Student Magazine

THE
vol.3 issue.10
www.wakenews.org
Wake
Student Magazine
The U’s Fortnightly Student Magazine
February 23, 2005
THE
Vol.3 Issue 10
Wake
Student Magazine
The Wake
February 23, 2OO5
Established in 2002, The Wake is an independent
fortnightly magazine, produced by and for students
at the University of Minnesota. The Wake is a
registered student organization.
Editor In Chief
Managing Editor
WWW.WAKENEWS.ORG
Campus Editor
Contributing Editor
CONTENTS
-4-8-12-14-23-26-
Campus
Voices
Literary
Sound & Vision
Athletics
Bastard Pages
26
-4-
Zachary Carlsen
Athletics Editor
Lane Trisko
Art Director
Brie Cohen
Photo Editor
Brie Cohen
Copy Editors
Proofreader
PR Director
Advertising Executive
-14- Ian Brown is hot, but he knows it
Cover Art
From the Editors
Dear Readers,
Hunter S. Thompson is dead.
We presented to the fees committee.
We hope our fate will not be as that of the Good Doctor.
Vulva. Come on now. Just say it. You know you want to.
Seriously, though. Come support The Wake at student fees public hearings March 1 and 2. Get locations and
times at www.sao.umn.edu/fees/.
Morgon Mae Schultz, editor in chief
Frederic Hanson, managing editor
Andrew Wold
Abigail Mackenzie
Chris Compton
Cameron Sorden
Megan Steidl
Rebecca Broughton
Michael Gaughan
Illustrators/Cartoons
Eric Carlson
Devin Ensz
Eireann Lorsung
Morgon Mae Schultz
Sam Soule
L. Strange
Molly Wick
Eli Zimmerman
Photography
-12- Pulling back the curtain on Scene 2
-26- You bastard!
Melanie Bloom
Marissa Krzmarzick
Zachary Carlsen
Brie Cohen
Eric Price
Morgon Mae Schultz
Poor ... poor ... conservatives ...
Lusting after Paris Hilton ... cliché?
Andy Tyra
Graphic Design
-23- Rugby likes it rough
-8-
Conrad Wilson
Literary Editor
Business Manager
14
Kay Steiger
Frederic Hanson
Office Manager
23
Frederic Hanson
Sound & Vision Editor
Web Editor
8
Morgon Mae Schultz
Contributing Writers
Zachary Carlson
Brie Cohen
Craig Kotilinek
Conrad Wilson
Ayme Almendarez
Grant Boelter
Thurmoan Botes
Sandra Breuer
Kim Gengler
Brant Johnson
Abigail Mackenzie
Omar Merhi
Jenny Odegard
Terri Remiah
Craig Reutmeester
Dennis Royzenfeld
Chris Smalley
Vincent Staupe
Kay Steiger
Lane Trisko
Illyria Turk
Brett J. Willner
Chris Wilson
The Wake was founded by
Chris Ruen and James Delong.
The Wake
1313 5th St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414
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With letters, please include your name,
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publish annonymous letters.
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© 2005 All Rights Reserved
Illustrations by Sam Soule
IN
RED STUDENTS
4
A
Campus
February 23, 2005
B
L
U
E
S
T
A
T
E
CONSERVATIVE
STUDENTS FACE
CHALLENGES
ON CAMPUS
classes within his major, he believes that it
is a problem in areas such as the political
“Why would you work for that piece science department, where politics is at
of shit?” It wasn’t exactly a response that the center of much of the discussion.
“Every one of my colleagues
Crystal Lachermeier expected to hear
from a classmate when she announced that has gone through rigorous training,”
she would be working for the Republican says Jacobs, referring to the process
that political science professors at
National Committee.
As part of fulfilling a requirement for the “U” must undergo to make sure their
a service-learning class, Lachermeier, a teaching methods are politically unbiased.
senior at the “U” who is double-majoring in According to Jacobs the dominant trait
political science and sociology, interned for in professors’ viewpoints in the political
the RNC last fall. She pointed to this in-class science department is toward ambivalence
incident as one of a number of times when or non-political. “If you read the journal we
she felt discriminated against because of put out, you will likely see that there is a
fear of having any political affiliation shine
her conservative political viewpoints.
Lachermeier and many other students through,” says Jacobs.
Lachermeier agrees that teachers
face a unique challenge -- being in the
political minority on campus. While there must mask their political affiliation and
hasn’t been a study conducted specific she believes they do a good job of it. She
to the University of Minnesota, the remembers a class she once had with
general consensus between liberals and a conservative professor who had most
conservatives alike is that campus leans a of the students believing that he was
liberal. “It was obvious to me that he
little to the left politically.
According to Larry Jacobs, a political was trying too hard, but I thought that
science professor at the “U,” young people was cool,” says Lachermeier.
Adam Axvig, a senior majoring
between the ages of 18 and 24 were more
likely to vote for Sen. John Kerry in the in political science, has felt the effects
2004 presidential election. Add that with the of being in the conservative minority
fact that Minnesota has traditionally voted as well. He says that most of the
a little to the Democratic side and it’s no problems that he’s encountered
surprise that Republicans on campus are have been with students who were
quick to shoot down whatever he
likely among the minority.
Over the last few years, there has been had to say. He and Lachermeier
a considerable amount of debate concerning both agree that voicing a minority
the issue of whether universities hold a bias opinion, whatever it may be, is
(liberal or otherwise) in what they teach. likely to cause backlash.
Axvig says that while he
Many conservatives and other students
who feel they have been discriminated thinks professors try to keep
against because of their views have gotten their views out of what they
behind groups such as Students for teach, sometimes unnecessary
with
political
Academic Freedom, which has proposed comments
an “Academic Bill of Rights.” If adopted undertones come through. He
by a state legislature, the proposed bill of points to an example where
rights, which you can see at www.students his human sexuality professor
foracademicfreedom.org, would allow state said that Republicans halted
universities to be punished for what it deems an attempt to test everybody
as violations of students’ rights. According for AIDS. While he has
to an article by Sara Hebel of The Chronicle not had serious problems
of Higher Education, a few colleges such as with instructors who didn’t
Wichita State and Utah State have adopted a accept his opinions, he
thinks that politics could be
“Student Bill of Rights.”
Marty Andrade, a fifth-year student kept out of some discussions.
who is double-majoring in philosophy and Axvig says he doesn’t believe
psychology, feels that students are being colleges should look at professors’
political views upon hiring
hurt by the lack of political
them, but instead “they
diversity on campus. Most
should shoot for people
professors “don’t pander
Young people
with open minds.”
(to liberals), but they are
Trevor
Ford,
a
liberals,” says Andrade.
between the ages
sophomore
majoring
Andrade, who is the
of 18 and 24
in political science who
president of Collegians
is active in College
for
a
Constructive
were more likely
Republicans, says that
Tomorrow, is grateful
to vote for Sen.
while it’s obvious that he’s
that he has a platform to
John Kerry in the
in the minority, he hasn’t
express his political views
experienced any major
freely. However, he feels
2004 presidential
problems in class. He says
that it would be beneficial
election.
that while an instructor’s
for students to get a wider
political views may show
range
of
viewpoints,
from time to time, it
pointing out that he has
had only one class in which he felt the has never come to the point where it was
material was balanced between both sides, problematic.
Austin Miller, president of the
liberal and conservative. Andrade adds
that while a political bias isn’t as harmful in University Democrats, says that while
By Grant Boelter
Campus
THE
Wake
February 23, 2005
conservative student leaders have been disagree with what is being said, which may
good at bringing up points about biases lead students to falsely believe that they are
in the classroom, he thinks they also have being unfairly targeted.
According to Jacobs,
used scare tactics to get
the labels “conservative”
people to listen. Miller,
and “liberal” are oddly
a senior in the Carlson
Most professors
shaped. He says that
School of Management,
many college students
says political views can go
“donʼt pander (to
are conservative on some
both ways among different
liberals), but they
issues and liberal on
departments. He refers to
others, adding that most
classes within his major
are liberals,” says
in which his teachers
students are concerned
Andrade.
and most of the students
with environmental issues,
support more politically
regardless of what party
conservative
principles
they identify with. For
which cause him to be in the minority. this reason grouping people into these
He says professors attack students so that categories based on a few viewpoints can be
they will strengthen their arguments and it problematic.
doesn’t mean that the professors agree or
5
Illustration By Morgon Mae Schultz
Campus
Looking for Ghosts in all the Right Places
Paranormal Research Team investigates
Wake
By Abigail Mackenzie
February 23, 2005
THE
6
“Our goal is to examine hauntings from
an unbiased point of view and methodically
Growing up, I knew one ghost. He investigate unexplained phenomenon,” PRT
was green, chubby and he visited every wrote on the student activities Web site.
The team, consisting
Saturday morning. He
of about 10 students,
was a friendly ghost and
visits local sites and
got to hang out with a
Logeais says
looks for unexplainable
bunch of guys who made
phenomena. Girard Goder,
their living searching
he has seen
the PRT president, defined
for other, less friendly
many orbs and
unexplainable phenomena
ghosts. These guys called
silhouettes. He
via e-mail, as “an event
themselves Ghost Busters
that someone with a good
and Slimer was their
has also recorded
understanding of physics,
squishy sidekick.
a womanʼs moan
mechanics, and sociology
Though they may
cannot explain.”
be a far cry from the
believed to be
Justin Logeais, an
goofy Ghost Busters,
from another
officer of PRT described
the university has their
world.
being around a ghost as an
own group dedicated to
abrupt drop in temperature
searching for spiritual
around you. Logeais says
beings.
Their name is a little more serious too. he breaks into a cold sweat and feels the
The Paranormal Research Team (PRT) “energy moving” around him.
Goder described the feeling similarly.
became an official student group back in
November, but they have been looking for He said it had all the physiological symptoms
of fear, but none of the psychological
ghosts for a lot longer than that.
speaks into the microphone and asks
distress.
“It is like a chilly, excited calm,” Goder questions they believe ghosts will be able
to answer. Once recording is complete the
says.
So far the group has researched many audiotape is played back and amidst the
places including cemeteries, parks, and noise Goder and others believe voices of
schools. Inspiration to investigate comes ghosts can be heard.
Goder and Logeais
from books, magazines
and word of mouth.
believe
that
ghosts
exist because they have
A lot of time is spent
Goder and Logeais unfinished business on
researching places to
go and then setting up
believe that ghosts earth. Goder also believes
sometimes ghosts
equipment, Goder says.
exist because they that
simply don’t know they
Not all of this time spent
have unfinished
are dead.
preparing has been in
vain. Logeais says he
Many
of
the
business on earth.
assignments
Goder,
has seen many orbs and
silhouettes. He has also
Logeais and the rest of
the Paranormal Research
recorded a woman’s moan
Team set out on are by request. So if you
believed to be from another world.
Goder recently started working on have a feeling your drafty Dinkytown house
a technique called Electrostatic Voice is haunted or a relative has some unfinished
Phenomenon. The technology has been business to attend to the Paranormal
around since 1971, but is gaining popularity. Research Team is at your service – and they
It was recently featured in the movie White don’t even cart around a messy green ghost.
You can contact the Paranormal
Noise and involves hooking up an audio
recorder to a microphone. Then someone Research Team at [email protected]
Lunchtime Lecture Explores IsraelPalestine Conflict
Ph.D student speaks her mind for Palestine
what’s going on says it’s too complex, suicide attacks on Israel proper.
Despite her distress over the situation
Muzaffer says.
“Americans find it difficult to separate in Israel, Muzaffer says she believes the way
what happened in World War II with what to fight a Zionist ideology is with another
is happening now,” Muzaffer says. “The ideology — democracy. What is happening
in Israel with the wall segmenting the West
victims have become the victimizers.”
