We know the best way to avoid symptoms is to lessen exposure to the threats posed by the outdoors; but staying inside whenever the wind blows is not an option for most. Over-the-counter antihistamines are prescribed as the mundane treatment for allergy systems, but tend to dehydrate mucus membranes and damage tissue, which causes irritation. There are readily available naturopathic remedies that you can use at home, and some are described below.

Use a nasal saline solution designed for sinus decongestion.

Perilla oil has been shown to counteract allergic reactions while soothing itchy eyes, decreasing sinus symptoms and erasing wheezy, asthma-like respiratory effects in as few as seven days. Local honey and bee pollen ingestion may help the body through immunotherapy in a way similar to vaccinations. The honey must be local to have this effect because plant populations and their pollen and spores vary from region to region.

Spicy foods, such as real wasabi and spicy peppers make sinuses and tear ducts spring into action.        Peppermint tea acts as a decongestant and contains anti-inflammatory and mild antibacterial constituents. Steep loose leaf organic tea and cover for at least three minutes to maximize the antioxidant count in each cup.

Avoid synthetic clothing during allergy season. Try cotton and other natural fabric, particularly organic ones that aren’t farmed with synthetic pesticides.

Walnuts, flax seeds, salmon and other foods rich in alpha-linolenic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid, will help lessen allergy symptoms. The healthy fat in walnuts helps strengthen your immune system to keep it functioning and organized so it attacks against unwanted invaders such as viruses and cancer cell, but doesn’t overreact to spring’s plain old pollen.

Avoid harboring these common household plants at least during allergy season: orchids, ivy, fichus, yucca and palm. They are likely to increase sinus symptoms by 20 percent.

Do, however, keep these non-allergenic plants around: German Violet, Lithops, Snake, White Flag, Creeping Charlie, Donkey Tail, Hens-and-Chickens fern and Blood Leaf. Also avoid over-watering your plants, which can catalyze the growth of sinus-irritating mold.

Make sure to wash your furry pets relatively often during allergy season as well. Their fur is a great place for pollen to latch onto, and their own dandruff, sweat and spring-time shedding might multiply your symptoms.

This opinion does not represent the opinion of the Watchdog staff

Chris Toomey / The Watchdog

Alex Clark: The tournament turned into a one day tounament due to some inclimate weather. Day one was no picnic either though. How did your players cope with the weather to still shoot those beautiful scores?

Kirk Johanson: The girls are very strong mentally, and used to playing in tough conditions. They have to be, living and playing in the Northwest! They are always prepared for any conditions.

AC: Had the tournament had continued onto the second day, how confident were you in your team’s chances to keep its 18-stroke lead, or even to extend it?

KJ: Very confident. One thing the girls have done all year is finish strong. Even when they have been behind after day one in other tournaments this year, they have never quit. Several of their wins have been coming from behind. I am very proud of how the girls compete and never give up.

AC: Who were some of the star golfers on the team that really carried the win?

KJ: All of the wins have been a team effort. Suchada Anusuriya, Kayce Ogishima, Corey Rois and Jamie Kirsila.

AC: What does it mean to actually “capture the NWAACC season title?”

KJ: Throughout the season there are four events that count toward the season championship. It shows the team dominance being the best team over the the four events that count towards the season championship.

AC: Is there anything you want to directly say to the student body of Bellevue College about your team?

KJ: Over the past two seasons the girls golf team has done what no other golf team has ever done at BC. Last year we won the first ever girls team championship in the history of the school, and we repeated this year making it two years in a row. You should be proud of what the team has accomplished.

Chris Toomey / The Watchdog

On April 25, Student Programs staff discovered  someone had broken in after hours and defaced the LGBTQ Center.

Reports of the incident spread through the BC campus within hours after the damage was found, around 7:30 a.m. on April 25.

Though Public Safety is unable to comment on specific actions taken due to confidentiality reasons and because it is an ongoing investigation, the investigation did begin that morning.

Nora Lance, the associate director of Student Programs and Sarah Fisher, assistant director of Student Programs and creator of the PALS Center, both took a picture of the demeaning words on the calendar in the center and Fisher contacted security. Lance filled out a Bias Report, which was sent to seven different people at BC, to make sure it was officially reported.

“A student had found the calendar with the two demeaning words and right away, we took a picture and contacted public safety,” stated Lance. “Because it was upsetting to them we tried to get rid of it, but we took photos before and then one of the LGBTQ members said, ‘no, we want to take it down.’

