Month: June 2021

Van-Life is Working Around Societies View of Success

bsmith21 on

By Shi Violet Herring

June 4, 2021

EUGENE, Ore. — Van-Life has set Isaac, Dorit Liss, Daniel Gaudenti and Kate Fifer free. The term Van-Life is extremely inclusive to people who live on the open road. They are all connected by their similar, almost migration, instinct and a strong sense of community.

Americans have a hustle culture. When one looks up the terms hustle culture and toxic productivity, one will find hundreds of videos explaining how the capitalist system encourages working until failure. This was inspired by a study by Anders Ericsson, that found that people can only accomplish productive work for four-hours a day, and it also found that people need several hours of play each day. Van-life seems to find a way around this system.

One Van-Lifer, Isaac, who asked that his last name remain anonymous, is the owner of a shortbus conversion business called Skooliana. Isaac said that this lifestyle has caused a complete mindset shift. One day he wanted to go to the beach, and he then realized that he could stay at the beach and drive to work early in the morning. After that, he had no idea why anyone would live any differently.

“Having the freedom to choose your destiny and your life, like, it’s the little things that make it what it is,” said Isaac.

Van-Life has a community of people with similar mindsets. He said, “The people and the community are the best part about Van-Life.” Isaac said that after high school, how is anyone supposed to make friends? Everyone has everyone’s back in the Van-Life community.

“It’s all really welcoming and forgiving; for example, I just had somebody yesterday reach out to me saying that they were on the road from Georgia and were going to be passing through Eugene,” said Isaac. “They wanted to hang out, so we went to a hot spring last night,” he said. “Now I consider both those people really good friends, so it just brings people together,” said Isaac.

Isaac recently met Daniel Gaudenti and Kate Fifer over Instagram; where Gaudenti and Fifer document life in their creamy-yellow Blue Bird bus conversion. Gaudenti and Fifer lived in Eugene when they decided to start converting their short bus, Laurel. They both worked at Jazzy Ladies, a quaint cafe in downtown Eugene, when they finished their bus build. Fifer said that the year before they jumped on the van-life bandwagon, they got a taste of travel and could not let it go.

Some Van-Lifers do work a 9 to 5 job, but they do it for a fraction of the year. Gaudenti and Fifer, who have been experiencing van-life for two years, spend most of the year adventuring and then go back to work when they need the money. They said that they have picked up jobs on their adventures in Tennessee, California and Oregon. They have also worked with Fifer’s Grandfather during certain seasons.

Gaudenti said, “I feel like you realize what’s actually important in life.”

One of the biggest changes for Gaudenti and Fifer was that their world seemed to expand. They realized with this lifestyle they could carry out their dreams of opening a restaurant wherever they wanted. Their overall mindset changed, and their goals expanded into a dream of buying land somewhere to open a restaurant that has space for Van-Lifers to stay overnight.

Gaudenti and Fifer talked about the different outside perspectives that also go along with vanlife. They said that while the people of Eugene and Nashville might understand the appeal of van-life; all over California, people would look at them like they were homeless.

“There is a distinction between people acting like we are down on our luck rather than like we are doing something cool purposefully,” said Gaudenti.

Van-Life inspires a community of people who prioritize seeing more of the world. This community also includes the people it inspires through the process. Gaudenti said that people all over Oregon get excited to see their bus. It makes them feel like they are a part of something bigger. Van-Life is very adaptable to a person’s goals and priorities. Gaudenti recently graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Southern New Hampshire University while traveling in their van. Their traveling had to be centered around internet access and cell reception to take his classes online, so now that he is graduated, they are free to go anywhere.

Dorit Liss, who also has become friends with Isaac, always had a packed bag in her car to go on weekend camp trips throughout high school. Never liking to stay in one place too long, Liss bought her first bus, Nugget. She said that since she had no prior building experience, her first bus build was extremely difficult. Liss said that she is so grateful that she got to go through the experience because it made her current bus build much easier. Her new home is named Gumboot, which is fitting for a person with a background in marine biology.

Van-Life has enabled Liss to develop a strong community with likeminded individuals. While Van-life is incredibly versatile, Van-Lifers seem to have some similarities amongst them. Liss said that most Van-Lifer seem to be doing Van-Life for similar reasons: the urge to keep moving and a desire to see more of the world. There is also a very spirited almost free-sounding quality to Van-Lifers. It makes one notice the worry or stress that most people carry with them throughout their lives.

