The Wake, Issue 10, Spring 2012

MSPIFF

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Q & A: I Self Devine

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Pluto Killer/ and more 16 - 29 april 2012

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Editorial

Production

Editor-in-Chief Maggie Foucault

Production Manager Ryan Webert

Managing Editor Alex Lauer

Graphic Designers Steph Mertes, Sean Quinn, Ryan Webert, Taylor Wichrowski

Cities Editor Alyssa Bluhm

Voices Editor Alicia Johnson

Sound & Vision Editor Zach McCormick

This Issue Cover Artist Keit Osadchuck Photographers Sara Glesne, Keit Osadchuck

When I see this, the first thought that comes to my head is something along the lines of “FUCK YEAH!” This is because that number is more views than physical copies we print of each issue. The second thought, which comes after me shadow boxing to R. Kelly’s “The World’s Greatest,” is that people need to get the hell off of their computers and pick up a paper copy of this magazine.

Art Director Keit Osadchuk

Web Editor Eric James

Advertising Managers Cooper Henckel, Steve Sitek

Business Advisory Board James DeLong, Kevin Dunn, Courtney Lewis, Eric Price, Morgan Mae Schultz, Kay Steiger, Mark Wisser

Illustrators Jiun Kim, Rachel Mosey, Keit Osadchuk, Sean Quinn, Steve Sitek, Taylor Wichrowski

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

Sure, putting this publication online makes it incredibly convenient. People who don’t live near campus and wouldn’t otherwise have access to it can pull it up in a few clicks. People who are so environmentally conscience that they feel morally obligated to get all of their news online can still read us.

Even just internet-addicted students can pull it up as one of their 10 browser tabs, getting to an article here and there amidst .gif tumblrs and email.

The problem is that my eyes hurt. No, I’m not using this lettitor to cry about my failing sight. My eyes hurt because, just like many of you, I am on the computer for a majority of my waking life during school months. If I’m not posting to the blog for my poetry class or completing an assignment on Moodle, then I’m editing someone’s article for this magazine or dicking around on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr. Then when it’s 2 a.m. and I’m thinking about possibly going to sleep, I realize that my eyes fucking hurt.

But this isn’t just about my ocular health.

Reality check: there’s an amazing city surrounding this campus and most of us, myself included, spend an obscene amount of our free time online.

How about this? Instead of spending hours scanning blogs, emails, Twitter and Facebook feeds, celebrity news, and watching episodes of The Big Bang Theory—do one of these:

Contributing Writers Mitch Ambrose, Alyssa Bluhm, Sara Glesne, Elizabeth Ireland, Alicia Johnson, Theon Kyne Dy, Tyler Lauer, Elissa Mann, Zach McCormick, Justin Miller, Tara Mrachek, Juan P. Ramirez, Kelsey Schwartz, Steve Sitek, Logan Wroge

©2009 The Wake Student Magazine. All rights reserved.

At the time I’m writing this, the last issue of The Wake is almost at 2000 views online. (side note: you can read every issue of The Wake online at www.wakemag.org or wwww.issuu.com/wakemag)

-Take the light rail to the Mall of America and cause a ruckus.

-Bike up or down the Mississippi river. Don’t have a bike? Get a friend and go rent a tandem one.

11:10

-Go to a show. There are insane amounts of free/ridiculously cheap local shows (AND most of the music is actually good).

-Pick up a paper copy of The Wake at one of the many newsstands on campus, in Dinkytown, or on West Bank—and read it outside.

The Wake Student Magazine 1313 5th St. SE #331 Minneapolis, MN 55414

Alex Lauer

(612) 379-5952 • www.wakemag.org

Managing Editor

The Wake was founded by Chris Ruen and James DeLong.

The Wake is published with support from Campus Progress/Center for American Progress (online at www.campusprogress.org).

disclaimer The purpose of The Wake is to provide a forum in which students can voice their opinions. Opinions expressed in the magazine are not representative of the publication or university as a whole. To join the conversation email mfoucault@wakemag.org.

voices

Kim Jong-Who? A Need-to-Know Guide on the United States’ World Debacles Four Countries that Make the U.S. Nervous

By Justin Miller For those who’ve been living underneath the rock of peaceful bliss and yearn to be lured back to the ugly realities of our world, here is a little something to get you back in the loop on the affairs of the United States on planet Earth.

IR A N By far the most pressing foreign affairs issue that the U.S. is facing right now, Iran has our war-happy politicians and their strongest ally (Israel) beating the war drums in hopes of getting a shot at a third war in 10 years. Iran is working toward getting nuclear power that they say is for non-militaristic purposes. Whether or not this is true is not really the point. Israel is adamant that their biggest foe in the region not be allowed to reach this point. This is where the U.S. comes in. Though the Iranian government openly criticizes the U.S., there are no indications that they intend on using any type of force against the U.S. Israel is focusing on plans for a preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities and the U.S. is right behind them echoing these sentiments. We are acting as the instigator when we apply economic sanctions and fly surveillance drones through their airspace.

Just in case we haven’t made it clear in the past decade that we aren’t afraid to use military force, the Iran conversation is disturbingly slanted toward war as the only option. The two biggest nuclear powers in the world are hypocritically demanding that a sovereign nation cannot have the means to defend itself in a region full of nuclear armed countries. Afghanistan and Iraq have become unfashionable and the military wants a new place to try out all their fancy gadgets and weapons while the media is eager to fill up the 24-hour news cycle with sensationalistic propaganda.

NOR T H KORE A Long-time ruler Kim Jong-Il recently died and left the power of the regime in the hands of his son, Kim Jong-Un. After unfounded rumors of his assassination early on, he seems determined to follow in his father’s mysterious and volatile ways. He has the whole world on edge as he and the North Korean military are preparing to launch a missile, despite a U.N. ban on any missile activity in the country, which they claim is being used to send a satellite into orbit. This launch will alienate their neighbors and create dangerous unrest in the region. Neighboring countries South Korea and Japan say that they will shoot down any parts of the rocket that come through their territory. North Korea says they will call this an act of war, which could mean increased military taunting from the country. The demilitarized zone between North and South Korea could become a point of contention and this would be sure to bring the U.S. in to back up their key ally. The U.S. supplies never-ending military aid to South Korea and recently ran military drills with them right next to the DMZ. This too seems to be a dangerous move. Our military seems to be gearing up for conflict. Playing world-enforcer and provoker in this situation will not end up well for us.

Leave China and Japan to keep North Korea at bay and let’s stop messing with the manical crazies of North Korea, because they might finally flip out.

CHIN A The People’s Republic of China has been on our radar for decades solely based on their Communist status. We aren’t all that worried about their human rights violations, political ideologies, or even their military. While China does spend $160 billion on their military, that’s small potatoes compared to the U.S. military budget of $700 billion. What we fear is their economy. As our economy is heavily dependent on their manufacturing capabilities, they too are dependent on our consistent patronage of their factories. Some are calling for an end to this teeter-totter between two enemies coexisting for money’s sake. Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney is dead-set on declaring economic war with China. Accusing them of foul play and taking action through sanctions is not what our government should be focused on. Going after Beijing’s wallet will not end up well for us. It will start a dangerous trade war that will devastate our delicate economy and in all reality an economic war will hurt us more than them.

China is right behind us as the heir to economic superpower of the world, eagerly waiting for a chance to leapfrog us. Forget monetary policy, what we should be more aware of are the human rights atrocities going on in the factories, against the Tibetan people, and against political dissidents. Speaking up for their people will give more strength to their masses and undermine the power of their government. If China’s tyranny is to fall, it must be broke from the inside rather than through the outer shell of economics.

