Spring 2023

PULSE

ON THE COVER

Makayla Zayic, PULSE creative director and Jake Hassebrock, PULSE associate editor pose for Sun’s Out, Guns Out.

Photo by Dylan Hanson

Design by Makayla Zayic

photo by Jakob Burnham

PULSE STAFF

Editorial

editor-in-chief

Noah Wright

associate editor

Jake Hassebrock

copy editor

Gabby Kutch

writers

Aleigha Dixon

Megan Foster

Marcus Goble

Tre Henderson

Charis Jones

Lilly Montgomery

Isaiah Salevao

Gunner Stuns

Deacon Tuttle

Brian Valencia

Katherine Camarata

Design

art director

Makayla Zayic lead designer

Evan Brown designers

Madilyn Larsen

Meredith Massey

Rody Farr

Photography director of photography

Dylan Hanson lead photographer

Jakob Burnham photographers

Yohanes Goodell

Charis Jones

Multimedia

social media & web manager

Sydney Ziegler

podcast hosts

Deacon Tuttle

Evan Couch

Advising faculty adviser

Jennifer Green

509-963-3216

jennifer.green@cwu.edu

PULSE magazine is a student-run lifestyle magazine, both in print and online at www.cwupulsemagazine.com. PULSE produces one issue an academic quarter. Student editors make policy and content decisions for the magazine, which serves as a public forum for student expression. PULSE serves the Central Washington University community with informative, engaging and interactive content covering campus and community life, trends and issues, and providing practical magazine and multimedia training.

editor’s NOT E

quarter, has allowed me to reflect on myself as a journalist and makes me think back on why I chose to pursue a career in media.

Talking to people, it feels like the common idea is that the media makes the news. To me, the media only tells people’s stories and that’s what makes the news. This can be seen in the behind the scenes lives of Music Students (24), Theater Students (44), Our School President (28), the People that bring us our water in town (18), and last but certainly not least the people that toil away for months in order to make the annual Farmers Market the place it is (38).

It is strange to think that things are coming to an end. After what feels like an eternity on the PULSE magazine staff, I am finally leaving. Looking back there are so many good things and amazing memories I have made and couldn’t be happier with every issue of the magazine I have been a part of. From my first quarter where I was a writer covering traveling during the pandemic, to a fun and upbeat story about our local bar, to finishing up with the big boss title. Every moment has been enlightening and groundbreaking, largely to do with the people that were around me.

We talk about collaboration as a key for the magazine. Everyone working together to make something that is a sum of all our parts, rather than a collection of every person’s individual efforts. Working with everyone, especially this

The dedication and hard work from every member of the staff this year has created a magazine that I am without a doubt the most proud of. And I’m not just saying that because it is the last one I will be a part of. Looking through the finished copy, I was struck again with a moment of inspiration and reassurance as to why I want to be a journalist. To the staff of PULSE Spring 2023, I cannot explain how proud I am to have worked with all of you. To Jen and all the members of staff leaving, it has been a pleasure getting to know you all. And to those that have more time, keep making something that people want to read years from now. Thank you

BEHIND THE SCENES

NEw in town

Walking around downtown Ellensburg, there are businesses that have been here for decades, buildings over 100 years old, and locals who have lived their whole lives here. However, as college students bring new ideas and culture to the ever-changing and evolving small town, local businesses are doing the same.

From toys and collectibles to breweries and burritos, Ellensburg is a place to find new businesses booming all around.

ENCHANTMENT BREWING

This brewery is one of the fresh faces on Main Street. Located in the heart of downtown, they opened in October 2022. Founder and owner, Darren Nelson attributes his inspiration to the Enchantment mountain range located near Leavenworth and his Oregonian upbringing surrounded by local breweries and nature. A sense of the future began in Nelson when he was in high school, “I kind of just had that idea in the back of my head that it’d be really cool to have a brewery . . . from the days when in the late 90s I was stocking beer on the shelf at the grocery store.”

Not only was the influence there, but as a beginner, brewing came naturally to Nelson. Nelson recalls his first batch of beer in 2010, “It came out pretty good. Everybody that was trying it, was liking it”. This gave him confidence to continue, “And I was just like, ‘okay, maybe I could do this’.”

story by Aleigha Dixon photos by Jakob Burnham design by Meredith Massey

Years from then, Nelson would visit the Enchantment mountains and decide later down the line to give his dream a go. Even years after hiking the enchanting mountain range, the name stuck with him. In early 2020, Nelson decided to give it a shot. Nelson says, “It was kind of a year of test recipes, brand design, and just kind of building a mini version of the idea.” Mid-pandemic, he leased his current space on Main street and decided to purchase full-scale brewing equipment. Through building, brainstorming and working out the kinks, two and a half years later, Enchantment Brewing was ready for the public eye.

As far as starting your own business, Nelson advises to expect challenges. Not one huge challenge but thousands of little challenges that arise daily in the process. Things like getting not one but two liquor licenses or permits that took longer than expected. A couple pieces of advice he wanted to share is to, “double your budget, double your timeframe and don’t expect anything to be easy.”

He’s not only interested in creating beer, but also creating a culture. Despite the challenges, Nelson wouldn’t change a thing considering the response they’ve gotten since opening. He wants Enchantment to be a source of happiness, “I don’t really think about the dollars and the numbers. It’s more about, how happy are people when they walk in? They come here and then they walk out the door, ‘are they smiling?’” “And they are!” Nelson says, “People are enjoying it, having fun, they like to do their thing, and in general everyone’s responding welltoo, so that’s really been the best thing.”

Going forward, Nelson is dreaming even bigger for Enchantment. He wants to become a classic, something Ellensburg can take pride in. Sharing his hopes he says, “I’m hoping for people to say, ‘I’m super proud that I can say this started in my hometown’, you know like that’s the kind of impact I would like to have.”

I WANNA OWN A TOY STORE

Chris Fowler, owner of Toy Stable said this all throughout his childhood. Little did he know that this dream of his would become a reality.

Opening in November 2022, Toy Stable has quickly become a hit for toy and collectible fans in Ellensburg. Chris and Ann Fowler purchased Toy Stable nine years ago. And while Toy Stable may be new to Ellensburg, 2023 is actually the store’s 30th Anniversary.

The original owner ran the business out of her home which had an attached horse-boarding facility – hence the name Toy Stable. The now owner, Chris Fowler came into the picture in 2014, beginning as a customer and then as an employee. His wife described Chris’ transition to owner. “So, she ended

up hiring him to come and help with the shipping . . . And then eventually, she just decided to sell it to us, like ‘Why don’t you just buy it from me?’”

From then on, the Fowlers have worked to maintain the authenticity and nostalgia of Toy Stable. While continuing to build up their new store location, that same goal remains. Ann Fowler says, “I think one of the big things that’s unique about us is when people come into the store, it’s like a walk back in time, right? They’re like, ‘Oh my God, I remember this, this is bringing back my childhood’.”

Even though what may be considered nostalgic to someone in their 20s, may be very different from someone in their 40s, they have it all. Their main demographic could be described as “people who have been collecting Pokémon for decades, all the way to young college kids”. The sheer size of their collection allows whoever walks in to find something for themselves.

When asked how they want to leave their mark on Ellensburg, Chris Fowler describes, “We want to be a destination.

"double your budget, double your timeframe and don't expect anything to be easy."

We want to be involved in the community. We want to give back to the community.” They also want people to know that, “these are wholesome people, a small business, you know, a mom-and-pop shop, not some corporation with corporate dollars.” Being a small business, as much as they rely on their local community to build them up, they want to be a pillar that their community can rely on to build themselves up as well. From fundraising to community events, Toy Stable is investing in Ellensburg and plans on sticking around.

LOOKING FORWARD TO THE FUTURE: SENOR BONES, HOUSE OF BURRITOS

Walking into Senor Bones, located in Cle Elum, you are hit with upbeat music, smells of garlic and spices, and a warm welcome from all of the employees on the clock that day. Shannon and Russ Weaver have lived in Kittitas County for six years and for the past three of those years have owned Senor Bones, House of Burritos. Coming from a background in the “big-burrito” business, the Weavers decided they wanted to take their experience in a different route.

Opening in 2020, Senor Bones has bloomed in the neighboring town of Cle Elum. Inspired by the plastic skeleton that used to hang off the back of Weaver’s bike rack, the name Senor Bones came about. The same plastic skeleton now hangs from the ceiling in the restaurant. Weaver describes the aha moment, “And so we said what about Senor Bones and it rolled off the tongue. So, Senor Bones and House of Burritos is a play off the House of Blues, one of our favorite places to go and then big burritos, one of our favorite things to eat.” The combi-

nation of loud music, vibrant colors and huge burritos makes Senor Bones one of a kind.

Not for long will the residents of Ellensburg have to do the 30-minute drive to visit. Senor Bones plans on opening a location in Ellensburg soon. When asked ‘Why Ellensburg?’, the Weavers have many reasons, the student population being one of them, “I think students are grossly underserved with options of eating burgers and pizza, which I love . . . But I think there’s a call for us.” While they can’t divulge their new location yet, they expect to be able to announce their Ellensburg spot sometime in June.

With their “farm to tortilla” philosophy, along with aiming to be an employer of choice, they plan on leaving a positive impact on Ellensburg. “We are open-minded. And I don’t think we have a corporate structure here. We encourage our employees to fly their own flags and to be who they are,” Weaver describes.

They continue their theme of inclusivity in their menu. From traditional burritos to Birria ramen, their menu explores all. Shannon also wants people in the burg to know “Everything we make, we make from scratch. We make all the salsas, all the meats from scratch. We have really great vegetarian, vegan and also gluten-free options.” She wants her customers to know their food. “We love to sample too, so people can taste it. We like to explain what’s in the food so they feel very educated and good about what they’re eating.”

Overall, Senor Bones plans on “coming in hot” to Ellensburg by collaborating with other local businesses and embedding themselves in the community.

HEATHER, CIERRA, AND JASMIN

story by Charis Jones

photos by Dylan Hanson

design by Makayla Zayic

FOR MANY COLLEGE STUDENTS, THEIR RESIDENT ASSISTANT (RA) IS THE FIRST PERSON THEY TURN TO FOR HELP OR GUIDANCE. BUT WHAT DOES A DAY IN THEIR SHOES REALLY LOOK LIKE? FROM ANSWERING LATE-NIGHT CALLS TO ORGANIZING COMMUNITY EVENTS, THE LIFE OF AN RA IS A COMPLEX AND DEMANDING ONE. HERE'S A BEHIND-THESCENES LOOK AT WHAT IT TAKES TO BE AN RA.

TYLER NEHER

BECOMING AN RA

Junior Film major, Tyler Neher, became an RA for Dugmore Hall at the beginning of the school year and hasn’t looked back since. The comradery and social interaction that his RAs offered him the previous year are what prompted him to acquire the position himself.

“My RAs last year were just amazing [and] I knew that I wanted to be a part of that,” Neher says.

RA DUTIES

Neher is on duty one day a week beginning at 8 p.m. and ending at 7 a.m. , and during this time he can be found in the RA office of his building ready to provide assistance to any residents in need.

Additionally, he carries a “duty phone” that residents may use to contact him instead of visiting his office. This phone is also utilized in the event of an RA needing to reach CWU police or Kittcom to handle a situation out of their jurisdiction. As part of his evening routine, Neher conducts rounds of the building to ensure resident safety before they start retiring for the night.

HANDLING CONFLICT

When conflicts arise in the dorm, Neher encourages open communication and works with residents to find a mutually agreeable solution to the problem. In cases where outside resources are needed, such as mediation or counseling, he works with his supervisor to connect residents with the appropriate resources.

EVENT PLANNING

Neher also spends time planning and organizing events for the residents of Dugmore Hall. These events are held in hopes of bringing residents together and fostering a sense of community within the dorms.

“Myself and another RA just [the other] weekend hosted an Oscar movie marathon [where] we watched eight of the top Oscar films,” Never says. “We put up fliers around the building for residents to acknowledge that we were going to be there and that anyone was welcome to pop in and say hello.”

ADDRESSING HOMESICKNESS

RAs often encounter the challenge of assisting students who feel homesick, and Neher acknowledges that this is a prevalent issue.

“I approach this [by] just telling them something along the lines of ‘you know you're not alone, right? I was the exact same way during my first year … it definitely took a little while for me to get used to the atmosphere,’” Neher says.

To address this, Neher prioritizes building connections with his residents by maintaining positivity and motivating them to participate in social engagements, aiming to build a welcoming environment that helps them settle in.

“I try to be A: optimistic and B: I also [encourage] relying on a roommate, on your RA, and also even relying on some group of friends around you,” Neher explains.

MAINTAINING POSITIVITY

To maintain a positive attitude on the job, Neher says he tries to keep a smile on his face. He acknowledges that looking at the bright side is often easier said than done, but “When times are tough, just power through [and] do your best even if it's not perfect,” Neher says. “[It’s important] to keep your hopes high.”

CHALLENGES AND TIPS FOR SUCCESS

Each of us has a life outside of work, and Neher admits that the biggest challenge he faces in his job is finding that balance and managing his time.

“Between classes, the RA role and my relationship, finding a good balance between the three was definitely one of the challenges that I’ve faced,” Neher says.

ESSENTIAL QUALITIES

To be a successful RA, Neher believes that one must be open-minded, optimistic, and willing. While struggles are bound to arise during the day-to-day, maintaining these qualities are essential to the role.

“Sometimes, things are just not going to go the way they seem,” Neher explains. “And [it’s important] to just being willing to be there for your residents and your staff in tough times because, at the end of the day, there's going to be more benefits and negatives.”

SKILLS DEVELOPED

Through his work as an RA, Neher has developed strong leadership and communication skills. He has also gained experience in event planning, crisis management, and working with diverse populations.

ADVICE FOR NEW/STRUGGLING RA’S

For those struggling or new to the role, Neher suggests reaching out to more experienced RAs or a supervisor for guidance and support. He also encourages new RAs to be patient with themselves and not to be too hard on themselves if they make mistakes.

“Don’t be afraid to ask for help,” Neher says.

Ally Spots Around Town

Walking down Main Street in Ellensburg, the store’s windows fill your peripheral vision. Street lights reflect off the glass and the muffled conversations from inside the nearby restaurants and bars fill the silence of the night. A small rainbow sticker catches your eye and you realize, these stores are allies.

