Pizza Oven

One of probably a few more posts to come. My parents have decided to put in a sweet ass wood-fire pizza oven in the backyard. Should be done by summer. Thanks to help from friends, family and better weather, the project has really come together in the last few months. Here are some pictures I took over Easter weekend. 


                                                                                                                                  

      My dad and Francis

     Silky smooth

     Steve

     Spring

     Tom

     After a long, hard day of pouring concrete, still all smiles. 

Wedding Season!

I recently shot my first wedding with my good friend Chadd Tripp. It was a first for both of us and quite an experience. I did a lot of "research," (looked at a lot of wedding photography) and went into it not knowing what to expect. I have heard from other photographer friends that you either love it, or you hate it. The jury is still out for me. It was admittedly stressful, but I also had a great time taking pictures of an entirely new kind of event. Each new experience I have in photography is always a challenge, yet I take a way so much from it and have a better idea of how to approach the next event. Here are a few pictures from the day. Also, congratulations to Nicole and Ken! I had a great time and am glad they trusted Chadd and I enough in helping them remember such an important day in their lives.


                                                                                                               

Rumors Cabaret - The most DUIs in Whatcom County?

More drivers arrested on suspicion of driving impaired reported having their last drink at Rumors Cabaret than any other bar or nightclub in Whatcom County, according to a Cascade Radio Group report on April 8.

But there is a problem with those statistics, Bellingham DUI attorney Jonathan Rands said, they are taken out of context and overemphasized.

The Washington State Liquor Control Board recently released a list where 38 people who were arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in 2010 told police they had been drinking at Rumors.

Rumors was not aware of KGMI’s report and had received their own list of DUI incidents from the WSLCB.

“We had 28 DUI reports from the end of November 2009 to the beginning of December 2010,” said Marcus Schmick a manager at Rumors. “We haven’t had a ticket from the liquor control board in four to five years.”

            In the report Rumors received from the WSLCB, there are two instances of the same DUI arrest being written twice, and there is no way for Rumors to know if the people from the list were ever actually convicted of a DUI, Schmick said.

            Cascade Radio Group received the statistics for their report in an email, said Cascade Radio Group reporter Mike Curtiss, who wrote the April 8 report on Rumors.  

“It’s freedom of speech,” Schmick said in response to KGMI’s report. “It’s all fair game if you want to report that way.” 

            When a person is arrested on suspicion of DUI, officers often times ask the individual where they are coming from, and note it in the police report and recorded on their dash cams, Rands said.

If they are not asked at the scene of the arrest, suspects are given the option to participate in a pre-written Washington State Patrol DUI interview before they take a blood alcohol content test, he said.

            Question number 28 of the WSP DUI interview form asks, “Where were you drinking?”

            In Washington, every alcohol serving business has been is given a code in correspondence to their liquor license, Rands said. If an individual decides to participate in the interview and if the officer is inclined to look up and enter an establishment’s liquor code, then the businesses liquor code is in a database maintained by the WSP, he said.

            The WSLCB uses the database to compile a list of establishments where a DUI suspect received their last drink, Rands said.

            This is just one tool that WSLCB enforcement officers use to enforce Washington’s liquor laws, according to an official disclaimer of the list released by the WSLCB.

            “This information is hearsay and would not be admissible in court,” the disclaimer continued, some local law enforcement agencies report this information more consistently than others.

            “A good chunk happen from 3:30 a.m to 5:30 a.m.,” Schmick said.

Rumors closes its doors at 2:00 a.m. and stops serving alcohol at 1:30 a.m.

“You can make statistics say whatever you want,” Rands said. “The problem is that (DUIs) are a very easy crime to sensationalize.”

Rumors has a list of every cab service located in Bellingham at the entrance to the club and often have two to three cabs in sitting in front of the club, Schmick said. Rumors also has many non-alcoholic drink options for designated drivers and a water station for those who have had too many, he said.

            “A cab is 10 bucks,” Schmick said. “A DUI is ten thousand.”

