The Wake Issue 3 Fall 2006

Naked Stages/12

Adaptive Sports/13 PLUS Believing in Witches / Dia de los Muertos

The Weekly Student Magazine of the University of Minnesota

15-21 November 2006

Editorial/ Editor-in-Chief Jenny Odegard

Managing Editor Eric Price

Athletics Editor Craig Rentmeester

Campus Editor Sarah Howard

Literary Editor Jacob Duellman

Sound & Vision Editor Kristen Mueller

Voices Editor Nathaniel Olson

Editorial Assistants Alyssa Cogan, Dan Olmschenk, Lyndsey Danberry

Senior Staff Writers Elizabeth Autwes, Rachel Drewelow

PRODUCTION/ Production Manager Jeremy Sengly

Art Director Sam Soule

Photography Editor Ethan Stark

Web Editor Luke Preiner

Copy Editors Kelly Frush, Erin Lavigne, Rachel Levitt, Tammy Quan, Morgon Mae Schultz

Graphic Designers Dave Hagen, Eric Price, Becki Schwartz, Jeremy Sengly, Krista Spinti

BUSINESS/ Business Manager Angela Damiani

Office Manager Elizabeth Keely Shaller

Advertising Executive Now hiring!

Public Relations Director Cassie Benson

Advertising Intern Tyler Jones

Public Relations Interns Marlys Huismann, Alison Traxler, Julie Veternick

Distributors Rachel Levitt, Kristin Mueller

THIS ISSUE/ Cover Artist Jeremy Sengly Illustrators Dave Hagen, Alex Judkins, Jeremy Sengly Photographers Amy Fink, Matt Holland, Chris Lenzen, Sarah Marrone, Denise Rath, Chris Roberts

Š2006 The Wake Student Magazine. All rights reserved.

Established in 2002, The Wake is a weekly independent magazine produced by and for the students of the University of Minnesota. The Wake is a registered student organization.

Contributing Writers Elizabeth Aulwes, Carl Carpenter, Lyndsey Danberry, Janessa Dohse, Rachel Drewelow, Amy Fink, Erik Helin, Sarah Howard, Aidan McNichols, Nattie Olson, Justyn Rubenstein, Elizabeth Shaller, Whitney Starkey, Alice Vislova

The Wake Student Magazine 1313 5th St. SE Minneapolis, MN 55414 (612) 379-5952 • www.wakemag.org The Wake was founded by Chris Ruen and James DeLong.

Dear Readers, Lest every editor’s note become a vehicle for my ranting, I’d like to address a bit of good news this week. Yes, for once, sanity has prevailed in a campus administrative decision.

Amidst complaints from multiple Catholic organizations concerning the supposed “blasphemous nature” of the University Theatre’s “The Pope and the Witch,” U officials have decided to let the play continue.

Really, try as the Christian right may to paint themselves as somehow being persecuted and belittled in our society — “One can only imagine what kind of upheaval would take place on campus if the U staged a play smearing Mohammed,” one woefully misguided representative of Catholic Parents Online recently told the Star Tribune — even a cursory glance at our political “spectrum,” wherein a self-proclaimed fundamentalist runs the country and the first Muslim ever only just now was elected into Congress, should be cause enough for any rational person to laugh these claims off.

Naked Stages/12 SOUND & VISION/04

LITERARY/18

VOICES/09

ATHLETICS/20

PHOTOGRAPHY/11

BASTARD/22

CAMPUS/14

So, I guess what I’m trying to say is, obvious as the decision may have been, thank you, Mr. Bruininks.

ERIC PRICE

Managing Editor

Sound & Vision/

Altered Esthetics bring video games to gallery walls

By Alice Vislova

alex judkins

04/15-21 November 2006

\ Sound & Vision

courtesy of Altered Aesthetics

Imagine: evening, a large empty room. The pleasant smell of paint, woodchips, something else; the lonely twang of an electric bass rising through the wooden floorboards from the music studios downstairs. Jamie Schumacher, Altered Esthetics’ gallery director, begins to describe her vision for the upcoming videogame-inspired exhibition, “Level 13: Bonus Round,” and the empty room fills before your eyes. Pan around: See Pacman murals on the walls, a big projector for playing retro video games, a couch in the corner, a shag carpet, maybe some scattered checkered Vans sneakers—a perfect home for forty-something works of art which are, much like ourselves, lost children of the 1980s.

Schumacher created Altered Esthetics from the ground up with the help of friends and other like-minded artists. It is a cozy, quaint little alcove with the “bare pipes” feel, minus the bare pipes. “I wanted to create a place where artists can have a voice,” Schumacher says. In that regard, she has been successful. At the “Level 13: Bonus Round” exhibit, the only thing more eclectic than the art collection will be the artists themselves. Everyone has a story to tell—a story woven in art, and music, and profound revelations.

Meet Nicholas Straight, a young, self-described “up and comer,” chock-full of ideas and enthusiasm. Straight realized that he saw things differently from other kids at an early age.

While other children drew crude caricatures of their faces when assigned a self-portrait, Straight drew an alien—with a green face and antennae. Many things have changed since then, but Straight’s defiance of convention isn’t one of them.

Today, he works evenings as a graphic designer before arriving home at about 12:30 p.m., where, under the cover of darkness, Straight proceeds to craft the ebb and flow of his imaginings into works of art until four or five in the morning. This Minnesota-based artist is always eager to experiment with new mediums, but feels that his signature mark is fun tex-

tures and lighting in visual art. Straight is optimistic about a future in art and design. “Ultimately, life’s too short,” concludes Straight. “I just want to make beautiful images.”

Meet U of M alumni Caly McMorrow. She’s a musical artist who will perform at the exhibit’s opening. Something of a pioneer for female electronic musicians, she experiments and records in her lower St. Paul artist co-op apartment.

McMorrow’s ammunition includes two keyboards, several laptops, synthesizers, samplers and her newest musical toy: a Game Boy. McMorrow has recently begun incorporating the handheld video game’s “nanoloop” program into many of her songs. “It’s like a portable drum machine that’s under $100 dollars,” she quips. McMorrow’s unique sound comes from a synergy of classical training as a saxophone player with her experience as a sound technician in theater and techno. “I don’t work in songs as much as in layers,” she says. “I start with a seed and build it.”

“Videogames have influenced our generation almost more than politics.”

Meet easygoing Mark Rieger, whose work tends to gravitate towards humorous, unassuming social and political commentary. One piece, “Iraq Attack,” brings light to the ironies inherent in our culture by juxtaposing a video game to the conflict overseas. By slapping many of his pieces onto t-shirts and stickers, Rieger also takes his work out of the gallery and onto the streets where more people can be exposed to it. “I’d like to make people smile, or think, or maybe look at things from a different perspective,” Rieger says.

Meet Brent Gustafson: brilliant and nonchalant, a combination that often leads to wild success. He says that all his artwork begins with one question: “What if?” For example,

“What if I play three different games all at the same time through the same connection?” or “What if I change some of the hex codes around in these Nintendo sound format files?”

As a high school student Gustafson and a friend wrote a videogame review column for the Green Bay newspaper. Today Gustafson is a “New Media Designer” for the Walker Art Center.