While many associate the term ally with LGBTQIA+ support, ally is a term for more than just the queer community. An ally is an individual who provides assistance and support to any minority group. An ally is someone who fights for more than the majority. How is Ellensburg an ally to their community?

Ellensburg Through the Years

In order to discuss Ellenburg’s efforts toward a diverse environment, it is important to establish the town’s history with diversity.

Ellensburg was once a cherished land for neighboring tribes. According to historians, it was a sacred space to collect the fruits of the basin. Settlers moved onto the land, building the town that now sits before the Kittitas Valley.

With the introduction of the railroad in 1886, the town flourished and the population diversified. The once nearly barren town is now home to roughly 19,596, according to the United States Census Bureau.

The graph above shows the race and origin of Ellensburg’s population. Understanding the people of Ellensburg is crucial to supporting their needs. Establishing, implementing and upholding a diverse and inclusive atmosphere is a big feat, but it is one the city of Ellensburg is willing to take on.

Part of the Conversation

Ellensburg continues to facilitate these important conversations. In 2021, Ellensburg city council approved the formation of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Commission (DEI). “The purpose is really to support the city council in creating and celebrating a diverse, equitable and inclusive community that’s welcoming to all residents and visitors,” says Nicole Klauss, Ellensburg’s public information officer and staff member to the commission.

Prior to the formation of the commission, the Ellensburg city council held a series of listening tours around

story by Megan Foster photos by Dylan Hanson design by Madilyn Larsen

ELLENSBURG POPULATION

the community, “Now we have a subcommittee of our commission members that set up a time to meet with a specific group,” Klauss explains.

Alongside this, the DEI has held numerous events that facilitate community discussion.

Klauss says, “Last year, they had their first event belonging in the Burg, which was a partnership with CWU and the Ellensburg School District, and it was a community discussion, trying to bring people from all sorts of backgrounds together in Ellensburg to talk about what does it mean to belong? And what do you have to give to belong or give up?”

These conversations have continued, on April 8 the DEI held their second Belonging in the Burg event, they hope to hold these events twice a year moving forward.

The DEI commission also holds monthly meetings to discuss the information they’ve gathered and what is coming next for the community. “They’ll talk about other upcoming events and opportunities to get involved,” says Klauss, “They talk about how they’re using their budget. So, it’s just kind of a typical government meeting where the agendas are set, and just trying to work at chipping away

some of these tasks that they put on their work plan.” All the city’s meetings are open to the public, in person and online via Zoom for those who would like to participate.

Home of the Wildcats

“Central Washington University will be most successful when equity, diversity, and inclusion are in every program, every college, and all throughout the university,” reads the university’s inclusivity and diversity statement.

Central Washington University offers an array of resources for students, on and off campus. On campus you can find the Diversity and Equity Center, “We provide holistic student support, identity-based & cultural programs, and social justice workshops to cultivate a sense of belonging and community at Central Washington University and beyond,” says the DIversity and Equity Center’s website.

There are many ways to get involved, the Diversity and Equity Center organizes identity-based affinity programs where students can establish community and a sense of belonging. This includes THRIVE: Women of Color Empowerment Program, Q*Fam: A 2LGBTQIA+ Support Program and Find Your People, a collaboration with

student led organizations to facilitate opportunities to build community. Updates and events can be found on their social media.

The Diversity and Equity Center at CWU also collaborates with student-led organizations to facilitate cultural events across campus. This quarter they orchestrated events for Black History Month, Ramadan and Pride.

While CWU has resources for their students, that doesn’t mean the students’ needs are being met. In recent years, CWU students and staff have been fighting for a Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI) on campus. While the CWU Diversity and Equity Center serves their students, the students’ needs have outgrown the space.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, CWU’s student body is 53% white, 18% Hispanic, 9% two or more races, 6% unknown, 5% Black, 5% Asian, 3% non-resident alien, 1% Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander and 1% American Indian/American Native.

The CCI would offer minority students a designated space with resources tailored to their specific needs. “The CCI is a project that has been ongoing for ten years,” says the CWU Observer, “The CCI would provide a properly equipped kitchen so that students could cook cultural foods, a conference room, a worship room for all faiths and dedicated space for identity based student organizations.”

Taking Pride in the Community

Being proud of the place you live is constitutive to your happiness living there. In Ellensburg, members of the community have taken it upon themselves to foster an environment they feel a part of.

In recent years, Ellensburg High Schools LGBTQIA+ youth have been targets of brutal bullying and harassment. Students have spoken out about their experiences, in a CWU Observer article from earlier this year, students expressed their frustration with the administration after little to no change.

Helen House is a LGBTQ+ youth center in Ellensburg, dedicated to providing a safe space for members of the community. Tylene Carnell, the director of Helen House, has lived in Ellensburg for over 20 years and came here to find

Julep Kitchen & Bar

D&M Coffee Evolve

Gallery one

Jerrols

The Pearl Bar & Grill

The Mule

5thSt

CWU

Gard Vinters

3rdSt

Helen House

ManitobaAve

Chestnut St

her community. “A big thing in my own personal experience as a trans person was that I had to leave the life I love to find love for life,” says Carnell, “I had to leave the small community that I lived in in order to find other people like me.”

Carnell’s personal experience fueled her drive. When presented with the opportunity to start a grant for a LGBTQ+ youth space in Ellensburg, she knew her mission. “Our kids don’t have to leave their communities to find people like them, they can find support and resources, leadership and mentorship right here where they live, right here where they are,” she says.

Keelin Pattillo, the board president of Kittitas County Pride, has lived in Ellensburg since 2018, struggled to find her community. “I knew there were others like me out there, but I felt like at the time it was, everybody was kind of hard to find,” says Pattillo.

Last June, Pattillo met with friends to get the ball rolling on a pride organization in Kittitas County, “We started a nonprofit, got our 501 c 3 status,” she says, “we obviously had to create a board and I volunteered to be the board president, so that’s how I got into this position.”

“The mission of Kittitas County Pride is to educate and promote

LGBTQ+ awareness of diversity, health, culture and acceptance,” says Pattillo. While this is their focus, this isn’t all Kittitas County Pride is about. “Over the holidays, we put together a gift basket for an underprivileged family who couldn’t afford gifts for their young kids. So, it’s not just about us, us, us.We also definitely are trying to give back to the community in any way that we can,” says Pattillo.

Around Town

Ellensburg has taken necessary steps to ensure they are actively taking steps towards facilitating an inclusive environment, but how can the community do their part? Orchestrating this kind of atmosphere and allocating the necessary spaces, events and resources is a lot of work, which means there’s always ways to help.

The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Commission in Ellensburg wants to hear the voices of the community and put in the work to make their wants and needs a reality. Nicole Klauss, the city’s public information officer and staff member to the commission, emphasizes the importance of showing up for your community.

“Just being willing to listen and maybe see what you can do. Have those

conversations, maybe branch out and go to an event you wouldn’t normally go to and meet people from a different community, just trying to be open and inclusive,” says Klauss.

Taking part in these organizations, events and conversations helps a community to thrive. Many hands make light work and with so much happening within Ellensburg “We’re always looking for volunteers”, says Tylene Carnell, the director of Helen House.

Support can be physical, emotional and monetary. Keelin Pattillo, the DEI’s board president, discusses her appreciation for such a strong presence of support during pride, but wants to extend this excitement year round. Pattillo recalls a time she went to Kittitas Valley Hospital, doctors’ scrubs and name badges were decorated with stickers and pins, some depicting rainbow flags. “That, for me being a queer person, kind of helped me feel a little more comfortable at the doctor’s office,” says Pattillo.

Don’t dismiss the effects of kindness and inclusivity, in today’s world a smile could be all it takes to make a person feel safe and welcome within their surroundings.

“Just being willing to listen and maybe see what you can do. Have those conversations, maybe branch out and go to an event you wouldn’t normally go to and meet people from a different community, just trying to be open and inclusive,”

- Nicole Klauss, Ellensburg public information officer

story by Deacon Tuttle design by Evan Brown photos by

Water Distribution

1,630,000,000,000,000,000. Gallons Of. Drinking Water. On Earth. Craig’s Hill’s water tower houses four million of those gallons.

No matter the amount of water that surrounds us and the necessity for consumption, many don’t know how we Ellensburg residents get our drinking water.

The People Behind Our Water

Art Sinclair has been in water distribution for over three decades. With a background in mechanics and engineering, he decided to apply for a job opening in Ellensburg. Initially hired as a pump worker due to his credentials, he operated in that role for eight years before moving to his current job as a foreman.

Sinclair is proud of his team’s effort and the work they do daily.

“Every entity out there has what they do for the public. So in our case, our plaque would be that we clean, safe water, available whenever,” says Sinclair.

Shawn Byers is a senior pipe person on the team. He highlights the difficulties in obtaining qualifications to ensure they are ready to take on the dangers of the water division and provide the drinking water we are accustomed to.

“To do Art’s job or be in the water system we have to go to schooling. We both have our water distribution manager three. That was a really hard test for the state of Washington,” Byers says. Sinclair says those tests consist of mathematical formulas that calculate how many gallons of water are in a tower or how to examine the correct balancing method for chlorine filtration.

Squeaky Clean Supervision:

For the water in the city of Ellensburg, bacteria is low and not an issue in our daily lives according to Sinclair.

“So we only have one well and we hardly ever use it. That isn’t a deep well so very little bacteria, organisms or anything. It’s clean to start with,” says Sinclair.

This is because the well is very close to the surface. The depth is 900 feet which doesn’t leave room for any major issues to creep into the supply. Even if a minor bacteria came into contact with

your choice of drinkware at home, Sinclair says the chlorine measures the department takes would make that null and void.

“If you didn’t drink like super fast, [the chlorine] will try to kill that bacteria before you do.”

There are several factors that are available via the City of Ellensburg Water Division site that showcase all of these measures, which are updated frequently.

“All the stuff we test for and all that. I mean hundreds and hundreds of things,” says Sinclair. Sinclair stresses the importance inspectors play in supervising the purity of the city’s water coverage. This is at all levels of the process: the beginning, during the cycle and afterwards to do a final security check.

“They put in what we call hypochlorite chlorine, hybrid chlorine as they put all the pipe together, and then they hook a hose up with a backflow device and blow all that stuff out or fill up the pipe.”

Following that part of the process comes what they call baking. This involves leaving what is in the pipe for 24 hours. Chlorine “bakes” in the pipe and allows for the remaining liquid in the pipe to be purified. Tests can be taken once more after the water is released.

Whether it be from Yakima or Wenatchee, the water makes its way through this screening process in order to be proofed.

“They basically set up a culture and they stick it under it and leave it so many hours in so much heat, and then they count and if there’s not enough counts of bacteria, and then it’s considered passable.”

Byers says these types of tests are done 20 times a month.

Jakob Burnham

These are done all over the area and not only for the water used in residential homes. Sinclair and Byers lists a myriad of well-known locales which share this treatment: Ellensburg High School, West Ellensburg Interchange, Bowers Airport, the list goes on.

Operations change given the season as well. For example, during Spring, the team works on reconnecting services for irrigation purposes.

“We had to go and reconnect every one of these services. I mean, taking the lid off, getting down in the box, new washers and tightening it down, checking to make sure it doesn’t leak,” says Sinclair.

What does Ellensburg’s water infrastructure look like?

3500 water valves

4 Million Gallons Craigs Hill

1 Million Gallons Airport Way

855 Hydrants

10 Wells

In total, the water division consists of a seven-person crew. Those out and about in the field are divided up into groups of two.

184 seasonal meters need to be updated every spring and fall season. Sinclair says it’s a big deal and takes a lot of time, but it’s necessary.

Another procedure has to do with ensuring fresh water is circulated through the system and nothing is stuck at a standstill.

“So we go around twice a year and flush mains in a place where there’s a dead end and the water can’t travel and it just sits there. We go to all those spots twice a year and flush out old water so that there’s fresh water there.”

Pipes, Problems and Plans

“Hey did we have anything left from yesterday?” “Was there anything we said we wanted to do?” These are some of the typical questions Sinclair hears in the morning. When the aforementioned questions are answered, they plan the crew rotations and send them out for maintenance.

Many issues aren’t prevalent on a day-to-day basis, but a bigger issue that the crew has dealt with is water main breaks. These involve pipes bursting and overflowing with excess water, which Sinclair says isn’t out of the ordinary.

“Part of it is the ground shifts all the time and the biggest reason I think for our water main breaks that we’ve seen in the last 15 years is that there wasn’t a good bedding put down. So there’s like this pipe and there’s a rock underneath it.”

Sinclair says all it takes is one small issue and…boom, ring snapped, water main breaks. Thankfully, many advances have occurred since Sinclair started in the field to lessen this frequency.

The water division uses ductile iron which is industry standard and combats leaking water well according to Sinclair. Sinclair says they’re happy with the flexibility and how they switch operations week-by-week with Byers testifying the exact same sentiment.

“We have a pretty good crew.”

Yearly statistics from City of Ellensburg Water Division

SUMMER LIVING

You swear you can hear the lasting echoes of “Pomp and Circumstance” off the empty dorms. Hot sun rays bounce off the once hectic parking lot, absent of cars. The campus resembles what many describe as a ghost town. Many of the students at Central Washington University leave Ellensburg for the summer. How do the small businesses of Ellensburg survive the long days of summer without the students to hold them up?

story by Marcus Goble photos by Jakob Burnham design by Makayla Zayic

THE MONTHS BEFORE SUMMER

For many of the businesses in Ellensburg, April and May tend to be busy months. Not only does the weather warm up, but businesses tend to run big events during these months. Nate Horton, bar manager at Club 301, says his bar has two key weekends.

“April’s a big month for Club 301,” Horton says, “because we have a big event at the end of the month that we do. It’s our halfway to Halloween party, which is exactly six months to Halloween, it’s always the last weekend of April. And that’s kind of a really big kickoff.”

Many of Ellensburg’s businesses see an uptick in business the weekend of graduation due to the increased number of people staying in town.

“Graduation weekend is like a big send off,” Horton says. “Everyone goes out, people’s parents and families are in town, so they go out together.”

Daniel and Josey Williams, owners of Campus U-Tote-Em, share a similar business experience to Horton’s.

