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Table of Contents
THE FUTURE IS IN OUR HANDS BY LELA COOPER 3

THE REGISTRY BY PETER WINDUS 6

AMERICA IN (CLIMATE) DENIAL BY JEFFREY TAYLOR-KANTZ 8

DIVERSITY POST-ELECTION BY JEREMY VARKEY 15

WHAT AGE ARE WE IN? BY JEREMY VARKEY 21

THE COLLAGE BY PETER WINDUS 24

GROUP PROJECT ANALYSIS 25

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 The Future is in Our Hands
By: Lela Cooper
When deciding how I wanted to greatly defines an individual. Although
represent the recent election, and the one of the hands has a string attached to
topic of diversity, I had difficulty the small America, appearing to control
deciding what I wanted to depict. As a the land, it is easily within grasp of the
woman, and someone of multiple ethnic other hand, and could be taken at any
backgrounds, diversity is something that moment. The recent election I believe
is important to me, but I often find that faced a similar dynamic. The opposing
art focusing on diversity is very easily parties have difficulty appealing to large
identifiable, focusing on visible diversity amounts of voters as America is
such as skin tone, and often doesn’t composed of a diverse population that is
venture out into a more abstract form. constantly changing, and often, in our
In order to create something unique, social bubbles, we don’t hear the
and utilize my skills, I decided to hardships or concerns from people of
produce a series of black and white other areas and identities. Because of
drawings, inspired by illustrations in old this complicated and cloudy dynamic,
textbooks and posters of the early 1900s, voters are easily alienated, and many
to depict the topic of diversity. I chose Americans don’t identify wholeheartedly
this style because it lends itself to a more with the two hands, Republicans and
traditional appearance, and I wanted to Democrats, that carry them. This
contrast this traditionalism with concept is what inspired my first
surrealist features to mimic the political drawing, as many people also feel that
scene, in which there is often a divide their destiny is not in their control, but
between traditionalism and more instead by the hands that guide them.
progressive ideals. From there, I was
inspired by the saying ‘the future is in
our hands’ and decided to create a series
of drawings depicting hands to portray
the issue.
My first drawing focuses on the
struggle between opposing sides of
America, and the never-ending desire
for control. I drew a small-scale version
of America to show the vastness of
background and lifestyle that citizens
face. I believe this concept is important t
note, as diversity in experience and
upbringing is often overlooked, yet

