Lewis & Clark College

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

Volume 95, No. 4

Lewis & Clark College Student Newspaper

Pioneer Log Staff

2020-10-30

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Lewis & Clark College: Pioneer Log / Mossy Log

ELECTION EDITION
IN ITS FIRST-EVER PioPoll, The
Pioneer Log sent a voluntary
online survey to the Lewis & Clark
community via email and through
social media to collect opinions on
the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
It remained open from Oct. 5 through
Oct. 21, in which time it received 298
responses.
While the results of this survey
cannot be guaranteed to represent the
entire LC community, it provides a
snapshot of a portion of it.
The survey began by asking the
respondent’s relationship to LC.
In total, 222 students, 53 faculty
members, 12 staff members, 10 alums
and one administrator responded to the
survey. The rest of the survey included
eight substantive questions.
Not every respondent answered
every question of the PioPoll. The
number of responses for each question
are included in the description of the
relevant graphic.
With only two respondents
choosing not to answer whether they
will be voting in the election, 95.9% of
respondents said they will be voting,
3.7% said they are not eligible to vote
in the election and one respondent said
they are eligible to vote but will not be
voting.
For the question asking with
which political party respondents
are registered, only Independent respondents and those affiliated
with the Democratic, Republican,
Libertarian or Green Parties are
included in the graphic on page 3.
For the question asking who
respondents are voting for in the U.S.
presidential election, three undecided voters were excluded from the graphic.
When asked whether Sen. Kamala
Harris should be the next Democratic
presidential candidate if former Vice
President Joe Biden wins the 2020
election, 41.1% of respondents said
she should not, but that they did not have another candidate in mind.
29.1% said Harris should be the next
nominee. Alternative candidates that
received multiple mentions from other
respondents include Rep. Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez, Sen. Elizabeth Warren,
Sen. Bernie Sanders and Andrew Yang.For the question asking for
respondents’ most important issue
determining their vote, responses were
condensed into the top eight most
popular responses plus an “Other”
response that includes all other answers
respondents either chose or wrote in.
Vol. 95 No. 4 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2020 www.piolog.com
Biden the Progressive
Although Joe Biden is a moderate within the
Democratic Party, his platform makes him the most
progressive presidential nominee in decades.
See page 7Incumbent Mayor of Portland Ted Wheeler is
running for a second term amid intense criticism of
his handling of the Black Lives Matter protests.PDX Mayoral Race
See page 8Stadiums have been converted into large, socially
distanced polling places where people can go to
vote for the 2020 election.Stadium Polling Places
See page 14In this episode of The PioPod, editors discuss
results of PioPoll: U.S. Presidential Election and
10 races to watch on election night other than
Biden vs. Trump. Also, find out if a ghost haunts
Frank Manor House.2020 Vision
Societal and gender norms often force female
politicians to publicly embody more masculine traits to
convince voters of their abilities.Femininity in Politics
See page 11
Due to COVID-19, this newspaper is intended for single use. After a thorough read, please keep it for your personal records or recycle.Readers respond to PioPoll: US Presidential Election
Respondents, mostly Democrats, express diverse views on issue areas and the tenure of a Biden presidency
Regardless of whether you are voting or not, who do you think
will become the next president and vice president?
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris
Donald Trump and Mike Pence25.4%
74.6%If you are voting in the U.S. presidential election, who are you
voting for?
96.4%1.8%
0.7%
0.7%
0.4%
Joe Biden and
Kamala Harris
Donald Trump and
Mike Pence
Jo Jorgensen and
Spike Cohen
Kanye West
Howie Hawkins and
Angela Walker
Of the 280 individuals who answered this question, 270 intend to vote for Joe Biden and
Kamala Harris. Five plan to vote for Donald Trump and Mike Pence while two each will
vote for the Libertarian candidates, Jo Jorgensen and Spike Cohen, and Kanye West.
One respondent favors Howie Hawkins and Angela Walker, the Green Party candidates.Among the 283 respondents to this question, 211 predict that Joe Biden and Kamala
Harris will become the next president and vice president. Another 72 believe that
Donald Trump and Mike Pence will earn a second term. Respondents were not given
the option of selecting other candidates due to that result’s extremely low probability.Divided nation holds breath as race nears end
LC community expects emotions to run high in days, weeks following close to contentious election season
By NICHOLAS NERLI
AMID WIDESPREAD concern
over the possibility of contested
results, the accuracy of polling
and the integrity of ballot counting,
weary voters anxiously await election
night in America. At Lewis & Clark,
campus leaders are anticipating
heightened community stress and
encouraging students to engage with a
number of election-related events and
resources.
One such event, hosted by the
Associated Students of Lewis & Clark
(ASLC), is an in-person, socially
distanced election night watch party.
Between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Nov. 3,
students are invited to fill 19 rooms in
J.R. Howard and Miller Halls to watch
election results trickle in. Members of
ASLC will monitor each of the rooms to
ensure COVID-19 precautions are being
followed and conduct contact tracing. In
total, up to 200 students are invited to
attend the watch party at a given time.
According to Sarah Lind-MacMillan
’22, ASLC engagement & outreach
coordinator, the watch party is intended
to promote community support.
“It’s super crucial that people are
not alone on election night,” MacMillan
said. “We wanted to offer people
two hours to be with each other and
recognize the importance of having
community on that night.”Originally, the watch party was
organized as a virtual event. However,
at the urging of the Division of Student
Life, ASLC opted to forgo its initial plan and instead coordinate an in-person
experience. Part of this decision was
meant to dissuade students from being
alone on election night. As Assistant Dean of Student Engagement and
Executive Director of the Career Center
Rocky Campbell noted, another part was
to offer a well-attended community event.“Larger virtual events that are
generic and general seem to struggle for
attendance,” Campbell said. “If people
are present that you know and have a
tie to, you’re more likely to attend an
event.”
The watch party will feature coverage
by The New York Times. According to
Lind-MacMillan, this is, in part, meant
to advertise LC’s complimentary digital
access to The New York Times.
Within academic affairs, adminis -
trators and support staff are ramping
up resources in preparation for election
night and the days after. According to
Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences
Bruce Suttmeier, the college is not “an -
ticipating an interruption to academic
life because of the election.” However,
academic support services are expecting
an increase in demand.
“As an institution, we have begun
talking about making sure our support
offices are as prepared as can be for
heightened demand post-election,”
Suttmeier said via email. “Given the
uncertainty around finalizing results, we
recognize that may prolong and increase
demand.”
Additionally, in an Oct. 7 email,
Suttmeier encouraged faculty to use
their classrooms as a community space
to process the election results.
“As I’ve mentioned in various venues,
many of our courses this semester are
“Faculty” continued on page 4
AMELIA MADARANG/THE PIONEER LOG
For more
data from the
PioPoll and
information
about the
science of
polling, see
pages 3 and 4.
By VENUS EDLIN
LEWIS & CLARK has a reputation
for being a liberal college campus.
However, it has had a history
of low partisan political engagement,
which is fairly equally divided between
Democratic and Republican groups.
The assumption that the college is
left-leaning is not unfounded. According
to the first-ever PioPoll conducted
by The Pioneer Log regarding the
U.S. Presidential Election, 93.3% of
respondents are registered as Democrats
and 2.1% are registered as Republicans.
The poll collected 298 responses from
students, faculty, staff, administrators
and alumni.
Associate Professor of Political
Science Ben Gaskins categorizes the
political divide on campus differently
than the national divide.
“At least from my experience in the
classroom, the political divide tends to
be more (between) the classic liberal,
center-left kind of approach, and more
of the Bernie Sanders, democratic
socialist approach, the people more to
the left,” Gaskins said. “That seems to be
a lot of the dynamic that I have seen, but
there are conservatives on campus.”
Compared to colleges nationally,
LC seems to be more liberal. UCLA’s
Higher Education Research Institute
found that in 2017, students at four-
year colleges and universities were on
average 4% far left, 32.2% liberal, 41.4%
middle of the road, 20.4% conservative
and 2% far right.
Gaskins also characterizes LC’s
political engagement as issue-specific.
While he said this is not unique to
Generation Z, the campus is less
engaged in partisan politics than many
other colleges.
“There is a huge lack of partisan
political activity on campus,” Gaskins
said. “People are passionate about
politics and policy and rights and
freedoms and liberties and being an
activist for the causes they believe in.
But there’s a lot of cynicism towards the
two-party system and being associated
with it.”
Gaskins noted that while he has
been at the college, he has seen issue-
specific clubs like Students Engaged
in Eco-Defense (SEED) and the new
Prison Abolition Club gain popularity.
In terms of partisan groups, several iterations of College Democrats
and College Republicans have been
established in the past decade.
LC College Democrats Co-
President Mary Welch ’22 has seen
this as a challenge for the club’s
engagement.
“At least in the near historic, we’ve
been considered a very liberal college,
but also one of the colleges that
while we are sort of like focused on
social issues, we tend to not focus on
elections as much,” Welch said.
The most recent chapter of LC
College Democrats was founded in
2016 by Emma Kaftan-Luckerman
’19 and Daniel Koster ’20. In 2018,
several members attended the College
Democrats of America Convention
in Washington, D.C. Later that
same year, the club hosted Oregon’s
Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum
and State Rep. Andrea Salinas. The
group was fairly inactive in 2019 and 2020, up until this election season.
The group is advised by Gaskins.
LC College Republicans has seen a
similar pattern of fluctuating activity.
Co-Presidents Asher Kalman ’18 and
Bradley Davis ’18 refounded the LC
chapter in 2014, which was also advised
by Gaskins. Lincoln Boyd ’15, president
of the Associated Students of Lewis &
Clark (ASLC) at the time, also played
a key role in founding the club. Davis
and Boyd attended the Conservative
Political Action Conference, or CPAC,
in Washington, D.C. in 2015. LC College
Republicans has not been active after
Kalman and Davis graduated.
Gaskins was surprised at the lack
of partisan clubs when he first came to
campus.
“(College Democrats) was dormant
when I came onto campus,” Gaskins
said. “I couldn’t believe that the College
Democrats weren’t the main game,
driving political discussion on campus.”With such a low conservative
presence, some students have raised
concerns about creating a “hostile
environment” for students who may be
Republican or conservative. A hostile
environment would be characterized
by conservative students losing friends,
suffering social consequences and
being ostracized in class because of
their political views.
LC College Democrats Social
Media Manager Cass Orr ’24, however,
believes that opposing views would be
welcome on campus.
“One of the greatest appeals of being
here is that everyone’s very open to
different opinions,” Orr said. “And so,
although I haven’t heard that opinion
voiced ... I would greet that opinion
with open arms, even if I do disagree.”
Gaskins, however, believes that
many students on the right, or even
centrists, opt to “self-censor” themselves
in the classroom.“I do think, to some degree, there
is an environment that incentivizes
conservatives to keep hidden,” Gaskins
said. “Even some more centrist liberals
are perhaps hesitant because they are
worried about being shoved down or
criticized by the more activist left for
not being fully on board with their
causes.”
Gaskins considers most of the
Republicans on campus to be more in
line with former Presidents Ronald
Reagan and George W. Bush, rather
than President Donald Trump.
However, the five PioPoll respondents
who said they are registered
Republicans said they are also voting
for Trump.
Gaskins encourages more partisan
political engagement on campus.
“I was really disappointed that the
parties weren’t more active, because
when I was an undergrad, they were
incredibly active, and they would
combat each other, and it was a very
vibrant environment,” Gaskins said.
“One of my goals, one of my greatest
desires is to really have an active
partisan environment where these
groups are doing political events,
where they’re making their cases for
their parties, in a way that has a free
exchange of ideas, but also room for
critical evaluation of the role of parties
and politicians in our politics.”
LC College Democrats said they
are also interested in “free exchange
of ideas” with a conservative group on
campus.
“I definitely would love to do events
with a more conservative or centrist
club,” Welch said. “We’ve actually
talked about it in the past and lamented
the fact that we don’t have someone
to do that with. I would definitely
be interested in that because I think
Republicans get a bad name.”
Orr agrees. She said political
engagement and voter outreach is more
important than specifically Democratic
outreach.
“We want everyone to have their
voice heard, because we’ve just gone
through so many years of either people
not participating, or people just not
interested when this isn’t a time for
us to not be interested,” Orr said. “We
should all be interested in politics right
now. Not even for our own sake, but for
our neighbors and for our loved ones.”FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2020
NEWS 2
Students avoid party-affiliated organizations
Issue-specific groups are active but Democratic and Republican clubs on campus are less popular
COVID-19 threatens future of LC language programs
By RACHELLE BINDER
IN MARCH, MANY students at Lewis
& Clark were spending time overseas
through the study abroad program.
When the World Health Organization
declared the COVID-19 outbreak a
pandemic, many students overseas
were forced to return home. A lot of
these students were language majors
fulfilling their graduation requirements.
Now, with study abroad canceled for
the spring semester of 2021, there is
considerable uncertainty as to how
requirements for language majors will
be fulfilled.
Chinese Professor and Department
Chair of World Languages and
Literatures Keith Dede had students
studying in Taipei, Taiwan, at the time.
Initially, Taiwan was expected to have
low transmission rates, and students
would not have had to leave the country.
“Then, the government made the
decision that everyone should come
home,” Dede said. “Everything shifted
online for them as well.”
LC’s language department has made
some temporary curriculum changes.
“Our short term goal is to get the
students who have already declared
majors to complete their degree on
time,” Dede said. “The great majority
of students have already completed the
study abroad requirements.”
There are a few students at LC who
are graduating this spring and, instead
of studying abroad, will have additional
classes in the language they are studying.
“It is a disappointment, but it is going
to be OK,” Dede said. “They are going to
have to take a couple of extra classes, but I think they will get the linguistic
experience pretty well, but what they
will miss out on is the experience of
immersed in a culture.”
According to Overseas and Off-
Campus Program Director Blythe Knott,
uncertainty remains if study abroad
companies may face the risk of closing
entirely.
“Most organizations
had the reserves to
make it through the
fall, with no programs
and some will struggle
now that almost all
schools are canceling
spring,” Knott said.
“I’m not sure any will
cease to exist, but
several will probably
go into a hibernation
until students are able
to study abroad again.”
The pandemic has
impacted international
institutions associated
with LC’s overseas
program. For students
studying French, one
of the language intensive study abroad
options included Dakar, Senegal. The
program ran through the non-profit
international education and exchange
organization Council on International
Education Exchange (CIEE).
CIEE’s Dakar, Senegal program
was permanently suspended due
to COVID-19. The overseas office
has replaced the language intensive
program with a program in Cameroon,
a Francophone country, through
the Middlebury language intensive program. Other canceled programs
include Valparaiso, Chile; Moscow,
Russia; and Alicante, Spain.
The long term impact is unknown
for LC’s language majors, as there
are still many uncertainties about
COVID-19. For the many LC students
planning to graduate in Spring 2022,
the possibilities of studying abroad are
looking slim.
“(The language
department) will also
make accommodations
for them and will also
require taking extra
courses in the target
language and some
other courses about
the culture of the
language,” Dede said.
For the German
program, the year
in Munich program
was an important
immersion component
for majors. Niall Gifford
’22 is one of many
students at LC who is
impacted by this pause.
Gifford is a double German studies and
international affairs major who initially
planned on spending the 2020-2021
academic year at Ludwig Maximilian
University of Munich.
Gifford will likely not continue the
German studies major if Spring 2021
study abroad is canceled.
“Study abroad is such a crucial aspect
of majoring in a language that even if I
found a way to complete the required
credits here on campus, it would be a
hollow experience,” Gifford said.To Dede’s understanding, the
majority of students who have declared
a language major are staying in the
department. The biggest concern for
Dede is the future of the language
department. There is a growing concern
that first and second years will find
majoring in a language unappealing.
“First and second-year students
are looking around the world and the
curriculum, seeing what is possible and
how they can complete their degree in a
timely way and seeing language majors
as a real challenge,” Dede said.
According to Dede, studying
abroad is the best part of the liberal
arts curriculum. Though language majors are missing out on the
experience of studying abroad, Dede is
still a firm believer that studying abroad
is a quintessential component of the
liberal arts experience.
“It is broadening the mind and
enriching the soul, and there is no
substitute,” Dede said.
On behalf of the overseas office,
Knott is optimistic that the cancelation
of study abroad in Fall 2020 and Spring
2021 will not heavily impact the office’s
funding and staff, nor LC’s budget and
enrollment.
“I think we will be sending students
abroad again in the fall of 2021 and we
have already completed the application
cycle for that semester,” Knott said. “I
expect things to bounce back quickly
enough that I don’t anticipate changes to
be made to our office in the meantime.”Because the pandemic limits travel, language majors may be less attractive to undeclared students
SOFIA REEVES/THE PIONEER LOG
ARA VICKERS/THE PIONEER LOG
“Study abroad is
such a crucial
aspect of majoring
in a language that
even if I found a
way to complete
the required credits
here on campus, it
would be a hollow
experience.”
Niall Gifford ’22
By JACOB MUSCARELLA
ON OCT. 26, Judge Amy Coney
Barrett was confirmed by a 52-48
vote in the U.S. Senate to become
the next Associate Justice of the U.S.
Supreme Court. Sen. Susan Collins of
Maine was the only Republican senator
to join with Democratic senators in voting
against Barrett.
At 48 years old, Barrett is the youngest
justice on the court. She is the fifth woman
to sit on the Supreme Court, and the
second female justice nominated by a
Republican president.
Her confirmation comes after a week
of public hearings in the Senate Judiciary
Committee where senators, including
Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen.
Kamala Harris, questioned Barrett about
her experience and how she would rule on
issues that reach the Supreme Court.
Barrett was reluctant to answer
questions about her views on Supreme
Court precedents surrounding issues like
abortion, LGBTQ+ protections and voting
rights. Notably, Barrett refused to say how
she would rule on California v. Texas, a
case that will be heard by the court shortly
after the election and will decide the fate of
the Affordable Care Act.
Strategic silence on controversial
issues in confirmation hearings has become the standard after Judge Robert
Bork, nominated for the Supreme Court
by former President Ronald Reagan in
1987, was rejected by the Senate after
being candid in his hearings about
his conservative interpretation of the
Constitution.
Even outside the relative normalcy of
Barrett’s answering strategy, Dr. Robert
B. Pamplin Jr. Associate Professor of
Government Todd Lochner said that what
Americans saw in Barrett’s confirmation
hearings was nothing new.
“(The hearings were) normal in
that they really don’t matter,” Lochner
said. “That is, confirmation hearings
at this point have become theater. It’s
exceptionally unlikely that what goes on
in a confirmation hearing is ever going to
swing the opinion of a senator.”
However, the fact that Barrett’s
confirmation hearings occurred so close
to the 2020 presidential election allowed
for Democratic senators to use their
questions to highlight issues important
to Democratic presidential nominee Joe
Biden’s campaign platform.
“One thing that is slightly unusual,
slightly different than in the past is
because this has been so close to the
election, the Democrats really made an
effort to focus their presentations on
the Affordable Care Act and healthcare more generally to basically dovetail with
Biden’s presidential messaging,” Lochner
said. “So there’s a symmetry there that
you normally wouldn’t find if you were
having a confirmation hearing, say, in an
off-year.”
Barrett’s confirmation to the Supreme
Court cements its conservative majority,
with six justices who tend to support
rulings that align with conservatives
and three who tend to support liberal
outcomes. This makeup of the court will
have a significant impact for the next
several decades.
“It would mean a lot, particularly
because the new conservative justices are
fairly young, so I would expect that they
would have a lasting influence for at least
the next 30 years,” Lochner said. “Also,
when you kind of look at the people who
are most likely to retire from the court
coming up, it’s going to be (Associate
Justices Clarence Thomas and Stephen
Breyer), so that’s kind of a trade-off there,
essentially one conservative and one
liberal.”
Even if Biden were president in this
scenario and was able to replace both
Thomas and Breyer with liberal justices,
the Supreme Court would still have a 5-4
conservative majority.
According to Amelia Thomson-
DeVeaux, a senior writer for
FiveThirtyEight, Martin-Quinn scores
that use Supreme Court justices’ decisions
to place them on a liberal-conservative
spectrum show that Barrett’s replacement
of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
is the third-biggest shift in the court’s
modern history. The last comparable shift
occurred when Associate Justice Thurgood
Marshall, the most liberal justice on the
court at the time of his retirement in 1991,
was replaced by Thomas, who is now the
most conservative justice.
While nobody can say with certainty
how much Barrett’s personal religious
and political beliefs will influence her
rulings, there are questions about the
fate of same-sex marriage and abortion
rights under a court with six conservative
justices.
In a recent statement, Thomas and
Associate Justice Samuel Alito signaled
that they would both be in favor of
overturning Obergefell v. Hodges, the
landmark case that established marriage
equality in the United States in 2015.
When asked if Barrett’s confirmation
to the court puts marriage equality
in danger, Lochner had a one-word
answer: yes.
“US Supreme” continued on page 4FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2020
NEWS 3
Justice Amy Coney Barrett
confirmed by divided Senate
By TOR PARSONS
Portland is likely going to experience
one of the closest and most divisive
elections for mayor in its history.
Incumbent Mayor Ted Wheeler is
facing a difficult bid for reelection, under
criticism from both the left and right
for his handling of the city’s Black Lives
Matter protests. If reelected, he would be
the first Portland mayor since Vera Katz,
who left office in 2005, to serve more
than a single term. He has two serious
challengers further to his left, public
policy advisor Sarah Iannarone and anti-
police brutality activist Teressa Raiford,
who is running an entirely write-in
campaign. Neither Iannarone nor Raiford
has ever held public office before.
A poll conducted by Davis, Hibbitts
and Midghall Research in mid-
September showed Iannarone leading
Wheeler by 11 percentage points, while
an early October poll from the same
source showed Iannarone and Wheeler
nearly tied, with Raiford a distant third.
Despite the groundswell of anti-Wheeler
sentiment visible in protests and lawn
signs across the city, Associate Professor
of Political Science and Department Chair
Ellen Seljan believes that Wheeler will
win reelection.
“There’s a lot of people voting because
they are excited to vote in the presidential
race,” Seljan said. “But they’re going
to vote for mayor as well, even though they might not know as much about
the candidates, and in any sort of low-
information environment, the incumbent
is the favorite.”
Seljan points to the sizable margins
of undecided voters, 28% in the most
recent poll, as evidence that many voters
are unfamiliar with the candidates.
Seljan said Wheeler has greater name
recognition due to being the incumbent,
and undecided voters are likely to vote for
candidates whose names they know.
No matter who wins, their power
will be limited due to Portland’s unique
system of city government. Most major
American cities have a mayor-council
form of government, in which an
executive mayor presides over a city
council, with each council member elected
to represent a single district of the city.