            Rands, who has been practicing law for over nine years and has dealt with countless DUI cases, adamantly said he is in no way in support of over-consumption or getting behind the wheel after drinking.

            “It’s a serious issue,” Rands said. “But it never ceases to amaze me how skewed the statistics are.”

EASA

I haven't written much or blogged anything lately, but I figured I would add a few stories I have written these last few weeks that haven't been published. Let me know what you think.

                                                                                                                                    

On Wed. April 13 Western senior Douglas Pocock started a thread on Western’s forum, Viking Village, titled “White Student Association (WSA).”

Pocock said he was looking for interest in starting a club for students looking to explore and share their own European culture and lineage. What he got was a heated discussion and over 160 replies in less than three days.

Many forum users raised questions about racism and white privilege, while others showed support and considered the idea of a white student union on campus.

In fall of 2008, there were 2,482 students, or 18 percent of the total campus population, who identified as being a part of an ethnic minority group, according to Western’s website.

Pocock, who is of French and Austrian descent, said he considers genealogy and tradition an important part of his family’s way of life.

“I want to learn about my history, why am I a bad guy for that?” Pocock said.

While the club has not yet been created, Pocock said he wanted to see what type of support might be out there for a new club focusing primarily on European culture.

“I didn’t think so many people would be offended by this,” Pocock said. “Maybe it would have been better if I had named it a genealogy club.”

Pocock decided to rename the WSA the European American Student Association after reading the strong reactions and criticism of the original thread.

The majority of the problem came from the original name of the club, said Western senior Shams Gebre. Gebre is a regular participant in the African Caribbean Club and also attends the Latino Student Union and the Black Student Union.

“It’s kind of weird,” Gebre said of the idea of a European Student Club on campus. “Any student club is great, but in context of the original name of the club, it didn’t sound right.”

The intent of the group was lost behind the original name of the club, said Gebre.

“Whether people like or not, when white is used like this, it comes with a negative connotation,” he said.

Gebre wasn’t the only one who was concerned about the original name.

 Vice-president for diversity, Bernard Ikegwuoh, worried about the intent of a club with the name White Student Association. 

“With a group like this you must look at the intent for starting it,” Ikegwuoh said. “The intent must be clear and visible.”

Both Ikegwuoh and Gebre thought the club should be given an equal opportunity to be part of campus life.

“The constitution of the club would have to be clearly written to include everyone,” Gebre said. “If it alienated people it wouldn’t work.”

Ikegwuoh said he agreed adding it is important for everyone to understand each other’s perspectives and cultures.

“I caution people from using this situation as an excuse to divide a community,” Ikegwuoh said. “I want people to start having a respectful dialogue; these types of discussions are good for learning about one another.”

If EASA became a reality typical meetings would include “random food Friday’s or ethnic dances on Thursdays,” Pocock said.  

He said he hopes the group can provide people of European descent with an opportunity to reclaim a culture beyond that of white capitalist America.

“I have received support in emails and also from some faculty,” he said.

Whether or not the group will became a reality is still to be seen, Pocock said.

Bongs away: Dorm parties and their consequences

A gas-mask bong sat on a cluttered dorm room table next to empty beer cans, a half-gallon of tequila and a two-foot tall, red hookah. The overwhelming smell of weed and alcohol filled the air as a dub-step beat pulsated in the background over deafening laughter.

After the week back at school, a group of Western students got together in the seventh stack of Ridgeway Gamma to pre-funk for a friend’s birthday party hosted off-campus.

For some Western students living in the dorms, partying can be just another carefree Saturday night. But for others, the night could end in a written citation from a resident adviser and a meeting with the local resident director.

“It sucks,” Western freshman Nikki Bond said. “It’s not horrible because you know you’re not getting reported to the police, but it still sucks.”

Bond was written up last fall. Two weeks after the incident she received an email from her resident director informing her they had to meet to talk. She then had to attend a $100 class with Alcohol and other Drug Consultation and Assessment Services.

The service's mission statement, according to their website, is to assist students in making its own informed choices about alcohol, tobacco and other drug use.