“May is generally our busiest month of the year,” Josey Williams says. “Just for people traveling like I said and then more events and stuff at the college but then yes when school gets out like after graduation weekend is always a pretty big one.”

Campus U-Tote-Em also benefits from the variety of events that happen on CWU campus throughout May and April.

“Even home games help too,” Daniel Williams says, “like rugby, soccer, softball, baseball, anything. Definitely helps.”

THE PLATEAU OF SUMMER

Believe it or not, Ellensburg does not become a ghost town once summer hits. The college town keeps the doors of all its businesses open for the summer. The fall off may not be as significant as you expect either.

“We kind of plateau through the summer,” Josey Williams says, “it doesn’t go down drastically. It does go down a little bit, but there’s so many people that are traveling through town and vacationers and that kind of stuff that will come to us.”

Holidays like Fourth of July or Memorial Day, music festivals at The Gorge Amphitheatre and events in town like The Ellensburg Rodeo drive people right through Ellensburg. All this travel helps supplement the loss some businesses may experience when students go home for summer.

Bars like Club 301 do not benefit quite as much from the travel of summer.

“There’s kind of a downshift in business,” Horton says. “There’s not really a way to put a financial or numerical or statistical amount to it, but there is a significant downshift.”

Club 301 instead relies on the local population to keep its doors open. Some college students do not go home for summer as they may stay for a summer job or do not want to leave their apartment empty . .

Horton says that there are two big demographics that got to Club 301. There’s the party crowd and the more chilled out crowd. As the summer months hit, the bar receives much less of the party crowd and more of the chilled out crowd.

SUMMERTIME CHANGES

Internally these businesses do not need to make a ton of changes. Some student bartenders may be able to pick up more hours because they do not have to balance a work and school schedule. And some businesses may lose some staff due to graduation or staff leaving for the summer.

Other than those changes, do not expect to see your favorite business change its hours.

These establishments adapt externally to attract Summer customers. A change in mindset and how they think about getting people through their doors helps these businesses stay open.

“The difference is when you’re planning an event during the school year, you’re not necessarily trying to increase business” Horton says, “because the business is already built in, you’re kind of guaranteed to almost always get that. When it’s summertime and the business has taken a downshift, you’re trying to come up with an event or something that draws people in.”

During the school year, an event like Club 301’s halfway to Halloween party works. This party will pull in the college students that the club already gets.

A similar event would not work during the summer. The bar would need to run an event more focused on the older, less energetic clienteles it gets throughout the summer.

“That’s kind of the hard part and balancing those things,” Horton says, “when it comes to managing a business is understanding your clientele. If you’re trying to appeal to the same clientele, if you’re trying to draw in a new clientele, all of those things have impacts on the event you’re trying to put together.”

END OF THE DOG DAYS

“Nobody’s hurting,” Horton says, “Nobody’s like, ‘Oh, God, I’m dreading the summer months, I hope we can survive.’”

Summer provides some unique challenges for business owners, but these establishments are not shutting down once the college kids leave town.

DA Y IN THE LIFE

of student m usicians

You wake up at 5 a.m., head to the music building right when it opens around 6:30 a.m., crunch in two hours of rehearsal and THEN (three hours in) at 8 a.m. your day starts when you begin your first class. This is just one example of the strict routines that hundreds of music majors follow here at CWU.

story by Aleigha Dixon and Deacon Tuttle photos by Dylan Hanson design by Rody Farr

Emily Wall

Wall is one of these students, a junior studying Clarinet Performance and Instrumental Education.

Coming from a diverse background, Wall has been influenced by her musical family and their travels around the world. Wall is a Washington native but she says her real home is Japan. Moving from Washington to South Korea, then to Japan, her family now resides specifically in Okinawa. Her parents are both music teachers on military bases, hence the moves and the musical influence.

Music wasn’t always in the cards however. “I was planning to go into English,” Wall says. “I took a break from playing clarinet, which is my primary instrument, and decided that I didn’t like taking a break. I wanted to continue making music.”

As a clarinetist, Emily acknowledges that most people apart from musicians don’t know much about her instrument. “I feel like if you ask somebody who’s never done any music, about the clarinet, they will immediately think of Squidward. . . Basically, we’re doing a whole bunch of 16th notes underneath the main melody. So all the noodling and doodling.”

All that “noodling and doodling” has led her to a wide variety of career options. “I want to try my hand at performing. I want to be either in a symphony or maybe even a pit-orchestra. That would be an absolute blast, I just want to be playing.” But whatever her career ends up being, she plans on inspiring others. She continues, “I’m also getting an education degree. So if I ever want to go into teaching, that will be an option that will still allow me to play, make music and inspire other people.”

Keeping up with the Clarinetist

While Wall is passionate about music, as she studies it, she says, “I tend to stick to a pretty rigid schedule.” While outlining a typical day as a music major, she begins with describing her morning: “Generally, I wake up at about five. The music hall will open its doors at 6:30 a.m.”

This morning time is crucial for her day, “depending on whether my first

class is 8 a.m. or 9 a.m., I will either practice for about an hour and a half, or about two and a half hours, which is my goal time per day.” After her individual practice, she heads to classes, keeping in mind that “on the days I only get an hour and a half, I will have to find an extra hour at some point in the day to practice again.”

Her day continues with hours of classes and a lunch break around 11. Moving into the afternoon, she keeps trucking on with one more class. “After that, I’ll go to the ensemble rehearsals.” This may seem simple, but during this time she has three different rehearsals. Vox Davina, which is the non-audition women’s choir. Then she has Woodwind Chamber, which is, “a bunch of clarinetists who are doing small group stuff together.” Lastly, she participates in her large ensemble, which is the main group that she had to audition for.

Outside of class, music majors are also required to go to around eight CWU concerts per quarter, along with four convocations (music major meetings) a year.

With these long days, Wall describes three necessities of her day

3 2 1

Coffee (and more coffee)

Don’t skip practice for more than one day

Printing out her schedule to religiously write things in and check items off

These necessities keep Wall feeling fresh, prepared and energized to successfully make it through her week. However, preparation doesn’t minimize all of the challenges being a music major at CWU can bring.

Practicing her instrument is one thing; but learning certain concepts is a whole other beast. “In general, the concepts are very hard to learn, theory and aural skills, both incredibly difficult,” Wall says. “Also, there’s the stage fright and the competition aspect. You never feel like you’re good enough. And you practice and practice and practice. . . It can get kind of frustrating, because you really want to be as perfect as possible.”

With all that striving, balancing her passion for music while also studying it can be “incredibly difficult.” Wall says the amount of practicing can get overwhelming, “like, yeah, I love that instrument. That’s my baby. I don’t want to hate playing it.” To combat that, she tries to incorporate “fun music.”

For Wall, the music she really enjoys playing is video game music. However, that’s not to say she doesn’t enjoy the classics. She reassures that “I get assigned tons of music that is so fun and I love. So I don’t mean to say that you will hate all music that you’re assigned. I definitely don’t - it’s fantastic music. But it gets exhausting.”

The encouraging and realistic truth she sums it up with reminds us that typically the best things in life are the things worth working for.

“You kind of have to love it to put up with it.”

“Remember why you love it” - Emily

Chris Martin’s lyrics off of the alternative rock classic, Fix You, display what can go wrong in the midst of failures. However, when dreams come true, they’re worth the trials. That’s the case for Elaina Watts. Elaina has always had a musical bone in her body but starting in 2020, she kicked off her career as an artist, bandmate, and risk-taker.

Though the Latin phrase “et cetera” and Xetera are spelled differently, they can both equate to the phrase “go on” or “so forth,” which to Watts, translates as an encouragement to follow your path.

Elaina Watts is Xetera…

When Watts studied at CWU, she majored in professional and creative writing with a minor in film production. Watts’ love for music was instilled in her from an early age. She says a majority of her family has a creative side to them. Her brother is a graphic designer and her sister owns her own dance studio. While they all have their own niches now, the Watts family shared the hobby of music growing up.

“It was really important to my mom that all of me and my siblings learned at least two years of piano and then I kind of kept that up,” Watts says. Music was an outlet she was able to use to tap into her introverted side while still involving others.

Not only has Watts played the piano for many years, but she also has the bass guitar and her natural singing voice as tools in her musical arsenal. In 2019, she decided to bring all of these elements into action and capitalize on the opportunities given to her.

(Don’t) Doubt Yourself

“So, in 2019 I wrote 25 songs because I wanted to learn how to write songs. In 2020 I wanted to learn how to produce songs. I only produced two that year, and there’s still only two on my Spotify, which is embarrassing.” In 2021, the journey really began for Watts.

Cornerstone Pie in Ellensburg offered Watts a job and with that came the opportunity to join the list of others who perform live music at the restaurant. Considering at that point she had never done a gig live, let alone by herself, she found some bandmates to put on a show with.

During the beginning of her music ventures, doubt was pervasive for Watts. This stemmed from a lack of experience and comfortability on stage displaying her craft.

“That whole summer I had so much imposter syndrome working with a band and I have no context of what it

means to work with a band like that.” Watts says overcoming these obstacles involves embracing challenges head on and looking forward to the next opposition.

“First of all, I don’t think I’m fully out of that. The thing is I think I will always be doing something that’s more challenging. And so as the next challenge comes up the doubt of maybe I’m not capable of taking on this challenge will also come up.”

Some would say that the best way to learn is to fail. Embracing the fear of failure allows you to grow and see that it’s ok to experiment and branch out. This sentiment gives Watts some comfort.

“Bombing on stage kind of rips off the band aid because I think that’s what you’re so afraid of as a musician is if this goes poorly, ‘how am I going to survive?’ Then you do a show and it totally tanks.”

“When you try your best but you don’t succeed. When you get what you want but not what you need.”

Elaina Watts is Xetera…

All black clothing, space buns, and a suit of armor. Well, the first two pieces are physical and the last one metaphorical, but you get the point.

“I like it, it just ends up being a lot of work. That helps me get into the mindset to, once I’m dressed in full, feel like this is an Xetera look.”

Watt says it’s fun to make a character out of outfit and the ability to show off some other skills she learned from her time at Central.

Though Watts says she doesn’t have a huge fan base, that doesn’t stop her from having the drive to enhance the typical live gigs some are accustomed to.

“I still want to participate in that inside my own head and be like, how do I elevate this experience and not just like me rolling out of bed, throwing on some jeans and being like, Alright, here’s some music.”

The band she plays with has a catalog of five original songs. Some of the music Xetera enjoys playing is primarily the alternative-rock genre. In addition to that is a fan-favorite looper rendition she does of Lorde’s 2013 hit, “Royals.”

Watts says, “I feel like a lot of my friends are musical. They always start with the background vocals during the chorus and everyone will jump in.”

Watts has previously performed mainly during the summer months, but aspires to increase the frequency of her gigs and add shows throughout the whole year.

“Not just doing like the gigs at bars and restaurants where we’re doing covers to entertain people but more like people are coming to see us do us. They like paid tickets to go see us, that type of thing.”

While she is grateful for her following and experiences so far, she wants creative control to tell more individualized and personal stories.

On Top of the World

There’s an aspect to performing on stage that is incredibly vulnerable. No matter the amount of experience, planning, and mental preparation. Butterflies exist.

“I find that really addicting. The idea of while I’m playing that’s the only thing that exists. It’s get to the next song, get to the next song. I love that hyper focus in the moment. I think most of life it’s super easy to get dull to the moment but in those high pressure moments where they’re totally focused, totally alive, and very exposed.”

The Watts says the highlight of her music career thus far can be summed up in a picture which also points to what she is thankful for in her life. Though the beginning of Fix You is downtrodden, the song finishes with the notion that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and hope for restoration.

Lights will guide you home And ignite your bones

And I will try to fix you

“We’re all just like saying it together and I remember just like looking around at everybody and being the most like the most like this beautiful snapshot of like how beautiful was my life that I get to experience this moment.”

To her, everything was worth it for this memory. If there’s one thing Watts wants to leave you with, it’s this.

“Don’t hold yourself back because it’s scary or because you think that you won’t be able to make it just just go for it so that you can and make the most of this life that you have is a beautiful thing.”

“Don’t hold yourself back because it’s scary or because you think that you won’t be able to make it. Just go for it.”

- Elaina Watts

ELAINA WATTS

DAY IN THE LIFE OF PRESIDENT JIM WOHLPART

Students see him everywhere, answering for the university in every way, but we don’t get to know the Jim behind President James A. Wohlpart through our time at school. Find out what life is like for our president, what he thinks about trees and why “Wednesday” is one of his favorite shows.

Read along as Katherine Camarata and Yohanes Goodell, lead editor and photo editor of The Observer, follow President Wohlpart for a day to get this behind the scenes look.

A look inside Jim’s office and mind

According to cornhole connoisseur and tree-loving diplomat President James Wohlpart, the most President Wohlpart thing about him is “the fact that I like to be called Jim.”

That’s because Jim doesn’t think in an hierarchical way so much as a systemic way, he says.

“I recognize that the person who collects the trash is just as important as I am,” Wohlpart says. “I mean, imagine if none of our trash got collected. We wouldn’t be able to function. I want everybody to remember why we’re here, which is not because of some president who’s doing x, y or z, it’s because of the students, and we’re here to help the students, faculty and staff learn and grow and become the best person that they are.”

Upon entering Jim’s office, a round table featuring a basket of shells and stones aside some braided sweetgrass atop a snow-dyed cloth greets guests as an emblem of Jim’s connection to tradition and ceremony.

ohlp

He mentions the significance of some artifacts, which include “arrowheads and pieces of arrowhead that my father found and collected. He passed away three-ish years ago, so this is one of the things I took away from him. This cloth and the braided sweetgrass and this clam shell were given to me by a Native American elder in Minnesota when I went to her university to do some work with her. This was dyed in a traditional Native American fashion by burying it in the snow with dyes.”

The decorated, lofty bookshelves serve as another focal point of the room, one Jim says he is especially grateful for as a defining element of his office. “The books here are all on leadership, higher education, which is what I do research on,” Wohlpart says.

Jim shows his own environmental philosophy writings and journals his work has been published in. He tells a tale of how perseverance and belief allowed him to publish a book that took a decade to complete.