Bank is systematically
The
front-page
undemocratic, something
news of Ariel Sharon
that the United States
shaking
hands
with
It is difficult
values highly in the
Mahmoud Abbas, the
Middle East, Muzaffer
new Palestinian president,
for Palestinians
says. The idea of true
on Feb. 8 was very
to gather and
democracy
happening
discouraging to Muzaffer
speak out against
in Israel brought tears
because the leaders didn’t
to Muzaffer’s eyes at
even mention the word
the oppression
the end of a spirited and
“occupation.”
because of the
Muzaffer
is
passionate lecture.
encouraged by the idea
anti-Semitic label.
that
Palestinians
are
The brief lecture was
making a move to “remove
part of a lunchtime series
excuses” for oppression of Palestinians. that typically meets every Wednesday at
Muhomoud Abbas dresses like a westerner, noon, sponsored by the Political Science
Muzaffer says, without the headwear that department at the University to explore
his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, displayed. international perspectives.
The cease-fire called will hopefully prevent
Campus
the seventh century.
In a question and answer section of the
Because of freedom of speech, a lecture, Muzaffer clarified the fact that it is
Palestinian woman who has lived in the difficult for Palestinians to gather and speak
United States since 1996 was able to out against the oppression because of the
anti-Semitic label.
discuss an unpopular
“Don’t underestimate
viewpoint — the result
that,” Muzaffer says. The
of gradual and persistent
[Muzaffer] outlined Jews have developed an
Zionist victimization of
“apartheid state” — with
Palestinians in Israel.
the unofficial
the minority of Jews
Isra’ Muzaffer, a
plan by the Israeli
ruling over the majority of
second year university
Palestinians.
Ph.D
student,
stood
government to
“The fact that I’m
before a group of more
build a wall twice
able to stand here and
than 30 intellectuals on
as high and three
give this presentation
Feb. 11 in Heller Hall.
without being attacked
She stood up for what
times as long as
is remarkable,” Muzaffer
she believes is “ethnic
the Berlin wall.
says.
cleansing” in Israel. She
Often Americans feel
outlined the unofficial plan
lost when confronted with
by the Israeli government
to build a wall twice as high and three times disturbances over religious ideologies in the
as long as the Berlin wall. The wall will to Middle East. The history of such conflicts
slice up the West Bank, making Palestinians has become so complicated that it is difficult
segmented in a land they have lived in since to understand. Anyone who wants to know
By Kay Steiger
THE
Wake
February 23, 2005
Illustration By Eli Zimmerman
7
Voices
8
February 23, 2005
“THE FABULOUS LIFE OF ...”
How VH1 makes even Edina feel poor
Illustration By Eric Carlson
By Illyria Turk
VH1 makes me want to die. The other
day I came home from a particularly stressful
day at work, flipped on my pirated cable and
came across “The Fabulous Life of Hollywood
‘it’ girls.” For those of you unfamiliar “The
Fabulous Life of…” series, not only do I
envy you, but I also hold you in the highest
possible tier of cool. (Seriously. Beatniksnapping-your-fingers-and-saving-the-worldwith-a-haiku-cool). The rest of us know that
this is one of the many recently developed
and highly rated shows based on the (correct)
assumption that the people of the United States
will watch anything related to celebrities that
doesn’t require much concentration. This
particular show takes our love of voyeurism
to new lows as it unabashedly breaks down the
extravagant spending habits of the young and
beautiful demi-gods of Hollywood, showcasing
the amounts they spend on everything from
skincare to convertibles.
So there I was, trying to relax after work,
shamelessly
learning
how
these girls live.
$100,000
cars,
“God, wouldnʼt it
$50,000 shopping
be nice to be Paris sprees … their
gratuitous lives
Hilton and never
were flashing in
have to worry
front of my eyes
about money?”
complete with a
top-40 soundtrack
and gold sparkling
graphics. When it
was over, I let out a sigh and muttered the
infamous words that inspired this rant in the
first place: “God, wouldn’t it be nice to be Paris
Hilton and never have to worry about money?”
At that exact moment around the world
needles scratched off records, babies fell mute,
angles wept. My God. What had I become?
Has it really come to this? Are even
seemingly well-educated students falling victim
to the modern media trap? Today instead
of simply using sitcoms and commercials
to present “the good life” as 2.5 kids living
in suburbia with a stay-at-home mom, the
media has capitalized on our want for more
by showcasing a handful of people at the apex
of life and making them the ideal. Today “the
See “Fabulous,” page 11
February Just Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us
Mardi Gras is the Valentine for those living the single life
By Vincent Staupe
“Beat it, Valentine’s,” says one holiday
to the other. “This month ain’t big enough
for the both of us!”
“You go, Mardi Gras,” I cheer her on.
“Out with the day of Hallmark quips and in
with the beads Bourbon Street is made of!”
Hmmm. I suspect now that you can
see through my beard of commercialism
antipathy, particularly among those who
are, oh how shall we say, “shacked up,”
“taken,” or otherwise “previously engaged.”
Oh, you know who you are. You whose
Friday nights no longer include mindnumbing amounts of alcohol but instead a
simple stop at the friendly neighborhood
Blockbuster.
Yes, you who reach across three people
standing on a crowded campus-connector
bus, just to hold hands.
Yes, all of your sneaking suspicions
are correct. I am currently writing from the
boondocks of bachelorhood, the forests of
foot-loose and fancy-free, the Siberia that
is the single life. But please, dear reader,
Voices
good life” includes plenty of “bling,”
celebrity romances and 2.5 Bentleys. By
this new standard, it’s possible, probably
even, that white girls from Edina are sitting
by their big screens clutching keys to their
SUVs, wishing they could be rich.
Has the whole world gone crazy?
When did we loose our grip on reality? Am
I the only one pissed off that I now know
the spending habits of Lindsay Lohan, a
teenager who is apparently an “it” girl and
is also apparently living a whole hell of a lot
better than I could ever hope or dream? It
seems to me that if you are over the age of
18 you shouldn’t even know Lindsay Lohan’s
name, much less her spending habits and
dating history. But alas, this is the place we
find ourselves in today.
You see it everywhere. VH1 isn’t the
only form of media that makes me want to
die. I remember a couple years ago when
my roommate brought home a flimsy
“magazine” called In Touch. I flipped
through it, disregarded it as a tabloid, and
secretly judged her for being the type of
person who would read that crap. Today,
these celebrity insider rags are in every
waiting room, break room, and living room
I seem to come across. What’s worse is that
formerly cynical and elitist academics (such
as myself and many of the most intelligent
and creative individuals I know) now openly
admit that these magazines are their “guilty
pleasure.”
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t expect
everyone to spend his or her free time
learning Japanese or reading obscure
poetry. In fact, those too-cool-for-school
because “I read the New Yorker and don’t
own a TV” kids who walk around campus
thinking they are going to save the world
are just as annoying as the sorority sister
PR girls who claim “The Fabulous Life of…”
is their favorite show. Everyone needs some
See “Mardi Gras,” page 11
ll
Po
a
- d
roi
Illustration By Sam Soule
The Wake Asks:
“Having an excuse for being a
dumb ass.”
“All the drama.”
“My home life.”
–Nandini Kataria–
Sophmore
Bio-Chemistry
–Adrine Chung–
Junior
Bio-Chemisry
–Nick Upton–
Senior
English
–Chelsea Strate–
Junior
French
February 23, 2005
“It would be an excuse to make fun of
other people ... publicly.”
THE
Wake
Photo Poll By Conrad Wilson
If your life were a reality television show, what would be
the most fabulous part?
9
Wake
Voices
Students Care about Palestine and Israel
February 23, 2005
THE
10
Israel’s Right to Exist
Patience and
Optimism
Yet Another
“Cease-Fire”
Glimpse the
Palestinian Perspective
By Dennis Royzenfeld
By Brett J. Willner
By Omar Merhi
By Sandra Breuer
Israel since its conception has been
engaged in vicious struggle against its
enemies on all fronts. To this day, the
wars have never really ended. Once the
military option became impossible for
the Arabs states to destroy Israel, they
switched tactics. Terrorism, propaganda
and Palestinian refugees are being used as
pawns to apply pressure on Israel.
Don’t get me wrong; Palestinian
suffering is real, but to lay the blame entirely
on Israel is misguided. In 1948, when Israel
was formed, some 800,000 people became
refugees. They were forced to leave the
lands where they had lived for centuries.
I’m not talking about Palestinians. I’m
talking about the Jews that were expelled
from places like Iraq, Syria, Jordan and
Egypt. Israel managed to resettle these
people, while the Arab countries refuse to
do the same for the Palestinians.
History will always be disputed no
matter who said it. The only undisputed
piece of evidence I can offer that counters
the claim that Jews forcibly expelled all
Palestinians is this: There are more than
a million Israeli Arabs living in Israel right
now. If in 1948 Jews were out to ethnically
cleanse the land (as some claim), why
would they allow a substantial Arab
population to remain?
As far as the current peace process,
the new Palestinian leader is no better. Abu
Mazen doesn’t condemn violence. He just
thinks it’s counterproductive. Was anyone
assured about Abu Mazen’s intentions
when we saw images of him smiling among
masked men firing guns?
A real peace process will only
take place when Arab leaders accept
Israel’s right to exist. Until then terrorist
organizations like Hamas will continue their
deadly task. It’s plain wrong to call it “cycle
of violence” because Hamas is dedicated to
the destruction of Israel; just search Google
for “Charter of Hamas.”
I can go on about the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict, arguing back and forth the same
arguments thousands of people have
debated in the past finding no clear solution.
I can give facts about who owns certain
areas of land, numbers about how many
innocent civilians have died on both sides,
broken promises by leaders and more. It’s a
debate that people have been trying to solve
for decades to no avail. Don’t get me wrong
– there are a lot of serious issues that need
to be worked out on both sides. People need
to remember that a solution will not happen
overnight.
There have been many encouraging
signs lately from both the Palestinians and
the Israelis (and even the Arab world). One
is Sharon’s Gaza disengagement (which is
going to cost a suffering Israeli economy
7 billion Shekels, or approximately $1.7
billion,) and handover of security in cities
like Jericho. This will begin to pave a way
for the Palestinian Authority to prove they
can control terrorist groups such as Hamas
and Islmic Jihad (which do not support
the Palestinian Authority), and establish a
legitimate government. Other promising
developments are the deployment of
Palestinian policeman in the northern Gaza
Strip to stop missile attacks on Israeli towns
and the announcement on February 8 at
the Sharm el-Sheikh summit that Jordan
and Egypt will return their ambassadors
to Israel. These are extremely encouraging
signs that all sides are starting to work
toward a serious and true peace.
The situation is looking optimistic but
we must remember peace will not come
instantly. It might not be our Israeli and
Palestinian peers who solve the conflict.
Many of them are Israelis who have
lost classmates in suicide bombings or
Palestinians whose friends were shot in
Gaza. It is going to take generations for
tolerance and peace to arise, and only then
will peace truly come between the people
and states of Israel and Palestine.
Since the death of Arafat, a wave of
optimism about peace in the Middle East
has begun in the minds of the Western
world. The efforts of Mahmoud Abbas to
reach a truce preserved this hope. The
promise of a withdrawal of Israeli troops
from Areiha is a parallel act from the side of
the Israelis to show their good will. Finally,
the Sharm El-Sheikh summit of Sharon and
Abbas is hailed in the Western media as the
beginning of a new era of “real” peace talks.
Is the Western media really portraying
the hope or the reality? On February 15 the
Israeli Occupation Forces again showed
their commitment to what is currently
celebrated as a cease-fire. A military
operation starting that evening resulted in
two Palestinian victims of the cease-fire. In
addition, withdrawal from the Palestinian
lands is a one-sided decision that was so
many times reversed, what is different
about this one? And in exchange for pulling
out and compensating 8,300 hard-to-protect
settlers in Gaza, Israel got assurances from
the U.S. to keep 230,000 settlers in occupied
West Bank, and is expected to build even
more settlements.
Everyone appreciates peace and calm,
including the Palestinians whose suffering
is not by headline incidents but by daily
and hourly theft of dignity and property.
