Leaning back in his swivel chair, hands clasped over his stomach, Associate Professor of English Irvin “Hash” Hashimoto sits calmly in an office that looks like it was torn apart by a natural disaster. This is because Hashimoto, 68, is retiring, and packing up all of the belongings he has accumulated after working at Whitman for 30 years. There are stacks of books and papers strewn about, as one would expect from an English professor. However, one can also find a banjo, a mountain bike, a log and a Frisbee. Hashimoto is certainly a unique professor and person, one that Whitman will miss dearly.

“He has this delightful quirkiness about him.”

There is very little about Hashimoto’s teaching style that one would consider conventional.

“The first day of class, he threw bouncy balls all over the classroom. He was trying to give them to people, but it turns out people aren’t very good at catching bouncy balls,” said junior Nathan Sany, who is currently in Hashimoto’s expository writing class.

Sany also has a gold bookend in the shape of a duck head that he got from Hashimoto.

Associate Professor of English and General Studies Sharon Alker once sat in on his class and he taught an entire class on the semicolon.

“By the time I got out of there, I was passionate about the semicolon,” she said.

Via email, junior John Masla recalls “writing about Apple Pie recipes” and “bartering for a toy whistle” among the more unusual moments in Hashimoto’s class.

“He’s really original and creative,” said Alker. “He has this delightful quirkiness about him while bringing such academic rigor.”

This is a sentiment echoed almost verbatim by fellow Professor of English Roberta Davidson.

“I think that for Hash, the line between expository and creative writing doesn’t exist. He sees that all writing has a creative component, and all teaching has a creative component as well,” she said.

Seeing the world

After this laundry list of anecdotes and quotes, Hashimoto sounds like an eccentric genius, and he may be; he has a rare ability to combine creativity and substance. Here’s another important duality with Hash: He is both very successful at what he does and very humble. He has won a number of awards, including the 1986 Burlington Northern Award for Faculty Achievement, but talking to him, you would never know.

“He is the most modest person I know,” said Alker. “I think he is one of the most accomplished and modest people I have ever met. And that is quite the remarkable combination.”

This is very apparent when talking to Hashimoto, who is nothing like the bombastic presence one might expect after hearing of his classroom exploits. Reclining in his chair, he gives quiet, thoughtful answers often punctuated with a quick laugh that sounds like a cough. After teaching at Northern Colorado Laboratory School, Idaho State University and University of Michigan, Hash came to Whitman in 1983, where he has taught and directed the Writing Center.

“I like the students here,” said Hashimoto. “And I like the freedom that Whitman gave me to do the things I wanted to do here.”

“I have a lot of fun. I like to challenge people to do things better, to think in ways that they aren’t comfortable thinking,” said Hashimoto when asked about his unique teaching approach.

This concept of challenging students and getting them out of their comfort zones is the reason Hashimoto does things like give seemingly random essay prompts, such as on apple pie recipes.

“It’s easy to write about something you know, rather than something you have to go out and learn about, explore and think about. I want to make writing a more active endeavor than just thinking about what you’d say,” he explained.

This is because Hashimoto sees his writing courses as more than just about becoming a better writer. Most of his students are not English majors, but the class is valuable in a broader sense.

“It’s about seeing the world better and seeing issues. I think writing courses are about that, working on what they see and what they think about,” he said.

Sany, an anthropology major, sees how Hashimoto’s teaching has extended beyond his class.

“I’m more in touch with my writing. I’ve really fine-tuned my skills and how my prose flows, but it has also helped reading articles for anthropology. It’s easier to break down how different genres work and critique what the authors are saying,” he said.

Hashimoto is certainly teaching writing, but more than that, he is teaching life skills and the ability for his students to develop new perspectives. In this way, Hashimoto is the liberal arts ideal; he is helping his students become well-rounded individuals through his English classes.

Alker remembered a time in which she asked Hashimoto for advice on what she should look for in hiring a new English professor for the department.

He said simply, “They need to know how to fish.”

What he meant was that the professor needed to have skills other than writing to be an interesting teacher. Hashimoto sees writing in a holistic manner: The other aspects of one’s life will guide the way one writes.

“I think that to be a good writer, you have to be an interesting person,” Hashimoto said.

Mastery

Talking to Hashimoto about his banjo playing, he said, “Mastery is not just about how much you practice, but it’s about what you do and how you live, what you see. It all affects the way you become better.”