“I have always imagined what is possible on the horizon and worked really hard to get there,” Wohlpart says. “So the book ‘Walking in the Land of Many Gods’ took me ten years to write … I didn’t have to write a

story by Katherine Camarata/ The Observer

photos by Yohanes Goodell

design by Makayla Zayic

wohlpart

book for my job. It was something I did in the evenings, on the weekends, sometimes early in the morning, but it was something that was important to me. I dreamt about it.”

Explaining the thesis of the book, Wohlpart says: “We have been handed a way of thinking in the Western world that is analytical, linear, hierarchical, dualistic, and there is another way of thinking in the world that is circular and cyclical and not hierarchical, not dualistic, that is more connected to what people might call intuition, that is actually more holistic and healthy, and we’ve been cut off from that way of thinking about the world in Western society, because we have been handed this way of thinking about the world, objects, people as resources for our use … as opposed to something we are deeply entangled with, intertwined with and deeply interdependent on.”

Jim mentions “The Courage to Teach” by Parker Palmer and “The Heart of Higher Education” by Parker Palmer and Arthur Zajonc as other impactful books in his collection. “I want to remember always that we lead, teach and work not only with our mind, but also our hearts, and that’s what most of this [my writing] is for me,” Jim says.

Wohlpart reflects on his decision to move to CWU two years ago, how “thrilled” he is with his decision and what he is learning in the process. “It’s really important as the president to take the time to listen and make sure that

you’re building a team environment where everybody is listening, reflecting and remembering what is our core,” Jim says.

He mentions all the work that happens off campus as a lesser known aspect of his position and the impending fruits of his team’s efforts. “In the fall and early winter, I spent a lot of time meeting with legislators across the state in Olympia during session and advocating for the funding we need,” Jim says. “For instance, a couple pieces of funding we got – we got funded for wrap-around services funding, housing insecurity, food insecurity, we got funding for teacher education, we got funding for a humanities social science complex and for the multicultural complex.”

A day in May with “Jimbo”

May 10 is a day like many others for Jim, aside from the fact that he is being tailed by two student journalists chasing dreams. A morning routine is a critical part of any leader’s day, and Jim’s daily dance helps him set the tone alongside the company of those he loves.

“This stuff matters a lot in terms of how you show up and how you present and how you maintain your energy,” Wohlpart says. “Sasha and I are up by 5:30 a.m. I'm in the gym by 6. I work out for an hour, then head back home at 7, grab a shower. We sit and drink tea together every morning, black tea. We

have our places with our dogs. They're rescues, they are 11-12 ish years old.”

Jim lives in the University House with his wife Sasha and their terrier and beagle mix-breed dogs, Annie and Leo. They have a 32-year-old son, Zach, who has an 11-month-old daughter, and a 29-year-old daughter named Kat.

Jim, Sasha, Annie and Leo can be spotted walking along their regular route through campus on any given day. “We leave the University house, we walk straight down north of Samuelson and south of Discovery Hall, that walkway that goes straight towards Black Hall, and then just north of Black Hall,” Wohlpart says.

“There's a sidewalk that goes between Black Hall and the SURC and we go around the back side of the SURC … [Leo] loves to go through the residence halls and up around to the ‘Ganges,’ and then we walk along the top of the Ganges and back over by Dean Hall, on the backside of Science and back.”

Discussing what he loves most about CWU as we made our way to his favorite cherry red sitting chair. His answer was simple: “the students.”

While some may refer to him by his presidential moniker, President Wohlpart is alternately known by a select group simply as “Jimbo,” a name he explains in an anecdote as he walks along the bank of the Ganges.

“Towards the end of my first year, Serena, who was one of the RA’s who was an Education major and did her

“I want to remember always that we lead, teach and work not only with our mind, but also our hearts, and that’s what most of this [my writing] is for me.”

student teaching, was sitting out on the lawn with another group of students,” Wohlpart says. “So we have the dogs, we're walking, I went over to them and we were chatting and I said, ‘do you know who I am?’ And she goes, ‘Yeah, you're Jimbo,’ and said, ‘do you want to know why we call you Jimbo? Because every time you send an email out, we all yell down the hallway, another email from Jimbo!’”

Jim’s habitual top picks

Jim explains that his favorite color fluctuates between blue and green, something reflected on his adventures with Sasha.

“When Sasha and I hike together and walk together, she’s an earth person, she looks down, she’s looking for rocks and minerals,” Wohlpart says. “I’m looking up, I look at the sky and trees. What’s awesome about living here in the Pacific Northwest is sometimes we see golden eagles, which is really cool.”

When they’re not wandering through the wilderness, Jim says he and Sasha enjoy streaming shows like “Ted Lasso,” “White Lotus” and “Wednesday.”

“‘Wednesday’ was just fantastic,” Wohlpart says. “There was something about that show, about how we grow in community, that just really stirred my imagination and one of the pieces that stirred my imagination the most was her playing the cello and playing it to a Rolling Stones song.”

In terms of music, Jim explains they listen to a wide range of sounds in their household. “We listen to all different kinds of music on Sunday morning,” Wohlpart says. “If we're making breakfast, we will listen to books. In the evening, if we're sitting by the fire, we will listen to Lord Huron or Mazzy Star.”

When Sasha and Jim are out dining, one might spot them at a historic downtown Ellensburg location or carrying a loaded picnic basket. “We love the Huntsman Tavern. Part of the reason that we love the Huntsman is because it has really good salads, we love to eat salads,” Jim says.

“The other one is a picnic by a river. My mother, my sister, Sasha and I went up to the West Fork Teanaway, and there’s a fantastic place at the very end where you can pull very close to the river, and we pulled chairs out and set up a big picnic.”

Jim says in the Wohlpart picnic basket, one can typically find vegetables with hummus, cheese and crackers and a nice bottle of red or white wine, depending on the time and season.

Presidential affairs

President Wohlpart goes about his day, attending an Executive Leadership Team (ELT) meeting to discuss fundraising and the development of shared governance groups on campus. The meeting is followed by an Executive Leadership Team lunch, where the group shares smiles and a meal in Holmes Dining while chatting over important topics: live Paul McCartney performances, Sunday school teachers and videos of President Wohlpart showing affection to a tree for a photo op.

Andrew Morse, chief of staff and interim vice president for Public Affairs, reflects on his journey from Iowa to

CWU to continue working with Jim. “My journey working with President Wohlpart began in 2017 at the University of Northern Iowa when he served as Provost and I held a similar role to the one I have here,” Morse says.

“Since the day I met him, Jim has been a hugely influential person in my life, someone who models collaborative, inclusive and equity-minded leadership. Someone who challenges me with deep care and unquestioned support. I am so proud to be part of the close-knit, hard-working and student-centered community we have here at Central.”

Morse mentions the legislative work he completes with Jim as a key part of their partnership. “My favorite memory with Jim is our grassroots work with educators across the United States to create a vision for the future of educator preparation,” Morse says. “That work began in 2019 and has now become a leading educator preparation reform bill, titled the EDUCATORS for America Act, in the United States Congress. The legislation offers a vision for equity-minded strategic investments to grow, diversify and retain our nation's educator workforce.”

The ELT struts in style back across campus to Barge Hall after lunch, as President Wohlpart prepares for the Wildcat Pantry celebration and awards ceremony on his lawn later that evening.

Laughter rings out across the lawn, accented by 88.1 the ‘Burg spinning top 40s hits as students, staff and faculty play cornhole and Connect Four at the celebration. Jim gleefully lands a bean bag in the center of the cornhole board as the festivities heighten. Sasha cheers on those playing lawn games and offers a glimpse into her life with Jim.

“Being here at Central has given him an opportunity to really put into practice what he's been learning and studying and what he cares so deeply about,” Sasha says. “He has such a vision

of what higher education can be for students and it's been exciting to see him be able to act on that vision here at Central.”

Sasha says her favorite moments with Jim at CWU include curling up by their fireplace to play gin rummy and attending some of the productions and athletic events on campus, particularly the music department concerts and Orchesis spring dance performance.

“When we go out and we hike and we explore, it's good, reflective time,” Sasha says. “It's a good time for him to think about things and he bounces stuff off me, we have conversations about things.”

Sasha says the most cherished thing about Jim to her is how deeply invested he is in those around him. “I love how much he cares,” Sasha says. “How much he cares for his family, how much he cares for his community, how much he cares for the students and his leadership team. He just carries in his heart a deep love for life and the work that he does.”

An awards ceremony commences, during which Wildcat Pantry team members are honored for their dedication. Jim and Sasha present Jaeda Nelson with some heartfelt words and an award for her hard work as the first person to ever fulfill the Wildcat Pantry Coordinator position as the sun began to set.

Jim leaves readers with some words of wisdom: “Listen to their hearts, spend time with people who are good for them, spend time being curious and trust that a way will open in terms of their path. It’s a Quaker saying: way opens.”

“If you get to a place in your life where you feel stuck or you feel uncertain about what the next steps are, if you can trust in something bigger and open yourself up to possibilities, then way will open.

“He has such a vision of what higher education can be for students and it’s been exciting to see him be able to act on that vision here at Central.”

SASHA WOHLPART

SASHA WOHLPART (LEFT) AND JIM WOHLPART (RIGHT)

is education doomed?

story by Marcus Goble photos by Dylan Hanson design by Rody Farr

A professor begins grading an essay. The paper reads like one of the best they have ever graded. They wonder to themself, “Either I’m the greatest writing teacher to ever exist, or this is plagiarized.” They plug the paper into a plagiarism checker, and it shows up clean. What, then, has changed?

As AI continues to infiltrate various aspects of our lives, the education system works to adapt and ensure that it doesn’t negatively impact learning, while also measuring the opportunities AI provides.

Generative Artificial Intelligence

AI programs like ChatGPT dominate the airwaves in the discourse surrounding AI. Anyone can generate text based on a prompt given to the program. This means students can theoretically use it to write their textbased assignments for them.

ChatGPT is a form of generative AI. This AI pulls from its database to generate content. The AI is not sentient though it may seem.

“It has no intent,” Director of the Multimodal Education Center Chad Schone says. “It’s not trying to do anything. It has no agency. It is just doing what it was built to do, which is predict text and predict words that come together based on what it was trained on.”

Is it Plagiarism if AI Generated This Heading?

Generative AI comes with a major problem for the education system. Students can use these programs to generate entire essays in a matter of seconds. While some students may see this as an absolute win, there are concerns to be had about plagiarism.

In normal instances of plagiarism tools like Turnitin are used to detect cheating. Generative AI cannot be found the same way normal plagiarism is detected. Turnitin has created programs to attempt to detect AI writing, but it can only go so far.

“Turnitin says they are erring on the side of not catching things in order to be 98% accurate with the detections.,” Director of Instructional Technologies and Design for CWU Multimodal Learning Delayna Breckon says.

The technology is brand new. Developments from Turnitin or similar programs may make it easier to detect AI writing, but faculty do need to stay cautious to make sure they do not falsely accuse students of AI writing.

“We’re not encouraging folks to fail anybody to say this is definitive,” Breckon says, “there’s no way to prove any of these things.”

A Few More Concerns

Generative AI may not always be accurate. It predicts text based on a data set. Programs like ChatGPT only have data up to September 2021. You can test this yourself. Ask ChatGPT or Snapchat’s My AI who won the most recent Super Bowl or World Series. Misinformation can easily leak its way into projects using generative AI.

There’s also a bias concern. While an AI cannot have bias, the data set it’s trained on can.

“There are standard worries that people have,” Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies Lecturer David Schwan says, “especially with these large language models, these generative models that whatever the data set was that they were trained on any bias or any kind of structural assumptions that are built into the data are going to be reflected and not always super clearly, but they’re going to bleed through.”

Faculty do not just worry about the content created. Privacy is one of the big concerns for Faculty Senate Chair Mark Samples.

“Anytime you put your words into this system there are privacy issues,” Samples says, “not just for personal information, but also when you’re working in an institution like an educational institution, putting information into ChatGPT is going outside the institution.”

The last of these few problems call into question what education is.

When you take part in any creative process, you learn to think about that creative process. When writing an essay, you are developing skills throughout the entire writing process. Generative AI shortcuts the thinking you may do.

“My worry is, especially in settings where we’re trying to develop these skills, people might try to jump over that process a little bit,” David Schwan says.

CWU’s AI Stance

CWU’s faculty have a wide variety of opinions when it comes to AI. Some professors have begun implementing generative AI into their assignments. Others have AI written into the plagiarism section of their syllabus. “There are no policy statements out there right now,” Samples says. “There are no syllabus statements out there right now that are definitive or from the university.”

Enforcing a ruling on AI universitywide comes with some caveats. As seen with Turnitin’s current technology, how would a hard-stance against AI be enforceable? A ruling in favor may make some faculty uncomfortable.

“Whatever we decide to do, probably needs to keep in mind a couple of things,” Sample says, “faculty are going to have different comfort levels with this technology. They’re going to have different awareness of this technology, just like students.”

CWU avoids taking a hard position when it comes to AI. The university wants to make sure to respect the choices of the faculty, while still monitoring the emerging technology.

Is AI Good, Actually?

Many members of our faculty see opportunities with this technology. Some use it or allow for its use in their classroom. In writing assignments, Schw an encourages students to experiment with ChatGPT.

“Right now, I’m kind of just trying to keep things collaborative, and negotiate with people and say try to use these tools where you can,” Schwan says, “You do want to produce your own work, but cite where you are using them in different ways.”

Generative AI can find uses for both faculty and students if they think critically about them. Students can produce outlines and brainstorm with the help of AI. Professors can put together a syllabus or summarize class notes at the press of a button.

“These tools are enormously powerful,” Schwan says, “and if what you’re trying to do is focus on maybe being creative or expressing yourself in particular ways, I’m just going to talk about the Open Ai, ChatGPT tools, these can save you a lot of grind of certain types of creative activities.”Some professors also use generative AI to teach.

“You can iterate on multiple papers,” Chad Schone says, “you can edit them and basically have it write and then have students correct the writing. So there’s ways to use it in order to look at writing from a different perspective allowing students to grade it which would inform their own writing.”

The process of writing a paper becomes much more condensed as well. Creating an outline turns into a few button presses and some editing. Brainstorming can be done at the press of a button and applying critical thinking.

“One faculty was saying that they are excited about it because it lets them write multiple papers in one quarter rather than just one big term paper,” Schone says.

