According to our four year-old selves, one of the triumphs of adulthood is being able to eat ice cream whenever we want. And it’s true — we can eat ice cream for breakfast, lunch, and dinner — but this perk of maturity is often wasted on $6.75 pints of Ben & Jerry’s during 2 AM runs to Homer’s. I get it, sometimes you’re in for a night of problem sets and Hum papers and you desperately need caffeine, pizza bites, and Phish Food, but I also think that we should occasionally embrace our grown-up-ness and treat ourselves to the fancy ice cream that only Portland has to offer in such scope. So, I waited in line and demolished the sanctity of my diet to give you the inside scoop on four of Portland’s best ice cream shops: Cloud City, Ruby Jewel, Salt & Straw, and the newly opened Pinolo.
Puppy Profile
As the fourth week of classes is upon us, one can feel the general stress level on campus quickly rising from “I have plenty of time to get that Hum reading done” to “that’s due tomorrow?” to “oh wait I have a Bio test right now” to a stressful transcendence of completely giving up. In these trying times, I find it helpful to take walks around campus and see some of that “sunlight” thing that has become increasingly less familiar. While taking a stroll around, something quickly catches the eye of all of us animal aficionados: pups. So many pups. Small pups. Big pups. Pups everywhere. Yes, we have been blessed by the presence of many fluffy gifts frolicking around campus. I encourage you to bother every human walking their precious angel around campus by asking them the question we all feel in our hearts “Can I pet your dog?” But friends, I have decided to go on a mission, a mission to never have to worry about what the preferred pronouns of a pup on campus is, because I will know. I want to learn about as many of the pups on campus as humanly possible. I’m here to do the hard research, and friends, I am here to share my findings with you. So sit back, relax, and level up on your dog spotting game by learning about some of our furry campus friends with me. Welcome to Dogs of Reed.
No More Ghost Bikes
On May 29th, hundreds of Portlanders gathered on their bikes at Colonel Summers City Park. From close friends to complete strangers, all came to ride in memory of Mark Angeles ’15, who passed away two days earlier. Leaving the park at rush-hour, the pack of cyclists rode along 39th Avenue, proudly slowing the flow of cars to a crawl. They passed the white bike memorializing Mark on the corner of 39th and Gladstone, the intersection where Mark was struck and killed by truck on May 27th. On June 14th, friends and colleagues gathered to speak at a memorial service, which preceded another group ride around Reed. Yesterday, the Bike Co-op was dedicated to Mark, and the ceremony was followed by one last group ride.The numerous memorial services and bike rides held this summer, as well as the newly-founded Mark Angeles Memorial Fellowship, serve as a visible testament to the profound impact Mark had on this school and, indeed, everyone who met him. Let us honor his memory every time we ride.
Amanda Reed Has to Die: A Collegiate Cosmogony for the Class of 2019
My first night on campus — just over three years ago — I went out looking for the party. I don’t really know what I expected, but what I found was a clutch of crusty upperclassmen, crouching in Sallyport sipping 40s (oh! the lost days of Olde English in glass) and keeping a weather eye out for impressionable kids like me.
Ancient Arts and Novel Concepts
The hand-drawn work of scribes has always had an inexplicable allure. Since the time of Gutenberg, typographers have been attempting to imitate their intricate and elegant lettering. The scribe’s pen or brush was then seen as the higher form to which type designers aspired but could not hope to achieve, and even today it still serves as an important tool in the typographer’s kit. In the words of Jan Tschichold, a German type designer and calligrapher, “Anyone who has ever done lettering by hand knows much more about the qualities of right spacing than a mere compositor who only hears certain rules without understanding them.”
Which Reed Professor Are You?
This Year's "Vox Populis"
A Reed Radio Renaissance
Reed students tend to be opinionated, outspoken, and inquisitive. What better place for them to critically question the world than radio? Reed has a long and storied history of radio personalities, from the quirky Dr. Demento (Barry Hansen ’63) to the news-oriented Arun Rath ’92, weekend host of NPR’s All Things Considered. What is it then about the siren call of radio that attracts so many Reedies? Is it the glamour of a dying medium? The narcissistic impulse to hear yourself on air? Or is it simply an excuse to ask people invasive questions, satisfy your own curiosity, and get paid for it?
Shitty Conference Bingo
Keeping Kids Off the Street for 24 Years: A History of Beer Nation
“I thought it was Steve Jobs and that guy from Blue Like Jazz. They use to do donuts in a ’60s Cadillac owned by the prez at the time in West Parking Lot and then get high and play D&D. The Blue Like Jazz guy and Steve Jobs created a microbrew and called it Apple Computer. Then Steve Jobs took a calligraphy class and founded Beer Nation and the rest is history.” – Colin Townes-Anderson ’13 delivers a cosmogony
“Beer Nation is not a joke. Never been a joke. That's not funny.” – Rob Mack ’93
I hazily remember being told, during my freshman Renn Fayre, that the reason Beer Nation members drink Old German is because one member was a professional bowler sponsored by Pittsburgh Brewing and so his Nation colleagues could get a discount. It was bullshit. I believed it wholeheartedly.