The new “peace plans” are no more real
than the previous ones, and in reality the
Palestinians are losing more of their people
and land and are being pushed into smaller
and smaller prison enclaves as a result of
the new wall that Sharon’s government
keeps constructing.
The American public is not getting the
real picture about the situation in Palestine,
but a rather hopeful picture. There is no
problem with hope. It keeps people alive.
But let us have real hopes – not just pure
optimistic conjectures. Hope can be based
on new leaders, like Abbas who is trying to
bring people together, but it also has to be
based on justice, which even children can
articulate.
The devestating Israeli-Palestinian
conflict now has the potential to end in
peace. The recent democratic election
of Mahmoud Abbas in Palestine and the
current peace talks may bode well for the
future of the Palestinians.
From the mainstream media, most
Americans hear of the deaths and horrors
on the Israeli side when a violent act has
occurred, with little mention of the deaths
of the Palestinians and the horror they
face under the Israeli colonial occupation
of Palestinian land. When Israelis die in
the violence, the news reports shows faces
and names. Palestinians are identified with
numbers and dehumanized as ‘terrorists’
no matter the circumstances of their death.
Since September 2000, when the second
intifada began, 1,050 Israelis have died
compared with 3,600 Palestinians.
These numbers do not tell the whole
story of occupation. The Israeli military
has demolished the homes of thousands
of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
The military gives families 24 hours to pack
their belongings and evacuate, claiming
national security concerns. According to
Human Rights Watch, Sharon’s government
has demolished 2,500 homes in Gaza in the
past four years. In the town of Rafah, the
Israeli military has destroyed the homes of
16,000 people – 10 percent of the population
– in the last four years. With the peace talks,
however fragile in existence, Palestinians
have wavering hope that they will be able
to live without the fear of being forcefully
removed from their homes.
As of today 1.2 million Palestinians live
in refugee camps. According to the UN,
there are more than 4 million Palestinian
refugees in total. While Palestinians are
displaced, Israelis continue to build colonial
outposts in the West Bank, complete with
Jewish-only roads and monopolies on
water and electricity. While Sharon talks
of disengagement by dismantling Jewishonly settlements in Gaza, The Washington
Post, in a February 7, 2005 article, reported
Israel’s plans to accelerate development
of Jewish-only colonies in the occupied
territory of the West Bank.
The peace talks will fail if the core
issues of the conflict are not resolved, which
is Israel dispossessing the Palestinians of
their land and homes. Until the issue of
colonialism is addressed, peace will, at its
best be, a struggle.
Dennis Royzenfeld is a member of
Friends of Israel.
Brett J. Willner is the Israel chair of
the Hillel Student Board and the campus
liaison of the Gopher-Israeli Public Affairs
Committee at the University of Minnesota.
Omar Merhi is a graduate student at
the University of Minnesota and a writer for
Al-Madina Writers.
Please send comments to office @wakenews.org.
Sandra Breuer is president of Students
for Justice in Palestine.
Illustrations by Devin Ensz
know that I am not soliciting pity, prayers,
or anonymous donations of cash. I am more
so an advocate, educating you about the
perilous world that is the single life.
Let me tell you that it’s not all coming
up roses on this side of the dating fence.
For instance, you think that when you
have finished dating someone, and are
planning to dump them (shameless plug
for my earlier column – which, incidentally
you are able to read on our Web site at
http://wakenews.org/Voices/dec15/
dumped.html), you will be able to solve
world hunger with all the free time you’ll
have. Well let me tell you, as far as free time
in “singledom” is concerned, I have one
word for you – “Thefacebook.” Lots and
lots of Thefacebook.
You think that when you are single
you’ll reconnect with the friends who you
undoubtedly would have lost in the depths
of your relationship. But now, not only
do you find that they’re dating someone
themselves, they are ditching you on a
Friday night, leaving you no choice but to
steal a balloon sculpture of a helicopter from
a freshman at Gophers After Dark.
Take heed, the world of the single
undergrad can be dark, confusing, and
most certainly will lead you to a life of
hiding in restroom stalls! Take my friend
“Colleen” who met this guy “Stu” at a bar
one night. Stu was a good-looking guy who,
like Colleen, waited tables at a popular
restaurant downtown. They exchanged
numbers at bar closing after quite the night
of necking and tomfoolery, and I, the living
definition of the third wheel, stared on
despondently.
They proceeded to go on their first
real date several days later at a bar in the
Warehouse District. It was there, Colleen
related to me the next day, where things
took a turn for the zany.
Without any provocation whatsoever,
Stu began excitedly (or as Colleen put it
“crazily”) insisting that she stop staring at
other men. After realizing that expressing
her confusion at his remarks only made
him worse (or “crazier”), as well as catching
other bar patron’s worried glances in
their direction, she fled to the safety of
the women’s restroom and stayed there
for a half an hour while he repeatedly left
messages on her cell phone blaming his
behavior on his bad decision of mixing
Nyquil and alcohol that evening, even as he
insisted that they “had something special.”
Yes, life in “singledom” will keep you
online until five in the morning, fanatically
running after freshmen in Coffman
Memorial Union or dashing into bathrooms
in fear. It’s enough to make you want to
throw on some beads, grab the nearest
drink, and ignore the big cardboard hearts
that threaten to poke eyes out. In fact, you
probably saw me on the 14th, in a sea of red
and pink, wearing yellow, purple and green.
Vincent Staupe is a staff writer for The
Wake and welcomes Mardi Gras-tinis, as
well as comments at [email protected].
Voices is the editorial and opinion
section of The Wake.
We encourage members of the
university community to express
their views, which are independent
of The Wake Student Magazine.
The Wake Student Magazine
welcomes ideas from readers for
opinion pieces.
Ideas should focus on campus,
national, or international issues, and
how they affect students.
Please send pitches to:
Conrad Wilson,
contributing editor
[email protected]
The Wake Student Magazine
1313 5th Street SE
Suite 331
Minneapolis, MN 55414
THE
February 23, 2005
Illyria Turk is a university student
and welcomes comments at
[email protected].
“Mardi Gras,” continued from page 11
Wake
light-hearted fun, but when we choose to let
that fun come in the form of coveting the
lives of beautiful people with money, what
does that say about us?
Somewhere along the lines “the man”
got the message that all it takes to create
an idol is good looks and money. “The
Fabulous Life of…” series doesn’t explain
a celebrity’s road to success or anything
they have accomplished, nor do tabloid
magazines give us any useful information
about upcoming events in their careers. The
most we can hope to learn form this type of
entertainment is what kind of cappuccinos
they order and how expensive pedicures in
Los Angeles can be.
The real tragedy in all this madness is
how we feel about ourselves after consuming
this type of media. After the hour of precious
free time I wasted discovering that 17-yearold actresses are living in penthouses with
personal attendants, I had to go back to my
existence as a broke college student who
needed to finish her overdue paper and
scrub the bathroom floor. Suddenly, the
little life that I had carved out for myself
seemed very sad and dull. It’s warped really.
We have come to accept a reality where
salesgirls at up-scale boutiques are famous,
editors at Us Weekly are credible sources
and your life looks like shit in comparison.
Voices
“Fabulous,” continued
from page 9
11
Literary
February 23, 2005
12
Theater
To read Act I, Scene I see www.wakenews.org click on the Literature Section
Pocatzin and Hernan Smith Fall in Love (Again)
Arturo: See, now you’re scaring yourself. [Laughing]
ACT I; Scene II
Rina: No, Arturo, she’s really…see there!
[Rina and Arturo in studio. Enter Martin]
Arturo: Callate, mujer—there’s nothing—
Martin: Hi Mom, hi Dad. [Hugs Rina and Arturo, they are somewhat distant to him]
Rina: Shh! She’s talking…
Rina: Oh mi’jo we were just talking about you. Are you hungry? Want me to make you
something to eat…How’s Melissa? [Getting up]
Arturo: I can’t hear noth—
Martin: No mom. I just came to ask a favor…Melissa’s good.
Rina: Quiet.
Pocatzin: Cuale tonalli. I have been trying to get your attention for some time now…
Rina: Oh. Okay. [Sits, Rina and Arturo exchange glances and nods]
Rina: Yes I know…Arturo can be so stubborn…
Martin: Well…actually Melissa…is not good.
Pocatzin: Yes, I know…but I haven’t got much time and I have so much to tell you.
[Fades as Martin begins to discuss problem. Audience can’t hear but can see the
discussion. Arturo reaches in his wallet and gives Martin money. Exit Martin.]
Rina: You do?
[Same room. Rina and Arturo working again.]
Pocatzin: Of course…
Rina: Can you believe that Melissa, Arturo? Running off like that and leaving her kids
behind…and to go to school. Hm! Abandoning her own children, what kind of mother
does that?
Rina: But why me?
Arturo: Ay, que Melissa…
Pocatzin: You’ll understand once I finish, but please, be patient. I’m new at this. No one ever
sees me.
Rina: And now pobre mi’jo…to raise them alone…he can barely care for himself…
Arturo: He’s going to need our help.
Rina: Si, Viejo.
[Pause]
[Crash, Pocatzin]
Rina: Pocatzin?
Arturo: Otra vez? Woman, it’s not a ghost!
Rina: Pocatzin, please show yourself so that this old goat will shut up.
Arturo: Old goat? Old goat! [Angry mumbling…]
[Pocatzin shows herself like Virgin of Guadalupe, Arturo can’t see her]
Rina: Ay, Dios mio!
Arturo: You’re crazy…[exits]
Rina: Okay, Go on.
Pocatzin: What Arturo said is true. I died in Europe of pneumonia or tuberculosis or some
other gachupine disease. My Hernan Smith left me to die on the shore there and I have been
searching for him ever since. I thought he might be here…
Rina: Is he?
Pocatzin: I’m not sure…I don’t see him…Do you?
Rina: No…what does he look like?
Pocatzin: Well, you won’t believe this but he is not the tall blond ideal you see in movies and
books. Hernan Smith was short and fat. Heck, I was short and fat. You know, I was a young
girl the first time I saw Hernan Smith. I noticed his eyes his blue-blue eyes…or were they
brown? Well, anyway, the first time I saw Hernan Smith…
:: About the Playwright ::
Ayme Almendarez, originally from Fresno, California, is a graduate student at the University of
Minnesota where she is currently studying creative writing, poetry. She is interested in ancient history
and dance. Her poetry has been published in the anthology “Night is Gone, Day is Still Coming.”
:: Editor’s Note ::
What remains? Are we allowed to wonder anymore, since most phenomena has been named?—in fact most things on earth have been the study of someone’s life,
somewhere at some point, PhD or otherwise—and, has our generation, in some way, been stripped of wonder--such an eager and enigmatic, but important, facet of the
human creative imagination? I have asked the question to many people and the response has been varied; “Of course we can still wonder,” some say, “it is just words, just
names, that describe things, not their essence.” But naming does take something away, does it not? Because a name represents a claim, a claim saying, I too have seen
this thing, I too have wondered and I, before you, have found a sound and a symbol for this thing in order that it might be beheld and tinkered with. This argument is
undoubtedly filled with holes, but are we left with only subjective wonder—are we left only to wonder about our own synaptic responses to the world around us, and is
that, in the end, enough? Write. Submit. Spread. Return.