When used optimally AI can be used to improve the education of students. It allows multiple repetitions of big creative projects over the course of a quarter.

“You don’t have time to write 20 papers in a ten week course,” Samples says, “but maybe this tool could allow for students to not turn that in as their own work, but to get more reps.”

Moving Forward

Generative AI continues to advance quickly. It also shows no sign of disappearing.

“It’s changing,” Breckon says, “it kind of blew me away from my first engagement to my last engagement like with how fast it’s maturing.”

Technology evolves rapidly and has created discourse about whether it will ruin education. Most recently smartphones were the center of discourse. 30-40 years ago personal computers were going to doom education.

“I don’t know what the future holds, and most people don’t,” Schwan says, “and what’s always so terrifying about a new technology is that you’re just not exactly sure where things are gonna go.”

YOUNG SOOK BENNETT (LEFT) AND MICHAEL BENNETT (RIGHT)

story

FACES BEHIND THE FARMS THE

Dive in and meet the farmers, creators and community members that come together from May to September every year to make the dream of the Ellensburg Farmers Market come to life.

Every morning at 5:30 a.m. Michael Bennett, owner and manager of Creekside Farm, is awakened by his bedside alarm. It’s time to feed the chickens. After a cup of green tea or French press coffee he leaves his house, shared with his wife, daughter and granddaughter, passing his well-stocked pantry and greenhouse tents on the way out to the chicken coop.

He feeds the hens and three roosters, one nearly plucked clean of feathers in his old age, before collecting eggs. From here, the rest of Bennett’s day depends on the season.

In Winter he and his wife work in the greenhouses and plan projects; in fall they harvest crops and distribute excess food to their friends and neighbors. In Spring and Summer, though, they prepare for what comes on Saturdays– the Ellensburg Farmers Market.

The Ellensburg Farmers Market is a place in which all kinds of farmers and creators come together to share what they have grown or made, and engage in a vibrant community. Much more goes on behind the scenes than one might

think, though, from the perspective of both the vendors and market organizers.

The Market Must Go On

“It's an opportunity for all the farmers and creators to come together on Saturdays and interact with the community,” says Maryanna Schane, president of the Ellensburg Farmers Market board of directors. Along with Vice President Charmaine Mosiman, Schane works yearround to bring this local market to life every weekend from May to September.

Aside from their positions on the board of directors, these individuals also have a unique connection to the farmers market as vendors. Mosiman owns and operates Lemon Thyme Macarons, which conducts business in several different towns including Ellensburg and Roslyn. Schane acts as the director of marketing and sales at Wheel Line Cider, a local small-batch beverage company operated by Schane and several other of her family members.

From hiring new administrative employees to advertising online, Mosiman and Schane have their hands full with the tasks required to make the Ellensburg

by Lilly Montgomery photos by Jakob Burnham design and illustration by Makayla Zayic

Farmers Market run smoothly. Schane says her biggest adversary is, “Time. There's just not enough hours in the day for us to do all the things that we're hoping to do.”

Although the eight months between the close of one market season and beginning of the next may seem like plenty of time, it is quickly filled with vendor meetings, project planning, map making and a variety of other tasks that fall on the board of directors and market manager to complete.

A particularly difficult aspect of running the market, according to Mosiman, is finding the right people to add to their team. “It's not a we have to. We get to, right?” Mosiman says in reference to the hiring process. “We do want to make the market as wonderful as it can be, and with the right person it makes it even more wonderful.” The search for one of these ‘right people’ continues this season, as the market manager position remains yet unfilled.

Schane and Mosiman share a passion for their work that is reflected clearly in the way they speak about the market and its vendors. “I just see so many people catching up or seeing each other coming out of the Winter,” Schane says when asked about her favorite parts of the Ellensburg Farmers Market, “I definitely think it really helps families get together and the community get together.”

These two are, of course, not the only cogs in the machine that keep the Ellensburg Farmers Market going. After all, there would be no market without vendors to present their creations to the public. But what is the market like from their point of view? What motivates someone to stand under a tent once a week for five months in temperatures nearing that of an industrial oven? Every vendor will offer something different, but for one man, the answer is simple.

Farming for the Future

Michael Bennett and his wife, Young Sook Bennett, run the aptly named Creekside Farm, an organic, sustainable operation located on the banks of Currier Creek. Married for close to 30 years, the Bennetts share a life in Ellensburg with two other generations of family on a small farm near the edge of city limits. Their story does not begin with Creekside Farm, though. Before taking the leap into running their own operation, the Bennetts gathered experience and interest in farming in several other locations.

Starting off as a police officer in the 1980s, Michael Bennett speaks of his former career with a bittersweet tone. “We are ambassadors,” he says in reference to himself and his wife, “and that's why I think I made a good policeman. That's why I didn't want to continue to be a policeman and see people get hurt.”

After leaving this position, the Bennetts spent time as farm hands on several different operations in California.

These “faith-based” farms, as Bennett describes them, are what fostered his interest not only in organic farming, but also in creating a welcoming, equitable and community-oriented environment in the spaces he inhabits.

One of the faith-based operations Bennett worked on with his wife fostered rehabilitation efforts by bringing in individuals struggling with abuse, addiction and other issues and giving them food and lodging in return for work.

“A lot of times being outside in the fresh air and getting a sweat going helps people,” says Bennet. The farmer has carried this ideal of human-land connection from the operations he started on to the one he runs now in rural Ellensburg.

The Bennets have taken every advantage of their threeacre plot of Ellensburg farmland, cultivating an expanse of greenhouse tents called ‘hoop houses’, open-air crops and even a chicken coop. The family practices a Korean method of farming called ‘Jadam’, which highlights the importance of accessibility, natural processes and cultivating a strong connection between the farmer and the land.

Michael Bennett describes this technique as “the way we're going to be able to feed the world going forward,” a claim backed by the store of fresh and preserved food stacked high throughout the Bennet household.

For these small-town growers, the Ellensburg Farmers Market is a place to engage with the community and share the abundance they themselves can’t consume. From freeze-dried eggs to honey and fresh produce, Bennett states that even an operation of their size yields enough to be able to take to the farmers market. “We grow more than we can eat, and we grow more than we can preserve,” says Bennett. The farmers market

supplies them with not only an outlet to distribute their excess, but with a way to engage with a lively and vibrant community. Bennett is particularly fond of this experience, sharing that he has “never seen a sour face at the Ellensburg market.” With vendors like Creekside Farm, it isn't hard to see why.

Michael and Young Sook Bennett have led a colorful, storied life that they are happy to share with anyone that asks. With such a rich, varied history between them, there is a lot to talk about. Michael Bennett’s career choices are a particularly fascinating aspect of the couples’ history. Although the move from policeman to farmer is certainly a difficult transition, it is not one that Bennett regrets.

“I haven’t had to fight anybody for 35 years,” he says, a tired gladness behind his tone. Instead his days are filled with early-morning tea and coffee, the croaking of pond frogs and his family. Bennett holds an immense amount of gratitude for the life he has made. Even after 30 years his eyes still crease with smile lines when he speaks about his wife, daughter and granddaughter, and he is eager to share what he has learned with younger generations in environments like the Ellensburg Farmers Market.

Although Bennett shares some universals with other market participants, every vendor’s experience is different. One operation contrasts Creekside Farm starkly in experience, product and audience.

From Corporate to Carhartt

For Hilary Jensen, owner of Jensen Farms along with her husband John Jensen, farming in Ellensburg and participating in the local market has been a very different experience. After losing her job at a winery in 2012, Hilary Jensen made the decision to take a leap of faith into a new field. “I like to say I went from corporate to Carhartt because I knew nothing about farming,” she says with a laugh. Although many factors contributed to the accomplishments of this farm, Jensen names the support of the Ellensburg community as a chief reason for her success. Jensen Farms is one of the most well-known operations in the area, and has become a household name in college student weekend plans due to the unique nature of their practice.

“We are very much an agritourism farm,” Jensen shares over a latte that she made in the farm’s on-site coffee shop. Agritourism refers to the practice of combining farming with hospitality, which Jensen and her team have implemented in their own farm by hosting a variety of events on-site. The most popular of these is a u-pick pumpkin patch.

A popular spot for locals, college students and tourists, the farm welcomes visitors to come out and pick their own pumpkins, take a hayride around the farm, stop by the petting zoo and simply engage with the local farmers. The experience that Jensen curates for each visitor provides a unique link to traditional farming. Jensen cares deeply about that connection, and about the guests that visit Jensen Farms as well. She shares her biggest focus when preparing for new visitors to the farm– “I just want a place where people can come and create memories with their family and friends. That's all it's about.”

Jensen Farms is also able to conduct a wide range of business outside of their most popular season– fall. Although the operation does not grow their pumpkins for consumption, they produce a variety of other products including honey, what they call “barbeque and everything sauce” and specialty pumpkin starts. Bringing these products to both the Roslyn and Ellensburg Farmers Market is one of the ways that Jensen reaches out to the community after business begins to slow down on the farm.

“People want to connect with the farmer, right?” Jensen asks. “People want to know where their food is coming from. From a farmer’s perspective, I love being able to have the connections, and I love the direct feedback.” Seeking this connection between consumer and producer is one of the biggest appeals of farmers markets in Ellensburg and beyond. “Know your farmer, know your food,” says Jensen, quoting a phrase trademarked by the Chicago Green City Market Program.

With such a large population of people interested in what they’re buying, it is no surprise that some farmers share differing opinions on best practice. Jensen shares that, although it is rare, she has experienced her share of judgment about the way she chooses to operate her farm. Despite its popularity with both local and student populations, the business has faced some pushback from several members of the local farming community due to the nature of their practice– Jensen Farms is not organic.

“I've had people tell me that I would make so much more money if I grew my pumpkins organically,” Jensen shares on the issue. “You do have the farmers that are all-in. They're all-

“I just see so many people catching up or seeing each other coming out of the winter.”

-Maryanna Schane

MARYANNA SCHANE

in on organic, they're all-in on non-GMO, they're all-in on even rearing all organic meat,” she says. “And I think that's all fabulous, if that's what they want to do and that's what their customers want to do. But not every customer wants it, not every customer needs it, and not every practice dictates it. I think that we're a good example of that.”

Jensen was quick to assure that instances like this are rare in the Ellensburg community. “I really do think that's few and far between. I think people just find their niche and there's a reason why they chose that and then they stick with it.” When growing food for consumption Jensen states that she does purchase organic seeds and utilize organic practices, but recognizes that that is a far cry from the stiff guidelines required to be a certified organic operation. But what is it like for those catering to the customers that do want to shop organic? What is the farming experience like for those that decide the work is worth the reward?

Knowing What You’re Growing

For some operations, like Parke Creek Farm, going organic was hardly a question. Bambi Miller, owner of the farm, shares about her own experience with growing organically. “We're not certified organic with the WSDA or the USDA, but everybody that knows us knows that we don't use chemicals on our farm.” Miller raises livestock as well as growing hay, flowers and produce on her land, and has been a vendor at the Ellensburg Farmers Market for 15 years. In Miller’s opinion, organic is the way to go.

Miller does not use pesticides or other non-organic farming methods on her land, but she sympathizes with the hassle of keeping up with weed and pest issues on large pieces of farmland. Still, it is not a practice she readily approves of. Non-organic growers, as Miller believes, are “thinking of the end result of their crop, not the down the road, long term result of what they're doing. And, you know, I see their point.” Larger operations may have 100 acres of land, and when a bad season means a drastic drop in income, using chemical intervention can feel like a farmer’s last option against pests and weeds. Still, Miller maintains that “the traditional use of the chemicals to grow food is, in my opinion, way overboard.”

For other organic farms, such as Windy N Ranch, going organic is a point of principle as well as a business opportunity. “There was a niche for cleaner food,” shared Greg Newhall, owner and operator of Windy N Ranch alongside his wife, son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren. Windy N Ranch is not only USDA certified as an organic cattle ranch, but has also received a certification to be Animal Welfare Approved, a designation of high-standard treatment of livestock amongst ranchers. Newhall states that along with working among his family every day, the community around him is what makes his job so enjoyable. Many local farmers share the same sentiment. For Newhall, the Ellensburg valley is a place “where a handshake and your word means what it used to a couple generations ago.”

Windy N Ranch no longer participates in the Ellensburg Farmers Market– Greg Newhall and his daughter-in-law Lisha Newhall shared that they experienced much better luck with supply and demand on the west side of Washington state. As they quickly found out, though, there is still a market for

organic, sustainably raised livestock in their off-site and online sales. Windy N. Ranch continues to provide meat and products to both regulars and newcomers to their business. “We want people to know where their food comes from,” says Newhall.

Despite their certifications and processes, Greg Newhall says that one’s practices do not need to be this intensive to still be good farming. In his own words, “you don't need to be organic to produce clean food.” It doesn’t take rounds of inspections and certifications to make something you can be proud of. It takes dedication, time and a factor all of these farmers have in common– a love of the land you work with.

It Takes a Village

Whether organic or traditional, smallscale or large, there is space for every type of farmer, creator and product at the Ellensburg Farmers Market. People of all kinds work together for five months out of the year to put on this marvel of modern agriculture and creativity, where you can meet the person that grew your cabbage or sculpted your favorite mug. Through its ups and downs, hardships and prosperities, this is a place to find community and support. There is a niche for every farmer and shopper– yours may be waiting right at the next booth.

Come see the Ellensburg Farmers Market from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday from May until September. The market is located on Fourth avenue between Ruby and Pearl street.

TALES OF THE TRAGEDIANS

story by Gunner Stuns photos by Dylan Hanson design by Makayla Zayic

You step into an auditorium and immediately, the buzzing of your fellow audience-members fills your ears. Each voice is rich with excitement towards the story you’re about to see play out before your very eyes. As you find your seat, the vessel between your world and theirs, the stage is silent. Right now, it looks utterly unremarkable, but in mere moments, that will all change.

The lights dim, signaling for the voices of your peers to hush as a single light takes center stage. Soon enough, a character steps out from behind the curtain, launching you into another place, another time, another reality. By the time all of the actors have taken their bow and the audience erupts into applause, you’ve lived a work of art.

But how did this come to be? To put on a stage production, student thespians have to create and embody an entirely new world, facing themselves and the eyes of dozens of total strangers at the same time.