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 The recent election had many
instances in which women were the
topic of the political debate, some in
positive senses, and also many in what
seems to be a digression in the
movement for equality. As Hilary
Clinton made history in the political
sphere for women, these successes were
often shadowed by Donald Trump’s
crude comments and derogatory
behavior towards women. The idea that
a man who is so disrespectful towards
women is the leader of our country and
a supposed role model to our children is
disheartening to many Americans,
regardless of their identity. Often for
women, there is the feeling that our
voices aren’t being heard, and we are not
properly represented, or that the
progress from our efforts is not very
visible. This is what inspired my second
drawing, as I believe the recent election
in many aspects directly opposed the
progress for equality. I drew two glass
spheres depicting the struggles outlined
above. The glass is damaged, as with
each step forward, the seeming relic of
the past and inequality will eventually
shatter. It is in the hands of society, and
we can end this disparity if we work
together towards a common goal.
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 My final drawing is a glimmer of
hope, to contrast the alienation and fear
that many Americans face regarding our
political scene in the present as well as
the future, in regards to our diversity. I
decided to depict the sands of time in an
hourglass. With time, anything is
possible, and I believe that although this
election may be detrimental to the issue
of diversity in the present, we can grow
stronger and unite together in the
upcoming years to achieve our goals.
Ultimately, the beauty of diversity in
America shines brighter than bigotry,
sexism and prejudice, and as time
continues we will be able to continually
progress our society, while embracing
the broad diversity that it entails. Just as
the sand of the hourglass is building the
Seattle skyline, we have the power with
time to continually build America, and
the ideals that matter to us. In this
regard, the future is in our hands,
although we sometimes feel it is not, due
to corruptness and complexity of
politics. However, I believe that the
politic climate that exists right now will
be beneficial to diversity in a sense, as
we will become stronger despite our
struggles, and create greater change in
the future. 
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 The Registry
By: Peter Windus
Much about America's future is
unknown, but one thing that is certain is that
president-elect Trump plans to aggressively
crack down on Islamic terrorism as an effort
to increase national security. When it comes
to the specifics on how, Trump’s stances
become much less clear. Between Mr.
Trump and his advisors, stances ranging
from banning Muslims entry to the United
States to zero religion based data collection
have been taken. Trump has since backed
off on his call to ban all Muslims from
visiting America, but other plans aimed at
tracking the movements of Middle
Easterners or Muslims still seem to be on the
table for this new Administration.
In November 2015 when asked by an
NBC News correspondent if a database
would be created to track Muslims in the
country, Trump responded: “There should
be a lot of systems. Beyond databases. I
mean, we should have a lot of systems.”
When the reporter pressed him, Trump went
on to say “it would just be good
management”. Since then, incoming chief of
staff, Reince Priebus, stated no religious
database would be created, but at no point
has President-elect Trump or any members
of his staff have ruled out the possibility of
tracking individuals of Middle Eastern
origin.
Recent administration appointment
picks by Mr. Trump have reinforced the idea
that increased scrutiny of Muslims may be a
possibility in the new administration. Gen.
Michael Flynn has been named the future
National Security Advisor has been an
outspoken critic of Islam. Earlier this year
General Flynn tweeted that: “Fear of
Muslims is rational” and in a speech this
November stated that Islam "is a vicious
cancer inside the body of 1.7 billion people
on this planet, and it has to be excised."
Such statements have many Americans
concerned for the future administration’s
actions taken in an attempt to curb domestic
terrorism.
The idea for a Muslim registry has
precedent in this country, but that doesn’t
necessarily mean it is constitutional. After
9/11, the Justice Department established the
National Security Entry-Exit Registration
System (NSEERS). While NSEERS did not
track individuals based on religion, it
required “special registration” for males
over 16 from 25 different countries before
entering the United States. Besides North
Korea, each of the countries targeted as high
risk by NSEERs contain a Muslim-majority
population. Immigrants from any of these
countries already in the United States were
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required to register as well. NSEERs drew
negative criticism from many as a form of
religious, or at least ethnic, discrimination.
Essentially all individuals targeted by the
program were Muslim and the Department
of Justice failed to justify the effectiveness
of its actions. Over the ten years NSEERs
was active, the Justice Department reported
zero stopped terrorist attempts as a result of
it.
While it is still unclear if a Trump
presidency will lead to increased
surveillance and tracking of either Muslim
Americans or hopeful immigrants, the
possibility of such actions have sparked
outcries across the country. ACLU have
each threatened to bring a lawsuit “if [the
Trump administration] created a Muslim
registry, whether it be by name or by even
without naming it as such”. New York
Mayor Bill De Blasio echoed such
sentiments by stating, “We will use all the
tools at our disposal to stand up for our
people”. Only time will tell what actions
will taken by President-elect Trump in an
effort to increase national security, but it is
never too early to begin examining possible
choices and the outcomes they would have.


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 By: Jeffrey Taylor-Kantz

Global Climate Change is among the climate change? Well, if he keeps his

most serious long-term threats that our campaign promises, he will definitely try to

world currently faces. As one of the most reverse all of the progress that president

economically and politically powerful Obama’s administration has been making

nations in the world, we have the great toward combating climate change, both

opportunity and the great responsibility of domestically attempting to make the U.S. a

setting an example for other nations about smaller contributor of greenhouse gases, and

how to appropriately act in the face of such their efforts to engage the world stage to

a grave issue that is so widely relevant work together to solve this serious problem.

across the entire world stage. Unfortunately, Obama worked with many other countries in

our new president-elect has made his the U.N. to negotiate the Paris Agreement.

opinion on Global Climate Change very America played a leadership role during

clear (one of the clearest in his campaign, negotiations by ambitiously promising to

though that is a low bar). He doesn’t believe reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by

that it is real, going as far as to claim that about 27% below 2005 emission levels by

