world. Viago,
Deacon and Vladislav struggle with
avoiding sunlight, paying rent and
keeping up with the chore wheel. It is
a fun and hilarious take on the classic
vampire movie, and with the only gore
and violence being played for laughs, it
should be enjoyable for even the most
squeamish of audiences. It is available
to rent on Amazon, iTunes or YouTube.
Cult Classics
This list would not be complete without
mentioning “The Rocky Horror Picture
Show” (1975). With a plot so ridiculous
that it cannot be summed up in just a
few sentences, the movie is perfect for
those looking to laugh, sing and, above
all, have fun. It is a movie best watched
with friends — social distanced of
course — and can be rented through
Amazon, iTunes and YouTube. Keep an
eye out for drive-in theaters that might
be showing it.By TOR PARSONS
THE NORTHWEST Conference
(NWC), to which Lewis &
Clark’s sports programs
belong, is celebrating 25 years in
the National Collegiate Athletic
Association (NCAA) in January
2021. The conference is composed
of nine members, all of which are
smaller private colleges in Oregon
and Washington, and was first
certified by the NCAA as part of its
Division III in 1996.
While this is a significant
milestone for LC’s athletic
programs, the NWC was already
quite old when it joined the NCAA.
Founded in 1926, the NWC was
one of the first organized athletic
conferences on the West Coast.
The first iteration of the NWC
included sports teams from six
colleges: Willamette University in
Salem, Oregon; Pacific University
in Forest Grove, Oregon;
Whitman College in Walla Walla,
Washington; the University
of Puget Sound in Tacoma,
Washington; Linfield College in
McMinnville, Oregon; and the
College of Idaho in Caldwell,
Idaho. All of the founding schools
except for the College of Idaho are
still NWC members.
LC, which at the time was
called Albany College, joined
the conference in 1931, then
dropped out in 1938. The college
was preparing to move its main
campus from Albany, Oregon, to
Portland in 1939. After Albany
College moved to the Fir Acres
estate in 1942 and changed its
name to “Lewis & Clark College,”
it rejoined the conference in 1949,
and LC has been a NWC member
ever since.
The NWC remained separate
from the NCAA, the organization
that regulates most college sports
in the U.S. and Canada, until 1996.
According to its website, the NWC
joined the NCAA out of a desire
to “foster equity, sportsmanship and genuine concern for the
student-athlete in all endeavors of
competition.” Previous decisions
in the NWC had been motivated
by equity as well; for instance, in
1984 it merged with the Women’s
Conference of Independent
Colleges, changing from a male-
only institution to a co-ed
partnership.
NWC teams compete in
NCAA’s Division III, the third
and lowest tier of intercollegiate
sports in the country. Division
III schools are typically small
and private, and cannot offer
athletic scholarships, a privilege
the NCAA only affords to Division
I and Division II schools. There
is an annual Division III football
championship, the Stagg Bowl,
but Division III sports teams
otherwise do not often play
teams outside their individual
conferences and cannot face teams
from other divisions.
So, what is the NWC doing to
celebrate its 25th anniversary in
the NCAA? Owing to restrictions
on group activities due to the
ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,
little can be done. The NWC
Presidents’ Council voted in
August to suspend all conference
competition in all sports until
Jan. 1, 2021, and possibly further
depending on the state of the
pandemic. Nonetheless, the NWC
has released a series of videos
and articles on their website
and social media platforms
celebrating the anniversary,
in which NWC Assistant
Commissioner Rosie Phillips
discusses accomplishments in
the NWC with notable coaches
and athletes from NWC member
schools. LC’s features focus
primarily on basketball. Phillips
interviewed former LC Head
Women’s Basketball Coach Juli
Fulks, and a feature was posted
to the NWC website on current
Head Women’s Basketball Coach
Kristina Williams ’13.By RACHELLE BINDER
STAYING MOTIVATED and
receiving an education is not easy
during the ongoing COVID-19
pandemic. According to a Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) study, 41% of people reported
struggling with mental health issues
related to the pandemic. 75% of 18
to 24-year-olds reported adverse
mental health issues, revealing the
vulnerability of college students.