RUS SI A Not since the Cold War has the U.S. been paying so much attention to Russia. Vladimir Putin has been in control since 1999 despite constitutional limitations. His recent election back to the position of president has been widely disputed throughout Russia and the world. Huge protests swept across the country, demanding an end to his reign and condemning alleged practices of widespread election fraud. Still, he remains in power and rules with an iron fist. He has cracked down on journalists and rebels that question the legitimacy of his power. What worries the U.S. is Russia’s influence on their allies and the power that they could potentially exercise in the Middle East. They are a key ally to Syria and have disrupted UN attempts at a peace process in the civil-war torn country. Russia holds the diplomatic power in the region and they realize this. They have become a voice of opposition when the rest of the world tries to act against unpopular countries like Syria, Iran, and North Korea. As the former Red Power is slipping back into tyrannical rule, they have become yet again one of the most powerful countries in the Eastern Hemisphere. The U.S. should be eager to regain peaceful diplomatic relations with Russia. If they fall back into being bitter enemies, there will be many countries that are quick to side with Russia. Maintaining the peace with Russia would help keep the fragile sense of stability in the Middle East present and, ya know, it never hurts to have more friends than foes.

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voices

Horrors of Poaching What the hell China?

By Kelsey Schwartz

Poaching is a gruesome act, and I am not talking about eggs.

I’m talking about the illegal hunting of endangered animals.

Poaching is as bad as killing human beings. These animals are already struggling to survive within their environment without having to flee from heavily armed predators (yeah, that’s us). It’s our fault that their habitats are shrinking, and yet we lash out at them, all the while making unproven excuses such as “their parts cure diseases” and “they’re too dangerous” in a half-assed attempt to justify this inhumanity.

In recent years there have been three main species that are highly targeted for either their horns, tusks, or pelts. The first species that poachers go after are tigers. There are only five tiger subspecies left in the world today and according to National Geographic, in the last 100 years the population of these tigers have dropped from hundreds of thousands to a mere 2,500. The dramatic decrease of the tiger population is partly due to forest destruction, but mostly due to illegal hunting. They are usually hunted for their pelts and other parts that are used in Asia as “cures” to various ailments, such as their bones, eyes, whiskers, penises, and teeth. The way they get these animals is vile; they use inhuman traps such as snares, steel-jaw traps, electrocution traps, and poison. Some of these kill the tigers instantly, while others only grab onto one of their paws, holding onto them for days without food or water until they are picked up by the poachers or forest inspectors. Occasionally the ensnared paw of a tiger has to be amputated due to infection or severe damage done to the paw. Without a leg or a paw they are unable to release these tigers back out into the wild and are forced to give them to zoos, where they will live in a cage for the rest of their lives.

The second type of animal that poachers go after are elephants. This is well known because poachers have been going after their ivory tusks for millenniums. The Chinese in particular have been after ivory for sculptures as well as a means of curing ailments. Recently some graphic images have come to the surface of the desecration of elephants in the National Park in northeastern Cameroon, a poor country in central Africa. Within the pictures there are roughly 450 dead elephant carcasses. This massacre started in early January, and has killed over half of the savanna elephants in the park. The park held roughly 95 percent of all the savanna elephants in Africa, which means 47.5 percent of all savanna elephants in Africa have been killed since January. How many more endangered elephants need to die before the world realizes their mistake?

Most of these poachers kill the elephants just to gain the tusks and then simply leave the bodies for the scavengers. This is like killing a human being in broad daylight for their wallet then letting the birds eat the body, not a pretty picture either way.

The final animal that has been recently targeted by poachers is the rhino. Like elephants, rhinos are sought after for their

STEVE SITEK

horns. The large horn on their nose is thought to cure ailments, and the major demander of these horns, like the elephants tusk and tiger body parts, is China. With rhinos, poaching is a little different; a rhino’s horn grows all through its life, with an average of about 1-3 inches each year. Their horn is made of the same chemical substance that human’s fingernails and hair are made of, Keratin. These animal are fairly docile, but are known to have small periods of aggression, therefore leading people to perceive them as wild predators. Most of these poachers and hunters will tranquilize or ensnare the rhino and cut off the horn, then release it back into the wild. This is fine to most animal protectionists except for the fact that many of these poachers are inexperienced and usually cut too far down the horn, cutting several arteries, which cause the animals to then eventually bleed to death. If this was a human it would be like scalping someone just for their hair, then leaving them to hemorrhage to death. To stop poachers from taking the horns and potentially killing the rhinos, animal protectionists cut off the horns of the rhinos themselves. This protects the rhinos, but

also hinders them in that they have no way of protecting themselves from other predators or fighting for dominance.

All three of these animals are beautiful and deserve a right to live, and the main reason for the poaching is Chinese Medicine. Sure, your economy is great right now, but what makes you think that these remedies work? I mean, you know they don’t work, right? Seriously, what illness are you going to cure with a tiger penis, I mean unless you’re just trying to be like Charlie Sheen, but with a disgusting twist. These animals may be large and fierce, but they are virtually defenseless against us. They have struggled through the destruction of their habitats and few have lived. All they are trying to do is survive just like the rest of us and I would hate to continually see them die in vain for mythical remedies that don’t work on illnesses you could cure with a trip to your local drug store.

I hope that after I die and my children have children that they’ll be able to see these animals not just alive but thriving, and not have to read about them in a history book.

www.wakemag.org

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voices

People Should Read Good Books Forget the haters and read kids’ books if you want to, because great literature isn’t limited to adult novels.

by Elizabeth Ireland

Reading is awesome, and the pleasure of finding a great book is one of life’s little-known joys. From years of consuming pretty much any literature that made its way into my hands, I’ve learned that the old adage is true: you can’t judge a book by its cover. I’m never surprised when old, torn paperbacks fished from giveaway piles manage to take my breath away.

I was surprised, however, when I experienced the misfortune of reading something truly awful: a column in The New York Times entitled “Adults Should Read Adult Books,” by Joel Stein.

In it, Stein says exactly what the title suggests: that adults should exclusively read novels marketed toward adults, and never young adult or children’s novels. To do so, Stein writes,

The not-sosunny-side of warm weather

Consequences of early summer

By Alicia Johnson

Where did winter go? Actually, I am not sure winter was ever here. Minnesota is notorious for its cold weather and snowy conditions, but this past winter every Minnesotan was surprised when we were barely affected with blizzards and storms. Now it is April and it darn near feels like summer.

Everyone is enjoying the abnormally warm weather without understanding the consequences it may lead to.

I absolutely hate the cold. I wonder every day in winter why I live in Minnesota instead of Texas or Hawaii, so I am not complaining about the heat. I realized though that if we do not have a butt-ton of rain this spring, then I am going to be one unhappy camper because my favorite summer activity may be banned.

That’s right, bonfires may be a no-go come summer vacation. As of March 27 several areas of Minnesota are now requiring burn permits because the land is so dry it is a fire hazard. I know I am not alone when it comes to lovin’ bonfires. The smell of a campfire, roasting marshmallows and hot dogs, friends all gathered around telling stories, laughing, and listening to music are all reasons why bonfires would truly be missed.

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jiun Kim

is disgraceful: “The only thing more embarrassing than catching a guy on the plane looking at pornography on his computer is seeing a guy on the plane reading “The Hunger Games.”

In my opinion, the only thing more embarrassing than making an ass of yourself, is making a pretentious ass of yourself. Why the snobbery? I’ve read my share of terrible books marketed for adults and I’ve also read a huge number of truly great books marketed for children. It is stupid and unnecessarily ostentatious to suggest that although children’s books may be enjoyable and meaningful for adults, they should be skipped over purely on principle of age categorization. Good books are good books, and you can find them in any genre and any age group. To claim otherwise is to exhibit extreme ignorance.

Also because of the lack of snow this winter, water levels are way down in many rivers, streams, and lakes. This is a problem for the summer as well because I am sure many people like to fish, swim, tube, water-ski, etc, and if the rivers and lakes are not flowing normally and there are low levels of water then people are going to be out of luck. For you fisherman out there beware, low water levels means fish have to live in shallower water which reduces the number of fish. Even just the water getting warmer is a threat to fish species such as trout and salmon. You don’t like to fish? Well if you enjoy eating it, many restaurants are going to have fewer opportunities to get fish this summer.

I first read the Hunger Games when I was seventeen years old. Surprise! I fit the marketed demographic of the book exactly. But the book was actually recommended to me by a coworker at Barnes and Noble: a forty-something year old woman named Anne, who couldn’t stop raving about it. Anne was joined in her enthusiasm by several other well-read booksellers whom I would easily categorize as book snobs. I seriously doubt that they would ever be embarrassed to be “caught” reading the series, but Stein should be embarrassed to impose limits on something as inherently liberating as reading.