Fisher stated, “Nora and I had gone back in her office, I had called public safety and talked to them about pulling information in terms about using door codes, and other things. While we were in her office we heard the sound of tape being pulled off the walls, so I went back in to see what was going on. Ali, who is the director, was pulling the calendar off even though it had been cleaned by one of the student employees.

Nora and I said, ‘taking it down even though it is clean gives the other people the power instead of setting those boundaries that says that this is not okay. So, she put it back up. She agreed with us.”

Lance also immediately contacted Faisal Jaswal, the assistant dean of Student Programs and Yoshiko Harden, vice president of Equity and Pluralism.

“I got a call from Nora, and I will tell you it was a very distressing call,” said Jaswal. According to Jaswal, Public Safety visited the LGBTQ Resource Center, Jaswal asked  them to check the door code history on the kitchen and The Watchdog office.

“There were students in front of my office, and then they left right before me and then I left, and then when I came in the morning, others had been there before me,” said Lance. “We had asked who had door code access to Student Programs that night and there were two codes that were used before me.”

Jaswal wanted to make it clear that he and other staff members were doing the best they could to handle the situation accurately and efficiently. “I asked Nora, as soon as she hung up, to call Yoshiko, right away, and Nora didn’t waste a minute.  Within a few seconds, she was on the phone because for me it is about either all of us are safe, or none of us are safe.”

Jaswal continued, “We know who used the door codes, and we know who came in that night because the office is locked. In order to get in, you have to come through The Watchdog [office] or through the kitchen. Both of those give me an electronic report. Student Programs was accessed by parties, after hours, who might have let other people in without consent or permission,” said Jaswal.

A member of the LGBTQ Resource Center, Max Bowler, said, “Honestly, my personal opinion is that it is lovely that we have this space and the resources that we do have in the Center, but you know, getting that out of the way that I appreciate that we have this space, we have very little support from Student Programs. We have been trying for a long time to get our computers replaced, we are constantly being blocked [when] we try to have events. During the day, we might have four or five people waiting to use the computer because they don’t feel safe going to the library.”

Lauryn Shinaul, a leader of the LGBTQ Resource Center, stated: “I think this whole incident is really cowardly that someone has to come in after hours and put slurs on our calendar and they, to me, have no opinion of their own. The administration are doing a lot to help by coming in  and seeing if we are okay, but with past instances like this, it has not really worked. A past member of ours was bullied so badly they had to switch schools. For a lot of our members, this is their safe space, because nowhere else on campus do they feel safe to go to.”

Jaswal stated: “The other thing is we are a very large intersect and there are people who are not okay with certain things, but that does not define us. That is not going to stop us; it is not going to stop us from making this a safe space. It will not stop our efforts for students of LGBTQ or any of our other students. We are going to take this in stride and move on.”

Chris Toomey / The Watchdog

On May 6, nine out of the 10 Associated Student Government election results were announced. Bellevue College students elected Zawdie Stephens-Terry for President, Leslie Mayo for Vice President of Finance and Communication, Andrea Torres for Vice President of Student Affairs and Pluralism, Melody Salcedo for Campus Life and Events Representative, Miranda Tamnkang for Marketing and Public Relations Representative, Chanmi Choi for Emerging Technology and Entrepreneurship Representative, Komalpreet Sahota for Chief Justice, Kazuki Yonebayashi as Associate Justice of Internal Affairs and Natasha Wijoyo as Associate Justice of External Affairs.

ASG Staff Adviser Brandon Lueken confirmed that the results of the election for the Environmental and Social Responsibility Representative position was not announced because there had been an “official challenge to the results” of that race.

An official challenge constitutes a written appeal submitted to the ASG Chief Justice, and includes the signature and student identification number of the appellant. According to the ASG bylaws, students may appeal the decision of the election if they feel the candidate in question did not abide by the rules of the election as outlined in the bylaws. Before campaigning begins, all candidates are required to attend an orientation where the rules of the election are explained to them.

By Monday, May 6, two official complaints had been filed against Magenta Loera, one of the candidates for the Environmental and Social Responsibility Representative position.  Both of the complaints were filed by students unafilliated with the ASG or either campaign.

After a private hearing between Loera and the election committee, which consisted of Lueken, current ASG President Takhmina Dzhuraeva, current ASG Chief Justice Kevin Kylde Tu, Student-at-Large Auric Kaur and Faculty Members Denise Vaughan and Jerry Bounce, a decision was reached.