Since the world is going through a lot
right now, it is crucial to prioritize
our mental health.
As schools strive to limit the spread
of the virus, online instruction has
become the new norm. Many of the
students attending classes on Zoom
report experiencing “Zoom fatigue,”
the tired, sluggish feeling one gets
after a full day of using the video
conferencing platform. Contributing
factors to Zoom fatigue include
online distractions, such as scrolling
through social media or viewing
yourself on camera. Processing
information through a computer
microphone or speaker, which
requires increased attentiveness,
could also be possible factors. Zoom
calls are taxing in comparison to
face-to-face interaction. Consider
reducing Zoom fatigue by scheduling
breaks between classes, hiding self-
view, attending class at a desk rather
than a bed and reducing distractions
by turning off your phone and closing
social media applications.
This semester has been unusual for
in-person students at Lewis & Clark. Necessary restrictions to mitigate
the spread of COVID-19 make the
typical social college experience much
lonelier.
“Most of us crave the company
of others,” Assistant Professor with
Term of Psychology Amelia Wilcox
said. “This is why it is so hard for
people to follow the rules of social
isolation. I think it is important
to know that we can be distanced
without isolating.”
The college experience during the
pandemic does not have to be in total
isolation. To create a social circle among other students at LC, Wilcox
suggests taking a masked and socially
distanced walk with a friend, video
calling or any other way of connecting
with students that are safe.
As a young adult, recognizing and
understanding what you are going
through is crucial.
“Having feelings of sadness and
anxiety right now is normal,” Wilcox
said. “Try to be kind to yourself
and your friends for having normal
reactions to the losses that are a real
part of responding responsibly to the
pandemic.” There are many simple tools and
strategies for emotionally supporting
ourselves. Wilcox recommends
sleeping well, exercising, eating
healthy and connecting with loved
ones even if it is virtually. LC’s
Wellness Center offers plenty of
online resources and services for on
and off-campus students in Oregon,
such as telehealth appointments.
Zoom rooms are also available in the
Wellness Center and can be reserved
for virtual appointments with an off-
campus counselor or therapist.
In November, most LC students will return home and quarantine for
the winter. Anthony Fauci, director of
the National Institute of Allergies and
Infectious Diseases, said we need to
prepare to “hunker down” in fear of a
“twindemic” of COVID-19 and the flu.
Preparation should include tending to
the needs of your mental health and
doing things that make you feel good.
“It could be binge-watching your
favorite show, reaching out to a friend
through Zoom, playing a video game,
reading a book,” Associate Dean of
Students for Health and Wellness
and Chief Psychologist John Hancock
said. “It is important that everyone
has a list of things they can do in
an isolated environment to keep a
positive mood.”
As the days get shorter and colder,
staying indoors may bring concern
for those who struggle with seasonal
affective disorder. Hancock suggests
going outdoors when sunnier weather
is present is good for one’s emotional
health.
The past eight months of living
through a global pandemic have
been stressful. As the world dwells in
suffering and uncertainty, it is crucial
to keep our mental health in check
just as much as our physical health.
In the U.S., many are under stress
from issues including racial injustice,
the 2020 general election, climate
change and the economic recession.
It is critical to remind ourselves that
these times will pass and that we are
all struggling in different ways. Giving
grace, reaching out and showing
support to others is an essential job
for these times. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2020
SPORTS 10
By AIDAN D’ANNA
TEN YEARS AGO , athletic events
at Lewis & Clark were mainly
in-person. Some games were
recorded as audio files and posted to
the LC Pioneers website, and some
were filmed with a laptop web-camera,
but by and large, the only way to watch
an LC athletic event was to physically be
present at the game.