To be fair, Stein left himself a window of opportunity: “I’ll read “The Hunger Games” when I finish the previous 3,000 years of fiction written for adults,” he wrote. I’m sure he’ll enjoy his time working through three millennia’s worth of crap fiction, but I see no reason to deprive myself of works like “The Book Thief” and “The Catcher in the Rye” just because they are marketed a certain way.

There’s no room for ageism in the world of books. I equally enjoy Dillard and Wilde alongside Konigsburg and Rowling.

If a person wants to read something, that desire should be encouraged – no matter how offensive, frivolous, or childish others may find the material to be. Stein can read whatever he wants; you should, too.

When we think of global warming we tend to think along the lines of the world ending, Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth, polar bears losing homes, and all the other extremes. What we don’t realize is that it affects us all on a smaller, more local level. A few extra days of sunshine is not worth the added consequences that warm weather will bring.

When we think of global warming we tend to think along the lines of the world ending...polar bears losing homes, and all the other extremes.

Maple syrup is also affected by the warmer weather. Sap occurs when the temperature changes from freezing to thawing. Since there have not been many changes in temperature, sap has not been able to produce, and once tree blossoms come in then it is too late for the sap to produce and then we have to say goodbye to maple syrup and pancakes.

Not to mention warm weather also means bugs. The only positive about winter is the fact that there are no ticks, bees, mosquitos, and all the other annoying little insects. Deer ticks are back Minnesota, and they mean business. Those little bugs will attach to you and your pets and could potentially carry diseases. I would not mind a few more colder days as long as that meant those sick bugs had to stay away.

jiun Kim

cities

Looking for an internship for the summer?

ing/applying for internships. This Colombian’s experience throughout his four years in college prompted him to leave this advice: “International students need to be more proactive and have a very strong resume compared to Americans to be taken into consideration.”

We have to remember that student athletes are also an important part of the University of Minnesota and many of them also have the desire to intern before having their first fulltime job. If you don’t know any athletes, you may also think they receive some extra help and face a different process when applying for internships. I talked with Michael Sicora, a senior from Buffalo, Minnesota. During his entire four years of college he has played for the Gopher’s tennis team. He is also in the Carlson School of Management about to complete his last semester in Finance. His last internship was at Polaris Industries in their Dealer Services division in a Marketing and Leadership program. From his experience he said, “it was definitely worth it. I learned a lot about working with other people, along with managing expectations from my boss.”

U of M students share their experiences and advice with these career gateways

By Juan P. Ramirez

When people think about internships they might think of them as a small experience of what “real life” is. Some others may think it is the perfect moment to see if what they have learned through their college career is worth it, or if they just took a bunch of classes that had no value. I also know people that may think that internships are just a way of earning money while they are in college and after that they will find the job of “their dreams.” No matter what people think about internships, at some point most college students at least consider them.

In this article I just want to focus on University of Minnesota students, but not only American students. This school is known for having a diverse student body. People from all over the world apply every year to the University of Minnsota, looking for a chance to not only earn their college degree but also try to land an internship in the United States, and then work full-time in America.

I talked with three different types of people that attend the U of M: a senior with a few internships under her belt, a justgraduated international student, and a student athlete.

There is definitely more help from some schools than others.

The fist, Jennifer Marmer, is a senior at the U of M. She is in the journalism school, and also majoring in Communication Studies. She had a few internships throughout her college career and currently she is working for a social media marketing firm. Jennifer experienced a lot of positive things through her internships. She thinks “having an internship is a valuable experience to understand the potential of the industry you would like to eventually go into.” Despite the fact that there are plenty of opportunities on campus, Marmer thinks “it can be really difficult to get one.” However, in her opinion having a great resume and cover letter are the basic things a student needs to start when looking for an internship.

“Once you have the basics it’s pretty easy to fill out applications and get your foot in the door with companies you’re interested in,” Marmer said. With that in mind, Jennifer also remarked, “There is definitely more help from some schools than others. It seems as if internships are expected of all students, but the students aren’t always helped out to find those internships.”

I asked him about the process that students at the University of Minnesota have to go through to get an internship: “Many colleges and universities have their own online portals for businesses and students to connect, like The Edge for Carlson and GoldPass for other U of M students. So the best way a student to locate work is through those portals. It is also a lot about networking and connections and just putting yourself out there and looking for opportunities.”

Sean Quinn

The second student I had the opportunity to interview was Sebastian Gallego. Born in Medellin, Colombia, Sebastian attended the U for four years and graduated this past fall. Being a Finance major at the prestigious Carlson School of Management apparently was not enough to get an internship in the United States during those four years.

To begin with, Sebastian’s experience led him to believe that it is harder for international students than for American students to get internships for two reasons. Number one: “There are many companies that refuse to hire internationals. It is simply against the policies of the enterprise.” In other words, it seems like companies don’t want to hire international students. The second reason why Sebastian thinks is harder for international students to get internships is that “the vast majority of internationals require a sponsorship for their working visa. As a result, companies may prefer to hire Americans for which they do not need to spend any additional money.” If that’s the case, what is the point of having international students come to study in the U.S if they cannot intern and put into practice what they learn in college?

I was very curious if those international students had to go through a different process than American students to receive an internship. According to Gallego, the process is almost the same as American students. The students need to apply to the jobs and go through the interview process as any other person. However, “once the student is selected for the job, he/she needs to apply for the social security number and do other due diligence required.” I was very surprise when Sebastian told me that there was a disadvantage for international students over American students when look-

Sicora believes that student athletes have an advantage over the other students at the university, not because they are made famous by representing the school, but because “being a student athlete shows to companies right away that we are competitive and driven, along with having the ability to stick with something for as long as we have.” In other words, practicing a sport at a D1 college level provides some extra responsibilities that probably regular students do not experience during those years in college. Time management is very important for companies and Sicora believes that being a student athlete “really shows commitment and time management skills that many other students would not have.”

People might think that athletes who play more acknowledged sports like football or basketball might have certain favoritism or privilege when looking for an intership, but as a student athlete Sicora believes this could be either an advantage or a disadvantage. “There definitely is more publicity with those sports and people are more likely to know the athlete. However, some sports have a stigma around them of not necessarily being academically minded. So it would be harder for them to prove themselves.”

No matter what people think about internships, at some point most college students at least consider them.

Now you know that nobody receives special treatment and that actually some students have to work a little bit extra to get an internship. If you don’t have one, stop being lazy, get out of your bed, and take some of the advice from these students. Remember there are some people willing to help you; it’s just a matter of you looking for them because now you know they are not going to come to you.

www.wakemag.org

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cities

Why should Kevin Love be the MVP? There are innumerable reasons why, but here’s mine

By Theon Kyne Dy Kevin Love has proven more dominant against 3 of the other best power forwards in the NBA today.

Case I: Love has defeated Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavs 2 out of 3 times this season and has had huge numbers like, 25 points and 17 rebounds (Won), 31 points and 11 rebounds (Won), 32 points and 12 rebounds (Lost).

Case II: Love has defeated Aldridge and the Blazers in their first meeting in the season so far by tallying a season-high 42 points and 10 rebounds. In their second meeting however the Wolves lost their to the Blazers but Love still outworked Aldrige with 29 points and 9 rebounds.

Case III: Love has defeated Griffin and the Clippers in all 3 of their meetings in the season so far with numbers like: 17 points and 14 rebounds, which included a stunning game winning three from Love, 39 points and 17 rebounds, and lastly a rare unimpressive performance from Love with 10 points and 7 rebounds (but still got a win though).

Love has averaged 28 points and 14 rebounds against Griffin, Aldridge, and Nowitzki which are better than his season averages in those categories. What makes Love better than Aldridge and Griffin is that Love can shoot the ball very well from beyond the 3-point line. What also makes Love better than Dirk is that Love is a beast inside, whether it’s tip-ins, lay-ups, dunking, or most of all rebounding. Love conquers the pack. A statistic that seals my promotion for Love as this year’s MVP comes from Elias Sports Bureau: “Love is the only player in NBA history to have recorded 35+ points, 10+ rebounds, and 5+ three pointers in 2 consecutive games.” And those two games were back-to-back road games where Love played the Clippers (Griffin) followed by the Blazers (Aldridge).

