Doctorow Book Reading/12 Blonde Redhead/04

Doctorow Book Blonde Redhead/04
Reading/12 PLUS Drugs / UDS / Lies / Kung Fu / more
The Weekly Student Magazine of the University of Minnesota
18 April -05 May 2007
Editorial/
Editor-in-Chief
Jenny Odegard
Managing Editor
Eric Price
Literary Editor
Jacob Duellman
Campus Editor
Brad Tucker
Voices Editor
Nathaniel Olson
Sound & Vision Editor
Alice Vislova
Staff Writer
Carl Carpenter, Becky Lang
Editorial Assistants
Dan Olmschenk, Tammy Quan
PRODUCTION/
Production Manager
Jeremy Sengly
Art Director
Sam Soule
Photography Editor
Ethan Stark
Web Editor
Luke Preiner
Copy Editors
Brent Campbell, Erin Lavigne
Graphic Designers
Dave Hagen, Eric Price, Becki Schwartz,
Jeremy Sengly, Krista Spinti
Distributors
Preston Jones, Luke Preiner
BUSINESS/
Advertising Executive
Tyler Jones
Office Manager
Elizabeth Keely Shaller
Public Relations Director
Allie Dinnocenzo
Advertising Interns
Ben Anderson, Autumn Brothers, Eric
McPherson
Advisory Board
James DeLong, Kevin Dunn, Courtney Lewis,
Gary Schwitzer, Kay Steiger, Mark Wisser
THIS ISSUE/
Cover Artist
Ben Alpert
Illustrators
Ben Alpert, Alex Judkins, Dave Hagen, Mike
Mason, Eric Price, Jeremy Sengly
Contributing Writers
Carl Carpenter, Cole Dennis, Kelly
Gulbrandson, Becky Lang, Trey Mewes,
Nattie Olson, Tammy Quan, That Bird
Outside of the Window, Daniel Weispfenning,
Alice Vislova
Photographers
Ethan Stark, Krissy Stockton
/5:27
©2007 The Wake Student Magazine. All rights
reserved.
Established in 2002, The Wake is a weekly
independent magazine and registered
student organization produced by and for the
students of the University of Minnesota.
The Wake Student Magazine
1313 5th St. SE #331
Minneapolis, MN 55414
(612) 379-5952 • www.wakemag.org
The Wake was founded by Chris Ruen and
James DeLong.
E.L. Doctorow/12
The first time I encountered “Wicca” was in eighth
grade, when a somewhat troubled friend of mine
started vomiting uncontrollably several minutes after
showing me the still-bleeding pentagram tattoo she had
given herself on the back of her hand during gym class
with india ink and a syringe.
For information on real Wiccans, see page six.
ERIC PRICE
Managing Editor
Sound & Vision/04
VOICES/10
CAMPUS/14
LITERARY/16
PHOTOGRAPHY/18
ATHLETICS/20
BASTARD/23
WINNING ANSWER TO JEREMY’S
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR LAST
WEEK/
Lindsey Wallace: I would definitely take the second
scenario because 1. I very much like being able to
orgasm and would like to have sex all throughout my
life until I am old and my ladyparts stop functioning and
2. It is more exciting to have to wait for gratification,
if you have to swallow something to transmute one
substance into another, then you get to wait around for
the “horrible dump” and its always a surprise how long
each substance will take to get through you.
CORRECTION/
Last issue’s Explosions in the Sky story was mistakenly
credited to Trey Mewes. Josh Capodarco was the actual
author of the piece. Sorry, Josh!
Sound & Vision/
Miscellany
Minnesota
Music
by Carl Carpenter
04/25 April-05 May 2007
A decade after Spice World, Girl Power is raised from its
glittery grave.
Blonde Redhead, a unique three piece from New York
City, may have been the big name on the bill April 15th at
First Avenue, but the evening’s success was due in larger
part to a wisely selected opener in Midnight Movies. Their
equally intransient sounds set a relaxed mood which held
strong for the duration of the evening. Another common
ground was found in female front women. As captivating
as Blonde Redhead’s Kazu Makino was Midnight Movies’
Gena Olivier. Either way, I’d score this as one successful
evening for woman-kind, and a solid show in general for
all in attendance.
Midnight Movies, a two guy, two girl combo from Los Angeles, started out at as trio. After one album, they decided
they needed another one. I talked with Olivier after their
hour long set. “That was all we could get out of that set
up,” she admitted, “This new album (released on April
24th) is the sound we were really looking for.” Starting out
with Olivier on the keys and at the mic, their sound would
bounce from melancholy electro to more driving, sped up
rock. She’s the group’s songwriter and vocalist, and up
\Sound & Vision
courtesy pogopop
until a year ago had handled all percussion duties to boot.
The group added new drummer Sandra Vu a year ago and
are happy with the new arrangement. Despite playing the
first six songs front and center, Olivier found herself behind the drums for the set’s later portion. This moved Vu
to the center spot where she continued with back up vocals, guitar, and even some bass. Olivier’s transition from
the airy, beckoning, disconcerted singer, to a ballistic
drummer of precision and power was in itself worth the
price of admission. Her cool, refined movements disappeared as she turned into a flailing mess of hair and arms
on the skins at each song’s peaking conclusion.
A part of the ever bustling L.A. scene, they’ve shared
their journey with a few other bands who’ve flirted with
success. “Sandra used to date the drummer from Giant Drag (the Orange County duo who released their full
length debut in ‘06). They’ve been close several times
but whenever things are picking up, he quits. (Annie
Hardy) is great though. She looks and sounds like she’s
12, but has the mouth of a trucker. We’re really good
friends with the Silver Sun Pickups too. We’ve played
a lot with them, and they’re starting to take off now.”