In 2010, current Director of Athletic
Communications and Play-by-Play
Broadcaster Ryan Goff changed that by
pitching the idea for Pio Stream to the
LC athletics department, a new way for
students and alumni to feel like they are
present at sporting events even when
they are unable to physically attend.
“(We wanted to) try to make it
available to parents and alumni and the
community to watch,” Goff said. “The
goal in 2010 was just to try to make it
a little bit more like the experience of
watching sports on TV, as opposed to
just a single camera.”
Since 2010, Pio Stream has expanded
to provide live, high-quality multi-
camera footage largely shot by student
employees of every LC home game for all
19 varsity sports.
However, the Northwest Conference’s
decision to suspend all conference play
until at least January 2021 put a hitch in
Goff’s plans for Pio Stream.
“Pio Stream was always primarily
competition-based. But in March with
the pandemic, the Northwest Conference suspended and then ultimately canceled
the rest of the season. So we tried to find
a way to continue to put the focus on our
student-athletes, and our alumni,” Goff
said.
Goff found this focus by launching
LCPioneers.com Live, a show that
broadcasts live Tuesday through Friday
from 11:30 a.m. to noon on the LC
Pioneers Facebook page. The show’s first
post was on Mar. 31. LCPioneers.com
Live gave the LC community a chance
to stay connected with athletics amidst a
mostly virtual world.
“It’s a chance for us to spotlight an
interview with athletes, coaches and
alumni, or even the general Lewis &
Clark College community,” Goff said.
As the host of the show, Goff has
interviewed guests ranging from golf
student-athlete Matt Siemer ’22 to Vice
President of Student Life and Dean of
Students Robin Holmes-Sullivan.
On Oct. 1, Goff interviewed Head
Women’s Volleyball Coach Emily Hayes.
“(The show is) making us all better,”
Hayes said. “It’s a virtual way to be in
touch with people. You think about all
the things that we’re missing out on in
person right now. Obviously, we would
be competing, we’d be having alumni
events in person, I’d be able to be
connecting with our alums face to face.
And so having this structured way that
anyone can log on, and get a sense more
of what Lewis & Clark is … that’s why it’s
special and unique.”
During her interview, Hayes discussed additions to her staff as well as
returning assistant coaches, COVID-19
protocols for practicing in the gym
and highlighted some of her players,
both returners and first-year student-
athletes. She also took the opportunity
to promote what she sees as her team’s
greatest strength.
“I think the culture of the volleyball
team is pretty unique and just a special
culture to be a part of … the mindset
that our team takes on is one of
gratitude all the time,” Hayes said.
Goff said that he plans to continue
airing Pio Stream once sports seasons
resume in the spring, in addition to
regular broadcasts of all home sporting
events.
“We’re trying to make Pio Stream
one of the best possible broadcasts
that anyone can watch at the NCAA
Division III level,” Goff said.
At its heart, Pio Stream and
LCPioneers.com Live are both meant
to serve as avenues for connection
within the LC community by bringing
sports to virtually to every corner of the
world.
“It is an amazing morale boost
and source of connectivity for the
institution, much less the athletic
department,” Hayes said. “It gives the
chance for our student-athletes and
coaches to have a voice, our alumni
have a voice, as well as Lewis & Clark
staff and faculty and so I feel like it is
an awesome, stellar, amazing thing
that brings us together every week.” Pio Stream launches new show to
connect to broader LC communitySocial isolation contributes to Zoom fatigue
As students adjust to their “new normal,” studies show that their mental health may be suffering
EMERY ANDERSON/THE PIONEER LOG
NWC celebrates 25
years in the NCAA
PHOTO COURTESY OF LC PIONEERS
LCPioneers.com Live is hosted by Ryan Goff and airs every Tuesday through Friday at 11:30 a.m. on the LC Pioneers Facebook page.By GABE KORER
WHILE DIVISION I
conferences such as the
Big 10 and Pac-12 reversed
their decisions to postpone the 2020
college football season, Division III
conferences remain committed to
a spring reopening. The Northwest
Conference (NWC), which includes
Lewis & Clark, has postponed games
until January 2021, when it plans
to hold a four-to-five game football
season.