“the concept of global warming was created 2025. However, Donald Trump has

by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. threatened to pull out of the Paris

manufacturing non-competitive.” Agreement, which means that we may not

So what will a Trump presidency make any cuts whatsoever. As a matter of

mean for America’s efforts to combat fact, given Trump’s campaign speeches

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about increasing and empowering the oil, coal mining, and oil and gas drilling. He

gas, and coal industries, we might actually used to work for a conservative public

see our emission levels go up. This prospect policy group called the Competitive

is especially depressing when you realize Enterprise Institute that received very

that America’s contribution to the significant funding from Exxonmobil. This

agreement, cutting down our emissions by guy has been fighting to destroy our

22 gigatons of carbon dioxide emissions, environmental policy for much of his career,

makes up around 20% of the total amount of and now he’s being given the power to help

emission cuts in the agreement. Pulling out take it down from the inside. It also certainly

of the agreement will serve to both directly doesn’t help that Trump has floated the

negatively impact the environment and to names of powerful oil executives as possible

discourage other nations from looking to the cabinet picks for the Departments of Energy

U.S as a source of leadership. In terms of and the Interior, both of which are very

America’s domestic environmental policy, a important to the issue of climate change. So

person can probably guess that it’s going to Trump’s climate policy (or utter lack

go downhill very quickly just by looking at thereof) will be very detrimental to the

who Trump chose to oversee his EPA environment and will likely set

transition. environmentalist efforts back for years to

Myron Ebell is a well-known climate come.

change denier who believes that liberals are This is the president that we elected.

using climate change as an excuse to expand The unfortunate and saddening truth is that

government. He has also championed many people in America agree with Donald

opening up more federal land for logging, Trump’s belief that manmade climate

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change is lie. According to a study The denial of climate change is a

conducted by the Pew Research Center this very serious symptom of a major issue in

year, about 27% of U.S. adults believe that our culture that has been a running theme

“almost all climate scientists agree that throughout this election and has permeated

human behavior is mostly responsible for many aspects of our lives: the denial of

climate change.” The scientific community science and facts. Many people nowadays

is basically in consensus about the reality of seem to perceive reality based on how they

manmade climate change. About 97% of feel rather than on what is observable and

climate scientists agree that climate change provable. This can give politicians very

is real, and that it is caused by human significant sway over the American people.

behavior. My parents, who were both If a politician can create a certain feeling

biologists, had a name for the scientists that among the people, and the people think of

comprise the other 3%, many of whom are feelings as equivalent to facts, then in a way,

employed by coal and oil companies to politicians can create facts. For instance,

basically claim that these industries are in no data shows that the economy is and violent

way harmful to the environment. They crime is decreasing. However, some

called these scientists “biostitutes,” because politicians have managed to convince many

they sell the authority that comes with a PhD people that the exact opposite is true by

to the highest bidder. So, the reality of convincing them that the economy “feels”

climate change has been established by the like it’s getting worse and that it “feels” like

authorities on the subject, and yet many violent crime is on the rise, completely

people still deny the facts, and we all suffer ignoring all the facts. Science denial is a

because of it. major issue in America and around the

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world and it has caused harm to people in This is also the same kind of logic

many ways. The Republican party has been that can cause people to believe that the

able to convince people that climate change pharmaceutical industry actively tries to hurt

is a hoax for decades convincing people that people with things such as autism-causing

the Earth doesn’t feel like it’s changing and vaccines. This can be extremely harmful if a

that scientists and data shouldn’t be trusted. person who needs medical care goes

medically untreated because of their distrust

of modern medical science. They might

refuse to see a doctor about a very serious

but very treatable condition, or it might even

cause them to seek out a very dangerous or

unproven alternative treatment. We need to

find a way to solve this overarching issue,

and that means that we as a people need to

find a way to mend the rift between science

and the public, and that means that we have

to ask ourselves about why people feel the

need to deny evidence.

If it is simply that many people do

not understand the foundational principles of

science, then we should try to rectify this.