Portland, however, has what is known
as a “commission” government, a system
Seljan calls “highly unusual.” The five-
member city commission, of which the
mayor is one of the members, is elected
at-large by the entire city, instead of each
commissioner having a constituency of
a few neighborhoods as a city councilor
would. The mayor has very little power
beyond that of the other commissioners.
The consequences of commission
government are wide-ranging, according
to Seljan. One of the biggest is Portland’s
recent string of one-term mayors.
The three previous mayors before
Wheeler declined to run for reelection, which Seljan attributes to the difficulty
of advancing change through the
commission government.
“(The mayor is) seen as the most
important political actor, but (they)
don’t have the political power to back
it up,” Seljan said. “And so, you need to
spend a lot of time building coalitions
and building consensus, which is very
challenging and makes it easy to get
blamed along the way.”
Many have blamed the commission
system for the lack of officials of color
in Portland’s government. Because the
commissioners are elected at-large,
minority neighborhoods do not have
city councilors to directly represent
them, resulting in a commission that
only represents the needs and interests
of the city’s white majority. To date,
City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty,
the only Black commissioner, and the
nonprofit City Club of Portland have
advocated for the commission system to
be replaced, while Wheeler has suggested
a referendum on adopting a new system.
Iannarone and Raiford have
also voiced criticism regarding the
commission government. On her
campaign website, Iannarone writes that
“Our city works best when those making
decisions reflect the experiences of the
people whose lives they’re affecting,” in
support of amending the city charter, akin
to a municipal constitution, to reform the
commission system.Ellen Seljan, political scientist, talks
monumental Portland mayoral racePHOTO COURTESY OF CREATIVE COMMONS USER RACHEL MALEHORN
The Senate confirmed Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court on Oct. 26.
Results released from
LC polling initiative
If Joe Biden is elected, many wonder how his age will impact his presidency. Of the 292
respondents to this question, 202 believe that, if elected president, Joe Biden will serve
one full term but will not seek reelection. Another 67 believe he will serve a full term
and seek reelection in 2024 and 23 believe that he will not serve a full four-year term.
Of the 258 individuals who responded to this question, 240 indicated
membership with one of the two main political parties, with a major
third party or with independents at large. Of those 240, 224 said they are
registered with the Democratic Party, six are Indepdendents, five said they
are registered with the Republican Party, three said they are members of the
Libertarian Party and two said they were registered with the Green Party.This question’s 291 respondents expressed diverse priorities when it comes to issues
impacting their vote. The most important issue affecting an LC voter’s decision,
according to a plurality of respondents, is replacing the incumbent president. Other
important issues to LC voters include climate change, systemic racism and police
violence, the COVID-19 pandemic and public health, and government social programs.
Have thoughts on The Pioneer Log’s first PioPoll?
The Pioneer Log would like to improve its polling for the future. Send an
email to piolog@lclark.edu with any questions, concerns or suggestions
with regard to the methodology or results of PioPoll: U.S. Presidential
Election. Suggested topics for future polls are also welcomed.FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2020
NEWS 4
Polling presents a complex image of elections
Associate Professor of Political Science Ben Gaskins discusses role of opinion polls, election forecasts
Faculty, staff plan for
aftermath of election
Continued from page 1
ideal venues for students to discuss,
understand, and process the various
issues raised by the election, so I
encourage you to incorporate, to the
degree possible, these issues in your
classes,” Suttmeier said. “Students
in 2016 spoke of the classroom as an
essential space for coming together
to discuss the result. To state the
obvious, I imagine that will hold true
this year as well.”
The Counseling Service is
also expanding its resources in
preparation for the election. John
Hancock, chief psychologist and
associate dean of students for health
and wellness, reminds students that
the Counseling Service operates a
24/7 crisis line. He also noted that,
given the uncertainty of when results
will be available, the Counseling
Service will increase operations in
the days following the election.
“The emotions that are typically
associated with election day itself
may be unresolved at the end of that
day,” Hancock said. “We’ve ramped
up the number of counseling sessions
that are going to be available to
students in the days after the election
because we think that there’s a
certain activation about the election
that happens emotionally for all of
us.”
According to the 2019 Stress in
America survey, 56% of U.S. adults
identify the 2020 presidential
election as a major source of stress,
compared to 52% in the run up to the
2016 election. While the Counseling
Service will offer assistance to any
student’s anxiety, Hancock believes
that a community environment often
serves as a source of comfort for
election stress.
“I’ve been through a few election
nights and I think there is the
potential for this one to be more
emotional than many in the past,”
Hancock said. “My experience is that
students oftentimes want to connect
not with a therapist, but rather with
other people who think and feel as
they do.”
Associate Professor of Psychology
Diana Leonard believes that the LC
community should not forget that a
divided nation means, regardless of
the election outcome, some people will be disappointed by the result.
A recent poll conducted by The
Pioneer Log found that 96.4% of LC
voters intend to vote for former Vice
President Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala
Harris compared to 1.8% voting for
President Donald Trump and Vice
President Mike Pence.
“I think that we’re in a bubble
here in Portland,” Leonard said.
“There are many people who found
the 2016 election results to be very
positive. Any time that you feel that
leaders don’t have your best interest
at heart can be a great source of
anxiety, especially if you’re from a
group that’s disempowered.”
With the election just four days
away, administrators have considered
the possibility that students may want
to protest the results, out of either
joy or anger. In 2016, following the
election of Trump, many LC students
participated in demonstrations that
rocked Portland’s city center for
days.
This year, due to the college’s
COVID-19 safeguards, on-campus
and off-campus students are not
permitted to engage in protests that
occur off of Palatine Hill. According
to Vice President of Student Life and
Dean of Students Robin Holmes-
Sullivan, disobeying LC’s COVID-19
policies could result in disciplinary
action through the student code of
conduct.
“The College’s prohibition of on-
campus students leaving campus is
and will remain in force ... students
are not permitted to leave to protest
downtown,” Holmes-Sullivan said
in an email. “We would handle this
just as we would any violation of a
College policy through our student
code of conduct. Additionally, off-
campus students are also subject to
our prohibition of participating in
events that may increase the possible
transmission of COVID-19.”
Students are encouraged to
stay updated on election-related
events and resources through The
Bark, the Health Promotion and
Wellness webpage and emails from
administrators. On election day,
the Office of Spiritual Life will host
a virtual meditation session at 4:30
p.m. Registration is available through
the office’s webpage.News Editors
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The Backdoor Editor
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Faculty Advisor
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Web & Social Media Manager
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Director of Broadcasting
Charlotte PowersBusiness Manager
Stuart Myers
By MACKENZIE HERRING
BECAUSE COLLEGE students
represent an important voting
demographic, those who are
watching the presidential race may
look to polls to forecast the voting
behaviors of the electorate.
As the results of the 2016 general
election rolled in, the consensus was
that the national polls were wrong.
Many reputable polling sources had
Hillary Clinton ahead in battleground
states that she went on to lose like
Wisconsin and Michigan, and The
New York Times called it “the biggest
polling miss in a presidential election
in decades.”
As of the evening of Oct. 28,
FiveThirtyEight’s 2020 projection
algorithm has Biden winning the
election in 88 out of 100 scenarios, but
what real role do polls and forecasts
play in the general election? According
to Associate Professor of Political
Science Ben Gaskins, polls are tools
used by the media, researchers and
political campaigns.
“It helps understand what is
working and what isn’t, where the
candidates stand, etc.,” Gaskins said
via email.
Gaskins believes that the media
tends to get bogged down in “horse
race” coverage. Rather than reporting
on policies and political platforms,
the media focuses on how candidates
are faring. This can have negative
implications; citizens might look to
who is “winning” or what is popular
to help make up their minds on who to vote for. However, it is generally
beneficial to know where the
average citizen stands on issues and
candidates, and polling is the best way
to understand that.
Due to an abundance of polling
sources during the election cycle, it
can be difficult to know which polls
are reputable and which ones an
electorate should pay attention to.
Gaskins said that while no poll is
infallible, some are better than others
and it is important to look at the
credibility of the sources.
“It is important to look at polling
averages to understand what people
think, as any single poll may be an
outlier or give a wrong impression due to sampling problems, question-
wording issues, and more,” Gaskins
said. “So while the polls should be
trusted overall, they must be taken
with care and context.”
According to Gaskins, a poll should
represent the population as much
as possible, focus on randomized
samples and avoid bias.
“The poll should report basic
information about how the data was
gathered, the margin of error, the dates
in the field, the question wording, and
sampling procedure (i.e. did they
contact cell phones, is it a live-caller
poll, is part of it done online),” Gaskins
said. “Large pollsters with a long track
record should be trusted more than newer ones from organizations that
are less well-known. Major media
outlets generally perform better with
their polls, i.e. CBS News, Fox News,
NY Times/Siena. 538 has a pollster
rating system that allows observers
to see which polling outlets do better
than others, and whether they have a
partisan bias.”
For example, FiveThirtyEight’s
pollster ratings show that both
SurveyMonkey and TCJ Research
show heavy mean-reverted bias.
Gaskins believes that Lewis &
Clark students should take polling
into account when evaluating the
state of the election, but not treat it as
conclusive. “LC students should care about
polls because they are the best way to
know what people across the country
(and world) think,” Gaskins said.
“They help us break out of our social
and political bubbles to understand
what other groups and areas think
about politics and policies. In general,
the 2020 polls are predicting a Biden
win, a Democratic takeover for the
Senate, and an expanded Democratic
lead in the House. But these polls
should not lead to complacency, as it
depends on turnout. So they should be
used for information purposes, but are
not determinative of anything.”
Given the situation of the last
general election, polls are being
looked at more critically by the general
public. But according to Gaskins, we
should know what polls actually aim
to do and to what extent they can
inform us about public opinion.
“Polling gets a bad rap, and
it’s important to know that most
pollsters are doing good, hard work
and generally do a pretty good job
at predicting and understanding
human behavior,” Gaskins said.
“Quantifying public opinion is always
a challenge, but polls are better than
the alternatives. So use polls as one
element of political activity, look at
polling averages, and don’t freak out
(or celebrate) if a poll is particularly
good or bad for your side. Don’t ignore
the polls, but don’t obsess about
them either. Polls are a vital part of
democracy, and play an important
role in telling policymakers what
people think.”MAYA WINSHELL/THE PIONEER LOG
Continued from page 3
Although Chief Justice John
Roberts voted against marriage equality
in Obergefell, Lochner said he would
likely refuse to hear a case regarding
same-sex marriage in order to protect
the court’s legitimacy. However, only
four justices must approve of hearing a
case for it to come before the court, and
with five conservative justices besides
Roberts, Lochner said that the end of
marriage equality is likely.
“(As) long as four of them voted
to take the case, at that point it forces
Chief Justice Roberts’ hand and he has
to reach the merits of the case, and
there’s only one way he can answer
that because he’s already answered
that question,” Lochner said. “So yeah,
politically they might not do it in the
first year, but I would expect Obergefell
to be overturned.”
Before Barrett’s confirmation, LC’s
Queer Student Union (QSU) submitted
an email statement to The Pioneer Log
regarding its opinion of Barrett.
“As QSU coordinators and members
of the queer community ourselves, it is disgusting and saddening that our
rights continue to be contested on a
legal level,” QSU said. “Judge Barrett’s
future plans and past statements
against marriage equality and
transgender rights serve only to harm
our community to the greatest extent,
and the possibility of her confirmation
speaks to the tragic state of the country
under the Trump administration.
This being said, we urge the (Lewis &
Clark) community to continue having
conversations with those around you
and encouraging them to vote for an
administration whose policies will
celebrate and support LGBTQIA+
rights.”
As for reproductive rights, many
opponents of Barrett worry that she
might vote to overturn the 1973 case
Roe v. Wade, which first established the
constitutional right to have an abortion.
Lochner said that abortion
regulations are likely to become stricter
regardless of whether the Supreme
Court officially overturns Roe.
“A lot of people are debating wheth -
er Roe would be explicitly overturned, and it’s symbolically important, but the
reality is you can essentially overturn
Roe by just chipping away at it to the
point where it’s still technically the law,
but so many anti-abortion regulations
are allowed that you can shut down
clinics in the state, and that’s kind of
what I expect to see happen,” Lochner
said.
When asked whether LC students
should care about the Supreme Court,
Lochner had a sarcastic answer that
highlighted a long list of the potential
social, economic and political impacts
of court decisions.
“Well, except for the abolition of
reproductive rights, abolition of gay
marriage, possible reimposition of anti-
sodomy laws, gutting of environmental
regulations and the regulatory state
more generally, weakening of labor
unions, erosion of the constitutional
rights of criminal defendants, further
retrenchment of the Voting Rights
Act and subsequent efforts of voter
suppression, short of those, no, I can’t
think of any reasons they’d want to care
about the Court,” Lochner said.US Supreme Court adds Barrett,
cements 6-3 conservative majorityOPINION 5
Justice Barrett endangers reproductive rights
By JILLIAN JACKSON
SINCE U.S. SUPREME Court
Associate Justice Ruth Bader
Ginsburg passed away, I think
differently about the coat hangers in
my dorm closet. Their twisted wires
remind me of the desperation some
women with unwanted pregnancies
have felt, and still feel today.
They remind me of the infections,
hemorrhages and deaths from botched
self-induced abortions, those that have
occurred, especially prior to Roe v.
Wade.
Associate Judge Amy Coney
Barrett, President Donald Trump’s
latest appointee to the Supreme Court,
scares me. The impact her rulings will
have on lower-income women without
access to safe abortion — many of them
Black and Latina — scares me.
She has earned herself the Twitter
epithet “Amy Coat Hanger Barrett.”
In 2006, Barrett signed a St. Joseph
County Right to Life advertisement
in the South Bend Tribune that called
Roe v. Wade “barbaric.” In 2013, she
said that public opposition to Roe v.
Wade should factor into overturning its
precedent. She was still confirmed last
Monday, Oct. 26.
Barrett’s anti-choice convictions
would not matter if she could remain
loyal to the Constitution first and her
Catholic faith second. This may not
be the case. In a 1998 paper, Barrett
criticized former Associate Justice William Brennan for doing just that.
Brennan sided with the majority in Roe
v. Wade, supporting a constitutional
right to abortion during the first and
second trimester.
“We do not defend this position
as the proper response for a Catholic
judge to take with respect to abortion
or the death penalty,” Barrett and her
co-author wrote.
She raised the question of whether
Catholic judges should voluntarily
recuse themselves in cases that would
cause a crisis in faith.
If nothing else, I admire her honesty
about the complications that come with
the separation of the church and the
state. But, in being chosen by Trump,
the self-appointed “most pro-life
president,” Barrett recusing herself is
impossible. During a 2016 presidential
debate, Trump promised his base that
his appointees would overturn Roe v.
Wade. “That will happen automatically,
in my opinion,” he said. Barrett will
vote to overturn. She will send the
debate over abortion rights back to the
states.
One woman’s dishonor is another
woman’s preventable death from an
unsafe abortion. Moreover, transgender
men and non-binary folks choose to
have abortions too. When reproductive
health spaces acknowledge just cis-
women, trans people are at a higher
risk of unsafe abortion.
If the Supreme Court overturns Roe,
ten states have “trigger laws” banning abortion immediately. These bans
would impact LC students from Idaho,
Utah, Texas, Arkansas, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, North
and South Dakota and Tennessee.
I know that I am lucky. I am
unlikely to ever experience the physical
and psychological trauma that comes
with having no other option but a coat
hanger. I live in Washington, where 51
facilities provided an abortion in 2017,
compared to just five in a “trigger law”
state like Idaho.
Money talks. The $504 average cost
of an abortion pill deprives women
in poverty of a voice in the fight for
accessible abortion. Women without
insurance cannot foot the bill for a
$1,500 in-office abortion. In this frame
of mind, houseless women in Portland,
the so-called liberal capital of the
United States, do not have the right to
an abortion.
Without Roe, people with an
unwanted pregnancy, and those who
love and respect those people, will pay
the price. Black and Latina women will
bear the disproportionate brunt of that
suffering. In 2008, the abortion rate
for Black women was five times that of
white women. Access to high-quality
contraceptives, which are imperative
to preventing abortions, is much lower
in Black, Latino, Asian and Indigenous
communities. This does not happen by
accident. Racial disparities trap these
women in unwanted pregnancies.
The Supreme Court is set to determine the constitutionality of
abortion bans at six, eight or 10 weeks
into a pregnancy. Most people do not
become aware of their pregnancy until
week five or six of gestation. In other
words, a six-week ban is a total ban
statewide. Women who live in Alabama
or Louisiana, Southern states trying to
implement six-week bans, would need
to cross state lines to reach an abortion
clinic in Florida. Both of these proposed
six-week bans provide no exceptions
for survivors of incest or rape.
There are still lower-income Americans who self-induce abortions
using coat hangers, spending a night
in the snow, purchasing unreliable
pills online, or throwing themselves
down flights of stairs. Rather than
making abortion more accessible for
the most vulnerable, pro-life Supreme
Court rulings and state law will
promote disparities in reproductive
health. To use her favorite word,
Barrett’s appointment encourages this
dangerous behavior as the “barbaric”
American solution to unwanted
pregnancy.Confirmation of new associate justice has women, transgender individuals fearing loss of bodily autonomy
Quarantine inspires costumes
for college students on a budgetCOVID-19 restricts
romantic connections
By ALEX BARR
THIS YEAR, I returned to
the River Styx — a river the
Ancient Greeks believed
was the boundary between the
mortal and Underworld they
would one day have to cross—
of the online dating world with
more apprehension than usual.
At one point in time, I described
myself with words like “serial
monogamist” and “disgusting
romantic.” Lately, I feel more
like Charon, the ferryman of the
River Styx, a seasoned navigator
of these murky, cold waters that
describe the Lewis & Clark dating
scene.
The coronavirus has taken all
of the life out of dating. Every
time I meet someone new in
person, I know I am putting my
roommates at risk, no matter
how safe the date is supposed
to be. Constantly thinking about
love and death in tandem has
turned this once-idyllic lover
into a jaded spinster.
Swiping amongst the sea
of profiles, I lament the death
of traditional meet-cutes, like
locking eyes at a coffee shop
or reaching for the same box
of cereal at the grocery store.
I cannot fathom any situation
in which I would feel remotely
charmed by a stranger talking to
me, with the virus ever-present.
Nowadays, if a stranger looks at
me for too long I reach for hand
sanitizer.
Listen, Ryan, age 26, who
enjoys a cold one with the boys.
I love that you love IPAs, but
I do not want to get drinks at a
bar, and neither should you. In
fact, your flippant request to
forage into the germ-filled world
outside the threshold of my home
has actually made me realize that
I never want to speak to you
again.
Despite the well-meaning
matches, with their adorable
pets and cozy work-from-home
setups, I close each app with a frantic shiver. Now, playing the
field has instead become a game
of Russian Roulette, and with not
just your own life, but with the
lives of your loved ones as well.
Will this newfound association
of love and death fade when
COVID-19 does? Or has this
gothic time cynicized me for
good? What will dating be like
after we remove the distance in
society?
For better or for worse,
the state of our social lives
has fundamentally changed,
and we all need to understand
our personal roles and
responsibilities in keeping our
community safe. Your dating
choices, whether you like it or
not, will have ramifications on
the friends and family you spend
the most time with.
At the same time, in-person
dating provides emotional and
physical comfort to many of us
lonely souls floating down the
River Styx.
Unfortunately, the “online”
part of online dating kills the
romantic in me. Although, I
definitely could use a little more
analysis and lot less
Ultimately, there is no one
correct response, but you must
remain cognizant of how your
choices affect the community at
this moment.
But, please, for the love of
God, stop going to bars.
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.
By RACHELLE BINDER
DESPITE THE COVID-19
pandemic, Halloween is still
on the calendar this year. But
maybe this year, you want to skip out
on dressing up as a sexy nurse or a cat.
Though money and time are tight for
us college students, do not be spooked.
There is still time to decide on and create
a unique costume.
Maybe this Halloween, you are
inspired by the Netflix shows you binge-
watched during quarantine. The Netflix
miniseries “Tiger King” was a hit during
the start of the pandemic. Now is the
time to pull out that animal print attire
and your cowboy boots from your closet
to manifest your inner Joe Exotic. To
go that extra mile, top it off with a fake
mustache and a mullet wig. Maybe make
it a couples costume by recreating the
atrocious wedding photos of flower crown-wearing Carole Baskins and her
husband, Howard.
Consider turning your pod mates into
crewmates on an intergalactic spaceship.
The characters from the addictive online
game “Among Us” serve as a simple
costume inspiration and work for pods
of any size. The actual figures in the game
are difficult to replicate. A sweatshirt
or sweater and sweatpants of the same
color is the best way to go. There are
plenty of YouTube tutorials to help you
recreate the characters’ helmets. I think
the best part of customizing your own
“Among Us” character is the hats — from
a banana peel to a flamingo floaty to a
plunger, there are a variety of options.
As Election Day approaches, your
spirit may feel more political this
Halloween. During the vice presidential
debate, Vice President Mike Pence had
a two-minute surprise visit from a fly.
Now is the time to spread your DIY mesh wings. You can complete the costume
with some black gloves and shoes, pipe
cleaner antennas and a black sweatshirt.
Bonus points if you add a Biden-Harris
sign.
Throughout quarantine, certain
trends went viral on Tik Tok. Peppa
Pig, the main character from a British
children’s TV show, became quite the
star and meme on the app. She has
received much clout, from makeup
tutorials to impersonations of the pig.
Peppa typically wears an orange dress,
and a pig face mask could be added. This
is the perfect costume if you are looking
for something original and humorous
but not too outrageous.
This Halloween is going to look
completely different than years past —
no going out, massive partying or trick-
or-treating. Whatever you dress up as
this year, please do it safely and with a
mask.
EMERY ANDERSON/THE PIONEER LOG EMERY ANDERSON/THE PIONEER LOGFRIDAY , OCTOBER 30, 2020
AMELIA MADARANG/THE PIONEER LOGBy AUBREY ROCHÉ
THE NATIONAL Black Lives
Matter protests during the
spring and summer of 2020 led
to discussions of institutional racism,
sparking a crucial conversation about
whether or not it is ethical for buildings
and institutions to be named after
slaveholders, Confederate figures or
other known racists. Public school
districts across the country have voted
toward renaming their schools named
after past presidents, but much of this
change is small-scale and slow-moving,
and most racist namesakes still remain.
Lewis & Clark is no exception to this
conversation, as Meriwether Lewis
and William Clark themselves were
slave owners and contributed to the
colonization of Indigenous lands.
On Oct. 12, the official LC Instagram
(@lewisandclarkcollege) posted about
the land on which LC is located, in
recognition of Indigenous Peoples
Day. In the post, European colonizers
were referred to as “newcomers,”
which was met with criticism from
many LC students. To them, this felt
like an attempt to romanticize Lewis
and Clark’s history of colonization
during their expedition in the early 19th
century, in which they “discovered”
the newly-acquired land through the
Louisiana Purchase. People took to
the comments section to express their
dissatisfaction with the post and suggest
that LC’s name should be changed.