‘Nuf said. K-Love for MVP!

Theon is also the Timberwolves Editor for Fansided.com at dunkingwithwolves.com. He also has his own NBA blog at theonba.wordpress.com. CHECK IT OUT!

Heating up for Summer 2012: River’s Edge Music Festival The Twin Cities hot new festival could be really awesome… or really awful

By Elissa Mann

After much anticipation, the lineup for River’s Edge Music Festival was announced last week. Unlike many Twin Cities’ events, which serve to promote the city of Minneapolis, this musical extravaganza is set to take place in St. Paul at Harriet Island on the 23-24 of June.

to the river, the views are bound to be scenic, but the acoustics may be lacking. Some say that the reason we don’t get big bands in the summer is because we have no good spot to host them. (Maybe one day, the city will see a need for an outdoor music venue instead of yet another stadium…)

Unlike many Twin Cities’ events, which serve to promote the city of Minneapolis, this musical extravaganza is set to take place in St. Paul at Harriet Island on the 23-24 of June.

Another problem that fans have been quick to point out is the 10 pm noise curfew that will be strictly enforced on both evenings. As one guy commented, “While we like to dream and think this metro area has a cosmopolitan and coolness vibe comparable to the likes of NYC, LA, Chicago...the actual reality is we are a big brother to the likes of Des Moines, Omaha, and Oklahoma City.” This is a little unfair though, because the city of Chicago where Lolla takes place also has a 10 pm curfew, which bands like Green Day in 2010 have been known to blow through in the past. We will have to see how well the curfew holds up in June!

Three very exciting bands, Dave Matthews Band, Tool, and The Flaming Lips are headlining the festival, much to the surprise (and delight) of many. “Very odd lineup,” said one fan, “but it works for me!” The styles of these bands couldn’t be more different, and their fan bases are extremely diverse as well. Dave Matthews is chill/jazzy rock, while Tool is more of an alternative art/metal rock band, and The Flaming Lips are best described as psychedelic/space rock. There have already been numerous disgruntled remarks from the DMB haters; it will be interesting to have the Tool fans standing shoulder to shoulder with the diehard DMB crowd. Other than these headliners, there are other great bands that will be making an appearance such as Puscifer, (a side project of Tool’s Maynard James Keenan), Brand New, and Coheed and Cambria.

Twin Cities–based bands Motion City Soundtrack and Polica will be playing as well.

There are a lot of mixed feelings around about the first ever River’s Edge Music Festival: some are excited about such a big music event in the Twin Cities, while others doubt it will be a success.

Many fans are pumped about the surprisingly low cost of tickets. At $99, the price of this two-day event is much cheaper then other music festivals such as the $230 price tag on Lollapalooza or $285 for Coachella (although those venues also have a lot more bands with bigger names). As one fan said, “Tool and DMB for $99? (plus an amazing rest of the line up) Can’t beat that!”

One interesting point that the festival has raised is the lack of a good outdoor amphitheater in the Twin Cities. Being next

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There are a lot of mixed feelings around about the first ever River’s Edge Music Festival: some are excited about such a big music event in the Twin Cities, while others doubt it will be a success. It is only the first year though; let’s hope that it won’t be the last!

cities

In Favor of E-books Don’t pull the plug just yet

By Sara Glesne Imagine a world where books are no longer printed, where information floods down through screens rather than pages.

Ray Bradbury’s sci-fi classic Fahrenheit 451 constructed an image of such a society. Although often considered a commentary on censorship, Fahrenheit 451 primarily addresses concern that rising digital media could eventually overtake and destroy books and their literary merit. However, Bradbury’s sci-fi classic misses an element key to our modern understanding of the relationship between books and technology. In Fahrenheit 451, the television screen becomes dominant in numbing and misinforming the general masses.

The computer screen, in comparison, is absent in the construction of this dystopian world.

We live in the future, but we do not live in Bradbury’s future.

His book, published originally in 1953 coincided with major developments in computing. The television, at this point, had existed as at least an idea since the 1920s. Bradbury’s concerns with digital media outdating and outpacing paper books stemmed from a world without an alternative. That alternative does exist today, and it’s the eBook we students are purchasing to supplement or form the base for our college classes.

The dynamic, malleable nature of the eBook poses interesting possibilities to the academic world. Several years ago, I took an introductory logic course to complete my general math credit here at the university. Our text: a 320-page-long computer document written by our very own professor, Michael Kac of the U’s philosophy department. According to Kac, the unconventional format of our text allowed him to more easily pursue his preferred approach to the subject, while also making later edits and revisions simple. While some students had trouble accessing the book, Kac said generally “it’s easily obtained by those who need it, free of charge.”

For some students, printing the document was preferable to on-screen reading (Unfortunately most traditional eBooks do not have an alternate printing option, but I digress…). Some simple arithmetic leads to one pretty inexpensive class text: 320 pages printed at Wilson or Walter Library for 12 cents per page will leave a student down $38.40, compare this with Coffman Union’s going rate of 10 cents and we’re down to $32. Even by college bookstore standards, science and math textbooks are generally grossly overpriced. McGraw’s Logic Book, which is used in another section of the same logic course I took, as found in Coffman Union’s Bookstore runs at a hefty $127.75 brand new and $95.75 used. Alternately, the

digitized version of this standard text was $73.50. That’s no $32, but it’s certainly a difference.

The question is worth asking though, if saving a few pennies is worth the possible eyestrain produced by too much screentime? With some eBooks produced in formats that limit printing or easy access via the Kindle of Nook digital book readers, concern exists about the eyestrain inflicted by staring at LCD screens. For now, the research is hazy and overall inconclusive. In a New York Times article published in February of 2010, Professor Alan Hedge of Cornell University’s Human Factors and Ergonomics Laboratory proposed taking pauses from screen or other reading time as a method to fend off eye fatigue. He argued that breaks are more relevant to eye health than concern for the type of screen being viewed: this includes sweet, old-fashioned paper.

The current pace of book digitalization is not a visceral threat to paper books for leisure and, often still, studies. We live in a media-scape ripe with digital consumption, particularly through our computer screens. We as students should embrace the advances offered by new formats, as in the case of the eBook. Digital books offer access to cheaper, more easily updatable texts than we could otherwise access.

E-books are Lame

E-books lack the things that make reading so satisfying.

Taylor Wichrowski

By Elizabeth Ireland You know that scene in Beauty and the Beast when Belle sees the library for the first time? The magnificent one with walls upon walls of books? That scene is seriously like porn for readers. The process of selecting a book from a shelf – be it from a friend’s bookcase, a public library, or a commercial bookstore – is a beautifully calming experience. But these days, more and more people are turning away from physical bookshelves and moving toward the promised land of e-books.

We’ve all heard the spiel: save money, save trees, and save space with e-books! Read them on your Kindle or read them on your computer. Convenience at its best! But I’m not convinced. Holding a book in your hands, flipping through the pages, feeling the texture of the paper, even smelling it: how could that possibly be replaced by something as digital and impersonal as an e-book?

Unfortunately, I’ve used e-books before, and I can say firsthand that they will never come close to the real thing. Last

fall, one of my classes’ required texts was an entirely online ebook. It was essentially just a website broken up into chapters.

There was no way to track linear progression through the text other than chapter by chapter. Since I had to be online to read it, I was constantly distracted by more interesting things like Youtube and Facebook, and concentrating on my laptop screen was harder on my eyes than typical computer use. The whole thing was unpleasant, and at the end of the semester I had nothing to sell back and nothing to hold on to either.

I’ve also spent a fair amount of time with Nooks and Kindles, which offer a very different experience. E-ink screens, numbered pages, blah blah blah – I don’t see the necessity or the appeal of an e-reader or e-books, because their selling points are just glamorized versions of what books already provide.