“[…] we voted unanimously on our judgment, which was to disqualify the candidate from the election,” said Lueken. The election committee determined that Loera violated three of the ASG bylaws: First, bylaw 1.6.4.1.3, stating, “A candidate shall not attempt to coerce or petition a student who is actively submitting a ballot.” Second, bylaw 1.6.4.1.4, stating, “No voting shall occur in the immediate presence of a candidate.” Thirdly, bylaw 1.6.4.1.5, stating, “No candidate or affiliate shall solicit a vote with any personal electronic devices.”

“I voted on her laptop,” said one of the students who filed a formal complaint against Loera. Despite not knowing the bylaws, after voting for Loera the student felt weird about the situation and contacted a member of the ASG Judicial Board to seek advice, and was advised to file a formal appeal. His testimony was upheld by the election committee. “To me it just seemed like complete tampering,” said the student. “[She’s] pressuring someone to do something…A lot of people can feel easily pressured, like foreign exchange students or people who don’t know what’s going on.”

Loera denied that this instance happened, but admitted “on rare occasions I did show [voters] the website” on her own personal electronic device.

After Loera was notified of the decision to disqualify her from the election entirely, she filed a formal appeal with the Chief Justice, contesting the decision of the election committee, although she stated she was unsure of whether or not she was going redact the appeal. She said that she did not break any of the bylaws the election committee decided she broke.

“It came down to, they misinterpreted the things I said,” said Loera. “I definitely don’t see how a committee can all sit there and hear me only confess and say that I showed the website [to voters] and then just go and take that as [the voters] voted using that device.”

According to Loera the committee was biased against her from the start. Loera stated that on April 29, Lueken informed Loera that there were verbal allegations throwing the validity of her campaign into question. At the time of their meeting, no formal complaints had been filed. Specifically, Loera said Lueken cited her vote count, which was higher than that of any other candidate for any position, and “threatened” Loera with “taking away “chunks of her votes.

“I was intimidated by [Lueken’s comments] and that affected my election. I could have easily got a landslide of more votes because I had so many supporters I knew that I held off…because of that statement he made.”

Lueken said he did not intend to intimidate Loera, stating: “I acted in an advisory role to inform the candidate so they would be aware and so they would not be caught off-guard…As the chair of the election committee, I should not have met privately with a candidate not about supposed allegations and not without the presence of the full election committee. That was a protocol error on my part and any other time I met with her individually or privately was to explain [the] process.”

Lueken elaborated: “When I met with her, she expressed that she felt anxious and that she was worried about bias issues. The next day, I offered to remand my position as the contact for the election committee if she was incredibly concerned with bias, and connect her with a member of the committee she felt would be more appropriate. I gave her that option. I rattled off the names of the committee and said, ‘You are more than willing to meet with these people if you want to file a complaint or learn more about the bylaws or anything like that.’ And she said she thought meeting with me would be a-okay.”

Loera also believes that the committee was biased in favor of Alex Clark, her opponent, and current Environmental and Social Responsibility Representative Elect.

“What a lot of these people do is, they will kind of align themselves, like you got my back, I got your back. And I think that’s where corruption can come in.” Loera also stated that Clark was friends with members of the election committee, and she doubted the ability of the committee to separate their personal relationship with Clark from the discrepancy in the race. “If you’re going to be in a government kind of position, I see why you have to align yourself because that is the way the game is. They’re not without bias.” Loera stated that Clark had been “hanging around” with members of the current ASG “more than usual.”

Clark responded: “Student programs works together and associates together, and that’s the culture I’ve been a part of for the last year. That’s not something that’s going to change just because it’s during elections.”

Lueken responded: “We made it clear when people joined the committee that they are instructed to leave any predilections at the door. That’s one of the things we had a full private meeting with her, to let her read the formal allegations against her, present the full side of the story, and really give her as much ability to feel that she was heard in that meeting.”

“One thing I’ve done over the last year working for the school is to try and create really good working relationships with the ASG and the OSLA, the administrators, faculty and staff members I will be working with in the office,” said Clark. “In saying I was hanging around with the ASG members, yes, that’s true. I work with them…I’m running for ASG. I’m going to associate with ASG because I want to learn the ropes. I want to learn what I should be doing by talking to them.”

Clark stated that he did not cheat in the election. “I’ve tried my hardest to run it clean from the beginning and I personally felt like the rules have been extremely clear from the orientation that we went through,” said Clark. No allegations were filed against him.