While he was talking about playing the banjo, Hashimoto could have easily been talking about any craft. By his own standards, Hashimoto has achieved mastery of his own craft: teaching. He is interesting and has an original way of seeing the world that challenges his students. Perhaps this mastery is why he sounds so at ease with retiring and moving on to the next phase in his life. It is also probably why when Alker and Davidson were asked about replacing Hashimoto, they both quickly replied that he is irreplaceable.

Hashimoto wants to continue teaching in some capacity and is looking forward to having more time to play banjo, travel with his wife Marianne, visit his children and grandchildren and tend to his yard at his home in Milton-Freewater.

“I want more time to sit in my backyard and watch the things grow,” he said.

After a career of helping students grow in unique and exciting ways, this seems to be the perfect picture of Hashimoto in retirement: leaning back in his chair, hands clasped over his stomach, watching the things grow.

Chest casting, an annual event put on by the Fine Arts House, gave students a chance to create physical art to help improve the physical health of others.

On Saturday, April 20, the Fine Arts House gave students the chance to take part in an interesting form of body art. The process for chest casting is fairly simple. People make a cast of their chest and then paint it after it has dried, yielding a nice, unique decorative piece. However, this event is not only about art.

“We are raising money for a local breast cancer association in Walla Walla [with this chest casting event],” wrote Fine Arts House RA Ashley Hansack ’15 in an email.

Those who take part in the chest casting help out with a good cause, and are then able to take their casts home and use them as decorative pieces. The Pioneer took this opportunity to check out the works of chest art made by the Fine Arts House.

Up-and-coming soul singer Allen Stone, who has earned praise from the likes of USA Today and The New York Times, is busy on a worldwide tour but will soon find his way to Whitman for a show in the Reid Ballroom. The Pioneer caught up with him on the phone to get to know him before his performance on April 11 at 8 p.m.

The Pioneer: How did you get started with music?

Allen: I started singing in my dad’s church and picked up a guitar soon after that.

Pio: How did singing in church influence you as an artist?

Allen: It taught me to feel music. It showed me the passion of live music and the energy it can create.

Pio: What music did you listen to growing up?

Allen: I started with Christian music when I was young, then Cake and Dave Matthews Band when I was 10 or 11. Then I got into Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and soul music, and it’s been soul music ever since.

Pio: The R&B/soul genre has gotten pretty diverse today; how do you see yourself fitting into it?

Allen: I don’t really care about genres. There’s a lot about my music that doesn’t fit into genres, but I’m used to not fitting in. I’m a white kid from the wilderness of eastern Washington who makes music that black people usually make.

Pio: So without the crutch of using genres, how would you describe your music?

Allen: I would say to just go listen to it, define it yourself. Music is made by individuals, not corporations, so it can’t be defined by genre.

Pio: You’ve been on a few late night shows and have played at some big festivals. What do you think has been your breakout moment?

Allen: I haven’t had that moment yet. I’ve had some cool opportunities that have led to other cool opportunities, but I haven’t broken out and become a worldwide household name.

Pio: Is that your goal, to become a worldwide household name?

Allen: Yeah, I wouldn’t be talking to you about genres if I didn’t want to be a household name. I feel that I have a good perspective on life and I want to share that. R&B right now is all about sex and partying, and I want to make it mean something like Marvin Gaye did with “What’s Going On.” I don’t do it to have people throw flowers at my feet, but when I’m dead I want to have left a legacy. I want to bring music to the place it belongs. There’s so much terrible music these days. Your voice is a gift, and I think if you aren’t using it to uplift culture, then it should be ripped from your throat.

Pio: Do you ever get tired of people who talk about how your appearance doesn’t match up with your voice?

Allen: I think it’s a little bit racist, to be honest. Racism towards Caucasians in this country seems to be okay for some reason. A lot of people have described my music as “blue-eyed soul,” which I don’t get. I’m making music, and my eye color and skin color shouldn’t have anything to do with it.

Pio: What do you have planned next?

Allen: A bunch of touring for the rest of this year, and after that I’ll hop in the studio and work on my next album.

I was given the assignment to review the New Kids on the Block’s new album, 10, released April 2 (yes, this year). Seeing as I have no prior experience listening to their music or any interest in gaining said experience, I needed to set up something other than a conventional review. I decided to listen to 10 for three consecutive hours, and document my captivity under the NKOTB regime. These are my notes:

0:00:30 The first song, “We Own Tonight,” is all right. It seems like average adult pop-rock that will not distract me from my homework. I guess I was expecting a more abrasive sound, so this is tolerable.

