Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Klipsun Magazine, 2014, Volume 44, Issue 03 - Winter, Mindon Win

Klipsun Magazine

The Balance issue of Klipsun is aptly named. Hopefully by now you have read through our Impression issue, in which we pushed the magazine forward. We wanted to lift up our stories through design and photography in such a way that the reader could connect with stories and recognize the work of our writers and staff. Impression was created out of chaos. Many people came together as a team and figured out how to make a better magazine that was both sustainable and interesting. We wanted to bring the reader the best we had to offer and stories that would …

Klipsun Magazine, 2014, Volume 44, Issue 04 - Winter, Mindon Win

Klipsun Magazine

In an era when time seems to pass at a break-neck pace, staying current is an important part of any publication’s day-to-day operation. How can we stay current as a publication when societal trends and global issues seem to pass in a matter of days and weeks but we only publish twice a quarter?

Klipsun stays relevant by telling the stories that matter not only to the people who pick up the magazine the day it comes out, but also to those who will read it years from now. For Klipsun, staying current means more than just keeping up with …

Klipsun Magazine, 2013, Volume 44, Issue 01 - Fall, Lani Farley

Klipsun Magazine

Synergy has always fascinated me. The concept that two separate things, ideas or people can blend together and create something far more powerful than either one of the individual parts.

The concept can be seen as rather basic and easily understood, but I like to think of synergy as some sort of deeper, far more powerful occurrence than ourselves. Hidden elements blend together in unknown ways to produce something completely unique.

When things blend together they can have hidden repercussions and benefits. Something is as simple as blending a flying kite and surfing can lead to thrilling moments on the …

Klipsun Magazine, 2013, Volume 44, Issue 02 - Fall, Mindon Win

Klipsun Magazine

When I was growing up, my grandfather kept endless rows of boxes filled with National Geographic magazines along the far wall of his garage. Every time I would visit, I selected a box and meticulously combed through every page of the 20 or so issues before returning it and selecting another. I would stand in awe at his collection of cameras and look through the 92 years of history he had cataloged throughout his lifetime in photo albums that were curling at the edge of pages. My grandfather passed away several days before we began production of this magazine. I …

Klipsun Magazine, 2013, Volume 43, Issue 05 - Spring, Branden Griffith

Klipsun Magazine

I sometimes like to think of myself as clever. Yet I still find it nearly impossible to come up with a witty answer when asked, “If your house was burning down, what’s one thing would you save from the fire?”

Trying to imagine the walls ablaze around me, I close my eyes and scan the eternal mess that is my bedroom. My line of vision crosses my bike, heap of clothes in the corner, musical instruments and laptop, as I evaluate which of these things I wouldn’t be able to live without.

“Assuming my family is safe, I would throw …

Klipsun Magazine, 2013, Volume 43 Issue 06 - Spring, Lani Farley

Klipsun Magazine

I was always taught speed could be thought of as the rate at which an object covers distance. But my concept of speed has changed throughout the years. For me, it is about the progression of something or someone, the moments between the seconds.

However, I didn’t always see speed the way I do now. Growing up with an uncle named “Fast Mike”, who races cars professionally, speed was always about being the fastest. He would maneuver around the cones on the track in the blink of my eye, finishing first in a matter of seconds.

As I became older …

Klipsun Magazine, 2013, Volume 43, Issue 03 - Winter, Marissa Abruzzini

Klipsun Magazine

Viscous, egg-shaped blood cells encase spiraling strands of DNA, a drop of turquoise paint seeps through the spongy layers of a hand-painted portrait, and hundreds of dents are imprinted with black ink on a piece of paper.

These details, along with others, are missed because of their subtlety, but without these small pieces, the bigger picture wouldn’t exist. Even a simple chore such as typing on a computer involves a series of complex electric currents and muscle memory.

Many people don’t think about the in-depth mechanics of their computers as they rush to type up an essay the night before …

Klipsun Magazine, 2013, Volume 43, Issue 04 - Winter, Branden Griffith

Klipsun Magazine

Time to come clean. I’m afraid of flying. Unfortunately, I didn’t know this until the airplane I was on started taxiing down the runway, preparing to take me and my family to the happiest place on Earth: Disneyland.

Heights are fine. I love to climb mountains, hike narrow cliffside trails, ride the glass elevators at the Space Needle and jump off unstable ledges into the lakes of Eastern Washington, but there is something about being unable to control my own rise and fall that gives me the willies.

