Western Washington University Western CEDAR Klipsun Magazine Western Student Publications 12-1978 Klipsun Magazine, 1978, Volume 09, Issue 02 - December Gregg Olsen Western Washington University Follow this and additional works at: https://cedar.wwu.edu/klipsun_magazine Part of the Higher Education Commons, and the Journalism Studies Commons Recommended Citation Olsen, Gregg, "Klipsun Magazine, 1978, Volume 09, Issue 02 - December" (1978). Klipsun Magazine. 45. https://cedar.wwu.edu/klipsun_magazine/45 This Issue is brought to you for free and open access by the Western Student Publications at Western CEDAR. It has been accepted for inclusion in Klipsun Magazine by an authorized administrator of Western CEDAR. For more information, please contact [email protected]. December 1978 •/i -■ *’ . -»■ ■'i-'■ ■ • ,V- ■^'4 i* ,p 2|;;r . r* - ■ 2 KUPSUN/DECEMBER1978 December 1978 Vol. 9 Issue 2 13 23 Dixy and Neutrinos Seven Western faculty have the Press turned a dream into a reality Gov. Dixy Lee Ray’s — detection of neutrinos. The relationship with the press has wave of the future, maybe? not been an especially close by Beth Jacobson one. Who’s at fault? Ray? and Amie Klimke The press? Stay tuned . by Dawn Battson 26 Fairhaven Fairhaven must increase 5 enrollment or its doors might Scrimshaw 18 close — permanently. Who This art — or craft — starts Solar Power wants to go to a school that’s with a small piece of ivory that In spite of the clouds in on its way out? Not so fast! is etched and inked into Northwest skies, solar power Fairhaven is fighting to intricate designs. The scrim- is no longer the pet project of survive. shander has only one chance environmentalists here. by Rudy Yuly to get it right. by Laura Merkel by Janet Simmelink 9 20 Minorities Aquaculture Minority enrollment is Ten years after the Lummi down at Western and other project began, questions are colleges and universities. As still unanswered. Is the pro­ one faculty member said, ject worthwhile or is it a case “ Western is becoming a lily- of “throwing money down Behind the S to ry .......................4 white campus again. ’ ’ the drain?” M isc ........................................... 8 by Judy Gish by Bill Bailey Opinion ................................... 31 Editor: Rudy Yuly Inside Front Cover Gregg Olsen Laura Merkel by Clay Hartl Story Editor: Janet Simmelink Back Cover Bruce Stinshoff Marla McCallister by Darrell Butorac Production Manager: Dave McCracken Special Thanks to Leslie Kelly Roger Schauble Marla McCallister Production Ass V; Craig O ’Hara Kathy Johnson Klipsun is a twice quarterly Susan Stauffer publication funded with student fees Photo Editor: Gwen Collins and distributed without charge. Clay Haiti Billy Bailey Klipsun, Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washing­ Office Manager: Linda Rodick ton 98225. Published at the Print Beth Jacobson Advisor: Shop, WWU, Bellingham, Staff: Carolyn Dale Washington. Kim Klein Typesetter: Copyright © 1978 Judy Gish Sharon K. Smith DECEMBER 1978/KUPSUN 3 BEHIND THE STORY As a writer gathers information, stories change — feasible and possible in the Northwest. ’ ’ some only slightly, others more drastically. Battson said she thinks Gov. Ray “ floated into Gish set up interviews and did research on the office on a wave of favorable ‘imagery’ press. Yet,” premise of doing a story on the decline and fall of the Battson said, “ from the beginning of her admin­ College of Ethnic Studies. istration she continually called ‘foul’ at many The story covered a larger scope than she realized. articles that appeared in newspapers. And the press “ As I began researching, I became aware that it would reply ‘fairplay.’ Why should this happen? was only a minor detail in a larger picture — the Was the press out to get Dixy, as the the governor future of minority education, ’ ’ she said. claimed? Was Dixy out to misinform and mislead “It was shocking and enlightening for me to the public, as the press claimed? realize how little I knew about the situation. I had “ Shades of the Nixonian era! The press vs. the blithly assumed that, since people were no longer executive except the battle was happening in our rioting in the streets, everything was getting better. own backyard. ’ ’ After all, one no longer read about minority dissatisfaction in the newspapers or saw it on TV — the old “ no news is good news. ’ ’ As a woman, Gish said she has faced discrimin­ ation. “As a reporter, I am supposed to be informed. I felt that if I could be so ignorant and unaware, others must be equally so. ” No one wants to confront unpleasant facts. It is much easier to ignore them or to pretend they don’t exist. Often they are not acknowledged until it is too late.” As Gish said, “ It is the Journalist’s job to present Often upon completion of an article, a writer information. After that, it