Dispatches from 1320, by Tom Hallman Jr. Wows

At a glance:

What: “Dispatches from 1320”

A collection of newspaper stories compiled during the career of former Oregonian reporter Tom Hallman Jr.

About the author: Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing.

Publisher: Hallman Publishing

Rating: 4 stars

Cost: $7.99 for the Kindle version on Amazon, $25 for a printed copy

Where available: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Pages: 501

Chess with Friends

Walk into the Commons cafeteria at noon and people are eating and having conversations. At the same time, chess matches are being played, as well as other card games in adjacent tables.

Two games of chess are being played next to each other. Shoulder to shoulder, each player offers smiles and conversation to their opponents. A seemingly competitive game of chess on the surface turns out to be a bunch of friends laughing together and playing games.

 One of the two games plays with traditional black-and-white pieces and the other plays with bright blue and yellow pieces, for school spirit of course.

Each move on these chess matches are completely defining; they’re all very careful with their moves. They have a common pursuit in defeating each other, but they’re all here to have fun.

Travis Peterson, the club president, is among the pair of games and he is absolutely having his way with his opponent.

 Peterson has been the student rep for the chess club since February 2018, but the club itself has been in existence since the fall term in 2015.

 He looks up, laughs and smiles with his counterpart.

“It’s okay,” Peterson said with a sincere smile.

Playing chess with your friends is what the club is all about. In fact, at the end of the term the club intends to give away a free chess set for any person who drops by the chess club meeting and plays a game of chess and signs a raffle ticket. Not just any chess set though, but a four-player one!

A four-player chess set is like a traditional one but with an additional three rows of eight cells on all four sides of the chess set. Players can play free-for-all matches or have teams of two and each side of the board has different color pieces.

For more about how to get involved with the chess club at Linn-Benton, contact Travis Peterson via e-mail. The chess club meets Tuesdays and Thursdays in the Commons cafeteria from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. “The idea was that we were going to give away a regular one, but we thought why give away a regular chess set when you can give away a four-player chess set, so you can play with your friends,” Peterson said.

Why you should consider taking Communication

Have you ever had a hard time arguing your case or effectively getting your point across? Of course you have. Frankly, one time or another, you’ll encounter a struggle to make yourself better spoken. How about a difficulty relating to others or building empathy for somebody? Of course! Relating to somebody that doesn’t have anything in common with you and offering your empathy can be a seemingly impossible task. If you ever wanted to better your skills at things like these, communication is the line of courses you want to consider taking in college. You’re taught exactly how to offer empathy and perceive things without bias, as well as other things when you chose to take communication.

Absolutely anybody can benefit from taking communication courses. More often than not, the instructors that teach communication are a reliable source of support for hardships in your life. In addition, the instructor helps you establish a sense of belonging in their classroom. This isn’t to say that your favorite math teacher won’t listen to your problems, but your communication professor will offer a fruitful method to express your feelings in an appropriate environment.

Communication can go a long way in your romantic relationships. Dr. John Gottman who is a professor emeritus in Psychology is known for his effective relationship analysis through observations. Many of these are published in peer-reviewed pieces of literature for anybody to read.

Gottman’s four horsemen theory underlines four traits that are likely to destroy 90% of romantic relationships; criticism, contempt, stonewalling, and defensiveness are the four traits that likely end any relationship. This simple concept of relationship protection is taught in communication 218, here at LBCC. During the “emotions” unit, students in this class are taught how to effectively express their emotions constructively.

After taking communication in college, you’ll be enchanted with the very skills that employers look for. You will be able to conduct yourself professionally in a job interview. After studying communication, you’ll be able to facilitate healthy relationships with people that are important in your life. These are all gainful reasons to take a communication course in college.

Linn Benton CC's, Phi Theta Kappa holds donation drive for sexual assault awareness month

April is sexual assault awareness month and what better way to show remembrance and support than donate to the victims of these crimes. LBCC provides students and faculty the opportunity to donate goods to victims of rape and domestic violence.

Linn Benton CC honor society Phi Theta Kappa will be holding a donation drive to raise awareness for sexual assault all throughout April. The donations will go to CARDV (Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence) and Center for Hope and Safety.

Alena Santos, head of events for Phi Theta Kappa, says that “PTK will hand these donations to CARDV and Center for Hope and Safety at the beginning of May after the donation is over. The items donated to these two organizations go to either to the victims of domestic violence/abuse/sexual assault or the organizations themselves.”

You can donate by going to the Diversity Achievement Center, or the SLC office where there will be the donation box. Accepted items include toiletries, towels, school and office supplies, used cell phones, bus passes and children and baby items (toys, games, sippy cups and diapers).

She Speaks, Everyone Thinks: Hailey Adkisson

She emerges from her office and makes her way to the classroom, class starts in five minutes. Her face is seemingly expressionless. She clutches a tan hydro-flask with one hand and a clipboard with the attendance and lecture notes in the other, and marches to the classroom. It's a Tuesday afternoon and the weather is wonderful in Albany, Oregon and first year professor Hailey Adkisson is about to give a lengthy lecture on conflict in her communication 218 class.

Adkisson turns the corner to greet a few early students waiting outside with smiles. She unlocks the door, turns on the light and assumes her position behind a tall wooden, beige podium. More people come in and make themselves comfortable in their seat until the classroom is filled up with two dozen students.

Before class begins she gives details to the class about the upcoming final and how the criteria will be broken down. The shortest person in the room, but undoubtedly the most recognizable, commands attention with each sentence. Some take notes even. Unfortunately for those who aren't comfortable speaking aloud to the class, the final exam will be a verbal presentation about some of the positive experiences gained from exploring another culture.

"Time limits?" one student asks aloud to the front of the classroom.

