Show: The Pio Radio Hour

Time: Sunday – 10 a.m.

Hosts: Anna Middleton and Andrew Schwartz

Teaming up with The Pioneer is the “The Pio Radio Show” during which first-year hosts Anna Middleton and Andrew Schwartz discuss and report on various news topics. Some of these topics come from stories from The Pioneer, and they are discussed amongst the hosts or guests on the show. The show has an array of segments that range from reading short stories or poems to interviewing people with unique stories. Inspired by their interests in NPR’s various programs like “Radiolab” and “This American Life”, they try to replicate that style of hosting in their show. Always looking for new stories, they encourage people to come out and have a friendly, brief interaction about any topic, whether it be about a local band, an opinion or even a simple interest that you would like to further explore.

Alongside the craze of the last week of class and the impending stress of finals, many students are committing every night this week to tech rehearsals for “Actually Just Kind of and Almost.” Last week, The Pioneer examined the structure of the show, and this week we spoke with students about the experience.

The performance will feature original movement-based works choreographed by Renée Archibald, Peter de Grasse, and guest artist David Thomson. The choreographers have created work that is multi-layered, de-centered, and sometimes quite funny, but it is the student dancers whose hard work and training will set the pieces in motion. Students in the show come from all backgrounds and represent a variety of experiences with dance.

Students were selected for both dancing and speaking roles in the performance through an audition process. Auditions were held back in September after an open call to all students in dance classes.

Meg Logue during a rehearsal for the show. Photo by Marra Clay.

For junior Meg Logue, this show will be her first dance performance experience. She is currently enrolled in de Grasse’s intermediate modern dance class. Logue started her dance training with beginning modern dance during her first year at Whitman. When Logue heard the general announcement for auditions, she was interested, but it took convincing from a roommate and fellow dancer before she signed up for the audition. She was asked to be a part of de Grasse’s piece. Logue is learning about the demands of dance performance through this show.

“Mostly in the performance aspect, it is kind of scary because I have never done that kind of thing. I think the other dancers and Peter have done a really good job of making people of all skill levels feel really comfortable and improved our skill level with this process,” Logue said.

As a part of the learning process, de Grasse has also been learning and aiming to gear the performance towards the dance skills of all the students, allowing room for creativity and mobility. Along with their individual performance goals, these dances are for the students gain experience on all levels.

“I enjoy our dance a lot because Peter choreographed the whole thing but he also has been morphing the dance the whole semester based on the people in the group. It’s been changing based on the dynamics between us and our various skill levels, so in that sense the dance feels really good for all of us because it is uniquely suited for the group,” Logue said.

Students have been rehearsing for the show since September. Rehearsals for dances show are unique. Instead of practicing lines, students learn or help develop choreography. The rehearsals also focused on building group dynamics.

“We would have exercises where we would be connecting with each other. So, all seven [of] us would be connected, making eye contact, and then go throughout the room, maintaining that connection. I think that has really helped us all together as a group to have this cohesive vibe, which has been fun to build,” Logue said.

While this is Logue’s first exposure to dance performance, other students auditioned with years of experience under their belts.

This is Logue’s time working with dancer performance. Photo by Marra Clay.

“I really love dance, I’ve been dancing my whole life, pretty much since I was four. Taking classes is great, but there is something about preparing for performances that is different. It’s a good distraction from school work, but a healthy one,” junior Emily Carrick said.

Carrick has been dancing on campus since her first year, taking as many classes as possible. She has witnessed changes in the dance program, as Renée Archibald was hired and as the program continues to expand. Both the expansion of the dance program and performance opportunities like this one have stoked Carrick’s interest in a dance career after college.

“I definitely want to keep dancing my whole life as long as I am physically able. I have been interested in dance therapy and it’s something I am looking into. Possibly after college, I can boost my dance skills so that I can go back to school to do dance therapy,” Carrick said.

“Actually Just Kind of and Almost” represents months of energy spent by students to make five pieces come alive. This weekend, join the theater and dance department at Harper Joy Theater.

Emily Carrick during the rehearsals. The show premiers this upcoming weekend. Photo by Marra Clay.

Today, Thursday, Dec. 3, students in Whitman’s opera class will be showcasing their talents. The showcase takes place at 7:30 p.m. in Chism Hall and is the culmination of a semester’s worth of work with Music Lecturer Dr. Monica Griffin Hunter’s class.

Opera is a rare form of music on campus, so both the performance and the class leading up to it offer unique opportunities for musically-inclined students.