Liss said that Isaac is like the Van-Life overlord, and that she has gotten to meet a lot of robust people through him. The biggest difference that Liss has seen since starting Van-Life, is a complete mindset shift. She said that she used to be a very avid planner, but now she can pick up jobs when she needs to and travel when she wants too.

“On the road, like, you cannot be firm in anything, nothing is ever for sure, and you always have to have a backup plan and expect the unexpected,” said Liss.

Even with this in mind, Liss said that Van-Life has caused her to become more spontaneous and venture outside of her comfort zone.

The Dissonance of Oregon’s Local Politics

bsmith21 on

By Daniel Noonan

June 1, 2021

It’s a Tuesday morning in Oregon’s Capitol building and two members of the state legislature are having coffee. The two exchange pleasantries and return to their respective offices. They work right down the hall from one another and if you watched them interact, you would have no inkling that their respective parties had spent the last election cycle raising millions of dollars to defeat the other. The public saw two representatives fighting, opposed to one another, but what Joseph Erickson saw was something quite different. Erickson is a legislative aide working under Representative Lisa Reynolds. Erickson’s job is to communicate with constituents and posit strategies to help pass bills in the Oregon House of Representatives.

“You see it all the time,” Joseph Erickson said. “People from opposing sides of the aisle, people on different congresspeople’s staffs…when the campaigning ends people get along well.” Erickson didn’t name names, but he described that such scenes are common in the capital building. “It’s hard to be hostile with people that you work down the hall from,” Erickson said.

When facing the public Oregon’s representatives do bitter war under the constant pressure of needing to raise money for campaigning. These election cycles give off the impression to voters that the people that represent them are as antipathetic to one another in private as they are in public.

“To be honest I don’t know who my representative is,” Becky Warnell said. Warnell is a Sophomore Family and Human Services (FHS) major attending the University of Oregon. “I feel like republicans and democrats wouldn’t get along; they seem so opposed to one another.”

“I think people’s view of politics stops outside of the federal government,” Erickson said. “People really don’t understand what happens in local politics or what people can get done at a local level…so many of the changes that people actually experience are products of decisions that people like me have made.”

“I want to say his name is…Jeff Merkley?” Austin Murray said. Murray is a recent graduate from the sports business program at the University of Oregon. “I feel like I know nothing about my local officials.” Out of 17 students interviewed on the University of Oregon campus, there were only two that knew who their elected official was.

“Sharon Meieran represents my district,” Jillian Phillips said. Phillips is a Junior FHS major. “It’s a shame that I’m one of the only people but I’m not surprised. It’s not as if local politics gets any news coverage.”

“Pam Marsh is her name,” Navon Encarnacion said. “I remember bubbling her name in on the ballot.” Encarnacion is a Junior and a Chinese major at the University of Oregon. “It makes sense to me that no one knows who their local representatives are. I’d bet some of them didn’t vote in the general.”

Those who didn’t know their representative cited a lack of education on the matter.

“I don’t think I’ve seen any coverage of a local election,” Sam Inada said. “I couldn’t even tell you when they get elected.” Sam Inada is a Junior and a computer science major.

As Erickson describes it, once the members of Oregon’s legislature are done waging their wars of words and funds, they come back together in the capitol to get to work in unison. In between the public and the private are the decisions that our officials make. The public gets to see what legislation gets passed but is oblivious to why and how.

“Most bills get passed easily with bipartisan support,” Erickson said. “Every career politician has their own pet project and for the most part the bills that we pass involve small projects that cost a relatively small amount of money.”

General public ignorance of the inner workings of local government doesn’t seem to be contributing to any lethargy in the capital – at least when it comes to the smaller projects. In the same way that harmony is abandoned when election season comes around when the stakes are increased all civility goes out the window. Erickson’s descriptions paint the picture of a clean and highly functioning lab of democracy. Democrats and Republicans able to find common ground, able to compartmentalize the venom of the campaign when it comes time to run the state. However, Erickson insists that “the system is broken.”

