The Wake, Issue 12, Spring 2013

Q&+A:Ex Nuns p.16 Unpaid Internships p.8

The Wake’s Guide to Spring Biking p.12

vol. 12 | issue 12 april 8 - 21

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

I’ve been thinking about how much I want this semester to be done and to have the 45 pages of papers standing between me and summer become a distant memory. College has been known to lead to these kinds of thoughts. The excitement of a new semester quickly wanes into misery and eagerness for it to just all be over. But I’ve also been thinking about how this state of mind is a bunch of bullshit. Going through the motions and stressing out over school just ain’t worth it. It’s important to keep things in perspective throughout your college experience. It’s not all about papers, finals, and internships. It’s about the experience. Sure, it’s important to study and do well but it’s just as important to take care of yourself.

Dear Wake Faithful, Spring is finally popping its head out from a wintry womb and it could not be better timing. These much-anticipated lukewarm months are always a sign of better things to come.

Sunny days, cold beers, and the comfort that spring semester will soon be a thing of the past.

Looking back on your time at the U, you won’t remember whether you got a B- or a B+ on that paper; you’ll remember the things you did when you should’ve been working on that paper. Yeah it might result in a marathon of studying or writing at the last minute (see my weekend), but whatever. As Minneapolis is blossoming into a green oasis, take advantage.

Before you start your homework, go for a bike ride. Take a long jaunt. Take a nap outside. Breath in some fresh air before you cramp yourself into a dingy library corner.

Editorial

Production Manager

Alex Lauer

Sean Quinn

Managing Editor

Graphic Designers

Alyssa Bluhm

Cities Editor ©2009 The Wake Student Magazine.

All rights reserved.

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.

The Wake Student Magazine 126 Coffman Memorial Union 300 Washington Avenue SE

Sara Glesne

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 alauer@ wakemag.org.

Sean Quinn, Katie Schalow, Sondra Vine

Art Director Dan Forke

Voices Editor Justin Miller

Social Media Manager Tara Mrachek

Sound & Vision Editor

Web Editor

Zach McCormick

Sam Gordon

Obituaries Editor Kelsey Schwartz

Minneapolis, MN 55455 www.wakemag.org

Production

Editor-in-Chief

This is something I struggle to do when all I can think about is the mountain of due dates on my horizon; however I’m trying to shift my state of mind. Take it day by day, hour by hour. Absorb the good times and don’t let the impending doom plague your conscience. We’ve got the rest of our lives to work like dogs. So go do something outside because after five months of living in a Minnesotan freezer, we deserve it.

This issue is filled with some good reads, good writers, and good times. Take it out to a bench, patch of grass, or large rock and let The Wake take your mind off the daily monotony of life. Don’t worry, the homework will be there when you’re done.

Enjoy!

Justin Miller Voices Editor

12:12 Business Business Manager Chee Xiong

Advertising Manager Matthew Cermak

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

Staff Writers Courtney Bade, Tommy Finney, Tyler Lauer, Logan Wroge

This Issue Cover Artist

What's Inside?

Justin Sengly

Tibet: A Cause Beyond Politics p. 5

Cover Badasses

Unpaid Internships: P/CP p. 8

Dan Forke, Beth Ireland, Alex Lauer, Claire Manecke, Tara Mrachek

Leaving Afghanistan p. 9

Photographers Grace Birnstengel, Kara Hakanson, Alex Lauer, Tara Mrachek, Justin Sengly

Illustrators John Barnett, Aimee Bouchard, Martha Danks, Dan Forke, Sean Quinn, Sondra Vine, Peter Whiteman

Contributing Writers Courtney Bade, Grace Birnstengel, Jane Campbell, Matthew Cermak, Herbert B. Ferguson-Augustus, Tommy Finney, Sara Glesne, Molly Goin, Beth Ireland, Ethan Lauer, Tyler Lauer, Rachel Long, Zach McCormick, Kelcie McKenney, Sean McSteen, Brian Pricco, Juan P. Ramirez, Shengying Zhao

Spring Biking Guide p. 12 Queen Beyonce p. 14 EX NUNS Q&A p. 16 612 Brew p. 18 Show Calendar p. 21 Fucking Instagram p. 22

Cities

What Does MSA Do For Students?

MSA Elections April 8-10

By Sara Glesne

Chalk advertisements fill the sidewalks surrounding Coffman. Black and white fliers cover stretches of the Washington Avenue Bridge bulletin boards. They’re all serving as a reminder: time to vote in the MSA election.

With a budget of $170,561 this past year, the Minnesota Student Association (MSA) is a group of more than 150 undergraduate students focused on outreach and advocacy as a means to protect and further the interests of U of M students. While some of this mission might seem abstract, over the last year MSA has been working on legislation at the state level, along with communicating with administration, providing student grants, and creating mentorship opportunities for freshmen.

MSA serves as the lead spokespeople for students to university administration, the state, and according to Minnesota Student Legislative Coalition Chair Matt Forstie, “any group that has interest in us or affects students.” Forstie said MSA is the primary negotiating body on behalf of students, though they’re also responsible for “fostering a community on campus.”

Current MSA President Taylor Williams worked in the 2012-2013 academic year to make MSA membership more accessible to the U’s student body. “He established general membership which broke through a lot of the hurdles that had been there before,” Sharin Park, longtime MSA member and executive assistant to Williams, said. Formerly, all MSA members had to be elected, as in the case of the president, vice president, 16 at large representatives, the student senate, and student group representatives who are nominated to represent their groups rather than being elected by the larger student body.

“He had a huge emphasis on increasing the membership of MSA,” Park said of Williams. In addition to increasing the numbers, Park said he also raised levels of involvement, such as through work with the MSA’s 20 or so freshmen interns who volunteer anywhere from a couple hours a week to a

4.

april 8 - 21

full 20 when they’re committed to a project.

As the vote to replace Williams’ position, among others, approaches, his and other MSA members’ work spearheading student-led legislation at the state level awaits a final outcome. The push for medical amnesty, or the legal protection of students who call 911 from being charged with underage drinking or possession, was an issue Williams campaigned for his own presidency on. “Past student governments have tried to pursue it just at the university level, and [Taylor] said, ‘Why not elevate it to the state level where you could actually get some traction?’” Forstie said. The bill awaits floor votes in late April or May.

Park said it was the first time in recent years she could recall MSA assisting in such a process, as the language in the bill was drafted entirely by students. “It speaks to how powerful students can be,” she said.

VOTE NOW! vote.umn.edu

Other efforts at the state legislative level by MSA include a proposed tax refund credit for students repaying government loans as well as directing resources toward researching and implementing more avenues for free, open source textbooks in university classrooms.

Park and Forstie both mentioned Williams’ current focus on “overarching goals” as something that will be missed when his leadership of MSA comes to an end. Not everyone’s confidence in MSA’s future is necessarily shaken by Williams’ departure though. “I think that all the candidates are going to make some substantial changes to MSA for the better,” Park said.

“This is the week where our fate is on the line,” said Forstie of the election. “We’ve got a lot of candidates for president, which is awesome. It means people are interested.”

“It speaks to how powerful students can be,” she said.

Student interest will inevitably be on the front burner of MSA’s agenda in the coming year.

Forstie predicts the largest challenges the new MSA leadership will face in the 2013-14 school year will come in the form of reacting and adapting to changes on campus.

“A big part of our role is protecting student interest. So we want to make sure that student safety is taken into consideration,” Forstie said. For example, Dinkytown developments like the Opus Group’s efforts to build student condominiums similar to their Stadium Village Flats will be an issue Forstie predicts MSA will follow. From the near completion of the Hiawatha Light Rail’s new green line that will pass through campus along Washington Avenue to connect downtown St. Paul with downtown Minneapolis, to the Vikings inevitable presence on campus as their stadium begins construction, student interest will inevitably be on the front burner of MSA’s agenda in the coming year.

“The MSA is not the government of the students by any means, but it is an avenue through which students can get their concerns heard and I think that to be a part of that process whether that’s electing a new president or being able to say that I chose my elective representative is absolutely huge,” Park said of voting in the MSA election.

Voting begins Monday, April 8 at 8 a.m. and ends April 10 at 8 p.m. While polling stations will be set up in Coffman Union, the vast majority of votes have been cast online in years past. “It takes a minute and a half,” Forstie said. Candidate statements will be viewable online at voting time, so read carefully and keep in mind MSA’s role on campus.

Cities

Tibet: A Cause Beyond Politics

CSSA exhibit shows gap in Tibetan culture’s presence on campus

By Herbert B. Ferguson-Augustus

“What we are doing here is not political,” Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) member Jang Yiang said at their Tibet Today exhibit. However, it became political when Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) countered CSSA with their own exhibit, which emphasized the oppression Tibetans currently endure. They exposed truths, but additionally did little to portray Tibetan culture as it is today.