Pressure
from coaches and
student-athletes,
as well as concerns
over revenue,
prompted the
decision to renew
the 2020 season.
As a primary
source of funding
for college
athletics, football
makes more
money for FBS
schools (Division
I Football Bowl
Subdivision) than
every other college sport combined.
While this is not the case for Division
III schools like LC, sponsoring football
can still mean an increase in spending
revenue as high as 40% for smaller
institutions.
Another concern for Division I
colleges was recruitment. With NCAA
COVID-19 guidelines and travel
restrictions still stringent, coaches
have had limited opportunities to
scout and meet with high school
student-athletes. This makes the
college regular season more valuable,
as it serves as a platform for coaches
to promote their brand of football
and allows them to achieve notoriety
for their program — both important
aspects of recruitment.
Since the majority of Division
I conferences planned to continue
college football as early as Aug. 17,
conferences that initially decided
to postpone faced pushback from
universities that did not want to fall
behind in recruitment. As a Division
III school, LC did not have that issue
because other Division III schedules were similarly postponed and
Division III three student-athletes
tend to commit later (making a spring
reopening more feasible).
In order to stop the spread of
the virus that causes COVID-19,
Division I programs are subject to
NCAA guidelines along with specific
conference measures. These limit
crowd sizes, ensure regular testing
and embed social distancing practices
prior to games.
Players and coaches also have to
wear masks on
the sidelines and
quarantine for up
to two weeks if
they test positive
for COVID-19. So
far, each of the
conferences has
managed to avoid
major setbacks,
though individual
teams have faced
problems with
maintaining their
schedules. The
University of
Notre Dame, for
instance, had to
postpone a game against Wake Forest
University in late September due to
several positive COVID-19 tests. It
remains to be seen whether COVID-19
outbreaks will prematurely end the
Division I college football season.
For their part, the NWC has
cited COVID-19 concerns as
the fundamental reason behind
postponing games and has urged a
return to athletic competition that is
safe.
“The NWC has been working
diligently over the past several months
to plan for the safe reopening of
campuses this fall while prioritizing
the health and well-being of
students, faculty, staff and campus
communities,” their website said.
As a part of the NWC’s decision,
practices and non-conference activities
are permitted insofar as they adhere to
state and COVID-19 directives. The
Presidents’ Council for the NWC has
left open the possibility of additional
updates, which may appear in the
coming months based on the changing
status of COVID-19 in relation to the
NCAA’s guidelines.By AUBREY ROCHÉ
IN A NORMAL year , Intramural
Sports would host matches of
futsal, volleyball, soccer, tennis
and basketball, as well as an annual
badminton tournament and the
Thanksgiving Turkey Trot 5k run.
However, this semester’s social
distancing requirements and limits on
crowd sizes have caused Intramurals
to explore new ways of offering
organized group activities.
Aaron Campbell, head track
and field coach and director of
intramurals, described adapting to
COVID-19 restrictions as challenging.
Trying to find activities that not only
follow social distancing requirements
but are also fun and contribute to
community engagement is no easy
feat. Intramural basketball and soccer
usually have the highest numbers of
participants, yet these sports require
close contact with others and sharing
equipment, both of which must now
be avoided.
“The social distancing component
is definitely our biggest challenge in
terms of what we can do and what
those sports are,” Campbell said. “We
were … figuring out what protocol
looks like (and) what is going to
be safe but also going to have those
elements of intramurals that we’ve
liked since the beginning.”
In place of futsal, which normally
begins during the fall semester,
Intramurals has introduced a game called Kubb, pronounced “koob.” Kubb
is played by two teams, where players
throw batons to try and knock over the
other team’s Kubb blocks. Once each
block has been knocked down, the leading team has the chance to knock
over the “king” Kubb block, which
is in the center of the playing area.