What you are about to read chronicles stronger people than I. We …

Klipsun Magazine, 2012, Volume 43, Issue 02 - Fall, Marissa Abruzzini

Klipsun Magazine

Standing on the front row bleachers at the fairgrounds, I could smell acrid gasoline pluming from the exhaust pipes of 10 demolition cars about 500 feet away. My older brother aimed his camera at the line of cars, which looked like colorful beetles from where we stood.

“I can’t see anything from here,” he said. “Let’s go.”

We made our way down to the security tent nudged between the audience and the demolition ring. A man in aviators and a bright blue security jacket stood at the entrance with his arms folded.

“You can’t come back here,” he said. My …

Klipsun Magazine, 2012, Volume 43, Issue 01 - Fall, Brian Corey

Klipsun Magazine

I’m done, checked out. I graduated. Talk about a pivotal moment.

While I write this it is time for myself and many others receiving their diplomas to step into roles as accountants, engineers, teachers and such, but when this hits stands another group of students will be entering their first year. It’s a simple cycle of coming and going. Each person will create his or her own path through college and into the professional world. Sort of like a choose-your-own- ending book. This story, while individually exciting, is very common. The stories within these pages are a bit more out …

Klipsun Magazine, 2012, Volume 42, Issue 07 - Spring, Brian Corey

Klipsun Magazine

Dear reader, “Jump!” “Do it! Go!” “Jump!” She jumped. The river was flowing slowly about 50 feet below. In the brief instance of free fall before she splashed into the water she was free from all havoc, just herself and the summer breeze. Then she hit the water, and the rocks just below the surface.

In a jump she had made numerous times before she made one little error and landed in an area quite a bit shallower than the usual splash zone. Both of her legs broke on impact. Friends were able to pull her from the river. As …

Klipsun Magazine, 2012, Volume 42, Issue 06 - Spring, Elysia Nazareth

Klipsun Magazine

“Time is of the essence” “A Wrinkle in Time” “Times Like These” “Killing time” Whether in contract law, classic literature, pop culture or everyday idiomatic expression, it cannot be denied – time is ever-present.

Commonly used as a measuring system to sequence events and to quantify rates of change, the passing of time can vary from person to person and situation to situation.

For me, with 10 days until graduation, the saying “time flies when you’re having fun” could not be more true. It’s times like these that I can’t help but think about the different events in our lives …

Klipsun Magazine, 2012, Volume 42, Issue 05 - Winter, Elysia Nazareth

Klipsun Magazine

It is in our nature as humans to assume that weakness, in its most literal form, insinuates disadvantage or fault; almost instinctively, our minds seem to formulate the dichotomy between weakness and strength.

We each have our own intellectual, physical and emotional attributes that define our personal singularity. Varying connotations of the word “weak” stand as one such example of our uniqueness and variety, yet despite these different interpretations, we all experience weakness in one way or another.

In this issue of Klipsun, you’ll read that for some, weakness is indulging in our guiltiest pleasures – which may mean secretly …

Klipsun Magazine, 2011, Volume 42, Issue 01 - Fall, Lindsey Otta

Klipsun Magazine

It s not until I catch a cold or come back from a loud concert that I realize how difficult it can be to live with an impaired sense. Not being able to taste or smell can make a weeklong cold unbearable — I just love food too much. A home-cooked meal sends my senses through the roof.

Unfortunately, years of blaring my headphones, going to concerts and grinding my teeth every night since I was little has caused hearing loss in both my ears. My television volume is usually set at more than 30 and I always sit in …

Klipsun Magazine, 2011, Volume 41, Issue 05 - Spring, Olena Rypich

Klipsun Magazine

It’s fascinating to think back to March of ’99 when I came to America with my parents, six suitcases in tow and about four learned phrases in my pocket: hello, goodbye, please and thank you. Though I’m fluent in English now, the occasional accent slip still reminds me of those years I was frustrated with my broken English. Back then, the TV we bought at a garage sale had only three channels, one of them showing “The Simpsons,” “Supermarket Sweep” and “The Bold and the Beautiful.” This was the quality television that taught me the basis of my colloquial English. …

Klipsun Magazine, 2011, Volume 41, Issue 06 - Spring, Lindsey Otta

Klipsun Magazine

When I was little I loved to play hide-and-go-seek. I don’t remember what the appeal was exactly; maybe it was the challenge to try and stay quiet or finding the perfect hiding spot. Either way, I wasn’t really good at the game. The thrill and excitement got the best of me and I usually started giggling and I was always the first person to be found.