0:05:00 The second song is bad. The chorus is just the line “I like the remix, baby” repeated several times, and sometimes a guy will jump in and yell things like, “Guitar!” and “Break it down!”

0:09:15 “Take My Breath Away” is also bad, and it is easy to see why. It is sort of in the electro-pop-R&B style of many pop songs today, but it is clearly made by a group of middle-aged men.

0:17:00 This Spotify ad brings welcome respite.

0:20:50 “Miss You More” is a decent song until one of the New Kids (is that what they call each other?) provides one of the worst whisper raps ever recorded. He starts with “I hate the way I miss you / I just wanna kiss you,” and it doesn’t get better after that.

0:01:00 I have completed slightly over one listen of the album, and 10 is tolerable background music. The only trouble that arises is when NKOTB veers out of the adult pop-rock lane and tries to sound like a modern pop group. Especially the whisper rapping; that was the worst.

1:14:27 In “Whisper,” love is compared to a whisper and a symphony, among other things. These guys have probably recycled these same clichés for the last 30 years.

1:18:28 “Jealous (Blues)” is probably my favorite song on the album. The lyrics are not any better than on the other songs, but it has a quicker tempo than most and some nice bluesy background singing from a woman not credited on the song (mystery New Kid?).

1:55:00 I talked to my sister on the phone and told her what I was doing. Her response: “Oh. That sucks.”

2:00:00 On the subject of boy bands, my sister said, “When I hear those types of songs, I always think, ‘Haven’t they made that before?’” This pretty much sums up how I feel at this point. All of these songs sound like watered-down mixtures of pop songs that have been made for many years by many artists.

2:00:01-2:30:00 I spaced out. Fatigue setting in.

2:44:40 I now realize I should have kept a tally of the clichés and corny similes in this album. NKOTB just delivered the gem, “You’re the oxygen I breathe.”

2:49:00 They just compared lovers to planets and stars, and love to fighting gravity. This lyricism is what’s getting me to the finish line.

3:00:00 Overall, 10 is not a good album, but it’s not impossible to listen to. And the music quality isn’t really the point, anyway; people will buy this out of nostalgia and nothing more. “Nothing more” is exactly what 10 provides.

Illustration by Asa Mease

It’s weird to think of Justin Timberlake as old, but in pop star years, he is a dinosaur. While he has stayed firmly implanted in the nation’s consciousness with movies and “Saturday Night Live” appearances, JT has not released an album since 2006, which in terms of music is a bygone era. When FutureSex/LoveSounds came out, Justin Bieber was 13 years old. Bieber, Lady Gaga and a whole new crop of pop stars have emerged in Timberlake’s absence. While it’s not easy to get back into pop music relevancy, Timberlake does so not by keeping up with the new kids, but by embracing who he is now.

Throughout the lead-up to Justin Timberlake’s new album, the imagery corresponding with his performances and videos has been uniformly retro. Hair slicked back, donning a suit while backed by “The Tennessee Kids,” JT cuts a Sinatra-like figure, a classic entertainer. And it’s a role that suits him, with his (sort of) decent movie career and great SNL hosting spots. By going the classic route rather than chasing relevancy through using dubstep or a 2 Chainz guest verse, Timberlake is able to craft an album that sounds comfortable in its own skin.

Timberlake’s new suit-and-tie persona anoints 20/20 as a classic album before it arrives, and the music almost lives up to the hype. The first thing that needs mentioning is that JT’s voice is still amazing, and that makes the album worth listening to on its own. It starts promisingly with “Pusher Love Girl,” the album’s best song, which rides the wave of rousing strings for a tremendously smooth eight minutes. It’s a good song, and producer Timbaland uses strings, horns and keyboard extensively throughout to establish Timberlake’s desired timeless vibe.

The songs are all given plenty of time, sometimes too much, to rise, fall and change, to flow organically. Each song has stages with noticeable changes in tempo, including “Suit and Tie” and “Strawberry Bubblegum.” This tempo never seems to be pushed, as the album just seems to flow along. Timberlake’s songwriting is inconsistent, but his voice is smooth enough to ride out the rough patches, such as when he awkwardly purrs, “Stop, let me get a good look at it/ So thick now I know why they call it a fatty” on “Suit and Tie.” He has moments of lyrical virtuosity as well, such as his hook on the subdued “Blue Ocean Floor,” in which he sings, “If my red eyes don’t see you anymore/ And I can’t hear you through the white noise/ Just send your heartbeat, I’ll go to the blue ocean floor.”