Knocking over the “king” Kubb block
wins the game. Michael Mulrennan ’22 described
Kubb as similar to bowling, as the
objective is knocking over pins or
blocks. He introduced it as an idea for
Intramurals this year after learning how to play over the summer. There
has been positive feedback from
students who have participated in
Kubb games so far. Mulrennan said
that there was a bit of a learning curve
at first, in figuring out how to play a
new game, but teams adapted quickly
and had fun while playing, despite
distancing requirements.
“Doing an activity together was a
really powerful and important thing,”
Mulrennan said. “Intramurals has a
great community, and it was really
fun to share that with some new
people, and some freshmen, and get
them outside and playing again.”
Mulrennan highly encourages people
to sign up for Kubb and hopes to have
more teams play in the upcoming weeks.
Games last 45 minutes to an hour, and
according to Mulrennan are “a great way
to get outside and have some fun.” Sign-
ups are always open, and you can sign up
a team of three to five people by emailing
intramur@lclark.edu.
Intramurals is planning to host
kickball later in the semester, and in
the spring they are hoping to be able
to return to some of the sports they
have done in the past. Regardless of
the necessary changes to the structure
of the semester, Campbell is remaining
optimistic and flexible.
“We want to try new stuff, we’re not
afraid to see how things go,” Campbell
said. “This was a good opportunity to
say alright, we’re in a different spot, let’s
get something new out, so that’s where
Kubb came up, and we’re rolling with it.”FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2020
SPORTS 11
By GABRIEL
MANTIONE-HOLMES
THE RAIN IS coming and
sunny days will soon be only in
daydreams and fond memories.
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is
a mood disorder related to seasonal
changes. Students, faculty and staff will
be at greater risk of experiencing SAD
from lack of sunlight exposure with the
rainy season moving in. According to
the Mayo Clinic, SAD may be affected
by lowered serotonin and melatonin
levels.
This is not a normal rainy season.
The vast majority of people have
been quarantining and socially
isolating themselves over the course
of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Quarantining and social distancing can
lead to lower levels of vitamin D due to
prolonged hours indoors.
Vitamins should only be used
if there is a deficient level in your
body. To avoid intaking potentially
hazardous levels of vitamins,
the National Institutes of Health
recommend following dietary reference
intakes (DRI). The Food and Nutrition
Board of the Institute of Medicine and
the National Academy of Sciences issued the DRIs as nutritional intake
guidelines; the most notable DRI is
the recommended dietary allowances
which look at sufficient nutrient
requirement intake. For those living
in Portland and performing proper
COVID-19 isolation techniques, you
should look into taking at least some
form of vitamin D.
You can also work around the rainy
season by investing in a sun lamp. The
Mayo Clinic advises that you position
your face 1.25 to two feet from the lamp
for 20 to 30 minutes. Another option
is to take a vitamin D supplement with
a liquid after you eat, which does not
take half an hour of your day.
There are two different forms of
Vitamin D: D2 and D3. Vitamin D2 is
naturally produced in humans; Vitamin
D2 in plants. Thus, vitamin D3 is better
absorbed by humans according to the
National Library of Medicine, despite
Vitamin D2 being cheaper to produce.
Investing in a sun lamp is also another
way to combat SAD.
An international research
partnership between the University of
Georgia, the University of Pittsburgh
and the Queensland University of
Technology in Australia conducted a
review of over 100 articles and found a relationship between vitamin D and
SAD.
According to Professor of Psychiatry
Alfred Lewy at Oregon Health &
Science University, 5% of the Portland
metropolitan area’s population is
severely affected by SAD and another
15% are moderately affected.
Vitamin D is not the only beneficial
vitamin or supplement. Iron deficiency
is the most common deficiency
worldwide and is especially prevalent
in people who menstruate. Hormonal
birth control can help with iron-
deficiency anemia. Along with iron
deficiency, students suffering from
sleeping or following a plant based diet
might want to look into melatonin or
vitamin B.