In a similar vein, ASLC posted an
Instagram story this past summer asking
for suggestions for a name change for
the college. Some student suggestions
were posted, and many suggested a
return to “Albany College” or drew
inspiration from the neighboring Tryon Creek State Natural Area with “Tryon
College.”
Other suggestions were along
the lines of “Sacagawea College” or
“Multnomah College.” I immediately
took issue with the latter two names,
not because of the people they are
named after, but because of our lack of
authority to use such names.
According to LC’s Common Data Set,
over 63% of LC undergraduate students
are white, earning LC the unofficial
classification as a predominantly white
institution. Only seven American
Indian or Alaska Native, non-Hispanic students attended the school during the
2019-20 academic year. For this reason,
we have absolutely no right to name
our school after Indigenous peoples
or lands. Names such as “Sacagawea
College” or “Multnomah College”
would be inappropriate, as they would
only misrepresent Sacagawea and the
Multnomah people. The Multnomah
people no longer exist as a distinct tribe
and many reside in the Confederated
Tribes of Grand Ronde southwest
of Portland and the Warm Springs
Indian Reservation in eastern Oregon.
However, it would still feel as though LC were taking advantage of a cultural
name with very few ties to the school. It
would become obvious that the college
only adopted such a name to appear
more diverse or equality-focused, when
that may not be an accurate reflection of
the school. If LC were to have a larger
focus on bringing in more Indigenous
students and students of color, perhaps
such a name would be more appropriate,
but the demographics reflect that this is
unfortunately not the case.
Where can we find a middle ground?
LC has had the same name for almost
80 years. Reverting back to “Albany College” might seem easy and simple,
but LC’s campus is nowhere near
Albany, Oregon. Regardless of what the
name could be changed to, this is an
issue LC will not be able to easily resolve,
at least not within the next several years.
Widespread approval by administrators
and trustees would be needed, and
rebranding all merchandise and signage
would be a significant financial burden
on a school that has been struggling
financially for years. Additionally, LC
already has little name recognition,
and changing the name would make
fundraising and recruiting new students
more difficult. However, if students feel
passionate about it, it needs to be taken
further than Instagram comments
and story suggestions. Contacting LC
administrators is often the simplest
place to start, in order to get the
conversation moving.
ASLC’s post over the summer
was only a conversation starter, and
according to them, LC is not actively
considering a name change. By no means
do I intend to defend LC’s current name,
nor do I think we should ignore the
history of Lewis and Clark by keeping
the name. However, if the objective
is to avoid a controversial name, an
Indigenous namesake at a school with
the demographics LC has could be as
much of an issue as a racist one. Quickly
choosing an Indigenous name to appear
more diverse and appease unhappy
students would be a weak solution, and
would possibly become problematic in
the future. This should be a discussion
retained over the coming years, though
the perfect solution is not yet apparent.
Despite the necessary conversations
2020 has brought forth, it is extremely
likely that by the time we graduate, our
degrees will still read “Lewis & Clark
College.”OPINION 6
LC name change effort must go beyond superficial support
If the goal is to rename, proponents must consider how to best represent community without appropriatingFRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2020
SOFIA REEVES/THE PIONEER LOGBy RACHELLE BINDER
ON NOV. 3, ONE of the most
historical presidential elections
in U.S. history will take place. It
is crucial to acknowledge swing states
and how they will determine the election.
Swing or battleground states are where
presidential candidates of either major
party have close to equal chances of
winning. The election analytics website
FiveThirtyEight recognizes Colorado,
Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New
Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.
The swing state voter demographic
typically has a fair amount of both
Republican and Democratic voters. For
example, Florida is a swing state with a
large demographic of both senior and
younger voters. In 2000, Republican
presidential candidate George W. Bush
won Florida, but in 2008 and 2012, the
state turned blue for Barack Obama.
Let us rewind to 2016. Hillary Clinton
won the popular vote. However, the
Electoral College’s winner-take-all system
did not grant Clinton the presidency.
Donald Trump most notably won the
electoral votes of Pennsylvania, Michigan
and Florida. Before the 2016 election,
most polls favored a Clinton win while few
anticipated a Trump victory.
FiveThirtyEight’s model shows that
Democratic presidential nominee Joe
Biden has an 87 in 100 chance of winning
the presidential election. The expected
tipping-point state is Pennsylvania, with
20 electoral votes. The tipping-point
state gives the winning candidate most
of the electoral votes to win. Currently,
Biden has an 86 in 100 chance of
winning Pennsylvania. Keep in mind,
FiveThirtyEight predicted Clinton having
a 77% chance of winning Pennsylvania but
she lost the state by 44,000 votes. Current
national projections show anything from
a landslide Biden win to a narrow Trump
win. Currently, both campaigns and political action committees (PACs) swarm
the swing states’ air time with advertising.
For Trump’s campaign, money is tight.
The campaign has cut at least $2 million
from ads in Michigan and Wisconsin,
$5 million from Minnesota and is
suspending all ads in Ohio and Iowa.
Biden has received funds of $100 million
dollars from Former New York City
Mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg
to advertise in Florida.
You are probably wondering why I
fixate on the swing states. With so much at
stake, why should I not? They can make or
break this election as they are the tipping
point of who wins the electoral college
and, eventually, the presidency. While
Oregon, California and Washington are
not swing states, I can only encourage
Lewis & Clark students who come from
swing states to vote and make the impact
they want in this election. Students
should encourage friends and family who
live in swing states to vote, too. With the
time left till election day, you can still
write letters to voters in swing states.
Maybe consider phone banking in swing
states for your candidate. On election
night, focus on these states because they
essentially determine what candidate gets
the minimum 270 electoral votes to win.
Regardless of living in a swing state
or not, it is essential to a functioning
democracy to vote and, if possible, vote
early. Let us learn from 2016 that we can
look at polls all we want, but the people
vote, not the polls. On Nov. 4, we may
not know who wins. But on Jan. 20, next
year, we do not want to wish we did more
before the election. UMI CALDWELL/THE PIONEER LOG
By GABE KORER
ABSENTEE VOTING is
becoming more common in
the wake of COVID-19. Due
to the pandemic, cities all across the
United States experienced a surge
of requests for absentee ballots and
promptly responded by making them
more accessible. However, prior to the
pandemic, only six states had an official
system in place for absentee voting,
which begs the question: should states
fully embrace absentee voting as the
way of the future or should they only
utilize it during times of crisis?
This is a difficult question to answer.
On one hand, you have detractors that
are referring to absentee voting as a
hotbed for election fraud. And on the
other, you have proponents that are
referring to it as the most convenient
thing since sliced bread. So which
perspective should you trust?
The answer is neither. The
reality of absentee voting is that its
implementation goes a long way
toward determining how effective and
legitimate it is going to be. In other
words, it is only as accessible and far-
reaching as the states that sponsor it.
First off, it should be noted that
absentee voting is not the same as
mail-in-voting. The latter is generally
used to describe processes in which
elections are conducted with the
option of mailing your ballot as a
universal or statewide measure.
Absentee voting refers to processes
that do not involve a universal vote-
by-mail approach. To be universal, a
system would have to send ballots out
to every registered voter; this would
ensure that the system is available for
everyone’s use.
The key distinction between
absentee voting systems is whether
or not they require reasoning to vote
absentee rather than in-person. For the ones that do require that, voters have
to provide an excuse that explains why
they cannot vote in-person on Election
Day. In 2020, the COVID-19 virus has
been one of the most frequent excuses
because many people are convinced
that in-person voting sites will not be
able to contain its spread.
Unfortunately, several (five in
total) state supreme courts have ruled
that the fear of catching COVID-19
is not a valid excuse for absentee
ballots because it does not constitute a
disability. This means that a majority
of voters in those states will be forced
to vote in-person or not at all, in which
case voting would not be accessible.
Given that absentee voting systems
are quite literally tools for accessibility
(people with disabilities as well as the
elderly have traditionally used them),
the state supreme court decisions
threw a massive wrench in their
effectiveness.
I do not believe, however, that we
can fault the state supreme courts
for their ruling — they deliberated
fairly and reached a decision that
was justified by their legal standard,
which was based around upholding
their system’s values rather than
accommodating every voter. What
we can do is question the need for
such deliberations while in a deadly
pandemic. There is no need, in my
estimate, for excuses in absentee
ballots when everyone already has
a legitimate excuse to not vote in
person: the existence of a lethal virus.
That should not be left up to a court of
law; it should instead be reflected by
our federal government’s willingness
to enforce that belief and override
state decisions.
In a normal setting, surprisingly,
these ballots would not impact a
state’s voter turnout at all. But in the
midst of a pandemic they could play a
major role, which is why it is essential to make them as accessible as possible.
If you, as an LC student, live in
a state that uses an absentee voting
system, make sure to determine what
kind it is before you vote. If you would
also like to see no-excuse balloting
be a nationwide courtesy during this
pandemic, go to The Action Network’s
website and sign the petition that
would require all states to pass related
laws before Election Day. You could
also donate to Vote.org, a network
that serves to foster accessible voting
procedures leading up to elections.
Absentee voting should be
offered in future elections
SOFIA REEVES/THE PIONEER LOGSwing states will be
crucial this election
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.OPINION 5
Justice Barrett endangers reproductive rights
By JILLIAN JACKSON
SINCE U.S. SUPREME Court
Associate Justice Ruth Bader
Ginsburg passed away, I think
differently about the coat hangers in
my dorm closet. Their twisted wires
remind me of the desperation some
women with unwanted pregnancies
have felt, and still feel today.
They remind me of the infections,
hemorrhages and deaths from botched
self-induced abortions, those that have
occurred, especially prior to Roe v.
Wade.
Associate Judge Amy Coney
Barrett, President Donald Trump’s
latest appointee to the Supreme Court,
scares me. The impact her rulings will
have on lower-income women without
access to safe abortion — many of them
Black and Latina — scares me.
She has earned herself the Twitter
epithet “Amy Coat Hanger Barrett.”
In 2006, Barrett signed a St. Joseph
County Right to Life advertisement
in the South Bend Tribune that called
Roe v. Wade “barbaric.” In 2013, she
said that public opposition to Roe v.
Wade should factor into overturning its
precedent. She was still confirmed last
Monday, Oct. 26.
Barrett’s anti-choice convictions
would not matter if she could remain
loyal to the Constitution first and her
Catholic faith second. This may not
be the case. In a 1998 paper, Barrett
criticized former Associate Justice William Brennan for doing just that.
Brennan sided with the majority in Roe
v. Wade, supporting a constitutional
right to abortion during the first and
second trimester.
“We do not defend this position
as the proper response for a Catholic
judge to take with respect to abortion
or the death penalty,” Barrett and her
co-author wrote.
She raised the question of whether
Catholic judges should voluntarily
recuse themselves in cases that would
cause a crisis in faith.
If nothing else, I admire her honesty
about the complications that come with
the separation of the church and the
state. But, in being chosen by Trump,
the self-appointed “most pro-life
president,” Barrett recusing herself is
impossible. During a 2016 presidential
debate, Trump promised his base that
his appointees would overturn Roe v.
Wade. “That will happen automatically,
in my opinion,” he said. Barrett will
vote to overturn. She will send the
debate over abortion rights back to the
states.
One woman’s dishonor is another
woman’s preventable death from an
unsafe abortion. Moreover, transgender
men and non-binary folks choose to
have abortions too. When reproductive
health spaces acknowledge just cis-
women, trans people are at a higher
risk of unsafe abortion.
If the Supreme Court overturns Roe,
ten states have “trigger laws” banning abortion immediately. These bans
would impact LC students from Idaho,
Utah, Texas, Arkansas, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, North
and South Dakota and Tennessee.
I know that I am lucky. I am
unlikely to ever experience the physical
and psychological trauma that comes
with having no other option but a coat
hanger. I live in Washington, where 51
facilities provided an abortion in 2017,
compared to just five in a “trigger law”
state like Idaho.
Money talks. The $504 average cost
of an abortion pill deprives women
in poverty of a voice in the fight for
accessible abortion. Women without
insurance cannot foot the bill for a
$1,500 in-office abortion. In this frame
of mind, houseless women in Portland,
the so-called liberal capital of the
United States, do not have the right to
an abortion.
Without Roe, people with an
unwanted pregnancy, and those who
love and respect those people, will pay
the price. Black and Latina women will
bear the disproportionate brunt of that
suffering. In 2008, the abortion rate
for Black women was five times that of
white women. Access to high-quality
contraceptives, which are imperative
to preventing abortions, is much lower
in Black, Latino, Asian and Indigenous
communities. This does not happen by
accident. Racial disparities trap these
women in unwanted pregnancies.
The Supreme Court is set to determine the constitutionality of
abortion bans at six, eight or 10 weeks
into a pregnancy. Most people do not
become aware of their pregnancy until
week five or six of gestation. In other
words, a six-week ban is a total ban
statewide. Women who live in Alabama
or Louisiana, Southern states trying to
implement six-week bans, would need
to cross state lines to reach an abortion
clinic in Florida. Both of these proposed
six-week bans provide no exceptions
for survivors of incest or rape.
There are still lower-income Americans who self-induce abortions
using coat hangers, spending a night
in the snow, purchasing unreliable
pills online, or throwing themselves
down flights of stairs. Rather than
making abortion more accessible for
the most vulnerable, pro-life Supreme
Court rulings and state law will
promote disparities in reproductive
health. To use her favorite word,
Barrett’s appointment encourages this
dangerous behavior as the “barbaric”
American solution to unwanted
pregnancy.Confirmation of new associate justice has women, transgender individuals fearing loss of bodily autonomy
Quarantine inspires costumes
for college students on a budgetCOVID-19 restricts
romantic connections
By ALEX BARR
THIS YEAR, I returned to
the River Styx — a river the
Ancient Greeks believed
was the boundary between the
mortal and Underworld they
would one day have to cross—
of the online dating world with
more apprehension than usual.
At one point in time, I described
myself with words like “serial
monogamist” and “disgusting
romantic.” Lately, I feel more
like Charon, the ferryman of the
River Styx, a seasoned navigator
of these murky, cold waters that
describe the Lewis & Clark dating
scene.
The coronavirus has taken all
of the life out of dating. Every
time I meet someone new in
person, I know I am putting my
roommates at risk, no matter
how safe the date is supposed
to be. Constantly thinking about
love and death in tandem has
turned this once-idyllic lover
into a jaded spinster.
Swiping amongst the sea
of profiles, I lament the death
of traditional meet-cutes, like
locking eyes at a coffee shop
or reaching for the same box
of cereal at the grocery store.
I cannot fathom any situation
in which I would feel remotely
charmed by a stranger talking to
me, with the virus ever-present.
Nowadays, if a stranger looks at
me for too long I reach for hand
sanitizer.
Listen, Ryan, age 26, who
enjoys a cold one with the boys.
I love that you love IPAs, but
I do not want to get drinks at a
bar, and neither should you. In
fact, your flippant request to
forage into the germ-filled world
outside the threshold of my home
has actually made me realize that
I never want to speak to you
again.
Despite the well-meaning
matches, with their adorable
pets and cozy work-from-home
setups, I close each app with a frantic shiver. Now, playing the
field has instead become a game
of Russian Roulette, and with not
just your own life, but with the
lives of your loved ones as well.
Will this newfound association
of love and death fade when
COVID-19 does? Or has this
gothic time cynicized me for
good? What will dating be like
after we remove the distance in
society?
For better or for worse,
the state of our social lives
has fundamentally changed,
and we all need to understand
our personal roles and
responsibilities in keeping our
community safe. Your dating
choices, whether you like it or
not, will have ramifications on
the friends and family you spend
the most time with.
At the same time, in-person
dating provides emotional and
physical comfort to many of us
lonely souls floating down the
River Styx.
Unfortunately, the “online”
part of online dating kills the
romantic in me. Although, I
definitely could use a little more
analysis and lot less
Ultimately, there is no one
correct response, but you must
remain cognizant of how your
choices affect the community at
this moment.
But, please, for the love of
God, stop going to bars.
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.
By RACHELLE BINDER
DESPITE THE COVID-19
pandemic, Halloween is still
on the calendar this year. But
maybe this year, you want to skip out
on dressing up as a sexy nurse or a cat.
Though money and time are tight for
us college students, do not be spooked.
There is still time to decide on and create
a unique costume.
Maybe this Halloween, you are
inspired by the Netflix shows you binge-
watched during quarantine. The Netflix
miniseries “Tiger King” was a hit during
the start of the pandemic. Now is the
time to pull out that animal print attire
and your cowboy boots from your closet
to manifest your inner Joe Exotic. To
go that extra mile, top it off with a fake
mustache and a mullet wig. Maybe make
it a couples costume by recreating the
atrocious wedding photos of flower crown-wearing Carole Baskins and her
husband, Howard.
Consider turning your pod mates into
crewmates on an intergalactic spaceship.
The characters from the addictive online
game “Among Us” serve as a simple
costume inspiration and work for pods
of any size. The actual figures in the game
are difficult to replicate. A sweatshirt
or sweater and sweatpants of the same
color is the best way to go. There are
plenty of YouTube tutorials to help you
recreate the characters’ helmets. I think
the best part of customizing your own
“Among Us” character is the hats — from
a banana peel to a flamingo floaty to a
plunger, there are a variety of options.
As Election Day approaches, your
spirit may feel more political this
Halloween. During the vice presidential
debate, Vice President Mike Pence had
a two-minute surprise visit from a fly.
Now is the time to spread your DIY mesh wings. You can complete the costume
with some black gloves and shoes, pipe
cleaner antennas and a black sweatshirt.
Bonus points if you add a Biden-Harris
sign.
Throughout quarantine, certain
trends went viral on Tik Tok. Peppa
Pig, the main character from a British
children’s TV show, became quite the
star and meme on the app. She has
received much clout, from makeup
tutorials to impersonations of the pig.
Peppa typically wears an orange dress,
and a pig face mask could be added. This
is the perfect costume if you are looking
for something original and humorous
but not too outrageous.
This Halloween is going to look
completely different than years past —
no going out, massive partying or trick-
or-treating. Whatever you dress up as
this year, please do it safely and with a
mask.
EMERY ANDERSON/THE PIONEER LOG EMERY ANDERSON/THE PIONEER LOGFRIDAY , OCTOBER 30, 2020
AMELIA MADARANG/THE PIONEER LOGBy AUBREY ROCHÉ
THE NATIONAL Black Lives
Matter protests during the
spring and summer of 2020 led
to discussions of institutional racism,
sparking a crucial conversation about
whether or not it is ethical for buildings
and institutions to be named after
slaveholders, Confederate figures or
other known racists. Public school
districts across the country have voted
toward renaming their schools named
after past presidents, but much of this
change is small-scale and slow-moving,
and most racist namesakes still remain.
Lewis & Clark is no exception to this
conversation, as Meriwether Lewis
and William Clark themselves were
slave owners and contributed to the
colonization of Indigenous lands.
On Oct. 12, the official LC Instagram
(@lewisandclarkcollege) posted about
the land on which LC is located, in
recognition of Indigenous Peoples
Day. In the post, European colonizers
were referred to as “newcomers,”
which was met with criticism from
many LC students. To them, this felt
like an attempt to romanticize Lewis
and Clark’s history of colonization
during their expedition in the early 19th
century, in which they “discovered”
the newly-acquired land through the
Louisiana Purchase. People took to
the comments section to express their
dissatisfaction with the post and suggest
that LC’s name should be changed.
In a similar vein, ASLC posted an
Instagram story this past summer asking
for suggestions for a name change for
the college. Some student suggestions
were posted, and many suggested a
return to “Albany College” or drew
inspiration from the neighboring Tryon Creek State Natural Area with “Tryon
College.”
Other suggestions were along
the lines of “Sacagawea College” or
“Multnomah College.” I immediately
took issue with the latter two names,
not because of the people they are
named after, but because of our lack of
authority to use such names.
According to LC’s Common Data Set,
over 63% of LC undergraduate students
are white, earning LC the unofficial
classification as a predominantly white
institution. Only seven American
Indian or Alaska Native, non-Hispanic students attended the school during the
2019-20 academic year. For this reason,
we have absolutely no right to name
our school after Indigenous peoples
or lands. Names such as “Sacagawea
College” or “Multnomah College”
would be inappropriate, as they would
only misrepresent Sacagawea and the
Multnomah people. The Multnomah
people no longer exist as a distinct tribe
and many reside in the Confederated
Tribes of Grand Ronde southwest
of Portland and the Warm Springs
Indian Reservation in eastern Oregon.
However, it would still feel as though LC were taking advantage of a cultural
name with very few ties to the school. It
would become obvious that the college
only adopted such a name to appear
more diverse or equality-focused, when
that may not be an accurate reflection of
the school. If LC were to have a larger
focus on bringing in more Indigenous
students and students of color, perhaps
such a name would be more appropriate,
but the demographics reflect that this is
unfortunately not the case.
Where can we find a middle ground?
LC has had the same name for almost
80 years. Reverting back to “Albany College” might seem easy and simple,
but LC’s campus is nowhere near
Albany, Oregon. Regardless of what the
name could be changed to, this is an
issue LC will not be able to easily resolve,
at least not within the next several years.
Widespread approval by administrators
and trustees would be needed, and
rebranding all merchandise and signage
would be a significant financial burden
on a school that has been struggling
financially for years. Additionally, LC
already has little name recognition,
and changing the name would make
fundraising and recruiting new students
more difficult. However, if students feel
passionate about it, it needs to be taken
further than Instagram comments
and story suggestions. Contacting LC
administrators is often the simplest
place to start, in order to get the
conversation moving.
ASLC’s post over the summer
was only a conversation starter, and
according to them, LC is not actively
considering a name change. By no means
do I intend to defend LC’s current name,
nor do I think we should ignore the
history of Lewis and Clark by keeping
the name. However, if the objective
is to avoid a controversial name, an
Indigenous namesake at a school with
the demographics LC has could be as
much of an issue as a racist one. Quickly
choosing an Indigenous name to appear
more diverse and appease unhappy
students would be a weak solution, and
would possibly become problematic in
the future. This should be a discussion
retained over the coming years, though
the perfect solution is not yet apparent.
Despite the necessary conversations
2020 has brought forth, it is extremely
likely that by the time we graduate, our
degrees will still read “Lewis & Clark
College.”OPINION 6
LC name change effort must go beyond superficial support
If the goal is to rename, proponents must consider how to best represent community without appropriating
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. FRIDAY , OCTOBER 30, 2020
SOFIA REEVES/THE PIONEER LOGBy RACHELLE BINDER
ON NOV. 3, ONE of the most
historical presidential elections
in U.S. history will take place. It
is crucial to acknowledge swing states
and how they will determine the election.
