Features

It all started with a beautiful day and ended in death row. The story of Juan Melendez, a man who spent almost 18 years in jail for a crime he did not commit, is an amazing tale of endurance and hope. On May 7, 1984, Melendez was arrested on the charge of first-degree murder in Florida. Police claimed to have his confession, but there was no physical evidence against him. He was found guilty on a Thursday, and by Friday he had been sentenced to death. Melendez commanded the Kilworth...

For some students, college is as far from home as they have ever been, and sometimes it is as far as they want to go. Others, however, make the choice to study abroad. During the 2008-09 academic year approximately 260,300 American students spent time studying abroad. Around 47 percent of them were in Europe, according to the Institute of International Education. According to the Puget Sound website, in the spring of 2011, 135 Puget Sound students studied abroad in 31 different countries. Georgia Cohen, a Theatre Arts major at Puget...

Oppenheimer Café is now open until 9 p.m., giving students a new evening hangout alternative to Diversions.  A bustling terrarium by day, the Café is transformed at night into a softly lit space at the south end of the Harned courtyard. Inside, the hanging light fixtures reflect endlessly off the glass facets of the building, making for a starry night even on cloudy evenings. As usual, a cooling breeze flows from the fans above, and the doors sit propped open to let in air and undercaffeinated customers. Located inside the...

Emelie Peine does not fit the typical image of a professor. After obtaining her undergraduate degree at Evergreen, she pursued her dream of rock stardom, playing trombone in a ska band and received a Ph.D. from Cornell University’s Rural Sociology program with a focus on the development of the soybean industry in Brazil. This past summer she biked across Spain and Portugal and researched the emerging Chinese pork industry. On campus, Professor Peine (pronounced pine-ee) focuses on international agriculture issues, teaching a course on the international political economy of food...

Your Domestic Dilemma: “My living space has so many walls, and I have so much stuff! What do I do?” Crafty Connie’s Solution: Shelves. Shelves are great because they allow you to put your aforementioned stuff on your aforementioned walls. A good shelf, level and properly installed, speaks to your houseguests. It says, “My host(ess) has excellent taste, fine woodworking skills and many places to display all of his/her wonderful possessions. Perhaps this person is a domestic success!” Unfortunately, most college students don’t have the time, skills or tools to...

How does one create a sense of community in the raging political and religious turmoil in the context of a world preoccupied with power struggles and recession, and where to we begin the conversation about these touchy subjects?  From the semester start through the first week of November the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, together with the Hispanic Studies Program, brings the Seventh Annual Hispanic Film Festival to campus initiating the conversation about community on campus. This year’s film festival includes a series of three Hispanic films and a...

It probably felt different for every freshman the first time they stepped onto campus to start the new school year, but soon after everyone had conquered the endless I.D. card line and crammed the contents of their massive suitcase into their new little room, they set off to have a lot of similar experiences. Whether it was Play Fair, Prelude, Passages, the Urban Plunge or simply trying to find someone to eat with at meals—everyone was in the same boat from there on out. There were “Wow, I’m in college...