So, they’re portable. Well, great! Books are too. So, they save trees. But they also add to the already incredible amount of electronic waste that is piling up on the planet, not to men-

tion they run on electricity. Books don’t require a power source and are at least biodegradable.

The biggest problem I have with e-books is that they lack the things that make reading so pleasurable. I don’t want to curl up with a good laptop, and perusing a digital list of books seems so sterile next to physically selecting one. Why would I buy a digital collection of words when books are so beautiful, tangible, and shareable? I don’t ever want to say to a friend, “Hey, I have this really good book you should read.

I’ll email it to you.” Ugh. I know quite a few people with e-readers. However, despite owning the hardware for the electronic versions, they still buy physical books sometimes. I think that’s very telling. Ebooks and e-readers do provide some convenience, but they can’t replace the real thing. Anyone who loves reading also loves books, and e-books just aren’t the same.

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H t s b e

feature

The Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival A talk with Tom DeBiaso and a look at everything you don’t want to miss this year

By Tara Mrachek

Keit Osadchuk

This year marks The Film Society of Minneapolis St. Paul’s 50th year in operation. The beloved Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival will serve as a grand celebration for all things film, holding the title of the best-attended film event in the Upper Midwest. The festival started on Thursday, April 12 and runs until Thursday, May 3 at the lovely St. Anthony Main Theater on the waterfront just off campus.

I had the privilege to sit down with the curator of this year’s Minnesota-MADE Showcase, Tom DeBiaso. Tom is a Professor of Media Arts at MCAD as well as the director of the graduate program. He talked first of the Film Society’s roots tracing back to the U of M where it was first called the University Film Society and headed by Al Milgrom. A few location and name changes later, in its 31st year running, the MSP International Film Festival holds host to over 100 filmmakers and stars, with around 300 narrative, documentary, and short films to be shown.

Something to be celebrated is the way the festival brings film lovers together. It works to open up a brilliant sense of community and camaraderie. Tom finds himself leaving the theater with the ability to turn towards a fellow audience member for views, insight, and recommendations of other films to catch. The festival also offers its goers the incredible resource of speaking with the filmmakers themselves. There will be formal panels with filmmakers such as Steven Ascher and Jeanne Jordan for the documentary Raising Renee. This piece follows visual artist Beverly Mclver on her journey of keeping the promise to raise her mentally disabled sister during a critical time in her career. Other attending filmmakers including those from the film Hope, which will be making its world premier here in Minneapolis. Directed by Joe Dressel, last year’s winner of the best MN feature, this film was described by Tom as “Taxi Driver turned-dark comedy.”

The Headliners

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The opening night film was The Intouchables, a surprise hit at the French box office, obtaining the title of the second most

successful French film of all time. The Minneapolis showing proved to be a successful one as well, with the show selling out before the night began. The closing night film will be Where Do We Go Now? directed by the Lebanese-Canadian director-actor Nadine Labaki. It’s a touching tale about a group of women living in the Middle East striving to protect their war-torn community. Labaki’s film has won multiple awards at many international festivals. It received the Audience Award at the 2011 Toronto Film Festival, as well as rave reviews at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. Tom explains it as a “context of love, comedy, and charm placed against this backdrop of dreadful violence.”

The After Party After parties will also serve for more opportunities to bask in the film-loving commune. There will be several of these following certain showings wherein filmmakers, stars, and viewers will convene together to enjoy live entertainment and drinks. All admittance is free apart from the opening and closing parties. One of the most anticipated of these includes a special after-show performance by musician Dave King. The film, King for Two Days documents King’s two-day performance at the Walker Art Center. After the screening, King will perform at the Aster Café next door with his new band, Dave King Trucking Company. Another anticipated music-themed after party includes the celebration of the Andrew Bird partconcert, part-documentary film: Andrew Bird: Fever Year.

This too will take place at the Aster Café with performances from Ghostband, Jake Hanson, and Neil Weir.

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MINNESOTA-Made

Not Afraid To Cry

Tom’s project, The Minnesota-Made Showcase, is comprised of a mixture of both Minnesota filmmakers and films shot in Minnesota. The showcase started off with a broad call of 200 submissions (Tom watched all 200 films twice within a month!). These films are described by Tom to pursue the showcase’s title in the unique way of being “made.”

Tom’s passion soon lead us into talk of how several of this year’s films left him in an emotional, sobbing state. One of those films was made by two of this year’s attending filmmakers, Mong Vang and Bryan Vue. Their film, Journey to the Fallen Skies, tells the story of a terminally ill man who journeys to Laos looking to pay homage to his late father whom he never knew. Vue and Vang will be a part of the “Conversations with Minnesota Feature Directors” panel on April 29. Another that hit Tom hard is a nine-minute short by Maya Washington.

White Space follows a debuting deaf poet in his first open-mic performance. Washington is an actress who has worked both at the Guthrie and Penumbra Theater in St. Paul. The film takes place in Los Angeles, but Maya’s strong ties to Minnesota makes her work especially cherished.

“They are handcrafted, one-of-a-kind, very passionately and personally driven visions that these filmmakers are proud to showcase.”

Categories range from documentaries, narratives, features, to music videos and animations. A grand total of 51 films made the cut with Tom praising them to be “a great reflection of the range of work and the depth of talent in this area.” His favorite aspect of this showcase is its ability to “shine a spotlight on the quality of work coming out of the state.” Tom recognizes the outlook on film making, with now having many online outlets such as Youtube, to still hold a sense of mystery and glamour (he chuckles and mentions how it’s not so glamorous). He points out how these filmmakers are truly a part of this unique culture of film and how it is easy to see that reflected in their works.

A Unique Film Experience How does the MSP International Film Festival compare to other popular international festivals like TIFF, Cannes, and Sundance? MSPIFF is not a “market festival,” meaning films are not bought and sold. Another special aspect is that none of the films have been previously shown in the area (with the

exception of the section called “Broadcast Cinema”). MSPIFF also holds reign over several competition categories. Some unique ones are the Audience Choice Awards, that transcend a few film categories, and the Emerging Filmmaker Award, where support and recognition are given to rising filmmakers. A huge draw comes from its reputation for being creatively strong and critically applauded, but this festival is also much longer than its counterparts. Running for an entire three weeks means even the busiest person can find time to catch one of incredibly diverse array of films.

TICKET INFORMATION: Single ticket passes are $11 for general audience, $10 for students/seniors, and $6 for children under 12. “Six-packs” are recommended to fulfill your viewing needs, wherein you can purchase a pack for $58 general or $52 students/seniors and use them for any combination of films, not including the closing night film.

For more information about the films, after parties, and more, visit: WWW.MSPFILMFEST.ORG

We sent our writer Emily Trenholm to the opening night screening of The Intouchables where she found the Minneapolis film scene to be alive and thriving. Check out her recap as well as her “best bets” for the festival online at www.wakemag.org Keit Osadchuk

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cities

PHOTO POLL

By Sara Glesne

The Question: If you could be anyone or anything for 24-hours, who or what would you be? Why?

Wei is a junior in Economics. Her wish was pretty simple: “I’d be a photographer. I’d love to take something that would be seen as very professional and be remembered for that.” She’d want to capture current events as a photojournalist.

Hassan is not a student at the U, but rather a research assistant in the physics department. He hails from London, England and his response reflected how he misses home. Hassan, if he could, would choose to be Stuart Broad, a cricketer for England. “I play on occasion, but not enough,” said Hassan of his own cricket game. “Any England cricketer would do really.”

Rosalyn is a former student who will return this fall to study Organic Horticulture and Local Food. If she could be anyone, it would be a traveling gypsy simply because there “would be no worries, and nothing to tie you down.”

Case is an Agricultural Education Leader and Development student at the U and keeping within the world of agriculture, he’d elect to be a dairy cow. “I’ve always wondered what it would feel like to be milked,” he said. “To have udders, I don’t get that.”

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I saw Barkash hurrying to class at the Carlson school. He’s currently finishing up his last semester as an Accounting major. When asked who or what he’d like to be, his response was pretty far off from a professional accountant. “I’d be an athlete, probably a basketball player. I have a lot of passion for the sport and played it ever since I was a kid. I had a dream of being a basketball player, so that’d be a way to live my dream.”

