The Wake Issue 5 Fall 2009

Space Mining

10

Parkour

12

Bed Bugs / Pawlenty / and more 02 – 08 december 2009

NOW HIRING!

ALSO SEEKING: –Photos of Science Classroom Building –Poetry and Short Stories

YOUR AD HERE CHEAP RATES, THOUSANDS OF READERS CONTACT BALPERT@WAKEMAG.ORG

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Editorial Editor-in-Chief Ali Jaafar

Mind’s Eye Editor John Oen

Managing Editor Sage Dahlen

Sound & Vision Editor Eric Brew

Cities Editor Trey Mewes

Humanities Editor Ross Hernandez

Voices Editor Matt Miranda

Bastard Ol’ Dirty (Jonathan Knisely)

Contents of stomach: -Coffee -Undetermined quantity of candy left in the office -Butterflies

Production Production Manager Ben Alpert

Photography Editor Ben Lansky

Graphic Designers Ben Alpert, Tarin Gessert, Jonathan Knisely

Art Director Keit Osadchuk

Distributors Ben Alpert, Maggie Foucault, Matt Miranda, John Oen, Pammy Ronnei

Copy Editors Katie Green, Brady Nyhus

There is another way to read that list: -Sleep deprivation -Sweet tooth -Anxiety I think I am a college student.

But that’s not the point. Here’s what’s in my head: I want to know who you are, reader. I want to know why The Wake is important to you. I want to see some part of you reflected in the pages, whether that is through your identifying with, disputing, or getting excited by something we’ve printed here.

Business Business Manager Colleen Powers

This Issue Cover Artist Angela Frisk Illustrators Angela Afrisk, Danielle Attinella, Meher Khan, Lucy Michell, Rachel Mosey, Natalie Olbrantz, Guy Wagner Photographers Meredith Hart, Jonathan Knisely, Alice Vislova

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

Contributing Writers Cory Aaland, Andrew Bergstrom, Eric Brew, Sage Dahlen, Abby Faulkner, Maggie Foucault, Andrew Granger, Chris Heck, Ross Hernandez, Sofiya Hupalo, Jonathan Knisely, Rachel Laramy, Andrew Larkin, Kaitlin Lange, Liz Lorge, Raghav Mehta, McCormick, Tony Morimoto, Matt Noyes, John Oen, Colleen Powers, Zach Trevor Scholl

8:5 ©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.

So, I have a challenge for you: Tell me about what’s happening in your head. If you choose to accept, you can leave a comment on the website (wakemag.org), send something through the mail, write an article, draw a comic strip, or do whatever else it is you do to express yourself. If you’d rather not tell me, I’ll understand. Just be sure to share your thoughts with somebody.

Worst-case scenario? You might end up with a stomach full of butterflies. I can tell you that it really isn’t so bad.

Sage Dahlen Managing Editor

The Wake Student Magazine 1313 5th St. SE #331 Minneapolis, MN 55414 (612) 379-5952 • www.wakemag.org 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 aJAAFAR@wakemag.org.

voices

Trying to Pin Down

by Matt Noyes

rachel mosey

04

02 – 08 december 2009

voices

T

he desire to enter the glaring heat of the political spotlight and public perception often morphs into an instrument of self-interest. Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty has been actively chasing the attention of the national media with hopes to build greater rapport for a potential run for the Republican ticket in 2012. Unfortunately for Pawlenty, the latest stream of press has been situated in the courtroom rather than the steps of the capitol.

Pawlenty is currently facing a lawsuit for dubiously cutting state funding last spring by using his “unallotment” powers to balance the 2010-11 budget. The lawsuit was originally filed by six lower-income, elderly citizens who were directly affected by Pawlenty’s cuts to a diet program they depend on.

The case, which is currently pending in the Ramsey County District Court, has seen greater attention as the House Rules Committee recently voted to file a friend of the court brief critical of Pawlenty’s actions.

The $5.3 million in funding Pawlenty cut using the loophole is a small piece of the nearly $2.7 billion on the chopping block.

As the dollar amount appears unsubstantial in the overall budget, the real issue is the integrity of the state legislature and, subsequently, the interests of the Minnesota public whose voice was removed from the process. The constitutional roles of government are clearly outlined. It is not the Governor’s job to set the budget, and by intervening, Pawlenty overstepped his bounds and took authority away from the legislature and, indirectly, Minnesotans. Those most directly affected by the cuts are the elderly and the young who rely on a state stipend for special dietary needs.

Pawlenty and his legal team appear to be confident that the suit will have little leverage in the courts as unallotment issues have been dismissed in the past. But, for many, this case takes precedence due to its timing and the passive executive nature of Pawlenty’s decision to exclude the legislature.

With cuts coming at a pivotal time in health budgeting both on a state as well as a national level, it’s clear that Pawlenty is attempting to burnish his own image as a strong fiscal conservative. On the same evening as the health care reform bill was being approved by the U.S. House, a potential leap toward providing affordable health care for millions of currently uninsured Americans, Pawlenty was taking his tirade against the bill on the road.

At the Republican Party of Iowa’s fundraising dinner on Saturday Nov. 7, Gov. Pawlenty carried on the current Republican trend of emphatically ranting against the Democrats’ proposed health care bill without offering any concrete alternatives. Nearly 700 Republican supporters gathered in Iowa to see if Pawlenty would officially announce his intent to run for the presidency in 2012. The GOP faithful in attendance were introduced to yet another conservative candidate with little to contribute to the debate besides criticism for the Obama administration.

Pawlenty has already announced that he would not seek another term as Governor of Minnesota, freeing himself from the need to moderate his stance to attract voters or compromise on issues.

In light of the potential that health care reform has for this country many high-profile conservatives have chosen to dismiss the bill as another example of President Obama and Democrats’ alleged attempts to inflate the government and deliver free handouts to an unfit public. In his speech to those gathered in Iowa, Pawlenty called the bill a product of “A party now on the other side, our competitors, that have embraced big government, big unions and big bailouts and they want to have the people believe that they’re for the common person, for the working person.” Pawlenty has cast himself as a working-class conservative from St. Paul, but his policies are falling short. He constantly opposes providing any aid to blue-collar Americans as he continues to support legislation that takes opportunities away from the lower- to middle-class Americans, especially those that could benefit from greater federal health care support.

Pawlenty has previously been portrayed as a man divided on health care, a critical conservative who doesn’t hide his dissatisfaction with Democrats’ proposals, labeling the reforms a “joke,” and charging that the Democrats have taken their focus off of creating jobs. On the flip side, he has shown that he is willing to compromise with Democrats, as he did when he supported a state insurance mandate and legislation to provide state-funded health care programs for children upon his election in 2006 (though he resisted any changes in the

2008 health-reform legislation). As the economic and political winds shift, so too does Pawlenty’s stance on health care.

In 2008 health-reform negotiations, lawmakers caught wind that Pawlenty would support a mandate for health insurance exchange that could potentially allow Minnesotans to connect with their best insurance options. The reform legislation also called for hospitals to start providing e-prescriptions, it set up payment reforms to aid public awareness of health care budgeting, offered alternative treatment methods, and called for a reduction in unnecessary tests and procedures. When the time came for the legislation session, Pawlenty backed out. The results were funding for civic improvements to make the public healthier and to take preventative measures against chronic diseases and obesity.

With all these measures set in place, little has changed in the status of Minnesota’s uninsured citizens. The programs follow the conservative trope of committing as many resources as possible while expecting the greatest possible results through convoluted paper strategies and little concrete direction or assistance.

As Tim Pawlenty continues to take his campaign on the road, many followers are beginning to question his intentions.

While apparently focused on hopes for a Republican nomination, Pawlenty has already announced that he would not seek another term as Governor of Minnesota, freeing himself from the need to moderate his stance to attract voters or compromise on issues that could skew his image away from the conservative camp he hopes to entertain. After his speech in Iowa, and in light of an upcoming speech in New Hampshire, which just so happens to be the site of the first presidential primary, the people of Minnesota should be wondering whether or not they are going to have a governor for the remainder of Pawlenty’s term.

Many political figures tend to “check out” as they make a push for another office, but the responsibility to the state and its citizens is something Pawlenty should keep in mind as he treks outside of the Midwest. With his image becoming the predominant factor in his policy making, Minnesotans are starting to get a more limpid image of what to expect from Tim Pawlenty the potential GOP candidate. Perhaps his current obligations in the courts will keep his attentions grounded in Minnesota a little bit longer.

www.wakemag.org

05

voices

There Is No “Me” in “Wii”

From Mass Media to Crass Media

By Abby Faulkner As a grumpy person with a predisposition toward being depressed, let me begin by expressing my love of escapism.

Whether upbeat, morose, bitter, or just strange; a good film, book, or record should spirit us away from the ordinary and deposit us in a place where we don’t have to deal with our own lives, if only for a short while. Likewise, good creations make us active participants in what we are watching/reading/hearing, and the very best is able to forge a connection between it and ourselves. When this happens, we’re able to walk away with the understanding (hopefully) that something meaningful has been added to our lives. Granted, there’s a lot of shit out there that we accidentally step in now and then, and sometimes we have a hell of a time cleaning it up.

That being said, I’ve been tracking in a lot of shit these days.