Whimsical and articulate, Lisa Kuppinger is exactly what you think an artist should be. She contends that a studio should have no walls, jokes about throwing clay, and describes the subjects of her recent paintings as “curious little creatures with curious little agendas.” There is a pervasive joy to Kuppinger that saturates the viewer through her art.

Kuppinger is less familiar with video game art than some of her Atari-hoarding, level 13 colleagues, but she refuses to be held back. “I exercise my right to make art wherever I find myself,” says Kuppinger, “whether on a train, in a bar or even in my dreams.”

So why videogames? Compared to exhibits like “The Art of War” and “The Art of Sacrifice,” the topic seems a bit light for Altered Esthetics. Is this exhibit more or less “just for fun?” “Yes and no,” answers Schumacher. “Videogames have influenced our generation almost more than politics.” For many of us, more hours of our childhood were spent playing videogames than anything else. In this technologically advanced world, where we’re sometimes starved for connections with real people, it’s reasonable that we find connection in society’s collective memory of the blinking television set.

We stand at the abyss on the edge of the world and see, not a sunset, not a stroke of lightning, but Pacman, majestically devouring a cherry: and we know that we understand one another. Imagine that.

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Sound & Vision/

Playing with Fire amy fink

By Amy Fink Often it is said figuratively that a business starts with a dream. For Steve Poreda and his Mystix juggling sticks, however, this was quite seriously the case.

credible amount of money invested in it,” Poreda says.

“We had an accountant, a lawyer, those peripheral people, but day to day, it was all her.”

Poreda, also known as Mr. Fun, has a gift for getting people to try new things, and skill toyz, easy to learn but complicated enough to challenge, are just the things to get people to try.

Until Mystix, juggling sticks hadn’t entered the mainstream. In the fall of 1994, Poreda decided to go on the road to promote them. “I would just show up in a town, whatever the town was,” Poreda says, “and I’d get the yellow pages. I’d look under the heading of toys and hobbies and I’d call them and say, “I’ve got this awesome toy. You wanna check it out?’”

After graduating from Whittier College Poreda taught 6th grade in California and Maine before he realized he had found something he could teach better. “I knew that teaching was in me,” Poreda says, “but really out of the box kind of nontraditional teaching.”

While visiting a friend in Arizona, he met a guy in a coffee shop who was making juggling sticks, a toy consisting of two handheld sticks with which one juggles a third stick that has tassels on each end. Poreda went to a party at his house and left the next day with a set of the sticks.

“I had a dream about the sticks somewhere between Arizona and California,” Poreda says, “and literally the next day, I started taking them apart, trying to figure out what they’re made of. Then I started sourcing out the materials locally.”

From September until the holidays, Poreda performed with the juggling sticks at Venice Beach, Calif. where he established a regular spot amongst the circus of street performers. “It just became the thing I was doing,” Poreda says.

Every day, at least a couple of merchants would invite him to their stores.

“I’ve been really self-inspired my whole life,” says Poreda. “When I was really little I’d have to kind of make my own fun.”

“I’d look around to make sure I had the attention, and I’d start demonstrating, and kids loved it. Inevitably, kids would come in the store and wouldn’t look at anything but the sticks.”

Mystix quickly received national attention. Poreda was on a Today Show segment called “Gadget Guru,” MTV’s “The Grind,” and numerous local talk shows. He also landed a booth at the International New York Toy Fair.

In 1993 he went back east for the holidays and gave the sticks to family members as gifts. “I showed them to my mom,” Poreda says, “and she just had this gut feeling about them.”

When his daughter was born in 1995, Poreda moved to Minnesota permanently, gave the business a new look and renamed it Mystik Toyz. In 1996, Mystik expanded their product and client bases. Poreda began selling Diablos (the original Chinese yo-yo), then yo-yos and footbags (a type of hackey sac).

The very next day, she was on the phone with patent attorneys. This was in January of 1994. By May, Poreda’s business, then called Infinity Toys patented the design for his juggling sticks, and planned to start manufacturing in July.

“People started coming to us because they saw that we were selling demonstration toys and no one else was doing this,” Poreda says.

While Poreda was back in California teaching, his mother ran the business in Pennsylvania. “We didn’t have an in-

06/15-21 November 2006

In 1999, Poreda was introduced to poi balls, originally a Maori dance prop from New Zealand used as a percussive instrument to increase flexibility and strength in the

hands and arms, and to improve coordination, at a festival in Connecticut, and it was Mystix all over again.

“All the hippies would kind of get into it,” Poreda says.

“Jerry Garcia was dead for a few years and there was kind of this void, until electronic music and DJs started to get popular, and poi swinging worked hand in hand with that.”

Poreda’s partner, Cori, vice president of Mystik, began fire dancing with the poi. They heard about fire dancers in the local band Wookiefoot, ended up hanging out with the band, and eventually merged with them as an accompanying performance.

“I went back to California and saw what they were doing with the toys,” Poreda says. “There were these spin jams out there—gatherings with DJs and you’d just get together and play.”

About five or six years ago, Poreda rented a loft space above a bar near 24th and 26th where he held his own spin jams. He got black lights and started spray painting the juggling sticks neon. About a year later he found Four Seasons Dance Studio, where he now holds spin jams every other Thursday from 9:30 p.m. to 1 a.m.

In addition to being a member of the fire dance troupe Illumination, Poreda also organizes many community projects including the local Earthdance Festival for peace, which is part of the world’s largest music and dance event happening simultaneously across the country.

“I’ve been really self-inspired my whole life,” says Poreda.

“When I was really little I’d have to kind of make my own fun. I befriended a lot of people but I’d always be on the outskirts. Not really part of the crowd. The business is really perfect for me because I don’t have to answer to anybody.”

Spin Jams are held every other Thursday at Poreda’s home on Western Avenue in St. Paul, also called the “fun house.” From January 26 to March 16, Poreda will also teach poi spinning classes from 7:15-8:45 at Jefferson Community School. See mystiktoys.com for more info.

\ Sound & Vision

Radio On Local musicians rock the 400 Bar

By Carl Carpenter To those among us who enjoy a good old fashioned down and dirty rock show, you’d have been in for a real tasty treat had you made your way over to the 400 Bar on Nov. 1 or Nov. 2. Radio On, a free-wheelin’ rock band from Minneapolis, played for a packed house.. They opened for the band, The Heartless Bastards. The group, thanks in part to 400 Bar owner Tom Sullivan, has been sharpening their teeth at Twin Cities venues for a few years. Now it appears they have the catalog of songs and the live act to make a serious run at things. I sat down before the show with guitarist/pianist/harmonica player Ryan Carlson, at the Riverside Restaurant.

“We’re starting to build a lot of momentum,” Carlson says.

“2006 has been a good year for Radio On.” It was last New Year’s Eve that Radio On played at the 7th Street Entry and ran into a bit of good fortune. “Chad Weis was running sound that night. He enjoyed the show and not long after we got to work recording an album,” he says. Carlson also said that Radio On will be working with Weis again this December, as they have some dynamite new tracks to record.

Chris Lenzen

quick tour, possibly hitting Chicago, Nashville, New Orleans, Athens, and Austin, returning in time for an instudio Radio K show and interview on Nov. 24, according to Carlson.

