Nuclear North Korea /p.12 Tilly and the Wall/p.04
Transcription
Nuclear North Korea /p.12 Tilly and the Wall/p.04
Nuclear North Korea /p.12 Tilly and the Wall /p.04 PLUS Rugby Q&A / Down with Pluto / and more! The Weekly Student Magazine of the University of Minnesota / volume 5 / issue 5 / 4-10 October 2006 Editorial/ Editor-in-Chief Jenny Odegard Managing Editor Eric Price Athletics Editor Craig Rentmeester Campus Editor Sarah Howard Literary Editor Jacob Duellman Sound & Vision Editor Kristen Mueller Voices Editor Cole Dennis Editorial Assistants Alyssa Cogan, Dan Olmschenk, Lyndsey Danberry Senior Staff Writers Rachel Drewelow, Dan Groth PRODUCTION/ Production Manager Jeremy Sengly Art Director Sam Soule Photography Editor Brennan Vance Web Editor Luke Preiner Senior Photographer Ethan Stark Graphic Designers Dave Hagen, Eric Price, Becki Schwartz, Jeremy Sengly, Krista Spinti Copy Editors Kelly Frush, Erin Lavigne, Rachel Levitt, Tammy Quan, Morgon Mae Schultz BUSINESS/ Business Manager Angela Damiani Office Manager Elizabeth Keely Shaller Advertising Executive Meghan Norris Public Relations Director Cassie Benson Advertising Intern Tyler Jones Public Relations Interns Marlys Huismann, Alison Traxler, Julie Veternick THIS ISSUE/ Cover Artist Jeremy Sengly Illustrators Dave Hagen, Alex Judkins, Michael Mason, Jeremy Sengly, Brennan Vance Photographers Aimee Gauthier, Christine Lenzen, Josh Loewenhagen, Ethan Stark, Brennan Vance, Danielle Wiskus ©2006 The Wake Student Magazine. All rights reserved. Established in 2002, The Wake is a weekly independent magazine produced by and for the students of the University of Minnesota. The Wake is a registered student organization. Contributing Writers Elizabeth Aulwes, Lyndsey Danberry, Rachel Drewelow, Janessa Dohse, Sarah Howard, Katie Mae Kohlbeck, Marcus Lewis, Josh Loewenhagen, Kristen Mueller, Nattie Olson, AJ Sabako, Jupiter Surya, Valerie Tukey, Erika Wurst The Wake Student Magazine 1313 5th St. SE Minneapolis, MN 55414 (612) 379-5952 • www.wakemag.org The Wake was founded by Chris Ruen and James DeLong. Coffee Talk: Nuclear North Korea/p.12 “Katrina-style incompetence,” “priority, pessimism, politics” and “appalling” were among the labels experts recently slapped on the United States’ policy regarding North Korea at a recent local panel discussion. The Wake takes a look at what this means for the future of relations with the rogue state. Dear campus, By now, I’m sure you’ve heard the news. Our beloved Dustin Diamond—a.k.a Samuel Powers, a.k.a. Saved by the Bell’s Screech—has joined the esteemed ranks of Colin Farrell, Kid Rock, and Paris Hilton. Yes, soon enough, the washed-up celebrity’s “ten inch member— flaccid” will grace computer screens across the nation when his very own sex tape is released. Really now. The Middle East is going to hell, spinach is killing people, North Korea’s got nukes, K-Fed is releasing an album, the Carlson School of Management is expanding, and now Screech has been caught on tape performing a Dirty Sanchez. We’re one release of Chinese Democracy away from the four horsemen. Enjoy the last issue of The Wake, because the end is nigh. ERIC PRICE Managing Editor SOUND & VISION p.04 PHOTOGRAPHY p.09 VOICES p.10 LITERARY p.14 Letter/ from/ another/ editor/ Wake athletics is in need of a new editor. Sadly, I am planning my departure. So here’s my pitch. Rather than getting paid shit and covering the same ATHLETICS p.16 teams week in and week out, join the Wake athletics CAMPUS p.18 Temptation Island. Alright, maybe not. However, you BASTARD p.22 team. You’ll get laid more than contestants on will have the ability to write about topics ranging from rock climbing, dodgeball and women’s rugby. Basically, anyone with a little writing ability and a passion for arguing about sports when they’re drunk should apply. Craig Rentmeester Athletics Editor Sound & Vision/ By Kristen Mueller 04/4–10 October 2006 \ Sound & Vision Omaha, Neb., has been an incubator for up-and-coming indie acts since Saddle Creek Records led the charge out of the laughably Midwestern town and into the rest of the country’s stereos and concert venues. Tilly and the Wall stomped its way to the forefront of this lauded music scene thanks to band member Jamie Williams’s tap shoes and a wooden platform placed on stage. There are no drums in this whimsical quintet’s tracks. Instead, two feet and a pair of tap heels supply the percussion—picture Riverdance on the Triple Rock’s stage, minus the plaid. Equally important are the musicians lined up next to Jamie like a family of ducks. There’s Nick White, a joketeller on keyboards. Neely Jenkins, the timid one on vocals, shakers and bells. And Derek Pressnall strums the guitar while singing with Kianna Alarid, who also shakes a tambourine when not playing the recorder. When asked why they like Missy so much, Alarid’s voice becomes reverential. “Oh God, how can you not? She’s just fearless. … She’s just so weird, you know? And she doesn’t care.” While hip-hop’s queen has yet to grace a stage alongside Tilly, the band has shared the spotlight with a roster of indie acts most scenesters would trade their skinny jeans and thrift store tee collections to hear live. The Go! Team, Of Montreal, Rilo Kiley, and Coco Rosie are just a few. But it’s Conor Oberst’s label, Team Love, that released Tilly’s first album, Wild Like Children, in June 2004. In May, they followed up with Bottoms of Barrels, another ’60s-pop-inspired disc bursting with fanciful harmonies and clap-along melodies. The band has shared the spotlight with a roster of indie acts most scenesters would trade their skinny jeans and thrift store tee collections to hear live. This streak of bravery is a trait embodied in another of Tilly and the Wall’s idols: Missy Elliot. “We have this dream list of people we’d really like to play with, like Missy Elliot and the Cure,” Alarid shares with a laugh. Although several of Tilly’s songs are liable to send your feet bouncing at the speed of the beads inside Neely’s shaker, occasionally Jamie’s feet do need a rest, and the group will slow it down with a song like “Lost Girls,” inspired by outsider artist Henry Darger. The Chicagoan’s watercolor paintings of the Vivian Girls, a gaggle of sisters who combat adults’ evil deeds, show children in matching bonnets and dresses holding hands and frolicking across a countryside that would blend seamlessly onto a fairy tale’s pages. “I feel like [Darger’s art] affected all our lives in the band, and I just felt like writing about it,” Alarid says. Today it’s Alarid’s turn to field questions from the press, and she does so over the phone while shopping in the men’s section of a Goodwill near her parents’ house in Omaha. “I’m actually shopping for my mom,” she says. “She wanted this men’s button up shirt … I think she wants to paint on it. She’s very crafty.” That explains Alarid’s outfit: a pair of white pants she painted neon, under a jean skirt topped by a kid’s dress with a swirly pink-and-blue floral print, worn as a shirt. This last piece reflects Tilly and the Wall’s childish origins. The band derived its name from a children’s book by Leo Lionni that the School Library Journal recommends for students in kindergarten through second grade. It tells the tale of a courageous mouse named Tillie who believes the grass on the other side of a wall is exceedingly greener, brighter and better—and decides to do what no other creature dares to get there: tunnel under the wall. much less knows the words to our songs,” Alarid says with a voice as humble as Tilly’s candy-sweet chord combinations. “We’re just up there having fun, and we want people to know that they’re welcome to have as much fun as we’re having.” Aside from saddling up with famous friends, the seemingly sleepy town of Omaha also had a profound effect on the band’s trajectory toward success. “It’s real easy to be a musician here, because living is so cheap,” Alarid says. “Plus we have a lot of basements in the Midwest, so maybe that contributes to bands forming.” But the main factor she emphasizes is the whole-hearted support from locals. “Every time a new band comes out, everybody goes to the show. … That’s why bands keep coming out [of Omaha].” courtesy of pressherepublicity.com Alarid equates titling the disc with naming a baby. The final choice, Bottoms of Barrels, was pulled from a lyric in “Sing Songs Along.” “It does seem sort of tragic,” she says of the title. “But the thing is, I feel like our whole spirit is sort of about hope and observing life and how it can be shitty, but always having that hope, because if you’re not positive then what else—what else can you do?” You can “get down,” as “Sing Songs Along” advises. Or throw your mouth open wide, in accordance with the lyrics of “Urgency”: “Either start screaming or start singing.” Enthusiasm and genuine love for each other and their fans are plastered throughout Tilly’s website. Just click on their news blog and you’ll be blanketed in an outpouring of affection (“you are the reason we are still here doing this. we love you. xoxoxoxoxo”) brought slightly back down to earth only by a liberal use of “fuck” (“We are like buzzing with fucking joy!”). Their unadulterated excitement and incredulousness is the only thing allowing them to get away with cavityinducing phrases, like “Hello you sugar cubes!” “Hope your day is pretty!” and more Heeehhehehes than an eight-year-old chatting on AIM. Then again, Tilly and the Wall was named after a talking mouse, so why not grant them these whimsies? Tilly and the Wall will return to the Triple Rock Social Club at 9 p.m. on Oct. 9. 