“The dorms are more strict than living at home with my parents,” Bond said.

In 2009, RAs at Western wrote up 473 on-campus discipline referrals for drug and alcohol related violations. About 430 were from residence halls, according to the latest Clery Report, a publication of annual crime statistics.

For students who are written up on a dorm violation, the severity of punishment is on a case-by-case basis, said John Purdie, associate director of Residence Life. Students with first time referrals generally must complete two classes with ADCAS or attend a marijuana risk reduction group.

Western’s disciplinary system puts emphasis on the education of the individual and personal responsibility, Purdie said.

“When a student must have a conduct meeting, it always begins on an educational level,” he said. “If the problem persists, it does have to become more punitive.”

Western student Jeremy Jensen said he knows the dorm disciplinary system well. Last fall, an RA accused Jensen and his roommate of selling marijuana in Buchanan Towers. They were immediately referred to Residence Life administrators.

“It was the first time we were disciplined­ — and all from hearsay,” Jensen said.

One week before the end of fall quarter, Residence Life administrators said Jensen and his roommate, John Ness, were guilty of selling marijuana. They were given a notice of eviction to be carried out over winter break. They appealed the decision and were happy when they were merely reassigned to the Ridgeway dorms, Jensen said.

“The system does have checks and balances,” Purdie said. “There is always multiple staff involved in every decision.”

When students choose to attend Western, they sign an agreement to follow the Student Rights and Responsibilities Code.

When they choose to live in the dorms, Purdie said they agree to the dorms conduct policies and procedures, and each one of us live under Washington state and federal law.

Typically, cases are not passed beyond residence halls to the Western or state judiciary system, but it depends on the severity of the allegations made, Purdie said.

University judicial officer Michael Schardein often handles the most severe cases at Western.

“We want (students) to realize their responsibility to Western,” Schardein said. “Every student is special and every case is serious.”

The majority of students who go through the process of appeals are rarely appealing allegations but rather the severity of the sanctions, said Shaw Gynan a Western professor of Spanish and linguistics.

Gynan serves as a faculty member on the student judicial appeal board.

“It’s not court, and we don’t deal with the same evidentiary that the justice system does,” Gynan said.

He said he is often saddened by a lot of the cases that come through the appeal board.

“Many of these cases are unfortunate and we deal with individuals with deeply disturbed backgrounds who need help dealing with these problems,” Gynan said. “We strive to maintain an environment conducive, not threatening, to the students as a whole.”

Jensen said he still disagrees with the strategies used by residence halls and university disciplinary systems.

“They think you’re a distressed individual that they need to reconstruct,” Jensen said.

In the end, all students living in residence halls have agreed to certain policies and procedures. Regardless of where ones morals lie, Purdie said the rules must be followed.

“Many of student’s real disagreements don’t come from the fact that a policy was broken,” Purdie said. “But whether what they did was right or wrong.”

                                                                                                          

I recently wrote this article for the Western Front. It seemed like I worked way too long on this piece, but I am really happy with the end result. It went to press Friday, April 8, 2011.

The Western Front

    

Men's golf team finishes strong in the desert

Here is a quick story I wrote for the Western Front published last Friday, April 1, 2011. It is about golf, which I know nothing about, but it was my first article published this quarter. I can already tell that writing for the Front this quarter is going to be a blast. More pictures/articles to come soon. David




                                                                                                                        


The Western men’s golf team finished fourth overall at the Grand Canyon University Men's Golf Spring Invitational Tournament held on March 28 and 29.


Western, currently ranked No. 2 in the latest Division II Golf Coaches Association of America Golf World/NIKE Golf Top 25, posted rounds of 297, 294, and 290 for a two day total of 881.

“Overall, it was a disappointing trip for us,” Western senior Xavier Dailly said. “But in the last few rounds we played well and we have some stuff to build on.”


Tournament host Grand Canyon University, which trailed by one stroke after two rounds, finished strong carding an even par round of 288 and won the tournament with a final score of seven over par, 871.