No other time in history have we witnessed such a decline in the creative autonomy and originality of mass culture. From the bloated CGI movie/video game mash-ups dominating the big screen, to the auto-tuned wasteland of the airwaves, it’s obvious that something has gone horribly wrong. Mass media has gone from being somewhat participatory to hypnotic; we can easily lean back and absorb without thinking, imagining or feeling anything at all. To make matters even worse, it’s entertainment without a true target audience; without engaging its audience on any nuanced or emotional level, the product can appeal to everyone, be marketed to and seen by anyone, and thus easily recoup those big-budget losses—even before the check is cut to the fast food or toy company underwriter.

By stripping away every last element of the real, the producers of today’s mass media have twisted the notion of escapism into a wholly unrecognizable, meaningless concept. I wanted to get away, but I didn’t want to go here.

From the bloated CGI movie/video game mash-ups dominating the big screen, to the auto-tuned wasteland of the airwaves, it’s obvious that something has gone horribly wrong.

Consider the stellar example of, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.

The film was released in early August of 2009 worldwide, following an extensive marketing campaign focused almost exclusive on Americans. I won’t waste much time describing the qualities of the film; anyone who wasn’t living in a cave last summer saw enough previews of G.I. Joe to know how gratuitously slick and computer-generated this film is. I didn’t need to see much more in order to read the writing on the wall. It’s violence without motivation, patriotism without emotion, and wild, jerking movement without consequential direction. It’s even worse when you think about the timing of its creation; frankly, it’s just irresponsible for anyone to be making anything, even a cheesy action flick, that strips all

06

02 – 08 december 2009

Meher khan

of the reality away from war. Big-budget war movies in this day and age detract from what needs to be understood by the entire public; war is a very real and current issue, taking far too many lives daily and costing too much money. With the “defense” budget as high as it is, it’s a wonder that the average dimwit sitting in the movie theater can even afford his popcorn. Don’t worry. I’m sure that the producers considered how rotten it is to glorify war right now, because the film makes a bizarrely misguided effort to be socially-conscious by mutating Joe into an super-buff, multicultural, genderintegrated corps of elite, globe-trotting commandos. Fuck. If this is all it takes to convince me that what I’m watching has contemporary political merit, I’m in a world of trouble.

Suffice it to say, the film opened to shitty reviews, but killed (pun intended) at the box office, grossing over $300 million worldwide. All in all, the movie’s success is easy to understand. The film poached a very old and beloved film meme— American soldiers at war—combined it with a historically successful line of toys, and marketed the hell out of it in order to make this outrageously outdated cultural concoction relevant. Indeed, no film in recent memory has been released so obviously with the sole purpose of making a profit. In June of 2009, prior to the film’s release, the actors were scanned for Hasbro’s line of action figures, and a video game sequel to the film was created shortly thereafter. Not stopping there, the movie launch campaign included the mass dumping of over three-hundred 12-inch, parachute-equipped, G.I. Joe action figures from a forty-two story Kansas City hotel roof, soar-

ing over 500 feet to the ground at 16th Annual International “G.I. Joe Convention.” For viral marketing, black helicopters with “G.I. Joe” written on them flew along pristine American beaches. Tie-ins were made with Symantec, 7-Up, and Burger King. Keep in mind that all of this took place before the movie even premiered to American audiences.

Obnoxious show of profiteering notwithstanding, it’s even more disturbing what this says about our consumable culture. Why are we so hot to invest time and resources in something that we haven’t even experienced yet? If we can get this excited and waste buckets of money over some stupid movie we haven’t even seen yet, what’s next? And finally, how is it that a film honoring such a frustratingly huge global issue can be so goddamn popular with people who really ought to be indignant?

I think the answer points right back to escapism. As my mother is fond of saying, “These are some crappy times.” I don’t need to present you with a laundry list of current social, political and economic problems. Frankly, not many of us are really that interested in spending a lot of time thinking critically about where our society is headed; it’s just too scary. Is it any wonder that our entertainment is becoming so vapid and thoughtless? Removing all of the elements of reality from our entertainment makes it that much easier to detach from the stresses of our times—which suck. Who wants to hold up a mirror to society when you can just smash the shit out of it and stare at the blue screen instead?

voices

Via Parachute

by Kaitlin Lange When I hear the word “parachute” I think of two things: spy movies and extreme sports. Granted, I am the sort of person who has been working up the courage, and the funds, to go skydiving ever since I found out that my small hometown airport provided the service. It’s thrilling; the idea of jumping out of a plane at insane heights to feel the rush of the air go past as you hurtle to the ground. Let’s call it the epitome of every wannabe-spy’s dream, but that is beside the point.

At the University of Minnesota vs. Illinois football game a couple of weeks ago, the game ball was dropped via parachute onto the field during the national anthem. Since I’m not a season ticket holder, I learned about this little stunt after the fact, and my only thought when I heard the stories was, “Why? Why did I not buy tickets to that game?”

Determined to see what I missed, I searched online, and finally found a video on YouTube of the rumored parachute drop. A solo white parachute drifts across the blue sky that fills my computer screen as an operatic national anthem crackles in the background. The parachute hits the ground as the crowd cheers, but the national anthem is not finished. The camera jumps back up to the sky. Another parachute—this time decked out in red, white, and blue—lands next. An American

flag is connected to the back of the jumper, and waves like a patriotic tail. They hit the ground as the singer hits her final note.

Why did the Gophers have a sudden urge to use their new outdoor stadium as a paratrooper landing pad? According to the stadium’s website, the parachutes were a part of the pre-game show meant as a special Veteran’s Day tribute to U of M students in the military, and they succeeded. In America we celebrate our country with annual firework displays, yellow ribbon car magnets and dozens of hot wings during the Super Bowl.

As far as most of us our concerned there is no patriotism without some sort of physical display that labels us as “American.”

As I watched those two parachutes fall over and over again across my screen, I was captivated by the parachute not marked by Uncle Sam. Its simplicity drew me in, and all was calm as I watched this man-made cloud descend. Somehow, in the 37 seconds that the parachute drifted over the stadium, I knew that this was my country. It was not the vicarious thrill that excited me, but the fact that during that time there did not need to be a red, white, and blue label telling me who I am.

I am an American, and someday I too will parachute out of a plane because nothing says, “I am proud to be an American” like a pair of parachutes bringing in the starting game ball. angela frisk

Of Corruption and Congressmen

By Andrew Larkin “Government is not for sale,” said Alice S. Fisher to the Washington Post some two and a half years ago. As head of the Justice Department’s criminal division, she was involved in the prosecution of Jack Abramoff, a household byword for government corruption and the unwholesome influence of lobbyists.

If she’s telling the truth, recent events beg the question of whether the government is merely a parrot. And if you’ve been doing your civics homework you’ll say, “Boy, I hope it’s a parrot! That’s why elected officials are called my representatives!” But these are dark times, and these are not good parrots. They are, it seems, colored by corruption and lies.

An estimated 42 congresspeople recently added to the Congressional Records the same statement, drafted by lobbyists of Genentech, a biotechnology giant, to express support for provisions of the health bill that would keep research jobs in the United States. A lobbyist of Genentech told the New York Times, “This happens all the time. There was nothing nefarious about it.” The Genentech-provided statements were, in the closest thing available to a validation of the lobbyist’s statement, not intended to change the bill. But far from legitimizing the recent event, the statements’ insignificance makes them a very useful warning. What could be more nefarious than the lawmakers of our country getting their information directly from corporations with an interest in the laws? As

the New York Times explained, Representative Bill Pascel’s excuse for repeating the Genentech statement was that, “he got his statement from his staff and ‘did not know where they got the information from.”

And let’s not mince words about corporate interests. An earlier New York Times article documented a flood of lobbyist activity in late 2007 to cement certain regulations to which lobbyists believed a Democrat-controlled government would be unsympathetic. The worried-over regulations concerned whether or not chicken farmers should be responsible for reporting potentially polluting ammonia emissions, whether coal miners could dump rock and dirt into streams and valleys rather than haul the material away to waste sites, and whether automakers had to make roofs strong enough to survive a rollover.

I have no concrete figures to back up the assertion that the general public doesn’t want ammonia from chicken shit in their air or their valleys and streams clogged with coal dirt.

Similarly, I haven’t studied whether or not people want to be able to survive rollover accidents, but I have some very significant hunches. Yet as apparently these aren’t the issues that the American people should get to decide, why am I even worried about it?

The institution of corporate lobbying speaks for itself. It shouldn’t be an over-generalization to say that any of the corporations so far listed have more resources immediately available than the overwhelming majority of individual American citizens. So while they can hire people to live in Washington D.C. and follow the activities of Congress, throwing money at alterations of policy where necessary, the average American citizen

cannot. The average American citizen can contribute one three hundred millionth of a decision about the President, and thereby demonstrate a general support for trends in emerging American laws, but most people aren’t going to be minutely aware of every bill that passes through the House and Senate. Framing lobbying in this way raises the question of whether lobbyists working for particularly gargantuan corporations actually have more influence on Congressional activity than the American public.

