The long and admittedly arduous selection process for the Sub Pop Loser Scholarship is now over and we have chosen a freak to pin our dreams of weirdos doing well for themselves onto. Kyle Raquipiso is our dude, he is a senior in Kennewick Washington, part of the well known trifecta of turd towns known as the tri-cities. Kyle submitted a killer witty essay wherein he told us about putting on shows in Kennewick, designing 7" covers, and he described the arts music community in tri-cities as mainly consisting of “burnouts drawing pictures of pot leaves and mushrooms” but as exciting as those drug drawings sound Kyle’s art had something different to offer. We got a package with 3 cd-r’s of different bands he’s in, a portfolio of Pettibon inspired ink drawings and a 7" of his solo project Leper Print to accompany his essay as well as a general sense that Kyle was a well-researched music/art nerd with high hopes. After jarring him out of his 4:30 post school nap last Friday we informed him via telephone that he was the biggest and bestest loser we could find and that we wanted to give him five grand for college. When asked for a quote Kyle had this to say “I’d like to thank Allison, Vas, Neight, Greg, my brother Brian, Annie, Mattey, Ben, my art teacher Suzanne, the kind folks at Sub Pop, anybody who’s bought my crummy records or cd-rs off me, and anybody else who’s name has escaped my mind at the moment for their support. Everybody else in this town either hates my guts or thinks I’m a complete fool.” Well, even though there’s a solid group of 9 Kyle supporters in his home town we are more than happy to help him export himself to the Pacific Northwest College of the Arts in Portland Oregon where maybe he can find another 9 friends. Seriously great work Kyle, wave your freak flag high, and thanks to everyone else who applied, we super-seriously appreciate it.