No. 1-ranked Chico State placed second posting a score of 879 and was followed closely by Dixie State, which trailed by one stroke.


Western sophomore Dylan Goodwin and Dailly placed among the top 10 in medalist play. Goodwin tied for sixth after shooting 218 with a final round score of 75 and Dailly tied for ninth, carding 219 and a final round of 71.


Two Vikings, sophomore Sandy Vaughn and junior Nick Varelia, each scored 224, and junior Brian Barhanovich tied for 34th at 227.


"We played better today and it was very close to a very good round," head coach Steve Card said in a press release. "Overall, we played less than our best, but it's good for us to get this wake up call now and be able to work on our game in preparation for the postseason."


It was the Vikings' second straight fourth-place finish after having won four and tied for second in their other five Division II tournaments this season.


The Vikings were unable to repeat the success they had in Arizona in the fall. The team placed first in the Grand Canyon Fall Invitational, held at the same golf course last October.


The Western men will have a week off from competition before participating in the final regular-season tournament, the Cal State Stanislaus Invitational on April 11 and 12 in Turlock, Calif. The Vikings will then have another week to prepare before the GNAC championships are held at the Coeur d’Alene Resort in Idaho.


“The rankings are fun to look at but they don’t matter in regionals, everybody tees off dead even,” Dailly said. “We just need to get out of this slump and get back to winning golf tournaments.”

http://westernfrontonline.net/sports/13236-mens-golf-team-finishes-strong-in-the-desert

Cheerleading

Well photojournalism 305 finally comes to a close. 10 weeks and 7000 pictures later, I have had a great time. This class introduced me to a completely different side of photography and one in which I hope to pursue in the future. Our final assignment asked us to use six pictures to tell a story, it involved three different shoots and behind the scenes of the girls locker room.  The six pictures captioned below are the assignment I turned in and the ones without captions are more pictures from my take. It was difficult deciding on which six would make the story, but in the end I am happy how it came out. I want to say thank you to Lane McCormick and the WWU cheerleading squad for helping me make this project happen.

For now there will be no more weekly assignments, but the blog will continue. I am joining the Western Front next quarter as a reporter and I plan on continuing to shoot personal adventures, events and news throughout. Hope you enjoy!

                                                             

     The Western Washington University cheer squad executes a toss during a halftime performance on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2011. “I always get really nervous leading up to a big performance,” said squad co-captain Jodi “Lane” McCormick, 22. McCormick has been a cheerleader for three years and a co-captain for one. The WWU cheer squad is a student run activity that aims to “promote and support athletics in Western’s community,” said McCormick. “Cheer is like a family, we are a really close-knit group.”

      Members of the Western Washington University cheer squad watch a video of a new routine they will perform at an upcoming game. The cheer squad meets every week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at seven in the morning.  During practice the squad works on cheer routines, tosses, and will regularly videotape performances to correct missed or late moves. “There is a level of personal responsibility and accountability for yourself,” said McCormick speaking about cheer practice. “The girls realize the time commitment [to cheer], they want to be here, they want to work hard.” said McCormick. 

    

      Two members of the Western Washington University cheer squad put on make-up before a televised basketball game on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2011. For important games, the cheer squad meets hours before game time to practice routines, dress up, and mentally prepare.

     

     WWU cheerleader Jodi “Lane” McCormick, 22, smiles in pre-game huddle before a televised basketball game versus Central Washington on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2011. “We are really just a bunch of goofballs,” said McCormick.

     

     WWU cheerleading co-captain Jodi “Lane” McCormick, 22, studies geology with a tutor.  “We are all really nerdy,” said McCormick. “School comes first, cheer second.” While cheerleading is not bound to NCCA athletic regulations, the cheer squad takes on a personal code of conduct and abides by the Western Washington Athletic Department’s regulations for student athletes.

      A WWU cheerleader cheers with “spirit fingers” during a foul shot on Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011. The cheer squad will be holding tryouts for new members in mid-April. “Last year we had about 50 girls tryout,” said co-captain Jodi “Lane” McCormick. “We have girls tryout from all backgrounds, some with gymnastics and cheer backgrounds, others come straight from high school.” Every year is a clean slate for the cheer squad, “nobody is guaranteed a spot,” said McCormick.