In CSSA’s exhibit was a picture hung of a modernized and industrialized Lhasa as well as an image of unspoiled Tibetan countryside where antelopes graze undisturbed. Meanwhile, across the hall in SFT’s exhibit, 200 portraits of ordinary men and women hung on the walls: all who had self-immolated to protest the oppression of Tibet. Between March 25 and 29 the groups offered very different images of Tibet today.

According to Tenzin Sonam, the president of SFT, they organized their counter exhibit, “Tibet Today: Exposing the Truth,” to dispel the “propaganda” of CSSA’s exhibit.

Sonam said the other exhibit aimed to present Tibet as “modern and economically prospering.” CSSA organized the event with the Chinese consulate in Chicago with a

mission of “helping people learn more about Tibet,” Xizi uan, which neighbors Tibet, he was not allowed to visit Wang, a member of CSSA, said.

Lhasa or any other Tibetan city.

Sonam said SFT wanted to provide an alternative perspecAlthough the SFT exhibit included several historical photos tive about the current state of Tibet and allow visitors and documents to testify Tibet’s independent history, the coming to both exhibits to decide for themselves. SFT focus on the immolations overwhelmed their exhibit. The provided a “history,” which CSSA member Wensi Wang said immolations still spark debate globally, even within the their exhibit lacked. However, in actually fostering a diaTibetan community. In a 2011 interview with BBC, the Dalai logue with mainland Chinese students, success was mixed Lama himself questioned their usefulness, while the Chinese from what I observed.

On one hand, both organizations found “common ground,” said Tenzin Kyinzom, another member of SFT. Tibetan and Chinese students, she said, discussed how China’s 56 minorities, like the Zhuang, were losing aspects of their culture as they assimilate into the Han majority.

Specifically, she cited how the Zhuang were losing their Cantonese dialect as a problem, which she said Tibetans are also facing.

SFT’s exhibition also provoked another kind of response.

“I would really like to talk to them, but I am kind Students for a Free Tibet, their families, supporters, people of the Tibetan community, and of scared,” Jiang said when asked why she had university students bow their heads in utterance of the Tibetan national anthem. not visited SFT’s exhibit. “They prevent us from doing our exhibit,” she said, arguing that CSSA’s government has used the immolations to scrutinize protests exhibit was not inherently political, and questioning why for independence in Tibet and abroad.

SFT chose to do theirs concurrently.

“I don’t want Tibet to be like Shanghai; I don’t want it to be Another Chinese exchange student, who preferred to remdestroyed,” said Xizi Wang, a Chinese exchange student said, ain anonymous, added that it was difficult for her to openly expressing concern about the impact industrialization and discuss this topic considering the Chinese government’s the occupation of Tibet has on Tibetan culture. position on Tibet. Moreover, she said, “We want to show the Chinese are perfect to the world,” and thus cannot acknowledge publicly the injustices that go on in Tibet.

“Our goal is to highlight the brutality that is going on in Tibet,” Sonam said, referring to the 2 million Tibetans killed during the Chinese occupation and the now 114 people who have self-immolated for Tibetan independence.

On March 10th, colloquially called Tibet day, some Tibetan exiles and their supporters celebrate the uprising of 1959 where the Tibetan people took to the streets in protest of the Chinese occupation. Jigme Ugen la said it was the unofficial start of what he described at the Tibetan “revolution.”

Following this exposure, what comes next for SFT? The answer for their chance to garner more support may lie in Kyinzom’s discussion of mainland Chinese students and future conversations.

“A lot of mainland Chinese people do not have the chance to be intrigued by Tibetan culture,” said Brandon Sibala, a former exchange student in Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guangxi Provinces, adding that while he was in Sich-

Six thousand monasteries have been destroyed, sacred Buddhist artifacts have been sold across the globe, thousand of monks have been forced to repatriate to China, and more than a million Tibetans have been killed. The Chinese occupation is destroying Tibetan culture in some visible ways.

Despite the Tibetan community in Minnesota being one of the largest in the United States, there is only one course taught at the U about Tibetan culture history, and that is CSPH 5317 Yoga: Ethics, Spirituality, and Healing, which only partially covers Tibetan healing techniques. Similarly, there is only one Tibetan student group at the U: SFT.

SFT has succeeded in exposing the truth about what is going on in Tibet, but their efforts to showcase their own culture as well aren’t readily apparent. Where there is no shortage of hatred of the Chinese government, SFT has a chance to give students going to and back to China something to relate to.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF STUDENTS FOR A FREE TIBET MN

www.wakemag.org

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Cities

Examining Exceptionalism Is Minnesota’s school curriculum liberal or just logical?

By Molly Goin

If your middle school social studies experience was at all like mine, you spent a few preteen years blazing the virtual Oregon Trail, writing about the importance of Manifest Destiny, and memorizing the opening paragraphs to the U.S. Declaration of Independence. And if your experience in later years was like mine, you felt moderately betrayed to learn western expansionists rarely traded peacefully with Native Americans, Manifest Destiny was an exceedingly violent manifestation, and a significant portion of Americans—save the white, wealthy males—were not “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,” but spent many excruciating decades fighting for them. Perhaps your experience differed and you don’t resent the rose-colored light shed on American history, but a recent debate has arisen over the teaching of American exceptionalism in Minnesota’s public schools.

After receiving input from concerned citizens and education experts, Minnesota’s Department of Education proposed changes to the social studies curriculum taught in public schools. The newly introduced standards are designed to focus a bit less on America’s supposed “God-given” right to superiority and more on the economic, political, and social conflicts central to U.S. history. Although state courts have found these changes defendable by research and rationale, certain conservative groups—fronted by Education Liberty Watch—feel the shift will instill “liberal, anti-American” sentiments in the minds of Minnesota youth.

Opponents argue the modified curriculum fails to explain citizens’ rights as “Godgiven.” However, a logical glance at history would argue that such a position is validly omitted.

For example, the new standards recommend teaching about the civil

rights movement as early as the 6th grade. It would be ridiculous to expect 12-year-old students to understand civil rights through two wholly contradicting lenses: as something automatically granted by a divine being, and as a battle fought by generations against racial oppression.

Such a false perception of entitlement can make it confusing to transfer initial understandings of the social sciences to more advanced learning. I’m hardly arguing for children to learn every gruesome detail of, say, domestic genocide, but it is unacceptable to blatantly foster pride in the catalyzing events. We are selling students short by assuming they lack the intellectual capacity to grasp history through examination rather than exceptionalism.

Realistically, if Minnesota public schools—and those supporting a less convoluted historical narrative—intend to provide our youth with a fair education, it is vital that we advocate a curriculum that doesn’t treat U.S. exceptionalism as a self-evident truth, but instead focuses on the salience of struggle. American history is no bed of roses, and we must pay mind to the thorns in order to applaud the blossoms.

april 8 - 21

work at night it would be one, two in the morning. By that time there are limited options.”

A food truck has the ultimate in flexible food hours; however, due to strict University of Minnesota regulations, Potter’s was unable to have a presence on campus.

That’s where the new storefront comes into play. Potter’s Pasties new brick-and-mortar restaurant will be right in the middle of Como, a major student neighborhood. You may have already seen the signage go up on Joe’s Market on 18th and Como Avenue. But you won’t find Potter’s inside Joe’s—you’ll have to go around back. That’s not to say Potter’s will be hard to find: Duncan just finished painting a Union Jack on the door, and has plans for a Twin Cities/UKthemed mural in the works.

COMO AVE. SE SIGN

ALEX LAUER

British Invasion Potter’s Pasties sets up shop in Como neighborhood

By Beth Ireland

Food trucks may be strongly associated with business lunch hour downtown, but the Potter’s Pasties food truck first began with students in mind.

“There’s very little available for late night,” said owner and chef Alec Duncan. “[As a student,] when I felt hungry after

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19TH AVE SE ENTRANCE, IN THE BACK

The store will operate with a “grab-and-go” model. Go down the stairs behind the Union Jack door, grab a pasty from the countertop, and be on your way; there will be no seating in the store. In addition to the regular truck menu, the store will feature smaller pasties for $5 each and a “Couch Change” pasty for $4.50 (think: ham and cheese pasty).

“Pasties are perfect for students,” Duncan said. As a sandwich pie stuffed full of meat and vegetables, a pasty is highly portable and stays hot for a long time. Duncan discovered the delicacy while abroad with his wife for six years, an experience that not only inspired the restaurant’s food choice, but also its name as well. “It’s not potter like Harry Potter,” said Duncan. “It’s potter the verb.” To potter means to “wander aimlessly.” Duncan hopes to share his experiences with students in the store, along with advice on how to get abroad. “I’m all about community,” he said.

Potter’s grand opening is Thursday, April 11. To start, the store will be open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and until midnight Friday and Saturday. If there’s enough demand, open hours will be pushed later. Until then, students seeking late-night pasties can pick the take-andbake option available at the counter.

Cities LIL has grown quickly in the last several months. People from different parts of the country are joining the movement, which in turn motivates Esethu to keep inspiring people. “My only goal in life is to keep inspiring and that is what I am going to keep doing,” Esethu said. “This project is about radiating love and not broadcasting it.”