“I am a music major and I want to pursue a career in music, and so having this music performance experience is very valuable. It is a lot of fun. I really enjoy it — the people are great, the music is great,” said sophomore soprano Olivia Coackley.

Olivia Coakley (2017), Jack Wheeler (2017), Caitlyn Yoshina (2015) rehearsing for the show. Photo by Marra Clay.

The performance will display scenes from eight different operas. Scenes are taken from several different operas, including “The Magic Flute,” “Don Giovanni,” “Cosi Fan Tutte,” “A Midsummer’s Night Dream” and “Die Fledermaus.” Musicians will also perform the famous duet from “Lakme.”

The performers have been practicing their roles in their respective scenes from the different operas since the start of this semester, beginning with auditions.

“There is an audition process for the course; selected students must also be enrolled in voice lessons,” said Griffin Hunter.

Practice was key in preparing for the showcase. Within three weeks of the start of fall semester, students were rehearsing their roles.

“We have been working on our opera scenes once a week for about three months now,” said junior tenor Nathanael Fleming.

Students are involved in the showcase for a variety of reasons. Some auditioned for the opportunity of gaining opera experience, while some students are trying something new and fun.

“Last year, I saw the opera scenes performance and it looked like so much fun and decided to be a part of it next year,” said Coackley.

Students in the showcase represent a range of experience levels, but all students have been practicing their performances together in class. Some students have sung in opera and understand the music and history, while some students are new to the performance.

“I’ve never sung an opera before and opera has never been my forte, but it is something I have wanted to grow at with my voice,” said Fleming. “Singing opera is different for me and a different mindset of how I let my voice ring throughout the hall and how I let it vibrate, which has been something new and cool for me to do.”

Brenna Feeney (2016) during a rehearsal. Photo by Marra Clay.

In addition to rehearsals, research is key to the opera class.

“The students study the opera, find out who their characters are and what happens to them throughout the entire opera. This is part of the class as well. They study their character and scenes, learn their vocal parts and put everything together with their scene partners and the music,” said Griffin Hunter.

The featured opera selections were chosen based on the students in the class. After auditions, Griffin Hunter spent time finding music appropriate for the group of students.

“It’s different. It depends on the students who audition for the class. You have to consider voice types and vocal qualities and abilities for both male and female roles; finding repertoire that fits all qualified individuals is a challenging part of the process,” said Griffin Hunter.

Like all live performances, the students are very excited about the opportunity to perform and present all their time and hard work that was put into the making of this performance.

“I’m excited to be putting on a good performance, showing off to people that opera is a different kind of performance, but there are people who can and are interested in operas,” said Fleming.

The showcase will employ lights, costumes, makeup and props. All of these requirements were facilitated with the help of the Department of Theatre.

“In the last few years, the opera performances have been one of the times that the theatre department and music department have worked together on something this big, but we hope to change that. I know we are looking to do a full opera soon in collaboration with the theatre department,” said Griffin Hunter.

Olive is located at 21 E Main Street in downtown Walla Walla. Photo by Nikki Antenucci.

November means many holidays are just around the corner, but it also means another year for Olive Marketplace and Cafe’s annual Open Kitchen: Holiday Cooking Series. The series includes five classes, ranging from setting the Thanksgiving table to Valentine’s Day desserts, and registration is almost full.

This is the second year they have offered the cooking series. To a great extent, the class is a response to patrons’ high level of interest in their food.

“We have been asked since Olive opened to offer such classes and frequently get requests for recipes,” said Tabitha Crenshaw, marketing manager and co-owner, in an email. “Soup recipes are definitely highest in demand.”

This year, Olive will be offering a class specifically on winter soups in response to this demand.

The cooking series offers customers both lessons on cooking as well as the chance to be immersed in Olive’s kitchen.

An quick look inside Olive’s kitchen. Photo by Nikki Antenucci.

“[The classes are held] in our … kitchen during the dinner hour so there is a lot to see, not only the cooking demo, but the action of a busy commercial kitchen,” said Crenshaw.

Due to the small space available in the kitchen, classes are limited to 15 participants. The benefits of the classes include a wine reception, step-by-step instructions, technique demonstrations, recipe cards and tasting.

Olive’s team of chefs teaches the classes. Each chef leads a class in their area of expertise. At Olive, the chefs are responsible for nearly everything they sell, and Crenshaw thinks this gives the chefs good teachable skills.