“I am still satisfied to an extent because I did win,” said Loera. Before the committee voted to disqualify Loera, the vote count was 670 to 450, in favor of Loera. Lueken confirmed that 1213 were cast for the race in question, more than any other race. The next-highest number of votes cast for a single race was 907 votes for the Campus Life and Events Representative position. “The majority of the people did vote for me.”

Clark was unsatisfied with the way the appeals process was handled: “They didn’t tell me anything. None of the other candidates knew. I’ve had to tell everybody personally why my position had been postponed and that’s been awkward…me having to tell other people what’s going on, it’s almost putting me in a bad light.”

Clark stated that because the results of his race were being appealed, he should have been more informed by the election committee about what was happening. “I have not been part of that discussion at all. I’ve been in the complete dark.”

In regards to Loera’s guilt, Clark said, “According to our campaign rules, she was cheating. If that is condoned and she is elected, we’re essentially saying our campaign rules have no power and they don’t matter.” He did not believe the decision of the election committee was biased.

“I feel that the result is the result of the students, random members of the student body feeling that they had their rights infringed by Magenta’s campaigning techniques,” said Clark. “I feel like this is their response. There are documented complaints. This is not something that was spun out of thin air. These are real people that have an issue with what she was doing. This is not anybody in the office having anything to do with it. In fact, everything has been drawn out pretty long because [the election committee] is following process.”

“The whole thing stinks, and it’s a shame because I believe in the government and what they do here,” said an anonymous student who interacted with Loera during her campaign. “Most of them honestly want to help out the school.”

“I wouldn’t want to be elected after all of this if I was my opponent, because she’s gone about it completely the wrong way, in my opinion,” said Clark.

Wyman’s presentation focused on encouraging students to follow what interests them and what they are passionate about. Her suggestion for students looking to become more involved with their community included volunteering for a nonprofit, engage with the city council or local school board where they can attend meetings and testify, going to the legislator or even working on a political campaign.

“My vote counts the exact same as yours does…they have the same power and they have the same influence and the same weight,” said Wyman. She went on to say, “What makes communities strong is having the diversity of all the people in the community being part of it.”

“One of the things that cause the raising of tuition and fees is because young people don’t vote…and young people don’t talk about their needs or the need for a more affordable higher education,” said Thuy Ngoc “Tweedy” Pham, the organizing director

of the Office of Student Legislative Affairs. “I am an international student, and I come from a country where freedom of speech is not as popular. I think as long as you have freedom of speech, you have the right to voice your opinion,  and you have to use it.  You don’t know how precious it is until you use it or you don’t have it.”

Wyman’s visit is part of College Civics Week, a series of forums and speeches sponsored by the OSLA. The week-long event occurred between May 6-10 and featured a students and faculty forum on higher education, a presentation from the Washington Student Association on student involvement in the capitol, a presentation from the Washington Bus (an advocacy organization) on organizing a voter registration drive and a forum on the current student loan crisis.

Photo courtesy of Tammi Doyle

Suffice it to say that the Bellevue College drama department is brewing an eclectic, culturally resonate production of “Translations”, a drama concerning the transition from the Gaelic language to English in Ireland in 1833.  Last spring, the BC drama department finished a play with similar themes, “The Foreigner.” On this subject, Tammi Doyle supplied her view that “we have a really diverse student body. It’s really important to me as a theatre artist how we show cultures. Everything from the huge culture of a country or region to the culture of a family.”

As chair of the theatre department and a director of several productions this for the 2012-2013 drama season, Doyle has done her best to bring material to the BC stage that is relevant to students and brings in to focus issues that occur worldwide as well as on campus.

The heart of “Translations” is the challenge of translating an entire culture. “Characters in the play speak one of two different languages. When they’re speaking Gaelic, they speak English with an Irish accent. When they’re speaking English, they speak English with a classic English accent,” said Doyle in regards to the important challenges of the production. “We have a really good dialect coach, Karen Jo Fairbrook. She has been working with the students once or twice a week. It’s a great new skill for actors [to] have.”

While equipping the cast with the imperative dialect skills, Carly Worden is busy composing an original score for the production, an addition that Doyle believed would enrich the enjoyment and quality of the performance. “I really wanted an original score for two reasons. One, I think theatre and music are connected. I also think the idea of connecting music to Ireland and Irish culture is really important.” The title “Translations” is taken to heart on the production team, who work together to translate the themes of the play in as many ways as possible, with costuming, lighting, acting and musical choices.

When reflecting on her decision to bring “Translations” to the BC stage, Doyle explained, “sometimes, you get a really great theme. I get really attached to great themes, but they aren’t always great plays. This is a really good play.” Doyle emphasized that “Translations” is a must-see for its fundamentally well-written script, crafted by Brian Fruel, for its good plot and great characters.