Swing or battleground states are where
presidential candidates of either major
party have close to equal chances of
winning. The election analytics website
FiveThirtyEight recognizes Colorado,
Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New
Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.
The swing state voter demographic
typically has a fair amount of both
Republican and Democratic voters. For
example, Florida is a swing state with a
large demographic of both senior and
younger voters. In 2000, Republican
presidential candidate George W. Bush
won Florida, but in 2008 and 2012, the
state turned blue for Barack Obama.
Let us rewind to 2016. Hillary Clinton
won the popular vote. However, the
Electoral College’s winner-take-all system
did not grant Clinton the presidency.
Donald Trump most notably won the
electoral votes of Pennsylvania, Michigan
and Florida. Before the 2016 election,
most polls favored a Clinton win while few
anticipated a Trump victory.
FiveThirtyEight’s model shows that
Democratic presidential nominee Joe
Biden has an 87 in 100 chance of winning
the presidential election. The expected
tipping-point state is Pennsylvania, with
20 electoral votes. The tipping-point
state gives the winning candidate most
of the electoral votes to win. Currently,
Biden has an 86 in 100 chance of
winning Pennsylvania. Keep in mind,
FiveThirtyEight predicted Clinton having
a 77% chance of winning Pennsylvania but
she lost the state by 44,000 votes. Current
national projections show anything from
a landslide Biden win to a narrow Trump
win. Currently, both campaigns and political action committees (PACs) swarm
the swing states’ air time with advertising.
For Trump’s campaign, money is tight.
The campaign has cut at least $2 million
from ads in Michigan and Wisconsin,
$5 million from Minnesota and is
suspending all ads in Ohio and Iowa.
Biden has received funds of $100 million
dollars from Former New York City
Mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg
to advertise in Florida.
You are probably wondering why I
fixate on the swing states. With so much at
stake, why should I not? They can make or
break this election as they are the tipping
point of who wins the electoral college
and, eventually, the presidency. While
Oregon, California and Washington are
not swing states, I can only encourage
Lewis & Clark students who come from
swing states to vote and make the impact
they want in this election. Students
should encourage friends and family who
live in swing states to vote, too. With the
time left till election day, you can still
write letters to voters in swing states.
Maybe consider phone banking in swing
states for your candidate. On election
night, focus on these states because they
essentially determine what candidate gets
the minimum 270 electoral votes to win.
Regardless of living in a swing state
or not, it is essential to a functioning
democracy to vote and, if possible, vote
early. Let us learn from 2016 that we can
look at polls all we want, but the people
vote, not the polls. On Nov. 4, we may
not know who wins. But on Jan. 20, next
year, we do not want to wish we did more
before the election. UMI CALDWELL/THE PIONEER LOG
By GABE KORER
ABSENTEE VOTING is
becoming more common in
the wake of COVID-19. Due
to the pandemic, cities all across the
United States experienced a surge
of requests for absentee ballots and
promptly responded by making them
more accessible. However, prior to the
pandemic, only six states had an official
system in place for absentee voting,
which begs the question: should states
fully embrace absentee voting as the
way of the future or should they only
utilize it during times of crisis?
This is a difficult question to answer.
On one hand, you have detractors that
are referring to absentee voting as a
hotbed for election fraud. And on the
other, you have proponents that are
referring to it as the most convenient
thing since sliced bread. So which
perspective should you trust?
The answer is neither. The
reality of absentee voting is that its
implementation goes a long way
toward determining how effective and
legitimate it is going to be. In other
words, it is only as accessible and far-
reaching as the states that sponsor it.
First off, it should be noted that
absentee voting is not the same as
mail-in-voting. The latter is generally
used to describe processes in which
elections are conducted with the
option of mailing your ballot as a
universal or statewide measure.
Absentee voting refers to processes
that do not involve a universal vote-
by-mail approach. To be universal, a
system would have to send ballots out
to every registered voter; this would
ensure that the system is available for
everyone’s use.
The key distinction between
absentee voting systems is whether
or not they require reasoning to vote
absentee rather than in-person. For the ones that do require that, voters have
to provide an excuse that explains why
they cannot vote in-person on Election
Day. In 2020, the COVID-19 virus has
been one of the most frequent excuses
because many people are convinced
that in-person voting sites will not be
able to contain its spread.
Unfortunately, several (five in
total) state supreme courts have ruled
that the fear of catching COVID-19
is not a valid excuse for absentee
ballots because it does not constitute a
disability. This means that a majority
of voters in those states will be forced
to vote in-person or not at all, in which
case voting would not be accessible.
Given that absentee voting systems
are quite literally tools for accessibility
(people with disabilities as well as the
elderly have traditionally used them),
the state supreme court decisions
threw a massive wrench in their
effectiveness.
I do not believe, however, that we
can fault the state supreme courts
for their ruling — they deliberated
fairly and reached a decision that
was justified by their legal standard,
which was based around upholding
their system’s values rather than
accommodating every voter. What
we can do is question the need for
such deliberations while in a deadly
pandemic. There is no need, in my
estimate, for excuses in absentee
ballots when everyone already has
a legitimate excuse to not vote in
person: the existence of a lethal virus.
That should not be left up to a court of
law; it should instead be reflected by
our federal government’s willingness
to enforce that belief and override
state decisions.
In a normal setting, surprisingly,
these ballots would not impact a
state’s voter turnout at all. But in the
midst of a pandemic they could play a
major role, which is why it is essential to make them as accessible as possible.
If you, as an LC student, live in
a state that uses an absentee voting
system, make sure to determine what
kind it is before you vote. If you would
also like to see no-excuse balloting
be a nationwide courtesy during this
pandemic, go to The Action Network’s
website and sign the petition that
would require all states to pass related
laws before Election Day. You could
also donate to Vote.org, a network
that serves to foster accessible voting
procedures leading up to elections.
Absentee voting should be
offered in future elections
SOFIA REEVES/THE PIONEER LOGSwing states will be
crucial this election FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2020
OPINION 7
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 TOR PARSONS
JOE BIDEN IS universally perceived
as a moderate Democrat. He
is moderate enough that some
prominent Republicans, such as four-star
general Colin Powell and former Ohio
Gov. John Kasich, are voting for him.
He is moderate enough that some strong
Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez, are reluctantly supporting
him. He is so moderate that even President
Donald Trump, no stranger to making
spurious claims about opponents, has largely
stopped trying to paint Biden as a radical
leftist.
Biden has certainly leaned into the
moderate aspect of his public image,
reassuring wealthy donors at Manhattan’s
Carlyle Hotel in June 2019 that “nothing will
fundamentally change” under his presidency
and wishing Trump a speedy recovery over
Twitter after the president’s COVID-19
diagnosis. But how moderate is Biden
really? His $1.7 trillion climate plan, which
focuses 40% of its spending on marginalized
communities affected by environmental
degradation, is nearly as comprehensive
as Ocasio-Cortez’s wide-ranging plan for
environmental measures, which shares
the moniker of “Green New Deal” with
Biden’s plans even though they are not the
same. The climate plan is just one part of a $7
trillion slate of economic recovery measures,
10 times larger than the economic stimulus
Barack Obama passed during the 2009
recession.
He also endorses a public option for
the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a provision
originally defeated by Senate Democrats
when the ACA was voted on in 2009. His
policies indicate that he is certainly to
the left of Hillary Clinton, probably to the
left of Obama and arguably the furthest-left presidential nominee, relative to the
national political climate, in decades.
Not that anyone would get that
impression from listening to Biden. The
former vice president is perfectly comfortable
with his image as the United States’ affable,
bipartisan Uncle Joe. Paradoxically, this
might be precisely why a Biden presidency
would constitute a major leftward shift.
Imagine the presidency of someone like
Sen. Bernie Sanders. After having openly
campaigned on themes of dismantling
the status quo, economic radicalism and
contempt for elites, Sanders would find it difficult to advance his agenda on Capitol
Hill. In a best-case scenario, to win votes
he would have to resort to compromises
that would weaken the impact of his
reforms. More likely, though, Republicans
and centrist Democrats would form an
organized resistance blocking Sanders’
plans. By tying down-ballot Democrats
to Sanders’ divisive rhetoric, Republicans
would swiftly take back Congress, and a
reactionary Republican president elected
in 2024 would undo all of Sanders’
advancements, if any managed to pass in
the first place.Now consider Biden. Despite all
of his faults, he is a shrewd politician.
Biden recognizes the need for reform in
the United States, the type that Sanders
and company are calling for. But he also
knows that it is all too easy to be tarred
as a socialist by Republicans. So, he
gingerly steps over the hot-button issues,
while otherwise supporting progressive
policies. His climate plans will be the
widest-ranging series of actions the
United States has ever taken on the
environment, but while his campaign
website refers to these plans as a “Green New Deal,” he does not endorse the more
controversial environmental plan by that
name created by Ocasio-Cortez, which
has gotten criticism from the right and the
center for being too vague and ambitious.
Biden does not intend to immediately ban
fracking, which would put a proverbial
target on his chest in right-leaning, oil-
rich states. Nonetheless, he will work
toward a carbon-neutral economy by
2050, ahead of the goals set by China
and Japan and in line with the European
Union’s goal. Specifically endorsing
“Medicare for All” would make headlines
and polarize voters, so Biden embraces
the similar, but less controversial, public
option, where a universally available
government-provided healthcare option
competes with private healthcare plans.
In short, Biden has managed to be radical
without seeming radical.
Regardless of how adept a president
is at crossing the aisle, it is unlikely that
Senate Republicans will support any
Democratic policies. However, with the
blandly likable Biden at the top of the
ticket, Democrats are speeding toward a
potentially historic Senate majority, with
an eight in 10 chance of flipping as many
as eight seats according to the widely
trusted polling website FiveThirtyEight.
Winning over Republicans may be
unnecessary. A more openly left-wing
presidential nominee would endanger
down-ballot candidates, as well as
provoking a conservative backlash that
could long outlast the candidate it was
a reaction against, delaying progress
by decades. By publicly preaching
bipartisanship and a return to normalcy,
but tacitly supporting progressive ideals,
Biden is letting further-left policies slowly
yet steadily enter the mainstream, helping
change come faster.Biden’s adaptive politics perfect for citizens
By ANÉLYSE REGELBRUGGE
AS HALLOWEEN is filled with
tricks and treats, giggles and
shrieks, it is always extra special.
There is no reason why this year should
be any different. These are a few Zoom-
friendly and socially-distanced ideas to
help you celebrate creatively. Most can
also be done outside, so take advantage
of this, because this Halloween will not
only be a full moon — a rarity in itself —
but also a blue moon (meaning it is the
second full moon in a single month).
Baby Pumpkin Decorating
Grab a couple of inexpensive “baby
pumpkins” and some Sharpies at the
grocery store, and have fun drawing
spooky faces! This activity can easily
be done with friends over Zoom or
outside.
Halloween Charades
Try this fun twist on the classic
game by replacing ordinary prompts
(doctor, car, skiing, etc.) with
Halloween-themed ones (vampire,
cauldron, trick-or-treating, etc.). If
you would rather not come up with
your own prompts, there are lists
available online. You can play outside
or over Zoom.
Zoom Costume Contest
Conjure up some friendly competition
by throwing together a kooky costume
and setting awards such as “funniest,”
“most creative” or “most iconic.”
Prizes can be anything from candy
to bragging rights. Do not worry if
you have not had time to get a cool
costume or if you want to get festive
without too much work, you can raid
your closet for a fun mashup, settle for
some awesome face paint or decorate
a disposable mask. You can find last-
minute costume ideas online, too.
Virtual Escape Room
Virtual escape rooms are online
interactive puzzles and mysteries that
require you and your team to solve a
problem in a certain amount of time
in order to “escape.” These activities
are super fun and quite challenging.
Try a classic scenario or search for a Halloween-themed escape adventure,
and invite your friends to join you
over the internet. There are some free
escape rooms, but most cost between
$10 and $20 per person.
Spooky Watchlist
The internet is filled with suggestions
for movies and TV shows to get you
into the spirit of Halloween. Enjoy
with friends over Zoom or, better
yet, take your dinner and a blanket
outside and find a place to set up your
laptop for a night of movies under the
full moon.
Treats and Potions
Although we may not be able to share
our culinary creations with friends,
there are still ways to share the
experience. Make and share a video
of your attempt to execute a crafty
Halloween recipe; you can find great
ideas on the internet. Accompany
your treats with a fun witch’s brew,
which usually involves some fizzy
mixture of juice and/or soda though
tea is also an option. If you want
something easier, grab some pre-
made cookie decorating kits at the grocery store and decorate cookies
with friends over Zoom.
Finish the Story
Gather some friends over Zoom or
outside and have someone start the
story with a Halloween prompt (for
example, “On a Dark and Stormy
Night”). Then go around the circle and
let each person add a sentence that
ends with a cliffhanger. By the end
of the circle (or Zoom gallery), you
will end up with a wacky Halloween
tale. You can find spooky prompts by
doing a Google search for “Halloween
writing prompts” or “Halloween finish
the story.” Note that you can do this
activity by yourself if you prefer to
come up with the whole spooky story
on your own.
See? It is not so hard to have an
amazing COVID-19-safe Halloween
after all. Celebrating Halloween can
help alleviate some of the sadness
caused by the pandemic. These ideas
can help you have fun safely and
responsibly. Ghosts and goblins will
not be resting on Oct. 31 and neither
should you. Happy Halloween!ARA VICKERS/ THE PIONEER LOGDespite the Democratic presidental nominee’s moderate image, he may be the candidate of change after all
How Republicans are
uniting against Trump
By RACHELLE BINDER
WHEN DONALD Trump
announced his run for
the presidency in 2015,
some Republicans were skeptical. In
2016, they either voted along party
lines and elected Trump, protested
by voting for Hillary Clinton or
threw their vote to a third-party
candidate. After four years of Trump
in office, several Republicans are
escaping Trump’s Make America
Great Again coalition to endorse
Democratic presidential nominee
Joe Biden. As Election Day nears,
outlier Republicans are using their
time and energy promoting the
Democratic ticket.
Starting this year, multiple anti-
Trump, pro-Biden political action
committees (PACs) gained public
attention and air time. The Lincoln
Project is known for creating
powerful advertisements brutally
depicting Trump’s America. Their
ad “Mourning In America,” a twist
on Ronald Reagan’s 1984 campaign
ad by the same name, portrays a
weaker, sicker and poorer country
under Trump. The president caught
wind of the ad and called the PAC
“losers.” Republican Voters Against
Trump (RVAT) also gained traction
for an ad featuring a former advisor
to Vice President Mike Pence, Olivia
Troye. Troye served on the White
House COVID-19 task force and
described it as “everything that
horrifies you.” While still holding
onto a Republican title, Troye is
voting for Biden.
Other prominent members
of the GOP have shown support
for the Biden-Harris ticket. “We
have the support of Colin Powell,
Cindy McCain, John Kasich, over
500 generals, retired generals and
former national security experts
and advisors are supporting our
campaign,” Kamala Harris said
during the 2020 vice presidential
debate. Many Republicans agree with Trump’s fiscally conservative
policies, but have seen Trump’s
social failures, including trying
to repeal the Affordable Care Act
during the COVID-19 pandemic
and his handling of the civil unrest
across the country.
In Lewis & Clark’s liberal
bubble, these endorsements may
stir mixed emotions. Some worry
that they will draw Biden away
from his Democratic base to please
conservatives. There is fear that
The Lincoln Project is just a stunt
not meant to help Democrats win,
but to get Republicans a spot at the
negotiating table. However, others,
like myself, see the endorsements as
a union of the two parties with one
goal: saving American democracy
from the ignorance of Trumpism.
I was disappointed when Biden
became the Democratic nominee,
but these difficult times call for a
president of the moment who can
reach anyone regardless of their
political affiliation.
These ads and endorsements
are ineffective for what remains of
Trump’s supporting base. For them,
they do not want a politician like
“Sleepy Joe.” They want a populist.
Still, The Lincoln Project and
RVAT take up Trump’s headspace
and, eventually, his Twitter feed.
Therefore, anything Trump gets
riled up about gets free press.
The United States is a nation in
mourning trying to grapple with
the mishandling of the COVID-19
pandemic, the murder of George
Floyd and other African Americans
at the hands of police, and greater
cataclysmic failures. Many
Republicans are outraged that the
chaos from the past four years are
happening under their party’s watch.
Right now, our country yearns
for a decent president and some
Republicans have realized that.
Take it from the words of Troye’s
September RVAT ad appearance: “it
is time to put country over party.”
JO TABACEK/THE PIONEER LOG
In light of Halloween and fall festivities, LC students celebrate by making fun crafts. ARA VICKERS/ THE PIONEER LOG
Seven pandemic-friendly spooks
for a haunted Halloween nightFRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2020
FEATURES 8
Mayor Ted Wheeler campaigns for reelection
Incumbent Wheeler is running against opponent Sarah Iannarone and write-in candidate Teressa Raiford
By TOR PARSONS

PORTLAND MAYOR Ted Wheeler
is running for a second term.
This is more newsworthy than it
sounds; three of Wheeler’s immediate
predecessors declined to run for second
terms. If reelected, Wheeler will be
Portland’s first mayor to serve more
than one term since three-term mayor
Vera Katz left office in 2005. This is the final article in a three-part series,
each focusing on one of the three major
candidates for mayor of Portland.
Despite running for a second term,
Wheeler, who is a Democrat, may end
up being a one-term mayor anyway.
He has been subject to severe criticism
for his handling of Portland’s Black
Lives Matter protests, which have been
among the longest-lasting and most
forceful protests of the nationwide movement. Wheeler’s critics on the
left blame him for the use of crowd
control tactics such as tear gas and
flash-bang grenades by police against
peaceful protesters. Meanwhile, he
has been met with equally vociferous
opposition from Republicans, who
accuse him of not doing enough to stop
the protests. U.S. Attorney General
William Barr labeled Portland an
“anarchist jurisdiction” and threatened
to withhold federal funding if Wheeler
did not crack down more aggressively
on protesters, while President Donald
Trump called Wheeler “the wacky
Radical Left Do Nothing Democrat
Mayor of Portland” on Twitter.
Activists, including rival mayoral
candidate Teressa Raiford, have called
for Wheeler’s resignation.
Wheeler is the only mayoral
candidate who has previously held
elected office. In addition to his first
term as mayor, to which he was elected
in 2016, Wheeler served as the state
treasurer of Oregon for six years,
from 2010 to 2016. Before that, he sat
on the Multnomah County Board of
Commissioners from 2007 to 2010. A
sixth-generation Oregonian, Wheeler
hails from a prominent Oregon family
who originally became wealthy in the
timber trade. The small coastal town of
Wheeler in Tillamook County is named after Wheeler’s great-grandfather, who
owned a sawmill there.
During Wheeler’s first term as mayor,
he oversaw the construction of 1,454
affordable housing units, more than the
planned 1,300, and created three new
homeless shelters. He also took control
of the Portland Police Bureau as soon
as he was inaugurated, which is one of
the reasons he is being directly blamed
for the actions of police officers during
the protests. City Commissioner Jo Ann
Hardesty has repeatedly asked to take
over leadership of the police bureau,
believing that Wheeler is mismanaging
the issue of police brutality, but Wheeler
has declined to shift the responsibility to
Hardesty.
As state treasurer, he reestablished
the Oregon College Savings Program,
which allows money saved for college to
be untaxed. As a county commissioner,
he managed to secure funding for a
replacement to the crumbling Sellwood
Bridge. The replacement bridge opened
in 2016 and the old bridge was torn
down soon after.
Wheeler’s approval ratings have
swung wildly. In May 2020, he received
nearly half of the vote in Portland’s
mayoral primary, bolstered by his
acclaimed response to the COVID-19
pandemic. Early on in the pandemic, he
pressed Gov. Kate Brown to institute a statewide lockdown in one of the first
calls for serious action to prevent the
spread of the virus in Oregon. Later, once
the CARES Act made federal stimulus
money available, Wheeler allocated $114
million to small businesses and families
hit hard by the pandemic. Shortly after
the primary election, though, George
Floyd was killed and the protests began.
By September, a poll conducted by
California-based FM3 Research showed
that Wheeler had a 62% unfavorability
rating and only a 26% favorability rating.
Recently he seems to have regained some
of his political momentum. In a poll
conducted between Oct. 7 and Oct. 11,
DHM Research reported that one-third of
Portland voters plan to vote for Wheeler,
nearly tying with his main rival Sarah
Iannarone.
With the current crises facing
Portland, Wheeler has had to devote
more time to running the city than
campaigning, so he has offered minimal
information about his second-term
goals. According to his campaign site,
though, if he is elected to a second term,
Wheeler intends to continue his focus
on affordable housing, which has been
one of the signature issues throughout
his first term. He also advocates for a
cleanup of the Willamette River and
supporting local small businesses during
the pandemic.
Portland organization celebrates
Filipino American History Month
Wheeler has been criticized for his handling of Portland’s Black Lives Matter protests.PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
By ALEX BARR
THE FRANK MANOR House tops
the list of the Lewis & Clark campus
crown jewels. The vivid blooms of
hydrangeas, the intricate iron-detailed
windows and the moss-covered storybook
shingles provide moments of solace to
many Pioneers on the gloomiest of winter
walks to academic.
However, the cobblestone path leading
up to this fairytale redbrick mansion felt
unusually ominous as my paranormal
team, consisting of my somewhat-willing
roommate, a Dan Brown-loving campus
safety officer and myself, approached the
formerly familiar estate.
Every shadowy corner of the 35-room
mansion crowded my peripherals. As
my second paranormal investigation, I
expected to face the house with shoulders
squared. Instead, panicked bolts of
vulnerability shot down my spine the
moment the heavy wooden door shut
behind us, locking us inside the immense
darkness of the house.
Due to the lack of information on the
alleged hauntings, my pre-investigation
research consisted mostly of watching
“Buzzfeed Unsolved: Supernatural”
and reading the free sample of “Ghost
Hunting for Dummies” written by none
other than “Ghost Adventures’” resident
bad boy Zak Bagans.
The few stories I managed to find
about the paranormal activity in the
Frank Manor House ranged from a
spectral woman in white gliding down the
staircase to allegedly ill-willed bathrooms
that leave some unwitting visitors feeling
nauseous or dizzy. As a now-bonafide
paranormal investigator, I decided
to leave a microphone in one of these
bathrooms to give the ghosts space to talk.
And talk they did.
Something in Frank Manor House
acknowledged our presence that night, both
through the unnerving chill in my bones,
and through our recording equipment, but
I will come back to that later.
After talking about the hauntings on campus with several campus safety
officers, students and faculty, it seems the
general consensus on the validity of these
tales tends to err on the side of skepticism.