Z. Cody Lee Carlsen, Editor
:: SEND SUBMISSIONS—ANYTIME—ALL SUBMISSIONS WILL BE CONSIDERED ::[email protected]
Prose
tangled up in bob by Jenny Odegard
The earliest memory that I have is a vision of myself, probably 3 years old, hiding
in the racks at a department store. Outside of my smothering cotton fort, I can hear my
mom frantically calling out my name, inside of the rack I am giggling with delight. This
is one of the only memories in my life that doesn’t have a soundtrack. From there on out,
Bob Dylan’s Tangled Up in Blue haunts my subconscious valleys. As soon as I climbed out
of the clothing rack and moved on to bigger and better hiding places, Tangled Up in Blue
always managed to creep right along with me. This may be due to the fact that it sums up
the single most important moment in my dad’s life. This may also be a result of my dad
being a Dylan fanatic. I have also looked into the possibility that it is a worthwhile piece of
music, but I assume that is the least likely option. As the story goes, my dad was just sitting
around on a fateful day in the 70’s (I have never bothered to pay attention to which one),
when someone called him about doing a studio session. After that I usually drift off into a
world where I am again the center of the story. I believe it ends with something like “and
that’s how I got on the album version of Tangled Up in Blue”. It appears that somewhere a
long the line this legendary musician chose my father to play a little guitar on another cut of
a song on his latest album.
It is almost comical to me that this moment has defined not only his life, but
also mine and my sister’s. I have been trying to live it down for the last 18 years, but with
the publication of my father’s 212 page rant on the subject, I am still working to move
on. For years I distanced myself from it, kept this little factoid on the shelf while I tried
to make friends and survive junior high. Then on the first day of 8th grade, my U.S history
teacher recognized my last name. “You aren’t related to Kevin Odegard are you?” Trying
to blend into the cold metal desk, I wanted to make sure the whole class thought it to be a
coincidence. Despite my concern over being humiliated, I mumbled that he might by my
dad. Mr. Lescarbeau did not let go of it the entire year, being a huge folk music fan and also a
Dylan enthusiast. My history teacher had in fact gone to the University of Minnesota at the
same time as my dad, and owned the one record his band put out. After class one day, he asked
me if my dad would be able to make it to conferences. I had planned on avoiding the subject,
hoping neither parent would show up to this event. “Maybe,” I replied. “Well that would be
great if he does, I wanted to ask him about coming into class to speak”. My worst nightmare
had begun to materialize.
That night when I got home I pleaded in silence for my parents to forget about
conferences. My mom’s palm pilot had other plans for us that evening. 8pm rolled around and
we rolled right into the school parking lot. My last hope was for Mr. Lescarbeau to have left
early. I took my parents around to all of the stations and hoped we would not have enough time
for history before 9pm. Fate had something else in mind, and as my parents sat down to discuss
my incoherent essays on the revolutionary war, my teacher launched right into what a huge fan
he was. I’m not sure they ever talked about the fact that I knew nothing about the constitution
or the painfully obvious lack of studying for my multiple choice. All that I can really be sure of
is the ‘A’ I received that semester for my dad’s one shining moment in history.
The next semester began and I left U.S history. My mandatory reading class had
taken its place. By the first day I was already sure it would be nothing like the free ride I had
received in history. Once again, I slouched in the back of the class, doing my best to escape the
gaze of the crazy grey haired woman at the front of the room. As she read my name off of the
roster, Mrs. Walthour recognized my last name as my sister’s. This was a common occurrence
as I was a mere 3 years behind her in school. At the end of the day my teacher caught me just
as I could taste freedom. “Did Jessie ever mention that I still own your dad’s album?” This
time I was able to causally respond “Oh, you’re a fan of my dad’s? I’ll make sure he makes it to
conferences.”
Poetry
Death of Venus
Ridges of cool cream
And rust orange
Lapped at my ribs and spin.
Abalones by bones,
Augers under arteries,
Limpets through triceps.
Literary
I crawled into a seashell.
Coral encompassed my heart.
Calcium leeched into my skin.
Smooth purples and blues
Running on my underside
In iridescent rainbows
Like oil riding waves.
I basked in a tide pool
Shallow as a puddle
-Kim Gengler, student of English & Journalism,
Junior
Illustration By L. Strange --Clothing Design Major
February 23, 2005
Drowned in my own words
Like a lover of the land
Not the sea.
THE
Wake
And you picked me up in your palm
And held me close to your ear.
I murmured sea secrets,
13
Sound &
Vision
Music
Film
Art
Ian Brown
The Resurrection
Former Stone
Roses Frontman
Speaks to
The Wake
By Frederic Hanson
I would take a bullet for Ian Brown. Any
place. Any day. Any time.
He’s one of the greats – a legend of his
time. A walking god among men. He is Lennon,
McCartney, Jagger and Marley – all rolled into
one. A primal genius incarnate capable of
euphoriating anything he pleases. The man
could bend the will of an entire country. And
he has.
This may be the reason why I’d be so
willing to let a shotgun slug rip through my
chest to keep the swaggering Manchurian
alive – maybe it’s why any of his fans would.
Brown inspires on an outerwordly level; a
level almost incomprehensible today. The
man is a living legend in all of England. Walk
his hometown Manchester streets and you’ll still
see his name graffiti-ed all over city walls – living
shrines to the shamanistic “king monkey,” as
he’s affectionately known. Listen to British radio
and hear his influence in handfuls of heady-rock
bands, from Oasis to The Verve, Travis to Blur.
Go to any rave today and see the look, locks, and
lifestyle he coined twenty years ago. They are all
living testaments to what is the touchtone truth:
Ian Brown is the one true musical messiah of
our time.
Brown’s story – a tale of death, resurrection,
and ensuing glory of biblical proportions – is one
of legend. One as grandiose as it is genuinely
heartbreaking. Fronting the seminally
psychedelic soarsters The Stone Roses in the
late 1980s, Brown – a drifty shag-haired vision
from Love’s 2nd album – became, almost
overnight, the catalyst for change in the 1990s.
In the shit-pop state of musical affairs that was
the late 80s in Britain – a situation not too far
from America 2005 – The Roses were a great
big hit of fresh air. Something everyone needed
– something none could resist. Something
bigger and better and bolder than anyone
could understand.
Rising from back-alley obscurity to
become ushers for complete socio-sonic
upheaval, the band’s sound – a swirl of bodega-
delicious psychedelicette – took hold of all
of Britain. Within a couple years the shinedboots pretension-pop of The Smiths and
their close-shave contemporaries was for all
practical purposes vanquished for good. The
Stone Roses had arrived – and in a fashion
unseen since the days of the Fab Four.
The Roses – like those four other
Northerners – were nothing like anything
that had ever been. They wore baggy pants.
They listened to acid house. They used
love-drugs – notably, ecstasy. They were
never like the bands they followed. And
only Oasis – a band who copped their nearly
every move from the Roses – has held any
Sound & Vision
February 23, 2005
legitimate affinity since.
They were the supposed spokesmen
for everything the 1990s were supposed to
be. They were, as one fan said, “the best
band in the world.”
Then things came crashing down. In a
trip-up of similarly epic proportions, the band
disintegrated, almost as soon as they began,
before the tearful eyes of millions of fans. A
second album follow-up to the gigantic selftitled LP fell short of expectations, buoyed
down by five years of plagued-production
problems. Eventually calling it a quits in
1996, after a notorious performance at the
Reading Festival, the members went their
separate ways – including Brown.
While other founding members went
on to form various sideprojects, Brown opted
to remain solo. He has to date released five
albums. His latest, and best, Solarized, is
everything you’d expect – and not. Brown’s
angelic voice and melodic muscle are there.
So is his penchant for wandering into world
music. But if anything, Solarized is an
album that few probably thought Brown
could make. It is fantastically beautiful – an
LP which should finally cement Brown’s
reputation as a songwriter in what many
see as the unbreachable cosmos of the postStone Roses universe.
Recently he was so kind as to
speak with The Wake from his home in
Manchester, UK.
The Wake: You’ve got a few North American
shows lined up – any plans for an all out tour?
Ian Brown: If I can get the money to me over
there [laughs]. I’m comin’ over to the West
Coast in March. I’ve got shows in Oakland,
Anaheim, and San Francisco. Basically, any
offer that I get that I can do – get my players
and my crew from England and come over.
The Wake: You’re huge in Britain, but like
a lot of bands, not in America. Why is that?
Brown: Yeah, sure. I had a bit of bad luck
really with my record company. The first
album came out, but didn’t get released
because the company got bought out. The
second one got released then it got pulled
because the record company got sold out
again. Then by the time the third one come
the company didn’t know who I was. Now
I’ve just done a deal with Koch and the new
one’s gonna get a official American release.
It’s just bad luck really. You know, I’d love
to have been over there because it’s already
been six or seven years of not showin’ up.
It’s just luck of the draw.
sort of pretension in an area like that, innit?
All you’ve got is each other. I mean I’m not a
materialistic person at all. I mean, here, like
down in London they sometimes will think
you’re stupid if you come from the north.
The Wake: That bullshit detector
– what’s some bullshit music right now?
Brown: I don’t know. I mean, I think
it’s always been there. It seems like
the industry’s got a stranglehold like
the 1950s – there’s a lot of disposable
pop music. But that’s the nature of the
game. To collect the kids’ extra money.
with John, Mani – the rest of the Roses?
Brown: I spoke to Mani on Saturday – still
good friends with him. John I’ve not seen
since he left the group in ’96 – he phoned
me, but I’ve not actually seen him since
1996. But I mean, it’s nearly nine years
ago, and music’s an intimate things you
know – so I’d say highly unlikely. But
now I’ve got twice as many albums as
the Roses, have been to Japan like fifteen
times since then. So I’m putting together
a great thing in England. I just feel like
I did it, and it was great, and that was it.
The Wake: You get enough credit for
The Wake: Checked out your Under
jump-starting a lot of the 1990s culture?
the Influence [a mix-tape collection of
Brown: Eh, well we do in England. But the
Brown’s favorite songs] CD the other day
funny thing is, that was just the way we
– you have any plans for similar projects?
dressed – we never expected the audience
Brown: Yeah, you know, if I’m asked to do
to dress like that, you know, seeing clones
another. I mean, it
out there in the
wasn’t as easy at it
audience. I actually
seems though. Once
just got asked to
“we never expected the audience
you sit down there,
to dress like that, you know, seeing design a shoe. I’m
it isn’t easy – making
going to New York
clones out there in the audience.”
your
selection.
this week for the
It’s like, it’s gotta
launch of the shoe
work and it’s gotta
– other designers
run together. So
are Missy Elliot,
I just wrote down a list of what’s been
Puff Daddy, Red Hot Chili Peppers. So I
the best tunes of the past 20 years.
mean, we did have an impact on the sort
of, fashion, or streetwear or whatever. You
The
Wake:
You’ve
been
playing
know, the money I make from it I can donate
some Stone Roses songs in your sets
to charity. I’m working with Sightsavers
lately – you going to keep that up?
International
[sightsavers.org.uk]which
Brown: Yeah, I am. I mean, it’s something
is £15 to save a cataract. So if you buy the
that I sort of resisted when I first when
shoe you’re saving some eyesight. They’re
solo – you know, I wanted to stand on my
going to be released on the 1st of March
own two feet as a music maker. You know,
and will be available in sports outlets. I
I didn’t wanna just be ex-Stone Roses. So I
might get 100 pairs meself, so it’s a good
figured like, by the time me finished my forth
deal. I’ll have shoes until I’m 85 years old.
album, that makes me a catalog artist. Which
means that I’ve done it – I have established
The Wake: Does it piss you off
myself as a music-maker in my own write.
to get asked about the Roses?
So I feel comfortable taking on the past.
Brown: No, not at all. Cos’ I’m proud of what I
did. I mean, I wouldn’t be here now if it wasn’t
The Wake: Have you thought about reuniting
for The Roses. So, no – I don’t slog it off.
See “Ian Brown” on page 22
Interview
Aesop Rock
Page 16
Tribute
Hunter S. Thompson
Page 22
Review
Donnie Darko, Director’s Cut
The
Wake:
What
are
your
thoughts
on
Solarized?
Brown:
Delighted
with
it,
yeah.
The Wake: All your albums are
getting
re-released
here
in
the
states – do you have high hopes?
Brown: Yeah, I do. I hope it picks up a
little bit so that America becomes a place
where I can come work. You know, come
and do shows. Obviously it’s a huge
country and given the chance I’d love to
come to it – do some festivals, you know.