The University of Georgia Health
Center reports that most college
students get 6 to 6.9 hours of sleep per
night. If you are having trouble sleeping
or want to change your sleep schedule,
using melatonin supplements can help.
You can help promote sleep by taking
one to three milligrams two hours
before your desired bedtime.
If you have bad reactions to
melatonin try incorporating lavender
or magnesium into your nightly
routine instead. Both have large bodies
of scientific work that link them to
better overall sleep. With lavender,
studies show that smelling or ingesting
80 mg of a lavender oil supplement in
the evening will improve sleep. With
magnesium, 500 milligrams taken
daily improves sleeping.
Plant-based diets have been linked
to vitamin deficiencies due to their
more restrictive nature. According to
the Mayo Clinic, if you follow a plant-
based diet you are at a greater risk for
deficiencies in omega-3 fatty acids,
vitamin B-12, iron, zinc and iodine.
The Harvard Health Publishing Staff
warns that vitamin B12 deficiency
can lead to deep depression, paranoid
delusions, memory loss, incontinence,
loss of taste and smell and more.
Vitamin deficiencies are a serious
matter. Waiting too long to get the
proper vitamins may be detrimental
to your health. Most LC students
are already at risk for a vitamin D
deficiency due to the campus’ location
and the time of year. If you think you
might be deficient it is worth your time
to purchase vitamins.How to take the proper vitamins
for a happy and healthy lifestyle Intramurals introduce “Kubb” to Lewis & Clark
LC Intramural Sports discover new ways to socialize through Kubb, the wooden block Nordic lawn game
Pac-12 and Big 10 set
to reestablish football
A group of LC students celebrate in the Pamplin gym and pose for a photo after winning the Spring 2019 intramural championship.
Supplements melatonin, B-12, D-3 and iron rest atop a copy of The Pioneer Log.
GABRIEL MANTIONE-HOLMES/THE PIONEER LOG UMI CALDWELL/THE PIONEER LOGPHOTO COURTESY OF INTRAMURAL SPORTSFRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2020
12
“Manifest Destiny” top spurs varied community response
By JUSTIN HOWERTON
MEMBERS OF the Lewis &
Clark community recently
caught Astra Pellatz ’21 on
campus sporting a new tee from the
alternative fashion company Urban
Outfitters which brandished the text
“Manifest Destiny.” Pellatz received
varied responses from students and
professors alike.
Pellatz, a self-proclaimed new-
age spiritualist, claims that the text
on their shirt merely spoke to one of
their meditative practices and was not
intended to cause emotional harm or
discomfort.
“In no way did I mean to upset the
status quo,” Pellatz said. “My friend
bought me this shirt as a parting gift,
and it’s honestly insulting to face an
accusation of insensitivity when I’m
so often discriminated against by my
peers for my own spiritual practices.” When asked to expand on the
exact nature of their friend’s “parting,”
Pellatz declined to comment. However,
they did continue to defend their
practices as a staunch spiritualist while
drawing on a personal anecdote to
illustrate their point.
“As a spiritual apprentice myself,
I have learned to manifest my dreams
into realities,” Pellatz said. “This year
I was able to manifest a healthier
relationship with my mother into
existence. After getting caught stealing
some of her prescribed Xanax, I was
forced into rehab. And that time away
from her has forced me to realize that
living apart has been so beneficial for
the both of us. Our relationship has
never been better.”
Pellatz was allegedly on campus
to pick up their latest basalt shipment
as president of the Astrological
Phenomenological Ecological Demisexual
Club when they were spotted by numerous people. Taylor Schinfield ’23 happened
to see Pellatz leaving Templeton with a
hula hoop draped over their shoulder
and noticed the text.
Despite not knowing Pellatz on a
personal level, Schinfield expressed
support as he considers himself a
similar practitioner of non-Western
spirituality.