Since the only answer I have to that question is, “I don’t think so, but I really hope not,” I’m glad the real question is why they have any influence at all. The point of a democracy is to allow the masses to actually make decisions, not just choose which candidate concedes those decisions to lobbyists. And while certain steps against the caterpillar-esque process by which congresspeople emerge into beautiful lobbyists (aren’t you comforted to know that even people we choose not to re-elect to Congress get to maintain a healthy influence?) have been taken, there’s still something wrong in a system where health-care lobbyists outnumber congresspeople by six to one.

How to take action against lobbying is as big a dilemma as lobbying itself. If one biotechnology company managed to swindle forty congresspeople into repeating its expression of support for a bill, imagine the influence of all the lobbyists in the United State being given common cause by having their existence threatened. But revolutions are passé, and you can’t kill things that don’t have souls. Ultimately the only conclusion about lobbying to be made is that we are fucked.

Of course, if there are any of you who aren’t so mired in distraction, disillusion and apathy as to be practically immobile, this could maybe be a decent time to protest.

www.wakemag.org

07

cities

Don’t Watch This TV

by Zach McCormick On Nov. 16, a video was uploaded to YouTube that immediately sent shockwaves through our local interwebs. The video, dubbed “Watch this TV,” shows several young men assaulting bicycle riders, pedestrians, the elderly and even a small child. The perpetrators may have been participating in a fad known as “happy-slapping,” in which unsuspecting victims are filmed being assaulted. Indeed, while shoving, punching and knocking their victims to the ground with a cheeky smile and a mug for the camera, these men certainly were disturbingly cavalier about their crimes, a good indicator of why the video produces such a gut reaction of revulsion.

Almost immediately after the video hit, several message boards sprang into action, attempting to track down and locate the aggressors and the location of their attacks. By Wednesday arrests had already been made, a relatively quick turnaround for petty crime. Except there’s a kicker to this

Beer is Good But Home Brewing’s Better

by Andrew Bergstrom

video’s sordid little tale: The aggressors provide their names and strong visual identification of themselves in the video.

They bragged about it on their Facebook pages.

After five arrests we’re left with a question: what does this say about us as a society?

The “happy-slapping” phenomenon is known to have originated in South London in the mid 2000s, with the resulting videos being shared among friends, and in some cases, viewed like a television show in front of sizeable audiences.

The relatively benign nickname alludes to the fad’s more innocent origins, but as time has gone on, such videos have become increasingly violent. Like in this event, most of the happy-slappers in the past have characterized their crimes as harmless fun.

Harmless fun, in the hands of people who have a history of crime, seems to take on a whole new definition. Police have recently identified one of the video’s stars as Mohamed Abdi, a 19-year-old who is currently on supervised proba-

When people think of brewing, they might envision a jungle of specialized equipment or daunting and complicated methods.

This is far from true. It’s actually no different than cooking a meal on the stove. With just a few buckets, tubes and time, anyone can prepare a batch of his preferred drink.

An average home setup is really nothing remarkable and may not even be noticeable. This could seem to be nothing more than a stock pot or some buckets and boxes sitting in a basement or closet. A rough list of what is needed consists of a kettle or stock pot, tubing, two buckets with air tight lids, fermentation lock, thermometer and a bottling tube for filling up the bottles. This will vary from person to person, and many other tools can be used. The real trick is - just like perfecting your favourite dish - planning, practice and patience.

The history of home brewing and beer dates back to the birth of agriculture and civilization. Ancient Sumerians enjoyed beer so much, they created Ninkasi. She was known as the matron goddess of beer and alcohol. Ninkasi reappeared in modern times as the label for Anchor Brewing Company’s resurrected recipe of the Sumerian beer.

The recipe is outlined in Charlie Papazian’s 1984 book The Complete Joy of Home Brewing, known by American home brewers as something like a brewing bible. Papazian is safely nestled into the records of Wikipedia, providing details on his rather profound role in the creation of what the brewing community has become today. He’s known for having created the foundation for what is now the American Brewers Association, of which is he also president, and a list of additional organizations and events such as the Institute for Brewing Studies, World Beer Cup and Zymurgy magazine.

meredith hart

08

02 – 08 december 2009

Northern Brewer, located on Grand Ave, seemed the perfect place to inquire about the particulars of home brewing. The manager on duty outlined the benefits of home brewing as opposed to buying commercial beer. Ignoring the initial investment of the tools required to begin, home brews are generally cheaper, with the potential to customize and refine your flavours, comparable to the higher and mid-shelf prices with the cost of the very cheapest. What he felt was one of the most important things was to simply enjoy yourself. As a hobby,

tion by Ramsey County for second-degree aggravated robbery. A year ago, Abdi and two other men robbed a victim at gunpoint along St. Paul’s Summit Ave. Abdi was identified as the gunman, although the weapon was later found to be a BB gun. Abdi was eventually identified by his fellow participants as being responsible for the recording and uploading of the video.

Now, after five arrests and several of the participants spending a few nights in jail, we’re left with a question: what does this say about us as a society? What would drive these men to make such a movie and then present it in such a way that it almost guaranteed their own arrest? Youth crime in Minneapolis is actually on its way down as the city has seen a 29 percent drop since 2007. Many of the men in the video attended St. Paul Central High School, which has also taken steps to combat violence. The city has even allotted extra money to the Brian Coyle Center and other community programs as part of an outreach program that the attackers probably saw the effects of. So what was the motivation for this video? The title says all you need to know: Watch this. Pay attention. Acknowledge my existence. Make me famous.

one should enjoy the process above all else. “People get a little hung up on savings involved,” he says.

Other home brewers all agreed that the single most important thing for creating any type of beer or wine is sanitation.

Every piece of equipment used during cooking fermenting or bottling must be completely sanitized in order to make absolutely sure that your batch is not contaminated.

One example involved a man who used bleach to clean his buckets. It reacted with the beer and spoiled. Ending up as what he called “rotten beer,” he felt that “it’s worth buying the special cleaners, and to take the extra time, to ensure a sanitary environment.”

What seemed to vary from person to person was the cost of the starter kit or basic equipment and ingredients. General prices were about $50 to $80, adding on $20 to $35 for your ingredients. One five-gallon batch will bottle roughly two cases, depending on the serving size of your bottles.

One can learn more of what goes into the cooking process by watching the hundreds of demonstration videos on Youtube, but many of them tend to cut corners so be wary of that. A safer choice might be Alton Brown’s Good Eats episode about brewing titled “Amber waves,” where he runs through the entire process in heavy detail from start to finish. The episode can be found on Youtube. It includes what to look for at the supply shops, differences between doing things from scratch or using pre-set extract, the choices in bottling and the dos and don’ts of brewing.

Make sure to check out your state laws regarding the subject before you brew anything. Home brewing is federally legal across the United States. However each state is left to regulate the specific laws for themselves as stated in the 21st Amendment, such as the amount of gallons a household can have per year without being taxed. In some states it is still not legal to home brew.

The American Brewers Association Web site itself has loads of wonderful information for anyone who’s just beginning or wishes to learn a little bit more, and can be found at www.homebrewersassociation.org.

cities

Profile Lab

by Trevor Scholl The pink hued lights vibrating softly around the café styled restaurant, Casablanca, are almost as inviting as the young owners who invite guests into their doors.

Two entrepreneurs simply known as Das, 29, and Anish, 23, greet a wide variety of local dinners into their restaurant on the corner of Southeast University and 27th avenues in Minneapolis. Das and Anish bought Casablanca last year and have been mangers and partners in the business ever since.

“We bought it with the intention of good food, good people, and it’s connected to a studio,” Das says.

Das has a strong resume to compliment his skills. He grew up in New York and went to college at Johns Hopkins University for medical engineering before transferring and graduating from Penn State. He worked as a bartender and in regional sales for a financial consultant company before entering the restaurant business. A year ago he owned an Italian restaurant in Pittsburgh before deciding to focus his work here.

Anish graduated from the University on Minnesota with a chemistry major. He then went into work for a Fortune 500 company, but said it wasn’t his environment, before partnering with his brother.

Though family is important to them, they have none in the state. Their parents are from India, their father is a surgeon and their mother works in retail business. There have been 14 generations of sons who were physicians on their mothers’ side of the family. “We’re breaking the curve,” Das says.

Casablanca serves French, Italian, American, African and Indian cuisine. “Casablanca has some of the best rice and chicken dishes I’ve ever had,” caterer and musician Robert Day says.

They also do multiple catering events around the Twin Cities and for weddings and events in the large rentable hall in the Profile Center, the complex Casablanca shares.

“It feels good to make other people happy,” Das says.

Das and Anish made it very evident that charity is a big part of what they do in the community. “We set up charity events for churches, the Boy Scouts, the U of M, and local cultural associations,” Anish says.

The brothers say they are happy to work with each other on the restaurant. “There are ups and downs, but I can always trust him no matter what happens,” Das says.

Although they don’t have a lot of free time, Das and Anish are very interested in music, which is a big reason they put a restaurant in a building connected to band practice spaces and recording studios. Anish spends a lot of time playing guitar and has cleared the first round on American Idol.

“Das and Anish are very friendly and two of the smartest guys I know,” Day says.

They plan to expand the restaurant when the revenue is right.

Running a business can be an overwhelming amount of work but they both say they love the job. “You have to enjoy what you do,” Das says.