Olson exhibited the most lasciviously innovative moves seen on a Minneapolis stage since the closing scene of Purple Rain.

Since recording their first album, Stallion’s Final Romance, Radio On has been gigging and touring frequently, earning praise from fellow musicians and magazines along the way. A review by Nelson Heise in Rift Magazine, claimed, “Radio On kicks the doors wide open, and keeps them open. I hear a lot of polished turds and it’s nice to hear a band that sounds raw, real, and alive.” Minnesota musician Michael Morris called them the “best live band in Minneapolis.” Radio On has opened for groups like Bobby Beare Junior and Heartless Bastards. They once played a show at Thiel College in Greenville, Pennsylvania, directly following a rousing speech by Bobby Kennedy Jr. Back in Minnesota, Radio On has secured shows at the 400 Bar for every Wednesday in December. Until then, plans are in motion for a

Radio On kicked things off with the powerhouse combo of “Bottles of Wine” and “Whisky Mountain,” a sultry couple of sing-along party anthems. The pair that followed, “Cowboys” and “Truckin,” featured quick Southern guitars and some fast-paced, back country vocals shared between Carlson and front man, Dan Olson. Several songs feature this fun sort of swagger before giving way to the room-filling wail of their dual guitar attack and Olson’s urgent howling. “Make My Way” kicks off with a pulsating bass line, some rollicking toms closely in toe. Courtesy of the thunderous rhythm section of bassist Justin Retzlaff and drummer Andrew Bartelson, who make like Entwhistle and Moon (pun fully intended) at the start of this song. It soon gives way to goodtime country vocals, bluesy guitar and saloon style piano, seemingly of Stones’ influence.

on a Minneapolis stage since the closing scene of Purple Rain. He even dressed the part. After starting the show in a snappy, green, motorcycle-esque jacket, Olson stripped to a purple dress shirt. Covered in sweat by show’s end, the shirt was also removed—at the pace of one button per song. It’s a combination of his perfectly not intimidating physique, risky stage antics, and flair for the dramatic that gives Olson an unmistakably captivating stage presence. With endless amounts of bouncing and posing, he struts and stomps his way into a few hip-swivels followed by some soft-shoe. After a bit of kicking and marching, he tosses up his guitar, head shaking wildly all the while. It’s truly a sight to behold.

It’s tough for a band to crack through into the cut-throat world that is the music industry. The Minneapolis band most recently to do so, Tapes N’ Tapes, did so by making a great album, The Loon, and then using all resources necessary (especially the Internet) to get noticed. “At Least We Tried to Make It!” they shout again and again as “The Iliad” builds to its thumping, feverish conclusion. Upon seeing Radio On’s live show, I’m glad that they too, are trying to make it. And hope to see their name in bright lights across the country.

So what is it about these sharply dressed gents that’s got people talking? The answer lies in the power and passion of their live performance. The dance moves on display that night were from another dimension. Olson exhibited the most lasciviously innovative moves seen

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What is New York’s tallest waterfall?

Voices/

Even My Momma Thinks That My Mind Is Gone

Photo Poll

by Denise Rath

What are your thoughts about safety on campus or in nearby neighborhoods?

If not for the stories in the Daily, I wouldn’t have any knowledge of attacks on or around campus. But that knowledge hasn’t changed my habits or made me afraid.

JONATHAN CURRIER

Math & Phsics Sophomore

alex judkins

BY aidan mcnichols Last year, I made plans to move out of the stifling dorms with my friends to the promised land of an apartment. In our heads danced ideas of swanky bachelor pads with wet bars that swung out from the wall at the push of a button, or living rooms torn from the pages of Better Homes and Gardens. It was to be the most glorious home ever created, famous in its time among college students everywhere.

They would blink their eyes in wonder as they wept for their own living arrangements. Friends, I am here to tell you that there are no apartments in the metro area with wet bars that swing out from the wall at the push of a button, or at least not in the price range of a thousand dollars a month.

No, instead, we got rodents with attitude problems and a dysfunctional plumbing system. There is a passed-out hobo who hasn’t moved since we moved in, our landlord has literally stopped answering our phone calls and our lock has been tampered with at some point. That’s right, we live in Murderapolis. It’s the American dream at its best. Watching my parents eyes widen as they drove into my little neighborhood was likely the most humorous experience of my lifetime.

It’s an existence completely run by myself, and it’s exciting not to have a CA breathing down my neck as I do naughty things.

It’s true it’s better than living in the dorms. I’m never in a rush to run to UDS at 6:58 I don’t even have to eat UDS. Now chosen rather than assigned, my roommates aren’t spiteful bastards (shout-out to all the miserable kids who lie awake at night hoping their roommates just stop breathing). It’s an existence completely run by myself, and it’s exciting not to have a CA breathing down my neck as

I do naughty things. We can have loud raucous parties that don’t involve the constant checking of the peephole.

This whole process made me wonder why there isn’t affordable student housing provided by the University.

This apartment is less expensive than the dorms by $4,000 and $3,000 less than some of the apartments provided by the University. This situation leaves a student already worried about tuition on a tight budget and forces them to live in a dangerous neighborhood in order to continue their education.

We live in a time when education has never been more necessary or more expensive. In a year when students are supposed to feel happy because tuition will “only” rise by 4%, paying for both living and learning seems impossible. Like the socio-economic-based hierarchy that’s present everywhere else, college is polarized for those who can afford fancy living or those who live off of ramen and the mice trapped in their hallways. The University has to provide a middle ground. I’m not talking about my apartment with the wet bar that swings out from the wall, but a simple, safe housing close to campus that someone not supported by their parents can afford. Because let me tell you, if my house was University housing, I would have sued long, long ago.

But while I feel unsafe all the time, and my house has a new emergency every day, I’m making do. I’m doing this out of self-preservation, and because, goddamnit, that hobo in the street was nice. If the University refuses to give me anything else, I’m going to stick it to them. I’m going to sit here in my living room, eyes staring straight forward so I can’t see the vermin scurrying across the floor and rearrange my furniture. As much as my house sucks, I’m clinging to the dream of my swanky bachelor pad. Somehow, I will turn this pile of crap into a gem, and no amount of hobos or crack dealers can stop me.

I used to wake up and go on a run at 5:30am every morning. I never used to feel unsafe at that time of day when it was still dark out; however, lately, I feel like it’s more dangerous, and it scares me to go out alone before dawn.

CHRISTINA COWMAN

Chemistry Sophomore

Well, I think security on campus needs to be increased, and we need better cooperation between UMPD and Minneapolis PD. We’re all in the same area, so it shouldn’t matter who responds, as long as we feel safe.

BECKY BARTELS

B.I.S. Sophomore

With recent incidents, I must admit that I am not as comfortable walking across campus at night.

I have to look over my shoulder along the way because I don’t feel completely safe.

RICK LONNEMAN

Finance & Accounting Sophomore

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\ Voices

America: Land of the Dumbasses or Home of the Free-Thinkers? religion. I myself am Christian and believe in a God and that his son died and was resurrected. It isn’t any less ridiculous to believe than that my roommate summoned up the Prince of Lies more quickly to heat her burrito. The major difference here and only saving grace of any religious person, who would deny the existence of witches, is that religion is similar to ghosts in that it is right there in the definition that you can’t see it, feel it or hear it. When a witch turns you into a frog, however, I would expect you to feel it or for someone to see it or hear your distressed ribbiting cry.