The Wake: So we’re from Minnesota here
– you’re from Manchester. What’s your
take on coming from the northern realm?
Brown: It keeps you on your toes, donnit?
You’ve got a bullshit detector. There’s no
Photos Courtesy of Magnum PR
Page 21
Wake
Sound & Vision
Open Wide and Say Aesop
February 23, 2005
THE
16
Notorious underground rapper Aesop Rock
delivers a mouthful of lingual reinvention
Photo Courtesy of Biz 3
By Thurman Botes
I’ve heard it said that one’s inner world
is only as large as one’s ability to articulate
it; meaning the depth of our thoughts are
limited by the breadth of our vocabulary
when trying to relate an experience or
even an anecdote to anyone else other than
our own self. And language, the means of
such conveyance, is an almost constantly
shifting collective agreement of naming
and encoding the world inside and around
us. It is an ever-changing organic and
metaphysical mixture of inner sensations
at odds with outer manifestations. Shit
– with all that going on how can one ever
communicate anything with anyone? One
solution would be to grab a pen, a mic, and
some weed and stop giving a shit about
all that. With that being said, I would like
to quote my favorite line from any human
mouth ever mic’d: “Took a heart pledge
early on, bled onto the drum dozer, low in
the metronome, home, lone caddy corner
to cock-eyed sound booster, sensation’ll
leave seismograph stabbin’ away on stone
tablets to sketch up out your future.”
The voice that said it: Aesop Rock; the
album, Daylight. He’s got a new one out
now. Here is what else he has to say:
Below is the email conversation that
took place with Aesop. As you’re reading,
you’ll notice that we did not format it in any
kind AP, or formal English style. Words
are lowercase, some are misspelled, and
the vibe is what your failed novelist-turnedacademic of an English professor may
deem “informal.” But in lieu of the attention
given Aesop’s lingual ascension – and
his existence as the truth incarnate – we
thought it’d be real nice to let his words
present themselves. There is no bullshit
here – this is Aesop, real and uncut. And
that’s how it should be.
The Wake: So what is going on with you
right now? You have got an album coming
out soon, but in the time leading up to that,
meaning now, what is your life like?
AR: let’s see. right now i’m doing this a lot of
the time. promoting, doing shows here and
there to let people know i got something
coming out, interviews, blah blah. i been
on the road a little, with dj big wiz and lif
mostly.other than that i been trying to just
relax for a while when i have the time cuz
it’ll be hectic once the record drops with
touring and all that. my girlfriend lives in
cali so i go back and forth a lot. when i’m
home i’m wither with my crew or home
playing video games. though i’ve also been
crankin out some new music. i always keep
working on music even in what the public
sees as my downtime.
The Wake: Tell me about the album. What
went into it that we should listen for?
AR: ok. well. its 7 songs. the stats read:
beats by blockhead, me, and rob sonic,
guest vocals by camu tao (s.a. smash) and
el-p. i always try to keep busy so right after
bazooka tooth was done i kept making
songs, but was touring a lot too. i always
seem to get a creative burst directly after
the writer’s block that occurs every time
toward the end of making a record. so i
kept making joints and after awhile jux said
hey lets do another ep for now. it sounded
good to me. so the stuff ranges from being
made to directly after b.t. up til basically 2
weeks before we wrapped up the projects.
I just picked the ones i liked. for instance,
food clothes medicine, the last song on the
ep was actually the first joint i made after
finishing bazooka tooth. winners take all is
the most recent. its hard to deliver what’s in
my brain as the overall concept of the record,
but i hope it just shows me continuing to
evolve as a rapper. there are slight style up, unless i really hit on something then i
eveolutions between all of my records, and am locked down.
this is another step. i tried some new things The Wake: There’s always been an argument
writing-wise, flow wise mostly, just letting about differentiating between rap and hipthings change as i felt them. I welcome hop-how do you feel about this argument?
change as long as its not forced. musically What is your definition of rap vs. hip-hop?
its a way less claustrophobic project than AR: eh, i dont care. i rap. i make rap music
b.t. and that’s good, cuz they were made or hiphop music. i mean you know i guess
at different times to reflect diffeent things. hiphop is bigger than rap, but rapping is the
thats what i try to do. i also had a lot of fun part i do most these days. there is of “elements
with these songs for some reason, probably of hiphop” that complete the culture, but
the most fun ive had. it just feels like i’m if i dont really argue about the two. i know
settling into myself a bit more each time. people make a big deal as to weather or not
The Wake: How does your life change some pop-rap is hiphop truly and i dunno. i
when you’re writing and when you’re think it is, it’s just that hiphop is so big write
in the studio? Are you hypersensitive now that it forgets it does more than rap.
to sounds and the language around you but at some level, it’s all hiphop... possibly
which might flip a switch for some lyrics? bad and occasionally unimformed, but i
AR: that’s pretty much me all the time. i think its all rooted in hiphop, while some
consistently (like at least once a day) write strict purists may disagree.
The Wake: What
down
something
do you think of
i hear. or i write
the recent British
a phrase in my
“when i hear somethhing that
phone and write it interests me my brain immediately rappers making
headway in the
down later. i end
goes ding ding ding.”
US scene like
up with a mess of
Dizzie
Rascal
phrases,
words,
and The Streets?
sentences, etc. that
clutter up the margin. just shit i want to AR: i am not exposed to much british rap
apply to something somehow cuz i like music, but yeah those are the names that
how they sound. sometimes they work make there way through. i cant say much
sometimes not. but for some reason when on either as i unfortunately havent heard all
i hear somethhing that interests me my that much from either. i remember thinking
brain immediately goes ding ding ding. dizzie rascal had a real bugged out style that
and i know it’ll make for a good pattern or was pretty cool, but i havent heard his record.
idea later. i also tend to write for a couple The Wake: If you could quote yourself, what
weeks, than work on beats for a couple would it be? Meaning, what is something
weeks. back and forth. i dunno why, it just you just want to say, want to let the world
happens like that. but i dont really havev see in print?
studio time vs. off time. my studio is in my AR: *vomits on shoes
house so i just sit down when i walk by it. i
probably sit down at least 3 or 4 times a day,
See “Aesop,” on page 18
do something for a few minutes, then get
Wake Movie Review
Donnie Darko: Director’s Cut Sucks
Animal-Man’s Ambiguity Dry
Esoteric 1980s iconoclasm at its retrospective worst
By Chris Wilson
Don’t get me wrong. The addition of
music by INXS to any movie, especially
one set in the 1980s, was reason enough to
make me giddy. Most of the added footage
was beneficial as well, as it clarified and
strengthened relationships between the
characters. But along with those bonuses
there was too much explanation of what was
going on. And in a movie that got popular for
being weird and confusing, that’s definitely
not a good thing.
What’s worse was the execution
of these explanations. Most were
accomplished
through
superimposing
pages of a philosophy book on time travel
and fate over the onscreen action. If this
sounds outrageously hokey to you then I
applaud your perceptiveness. To be fair, the
book was involved in the plot of the movie.
But maybe instead of spending money to
play “Never Tear Us Apart” the producers
could have paid Jake Gyllenhaal to read
the pages to us. Oh, to be in kindergarten
again …
If you hated Donnie Darko because
you demand your movies to make sense, the
director’s cut will solve this. And you still
won’t like the movie.
On the other hand, if you loved Donnie
Darko or have yet to see it and want to get
the most out of the film, rent or buy the
original DVD. Watch the movie and then
go to special features. First, check out the
book Jake Gyllenhaal won’t be reading to
you as all eight or so pages are included
on the DVD. Your next stop, the deleted
scenes section, contains virtually all the
restored footage of the director’s cut. In
addition, you’ll get some interesting and
useful optional commentary from director
Richard Kelly. Finally, the original Web site
is presented as an interactive menu, giving
further insights into the film. When you’ve
done all that, watch the original version
of the movie again. You’ll understand
everything the director’s cut was meant to
clarify and will feel better about it because
you worked harder doing it. Now throw in
some INXS for me and congratulate yourself
on a job well done.
The Wake Shoots Sage Francis
Sound & Vision
If I told you one of the best movies of
2001 was about a teenager with visions of
a grotesque man-sized rabbit, you might
begin to question my judgment in films.
Donnie Darko tells the strange tale of an
’80s youth (Jake Gyllenhaal) who returns
home from a bout of sleepwalking to find
that a jet engine has landed in his bedroom.
Had our protagonist not been out chatting
with the above-mentioned demonic bunny,
the falling hunk of metal would have
crushed him. Why has he been saved? What
purpose does this strange and not-at-all-cute
animal-man have for our hero? Is that really
Patrick Swayze playing a self-help guru?
While it tanked at the box-office,
Donnie Darko was about as original and
hypnotically weird as movies were meant to
be. Big chunks of it didn’t make sense and
you could argue about what happened in it
for hours. Those are just a couple reasons
why the film became such a massive
success when Fox released it on DVD.
To cash in on this unexpected success,
and of course to free the further artistic
vision of the film’s creators, they made
a director’s cut. With enhanced special
effects, a pricier soundtrack and 20 minutes
of footage restored, it saw limited release in
theaters last year. On February 15 Donnie
Darko: Director’s Cut was released on
DVD.
It shouldn’t have been.
Photos By Brie Cohen
THE
Wake
February 23, 2005
17
Art and Owls Make
Museum Exhibit a Hoot
Art Here 1st Fridays Splatters Abstract Aesthetic
on Local Music Canvas
Wake
February 23, 2005
THE
18
was no false veneer covering their notes
that rang out fresh and invigorated. The
A unique convergence is happening at trio sliced through a half hour set with
St. Paul’s Minnesota Museum of American well-executed twisting-tempo changes.
Art: combing art with rock’n’roll. The The young band was also willing to play
museum’s program, “Art Here 1st Fridays,” hopscotch with melody and rhythm, making
brings local bands such as Melodious Owl for a more mature sound.
Likewise, the second band of the
and Aneruretical together with American
artists to make their work more accessible evening, Melodious Owl, put on a similarly
amped-up performance. Apparently The
to youth culture.
The
museum’s
current
show Rapture and Hot Hot Heat have dance
“Abstract Painting in Minnesota: Selected minions in Minneapolis. Squirrelly beats,
Works 1930 to the Present” melded well poppy melodies, and zany lyrics constituted
the “it’s chic to be
with the exuberance
geek” dance music
of
Aneruretical
and
the band doled out.
Melodious
Owl
on
“Statler slowly removed
Picture three indie
February
4.
Before
pieces of his clothing..”
nerds, an Ipod, and
the
bands
began
one noble saxophone
their
performance
manically
creating
concertgoers meandered
music.
That’s
from painting to painting,
experiencing what the museum has to offer Melodious Owl’s style and the crowd
its younger patrons. The artwork is vibrant, loved it. Besides having an artful postmuch like the music. To start the night techno sound the band also had strong
Aneruretical mounted the stage to generate stage presence due to its lead singer,
their bass-driven, hyper-hipster rock. There Wes Statler. Statler engaged the crowd
“Aesop,” continued from page 16
The Wake: How do you hate to be described?
AR: man, i’ve been described so many
different ways at this point i cant even be
mad at anything anymore. when i ‘m dead
i hope someone says he was a cool cat with
a good heart and mind. that would be dope.
The
Wake:
What
bothers
you?
AR: belligerent drunkiness, overuse-age of
coke, crowded places, no weed on a writing
night, paris hilton, the lack of quality time
i spend with angelina jolie, my girl living
in cali, dryspell’s in the creative world,
dryspells in the video game world, people
who like movies that suck, people who
only watch independent movies cuz “the
hollywood ones suck”. people who only
watch action flicks cuz “the indy ones suck”,
dudes that freestyle always at every second
directly in your ear in crowded places, etc.
The
Wake:
What
bothers
you
about the state of the world today?