Foluso is a junior studying English at the U. If she could be anyone, she’d be a super heroine, but not just any: Storm of X-Men because “she is the best female superhero. She can fly and control the weather. Her powers she has, they’re really beautiful.” She says she doesn’t even know (or care) what some of the other female superheroes can do. “Who knows what Wonder Woman or Cat Woman does?” Not control the weather, that’s for sure.

cities

U of M junior Ann is pursuing a degree in Studies in Cinema and Media Culture (SCMC). She has rather big aspirations for her day as something else: that is, the moon. “I think it’d be cool to be the moon for a day. I’d be so powerful and control the oceans.” She likes the idea of hanging out with the stars and the planets and being able to be both seen by and look on at planet Earth. “I’d say it’d have to be a full moon, but when you’re the moon it’s always full any way.”

Erin is a junior studying English Literature, and her choice is representative of this. If she could be anyone for a day, she’d want to be German-Swiss writer Hermann Hesse. After having read his books Demian and Siddhartha, she says she’d just like to know “why and how” he thought the way he did. The most interesting part for her would be knowing the process behind his writing “and then participating in daily life after.”

Helen (on the left), a junior majoring in Creative Writing, knew without hesitation exactly what she’d be: a squirrel.

But not just any squirrel, a black squirrel she’s named Chuck who seems to “rule over Loring Park.” Of squirrels, Helen said, “They just survive and have fun doing it.” She admires the freedom she feels they exhibit. She has always imagined Chuck, in particular, hand-rolling his own cigarettes and wearing a newsboy cap. The photo was taken prior to getting the squirrel tattoo she plans to soon acquire on her wrist.

Jamie (to Helen’s right), a senior in English Literature, would like to experience life through Michael Jackson’s eyes, premortem. “I would like to be MJ so I could understand why I’m a repressed man who thinks he’s a 10-year-old. Honestly.”

Particularly, she’d like to know more about his former fascination with super soakers and whether or not he actually dated Brooke Shields.

Hussein, a senior studying political science, kept his choice concise and simple. He said he’d wish to be “the happiest person in the world – just to have whatever he or she has.”

Evan is a Computer Science student who says as far as people go, he wouldn’t choose to be anyone but himself. Though if he could be anything, it would be some kind of sentient computer since, after all, it’d be “pretty sweet to be hooked up into the Internet.” Even though he’d miss out on all the greater aspects of being a human, he’s sure he’d adjust and maybe even get the chance to become some sort of floating energy like in the comic book series Transmetropolitan. Sweet.

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sound & vision

Q&A: I Self Devine

By Zach McCormick

The Wake Magazine is truly privileged to bring you an interview this week with one of the founding fathers of the Twin Cities Hip-Hop scene. Chaka Mkali, aka I Self Devine, has been one of the most crucial artists in the development of MCing and Graffiti art in the local community for over 20 years. Through his work with Micranots, Semi-Official, Dynospectrum, and his solo material, I Self Devine has helped define the sound of Midwest rap. In addition, Mkali serves as the Director of Organizing & Community Building at Hope Community, a non-profit located in South Minneapolis. We met with him at the Rhymesayers HQ to discuss his legacy, his brand new album, and why Hip-Hop is like dog years.

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Wake: Let’s start off with talking a little about your history with Twin Cities Hip-Hop, for our readers who might not know you. When did you start making music? What made you decide to come to the Twin Cities?

Chaka Mkali (I Self Devine): I came here in 1989 because my mother got accepted to the University of Minnesota for social work, prior to that I had been involved in the scene... probably since about ‘86, and been involved with rhyming in ‘84, and probably been involved with hip-hop since ‘79.

But, getting back to Minneapolis...you know, I just kinda jumped in and did what any 16 year old would do, which was just try to find like-minded people, people you can connect with. Also beyond doing MC’n, I’m a graffiti artist, and I’ve been doing both for as long as I can remember.

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W: Let’s talk music now. You’ve already been incredibly prolific this year, releasing several mixtapes in anticipation of your new album. Could you talk a little about The Culture Series?

CM: The album, The Sound of Low Class Amerika, was written and recorded in, I wanna say, 2006 or 2007, and actually recorded in 2008, and then kind of put on the shelf. We were kind of figuring out what to do, you know, with an artist such as myself who’s been out for a while. Takin’ a hiatus, we had to think, “What’s a creative way to engage in the scene?”

With Hip-Hop, Hip-Hop is like dog years, so each year you’re out, that’s like 7 years, so I’ve been out for like 21 years. So it’s like, “How do you engage a fanbase with a very short-term memory?”

I went back and forth with Siddiq [Brent Sayers, CEO of Rhyme-

sayers] trying to figure out different options and what we wanted to do and just wasn’t necessarily confident that it was the right time, and wasn’t confident that I wanted to go through any hoops or obstacles. So what I did was just go back to the work, and some of the things that I really wanted to do with the music, it was really taking a big bite, but then it kept burning in the back of my mind. In terms of regrets, I knew it was something I was really gonna regret long-term. With music there’s all sorts of facets in terms of politics, and all of those things. So to me, what I wanted to do was kind of go back to what I really enjoyed, which was making music, the whole process of picking beats and figuring out topics, you know, choruses etc. etc.

So I just started recording tons of stuff, kinda just to get back to what I loved. This was in addition to the album, so

sound & vision

the recording took about two years of just kind of meeting every Friday, just recording and laying down stuff. After a while we looked and had upwards of about 60 to 70 songs.

I started playing ‘em for a few people, and they were like “man those are some really tight songs,” and so then I wanted to figure out a creative way we could release these songs, in a way that doesn’t seem cliche. With so many people, there’s a downside to being oversaturated. That’s where The Culture Series came from.

The “culture” is the culture of Hip-Hop, and also, in terms of numerology 4 represents culture. I work best when I have song-themes, and this is another thing we teach in our classes [at Hope], have a song title, and then you write songs around that title. If the body of songs you have don’t reflect the title, change the title. Again, one of the downsides of saturation is like, you’re going to a market, if there’s not a display at the endcap, what’s gonna make you take that new product?

You have to not only show your music, you have to show your personality. All of us Rhymesayers, we grew up with each other, we’ve known each other for a long time, and they asked me was ,“How do we bottle up your personality?” Sometimes who I was musically and what I was outside of music was different, so I had to merge those two. Being political, using dark humor, and some of the things that might contradict. So that was what the goal was, putting together the music and kind of putting together the whole campaign that shows, I guess, the depth and complexity of all that it is that I am and, for that matter, where in the hell that I’ve been.

W: The tone of this record seems to be in line with the socially conscious content you’ve been covering in The Culture Series. Is making a statement important to you?

CM: I think so, I mean, I think music should entertain, but it should be the soundtrack to your life, so anything that happens to me I can tell you where I’m at and what the music was about at that time. Also, in terms of my introduction to music, you know, it had a social component. You had Curtis Mayfield, you had Marvin Gaye, you had Stevie Wonder, when the world goes through civic unrest and changes they wanted to make sure their music reflected the times. So, I just wanted to have music that reflected the times, I felt that in the middle of the recession, the music that was coming out was not reflective of the times, and wanted to paint a picture like everything was cool, when everything wasn’t necessarily cool. I also decided that I wanted to make sure my music wasn’t bleak, to the point where it didn’t show an escape or a light at the end of the tunnel. I didn’t want it to be like “shit’s fucked up and it’s like that, so just keep it movin’ and take your little pill and wander and die somewhere.” The overall purpose is things to make you think.

I grew up vegetarian and if you’re trying to give somebody some vegetarian food you can’t just drop off a block of tofu.

You gotta spice that shit up, you gotta make some aesthetic choices, especially if you’re trying to get some new people on to it. I think sometimes with message music, you get lost up in the presentation and you forget about it, and I think if there’s been a challenge or a struggle or something I’ve been focusing on it’s that “how do you continue making it aesthetically pleasing and palatable?” Because that’s also something that’s important, because maybe 10 years ago it was about creating the densest music that has the most meaning that people are gonna look to dissect and decode but that was also when you didn’t have Twitter and all these other things to capture your attention.

unheard sounds like. That, and trying to put a human face on a movement, as opposed to an abstract movement.