This music sounds like it isn’t in any hurry, because Timberlake isn’t in any hurry. The album has plenty of good songs, but none that are particularly ready-made radio singles. That’s fine, because Timberlake has all the fans he needs anyway. The album will sell well regardless of how good it really is, and fortunately for JT fans he does well here, making a quality album that is not enthralling but is plenty enjoyable in its own smooth and pleasant way.

The bustling Whitman College campus is bookended by two essential social hubs: to the south, Prentiss Hall, home of Whitman’s four women’s fraternities, and to the north, Whitman’s four fraternity houses. These Greek chapters have peripheral locations but are of central importance to life at Whitman, with occasional recklessness that divides the campus over controversial issues as well as tremendous fellowship that brings Whitties together. To properly understand how the Greek system has taken such a strong foothold in Whitman’s social life, it is imperative to start from the beginning.

Arrival

As would be expected of a small liberal arts college, the Whitman administration was quite apprehensive of bringing in Greek life and its troublesome reputation. However, students at the beginning of the 20th century were increasingly eager to have chapters, at first creating hometown clubs and then making their own Greek chapters with names such as Kappa Gamma and Delta Phi Delta. Fraternities as well as women’s fraternities were becoming more prominent on campus.

“At a lot of schools, the men made fraternities first, but something that’s unique about Whitman is that the women were right there with the men, making sororities,” said Associate Dean of Students Barbara Maxwell.

These fraternities and women’s fraternities were created for a variety of reasons, one being that Whitman’s housing was in poor condition and short supply especially for male students. They found themselves having to live in off-campus houses together and, finding it enjoyable,  wanted to make a fraternity out of the experience. By 1910, the administration agreed to a two-year probationary period to see if Greek life would work. The observations went well, and with the endorsement of major Greek supporter President Stephen Penrose, chapters were allowed under one condition: They had to be national chapters. Thus began the process of Whitman’s various made-up groups having to petition national organizations to come to campus, a process that was as unique as one would expect from a school like Whitman.

Toy the Cook

G. Thomas Edwards’ book “The Triumph of Tradition,” which chronicles Whitman’s early years, names a certain employee who helped make housing an issue for male Whitman students. Professor Norman Coleman, who was in charge of Billings Hall, the only male dormitory on campus, “blamed Toy, the Chinese cook, for some basic problems.” The bedbugs and cockroaches that infested the hall “came from the kitchen and Toy’s room.” The conditions were so bad that many students sought off-campus housing. If there is one man to thank for inspiring Whitman to go Greek, it may be Toy.

Phi Mu

The first Greek chapter at Whitman came in very unexpectedly. While the Illahee Club, Delta Phi Delta and Kappa Gamma were publicly petitioning to become national chapters, a group of 14 women confidentially asked the college for permission to petition to be a chapter of Phi Mu. This was kept confidential until this small group became a chapter in 1913, beating the other larger, more public groups to the punch.

The Spokane Club

Among many of the hometown clubs made at Whitman, the Spokane Club was very unique. Many Whitman students were from Spokane, and the city only had one high school at the time. This meant that any petty arguments from high school carried over to college, and this inspired a rift within the Spokane Club. Both sides wanted to become chapters of Beta Theta Pi, and each had an initiated member. One side, the Illahee Club, became a chapter of Phi Delta Theta, allowing the other group, Delta Phi Delta, to become Beta Theta Pi.

The Commoners and AOK

After Beta and Phi came Sigma Chi and Tau Kappa Epsilon to round out the four fraternities Whitman has today. Sig was originally known as the Commoners, a group created as a populist answer to the allegedly elitist Beta and Phi. TKE didn’t arrive until seven years later in 1930, choosing to petition as TKE after originating as the comically named AOK.

Hard Times

After the trying process of petitioning, the Greek organizations have since had to deal with plenty more adversity. Former college President Chester Maxey noted during Beta’s 50th anniversary in 1966 that the houses had to endure the Great Depression and World War I, but were able to do so with commitment and unity. During World War II, fraternities often had to house soldiers, cramming more bodies into what little space the houses had to offer. It is a testament to the tight bonds created by the fraternities that many Whitman servicemen returned to their houses when their service was over.