“I don’t get what the big deal is,”
Schinfield said. “So what if the term
‘Manifest Destiny’ implies a history of
ruthless colonization and Indigenous
displacement and genocide? That was
so long ago, and people should realize
that stuff like that is not happening
anymore. ‘Manifest Destiny’ has taken
on a new meaning in our generation’s
spiritual context and nomenclature.”
Some members of the community
have followed Pellatz’s lead by
incorporating their own questionable
ideologies into different aspects of
their wardrobes. Many “Self Love is Self Loathing” buttons
have appeared on the frayed
jackets of freshmen, and “Real
Women Vote for Trump” hats
have become the latest arbitrary
fashion accessories of LC
students attempting to
express some semblance of
individuality.
At the time of publication,
administrators have neither
censured nor applauded
Pellatz’s controversial tee.
President Vim Vievel did
opt to email a bulletin
to the LC community
advocating for the
“common interest” and
“multiculturalism,”
but he ultimately
declined to speak
to The Pioneer
Log regarding the
situation.There is no scaling
back this Libra season
By VENUS EDLIN
WHEN STUDENTS saw a
large glass bowl full of keys
in Associate Professor of
Philosophy James Gritzhaver’s home, they
were cautiously curious. Either their worst
fears or greatest desires were confirmed
when they saw several keychains for Club
Privada, a swingers club in Portland.
Zoom has unveiled a whole new world
of information as professors call-in from
home, revealing remarkable things in the
background. This includes the discovery
that one beloved professor gets it on with
more than just his husband. Swingers have
sex with people other than their partners,
often randomized by participants pulling
car keys from a bowl before they leave with
whoever owns the key.
Gritzhaver said he is not embarrassed
and encourages students to ask questions.
“Philosophy is inherently deeply
personal anyway,” Gritzhaver said. “I was
not trying to hide my sexcapades, in fact,
I think we need to be more upfront about
the freaky sex we have. We are all adults
here.”
His student Mahsa Bates ’21, a self-
proclaimed slut, was surprised to find
out that Fritzhaver is a swinger, but is
supportive.
“I just started my OnlyFans a week ago and I was worried about how I
would be received on a college campus,
especially if professors found out,” Bates
said. “But I am more comforted than ever
knowing that not all of my professors just
have vanilla sex in missionary.”
Gritzhaver confirmed that it is
true he does not just have vanilla sex
in missionary, even when he is not
swinging. He found comradery in the
philosophy department when students
saw Associate Professor of Philosophy
and Department Chair Robert OdenLi
with shibari rope and impact toys,
such as paddles, on his wall when he
accidentally panned his camera during a
Zoom class.
Ana Sechs ’22 has been inspired by
the recent unveiling of the kinkiness
coming from the philosophy department.
Sechs even plans on frequenting Club
Privada post-pandemic with her partner.
“I used to hide all my sex toys in my
dorm closet when we had class, but now
I proudly display on the shelf behind
me,” Sechs said. “I do not just have the
basic stuff like a vibrator and classic
dildo, either. I feature my pastel pink
ponytail buttplug and, on the floor, an
exercise ball with a dildo attached.”
Not all have been supportive though.
Don Askiss ’21 said teachers and students
alike should keep it in their pants.“It has become so difficult to focus in
class and some of the stuff people do is
disgusting,” Askiss said. “But I can not
lie, it does turn me on a little.”
In light of these events, the
psychology department is planning
a study to discover why philosophy
professors tend to be more kinky and
adventurous with sex. Adjunct Professor
of Psychology Besel Ford-McCain is
heading the study.
“We know that most of the staff is
queer because this is a liberal arts school,
which just makes kink all the more
common,” Ford-McCain said. “But we
think some sort of special psychological
phenomenon is happening in the
philosophy department.”
Gritzhaver said sex he engages in
is nothing special and that maybe the
psychology department should be less
boring.
“I think they need some sex,”
Fritzhaver said. “It must have been a
while.”