BY whitney starkey In a recent Gallup poll, they found that twenty percent (that’s one in five) of Americans believe in witches.

Fucking witches.

I would’ve understood if something like 0.015 percent of Americans believed in people with supernatural powers and flying broomsticks and talking cats as I’m sure that 0.015 percent also has been hit in the head with baseball bats over and over again until they became very brain damaged and gullible at some point. I feel like twenty percent is an unacceptable number. There’s only a twelve percent difference in the number of people who believe in witches and the number of people who believe in our president. Luckily, the president is still beating out sorcerers in numbers. Not because George Bush should have more people on his side, but I would expect (and sort of hope for) riots if that were true.

It’s easy enough to take this statistic for its face value, which is essentially that we are a country of absolute morons. But it’s hard to believe that a nation of people that are (supposed to be) reasonably well educated by the time they finish their compulsory education would buy into this. Pick four friends, and apparently one of you is surprised that criminals like the Wicked Witch of the West haven’t worked their way onto the government’s most wanted terrorist lists. Obviously twenty percent of the people and your one dumbass friend don’t represent everyone, but we’re talking witches here. Twenty percent is as good as a hundred.

So why, oh why would we believe this? There’s something so obviously unreal about magical powers that no one should believe it. Puritans may have had their witch crazes, but we have advanced so much in technology and understanding of the world around us that using mysterious invisible forces to explain everything isn’t necessary or justified. When my roommate microwaves a burrito, I won’t try to pitchfork her in the gut for using Satan’s fire to cook her tasty Mexican snack.

But it’s not as though mysterious and invisible powers aren’t around in my life, and I’m not even a terrified farmer in the 1500s. This whole witch deal is a lot like

10/15-21 November 2006

When my roommate microwaves a burrito, I won’t try to pitchfork her in the gut for using Satan’s fire to cook her tasty Mexican snack.

words (and the world) work and eventually get it right most of the time, but no one is ever right all the time.

There seems to be some sort of lesson in all of this. I’m not sure how valid a lesson involving people who fly on bristly sticks and command the elements by waving their hands and screaming “abracadabra” or some such shit is. Try to work with me for a minute. Maybe I shouldn’t chastise these people for believing in witches. Maybe it’s just another view of the world that is just as well thought out and logical as mine is. Maybe we should all just calm down with all of the “certainties” or “absolutes” we believe about the world and accept the fact. I mean, at one point, I was absolutely sure that the only people who went to college were smart, eloquent, mature scholars, but yesterday, I tripped on a boy who was lying passed out in front of the Walker Art Center who then apologized for being in the walkway by throwing up on me.

So religion, something that is undeniably prevalent and a major motivation of every society on the planet, is one reason. But this isn’t twenty percent of the world, this is twenty percent of people in America. I doubt the typical cynical Spaniard believes in witches, and the number of witch supporters in America is high enough that I wouldn’t so much call them a “minority” as much as “a lot of fucking people.” It’s like an adult believing in the tooth fairy, who in it’s self is one big lie we’re all expected to believe.

Most of these lies occur when we’re children. We’re told a lot about the ways of the world in a pretty short amount of time. Before our third birthdays most of us learn that there’s a fat man in red suit who runs a magic sweatshop at the north pole and gives us presents. This isn’t the only lie, though, and religion still has a tentative grasp on Christmas and the fat man. When we’re young we’re told that Columbus discovered America, that the president is always respectable, that you have to wash your hands to kill germs, that your parents are always right, that boys play sports while girls play dress up, that the world is fair and that babies come from storks. Some of those things are true. A lot are not. And as we grow up, we are just expected to know which is which. Most of the time the truth isn’t differentiated from the lies for us. Instead, we have to figure it out ourselves or face living a life of ignorance.

Of course, Santa isn’t real. It would be impossible for one person to watch the whole world all the time and make that many presents and travel that fast in one night. But we were able to travel to the moon in outer space which has no air and goes on into for-fucking-ever. There are tiny, tiny organisms on your skin that are trying to infect you, but a bird couldn’t possibly be able to carry a newborn from heaven or wherever to your parents. Dumbass.

It’s the same way grammar works. When a little kid says he “runned” to the store, he isn’t being stupid; he’s trying to follow the rules we’ve taught him. It doesn’t make sense that this one word would break the rules but because it does, it does. As we grow, we learn more about the way

DAVE HAGEN

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sarah marrone

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Naked Stages II Katie Herron faces the Mirror BY rachel drewelow Fairytale inspired reality last week when actress Katie Herron attempted to answer questions posed by Margery Williams’ Velveteen Rabbit, when the stuffed animal wonders: What is real? And does being real hurt?

compounded until it goes to infinity—or negative infinity?” Later, frantically scratching math problems onto a chalkboard Herron shouts these questions, which seem to apply also to her quest for perfection.

Through movement, math, music and monologue, Herron’s solo performance “Mirror, Mirror,” explored what it is to be real, what it is to be beautiful, what it is to be perfect, and what it is to struggle to find the balance.

Herron seeks comfort and stability in the world of math rather than in the commercialized world of beauty. In math, a territory of distinct limits and rules, she still seeks perfection but has a little fun. In one scene, Herron bounces between three chalkboards, jotting down equations while singing and dancing to Tiffany’s “I think we’re alone now” like a bubblegum-smacking thirteenyear-old in front of the mirror.

Holding a public mirror up to her own battles with perfection and media-enforced images of female beauty, Herron gave everyone in the Intermedia Arts crowd something to reflect on.

In an opening scene, the audience is Herron’s mirror.

Pieces of Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” and Aqua’s “Barbie Girl” play while Herron runs across a balance beam in a white tank top and pink robe, tying her red hair into messy pigtails. Next she skips across the beam carrying a laundry basket, stops, and hastily jumps into black dancing tights and yoga pants. She throws on a belt, and her face shows she doesn’t like it. Still, she throws on another, plus a sweater for good measure. Gazing at the audience, she rips off the accessories and bends down into a yoga pose on the beam. A mirror image of her own indecision and awkwardness, she falls off three times.

Later, she takes her battle with perfectionism into the realms of math. “No mistakes,” she says before reciting addition from “two plus two equals four,” to “8,388,608 plus 8,388,608 equals 16,770,216.” All the while, Heron is standing on the balance beam and supermodels and brand advertisements, images of “perfection” are projected across her chest.

Herron awkwardly and unsuccessfully twists and turns in attempts to mimic the poses of the strutting models until she is overwhelmed, and slips into the splits on the beam. Well, almost—picking up a ruler and measuring the distance between her body and the balance beam, Herron criticizes that the gap of a few inches between them might as well be the Mississippi River dividing St. Paul and Minneapolis.

“How far can you stretch a limit? How many times can something be repeated and repeated and compounded and

12/15-21 November 2006

Herron also lets us see her relationships through the looking glass. She blames her lack of long-term relationships on her insecurities. Talking faster and in a frenzy

she asks, “What is it that he doesn’t know about me yet that will cause him to leave? Or what is it that he thinks he knows about me, but he doesn’t? When he finds out he’s wrong he’ll leave. Or what is it that he doesn’t know he doesn’t know about me because he doesn’t know he doesn’t know that he’ll leave?”