We should have nationwide public outreach

programs to communicate science to the

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public and to demystify it as a field. I have to view the world as it truly is by carefully

personally come across people who have recording how the world has actually proven

little to no knowledge of science and just see itself to work. You simply observe the world

it as “something that works” and because of around you, look for patterns of how the

it we have amazing things like cars and world seems to work, and then modify your

smartphones. It is just as bad to blindly view of the world to match the observations

accept science as it is to blindly reject it, for you have noticed. I believe that if more

they require the same mindset. If you equate people understood this on a basic level,

all of the hard-won technological and science denial would not be as big of a

scientific advancements that humanity has problem as it is.

made throughout history to basically magic, The simplest and most effective way

then you never ask why the world is the way to improve public understanding of science

it is or why certain things are true (and would be to improve our public school

conversely why certain things are false). system. If we do not teach people to

This mindset allows people to pick and understand science when they are young and

choose what reality is, instead of having they are in in school, how are we supposed

reality itself communicate what it is. But to expect them to finally understand science

science at its very core is not very after they are out of school? Some of the

complicated, and it certainly isn’t magic. major problems with American schools

The underlying philosophy of science is that today are that many of them are extremely

people can learn the truth about how the underfunded, and that we don’t enforce the

world works through observation. The need to teach science. And the schools that

scientific method is just a process to attempt are well-funded and actually do teach

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science well are not always very accessible only answer the questions that we ask, and

to the general public. As an Honors and we need to be able to trust the people who

Space Grant scholar here at UW, I am are asking the questions. The trustworthiness

surrounded by many people who plan to go of our authority figures on matters involving

into a scientific career. Many of them have our environment is extremely relevant now

had opportunities presented to them that that we are going to have a Trump

others have never had, that may have helped presidency. Many of the people that will be

them get into the programs they are in now in charge of our environmental policy for

and may help them get into their professions the next few years have either already

later on. These opportunities are often decided that climate change is a hoax, or are

related to socioeconomic status. This leads economically invested in the oil, gas, and

to scientific education, from kindergarten coal industries, which means making them

through graduate school, being inherently responsible for being the protector of our

classist, and that is a major problem. Science environment and resources is letting foxes

is supposed to be about asking objective and guard the henhouse.

unbiased questions and getting objective and As for the schools that are accessible

unbiased answers, but this cannot be to the general population and not just the

achieved if the demographics of the people wealthy or privileged, they often don’t have

working in science are biased. This is a very the resources to hire good teachers or buy to

difficult problem to fix, but we definitely appropriate equipment for teaching science

need to try to make scientific education and to students. We even still have issues in

professions more accessible to people of some areas regarding the dismissal evolution

lower socioeconomic status. Science can and the teaching of creationism, a

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worldview that has absolutely no physical or researched in the early 1900s. The idea that

scientific evidence to support it. This is climate change was man-made didn’t gain

especially harmful because it is not only a very much traction in the scientific

failure to teach the values of scientific community until the 1960s and 70s.

inquiry to young students, it is actively America’s tradition of industrialization is

teaching them to disregard these values. If significantly older than these findings. So,

we ever want to have any hope of actually people more inclined to have a

dealing with climate change, then we are social/traditional outlook on the world, those

going to have to convince people that who try to find truth in heritage and in the

climate change is a real issue that needs to traditions of their culture, would be more

be dealt with. We need to try to change our inclined to dismiss climate change because

national culture so that the public and our of the threat it poses for environmentally

government actually acknowledges reality unfriendly industries. But a

and respects facts. That is no small feat, scientific/rational outlook, one that focuses

because the roots of this problem run deep in on finding truth through observation and

this nation. Sadly, it looks like we won’t be evidence, is the right view to hold in this

able to make much progress for at least the situation. The evidence and data clearly

next four years. show that human behavior causes climate

This ties into the four ways of change. If we want to have a hospitable

knowing described in the article that we read world in the future, then we need to look

as a class by Walter Truett Anderson. past the ways things have always been done

Climate change is a relatively new scientific and embrace this new truth. Because the

discovery, only really starting to be

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thing about truth is that it doesn’t care

whether or not you believe in it. 

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 Diversity Post-Election

By: Jeremy Varkey

Throughout this next section, you’ll find interviews with five different people on campus. They

are from many different ethnicities, religions, and sexual orientations, but they all have one thing

in common: Diversity. The basis of this piece was from “Why Facts Don’t Unite Us”, because I

wanted to understand if people were still hopeful for the future, despite the facts of this recent

election.

I asked them two questions regarding this election: “Where do think diversity will go in America

in the future?” and “What have you done in your life to promote diversity?”

I hope that through this project, you will see that even in such a small sample, people have hope

for the future of this country, and its people. 