“In so many ways we are different but the same,” Erickson said. “But when it comes time to deal with the partisan issues that would be considered charged in the larger political climate, things start to fall apart.” In February of this year when the Oregon legislature came into session the republican coalition walked out of the building citing concerns over the governor’s COVID-19 policy. 2021 is the third year in the row that the republican delegation has walked out during the session to prevent democratic legislation from getting passed. Despite having a supermajority, the Democrats are unable to take advantage because the Republicans abuse the rules of quorum.

“I think this is a great example of the so-called urban rural divide,” Erickson said. “Voters in these rural senators and representative’s districts love seeing them walk about. It’s like they feel as though their elected official is sticking it to the liberal elite.”

It appears to be impossible to pin down exactly what local politics are like. One moment our officials are in heated political campaigns leveeing huge sums of money and time to bury their opponents and the next they’re enjoying each other’s company with a warm Styrofoam cup of coffee. Then suddenly the coffee has soured and the seeming respect they shared goes out the window. If our politicians are loyal to anything it’s themselves and the dissonance of local politics make it hard to discern anything past that.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Rural Oregon Schools is Huge

bsmith21 on

By Hannah McIntyre

June 1, 2021

The bright red lockers of Weston McEwen High School will be ripped from their standing place of 44 years during the summer of 2021. Rob Shell, the high school principal said, “they will be removed during the summer months to not disrupt classes.” WMHS is fixing to make a permanent change to how the school is run.

With the students across the globe participating in online classes for nearly a year and a half, a future in permanent online schooling may not be far behind. Some districts are already making plans towards a more permanent online experience.

Weston McEwen High School’s principal Rob Shell was one of the key people involved in deciding to remove the lockers and move to a hybrid-online education experience for students in grades 9-12.

Shell said, “We discovered that our students seem to be doing better through online classes.” Over the last year, the number of graduating students has not decreased despite the hardships that many have encountered while dealing with COVID-19.

The pros of online school highlight aspects of freedom and independence for students which hopefully alleviates some stress that comes along with school. “Online classes have given students more freedom to do their work on their own time.” Shell said, “They can help with family responsibilities and work jobs.”
Elizabeth Powell, the junior and senior English teacher at Weston McEwen High School, is not keen on the idea of a hybrid education.
 
“Being physically present in the classroom holds students more accountable for their work,” Powell said. “There are kids enrolled in junior English who have not turned in a single assignment for the 2020-2021 school year. As a result, they will not graduate on time. Online education is not the way to go for students.”

With a year of teaching online English to high schoolers under her belt, Powell can now identify the pros and cons of online schooling. Unfortunately, according to 
her, there are more cons than pros in this situation.

“We are doing these children a disservice by moving to online education. It worked through the pandemic, but barely. These kids need to be in the classroom, socializing with their peers.”

With the news that Powell may continue to be teaching a hybrid style of education, she detests the idea. Educators have already had to completely alter the curriculum to meet the ever-changing standards of the education system. Now it may be possible that Powell has to create a curriculum for both online and in-person students, carefully tailoring the assignments to each student to ensure that they pass.

“I feel like I have whiplash from how much the state of Oregon has changed the standards for students to graduate on time. The pandemic has almost put educators into a chokehold when it comes to passing students.”

What will education look like in ten years? What will the standard high school diploma entail? These are questions that have been circulating in the education community for some time.

Powell said, “I don’t know what my job will look like in ten to fifteen years, but if schools are looking to move online, I think they will have a hard time finding educators who are willing to sit in front of a computer screen and read off lecture notes. That is not why I went into education. I’m here to teach but to learn as well. 
It’s hard to do through a screen.”

This year has been hard on students and educators alike.

Cameron Reich, a current freshman at Weston McEwen, has not yet had the chance to immerse himself in the normal high school experience. With in-person classes finally having started in March, many students have had the chance to finally visit Weston McEwen High School.

Reich said, “I didn’t get to go inside the high school until about a month ago when we started to have in-person classes. It is nice to finally be at the high school but, it still doesn’t feel normal.”

Things are far from normal now that students are stuck in cohorts when in class and the school is attempting to fit a whole year of sports in two months. The students also have had to forego high school traditions like homecoming and prom.

Reich said, “It’s been tough. I was upset about football season being canceled in the fall. We luckily had a chance to play a short season in the spring, but it wasn’t the same experience I was hoping for a year ago. My parents had to sit in their car and watch me play from the parking lot. It’s strange to see the bleachers empty.”
It might not be just the bleachers that are empty next year though. Moving to a hybrid online schooling schedule means less time in the classroom and more time on the computer at home.