Another area of insecurity, which she rationalizes with the precision of a mathematician is her weight. “I work out six days a week for an hour and a half a day, so I should be drinking a gallon and a half of water per day and eating six meals per day, each meal consisting of 300 calories—30 grams of protein, 30 grams of carbs, seven grams of fat,” she lists off while jumping rope.

Later, Herron runs to an old-fashioned balancing scale and breaks apart carrots to balance them on each side.

When satisfied, she eats a piece, in about six bites, and runs over to weigh herself on another scale. From here she runs to the balance beam, falls into the splits and measures the gap. Not good enough, she repeats this over and over becoming more and more frenzied. She tries different poses on the scale, even a headstand.

Unsatisfied with her failure to reach a balance, Herron rushes back into her concrete world of math. “Four ‘x’ minus 50, 52 minus…” she agonizes, writing equations all over her skin and shirt. The math can’t calm her down though, and she becomes more and more frantic in a culminating scene, where she stops and lists the things she cannot say in her relationships. “I hate you tickling me because you’re touching my fat… I have middle child syndrome… What would happen if I keep going?”

In an anxious, frenetic voice Herron rants, “How does it work, sometimes I think I can’t stop. So I do for a second… but it’s wrong and I’m cheating. And I get this, this feeling like an empty pit in the bottom of my stomach and it’s like a tunnel that I can’t crawl out of and I am trapped by myself! By myself. By myself.” Rubbing the ink off of her skin, pulling her hair over her face Herron bends into her beginning pose on the balance beam. And she can hold it this time.

“I hope that from my performance the audience can see that everyone struggles to some extent to find themselves beautiful… no one is alone in this,” Herron explains in a later interview. “There are so many opinions and percep-

\ Feature

4 = 2 2+

8,388 ,608+ 8 16,77 ,388,608= 0,2

16

tions of what is beautiful and who is beautiful,” she says, “but it’s important to find your own beauty.”

The character Herron plays—even the math obsession—is compiled from different times in her own life, she says. A Twin Cities native, she graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in theater and a minor in math.

“For awhile I wanted to be a mathematician by day, and an actress by night,” Herron says with a laugh.

In one scene, Herron bounces between three chalkboards, jotting down equations while singing and dancing to Tiffany’s “I think we’re alone now” like a bubblegumsmacking thirteen-year-old in front of the mirror.

She has since given up on the math, but did become a professional local actor. She is currently a member of the Pangea World Theater Ensemble, located on west Lake St. Writing and sharing her solo debut performance was “one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my whole life,” Herron says. She hopes, though, that by sharing her own struggles and insecurities on stage, she will comfort some of the audience members.

Maybe once we all did know how to find ‘beauty,’ and recognize what is ‘real,’ and ‘perfect.’ A simple nursery story for children, it becomes a more complicated equation as we grow older. In Herron’s final pose on the balance beam, the lights dim black, and the Velveteen Rabbit plays over speakers.

chris roberts

shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.’”

Herron’s performance was November 9 –11 and was coached by Shawn McConneloug, under a Naked Stages grant and mentorship sponsored

by Intermedia Arts and the Jerome Performance Art Commissioning Program.

“‘It doesn’t happen all at once,’ said the Skin Horse, the Velveteen Rabbit’s wise friend, an old worn out toy. ‘You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very

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Campus/

Celebrating the Dead

matt holland

Dia de los Muertos becomes political BY elizabeth aulwes Usually Dia de los Muertos, which translates to “day of the dead” in English, is a time to remember and honor lost loved ones, but this year the celebration was politically themed. The Center for Multicultural Academic Excellence, the Department of Chicano Studies and La Raza Student Cultural Center sponsored the event, which is very common in Mexico, and each built an altar devoted to democracy in an attempt to raise awareness for the concerns of the Chicano and Latino communities.

“Historically the day of the dead is celebrated where those who have died come back,” says Michael Duenes, a teaching specialist in the Chicano studies department. “There are certain traditions to help welcome those who have come back,” he says, such as a decorated altar, which often includes the deceased’s picture, favorite foods, reminders of a favorite activity or sport, incense and pungent marigold flowers, which help guide spirits home. But the holiday, Duenes says, “has evolved into a political and social commentary.”

Richard Martinez, an assistant professor in the Chicano studies department, says that the Nov. 7 election was the inspiration for the event’s focus. Awareness needs to be raised about the “political issues that Latinos face,” Martinez says. “We encourage people to raise questions and challenge” the status quo. The issues important to the Chicano and Latino communities remain largely under the radar, he says.

Three sub-spins were chosen to represent some of the groups major concerns. An altar on display at Klaeber Court brought up the government’s broken promises, such

14/15-21 November 2006

as the lack of weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq and the deception surrounding the war. That’s a big concern to the Chicano and Latino communities because “Latino males are overrepresented in the military,” says Lisa Sass Zaragoza, programs and outreach coordinator of the Chicano studies department.

“Patriotism as a two-sided coin,” as Martinez put it, was the focus of the altar at Scott Hall. “The idea is to get people to think. Patriotism can take more than one form,” Martinez explains. “It can be used to encourage democracy and to silence it.”

Sass Zaragoza also mentioned immigration. Immigration “is a huge political tool

“The idea is to get people to think. Patriotism can take more than one form,” Martinez explains. that’s used as a wedge issue,” she says. “I think it’s a ridiculous use of resources.”

She’s also disappointed that “the discussion has not included the importance of Latino laborers.” She considers the two issues of immigration and labor related. The United States economy is very dependent on immigrant workers, she says, and curbing immigration rates will likely have a negative effect.

Diversity on campus, and the challenges that minority students face, was the third sub-theme. Martha Ockenfels-Martinez, the intercultural representative of La Raza, says that if minority concerns, such as the closing of the General College or the killing of a bill last year that would pro-

vide government aid to undocumented students, are ignored it’s a “spiritual death.”

She sees this as a call to action because she doesn’t want a college education to be “out of reach” for minorities. “A lot of people aren’t aware that institutions like the University aren’t accessible to Latino students,” adds Kevin Terry, a double major in political science and Chicano studies.

“We’re here to visibly demonstrate that there are people who care about Latino politics,” says Miguel Vargas, the office manager of the Chicano studies department. “There are people who are concerned.”

Many were surprised by the political nature of the day. “I was a little confused at the political chanting going on. It seemed out of place,” Jacob Miller, a global studies major, says. “That must be a modern part of it,” adds Andrew Berg, a communications junior, who attended partly because he has a Mexican coworker and wanted to learn more about the tradition and culture.

There was still a lot of focus on those who have passed. “Death is always present. It’s nothing to be feared,” Duenes says. Jana Burt, a second year theater major who is taking a class that required her to attend the event, says that death with “Latino tradition is a lot more of a celebration than a grievance, which I think is fascinating because in American culture we don’t view death in quite the same way.” She says she wanted to learn more about the way Latinos and Chicanos celebrate.

“The tradition really started with the ancient Aztecs, so it’s old,” Martinez says. “I think the importance lies in the ceremony of remembering those who have passed.