18+, $10-$12; triplerocksocialclub.com, tillyandthewall.com. Of these two commands, most crowds opt for singing. “It still blows my mind that anyone knows who we are, \05 www.wakemag.org Sound & Vision/ Covered in Brand Names An upscale boutique invades Dinkytown By Valerie Tukey Dinkytown’s first high-end clothing store, “Covered,” is nestled on the corner of 14th Avenue SE and Fourth Street. The shop, owned by Stacy Larson, is the newest addition to the student neighborhood’s ever-changing landscape. But don’t let the flashy tags fool you; while some of the clothes may be out of most college students’ price range, Larson’s boutique might have what you’re looking for. “The store may seem upscale,” Larson says. “But once you get in the door, I promise you’ll be sold.” And sales seem to be the only thing on Larson’s mind, “Last weekend for our grand opening (Sept. 9th and 10th), we were so busy that we even had people changing in the bathrooms,” Larson says. The boutique may be limited on space, but the young and contemporary clothing is abundant. Take one look at Larson and you’ll know what kind of clothing Covered has to offer. She may not be runway-model tall, but she has a pronounced sense of style. “I have been reading Vogue since I was 10 years old,” Larson says. Since she has a keen eye for fashion and a knowledge of jeans exceeding any Express or Gap employee, Larson makes a perfect salesperson. In each dressing room Larson created a list of what she calls “denim rules,” a simple guide to help buyers find the perfect fit. “I say the same thing to nearly every cus- 06/4-10 October 2006 tomer,” Larson says. “So I thought that I should just post a list of guidelines to help women find the perfect pair of jeans.” The list includes how the jeans should fit, how much they should stretch, and which pairs work on taller versus shorter women. But out of all the guidelines, Larson saved the best for last. Number eight reads, “You are gorgeous!” Shopping and a self-esteem booster? It doesn’t get much better than that. Jeans aren’t the only focus at the new store. Covered carries some big name brands like Citizens of Humanity and T-bags, but the store also sells more affordable brands like Tulle. “We have really cute long T-shirts for $30,” Larson says. Some of these comfortable tees have scrunched sleeves at the shoulder or fun designs on the back. In addition to cheap shirts, Covered is preparing for fall, stocking big wool jackets for $80. Although some threads may be more expensive than at a chain store, Covered has attracted plenty of Golden Gophers. “I’d say that about 60 percent of my customers are students,” Larson says. “But we have a ton of women driving in from Edina to shop here.” So what made Larson choose Dinkytown to open up shop, when many of her customers are in their 30s? “I had been thinking about opening up a shop in Dinkytown for a few years,” says Larson, who was a buyer for St. Louis Boutique “Q” the past two years. “Last February I was looking at Craigslist and found this retail space,” She bought it right away. “I just felt it,” Larson brennan vance says. And luckily for Larson, since Covered is surrounded by sandwich shops and used-book stores, there is no competition. Sure, Dinkytown has a few veteran clothing stores like “Everyday People,” but Larson doesn’t view them as competition. “We help each other out more than anything else,” says Larson. “I think Covered is really good for our store,” says Jessie Taft, a longtime employee at Everyday People. “It is great because we can refer people there if they are looking for something more specific. And since Everyday People carries plenty of vintage accessories and shirts, it makes a perfect fit. “Everyday People is great for someone looking for a piece to add to their outfit,” Larson says. \ Sound & Vision Decadence, Depravity, and Dragons dave hagen By Marcus Lewis It’s the last week of August, and for three days, all I’ve thought about is what I’m going to drink when I get home. Last night, I perfected the Black and Tan. But tonight, I need something harder. It was my third straight thirteenhour day of working at the Minnesota State Fair. My booth wasn’t bad: there were no deep fryers, no corn batter, and no products to sell. I was working for a local media channel, and I was in charge. Most of my days were spent in an air-conditioned office, though I also had to work the autograph tables for talent. All things considered, it was the crème de la crème of state fair jobs. All things considered, it still sucked. Today was particularly bad. Poison was playing the Grandstand, which meant that the typical fairgoer’s uniform of cut-off jean shorts, wraparound sunglasses, and NASCAR paraphernalia was altered to include hair-metal t-shirts (in lieu of or in addition to NASCAR gear). The same guy wearing a Mötley Crüe shirt that day was probably paying homage to Dale Earnhardt the day before. Two days prior, I met my favorite fairgoers by way of a variety show that used my office as a dressing room. I let a monkey sit in there with me. It was owned by a woman in her mid-thirties wearing semi-revealing clothing, and a gentleman roughly the same age in a black suit with a Flock of Seagulls haircut. She was nice, he less so. When I asked him if monkey shows were all they did for money, he replied with a sort of Gob Bluth-meets-Dirk Diggler hand motion, “Oh no. I’m a magician. I do all kinds of tricks.” (It should be noted that he did no trick with this illusionist hand motion). Another day allowed me the opportunity to learn the future from a gentleman waiting in line for an autograph: “John, yes, the John, John the Apostle.” He told me that he had confirmation from someone in Texas that the Rapture (not the band) was coming Sept. 12 and would be in the United States within 18 months. I thanked him for coming in and handed him more pencils than were normally allotted for visitors. I laughed and laughed, then went back to the booth and vowed to myself, “no more festivals.” The final day of the fair was the first that I allowed myself to actually enjoy it. I bought a greasy steak sandwich and a taco salad and went to a freak show in the Midway. The highlight was when the performer who swallows swords almost died because a little girl from the audience stepped in front while she was pulling the sword out. I laughed and laughed, then went back to the booth and vowed to myself, “no more festivals.” I didn’t like them before working the fair, and I certainly did not like them after. So naturally, the next weekend, having won tickets, I found myself at the Renaissance Festival. My girlfriend insisted upon going so we could watch glass get blown. I, in turn, was blown away (pun intended) by the whole experience—including the costumes people wore. While most were employees getting paid to dress like knaves and knights, several of them were normal people who just like wearing cloaks and pointed hats (and watching Lord of the Rings). I couldn’t decide if this was better or worse than NASCAR gear and cutoffs, which, admittedly, were also prevalent at the Renaissance Festival. But unlike the State Fair, dragons were (thankfully) everywhere, which is also one reason the whole production should be called “Ye Olde Festival” or “Medieval/Renaissance Times,” since simply “Renaissance Festival” is not historically accurate. Everybody knows dragons went extinct around 1350, roughly a century before the Renaissance began. Despite this glaring inaccuracy, I wanted desperately to buy dragon-related art-and there was plenty on hand, from candles to a painting titled “Defiance,” which showed a mostly-nude woman staring defiantly into the eyes of a menacing dragon. Unfortunately, it was too expensive to buy, and I decided it would not project the right kind of statement in my living room. In the end, all I wanted to do was go home. Don’t get me wrong, I did learn from my experience that I don’t hate festivals. In fact, I kind of like them, at least in small doses, and with the right attitude. I suggest mocking it on the surface while secretly embracing it on the inside. But