Although staying hidden has always been a challenge for me, my curiosity of hidden objects and issues has always been a constant in my life. The saying goes, “curiosity killed the cat;” and with …

Klipsun Magazine, 2011, Volume 41, Issue 03 - Winter, Michael Homnick

Klipsun Magazine

I know what you re thinking: Who cares about dirt anyway?

It's all around us, finding its way onto our shoes, into our homes and under our fingernails. But we didn’t make this issue to highlight dirt’s prevalence. It’s dirt’s ability to play a unique part in so many people’s lives that makes it special.

For some nature seekers, it takes a little more than a hike to get the blood flowing. Off-roading gives these daring drivers an opportunity to become one with nature, and kick up some dirt along the way.

It’s also common for people to associate dreadlocks …

Klipsun Magazine, 2011, Volume 41, Issue 04 - Winter, Olena Rypich

Klipsun Magazine

The picture to the right cannot say much about me. Beyond what is visible at first glance are the many layers of my identity: Ukrainian, aspiring public relations professional and journalist, pianist, student and daughter, among many more. I’ve taken to embracing them all. Without any one of these layers, I wouldn’t be the person I am today, and someone else may have been writing this letter.

The stories in this issue peel back many layers and expose what often goes unnoticed beneath the surface. One writer takes us on a journey back to the days when Bellingham was a …

Klipsun Magazine, 2010, Volume 40, Issue 05 - Fall, Michael Homnick

Klipsun Magazine

The difference between inside and outside can be surprisingly small. Outside my window right now is dirt, wind and pouring rain. Meanwhile inside it is a cozy 65 degrees, and my computer, iPod and guitars are at no threat from the elements. This difference is due to less than two feet of wall and fiberglass.

In an unassuming shopping center in Edmonds, this same thickness of wall separates families enjoying pizza dinners and gym-goers from shelves lined with varieties of medical marijuana, its pungent smell shielded by a thick door.

Sometimes these barriers are made of other material. Plastic surgery …

Klipsun Magazine, 2010, Volume 41, Issue 01 - Fall, Angelo Spagnolo

Klipsun Magazine

Dear reader, I just consumed a Big Mac, fries and a Dr. Pepper. The cows used for my burger probably grazed where the Amazon Rainforest stood before it was devoured to make way for the crowd of lumbering bovine. The soda was sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup. Furthermore, I could have walked to the restaurant, but instead I wasted a non-renewable resource by driving.

And I don’t really care.

Our campus community is highly aware of consumption. We’re powered by green energy. Instead of dumping our trays into an all-encompassing receptacle, we sort trash into a variety of containers marked …

Klipsun Magazine, 2010, Volume 40, Issue 04 - Spring, Allison Milton

Klipsun Magazine

You may not realize it, or acknowledge it in any way, but you're doing it right now. Your eyes are going from right to left as you read these words. Time is passing, the clock is ticking and somewhere in the world, someone is fighting for social justice and maybe even for his or her right to party.

Movement. It s not just a physical action. Of course, movement is incorporated into our workouts and daily routines. We move from one place to another. We move up in the professional world. And we even move our hips when Shakira tells …

Klipsun Magazine, 2010, Volume 40, Issue 05 - Spring, Angelo Spagnolo

Klipsun Magazine

Abstract expressionist painter Hans Hoffman said “The whole world, as we experience it visually, comes to us through the mystic realm of color.” Really, color is just vary­ing wavelengths of light, reflected and absorbed by surfaces in our world. That's all. Why then, is it so hard to define color? Mystic, maybe; certainly mysterious. Color manifests itself in every aspect of our daily lives.

For some, color represents money; a flick­ering flash of gold hidden in a riverbed. For the great Pacific Northwest Orca whale, color is an evolutionary tool of stealth and survival.

Maybe you've never considered why certain …

Klipsun Magazine, 2010, Volume 41, Issue 01 - Winter, Allison Milton

Klipsun Magazine

After my high school graduation and just before I ventured north on the Interstate-5 corridor to Western, I was given a how-to book from a friend of mine. It was a how-to survive college handbook, conveniently titled “Your Guide to College Survival.”