They can be kept alive in our hearts and minds,” Martinez says.

“Cultures all over the world remember the dead in some way and this is one way of doing it,” Martinez continued. “If we don’t talk about [the important issues] we’re missing an opportunity.”

\ Campus

A Call to End Occupation in Iraq Lecture looks at Middle East and Oil

By Janessa Dohse Thursday November 2, the Anti-War Committee and Al-Madinah Cultural Center sponsored an event that hosted three local experts who spoke on U.S. conflict in the Middle East. Marie Braun, Ramla Bile and Jess Sundin offered insight into what the United States is doing in the Middle East and advocated a change in U.S. foreign policy with the Middle East, which includes an immediate end to occupation in Iraq.

“Oil Arabs and War: Learn the truth about U.S. Policy in the Middle East,” was held in Blegen Hall on the University of Minnesota West Bank. The event sponsors hope to raise awareness about policy problems in the Middle East.

Marie Braun, the first speaker of the evening, described the failures of the war in Iraq by comparing it to Vietnam. She says that U.S. citizens are “spending 2 billion dollars a week for a war that is looking more and more like Vietnam.” Braun is cofounder of Women Against Military Madness Iraq Committee and the Twin Cities Peace Campaign-Focus on Iraq. In 2000 she was awarded the Activist of the Year Award by the Minnesota Alliance for Progressive Action (MAPA).

Braun stressed the fact that Iraq is still in a state of turmoil, and called the situation in the Middle East a “nightmare.” It has been over three years since occupation has begun and we have sat by and watched as the United States has become the hated empire. The longer occupation continued, the more Iraqi’s have joined the resistance, she says.

Sundin, the evening’s closing speaker, took Braun’s views to the extreme. Sundin is a founding member of the Anti-War Committee and is active in AFSCME 3800 and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

She focused her speech on the importance of Iraq’s oil supply in U.S. conflict with the Middle East.

According to Braun, a poll of U.S. citizens that was released last June revealed that many Americans are unhappy with U.S. efforts in Iraq. Braun asked members of the audience to act on this discontent by advocating an immediate end to occupation. She admitted that “no one knows what will happen” when we pull out of Iraq, but whatever the consequences, they will be more manageable than staying in Iraq. Braun, as well as speaker, Jess Sundin, advocated an immediate end to occupation of Iraq.

“We need to get into the streets and protest the governments,”

But is this proposal too optimistic? At least one member of the audience thought so.

Nathan Cheng attended the event because he holds opinions that oppose those of the Anti-War Committee. Cheng called the opinions of the speakers too “idealistic.”

It’s “a bit of wishful thinking,” he says.

Iraq contains 11 percent of the world’s

total oil reserves. According to Sundin, because of America’s need for oil, Iraq’s oil reserves are at the center of U.S. politics. Oil in Iraq is nationalized, meaning that it’s government owned. To this day, Iraq won’t give up control of their oil, and Sundin believes that the United States won’t evacuate troops until our government receives control over some of Iraq’s oil. “Iraqi’s have a great deal of national pride,” Sundin says.

Sundin reaffirmed Braun’s claims by stating that “the U.S. can’t win in Iraq.” Every day the war in Iraq is getting deeper and is becoming an even bigger problem. Occu-

pation will get harder and problems won’t end until we leave, Sundin says.

Not only did Sundin criticize the Republican Party for how they have handled conflict in the Middle East, she also condemned the Democratic Party by saying that they, too, aren’t hitting the mark.

Democrats say they want to pull some troops, but not all, Sundin says. Not one democrat has said we have no right to a military base in Iraq.

So what can those who oppose the war in Iraq do to influence the future of U.S. policy in the Middle East? Sundin also offered insight into how people can help make a change in U.S. foreign policy. Sundin asks us to pressure government leaders and ask them to take a different look at how the United States is dealing with the Middle East. “We need to get into the streets and protest the governments,” she says.

Students can obtain more information on anti-war efforts by contacting some of the event’s co-sponsors. They include the Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Iraq Peace Action Coalition, Middle East Peace Now, Middle Eastern Student Association, Women Against Military Madness and the Mideast Committee.

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Campus/

jeremy sengly

Love’s Cradle of Civilization: The Genesis of Modern-Day Passion

By Erik Helin Five hundred years ago, halfway across the world, the eternal flame of romantic love was fueled by poets and artists now forgotten by most. But professor Walter G. Andrews has devoted his career to letting these poets reshape his perceptions of this primal feeling.

On Friday, Nov. 3, I tore across campus on my bike in hopes of making it to the Social Sciences Building’s Ford Room before noon to attend the presentation “Love, Gender, Poetry and Politics during the Ottoman (and European) Renaissance.” I succeeded, but upon entering the David Bowie-esque labyrinth of the 14-story West Bank building, I didn’t find the room until it was too late.

By 12:03 the small conference room was filled to capacity with people from all walks of life. Versed Persian scholars, Turkish language-studying undergrads and Middle Eastern cultural aficionados, among others, were in attendance. Due to the lack of seating space, many of the late arrivals, myself included, settled on the rough carpet.

I entered the room at the tail end of professor Andrews’ introduction.

“I have to admit, I am nervous,” came forth from beneath his frosty-white moustache. Andrews is a kindly, scholarly-looking older man with balding gray hair and glasses. His lean frame is attired in a sophisticated gray suit coat over a black turtleneck. When he speaks, he is noticeably animated and passionate about his field of

16/15-21 November 2006

study. This passion is not unjust, however.

Andrews’ expertise is love.

A professor of Ottoman and Modern Turkish Literature at Washington University, Andrews has a collection of published works that just happened to be circulating the audience as he spoke. His most recent book, The Age of Beloveds, uses 16th Century Ottoman poetry and art to explore “cross-cultural parallels in the sexuality, sociology, and spirituality of love in Greater Europe extending from Istanbul to London,” according to Andrews’ personal Web site. “[Researching Ottoman poetry] brought me face-to-face with my own deficiencies with the idea of love,” Andrews says. The crux of the presentation was about the Ottoman’s concept of the beloved. Poets and artists alike during this age of spiritual rebirth harped on the idea that there were two types of these so-called beloveds: the beloved woman, who typically represents carnality, sex, lust and reproduction, and the beloved boy, symbolizing purity, longing and hopeless, chaste love.

By today’s standards, the Ottoman Empire seems like a hedonistic foreign planet. We are so far removed from their paradigm of cultural ideals that it is almost hard to relate to any aspect of their world. In fact, going into this presentation, my knowledge of this Empire was nearly limited to the belief that it was, “full of furniture for some reason,” as comedian Eddie Izzard would say. When Andrews first mentioned

the idea that these “cultural elites” of the Ottoman Empire romantically exalted young boys in their poetry and art I was surprised and confused.

It is no wonder that my initial reaction was skeptical aversion. Our society has rightfully vilified the romantic adoration of young boys; so much so that this vilification has extended to the general perversion of homosexuality.

“These [issues of adolescent male idolatry] didn’t have to do with sex. They had to do with companionship,” Andrews says in a voice that oddly resembles Dana Carvey’s impersonation of George Bush Sr. The cul-

By Ottoman standards we would probably be considered heartless. tural elites that created this poetry used these boys to represent a longing for a forbidden love non-existent in this world.