really, you just need to know when to leave. Thirteen hours is too many. Three’s about right. \07 www.wakemag.org Sound & Vision/ Fusion at ArtsMosis explore the tarps uses, creating a huge party. By Katie Mae Kohlbeck What happens when you mix spoken word with dance, and artists with urban planners? Or when students dress in Velcro suits and play with giant tarps? And what does the guy in a squirrel costume have to do with anything? You’ll find out at ArtsMosis, the Arts Quarter Collective’s annual event where anything is possible. The AQC, an eclectic student group in the West Bank Arts Community, also hosts grant writing workshops, cabarets, and art festivals. But none are as big as ArtsMosis. This year’s festival includes about 10 projects, ranging in content from spoken word and multimedia presentations to dances and explorations of space and place. Of course, there could always be spontaneous last-minute works, adding even more eccentricity to the festival. Zachary Crockett, one of AQC’s leaders and a graduate student in music composition, calls ArtsMosis a “unique and amazing [event] for students at the U of M.” It’s unique because the show allows students to collaborate on what they love in order to create meaningful works, a feat not always possible when professors hand out detailed assignments. Instead, students are allowed full reign with their projects—with one stipulation. They need to be interdisciplinary, meaning students from different focuses must join forces. ArtsMosis is a “nice mechanism to invite people to work together,” says Laura Winton, a theater graduate student who’s collaborating with Annie Hanauer, a dancer. Winton will be performing a spoken piece about her experience in New York on Sept. 11, and Hanauer will add movement to her words with a choreographed dance. While Winton feels she could always improve upon the piece, she’s decided to retire it after ArtsMosis, since it’s the fifth anniversary of the attack. The festival isn’t limited to art students. The “Urban Echo” project, for example, is the brainchild of three graduate students studying four diverse fields: landscape Michael mason architecture and urban planning (Laura Baker), music composition (J. Anthony Allen), and, well, art (Christopher Baker). “I don’t think landscape architecture has ever been involved [in ArtsMosis],” explains Baker. “Maybe it’ll add an edge.” The Urban Echo project is an exploration of space and place. It goes beyond just speaking of the terms’ differences by actually exploring what creates a place. The interactive experiment will take place outdoors, between the Regis Center for Arts and the Barker Center for Dance. Their goal is to make the grassy knoll a place rather than just a space. To do this, the collaborators are inviting anyone to send text messages, images, emails, and voicemails to specially created numbers or addresses. “It’s really the participants who are creating the piece,” explains L. Baker. Participants are asked to submit answers to simple, yet profound questions: Who, what, where, and why we are. Responses will fill the large projection screens and echo from speakers. These individual answers are, ultimately, the threads that make up the fabric of this “place,” which celebrates individual stories and unique urban landscapes. Past ArtsMosis projects have been wildly successful and are always imaginative, like last year’s tarp experiment led by students who wanted to explore its many uses. Though the project’s original plan didn’t come to fruition, Crockett explains, what came to pass may have been better. The artists ended up frolicking, playing, and tossing objects (think shoes, rocks, and miscellaneous debris) onto the tarp. Soon a huge group gathered to watch and “I tell you, it was the most successful thing at the event,” Crockett says with a laugh. “Total pandemonium, complete insanity.” Urban Echo It’s not to late to have your voice heard or face displayed in the Urban Echo project. To participate, send text messages to (612) 501-2598, voicemails to (612) 626-6921, and cell phone or video messages to urbanecho@gmail.com. Last minute, unplanned projects sometimes make appearances at ArtsMosis as well. Last year, three young men showed up hours before the event commenced, set up large boxes, and hid in them all night. As people stopped to look at the handmade sign they posted in front of each box, a knife would suddenly poke out. Stranger still, one of the men later emerged wearing a squirrel costume and started running around. “You just never knows what’s going to happen at this thing,” Crockett says. What we do know about this year’s showcase, scheduled for Oct. 6, is that there will be an electronic music piece, a percussionist performance enhanced by video and electronic music, people dancing in Velcro suits (mildly improvisational, mildly choreographed), and a history lesson, in the form of a piece taking place on the Bohemian Flats, which used to inhabit the West Bank. We also know that ArtsMosis is a truly unique event, and an ideal way for students of all backgrounds to become involved in on-campus art. Without the generosity of the College of Liberal Arts, which funds students’ projects, and the passion of the students, ArtsMosis wouldn’t be possible, Crockett says. The main goal, he concludes, is “to keep art going with students.” Even if that means commandeering a section of the West Bank or dressing like furry creatures. ArtsMosis is scheduled for Oct. 6, on the West Bank of campus; tc.umn. edu/~aqc/artsmosis.html. Review Experimental indie-punk trio The Slats has constructed a raw and witty, if not intelligent, album in Boom Patrol. Their fifth full-length disc opens with the ballsy, anthemlike hook of “Ironman,” boasting gold-plated fists and proclaiming “there’s no use crying,” before continuing on through the dirty bass sound and pseudo-rap of “Ignatius,” a song with brash lines like “iconoclastic and drastic/ I’ll break any law that I don’t think is right.” The Slats: Boom Patrol (Latest Flame) By Josh Loewenhagen 08/4-10 October 2006 Track seven, “I Wrote the Code,” is one of the albums highlights, with lyrics such as “I don’t think that I’ve ever seen/poetry so sharp and clean/since the samurai/cut off their hands/it’s the marketing scheme that curdles the cream.” Musically, singer and four-string-guitarist Brian Cox, bassist, vocalist, and guitarist Jon Hansen, and percus- sionist Mark Tietjen have not created an overly complex album. The riffs are fairly basic, though the sort of open fourth and fifth-style vocal harmonies are complemented by a certain measure of garage band flare and an almost hardcore guitar sensibility, not so much in terms of style as much as structural use of dissonance. The bare-bones production of the album is topped off with confident, well-placed vocals, and manages to maintain a sort of pop-awareness. Overall, The Slats have constructed a solid album that manages to be to the point and simplistic, yet also engaging and interesting. Given the opportunity, it is definitely worth a listen or two. myspace.com/theslats \ Photography Josh Loewenhagen Photo Poll/ How do you think the legalization of street drugs would impact society? I think that legalizing drugs in the U.S. would create a lot of chaos. People would feel that they could use drugs out in public and around children. They would be setting bad examples and could possibly become violent. Candace Rutkowski Freshman There is a significant chance that if drugs were legalized in the U.S., there would be a spike in crime, violence and overdoses. However, the government would be able to better regulate and tax the substances, leading to more control over the currently barely-controllable. Davidson Ward Freshman I believe that the legalization of drugs would only affect society negatively, but that’s based on bias rather than rational weighing of pros and cons. I suppose that some drugs could end up “safer, but besides that, I don’t see how legalization could benefit society. Lindsey Kahn Freshman by Ethan Stark Drug use would increase among the people who already use them. However, there would be no significant increase among non-drug users. Ariel Schimek & Anthony Berg Sophomores \09 www.wakemag.org Street Drugs Voices/ alex judkins BY nattie olson headshot by aimee gauthier The first time I heard the story of my two acquaintances being beaten with the barrel of a gun, their assailants collectively stealing around four grand of money and drugs from them, I knew it was time to delete some numbers from my phone. The minute your life starts to sound a bit too much like an Elliott Smith song, the first time you survive a chat with the cops while wasted, it’s probably time to reevaluate your priorities. If you or someone you know gets into drugs, there only are two outcomes. What hopefully happens is that the person