Shack Up With These Chefs

jonathan knisely

By Jonathan Knisely and Chris Heck There may be a budding culinary movement away from the tions of homey dishes like hearty vegetable lasagna to more pretentiousness of restaurants past, but proprietors Lisa daring dishes, like tomato watermelon gazpacho.

Carlson and Carrie Summer remove the “atmosphere” altoThe gals aren’t just making the occasional vegetarian dish; gether in their haute-street food experiment, the Chef Shack. they incorporate inventive meatless fare as a mainstay in If the aroma of cardamom wafting from the Indian-spiced their continually evolving menu. They have covered the flamini doughnuts and the ever-present line of drooling foodies vor spectrum from chocolate mousse to rich, savory, grilled don’t tip you off to the rapture that is Chef Shack, one taste heirloom tomato sandwiches with nettle butter. of Summer’s luscious crème brûlée, unimaginably creamy When it comes to recommendations, it’s hard to pin down brownies, or homemade (nay, shack-made) sweet-corn ice menu items that stay the same at each of the Chef Shack’s cream certainly will. appearances other than the cardamom-spiced mini doughCarlson’s days with Café Barbette shines through in her nuts. We strongly recommend asking the ladies themselves hand-cut pommes frites (read: French fries) freckled with what they’re most excited about that day. specks of sea salt and served with a bit of bacon catsup; her Finding the Chef Shack is easy in the summer and early fall 12-hour roasted pork features prominently in a nouveau when it runs the farmers market circuit. But as that season pulled sandwich or atop an ultra-fresh, queso-melted-with-adraws to a close, and because of the mobile nature of their blowtorch dish of Shack nachos. Their soft-shell crab “sandoperation, the ladies of the Chef Shack are best reached by ie” appears to have a cult following, and any of the locally their Twitter account, which they update often to inform sourced, grass-fed hamburgers or bratwursts will please their fans of future destinations. even the most rudimentary eater.

We won’t muddle the point: we’re in love with the Chef As any true restaurateur should, the Chef Shack has an unShack. Exciting food, served fast with a smile and an absocanny knack for adapting their menu to focus on seasonal lute lack of pretense, makes the whole Chef Shack experiingredients. Recent weekend visits have treated us to teaence a rather addicting one. We implore you: check them spiced Nesbitt farm apple cider and potato leek soup. out before the end of the year so that they will be back to The idea of getting inspired, chef-driven, vegetarian friendly tantalize us for years to come! street food seems like a mean joke. But taking a look at the Shack’s blackboard menu reveals fare ranging from reinven-

www.wakemag.org

09

mind’s eye

AD E R B D E SLIC E C N I S I N G ORG E H T T S E AT B Y L IZ L THE GRE 10

02 – 08 december 2009

ILLUSTRATION BY GUY WAGNER

T

mind’s eye

he Ear th’s de plet ing reso urces have be th ing but a se en anycret in the pa W hen Hel iu st se vera l ye human spec m-3 is d rive ar s. T he ies is gobbli n into the is fu n sion occurs g up otope deuter er s at an eati energy like and vita l en burgium , nuclea ng contest an unt il the se ve ergy is releas ergy, in fact r d it won’t be re con sequen ed . T h is is th , th at lo th n g e ces of th is be E ate th rougho ar e very enth is le seeking to h m lies betw hav ior re ve ut ever y cou ar ness. One een an ener rbernt ry in the w launched a getic future prob T here is very orld . T h is ne re volution of and human lit tle Hel ium w s has hybrid ca rs s, though . ta ke place in -3 on pr an ob ou d le r “g our generati planet , wh ic m . T h is prob reen” liv ing on , as wel l as h presents a lem is the ve to tern at ive fu to head to sp ry reason m a sc ra mble to el sources th ac an is gear in e an fi at nd d w il l save ou ta al to th is prob ke ad g up va th ntage of the e real m of th r asses. If th lem isn’t on resources he e great un kn e solution Ear th , thou an swer is: th ld ow gh in n , . w here could it e great un kn The satellite be? T he ow n . T he co s kn ow sm n os to . Outer Spac O ve r 85 per have the mos Helium-3 ar e. ce nt of the E t accessible e the Ear th’s ar th’s ener gy sources of fossil fuel s moon, Europ the Sun, Hel need s are fu formed by th a, and Titan iu m lfi -3 lled by is e re m ai n s of . Emit ted by sp th at lived ov re ad across the so w inds. It do pl ants and er 30 0 m il li lar system by esn’t inhabit an im al s on ye ar s ag how ev er, ar E galactic ar th fie o. , because ou T hese va lu ab ld prevents e becom in g r strong mag it from doin le fuel s, increa si n gl are now d ri netic g so of y .

T d H he iffi elium-3, is al ll in g, in som moon, our cl cu lt to obta ready a pros in (w e e ca se s, ov er osest source pl anet ’s su rf pe R us ct 5 m iv si a, e il ace to siphon es be neath site to build China, and A the bases on for mer ica. The oi l) and w il impos sible nent moon ba l, one d ay, be se bases wou to obta in as se s ld be permaco an th m d would be re ese w el ls w e troleu m and m ining. The m il l be pu mp sponsible fo n at u ra l ga s ed d ry. Peoon is estim r industrial-s are ex pec te ye ar s if hu m ated to have cale of Helium-3 d ru n out in an s cont inue 1,100,000 m a fe th w meters be e nex t 50 con su m in g etric tons rate . E ve n if low its surfac extracted by re sou rces at somet h in g e, which coul heating the the sa me d ra st ic is d tion of al l ca d be covering laye one, li ke th grees Celsius rs not fueled r of lunar du e d . es A ll tr of u by cth st to 600 de is is planned corn , Mot h ru n out of u er Nat u re w sable ener gy to happen by il l st il l soon enough 2024 . approac h in . W it h helpl g, se ve ra l m W es snes s hen laid out, c ajor cou nt ri sk y for an sw es h av e look hoosing betw er s. Space ex ed to the plor at ion fo Un ited St at een fission an rces in R u ss fu es are contem s io n is like choosin d ia and the pl at in g u si n al cosm ic bo g g ener gy from between a pri d ie s includ in se ve rg Sat u rn’s m z E moon , E u ro e n -winning glish bulldog a oon , T it an , pa, and the nd a cat with tw Jupiter ’s moon in ou be lon gi n g to r ow n back ya o ou r ow n pl an legs and no eyes that is att rd , the one et Ear th . ached to a de T he best co a ntender in so d raccoon. lv ing Ear th’s now lies w it To prov ide energy cr is h in these th an idea of ho is ri gh re e t w substa nt ia moon s; Hel of the greate would be to ium-3 . For be l a cont ribu st possible so solv ing Ear tion th is ing one lution s to th th’s energy Hel ium-3 has ch ec k issues fore ve th is encroach in is out: T wo n’t been w id r g cr isis, essent ia lly, lit ely advert is er s hybrid engi of H th e- 3 would do an 1,000 ton ed . In stead nes and w in s of coal . It w the work of of Hel ium-3 d power are and ticker ta more ou , th ld e ta ke 25 met Un ited Stat fi ll ing the ne pes. ric ton s to po es, and on ly w spaper s 100 ton s to wer an entire ye power the pl For those of ar. T he moo anet , for n alone cou you whose ga 11 ,0 00 ld ye pr g ar s of power reflexes are ov ide the Ear sound of an . tr ig gered by yt h ing sc ient th w it h the ific, th is brea A s of now, nu M ar s w kd as ow n should by clea r power pa ss ed completely help. plants prov of energy. T it isn’t susp as a possible ide the grea h is energy is ec ted to hav source beca test output acqu ired th e any sourc wh ich is esse use m oo n , T itan , thou rough nuclea es of Hel ium nt ia lly brea r gh -3 . Saturn’s fi ss fu ki io rt n n, g apar t Ura n he ergy. T he n as r aw id ea ay l fo th r establ ish in an the moon ium to releas ty by produc g a m in ing ba , would be e ent of fission , ac tive w aste tial body mos se on becau however, is we’re bury in t li se it is the ce ke th E e rad io ar th g in holes in .