This longing trained the heart to love through adoration.

Midway through his presentation, Andrews began illustrating his message through Ottoman art. The paintings were unexpectedly tame in their depictions of the beloved boys. The love represented in these paintings was spiritual and full of life. Music, wine, food and dancing were all employed within the jubilant paintings to illustrate the companionship and intoxication associated with such a love.

“[The Ottomans] would see us as ‘cold people,’” Andrews says with a hint of disparagement. He then proceeded to offer an anecdote in which he described the affectionate relationships of same-sex friends in many parts of the Eastern world. He spoke of a culture less sexually repressed and obsessed with the subversion of social norms.

I could not help but share his covert contempt for the sexually oppressive members of our society. As I exited the room with my Perrier and plate of figs and apricots (fantastic finger foods and refreshments were provided) I couldn’t help but dwell on our modern perceptions of love; both hetero- and homosexual. How arrogant and barbaric it is to say who can love whom?

As I biked home my mind continued racing over the upcoming gay marriage vote in Wisconsin. On a global level, this legislation is a frightening exercise in frigidity on behalf of our fellow Americans. By Ottoman standards we would probably be considered heartless.

If nothing else can be taken from professor Andrews and the Ottoman poets it is this: without a passionate love, the spirit will be cursed to a state of perpetual longing, and to suppress this eternal love would be

inhumane.

\ Campus

Not Such a Wild Time Madison hosts a small, uneventful Halloween by sarah Howard Usually, when Halloween weekend rolls around, the U of M campus becomes a ghost town. Students flock in the thousands to our eastern neighbor for the second biggest party in the country (besides Mardi Gras, of course). Madison has always complained of the costs out-of-towners cause the city in damages and cleanup, so this year they charged admission to the famed State Street in Madison, and to that students said: Forget it.

According to a news release from the city, last year’s Halloween in Madison cost the city $600,000, mostly spent in public safety and clean-up.

dave hagen

In order to cover the costs of the party, Madison charged a $5 admission to State Street (the location of the all-night party flocked with drunk students and hundreds of cops) and only allowed 50,000 partygoers to be on the street. This means that almost half of the almost 80,000 who were there in 2005 would not be allowed into the party. But 32,000 tickets were sold and the city only made about $150,000, which is expected to cover one-third of estimated costs for the event.

The goal of these limits was not only to cover costs, but also to keep outsiders out.

The goal of these limits was not only to cover costs, but also to keep outsiders out.

Madison has not been quiet about its resentment of the fact that people from as far as Florida come to the college capital city to mess it up for a weekend and then leave. “This is a community event. It’s time we take it back,” Susan Schmitz, president of Downtown Madison Inc., told the Wisconsin State Journal.

For years, UW students have not been allowed to have visitors over the weekend in student housing, and this year was no different. “Keep in mind that nonresidents will not be allowed in University Hous-

ing residence halls Oct. 27-28,” Lori Berquam, interim dean of students at Madison, said in a statement released to campus students.

There were strong hopes to “rebrand” the event into a community festival, rather than seeing how many drunken students the police can arrest.

Most of the security measures were taken on the night of Saturday, October 28.

Many worried that this meant the students would come out in full force on Friday, October 27, but this wasn’t the case and Friday only saw 10,000 visitors.

According to Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, the city had three goals with this year’s celebration: to not have to use pepper spray on partiers to end the festivities, to reduce the amount of over-consumption of alcohol, and to recover part of the costs.

Cieslewicz says all of these goals were met.

There were a total of 117 arrests over the course of the weekend, which is less than half the approximately 447 arrests made in 2005 and these charges were mostly related to alcohol consumption, not violence.

Police were also not forced to wear riot gear as they have in the past few years, which was another goal of the city.

Because of this “re-branding,” many U of M students, who Madison says cause the most damage of anyone on State Street, chose to stay home and save the gas and admission money.

Instead of heading east, many U of M students opted to cruise University Avenue in their Halloween best. Also, “Freak Fest,” a Dinkytown pub crawl, kept students occupied over the weekend and was quite a success, showing that Dinkytown could pull off its own Halloween celebration.

Madison’s Halloween Action Committee is trying for free admission for UW students in 2007, but with this the city may make no money, as this could be the beginning of the end of Minnesotans heading to Wisconsin for a good time.

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Literary/

Writer’s block

Lonesome Traveller

By elizabeth shaller

By Nattie Olson

Catharsis feels good

East, West are just words

I bet you think that’s epic

Wind’s direction matters not

But truth is, I’m fucked

Lonesome traveller

The Voices in my Head Demand Satisfaction! jduellman@wakemag.org

HOW TO: Submitting is easy! Send your poems, short stories or suggestions to jduellman@wakemag.org Attach your work using Microsoft Word and also include your piece in the body of the e-mail. Any accompanying illustrations must be sent at 300 DPI.

Incinerate

Still have concerns? We are also available to meet in person to workshop your creative work. Just send an e-mail to set an appointment. We don’t bite... hard

By Justyn Rubenstein This gross thickening feeling

Coming out in clumps,

Everything I touch

Collecting in my stomach

They fall loosely to the floor.

Stain a dark hue of red

At my base,

I stand abaist

The heat,

I feel weighted down

Reflected in a frigid mirror,

It burns

She gives off a stifling musty air

Emotionless, cold

Melting the words that left my lips

My head feeling like my soul exposed

They took my breath with them

My short little breaths

Breaking points hang loosely in the air

A soft choking sound is all I am

I do not want this

And I’m just dangling

Gasp for just a little taste

Pain in my legs

Waiting for my thread to break

Of her bony hands to twist around my waist

Below my waist

It bends from my weight

Follow close inside her foot steps

Tingle in my wrist

A bruised discoloration of the skin

The control,

Disdain for my face

Fragile limbs,

A reflection I can’t touch

Hang from a vaporous body

The harrowed look

A girl I couldn’t name

Flickers from her eyes

She swarms around me,

The uncomfortable determination

With her bony little fingers

A cold, like I’ve never known

Wrapped around my hair

Shakes me hard and forces me

Pulling back with ease

To spill

The strands slip through her fingers,

A fluid melody

Suffocating

18/15-21 November 2006

Effortlessly

Diminishing

Incinerating any will to survive

\ Literary

The End is Nigh With the semester being in its ‘last throws’, I’d like to extend my deepest gratitude to all of the writers who have sub mitted their work this semester. To show our gratitude, we have schedu led an open-m ic night at the Starlight Café in Din kytown .

SAT URDAY NOVEM BER 18T H 7:00 PM-9:00 PM 407 14th Ave. SE

Literary Events Who: Don Empson

Who: John Caddy

What: The author discusses ‘The Street Where You Live.’

What: The poet reads from ‘Haiburn for Earth.’ With Denise duMarier.

When: Wed Nov 15, 7:00 pm

When: Thursday, Nov. 16th, 7:30 pm.

Where: Barnes & Noble (2080 Ford Pkwy, St. Paul) FREE.

Where: Open Book, FREE

What: The author discusses ‘Imperial Nature.’

When: Wednesday, Nov. 15th, 2 pm.