realizes that it isn’t worth the brain cells or risk, and they eventually cut it out. Unfortunately, what happens more often is the person ends up burnt out, in jail, or dead. But every overdose, brain-fried junky, every drive-by, violent cartel kingpin, these are not byproducts of the drugs, but rather the fact that they’re illegal. Not only that, but no matter what a naive Nancy Reagan or a kitchen-ruining Rachael Leigh Cook has to say about it, what you do with your own body and mind, in your house, that’s your business, provided that you don’t cause harm to anyone else. mand for these products. The other half of America’s drug habit, the suppliers, will also never be stopped because of the tempting profits. Even after you assassinate a kingpin, wipe out an entire cartel, the money is too tempting and a new network will always replace it. It works a lot like Wal-Mart only it’s slightly less devastating to local economy. You buy something in bulk and sell it at whatever rate the market suggests. No need for a business degree here, I think that as long as we have to work to survive, as long as we feel stress, people will continue to get trashed. just fill up a hockey bag with pot in British Columbia and cross the border, which at some places is an unmarked stretch of forest. Or, like a baggage handler I knew laid witness to, bribe some dudes at the Miami airport, and when a plane lands from Uruguay, send the rest of the crew to lunch. On the radio last summer I heard that half of all Minneapolis violence is drug-related. This isn’t just people getting baked and beating the shit out of passersby, it’s about business. Is it any surprise that when an in-demand product is decreed illegal, a black market will exist for it? And when problems arise throughout this market (when people get shorted, greedy, when deals go awry, as they do in all business) the folks involved can’t exactly go to the law or the union to straighten these things out, so they utilize violence. Trust me, some giggling stoner on a desperate search for more Funyuns isn’t looking for a fight. Think about any episode of Cops you’ve ever seen. Any big drug bust put on CNN. Or maybe a bullshit commercial where Rachael Leigh Cook destroys her kitchen, showing the viewer that the pan is heroin. All of this is costing a lot of your money. Money which, if personal choice were respected, would not be spent at all. And speaking of those media campaigns, impotent as they are, why is it always the black kid getting busted with pot? The black teens run over a girl in the drive-thru lane. Another black kid finds his dugout empty with a note from mom on a zigzag. Then there was the little black girl, stranded by her brother at the carnival, the narrator’s musty voice saying “Just tell your parents you lost your sister because you were stoned.” Isn’t all that a little racist? Not even the Drug Enforcement Administration with all its useless media campaigns, can curb people’s desire to get wasted. I think that as long as we have to work to survive, as long as we feel stress, people will continue to get trashed. Thus, the nature of being alive fulfills the de- By any definition, alcohol is a mind-altering drug. Illegal once, gangs supplied the demand and made huge, untaxed profits. Realizing prohibition as a failure, the government legalized, taxed and regulated its use. If we taxed drugs and stopped wasting billions on worthless advertisements 10/4-10 October 2006 and other anti-drug efforts, we could use the extra cash to feed the world. But knowing our government, it would probably just go toward another war. Along with respecting personal choice, removing profits from the bad guys and putting it toward humanitarian efforts, if drugs were legal we could reduce the transmission of HIV. The AIDS epidemic is the most important, crucial task at hand for us and clean needles, along with education would be a good start. We could remove this dark alley setting and bring drugs to the consumers, and tell them what they were getting into. The quality and dose could be controlled, and maybe if we explained what a certain chemical would do to a user, in a setting more professional than an abandoned boxcar or a graffiti soaked tunnel, people would learn more about their body chemistry, take more responsibility for their actions, and, upon considering a drug, reconsider. In America, you can sue McDonald’s when you burn yourself on their coffee or when their food makes you fat. Fearing lawsuits, they now make playgrounds from foam rubber and soft plastic. Somewhere along the line, we lost the pioneer’s spirit and became babysat citizens. Eliminating personal freedoms in the name of safety and protection is the ass-backwards antithesis of what our forefathers wanted. Take it from someone who’s spent the duration of their short life breaking rules, calling a fruit forbidden only makes it appear sweeter. In the end, when you wake up with unexplained bruises scattered about, an apocalyptic headache, terrified that you said something awful to someone you love, the only direction you’re headed is down. It isn’t worth it, as everyone either already knows or will one day come to find out, but it also isn’t anybody else’s business what you do with yourself, and even though it will be decades before American government recognizes that, don’t let anybody tell you otherwise. \ Voices Don’t Tell Me I’m Numb BY erika wurst A year ago, life was good. I had just graduated high school and was about to go to a stellar college. I had a ton of really badass friends. I was dating a boy with whom I’d been obsessed for three years, who was also attending the U of M. I had moved out of my father’s house, and we were finally patching things up. And I was finally, finally leaving the stifling boredom of Manhattan, Kansas. But I was sad consistently and unsure of why. When I was with my friends or boyfriend, I was trying to figure out why I was so unfufilled. When my mom, my best friend in the world, told me that she loved me and that she would miss me when I left, I mumbled “ditto” or something equally as meaningless and left the room. The thing is, I knew all along what was happening. I had been treated for depression when I was a freshman in high school, but had gotten off the medicine when I felt better. After reading some article about how America was overmedicated, I started to hate the fact that I had been one of the doped-up zombies the author was talking about. So I chose to suffer. That was a mistake on my part. After a summer of being unable to make me happy, my boyfriend broke up with me. My best friends moved away to the far corners of the country, and I didn’t say goodbye to them because I couldn’t express something I didn’t feel. In college, I made friends relatively easily, and was doing well in my classes, but I spent every night crying in the stairwell of Middlebrook Hall, getting pitying stares from the security monitors. After two months of this purgatory, my mom convinced me to go back on antidepressants. Now I am upset over the ignorance of others every time I hear some condescending motherfucker telling me that America is overmedicated and we all need to man up and deal with our problems. Fuck that. Why the hell shouldn’t I have taken medication? I took all the appropriate steps before medication. I talked until I was blue in the face with everyone important in my life, not to mention a professional counselor. All I felt at that point was a constant loneliness, despite the fact that I was surrounded by people who loved me. Avoiding becoming a statistic even became unavoid- able. According to the National Institute of Mental Health “most people with a depressive illness do not seek treatment.” All I wanted was to be able to enjoy my life, I still don’t see a reason why that shouldn’t be socially acceptable. I suffered from a milder form of depression, called dysthymia. In general most people would agree that those with severe cases of bipolar disorder or depression need medication, and in those cases, anti-depression medications are seen as one of the best solutions. So when does it become okay for someone to get on medication? Schizophrenics are not the only ones who are allowed to have medicine, nor should one have to be suicidal to warrant medical help. It is also important to consider that at this point it might be too late to recover completely. Anti-depressants are considered dangerous for exactly this reason; because depression can’t be measured. There’s no test or definitive indicator that tells a doctor that his All I wanted was to be able to enjoy my life, I still don’t see a reason why that shouldn’t be socially acceptable. or her patient needs medication. This does not mean it doesn’t exist. Just because the pain isn’t physical doesn’t mean it’s not real, or that it shouldn’t be treated. Depression and bipolar