It w it h in mou is lesof thought to h Hel ium-3 as the ground ntain s. If th ave an abund wel l as ot he and deep is doesn’t so don’t know an r ch ce em und like a te icals human what does. T Jupiter, on th rr ible idea , s could ut il iz h is w aste w of year s, lon I e ot e. he il r l h be around fo and , is a Hel g af ter hum E ven assum r m il lion s ium-3 yield in an s have ce create ener ing Jupiter h ased to ex is g be as gy w it hout t. as a relative thought that t. A w ay to the w aste is ly low amou it would hou nuclea r fusi nt , it is st il l se enough H Un like fissio oc on ea . n s on el ium-3 to fi n , fusion cr the Ear th 10 ll al l of the eates energy 0 times. We two nuclei of and head st by slam m in could by pa ss the sa me ch ra ig ht g to to our moon ge E u arge. A fter th ro er pa coll ision , a ne to bu se t one of the su t up ca mp an an inten se su ut ron is free spec ted issu d star t m in in mo- st yle d and energy has incred ib es is Jupiter’ tation al forc g, is released . le adva ntag e. s im men se gr T he co F usion es over fissio m pl ic av ifuel supply, at io h ar n s d th n to , is su w would cause no air pollu it hstand on ch as an abu tion , no risk Europa wh ic would be ndant the leftover fected by Ju of nuclea r ac h is, obviou w aste is able pi te r’ ci sly, h igh ly af s de gr nt av to d issipate s, and it y. posed to m il in two weeks lion s of year T he fear that as op s. W hen la id fission and ac co m pa ou n ies more an t, choosing fusion is like deplet ing re between d more ne w choosing be Engl ish bulld sources of fo s of the wor tween a pr iz ssil fuels is og and a cat of ld’s esp w ac in n ing e m in ing. T he being slain w it h two legs tached to a by the swor fu and no eyes dead raccoo tu re of the ea rt h al ly, if ba ses ds that is atn. w il l be br ight are bu ilt on the moon , T er, literIt may seem year s to com it an fool ish that , or Europa , e. Other co nuclea r fusi in the sts have to be great energy though . It w on is the grea ta ken into ac -w ise, yet fi il l cost bill io te st ss count , of io n s to bu ild nu the n is st il l the T h is is beca pl an ts on Ear th , es met hod of ch use fusion n clea r fusion tabl ish ba se at ura lly occu oice. power heat w it h in go there, br s and m in in rs in star s be star s is so in in g g plants in sp it ba ca ck, pay the br use the ten se it mak process over ace, co n st ruct ion ave ind iv idu es the nuclei come repuls workers, an als and cosm used in th is ion w it h ea se d ferent stor y. of in ic co cr u ed ible amou rse to build – here on Ear Ear th is also and ut il ize th nt of equ ipm th is a d if- th lacking a vita fusion – prec en e ou t th gh at l component these costs w il l be need ious, prec io seem astron of nuclea r if sp ed . A lus Hel ium-3 om ical and ace m in ing . hard to fath w il l preser ve om , tinc tion of fo the human race be yond ssil fuels, it the excould be wel l wor th it. www.wakemag.org

11

? g n i n n u R U

g n i r u o k r a P No,

by A n d r e w

photos by Tony Morimoto

12

02 – 08 december 2009

G r ang er

It’s about 1:30 p.m. on a Sunday and you are running toward a railing behind Vincent Hall. As you reach the rail, you jump into the air, plant your hands on the rail, and push your arms out so that your feet clear it. Relieved, you fall eight or so feet onto a surface of woodchips and immediately tuck and roll.

You have just done a “Kong” (as in Donkey Kong) vault.

Welcome to Parkour with the Twin Cities Parkour Meetup Group. Centered on a website, the Twin Cities group has been in existence since July 2007 and has been regularly practicing at the University of Minnesota this summer. Every Sunday at 1 p.m. the group’s practitioners meet outside Coffman, warmup and then go out to different sites.

“There never really is a plan so much,” explains Jeremy “Tum-Tum” Horton, a 26 year-old traceur and senior member of the group. “There is no typical session. If I wanna train really hard, I’ll go to the gym. I’m just out there to have fun.”

One of the Traceurs (French for one who practices Parkour) on this particular day wore shoes that looked more like a glove. “I got ‘em for Parkour,” says Nico Balcom, a Minneapolis resident and traceur for two months. Known as Vibram five fingers, Nico uses them for running as well as Parkour.

He has had to re-teach himself how to run in them by reading up on barefoot running technique. He attributes many health benefits to his interesting footwear. “They’re great for Parkour, the grip is amazing and the feedback you get from the ground or any surface is incredible!” Nico says.

Parkour is something that has been done since humans have been running and jumping over obstacles in their way. It was observed by Frenchman Georges Hébert during his travels in Africa and around the world. In 1902, there was catastrophic volcano eruption in Martinique where Hébert was stationed with the French navy. He was responsible for the escape and rescue of some 700 people there. It was this experience that led him to believe that altruism must accompany athleticism.

And he developed the motto: “Be strong to be useful.”

He went on to develop the foundational philosophies of Parkour (moral, virile, and physical) and developed it as a physical training system for the French military. He basically invented the modern obstacle course; in fact, “parcours” is the French term for it.

In the 1980s, David Belle, son of a firefighter and military man, began to practice Parkour with his friends, and formed a group called the Yamakasi crew, which brought Parkour into the suburbs of Paris. Since then Parkour has evolved into a worldwide movement; people who have only watched a YouTube video are out there practicing Parkour, with results ranging from misguided to inspired.

As we moved on, the first location we went to after Coffman was a little spot between Ford and Vincent Halls, with a loading dock and several concrete barriers and retaining walls of varying heights. Group leader Chad Zwadlo says that the U of M is “the best parkour training area I’ve ever seen and I’ve been all across the U.S. for Parkour.”

Standing a little over 6 feet tall with a lean and muscled athletic frame, Zwadlo’s appearance hints at the ability he possesses. Trained in American Freestyle Karate for 12 years, bodybuilding for 6 years, and cheerleading for 3 years he also works as a freerunning/Parkour trainer at Gleason’s Gymnastics School in Eagan. He has been freerunning for 5 years.

“I see my body as the one thing that I will ever truly own,” Zwadlo says. “I may as well learn how it works and what I can do with it. Everything I’ve ever done in my life has pretty much been with this in mind.”

When asked what it was like to teach Parkour in a professional setting, Zwadlo says, “I try to keep it as unprofessional as I possibly can. (In Parkour) it’s all about finding your own path.” This is important, he says, because everyone has different bodies and therefore slightly different abilities, the core foundations are the same, but everyone evolves in their own way with it. “For example I have to roll at a greater angle because I have a high hip bone that I have to avoid.”

Zwadlo says.

He took over the meetup website in August of this year. It was a natural move for him, as he had already been active in the American Parkour website and the meetup site for some time, trying to bring both communities closer together.

Many there were willing to explain the various movements and how they are done. Horton approached a waist-high rail and slung his legs over one immediately after the other while supporting his weight with his seat and one hand on the rail, then he transferred his weight and slung his legs back over again completing a full circle on the rail without touching the ground. The entire sequence had an elegant ease to it. “That was a lazy-to-lazy.” Horton explains, read as two lazy vaults in a row. In Parkour, most movements have names, in French and English. For example a cat leap is when you jump and catch the top of a wall with your hands and one foot cushions your body from running into the wall as you do so.

Many passersby took notice of the activity.

Julia Morales, a 22-year-old exchange student from Brazil was walking by with two friends. “I’ve never tried it. But it looks like fun and it looks like a good workout,” she says.

John and Morgan Wood, also liked what they saw. “They’re having fun and getting exercise.” Morgan said. “I think it stimulates brain function.” said John half-jokingly.

A few Zeiss interns from Germany stopped for a bit. When asked if he felt Parkour was disruptive, Marius Sauter replied, “No, I don’t think so. It’s cool… it’s the same as we have in Germany. I like the Parkour, not the freestyle.”

Sauter had not misspoken; freerunning and Parkour are two different disciplines. What started out as an anglicized term for Parkour, freerunning has taken on meaning for some as a subgenre of Parkour involving flips and other tricks that some view as superfluous. However, many including most of the second-generation founders of Parkour, the Yamakasi group, deny this separation, believing this schism takes away from the idea that traceurs should find their own ways of moving.

One such traceur is a high school teacher at Inver Grove Heights. 32 year-old Matt Mitchell had already been doing Nordic skiing and rock climbing before he discovered parkour. He was inspired by a YouTube video called “Russian Climbing Ninjas.”

“I saw that and said, ‘That looks really amazing!’ I decided to just go try it,” Mitchell says. He began to teach himself rolling, precision jumping and cat leaps, training on his own for 8 months before joining anyone. He’s been doing Parkour for over 2 years now. Mitchell’s taken it upon himself to do some PR campaigning for the group, making informational flyers about the group and trying to initiate dialogue with the university and local law enforcement.

Elizabeth Jacobs, who brought her 10 year-old son Resse to try Parkour for the first time, had a pleasantly surprising experience. “I was a bit nervous at first; I was expecting people to get hurt more often,” Elizabeth says. “I was really happy to see how welcoming everyone was. Having the guys here to teach basics was great. Everyone was really athletic and creative.” She plans to bring her son to more Parkour events.

The spirit of community and discipline is the essence of Parkour; an essence that some feel is threatened by the activity’s recent mainstreaming. There is currently debate within the community over whether competition is something that should be allowed into Parkour. There is also a fear of the essence of the activity being lost as it becomes commercialized.

Most of this centers around whether the exposure gained is worth the price paid, through capitalizing on something which purists would say, was intended to be for personal training, and not intended for resale.

Parkour is at precisely this turning point right now, as even while it’s struggling to define itself against the ideas of freerunning, larger institutions are taking notice. Adidas, Puma, K-Swiss, Nike, and others all sell shoes for Parkour. Parkour has been featured in films such as Casino Royale, and cult classic District B 13. Madonna’s 2006 song “Jump” featured it as well. With the advent of this moneyed interest, combined with all the videos on YouTube and other exposure, many people have an idea of what Parkour looks like. But many are still unaware of the ideological battle being fought to preserve or change the philosophies underlying Parkour.