In the last issue of The Pioneer Log, I cast
a similarly distrustful eye over the ghost
stories surrounding the Corbett House.
Despite this, I believe that the Frank
Manor House is a genuine haunt.
The campus safety officer who
accompanied my roommate and I assured
us that he had never experienced any
paranormal activity in the house. Several
other officers I spoke to expressed similar
sentiments. These were the stories I tried
to recollect while goosebumps continued
to run down my arms.
As we walked through the second
floor, the campus safety officer observed
that the doors he had closed during
his walkthrough 30 minutes prior
had somehow reopened. He promptly
concluded that the custodial staff must
have come through.
Although my adrenaline raced
throughout our tour, it ultimately
concluded without much excitement. As
we stood outside the house once again, I
brushed off my nerves as a side effect of
watching too many horror movies. We
thanked the campus safety officer, packed
up our equipment and drove home.
Upon reviewing the audio I had
recorded in the downstairs bathroom, in
between two moments of stark silence I
heard a feminine voice breathing heavily,
then saying something I cannot make out.
As I listen to this tape over and over, I
can hear my voice reverb in the distance
from the other side of the house. At that
moment, we were on the second floor, far
away from the recording device.
Assuredly, I cannot prove that the
origin of that sound was paranormal. At
best, my evidence is tenuous. However,
this experience proved scary enough
to make this fresh-faced paranormal
investigator enter early retirement.
If you would like to hear this alleged
ghost for yourself, listen to the newest
episode of The PioPod out Oct. 30.
MAYA WINSHELL/THE PIONEER LOGBy ARUNIMA JAMWAL
OCTOBER MARKS the 32nd
annual Filipino American History
Month. Many communities across
the world also ritually commemorate
their dead and dear departed ones in
October. To talk about ‘the dying’ is
potent in more ways than one right
now, as the Philippines and United
States are witnessing mass opposition
to extrajudicial executions, which are
defined as the killing of persons by the
state’s authorities without any judicial
sanctions or due process. The Philippines
is also the second most dangerous place
in the world for environmental defenders.
The Philippines and the United
States are intertwined in a history that
dates back to the Spanish-American
War in 1898. The United States’ victory
in the war resulted in the establishment
of American rule in the Philippines,
against the wishes of Filipino leaders.
However, here I am primarily interested
in recognizing the life-affirming work
that Filipino Americans are engaged
in to meet preventable deaths with an
ethic of caring and resistance. In our
conversations about recognizing or
celebrating history, we honor how the
past simultaneously colonizes and gives
birth to our present conditions.
Anakbayan Portland is a
grassroots organization of Filipino
youth organizers that leads
with political education and community mobilization to establish a
liveable future for all peoples. Jennifer
Anderson ’19 joined Anakbayan Portland
in 2018 and currently serves as the
organization’s chairperson.
“For us as part of the National
Democratic movement with a socialist
perspective, true democracy looks like
upholding the democratic rights of the
broad masses,” Anderson said.
Building on the actions of historically
renowned Filipino leaders such as
Gabriela Silang and Lorena Barros, the
Movement for National Democracy
(“Kilusan para sa Pambansang
Demokrasya” or KPD) is an alliance
of progressive organizations working
towards a true democracy.
Filipino activists identify the
exploitation of people and the
abundant land as the root causes of
social and economic inequality in their
communities.
“The people of the Philippines have
been denied access to rights and land
under colonial and imperial forces for
centuries,” activist Janae Nilo said. “I
now have a deeper appreciation for
people power and the power of the
natural world.”
Nilo, a member of Anakbayan
Portland’s environmental justice
desk, is also a plant consultant and
horticultural enthusiast. It connects
her to her grandfather, who
loved to garden. Nilo recalls
her ancestors who were at the frontlines of resistance to Japanese
occupation post-WWII. At the time, they
were also fighting for collective dignity
and the right to self-determination, so
that their homeland could flourish and
be free from war and imperialism. For
Nilo, her actions are about fostering a
communal self-sufficiency she sees as
revolutionary.
“I want to tend the garden of this
movement for National Democracy until
every Filipino can own the fruits of their
labor,” Nilo said.
Through our conversations, I got
the sense that their identities and
purpose are shaped by a commitment to
intergenerational struggle and the ethic
of caring for their community.
“I joined Anakbayan looking for
community with other forward-thinking
Filipinos, and have since learned so
much about Filipino history, revolution
and resilience,” Nilo said.
Anderson also expressed similar
sentiments about the importance of
knowing history.
“Even though the Philippines is over
3,000 miles away, I’ve never felt closer
to our homeland than I do now through
learning about our history,” she said.
Young Filipino activists and
movement builders like Anderson often
do not get paid for their work, but they
do it because they find it rewarding to
serve their communities.
Anakbayan continues to build on
their momentum by engaging Filipino
and non-Filipino residents of Portland on
a wide range of issues, such as solidarity,
fair wages and the rights of workers.
Recently, they also collaborated with the
grassroots climate justice organization
350PDX to host an informative webinar
on the widespread persecutions of
Filipino environmental protectors and
justice activists. The webinar is available
to view on Anakbayan Portland’s
Facebook page.
The United States is also currently
in the midst of a politicized movement
where more young and interconnected
populations are calling for, as well as
interpersonally enacting, powerful
changes.
Filipino American History Month
raised my consciousness about the value
of transnational dialogues in making
visible collective futures that youthful
organizers are bringing to life. The labor
of Filipinos and diasporic Americans for
freedom points to important lessons for
all of us. We have the power to channel
our energy into co-creating a more
compassionate political collective in
which all peoples can flourish. AMELIA MADARANG/THE PIONEER LOG
Haunted manor house
spooks student sleuthsFRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2020
FEATURES 9
LC alum discusses working
as advisor for Ted Wheeler
LC mailroom sees influx of mail-in ballots ahead of electionBy JULIA WARLING

SERAPHIE ALLEN ’15 is the senior
policy advisor for Ted Wheeler,
the mayor of Portland. Allen is a
Lewis & Clark alum, a former resident
advisor and Ray Warren Symposium
co-chair as well as an avid frisbee and
basketball player. Allen’s credits her
time at LC for helping her understand
other perspectives by allowing her to
work with a diverse group of people.
“My time at Lewis & Clark was hugely
influential in thinking and helping me to
craft my own personal values, separate
from my parents and my family, and also
introduce me to so many really awesome
people who really cared about the world,”
Allen said.
After graduating, Allen worked for
a year and a half as a substitute teacher
and a teacher’s assistant. Allen became
increasingly interested in governmental
policy while creating a citizenship unit for
her fifth-grade class.
“During that time, I started to feel
really frustrated, clearly, with Trump’s
rhetoric,” Allen said. “I had never done
a lot of political work before, but I really
wanted to get involved on a local level to feel like I could make a difference. I
enjoyed the classroom and I had so much
fun with the kids, but I felt limited in
being able to have (an) impact.”
Allen then decided to get involved
with a local mayoral campaign and
researched each candidate to see which
one most closely aligned with her values
and goals.
“I was deciding between Jules Bailey,
who was our county commissioner and
was a Lewis & Clark alumni ... or Ted
Wheeler,” Allen said. “What I specifically
remember (Wheeler) saying is that he
really cared about mental health and
addiction. That’s always been a passion
of mine, and I’d done at LC a lot of
volunteering with Operation Nightwatch,
which is a way to connect (with) and meet
people experiencing homelessness.”
Allen then attended a house party
for Wheeler, where she met the then-
candidate and discussed his campaign.
This led to a year of fundraising and
research in her free time and eventually a
full-time job on Wheeler’s team. Allen has
now been officially working for Wheeler
for the past four years, which has been
both difficult and rewarding for her.
“Working in a political office,
especially a mayor’s office, is really
hard,” Allen said. “People want a lot of
things from you all of the time. It’s a
lot of responsibility. When you’re there
and you know the issues, you’re able to
move up rather quickly. Now my job
entails (overseeing) all of our policy
development and implementation on
homelessness and housing and LGBTQ
issues, cannabis, education and children’s
issues. One of the coolest things (about)
getting to work in a political office is that
you just get to talk to so many different
kinds of people that inform how you push
forward work.”
However, the recent push for social
change in Portland has forced the current
city government to change its focus.
“Different topics will take your
precedent over a certain time,” Allen said.
“Policing issues are really big right now, clearly ... It is definitely an exciting time
because there’s so much movement for
change and it’s also really hard because
people have very strong and intense
opinions.”
Allen went on to discuss Portland’s
time on the national stage and how
the country being so divided has led
to violence, which she said is difficult
to heal from and move forward. At the
same time, she believes the divide, while
unfortunate, makes sense.
The increase in advocacy for social
justice in Portland has created an internal
struggle for Allen, as she has personal
values that may sometimes contradict
with how Wheeler wants to respond to
certain circumstances.
“Personally, working in a political
office, you have to support your
candidate, but also you might have
your own personal issues or concerns
or passion,” Allen said. “It can be hard.
Especially when you feel stuck between
a rising social movement and your own
local person you’re working for and then
everyone’s opinions about everything ... it
can feel really personal.”
Allen finds it difficult to be a part of
Wheeler’s team at the moment, because
many people are very upset with his
decisions, and as a representative of the
mayor, a lot of resentment is directed
towards her.
But even with this uncertainty, Allen
is excited for the future in terms of local
change and hopeful that the city will be
able to continue improving for its citizens.
“Out of the protests, we’re already
seeing a lot of really great movement
... but also I’ve been so impressed by so
many of the Black leaders who are like,
it’s not just about police, it’s also about
economic development and it’s about
housing and access to wealth,” Allen said.
Allen concluded by talking about her
hopes that Portland will be able to regain
their trust in Wheeler’s governance if he
wins a second term, and that they will
be able to build back through showing
progress on policing and other issues.
Mail Services staff work to ensure that ballots reach LC community members and are safely returned
By AMELIA DOYLE

THE COVID-19 pandemic has
presented a series of challenges
to voter registration and voters.
The 2020 general election is fast
approaching and civically-engaged
citizens are encouraging their peers to
participate by registering to vote and
voting.
At Lewis & Clark, students have
witnessed the challenges of voting during
this time and recognize the importance of
making sure their vote counts.
“There are students that vote
absentee, in these really crucial states
where their vote counts a ton,” Mateo
Kaiser ’23, co-president of the LC College
Democrats said.
According to Kaiser, LC College
Democrats are organizing a poster
campaign around campus to encourage
students to vote. In fact, many
organizations at LC are encouraging
students to vote. The Office of Student
Engagement has created a webpage
with information and resources for
student voters.
Mikah Bertelmann ’21, a Student
Engagement facilitator, explained the
different types of resources available for
students.
“We have a webpage on our website
called Pioneers Vote 2020, and it has
resources for students looking to check
if they are already registered or request
an absentee ballot, or to register to vote,”
he said.“We also have information for
all of the 50 states plus a few of the
territories ... about the timeline of
voting.”
This is not the first time
that Student Engagement
has encouraged students on
campus to vote.
“LC students in the
midterm election in 2018
did a really good job at
registering to vote and
also going out to vote,”
Bertelmann said. “We also want to continue that momentum coming
into this year.”
Kaiser echoed Bertelmann’s comments
and noted that LC is a very politically-
engaged community.
The pandemic has significantly
changed the way people are voting
this year. Bertelmann discussed how
difficulties around COVID-19 have
impacted election-related events and
resources at LC.
“COVID definitely presented a
challenge, and we aren’t able to be in
person for all of the activities that we
would normally hold, and so a lot of our
watch parties are being held virtually this
year,” Bertelmann said. “I think for the
most part students are really engaged in
voting and they are taking the opportunity
to vote really seriously, and we have the
resources for them.”
As we face these new challenges to
voting this year, students have been
provided the information they need so that
they have the opportunity to vote. Student
organizations at LC are in front of the
voting issue, reaching out to students who
are not sure of the voting process, ensuring
they have the information
they need to vote
and that their
voices are
heard. Students encouraged
to be politically active
Allen is the mayor’s senior policy advisor.PHOTO COURTESY OF SERAPHIE ALLEN
By AIDAN D’ANNA

AS ELECTION DAY 2020 quickly
approaches, students are sending
in their mail-in ballots to ensure
they are counted on time. Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, a record number
of people are voting by mail in this
election to avoid contact with others.
Some states, like California, are mailing
ballots to every eligible voter whether
they request one or not.
This increased reliance on mail-in
and absentee ballots has put additional
strain on the mail delivery system,
including Lewis & Clark Mail Services.
In the weeks and days leading up to
the election, ballots start to make up
a larger share of incoming mail, and
Mail Services has to make sure each
one reaches its proper recipient.
“They’re starting to pour in, a lot of
counties mail them all at once, and a
lot of them are kind of dispersed ... so
we have hundreds and hundreds and
hundreds of ballots coming into the
mailroom,” Mail Services Specialist
George Dewey said.
As the ballots arrive in the
mailroom, they are sorted into bins
based on the mail stop code (MSC)
number of the student or staff mailbox,
and are filed within 24 hours. If the
ballot does not have an MSC number
printed on it, either because the student
forgot to include it on their mailing
address or the elections office omitted
it, the ballot goes into a separate pile so
that someone from Mail Services staff
can find the proper MSC by looking up
the student’s name.
While this process requires a
significant amount of work, it is not
where Mail Services places the lion’s
share of its efforts during election
season. The biggest problem the
mailroom faces is ballots that arrive for
students who have already graduated. “First, I double-check that they’re
not current students and that the
MSC number isn’t just mixed up or
something,” Dewey said. “If that isn’t
the problem I then take those ballots,
I look through the student emails that
we have, because we have a list of
graduated students and their emails.
So I email them a template that’s like,
‘you received a ballot to the mailroom
but your mailbox is closed, are you able
to come and pick up your ballot?’ Or it
will say ‘are you able to request a new
ballot to your updated address?’ And
sometimes they will respond and say,
‘yeah, I’ll come next week, thanks for
letting me know.’ And then I always
include before signing off a reminder
to update your mailing address.”
Most of the time, however, the email
will come back with a mailer-daemon
message because the college has
deactivated the email address. When
this happens, the mailroom is forced
to send the ballot back to the county
elections office with a return-to-sender
stamp asking the office to remove
this address from the county’s voter
registration records.
“If I email 50 people, I’ll get the
mailer-daemon response for about 35 of
the 50,” Dewey said. “And then I’ll get,
like, seven positive responses ... I would
say at least 15 students have come by
and picked up ballots. And that’s, you
know, that’s 15 more than zero. So it
doesn’t feel like it’s for nothing.”
It can be disheartening to watch
so many ballots be sent back due to
the possibility that those people will
become non-voters simply because
they forgot to change their mailing
address after they graduated.
“It’s honestly kind of maddening
because like there’s no real place to
put the blame besides on the voting
system itself,” mailroom student
worker Ely Klem ’21 said. “You can’t blame a bunch of college students for
not having their registration up to
date when they’re constantly moving
around and the system is built in a way
that makes it purposefully difficult to
register when you have addresses that
are moving around a lot.”
Klem proposed the idea of asking
graduating students for a forwarding
address to try to combat this problem.
“As part of your graduation
checklist, you would be asked to
provide a secondary email,” Klem
said. “So for graduation stuff, maybe
they send it to both emails so that
way, when your email is deactivated,
it doesn’t get lost, and then also they
have a way to contact you after you’ve
graduated.”
The mailroom is also working hard
on the outgoing side to make sure that
all received student and staff ballots
are returned safely back to the county
election office, and most importantly,
counted.
“(My job) is looking through the
stacks of outgoing ballots, to check
for a few things,” Dewey said. “I will
double-check that they’ve followed
the instructions on the packet, which
is more of a courtesy just to check
that they actually have signed the
ballot, or if there’s anything glaringly
obvious that’s been missed that we
know will mean that the ballot isn’t
counted. Another thing we check for is
the postage note in the corner. Every
day, there are at least a few ballots in
there that don’t have stamps that need
stamps.”
Mailroom staff will also make
sure that all ballots that arrive at the
mailroom on or before Election Day
will be postmarked by Nov. 3.
“Postmarked by Election Day
means that you can come to the
mailroom on Election Day, put it in
and you’re good to go,” Dewey said. “Here’s the thing, though. Our mail
goes out in the middle of the day. So
I know that people are going to come
by on Election Day at 3 p.m., and that
wouldn’t go out until Nov. 4 ... but
I’m certain that one of us will end up personally driving to the post office
after work to deliver a sack of late
ballots. We hope that students don’t
rely on that extra courtesy, but we
also know that this isn’t the time to be
teaching students a tough lesson.”
Hundreds of mail-in ballots arrive at LC as more people vote by mail due to COVID-19.AIDAN D’ANNA/THE PIONEER LOG
UMI CADWELL/THE PIONEER LOGFRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2020
FEATURES 10
By NICHOLAS NERLI
WITH ALL EYES on the race
for the White House, voters
may easily forget about
other elections that will determine
the composition of government.
Democrats are favored to control both
houses of Congress while polls show
close races in numerous Oregon state
and local elections. Lewis & Clark
community members should choose
their preferred national and regional
media outlets to follow these 10 races
that do not feature President Donald
Trump or Joe Biden on the ballot.
U.S. Senate
Unlike the 2018 midterm election,
the 2020 Senate map clearly favors
Democrats. However, even veteran
political pundits did not predict the
high number of seats that Democrats
have a chance of flipping. In order to
obtain a Senate majority, Democrats
must see a net gain of three seats if Joe
Biden is elected president or four seats
if he is not. At this point, it would be
surprising if Democrats fail to pick up
seats in Arizona and Colorado currently
occupied by Republican Sens. Martha
McSally and Cory Gardner, respectively.
While races in Alaska, Georgia, Kansas
and Texas are also competitive, these
five seats are bound to produce close
results and, on top of Arizona and
Colorado, are the most likely to help
Democrats regain control of the Senate.
Iowa: Joni Ernst (R)* vs. Theresa
Greenfield (D)
In 2014, Ernst succeeded retiring
Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin by
advertising her Iowa roots. One campaign
advertisement referenced her childhood
farm and her experience castrating pigs;
if elected, Ernst promised to draw upon
her history of “cutting pork” to make
Washington insiders “squeal.” The past
six years have resulted in Ernst becoming
one of the Senate’s least popular
members and moderate constituents
are unhappy with her allegiance to
Trump. Greenfield, an Iowa native,
is a businesswoman with a history in
agriculture that has campaigned largely
on expanding social benefits to the state’s
lower and middle classes. She currently
leads Ernst by 4.6% in recent polling.
Maine: Susan Collins (R)* vs. Sara
Gideon (D)
First elected in 1996, Collins has
touted her reputation as an independent
maverick to easily win three reelections
in heavily-Democratic New England.
However, her vote to confirm Brett
Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court,
as well as her lackluster attempts to distance herself from Trump, may
result in her loss. Gideon, the speaker of
Maine’s House of Representatives, is a
master fundraiser who has used millions
of dollars to cast Collins as a typical
Washington hack. A Gideon victory would
almost certainly be needed for Democrats
to take back the Senate, and she is
currently polling above Collins by 4.2%.
Montana: Steve Daines (R)* vs.
Steve Bullock (D)
Montana, a Republican stronghold
in presidential elections, has long had
an affinity for electing Democratic
senators and governors. With an
approval rating of 47%, Daines is facing
a fierce challenge from Bullock, the
state’s current, and popular, governor.
While it is notoriously difficult to poll
Big Sky country, experts agree that
this race is neck and neck. Daines
currently leads Bullock in polls by 3.3%.
North Carolina: Thom Tillis (R)* vs.
Cal Cunningham (D)
With a Republican recently diagnosed
with the coronavirus and a Democrat
in the midst of a sex scandal, North
Carolina is easily the most dramatic,
and expensive, of the Senate races. Tillis,
unpopular for his initial reluctance
turned unwavering support for Trump, was off the campaign trail for weeks
after contracting COVID-19 at the
White House announcement of Amy
Coney Barrett’s nomination to the
U.S. Supreme Court. Meanwhile, in
early October, Cunningham admitted
to having an extramarital affair after
salacious texts were uncovered by the
press. Despite the affair, Cunningham
leads Tillis in polls by 2.3%.
South Carolina: Lindsey Graham
(R)* vs. Jaime Harrison (D)
Once the best friend of the late
independent-minded Sen. John
McCain, Graham has become one of
Trump’s closest allies in the Senate and
a bogeyman among Democrats. With
Harrison, Democrats succeeded in
recruiting a rare candidate that makes
ruby-red South Carolina competitive.
In his own words, Graham is being
“killed” by Harrison’s remarkable talent
for fundraising; Harrison recently
broke the Senate fundraising record by
raising $57 million in the campaign’s
final quarter. Recent polls show
Graham just 1.4% over Harrison.
U.S. House of Representatives
Democrats are clearly favored to retain
control of the House; FiveThirtyEight gives this outcome a 96 in 100 chance. However,
dozens of races are expected to be close,
three of which are in the Pacific Northwest.
Alaska at-large: Don Young (R)* vs.
Alyse Galvin (D)
Young, the longest-serving
Republican in House history, has
represented the entire state of Alaska
since 1973. He remains a popular figure
in Alaska politics despite a history
of controversial behavior, including
comparing same-sex relations to
bestiality, using racial slurs in interviews
and numerous ethics violations. Galvin,
a registered independent who won the
Democratic Party’s nomination, is a small
business owner who lost to Young in the
2018 midterms. After beating her by 6.6%
in 2018, recent polling of this rematch
shows Young over Galvin by just 0.75%.
Oregon 4th: Peter DeFazio (D)* vs.
Alek Skarlatos (R)
A true swing district, the Oregon 4th,
which comprises the southwest portion of
the state including Eugene and Corvallis,
went for Hillary Clinton in 2016 by just
0.1%. Yet, for 33 years, its residents have
comfortably reelected Democrat DeFazio.
This election, DeFazio faces a strong
competitor in Skarlatos, one of the three
American soldiers who heroically subdued a gunman in the 2015 Thalys train attack.
While pollsters have stayed away from
this race, experts agree that it will be
the fight of DeFazio’s political career.
Washington 3rd: Jaime Herrera
Beutler (R)* vs. Carolyn Long (D)
Democrats have long eyed the seat
currently filled by Herrera Beutler,
whose district, across the Columbia River
from Portland, encompasses southwest
Washington. Elected in 2010 with a
reputation for partisanship, Herrera
Beutler has gradually become more
moderate during her time in Congress,
even voting against the Republicans’
infamous 2017 bill to repeal Obamacare.
Long, a tenured political science
professor at Washington State University
Vancouver, ran against Herrera Beutler in
2018 but lost by 5.4%. Recent polls show
Herrera Beutler leading Long by 3%.