is all up to the reader. ’ ’ wishes he or she would have added, “ That quote Merkel first became interested in solar energy this about the ...,” or “ a little more background .... ” summer, when she worked at a Youth Conservation Yuly said he would have liked to have Corps camp on the Olympic Peninsula, (“ 37 miles mentioned — from the nearest sign of civilization. ” ) “ Vice President Talbot’s English accent, his One of the proJects planned that Merkel found pleasant but realistic answers — patient answers — interesting was building a solar collector to heat hot to my repetitive and slow questions. water for the dorms, she said. “ Perhaps I would’ve said something about how It had never occured to her that “one could sweaty my palms were when I shook hands with actually use the sun’s energy directly, particularly to President Olscamp, how his polite, businesslike take a shower using no energy to heat the water answers gave me the impression that my fifteen whatsoever. ’ ’ minutes were almost up. It would’ve been nice to Unfortunately, Merkel said, they never got talk about Dean Ager’s obvious love for Fair haven, around to building the collector. ‘ ‘Although we often the intense and articulately sincere conversation that ran short of hot water for showers, and the hot water we had. Or Fairhaven faculty member Michael heater leaked terribly. Burnett smoking several cigarettes (Winston? After a week spent in a remote back-country camp Marlboro?) with nervous fingers and repeated with half of the enrollees, taking baths in mountain protestations that he wasn’t the best person to ask, streams, I valued even more the luxury of hot water. during our short interview. ’ ’ Coming back to Western this fall and remem­ Enough of the ‘ ‘would have’s. ’ ’ bering the cold baths I had endured, I decided to do So you see, there is always a story or stories my own checking into whether solar energy was behind the story. — G.O. 4 KUPSUN/DECEMBER1978 Scrimshaw: Scratching an Existence by Janet Simmelink “. It’s a very unforgiving medium . you get one chance and that’s about it ...” Photo by Kimby Photo Klein In an old house in Bellingham, a magnifying eye-pieces to aide them in Judge was attending Western on the dozen or so craftsmen spend their days their work, and rows of colored inks G.I. Bill when he saw a sign at the bent over well-lit workbenches, beside them. employment security building that said scratching intricate designs on small These are the scrimshanders of the ‘ ‘artist wanted. ’ ’ Having done pen and pieces of ivory with sharp, needle-like Alaska Silver and Ivory Company, and pencil drawings since he was a child, he tools. the work they do is called scrimshaw. called the number. Some have books opened to pictures One of them, Scott Judge, has been ‘ ‘They asked me how many angles I of butterflies or ships to use as guides, working as a scrimshander for over four could draw on the head of a pin,” others work from memory. All have years. Judge said. ‘‘Being no fool, I asked DECEMBER 1978/KLIPSUN 5 how big of a pin. I’ve been working for beauty of the piece is the feel and look bored whalemen started entertaining the company ever since. ’ ’ of the ivory itself. themselves by scratching pictures on Alaska Co. specializes in making “ I’ve done a lot of pieces that I the ivory teeth on board. jewelry — pendants, bracelets, belt regretted having to scrimshaw because Whales’ teeth were plentiful on the buckles, etc. and does larger, more the piece of ivory was so nice, ’ ’ he said. ship, as each adult whale yielded up to detailed work by special order. When Scrimshaw was bom in the whale 50, and thousands of teeth would be Judge and the other scrimshanders get boats that sailed fi*om New England in taken on a single voyage. They were a piece of ivory to work on, it is already the 18th century. Sperm whales, with five to 10 inches long and weighed up to set in gold. their magnificient jaws and ivory teeth, a pound. These first scrimshanders Judge first outlines the picture he lived far out in the oceans, and whale carved on the ivory with jacknives or will etch on the ivory with a soft lead hunters eager for their oil, would spend sail needles, then poured black ink into pencil. Then he begins scratching the up to five years at sea hunting them. the grooves to complete the picture. outline and adds the details with an According to Charles Meyer, author They also carved a variety of exacto knife or a tool with a tungsten of Whaling and the A rt of Scrimshaw^ artifacts, including bird cages, work carbide point. As he goes, he inks the “ Most ordinary seamen went because boxes, chessmen, rolling pins, canes, surface of the ivory, then wipes the ink they were shanghaied while drunk, spools and pen holders, from whale away so that it remains only in the seeking sanctuary from the law, fleeing teeth and bone.