Parkour has undergone a cultural explosion, and the shockwave has introduced it to the world. At this moment in history, it’s up to traceurs everywhere to determine the future of Parkour.

And chances are it’s not going away.

www.wakemag.org

13

mind’s eye

Algae Just Got a Lot More Interesting

by Sofiya Hupalo For most people, the name Chlamydomonas reinhardtii doesn’t mean much—it is the scientific name of a species of green algae that inhabits aquatic environments. But why should anybody, aside from nerdy Biology majors like myself, care about tiny, self-propelling algae? One reason might be their potential to save people from a multitude of debilitating diseases.

Just like plants, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii capture and process light energy in the form of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis occurs in specialized cells called chloroplasts, whose membranes contain proteins that are activated by light. The mobilizing proteins cause the flagella to move, enabling the organism to swim. Although these cellular features do not seem to be particularly exceptional, they show promising results when applied to human nerve cells. Using genetic technology scientists have extracted the gene Channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2), which codes for this light-activated protein and introduced it into the genome of cells in a mouse brain. The new, transgenic mouse was then tested and exposed to a specific wavelength of light through a fiber optic cable penetrating its skull. The nerve cells, in response to the blue light, fired messages across synapses that eventually prompted the animal to run viciously in circles. Once the light was turned off, it stopped still.

Understanding such causation is elementary to identifying diseases and generating therapies.

overcome many technological as well as economical obstacles before the company can truly pursue the idea.

A biotech company called LucCell, Inc. from Cleveland is already pursuing the implications of such research.

In today’s weak economy, private investors are hesitant to invest, and are probably in dire need of some capital excitation of their own.

Founders are in the process of creating a microchip light switch that would make nerve cells light-inducible, hoping to “turn on” deadened cells causing paralysis and other degenerative diseases of the brain and central nervous system. However, they must first

It should be clear now how quickly these tiny organisms could become valuable. As scientific technology gets more intricate, it manipulates smaller, simpler forms of life to treat the complex obstacles presented by maladies.

The precision with which certain parts of the brain can be activated by this procedure is extraordinary Why is this perverse form of animal mind-control significant? Apparently, the same genes that propel motor activity in algae can also induce physical movement in vertebrate animals. However, there are many other ways to spark neural activity such as drugs and electrical stimulation. Doctors have been sticking electrodes on patients’ heads for years, hoping to alleviate Parkinson’s disease, depression, brain injuries and epilepsy. The problem is that the electricity penetrates farther into the brain than the ideal target, sometimes doing more harm than good. The significance of this nerve cell stimulation technique is that the light-activated protein is designed so that it is expressed only in target cells by tagging them with a specific promoter that initiates gene expression.

The precision with which certain parts of the brain can be activated by this procedure is extraordinary. Moreover, this tool gives scientists a way to determine the function of cells with inserted copies of ChR2. If the cells are excited by light, their effects can be determined using fluorescent tags or by behavioral responses in animal models.

Until now, it has been hard to determine exactly what neural pathway is responsible for a particular behavior. lucy michell

14

02 – 08 december 2009

mind’s eye

Pretty Badass: Lake Vostok

by Maggie Foucault

A common bedbug is engorged with blood after feeding on a human arm.

by Ali Jaafar Bed bugs are gross. They’re apple-seed-sized parasites that swell and shrink based on their consumption of blood.

They make their presence known via dried clumps of poop and blood-soaked corpses. They suck your blood while you sleep. swapping you hives, infections and itchiness for you delicious sangre. They hide in your furniture and move between various dwellings via cracks in the walls and foundations of your home.

New York recently made headlines as the most heavily bedbug infested city in the United States, according to New York Vs. Bedbugs, a tenants-rights advocacy group. Facing a 34% increase in bed bug infestations this year, it’s hard to disagree. In Brooklyn alone, complaints doubled to 1,132, bringing city-wide complaints to 9,213.

Don’t let the panic in New York fool you, though; bed bugs are just as problematic in Minneapolis. Local extermination companies are seeing rises in complaints and densely populated areas are experiencing infestations. Even the University of Minnesota Campus and surrounding areas have been commonly hit in recent years. The worldwide ban on DDT and increase in international travel - two prominent theories explaining the rise in bed bugs - have hit Minneapolis as hard as any urban area.

Though Antarctica may seem like just frozen tundra full of snow and perhaps yetis, scientists have recently discovered a large fresh-water lake beneath its surface. Lake Vostok, named after the Russian base near by, is roughly the size of Lake Ontario and has been isolated from the outside world by thick layers of ice for at least 500,000 years.

Russian drilling crews discovered the lake while drilling for core samples in the thick ice. Scientists noticed something odd when they got further down and discovered that the ice at the bottom was cleaner than the top layers of ice. Further investigation revealed that this ice had once been part of the lake, but had frozen to the bottom of a slow-migrating glacier.

Luckily, the Russians had stopped drilling barely 300 feet from the actual lake.

In the excavated ice, scientists found the fossils of never before seen microbes, supporting the theory that there is life in the lake. If life were discovered inside Lake Vostok, which has toxic levels of oxygen, extreme amounts of pressure, and zero sunlight, it could suggest more chances of finding life in space. It might also provide insight as to how humans could survive in extreme conditions. The temperature of lake Vostok is minus 3 degrees Celsius, but remains liquid because of pressure from the ice above, and geothermal heat from below. While scientists are eager to explore the lake, there is concern that breaching an area with such a large amount of pressure could have terrible consequences, such as setting off a huge geyser.

Scientists have since stopped drilling for fear of contaminating the lake’s ecosystem. The Russians, however, are eager

to be the first to explore the lake, and have repeatedly made plans to restart drilling. The plans have repeatedly been pushed back, and the latest plan is to begin in the 2010-2011 drilling season. The equipment that the Russians plan to use is also of concern to other scientists. The drill used by the Russians is filled with kerosene and Freon in order to keep the ice from refreezing, which scientists worry will contaminate the lake, thereby ruining the pristine ecosystem and any chances of studying it.

Infestations are difficult to purge, with traditional means including most pesticides - often ineffective. According to New York Vs. Bed Bugs, infestations can cost tenants and landlords up to $8.000. The best remedies are simple and time-tested, including removing clutter and steam cleaning fabric items. Hot water or steam is always recommended for cleaning infected clothing or furniture. Also, don’t buy gross used shit.

If life were discovered inside Lake Vostok, which has toxic levels of oxygen, extreme amounts of pressure, and zero sunlight, it could suggest more chances of finding life in space.

The preferred method for drilling into the lake would be to use the cryobot. Funded by NASA, work on the cryobot began in the late nineties. The cryobot is a torpedo-like probe with a heated end that melts through the ice, unwinding communication cables as it goes. As it moves further down, the ice above it refreezes, keeping contaminates out. Before it reaches the lake, it would sanitize itself with hydrogen peroxide, and release a hydrobot into the lake to gather data.

While funding for the cryobot was cut in 2003, the discoveries of sub-glacial lakes on both Mars and Europa, Jupiter’s ice moon, may convince NASA to reopen the project.

Natalie olbrantz

www.wakemag.org

15

sound & vision

alice vislova

The last thing crossing most consumers’ minds in a recession is: It would be awfully nice to fill some wall space with a nice piece of locally-produced art. Hmm… But why is this? Galleries won’t stay afloat on their own – most continue their humble existence on donations and sales of the artwork they feature. Between Minneapolis’s free museums and innumerable art galleries, we’re an art-spoiled crowd – sometimes we need to be reminded of the careful world these galleries exist in.

Franklin Art Works

Franklin Art Works was built as a silent movie theater in 1916, but eventually served as an adult movie theater, a bicycle shop, and an underground venue before being purchased

by Franklin Art Works. The current exposition, primarily of works by Chris Baker (with the exception of Alex Fleming’s projector piece) uses only the main floor, but Baker’s selections are rich enough for his two main works – Murmur Study and Hello World! or How I Learned to Stop Listening and Love the Noise – to leave you satisfied. However, on the second floor is a large performance space, unchanged since the building’s debut as a movie theater.

To your right hang a cluster of old cell phones. Occasionally one will start to buzz, which will grow into a low trembling roar until the entire suspended pile is in a frenzied vibration. But other than that, it’s a bare white room. If you go late enough in the day there might not even be anyone at the reception desk – the whole place might feel abandoned. A slide projector someone forgot to unplug is in a side room with dark wallpaper showing pictures of a woman’s face from various angles, and the pages of a book turning.

Chris Baker, a graduate of the University of Minnesota’s MFA program, uses the space excellently, with Murmur Study taking up the bulk of the lobby. Strips of evenly spaced and gracefully hanging printer paper are attached to computers at the roof that feed down into an endless, overwhelming pile of already-printed receipt paper. The computers are programmed to pick up, in real time, tweets from the website Twitter that contain particularly emotional keywords. The

16

02 – 08 december 2009

result, as in his other piece, is a cacophony of highly personal background noise, in this case beautifully cast into a massive pile of junk on the floor. Hello World! features hundreds of personal video confessions, each tiny and each with an audio track playing. The volume swells but the individual speeches remain indistinguishable. Occasionally an image on one of the individual video squares will catch your attention, but it will quickly change. The works inhabit the bare white space of the gallery well.

