Western Front - 2005 May 27

              HE WESTERN FRONT
Y, MAY 27, 2005 • WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY • BELLINGHAM, WASH. • WESTERNFRONTONLINE.COM
ISSUE 17
VOLUME 133
Design for a child's mind
Photo courtesy of Jason Morris
Bellingham children play on furniture created by Western sophomore industrial design students for the Mount
Baker Plywood Design Competition.
Industrial design students compete in children's
furniture design scholarship contest
Western.
Jason Morris said he announced the winners of the awards
May 17, after the first-grade children played on the furniture
May 10.
The competition is part of a project in the sophomore design
class, Morris said. Morris required the students to complete a
piece for the contest, he said.
Western junior Jerimiah Welch won first place with his
submission of a wood and canvas rocking recliner, Morris said.
Welch received a $ 1,500 scholarship.
BY STEFANI HARREY
The Western Front
After judges invited first-grade students from Geneva
Elementary School to play on furniture Western's sophomore
industrial design class created, they announced the winners of
the Mount Baker Plywood Design Competition.
Judges chose three winners from the Engineering Technology
216 class, sophomore industrial design, and awarded them a
total of $3,000 in scholarships from Mount Baker Products,
the supplier of the plywood used in each piece of furniture,
said Jason Morris, assistant professor of industrial design ,at see CHILDREN, page 8
Iraqi writers
visit Western
BY KIRA FREED
The Western Front
Two Iraqi women visited Western Tuesday to share their
experiences living in the Middle East and discuss issues
facing women in Kurdish and Iraqi societies.
"This is a most beautiful picture — you and me, a Kurd
and an Arab, sitting onstage together," journalist Alia
Mamdouh said. Her comment ended the discussion that
followed the event, "Women Writers of the Arab World."
Mamdouh and poet Choman Hardi read from their
published works and then answered questions from
the audience at the event in Old Main Theatre, which
highlighted the lives of women — particularly women
writers — in Kurdish and Iraqi cultures.
"Living in a dictatorship doesn't mean that literature
doesn't flourish," Hardi said in her speech.
Mamdouh agreed and said that in the past 30 years,
society has broken down the taboos of religion, sex and
politics in Iraq, allowing writers more freedom in their
work.
"There are many women writers in Iraq," Mamdouh said
in her speech. "I think Iraqi women are more politicized
than men in the way they write."
Mamdouh was born in Iraq in 1944 and attended school
in Baghdad, women's studies program director Rosanne
Kanhai said in her introduction of Mamdouh. Mamdouh
has written four novels and two collections of short stories,
all in Arabic, Kanhai said.
"My language protects me, and without it I will probably
die," Mamdouh said about not writing in other languages.
"Arabic is my means of earning because I do my writing
in Arabic."
One of Mamdouh's novels is available in English.
Publishers released the novel's first translation as
"Mothballs," but re-released the book this year as
"Naphtalene: A Novel of Baghdad (Women Writing in the
Middle East)" because Mamdouh was dissatisfied with
the translation, Kanhai said.
At the, event, Mamdouh read' a passage from
"Naphtalene" that described a scene of female Iraqi
family members and friends at a public steam bath, and
the impressions it left on the main character, a rebellious
Iraqi girl named Huda.
see WOMEN, page 6
Dump and ditch trash
Nonprofit group will collect
students' unwanted belongings
BY DAN GROHL
The Western Front
At the end of every spring
quarter, an exodus of students
empty the neighborhoods
surrounding Western.
Many students leave some
belongings on the side of the road
near their homes when they leave.
RE Sources, a local nonprofit
group, will collect these items this
year in an effort to keep the streets
of Bellingham free of clutter.
Students discard an estimated
four tons of reusable materials
every year, said Lisa Friend,
RE Sources special projects
coordinator. The goal is to collect
at least one ton of materials. RE
Sources will donate items that
still function to local charities like
the Goodwill.
"Students have only so much
room in their cars," Friend said.
This is the first year RE Sources
will collect items off campus,
Friend said.
see TRASH, page 6
VR! hybrids speed by competition
BY STEFANI HARREY
The Western Front
Western's Vehicle Research Institute team
returned from New York after competing in
the 2005 Tour de Sol national competition
May-13 to 16, winning twelve awards with
their experimental vehicles, the Viking 23
and the Viking 32.
Students in the VRI made both hybrids
completely from scratch, said Brian White,
Western junior and VRI team member. White
worked on the vehicles and traveled to the
competition, he said.
"The competition was a blast," said
Western junior Ryan Cruse, a member of
see VRI, page 7
Photo courtesy of Ryan Cruse
Western junior Ryan Cruse drives the Viking 23 for the
hill climb event May 13 at Saratoga Springs Park, Sara­toga
Springs, N.Y.
GAMES GALORE aMEiliSlWiliiii
Students attend 2005 E3
Exhibition, experience
sensory overload.
ACCENT, PAGE 10
News outlets' use of anonymous
sources leads to.public distrust.
OPINIONS, PAGE 18
GONE GOLFING
The Viking men's golf team
finishes ninth in nationals.
SPORTS, PAGE 14