The tips on how to prevent a hangover, how to slyly prank noisy neighbors and how to turn old milk crates into comfortable living room furniture mesmerized me.

It was one day when I was following the book’s advice by turning old CDs into decorative wall art, when I realized how much I would be lost without those …

Klipsun Magazine, 2010, Volume 40, Issue 02 - January, Jennifer Oato

Klipsun Magazine

I remember sitting in AP English Literature during my senior year of high school with six of my closest friends. We were discussing each of the seven deadly sins in regard to their reference in Dante’s Inferno. Being a typical high school filled with cliques and teenage angst, it did not take long before a nickname surfaced labeling my group of friends The Seven Deadly Sins. By the time I graduated, my friends and I were haunted by other nicknames such as The Heathers and Mean Girls.

Now, this is not a story I am particularly proud of. In fact, …

Klipsun Magazine 2009, Volume 40, Issue 01 - Fall, Jennifer Oato

Klipsun Magazine

When I was a kid, I always wished I was older. My friends and I would play games pretending we were ‘grown-ups.’ I was sure I would be an actress, living in a mansion in Malibu, with a wonderful husband—all because the game ‘M.A.S.H’ told me so. My mother used to say, “Trust me, Jen. When you’re older, you’ll wish you were young again.”

The games I played as a child were full of imagination and innocence. There were no dating games or addictions to games, and playing ‘make-believe’ did not automatically stereotype you as a nerd. It seems to …

Klipsun Magazine 2009, Volume 39, Issue 05 - June, Katie Dreke

Klipsun Magazine

I hate to bring up the economy (after all, it’s all we ever hear about anymore), but even during these hard financial times, a fresh start is possible. !at’s what this issue of Klipsun is all about: “New Beginnings”— the challenges we face in our lives and how we start anew.

“New Beginnings” covers a wide range of stories, from life after injury and prison, to the struggles of being a transsexual or living as a refugee in an unfamiliar country. Starting anew can also create opportunities to grow and learn as individuals and as a community, including finding new …

Klipsun Magazine, 2009, Volume 39, Issue 04 - April, Jaimie Fife

Klipsun Magazine

They say beauty is more than skin deep, but that does not mean we should discount skin altogether. Skin plays an integral role in shaping personality and character since the way people choose to clothe, decorate or care for their skin can tell a story about who they are.

The theme of this issue is “Skin Deep” because the stories explore attitudes toward skin that create various life circumstances. For example, one article discusses burlesque dancers who participate in the revealing art form because they say it makes them feel less self- conscious and more comfortable in their own skin. …

Klipsun Magazine, 2009, Volume 39, Issue 03 - March, Jaimie Fife

Klipsun Magazine

“Subculture” is a complex concept that is difficult to define without first looking at the meaning of “culture.” Culture refers to people who are bound by a number of shared traits, such as values, goals, practices and attitudes. Subcultures consist of individuals who not only belong to a larger culture, but share attributes distinguishing them from their overall community.

As you may have guessed, Bellingham has its own culture and Bellinghamsters share common features that make up the skeleton of the ‘Ham’s distinct scene. Just to name a few well-known traits: people living in Bellingham are open-minded, prepared for the …

Klipsun Magazine, 2008, Volume 38, Issue 07 - October, Ciara O'Rourke

Klipsun Magazine

We’ll be the first to admit our cover’s a little sensational. It might even smell desperate. But when we said we were planning a historical issue, we received what you might call scorn. The nerve.

Fortunately, murder, prostitution and war aren’t just heavy-handed buzzwords we chose so you would pick up the magazine (although that’s true, too)—they fit the bill.

Thirty years ago this January, the notorious Hillside Strangler killed two Western students in a series of murders tracing back to California. Circa the early 1900s, sweet Fairhaven boasted the best brothels in town (the Horseshoe did, too, but …

Klipsun Magazine, 2008, Volume 39, Issue 01 - Fall, Megan Claflin

Klipsun Magazine

On Nov. 4, as the Klipsun staff worked diligently to publish this issue, our attentions were diverted. We witnessed history unfold as Americans voted in their first African-American president.

Despite our personal opinions or the boxes we marked on our ballots, the Klipsun newsroom watched as many parts of the country were seized by an uprising of emotion, passion and action. More than ever before, young Americans, our generation, made their voices heard. We rocked the vote!

For America, I believe this election was like coming up for fresh air.

During the past eight years our patriotism has been tested. …