The small exhibition space packs a lot of interesting material and – being fairly easy to walk through – is an excellent gallery for a quick visit.

Art of This Like any respectable gallery, Art of This morphs itself to the needs of their featured artist. Within its white walls and behind an unassumingly pale red door, Art of This exists as a small dynamic entity in the midst of an otherwise lackluster region of Minneapolis. The gallery is

sound & vision

a small, cryptic presence among the bleak housing and petrol station that draws traffic to this tragic region of Nicollet Ave. But Art of This’ latest featured artist, Bruce Tapola, has created a barrier between the gallery and its outside world. A lengthy white wall rests between the gallery and its front windows, blocking most of the view the audience has to dull architecture across the street and the delurid glow of passing cars.

Tapola’s work features an eclectic mixture of mediums – from paintings to elaborate structures resembling branches. Photos impaled by smaller bits of wood dangle from the floating structure. It’s a melancholic expression of what the outside world is reticent of. As the audience paces about the space they are subtly reminded of that fateful petrol station outside by a circle hacked out of the white barrier at the front of the gallery. The Au Natural exhibit will be displayed through December 6.

As a non-profit, artist-run space, Art of This depends on art sales, grants, and private donations to continue to feature new media and experimental artwork. The gallery also features unique one-night music shows every other week as part of an Improvised music series.

The Gallery @ Fox Tax Located along First Ave. in northeast Minneapolis lies a gallery with an identity crisis. Fox Tax, located one block from the bustle of Central Ave., feels just a little hidden. While the name implies it, you might not realize you’re in a tax preparation and

advising office when walking into the sleek gallery space.

The Gallery @ Fox Tax is rather business-chic. Its modest sign, huge front windows and minimal furnishings also add to its mystique. White and brick walls frame a collection of black leather couches that look small and ornamental, making the surrounding artwork look even more outrageous.

The current exhibit on display at The Gallery @ Fox Tax is Heavy Petting, a collection of paintings by Rob McBroom that draw on images from the Edward Lear poem, “The Owl and the Pussy Cat.” The pieces each feature a selection of the text incorporated into a vibrant painting of bright, almost garish, colors, along with glitter, plastic jewels, and found objects.

The paintings are displayed in sequence, but arguably each portrays a whole story of its own.

Around the corner, another smaller gallery space sits empty, patiently waiting for the next exhibit.

While a small, one-room gallery might not be enough to draw you over to Fox Tax, it might make a nice addition to a day trip to northeast. Neighboring establishments like the Red Stag Supper Club and overwhelmingly cute gift shop I Like You are reason enough to linger around the block and serve as a striking reminder that this part of Minneapolis has threatened for years to become the next Uptown.

At the very least, Fox Tax is quite possibly the most aesthetically pleasing place to have your taxes done. Somehow that alone makes it seem like a good idea.

Like any respectable gallery, Art of This morphs itself to the needs of their featured artist.

Within its white walls and behind an unassumingly pale red door

Art of This depends on art sales, grants, and private donations to continue to feature new media and experimental artwork.

www.wakemag.org

17

sound & vision

Television Review Community

By Tony Morimoto

There are two commonalities among most of the television networks: they produce mystery crime dramas, and they all suck. Fortunately, NBC has come to the rescue once again with its new show Community.

Community derives its name from the location and premise of the show: community college. Perhaps by happenstance, but more likely on purpose, the show’s creation comes at a time when real community colleges are being put into the spotlight—TIME Magazine recently ran an article on the subject: “Can Community Colleges Save the U.S. Economy?”

This is all beside the point: the show is absolutely brilliant.

Community takes a cliché and turns it on its head. Instead of having the high school quarterback be dreamy, the snarky lawyer be affluent, the old guy be a kook, and the geeky girl be, well, geeky, what if they were all mixed together in a community college? Now the star quarterback has no luster, the snarky

Them Crooked Vultures Them Crooked Vultures By john oen

Movie Review The Fantastic Mr. Fox

by Tony Morimoto

02 – 08 december 2009

The main character of the show, Jeff Winger, the snarky lawyer, is played by Joel McHale the host of The Soup—a show akin to Entertainment Tonight, except purposefully funny. His goal is the same as the other six main characters’: they need to get their college degrees.

The plot is new and fresh, but what makes the show truly great is the cast. Although McHale plays a significant part, he is able to play off of every other character’s quarks much like Jason Bateman in Arrested Development or Tina Fay in 30 Rock.

The people who know the show are passionate about it. I would say get on the bandwagon, but there are not enough people who know about it yet, so there isn’t one. Enough brilliant shows have been cancelled; let’s not let this happen again. Watch it.

The newly-formed supergroup Them Crooked Vultures carries a unique burden of high expectations. The band is composed of Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvana), and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin; his first earnest foray into music since the band’s breakup nearly 30 years ago). Each member has his own pedigree and interests, but they seem to be united by a nonchalance and aversion to pretense that bleeds into the music they have produced. Their eponymous debut sounds less like an album and more like a series of catchy, impromptu jams cobbled together in five minutes and existing as an excuse for three high-profile musicians to get together on weekends. If that sounds like a knock against the group, it certainly is not. Them Crooked Vultures is chock-full of easily digestible, simple hard rock that closely resembles recent outings by Queens Of The Stone Age at moments. The band can trace its origins to a “blind date” at a rented out Medieval Times restaurant, orchestrat-

ed by Grohl for his fortieth birthday party in January 2009.

Homme and Grohl are both Led Zeppelin disciples, and the awkwardness of being set up with a childhood music idol was quickly dispelled with dry humor about jousting pageantry.

This album sees Homme as principal songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist; Grohl is back on drums, apparently grateful for a break; and Jones plays keyboards and bass guitar. The album itself is fairly strong from start to finish, and although some of the band’s so-termed “battleships” - songs exceeding 6 minutes - run a little long, Homme’s brand of percussionheavy robot rock is the aural equivalent of a politician who would be “good to have a beer with.” This album will kick you in the face unrelentingly for over an hour, and many fans wouldn’t have it any other way.

Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox is fresh and wonderful.

Based on the Roald Dahl novel of the same name, it is what the child inside me has longed to see since The Nightmare Before Christmas. It’s witty enough in dialogue to keep adults entertained and playful enough to keep young children captivated.

scenes in particular are done with what-may-seem-cheesyif-done-wrong Looney Toons-style thematics. A perfect example is when the camera pulls back to reveal the entire cross section of underground tunnels, or the literally confused eyes of Mr. Fox and his friend Kylie.

Visually, Fantastic is radiant beyond imagination. The stopmotion animation gives it a unique feel; if it had been made with computer-generated animation like a Pixar movie, the cartooniness would have taken over. Sure, The Incredibles received great acclaim in its attempts to mimic a blockbuster, but it could have easily been shot as a live action film.

The story is also one that suits all kinds. Mr. Fox goes out to steal chickens. This plot, however, quickly turns against him.

The antagonist farmers go after not only him, but his friends and family as well. There is suspense and anticipation gripping in every scene, while its despondency is kept at a minimum – which was the downfall of last month’s release Where the Wild Things Are. If you can, pony up the money and see this movie in theatres. It is truly fantastic.

Anderson took advantage of the animation style to bring the audience closer to the film and perform shots “that you can’t do in live action,” he says in the New York Times’ “Anatomy of a Scene” film commentary clips. “There’s freedom that we got from working this way that I really enjoyed,” he adds. The

18

lawyer has no affluent job, the old kooky guy is trying to make new friends, and the geeky girl is trying to redefine herself.

Standout tracks include “No One Loves Me And Neither Do I,” “New Fang,” “Elephants,” “Caligulove,” and “Gunman.”

sound & vision

Dark City:

off on the violent acts they commit, is ripe with barely concealed undertones.

By Colleen Powers

Stead also points to the relationship between sex and violence. “Wanting to kill someone for the experience is like trying to lose your virginity,” he says.

Local film has sex and violence with a kick The City, screened at Oak St. Cinema on Nov. 19, may sound like any other violent, low-budget, action f lick trying to live up to Scorsese or Tarantino. But a clever premise laced with smart subtext and wicked humor makes this a film worth seeing.

“I’d like people to walk away questioning what it is by their nature that makes them entertained by certain aspects of media,” writer/director James Vogel says. “Why do we as an audience expect to see violence and sex in films, and why are we entertained by it?”

Vogel, and his co-writers and stars, Ezra Stead and Greg Hernandez, clearly put a lot of thought into the meaning behind the film’s graphic images. Their story tells of a screenwriting student who falls in love with a charismatic underworld figure while seeking experience to inform his scripts.

The relationship between characters Scott and T.K., who get

First Annual Nordic Lights Film Festival, Opening Night

By Sofiya Hupalo

“There exists this kind of tension in gangster films, a homosexual subtext,” Vogel says. “Characters who revel in violence are somewhat fascinated with each other.”

Vogel and Stead met as students at Minneapolis Community and Technical College. Vogel asked Stead to help him write the script and star in the film, and Stead suggested his friend Hernandez for the role of T.K. They shot the film in 16 days for a budget of $8,000.