“Be prepared to be taken back in time and travel to an exciting place,” said Liz Craswell, who plays the role of Sarah in “Translations”. “She can’t speak and mostly communicates through miming. On stage, I have the tendency to restrict my movement and I become very quiet,” said Craswell in regards to rehearsing her role.

“This role has definitely challenged my physicality and helped me open up on stage,” she offered in closing. “Translations” will be shown in the Stop Gap Studio Theatre from May 16-18 and again the following weekend on May 23-25 for $10.

Head Coach Kiko Magana is looking forward to his first season as head coach. He has been on board with Bellevue College for two years, previously the assistant coach for both men and women’s teams. He signed on as Bellevue College’s women’s team head coach in December of 2012. For the upcoming season, Magana said, “We hope to win Peninsula. That’s always a big game. We would really like to beat them… It’d be fantastic.”

Currently for the team, it is a sort of “off” season until August 12. Right now, they are in a six week process of working towards being ready for the start of their playing season. The girls are training three to five times a week. Their main focuses revolve around training areas such as strength, technical, overall fitness, and lifting weights.

In the middle of April as a part of their training, the BC Women’s soccer team played against Evergreen College. They lost 2-0, but Magana said, “I’m still really pleased with how they played. They played really well.”

The team still has a month until they start their playing season, and Magana already has a few things in mind that the team can work on to guarantee a successful year for the team.

“We always have room to improve playing style. On top of that, it’s my first year being head coach so they’re going to have to adapt to a new coaching style and a different culture on the team,” said Magana.

As well as having goals for his first year as head coach for the women’s team, Magana has personal goals revolving the team for himself.

“I want the whole team to be able to maintain a GPA of at least 3.0. I also want the games to always be competitive driven, no matter how well we’re playing or what the score is,” Magana said.

For right now, the BC Women’s soccer team is working to be fully prepared for their playing season, so you won’t see them playing games for a little while. The first game will be August 27, 2013.

The word “safety,” for example, can mean physical safety, as in safety from being attacked or killed. In more recent times, however, it has often been used to denote emotional comfort and a near complete lack of stress. “I don’t feel safe” can mean “I feel in danger of being shot if I speak my mind,” or it can mean “I feel in danger of people disagreeing with me or not liking me if I speak my mind.”

Now, we have laws in place to protect us against the former. Comparatively speaking, college campuses are extremely safe places. Incidents of violence on school grounds, unlike the daily violence of major metropolitan centers, are rare enough to make national news when they do happen. When we walk around at Bellevue College, we’re quite a bit safer than we would be walking around in downtown Seattle.Conversely, we do not—and cannot—have laws to protect us from the latter. Different people have different ideas of what is normal and even what should be morally acceptable. Homosexuality, for example, is deeply offensive to many people, even to some here on campus. This view is, itself, extremely offensive to me. It really, deeply bothers me that students think that other people are doomed to Hellfire simply for who they are. Whose emotional “safety” should we protect? We can’t do both.

When students say things like “I feel less safe on campus” in response to some crude and offensive writing, as happened on April 21 (in erasable marker on a dry-erase calendar), I can’t help but feel a bit of outrage on behalf of the gay couples in Uganda and Iran who really, truly are not safe. What they are doing, intentionally or not, is attempting to sneak in protection against psychological harm under the banner of physical harm. I’m reminded of a scene from Robert Bolt’s play “A Man for All Seasons,” in which Sir Thomas More is arguing with a prosecutor named William Roper. Roper says, “I’d cut down every law in England” to punish the devil, to which More replies, “Oh? And when the last law was down and the Devil turned ‘round on you, where would you hide Roper, the laws all being flat?” safety is an enticing but poisonous offer that we should emphatically reject. In addition to stagnating discussion, protecting my emotional safety means taking away yours, and protecting yours would mean throwing out mine…and childish, even detestable, is nothing like a “threat” to anybody.

According to Paula Sebastian, an adjunct English professor and adjunct elected representative for the Bellevue College Executive Council, the terminated faculty contacted Douglas Brown, the president of the BC Association of Higher Education. She described a feeling of anxiousness among the adjunct faculty due to lack of information. “During the first couple of days of [spring quarter], word spread like wildfire among adjunct that another adjunct had been fired. The first question is always, ‘How come?’ And no one seemed to know…[the terminated faculty member] had gone to the [faculty] union and said, ‘I’ve been terminated and I don’t know why.’”