“Absolutely everything that can be made from scratch is, including all breads, doughs, jams, sauces, stock, etc,” she said. “So, our team of chefs are especially qualified to teach cooking as they know how to build on the basics.”

The series provides a great opportunity to gain tips from masterful chefs and pick up recipes from one of Walla Walla’s popular restaurants. Patrons really enjoy the opportunity.

“We have a few guests that enjoy the classes so much that they return for each one. It is a casual experience where you can sip wine while chatting with the chef,” says Crenshaw.

There are only four classes remaining for the Winter Cooking series, which will focus on different themes like Thanksgiving on Nov. 19, Apple Pies on Dec. 10, Christmas on Dec. 17 and Valentine’s Day on Feb. 11.

Two weeks ago a new band popped up on campus whose three performances all drew big crowds. The band, named Off the Record, is the two-piece project of senior Maya Abramson and Writing Support Specialist Jonas Myers, ’13.

Photo by Nikki Antenucci.

Off the Record sprung out of a previous campus band, Humans Being. When Humans Being disbanded in 2013 after the graduation of many members, Abramson and Myers were two of the only remaining members. They both enjoyed collaborating and felt productive together, so they decided to continue making music as a duo.

“We’re both multi-instrumentalists, so that gives us a flexibility and versatility which keeps things fresh. Maya is just plain fun to play with — her ear is astonishingly good. We tend to be very productive when we collaborate,” said Myers in an email.

Abramson has been playing violin since elementary school. She also dabbles with the guitar, but violin has always come naturally to her and she continues to practice and improve here at Whitman.

“My dad plays music and both of my brothers play music. I was never really athletic so I needed to figure out something else to do, and I asked my mom if I could play the violin when I was seven,” said Abramson.

Myers‘ instrumental talents include piano playing, which he started at age five, and bass playing, which he started at 12. He has picked up the guitar more recently. Myers loves jazz culture, but he is influenced by all kinds of music.

“I grew up in Seattle playing music with my dad and brother, as well as many friends, in all kinds of settings around Seattle. Music is in my blood and my soul,” said Myers.

Using their wide range of instrumental talents and their history of collaboration, Off the Record aims to produce music in the blues and folk realms. They also continue to add variation and are hoping to build their repertoire of songs.

“Maya and I are pretty folky, though we draw from a lot of traditions. We play some indie rock, some bluegrass, some country, etc. I think as we keep building up our repertoire, you’ll hear even more variety in our music. We are both voracious listeners,” said Myers.

Myers and Abramson play a mix of covers and original songs. Currently they do not have enough originals for a one-hour set, but they are writing more songs for upcoming performances. The two are looking forward to more performances at local venues.

“We played a gig at Sapolil [Cellars] in downtown and we’re hoping to play more there; they want us to play more there. With our old band, we used to play at Marcy’s a lot, so we’ll probably play there again and on top of that we are planning on recording an album in the spring,” said Abramson.

In addition to being a fun collaboration and a chance to write and perform, Off the Record is part of Abramson’s and Myers‘ future musical aspirations. Entering the music industry can be difficult, but this project is giving them experience and an idea of what a career in music would be like.

“I am hoping to perform after college but I know that is really hard, especially when I have to have a job that pays for rent and bills, and music isn’t really a high-paying job, but my ideal life would be to be paid while playing music,” said Abramson.

In terms of goals, Abramson and Myers hope to complete an album of original songs. The album is part of both the project of experiencing the musical world and of continuing to have fun and enjoy themselves.

“Looking ahead, I’m most excited for our album. Having a high-quality recording of original music will be a new milestone for me, and an important one at that, if I’m hoping to be a bona fide professional musician some day,” said Myers.

Senior theater majors prepare for their performance in Top Girls. Front row, from left: Kathryn Bogley ’15, Annie Szeliski ’15. Back row, from left: Sarah Ann Wollett ’15, Caroline Rensel ’15. Photo by Halley McCormick.

From Oct. 23-26, four senior theatre majors will showcase their senior projects in the production “Top Girls.” Sarah Ann Wollet, Caroline Rensel and Kathryn Bogley have been researching their roles and the play, while senior Anne Szeliski has been preparing as stage manager. Along with their theatre classes, the students will be using this experience to complete their performance requirement of the major.

Caryl Churchill wrote “Top Girls” in 1982. The play follows Marlene, a career-driven woman interested in women’s success in business. In May, each senior was informed which of the characters they would play in “Top Girls.”