A movement that is inspiring the world through giving

It isn’t uncommon to see University of Minnesota students wearing LIL shirts or drinking from the company’s water bottles in class. For freshman Julia Schomberg, LIL is a great way to incorporate artistic talent with helping people.

“People should support these types of organizations because they’re using their artistic talents to help those who need it,” Schomberg said.

BY JUAN P. RAMIREZ

Esethu believes athletes inspire everyday people to work hard for their goals and to never give up. Because he thinks society has a lot to learn from them, LIL is now in the process of pursuing work with athletic departments at different colleges across the country. “I think [in the future] LIL will be on the verge of being the nonprofit version of big companies like Nike and Google,” Esethu said.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF LIFE IS LOVE

Life is Love (LIL) is a nonprofit organization that supports humanitarian causes. This might sound like just one of the many nonprofits out there, but the difference is that it’s more than a nonprofit—it’s a movement. LIL is inspiring people and trying to show the world that success doesn’t just come with money, it comes when a person is happy with whatever he or she is doing.

Dane Esethu, a former student at St. Cloud University, is one of the creators of this movement. About a year ago, while studying Peace Studies at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in South Africa, his girlfriend passed away. The pain he experienced after her death showed him the light he wanted to shine for others. Inspired also by 26 African children he met while studying abroad, he created a nonprofit organization that raises money by making and selling original and environmentally friendly goods to support individuals struggling with cancer, mental health issues, diabetes, and lupus, among other health problems.

“It was after sharing days with these little kids that I realized that success comes when a person is happy with whatever he or she is doing regardless of the amount of money they are making,” Esethu said.

After returning to America, Esethu quickly realized spreading love was his passion. He felt college was interrupting his desire to succeed, and because of this he decided to quit and

Some of the LIL Crew invest all of his scholarship money in this project. LIL was launched to the public in November 2012. Nowadays, ten individuals from different countries, like Italy, France, Malaysia, and the U.S., are spreading the love together with Esethu.

“We have illustrators, graphic designers, engineers, directors, and musicians who are behind this project,” Esethu said.

To keep its mission afloat, LIL sponsors fundraising events along with selling its artistic wares across the country.

One hundred percent organic shirts, water bottles made in Italy, and posters made by the LIL crew are among the products they sell.

Esethu, Shang, and the rest of the LIL organization believe in this project, and broader support is also clear from the more than 1,000 followers that currently like them on their Facebook fan page. For now LIL is working toward a specific goal: becoming one of the nonprofit organizations that will collaborate with the 2016 Olympics.

“In the future, I see Life is Love as a big nonprofit organization where people can come to seek inspiration,” Shang said.

“We will be here to help make their dreams come true.”

find Life is Love on Facebook @ facebook.com/liveinspyred

Eu Shang, 20, is a Malaysian-Chinese student at St. Cloud University. He has been working with LIL for five months as its media master director. Basically, Shang is responsible for all the LIL art designs. He met Esethu through Facebook, but he didn’t really believe in Esethu’s project until they met in person. According to Shang, one day Esethu presented to him the idea of the nonprofit and how they could team up to inspire people. “He did a great job on expressing his idea of Life is Love, so I told him that I would give it shot,” Shang said.

Shang believes this project is going to keep people inspired through giving. He said he feels it’s important people know that “there is no right or wrong; we are all the same.”

Dane Esethu

www.wakemag.org

7.

Voices

Stop Exploiting Us!

Why unpaid internships aren’t worthwhile

By Kelcie McKenney

Exploitation isn’t only happening in the sweatshops of China—it is occurring here, right now, every day. As college students, we are expected to find as much experience as possible within our field of study, even at a cost to ourselves. Employers pitch internships as a great opportunity, but on a side note they say they are not going to pay us anything for the work we do. They say they’re giving us experience, but you can’t pay bills with experience.

I know this might sound harsh, but the truth is that unpaid internships don’t always benefit students in the long run.

It is a complete exploitation of free labor. In some internships, students are given tasks that are only the behind-the-scenes dirty work of businesses that don’t have anything to do with their actual field. What even

gives them the right to not pay students?

The state of Minnesota has a legal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour for a reason, and internships aren’t really considered volunteer work. How are students expected to work for free? It is extremely difficult to balance a full time internship that makes absolutely no money and a real job that is needed to pay for rent, food, gas, tuition, and other expenses. As students we are already straddling a heaping sum of college debt, so how are we expected to get by when spending so much time putting effort into an “opportunity” that doesn’t give us anything tangible?

Another problem that comes up is qualifications. If an internship is unpaid, people who are less financially stable aren’t going to be able get that experience. Rather, those who can afford to work unpaid are picking up the opportunity instead. This causes the entire system to be based on financial merit instead of the real strengths of a potential intern. It isn’t fair that rich people have a better chance of gaining experience just because they have deeper pockets.

Overall, it is unreasonable to assume that as students attempting to obtain more experience we should be comfortable with working for free. Unpaid internships are exploitative, and are completely in favor of those who can afford to work for free. While it is far more difficult to find an internship that pays, I highly suggest that students look for opportunities that pay money and promise experience.

Unpaid Internships

college student.” While I feel your empty-pocketed pain, there are a few ways unpaid internships will “pay” you one way or another. First of all, a lot of unpaid internships allow you to get college credit. This is great if your major requires an internship.

Also, certain colleges offer grants to students in unpaid internships. My colleague at my unpaid internship just received a $1500 grant from CLA.

Point/Counterpoint

Not a lot of people take the time to fill out undergraduate internship grant applications, so your chances are better than you think.

MARTHA DANKS

Colleges should require internships,

The Ultimate Payoff:

that. Oftentimes, college freshmen enter their first year with no

whether paid or unpaid, because it is

idea of what their major will be. Freshmen will take introductory

an experience that is not directly offered in a classroom setting.

Why real world experience is worth the penny-pinching

classes in subjects that interest them in hopes of lighting a spark

Leaving college without a career direction in mind can partly

toward the career path they want to take. Internships help us

be the fault of the student, but if the college offered more real

take a more active approach to learning about the careers we

world work experiences for the student to try, maybe they

want have one day.

By Jane Campbell

would have a better idea of what they want to do for their

future. Unpaid internships also have a certain freedom about

First of all, that disillusioned feeling we get from college can

them that a paid job could possibly lack. Knowing that you’re

easily be helped with an unpaid internship. These internships The word “unpaid internship” is like a dagger to the heart for

not being paid may give you more freedom and space to try new

provide us with real world experience that we cannot get in the

any college student, but there are more benefits to these penni-

things on the job without fear of getting in trouble.

classroom. Learning things about your profession and actually

less jobs than we think.

working in your profession are two completely different things.

Think about it, you have your entire life to work a job with a

There should be a bigger emphasis on having unpaid internAs a college student, sitting through an entire day of lectures

salary, why let earning a wage get in the way from learning

ships so students can learn whether or not they actually like the

can have you feeling a bit disillusioned by the end of the day.

about and experiencing a internship that could lead to a life-

career before they start doing it for real.

changing career?

Students come to college to gain knowledge, master skills, and prepare for a profession. We want to learn where our passion

At this point you are probably saying to yourself, “Great, I get

lies, and unpaid internships are one great way to help us with

experience, but what I really need is money because I’m a poor

8.

april 8 - 21

Voices

Leaving Afghanistan: Can we force freedom to endure?

By Tyler Lauer

This goal seems ideal from the outside. It shows an end in sight, giving American citizens something to hold Obama accountable for and troops enough time to aid in the release of a country back into the hopefully capable hands of Afghan citizens. But Obama didn’t stop there. “At the end of this conflict, we are going to be able to say that the sacrifices that were made by those men and women in uniform has brought about the goal that we sought,” he said.

What You Aren’t Hearing:

Remember when the Afghanistan War (aka Operation Enduring Freedom) used to be in the news every day? What happened? Is it not a sexy enough war anymore? I mean, unless it’s Prince Harry telling reporters that killing people in a helicopter is “a joy for me because I’m one of those people who loves playing PlayStation and Xbox,” or a U.S. sergeant walking off his base in southern Afghanistan and intentionally murdering 16 civilians, our collective attention span apparently isn’t enduring enough.

What the U.S. Is Telling Us: Our exhausted attention span is to be expected without an official goal, and I mean that in a narrow sense. Osama Bin Laden wasn’t Hitler. Our goal was to kill Al-Qaeda and take out the rule of the Taliban, who aided Al-Qaeda, facilitating a democratic state and returning control of the country to the people. This goal has been muddled with the surge of 33,000 troops to combat Taliban insurgency in 2010, leaving the death of Osama Bin Laden in May of 2011 as a milestone in the war, rather than a turning point.

After being in Afghanistan for over 11 years without an official end-point in sight, President Obama held a press conference in January this year, when Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai visited the White House, where he stated, “By the end of next year, 2014, the transition will be complete—Afghans will have full responsibility for their security, and this war will come to a responsible end.”