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“I think that there is sort of a special relevance to this question because of the recent president-

elect. So, maybe there is an intuitive response,

like ‘Our president is racist, therefore I see that

diversity in America might decrease due to some

crazy measures.’

But, personally, I have faith in the unity

of America, and I think that diversity in America

will continue to increase, and maybe eventually

become a homogeneous society of many

different cultures and races all mixed together to

some single future civilization.

Not particularly, no. I mean, I vote in the

way I speak. But past that, I don’t–

I guess I don’t take any steps toward it.”

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“I’ll say this–I’m from Southern California and I come from a very conservative hometown and

its very small and it’s not very diverse, and it’s very white so not really diverse at all. So, some

people are very close-minded to that sort of thing.

But since I’ve been here I’ve seen such a big

diverse community and I would say that I

definitely have hope that it’s going to continue to

grow. Especially when I go home now, I want to

be an advocate for like, people to be more open

minded to that sort of thing. I think I see people

banding together more in the future.

I have a really great role on campus and I’m

able to work in student leadership and so diversity

in the students are really important to the work

that we do. So, just being aware of that and even

starting with my own privilege and

acknowledging that, that I can be a voice just because of the color of my skin or where I come

from. By being a positive advocate for that sort of thing and having those insightful

conversations about that sort of thing it starts with even your closest friend and then broader

scale by building your community.”

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“We’re in such a weird moment right now after the elections. I guess–I don’t know. I’m hopeful.

Like, I want to believe that, you know,

especially cities like this–Seattle–will pull

people together, but it’s kind of hard to

keep being optimistic when you read

news and seeing people feeling vindicated

about their prejudices and their beliefs.

Our president elect is endorsed by the

KKK, and he hasn’t abetted that support.

And, you know, it’s tough. Like my

family–I don’t wear hijab–but my family

is very Islamic. So my family members

who do wear the hijab or my uncles who

wear the turban are concerned.

I mean, I feel like with everything

being so tense as it has been in recent years, I can’t just be offended if anything happens. If it’s

something someone said, or if a situation kind of feels uncomfortable for me, I try to turn it into

a teaching experience. Even if they don’t always want to listen, everyone becomes my student. If

I can change one person’s mind, or at least get them to see the opposite viewpoint, I’ll feel

better.”

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“I think it will spread from the outwards more in. Diversity right now is pretty much on the coast

and in technological areas, so I’m hoping it will spread more to the center of the country where

there’s a lot of differences that aren’t bad, but there are differences nonetheless. And I think that

hopefully it[diversity] will be more accepted in this country. I’m thinking that with Donald

Trump being president, it might be better. If anything, I think that we might be nicer to

immigrants now seeing that policy he might

be instating and how negative it is and how in

your face bad it is. I think hopefully there

will be more solidarity between naturalized

Americans and immigrants.

I’ve tried to educate myself on topics

that I feel strongly about to try to decrease

my bias. So, for example, with the Israeli–

Palestinian conflict, I have a cultural bias

towards one side, so I’ve read books about

the other side and I’ve engaged in dialogue

with people of different cultures who are

affected by the conflict. I want to not be

biased on this, and I want to be able to hold a

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conversation to show that I’ve tried to do my fair amount of research. And more importantly

when I engage with people who disagree with me on issues of diversity it’s important to not be

very angry with them and to understand that they’re coming from a different place and that I’m

coming from a different place, so I think that just maintaining a respectful encouraging dialogue

with people no matter how offensive is important.

“I think that the U.S. is going to be more diverse, and there’s going to be a lot of mixtures in

different races and stuff. I think that the newer generation is going to be more open to diversity

that the older generation was, and I think that’s because we’ve grown up in settings where there

are a lot of diverse people. When I grew

up, and I was in school and stuff, I never

really looked down on someone who has

a different race than me, because we all

grew up together. So, I’ve never really

had it where there was just one race. But,

my parents are Indian. They grew up in

an Indian classroom with only Indian

kids. They didn’t grow up with other

kids, didn’t see other people’s lives like

that. For us, we grew up in a diverse

culture so our future is going to just as

diverse

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 For me, since my parents are super Indian, me and my sister always try to introduce

diversity to both of them, and I think that they’ve learned a lot from us. And at least for me,

because I don’t consider–when I see other races, I don’t look at them as their race, I look at them

as the person they are. I think that’s just who I am. I don’t look at their outer appearance, but

who they are as a person.”