Ever since they were given their roles, they have been extensively researching anything that would allow them to perform their best.

“I’ve been spending a lot of times with the script. It’s a really language-heavy play, so even the act of memorizing the language has been very difficult,” said Rensel. “I have been watching BBC and listening to a lot of things to try and get the British accent that we’re doing in the show.”

Each senior has been researching their characters, as well as the play and its historical context. This knowledge and preparation will help them successfully execute their projects.

“One neat part about my senior thesis is that I have also worked as the dramaturg [who is responsible for researching the show for the director and cast] for this show,” said Szeliski in an email. “‘Top Girls’ is an incredible show. Even though it was written in the 1980s, it focuses on issues that are still relevant today.”

Like many theatrical performances, “Top Girls” is about giving and taking. The cast give their best with the experience they have, and they take away more new knowledge about theatre.

“I’m really thrilled to work on this project because it’s a good encapsulation of a lot of the other shows I’ve worked on,” said Rensel. “[Previously] I worked on ‘Shooting Simone,’ which was about Simone de Beauvoir, who I played. That was all about feminism, and I learned about the origins of feminism … which I am using in this show.”

In addition to their role in the production, the seniors are required to write a paper and to complete an oral exam. These will act as a supplement to the play and their performance. The purpose of these additional works is to help the seniors articulate their process of researching and performing in the play.

“Now, [writing my thesis] is almost exciting because I love this whole process so much, and I love my characters,” said Bogley. “Thinking about what is my process and looking back at my rehearsal journals has been really interesting. I’ve learned a lot from it. I personally like the senior project for the performance.”

For the women, “Top Girls” is  a chance to show their friends, families and the community the commitment they put into their work. It will exhibit to the audience the unbounded knowledge they are able to acquire through this process.

“I’ve always struggled with how to define my job as a stage manager,” said Szeliski. “Through this process I’ve learned that my purpose is to see through the creative vision of the director and designers.”

On Oct. 5, artist John Powers will be coming to Whitman College. Powers will be on campus for one week showcasing an exhibit called “Operational” at the Stevens Gallery for one week. Powers will also be giving a lecture on Wednesday, Oct. 8 about his recent essay, “Star Wars: A New Heap.”

Instead of bringing pre-made art to display in the gallery, Powers will be constructing a three-dimensional sculpture made of plastic textured polyurethane module pieces in the gallery for the whole week. Part of the exhibition is that he will be disassembling and reassembling the modules throughout the week. This is typical of his futuristic style, but the dimension and performative aspect is new for the Stevens Gallery.

“Normally I work with student groups or individual students, and it’s normally two-dimensional work that we hang,” said junior and Gallery Intern Kyra Arnett. “I’ve done another show with a visiting artists but it was two-dimensional work. So this will be the first time we will have an installation in the gallery that will be three-dimensional.”

Powers is an artist with international reputation. His work focuses on the historical transition from modern to postmodern art. With an international reputation, the artist focuses on the movement from modern art to postmodern art. Most of his work is three-dimensional sculptures similar to the one he will be constructing on campus.

Midway through his weeklong exhibition, Powers will give a lecture on his essay “Star Wars: A New Heap.” The essay discusses art history research Powers has been doing for the past few years. The essay specifically comments on aesthetics as seen in scenes of science fiction films from the ‘70s and ‘80s, specifically in “Star Wars.”

The essay, published in online journal Triple Canopy, draws parallels with avant-garde art produced in the 1960s. Powers states that art has made its way into popular culture in science fiction films as artists, designers and directors of such films were influenced by the avant-garde art that was produced a decade prior to them.

Associate Professor of Art History and Visual Culture Studies Matt Reynolds is responsible for bringing Powers to campus. Reynolds assigned the essay as reading to students in his course Art after 1945. Powers will be giving his lecture to the class.

“I think his argument is very important, which is saying that there are a lot of overlap between these two realms — that there are a lot of connections between high culture and mass culture,” said Reynolds.

Reynolds brought Powers to campus through a mutual friend and local artist David Schulz.  Reynolds was interested in Powers after reading his essay.

“He is making interesting connections between the science fiction films and the phenomena of civilization and liberalism” said Reynolds. “He is trying to argue that there is a political dimension to the way in which science fiction films look in that period.”

This post has been updated to reflect the following correction: previously, the artist John Powers was referred to as “Justin.”