This has been a well known goal since the NATO Chicago Summit in May of 2012, but President Obama added that turning over full control to the Afghan people will happen extensively as soon as this spring.

According to the U.S. Department of Defense, as of March 29, 2013, Operation Enduring Freedom has resulted in 2,184 dead and 18,360 wounded in the U.S. alone. In an analysis of the fiscal year 2013 Defense Budget, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments concluded, “In Afghanistan the cost to support each troop has averaged $1.2 million per year.” It should go without saying a soldier’s life can’t be measured in dollars, but when Republicans are attacking Obama for hiring a person to walk their dog, it helps to put into perspective what taxpayers are really paying for.

Being separated from September 11 by more than a decade, President Obama is quick to remind us in the face of doubt that America “went into Afghanistan because 3,000 Americans were viciously murdered by a terrorist organization that was operating openly and at the invitation

of those who were then ruling Afghanistan.” With 2,184 Americans dead from the war and 18,360 lives altered irrevocably (we aren’t even considering the damaging effects of PTSD, deaths of soldiers from other nations, and family members affected by all of these deaths), can we keep justifying every action against September 11? Are the sacrifices made for revenge, and ideally for the greater good, always and unquestionably worth it?

It’s a rule of thumb that if you leave something better than when you found it, you’re good—like leaving the earth cleaner than you found it, or providing a better future for your children than you got from your parents. So, if we leave Afghanistan with the makings of a prosperous, democratic state, the long-term effects should outweigh some of the unsavory statistics, right? Award winning journalist Ben Anderson recently travelled to Sangin, Afghanistan to make Mission Accomplished? Secrets of Helmand. In this 30-minute documentary, Anderson exposes the Afghan National Police as pot-smoking kidnappers who sexually abuse and murder younger “chai boys” (in their pre- to early teens) while U.S. military are unable to stop them.

Operation Enduring Freedom has resulted in 2,184 dead and 18,360 wounded in the U.S. alone.

A noted lawmaker from the Kandahar province, Naeem Lalai, told reporters in January, “If Americans pull out all of their troops without a plan, the civil war of the 1990s would repeat itself.” This civil war he’s talking about occurred in 1989, when the Soviet Union withdrew its forces after a decade-long war, resulting in continued infighting and ultimately led to the rise of the Taliban.

In an interview with Vice magazine, Anderson affirms Naeem’s sentiments, saying, “I think the civil war has started already. By some estimates, over 3,000 Afghan policemen and soldiers were killed last year [2012]. That’s far more than Britain or America ever lost, so if that’s not a civil war, I don’t know what is.”

This is not a question of whether or not the attacks of September 11 needed to be answered for. They needed to be. Going forward, we will see if we really have provided a long standing change for the freedom of Afghanistan or if we’ve dug ourselves a hole, laid down in it, and filled it in with dead bodies.

PETER WHITEMAN

www.wakemag.org

9.

Voices

VANITY AFFAIR

Venezuela – Chavez = ?

How to get a Where is the political job and avoid arena going without prostitution Hugo Chavez?

By Shengying Zhao

By Tommy Finney The stress of graduating and finding an internship or job can overwhelm even the calmest citizen.

When you get to the end of your junior or senior year in college, you will most likely start feeling pressure from society to find something productive to do with your life. Some may choose to take time off after these four grueling years come to an end, while others will jump right into the professional workforce.

My biggest advice is to find something. The job market today is extremely competitive—people everywhere are looking for jobs.

I recently read an article that said many corporations are not hiring anyone who is currently unemployed. This means that if you don’t currently have a job, FIND ONE—washing dishes, bussing tables, or tending to the zebra exhibit at your local zoo. Employers want to see that you are accountable and have the will to get up every morning and do something you absolutely hate.

Frankly, the reality of our lives as graduating students is that most entry-level jobs are going to be low paying. Unless you plan on becoming a prostitute, you probably won’t earn more than $50,000 your first year. In fact, you might not earn that much your first five years. Keeping realistic expectations and knowing what you’re getting yourself into will help a lot. Of course, even if you do choose low-grade prostitution as your career path, you will most likely take up cocaine and/or crack addictions that will eventually drain your earnings. So many decisions, I know.

Weigh the pros and cons of all your opportunities and make the best decision you can. Keep in mind you are still a young adult and have plenty of time to make mistakes. Crack, cocaine, and prostitution can always be valid options for your future, but maybe have a plan set in place to try first.

As far as finding one of these “real-world” jobs, go on University of Minnesota’s GoldPASS website. We pay thousands and thousands of dollars to go to school here and it can be the secret to getting a job, internship, and even a long-term career. For me personally, this has been a savior. Without this resource, I would be lost in a pool of senior seminars and nameless faces.

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april 8 - 21

Venezuela, a nation with territory covering less than 0.1 million square kilometers and a population of less than 30 million, became a spotlight with its leader’s oversizedpersonality and rich oil resources. Chavez died, but it doesn’t mean his legacy and his spirit will come to an end.

The legacy of Chavez is going to be a fundamental and influential factor for the future of Latin America.

equitable society that generates wealth to the low classes without Chavez, who was able to invest $400 billion in social spending on the price of a barrel of oil.

While most agree Maduro is likely to win the April 14 presidential election, he is less likely to enjoy the same tolerance that the impoverished masses gave to Chavez.

Although the memory that Venezuelans have of Chavez gives Maduro an advantage, he is far from having Chavez’s tight connection and demagogic reputation with the poor. Some economists foresee a recession and a devaluation of the currency (the bolívar) in Venezuela and people may judge Maduro more harshly during these hard times.

Extensive corruption, aggressive crime, high inflation rates, widened social inequality, and a number of broken promises seem to tell the tale of Chavez’s 14 years in office.

DAN FORKE

Chavez’s 21st century socialism doesn’t seem effective for the masses of poor people in Venezuela. Extensive corruption, aggressive crime, high inflation rates, widened social inequality, and a number of broken promises seem to tell the tale of Chavez’s 14 years in office. Whoever replaces him will face a string of economic challenges as prices soar and shortages of basic goods continue.

The death of Chavez during his fourth consecutive term brings vast uncertainty to the political situation in Venezuela. I doubt whether the acting president Nicolás Maduro, Chavez’s chosen successor, or the opposition leader Henrique Capriles, a young governor who competed against Chavez in the October election, will be competent enough to continue the illusion of an

However, the death of Venezuela’s fiery leader isn’t going to alter the current state of Latin American politics too much. Strong populism, a theme widely used by Chavez and many other left-wingers in the region, is very effective for Latin American countries with serious social problems. Former Brazilian President Lula and former president of Argentina, Perón, were masters of populism just like Chavez. In the wave of globalization, Chavez played a fundamental role in the integration of Latin America to decrease the U.S.’s influence on the continent. Since Chavez was elected the President of Venezuela, Latin American leftist leaders have won the presidential election in more than 10 countries like Argentina and Bolivia. The socialist revolutions in Venezuela and its surrounding countries will still remain dynamic.

Voices

Google Glass: Separate yourself from those around you

By Sean McSteen Admit it, we have all watched and laughed as passersby absentmindedly walk into light posts or trip over absolutely nothing as their heads hang low, paying more attention to a tweet or text than what is in front of them. Though you may feel a small bit of sympathy for the individual,

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those moments have a strange way of brightening your day as you think to yourself, “At least I’m not that guy.” If that sounds like you, then prepare yourself for even more excitement and entertainment as Google prepares to release their new eyeglasses-computer hybrid. In a little under a year, you will begin to see people run into things they are seemingly staring directly at. Oh, the hilarity that will ensue.

But, in all seriousness, I understand that Google Glass is a huge step for technology, opening up the market for countless new products influenced by Google’s innovations. Yet, amidst the Apple-like frenzy of a cool new product, we must be asking why it is necessary that we have these. Sure, you can look at porn half a centimeter from your eyes, or look up someone who you have just met on Facebook to try to find any connection that you can slyly, and somewhat creepily, work into the conversation. And you will be able to save so much time on smaller tasks or queries by verbally asking your own glasses to find something, because obviously the ancient computer in the other room is much too far.

ag NE .or NE W g TO W W M B EB CR LO SI UI GS TE SE | B Tw | G ∆N Fa ee ET D Tu ceb tz: ww W Q& m o @ bl ok th w. ITH ∆’S in : / e wa IT : w th _w k ak ew ak em ag e e a -m ke ST .o rg ag m ∆L .tu ag K m azi US bl ne r.c :) om

With our daily lives revolving increasingly more around technology and social media, Google Glass will merely be the next big thing to get excited about. That is, until Apple finds a better and more expensive way to do it. And rather than actually being a practical tool for daily life, they will become a symbol of some higher social stature, especially while they are still priced at $1,500.

The main danger I see with Google Glass is not this status symbol that will walk hand-in-hand with the product, but rather the terrible potential of how it could change or destroy the way we connect with one another. While time may prove otherwise, I foresee Google’s new product becoming horse-blinders rather than useful glasses, placing genuine human interaction in the background of all things important.