Though pleased with their finished product, the filmmakers are also eager to hear negative responses. “It’s a very personalized experience and a polarized reaction, and that’s what interests me,” Vogel says. Stead agrees. “We’d rather someone hate our film than just brush it off and forget about it,” he adds.

They hope that the next step for The City will be the festival circuit and distribution. The film will be screened again locally at the Minneapolis Underground Film Festival, Dec. 5 at 7 p.m.

everyday lives. In Little Man, we meet a boy who studies and composes a journal that documents the art of seduction, only to be outsmarted by his female counterpart.

An evening at the Nordic Film Festival left guests feeling appreciative and elated. The heartwarming ambience, however, was counterbalanced by the chilly auditorium. Leaving high expectations for next year, I hope to see Nordic Lights return in 2010. .

On Friday, Nov. 20 the Nordic community of Minneapolis lifted the cinematic curtains to unveil some of the best films from the region. It showcased films from Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, and Greenland that chronicled Nordic culture, people, and politics throughout the weekend.

In between screenings, presenters gave synopses and introduced the audience to the background milieu of the particular film. Taking place in the Parkway Theater, the atmosphere buzzed with foreign chatter, Cognac, and Swedish buns.

The premiere was entitled Prostitution Behind the Veil, in which an Iranian woman who fled to Sweden goes back to report on the lives of oppressed women who have no other way of sustaining themselves. Drugs, little children, and condoms scatter the house of two women who struggle to preserve their health and happiness.

The bitter documentary was followed by more cheerful Nordic shorts to conclude the Friday evening on a brighter note.

These buoyant shorts were illuminated with friendship and love, focusing in on the varied nature of relationships people tend to have. In The Lake, two women search for a lost artifact in a slow-moving rowboat. As they keep fishing, young lads take their bait and wind up on board, until it gets too crowded. Then one of the ladies jumps into the lake to take her own chance of finding a love boat.

Mr. Mustache, another favorite, is a lovely narrative depicting the quirks of men with facial hair and its importance in their

Lucy michell

www.wakemag.org

19

sound & vision

Hey News, I’m Internet

by Ross Hernandez

On Nov. 17th, MPR aired “The Future of Journalism,” a program that hoped to discuss concepts of media both new and old while exploring the possibilities of the future. Host Carrie Miller’s main question for the hour was “How will investigative journalism look in the future?” Miller’s question was directed at guests Tom Rosensteil from the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism and Evan Smith of the Texas Tribune. Both guests’ stable positions in the media make their viewpoints less likely to be skewed by the need for survival or the threat of their business being made irrelevant.

Smith posits that the role of the journalist is moving farther away from the old metaphor of “gatekeeper” to the “keeper of the aviary.” What he means is that imminence of social media in today’s journalism media has made “tweeting” and forwarding top stories on social media like Facebook the primary means of news consumption.

“Custom news landscapes” is a concept the program attempts to describe without presenting biased paranoid implications. Of course today everyone has the capability to decide what he or she would like to consume in the news. Newspapers worked the same way. With digital media there is simply more information to comb through, which allows people to “hunt and gather” as Rosenstiel claims. This hunter/gatherer concept of news has made news organizations more specialized, as speculated by Smith who, despite his proximity to the recent Fort Hood shooting, decided not to send a single reporter. Instead he aggregated the breaking news as he always does on his site from CNN. Smith stood firm with his stance as a “Politics and Issues” newspaper, as he defined the Texas Tribune, and stood out of the way of the big news organizations who would undoubtedly have the means to cover the story in a more thorough way.

The concept of “custom news” is also furthering the importance of individual journalists, who have taken an absurd role as living movable monuments in the media today. Just watch the TV coverage of the 20-year anniversary of unified Germany. The anniversary and celebration was not news enough by

20

02 – 08 december 2009

music dec 03. the entry. jeremy messersmith, kaisercartel, zoo animal. 8pm $9 adv / $11 door dec 04. the entry. red pens, total babe, communist daughter, porcupine. 9pm $6 danielle attinella

itself, so I watched Tom Brokaw stand split screen with himself 20 years ago, while both of them talked simultaneously in the present and past tenses. Which was more important, the end of an awful era in German history or the fact that Brokaw was there to break the news? NBC had 20 years to think about it, and they sided with Brokaw. Is this the result of blog culture? The result of “personalized content?”

The problem with personalized news was addressed by a 25-year-old caller who speculated that a lot of people her age ignore the news because it is “too negative.” This begs the question­—what is on this type of person’s “personalized newspaper”? Is the digital news world enabling people who are addicted to avoidance? Conceivably I could create a page of news that specializes in golden retriever puppy and duckling love and be the world’s preeminent expert on soft news. Since the “news landscape” is now customizable, points of view will become much more static while they are reinforced daily by the assurances of custom news stories we choose to read.

No longer can people assume that I’m informed enough to get into an intelligent conversation about the alleged Ampatuan clan massacre of government officials in the Philippines. Instead they’ll have to subscribe to my Twitter page and discover that I’m more interested in how Lou Dobbs is trying to reconcile with Latinos in order to allegedly run for president.

And we’ll discuss the allegations, just like the good old days in our little aviary.

Everyone on “The Future of News” agrees that journalism has to change in order to accommodate a new culture with new demands on the industry. I would take this fact further and argue that the necessity of being an informed (albeit bummed out) citizen is now our responsibility, which is exciting. For us normal, concerned, and empathetic human beings the proactive nature of digital news’ “hunting and gathering” gives us the opportunity to explore different points of view that wouldn’t have permeated the editorial or even letters to the editor columns in newspapers.

dec 05. the cedar. modern guitar festival 2009 (various minnesotan guitarists) 8pm $10 adv / $12 door dec 06. the entry. the dutchess and the duke, greg ashley, the parlour suite. 8pm $8 adv / $10 door dec 08. turf club. dirty colors, is/is (gosepl gossip/fcap), telepathos, ingo bethke, frankhouse. 10pm $4

cinema dec 02. trylon microcinema. la france (official selection, cannes film festival) 7:30pm $8 dec 03. the cedar. here comes the waves: the hazards of love visualized. 7:30pm $3 dec 03. coffman theater. the informant! 7pm free dec 04-05. coffman theater. the informant! 7pm, 9:30pm, midnight free dec 04. trylon microcinema. stairway to heaven (1946) 7pm, 9:05pm dec 05. trylon microcinema. stairway to heaven (1946) 7pm, 9:05pm

humanities

Mind’s Eye Maelstrom

‘Untitled’

By Andrew Bergstrom

by Raghav Mehta

And I beheld the frost upon their skin Hollow and adherent to none Aimless Their porcelain dead decorated the holes in the floor I know not what I felt For I know not what I saw

The ice that gleamed in the midday sun

Did not affect my judgment And this surely a sign of ill-fated footsteps Walls stripped as bare as its inhabitants A duet of chanting resounded from the corner Something remained.

Pained I am that these words have faded However I fear their importance And I beheld the raging storms Multitudes of twisting winds No matter where I perch or hide I am found.

Blades of obfuscation Whipping through my mind Mundane affairs rendered irrelevant For not all storms are of this world

The ground here’s always muddy, and these summers get so cold There’s a rusted pipeline dream, and he’s trying to paint it gold Howard was a bright boy, but the man in him was grim And supper lost its flavor, the day I married him He runs on cheap bourbon, and hand-rolled cigarettes Comes crashing through the doorway, like an airline jumbo jet And when Howard steps to strike me He’ll drop his hat and grip his belt With another swig of whiskey, sets his glass on the shelf He locks the door, shuts the window And a chill goes down my spine Because his face looks even darker Than an abandoned coal mine And though we sleep at night together, I never feel close Howard tells me that he loves me, and that’s what hurts the most

www.wakemag.org

21

humanities

Endoskeleton Speculation

by Cory Aaland

While using a broom, one can brush an ant with relative ease. It will not work its way through the bristles and will move with the swishing motion of the right and left arm. The ant therefore can move some 100 times its own body length with the push of a broom. It walks away unscathed as if nothing happened, and it will not even need a psychological consultation. Try this with a human being and you will get a very different result. The human will break easily, its bones shattering into dust, especially if brushing it 100 times its body length. It will cry and moan the whole stroke as well, and it may die from internal bleeding and/or a brain hemorrhage. If the human does in fact make it one swoop (rare), he or she will most definitely need a psychological assessment, and will most likely never function normally in society again. Jumping nervously at every slight movement and hiding in dark corners of closets will become customary.

DNA.

By Rachel Laramy

Radio operators in cubicles are responding in trajectory missiles of desire legions of spark plugs running up and down my arms. Behold my personal Frankenstein in life

cold dead and clammy.

I wish I knew him well when he was dead, the living are so convoluted. Always talking their ways into a desert salivating for water, salivating for bread, salivating for any old inane comfort. Froth hound froth toward that horizon. Sniff out that hidden mirage. The dead they buried it in my forehead. They left a map in the backseat of my Chevrolet, somewhere totaled metallic frame a giant fin on the sun.

Are there giraffes in a gallop at my nose? I can’t quite see you boy.

I told you to stay home, Come back later when you’ve brought a sandwich

22

02 – 08 december 2009

and a shovel.

Lucy Michell

www.wakemag.org

23

PUT YOUR

HANDS INSIDE OF ME?