Calvin Atkins and Haley McLeod

Calvin Atkins ’13. Photos by Devika Doowa.

Thesis Title: Insulin Signaling in the Ketogenic Diet: An Exploration of the Role of Insulin in the Anticonvulsant Effects of the Ketogenic Diet

[Our thesis deals with] the influence of a high-fat diet on insulin receptor expression in key output regions of the hippocampus. [We] researched with Professor Leena Knight for two years analyzing the effect of the Ketogenic diet on insulin receptor expression with the brain. The Ketogenic diet is a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet that has been used to treat difficult cases of epilepsy for almost 100 years. Although the diet has been around for so long, no one knows how it works. We hypothesized that the diet’s efficacy is linked to insulin signaling. [We] decided to focus [our] analysis of insulin receptor expression on one particular brain region that is heavily implicated with seizure generation. If insulin is the link between the Ketogenic diet and its use as an anti-epileptic treatment, then we would expect some change in the expression of the insulin receptor in that brain region. We administered the Ketogenic diet to rats, then harvested and sectioned their brains … [we] found that administration of the Ketogenic diet results in decreased expression of the insulin receptor in the brain.

Rebecca Helgeson and Jazzmyne Ross

Rebecca Helgeson ’13

Thesis Title: Colorblind Racial Ideology and Responses to Racism in Public and Private Contexts: Type of Colorblind Ideology Matters

We partially replicated a previous study that looked at students’ public responses to race-themed parties. This study found that people who scored higher on colorblind ideology were more likely to not respond to the racism that they saw. We hypothesized that while this was likely, other factors led into it such as in what context you were asking them and what type of colorblind ideology people endorsed … a type that believes that racism doesn’t exist, and therefore doesn’t respond to the racism [or] a type that believes racism exists, but can’t talk about race. We thought that the first type wouldn’t respond to racism in private or public, but the second type would respond in private. We found a significant effect of context (so people were more likely to respond more positively in public than in private) and a marginally significant interaction between category of colorblindness and context (so people scored differently in public and private based on which category they were in).

It was pretty eye-opening seeing these results even at Whitman. I’m not sure if I will continue doing research about racial issues, but I hope that it both inspires me and maybe anyone else who reads it to keep in mind that speaking out about issues of inequality is really important. If we are teaching kids not to talk about race, this study kind of indicates that kids won’t speak up about racism when it really matters and with people that they should be able to talk to about it.

Eric Niehaus

Eric Niehaus ’13

Thesis Title:  A Twang and a Pluck: Southern Folk Music and American Identity

Folk music of the South, specifically old-time music in the Appalachian Mountains and slave songs in the cotton states, is a literature of place, a self-identification of southerners with the South as a region. It is the music of a defiant people. There has been a lot of research done on slave music, which comes from styles that originated in Africa, about how it is a social commentary on slavery. And so using that, I’m looking more at white backcountry music, which is derived from British styles, to see how that is also a form of self-identification, especially in response to Northern aggression during the Civil War and industrialization. Even though what I found was that the music is a base for everything that came afterwards, especially blues and jazz, all this distinctly American music came out of this coming together of British and African influences in America that had never happened before. Out of that came the first truly American art forms. Looking at that, you can see how in the South with slaves and poor white people together, they went on to influence everything after them. The music reflects the way we respond to government, our political and social philosophies, and our values. I did a lot of research into historical records of the old antebellum South by people like Frederick Law Olmstead and other travelers. The cornerstone was Alan Lomax, who was a folklorist working in the South. In addition to huge archives of music that are recorded, he also wrote several books and many books have been written about him. He definitely did the bulk of the work in terms of recording and documenting American folk music. So, everything that came after was largely thanks to him; he was where I started. I plan to take [what I learned] and keep playing the music and try to learn more and hopefully go spend more time in the South.

Custodians and Bon Appétit employees may be the most unrecognized workers at Whitman College. Members of the First Generation and Working Class Club are aware of this, and they’re working to change it.

To accomplish this goal, club members will be posting fliers with photos of workers and notes of thanks all around campus the night before May 1, which is International Workers’ Day. They hope that these fliers will remind students to remember the individuals who work hard to keep campus clean.

FGWC President sophomore Ashley Hansack was inspired to organize a May Day campaign by her memories of May Day celebrations in her hometown.

“One thing that they do in Los Angeles is having May Day, where many Hispanic people don’t go to work and protest downtown. We wanted to bring a sense of that to campus, but we didn’t want people to protest and [we wanted] to have more of a celebration. This year our focus was the Bon App employees and the custodians, and the May Day on campus is just to feature these workers and make Whitman students think about who cooks their meals and cleans after them more.”