JOHN BARNETT

www.wakemag.org

11.

The Wake’s

Guide to Spring Bike Maintenance!

Friendly tips from our resident Bike-Jerk

By Zach McCormick Drawings by Sean Quinn Ah spring, a time where our cities’ gorgeous bicycles and their riders emerge into the sunlight like critters from hibernation. However, some steeds are more ready than others for the new season, especially around the bike graveyard that is the U of M. Let this handy guide help you determine whether your bike is at its pedaling peak, or in need of a bit of two-wheeled TLC.

Tire Check

REMEMBER: Many non-functioning bikes have bigger problems than you can fix at home. When in doubt, take it to your neighborhood bike shop and have a trained mechanic work on it. Trust us.

Tire problems are a little nicer, because, unlike component failures, tires are relatively cheap and easy for the average college biker to replace themselves. Check the tread on your tires. If they’re flat as a pancake and more worn out than the socks you wear on laundry day, you need new tires.

Check the sidewalls of your tires for cracking or tears, those could be a ride-ender, and make sure your tire is free of holes or punctures. Then, try inflating them to the recommended pressure on the tire. If they hold air, try leaving them that way for a few hours before your first ride, then check them again. Sometimes they can have a sloooow leak.

Consider your Whip Before we start with the maintenance, take a second to think about the condition of bicycle. Where did you store it over the winter? Did you ride it at all? What kind of environment did your bike spend its last 6-8 months in? If your answer to this is “in a snowdrift” or “lying on the ground in the backyard of my duplex,” your bike is far beyond my powers. And shame on you for doing that!

Doing this kind of pre-planning will help you diagnose problems later. For instance, if your bike was stored in a nice, dry garage all winter, the problems with your ride are much less likely to be caused by individual component failure.

Rust Check Rust is the enemy of bikes, and it’s often difficult to avoid, as it’s mostly incurred by riding your bike through the kind of wet and cruddy street conditions that are so commonplace up here. You want to keep an especially sharp eye on rust in the following places: • Your chain (which may turn brown or black rather than the normally orange rust color).

• Your gears, or fixed/single speed cog.

• Your brakes, particularly within the braking mechanism’s main joints.

• Your frame (particularly if you have a non-steel frame).

Extreme rust build-up in any of those places can spell disaster for you while riding. Make sure to replace any rusted components ASAP, as rusted out chains and brakes have a tendency to fail catastrophically.

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april 8 -21

JUSTIN SENGLY

Not only is The Wake taking on the 30 Days of Biking challenge this April, but we're blogging about it too! Check out witty commentary, pro tips, biking events, guest bloggers, AND A NEW BIKE GIF EVERY DAY.

get with it @ wakemag.org/blogs

Brakes are Important Part of what makes bikes so much cooler than longboards, scooters, and all other college transportation devices is the highly efficient braking. Well, in theory at least. Most kids around the SuperBlock be ridin’ around on hooptys with worn out, squeaky break pads. Don’t let this be you!

Ya never know when you might actually need them to—ya know—stop.

Check the action of your brakes by lifting your front wheel off the ground and spinning it forwards. Then, apply your front brake lever and see what happens. Lots of squeak means your brake pads are out of alignment, you can adjust most of those with the right sized Allen wrench. The pads should be able to contact the braking surface of the rim at the exact same time and angle. Also check the pads to see if they’re worn out.

The Bounce Test This one is by far the easiest and most fun step, but it only works if you have full tires (like in step three). Pick up your bike by the handlebars until the front wheel is a solid foot or two off the ground. Now, drop it and listen. Are there any odd rattles or creaks from something about to fall off? No? Great! Let’s move on. If you do encounter lots of rattling, repeat this step and try to tighten up the loose pieces.

See the people in this picture? They were out in the pouring rain in order to get you the super legit cover photo that you saw on this issue. Shout out to Beth Ireland, Tara Mrachek, and Claire Manecke for being total badasses. People like them are the reason Minneapolis is the #1 bike city in the world.

So even if it rains every day in April, hop on your bike and hit the streets. You won’t regret it.

Lube ‘er UP A well-oiled chain and set of components make your bike a happy bike. Try not to use industrial aerosol lubes like WD40, they tend to get gross really quick and won’t really protect your chain all that much. For a best case scenario option, I really like Rock’n’Roll Lubrication’s Gold lube. It’s almost completely weather proof, really easy on your bike, and extremely versatile.

That being said, most people don’t have that kind of money to spend on lube, and Tri-Flow makes a nice, cheap backup plan.

And if you’re one of those too-cool-for school cats who rides their fixed gear brakeless, you should pay EXTRA special attention to your drivetrain’s health. After all, if you’re trusting your life to your chain, it had better be a good one!

www.wakemag.org

13.

Sound & Vision

Who run the world? Bey.

Everyone else can step to the left, to the left

sing and it still has almost one million views on YouTube.

We are supposed to believe that Beyoncé is famous for her singing voice, but the cult of Beyoncé seems to have less to do with her music, and more to do with what she represents. To a lot of girls around the world, including me, Beyoncé Knowles is a symbol of female empowerment, and frankly, I don’t see anything wrong with that. It’s about time that one of the major cultural figures we worship isn’t a privileged white man.

By Grace Birnstengel

From Destiny’s Child to Sasha Fierce—Beyoncé Knowles has been at the forefront of the pop culture eye since the early ‘80s, but in 2013 her fanbase has become more of a cult than anything.

This has been a busy year for Queen Bey. Destiny’s Child reunited at her Super Bowl halftime performance, she lipsynched her way through the National Anthem at President Obama’s inauguration, and she released a documentary consisting mainly of talking to her MacBook. Only Beyoncé Knowles can get booked for that many big events without releasing an album for two years.

The cult of Beyoncé is most apparent on the Internet through social networks. One quick Twitter search of “Queen Beyoncé” gives way to thousands of tweets such as, “I wonder how Beyoncé feels about being queen of the world,” “Proud member of our queen’s #BeyHive… love you Beyoncé,” and “remember when someone was like ‘beyonce is coming to my country in 2 months’ n i was like lmao ur not worthy enough 2 see the queen perform.” Fans around the globe are simply crazy in love (last bad Beyoncé pun, I promise).

Even Microsoft Word is onto the following—it corrects Beyonce to Beyoncé knowing that a sophisticated girl needs that accented letter “e.” Also, Knowles is not underlined with a red squiggle, meaning Word recognizes Knowles as a legitimate English word. Why does my last name get underlined? I’m not Beyoncé, that’s why.

It’s about time that one of the major cultural figures we worship isn’t a privileged white man.

Don’t think for a second that Beyoncé doesn’t know about or shies away from her title as queen. She does the opposite: she owns it.

Have you seen the music video for “Bow Down”? She is seen in some royal getup that one of Henry the Eighth’s wives would wear. In the video, Knowles doesn’t even open her mouth to

14.

april 8 - 21

Why does my last name get underlined? I’m not Beyoncé, that’s why.

a part of a woman’s brand? Bey’s lyrics aren’t intended to portray her as some super-human force (although I think she might be one of those…). Instead, these lyrics show that she is, indeed, a human. Like all of us, she wants attention, she wants to be desired, and yes, she even curses.

My point comes down to this: Beyoncé Knowles doesn’t put out the most impressive music in the world, and no, she is not perfect by any means—but the fact that young men and women have turned “cultish” over such a powerful, progressive, and proud black woman rather than a robotically constructed boy band or a cracked-out rock star makes me believe Beyoncé is deserving of the praise and pedestal-putting.

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding her new song, “Bow Down,” including criticism for self-involved lyrics and blah, blah, blah. Ultra-conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh joined the nag on Beyoncé on the basis of her “giving up on women empowerment and advising women to put up with anything because she got married to a rich guy.” First of all, since when does Rush Limbaugh talk about pop-culture?

Did he run out of racial slurs already?

Second, why are we asking the most sexist man in America for his opinion on Beyoncé?

Tyra Banks wannabe and talk show host Wendy Williams also chimed in on the Beyoncé hate train, saying, “If you have to say ‘bow down,’ then there’s no need to bow down.

It’s like if you call yourself a diva, then you’re not really a diva. There’s certain things that don’t need to be said. If she wanted to say something slick, she could have just done a verse on a Jay-Z album.”

As a fellow successful and empowered woman, one would think that Wendy would want to promote the independence and self-love that Beyoncé upholds, and as far as Jay-Z goes, we all know who wears the pants in his marriage. If anything, Jay-Z should do a verse on Beyoncé’s album.