disorder are just as real as any other diagnosable illness. A medical professional would never tell a cancer patient to get some counseling, or maybe pick up a new hobby. And while depression isn’t cancer, it is still an illness with serious mental and sometimes physical manifestations. The apex of the argument between those who support antidepressant use and those who don’t is this: most people don’t understand that antidepressants are like other forms of medications. Why is it so hard to see? Doctors prescribe pain killers when their patient has gone through physical trauma that’s putting them in pain, along with physical treatment for whatever the injury or illness was. brennan vance The public should acknowledge that anti-depressants could help people who are in pain and accept them for what they are: a tool that could help you, along with truly dealing with your problems, to feel better. Taking anti-depressants and coming to terms with whatever has caused the emotional pain that warrants them are not mutually exclusive, and it’s time we stop assuming they are. Mental illnesses should be treated exactly the way physical illnesses are; with careful diagnosis and a variety of treatments that maximize the comfort of the patient while working towards permanent recovery. Yes, I realize it’s possible for patients to get addicted to anti-depressants, just like it’s possible for patients to get addicted to painkillers. And I realize it’s possible that doctors may be over-prescribing anti-depressants just as they’ve over-prescribed antibiotics for decades. But we sure as hell don’t disregard painkillers and antibiotics in cases in which they’re needed. It’s easy for me to look back now and realize how stupid I was for ignoring the relief I knew medication could have brought me. But at the time the voices telling me that pills weren’t the answer were loud and convincing. It took me a long time to realize that anti-depressants don’t make people zombies; depression does. Anti-depressants, along with counseling and life changes, if necessary, are key to ending the depression so commonly felt by myself and countless others. \11 www.wakemag.org Feature/ Talk amongst yourselves. I’ll give you a topic: Crisis on the North Korean Peninsula. Discuss! By Rachel Drewelow “Katrina-style incompetence,” “priority, pessimism, politics” and “appalling,” were among the labels experts slapped on the United States’ policy regarding current nuclear and humanitarian crises on the Korean Peninsula at a recent Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs panel discussion. Former political leaders and government officials gave their take on the U.S.’s diplomacy – or accused a lack thereof – at the presentation, “Beyond the Nuclear Issue: Crisis on the Korean Peninsula” in mid-September. 12/4–10 October 2006 “The development by Korea of intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons is one of the gravest threats that we have had in our lives, and in our history,” argues L. Desaix Anderson, whose credentials include 35 years as Foreign Service Officer in the U.S. State Department. The four-person panel, moderated by former Vice President Walter Mondale, agreed with Anderson that the threat was serious, but differed on how it should be handled. forts to curb their nuclear ambitions – which are believed to currently contain more than 800 ballistic missiles, according to a BBC News country profile. The Bush administration has sought six-party talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-iI, in hopes of using international coercion to urge North Korea into abandoning its nuclear program. The six parties are the U.S., North Korea, Russia, Japan, China and South Korea. North Korea’s requests for bilateral negotiations with the U.S. have been consistently denied by the administration. North Korea walked away from planned multilateral talks last fall due to financial sanctions imposed by the United States, after the United States accused North Korea of state-sponsored drug running and counterfeiting, explains Burton Levin, who is former Foreign Serviceman at posts in Asia, former U.S. Ambassador to Burma, member of the board of directors for the Mansfield Foundation and SIT investment visiting professor of Asian Policy at Carleton University. As part of Bush’s proclaimed “axis of evil” (Iran and Iraq also make that club), North Korea has thus far evaded diplomatic ef- Levin calls these public sanctions ridiculous, saying the issue of counterfeiting should have been “so secondary” to the diplomacy at hand. Whether the accusations were true or not, Levin says, a diplomat does not “create an atmosphere that’s going to create problems when you’re really working on diplomacy.” It was “appalling,” he says. Defending the Bush administration’s policy, L. Gordon Flake, former director for research and academic affairs at the Korea Economic Institute of America, says the administration is acting with “priority, pessimism, and politics.” North Korea is hardly a top ten priority for the United States, he says. “In terms of foreign policy, our first priority is Iraq, our second priority is Iraq, and our third priority is Iraq,” Flake contends. Flake argued that the United States’ policy is based on the fact that it is not capable of dealing with North Korea bilaterally – as it is tied up in the Middle East, and has little invested in the country to bargain with due to sanctions. “The fundamental outlook,” Flake says, “is that [negotiations] probably won’t work out right now.” Two-party negotiations would “provoke a crisis,” Flake says, “you don’t ask a question you’re not ready to answer.” \ Feature North Korea Quick Facts Population: 22.9 million (UN 2005) Area: 47,399 square miles Capital: Pyongyang Eternal President: Kim II-sung (deceased) Chairman, National Defense Commission: Kim Jong-iI (son of above) All information researched from BBC News, news. bbc.co.uk. Anderson rejects Flake’s position, and continues to shame the administration’s approach. “The President of the United States has an obligation... to defend America and its national interests and just because you happen to be involved in Iraq, you need to be able to chew gum at the same time as you walk,” he says. “[North Korea] is a much more critical crisis than Iraq ever was. They didn’t have nuclear weapons – even Iran is three, four or five years away from them and North Korea is churning them out,” he says. Seung-Ho Joo, a specialist in East Asian issues and associate professor at University of Minnesota-Morris helped explain in a later interview why the U.S. insists emphasis on Iran’s potential nuclear capabilities while sidelining North Korea. North Korea has a running nuclear program, he explains, which is different for the Bush administration, which leans toward preemptive policy. “North Korea’s nuclear issue is much more difficult to handle [than Iran’s],” he says, “plus the front line is in Iraq, and Iran is its neighboring country.” “World leaders are more or less postponing,” Joo says. “The focus is more on the Middle East… ignoring Korea is not a smart policy.” He maintained that the United States needs to approach North Korea in two-party diplomacy, and “focus and reach actual results.” At the discussion, Flake maintained that the “U.S. does not have the characteristics [needed] to solve the North Korea problem bilaterally.” Bush, in his accused lax policy, enabled North Korea to develop nuclear weapons, Andersen argues. He agrees with Flake that the outlook is grim even if the United States does refocus its diplomacy with North Korea, but says “we still, I think, have to try because the only alternative is a nucleararmed North Korea or war - and neither one of those is acceptable.” To contextualize the nuclear crisis, it is important to understand the country – to the extent available at least, explained Dean of the Humphrey Institute for Public Affairs, J. Brian Atwood, also former administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development for the Clinton administration. “The route to peace is international cultural understanding,” Atwood says. “…the only alternative is a nuclear-armed North Korea or war - and neither one of those is acceptable.” North Korea, which test-launched seven missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads in July, has remained a secretive government since becoming an independent state in 1953. The communist country emerged at the end of World War II, opted to remain isolated and is still technically at war with South Korea. The two never signed a peace treaty. North Korean citizens have little access to the world outside of their country. Radios and televisions are pre-tuned to government stations. They do not have access to the World Wide Web either, only pages on a minimal intranet dominated by the government. The regime has been judged