"No more than five minutes, no less than two." She replies. Then there are no questions.

Adkisson gives each student a number one through four, instructing them each to say their number as the room counts up then tell them each to group up with the number they got. The students group into fours and fives to a corner of the room.

At this point she announces the students are to "write the word conflict on the whiteboard and brainstorm a list of names, phrases, or emotions when you hear the word conflict."

The four groups exchange a flurry of ideas and thoughts. The only challenging part about this exercise, put your thoughts into words and have a discussion. Adkisson sits atop her desk, left leg over her right and looks on to each of the five groups, smiling in content with the state of each group discussion.

This idea of social interaction and constructive ideas being shared among minds young and old is also a theme for the discussion board that the Civil Discourse Club uses to understand other points of view.

Mark Uristo, the official advisor for the Civi Discourse Club, said he "reached out to Hailey for help [with the club] because she has a lot of experience with facilitating civil discourse based on her work at North Dakota State."

Adkisson gets her desire for civil discourse from a former advisor she had during graduate school. She said that "she had a big influence on me, not nessecarily teaching, but I just really respected her teaching style. The bulk of it [the class] was just sitting around discussing ideas. She would challenge you to think, you would respond, and she would say 'tell me more'". Adkisson goes on to say "her advise translated well beyon the classroom."

Infact, before she entered NDSU for her MA in Speech Communication, she spent two years as an AmeriCorps VISTA serving in Winatchee, Washington and Moorhead, Minnesoda.

Linn Benton's History of Extra Curriculars

The year is 1991, the only club that exists at LBCC is the Horticulture club. Being the agricultural hub that Linn County is, there was no surprise to see a Horticulture club among the campus's extra curricular activity. Then came ASCET, or the american Society of Certified Electric Technicians.

LBCC has had numerous clubs come and go such as: Biology club, Geology club, Swing Dance club, and many more. A list of clubs on campus, active and inactive, can be seen here: http://www.linnbenton.edu/current-students/involvement/institutional-equity-and-student-engagement/clubs-and-co-curricular-programs. Clubs to the students on LB's campus serve as a staple to the community and a place to meet many other people with similar interests.


The club has been disbanded in it's 25-year history only once, as it has "ran out of seniors [upperclassmen] to fill office positions" says Ric Costin, the adviser for ASCET. "It died about two years ago to be brought back again after a low enrollment of students".Perry Carmichael serves as the department chair for ASCET and is an instructor in Computer Aided Design and Drafting, or CADD. He said that the "club isn't very focused on research and development", contrary to other beliefs. The club doesn't have any partnerships or sponsors, but

The end of fun clubs and co curricular activities are almost inevitable, as numerous clubs have been disbanded only to be brought back, like ASCET and many others. Heather Morijah, who is the program assistant of Clubs & Student Engagement at LBCC told of a process clubs regularly attending clubs have to go through, as well as the direction disbanded clubs must take to become active again. "If a club has been inactive for several years, then the leader [of the club] needs to fill out a petition for club charter". Morijah goes on to say, "To have a club, you need eight students that are currently enrolled, and an adviser."

If you're an LBCC student and you have a profound interest in a set of activities that aren't validating of your interests, start your own! Make sure that you have a theme that is suitable for a school environment and go make yourself some friends doing what you enjoy.

'These Two Facts Exists", an exhibit by Ron Linn

The new exhibit in the SSH Art Gallery ‘These Two Facts Exist’ features many different drawings by Portland native Ron Linn. Linn’s graphite composite comes after local print maker Tallmadge Doyle’s, ‘Pollination’.

On March 5, 2018, a reception and talk was held to show his drawings and give students a chance to ask questions about his work and talk art. Here is a website with all of the information concerning the gallery and art staff: https://www.linnbenton.edu/current-students/involvement/art-gallery/now-showing-in-south-santiam-hall-gallery.

Linn has bounced around as an artist, as he has spent time at an art residency in Iceland for two months, and in Nevada, where he studied art. He recalls his time in Iceland as a “really intensive, focused time to explore my art at a bookbinding workshop.” Soon after, he obtained a bachelor's of art at the University of Oregon. He currently teaches at the school he got his undergraduate degree in Nevada.

Landscape is a very critical theme in his art, as he said, “My artwork seems to come back to this idea of place and trying to connect with place.” Linn recalls an old geologist roommate he had that looked at things differently than he did in relation to the landscape. “Whenever we’d go hiking, he would see things entirely different than I saw.”

All of the work on display is done in pencil. In fact, Linn claims he would “use mechanical pencils, mostly.” Using pencil on all of the art depicts calm but intricate lines with this particular medium.

 Ron Linn (Left) is talking about his art with Anne Magratten (Right).

Though there aren’t many colors, rather shades, Anne Magratten, a professor in LB’s fine arts department, said of Linn’s work: “It’s a wonderful reminder as I see you [Linn] stepping in and out of these different ways of working that this is the blessing of contemporary art. It’s the flexibility to occupy many different artistic positions.”
The art piece seen on the floor is a drawing of a windsock. Linn gives a profound interpretation to this, as explains the idea of “windsocks as this empty body that reveals invisible forces. You don’t see the wind, but when it interacts with this tool used to measure the wind, you can finally start to see it.”

"These Two Facts Exists" gets its name from “this idea that a drawing of something being looked at as an object, and the object itself as two different things. So you have a drawing of a rock, that exists and you have an actual rock is a second fact that also exists.” He goes on to say, “We would privilege the actual object as being the ‘true thing’, but in many ways there’s something very true about the drawing of the object. Through interpretation and conversation, it is a fact that exists.”

The exhibit will be on display in the SSH Art Gallery until March 29.