AR: i dont understand a lot of it. a lot of
things that seem like no-brainers to me go
in the direction i dont understand. i know
things are way more complicated than i
make them, but when i think of politics
today with everything that has happened
especially in the last 4 years i turn into a
really primitive mind state, on some why
cant we just chill shit. i just dont get ehy
everyone is mad at everyone else when
there are other problems that should
be way more important to our country,
state, city, etc. I dont understand, so
baffled that i think i’m dumbstruck at this
point and pretty speechless. no words.
The Wake: The inevitable question,
What is your take on the Iraq situation?
AR: i’ll just say it so it’s in print here
somewhere: with a massive office really
really really fucked up, and i feel that because
of it we will be hearing about this situation
for many years to come. in all different forms.
The Wake: Your vocabulary and diction
is pretty amazing, who do you read? What
have you read? Anything you want to read?
AR: not really. just magazines. national
geographic and celeb gossip mags. thats
it. i just pick up shit hear and there and
make a mixture of different things. like
one sentence uses terms an old man might
say, while the next is some soldier shit,
then some slang, etc. it’s just a big mix
of different ways of talking all brought
under a wing of 28 years of rap slang.
All those margin phrases i mentioned
earlier mesh up to form sentences, and
sometimes they are so ugly it makes it work
better.
The Wake: What do you think of spoken word?
AR:
not
my
thing.
The Wake: What does the world need?
AR: hm. i mean jesus where does one start
with this. so many ways to approach. right
now we need to all relax a bit. then we all
need to agree everywhere on the basic
principals of good and evil and what’s
morally right and wrong. then we can have a
party. with games and weed and girls.
The Wake: What is the meaning of life?
AR:
i’ll
send
out
a
memo
The Wake: What do you think of the
Midwest scene? Musically or otherwise?
AR: midwest scene? shit. every scene is
equally up and crackin at this point. the
midwest is dope. they got a lot of dope styles,
talent. all of it. shit s.a. smash are two of my
best friends and they rep colombus. i got
love for everywhere. ny first though. haha.
The next “Art Here 1st Friday” event
will feature The Monarques. For more
information check out the Museum’s
website www.mmaa.org.
Sex And The Wake?
SCORE!!!
Pick Up Special
Wake Lube
and Condoms
in Coffman on
Issue Dates:
Feb. 23
March 9
April 6
April 20
May 4
Cum
p
ick
Sound & Vision
By Kim Gengler
by shouting various commands and
performing a choreographed dance with his
bandmates, Jon Kuder and Joe Berns. As
the performance progressed, Statler slowly
removed pieces of his clothing ending the
show by taking off a mesh tank top to bare
his gaunt chest. Melodious Owl, although
young, command a musical prowess and
enthusiasm that one can’t help but admire.
However
the
concert
only
complemented the art exhibit, which
features the abstract paintings of local
artists. A range of styles and concepts can be
found in the works. Bruce Anderson creates
a Pollack-like play with paint in his “Lover’s
Embrace.” The piece features layers and
swirls of greens, yellows, blues and blacks
to form conceptual lovers holding one
another. Baroque styling inspires Jil Evans’s
“Capriccio” series. Her paintings mimic
volume, harmony, and chaos through line,
color and composition. Her three works
envelope classical and pastoral influences
while presenting a modern experience.
The show also covers art deco, retro flair,
color pallets and shapes, topographical uses
of time and space, pop culture and graffiti
references.
In combining these two art forms the
Minnesota Museum of American Art has
a good thing going. An appreciation for
music and art can concurrently exist for a
younger, and frankly, less-stiff crowd.
up
a copy of
e
Th e W a k
Beware of the Toxic Cud-Spewing
Killer Llamas
The Wake talks with maniacal B movie director Kevin L. West
By Brant Johnson
The Wake: What in your film career are you
least proud of?
KW: Never making a dime. There are a
number of projects I would love to see
turned from scripts into films. One is
about televised capital punishment. And a
Reagan era period-piece concerning nuclear
reactors, a rubberized mutant baby and
steroid addled high school hooligans. Alas,
there’s a realm of money and financing
that must be realized before anything
occurs cinematically and that’s comprised a
constant stumbling block.
The Wake: How the fuck did you get Clive
Barker to appear in BOTBL?
KW: We trapped him. Clive was appearing
in Austin to promote his new line of comic
books. Luckily, one of our actors, Raven The Wake: What do you think of heavy
usage of gore in films?
Greywolf, a woman who’d
KW: I’m all for it,
appeared in one of his films
especially real life gore.
while living in England,
“I always loved
New
generations
of
hastily introduced us
Americans need to see
to him. We’d already
the shockingly
nightly graphic footage
prepared giant cue cards
mundane,
ala Vietnam of American
of his speech so before he
amateurish nature soldiers and Iraqi civilians
could leave the studio after
being blown to bits while
his presentation, our noisy
of Andy Warholʼs
Bush
slashes
social
cameras were rolling and
cinema.”
services and demands
he was our “hostage” for
tax cuts for the uber-rich.
15 minutes. He seemed
Then the gore would
to appreciate that we were
using clunky Super-8 film cameras to create only be as gratuitous as this whole Iraqi
our opus. That, and he’d always wanted the boondoggle that’s killing our kids and
opportunity to wax philosophically about ruining the economy.
Male Berserk Syndrome.
The Wake: Any last words, advice,
The Wake: Any advice for other no budget complaints, rants, plugs you’d like to make?
KW: See rant above. Plugs: I swear on a
filmmakers?
KW: Like another filmmaker friend says, stack of illustrated Korans that Rowdy
“you can’t make a movie without lying to Roundup: Night Of The Killer Piñatas is
people.” Say or do whatever you must to going to be exhibit ready in 2005. For more
interest actors, secure locations, acquire info: www.rowdyroundup.com. Thanks for
props and get “free” set materials. If you this opportunity to vent and to spew. My
can’t pay anybody, you have to feed your blood pressure has lowered several points
cast and crew like kings. Try to turn already.
THE
Wake
February 23, 2005
The Wake: For those who
are unaware of your films,
tell us, why the hell should
they bother?
KW: For the same reason
as crack. It would
people shouldn’t vote
Republican. Democracy
The Wake: Do you
more likely be
is about all points of
realize that Barn of the
paper bags filled
view and straying from
Blood Llama is a classic
the norm. Religions are
of twisted cinema? Hell,
with dollar store
interchangeable
these
it plays a fairly notable
paint thinner
days in their righteous
influence in a film I am
mission to make everyone
diluted with
hoping to shoot soon
in the world over conform
called Murdeer.
gasoline.”
to
their
particular
Kevin West: I could only
interpretation of what’s
hope we’d be able to
acceptable.
Intolerance
warp others when we
unleashed this thing on civilization. Hearing is definitely something to be avoided.
your words, I feel that maybe our prayers I try to make movies that illustrate the
to the Gods of Bad Cinema haven’t been consequences of adhering to feeble belief
completely ignored. I knew BOTBL had systems. Also, no one’s education is really
a reputation within the special ops troops complete until they’ve been exposed to the
in Kosovo. While no one’s said anything, World o’ Wool tourist trap, inbred brothers
I think they use the film as part of their Gibby and Jug, and toxic cud-spewing killer
torture interrogation techniques. I take it llamas all in the same 80 minutes.
Murdeer is about more than a cuddly fawn
The Wake: What is
with deadly ticks.
your ultimate goal as a
The Wake: Would you agree with the filmmaker?
description of your directing style as “Ed KW: At present, my main
obsession is to get the
Wood on Crack”?
KW: Ed Wood, yes. But this thing you call Rowdy Roundup festival
crack. Our minuscule budgets allow nothing ready before any other
as classy as crack. It would more likely be cast or crewmembers
paper bags filled with dollar store paint bite the dust. Ultimately,
thinner diluted with gasoline. I especially I would love to be a
on
humorous
like Ed Wood’s highly unerotic but comic writer
nudie pictures like Orgy of the Dead and episodic projects like
the finally released on DVD, Necromania. A Arrested Development,
The Simpsons or Comedy
textbook medical case of “auteurism.”
Central’s axed Strangers
The Wake: Who were your greatest With Candy. I can come
up with absurd little 3
influences as a filmmaker?
KW: Besides Ed Wood Jr. I would include, to 5 minute sketches
Developing
of course, Divine-era John Waters, Russ easily.
Meyer and Fellini. I always loved the these fragments into
shockingly mundane, amateurish nature feature length works
of Andy Warhol’s cinema. Also, some though – that’s almost
Mexican, East European and white trash as frustrating as turning
horror, sci-fi and corn porn flicks shown contaminated stem cells
as part of drive-in triple feature packages into viable human organs.
impressed me greatly.
The Wake: What do you
The Wake: What are you proudest of with do for “real” work?
KW: No one at my office
your film “career”?
has ever been able to
KW: That it’s still being called a career.
disasters into assets. If an actor quits in the
middle of production, cast someone else as
that character, finish filming, and include
dialogue about that character having split
personalities. Use the Internet to publicize
your masterwork and look for international
markets for your film. Sometimes even
your hometown won’t recognize your
“achievements in arts and science” until
you’re big in Serbia or manage a midnight
showing in Manchester, England.
Sound & Vision
There is one ultimate B movie. One
that is so extreme in its intentionally bizarre
and stupid nature that it can claim to be
the most deranged film ever created. This
film involves Clive Barker, Texas, llamas,
barnyard hanky panky, and some ultraridiculous dubbing. This, the be all and
end all of B films, is the horror comedy
cult classic from 1997, Barn of the Blood
Llama (available from
bijouflix.com), directed
by Texas madman Kevin
“Our miniscule
L. West. I’ve decided for
your benefit to present to
budgets allow
you a discussion with this
nothing
as classy
autere of insanity. Enjoy!
figure that out. I get paychecks from the
University of Texas for performing video
services for various departments. These
services range from digitizing video, to
taping lectures to post-production editing
and graphics that make Texas politicians
look like they’re not lying sacks of pestilence.
Photo Courtesy of badmovies.org
19
When You Ain’t got Nothing,
You got Nothing to Lose
Local poet Indigo breathes the life visceral
Sound & Vision
By Terri Ramiah
Wake
Photos Courtesy of Indigo
February 23, 2005
THE
20
Indigo.
all artists feel when they want the world to
There is nothing unreal about this share their thoughts. The words are too
girl. In fact, it seems as though everything quick and fluid to do them justice on paper,
that could possibly be real about this world but her facility with language is palpable in
shines forcefully through her solid eyes.
the 30 seconds of freestyle she gives me.
With a smooth tone of voice and
There seems to be an honest innocence
a pleasingly liquid hip-hop drawl, Leah about her. But perhaps I’ve erroneously
Bartizal informs me that she was given the judged her honest humility for honest
name Indigo by a friend in her 16th year innocence. By the end of the interview, I
of life. While trying to help her through realize just what kind of mistake it was.
an insanely unpleasant
She’s been through
mushroom trip, this
a lot. Shit – she’s the
friend stated simply that
embodiment of the
she had always thought
“They always say, you starving artist. Except
of Leah as “Indigo.”
she also has a child
know, itʼs really hard
Leah describes Indigo
(22-month-old
Elijah
to make this your life. One) to take care of,
as depth; “it’s deep and
dark and profound.
and she does. It seems
But who are they to
It’s when the sun goes
that she does it with
fuckinʼ say anything
down,
that
vibrant
grace that can only
dark-blue color where
become reality when
to me?”
the trees stand out
one realizes that trials
black against it.” This
give way to strength.
explanation of the idea
She puts Eli first, and
of “Indigo” makes it clear to me why the her art second. “I see all of the choices I
name fits her so well -- black and blue but have made in my life, and whether or not
painfully beautiful despite.
they seemed good at the time, those choices
She sets me straight and lets me know brought me to this exact place.” She doesn’t
that her art is not poetry, not spoken word. speak much of her son’s father except to
She writes raps. She is an emcee, like Mos mention that he is a fellow artist. She instead
Def (her admitted favorite). I’ve seen her emphasizes that her son provided the gift of
perform once, at the Minneapolis Hip getting sober. She performed her first show
Hop Festival in June. Incredible presence. at one week pregnant.