the world’s worst violator of press freedom, by Reporters Without Frontiers. The government is also accused of various human rights violations, including torture, slave labor and prison camps, according to a BBC News country profile. Aid agencies estimate that over two million North Koreans have died due to famine, flood and economic mismanagement since the 1990s but the country does not release these facts, according to BBC. North Korea receives aid from the United Nation’s World Food Program. Dean Atwood argues humanitarian aid must not be compromised for politics, though he understands the temptation, he says. In 2002, North Korea allegedly admitted to the United States the development of a secret nuclear arms program. This was in violation of a 1994 agreement to abandon nuclear endeavors in exchange for construction of two safer light and water nuclear power reactors and oil shipments from the United States. In response to the admission, North Korea first claimed a right to the weapons, and later proposed negotiating for aid and a “non-aggression pact” with the United States. Bush responded by stopping oil shipments, after which North Korea said it never admitted having weapons – blaming a deliberate mistranslation of their statement of having the “right” to weapons. North Korea blamed the United States for the disintegration of 1994’s pact because of this and for being years behind schedule on the light power reactors. Nonetheless, North Korean Scud missiles and evidence of plutonium production were discovered by the end of 2002. talks with the United States. The United States insisted on six-party talks, and four rounds of talks had occurred by 2006. After the last talk in September 2005, North Korea agreed to give up its weapons in return for aid and security promises. Later, North Korea demanded the right to a civilian nuclear reactor. In July, North Korea test-fired seven missiles. Levin argued at the panel discussion that North Korea is scared of U.S. power, thus its nuclear program and insistence on the non-aggression pact. He says the problem is indeed between the United States and North Korea. Bush insisted on an international front, and wants North Korea to resume six-party talks. Though panel members voiced their reactions to Bush’s diplomacy from different poles, none tried to argue with Flake’s most basic premise. “Make no mistake about it; we are not prepared for a crisis in North Korea right now.” The panel discussion was sponsored by the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation and the Minnesota International Center on September 15. All background information on North Korea was researched at BBC News, news. bbc.co.uk. Throughout 2003 North Korea continued to demand bilateral “non-aggression pact” \13 www.wakemag.org Literary/ Submissions Likeness Lost P.J. BY AJ SABAKO by Anonymous I bear your likeness, it’s been said In the Porcupine Mountains Lorelei swimming the liquor of my eyes in the upper peninsula of Michigan The press of your cheek against the blue mirror sheen the autumn air is already seeping Shivers into the leaves. You’re dying to glean a glance I see Hoffmaster, At us. At what the mirror’s reflecting. the pioneer of this place, pressing his palm against the cool rock at my feet. Though I’ve tried to dissect He slowly washes his eyes To split the coat of scales with the sunlight coming off Splay the sleek spine Lake of the Clouds. Beneath a rusty constellation of pins The trees shudder in the wind and Not even that sepchural skeleton can say I see him Where mother ends and daughter begins drift over the cliff crumbling into the jagged bluffs below. My fingers in a stiff, merciless display How they scratch and pluck How they wring and wrench your silk slick limbs Tearing you to tangles Your broken angles a pile in the corner Haunt my reflection no more In the morn lonely The mirror reflects Eyes vacant Eyes full of holes There aren’t enough fingers To plug those holes To keep those eyes afloat I sigh and let fall the secret sore For watery myths, their likeness lost 14/4-10 October 2006 \ Literary My Shoulder’s a Bridge BY Jupiter surya The distance began with a tone; And to my left, I saw eyes hang from above, Then on to Riverview Apartments, a decision to set my steps forward as the sounds of the afternoon faded to a buzz. where tennis courts gleam with reason— Dusk neared, and behind one tree next door to the highway beyond the window of the old music building where one may witness the traffic, I began in a crescent of concrete and stone, a light appeared the city, whose center bears the lines and shimmered the land used for old steel and garbage, under a tired wooden pole. and dimmed and a river too polluted, They skated from rooftop to rooftop glass. to the circuits of the stores lining the streets. while fingers dragged along the panes of so you can only ‘view’. I felt my way down to the river, I took the alley with scattered gravel and the signs of a beginner’s tags over business stone covered black and re-tagged again— The scars of the garbage truck’s teeth kick into my sandals, scrape my feet. To the west, a walking bridge extending out keeping my distance from the geese from the old Mineral Resources building, with tiny gifts of history never seen. Uncovered by machine, the tombs of tools lie open in bunches underneath the back of the building The burden of the bridge as I crossed over the tracks of commerce, whose engines snarled slowly as they pass— I could feel the waves of their distance bounce from the steel, to the wood, to the roots of my toes, for eyes once attracted to the rusted, ragged den of a man in his 50’s, who slept under the canopy of the old loading dock for semi-trucks, following the path along the banks of stone, whose protective eyes caught mine, resisting my approach to their home of a coast. And I found, in the distance, a barge bound for the locks to the north— My shoulder’s a bridge to the ship carrying its load. I wanted to swim to its rusted personality, as it drew ripples from the shore, to its sores, because he had everywhere else to go. and back to the shore. wrangling my hips as they walk. I like to read. Send me submissions. Smile at being in print. jduellman@wakemag.org \15 www.wakemag.org Athletics/ Rugby Scrum…didlyumtious Q&A with the club’s president By Lyndsey Danberry The origins of rugby date back to London,1175, where a monk, William Fitzspephen, documented youths “playing with a ball in open spaces.” If you would like to be a part of history, join the women’s rugby club. It’s a club requiring no prior experience, simply a commitment to learn, give your all and have fun! Be careful though, when a rookie scores on their first try, they have to run around the field naked – that’s the rules. “When a rookie scores on their first try, they have to run around the field naked.” The Wake: I have to know. Has anyone actually scored on their first try and run around the field naked? Kristy Lear: Laugh. No, we don’t actually do that especially with the hazing rules. It’s just kind of how rugby started, as a fun game against friends. There’s a huge social community. Once you join, you will meet people from other states who love it as much as you do. The Wake: All right, on a more serious level … what kind of record does the University of Minnesota women’s rugby club hold? Christine Lenzen The Wake: Is there a chance that the U of M rugby club could ever become a varsity sport? Lear: Well, it has changed over the last couple of years. Not last year but the year before, we qualified for nationals as a Division-II team. Last year we moved up to a Division-I team, which is a whole new ball game for us. We are trying to be competitive at the Division-I level, but it is more difficult. Before we became a DivisionI team, we used to make it to Nationals quite often. Lear: It is possible that eventually our team could become a varsity sport because of Title XI (Title XI requires schools to demonstrate substantially proportionate athletic opportunities for male and female athletes). The U of M needs to have at least one more varsity women’s sport to be equal with varsity men’s sports. We are still looking into things, but we hope that if the University considers another varsity sport they will consider us. The Wake: How is the team doing so far this year? The Wake: The opponents on your schedule include Eastern Illinois, Madison and Eau Claire. Lear: We lost our first game against Eastern Illinois, which is one of the few varsity rugby teams in the nation. There are probably less than 10 varsity teams in the nation right now, but it is growing. We did win our second game against Milwaukee’s club team. The Wake: How did the All-Minnesota Tournament go? Lear: We won! We have won every year since before I started, so 5+ years. During 16/4-10 October 2006 the tournament, we played