In The Writer’s Room

Every production begins with an idea. A complete show is the work of several talented creatives, but to begin, it takes a person with a story they want to tell. One such writer is Second-Year Film major, Miles Baker. Baker’s latest work is the stage play “Dream Of The Butterfly,” which he wrote for CWU’s Winter Short Works Festival.

“Why did I choose to write?” recalls Baker, “I think it comes from a natural instinct to sort through a lot of confusion or stress that I have in my life, and especially as kind of an introverted person.

Baker goes on to state that writing and creating characters is an avenue he can use to express himself when otherwise, he

feels it would be more difficult. Each of the scripts that he writes says something about how Baker perceives the world around him. The characters featured in his stories also sometimes behave in ways and face struggles that are more personal.

“All my characters are kind of a little part of me, I would say, and each of them represents some facet of my personality,” says Baker, “And maybe I’ll exaggerate some of the aspects for dramatic purposes, but all of them definitely feel like a part of me.”

To create characters that represent parts of himself and face conflicts that may resonate with others takes a lot of courage in his opinion. Especially when considering that most of the audience attending a stage play will be total strangers to the writer.

“When you put your work out there, you are opening yourself up to the same judgment that you are allowing your work to be exposed to. And that can be pretty intimidating,” says Baker.

However, the Film major also clarifies that those risks are well worth it to see the end result in his opinion.

“I will say that there is a great reward in that risk. And a sense of greater understanding can come about from putting yourself out there like that, where a lot of people will have made a sort of vicarious connection with me through my characters,” Baker says.

Another writer with similar experiences to Baker is Caelyn White, a senior double-majoring in Theatre Studies and Professional Writing. White has written several plays, but her most recent work is “Circe & Nyx,” which debuted at CWU earlier in the Spring. She too feels that writing is what fulfills her, recalling that she began at an early age.

“I’ve just been writing since I was a little kid. And then I started doing theater when I was a Freshman in high school, and I was like, ‘wait a minute, I can put these together,’” says White, “I’ve just found it’s the art that makes the most sense to me. It satisfies me the most to do it.”

Also like Baker, White feels that she writes characters with aspects of her own self. While she does try to make each of them very much distinct from herself, White says, “There’s always something of me in all of them. It’s like a sprinkling of salt on top of it.”

White acknowledges that the degree she relates to a story depends on its setting and subject matter, but that sharing her work is a very difficult thing no matter what she’s written, even after years of perfecting her craft.

“It makes it kind of hard to watch sometimes,” White says, “It’s really hard every time it’s opening night or the first time people aren’t reading it. Because, I’m like, ‘oh, no, everyone’s going to see this and think I’m weird and throw tomatoes at me.’”

But, despite that daunting feeling, White still loves to write for the theater. The joy of getting to share her work with others trumps that lingering self-doubt, and White believes this fact is what helps her improve as a writer.

“It can be scary, but it’s always been really rewarding and helpful [to share my work]. So, you have to get over the hill every time,” she says.

Eye of The Director

A writer alone isn’t able to bring their story to life on stage. The job of the Director is to take the writer’s script and guide the

production to fully realize their vision for how that story will play out for an audience. While she typically avoids it, White has also tried her hand at directing productions, having most recently directed Baker’s “Dream Of The Butterfly.” Even if it is different from writing, she’s found directing is another skill she enjoys honing.

“I love directing is what I learned this year,” says White, “You have to be so conscious, because as a director, you want to ask the actors character questions. When I was directing my own play, I was like, ‘I don’t want you to feel like I’m telling you how to think about this.’”

White acknowledges that as a Director, collaboration is really the name of the game. One of the aspects of directing a show she struggles with is how much of a hand she should have in making decisions, particularly where the performances of actors are concerned. White also laments that she sometimes wonders if her creative team is always forthcoming with feedback when it comes to her work.

“It’s really easy to not want to tell me to change something. I’m always like, ‘how do you feel about this line?’ How do you feel because I want it to grow, but I understand that’s so difficult,” White says, “we’re peers.”

Even with that concern in mind, White knows input from others is key to creating a well-rounded production. A certain degree of trust in the director is necessary for a show to proceed smoothly, especially where the writer is concerned, as the show

is a vision of their script. White is also able to look at it from that side of things, so she makes an effort to work closely with the writer.

“I had a good time directing a play Miles wrote. Yeah, that was really fun because he was in the space, and he could offer feedback on what he thought, and we could just sort of work together on what things meant,” says White, “It’s a whole different thing, directing. You’re pushing the limitations of what you’re given, and that’s not a bad thing. Limitations are what helps us think of creative ways to do stuff.”

On the subject of working with a director as a writer, Miles Baker was also very positive. Having worked with White on “Dream Of The Butterfly,” Baker says, “yeah, it really is an extraordinary load off. And especially working with someone who’s going to be very incisive, but also very attentive about the work you’ve already done, and is going to do it justice. It’s a process about trust.”

Baker also recognizes that having someone else to worry about technical aspects of bringing the story to life is a weight off his shoulders.

“It’s a great collaborative experience that, you know, that for me personally, was a great way to ease into the theatrical process,” says Baker, “It just allowed me to tell the best story I could tell.”

The Performer’s Perspective

Of course, what’s a stage production without performers? In order to embody the characters in a story, actors must overcome several hurdles, from the auditioning process to creating strategies for becoming someone else entirely. One actor with extensive experience in these subjects is Marcus Wolf, a fourthyear Theater Performance major. Wolf recalls that his was a humble beginning when it comes to his craft.

“I needed something to do other than play video games,” he says, “when I was starting young, my parents wanted me to have some hobbies. So, at one point, my twin sister was doing an audition for a community theater play that my older sister was a part of, and I just said, ‘what if I did it?’ and so I auditioned. I got into the show.”

Wolf has since come a long way from his community theater’s production of “A Christmas Story.” The actor has had roles in several productions over the years, but he notes that the process of auditioning is still a hurdle to jump every time.

“It is very, very scary. Well, it’s scary if you make it scary. Which is very hard not to do,” says Wolf, “Because the thing is, an audition is basically a job interview. That’s what it is. Because it’s you providing your skills to the directors, the writers, the producers, you’re providing your skill set.”

In spite of the nerves that can come with being vulnerable to a room of strangers, Wolf chooses to look at things more positively, even in regard to his fellow actors who might be competing for the same role.

Wolf says, “something you have to ask is, ‘do I view this as a competition?’ Or do I view it as ‘I’m just going to put in my best, and I’m going to show you who I am?’”

While he acknowledges that it took him some time to learn to view things this way, Wolf says he believes it helped him get over the nerves that come with auditioning for a show.

Another experienced actor is third-year Theater Studies major, Isaac Corpus. Corpus’ time as an actor began in the seventh grade, when one of his teachers encouraged him to audition for a show his school was putting on.

“When I auditioned, there was lots of praise after I did it and there was this naturalness to acting that I had,” recalls Corpus.

This natural call to acting followed Corpus throughout high school and into college. Having had a role in several productions, Corpus has his own viewpoints on the process of auditioning.

“It was harder as an introverted person, the thought of being said no to is very scary,” Corpus says, “and so when I first started auditioning, it actually was really terrifying and I would have stage fright a lot.”

But, he’s come a long way since those early days. The fact that during an audition an actor is judged based on their appearance, voice and abilities is not lost on Corpus. Much like Wolf, the actor has a more positive way of viewing the process.

“If you don’t think about it, then it’s just another day where you’re basically performing. And that’s how I think about it, I’m performing,” says Corpus, “I have been told that I have a gift to perform and when you present an opportunity where I can showcase my talent to you, then I will do my best to show the best of what I can do.”

Still, the world of acting isn’t all for the veterans. One of the newer actors at Central is first-year Musical Theater major, Liv Satake. Satake’s time as an actor began in the second grade, when she performed in a children’s theater production, but her passion for acting didn’t begin until her freshman year of high school.

“When there were auditions for my high school’s production of “Chicago,” that was the first year I decided to not do volleyball. Before then, I had been doing volleyball for a while, and I was like ‘okay let’s jump into this and see what happens.’ And from that point I just kind of fell in love with it,” Satake says.

CAELYN WHITE

MARCUS WOLF

“HOW CAN WE USE SOUND TO CONVEY THIS? HOW CAN WE USE LIGHTS TO CONVEY THIS? WHAT PROMPTS CAN WE USE?” - MARCUS WOLF

The actor goes on to say the COVID-19 pandemic did impact her opportunities to act shortly thereafter, but digital events such as Washington State’s Thespys, a regional acting festival, allowed Satake to continue to flesh out her craft. Satake also details some of the steps she takes to become a character.

“First I obviously look at the script and I get the details that the script is going to give me. Like if the script tells me, ‘your character has a brother,’ take those basics. But then as I start to dive into it, I ask what is my character doing for this story?” says Satake, “I feel like what can happen is it’s easy to get carried away and think that your character is the center of a story, but no. You are contributing to an overall story to be told.”

She also addresses how much of her performance is the invention of the director, versus what the two of them have come up with through working on production together.

“I think a performance is what the ensemble makes it and so as much as there’s the technical things of staging that a director does… it’s the actor’s job on how they’re going to examine it” Satake says, “Are they going to see this object and have a realization because of it? Are they going to have a lot of questions about it? That’s kind of up to the actor.”

Some Assembly Required

The script is written, the set is under construction, actors have been selected, costumes are underway, and the director is at work overseeing all of it. Combining all of these things into a single narrative is easier said than done, and no one person can do it by themselves.

As a writer, this level of collaboration was new to Baker, but he still feels that the experience is an overall positive one.

“My work collaborating with all these other artists who have just been very supportive, I think has allowed me to overcome a lot of that fear,” Baker says.

The writer isn’t the only one who feels that the collaborative spirit helped him produce better work. Writer and director,

White also feels that collaboration is necessary to finding “the heart of the story.” If it weren’t for the input of others, she feels she would have lost a lot of the creative solutions needed to bring her plays to life.

“There’s so many people involved. We’re like, how can we use sound to convey this? How can we use lights to convey this? What prompts can we use? So I think there’s a lot of working together,” says White.

Wolf also has thoughts on how the collaborative environment impacts his abilities as an actor. When asked to reflect on his experience working with directors, Wolf notes that it’s always a collaboration between them.

“You have the script, and you and the director are working together to see what this character needs and looks and feels,” Wolf says.

This sentiment is echoed by Corpus, who says that working with so many other artists increases his own passion for a project.

“I try to get super close and in touch with the directors and the writers for each show that I’m in just because it gives me perspective on how they care about the story and what their vision is,” says Corpus, “Just knowing how they work and interact with the rest of the cast helps me build my character, and I develop a lot more passion for the project.”

Satake agrees. The actor says that one of her favorite aspects of a show is getting to have discussions with others about the direction of the story, which she feels is paramount to her own creativity within her performance.

“It also just allows more freedom to, like I said, offer more ideas and bring these ideas to life. Because, you know, the director isn’t the only one who has the final say, and so I think that we all have a lot to offer. And opening up an environment to be more collaborative is so important in creating a full, unique story,” Satake says, “Because we all have something to bring to the table, and when you open that up, it creates so much creativity in the space and that’s incredible.”

For the full version of this story, you can check it out online at http://www.cwupulsemagazine.com/

&

We all have different answers to what makes a healthy relationship— communication, trust, respect, space. A relationship can go from zero to ten and back again if you aren’t careful. Healthy relationships require work and patience.

According to the Pew Research Center, only 47% of American adults have been married or in a committed relationship for over five years. While maintaining a healthy relationship may not come naturally to all, there are always steps for old and young relationships to build strong, healthy, long-lasting relationships.

story by Brian Valencia

photos by Jakob Burnham design by Rody Farr

Maturing Relationships

Establishing a healthy base is one of the first steps to fostering a healthy relationship. “Seeing the way that we were as kids and seeing how we are now, it’s really rewarding,” says PULSE writer and junior Media and Journalism Major, Megan Foster, who has been in a three-year relationship with Trent Bates, a junior Event Management major. “To grow with the person that you love and to see how your vision changes for what you want in life and how it changes with them,” says Foster.

Maturing and growing with your partner sets up a successful foundation. Knowing you both have similar outcomes for the future might help continue to grow that foundation for future years.

Bates and Foster, for example, have similar visions for what’s ahead. “I hope to marry her and start a family, and you know, maybe not live the white picket fence life, but live a nice life with her,” says Bates. Foster shares similar views about their future, adding that it’s something they’ve discussed.

“I think you see it mostly in young couples, where they make a fast decision of what they want to do in the

Learning to Understand

As stated earlier, understanding your partner can go a long way, but you must also understand yourself.

“Curiosity instead of defensiveness or reaction,” says Andrea Utzinger, a private mental health therapist with 27 years of experience. Understanding your “mental bruises” will help you understand how your reactions may impact your partner. Mental bruises are sensitive topics or ideas that make you react with strong emotions.

“You’re going to bump into your partner’s bruises,” says Utzinger, “they’re going to react, and oftentimes the way they react then bumps, this other person’s bruises, and then you get this negative cycle started.”

Awareness of your emotional experience is essential to communication. Knowing how to communicate your emotions effectively avoids misinterpretation or saying something you don’t truly mean.

relationship,” says Bates. Being young has the advantage of allowing the relationship to grow without rushing big decisions.

Having those conversations early helps avoid future problems in a relationship. This also comes with lots of patience. Foster acknowledges how a big part of their relationship is based on understanding. “Patience and understanding of each other, being able to sit down and truly talk about how you’re feeling and the other person being able to listen to it,” says Foster.

No communication and no patience hurts couples in today’s relationship scene. Foster points out the flaws of the “red flag” culture and how not giving others a chance to present themselves prevents growth opportunities. “In the age in which we live, with everything being so digital, there’s so much immediate distress. And people, they’re so quick to just see one thing and immediately shut the other person down, or turn them out or shut everything off,” says Foster.

On a similar note, Foster points out how there might be situations where red flags can be too much. “If there’s

too many red flags, I’m not saying just like, overlook them. Don’t think of everything as just fine.”

Don’t be quick to throw a relationship away if there’s a problem. Allow your partner to express themselves without getting absorbed by emotions. Without reasons to break up, don’t be too hasty to leave.

