February 3, 2012

The Pioneer Log Features

Campus Legends

e Seagull

Club of the Week: Womyns Center

BY ALIX FINNEGAN
Staff Writer

BY LAURA BLUM
Staff Writer

We all know him. Hes something of a campus celebrity. Hes a loner, never seen among friends and rarely spotted at parties, but somehow he stands out. Is it his sleek white and black feathers? His endearing yellow beak? e way he waits patiently outside the Bon at lunch, hoping for a snack? Lewis & Clarks very own resident seagull has been around for years, and yet nobody seems to know exactly where he came from or why he remains. Its unclear where he roosts at night, but in the daytime he can be seen perched faithfully outside the northfacing Bon windows. Reports of his presence go back several years. A quick inquiry into common bird species of Oregon reveals that our feathered comrade is most likely a Western gull, or Larus occidentalis. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Western gulls are rarely found far from the ocean and almost always travel in large ocks, making our seagulls presence even more bizarre. e gull is known by many names: Pascal, Bill, Tessa, eodore. Its origin is unknown, and the exact reason for its behavior is disputed. Says Ryan Morrow (12), I heard

that it sits there because a Bon employee used to feed it years ago, and it still remembers. An anonymous source also reported that the gull was trained by the Forest RAs to tap on the window with its beak to receive food. Students opinions of the seagull range from plain disinterest to genuine fondness. Forrest Penny-Brown (15) says that he rst met the seagull while eating break-

If youve wandered through the halls of Templeton on a Wednesday afternoon, chances are youve passed a Womyns Center meeting in progress. Located right next to the Trail Room and around the corner from the ATMs, its near impossible to ignore the group of members crammed onto couches, kneeling on the oor and spilling out into the hallway, or their infectious energy, enthusiasm and boundless ideas. e group, which meets every Wednesday at 3 p.m., kicked o the rst meeting of the semester with a combination of discussion and planning. Led by one of the coordinators, Tyler Rizzo (14), those present rst went over several events planned for this semester. Included topics were the forming of a planning committee for Take

Back the Night (a late April event that focuses on sexual assault awareness), discussion of an all-female music festival to bene t Rock Camp for Girls and progress on the logistics for the upcoming Vagina Monologues, to be held Feb. 17. Next, members discussed ideas for events, trips and other plans. A group organized to take a trip downtown to see a free screening at the Elizabeth Leach Gallery of Lynn Hershman Leesons lm, Women Art Revolution. Ideas for a weekly reading discussion group, a sharing activity to celebrate female role models and mentors and starting a womens group at Operation Nightwatch were also discussed, as well as ways to make the Womyns Center more of a safe space and ways to make it more accessible to all on campus. To get involved or nd out more about the Womyns Center, email womynctr@lclark.edu.

e Bins: A tactile treasure chest

CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE e piece shares the house with another magnum opus that is whimsical, yet somewhat shadya Darth Vader helmet, which sits conspicuously in the living room of my new house, sometimes on the stereo, often on the head of a visitor. Do they realize just how shady it is? at it has never been washed and the inside is probably caked in the warm, germy, after-breath of many a Darth Vader impersonator? Probably not, because the rare awesomeness of a Darth Vader helmet is so overpowering that they forget to be creeped out. As cool and whimsical as the Bins are, they are also creepy. e rst time my friend Danielle went to the Bins she was asked out by a man she described as old, fat, and creepy as shit. Her housemate Kate adds that another facet of the Bins creepiness is the fact that they sell foodand underwear. Another piece of whimsy found at the Bins is a piece of art hanging at my friend Zoes house. From within a braided gold frame explodes an onslaught of fuzzy purple feathers; it can most simply be described as a framed feather boa. Her housemate Curtis describes the piece as adding to the sassy, psychedelic atmosphere of the entire house, and that it gives the otherwise lackluster hallway an attitude of a powerful nature. Like the Bins itself, the piece is unique, confusing, and fun to explore with your eyes, hands, and an open mind.

ILLUSTRATION BY SAMANTHA SARVET

fast in the Bon, and the two became fast friends. It looked lonely and hungry, so I started giving it food. And I grew up near the ocean, so I gured, its far from the sea and so am I. Western gulls typically live for 15 years, but some have been known to reach age 25. Whether you love him or hate him, as long as there are food scraps, you can bet that our webfooted friend is here to stay.

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Shadow your tutor day

High school students partner up with LC undergraduates to scope out life on the Hill
BY DARYA WATNICK
Editor-in-Chief

Using tools commonly found in any kitchen, the high school student, with the help of his college mentor extracts DNA from peas. is is probably the rst time that the student has done an experiment like this because his school is not able to provide these resources. Promoting access to science and math, through discussions and activities, for high schools students from typically underrepresented backgrounds is one of the goals of the Student Outreach Leadership Team (SOLT) led by undergraduate students. SOLT tutors, typically math and science majors, are matched with partner schools in the Portland area based on their expertise and the needs of the diverse and under represented school populations. e tutors from Lewis & Clark College go to the schools once a week and have complete ownership over the program. ey choose activities and discussion topics and act as resources for homework and college applications, said HHMI SOLT Assistant Coordinator Andrew Wood (11). In 2008, LC got a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), a portion of which goes to the SOLT tutoring program. Sta identify students, usually between ve and 10 from each school, who

they feel would bene t from this partnership. Teams of three students from LC then spend a year mentoring and tutoring the high schoolers. Its di erent from other programs because we throw a wide net and give all students an opportunity to participate and not just the super driven ones, said Wood. In the spring semester, the mentors help their students apply for summer internships through the HHMI Collaborative Research Teams (CRT). In CRT, a high school or community college student is paired with an undergraduate and a professor to do an eight-week research project at either LC or OHSU. Often times this ends up being the students rst exposure to a real job with expectations, said Wood. One of SOLTs events in the spring is Shadow Your Tutor Day, this year on Feb. 6. is exposes the 25-30 students to what college has to o er by allowing the students to sit in on classes, meet faculty, and visit labs, among other things. We will be taking them to Microbiology class, Metabolic Biochemistry class, to the observatory, to labs and meetings with faculty. ey will also be eating lunch at the Bonfor some reason, for high school students, this is their favorite part, said Wood.