Inkwell 9: Meet the Writers

The front cover of a book. It has a grey background with a black repeating geometric design and says "Inkwell 9"

Inkwell 9: A Student Guide to Writing at Evergreen

[Writing for Inkwell gave me] a sense that my words and my story matter to someone beyond myself. I think it also helped me to help others in their writing—to ask more questions that could lead to greater levels of inquiry into self, into language.
– Roxana Bell, Inkwell author

The newest edition of Inkwell: A Student Guide to Writing at Evergreen is done!

In this article, Writing Center Publications Editor Thane Fay met with four of this year’s Inkwell authors to talk about their experiences writing for the publication, what they hope the Evergreen community will take from their pieces, and their goals now as alumni.

You can pick up a free copy of Inkwell 9 at the Writing Center, read the digital version online, or come to InkFest: Wednesday October 15th, from 1-3 p.m. in the Olympia campus library lobby!

Read the full author interviews here.

Writing in Collaboration: The Student Editors Who Create Inkwell

This is the second article exploring the Inkwell project and how students, faculty, and alumni can benefit from its influence on Evergreen’s writing culture. The first article of this series introduced the history of Inkwell at Evergreen.

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Four students sitting together at a round table looking at a piece of writing. In the background is a colorful mural featuring abstract designs of letters from different alphabets.

The editorial board (from left to right: Matt Turner ’15, Nicole Christian ’14, and Mary Kallem ’14) working with writer Katelyn Peters ’14.

The Inkwell process begins each fall. Over the course of the school year and countless hours of meetings, Inkwell’s editors and writers—the student tutors at the Writing Center—hone their skills, developing articles from still-forming ideas into the finished versions that appear on paper.

In this interview, Publications Editor Thane Fay ’13 sat down with Inkwell editorial board members Mary Kallem ’14 and Matt Turner ’15 to discuss their experience with the project.

“Inkwell [is] a process that I immediately identified as something that would enrich my experience not only as a student, writer, and tutor, but as a human who values collaborative engagement.” – Matt Turner

Inkwell is a publication born out of Evergreen and the Writing Center’s unique approaches to collaborative learning, student empowerment, and linking theory to practice. The in-depth cooperation between Inkwell’s writers and editors reflects the Writing Center’s value that all writers, no matter their skill level, can benefit from supportive and comprehensive guidance from their peers. With articles centered around the experiences of student writers, Inkwell serves as a fulcrum for conversations about writing at Evergreen.

“Unlike other publications, I don’t think Inkwell’s ‘final result’ is the published artifact that sits on my shelf. The ‘results’ I’m in it for are the benefits the Evergreen community gets from reading it: the circulation of grassroots knowledge gleaned from working with students.” – Mary Kallem

Keep your eyes out for Inkwell 9, coming soon in Fall of 2014. You can read digital copies of past editions of Inkwell on the Writing Center’s website, or find physical copies in the Evergreen Archives.

Read the full interview here.

The Living Tradition of the Rachel Carson Forum

The Rachel Carson Forum is one of the oldest traditions of Evergreen’s Graduate Program on the Environment offering the Masters of Environmental Studies (MES) degree, now approaching its 30-year anniversary. The event was established in 1990 as a tribute to Rachel Carson, a marine biologist and writer in a time when it was almost impossible for women to pursue careers as scientists. While Carson wrote several well-known books, such as The Sea Around Us and Our Ever Changing Shore, her legacy is largely tied to her groundbreaking book, Silent Spring. While the science of the environmental and human effects of pesticide application was outside her area of expertise, the book’s bold and impassioned arguments started inspired conversation and debate that helped spark the environmental movement of the 1960s.

Student organizers and panelists for the 2014 Rachel Carson Forum

Student organizers and panelists for the 2014 Rachel Carson Forum

The Rachel Carson Forum has always been organized by students of Evergreen’s MES Program. The current organizing group, the Masters of Environmental Studies Student Association (MESA), put together the 2014 panel featuring two amazing Evergreen alumni, Rhys Roth ’90, an MES graduate and Director of the Evergreen Center for Sustainable Infrastructure, and Thera Black ‘92, Senior Planner for the Thurston Regional Planning Council (TRPC). The panel also featured Richard Fealy, Senior Scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Nobel Prize recipient, and Andy Haub, Planning and Engineering Manager for the City of Olympia. Such an incredible group of guest speakers has come to be expected of the Rachel Carson Forum; the event has featured true giants of the environmental community, such as the late Billy Frank Jr. and mycology pioneer Paul Stamets ’80, in recent years.