State and Local
Oregon Secretary of State: Shemia
Fagan (D) vs. Kim Thatcher (R)
Oregon does not have a lieutenant
governor, making the secretary of state
first in the line of succession should the
governor leave office. Unfortunately for
Oregonians, the state is known for intense
scandals that somewhat frequently bring
down its politicians, including governors.
While no one expects Gov. Kate Brown,
J.D. ’85 to step down, this critical race
will likely pave a path for the winner to
someday seek higher office. Both Fagan
and Thatcher are current state senators
that are popular among their party bases.
They have both also been criticized for
being too partisan, despite running for
the position that monitors Oregon’s
elections and may be responsible for
drawing new congressional districts.
Portland Mayor: Ted Wheeler* vs.
Sarah Iannarone
Behind the battle for the presidency,
few races are as important to Portlanders
as this year’s mayoral election. The city
has not reelected a mayor since Vera Katz
left office in 2004. Most voters would
agree that the choice between Wheeler
and Iannarone is a referendum on the
soul of Portland. Wheeler, a once-popular
mayor that has seen his support evaporate
in the wake of racial justice protests and
police violence towards demonstrators,
faces stiff competition from Iannarone,
a community organizer and university
bureaucrat. One recent poll showed
Iannarone ahead of Wheeler by 11%, with
29% of respondents undecided; another
gave Iannarone a one-point lead over
Wheeler with 28% of voters remaining
undecided. Teressa Raiford, a write-in
candidate who received 8.4% of the May
primary vote, is expected to earn support
from less than 10% of Portland voters.With experts predicting a “blue wave,” Democrats are poised to win previously reliable Republican seatsTen races eclipsed by US presidential election
NICHOLAS NERLI/ THE PIONEER LOG
By IHSAAN MOHAMED
THREE MONTHS ago, Rory
Bialostosky ’22 was just a college
student preparing for a semester
abroad in Barcelona, Spain. After his
trip was cancelled due to the COVID-19
pandemic, Bialostosky began envisioning
a different kind of semester. 2020, like
most of the country, was an election
year for West Linn, Oregon; the mayor
and two city councilors were up for
re-election. A few weeks before the
deadline, Bialostosky entered the race
as one of the youngest candidates to run
for city council in West Linn history.
Bialostosky was determined to
not allow incumbents Teri Cummings
and Rich Sakelik to run unchallenged.
According to Bialostosky, the West
Linn city government has long
been in a rut, focusing too much on
issues that do not benefit the city.
Rather than forcing West Linn
citizens to have to go through another
four years of stagnation, Bialostosky
hopes to be the candidate of change.
“I ran because I have a vision for moving
the city forward, making progress, making
it a place where everyone feels safe,” he said.
Part of that means reaching across the aisle. Bialostosky is one of the few
candidates that has shied away from
partisan endorsements. According
to him, city issues are non-partisan
issues, and West Linn needs a city
councilor who is a bridge builder and
encourages a sense of community.
Bialostosky’s candidacy has
increased the level of enthusiasm about
local politics. High school friends and
acquaintances regularly reach out to tell
him that they voted for him. But even
those who do not personally know him
have reached out to express their delight.
“It’s amazing,” Bialostosky said, “I
go out to have coffee and sit outside
somewhere, and people come up and
say I just voted for you, good luck.”
Bialostosky has been able to galvanize
voters in a way that local politicians
have been unable to do in the past.
West Linn’s support for Bialostosky is
most apparent in his funding. Though
the pandemic complicated normal
campaigning methods, he has still
managed to hold virtual events and
fundraisers. Bialostosky has raised
$5,500, the largest amount any West Linn
city council candidate has ever raised.
However, the 21-year old has had his
fair share of criticism. Some believe that he is too young, while others are not fond
of his past history with the city. In 2018,
Bialostosky sued the city of West Linn for
parking restrictions placed around the
city’s high school. He was among several
students who were issued parking tickets.
“It was so wrong to me that these
streets were paid for by the taxpayer yet
were roped off to kids,” Bialostosky said.
While Bialostosky welcomes these
criticisms and encourages discourse,
he maintains that he is more than
qualified to be a city councilor.
Bialostosky’s high school political
involvement caught the attention of several
prominent members of the community.
Former City Councilor Brenda Perry
agreed with Bialostosky’s concerns and
supported his request for the city to
expand street parking. Perry currently
serves as the head of Bialostosky’s
entirely volunteer-run campaign.
Perry is not the only powerful
connection he has made. Bialostosky
has been endorsed by several notable
West Linn community leaders, from
current Mayor Russ Axelrod to
Clackamas County Commissioner
Martha Schrader. The editorial board
of The West Linn Tidings, a well known
city newspaper, recently endorsed Bialostosky, praising his issue platform.
His website, www.roryforwl.
com, details his extensive plan to
aid West Linn in both social and
economic growth. Some of his priorities
include increasing the transparency
of elected officials and promoting
accountability in the police department.
In 2019, Bialostosky sued City
Councilor Cummings for refusing
to make meeting notes accessible to
the public. Though he lost the case,
Bialostosky believes in the public’s
right to be informed about the actions
of their elected officials, and hopes
to set a precedent of transparency.
As for police accountability, the city
was involved in a nationally publicized
racial dicrimination case in 2020. Still,
Bialostosky does not intend to defund the
police. The department will be audited in
an attempt to ensure that money is being
utilized properly. His policies will also
focus on reforming policing in West Linn
and rebuilding public trust in the police.
“I’m not a fan of abolishing the
police,” Bialostosky said. “People want
to feel safe, and I think to feel safe you
have to have a police department. The
practices of the police department
and how they go about making you feel safe are what you can reform. ”
If elected, Bialostosky, an international
affairs major, intends to carry out an
already formulated plan to balance school
and work. He plans on only enrolling in
12 credits next spring and putting off law
school while he finishes out the full four
year term. More than ever, Bialostosky
believes in West Linn’s potential.
“The people of West Linn deserve
better, I believe that,” Bialostosky said.Meet West Linn’s youngest candidate for City Council
Rory Bialostosky ’22 aspires to win election in order to increase transparency and reestablish trust
Bialostosky plans to balance LC and work.
As political polarization surges in the country, state and local elections become more contentious than many anticipated
PHOTO COURTESY OF RORY BIALOSTOSKY FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2020
ARTS 11
By JILLIAN JACKSON
NETFLIX’S NEW original series
“Social Distance” opens the
same way as online classes do:
on a Zoom call with 30 people, most of
whom would rather be somewhere else.
The camera hones in on the pilot
episode’s main character Ike, portrayed
by Mike Colter. Ike is a recovering
alcoholic and barbershop owner who
cannot catch a break.
“I already buried
an uncle from this,”
Ike says about the
COVID-19 pandemic.
“What am I supposed
to do? Spread this
sh*t around over a
paycheck?”
Some of his fellow
Alcoholics Anonymous
members are too busy
scrolling through their
smartphones or giving their pets belly-
rubs to pay attention.
Distracted conversations like
these, conducted and filmed over
Zoom, FaceTime or even “Overwatch,”
constitute the bulk of “Social Distance.”
The show’s marketing campaign calls it
“a new anthology series made entirely
in quarantine.” Each 20-minute
episode follows a miniaturized storyline
set from April to May.
Consider it a shrewd studio rip off
of “Love Actually.” Except, instead of
relying on Christmas themes, everyone
wallows in the semi-constant existential
dread that is 2020. Netflix styles the
arguably best and penultimate episode’s
title in dejected lowercase, calling it
“everything is v depressing rn.”
I agree. My anxiety kicked in just
recognizing the rows of boxed faces and the mute button in Ike’s Zoom call. His
story in the pilot — a recently-dumped
man who becomes codependent with
his house plant — is not even in the
running for the saddest episode.
That title belongs to the episode
“You Gotta Ding-Dong Fling-Flong
the Whole Narrative.” Dad Greg (Peter
Scanavino) tries to explain to his
elementary school-aged child why he
cannot hug his infected and wheezing
mom, Anne-Marie
(Ali Ahn).
“It’s time that
we went to the
hospital,” Greg says.
“You should be with
medical people, where
there’s a whole bunch
of beeping machines
that are gonna warn
us if something is
wrong. (His voice
breaks) What if
something is really wrong?”
“Social Distance” spares its viewers
from scenes in a hospital full of
ventilators. But the reason why is not
an emotional reprieve.
“I don’t want to die alone in a
hospital,” Anne-Marie sobs.
This scene — not to mention the
entire premise of the show — might
feel like a cheap emotional ploy, if it
was not so cathartic to hear someone
finally voice fears like Anne-Marie’s out
loud. Splicing together live-action and
stick-figure animation from the son’s
perspective, the episode wins us over
with its heart-rending whimsy.
The anthology format makes for a
mixed bag of tearjerkers and total duds.
In a predictable sleeper, boyfriends
Marco (Brian Jordan Alvarez) and
Shane (Max Jenkins) seek to spice up their sex life with a threesome in “Zero
Feet Away.” Decidedly unfunny jokes
appear throughout the episode, mocking
those with obsessive-compulsive
disorder during a pandemic that makes
even neurotypical folks anxious about
cleanliness. “Social Distance” wants to
say something clever about how much
everyone hated their significant other
during quarantine but never sets up a
satisfying punchline. Similar attempts at humor —
twerking Zoom call party-crashers, the
child of a nursing home worker alone and
about to blow up a microwave — never
quite land with more than a sad chuckle.
The episode “everything is v
depressing rn” is the exception. In a
satirical send-up of the Generation Z
kids too desensitized to care anymore,
lovestruck teen Mia (Kylie Liya Page)
preoccupies herself with learning TikTok dances to impress her crush,
Jake (David Iacono).
Without spoiling the twist, I can
say that, when COVID-19 heartbreak
arrives for Mia, Page delivers a
wordless performance that left me
genuinely stunned. In that moment,
whatever its cynical reasons for
existing or its vapid attempts at
quarantine humor, “Social Distance”
is great television.
MAYA WINSHELL/THE PIONEER LOGCommentary: “Social Distance” hits close to homeBy JACOB MUSCARELLA
MANY PEOPLE have come to
dread the seemingly unending
plethora of television ads that
characterize every election season in
the United States. Even if you do not
have cable television, you are sure to
encounter political ads on social media
or even streaming services.
However, the art of political
advertising often goes unrecognized.
Unlike the average commercial you see on
TV that is designed to market a product,
political ads — especially those produced
by campaigns themselves — are trying to
market ideas, and ultimately candidates.
Campaigns must put a lot of thought
into the way they advertise candidates.
One major factor that must always be
taken into consideration is the impact of
gender stereotypes and societal gender
roles on the way that the general public
perceives a candidate. This is especially
true when female politicians run for
president.
The presidency in itself is a gendered
institution. Many of the main duties
of a president are associated with
traditionally masculine aspects of power,
whether that is serving as commander
in chief of the U.S. Armed Forces or
standing up to foreign adversaries.
Outside of the formal job description,
the president is often praised for
exhibiting inherently masculine
personality traits. For example, an
assertive, competitive and independent
president is generally viewed more
favorably than a president who is
cooperative and compassionate.
Of course, candidates of all genders
have the capacity for any personality
trait regardless of whether it is viewed
as traditionally masculine or feminine,
and it is unfair to say that people with
feminine traits do not make strong
leaders. However, female candidates
face an uphill battle in convincing many
voters that they are qualified to be the
country’s chief executive.
When Hillary Clinton ran for
president in 2008, she had already
worked in the White House, made
international trips as the first lady and
she had served as a U.S. senator for Female candidates fight gender roles in advertising
Within her campaign commercials, Clinton walked a fine line between masculine and feminine traits
MADELINE COX/THE PIONEER LOG
My anxiety kicked
in just recognizing
the rows of boxed
faces and the mute
button in Ike’s Zoom
call. Netflix’s new series fictionalizes a wide variety of familiar quarantine and lockdown experiences
MADELINE COX /THE PIONEER LOG
New York since 2001. Even though her
experience was comparable to many
previous successful candidates for
president, many voters still questioned
whether a woman could be a strong
president.
In one of the Clinton campaign’s
television ads during the 2008
Democratic primary titled “Red Phone,”
you can hear a phone ringing as you
see parents checking on their children
asleep in bed. A man narrates the ad.
“It’s 3 a.m. and your children are
safe and asleep,” the man says. “But
there’s a phone in the White House,
and it’s ringing. Something’s happening
in the world. Your vote will decide who
answers that call, whether it’s someone
who already knows the world’s leaders,
knows the military. Someone tested
and ready to lead in a dangerous world
... Who do you want answering the
phone?”The final few seconds of the ad show
Clinton picking up the phone, diligently
working late into the night in the Oval
Office.
There are no direct statements
on gender in this short ad, but its
undertones speak volumes. First,
through most of the ad, the narrator
presents a list of examples of foreign
policy experience. When voters are
asked who they would want to answer
the late-night call, it is likely that many
of them first imagined a man, especially
in 2008. Seeing a woman handling the
unnamed crisis forced people to check
their preconceived notions of the kind
of people that make good leaders.
Also, the juxtaposition of seeing
parents checking on their sleeping
children alongside Clinton working to
protect the country implies that she is a
kind of mother figure for the American
people. This in itself seeks to establish that feminine traits can also be qualities
of a strong leader.
Whereas Clinton took this more
implicit approach to address gender in
her 2008 campaign, her advertisements
during the 2016 presidential election
show a much more explicit approach.
In “Mirrors,” an ad that ran just
before Election Day in 2016, we
immediately see Clinton standing on a
stage embracing a young girl. The rest
of the ad shows girls and young women
looking at their reflections while a series
of derogatory statements that President
Donald Trump has made about women
can be heard in the background.
After an old clip is shown of Trump
claiming he could not really say he
treats women with respect, the ad fades
to black and a question is posed in white
letters: “Is this the president we want
for our daughters?”
This was a much more direct gender-based appeal to voters than in
2008. “Red Phone” implicitly argued
that Clinton had sufficient masculine
traits to be president and that her
feminine traits only strengthened her
leadership capabilities. On the other
hand, “Mirrors” explicitly argued that
Trump’s masculinity was toxic and
that he lacked the compassion to be a
good leader.
One can debate how successful
either of these approaches was, but
both show the extent to which female
candidates have to walk a tightrope
of making advertisements that prove
they can be strong leaders without
seeming to reject their own femininity.
This is a struggle that candidates like
Sens. Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar
and Elizabeth Warren had to face in
the 2020 Democratic primary and
one that will continue to exist for the
foreseeable future.FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2020
ARTS 12
By TOR PARSONS
SHE FIRST APPEARED online
in November 2019, pictured
standing on a New York sidewalk
in a faux-fur coat she had made
herself. She had been photographed
by Brandon Stanton, creator of the massively popular blog Humans of
New York, which shares photographs
and stories from random New York
City residents. She turned heads by
describing her life as a stripper in 1960s
and 1970s New York, calling herself
“the only Black girl making white girl
money” at the time. Her stripper name, she said, had been Tanqueray, after the
brand of gin.
Stanton’s post featuring Tanqueray,
whose real name is Stephanie Johnson,
went viral. It became the most liked
post of all time on the Humans of New
York Instagram account, and received
coverage in media sources from
BuzzFeed to The New York Times. In
response, Stanton conducted a series of
interviews with Johnson, intending to
make a podcast in which she narrated
her life story. Unfortunately, Johnson
began suffering from health issues and
became unable to pay the rent for her
apartment. Stanton pivoted, turning
the podcast into a fundraiser. Johnson
would tell her life story in a series of
posts on Stanton’s blog, the first time
an entire life story had been shared on
Humans of New York. Stanton started
a GoFundMe page for Johnson with
the initial goal of raising $300,000 for
her rent and medical treatment.
Humans of New York stardom
was far from the first brush with fame
Johnson experienced. Through the 32
posts Stanton made chronicling her
life story, Johnson described rubbing
shoulders with everyone from rhythm-
and-blues legend James Brown to
department-store magnate Alfred
Bloomingdale. A sex worker friend
of hers was allegedly set up with the
president of the United States every
time he visited New York, though
Johnson remains tight-lipped on who
the president in question was.
But Johnson’s story is more than
just scandal and salaciousness. Her life
in New York traces the outlines of the
sweeping social changes of the time.
She fell in love with a white Italian-
American man and married him at a time when interracial marriages
were still illegal in many states. The
marriage lasted only weeks, and after
they had divorced, Johnson got the
mobster Joe Dorsey to intimidate her
ex-husband into leaving her alone.
The civil rights movement of
the 1960s is visible, if not directly
addressed, in the experiences Johnson
had as the only Black woman in
the clubs where she danced. At one
point, she was caught in the middle
of an argument between Brown and
members of The Temptations, two
hugely popular Black musical artists
at the time, about whether it was okay
for Black men to date white women.
Having grown up in a mostly white
neighborhood in Albany, New York,
where she did ballet and learned
Latin at the insistence of her abusive,
social-climbing mother, Johnson only
discovered Black culture once she
came to New York City at the same
time Black consciousness and Black
power were starting to become major
movements.
The trajectory of New York City is
also brought up in Johnson’s stories. In
one of her last posts on Stanton’s blog,
Johnson laments how New York has
changed since the days when she was
Tanqueray. When Johnson’s career was
at its peak, New York was in decline.
Crime was increasing precipitously,
and tens of thousands moved out of
the city every year. Since then, New
York has turned around. Its population
and economy have boomed, and the
clubs and adult theaters Johnson
frequented around Times Square have
been replaced with tourist shops. The
city is more expensive than it has ever
been, though, and Johnson is nostalgic for the camaraderie provided by the
urban dispossessed. She wistfully
notes, “Sure, New York is more family
friendly now — but not everyone has a
family.”
As a downtrodden figure living
through decades of American history,
serendipitously meeting important
figures, it is tempting to compare
Johnson to the title character of the
classic 1994 film “Forrest Gump.”
But this comparison misses the point
of both stories. “Forrest Gump”
sanitizes the tumult of the 1960s and
1970s. While the fictional Gump, an
oblivious white Southerner, witnesses
and influences historical events,
historical events do not influence him.
Johnson paints a sadder but far more
complete picture of America. Her life
recounts some of the most chaotic
times in American history, warts and
all.
When Johnson was 18 years old,
she had her palms read by an elderly
inmate of a women’s prison. She was
told she would live all her life in New
York City. She would have a tough
and lonely life, but one day, she would
become famous. All these years later,
Johnson claims that everything the
woman predicted came true.
“Well, almost everything,” she said
in one of her blog posts. “(The fortune-
teller) told me that I’d come into some
real big money one day. And that better
happen quick. ‘Cause I’m already 76.”
By the time Johnson finished telling
her story, the GoFundMe established
in her name had raised over $2.6
million. “Tattletales from Tanqueray,”
Johnson’s life story, can be read in full
at www.humansofnewyork.com or on
Instagram at @humansofnewyork. AMELIA MADARANG/THE PIONEER LOGHumans of New York feature highlights tale of Tanqueray
Stephanie Johnson’s story chronicles her life throughout defining moments in New York City historyBy ANÉLYSE
REGELBRUGGE
THEIR LIKENESSES are engraved
just outside Agnes Flanagan
Chapel. We read their names
multiple times a day on sweatshirts and
in emails, and their pioneering spirit
is the model that continues to drive us
forward today. But do we really know
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark?
In “Undaunted Courage: The Pioneering
First Mission to Explore America’s Wild
Frontier,” Stephen E. Ambrose tells the
story of the two leaders of the expedition
that paved the way for our contemporary
nation. The expedition was fraught with
hypocrisy and arrogance but remains an
important topic of study for any student
interested in discovering the full impact
of Lewis and Clark’s experiences.
Whether you are an avid history
buff, or typically avoid the non-fiction
aisle, “Undaunted Courage” will take
you on a journey that is well worth
your while. Ambrose covers Lewis
and Clark’s experience from start to
finish, offering critical insights into the
intense political motivations that drove
the expedition, fascinating discussion
of the explorers’ contributions to
science along with thrilling retellings
of their many perilous near-misses.
The romanticized narrative of the book
itself is a testament to the lingering
awe felt by many Americans who may,
in their excitement, forget the highly
questionable nature of the Lewis and
Clark expedition and its horrific human
costs. Short, journal-like chapters make
it an easy in-between class read and,
for more visual readers, the book also
includes a healthy collection of maps
tracing Lewis and Clark’s expedition.
“Undaunted Courage” is far more
than a play-by-play of a long trek across
North America; it also reveals the deeply
human struggles faced by the two men
and their team as they grappled with
ambition, anxiety, depression and self-
doubt — all emotions that many of us are
facing as we embark upon journeys of our
own (albeit of a more academic nature)
during these trying times. What is central
to their story, and to our Pioneer mindset
here at Lewis & Clark, is that, whatever the obstacles, physical or otherwise, they
persisted. They overcame.
Although at times Ambrose may seem
to romanticize the adventures of these
two controversial men, he never lets
the reader stray too far from the nitty-
gritty truths underlying the expansion
of America. The explorers’ interactions
with Indigenous peoples, without whom
they certainly never would have survived
their hubristic expedition, is emphasized
in a way few past historians have dared
to do. There are no attempts to mask the
imperialistic designs Lewis and Clark
had for the “uncharted” territory, even if
those designs were accompanied by other
motivations such as a more benign fervor
for science. Ambrose refuses to overlook
the roles of figures like York, Clark’s
slave, and Sacagawea, an Indigenous
teenage mother and prisoner of war who
acted as a guide and translator to Lewis
and Clark. Instead, he creates a powerful
discussion about the idiosyncrasies of
the so-called American Dream.
Lewis and Clark, two men credited
with laying the foundation of the United
States, were slave owners whose actions
took European supremacy for granted
even as they both ardently advocated
the ideals of freedom and equality that
permeated the post-revolutionary public
opinion. They frequently relied upon
deception and misrepresentation in their
dealings with Indigenous peoples, and
they pursued a nationalistic agenda in
their attempts to manipulate the various
tribes into conformity with the “American
way.” All the while, they repeatedly
resisted the influences of the common
political mindset at the time that would
have solely relied upon force and violence
as a means of interaction with Indigenous
communities. Presented faithfully by
Ambrose, these many contradictions
provide opportunities to reflect on our
roots, both as a school and a country, and
consider how we may take the initiative
in forging a better way ahead.
Because we ourselves may be more
confined than usual, this is the perfect
time to accompany Ambrose on a journey
with Lewis and Clark across the vividly
described American Northwest, and,
in the process, learn more about the
spirit that drives our school. Why does the institution bear the names of such
questionable figures as Lewis and Clark?