Incredible intensity of mind, apparent in
These days, she’s seriously pissed off
strings of elegant words on top of bass- at the current administration. She comes
driven beats – but what caught me was how from that group of strong, real people that
she managed to let her words so brightly work ’til their bones show – the people that
outshine even those beautiful sounds.
survive only because of the kind of programs
That intensity again manifests itself as I that the Bush regime seeks to destroy. She
ask her for an example of her words. “Living wonders why the word “God” is still used,
lucid, reality is mine. I have no resistance as it has been so fouled by people. She’s on
developing my mind,” she raps, looking welfare and she works two jobs that give
down at the floor with a sort of strange her just enough to get by each month. She
hunger in her eyes -- perhaps a hunger that still feels guilty spending $10 on dinner.
She doesn’t have a demo yet, “’cause you
have to pay money to go be in the studio,
you know? That’s how it is. It’s hard.” Slug,
from Atmosphere, once told her not to rap.
“They always say, you know, it’s really hard
to make this your life. But who are they
to fuckin’ say anything to me? I don’t let
anybody else take me down.”
Indigo’s got the ability to put things in
perspective for those she speaks to. At the
end of our interview, she hands me a CD of a
few of her songs. “Lots of words, you know?
Lots of words. I hope you like ‘em.”
You
can
reach
Leah
at
[email protected]. She would love for
people to stop by and say what’s up – she
serves as a production assistant for Ron
Essex studios (ronessexstudios.com) and
slings sandwiches at Acme Deli in St. Paul.
Look her up. She’ll tell you when she’s
performing, and maybe she can explain her
indigo skies to you.
Sing Like a Holiday, Act Like a Queen
Local artist Thomasina does just about everything
By Terri Ramiah
My first Thomasina experience
occurred exactly twelve days ago when
she took the stage at Coffman Union
as the sole role in a one- woman play
- Daughters of Africa. Since then (and at
the risk of sounding slightly creepy) she
has succeeded in consuming many of my
thoughts and much of my time. Meet her,
and you’ll understand. She’s not an easy
woman to get out of your head. She’s soft
in the way that steel is soft, but owns eyes
-- the kind of eyes capable of immediately
disarming the most defensive among us.
Charms aside, Thomasina Petrus
(actress and vocalist) has become a staple in
the local twin cities jazz and theatre scene.
She’s been “doing her thing” here for 15
years and has evolved into a widely valued
and exceptionally talented artist.
“Hot Chocolate” at the Golden Thymes
Café. She hopes to make it an annual event,
so keep it in mind for next year.
Help this woman succeed. For a talent
such as this to go on without taking the
world would be a sin. Between the continual
disintegration of the recording industry and
that horrible celebration of mediocrity (The
Grammys), a voice and drive like the ones
Thomasina owns become more valuable.
Go experience this woman. Buy her CD
at Electric Fetus, Borders in Block E, or at
her website at thomasinaproductions.com. A
new CD will come out in March as well. All
you need to do is listen.
OUT
IN
NALGENE BOTTLES
TURKEYʼS WADDLES
but I miss her. She had so much more to
give... if only life had taken better care
MINORS
DINERS
MARIJUANA
TIJUANA
STAR TRIBUNE
FLAMING JUNE
Sound & Vision
Daughters of Africa, as I mentioned,
served as my first exposure to the woman
who so successfully (and in such a short
time) enchanted me. The play itself is
soaked fully throughout with the obvious
joy she felt in being able to perform such
a work – and the evidence of her talent
is further cemented with each scene. A
Mixed Blood Production written by Phil
Jones, chronicles the history and struggle
of African- American women since their
arrival in this country. Thomasina flawlessly
represents the spirits of over 20 strong and
influential African- American women. The
list is significant: Harriet Tubman, Madame
CJ Walker, Lena Horne, Ethel Waters, Rosa
Parks, Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday,
Queen Latifah, Oprah, even my friend and
yours – Condoleeza Rice. Petrus’ capacity
for pulling off what seems to be the most
perfect embodiment of each of these women
– even in the cases of those we know little
about – is remarkable.
She says that Daughters of Africa is
one of the most important things she’ll ever
do, “Slavery is 350 years old. We’ve only just
come out of it. We have come such a long
way, but we have so much left to do.” She’s
just so good at getting inside of your spirit.
The emotional involvement that she
so seamlessly invokes from the audience
reaches an almost unbearable point in the
play when she takes the stage as the late
Billie Holiday. Ouch. How can one woman
be so versatile? I purchased her CD at the
end of the show; If Only . . . Billie Unsung.
The CD holds 8 tracks, each a song sung in
Billie’s unmistakable style. Perfect. It hurts,
like I said. I played Petrus’ CD back to back
with two of Holiday’s own albums and was
incapable of telling the difference.
But, Petrus has her own vocal style.
When she sings, what comes out is a
singularly magnificent voice, the sort
that rattles the ribcage with its tone and
intensity. She’s not even trying, or so it
seems. It’s just raw talent, nothing more,
nothing less.
I experienced her talent again last
night, Valentine’s Day, at a show entitled
Through the Fog
Local musician cheats on Lo-Fi, embraces
technology
THE
Photo By Craig Kotilinek
Local Musician Andrew Broder looks at records at Hymieʼs.
“I think I just got burnt out of everything sounding
gelatinous and amorphous,” says Broder about his
previous work. Broder says the new record is, “a lot more
arranged. I think it’s a function of getting older and being
better at articulating what you want to hear.” Previous
Fog records are mostly spaced out conglomerations of
lo-fi, folk guitars, and whatever Broder could get his
hands on. As he explains, “before everything kind of
felt like it was luck or something…or being a weird
kid stumbling around in the dark and getting lucky.
The new record is a lot more grown-up.” The “grownup” feel may be attributed to the technical changes he
went through in making the new record. First, it was
arranged on a computer, which Broder says “made
a big difference.” “I could be more concise editing.”
Also, local-laptop musician, Huntley Miller, appears
on five tracks, lending his style of concise beats and
grooves to Broder’s loose vocal arrangements. All this
change from thick and dense to clear and concise may
disappoint Fog fans that embrace the sloppy DIY feel
of Broder’s previous work, but don’t let my words get
in the way of opening up your ears.
Check out an mp3 from the new record at
www.lexrecords.com.
February 23, 2005
With three records out on celebrated dance and
DJ label Ninja Tune and an upcoming release on Lex
Records, a sub-label of Warp Records, St. Louis Park
native Andrew Broder, and his acclaimed five piece
live ensemble, Fog, has an excellent track record. The
newest Fog album, “10th Avenue Freakout,” is slated
for a March 22nd U.S. release. You can catch the release
party on March 18th at the 7th Street Entry. I stopped by
Hymie’s Vintage Records, where Broder works, to chat
about the new record, his previous projects and the Twin
Cities scene.
Wake
By Chris Smalley
21
Goodbye Dr. Thompson
A memorial to Hunter S. Thompson
Sound & Vision
By Frederic Hanson
I got a call at about 10:30 this morning.
The message my friend left told me that
Hunter S. Thompson had blown his head off
with a shotgun. My first thoughts of what the
body would have looked like. I wondered if
it was a clean blow, or if he only shot off
enough tissue to elicit a scream from his
wife. I wondered if his flesh, blood, bones,
teeth, skull, and brains were splattered all
over the wall of his room. I wondered if
he had stuck the gun in his mouth, or just
placed it to the side of his head. I wondered
where he was sitting, and how much blood
was soaking wherever that place was. I
wondered if his eyes had been blown out
too – or if they were just dangling from their
sockets. I wondered if his tongue was lying
on his shirt collar. I wondered if the Sheriff
felt special for finding him dead. I wondered
if his wife cried. I wondered what his dead
body must have looked like. I wondered
what was on the television. I wondered how
much scalp was probably plastered to the
wall behind him. I wondered if he had had
a bad trip prior and had just forgotten how
to deal with it. I wondered if you could look
at where his face used to be and see the back
of his throat.
I was shocked. But I wasn’t sad. I was
fascinated.
Because in the grand scheme of things,
it’s probably what Thompson would’ve
wanted. For a man so vividly remembered
as a champion of living life to its seemingly
inexhaustible extremes, it would seem
stupid to wish him a debilitating journey into
the twilight years. Thompson was old at 67.
And for a man who deliberately perpetuated
a drug&drink lifestyle, the years were surely
catching up to him. I could never imagine an
elderly and ailing Thompson walking down
the grassy hills of some sanitarium-turnedupscale nursing home.
So to morn Thompson would be
counterproductive. To characterize his fate
as that which befalls other suicide “victims”
would seem out of place. Though we will
probably never know what happened to the
Good Doctor in those last contemplative
minutes, I would imagine that he knew
well what he was doing. The man knew
what made the greatest stories. His is
now a classic. It is the ultimate ending to
a life’s story of dark humor and shattered
romanticism.
Thompson has now truly sealed
his fate as a literary iconoclasm. As with
Hemmingway and Plath before him, the
original Gonzo Journalist went out in grand
style. What better way to go than a
shotgun blast to the head? Especially
if you’re a man who was perpetually
brandishing a .44 magnum on your hip,
lambasting gun control. Thompson,
in his death, has made a statement as
poignant as those he made in life. Life is
dangerous – but it is what you make of
it. If you want to go out with style – do it.
Who gives a shit – the gun shot doesn’t
hurt, you’ll be unconscious before you
know it hits you. By the time your brains
hit the ceiling fan, you’ll be halfway to
heaven.
So I would like to remember
Thompson for what he was – an outlaw
rebel of a journalist who wrote some of
the greatest stuff ever. He wrote great
because he wrote truth. People hated
him for writing the truth. People loved
him for writing the truth. And he was a
genius for it.
He is a genius for getting the
last laugh in all this, as seventy years
from now, people will view Thompson
with the kind of lens reserved for only
those tragic literary heroes. Thompson
is hardly tragic. But he is a hero. And
now, if reputation is everything, Dr.
Thompson will be laughing in his grave.
“Ian Brown” continued from page 15
Wake
The Wake: What’s your view of spirituality?
Brown: I believe in a higher force than
myself. All the great religions just get
it down to one spirit, whether that’s the
aborigines, or the Native American Indians,
you know? I just believe in that one god.
February 23, 2005
THE
22
The Wake: Are drugs a way to see that god?
Brown: I think it could go either way,
depending on the thinking and the
environment of the person. I mean, what
could alter one man’s life could send another
crazy. Something like psychedelic drugs can
expand your mind. You know, I took peyote
in Mexico and they say that if you take that
– that that will get you close to the universe.
And I understand what they mean by that,
because I felt really close to the universe.
But I wouldn’t say you strictly need drugs to
find god – if you want to find it, you’ll find it.
a band?
Brown: Yeah – I mean, they’re really into
music. They have Ipods and they’re always
on rewind trying to figure out lyrics.
The Wake: How has being a father changed
you?
Brown: They say it makes you mellow, but I
don’t know. Maybe more hungry really. I’ve
got these three little lads that I put before
me. Honestly I can’t remember what I used
to do in my free time before my kids – I just
honestly can’t remember. It’s like, “shit,
what was it like looking up my own ass?”
The Wake: Any hopes for a family band?
Brown: Like the Partridge Family? [laughs]
Why not yeah? It’s a family business. I’ll
manage them if we do though, make sure
they get paid, not like their dad.
The Wake: What makes
happiest in life?
Brown: Just that I’m free.
you
The Wake: You going to get them to start
Longsight M13: Well, that’s an area
of Manchester. It’s where we come
out of in Manchester; where we
had practice rooms when we first
started to do music. You know,
you’ve got these songs named
after New York, or Chicago. So I
wanted to mention Longsight M13.