                                                                     

The Token Black Guy

Our assignment this week was to create a photo illustration that could be used for a possible news story. It was initially difficult for me to come up with possible illustrations for a story that didn't exist and was in the realm of possibility to construct. Eventually, I decided I wanted to illustrate the experience of my roommate, Jason, as a black man living and socializing in a predominately white community. I rented some lights, invited some friends over and had my first photo shoot in a makeshift studio in our cleared out kitchen. On a broader scale, this idea and project was intended to be a social commentary of sorts on the continued existence of racism in communities that pride themselves on being tolerant to all. In the end it turned into more of the telling of one persons life and my illustration became more of a portrait. This is a different kind of photography from any other photojournalism I have done and it was one that clearly takes a refined skill. In the future I would love to have more "studio" shoots and work on this kind of creational observation. This is where pictures become art and a field of photography in which, I hope to improve at over time. 

For now though I am happy with the experience and pleased with some of the shots I got. A big thanks to everyone who helped: Jason Fitz, Leanne Sebren, Forrest Gilchrist, Michelle Guy, Griffin Day, Jimmy Kosta, Josh Langland and Chadd Tripp. 

                                                                                                                       

Jason Fitz, 22, has long been one of the only black guys around. Born in Recife, Brazil and adopted at the age of nine months, Fitz was brought to America and grew up on Whidbey Island in Washington’s Puget Sound.

Located in Island County, Whidbey Island is a predominately white community. Of Island County’s 77,000 residents, only 13.73% classified themselves as minorities, and only 1.6% of those minorities identified as Black or African American, according to data from the 2005 American Community Survey.

The “token black guy,” more generally referred to as tokenism (the inclusion of ethnicity or gender diversity where it may not be normally seen) has long been a practice of the American media and with good reason, to include a break from a predominately white, all male, all female etc., cast.  Interestingly enough, most of us have known that “token” person.

For the majority of the 98.4% whites on Island County, little to no attention is paid to this interesting social construction and it may only exist as a passing observation or joke between friends, however, is the experience the same for that one, “token,” person?

“I struggled with it more in early middle school when everyone is trying to fit in and be normal,” said Fitz. “ It was kind of hard when you’re the only black kid.”

“The biggest times I really felt racism growing up on the Island was when I would meet parents of girlfriends,” he said. “But then again, maybe that wasn’t the race thing.”

Nowadays, being one of the only black guys around rarely crosses Fitz’s mind, yet there are still times when he is bothered by what can clearly be perceived as under the radar racism.

“Sometimes when I go to parties and I am clearly the only black person there, I just get vibes from people.”

“I have had people make comments that only I will hear,” he said. “ Sometimes I’ll be sitting in class as the only black guy, and a professor will say something about race and everyone will just turn their heads and give me the stank eye; Yup, hi, I am the only black guy.”

As Americans, many of us tend to think that racism, gender, sexual, religious and other types of discriminations are attitudes of the past, long overcome by the millions who fought for equal rights and fair treatment; however, this is not the case.

For many, there will always be that one token friend - girl, guy, Black, White, Asian, gay, straight, Jewish, or Catholic; they don’t go away. In a very real sense, this is good for us.  We don’t need to be more sensitive or watch out for them, we don’t need to feel bad or act differently around them, we don’t need to be anything more than we already are – a friend.

                                                                                                                        

Quickie Assignment

I went to class yesterday only to be surprised with an impromptu assignment. We had an hour to take a stand alone photo and turn it in for a mini in-class contest. I took a few photos that I was really happy with, but unfortunately I didn't turn it in a photo on time. Still a good time however, and still worth a quick posting.

                                                                                                         

    Western Washington University senior Brianne King, 21, climbs the rock wall in Wade King Recreation Center. “I usually climb two to three times a week,” said King. “I have been working on some new moves.”