the University of North Dakota and won 32-5, we beat St. Ben’s College 30-0, Moorhead 30-0 and during the championship game we beat Minnesota-Duluth 20-17! Lear: Well, we have no other varsity teams on our schedule. Our games against Madison on September 30 and Marquette on October 7 are our qualifying games for nationals. We must win both those to qualify for the playoffs, which will take place the first week in November. If we qualify for nationals, the Final Four, we will continue playing tournaments until spring. The Wake: I never got the chance to play sports in high school or college. What kind of rush comes from playing a sport as aggressive as rugby? Lear: It’s great, unlike lacrosse or hockey; girl’s rugby follows the same rules as men’s. Aggressive tackles and checking are encouraged. We play the game as hard as men do. A lot of girls look for that when looking for a sport – it’s equal opportunity. The Wake: Any inspiring words to girls who might want to try out for the team but are worried about scoring on the first try? Lear: It’s great to be involved in any sport. Rugby is a tough and competitive sport that is becoming more and more popular in Minnesota, particularly in high schools. Right now is a great time to be a part of rugby because it is growing so rapidly. The best part about joining the U of M rugby team is that you don’t need any experience. Our coach was on the USA team and is very knowledgeable about how to play the game. It doesn’t matter if you have never even heard the word rugby. \ Athletics Aggressive Competition Is Not Just for Varsity Sports The Wake talks with women’s club volleyball a national tournament because we get to see another part of the country. Our travel is limited; the farthest we usually go is 10 hours to play schools such as the University of Iowa, Michigan or Wisconsin. We get to see schools we don’t typically see in our regular season like California and schools out East. The Wake: How competitive is the NIRSA? Maul: Almost every team we compete against during our regular season goes to that tournament. Club teams work up to play in the tournament; it’s the pinnacle of every club’s season. The Wake: How is the team looking this year? By Lyndsey Danberry The women’s club volleyball team is a dedicated group of girls playing for the love of the game. Their season starts in mid-September and runs through April. The club is split into two teams, the A-team and the B-team. The women compete in weekend tournaments throughout the midwest. They also attend the National Intramural and Recreation Sports Association national championships at the end of the season. The women’s club has been very successful in the past at the NIRSA. The championship was held in Minneapolis in 1995, and the girls took second place. A year later, the championship was held in Toledo, Ohio, where the girls took first place and walked away national champions. The Wake talked with the Vice President of the women’s club volleyball team, Suzy Maul, to learn about this year’s squad. The Wake: Is the team planning on traveling to travel to Kansas City, Missouri, for the NIRSA? “It’s always fun to travel for a national tournament because we get to see another part of the country.” Suzy Maul: Yeah, they usually fall on the second week in April, generally over Easter weekend. It’s always fun to travel for Maul: Hard to tell right now, a lot of fourth- and fifth-year players graduated or moved. It’ll be interesting to see what new players we get. A solid number of players came out for tryouts … lots of impressive new talent for both teams A and B ... a great outlook for 2006-7 season. The Wake: Do you get the opportunity to compete against a lot of Big Ten Schools? Maul: There are a lot of big ten schools with club teams but whether or not we play them depends on were they are located. Illinois draws the most people because they are centrally located. When we host tournaments we see schools like the University of Wisconsin, Michigan, Colorado, Iowa and sometimes Illinois. The Wake: Which school would you like to beat the most? Maul: Iowa State is a huge rivalry for us; it should be a good game. The University of Wisconsin-Marquette is also a very good team. Be sure to catch the women’s club volleyball team when they host a game on campus this March. The Wake: What do you think of your schedule this year? Maul: It’s pretty premature as far as scheduling goes. We play three of four tournaments in the fall. Our spring season gets busier as we gear up for nationals. There are usually 12 teams in the tournament pool so we get to play and see a variety of teams. We could potentially play six or seven different schools throughout a weekend-long tournament. We travel to Washington University on October 14, Marquette University on November 11 and Minnesota State University on December 2 for our fall tournaments. Your ad here. adamiani@wakemag.org \17 www.wakemag.org Campus/ 5th District BY elizabeth aulwes photo courtesy of tammyleeforcongress.org Some say that the race to become the next U.S. Congress representative from the 5th District was decided in the Sept. 12 DFL primary. But Republicans are mounting an attack on the winner of the primary, Rep. Keith Ellison, that could shift the district from the liberal stronghold it has historically been to more conservative ground. DFL politicians have represented the 5th District, which encompasses all of Minneapolis and some of the surrounding suburbs, since 1963 when Republican Walter Judd was in office. Because of this, many doubt that the other candidates in the race (Republican Alan Fine, Independent Tammy Lee and Green Party candidate Jay Pond) have much of a chance. “This district is way too liberal to elect a Republican and not liberal enough to elect a Green Party candidate,” says Nick Lambert, a University of Kansas political science graduate and a former staffer of Ember Reichgott Junge’s campaign for Congress. Reichgott Junge was one of Ellison’s DFL opponents and was defeated in the primary. “This is the 10th most democratic district in the country,” Lambert says. But Lee, the Independence Party’s nominee, says that “the complexion of the district changed in 2000” when it was redistricted following the census. “Congress is desperate for a new direction,” Lee said in an interview, and she thinks she can provide some balance between the extremes. “People are fed up with partisan politics,” she says. photo courtesy of keithellingson.org photo courtesy of fineforcongress.org 18/4-10 October 2006 Fine’s recent attacks on Ellison prove that partisan politics are alive and well in this campaign. In recent candidate debates, Fine, a Carlson School of Management professor, has repeatedly brought up Ellison’s ties to the Nation of Islam and its leader, Louis Farrakhan. Fine has called the Nation of Islam a “hate group” whose agenda includes the “destruction of our country” and has called on Ellison to explain his association with the group. Fine says that “these are questions that need to be asked.” He says he feels that Ellison is trying to avoid the subject to dodge bad press. Ellison has responded by saying that he was never a member of the group and has never met Farrakhan. “Never in my life have I held racist or bigoted views,” Ellison says. His supporters, he says, are a diverse group of people including Jews, Christians, Hindus, Muslims and “all of God’s people.” plies to the current situation in Iraq. In an interview, Fine said that he is updating his position paper on Iraq as the situation there evolves and that it will be posted online soon. But Lee may not be right when she says voters aren’t willing to put up with it anymore, as the DFL primary race showed. Though Ellison never went negative personally in the race to the primary, some groups supporting him did. Education Minnesota sent out fliers on his behalf criticizing the other candidates in the race. Ellison won the race with 41 percent of the 5th District’s support. Mike Erlandson, retiring Rep. Martin Sabo’s chief of staff and Ellison’s former opponent in the primary, also mailed literature attacking his opponents. Erlandson came in second place with 31 percent of the primary vote. Reichgott Junge, who took third place with only 21 percent, never mailed any negative campaign literature. Fine does include “protecting the environment, the welfare of our children, making our neighborhoods safer and more cohesive, and producing jobs and keeping our economy strong” in his priorities, according to his Web site. Ellison is for a singlepayer universal healthcare system and says he “will not support any effort that will provide Wall Street investors with a short-term financial gain at the cost of long-term ecological degradation.” “This district is way too liberal to elect a Republican and not liberal enough to elect a Green Party candidate,” says