Here’s the deal. When Bey sings “Bow down, bitches,” she’s not just saying it for herself. She wants you to say it with her, girls. It’s about damn time someone bowed down to us. And besides, men rap and sing constantly about their fame, money, and possessions, but suddenly when a woman admits she’s the shit, we go berserk? Why can’t self-love and promotion be

AIMEE BOUCHARD

Sound & Vision

The Return of Micranots

A brief history of the legendary duo

By Ethan Lauer Having just re-released their 13-year-old album, Obelisk Movements, digitally through Rhymesayers and performing at 7th St. Entry, the Twin Cities rap veteran duo of I Self Devine and DJ Kool Akiem, together known as Micranots, are reasserting themselves as a force to be reckoned with in Twin Cities hip-hop. It’s been almost 10 years since they broke up to do their own things, so naturally this seemingly spontaneous reunion has generated a lot of buzz and excitement among local hip-hop aficionados. One must first know something about the history of this group in order to truly appreciate their old music and potential for new material, so here’s some background on what Micranots are all about.

to Atlanta shortly after to release their first album, Return of the Travellahs, in 1996 on cassette only. Atlanta rapper Bigg Jus, who was just starting up 321 Records, signed them quickly, but the label dissipated before Micranots were able to release any more music. However, Bigg Jus decided to start another label called Sub Verse, which released the second Micranots album, Obelisk Movements, in 2000. Due to dissatisfaction with the promotion and lack of initial success of the album, which Micranots attributed to poor label management, they decided to take their talents to Rhymesayers, where they had lots of close previous connections. It was through Rhymesayers that they re-released Return of the Travellahs in 2003, and their final album, The Emperor and the Assassin, in 2004, shortly before breaking up.

Before Micranots formed, I Self Devine was in a rap group called Dynospectrum with Slug (of Atmosphere), Musab, and Mr. Gene Poole, all of whom would later on be instrumental in the creation of Rhymesayers. ISD later teamed up with DJ Kool Akiem to form Micranots, moving

American Art With a Moroccan Edge A glimpse into the art of Hanan Sharifa

cultural and familial expectations she must emulate. This is seen in her artwork as she explores self, identity, and a sense of belonging.

Before starting a piece, Sharifa takes pictures of her friends and family, seeking contemporary elements. She recalls her memories of Morocco and her family, and views pictures of Northern African women. Her color palette relates to these memories, coloring her works with faded blues and pinks, yellows, and

By Rachel Long

Hanan Sharifa is a local artist attending the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, where she’s earning a BFA in Painting and Drawing. The main mediums Sharifa uses are oil paints and conte charcoal, but she also enjoys printmaking, specifically screen-printing. Her biggest draw to this medium is its reproducibility, unlike painting in which each piece is unique.

Sharifa’s art is influenced by her native Moroccan heritage and their traditional lifestyle. Because Sharifa was born in America, her artwork contrasts life in a contemporary, first world country with the lives of her relatives living in an indigenous, third world country. “I juxtapose [Moroccan] women in contrast to contemporary women,” Sharifa says in her artist statement. She explains how being disconnected from her ancestry makes it difficult to understand certain

HANAN SHARIFA

Since then, I Self Divine has had a successful solo career, releasing Self Destruction in 2005 and The Sound of Low Class Amerika in 2012, and playing at local hip-hop festival Soundset in 2008, 2009, and 2012. DJ Kool Akiem continued to do progressive and avant-garde production for artists such as MF Doom. Undoubtedly, the experiences undergone by each artist will influence future music they may put out, giving Micranots the potential to transform and revitalize the Minneapolis hip-hop community and spread their DAN FORKE talents beyond.

maroons. Sharifa is also interested in patterning and utilizes motifs from Moroccan textiles, rugs, and clothes in her pieces. In a new series, she incorporates weaving into her artwork and its presentation. It is a “reflection on the significance of looms and weaving for the females of [Moroccan] culture” while rethinking the traditional canvas, she said.

A piece of Sharifa’s is on display in the Made at MCAD juried exhibition that’s open until April 21 in the MCAD main gallery. The show’s artwork had been submitted by students and chosen by two jurors from the art world. Sharifa’s latest oil painting explores time lapse by depicting the same subject doing two different things. In her artist statement, she reveals that her recent pieces create an altered reality for viewers by recalling a “fleeting memory of a place and time that is simultaneously familiar and unfamiliar.”

This summer Sharifa is interning as a Gallery Assistant in Germany for the Kunstverein Fellowship Program, a nonprofit organization that focuses on making art available in communities for educational purposes. She said she hopes to use this experience to “create relationships with artists from all over the world” and to immerse herself in the learning opportunities that come with travel. You can check out Sharifa’s work in an upcoming two-week group exhibition at Stevens Square Center for the Arts opening April 27.

www.wakemag.org

15.

JUSTIN SENGLY

By Courtney Bade

EX NU NS

q&&+A

They’re real loud and they’ve got some big fucking amps. Ex Nuns is Minneapolis’ latest post-punk noise band after starting to play together only a little over a year ago. They started out with the intention of being a shoegaze band, and ended up tough and noisy with subtle nuances of metal. They’re starting to garner a fair amount of attention around the city and they recently opened up for the Copenhagen-based noise band Iceage at The Triple Rock. How rad is that? As homage to everything good that’s going on with these guys, The Wake met up with Ex Nuns to talk about their upcoming 7-inch, their major (and might I say fantastic) influences, and how much they hate each other…

www.wakemag.org

17.

Ian: Yeah, you certainly feel like that at points. You know if you play a shitty show, you’re like, “Gah, what am I doing?” But then at the same rate, right now at the phase that we’re in, we just want to perfect and master our craft. Play as many shitty house shows as possible so when you do have shows that really

The Wake: Do you ever worry about getting burnt out, having redundant sets, or getting bored, considering the number of shows you play?

Jeff: It’s been really crazy, a lot of fun. We’ve been learning a lot. Like we’re a relatively new band and it’s really awesome that people have been asking us to play actually. It’s really overwhelming too. We’re just trying to get our name out. And we want to learn how to play together as a band. I feel like we’re becoming a more real band everyday. It’s really awesome.

The Wake: You’ve had a bunch of shows already this month, haven’t you?

The Wake: Could you talk a little bit about how you got involved with 25 Diamonds? That’s a pretty new label isn’t it?

Ian: It’s our buddy Ian Smith. I think we’ll be his ninth release.

He’s done Teenage Moods, he’s doing stuff from all over the country, and even an artist from Australia. He’s doing pretty much just underground acts. He just approached us and liked what we’re doing and wanted to put it out.

Joram: Eh, kinda. We had songs recorded and we didn’t have anything physical done or even really online. So we took the songs that we had done and put them up under an inside joke EP name (Piss/Shit Mountain EP) based upon where we wrote all the songs. But then our friend Ian, who runs this label called 25 Diamonds, wanted to work with us so we just recently—a couple of weeks ago—sent out some masters and some art for pressing stuff and that should be done around June. So we’ll have a physical 7-inch.

The Wake: You released an EP back in October, right?

Ian Littleson (Vocals and Guitar): We were sort of at wits’ end about the band name and we had a thousand different shitty ideas.

Joram Livengood (Bass): We used to be called Young Blood.

Jeff Truckenmiller (Drums): Terrible.

Ian: So actually, I started flipping through my iPod tracks and there’s the band called Some Girls who’s actually Wesley Eisold from Cold Cave, who we saw the night we started the band. Ex Nuns is a Some Girls track.

Joram: “Ex Nuns/Dead Dogs.”

Ian: So we just liked the way it sounded and we love that band.

We love what he does.

The Wake: How exactly did you come up with your band name?

Jeff: Personally, my influences are straight up Nirvana because they’re my favorite band of all time. As far as the way I approach my drums, I don’t drum anything like Nirvana necessarily, but it’s what I attempt. It’s my goal. But I guess that, and as far as guitar work, what I like most about what these guys do is blending in noisy sonic elements, and then really subtle metal stuff, and then straight up rock and roll.

It sounds like all my favorite bands, and it’s really cool [that] we all have a lot in common musically. It reminds me of all my favorite bands when I was a teenager, and now it’s like A Place To Bury Strangers.

Ian: I’m more from a pop background. I love really catchy

The Wake: Could you talk a little bit about your influences?

Joram: You’re telling me [laughs].

Jeff: Be the change that you want to see, right? I mean, we pretty much sound like our favorite bands. We love Motorhead, A Place to Bury Strangers, really loud, noisy stuff. My goal personally is to play the most intense noisey set that we can.

We like everything from pop music, you know. But we are what we want to be, and that is what it is.

Ian: And of all the shows we’ve played in the last year, we’ve probably fit maybe two of the bills—at best. But that’s what you gotta do.

Joel Eckerson (Guitar): When we started I thought we were going to start a shoegaze band actually. That never happened.

The stuff that we started out with was really slow and very clean, and it kind of sucked. We weren’t good at it. Or maybe we were, but we’re not doing it anymore.

Ian: We just got pissed.

Joel: Yeah, we just got angry. Honestly, I think a lot of it represents our relationship with each other. We all live together and we see each other way too much, and we kind of take out a lot of our anger with the loud amps against each other. Ian doesn’t wear earplugs, so that’s why I play with a lot of speakers, because I want to hurt him. Yeah. Just everything.

