Archive > November 2008

Fight Song

22 November 2008

The Fight Song  /  November 22, 2008  /  Pullman, WA

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Fight, fight, fight for Washington State!

Win the victory,

Win the day for Crimson and Gray!

Best in the West

We know you’ll all do your best,

So on, on, on, on!

Fight to the end!

Honor and glory you must win!

So fight, fight, fight for Washington State and Victory!

-   -Washington State University Fight Song.

First performed in 1919

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Leah Rosenkranz, 19 Mellophone player (prior to the start of the Apple Cup between rivals the Washington State University Cougars and the University of Washington Huskies). 

We are in the tunnel of Martin Stadium in Pullman Washington at WSU.  We’re getting ready.  We gotta get out there and play.  We start by sprinting out of the tunnel to our spots.  And then we march into the WSU.  We normally spell Cougs and USA, and play the fight song a couple of times. …  Our purpose is to get the crowd really pumped up and going and keep morale up which sometimes it takes a lot with this team. But we can help a lot sometimes so it’s always good. Right now the UW band is on so a lot of us have friends in there but we’re rooting for the Cougars.

Evan Burns, 19, Tuba player

The main point is we entertain. That is all we do.   We got out there we make the crowd dance yell and cheer. And we just love coming out there and getting fired up.

The history of cheerleading at Washington State University dates back to the 1910′s when an all male “Rooter Team” cheered on the school then known as Washington State Agricultural College. During the period of war in the 1930′s and 40′s, the all men’s Rooter Team was replaced with female cheerleaders. The face of this sport changed nationwide during this time period as female athletes introduced gymnastics and acrobatics into cheerleading.

Currently, the WSU cheer squad is made up of approximately 12 female and 12 male cheerleaders.

- excerpted from the WSU website.

 

The Green Card Vote

04 November 2008

The Green Card Vote / November 4, 2008 / Seattle
The Green Card Vote / November 4, 2008 / Seattle

The US Green Card Lottery Application Program, awards 50,000 US green cards to people from all around the world per year.  Having a one entitles a person the right to work and live permanently in this country.  You can also join the military and must pay taxes.  But it does not give you the right to vote.

According to www.migrationinformation.org, at one time non-citizens had the legal right to vote.  From 1776 until 1926, 22 states and federal territories allowed non-citizens to vote in local, state, and even federal elections but gradually repealed this right largely due to anti-immigrant sentiments in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

An estimated 12 million legal permanent residents cannot vote in this country.

Helen Tapping, originally from London, has lived in this United States for nine years but still does not have the right to vote.  “This is my way.” she says waving a political sign from the University Bridge.  “I’m legal, but I just can’t vote.”

 

 

 

 

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Helen Tapping, 36  I actually am a green card holder and I don’t get to vote.  I get to pay taxes but I don’t get to vote.  So I’m doing everything I can to get democrats out to get to the polls and vote for Barak Obama. 

The reason I’m out on the bridge is because I was on phone banks last night and phone banks this morning.  My bum went to sleep so I need some fresh air.  I asked what else I could do and they said ‘Do you want to wave signs?’ and I’m like “Sure.  I’ll do whatever.”  And its great.  People are beeping.  We’ve been flipped off a few times but more people have beeped and waved.  Its such a great feeling.  It gives us some hope.

© Karen Ducey 2008