Student Engagement plans to hold
a forum to discuss non-normative sex.
She Bop, a Portland sex toy store, is
sponsoring the event and giving out
one penetrating sex machine to a lucky
student.
The owners of Club Privada declined
a request to comment.Zoom indiscretion inspires
campus to be more kinkyThe Backdoor is a work of humor and fiction
Spiritually obsessed wook on campus sports new Urban Outfitters shirt with controversial text
MAYA WINSHELL/THE PIONEER LOG
MAYA WINSHELL/THE PIONEER LOG
By AMELIA MADARANG
Libra (Sept. 24-Oct. 23)
People born under the sign of Libra
are associated with the planet Venus
which causes a strong emotional
disposition. As Venus shines on you
during Mercury’s retrograde, you
need to take this opportunity to have
a (coronavirus safe) hot girl semester.
Shoot your shot and the stars will be
behind you. You majestic freak, you.
Scorpio (Oct. 24-Nov. 22)
You are caught in the seasonal
Mercury retrograde until November,
this may push you to be a really loving
person, or perhaps the stars are
pushing you to be a serial killer. Either
way, if you are looking for that passion
in this time of uncertainty, Libras will
be a great person to turn your mommy
issues to.
Sagittarius (Nov. 23-Dec. 22)
You usually do not believe in
horoscopes but ever
since you found
out “having a
Subaru isn’t
a personality
trait” you have
been turning
to the stars
for guidance.
If you have
something on
your mind, you
should just say
it and if a Taurus
gets upset that’s their
bloody problem. Also,
slide into a Libra’s
direct messages on
Zoom.
Capricorn (Dec. 23-Jan.
20)
Your perspective on
life is realistic and
materialistic and you try to turn
everything to your own advantage.
I hate you. Loving capitalism is
so embarrassing. That being said,
everyone needs a partner in crime.
Right now your Sun is in Libra and
this span will be rather serious for
you. Buy them a gift or something.
Aquarius (Jan. 21-Feb. 19)
While Mercury is backtracking and
backpacking through Scorpio, you
may find it hard to connect with any
Scorpio beyond a surface level. You
do not need to force a connection.
Sometimes it is self-care to cut people
off and go for those Libras who you
have an instant connection with.Pisces (Feb. 20-March 20)
Honestly, you suck and I wish you were
a Libra. Please change.
Aries (March 21-April 20)
Mars is in retrograde for you until Nov.
3 at 7:69 p.m. You are associated with
the planet Mars so this will be rough,
but it gives you an opportunity to
recuperate and refocus your energy so
you are spending it on what matters
most in your life. Cough like that Libra
you ghosted, cough cough.
Taurus (April 21-May 21)
You are usually very sensitive and
succumb easily to your feelings; in
other words, you are a pissbaby. This
is not the time to be in your feelings.
It is the time to stand up for yourself
and fight any Sagittarius that says
otherwise. Also, hook up with a Libra.
Gemini (May 22-June 21)
Are you caught in a love triangle? Do you
have several relationships at the same
time, you two-faced goose?
I know these last
few months have
been weird and
you are just waiting
for that lunar
eclipse in Nov.
to set things
right. Whatever
situation you are in
a Libra can be a great
addition.
Cancer (June
22-July 22)
This water sign
is associated with
the moon and
lucky for you there
are two full moons
occurring in October.
Wow, astronomy is
hard. Use this time
to stop pining and
take action! That Libra cannot wait
forever!
Leo (July 23-Aug. 22)
You need to stop sitting with goblin
posture during your virtual classes.
All the Libras are talking about it. It is
honestly concerning.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 23)
The sign Virgo is associated with the
planet Mercury but Mercury’s retrograde
will not be hitting you the hardest. So,
you have no excuse to gatekeep that
thing you think makes you unique. If
you say “You did not know that” one
more time I will scream. Be like a Libra
and do not be a dick.MAYA WINSHELL/THE PIONEER LOG