Time is my Everything: The trumpet
player [on the record] told me he
was into writing songs. I said,
‘well, write one for me, I want
to do a mariachi number.’ So he
comes back with sorta the rough
version of that. We sorta chopped
it up, put my thing in, and that’s
me. Tryin to put my thing from
Manchester with the Mexican thing.
Destiny or Circumstance: I’m
goin’ for a Phil Spector sound;
wall of sound. Full on electric
guitars. I wanted each track
to have a different sound
from
the
preceding
one.
Keep What Ya Got: Noel’s a lot of
fun workin’ with, innit? I think
what on this track we got was a
combination – the best of both of us.
We got some great lyrics in there.
Athletics
February 23, 2005
23
The Good,
the Bad,
and the Rugby
Rugby epitomizes club sports experience, only more violence
By Craig Rentmeester
With words scrum, ruck, maul and try
used to describe various parts of the game,
it is easy to notice that Rugby is a foreign
game. Originally an English sport, there are 15
players on the field from each team during the
game. The equipment is rugged and the game
is played without pads, but mouth guards are
worn to protect costly dental work. Due to the
lack of pads, injuries occur frequently ranging
from concussions to broken bones. This
fascinating sport is offered at the club level at
the “U.”
The “U’s” rugby team is composed of
hard-hitting, beer-guzzling crazy asses. This
group is not pampered with scholarships and
each player must pay $75 per semester in order
to play.
The coach, Lauren Lemke, doesn’t get
paid and must pay out of pocket for some team
expenses. Unlike varsity sports, funding for
club sports does not cover all the necessary
costs. Ends are not met with this meager
amount.
Rugby has two seasons, fall and spring.
The fall season matters more and is taken
very seriously. The team practices three times
a week during the fall season, for a total of six
hours per week. The practices are intense and
include conditioning and drills two nights of
the week.
On Fridays, the team has a walk-through
before Saturday games. Andy Belling, a
sophomore on the team, talked about players’
credit-loads. “To be eligible to play, you need
to be taking at least 12 credits,” he said. This
was shocking to find, since many athletes at
the varsity level usually don’t take that amount
of credits during the season. This schedule
puts extra pressure on these athletes’ sore
shoulders.
During the fall season, the team plays
two vital league games. This past fall, the
Minnesota rugby team played the University
of Wisconsin-Stout and the University of
Wisconsin-LaCrosse in their two league
matches and won both, which advanced them
to the Midwest Final Four tournament held at
Purdue University.
In addition to playing the league
games, the team competes in roughly eight
additional games. Also, the team competes
in tournaments during the fall. When asked
Athletics
number one seed.
Rules of the game
The rules of rugby are quite confusing
to the average person, but the game is more
or less a combination of soccer and football.
The game begins with a kickoff, which
allows one team the initial possession.
From there, the teams can only pass the ball
backward, similar to the backwards lateral
in football.
There is also an offsides penalty,
which is called when the defensive backs
are in front of the last people in the scrum.
The scrum occurs when both teams are
vying for control of the ball in strange,
chaotic formations. When the ball goes
out of bounds, there is a line out which is
similar to a throw-in during a soccer game.
Tackling is allowed from shoulders to the
ankles, but if a player is on the ground, they
are considered part of the ground.
Once a team has scored what is similar
to a touchdown, they receive five points.
This is considered a try. Whichever side
of the field the try is scored on, the team
attempts a conversion on the same side of
the field from any distance in back of the end
line for two points. The conversion is like an
extra point.
Also included in the scoring of rugby
is a post, which is worth three points and
is attempted after a penalty if it is within
range. The post can either be dropkicked or
kicked off of a tee. It can also be attempted
during play if there is a clear kicking lane.
The ball must cross between the uprights
during a post and on a conversion. After
scoring, the team that scored receives the
ball again on a kickoff, which is backward in
terms of soccer and football.
This fascinating game can be enjoyed
this spring when the rugby team takes the
field in late February. If you are interested
in joining the rugby team here at the “U,”
feel free to contact Andy Belling via email at
[email protected].
Wake
The chance to play in the national
about the competitive nature of the game,
Belling answered, “rugby is a gentlemen’s tournament was a great achievement, but
sport meaning that you beat the shit out required even more work and time out of
each player. Since the
of the other team on the
field, but after the game
under-funded club needs
to cover the cost of flights
you socialize together.”
The Minnesota team
“You can beat the for 30 players, fundraising
finally arrived at Purdue,
is a necessity. The team
shit out of the
has done a variety of
after an extensive road
trip by van. Ordinarily
other team on the activities in order to
the money. The
the trip wouldn’t be too
field, but after the raise
activities include cleaning
bad, but when traveling
game you socialize the Sports Pavilion after
for a collegiate athletics
events and working at
team, one would think the
together.”
traveling accommodations
the Excel Energy Center
concessions stands. In
would be a little better.
The team won one of two
addition, the team has
games at the tournament and qualified for received donations from alumni.
The fundraising efforts will payoff for
the national competition in California.
these young men as they head to sunny
California in mid-April for the tournament,
where they are the 16th seed. They
expect to play the University of California
– Berkeley, who will most likely be the
February, 23 2005
THE
Infograph By Eric Price
Failed Club Sports
Illustration By Molly Wick
24
•
•
•
•
•
•
Synchronized Vomiting
Deathball
Garrison Kieler’s Ultimate Writing
Throw balls at the IT students
Blindfolded Macramé
Shark Swimming
A View From the Bench:
Upcoming
Athletics Events
Intramurals are fun!
the field lights. Timmy found his team and
asked to play defense. Running onto the
field, his teammates told him to go after the
quarterback. Five penalties and a broken
shoulder later, Timmy was escorted off the
field. Apparently you weren’t supposed to
tackle in flag football.
Feeling left out of the “U’s” athletics
community because of his lack of
knowledge, a humble Timmy walked toward
the Rec Center hoping yet to find the perfect
intramural sport.
Photo By Brie Cohen
Lane Trisko looks out from a bench. Every fortnight Trisko will go sit on a different bench.
Can you guess which bench he is on?
I could regale you with stories of
my intramural past. Like the time my flag
football team triumphantly completed our
undefeated season with a come-from-behind
victory in the championship game. But let’s
be honest. You could care less.
This doesn’t mean intramurals aren’t
interesting. On the contrary, they can spur
the most lasting memories, the deepest
feelings of anguish and ecstasy. But don’t
take my word for it. Follow Timmy as he
takes you through the ups and downs of
intramural sports.
You may remember Timmy from his
first “U” football experience. You know,
when he knocked over all the chili? He is
now deciding what intramural sport to play.
He started with softball.
Softball was never Timmy’s favorite
sport, but it seemed easy enough, and
therefore he was inclined to join. His co-ed
team was surprised when he showed up to
his first game without a glove. When the
game started, Timmy insisted on hitting
leadoff. However, he had a hard time
making contact with the slow, arcing shape
of the softball’s path. He later learned he
was supposed to grab the skinny end of the
bat and was not supposed to be blindfolded.
Failing his first sport, Timmy left the West
Bank softball fields and trudged across the
Washington Avenue Bridge toward his next
intramural endeavor.
Photo Editor
Photographer
Cover Artist
Music Writer
Ad Intern
THE
Visit
www.wakenews.org
For An Application
February 23, 2005
This issue’s Most Valuable Gopher
is wrestler Mark Reiter. In his sophomore
season with the Gophers, Reiter is poised
to finish as one of the top wrestlers in his
133-pound weight class. He is considered
the first top recruit to leave the wrestling
Mecca that is the state of Iowa and wear
maroon and gold. In his first match in Iowa
City against the Hawkeyes, Reiter defeated
the 11th ranked Mario Galanakis 2-0 in the
Gophers’ losing effort.
A view from the bench is a fortnightly
column written by Wake athletics editor
Lane Trisko. His topics are chosen
cleverly from his choice mind. Comments
for Trisko can be e-mailed to him at
[email protected]
NOW HIRING!
Wake
Flag Football was next on Timmy’s
list of intramural sports. He arrived at
Beirman fields in Dinkytown and was
awed by the electricity in the air. Whistles
blew, obscenities yelled and pockets of
fans cheered as the games unfolded under
Dodgeball seemed like the right fit
for Timmy. He entered Cooke Gymnasium
and was immediately enthralled in the
atmosphere of frenzied, flying balls. He
couldn’t control his urges and quickly
joined his team in the middle of their match.
Timmy was a natural. He floated around
the court like a ghost, impossible to hit,
and threw the ball with such force that his
opponents eventually held up their hands
in defeat, conceding the match to Timmy’s
unrivaled dodgeball talents
His awed teammates carried him on
their shoulders all the way to Blarney’s
for a victory bender. He finally felt like
he belonged, and it was all thanks to
intramural sports! For more information
on intramural sports, visit its Web site,
www.recsports.umn.edu
Athletics
By Lane Trisko
• Feb. 24-26- Men’s Swimming
& Diving Big Ten
Championships at
University Aquatic Center
12 p.m.
• Feb. 25- Men’s Hockey vs.
St. Cloud State at Mariucci
Arena 7 p.m.
• Feb. 26- Men’s Gymnastics
vs. Oklahoma at Sports
Pavilion 2 p.m.
• Feb. 26- Women’s
Gymnastics vs. Iowa at
Sports Pavilion 7 p.m.
• Feb. 27- Women’s Swimming
& Diving GO-PHER IT
Invitational at University
Aquatic Center 1 p.m.
• March 3-6- Women’s Hockey
WCHA Championships at
Ridder Arena TBA
• March 4- Baseball vs. New
Orleans at Metrodome 6:
30 p.m.
• March 5- Baseball vs. South
Carolina at Metrodome
6:30 p.m.
25
February 23, 2OO5
26
The Wake Asks:
ll
Po
-ad
roi
By Zachary Carlson
If I were to inform you that for the last 6 months I have been following you around and secretly videotaping your
every waking move, would you allow me to turn it into a reality series, called “Stalker,” on the FOX network?
“...”
-Keri CarlsonJunior
Undeclared
“...”
-Chris SebersonNon-traditional student
“...”
-Martha Ockenufels-Martiney & Cassandra MeyerJuniors
Global Studies, Civil Engineering
“!”
-Kristos BarabisSophmore
Sports Medicine/Mortuary Science
Wakie Got Mail!
Wakie has been very entertained and amused by fan mail. We here at The Wake are not sure what to make of the bear postcard. And then there
was this other letter ... well, just read it ...
You know how when youʼre really tired and your eyes just start shutting and you canʼt stop them and your contacts are dry, but then
you just really want to finish this one thing before you go home and finally sleep? Yeah, thatʼs me right now....
THE WAKE’s ARBITRARY AWARDS!
BEST do-dedo-do-wop-a-do-ditty tap
dance performance by a circus-trained
bear:
Gasoline Bear, thatʼs right, the one that appears
and dances for you when youʼve smelled too
much gasoline.
MOST important skill:
cursive writing.
SMARTEST professor:
Dr. Genius
BEST idea for midterms overheard
on the bus:
“Dude, we should totally load up the beer bong
with coffee before our all-nighter.”
WORST time zone:
the one in the middle of the ocean
where no one lives.
BEST place to study abroad:
in your bedroom. HAHAHA!
jij & iji -By Eireann Lorsung-
Co
mix
The Broken Sidewalk -By Devin Ensz-
BASTARD
So You Are In Collage -By Eli Zimmerman-
THE
Wake
February 23, 2005
27
Bridge Sleepover
Washintgon Ave Bridge
10pm
A campus wide initiative to bring kindness to the forefront of our community. Working towards uniting the campus and showing that kindness is not all about
volunteering at soup kitchens or giving all of your money to charity. It is also about supporting and encouraging peers and being role models. It is about giving
back to the community while honing and sharing unique gifts and abilities. Thisis to be an entirely collaborative month of bringing people together andsupporting others.
Spphorah
the
Seawoman