According to the college website, the name
was chosen “as a ‘symbol of the pioneering
spirit that had made and maintained the
College,’ thereby grounding the future of
the institution in a heritage of exploration
and discovery.” Certainly, this spirit is
reflected in the curiosity, dedication and
initiative of the LC student body. The fact
that a significant association also exists
between Lewis and Clark and oppression
raises questions about the purity of this
pioneering spirit. Ultimately, we make
of it what we choose to. If we choose to
comprehensively see the Lewis and Clark
expedition for what it was and was not,
we can take with us those sentiments
that are worthwhile and leave behind
those that are not. The story of Lewis
and Clark serves as a reminder to check
our own ambition and seek alternative
perspectives on every situation. Just
as the initial expedition was credited
with laying the foundation of the United
States we know today, let the Pioneers at
Lewis & Clark College lay an even better
foundation for the United States of the
future.
“Undaunted Courage” is available
in paperback and audiobook at Watzek
Library, and can be purchased on Amazon
for about $11.Follow Lewis and Clark in
book “Undaunted Courage”
By NICOLE LEWIS
IN ADDITION TO providing this
year’s keynote speech, anthropologist
Jason de Leon’s participatory art
project “Hostile Terrain 94” will be
making an appearance at the 17th annual
Ray Warren Symposium on Race and
Ethnic Studies. This exhibition is one of
94 installations around the globe, each
composed of “3,200 handwritten toe tags
that represent the migrants who have
died trying to cross the Sonoran Desert.”
These tags are geolocated onto a map of
the Arizona/Mexico border and show the
specific locations where
remains have been
found over the past
two decades. However,
these numbers are only
representative of those
who have been reported
and identified; there
are likely thousands
of deaths that have not
been recorded.
In his novel “Land
of Open Graves,” De Leon cites the 1994
U.S. immigration policy of “Prevention
Through Deterrence” as being
responsible for the current humanitarian
crisis occurring throughout these
borderlands. By closing off historically
frequented crossing points located near
urban points of entry, those attempting
to cross the border illegally are funneled
through the most remote and dangerous
parts of the desert. This policy was
created in an attempt to both absolve
the U.S. government of responsibility
for migrant deaths and deter crossing
by increasing its difficulty. Since 2000, over six million people have tried to
cross through the Sonoran Desert in
southern Arizona. The timing of this
installation was deliberately chosen
to precede the 2020 U.S. presidential
election, as a method of raising
awareness for the mass injustices
presently occurring and intentionally
being exasperated through the militant
presence at our country’s border.
“The most powerful participatory
element of this project involves the
time and effort required of volunteers
to meticulously fill out the ~3200
individual toe tag cards that include the
name, age, sex, cause
of death, condition
of body, and location
of recovery for each
person,” De Leon said
on his website.
Those who are
interested in filling
out toe tags can
contact the Aubrey
R. Watzek Library
circulation desk or
email hostileterrain94lc@gmail.com.
In addition to providing a biweekly
virtual space for folks to share in the
filling out of these tags, the Ray Warren
Symposium will also be contributing to
the “Hostile Terrain 94: A Moment of
Global Remembrance.” For this project,
volunteers are asked to record a video
of them reading out loud their toe tag,
with the end goal being a video of 3,200
individual voices speaking the names
of each documented person who has
lost their life. For more information,
visit the Ray Warren Symposium
website.ANÉLYSE REGELBRUGGE/THE PIONEER LOGArt exhibit at Watzek
bares border tragedies
Since 2000, over
six million people
have tried to
cross through the
Sonoran Desert in
southern Arizona.
NICOLE LEWIS/THE PIONEER LOG
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2020
ARTS 13
By TOR PARSONS
AN EASY WAY to judge the
objective coolness of an animal
is to consider how well that
animal would work as a restaurant
name. If you were to name a restaurant
Squirrels, for instance, you would
probably need to justify the name by
serving a mostly nut-based menu, at
the very least. Lions? Lions are cool,
but someone would have to assuage the
customers’ fears of being on the menu
themselves. When I was growing up
in Eugene, Oregon, my family would
regularly go to a restaurant called
Turtles, a name we all agreed we would
immediately change if we won the
lottery and bought the restaurant.
Elephants, though? Gigantic yet
adorable, playful yet incredibly smart;
it is impossible to dislike elephants.
In fact, when I learned that there is a
restaurant near Lewis & Clark called
Elephants on Corbett, the name alone
convinced me to try it.
Elephants on Corbett is one
of several Elephants Delicatessen
restaurants in Portland, a local chain
consisting of four full-service delis like
the Corbett location and four smaller
locations dubbed Flying Elephants. The
Corbett location, situated near Zupan’s
Market and easily accessible on the
Pioneer Express, is the closest to LC.
Elephants is more of a market than
a restaurant, a sort of specialty grocery
store that also serves hot meals. You
can get pizza from one counter, or
hot sandwiches and hamburgers from
another. There are also counters for
to-go meals like cold sandwiches,
oven-ready pasta and lasagna dishes, a
sizable rack of wine bottles, a selection
of exotic cheeses and made-in-house
sauces to take home as well as a round
shelf stocked with every soft drink
you can imagine (and some that you
cannot). There is even a table selling
custom Elephants merchandise,
including Elephants Hydro Flasks Elephants on Corbett provides
fun atmosphere, promising foodTracing the creative past, future of political art
From WWI military advertisements to Obama’s seminal “Hope” poster, propaganda continues to evolve
JUSTIN HOWERTON/THE PIONEER LOG
By JUSTIN HOWERTON
ART AND PROPAGANDA have
long been used for disseminating
political ideologies and beliefs. This
year’s impending presidential election is no
departure from this tradition.
While those running for office in the
United States have employed campaign
posters since the 19th century, using art
as a form of political propaganda did not
become fashionable and commonplace
until World War I. With elected officials
eager to inspire support for the war effort,
the U.S. government commissioned
various artists to create pieces that
attempted to rally the American people.
“I Want You for U.S. Army” (1917),
created by James Montgomery Flagg,
serves as perhaps the most striking example
of commissioned political art during this
time period. Featuring a finger-wagging
Uncle Sam with a seemingly bellicose
grin, the poster intended to inspire young
men to enlist in the army with a simple,
albeit pernicious tagline: “I Want You for
U.S. Army: Enlist Now.” Featuring the
word “now” within the text imparted the
poster with a sense of urgency, as if every
single man who saw this needed to act
immediately in order to protect the ideals
of the United States and liberate Europe.
While the poster does appeal to the
general public at large, it remains distinctly
individualistic. The poster succeeds by
placing nearly all of the emphasis on
individual action, allowing men to uniquely
envision themselves as capable of effecting
change during the war. Uncle Sam’s gaze
attempts to inspire on a personal level by
targeting and beseeching any man that
happens to meet his eyes.
World War II and the Red Scare
prompted their own series of propaganda,
with the former aiming to portray the
United States’ enemies as brutal savages,
and the latter denouncing communism
and affirming democracy through images of nuclear apocalypse. It was not until the
late 1960s and early 1970s, however, that
the U.S. witnessed the proliferation of
colored campaign posters, which replaced
the previous black-and-white standard.
These posters used a simple design that
often featured a red, white and blue color
palette and the name of the politician
accompanied by a plea to elect or reelect
said politician. A portrait of the politician
comprised the bulk of the space on these
posters. The posters from this time period
may be less nuanced than earlier ones in
the 20th century, seeing as the older ones
had to rely on a clever tagline rather than
bright colors to achieve their effect, but
they did set the precedent for promotional
campaign posters moving forward into the
latter half of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Most campaign posters continue in
a similar style to those of the 1970s and
1960s until the release of Barack Obama’s
iconic “Hope” (2008) poster, made by
Shepard Fairey, which departed from this
precedent in an extraordinary fashion.
Featuring an expert use of color gradients
despite the limited palette, this poster
features a portrait of a pensive Obama
with the word “Hope” inscribed at the
bottom. Later editions would come to
include similarly generalized words such
as “Change” and “Progress,” but the design
present within Fairey’s creation would
go on to spark a multitude of parodies
and imitations that played on the original
image.
The poster’s success nevertheless relies
on its modesty; by purposefully omitting
the name of the presidential candidate,
the poster encourages the viewer to focus
on policies and social changes rather than
vapid politicians and their personalities. A
distinctly muted call to action, the “Hope”
poster may have not completely altered
the trajectory of campaign promotional
posters, but it did defy the traditions
of its time in a way that has not been
accomplished since. As obviously seen in “I Want You for
U.S. Army,” manipulation lies at the very
heart of every political artwork and piece
of propaganda. Yet the most convincing
pieces, such as the “Hope” poster, are
those that subtly convince their audience
to do or believe something without explicit
pressure.
In the context of contemporary politics,
Trump’s propaganda tactics assuredly rely
on the use of the politician’s name; most of
the promotional posters for his campaign
draw attention to his infamous surname
with some excluding Vice President and
running mate Mike Pence altogether.
While Trump’s campaign this year relies
on a revision of last election year’s tagline
(“Keep America Great!”), Biden’s posters
by and large take a far more minimalistic
approach. The majority of posters have
Biden’s name appearing alongside Harris’s
in a near equally sized font against a lighter
background. The “E” in Biden’s name
consists of three distinct red lines that
contrast with the other blue letters, which
are evocative of an “=” sign.
However, promotional campaign
posters and printed propaganda no longer
require as intense displays of ingenuity
or engaging content due to advances in
media production and circulation. The
days of candidates attempting to convince
constituents to vote for them through a
yard sign poster in their neighbor’s yard
have long since passed. Instead, they
can voice their opinions, thoughts and
beliefs through a near infinite amount of
channels, such as radio, television and
the Internet. While the art of printed
political propaganda may be declining as
the world moves towards a more digital
future, the public can rest assured that this
trend will not necessarily coincide with
a loss in innovation or creative content.
Political artists and artists commissioned
by politicians are bound to explore how
to create convincing propaganda, albeit in
different formats.
Netflix’s latest horror
series examines growth
By ARIEL MCGEE
NETFLIX DEBUTED Mike
Flanagan’s “The Haunting of
Bly Manor” on Oct. 29, a nine-
episode long saga loosely based on
Henry James’ short story “The Turn
of the Screw.” The series was long-
awaited by fans of “The Haunting of
Hill House,” the first installment of
Flanagan’s spooky anthology.
Like many horror genres, Flanagan’s
particular brand of supernatural has
more to do with people’s figurative
ghosts and demons rather than literal
ones.
“The Haunting of Bly Manor” begins
in present day, with an unnamed woman
at a wedding rehearsal dinner who ends
the night by telling the wedding party a
presumably hours-long “ghost story.” It
becomes immediately apparent that her
story is a true one, and she transports
her listeners to the 1980s as a young
American woman named Dani Clayton,
portrayed by Victoria Pedretti, arrives
in London.
The story follows Dani as she is
hired by a wealthy uncle to be a live-
in governess for his young but creepy
niece and nephew, who have lost both
of their parents in a vacation accident.
Dani seems to be running away from
something in her past and Bly Manor is
the perfect place to hide away. However, Dani cannot outrun the ominous man
she sees in every mirror and is quickly
confronted by new dark forces at her
workplace.
Flora and Miles Wingrave, the two
children Dani is tasked with caring for,
are troubled, to say the least. However,
Dani and the three other members
of Bly Manor’s staff care for these
children with love and understanding
no matter what. There is a sweetness
to “The Haunting of Bly Manor” that
is not present in “The Haunting of
Hill House.” Each character is given
the benefit of the doubt, is redeemable
despite the terrible things they may
have done and cares deeply about those
around them.
Bly Manor is a place where ghosts
are trapped forever, bound by a spirit
with such deep emotional pain that
everything around it is just as stationary
as its grief. Yet, it is also a place filled
to the brim with love and perseverance
wherein Dani and her coworkers are
able to unpack their pain and learn
from their mistakes.
“The Haunting of Bly Manor” is less
a supernatural horror series and more
an unconventional love story. Rather
than being trapped in the past and
tortured by its demons, humans and
spirits alike experience personal growth
and bittersweet joy within the confines
of the immortal Bly Manor.and plush elephants, as well as plush
donkeys — this is an election year, after
all.
After perusing the sodas for longer
than I care to admit, I chose a can
of Dr. Brown’s Cream Soda. At the
sandwich counter, I ordered the fried
chicken sandwich, having been craving
a chicken sandwich untainted by Chick-
fil-A’s homophobia for weeks. The man
behind the counter scrawled “chicken
sandwich” on a Post-it Note, and I
took my order and my soda can to the
cashier. Hearing that I was reviewing
Elephants for The Pioneer Log, she
enthusiastically told me that while
Elephants on Corbett only opened
seven years ago, the flagship Elephants
location way up on Northwest 22nd
Avenue has been a Portland staple
since 1979.
David Bowie’s “Modern Love”
played as I made my way to the socially
distanced seating area upstairs,
walking past a series of murals which added elephants to scenes from Henri
de Toulouse-Lautrec’s famous Paris
café posters. By the time the song was
over, my chicken sandwich arrived at
my table.
If Elephants is perfect in every
other way, it is the food itself that is
not quite up to the high standard set by
the atmosphere. My chicken sandwich
was off-puttingly sweet, with the
saltiness of the chicken clashing with
the pillowy, almost cake-like bun it was
served on. Then again, maybe I am just
not a chicken sandwich connoisseur.
If I go again, I will order the Reuben
sandwich, since I do consider myself
a Reuben connoisseur. And I certainly
will go again — Elephants’ menu is so
wide-ranging, I could never dismiss the
place on the merits of a single chicken
sandwich. The array of soft drinks
is a thing of beauty, and the casual
atmosphere and decent prices are just
right for LC students. Besides, how can
you go wrong with elephants?
UMI CALDWELL/THE PIONEER LOGTOR PARSONS/THE PIONEER LOG
A steamy chicken sandwhich with a sesame seed bun sits in a basket with fries.FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2020
SPORTS 14
By AIDAN D’ANNA
DUE TO CONCERNS surrounding
the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,
many potential voters are wary of
being in the typical, compact environment
at most polling places on Election Day.
At the same time, voters are equally, if
not somewhat more, concerned about
entrusting their ballot to the United States
Postal Service (USPS).
In September, reports surfaced that
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a major
donor to President Donald Trump, had
enacted a plan to remove many mailboxes
and mail sorting machines in order to cut
costs. Though DeJoy has since claimed to
have rolled back these measures, many
are still skeptical and have condemned
DeJoy’s efforts as bona fide voter
suppression.
To combat these problems of crowded
indoor spaces and a possible slow-down
of mail delivery, large outdoor polling
places are in high demand.
Alison Kropff of Florida’s WTSP News
reported on Sept. 4 that health experts
are pleading with election officials across
the country to consider converting large
venues into polling places for Nov. 3.
“We recommend that polling
locations be moved to large, well-
ventilated areas that can accommodate
the necessary social distancing measures
and the distance that is going to be needed
between the polling booths,” Dr. Krutika
Kuppalli, vice-chair of the Infectious
Diseases Society of America’s Global
Health Committee, said.
So far, over 40 professional sports
teams across the country have committed
to opening at least some part of their
stadium or arena to voters on election day.
Though this effort includes teams
from most of the major professional
sports organizations, most of the locations
belong to National Basketball Association
(NBA) teams.
After the brief league-wide strike in
August following the shooting of Jacob
Blake, NBA players only agreed to resume
postseason play if certain social justice
measures were put in place league-wide.
One of the most important measures
was the commitment made by the organization to convert NBA arenas into
polling sites for the 2020 election.
“In every city where the league
franchise owns and controls the arena
property, team governors will continue
to work with local elections officials to
convert the facility into a voting location
for the 2020 general election to allow
for a safe in-person voting option for
communities vulnerable to COVID,” the
NBA said in an Aug. 28 statement.
This pledge means that 20 of the 29
arenas that host NBA teams will be open
as polling places in November, amounting
to roughly half of the total number of
donated arenas.
Notably, the Moda Center, home of
the Portland Trail Blazers and owned by
the estate of the late Paul Allen, is one of
the nine arenas that will not be converted
into a polling place on election day.
“In Oregon, where mail-in voting
makes casting a ballot easy and more
inclusive, the need to transform the
Moda Center into a voting facility was
unnecessary,” The Oregonian reported on
Sept. 16.
However, CenturyLink Field, home
of the Seattle Seahawks and Sounders
and another holding of Allen’s company
Vulcan Inc., will be open as a polling place.
This is not to say that the Blazers have
been inactive during this election season.
In September, they launched a new section
of their website called trailblazers.com/
vote, which allows visitors to check their
voter registration, sign up for election
reminders and, most importantly, fill out
the 2020 census.
The Trail Blazers also hosted an event
at the Moda Center on Oct. 9 called Rip
City Vote Pickup, a drive-by event during
which thousands of people picked up
voting kits that included stickers, buttons
and educational material.
The Trail Blazers are still working
with Multnomah County to see if there is
any way the Moda Center can be useful in
the days leading up to Nov. 3. At the very
least, the exterior of the building has been
lit up in red, white and blue to remind
voters of important deadlines such as the
census (Sep. 30) and the last day for voter
registration (Oct. 13). The center will be
lit up on election day (Nov. 3) as well.By RACHELLE BINDER
EVERY FOUR YEARS , U.S. citizens
participate in the democratic
process by electing a president.
On Nov. 3, voters will again satisfy this
responsibility of our republic. Watching
the states get called as blue or red on the
electoral map as one of the candidate’s
electoral votes gets closer to 270 can
be thrilling for some. For others, it is
anything but a thrill, rather a stressful
event that causes election anxiety.
One cause of election anxiety is the
attention-seeking economy of the media.
In the days leading up to the election, you
may find yourself scrolling and refreshing
the news, anticipating the latest October
surprise. While young voters should stay
informed, there is a limit to how much
news we should consume.
“It is important to ask ourselves,
around the election, how much time am
I engaged in this, how is this making me
feel?” Chief Psychologist and Associate
Dean of Students for Health and Wellness
John Hancock said.
As the election nears, Hancock
encourages students to assess whether
or not their news engagement is starting
to affect their personal relationships,
academics or other activities.
Election anxiety is not new and
impacts all members of the electorate.
Before the 2016 election, 52% of
Americans reported the election as a
significant source of stress, according
to an American Psychology Association
(APA) poll. At the same time, 55% of
Democrats and 59% of Republicans
reported election-related stress in 2016.
This year, the same survey saw an increase
in election-related anxiety, with 68% of
respondents reporting that the election is
a significant source of stress.
“(The election in) 2016 hurt in a way
that lots of people were not prepared for,
and many are expending a ton of effort to
prevent having to experience that again,”
Assistant Professor of International
Affairs Matt Scroggs said.
This year people are not just voting,
they are also making a safe plan to vote.
Part of that plan is voting early; so far,
more than 59 million ballots have been casted. For mail-in voters, the plan is
fairly straightforward. In other states with
complex voting processes, creating a plan
to vote is a strategy that can relieve some
stress. This may include deciding what
day and time you will vote or finding your
nearest ballot drop box.
But making a voting plan can be a lot
more than a strategy to relieve stress.
Many states are making changes to their
voting methods due to the circumstances
of the COVID-19 pandemic. A lot of states
are adopting the all mail-in ballot process
for the first time. For some voters, there is
the anxiety of making sure your vote counts
or even having the ability to vote. Voter
suppression in the United States, which
primarily affects minority communities,
has been a big topic in this year’s election
cycle. A type of voter suppression that
has been brought up most around this
election is voter intimidation. In a Fox
News interview, President Donald Trump
suggested using a voter intimidation
tactic by sending law enforcement
officials to observe the polls.
Political division can also make its
way into the home, as some families and
friends are unable to have civil discussions
on issues due to differences in political
beliefs. These familial divisions create a
toxic, stressful home environment. Most importantly, it makes to it difficult to have
productive conversations.
“The more that things get politicized,
the harder it is to have any meaningful
conversation about anything across
political divides,” Scroggs said. “It is
getting worse now, with facts and science
being politicized in new and problematic
ways, such that anyone can find a source,
whether it be an article, website, podcast,
Twitter account, that will back up their
beliefs.”
On Election Day, there is a lot — or
very little — that could happen in a short
amount of time. Due to the mass intake of
mail-in ballots this year, fear lingers that
Election Day may turn into election week
or election month.
“Likely, we will not know with
complete certainty who won by the end
of Election Day, and that is perfectly fine,”
Scroggs said. “It could take some time to
get all the votes collected and tabulated,
and if that is the extent of our uncertainty,
we should count ourselves incredibly
fortunate.”
Whatever happens on Election Day,
it is okay to be nervous. There are many
ways to make Election Day slightly more
bearable, such as limiting exposure to
news and polls, finding a friend to talk
to or engaging in service to others.
By BELLA MET
ACCORDING TO the Centers
for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), at least 50
million Americans live with chronic
pain either caused by arthritis or other
disorders. Many of which are women
and the elderly. Depending on the
ailment, pain management can be a
struggle. Western medicine often has
limited options that range from pain
killers to surgery, and alternative
medicines of herbs and acupuncture
do not always work for everyone.
However, there is a natural form of
pain management that can be easily
added to people’s routines: exercise.
Those with chronic pain often
struggle to function, let alone try
to find the energy or ability to be
active. Despite that, exercising can
be one of the best ways to manage
pain. According to multiple studies,
including findings from the CDC
and Mayo Clinic, in general, exercise
alleviates anxiety, releases endorphins
and promotes faster metabolism
and better sleep. With chronic pain,
doctors and studies discussed in
segments from NPR encourage
exercise as it reduces stiffness in the
joints and muscles, in addition to
activating the part of the brain that
controls pain.
According to the Mayo Clinic,
cardio is one of the best forms of
exercise for people with chronic pain
as it relieves pain, decreases blood
pressure and improves brain function.
This may include a run outside, on the
treadmill, using an elliptical or even
wrestling. However, these activities
can increase lactic acid build-up, therefore causing more soreness.
Although medium to hard cardio has
its benefits, it is not the be-all and end-
all of pain management. That is why
those with chronic pain often couple
their more intensive routines with less
strenuous activities like stretching.
Those with chronic pain are used to
hearing advice from doctors and even
well-meaning, unqualified people to
do yoga or pilates. According to the
Harvard Medical School, doing yoga
can lead to better mobility. It is also
accessible since postures can easily
be modified for strength, experience
and individual comfort levels. If yoga
or pilates is causing immense pain —
even more than usual — then it is most
likely not being done correctly, and
the poses might need to be adjusted.
Examples of beneficial stretches
are two pilates movements that can
help relieve tension in the legs and
abdominal region: the pelvic curl and
cat-cow.
The pelvic curl entails laying down
with knees bent and doing a slight lift
and curl of the pelvis.
It looks like a modified bridge
position and also utilizes the shoulders
and feet for stabilization. The pelvic
curl primarily stretches the gluteus
muscles along with the hamstrings
and lower back. This exercise is great
for bringing the body into proper
alignment and relieves tension in the
pelvic region.
Breathing during this exercise is
more crucial than the movement itself.