The civil rights era does not reflect as well on the Greek chapters. Several fraternities and women’s fraternities were investigated for their discrimination practices during initiation, including a story on Kappa Kappa Gamma in a 1967 issue of the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin. While no formal punishments were handed down, the Greek organizations did a poor job as campus leaders of championing civil rights. Since then, there have been isolated incidents of irresponsibility. A Beta member stabbed another Beta member in the house in 1992, and TKE was accused of hazing in 2011. However, most consider the positives of the Greek organizations to far outweigh the sporadic occasions when they slip up.

“Do Greek organizations goof up from time to time, just as all student groups goof up from time to time? Sure, and we deal with it. But this does not diminish their overall value,” said Maxwell.

Loyalty

Ever since the Whitman students in the early days started chapters, Whitties have made sure to get the most out of their Greek life experiences. These groups not only provide great weekend parties but scholastic excellence, commitment and loyalty.

Students in Greek chapters have routinely had higher retention rates and graduation rates than students outside the Greek system, showing that Whitman’s fraternities and women’s fraternities actually live up to their preaching of academic focus. Also, Whitman’s Greek organizations put forth tremendous philanthropic efforts, regularly serving the Walla Walla community in a variety of ways. Perhaps most impressively, alumni who were members of Greek chapters donate more money to the school than non-Greek alumni, and Greek alumni far outnumber non-Greeks at reunion events.

“Something about the Greek organization creates intense loyalty. They’re loyal not just to the organization and its members, but after graduation, to Whitman as an institution as well,” said Maxwell.

The Greek system has brought a great deal to the Whitman campus, simultaneously putting its mark on the college while also letting Whitman’s unique qualities shape the chapters. From their quirky beginnings to where they are today, the fraternities and women’s fraternities have been there for nearly all of Whitman’s history, both as witnesses and central characters.

Timeline
A timeline of when all of the current chapters came to campus:

1915- Phi Delta Theta
1916- Beta Theta Pi
1916- Delta Gamma
1918- Kappa Kappa Gamma
1923- Sigma Chi
1930- Tau Kappa Epsilon
1948- Alpha Phi
1957- Kappa Alpha Theta
2012- Alpha Phi reinstalled

All I had to start was an address and a phrase: “Find Your Ancestors” at 1821 2nd St. Intrigued by the vague advertisement in the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, I set out to clear up my equally vague family history. Is my dad a nationality other than “white”? How many of my Filipino “aunties” am I actually related to? I had questions, and I hoped 1821 2nd St. could give me answers.

I stopped at the address to find myself at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I walked through a side entrance into the Walla Walla Family History Center. The Center is a large room with a few bookshelves, tables and a row of computers. I was greeted by Lois Addington, who showed me to a computer where I could start my search.

She started me off with Ancestry.com and excitedly explained, “Websites like these cost hundreds of dollars, but at the Center you can use them for free.”

The Center also offers classes to help with ancestry searches, as well as indexing, the practice of compiling ancestry information in databases for everyone to use. All of these resources help people fill out pedigree charts, which are basically family-tree-type charts that help in organizing the data one can find.

Apparently, ancestry has always been an important tenet of the Mormon faith.

“It is very important that we know our ancestors, to know from whence we came,” said Addington.

However, the Center is available for everyone, not only Mormons, and although most visitors are elderly, many young people stop in too. Noting Addington’s enthusiasm for her work with the Center, I asked her about her personal experiences in ancestry searching.

“The first day I walked into the Family History Center, Betty [a coworker] brought out a book that had all of the states, towns and county seats in the [United States]. She opened it up and pointed it [out] on a page: Tacoma, Pierce County. I said, ‘That’s where I’m from!’ Where I was adopted. I didn’t know…” she trailed off.

After a moment’s pause, she concluded with the advice I took for the rest of my trip:

“If you don’t look back, you can’t go forward.”

I later learned that Addington’s search led her to meet her biological sisters for the first time, but I didn’t need to know that part of the story to understand her connection to the Family History Center. I saw the emotion evoked by her search, by finding out about herself and her newfound family.

I was able to trace my ancestry back a few generations, and it was a great experience to discover family history. Holding copies of my mom’s parents’ naturalization papers after emigrating from the Philippines and my dad’s parents’ marriage certificate, I understood the lives of those who came before me and felt the weight of the moments that brought me to where I am.

If you don’t look back, you can’t go forward.