W: Your release show for The Sound of Low Class Amerika is on May 4. Who are you performing with, and how did you come to choose?

CM: The release date for the album is on May 8, but the release party is on May 4, and there will be an in-store performance at 5th Element on May 8 as well. Just based on people who were more than just MC’s you know, that had different angles to them, different complexities, people who I also respect and people that I feel...like, I didn’t wanna just have a typical rap show, one. Two, I wanted some gender balance, you know, I didn’t just want a gang of dudes, I was very conscious of doing that. Also, making some genre changes, one guy at one of our shows was like “yo, this isn’t Hip-Hop, what’s goin’ on?” And it’s like “I know, this is not a Hip-Hop show.” There’s Hip-Hop artists, but it’s about bringing people together. So it’s about both purposes, a celebration of the scene, but also bringing different people that regularly may not be together to the same show.

keit osadchuk

W: Is there a certain song in particular on the album that captures the overall message you’re driving at?

CM: One of the leaked songs that already came out was “The Origin of Urban Crisis.” I come from Los Angeles, and I’m very interested in all of the factors that made my upbringing a living hell. When you’re going through that, you don’t understand that it’s systematic, and some of it is intentional and some of it is unintentional consequences, but when you look at the issue of gentrification, and you look at how ghettos are created, it’s very systematic. A lot of it has to do with white flight, a lot of it has to do with the freeway expansions. A lot of those freeways went through communities of color, like what happened in Rondo [in St. Paul]. Understanding how and why drugs got put into the community, etc. Not understanding how and why is like being in a dark room and getting hit and stabbed. Not only are you in the dark, meaning you’re puzzled, but you’re also being assaulted on all fronts: personally, metaphorically, spiritually, and so for me, understanding it provides clarity. It doesn’t make it any better, but at least you understand what the world is, and how and why things are happening, and that’s what I wanted to convey in the music.

There’s another one called “Cycles,” that’s talking about genocide, and other crime, and then, for example, when you look at the analysis of police they will tell you that crime is a byproduct of just urbanizing. Not looking at social and economic implications and how that’s gonna perpetuate those.

You can’t isolate. I always like the Malcom Gladwell approach of looking at how all the small things make the big impact, because it’s an overlap of tons of different small things. For example: a lot of gangs in California started as a result of coming up with small militias that would fight black folks when they crossed the tracks, but then when white flight happened, then you had these gangs with nothing to do, so they began fighting each other. There were two plants in California, one was the Goodyear plant, and if that hadn’t closed, a lot of those people that became potential gang members could have had gainful employment, and that would have shifted. We hear lots of other narratives as to what’s going on, and The Sound of Low Class Amerika is community folks, it’s what the

W: After Sounds of Low Class Amerika, what’s up next for I Self Devine? Are you headed out on tour?

CM: I’d say really what the goal is, is to try to take all the things that I’ve been doing and combine them into a tour that’s not about exchanging money for music or money for shows, but a way to deeply engage people, create a network of critical thinkers, of people who understand what power is using art, music, and culture. Every time I tour I always try to figure out what’s goin’ on in those cities, what are people facing, what are their challenges and successes, and you’re not able to have that level of engagement because you have to go.

You come in one night, you load-in, you go do interviews, rest, show, settle, load-up, you’re outta here. What does it look like when you go to places for a little bit longer, 3 or 4 days, where you play some music, but then you also do some workshops.

To me, that’s the next step, but spreading it worldwide, and if you ask what the outcome is that people are left with: one: what kind of power people do have and people that do have power and run things don’t want you to understand power, because once you understand power you will begin to question their power, and then begin to dismantle and unravel.

Based on some of what we’ve seen with the Occupy movement, with Trayvon or with Oscar Grant, to capitalize on this.

I’m tickled by all of these recent things coming up around race, I enjoy it, because these are things that we’ve been dealing with for a long period of time, and these are things that are now finally coming up to the front. But there’s also things that people didn’t want to acknowledge the existence of, whether it be tons of gun sales because of fear of Obama’s next term, and I’m leaning hard on gun control. Some of the blatant racism you see, it’s because we need to take a look at ourselves. When 9/11 happened we had an opportunity to really get creative and change the direction of things, and we’re at another point like that now, where we can really make the world that we want to see, and to redistribute some of this power. The next steps for me are to challenge those issues related to policy on the ground, connecting with people through music, art and culture, and see where that takes us.

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sound & vision

Titanic 3D:

Missionaries take note: James Cameron made me believe

By Tyler Lauer I hate 3D. Ok, hated. Before this, I just saw 3D as a gimmick.

During the release of Avatar, James Cameron was going on and on about how 3D was the future of cinema and I was dying inside. I wouldn’t let it happen. 3D was for rides at Disneyland and Final Destination movies throwing guts in your face, it had no place in serious cinema. I mean, it ruined the final Harry Potter (or was that the script?). I went into the theatre to see Titanic for the first time on the big screen on April 5 with low expectations but still hoping to enjoy the best movie ever made. I put on my 3D glasses and was waiting for the head/eye-ache that always comes with watching a movie in an extra dimension, but it never came. They finally perfected it. And the movie looked even more amazing in 3D. The grandness of the ship was palpable in a way I had never experienced before. The reality of it was better than Avatar, and that was a movie meant for 3D. When Rose goes to throw herself over the back of the ship, I actually felt the distance from her to the water. Finally the promise that 3D would make you “feel like you are there” kept its word. Before this, all 3D glasses and effects did was take me out of the movie.

They made me even more aware that what I was watching was fake, making me less attached to the characters and subject matter. Granted, I wish that they would make glasses that wrapped around or at least didn’t sit so far out on your face, but I honestly can’t complain. The strength of the movie, even though I’ve seen it a few times, was enough to draw me in and forget that it’s fake. The big screen is where this movie

Minnesota <3’s fun.

What went down at fun.’s sold out concert at Myth, the band’s largest headlining show so far

By Alyssa Bluhm After moving their show around from the Varsity Theater to the Brick, fun. finally settled to move their April 13 concert from Minneapolis to Maplewood, at the ultra-tweeny Myth Nightclub. But when over 3,000 people filled the Myth to its capacity, making this the largest crowd fun. has played for on their 2012 spring tour, the band really didn’t settle at all.

Even though fun. opened with an initial ribcage-rattling blast of bass that introduced “One Foot,” the remainder of the songs were drowned out by the venue’s poor acoustics and the immense collective lung capacity of 3,000 screaming fans.

The rest of the setlist evenly delivered hits off both Aim and Ignite and Some Nights, and ended with a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”

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3D was for rides at Disneyland and Final Destination movies throwing guts in your face, it had no place in serious cinema rachel mosey

is meant to be seen. Being seven when Titanic came out the first time, I obviously didn’t care too much about some tragic love story that was three hours long, so to re-release it on the centennial of the ship’s sinking finally gave me the chance to appreciate everything this movie has to offer.

If the movie isn’t already out of theaters by the time this article comes out, GO SEE IT! It’s only playing for a limited engagement and then who knows when you’ll be able to see it in a theatre next? This is the way it’s meant to be seen, on the big

Still, the energy of fun.’s performance was infectious. I naively expected the crowd to be as tame as the past few times I’ve seen fun. perform, yet instead I was almost caught in the midst of a dance-fight and tweens nearly trampled me to death twice. Despite the boisterousness of fun.’s new generation of fans, their young ears could hear the music better than my decrepit self, and I have them to thank for giving me something to sing along to.

When he wasn’t bouncing all over the stage, frontman Nate Reuss was so in awe of the size of his audience that he frequently paused in the middle of songs just to smile and take in the view. Reuss said the band had played for a crowd of 600 people in Madison two nights before.

screen, not on television with commercials for toilet paper two seconds after Jack teaches Rose to fly with Celine Dion making you feel like you’ll never experience a love great enough to accompany her chopped onion of a song. This is a movie that encompasses all that is good about cinema and life and if I have to explain it further, you’ll never understand. I should have known Cameron would never do anything to make Titanic anything less than it is. Best movie ever. The end.