Brown explained that adjunct faculty contracts have “protections in the contract for all faculty, particularly protections for due process. Once you’re hired as a faculty member, and for a part-timer, that unfortunately means you’re hired typically from one quarter to the next…[and] then you can’t be yanked out of class or terminated except for cause. That is, you’re not subject to arbitrary or capricious decisions about your continuance in the position. And the contract provides a variety of specific protections.”

Brown said the reason the grievance was filed was because the Arts and Humanities division did not follow the procedures outlined in the adjunct faculty contracts.

“[The faculty member] was not awarded due process,” added Sebastian.

Sebastian said the general reaction among the adjuncts was, “We could be fired without any due process.”

The process for filing a grievance begins within 30 business days of the termination of an employee. Within that time frame, a formal grievance must be filed in writing. In this case, the grievance was filed with the Vice President of Instruction. From then, a “Step One meeting” is arranged between the grievant and those individuals the grievance was filed against. Within 10 days of the Step One meeting, a written response from the Office of Instruction is due to the grievant.

A Step One meeting occurred on May 8.

If the grievance is struck down and the original decision is upheld, the grievants have the option of appealing the decision. If they decide to take this option, a Step Two meeting will occur between the college president and the grievant. If the grievants are unsatisfied with that decision, the final step is to have an arbitration meeting moderated by the American Arbitration Association.

“If it is allowed to go forward, then I think there will continue to be that doubt of how much protection and support and respect adjuncts really have,” said Sebastian. Additionally, Sebastian stated that, “The morale has been at a low ebb this quarter. I’ve never seen it so low. And I really don’t want to see that continue. I’m afraid if it doesn’t get resolved in a favorable way, that morale is going to be difficult to bring back up.”

At risk are roughly two-thirds of metro bus routes, which might be eliminated, reduced or revised. The bus routes at risk include  the BC-serving routes of 221, 245, 271 and 226.

Metro is up to $75 million annual shortfall and will have to cut service by up to 600,000 hours, which is 17 percent, beginning Fall 2014 until or unless new funding becomes available.

Since 2008,King County  Metro has had a revenue shortage caused by the weak economy and their reliance on sales tax.

On May 14, The King County Council’s Transportation, Economy and Environment Committee will take public testimony about the potential service cuts.

3:30 p.m. is the open house, and at 4 p.m., testimonies will be heard.

The public is invited to speak about the effect bus service cuts will have on their transportation and ideas for alternatives.

Alex Clark, communications coordinator for the Office of Sustainability, has been handing out flyers and asking students to attend the hearing. “Bus routes are being cut, voice your opinion on Tuesday,” he said.

For those who can’t attend, testimonies can also be submitted via an online form at: http://kingcounty.gov/council/testimony.aspx                                                                                               More information about Metro services at risk can be found on the King County Metro’s website.

“Public work is out there permanently,” for anyone to see, whereas “commercial gallery work is displayed for a short period of time for a few people to see, “but then it goes into storage and no one ever sees it again,” Reiquam explained.

Reiquam began his college career in 1977 as a sculpture student who wound up working for his professor as a studio assistant. He continued pursuing art by obtaining a bachelor’s degree in fine arts at the University of Washington, and attended graduate school at Yale University where he received an master’s degree of fine art in sculpture. When Reiquam had first moved to Seattle in 1979, one of the first friends he made was Ross Brown, who currently teaches a sculpting class at BC. Last year, Reiquam casually mentioned his idea of this type of show, and Brown mentioned the opening BC’s Gallery held for May 2013. Chad White, the BC gallery director, approved Reiquam’s showcase; “so, here it is,” Reiquam happily concluded.

His work is “responsive to sites, locations, architecture and landscapes.” He draws inspiration from the history and physicality of the site his art may be built on, and gives his piece personality specific to that. Not all projects are approved for construction, and rejection is a part of the process. “I don’t really consider it criticism of my work,” he said, because “sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.”

Reiquam’s showcase included two projects that were originally rejected by selection committees. He refurbished and personalized for different sites for which they were accepted, one of which is going to be built this summer. “In some cases, I can find an opportunity to revise and rework that proposal and use it somewhere else, where maybe it fits better.” An example of this was a rocket ship piece he originally created for Olympia, but wound up having it  built in Albuquerque, New Mexico. New Mexico harbors the White Sands Missile Range and Area 51 near Roswell and has an extensive history of rocketry and alien suspicion from the ‘50’s and ‘60’s. Reiquam is confident in his work, and proud of what he makes. “Win or lose,” he continues to create art.