To find out more about the Walla Walla Family History Center, visit www.wallawallafhc.org.

Whitman’s performance of William Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest,” set to run from Feb. 27 through March 3 at Harper Joy Theatre, is one of high drama, suspense and action. The large cast of characters is able to synthesize all of these aspects, but the play would not be complete without the crew behind the scenes.

The Tempest during a recent dress rehearsal. Although performers may take the limelight, a lot of work goes into every show – from sound to costumes to the lighting itself.  Photos by Faith Bernstein.

“The Tempest” tells the tale of Prospero and the controlled chaos he creates on his island when he seeks vengeance upon his brother. With elements of romance, humor and fantasy, the play’s mood and direction often change swiftly. The general feel the audience can get from a scene is not only a product of the acting, but the lighting as well. Two members of the light crew are first-years Quinn Lincoln and Jacob O’Connor. Both feel that lighting is an integral part of the show.

“Lighting is great for highlighting certain pieces within the play that are important,” said O’Connor.

This is certainly the case in “The Tempest,” when eerie blinking lights often serve to accentuate scenes involving Prospero’s use of magic. The lighting also gives the play a sense of place. Since the play is set on an island, blue and green lighting is often used to give the stage the feel of a beach or forest.

“I think lighting is one of the most important jobs in theatre,” said Lincoln. “People will always notice bad lights, but good lights can add a lot to the performance.”

The sound crew also adds significantly to experiencing “The Tempest.” First-year crew member Heather Gaya has worked on several plays this year as well as in high school.

“I was always more drawn to the technological aspect of theatre,” she said, a sentiment shared by Lincoln and O’Connor.

The sound crew is especially vital to the performance in moments of suspense when the audience will hear pulsating rhythm in the background of the scene. The beat is far from overwhelming, instead serving to build on the emotions conveyed by the actors.

“Sound can create subtle mood enhancement that can underscore what is happening onstage,” said Gaya.

The sound and light make “The Tempest” a more complete and encompassing experience. Since it is being performed on Harper Joy’s smaller stage, the Freimann Studio Theatre, the audience is given a very intimate look at the actors, who perform all around the crowd. With the light and sound serving as background to all of this action, the crowd gets to fully immerse itself in the play.

The light and sound crew in the same way have immersed themselves in the play.

“We’ve put a lot of time into this. We’ve been rehearsing about five hours a night since January,” Gaya said, showing the commitment it takes to be on the crew.

Despite this commitment, the crew will not get to soak in the applause received by the actors, but they are content to toil behind the scenes. While they remain in the background, the crew members for “The Tempest” play significant roles in making the show great.

In a hard-fought NWC semi-final matchup, the Whitman women’s basketball team came up a few plays short of victory, falling to the Whitworth Pirates 55-54 Thursday evening at Ball Court.

The Missionaries put on quite the show in front of a passionate home crowd, but the Pirates matched their intensity throughout the game. Whitworth held a strong advantage from the three-point line, hitting five in the first half and going 11-26 for the game. While the Missionaries went 0-7 from deep, they battered the Pirates on the glass, led by junior forward Meghan White’s workmanlike 16 rebounds for the game. This contrast in style kept the game close, leading to a 24-24 tie at halftime.

The two teams remained close into the final minutes. With Whitman down 54-51 in the closing minute, the Missionaries played solid defense to force a shot clock violation, leading to a lay-up from junior forward Sarah Anderegg on the other end. After a free throw from Pirates guard Emily Travis, Missionaries sophomore point guard Heather Johns got fouled and made a free throw to draw the Missionaries within one, 55-54. In the waning seconds, Pirates guard Kayla Johnson missed a free throw, which was rebounded by the Missionaries, but Johns was unable to get off a potential game-winning shot.

Johns led the Missionaries with 20 points. The Whitworth Pirates will move on to the conference championship to play Lewis & Clark on Saturday at 7:00 PM at Lewis & Clark.

The Whitman men’s basketball team defeated the George Fox Bruins in the conference semi-finals, 90-78, at Ball Court Thursday night.

It was a troubling start for the Missionaries, as the Bruins broke the Missionaries full-court pressure with ease. The defense looked overextended with Bruins forwards Seth Brent and Sean Atkins cutting for uncontested lay-ups. With George Fox up 13-8 early, the Missionaries found their defensive rhythm, and more importantly, their three-point strokes. Led by sophomore Matt Mounier’s nine first half points, all on threes, the Missionaries went a scorching 8-14 from behind the line in the half. This was able to offset the Bruins offense, which shot 60 percent in the first half thanks to point guard Anthony Sanchez’ ability to handle Whitman’s pressure and facilitate. Whitman rode their three-point barrage to a 48-40 lead at halftime.