When Reich found out that he may never experience a normal six-hour-school day, he was disappointed, to say the least. Reich said, “If WMHS does continue to do schooling as they have the last year, I will transfer schools. I miss my friends, and I want to learn. I can’t do that very well from a computer screen, learning is just not the same.”

As time passes on we all have become more aware of the things that we take for granted. Being with family and friends in close proximity without masks seems closer now that a vaccine has been made available to the public. Students are back in the classroom and participating in sports again. Life seems to be going back to normal for the most part.

“I’ve done enough online school, the last thing that I want is for this to become a normal thing,” Reich said, “I hope that WMHS makes the right decision and tries to go back to normal.”

Don’t Feel Guilty if You’ve Had a Positive Pandemic Experience

bsmith21 on

By Nathan Garcia

May 31, 2021

There are multiple college students across the US who have managed to find some positives in the last year and a half.

For some, social distancing was a dream come true while others had to make an effort to improve their new lifestyle. These unexpected opportunities allowed some students to have an optimistic outlook on how covid changed their life.

Thriving Introverts

On March 17, 2020, an email from the Chief Resilience Officer Andre Le Duc read “The university will be shifting to a modified operational status.” John Aitchinson was thrilled when he got this notification.

“I was super excited when I found out, I definitely like getting away from cities and I am more of an introvert so I was very ready to get away from all the congestion in Eugene,” Atchinson said. “I packed up my bags that day and was out of there.”

Aitchinson took advantage of online classes and stayed home for fall and winter term. While he took classes, he and his 4 friends from high school decided to open a fishing guide service on Lake Shasta. Aitchinson said “there were 5 of us in a tiny tent trailer, it was early mornings, usually 2 or 3 am, taking clients out from sunrise to sunset. It was hard work but at the end of the day it was so much fun fishing with your friends and getting paid to do it.”

Unexpected Family Reunions

Steven Kaiser, a junior at Oregon, thought that he and three brothers would never live together again as they left for college one by one. What he couldn’t have predicted was everyone being back together in March of 2020 for a 7-month lockdown during a national pandemic.

“It was nice to have all three of my brothers back in the house again,” Kaiser said. “We fished, hiked, and made some funny memories that would have never happened if it wasn’t for the pandemic.”

One thing that Kaiser took away from spending so much time with his mom was learning how to cook. Kaiser said, “This was the first year I had to cook by myself in college so my mom taught me how to make all kinds of meals and it has come in very clutch.”

Fitness Journeys

As the pandemic moved into the summer and quarantining became the new reality, Kevin Sullivan decided to use this time to get in shape. Sullivan, a junior at Oregon, took up running to pass the time, burn off the home-cooked meals and prepare his body if he did happen to catch the virus.

“I started to go on runs because it was an excuse to get out of the house,” Sullivan said. “With gyms being closed, it was a great way to stay in shape and was actually therapeutic. I am still running today in Eugene and I love it.”

Outdoor Hobbies

With limited choices of what one could do throughout the pandemic, going outside was always an option. Nicole Mcginnis, a junior at The University of Washington took advantage of the weather and free time in Southern California. Mcginnis honed in on her skills in a variety of activities.

“With online school I was able to spend a ton of time skiing, surfing and biking,” Mcginnis said. “Focusing on these hobbies during the pandemic was a great way to safely see people during a time when face-to-face interaction was so rare.”

At the beginning of the pandemic, Mcginnis was struggling with not being able to see anyone. “I was depressed at first,” Mcginnis said. “But once I started surfing and doing other outdoor activities once a day it really aided my social wellbeing.” Mcginnis realized that stepping outside after being on a computer all day is so important for one’s mental health.

Online School

Although online school has its cons, the ability to have a flexible schedule can be a huge pro. Marilena Vassalli, a junior at Washington, took advantage of the fact that she could do her classes wherever she wanted. This allowed her to visit her boyfriend for long weekends without having to stress about going back to Seattle.

“Online school has actually been great for me and my boyfriend,” Vassalli said. “Covid is probably the reason we are dating in the first place and now the flexibility of online school is helping our long-distance relationship.”

The way college students have matured, learned, and connected with others during this crisis is uncharted territory. These stories, experiences, and realizations will shape each individual into who they become as life moves on post-pandemic.