Utzinger also makes a point of not expecting people to give more than they can provide. Humans are inherently flawed; understanding your partner requires you to know their limitations. Utzinger uses the analogy of a ladder. Each aspect of a person can be placed on a ladder. If your partner doesn’t know how to save money, they’d place low on the ladder. If your partner never goes over budget, they’d place higher. “It gets further and further. There’s people you would go socialize and do stuff with, but you might not tell them your deepest secret. And then up here, there’s your close bosom friends who you can talk to about anything,” explains Utzinger.

Knowing where each aspect of your partner lies on the ladder is important. If you know your partner is conflictavoidant, don’t expect them to talk to you immediately. If your partner is forgetful, don’t expect them to

suddenly have a photographic memory. “We expect so much of people,” says Utzinger, “and we expect that everyone can be up at the top of the ladder.” Similarly, couples are best at communicating when they know what styles work best for them.

Utzinger explains how there’s three main communication styles: avoidant, collaborative, and volatile.

Conflict avoidant is when you prefer to give each other space, and let the situation settle. It’s also easy for those who possess this communication style to shut others down and avoid confrontation. Collaborative is when the best solution to solving an issue is to talk about it, and exchange ideas before coming to a resolution. Those with a volatile communication style tend to be fighters, more passionate disputers. Volatile communication style prefers to give conflict an immediate resolution. “There’s nothing wrong with any of

Megan Foster and Trent Bates

those conflict styles. But if you are a mismatch with your romantic partner, it’s a big problem,” says Utzinger.

Learning about your partner’s communication style is important to know how to go about conflicts. Pushing your partner to communicate the way you want them to will only push them away. As a couple, figuring out what works best for your relationship is important.

Making it Work

Effort is universally recognized as a key factor that can impact a relationship, regardless of whether you believe in the 50/50 or 100/100 approach.

“Find someone that’s gonna make you laugh. Find something that’s going to be supportive of you,” says Annie See, who’s been married for 15 years to her husband, Michael See. “Find someone that you can actually grow with, not grow apart.”

Loving someone is easy, but making it work can be a challenge. Annie and Michael See currently work at Delta High School [Tri-Cities] but were long-distance for five years. During that time, Annie See lived in Tri-Cities, WA, while Michael See lived in Bozeman, MT. “It’s an eighthour drive. So taking all that stuff into consideration, the lesson I learned was to just simply cheer them [your partner] on, and be supportive, talk to him that open on his line of communication so that you could still be in that healthy relationship,” says Annie See.

Letting your partner know you’re there for them when you aren’t physically there helps create a sense of togetherness. You

want your partner to succeed. Learn how to support your partner and learn to be there for them.

This extends past long-distance relationships. Having a kid changes the dynamic.“Still that communication, especially when you start running on caffeine and sarcasm and lack of sleep,” says Annie See.

Relationships go outside of understanding and communication. Couples need to be aware of external factors.

Student Services Coordinator for the Assistant Professor in the Communications Department, Joshua Nelson-Ichido, and Asia University America Program, Mai Nelson-Ichido, have been in a relationship since 2006. Marrying in October 2009.

They met while Joshua was in Japan for a Japanese second language program. Living in different countries and places around the United States,

they’ve come to learn the impact of external factors. “The reality of things like finances, and location, and things like that,” says Joshua. “Being able to address those and acknowledge when they’re not working for the relationship.”

Relationionshops extend beyond the love aspect. It’s simple for couples to ignore these factors because they might not feel controllable. The importance of acknowledging when something isn’t working will help solve issues. Relationships require the occasional assessment.

Joshua Nelson-Ichido reflects on their time living in Michigan and how that impacted their relationship. “I think maybe if we had stayed there any longer in those long winters, probably would have caused a lot of turmoil, a lot more turmoil in our relationship and family structure.”

Always Learning

Utzinger encourages couples to learn about each other early in the relationship and seek counseling. “The odds are stacked against us. Because, like I said, people are coming in on the brink of divorce, oftentimes. And so sometimes it’s too late to undo all the damage that’s been done,” says Utzinger. Learning and fixing issues early on increases the chance of a successful relationship. Seeking help doesn’t necessarily mean you’re failing. The stigma of going to therapy because you’re failing typically leads to issues never truly being resolved; it leads to failure.“Usually, people don’t come into therapy unless they’ve been having trouble for like six years,” says Utzinger.

Having a relationship coach helps young and old couples navigate aspects of their relationship that they can explore. It prevents issues you may not catch yet and helps learn new communication styles. It ensures everyone is on the same page.

Every relationship is different. While some relationships require better communication, others may need to work on understanding outside factors. Regardless of the situation you and your partner are in, it’s about catering to what your relationship needs that will help it succeed.

READ PULSE

EMILY JONES

photos by Dylan Hanson and Jakob Burnham design by Rody Farr

RODY FARR

EVAN BROWN

EVAN COUCH

GABBY KUTCH

SUN’S OUT, GUNS OUT

design by Evan Brown photos by Dylan Hanson

MAKAYLA ZAYIC (LEFT ) AND NOAH WRIGHT (RIGHT)

JAKEHASSEBROCK

CWU STREETWEAR

photos by Jakob Burnham design by Makayla Zayic

Sundresses, Swim Trunks, Skirts, Sandals and Speedos. With the weather getting hotter, people are wearing less layers and dressing for the heat. Here is a look at some of the outfits CWU students are wearing around campus to make the long awaited sunshine.

Easy, Cheap Meals

Enhancing the Flavor

A big factor when it comes to recipes is finding the best seasonings and spices, something to give your food some flavor.

“Basic spices like salt, pepper, curry, ginger, cinnamon, red pepper flakes can help make bland dishes more exciting,” CWU Health and Science Professor Katy Williams explains. “Oil and vinegar can also be used in most cooking and makes a good last-minute salad dressing.”

Beyond seasonings, Williams points out foods like canned beans as good food to include in shopping lists. She explains that they are a good source of nutrients and can be used in a wide variety of dishes.

Ellensburg doesn’t have a variety of stores where you can find a number of ingredients and spices. According to Williams the best options are going to be Safeway, Fred Meyers and possibly the C-store in the SURC.

Building Your Meals

Once you find the right ingredients for your meal, try to find a base that can be paired with the main food item on your plate. Marissa Miles, registered and certified dietician, explains that no matter the dish, finding the base is the vital first step. For her, that includes choosing between rice and pasta

If you’re looking for a quick and easy recipe that fulfills your nutritional needs, CWU Diatetic Intern Brad Green shares a recipe and the ingredients for his Peanut Curry Ramen Noodle dish.

story by Tre Henderson and Isaiah Salevao

photos by Jakob Burnham design by Madilyn Larsen and Makayla Zayic

Whether it’s a quick stirfry or a simple sandwich, there are plenty of options for students who want to eat well without spending a lot of time or money. By prioritizing healthy eating habits, students can set themselves up for academic success and a lifetime of good health.

Peanut Curry Ramen

Noodle Recipe:

Brad Green, MS CWU Dietetic Intern

Ingredients

• Ramen noodle - 1 pack

• 2 C Water for boiling

• 1 Tbsp Peanut Butter

• 2 Tbsp Red Curry Paste (2 Tbsp curry powder)

• ½ cup frozen veg (whatever preference)

• ½ cup tofu (or other protein), diced large

• 1-2 Tbsp canola oil

• For stove (need one small sauce pot, one small frying pan)

Directions

• Boil water and cook noodles for 1-2 minutes until softened, pull out the noodles and set aside

• Add peanut butter and red curry paste (or 2 Tbsp curry powder) to water, simmer until thickened

• Cook frozen veg and protein in separate pan, once cooked (about 5 minutes) add in ramen noodles - stir fry for 1 minute

• Put veg/tofu into bowl and pour sauce over top

• Low-Sodium option: use zero-half the ramen seasoning packet with Peanut Curry sauce

To Cook or Not to Cook

Another option for quick and easy recipes is meal planning. According to Everydayhealth.com, meal planning is the process of building a weekly menu of meals that fulfill your nutritional needs. It is budget friendly, and can be very helpful for individuals who don’t have much time to cook multiple meals throughout their day.

Williams has done meal planning multiple times and expresses how helpful it was for her. She has some advice for those who are looking into meal planning.

“Whatever is your least busy day, put it on that day. I think it’s very easy to plan out, it doesn’t even need to be a whole week’s worth, we’ll just say it could be easily three to four days,” Miles says. “Two meals for three to four days, you can also do your snacks, plan out what you’re going to have.”

Cheap Meal Ideas

As people continue to lead busy lives, finding the time and energy to cook a wholesome meal can be challenging. However, there are many cheap and easy meal options that can help you stay on track with your health goals without breaking the bank.

Here are some cheap easy recipes that college students can cook everyday for a nice price:

• Ramen noodles with an egg, frozen vegetables, and a splash of soy sauce.

• Spaghetti with canned tomato sauce, garlic, and grated Parmesan cheese.

• Quesadillas made with tortillas, shredded cheese, and canned black beans.

• Grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup.

• Baked potatoes topped with shredded cheese, canned chili, or leftover chicken or ground beef.

• Peanut butter and jelly sandwich with an apple or banana on the side.

• Tuna salad sandwich with crackers and baby carrots.

These meals are affordable and can be made quickly and easily, perfect for college students who are short on time and money.

The key word there is time, college students are usually on a strict time schedule so they don’t have time for a lengthy meal prep session.

These meals are meant for on the go and can easily be stored in a package or container type to take with you. College students may feel like they don’t have time to make meals because of time constraints which isn’t healthy.

Eating a balanced, healthy diet ensures that our bodies get the nutrients they need to function properly.

For students who feel like eating healthy on a budget is too expensive, here are some great cheap recipes that are easy to make:

• Oatmeal with sliced bananas and cinnamon.

• Scrambled eggs with spinach and whole grain toast.

• Greek yogurt with berries and granola.

• Avocado toast with a hard-boiled egg.

• Whole wheat pita stuffed with hummus, cucumbers, and tomatoes.

• Black bean and corn salad with diced bell peppers and a lime vinaigrette.

“I always do oatmeal. And that is something that you can easily just throw in the microwave, two and a half minutes, and then you just throw whatever you want on top of it,” Marissa Miles says.

Eating as a college student is extremely important, the benefits are endless:

• Improved Mental Performance

• Better Physical Health

• Increased Energy Level

• Improved Mood

These are vital areas for students, especially when the amount of workload is heavy every week.

From school, work and personal life some people might just snack their way through life. With that you will have little to no energy to get through your day, causing everything to be affected in a negative manner.

College students don’t have to break the bank or sacrifice nutrition when it comes to mealtime. With a little creativity and some basic ingredients, it’s easy to make affordable, healthy meals that will fuel both the body and the mind.

“I always do oatmeal. And that is something that you can easily just throw in the microwave, two and a half minutes, and then you just throw whatever you want on top of it.”

-Marissa Miles

PLANTY OF OPTIONS

MOM’S BLACK BEAN CORN SALSA

INGREDIENTS

• 2 pounds of frozen corn

• 2 cans of black beans - drain and rinse

• 2 fresh tomatoes

• 1 bunch of cilantro

• 1 red onion - chopped

• 1 tablespoon of minced garlic

• 1/4 cup of lime juice

• 1 diced avocado

• 2 tablespoons of olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS:

Mix ingredients together in a bowl and serve with your favorite tortilla chips

(Recipe courtesy of Shannon Hassebrock)

MOM’S MEATLESS CHILI

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound of ground beef substitute (Shannon recommends Beyond Beef plant-based ground onion)

• Red bell pepper

• 1 can of tomato soup

story by Jake Hassebrock photos by Dylan Hanson design by Rody Farr

There are many reasons to choose a plant-based diet. You may focus on the environmental or health benefits of cutting out meat. Maybe meat just doesn’t taste good to you. Or maybe you can’t eat a cheeseburger without imagining the sad mooing of the cow who gave its life for your lunch. Whatever your reason for choosing to eat less meat, or cutting it out of your diet entirely, doing so can be a difficult change. Making the transition to meat-free eating can be especially hard if you’re like me and have a limited cooking ability. My solution for finding plant-based meals was to call up the best cooking experts I know: my mom and grandma. Here are some of their favorite plant-based dishes.

GRANDMA’S BROCCOLI CASSEROLE

INGREDIENTS

• 2 boxes chopped, frozen broccoli (or

4 heads of fresh broccoli) cooked

and drained

• 1 can of cream of mushroom soup

• 2 beaten eggs

1 cup of grated sharp cheddar cheese

1 scant (slightly less than) cup of Mayo (Lu uses ½ mayo, ½ sour cream)

2 tablespoons of minced onion 1/2 teaspoon of salt (Lucine uses

GRANDMA’S CORN CASSEROLE

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup of minced green chilis

• 1 medium onion

• 1/4 cup of butter

• 8 ounces of shredded sharp cheddar cheese

• 8 ounces of sour cream

• 2 eggs

• One 15 ounce can of corn with juice

• One 15 ounce can of creamed corn

• One small-sized box of Jiffy cornbread mix

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix all ingredients and place in a buttered casserole pan. Cover the top of the casserole with crushed Ritz crackers. Thinly slice butter and place it on top of the crackers, then lightly dust with paprika. Bake for 30 minutes, or until you can poke a knife into the casserole and pull it cleanly out.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter a glass casserole pan. Sauté pepper and onion in butter. In a separate bowl, mix eggs, both cans of corn, and the cornbread mix together. In the casserole pan, layer ingredients in this order: egg/corn mix on bottom, sautéd onions and peppers, sour cream, cheese on top. Bake for 30 minutes.

(Recipe courtesy of Lucine Lane)

Microwave Meals

story by Gabby

Kutch photos by Charis Jones design by Makayla Zayic

Mug Omelet

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs (egg substitutes or egg whites can also be used)

• 2-3 tbsp of milk

• Salt and pepper

• 1-2 tbsps of each and any cheese, vegetable, and/or pre-cooked meat you wish to incorporate

1. Mix the eggs and milk inside the mug, making sure it’s fully whisked before adding all of the mix-in ingredients

2. Cover the mug with a napkin or paper towel and microwave for 1 minute

3. Remove the mug from the microwave and check on the omelet’s cooking process

4. Microwave the omelet for an additional minute, dividing the cooking time into two 30-second intervals to ensure the eggs don’t overheat

5. Add in any extra mix-in ingredients you may have on top of the omelet while you wait for it to cool before eating

Are you in the mood for food but don’t want to get your pots and pans dirty? Tired of eating the same things over and over again but don’t have the skills, cookware or space to make something? Instead of spending a lot of money going out or using a food delivery app, try out these recipes for easy, quick and tasty meals you can make in a microwave. Whether you live on or off campus, you can enjoy these four simple and convenient dishes with just a little preparation and a push of a button.