The beginning of the second half looked remarkably like that of the first half, with Whitworth cutting the lead to 49-48. However, Whitman’s tempo began to force turnovers, and the Bruins would end up with 24 for the game. The Bruins would be able to tie the game at 62-62, but Junior guard Josh Duckworth quickly seized the momentum back with a breakaway dunk. With relentless defensive intensity and key baskets from Duckworth down the stretch, the Missionaries were able to seal the victory 90-78.

The Whitman Missionaries will move on to play the Whitworth Pirates Saturday at 7:00 at Whitworth for the conference championship.

The world’s biggest night for music occurred Sunday, Feb. 10. Despite the new, more conservative dress code, the 2013 Grammy Awards still managed to have a plethora of surprises and NSFW moments. Let’s take a look at the night’s winners and losers:

Winners:

The Black Keys

Grammy performance collaborations are usually cringe-inducing (see: last year when the Foo Fighters performed with Deadmau5). However, when the powers that be get it right, truly entertaining music can ensue. The Black Keys and their brand of raw, garage-blues pop rock meshed splendidly with the Cajun blues of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Dr. John. The set was loose, loud and fun, which is just what you want when the Black Keys are performing “Lonely Boy.” Also, Dr. John was dressed like an Ewok shaman, so that was cool.

Rock

While the music press constantly writes the obituary of rock, two of the biggest contemporary rock acts, the Keys and Jack White, both put forth terrific performances. Jack White’s set of “Love Interruption” and “Freedom at 21” encompassed what we love about rock: virtuosity and an awesome guitar.

 R&B

The Grammys provided a platform for R&B past and present to converge. Young auteurs Frank Ocean and Miguel both put forth great sets. Miguel, critically overshadowed by Ocean for much of the year, got to show off his tremendous voice in performing “Adorn,” despite having to share the stage with professional rap deadweight Wiz Khalifa. Justin Timberlake, the genre’s prodigal son, put a huge surge into his comeback, showing why he is one of the best live artists on the planet. Even Prince got to present an award. R&B is certainly alive and well with all this talent, old and new.

 Kanye West

He avoided embarrassment by not attending. Moral victory for Kanye.

 Frank Ocean

Whether through cryptic Tumblr posts or his poetic album Channel ORANGE, Frank Ocean became a critical darling in 2012. The Grammys were meant to be his official launch into superstardom, with a scheduled performance and a chance to win Album of the Year. Ocean chose to sing “Forrest Gump” and gave an intriguing but imperfect performance, endearingly shaky. Unfortunately, Ocean went on to lose Album of the Year to Mumford and Sons, but at least he can still play the “enigmatic genius” card. He is certainly an enigmatic genius that everyone should keep an eye on for years to come.

Losers:

Rap

Rap just doesn’t seem like it’s suited for the Grammys. As the most expansive, diverse and niche-driven genre of music today, it’s impossible to give one award for all of rap. Still, the NARAS (National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences) did the best they could, giving Drake Rap Album of the Year for the solid Take Care. Hip-hop legend Nas probably should have won for Life is Good, but it was not a terrible choice given how hard it is to choose between such different albums. The most universally acclaimed rap album in recent memory, Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d city, was actually released in September but won’t be eligible until the 2014 Grammys.

National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences

The NARAS once again squandered the opportunity to show they are in touch with the rapidly changing music environment. It is hard to give broad awards in an artistic medium that is becoming increasingly voluminous and fragmented, but the Academy still showed a refusal to take the opportunity to recognize fresh material. Mumford and Sons is a solid band, but their style is nothing new. Not that there’s anything bad about that music, but 2012 had many fresh and exciting artists, Frank Ocean chief among them. Ocean owned the year, and deserved acknowledgement for doing so.

Taylor Swift

She’s just kind of getting annoying.

Chris Brown 

Chris Brown has been losing in the court of public opinion for a while now. Brown got in a fight with Frank Ocean two weeks ago, cutting Ocean’s finger so Ocean had to play piano one-handed (which he did expertly). He then went on to lose to Ocean in Best Urban Contemporary Album, and with the emergence of Ocean and Miguel, should not be expecting many awards any time soon.