The Wake: There really aren’t a lot of post-punk noise bands around Minneapolis.

Ian: Yeah, I mean, I’m not fucking Chris Martin [laughs]. You know we’re noisey and that’s just how we want it. I don’t know—I want the vocals to be an integral part of the music, never like this frontman Axl Rose fucking thing. We’re a band, you know? It’s 25 percent all the way and that’s sort of how I’ve always approached the vocals, just as another instrument, another tool to create melody and to create layers in a sound.

The Wake: The vocals aren’t really at the forefront of all the instruments in any of your songs, unlike a vast majority of bands. How does that affect your songwriting or lyric writing process?

matter, you can nail it.

Joel: My amp is a 6x12. It’s an old Sunn. It’s like a crate. It’s way too big, but I like it. And so I don’t really care what everybody else says.

Ian: I play a 4x12 Sunn Cabinet, because I’m way more reasonable than Joel is.

Joram: And I play an 8x10 Ampeg, which is outrageous. I’m pretty tired of it weighing 165 pounds.

Jeff: And I don’t have an amp [laughs].

The Wake: How big are your amps exactly?

tunes. So that, combined with all the influences everybody else brings—you know, I like these dissonant, aggressive, thrashing songs, but at the same rate I also love pop song structures. So it’s got this nasty tonality to it, but it could be a radio-friendly pop song if you turn down the fuzz and chill out the drums.

Joram: For me, this is the first band that I’ve ever played bass in. I come from a background of playing guitar in hardcore and metal bands, so I guess the stuff that I write for bass is based upon what I would write for guitar. Slides and hammerons, but I try to follow what Ian does with his guitar riffs and pull down the structure of the song, match Jeff, try to get a good rhythm and beat going. Tone-wise— Joel: R&B Joram: Yeah, R&B. Ian: We listen to a lot of Wu Tang Clan.

Joram: Wu Tang Clan. The Fugees. Nah, I guess the only bass player that I’m really into is Brian Cook from Russian Circles, and I don’t think I sound like him, but he runs a bunch of overdrive and distortion and I just think it sounds sweet. So as far as my one overdrive pedal, that was the influence for that.

Joel: For me, I really like Oliver Ackermann from A Place To Bury Strangers and Dick Dale. And I don’t sound like either of those guys, but I like them.

Ian: We listen to a lot of Billy Idol too. We love Billy Idol. Yeah, if I had to take on the persona of one frontman, it’d be him.

Jeff: Generation X! Amazing.

Joram: I guess in the end it’s just an amalgamation of everything we like, and we try to make it work together and we do our best to work with each other, and really make it sound like a song and not just a bunch of parts all crammed together.

Joel: When we first started out I didn’t even want to play aggressive music. Like we had some kind of aggressive songs that we strayed away from, but I wanted to play like—Raveonettes or Slowdive. Actually, I think a big thing Jeff and I wanted to do was Slowdive-y stuff. Nineties shoegaze is what we kind of listened to a lot of. And Galaxie 500.

Jeff: We’re both huge fans. I was actually supposed to play guitar in this band and my favorite guitar player of all time is Neil Halstead from Slowdive. But you know, things change.

I didn’t want to play guitar anymore, Ian didn’t want to play drums. I didn’t think I’d be a good frontman, I thought Ian would be a better frontman, so we just switched instruments.

Sound & Vision

612 Brew: What a Quality Tap Room Should Be

Quality beer and Minnesota Nice are alive and well

By Sean McSteen

almost hidden from view, 612 Brew offers both excellent craft beer and a well-lit, open environment. The taproom is decorated with an original Adam Turman mural—an artist who seems to be the main artist representative of beer, biking, and Minneapolis—as the focal point of the room (aside from the bar of course). Wanting to taste and see everything 612 had to offer, I ordered myself a flight of the four beers 612 has and sat in a place to observe everything. The room itself is one large, well-lit area with a mix of tables and one large L-shaped bar bordering the open room, creating a welcoming feel and giving a near perfect representation of Minnesota Nice.

As the microbrew scene has exploded over the recent years in Minnesota, especially in Minneapolis, smaller local breweries have faced growing competition as craft beer has become the beverage in demand. With so many options for great beer within a short radius of any location in Minneapolis, breweries and taprooms must create quality beers as well as an environment that is culturally hip in order to stand out amongst the increasing supply of quality locations to enjoy a well-crafted beer.

The beer selection of 612 Brew, though limited to four selections, provides a well-rounded range of tastes. While my favorite beer of the flight was by far the Zero Hour, an American Black Ale with hints of chocolate and coffee tones, the most unique beer available at 612 is definitely the Mary Ann, a ginger lager. With a unique mix of the full flavor one would expect from a lager and a refreshing spice from the freshly grated ginger used in the brewing process, the only downside is the 4.1 percent ABV.

612 Brew in Minneapolis seems to have the right idea when it comes to creating an intriguing and popular local favorite. Located at the intersection of Broadway and Central,

As taprooms and microbreweries continue to open in neighborhoods around the

Back In the Throes of Game of Thrones Gettin’ all medieval on your Sunday primetime

By Brian Pricco

On a typical Sunday night, most college students cozy up around the TV and watch Girls while ostentatiously comparing it to their own dull midwestern existences. To most of us, the “white girl problems” lifestyle of Hannah in Brooklyn trumps most other living situations, especially as 20-somethings. Though many will go to bed in tears grasping that Girls ended a few weeks ago, another sexually frustrated, angsty show is back to quench our thirst until next year: Game of Thrones.

The discourse-filled season three premiere sadly left my eyes thirsty and my mind satiated. Not until the very last moments of the episode do we get even a little action and some special effects. Instead, throughout the episode we are taken to various snowy and sunny lands where kings, queens, and prostitutes talk and talk some more about their strategies to

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kill or conquer other kings, queens, and prostitutes. However, as in seasons one and two, all that talking produces not only a lot of thrill and adventure, but also some gorgeous and gloriously hairy medieval eye candy.

If you love Charlie in Girls, Jon Snow, the bastard son of Ned Stark is your man. They even share the same luscious, dark locks. In this third season, Snow is still rocking the lovely beard and a tantalizing wave in his hair. During the one and only scene he appears in at the beginning of the episode, he acts just as hotheaded as he has been every other season.

Imagine yourself bringing him home to your parents. He’d most likely slug your cousin within the first ten minutes of talking to him. It’s a good thing the modern woman (and gay male) loves an assertive man. Unfortunately, all us fan-

metro area, it will be interesting to observe which ones have both the quality of product and business knowhow to thrive amongst the growing market for craft beer. And while most of these taprooms will always attract a certain amount of business from local patrons, it is evident that 612 Brew will continue to stand up straight, head held high, instilling a reputation for itself in the world of quality craft beer, and emulates the warm embrace of Minnesota culture.

girls will have to wait, because he is currently off the market.

It seems Snow is destined to hook up with the wild huntress he met north of the wall last season, Ygritte.

…all that talking produces not only a lot of thrill and adventure, but also some gorgeous and gloriously hairy medieval eye candy.

In comparison to Jon Snow, Robb Stark, the new king of the North, may take the figurative crown. With a similar look to his half-brother, Snow—perhaps because of their fictional, common DNA—Stark exudes power. He honestly would make almost anyone scream for an arranged marriage. Yet, all hopes for future queendom are lost since he betrayed his ally last season by marrying a sassy field nurse. Who knows, perhaps Robb has a thing for bloody hands and feet.

Game of Thrones may not be as iconic as Girls—it’s much more gritty and “thrillful,” and most likely does not shower as often. Thankfully, it provides us with a fantasy. We hope to one day fill a hall and, with our mead mugs in hand, say cheers to another great season of Game of Thrones and another plentiful flock of fine men.

Sound & Vision

UDENTS T S S E I D U T S M FIL WITH A T S E F R I E H T REBOOT ONAL FLAIR. I T A S I V O R P M I , NEW ck

By Zach McCormi

It’s 5am. You have a 15-page paper due in a little under 6 hours with full citations, and you’re pretty sure your Prof is really looking to chew you out on this one. The pressure seems insurmountable, but somewhere within you lies the strength to push on, and you summon it, bashing out something so brilliant that you’re almost unsure it came from your own head. A lot of students rely on these kinds of clutch moments of last-minute inspiration to skate by another semester, but what if you put it to creative use?

Unlike a traditional film-fest, which tends to be biased towards filmmakers with the capital to invest in equipment, and the time for more sprawling, impressive projects, the 48 Hour Festival promises to be a quick and dirty good time that’s accessible to all skill levels. “I want to see some weird stuff,” grinned Schneider, who will be also be acting as a judge of the competition along with Johnson, “I think it’s important that they don’t take it too seriously. It’s an opportunity to try something out, especially for a lot of people who wouldn’t normally do it, in kind of a low risk environment.”

might have an element like ‘at one minute in, somebody has to slap someone in the face’.”