Martha Henderson, Director of the MES Program, started the conversation on April 24 by recounting the lasting legacy of Rachel Carson in helping convey and rally people to complex environmental issues through strong science and communication. The panel members perfectly exemplified that mission, and the mission of the Rachel Carson Forum’s founding faculty, who Henderson conveyed, “wanted to provide images of environmental action.” Henderson emphasized that the event wasn’t just for students, but that is was “a service of MES to the broader community.”

MES leadership has always represented that philosophy, including the likes of Oscar Soule, Ralph Murphy, John Perkins, Tom Rainey, Richard Cellarius, and now Martha Henderson. Henderson’s term as director will end in late August, when she will return to teaching full time; she will take a group of students to the eastern Mediterranean region in Spring 2015. In talking about the MES Program, Henderson recalled it traditionally as a home for “Environmental Refugees” from across the country. While today’s graduate students have many schools where they may pursue a Masters in Environmental Studies degree, Evergreen’s MES program has adapted to changing times. It has three prongs of study: Climate and Energy Studies, Ecology, and Community Sustainability.  Approximately 70% of the program’s students are women, an important focus of Henderson’s work as MES Director. Another important issue is global climate change, which Henderson believes will inform a shift in the focus of MES to “to help us understand alternative ways to have constructive relationships with the environment.”

Hopefully, the Rachel Carson Forum can help students, and the broader community, do just that, for the next 30 years and beyond.

Alex Becker Appointed to Seattle Human Rights Commission

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Alex Becker

“A distinctively dedicated and engaged student;” this is how Evergreen faculty member Lin Nelson describes her former student Alex Becker, ’11, who has just been named to the Seattle Human Rights Commission.

Alex is the community organizer for the social justice non-profit organization Real Change, and has been active in public service and social justice issues since 2005, according to Real Change News. Read the full article.

 

 

 

Writer Nick Mattos, ’06, Interviewed on LGBT Characters in Pop Culture

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Nick Mattos, ’06, is a freelance journalist and essayist.

Nick Mattos, ’06, is a freelance journalist and essayist living in Portland, OR. He turned up recently in The Guardian as one of three panelists discussing the evolution of LGBT characters in pop culture.  Here is a sample:

The Guardian: The concept of the ‘gay sidekick’ is a classic mainstream exploration of the LGBT community in American pop culture. Have gay characters moved more to the center of the plot in recent years, and where does work still need to be done?

Nick: One great effect I’ve observed in recent representation of queer people in pop culture is the presence of queer characters whose sexuality is not the crux of their identity. A great example of this was the character of Mitch Downe in the excellent 2012 film Paranorman, who was arguably the first openly gay character in a mainstream children’s animated film. He wasn’t stereotyped at all – the revelation of his sexuality was actually a humorous but sensitively handled plot twist. [He] was instead a whole, integral character, whose personality grew organically through the course of the film. In terms of work that still needs to be done, there are still very few representations of queer people that don’t fit the mold of being affluent, white, and relatively heteronormative in expression.

Read the entire interview at The Guardian.

The Inkwell Project: Part of Evergreen’s Writing Culture

Inkwell volume 1 cover 300 px

Cover of the first Inkwell, 2006.

Editor’s Note: The Writing Center, located in the Library building just off Red Square, is the creative home of Inkwell, A Student Guide to Writing at Evergreen. In this interview, Writing Center publications editor Thane Fay, ’13 talks with Inkwell co-founders Shaun Johnson, ’07 and Victoria Larkin, ’07 about the history of this student publication

This is the first of a series exploring the Inkwell project and how students, faculty, and alumni can benefit from its influence on Evergreen’s writing culture. 

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Inkwell cover 2012

Inkwell is written, edited, and designed entirely by Writing Center peer tutors, students dedicated to helping others find their voices through the writing process. Each year, authors discuss writing specific to Evergreen—such as seminar papers, evaluations, and academic statements—as well as exploring themes like developing a writing process, finding your voice as a student writer, and learning tools for academic and creative writing. With its emphasis on cultivating student voices and creating a culture of student empowerment in academics, Inkwell inspires student writers to think about how they write and invites them to become part of the Writing Center community

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Inkwell cover 2008

Inkwell co-founder Shaun Johnson, ’07 reflected that “Evergreen puts incredible emphasis on writing in curriculums across disciplines, so it seemed especially appropriate to draw a map for students to navigate.” Inkwell was created to be this kind of map.

The Writing Center distributes over a thousand free copies of Inkwell annually, both on campus and to the wider community. Inkwell co-founder Victoria Larkin ‘07 sees the publication as providing “a common ground, a jumping off place for conversations,” inspiring writers to “go into and beyond their preconceptions of the writing process, of writing in general, and of their own abilities.”