Nuked Nachos

Ingredients:

• ⅓ - ½ cup of shredded cheddar cheese

• ⅓ - ½ cup of shredded Monterey jack cheese

• ½ avocado chopped (optional)

• Pickled Jalapeno (optional)

• Salsa (optional)

• Sour Cream (optional)

1. Take the tortilla chips and spread them out on a microwave-safe plate. Heat them up for 30 seconds, or long enough to warm/ toast them

2. Remove the chips from the microwave and add the two kinds of cheese, making sure to spread them evenly

3. Microwave the dish in 20-second intervals until the cheese is melted but not burned

4. Remove from the microwave and add toppings, we chose salsa, avocado and jalapenos, but feel free to customize your nachos the way you want

5. Microwave for another 15 seconds

6. Remove from the microwave, add the sour cream and eat immediately

Microwave Mac and Cheese

Ingredients:

• Large mug (recommended to hold at least 20 oz or 2.5 cups)

• ½ cup of small elbow macaroni

• ½ cup of water

• ½ cup of finely shredded cheddar cheese

• Salt and pepper

• Hot Sauce (optional)

1. Add water and macaroni to the mug. The macaroni should only fill up a third or at the most half of the mug

2. Microwave at full power for 1 minute. Remove from the microwave and stir, loosening any macaroni that may be stuck to the bottom

3. Microwave for an additional minute before removing and stirring again. Some water may overflow and spill out of the mug at this stage, so add a paper towel under the mug to catch any spillage.

4. A little spill is fine, but you may need to add water if the amount spilled is significant. The macaroni should be moist with almost all of the water gone.

5. Continue microwaving the macaroni for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between every interval. Repeat until there is no water left and the noodles are soft and moist. If the macaroni gets dry during the cooking process, add a tablespoon of water and continue microwaving in 30-second intervals.

6. Once the noodles are fully cooked, quickly add in the cheese and stir until it is completely melted and coats the macaroni

7. Add in extra cheese, salt, pepper or hot sauce if desired before eating immediately

Oreo Cake in a Cup

Ingredients:

• 4 Oreos

• ¼ tsp of baking powder

• 3 tbsp of milk

1. Use cooking spray on the inside of the mug to prevent the cake from sticking to the sides

2. Crush the four Oreos into fine crumbs, this can be done using a food processor/blender or by crushing them in a zip-loc bag

3. Add the crumbs, baking powder and milk into the mug and stir until the mixture is fully combined. Feel free to mix in broken Oreos, separate from the original four, into the batter for some texture

4. Cook in 30-second intervals, checking if the cake is fully baked or burning. Total cooking time should be around 1 minute 30 seconds but may vary depending on microwave wattage

5. Remove the mug from the microwave and let it cool for 1 minute. For even more Oreo flavor and texture, you can can add any extra crushed up cookies on top of the cake before enjoying

6. Remove from microwave and let it cool for 1 minute before enjoying

Sources:

https://www.macheesmo.com/how-to-make-microwave-nachos/ https://kirbiecravings.com/omelet-in-a-mug/ https://kirbiecravings.com/macaroni-and-cheese-in-a-mug/ https://onesweetappetite.com/oreo-mug-cake-recipe/

Is Social Media Becoming too Social?

Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok. Today these popular social media applications live upon millions of screens. These platforms fill the never-ending scroll that is overtaking electronic devices. Has our use of technology evolved too far beyond its intended purpose? What once were apps dedicated to communication and social interaction are now overtaken by trends, influencers and news. Is social media becoming too social?

The Rise of Social Media

Contrary to widespread belief, social media didn’t start with apps like Twitter or Facebook. “In a sense, social media began on May 24, 1844 with a series of electronic dots and dashes tapped out by hand on a telegraph machine,” says an article from Maryville University.

While social media has been present within society for over a century, it has evolved vastly through the decades. With technological advancement comes extended usage of these digital spaces. So, what has social media become in recent years? Is social media an endless

pit of information, an ever-evolving tool? Or has social media become an undefinable platform altogether?

The popular media apps today have expanded to every facet of society. What once were apps directed toward social interaction have strayed into the world of entertainment, news, dating and work. With new opportunities comes the potential for problems, but how is this true for social media?

Living in the Wake of the Digital Age

This ever-changing digital age has come with its changes, but many issues prevalent today started long ago.

Professor Natalie Fish, a lecturer of Child Development and Family Science at Central Washington University, shares her opinion. “Is social media becoming too informational? Well, I would say there’s lots of misinformation,” says Fish.

What now is referred to as “clickbait” can be seen in newspapers and magazines throughout the decades because it sells. Capturing an audience’s attention with shock, enticing them to read more and encouraging them to share, like and repost isn’t something new. Within social media today, information spreads faster and while this may present an issue within society, it wasn’t created by social media.

story

“The problems have always existed throughout the ages 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s. Here we are in the 2020s and these problems are still here,” says Mary Eberhardinger, a professor of Communication, Public Relations and Advertising at CWU. Issues present within society can be seen in cycles throughout history. Social media may be present during times of difficulty, but it isn’t at the core of these problems. “I don’t think it’s social media’s fault. I think it’s kind of low hanging fruit to blame. ‘It’s all Facebook’s fault. It’s all Twitter’s fault.’ As if Facebook has feelings and has dinner at night,” says Eberhardinger. Social media is a tool, but the actions taken on social media are up to the user. “We human beings have our hands on the technology,” says Eberhardinger “It’s up to us.”

At the Tips of Our Fingers

Through the internet’s advancements, the digital realm has expanded vastly, but is it just a common phrase that all the information is at the tips of our fingers through the internet? With the media becoming an ever-expanding realm of information, society’s means of access and usage are always expanding.

Experts are beginning to question if social media has become less social and more media. “We’re at an inflection point where it’s less about the connec-

by Megan Foster photos by Dylan Hanson design by Madilyn Larsen

Do you think social media is becoming too social?

How often do you use social media?

tions we’re making, and more about the content we’re creating,” says the Vice President of strategy at popular analytics platform Conviva, Nick Cicero, in an interview with Social Media Today.

Eberhardinger thinks differently; she references Marshall McLuhan, a communication theorist who wrote “Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man.” Media is an extension of oneself “Media and technology are creating opportunities where our body can’t physically be,” says Eberhardinger.

Social media provides users with a digital platform to extend their lives, which was extraordinarily prevalent during the COVID-19 lockdown. Behind closed doors, in confined rooms and scared of the surrounding environment social media gave its users digital offices, classrooms and social gathering spaces.

“As long as we keep using them as tools, I think we’re going to grow and evolve,” says Fish. Social media is the ultimate tool at societies disposal, aiding the fruition of an individual’s wants and needs. These virtual spaces cannot replace in-person interaction, Fish suggests that if society allowed for these tools to become substitutions, there may be difficulty. Social media offers an extension to its users in-person reality.

“Language creates reality. It doesn’t reflect. Language is constitutive to reality,” says Ederhardinger. She is referencing the principle of linguistics relativity or the Sapir Whorf hypothesis, which suggests that the language individuals exude, amplifies their reality. “The more we celebrate the relationship, or the marriage or the new job, or the baby being born or someone going in remission from can-

cer, the more the language surrounds these events, the more it makes it real,” says Eberhardinger.

So, has the internet really put all the information at the tips of our fingers? Perhaps it was in our hands all along.

Born Surfing the Web

Born into an ever-changing digital atmosphere, information cascading from every faucet, Generation Z and Generation Alpha have grown up with the media.

These new platforms have opened doors for many, influencers and digital creators flood the scene as they form careers for themselves using the tools of the digital age. Society has grown with the media, learning to adapt as it evolves.

These social media influencers and creators have opened doors. The industry has become a marketing tool: advertisements, collaborations and sponsorships have found their way into the content users consume.

Survival Guide to Living Digitally

Communication, entertainment and news cross lines within the realm of social media, closely intersecting with each other, yet vastly different in nature, intent and content. Where these lines blur, users must stay weary while navigating the online atmosphere.

With society merging lives on and offline, it’s important to safely and respectfully maneuver the digital realm.

Professor Natalie Fish, who teaches a romantic relationships and technology course, lends her knowledge. “Take your time, go slow and don’t rush into things,” says Fish “you don’t have to be

worried about every single person trying to scam you, but definitely use good judgment. Go with your gut.”

It’s easy for users to become depersonalized when interacting online. Without face to face contact, some struggle with social cues and etiquette more than others. “I really think the most important thing is just remembering there’s a person in the screen,” says Fish.

Social media is a part of society, but that doesn’t mean it is for everybody. Eberhardinger recalls times in her life when she has stepped back from social media, “There are times when I’ve been depressed, and I get off social media. I’m not feeling good about me. I’m not happy enough to share the flowers in my backyard or my dog.” It is important for users to remember to go at their pace, do what’s best for them. “I think it takes courage to show your face on Facebook. ‘Here I am, here I am world, this is me. Here’s where I live, here’s my dog, here’s my job,’ but you don’t have to share every single thing.” says Eberhardinger. Sharing can be intimidating, the internet is vast and not always friendly, so be kind to yourself and others.

Social media isn’t definable in nature, its means are infinite and immeasurable. It encapsulates virtual worlds and pours endless streams of entertainment and information. Its capabilities cannot be put in a box nor defined solely on its means of creation. As technology evolves, so does society. Trying to cap the potential of this multifaceted platform only deters evolution and growth. Social media has the power to do many things, but only from clicks behind the screen.

NICHE SPORTS

With the summer sun just around the corner and the sandy beaches calling your name, check out this list of three summertime games that are fun, friendly and guaranteed to bring out the best fun in the sun.

A FLIGHTLESS VOLLEYBALL

Spike Ball has similar rules to volleyball, except there are two main differences. First, there are only two members of each team. And second, the net is on the ground rather than in the air. With this being said, there are some important things to remember when getting a net and going out to play. Much like volleyball, you also only have three hits before you have to send it back to the other team. These three hits come in an alternating pattern between the two players, and the third hit must be into the net to give it back to your opponents.

Spike ball is an open game, which means that the ball can be played in any direction. As long as it hits the net before it hits the ground, it is in fair play.

As a final thing to remember, when hitting the ball into the net, it can only bounce once and a point is only scored when the ball hits the ground or a team touches the ball more than three times in a row.

CORNHOLE THE

LONG TOSS

This game is as easy as toss and count, but that is easier said than done. Placing the two boards 27 feet apart, you and your partner stand at opposite ends and proceed to take turns trying to throw your team’s bags on the opposite board while your opponent does the same thing.

Throws must take place behind the front of the board and are done in an alternating pattern. This is where the skill comes in because scoring is done by taking the bags that you threw and comparing them to the bags your opponent threw. For example, if I landed three bags on the board and my opponent landed two, then my team gets a point. Then my partner does the same thing.

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SPIKEBALL PICKLEBALL

There are holes in the boards and getting a bag in the hole will earn you three points. But be careful because if you go for the hole and knock a bag off you will lose that point. And if you happen to knock one of their bags into the hole then they get three points too. Games are played to 21 points.

WHAT’S UP IN THE KITCHEN

Pickleball has some similarities to tennis, however, there are some differences.To start off the game, the serving team must hit the ball from the baseline and do so in an underhand method. The ball must be hit past the kitchen area and bounce before the opposing team can play it back.

After the ball has bounced and the opposing team has returned it, the ball must bounce again before the serving team can hit it.

After this the ball is played in a similar way to tennis where teams take turns hitting it back and forth. Points are scored when the ball is either hit out of boundsor the ball hits the ground more than once. Keep in mind that only the serving team can score a point so if you aren’t serving, the ball will just go to you if you win the rally.

Games are played to 11 points and it is a win by two style of play, which means you have to have two more points than your opponent to win at 11 or beyond.

BOOTY BLASTERS

A few years ago, the way we wash our butts would probably have been deemed an inappropriate conversation topic in most scenarios. Over the past few years though, there’s a home gadget that has been popping up more and more in our culture, and it’s the bidet.

Americans have historically been skeptical about the device. Even now, to many people, the idea of a water cannon aimed at your nether-regions seems about as uncomfortable as publicly conversing about your derriere. Nevertheless, bidets have become more and more common in American restrooms. Here are some thoughts and questions that may address some of your bidet wonderings.

Bidet appreciation is not limited to the French, though. According to Smithsonian Magazine, bidets have been a requirement in bathrooms in Italy since 1975. Over in Asia, a 2018 survey shows that bidets are used in over 80% of Japanese homes.

“A Bi-What? That Word Can’t Be English”

The word for these undercarriage cleaners is, in fact, not English, but French. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the name of the device comes from the French word for a short horse, which probably refers to the way you squat and straddle a bidet to use it, similarly to the way you would ride a particularly small horse.

“That Seems Kinda Gross…”

As it turns out, bidets are nothing new, people have been using them for hundreds of years, just not in the U.S. Toiletpaperhistory.net says bidets have been around since the 17th century in France. Napoleon Bonaparte even had a silver bidet that he always traveled with.

Bidets are actually considered to be a more sanitary option than wiping with paper products. While toilet paper smears fecal matter around on your backside, bidets use water to wash and eliminate the poo particles. It’s like a shower for your bum.

“That’s Crazy, There’s No Way Anyone Would Use That”

story by Jake Hassebrock photos by Dylan Hanson design by Evan Brown

Strong in the way of fighting poo

And if the cleanliness of the water is your holdup, then worry not. Bidets draw water from the same clean water line as the toilet’s tank, not from the bowl of the toilet.

“But Is It a Pain In the Butt To Install?”

Many bidets available now are sold as attachments that install onto your existing toilet and require no additional plumbing, just a connection to your bathroom’s water supply. There are different kinds of bidets though, including fully portable bidets, which are basically water bottles with spray nozzles. These obviously require no installation at all.