What Age Are We in?

By: Jeremy Varkey

Post-election social media was an emotional However, in stark contrast, many of

whirlwind. the young people who I interviewed

The flurry of scathing Facebook expressed hope for the future. Some even

posts and foreboding tweets after the saw positives in a Trump presidency. Most

election all seemed to echo one future: felt that this election will encourage

Trump’s racist America–an America that empathy and understanding across party

further denigrates marginalized groups and lines and toward immigrants and refugees.

is woefully similar to the America of the All were hopeful, but very few could

1960’s. And so, it seemed reasonable to definitively say how they themselves

assume that most people–especially promoted diversity.

millennial voters–would continue to express In other words, hope didn’t always

this doubt and fear a mere two weeks later. translate into action.

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 Few of those whom I interviewed open. Many became walled of and excused

had actively campaigned for their candidate their November 8th behavior as just a

of choice, but that’s fine; campaigning is a cathartic release after a stressful night.

time-consuming business, and that is a That made sense. The past year has

luxury not many college students can afford. been long and arduous and most people just

But what was even more shocking was that needed to release all their pent up

some didn’t even vote. They were angry– frustrations. They were just letting out their

but, they didn’t vote. They were scared–but, emotion.

they didn’t vote. And yet, with the results in But that’s not the whole picture.

and the election in the books, they aren’t Before grabbing my camera, the

scared to say they didn’t vote. morning of the interviews, I told myself I

At least, to me they weren’t. was being a fool. Sure, maybe people would

When I asked some of them to see grant me an interview and a picture, but they

their posts on November 8th, most didn’t sure wouldn’t be truthful. Why would they

hesitate. Originally curious as to why I was tell me, a total stranger, their true feelings

asking them this, when they saw what they regarding what has been a tumultuous

had posted, they understood. The posts and election cycle and unclear future of

the tweets painted a very different reality America?

than what they were telling me–a reality But, these people were surprisingly

based in fear, anger, and in no ways hopeful. open. Some laughed. Some cried. But all

But somehow, their views quickly changed expressed true and real emotion that can

after a two short weeks. When asked about only be noticed through in person human

this, some began to get fidgety and less connection. In other words–they were telling

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the truth. And they were telling the truth not dialogue. It’s the breeding ground for hate

to a friend, or a family member, or and it stifles sincerity.

somebody they knew, but to a total stranger. What type of an age do we live in

This lack of background, however, gave where we trust less and less those whom

power to the interviewee. They weren’t held we’ve grown around the most, and trust

to some standard of populist belief, based more the stranger with a camera? 

upon the general views of their Facebook

friends. They were free to speak their mind

without fear of retribution. They could say

whatever they wanted without losing friends

or being shunned by family. They could

finally be open. And that’s the problem.

We’ve become so connected as a

society. 100 years ago, it would’ve taken

days, maybe weeks, for your opinion to

reach one side of the country to another.

Now, it takes seconds. And so, it only takes

seconds for another person to hate you.

Social media has become a driving force for

change, but it also has become a vacuum for

popular opinions and a place for dissenting

viewpoints to be bashed and humiliated. It’s

not a place for meaningful, constructive

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The Collage
Our attempt at showcasing our
own diversity is here. Was it a good idea?
Who knows.

Diversity or
Disaster?
By: Peter Windus
So, Jerry wanted a photo of all of our
faces put together. He thought it would be a
cool cover for the magazine. The collage
was meant to show the diversity of our

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group and how we all fit together to make a
team. I’m sure the image in Jerry’s head
looked great, but the final project wasn’t
quite what he envisioned. Since it’s already
been made, we decided to might as well use
it–just not as the cover.

The picture really shows how

different we all are. The skin color, ear
placement, head shape. None of it lines up.
It’s this diversity that makes our group
unique and gives each of us our own point
of view. That was the idea for the project at
least. The final image turned out a little
more disconcerting than thought provoking
though. Personally, I’m a pretty big fan of it,
but I guess I don’t have as refined of taste as
Lela does. 