The organizers intend these parameters to be relatively benign, though, and hope that they foster a more improvisational, informal style of filmmaking that alleviates the natural advantage of more seasoned directors. Johnson wants her contestants to keep in mind that “there’s no time to hesitate about anything. Everyone is just making decisions and going.”

Unlike a traditional film-fest, the 48 Hour Festival promises to be a quick and dirty good time that’s accessible to all skill levels.

Your steely resolve would make you a perfect candidate for the University’s First Annual 48 Hour Film Festival, which begins on April 12th. The event, organized by the Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature Student Association (CSCLSA) and spearheaded by Film Studies majors Raven Johnson and Maria Angelina Schneider, is taking a turn away from the Sundance-style format of previous years. In it’s place is the 48 Hour Festival, which aims to be more inclusive than previous years by forcing participants to adhere to a strict deadline and work around several impromptu challenges, that should “level the playing field,” according to Schneider.

Team sign-up takes place on the 12th, and lonely filmmakers can utilize a Google Doc on the event’s Facebook page to link up with other talent to form their own crews. After what I can only hope will be a starting-shot from a cap-gun, the teams will be off, and have a exactly two days to plan, rehearse, shoot, and edit a completely new short film. Before you even think about trying to cheat, Raven and Maria have a couple of curveballs on the way. Teams will have to adhere to a random genre, explained Raven, “So you might get a western, you might get a buddy cop comedy, the idea is just to throw you off or challenge you. Then you’ll pull a random prop, and then at one point in your movie we

So, if you’re an actor, writer, producer, director, or technician looking for a new challenge, or maybe just a movie buff who’s always wanted to enter a film festival at the U, stop on down to Nicholson Hall, room 135 on Friday the 12th.

A complete list of rules, and a link to that Google Doc is available at the “1st Annual 48 Hour Film Festival” Facebook page [linked from our page]. And remember: any films glorifying the exploits and staunch professionalism of The Wake Magazine are totally shoe-ins for the win.

www.wakemag.org

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3REVIEWS The Host

Spring breakers

Prepare to have your mind blown, in a non-pleasant sort of way. The

Don’t see this movie if you’re a feminist. Just don’t. You’re going to

Host, Stephenie Meyer’s second attempt at a successful franchise,

be distracted by the “male gaze” or whatever. It’s no fun seeing a

ditched the vampires and werewolves, and instead invents a futuris-

movie if you already know what you’re going to take away from it.

tic world that has been completely taken over by aliens. As humans

That being said, for everyone else, Spring Breakers is pop pastiche—

are all but extinct, the movie is told from the perspective of an alien

“lit with skittles”—that ultimately transcends all that it references.

named Wanda, who is inhabiting Melanie, who also happens to still

It’s worth seeing if only for James Franco’s cornrowed rendition of

be alive in her head. If you aren’t confused yet, just wait for it. On

“Everytime” by Britney Spears, set to images of girls in unicorn ski

BY tyler lauer

By Kelcie McKenney

top of the mind games of who is who, there is a love triangle, or square, or parallelogram shape thingy between four of the characters; Melanie is in love with Jared, Wanda is in love with Jared, but Ian loves Wanda, and Wanda loves Ian too.

WAVves Afraid of heights

BY Matthew Cermak On 2009’s almost eponymous Wavvves, Wavves singer Nathan Wil-

Um What?

liams complained that he had no car, no money, and no girlfriend As a reader of the book, the movie made sense to me, though it

while singing “No Hope Kids.” But after a massively positive blog

strays from the original plot. But if a Host newbie were to see this

reception, a worldwide tour, and becoming Best Coast cutie Bethany

movie, they would be so lost their head might explode. The open-

Cosentino’s one-and-only, Williams declared his lordship on 2010’s

ing of the film did a poor job of explaining what was going on, and

King of the Beach. Following all of his success, Williams offers us

the added confusion of people dressed in all white running around

Afraid of Heights, a signal that he’s preoccupied with fears of falling

in shiny, metallic cars didn’t help either. The cinematography was

back down to Earth.

bright and colorful, but the dialogue was choppy and forced. Overall, I was not impressed. I had adored this book, but all Hollywood did

To ensure he won’t tumble, Williams’ sound has gone through a

was stomp out all the original metaphors and underlying messages

metamorphosis since 2009. Wavves is barely recognizable from the

and spit out an ooey-gooey romance aimed directly at tweens. Why

noise-slathered, lo-fi, public bathroom-quality recordings that were

Hollywood had to ruin it, I don’t know, but overall The Host is one

part of his trademark on earlier work. He has also grown tremen-

movie I would not suggest going to.

dously as a songwriter, although his lyrics are still quite juvenile. On Afraid Of Heights, Williams’ lyrics are darker and more self-loathing than ever, but don’t reflect a willingness to improve his writing. Despite all his self-criticism on King of the Beach, the lyrics still largely focus on Williams’ old standards: the sun, the beach, weed, demons, and of course, weed-demons.

For all his self-criticism, the songs certainly don’t all sound the same. In fact, what’s surprising about Afraid of Heights is the wide range of musical influences that Williams draws from. There are nods to Pixies, Iggy Pop, and even the Misfits. Though after releasing “I Wanna Meet Dave Grohl” last year on the Life Sux EP, it isn’t especially surprising that Nirvana’s influence looms the largest of all.

The chorus of “Dog” is reminiscent of Iggy Pop’s “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” but Wavves seems quite lame in comparison to the Stooges classic. Though even with such well-traveled influences leading the direction, Wavves still manages to give off a sound all their own. It doesn’t have all the smarmy charm of King of the Beach, but fans will find plenty more to love on Afraid of Heights. Williams shows no sign of falling anytime soon.

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masks and “DTF” sweatpants carrying shotguns.

Director Harmony Korine described the inspiration for the film as stemming from spring break imagery that he had been collecting for a number of years, so it seems fitting that what works best in the film is the pure visual experience. Spring Breakers is like a more connected and coherent version of his directorial feature, Gummo; each scene being a unique performance while the intricacies of plot and character sometimes fall by the wayside.

The aspirations of this film aren’t exactly Oscar-worthy, and I mean that in the best sense. Korine doesn’t pander to whoever voted Argo in as Best Picture. Spring Breakers contains none of the stuffiness that comes with overwrought monologues and character development. Rather than pushing a message, Korine succeeds in making the film like “a physical experience” or a “drug trip,” so leave the pretentiousness at the door, OK? Don’t enter the theater like a classroom. Enter it like it’s a lazer tag arena/Day Glo concert. Letting the film affect you rather than trying to affect yourself on it will leave you more satisfied at the end.

UPCOMINGEVENTS TUESDAY, 4/9 Noah Gunderson with Denison Witmer 7th Street Entry / 7:30pm / 18+

WEDNESDAY, 4/10 B. Dolan with Toki Wright, Mike Mictlan Triple Rock / 8pm / 18+

THURSDAY, 4/11 Matt Wilson and John Munson with Chris Koza Aster Cafe / 9pm / All Ages

WEDNESDAY, 4/17 Now, Now with The Lonely Forest, Prissy Clerks Triple Rock / 7:30pm / 18+

FRIDAY, 4/12 Zoo Animal with Sun Gods to Gamma Rays Icehouse / 10:30pm / 21+

THURSDAY, 4/18 Zeus with Sleep Study, Wild Cathedral Triple Rock / 8pm / 18+

Turquoise Jeep with Tha Clerb, Kids Like Us, Crunchy Kids

FRIDAY, 4/19

Triple Rock / 9pm / 18+

Ex Nuns with Mystery Date, Rabbit Holes Cause / 9pm / 21+

SATURDAY, 4/13

Mystery Date with Narco States, Toxic Shrews, Dimensionals, Ugly Motors Hexagon Bar/ 9pm / 21+

SATURDAY, 4/20

BoomBox with Alicia Steele

RECORD STORE DAY!!

Icehouse / 10:30pm / 21+

RSD Party: Greg Grease, 4onthefloor, Frankie Lee, Black Angels, Dave King Trucking

TUESDAY, 4/16

Electric Fetus / 11am / All Ages

Purling Hiss with Hollow Boys 7th Street Entry / 7:30pm / 18+

www.wakemag.org

21.

Obituaries

@KARAHAKANSON @KARAHAKANSON

@ALEXLAUER

Instant Images.

Graham crackers are not as cool.

Fucking Instagram. by: the design team

@TARAXCAMILLE

@TARAXCAMILLE

@GRACEBIRNSTENGEL

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@ALEXLAUER

@ALEXLAUER

Wake Show Pictures PHOTOS BY JUSTIN SENGLY AND KARA HAKANSON

HAPPY BDAY WAKE!

www.wakemag.org

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wake bake

Want to get involved with the Wake student magazine?

Well it’s the LAST meeting of the semester so GET HERE Monday April 22th @ 8:30 p.m. Nicholson Hall 125 Looking For: writers, photographers, illustrators, videographers, web designers, R. Kelly fans, you email alauer@wakemag.org with any questions

HAPPY 420! from your friends @ THE WAKE