Having grown up with a working class mother, Hansack felt it was important to acknowledge the individuals who have a huge impact on the community, yet still sometimes feel unappreciated.

“One inspiration that came to this campaign was my mother. She has been a cleaner for wealthy families in L.A. and I feel like she is really invisible, and I feel that it’s definitely prevalent to these workers on Whitman campus. This feels normal and we never think twice about who cleans.”

Campus workers noticed the fliers around campus and believed the gesture was thoughtful.

“It was very nice and I appreciated that. It lets us know that students see what it takes to keep this building clean and they appreciate it,” custodian Tamara Anderson said.

Club members hope to continue to celebrate May Day in the future. Sophomore FGWC member Eduardo Vazquez hopes that next year’s fliers will draw even more attention to campus employees.

“We will probably make flyers that are more eye-catching because it looked minimalistic. My goal is to make something that is more derivative and riveting. When she came up to me, I didn’t have much time to work on them and so next time I could do a lot better on making better fliers,” he said.

Instead of spending money on drinks this weekend, members of the Whitman Christian Fellowship (WCF) will be donating cash to help adolescent girls escape the sex trade.

Beta’s recycled alcohol bottles are now being used as a medium for raising money. Photos by Catie Bergman.

Members of the club have set a goal to raise $2,500 for a nonprofit organization called Speak Up for the Poor, which works to make it easier for adolescent girls to get out of the sex trade industry by providing them housing, education and access to legal advocates.

WCF members chose to support this organization after seeing Speak Up for the Poor advocate Dr. Gary VanderPol speak at a conference they attended from March 1 until March 3.

“We went to a Christian conference where we heard about the organization, and the overall theme of the conference was that money talks. We took it upon ourselves to raise money in order to help the organization. This specific organization reached out to us at the conference and they laid out their values and expressed their goals,” said senior WCF member Alejandro Fuentes Mena.

The club has taken a unique approach to reaching its goal. Along with tabling at Reid Campus Center during lunchtime, members have also stationed alcohol bottles and protein powder jugs in women’s fraternity sections and fraternity houses on campus.

“[We want to] help people understand that if we can spend a lot money on things that we don’t need, [that] are just for our own good and fun, why couldn’t we give a little bit of money to a worthy cause such as this?” Fuentes Mena said.

The purpose of these jugs and bottles is not to put individuals in a guilty situation. Rather, it is a method of helping remind people that there are actions that they can take to help a cause. Club members hope that the fundraiser will change the ways in which students think about their spending money.

“The way I think about it is that I don’t think buying protein shakes or alcohol is categorically bad, but I think that we should be thinking how much we spend [with] respect to justice issues. The same goes for other stuff such as going to the movies or buying expensive juices when a lot of people don’t have clean water to drink,” said senior WCF member Stan Walmer.

Senior WCF member Laura Holford agrees.

“I think it’s more of a concerted effort to raise awareness and challenge our own paradigms about how we use money. The coin isn’t thousands of dollars, but if we set these habits of caring for thinking globally and acting locally, then hopefully we can cultivate that into our lives,” she said.

Students in WCF took their own pledges to set an example for other participants in the fundraiser.

“As Whitman Christian Fellowship, we all took on different pledges or challenges, challenging our conception of money and how we use it,” Holford said. “For example, some people are keeping a track record of all the money they use on entertainment, and taking the total and giv[ing] that amount to the organization. We have a small group of students on campus who study scripture together and we do things as a group.”

Additionally, WCF members invited Speak Up for the Poor founder Troy Anderson to speak about the organization at Maxey Auditorium on April 22.

Club members hoped that the lecture and fundraiser gave students the chance to talk about injustice and to start steps toward fighting it.

“The truth is that $2,500 is probably not going to make a huge difference in the grand scheme of things. Firstly, it’s better than nothing, and secondly, it’s important for us to care anyway as college students, even if we don’t have a lot of resources. At least it gets the conversation started and causes us to think about the money we spend on ourselves,” said Holford.

Walmer and WCF members believe the fundraiser gives students the opportunity to put their theories into practice.

“I think that there is a disconnect for Whitties and the disconnect is in theoretical assent to fight injustices and actually doing it. I think actually doing something and not being frustrated by the terrible things in the world is done by taking small steps.”