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Group Project Analysis:
Each member of our team presented
their views on diversity in the aftermath of
the 2016 election. This project was designed
to be a compilation of different viewpoints
and ways of analysis. Below are the
statements written by each contributor on
their efforts to link the work presented in
this newspaper to the content discussed in
“What We Know and How We Know it”.
Lela Cooper:
For my addition to the group project,
I created a series of three related art pieces
focusing on the issue of diversity in the
recent election, and what is in store for the
future. I was inspired by several of our
activities from class to depict my drawings,
and opinions on the election. Often, when
communicating ideas, we focus on speaking
or writing, and not so much on the idea of
using art to depict concepts in more indirect
ways. This was my first class in which we
combined art with our learning to better
understand concepts, and I wanted to honor
that through my work. I was inspired by our
previous assignments focusing on art, such
as the work of Owen Curtsinger, and how he
combines writing and complex ideas with
art. This is something I tried to emulate in
my drawings, by also creating an annotation
alongside the pieces, to give an explanation
to my drawings. I was also inspired by the
work of Michael Swaine, and how his work
with the Future Farmers focuses on using art
installations to make social commentary,
and help people to better understand things.
An important aspect of art is its interaction
with the viewer, and this often gets
overlooked. I tried to make my pieces
somewhat abstract to allow the viewer to
come up with their own deductions about
the piece and what it means to them.
Viewers could use the artifact wheel
approach we learned this quarter to
evaluate the pieces I created as well.
Jeffrey Taylor-Kantz:
This ties into the four ways of
knowing described in the article that we read
as a class by Walter Truett Anderson.
Climate change is a relatively new scientific
discovery, only really starting to be
researched in the early 1900s. The idea that
climate change was man-made didn’t gain
very much traction in the scientific
community until the 1960s and 70s.
America’s tradition of industrialization is
significantly older than these findings. So,
people more inclined to have a
social/traditional outlook on the world, those
who try to find truth in heritage and in the
traditions of their culture, would be more
inclined to dismiss climate change because
of the threat it poses for environmentally
unfriendly industries. But a
scientific/rational outlook, one that focuses
on finding truth through observation and
evidence, is the right view to hold in this
situation. The evidence and data clearly
show that human behavior causes climate
change. If we want to have a hospitable
world in the future, then we need to look
past the ways things have always been done
and embrace this new truth. Because the
thing about truth is that it doesn’t care
whether you believe in it or not.
Peter Windus:
When I began writing piece on
Muslim registry I had a clear goal, to write
an unbiased news story on current events
related to the Trump Administration’s views
on Islam and national security. Once I began
writing though, this proved to be much more
difficult than I anticipated. Since so much is
unknown about the future of our country and
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the actions Trump will take as president, I A wide variety of backgrounds and
found it very easy to slip into opinionated worldviews were presented.
writing and focus on the negative comments
made by Mr. Trump and his advisors. I
essentially had to scrap my entire first draft
after reading it with implicit bias in my
mind. I had to work through much of what I
had written in an attempt to rephrase and
take out the sentences that contained my
opinions, rather than fact. I have an
unconscious bias against Donald Trump and
while I might argue it is justified, when
writing a news piece, I need to explicitly
focus on writing from a neutral standpoint.
Trying to eliminate bias does not mean I
need to avoid criticism all together though.
Many Americans are fearful for the future
and I wanted to share their concern instead
of listing my views on the issue. I tried to
use quotes from Trump and those close to
him instead of summing up their opinions in
my own words. This helped me take out my
own bias and convey the actual events that
have occurred.

Jeremy Varkey:
I took inspiration for my photo
journalism piece from Humans of New
York, a blog of portraits and interviews with
everyday people in New York City. I wanted
to gauge how people at the University of
Washington have reacted. Earlier this year
we read an article titled “Why Facts Don’t
Unite Us”. With the election so recent in
everyone’s mind, this article has never been
more relevant. We live in a very polarized
culture and I wanted to explore people’s
hopes and fears for the future. The second
thing I asked during my interviews was
steps people had personally taken to
promote diversity in their communities. I
was interested in how people turned their
beliefs into actions. Throughout the course
of the project, I tried to interview a diverse
collection of students from across campus.

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