He would have to put himself at 12 years old to describe his discovery of his ability and passion for music. “I happened to be finding heavy metal at the time,” said Dr. Brian Cobb, a composition and private instruction teacher at Bellevue College. Cobb was taken aback by the sheer power and energy he felt when hearing heavy metal for the first time live. Later in life, “that feeling has translated into Beethoven’s symphonies, where there are really powerful musical gestures. They are simplified in heavy metal, but I’ve always really connected with that.” From this point of his adolescence, “the track of my musical career has been figuring these things out, and it just happened to start out with heavy metal,” said Cobb.

Cobb studied music at the University of Massachusetts and the University of Washington.  He’s dabbled in the craftsmanship of many musical mediums, but his favorite style to perform is what he calls “Third Stream.” In the Pacific Northwest, this genre crosses classical contemporary music with an aesthetic very in tune to ambient music with a lot of electronics. “It’s very organic, which is  different from third stream on the East Coast, which tends to be more aggressive in nature,” said Cobb.

Outside of the classroom, Cobb has played double bass and electric bass with groups including, The Tom Baker Quartet, Crosstalk, The Bill Smith Trio and Radiosonde. Radiosonde concerts feature a collection of improvised dancers and musicians. “We start with a concept. It could be a word, it could be an image. From there, we do a 45 or so minute performance.” Cobb further elaborated on his work with David Hahn, where the two performed for Concert Imaginaire. “It’s a collective of rock, contemporary and classical music, along with jazz and free improvisation. It’s all very eclectic and on edge.”

In his spare time, Cobb works on a collection of personal compositions. “My most precious little project is a collection of lullabies for my daughter, Darwin.

She was born two years ago, and we’ve been working on a collection of lullabies for each day of the week.” Cobb has constructed an arrangement for chamber ensemble and electronics for this project. “Goodnight Darwin” is “very much like ambient music, hearing it loop over and over again I find that really appealing. It’s a way to make very gentle music that leads to imagination, but not too much that keeps the child awake,” said Cobb.

When reflecting how his musical career came to be, Cobb attributes much of his success to teachers and mentors in his life. Salvatore Macchia, a music instructor at the University of Massachusetts comes to mind. “He’s kind of a fireball of energy, and what he taught me that writing music is 10 percent talent and 90 percent decision making.  He didn’t want me to settle on first drafts. We’d always be searching and refining. That has really translated to many aspects of my life, even as a teacher.” Cobb also made great artistic progress with Klaas de Vries during his time in Holland. “He was the first to open the door as music being anything you want it to be, and not be held by any standard, regional mindset, or style.”

Cobb hopes that his experiences and teaching philosophies speak to students and enrich their lives. “The study of music leads to greater understanding of abstract concepts such as proportions, time, patterns and it’s something that is really organic.”

For all those who participated and attended the event, the takeaway and the importance was a little different for everybody. For Sam Crenshaw, BC student and a member of the LBGTQ Resource Club, said, “I think the most important part is what you make of it. For me, I took a lot away on how to deal with my anxiety. Everyone took away something different.”

In addition to this, Crenshaw stated, “I liked that I made friends. I met new people without it causing a panic attack. They helped me through the conference and made downtime more interesting.”

The battle for support and to be seen as equal for the LGBTQ community has been an ongoing and treacherous one. In 2011, statistics and studies were shown that gay teens were five times more likely to commit suicide. Along with this, gay teens who were in an unsupportive environment were 20 percent more likely to attempt suicide. The Power of One Conference, along with many other events, is one that helps teens and young adults feel that they are accepted for who they are.

“I think it was important for everyone to see that there are others like us. It’s one thing to be told and to ‘know’ there are other queer people in the world. It’s another to be surrounded by them, talking to them, interacting with them, hearing each other’s experiences, and seeing how this all affected us,” said Crenshaw.

The conference provided the attendees an opportuinity to talk to others about their experiences, take part in workshops, and overall bond with others who could understand the hardships that are presented with being a gay or transgender individual in today’s society.

The purpose of the Power of One Conference, in Crenshaw’s opinion, is to “build a community where there isn’t one. I met people from Boise, Twin Falls, Spokane, and more. We all go to schools that aren’t all that supportive. This weekend we were able to make connections and feel closer to ourselves and each other from our respective schools and from the conference.”