Where: U of M bookstore (Coffman), FREE

When: Monday, November 20th, 7 pm.

Where: Coffman Memorial Union, FREE

Who: Sharon Chmielarz; Mary Kay Rummel Who: David Mura; Alex Pate

Who: Michael Coldman

What: Forum explores sexual education in public schools.

What: The poets read from recent and older works.

When: Friday, Nov. 17th, 7:30 pm.

Where: Magers and Quinn Booksellers , FREE

What: The poets read from recent works with host Carol Connolly.

When: Tuesday, Nov. 21st, 7:30 pm.

Where: University Club (420 Summit Ave, St. Paul), FREE

Who: Both Sides of Sex?

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Athletics/

Hands Off My Gi The Wake takes on the judo club

By Elizabeth Aulwes

After an hour of judo practice, the mat room in the St. Paul rec center smells strongly of sweat. It’s no wonder. The U’s judo club has been hard at work practicing the Japanese sport. Eric Shellum, sensei and club coach, demonstrates a “seoinage,” a shoulder throw, in which Shellum flips his partner across his shoulder with a surprising amount of skill and ease.

“When I put this gi on ... I know who I am. There’s no question in my mind who I am or what I’m about.”

of your hand or foot, to the inch, can be pivotal. Balance and strength are derived from the placement of a limb so it can be impossible to complete a certain move if you are incorrectly positioned.

Usually in judo, you begin by gripping the underarm sleeve and the collar of the gi, the Japanese name for the robes worn in martial arts, just above the heart of your opponent and tug. Your opponent will be tugging back, and the couple winds up dancing for a brief moment before the attack.

In attendance are nine club members, whose belts signify skill level ranging from beginner (white) to advanced (black), each member watches carefully. After several demonstrations, the club breaks into couples and practices the move they’ve just watched. This practice continues until the sensei gathers the group together again to attempt some new moves, which could be a kick, a throw or a move where you sweep your opponent’s feet out from under them.

Shellum says that judo descends from jujitsu, a similar Japanese martial art that is more violent than judo. He says that some of the strikes and locking techniques of jujitsu can be dangerous so they were removed. Only joint locks on the elbow and a choke hold are acceptable submission techniques in judo. “The point was to take out all the hurtful things from jujitsu,” Shellum explains. “We’re not here to hurt anybody. Jujitsi is for hurting. Judo is for playing.” Even so, there are still 67 recognized throws used in the practice of judo.

Some of the students have much more difficulty practicing the moves than others because judo is a sport that’s all about control as Shellum explains. The location

Generally, judo is a competitive sport, but it can be played for other purposes as well.

“It’s good physical conditioning,” Shellum says. “You have to use your whole body so

it builds core strength,” he explains. “You learn to fall, which is something people don’t learn to do, so when you do fall, you won’t get hurt.”

Megan Segriff, who joined the club about a year ago, plays judo for another reason.

“It’s a really fun self-defense sport,” she says. “I love it.”

Shellum says, however, “it can be used as self-defense, but you have to be pretty proficient at it to make it work.” He thinks judo is better played in competition.

“In Minnesota, there’s probably a tournament every couple months,” he says. In fact, there’s one at St. Matthew’s School in St. Paul on Nov. 18.

Shellum says that newcomers to judo “can compete relatively soon, but it depends on the [student].” To really learn the skill, you have to practice at least twice a week if not more. To compete, play judo for four months, and Shellum says that he thinks you could enter a novice level tournament.

He said he thinks that people would enjoy it if they were more familiar with it. He said that he volunteers his time to teach judo to get more people to play.

judo. “When I put this gi on ... I know who I am. There’s no question in my mind who I am or what I’m about,” he says.

He couldn’t think of any drawbacks to the sport. Serious harm isn’t a common part of playing judo. “Injuries are, as in anything, accidents,” he says, “but we try to keep it under control.”

There’s one other thing judo fosters, though the sensei didn’t mention it. There’s a noticeably caring spirit in the mat room.

New students are welcomed immediately and students often check with their partners after a rough move to make sure that no one is hurt. At one point, club member Mike Tikh walked off the mat. The concern in the sensei’s voice was evident when he called after Tikh to ask “where are you going?” Tikh responded that he was just getting a drink of water. Relief appeared on Shellum’s face. He likes his students to let him know if they’re leaving the mat, he says, because he wants to know that you don’t “have a concussion or an eyeball in your hand that you’re going to take care of.”

Shellum also included a boost in self-confidence in the list of benefits of playing

Matt Holland

20/15-21 November 2006

\ Athletics

Sports: Now Available to Everyone The Wake learns how the U of M is adapting to a new kind of game

By Lyndsey Danberry

“Our mission is to encourage, facilitate and support the involvement of University of Minnesota students and staff with disabilities in active recreation, exercise and sport,” says John Lukanen, president of the adaptive sports club.

The University already offers a disabled student cultural center where students can go to socialize or study, providing learning opportunities for all students, ensuring an accessible environment and ultimately serving as a social area for disabled and non-disabled students. The new adaptive sports program takes that idea a step further and looks at a broad range of athletic activities. Lukanen’s mission is to bring an athletic presence to the University for disabled students.

It doesn’t matter what your disability is or if you even have one—it’s not set up for a specific group of people.

Lukanen has worked hard on its website, logo and recruitment since Sept. and he says he is looking for anyone who can help with planning, fundraising and managing.

“Anything anyone wants to do would be helpful,” Lukanen says. His goal is to start a wheelchair basketball team.

The U of M is not far behind in the idea of having an adaptive sports team but they aren’t the first. Universities that have adaptive sports teams are popping up all over the nation. Schools in Texas, Ariz. and Ill. even offer scholarships to students for sports like wheelchair basketball or tennis.

Wheelchair basketball began with the Veterans Administration more than 40 years

Dave Hagen

ago as a rehabilitation program. Today the game has grown extremely popular. There are leagues and more than 180 teams all over the nation.

The Adaptive Sports Association, started in 1983 by Dave Spencer, includes snowboarding, skiing and white water rafting. The ASA provides nationally certified instructors in all areas. According to their website, “Through sports and recreation, participants meet positive role models, increase socialization skills, improve body image and combat depression.”

For now, the adaptive sports club meets mainly to hang out. They have played a few sports as a group such as ultimate disc and go ball, which is basically baseball blindfolded. But if they do start a wheelchair basketball team, they would compete with Southwest Minnesota State and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, two of the closest Universities that already have teams.

one—it’s not set up for a specific group of people.

“We are bringing the entire University together,” he says.

For more information on volunteering or participating, you can go to: www.tc.umn. edu/~dscc/ or http://www.recsports.umn. edu/Programs/clubs/adaptive.htm

“The great thing about it is that anyone can play,” Lukanen says. It doesn’t matter what your disability is or if you even have

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WEBSITES OF THE ISSUE “Jesus -- With You Always” http://members.aol.com/JesusImages “September 11th Memorial Jenga” http://www.manse.cx/nine11_jenga “Turtle Rape Caught on Tape” http://www.noob.us/humor/turtlerape-caught-on-tape “Boohbahs Drug-induced Wonderland (ages 3 and up)” http://www.boohbah.com/zone.html

22/15-21 November 2006

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