Struggling to Stay: Addiction on Campus
Harm reduction, like addiction itself, has many faces, the question is not—are we as a community doing enough, but rather, how do we do it.
Reed has, over the years, been made aware of the danger and potential consequences of not treating substance addiction seriously. The question of how substance use should be approached in order to keep students safe, while both complying with federal and state laws, and creating a positive campus culture, is frequently discussed at Reed. The community agrees that students’ safety should be made a main priority in addressing drug use, but we are unsure of how to do so.
Helen 2.0
The feats of Achilles and Hector pale in comparison to those performed by students and President John Kroger in pursuit of their prize.
On Friday night fewer students were quietly studying in the library than usual. Instead, many engaged their (often hidden) athletic sides in a battle for Reed’s most valuable and mystery-shrouded relic, the Doyle Owl. The mystic lure of this artifact was felt by more than just the students: dodging elbows, copies of the Iliad, and overzealous rugby players, President John Kroger himself took part in the fray to plant a hand on this remnant of Reed’s history.
We Are What Have Have To Offer Each Other: Dealing with Student Death
During my O-Week, back in 2009, some seniors informed me that, to their incredulity, I had to be discreet about getting drunk. The shopping cart full of 40s that they had been distributing around the quad had been confiscated. It was clear from the onset of my time here that there was beginning to be a shift in how drugs and alcohol were handled at Reed. The word around campus was that the fatal heroin overdose a year and a half earlier had cemented Reed’s reputation as a “drug school,” and was negatively affecting enrollment. The administration was trying to kick this reputation, and had adopted a newfound zealotry when it came to AOD violations, but some habits are hard to break.
Honor in an Avocado Pit
My senior year of high school, self-righteous granola cruncher that I was, I only deigned to submit applications to colleges that were bonkers about “community.” Retrospectively, this makes no fucking sense. What did I think went on at schools that didn’t talk about community on their brochures? Did I imagine automatons strolling to class each morning in a bubble, pushing all the other little robots down on their way? And what did I think made the schools that talked about community so communal? Would they would mirror my 80-student alternative high school, where I attended a slumber party with the whole senior class?
Student Body Wage Review
The 2015 Student Body Wage Review survey closed on Monday, but many students are still wondering why the review happened in the first place. The poll explained that “the Wage Review Board is surveying the student body in order to gauge their financial needs and to better understand the work done by students who hold student body positions.” Are we to assume, then, that SB employees are unsatisfied with their current wages?
Reed Arts Week: Might Now
Million dollar rock rocks campus.
Rumors of a large rock circulated wildly around campus on Tuesday before the Visiting Artists show, however the rumors themselves turned out to be larger than the fist sized rock with a smiley face on the inside. This year’s RAW explores the subtle and strange using the theme “Might Now” as its jumping off point into peculiarity. The campus turns into a gallery as art takes to the library, the GCCs, the gym and of course—the art building. For the five-day duration of the event students will have the opportunity to interact with art as a part of their daily routine, whether they be math majors or linguistics students.
Local Factions, International Actions
Amnesty International wasn’t the club to join at my high school. In fact, student organizations weren’t very popular at all. Our “club” existed only as a weekly discussion group, where a half a dozen people and I discussed the plight of prisoners of war, death row inmates, and various other instances of human rights violations. Our group would set up a table in the cafeteria, display our yellow banner, and ask students to sign petitions. After tabling, I remember a friend questioning me as to why I believed Guantánamo prisoners deserved a trial by jury. He insisted, “they aren’t American citizens; they don’t have same rights we do.” I couldn’t think a response, I just stared at him, shocked. I imagined getting into a heated discussion on the UN declaration of human rights and whether or not matters in cases such as this. In the end, I decided to not push the point and eat my lunch.
Safer Sex
For many Reedies, being in college and living away from home provides a chance to experiment with the responsibilities and privileges that come with being an adult. Reed’s unique culture encourages self-exploration and individuality among our students—the unofficial motto is, “Communism, Atheism, Free Love,” after all.
Sound of Gunfire Off in the Distance: A Short History of Firearms at Reed
“First we saw sand, all over the floor. Then the shell casings. Then the cigarette butts. Then, we looked up, and saw these giant lead deflectors looming over us. Why they didn’t take it all out, I don’t know. Maybe they thought it would make a comeback.” Frank Zornado, Sports Center Supervisor and Aquatics Manager, has seen strange things in his twenty-nine years working at Reed, but one of the most memorable was his discovery of the college’s forgotten shooting range.
Some Major Changes
Reed’s website presents its academic atmosphere as something of a study in contrast. On one hand, it maintains the academic rigor of a traditional liberal arts college, while on the other it embraces the cultural, social, and intellectual progressivism of today. Continuing the effort to find a balance between a passion for traditional academia and allowing students to pursue more modern interests, a major and two concentrations have been approved by the Committee on Academic Policies and Planning (CAPP).