The Power of One Conference is over for now, but the support that the LGBTQ Resource Center receives at BC is still present. For anybody interested in joining, contact Ali Colluci or inquire within Student Programs for more questions.

The Photography Club is “outside the class learning” says White, allowing the students the “opportunity to see things in a new and in a different way.”

Recently, the club organized a trip to the Olympic National Park for Earth Week. Members who went camped, hiked and took photos. Mainly because a “good way to use photography is a means to see what else exists outside of this area.” With events like this through the Photography club students can “see new things and experience new things,” says White. The “club trying to expand its horizons” says Westley Evers, president of the photography club.

“It’s the first exhibition with a major theme.” Through this excursion they produced a set of images for the Earth Week Exhibition. They are now “looking forward to having more trips in the future, maybe Mt. Rainer.”

But photography “is not just about beauty” says White, students “take pictures of things they want to have an implied meaning behind.” Photography club creates the best atmosphere for that since it is also “social interaction and connecting using photography”. According to Evers, “photography hits on almost every aspect of what we do as humans, if you’re mechanical minded there is physics behind cameras and if you’re creative minded there is a whole creative aspect to photography.”

Not only is the club beneficial artistically but socially as well. Due to the “large amount of members, it’s a great opportunity to make friends,” says White. Evers first joined the club “to meet new people” and now considers the club members “really good friends beyond the club”. According to photography student Brandon Baker, the best part about photography club is “being around a bunch of artists.”

The club is a “tool catered interest where students can learn from each other”, says White. Having the ability to learn from peers makes the club that much more fun and creates a less stressful environment.

Another good part about the club, BC students get to be “around a bunch of creative people you can learn and work off of to gain new knowledge,” says Baker.

In art appreciation, students will be given the opportunity to understand how to look at art. They are encouraged to discuss what they should be seeing and why they see what they do. It is a chance for students to express a holistic view of the visual arts, diving into why art exists in the first place and why it’s important to study art in all aspects of life.

“With art appreciation, it’s much more about involving and doing. It’s less about research,” says Casprowiak. She explains further that art is actually an “element that separates us as humans. It’s not to say that animals don’t see creativity and design or something like that. But it is something that makes us human and it is a way for us to express things that we can’t vocalize. There are so many complex emotions that humans experience often that words aren’t sufficient enough to describe.”

Through the skills that students will be taught to approach any type of artwork, students will be able to “articulate reasons for and functions of art, connecting it to philosophy, history, economics, literature and many other areas.” They will be motivated to overcome the uncertainty and fear of how to approach art through Casprowiak’s many different techniques on enriching the learning experience.

For Art 105 (art appreciation), Casprowiak has been contemplating on how to utilize the online component of the course. By molding the relaxation of online coursework with a lot hands-on experience during the two-hour session on Wednesdays, “that’s going to be devoted largely to activities.”

“Occasionally we’ll stay in the classroom,” Casprowiak said, “but more often than not, we’re going to go to studios over here: the photography studio, the ceramics studio. I think we’re even going to do a painting or even something with Ross Brown and the 3D Design.” The galleries that students will be able to attend are not restricted to the campus alone. There will also be opportunities for off-campus trips such galleries including, but not limited to, the Bellevue Arts Museum and the Kirkland Arts Center. There will be trips visiting local gallerists on their techniques on how to decorate and prepare a gallery with artwork.

Students will be able to record their reactions in highly descriptive essays students of the artwork they study. In terms of grading, Casprowiak has explained that her style of grading relies on a student’s ability, their effort, and their improvement. With other instructors, the grading criteria may vary across the board however, for Casprowiak, “I look for a genuine comprehension of the subject matter and insightful response to it. To me, each student is different and everyone has different aptitudes in art. It only matters that they’re growing. It’s about where they start, where they end up and how committed they are to getting there.”

That isn’t to say that students already with a solid knowledge of art won’t get anything good out of the course. Casprowiak said, “You can have a high skill level and get something out of it. Students get to meet other art faculty.” It’s a good opportunity for building connections with the local art enthusiasts as well as building a comprehension of art. The style of art that Casprowiak will go into detail the most will be Western art. It is the primary focus of the course however, other styles—such as Chinese, Japanese, Pre-Colombian, Middle Eastern and African art—will be used mostly as comparison.

For the students still unsure of pursuing a fine arts degree, Casprowiak advised to “go into the fine arts because you love it. There are a lot of degrees that will get you the same kind of jobs. If you get an art degree, you might have to be more creative in trying to find a job and applying your degree. There are so many disciplines where people end in different fields from where they started.”