Learn more about The Writing Center. Read digital copies of past editions of Inkwell.

 

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Learning Opportunity on Campus: A Bee Fair – Where Are the Bees Going and Why Does it Matter?

beeeA Public Event at The Evergreen State College:
The Olympia Beekeepers Association and Evergreen Academic Programs present a Community Bee Fair, featuring “More than Honey,” an internationally acclaimed film describing the looming, world-wide crisis of disappearing bee colonies.
March 8, 2014, 6:00 – 10:00 pm
A Film, Community Bee Fair and Student Displays
The Evergreen State College, Lecture Hall 1 and Lecture Hall Rotunda
Program:

  • 6:00 pm – Informational displays and student art show in the Rotunda.
  • 7:00 pm – A short film, created by Evergreen students, on the bee crisis.
  • 7:30 pm – A presentation of the “Pollinator Protector Award” will be given to local business owner Robert Thompson, Jr. of Lincoln Creek Lumber.

The feature film “More than Honey” will be followed by a Q & A with a panel of local bee experts and the filmmaker via Skype from Berlin.

Please Note:

  • Seating is limited.
  • Admission is free with Evergreen I.D.
  • For non-Evergreen attendees, tickets are $10 each, available at Traditions and Radiance in Olympia, Gordon’s Garden Center in Yelm.
  • For more information: www.olympiabeekeepers.org

Sponsored by:

Dever Kuni ’12 Takes on Statewide Leadership in Solar Power Advocacy

From left to right: Bruce Hargrave, VP Dever Kuni '12, and President & Owner Kirk Haffner '88 -photo by South Sound Solar

Dever Kuni ’12 (center) with customer (left) and father and boss, Kirk Haffner ’88 ( right) – photo by South Sound Solar

Solar Installers of Washington, a trade association and solar power advocacy group, has named Dever Kuni its legislative and public policy committee chairwoman.

Kuni currently is vice president of South Sound Solar. Read the article in Bloomsberg Business Week.

 

 

Japanese Americans Remember Wartime Incarceration

Tom Ikeda

Tom Ikeda, founder and executive director of Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project, to speak at Evergreen February 27

Event Notice: Don’t miss this talk by Tom Ikeda, founder and executive director of Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project, on Thursday, February 27th, at 7:00 p.m. at the Longhouse Cultural Center on the Evergreen campus in Olympia. Admission is free and open to the public. This presentation is part of Evergreen’s Willi Unsoeld Seminar Series.

The stories of local Japanese Americans who were incarcerated in Idaho concentration camps during World War II are the subject of a talk by Tom Ikeda, founder and executive director of Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project, on Thursday, February 27th, at 7:00 p.m. at the Longhouse Cultural Center on the Evergreen campus in Olympia. Admission is free and open to the public.

densho

 

Ikeda’s presentation, “When Citizenship Didn’t Matter: Personal Stories from Japanese Americans Incarcerated during World War II,” will explore issues of democracy, intolerance, wartime hysteria and civil rights, based on hundreds of oral histories conducted by Densho over the last 18 years.

Ikeda was born and raised in Seattle. His parents and grandparents were incarcerated during World War II at Minidoka, Idaho. A former manager at Microsoft, Ikeda graduated from the University of Washington. He has received numerous awards for his historical contributions, including the Humanities Washington Award for outstanding achievement in the public humanities, the National JACL Japanese American of the Biennium award for Education, and the Microsoft Alumni Fellows Award.

Ikeda’s presentation takes place under the banner of the Willi Unsoeld Seminar, a speaker series honoring Unsoeld, a founding faculty member of The Evergreen State College.

“Each year, faculty, staff, and students focus on a theme linked to the college’s core values,” said Evergreen faculty member Nancy Koppelman. “This year, the theme is ‘listening’, and why listening is essential to education.”

Evergreen launched the academic year by assigning NPR Story Corps creator Dave Isay’s book, Listening is an Act of Love, to all students, and he spoke on campus in September 2013. Ikeda’s presentation continues and elaborates on the theme.

Craig Danner ’85 Takes a Stand on Affordable Health Care

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Craig Danner in his Portland medical clinic.

Craig Danner ’85 is a physician’s assistant in Portland, OR. Last September, he opened Wilson Street Medical Clinic and he doesn’t take insurance. Sound exclusive? Just the opposite.

By avoiding all the administrative costs associated with medical insurance companies — pre-authorizations, billing, mandatory pricing — Craig says he can make a good living at about 1/3 the cost to his patients.  Read more about how this Greener is bringing some humanity, sanity and common sense to one of the nation’s thorniest issues.