Nick Lambert. Ellison does say that he wants to maintain a positive campaign as “a reason of principle.” His basic strategy in responding to attacks has been to request a return to the issues. Ellison told the Star Tribune that Republicans “haven’t done much for homeland security, we still have a healthcare crisis. The Earth is warming up, and they’re not doing anything about it. What are they going to do? They have to try to engage in smear politics.” Ellison has also called for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, calling it a “terrible mistake” on his Web site. Fine, though he doesn’t mention the War in Iraq on his Web site, says that he “believe[s] in a strong defense and will support policies that will enable us to maintain the security of our country.” He also says he “will support legislation protecting U.S. interests throughout the world,” but doesn’t explain if this ap- Lee wants to balance the budget, invest in public schools, including early childhood education, convert to alternative energy fuel usage, and reform healthcare. She says her plan will “bring healthcare costs down and provide more affordable insurance for more people.” Lee also says she wants to get college tuition prices under control. “Higher education has increasingly become out-of-reach” for many families. She’s interested in creating a civil service program which would be the “21st century’s version of the GI bill where college students could give back to the community and possibly earn some loan forgiveness.” Lee supports a “graceful, pragmatic exit strategy” from Iraq. Pond, the Green nominee, says on his Web site that the “major-party representatives do not work for the residents of their districts, but for the party elite and the corporate lobbyists. To break the cycle we need congresspeople who are independent of this system.” He supports a single-payer universal healthcare system, a reduction of U.S. forces stationed in Iraq and reparations to be paid to the Iraqi people, and a major overhaul of the nation’s energy system to convert to wind power. Lambert may be right that this is a DFL stronghold and is likely Ellison territory. But, as was proven in the DFL primary, voters might be listening to negative attacks, and Fine has a good start. But, Lee points out, “It was college students who stood up and said ‘we want a change’ when Jesse Ventura was elected. Students have the power to make a difference.” \ Campus For Pluto, Size Does Matter Farthest planet no longer “planet” BY janessa dohse If you were beyond devastated upon hearing that Pluto was recently demoted to dwarf-planet status, you are not alone. On Sept. 14, in the first of a weekly series of events hosted by the University’s Institute for Advanced Study, Pluto admirers came from far and wide to mourn the loss of their beloved planet. The series of events, titled “Thursdays at 4:00,” selected Terry Jones as their first speaker. Jones has been working in the University’s astronomy department since 1982 and sought to provide information about Pluto’s discovery, its brief stint as a planet and why it got the boot. In 1929, Kansas farmer Clyde Tombaugh was hired by the Lowell Observatory to search for the ninth planet. After less than a year of searching, Tombaugh discovered Pluto. Differing from the other eight planets, Pluto was much smaller in size and had an irregular orbit. All was going well for Pluto until early 2001, when the Hayden Planetarium removed Pluto from its display of the major planets. In the years that followed, many similar objects were discovered in the solar system. As Jones stated, it’s “not a recent notion that Pluto isn’t a planet.” However, all was going well for Pluto until early 2001, when the Hayden Planetarium removed Pluto from its display of the major planets, re-labeling Pluto a Kuiper Belt object. Since Hayden Planetarium’s evil deed, scientists and astronomers alike have debated whether Pluto should remain as one alex judkins of the nine planets. Earlier this summer, the International Astronomical Union was called on to decide once and for all the status of Pluto. In August, the IAU met in Prague and defined a planet as having sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium. This is basically an overly scientific way of saying that a planet must be round (or nearly round) to be in this much sought-after category. Pluto’s status was the IAU’s main concern when redefining what constitutes a planet. But based on their definition, anything in the solar system that is nearly round can be classified as a planet. So responding to fury and outrage by other scientists, the IAU added another criteria to their definition saying a planet must dynamically control its local orbit and sweep it clean of smaller objects. There goes Pluto. discoverer’s birth, the spacecraft is carrying some of Tombaugh’s ashes. New Horizons is predicted to land on Pluto sometime during the year 2015. I bet Tombaugh didn’t plan on spending an eternity on a “trans-Neptunian-object.” And not only did Pluto get booted from the solar system, the IAU didn’t even allow Pluto the dignity of giving it a new title. As for now, Pluto resides with many other bodies in a group temporarily referred to as “trans-Neptunian-objects.” Jones expressed his remorse by saying, “Science has to change, it has to progress.” Many others are surely grieving with him. On the other hand, University senior Jose Rivera sums up his feelings by stating, “I don’t care that much about Pluto.” I think he speaks for us all. But here is the real kicker. In January 2006, NASA launched its New Horizons spacecraft in a first-ever mission to Pluto. In honor of the 100th anniversary of its \19 www.wakemag.org Campus/ Theater Antiques denise rath Rare collection of Guthrie history on display by sarah howard A new exhibit on the West Bank features photographs, set models, costume sketches and other items from the Guthrie collections that have been part of the Guthrie history since 1965. These items have been on display in the Elmer L. Andersen Library since August 7. The display allows for guests to get an idea of the early history of the theater and its creators as well as a feeling for all that goes into a show and how this has changed over the years. Sir Tyrone Guthrie announced his plan for a theater outside of New York City in 1959 and chose Minneapolis over several other cities because of the strong arts community. Early documents and sketches of Guthrie’s original Hennepin Avenue location, where it sat for about four decades, are also featured and show the history of the theater. Many original sketches of different building ideas are on display and allow for a viewer to see all of the various ideas that were explored for the building. These 20/4-10 October 2006 A gown from Amadeus, which played in 2001, and a fairy costume from 1996’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream are beautiful examples of the work on display. sketches were done by Ralph Rapson, the Guthrie’s architect and head of the School of Architecture at the U of M at the time the theater was built. Most notably are the two grandiose costumes displayed under stage lighting. A gown from Amadeus, which played in 2001, and a fairy costume from 1996’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream are beautiful examples of the work on display. Costume “bibles” show original costume sketches and are displayed with cloth piece samples that give an idea of the consistency of the costume. Sketches come to life with notes by the original designers that say things such as “NOT quick change,” describing the use of the costume in production. Antique photographs show Sir Guthrie on the building site with floor plans as well as at different stages of putting the shows together throughout the production. Show programs from the early plays also add to the mystique feel of the exhibit. Also in the “Beginnings” display there are early telegraphs announcing the theater as well as the announcement of the theater being named after Guthrie. The exhibit is on display until Oct. 27 and is free and open to the public on the first floor gallery of the library, Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visit andersen. lib.umn.edu for more information. Bastard Cocaine Open - Face Sandwich by Alex Judkins Arbitrary Awards Most badass way to die: Popping a wheelie into a meat grinder while shouting the lyrics to Van Halen’s “Can’t Get This Stuff No More” Honorable mention: Anything that doesn’t involve getting killed by some pansy-ass stingray, really Least badass way to die: Devoured by the Sarlacc Honorable mention: Devoured by the Rancor Best sex scene: Kiefer Sutherland and Morrissey Worst sex scene: Rob Schneider and a staple remover Honorable mention: Screech performing the Dirty Sanchez. 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