Cat-cow is a position taken from
yoga where one will be in a horizontal
position with their palms and knees
on the floor like they are about to do
a modified push up. Instead, a person should inhale and tilt their pelvis
upward into the cow position and
exhale downward by tucking their
tailbone into the cat position. In the
pilates course offered by Lewis &
Clark, the position is modified into cat
then a more neutral position, but the
movement itself has similar benefits
that include improved circulation,
balance and comfort in the back and
spine.
For some, Western medicine has
failed to ease their chronic pain, so
they need to approach their health
more holistically. Exercise has proven
to be the most consistent method in
managing pain, but finding the time
and energy can be difficult. This is
especially true for students who have
busy academic and extracurricular
schedules coupled with living in
the chaos of a global pandemic.
Nevertheless, planning time to sweat
or do yoga or pilates provides some
control over physical conditions,
disorders and pain. Exercising, even
doing so irregularly, can help with
confidence and self-esteem.
If you cannot exercise because the
pain is particularly bad on that day, that
is perfectly acceptable. Not only does
chronic pain impact physical health
but emotional and mental health
too. Exercise can also help relieve
stress and clear the mind. Individuals
with chronic pain have claimed in
numerous studies that they are able
to overcome the grief their conditions
give them when consistently working
out. Exercise gives them peace of mind.
The study from the Harvard Medical
School found that participants who did
yoga, generally, had improved moods
and psychosocial well-being. I am an individual who lives
with chronic pain and manages it by
exercising. I cherish the moments I can
exercise because I do not know what the next day holds. If chronic pain is
controlling your life, consider getting out
of bed and going for a run in the fresh
air. Your chronic pain does not define Working out with chronic pain presents obstacles to overcome
An insightful workout regimen designed to combat the physical and mental hardships of chronic pain Stadiums operate as
polling places in US Impending Nov. 3 election
sparks mental health angst
ALEX BA RR/THE PIONEER LOGSOFIA REEVES/THE PIONEER LOGFRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2020
SPORTS 15
Dodgers win first
Series title since ’88Los Angeles Lakers bring the heat
to Miami in 2020 Finals victory
By CRISTIAN PANARO
MAJOR LEAGUE Baseball’s
(MLB) 2020 World Series
took place between the Los
Angeles Dodgers and the Tampa
Bay Rays. The best-of-seven series
concluded a very unconventional
season for the MLB, in which only
60 (as opposed to 162) games were
played.
The two teams took very different
routes to the playoffs — the star-
studded Dodgers have the second-
largest payroll in the league, and their
roster is filled with all-stars, former
MVPs and Cy Young Award winners.
In contrast, the Rays operated with
one of the lowest payrolls in all
of baseball and still managed to
dominate the American League. Just
two players on the Dodgers (Mookie
Betts and Clayton Kershaw) have a
higher combined salary than all 28
active players on the Rays.
Filled with young stars, the
Dodgers’ overpowering offense and
consistent starting rotation led them
to the best regular-season record in
all of baseball this year. Following
heartbreaking postseason losses in
previous seasons, the Dodgers hoped to
break through this year and win their
first championship since 1988. Led
by recently acquired superstar Betts,
who signed a lucrative 12-year, $365
million contract, the Dodgers offense is
filled with some of the best hitters in all
of baseball, including all-stars Justin
Turner, Cody Bellinger and Corey
Seager. These sluggers cumulatively
achieved a total of 118 home runs in the
regular season, leading the majors by a
significant margin.
The Dodgers also come with a well-
rounded pitching staff led by a handful of young flamethrowers such as Walker
Buehler and Dustin May, along with
veteran future Hall of Famer Kershaw
and a slew of quality bullpen arms. The
Dodgers’ earned run average (ERA) of
3.02 in the regular season was the best
of any major league team.
The Dodgers have now won every
National League (NL) West title since
2013 and have won the NL pennant in
2017, 2018 and 2020.
On the other hand, the Rays
have the third-lowest payroll in all of
baseball. The team’s success lies in
top tier player development and keen
ability to pick out hidden gems. Some
of their most noteworthy players were
low-level prospects from other teams
who they were able to convert to
stars. Along with key breakout hitter
Randy Arozarena, the offense has been
fueled by its speed and clutch hitting
ability. Their “next man up” approach
has allowed many of their players
to shine, rather than just a handful
of superstars. Along with this solid
offense, the Rays have one of the best
bullpens in all of baseball. With a group
of 98 mph or more pitchers, the Rays
bullpen had a 3.37 ERA in the regular
season. Additionally, starting pitchers
Tyler Glasgow, Blake Snell and Charlie
Morton create a very formidable
rotation for the Rays.
Despite coming up short, the
Rays looked to win their first World
Series title ever. This was their first
appearance since 2008 when they
lost in five games to the Philadelphia
Phillies.
The competitive six-game series
concluded on Oct. 27 with a three-to-
one Dodgers win, making this the first
World Series they have won since 1988
and their seventh World Series title
overall. By GABE KORER
THE LOS ANGELES Lakers
are the National Basketball
Association (NBA) champions
for the 17th time in franchise history.
Lakers players LeBron James and
Anthony Davis led the way past Miami
Heat to cap off a historic playoff run
that featured three-point barrages and
a stifling defense. This gave James his
fourth NBA Championship ring and
Davis his first. Despite the electric play
of star forward Jimmy Butler, Miami
Heat lost the NBA Finals after six
hard-fought games.
The loss of starters Goran Dragić and
Bam Adebayo to detrimental injuries
proved to be too much to overcome
for Miami. Adebayo’s return in the
fourth game of the Finals after being
out for games two and three provided a
massive boost to Miami’s defense, but
the offense’s scoring struggles late in
the game allowed the Lakers to pull
ahead, leaving the Heat down three
games to one. After Miami won game
five on the back of Butler’s crunch-time
heroics, a hobbled Dragić returned in
game six to watch his team get blown
out by the Lakers in emphatic fashion.
Miami came into the playoffs as a
team prone to streaks and surprisingly
captured the fifth seed in the Eastern
Conference. Their playoff run seemed
to be almost Cinderella-esque at times.
With huge wins over the Milwaukee
Bucks and Boston Celtics, Miami
captured the underdog spotlight and
the attention of NBA fans. They were
the team that everyone seemed to
be rooting for and yet they still came
up short against Goliath, otherwise
known as the Lakers.
The Lakers were favored to win
the NBA championship at the start of the season. Their veteran roster was
loaded with capable role players and
proven leadership, which is why much
of the sports media predicted a Lakers
victory over Miami even before Dragić
and Adebayo sat out due to injury.
During their title run, they toppled
the Portland Trail Blazers, Houston
Rockets and Denver Nuggets in five
games apiece.
Due to the large number of students
from Oregon and California at Lewis &
Clark, the LC student body was divided
between support for the Lakers and
support for the Heat. Oregonians were
more inclined to root for the Heat
because their beloved Trail Blazers
were shortly eliminated in the first
round by the Lakers, while Californians
were mostly in full support of their Los
Angeles juggernaut. Social distancing
practices prevented these two groups
from having any sort of conflict.LC student Faith Gallegos ’23 said
that many members of the community
openly voiced their support for the
Lakers and the Heat during the Finals.
“There were a lot of people that
decorated their windows with basketball
stickers,” Gallegos said. One person
even put up a sign that said ‘Lakers
2020 Champions’ after they won.”
With the 2019-20 season officially
over, basketball fans at LC and beyond
can only hope that the 2020-21 season
will arrive swiftly. The Lakers are
already favorites to repeat as champions
according to several leading sports
publications. It remains to be seen
whether Miami will stand in their way
or fail to reach the NBA Finals for a
second straight year. However, one
thing is certain: the performance Miami
gave during the 2020 playoffs ensures
that people will take notice of them
moving forward.
Top exercise of 2020:
running to the polls
By GABRIEL
MANTIONE-HOLMES
THE LAST DAY to mail in your
2020 general election ballot
in Multnomah County was
Oct. 27. Ballots mailed after this day
might not be counted. Registered
voters in Multnomah County should
have received their mail-in ballots
by Oct. 20. If you or someone you
know registered to vote by Oct. 13
in Multnomah County and have
not received a ballot, contact the
Multnomah County Elections Office at
(503)-988-8683. Fortunately for our
late voters, there are routes you can
run from Palatine Hill to official voting
drop sites.
Students and staff located near
Lewis & Clark have a couple of options.
Your closest official voting drop site is
located at A-Boy Electric & Plumbing,
which can be reached by heading north
from campus on Southwest Terwilliger
Boulevard. The nice downhill route is
2.2 miles one-way. This is a fantastic
opportunity to warm yourself up with
a relaxed low- incline jog down before
trekking back uphill. No one said
exercise and exercising your right to
vote had to be exclusive.
If you want more of a challenge or
want to end up near a Salt & Straw,
the Lake Oswego City Hall is 3.2 miles
away from the LC campus. You run part of this route through the Tryon Creek
trails. Voters will enter the natural area
near the LC law campus and make
their way to the Iron Mountain Bridge
and exit at the Iron Mountain Trail
Head. They will continue south down
South Terwilliger Boulevard, merge
right onto North State Street and,
finally, turn right on to A Avenue. This
is an ideal route if you want great trail
running or want to knock out a 10k.
There are voters who do not have
the time or energy to commit to a long
run and do not have a car or bike to
get to these places easily. The Pioneer
Express actually has three stops that
are all closer to an official ballot drop
site than LC. The Fred Meyer stop is
0.4 miles from A-Boy, the Shattuck
Hall stop is 0.7 miles from the
Multnomah County Central Library
and the Zupan’s Market stop is 1.8
miles from the Hillsdale Library.
Once your ballot is placed at an
official drop site voters can track their
ballot at oregonvotes.gov/myvote. All
questions regarding how to vote should
be available in your ballot packet. All
official Oregon ballot drop-off sites are
open 24/7 and can be located online
from the Oregon Secretary of State
website. The deadline to drop your
ballot off at an official site is 8 p.m. on
Nov. 3, Election Day. Do not forget to
bundle up and stretch before and after
running to drop off your ballot. Gender pay gap in sports shines
light on larger societal equity issues
By SOFIA REEVES
RECENTLY, AN infographic
comparing the salaries of
professional basketball
players Sue Bird of the Seattle Storm
and LeBron James of the Los Angeles
Lakers circulated on social media
platforms. The infographic went
viral for calling attention to the long-
standing issue of gender pay gaps
in sports. Although the two players
have both played for 17 seasons and
won four championships, James
earns around 175 times the amount
that Bird does.
Gender based pay gaps in sports
are part of two larger issues: that
women in all fields are typically paid
less than men, and the problem of
gender discrimination that exists
in sports as a whole. The United
States Census Bureau’s most current
estimates are that on average, for
every dollar a man earns, a woman
working the same job will earn just
81 cents. The sports world seems
to be just another place where this
statistic is relevant, perhaps with a
much more dramatic divide.
Gender pay gaps are also an
example of the gender divide in
sports. Most sports continue to be
separated between men and women,
even as more people are beginning
to understand that gender is a
spectrum-based concept, and that
dividing sports into the categories of
women and men does not accurately
reflect the true nature of gender.
Continuing separation based on
gender is unfair to athletes who fall
outside the gender binary, and it
upholds the idea that female and male
athletes have fundamentally different
abilities and skill levels.
Discussions about gender and
pay in sports are not new, but
developments regularly occur. In
2019, the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team sued the U.S. Soccer
Federation for the contested pay
gap between the men’s and women’s
soccer teams. The women’s team
has been more successful recently;
winning back-to-back World Cups
while the men have not placed higher
than third place since 1930. Extreme
gender pay gaps are so common in
sports that less than 10 women have
ever made the Forbes list of the top
500 highest-paid athletes. The only
women to ever crack the top 500,
such as Serena Williams and Naomi
Osaka, are both tennis players. This
is significant because tennis is the
only professional sport where men
and women are paid equal prizes for
winning tournaments.
The main argument for the low
payment of female athletes is that
women’s sports do not generate the
same kind of interest that men’s
sports do. Female athletes deal with
low viewership, lack of sponsorships
and an overall lack of interest in their
sports. It becomes clear, then, that
this is a cultural problem. If women
playing the same sports as men do
not receive the same attention, that
is because women’s achievements are
simply not valued as much as men’s.
The athletes at Lewis & Clark
participate in Division III sports
and are given neither pay nor sports
scholarships, yet gender equality
issues are still present. LC is a part
of the National Collegiate Athletic
Association (NCAA) and participates
in the Northwest Conference (NWC).
In order to participate in sports
at all, LC teams must uphold the
gender divisions present in the
organization of the conference.
The NCAA guidelines continue to
reinforce these toxic gender binaries
while making it nearly impossible
to break free from them and still
participate in sports at the collegiate
level. On the scale of a small college where the purpose of sports is not
about becoming a professional
athlete, gender differences may seem
insignificant, but they still feed back
into the larger system that upholds
barriers between male and female
athletes.
The ultimate impact of enforced
gender binaries and the severe pay
gaps in sports is that female athletes
are discriminated against within
their fields. Less women want to
become athletes because it means
entering a field where they have to
work harder for less pay. The public’s
lack of interest in women’s sports
sends the message that women are
not good enough, and will never be
good enough to deserve attention. As
long as sports remain as divided as
they are today, there is no way that
athletes of any gender can truly be
recognized for their talents, skills
and dedication. PHOTO COURTESY OF CREATIVE COMMONS USER RMTIP21
GABRIEL MANTIONE-HOLMES/THE PIONEER LOG
Portlanders can drop off their ballot at one of 30 locations around the city.
SOFIA REEVES/THE PIONEER LOG
By ANDREW NOURIE
YOU FIND YOURSELF walking
back home from the library late at
night. The frosty October air fills
your lungs as you walk along the lamp-
lit cobblestone path. You have done this
walk thousands of times, but never this
late. Something is off about tonight.
There might be something in the air
or it might just be the guilt you feel for
cheating on your take-home midterm.
You eventually find yourself next to the
Frank Manor House, but the vibes are
rancid.
Then suddenly you hear a whisper,
“You should come to my house for
Thanksgiving oooooh.” You turn quickly but you do not see whatever whispered
at you. You turn back and begin walking
faster when you hear another whisper, “I
am going to raise your tuition by another
10% during a pandemic oooooh.” You
are running now, suddenly you see a
balding scrooge-like man out of the
corner of your eye. You trip and fall and
when you stand up he is gone, and you
wonder to yourself could it have been a
dream?
Well, it most definitely was not a
dream. If this or something similar has
happened to you, you are one of the
many students who have reported Vim
sightings on campus. When Vim is fed
after midnight he has a habit of going
out late at night and trying to convince students that putting more money into
the garden and reflecting pool (that is not
filled for a majority of the year) instead
of into academics is actually a good
investment. He is known for stalking
students, and when he eventually catches
them he raises their tuition by 20%.
A new student organization on
campus, The Vim Visual Appearance
Project (VVAP), is dedicated to finding
and reporting on Vim sightings
around campus. VVAP believes that
he is haunting the campus in place of
the normal ghosts who were forcibly
removed from campus for not following
social distancing guidelines. They
say that there have been upwards of
12 sightings of Vim around campus
since the semester started, and they
only expect those sightings to go up
throughout the year.
According to VVAP, students have
reported seeing him from the manor
house to outside their dorm windows.
He will knock on your window and
ask to come inside, but never under
any circumstances invite him in. The
only thing keeping him from you is the
card scanner that is still not fixed to the
door. They advise students that, when
encountering him outside your window,
the best way to get him to leave is by
promising to donate to the college after
you graduate, then chanting “WeB4Me”
before shutting the blinds and crawling
into the fetal position under your covers.
Remember to stay safe out there,
Pios. You never truly know when Vim
will appear again. Just make sure to
keep an eye out going past the manor
house late at night.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2020
16
Vim becomes first “living person”
to haunt Palatine Hill residents
By BELLA MET
HI, CHILDREN OF God! It is
your host, Christy Ketchum of
the Country Christian Mom
Podcast, where we talk about all things
JC. If you are new, I welcome you and
I thank the Lord you are here! Ah,
October! Fall is truly my favorite time
of year. Crisp days where sweaters,
pumpkin spice lattes and religious
indoctrination all warm the soul. It is
the beginning of holidays to celebrate
with family and marks the countdown
to the greatest birthday in all of history.
But, unfortunately, Halloween, the
devil’s holiday, is in October. In our
household, we celebrate Halloween, yet
we do so in a God-honoring way. While
many people enjoy Tim Burton’s dark
film the “Nightmare Before Christmas,”
we enjoy “Judas’s Revenge.” However,
as my eldest children, Solomon and
Ruth, are getting older, they are
starting to watch satanic movies like
“Hocus Pocus” and “Halloweentown.”
It is something we are really praying
about. So this year, Solomon has been
begging Bryan and I to let him watch
the new Seth Rogen and James Franco
movie called “Halloweed: Trip To Hell”
with his friends. Despite the red flags
from the title alone, we said he could
watch it once we did. And Lord, forgive
me for I have sinned!
If you are a Christian or a
respectable countrywoman, I repeat,
do not watch this movie. It is riddled
with sin! Although this is marketed
to 13-year-olds, it crosses too many
of our unwavering moral lines to
count. Rogen and Franco end up
getting high on ancient strains of
cannabis cursed by pagans and go on
a Halloween adventure. Rogen plays
Death Brogan, a shaman zombie, and
Franco plays Jasper Fratco, a ghost
who lived during the 18th century.
The two, under the direction of their
old friend Judd Apatow (or in this
case, Jack Appletow), go through their own weed-centered levels of Hell
like in “Dante’s Inferno.”
Besides drug use, there is the
abhorrent language and sexual
innuendos (and physical acts)! The
f-word and synonym for crap are used
in handfuls, like candy for trick-or-
treaters. And do not get me started
on how many times puns connecting
Halloween and weed are made. It is
just bad writing!
For you moms out there concerned
about how much violence there is in
a movie, this movie is mostly full of
comedic violence like they have to
fight a vampire and fake blood gushes
like a fountain rather than disturbing
blood and gore like the “Saw” saga.
I personally let my children watch
Marvel and Harry Potter, but
I realize many of you in the
Country Christian Mom
community criticize me for
that. If this movie consisted
of the violence as it
contains as it
is no Jehu
murdering
Jezebel and some forgettable potty humor that
my thirteen year old understands is
immature then we would be totally fine.
Christians everywhere, this next
part is going to make you shudder
and want to bathe in holy water to
become clean. Though Brogen and
Fratco are extremely high and unable
to realize the severity of their actions,
the two end up coming upon pagans
doing satanic rituals. Instead of simply
leaving them to their madness, they
partake in it and even claim to sell
their souls to the Devil when asked.
To non-Christians, this scene is a riot
because how can a zombie or a ghost,
the dead and undead, sell their souls if
they do not have them? To Christians,
it is despicable as this just depicts why
our counter-cultural movement for
goodness is necessary.
I would ban this movie for the
same reasons we have banned “Harry
Potter,” “Call Me By Your Name” and
anything by Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Ultimately, I rate this
movie 3/10 botched
crucifixions. Christian mom reviews blasphemous,
sin-filled “Halloweed: Trip To Hell” Alumni spotlight:
Matt Schnider ’12
UMI CALDWELL/THE PIONEER LOGThe Backdoor is a work of humor and fiction
ALEX BARR/THE PIONEER LOG
“THE DECAY OF DEMOCRACY”AMELIA MADARANG/THE PIONEER LOG
By TOR PARSONS
MATT SCHNIDER ’12, currently
the senior vice president of
finance at NorthWestBank’s
downtown Portland offices and
cofounder of the record label Angry
White Man, is royally pissed.
“I am royally pissed,” the former
Lewis & Clark student told The Pioneer
Log yesterday over a breakfast of açai
bowls with granola at a Pearl District
café. “I have looted eighteen stores,
set six cars on fire and been thrown
in jail 21 times over the summer. But
even with everything I have been doing
to help, there still has not been any
change.”
Schnider considers himself a leader
of Portland’s protests, although nobody
but Schnider himself has referred to
him that way. He took to the streets
for over 100 straight days through the
summer of 2020, ending his streak
only recently when he took a vacation
to Hawaii to escape the wildfire smoke.
“You and I, we constitute the
proletariat,” Schnider explained,
flagging down the waiter to put more
sugar in his coffee. “We need to fight
back against the capitalist ruling class,
and that is exactly what I am doing. I
work to destroy capitalism.”
I asked if he could define capitalism
for me.
“Capitalism, well ... Capitalism is
bad. Nothing much more to say there.”
“Elaborate on that.”
“Uh ... well, if I punched you right
now, that would be very capitalist of
me. If some idiot parked in front of the
exit to my upscale condo so my Tesla
was stuck in the parking garage, that
would be an example of capitalism.
Capitalism is, like, what villains do.
Darth Vader, he is an example of a
capitalist. Voldemort, too.”
I asked how he would describe
his own political convictions. Is he
a communist? An anarchist? A left-
libertarian?
“Yeah, all of those sound good. I
like breaking stuff.”
Schnider has been
vigorously denounced
by most other Portland
protesters, who see his
tactics as detrimental
to their cause. One
of his strongest
critics is
Lily Jones, a
small-business
owner and
prominent member
of Portland’s Black
community.
“Matt looted my
convenience store four times
in a month!” Jones complained.
“The store has been in my family for
three generations, but I am not sure
how I will stay in business if he keeps looting. I will have to move in with
my sister in Texas, which is a shame,
because I love Portland and I want to
see change happen here. This is just not
the way to do it.”
I told Schnider about Jones’
condemnation of him, and asked how
he would react.
“She has some blinding privilege!”
Schnider raged. “I mean, she owns
a store? Obviously a member of the
capitalist elite. What right does she
have to tell us, the people, how to
protest? Like, I know we have a right
to free speech, but being real here, free
speech does not extend to people who I
consider racist. I mean, obviously.”
Recognizing that we all want change
and an end to police brutality, in what
ways does Schnider expect to bring
about that change?
“Well, I am working with Black
people in this,” Schnider responded.
“By that, I mean that I am probably
doing what Black people would want
me to do, if I ever talked to one of
them.” At this point, he grew misty-
eyed and leaned back in his chair. “Man,
that would be amazing, meeting a Black
person. I wonder what I would say.”
Schnider quickly got back on track.
“But yeah, I am working to create
change. You know, there are a lot of
people who are on the fence about this
whole movement, you know, potential
supporters. I bet that if someone who
is not convinced we are the good guys
sees me setting things on fire, destroying
buildings with innocent people inside,
and throwing bricks at cops, they will
think ‘Damn, I know which side I support
now. We need to abolish the police.’”
Schnider stood up, taking one last sip of
coffee. “Now, if you would excuse me, I
need to get to a shareholders’ meeting.”
MAYA WINSHELL/THE PIONEER LOG