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After being called back onstage for not one, but two encores, fun. finally ended the night with “Take Your Time” followed by “All Alright.”

Even though I expected to leave with my ears ringing because of the loud music, not because of the screaming girls behind me, fun.’s performance was still nothing short of the magic they always make on stage. ournameisfun.com

sound & vision

REVIEWS REVIEWS REVIEWS REVIEWS beewithwheels.com

Corporate Callosum With a Gun for a Face

What’s Weird? David Barnes

By Tyler Lauer

By Steve Sitek

withagunforaface.bandcamp.com

Wasting no time, placing the song “Help Us” first on their new album Corporate Callosum, Minneapolis locals With a Gun for a Face make it clear they aren’t out to preach about the fun. veneer of society while forgoing what drives it. The album title is a reference to corpus callosum--the neural fibers that connect the hemispheres of the brain to provide inter-hemispheric communication. They’re meshing the organic with the corporate, playing with the idea, or for them, the certainty that we have become a part of the corporate machine: a self-perpetuating dehumanization. The band creates a sound perfectly tailored to the material. It’s an anthemic-progressive-punk-grime-rock-n-roll, a new take on many different stylings that brings a fresh, although contradictorily rotten, air into the Minneapolis scene. Some songs are punk, some more melodic, some more rock, but all having unsettlingly earnest overtones evoked from the distortion that brings to mind an alarm or siren. Not that this detracts from the melodic qualities, but rather it adds to them while also sonically engineering the lyrical insinuations of corporate control. To immerse yourself in their mindset, go watch the new video for “Parade of Horribles.” The professional quality mixed with the totally fun insanity of it makes it one of my favorite vids, but be prepared for blood! Download the album FO’ FREE at withagunforaface. bandcamp.com, but throw in a couple bucks if you can.

If I had more mindless ambition I’d start a Mutant Fan Club. Mutants are beautiful and funny. What’s not to like?

In David Barnes’s new book titled What’s Weird, Barnes painting language crosses the threshold of inventing doodled mutants, and morphs into complex layers of color, form, and narrative. If the Mutant Fan Club existed, David Barnes would be the leader.

Barnes is known for creating eye catching album art for pop band “Of Montreal.” His brother is lead singer Kevin Barnes.

Both men bend the definition of weird. Barnes drawings and paintings pull elements from several artistic styles. Throughout the book, the images adapt a raw line quality with eyecatching color. They resemble cartoon drawings. Like Japanese prints from the 18th and 19th century, Barnes creates images that are relatively two-dimensional; yet still maintain the sensation of limited space.

It feels as if the characters developed within his drawings are talking to one another. On one page, he depicts several bodies with plants for heads; they are linked together by a jaw like structure. This fluidity within the nature of his drawings is truly weird. Barnes explains this weirdness and creative process as “spiritual.” In one of my favorite images, Barnes depicts his fiend Barlow interacting with a barrage of characters flowing towards his head. Barlow had a brain tumor at the time of this painting, and Barnes explains this image as, “Wanting to pull the tumor out of him.” Barnes adds humor to a relevant and heavy situation. He possesses one of the most admirable qualities of an artist; he doesn’t take himself too seriously.

americanreunionmovie.com

American Reunion

By Logan Wroge Thirteen years ago, a young Jason Biggs made sweet love to an apple pie, creating a franchise based on insanity, mischief, and gross out comedy that many have fallen in love with. But how will American Reunion, the fourth and presumably final major installment of the series, fair compared to the others? In short, it’s good but not great. If you’re wondering whether to spend your money, definitely do it if you’ve followed these movies.

The first thirty minutes of the film starts out awkward, causing forced laughs and a feeling of regret. The characters appear too different compared to the first three movies, and the dialogue is on the level of a poorly written romantic comedy. I was just waiting for Katherine Heigl to come in and ruin the entire experience. Fortunately, once the group is reunited and their shenanigans ensued, the laughs become real and abundant.

The usual American Pie jokes are there like Jim being quirky and his dad’s sexual speeches, but they aren’t stale or boring.

I will admit, I felt a little uncomfortable watching thirty-year olds doing some of the crazy shit in the film, but the movie recognizes this and focuses on their eventual maturity.

Even though tears did not stream down my face, there was a feeling of sadness when the credits rolled. I’ve grown up with Jim, Stifler, Finch, Oz, and Kevin and seeing this movie makes me appreciate the value of their fictional lives. This is a good movie to wrap up the series, but only if you loved all the ones before it, and plus, you get to see Stifler’s mom one last time.

MILF, MILF, MILF!

www.wakemag.org

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mind’s eye

Planet Killer Comes to Campus Why he killed Pluto and why it had it coming

By Mitch Ambrose On April 12, a known killer came to campus, but you didn’t receive an alert from UMPD. In fact, it was a University sponsored event! His background doesn’t match what you would expect of a cold hearted killer: he was educated at Princeton and Berkley and is now a professor of planetary astronomy at Cal Tech. He was also named one of the Top Ten Sexiest Geeks by Wired Magazine in 2006. The offender is Mike Brown, the man who was more responsible than anyone else for the demotion of Pluto from being classified as a planet to being classified as a mere dwarf planet. He recently authored the book “Why I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming,” in which he describes the steps leading up to the eventual demise of Pluto as a planet.

Over time, there had developed a powerful sociological resistance to demoting Pluto from being a planet.

His April 12 lecture, part of the Karlis Kaufmanis lecture series commemorating the former U of M astronomy professor, was mainly a summary of his book. The lecture hall quickly filled up so an adjacent room had to be opened for the overflow of people to watch over a video feed. Mike was a great lecturer, interspersing funny anecdotes within clear discussions of the science involved. He also seemed to be a genuinely nice person, exemplified by how he made sure to visit the annex a few times to prevent those there from feeling left out.

For those of you missed the lecture, here’s a brief summary: Pluto was discovered back in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh after its existence had been predicted based on unexplained perturbations in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune. Although Pluto was very small compared to the other planets, it was christened as a planet because there really wasn’t anything else to call it. Pluto’s status as a planet remained unquestioned until the 1990s discovery of the Kuiper belt, a collection of objects of somewhat smaller size than Pluto but with similar orbital radii. Nevertheless, Pluto retained a dual status, recognized as a member of the Kuiper belt but still remaining a planet.

Over time, there developed a powerful sociological resistance to demoting Pluto from being a planet. That Pluto was a planet became astronomical dogma, taught in every astronomy class. However, everything changed when Brown discovered an object in the Kuiper belt that is slightly bigger than Pluto, yet much more massive (by about 27%). Its discovery forced a serious discussion of Pluto’s planetary status, a discussion which eventually led to a controversial decision by the International Astronomical Union to change the definition of “planet” such that it no longer included Pluto. Pluto would be henceforth known as a dwarf planet.

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16-29 april 2012

keit osadchuk

Mike named the new dwarf planet Eris, after the Greek goddess of discord and strife, a deliberate choice made to reflect the discord and strife the demotion of Pluto caused in the physics community.

Brown named the new dwarf planet Eris, after the Greek goddess of discord and strife, a deliberate choice made to reflect the discord and strife the demotion of Pluto caused in the physics community. Soon afterward, other dwarf planets were discovered in the Kuiper belt, and it is likely that many more discoveries will come in the near future. In the end,

Brown emphasized that although the issue was essentially one of semantics, some classification systems are more useful than others. In light of the new information about the Kuiper belt, any classification system including Pluto as a planet would be suboptimal and overly nostalgic.

If my description of Brown and his work has intrigued you, one thing you could do is follow him on twitter. His username is, fittingly, @plutokiller. Also, if you are bummed about missing out on this lecture, be sure to go this year’s Van Vleck lecture on April 26th, another major lecture intended for general audiences sponsored by the physics department. This year Mildred Dresselhaus, a professor of electrical engineering at MIT, will be giving a talk on nanomaterials.

THE BASTARD sean quinn

www.wakemag.org

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