The group is only on tour with Blonde Redhead for six
Midwest dates, but have toured with the likes of Clinic,
Broadcast and Alexi Murdoch.
After a long wait, Blonde Redhead took the stage. Makino wore a light blue dress so short it could have easily
passed for an oddly fitting t-shirt. Amedeo and Simone
Olivier’s transition from the
airy, beckoning, disconcerted
singer, to a ballistic drummer of
precision and power was in itself
worth the price of admission.
Pace, brothers hailing from France, round out the trio behind the drums and on guitar. They supply Makino with the
back drop necessary to let her unintelligible, high arching
vocals wail above, and then give way to the diverse mix of
live and electronic drums and a guitar of several different
faces. They adhered to the album versions, though towards
the end of most they would give small tastes of variance.
I’m not well versed in their live show and catalogue, but
the performance as a whole came across as less than
inspired. Maybe after some 14 years in the music scene,
Blonde Redhead feel they can rest, even if only slightly, on
their laurels. Maybe it’s the fact that Makino was trampled
by a horse leading to a long hiatus from the band while recovering. Their new album, titled 23, reflects the ensuing
emotional darkness sure to accompany any near-death,
equestrian endeavor. A large model horse kneeled beside
her keyboard, which she played on occasion.
They started with all older material, but six or seven
songs in, they offered the title track from the newest effort. “23” saw the drummer switching actively between
his live kit and drum pad over skuzzy, steady moving
guitar. Makino closed her eyes and for the first time gave
it her all. Swaying slightly from side to side, she let her
moody vocals, drenched in genuine feelings, wash over
the appreciative crowd. The band showed little by way of
onstage communication or crowd recognition, but left the
packed main room in a frenzy for more. They returned,
playing a 20-plus minute encore, mostly older songs.
From one female, musical force to another, “It’s been
amazing playing with (Blonde Redhead),” Olivier says after the show, “We love these guys.”
\05
www.wakemag.org
Sound & Vision/
What is Wicca?
The Wake Investigates.
by Alice Vislova
Even with all of our intricately pompous systems of government and technological advancements, certain aspects
of human nature remain stubbornly primitive. Take, for
example, our fear of and disdain for the unknown. The
Wiccan Church of Minnesota is in every way as valid a
religious organization as Hillel or Bethlehem Covenant;
however, because most people know little about the Pagan
tradition, they assume paganism to be something funny
at best, or something very dangerous at worst. On April
14th I attended WiC-CoN, an event hosted by The Wiccan Church of Minnesota, and had the privilege to gain a
small amount of understanding about this oft disrespected religious path.
By the variety of attendees and their relatively typical
dress, it looked as though I may have been at the State
Fair, with an ever-so-slight increase of tie dye, jangly
jewelry, and the occasional kilt. However, every religion
has its eccentrics, whose unapologetic personalities make
for good stories.
Riding the city bus on my way to the event, a man with at
least four layers of brightly colored hats sat down next to
me. Upon discovering that I was, like him, on my way to
the WiC-CoN event, he firmly shook my hand, and continued to hold it as he complimented my aura. Upon arriving
at the Sabathani community center, he took the elevator
to the third floor, but told me that he sensed I needed to be
on the second. Heeding his advice, I proceed to the second
floor to find the registration table – and so my investigation into the Pagan community began.
The festival consisted of a vendor room, a series of various performers and musicians and a variety of seminars.
Seminars covered a wide-range of topics, from “Pride and
Prejudice: Confronting the Shadow of Intolerance,” and
06/25 April-05 May 2007
“Granny NicBurn’s Which Culture,” to “Belly Dancing
101,” and “Real Estate and Mortgages For You.” I attended “Eros, Psyche, and Archetype: The Science of Reunion
with the Divine,” led by Dr. Todd.
Most Pagans do not even believe in
an “evil” higher power, but think of
all things, good and bad, as a part of
the cycle of life.
Todd, a Will Ferrell look-alike, spoke easily and the seminar took an informal turn as people occasionally made
jokes and obscure references to which everybody in the
room would respond with warm laughter. The type of person who makes everyone he is speaking with feel important, Todd explained his belief that “what we project is
what we attract,” meaning the attitudes with which we
enter an experience determine what we get out of it. Attributing this phenomenon to energy forces beyond our
physical body, he went on to urge us to recognize that as
human beings, we are all animated by the same energy.
“Boundaries, cultural stereotypes, are meaningless,” exclaims Todd, “Every boundary we place around each other
does two things: it interferes with our ability to interact
with one another … and it becomes a battle line.”
Todd familiarized me with the basic concepts of Paganism. “Paganism is seeing all that is alive as a part of the
divine,” he explains, “God is integrated into everything.
This is why pagans tend to be environmentalists and animal rights activists – because to us, destroying the environment is destroying the divine.” The theology behind
Wicca is as peaceful and loving as that behind any other
religion, in fact, most Pagans do not even believe in an
“evil” higher power, but think of all things, good and bad,
as a part of the cycle of life.
Like the seminars, the vendor tables were a mottled set.
Many booths offered specifically Wicca-related goods,
such as books and various tools to be used in ceremonies.
Other booths, such as the Pampered Chef booth and a
booth where two confused Russians sold matreshka dolls
and fur hats, seemed somewhat arbitrary. One notable
booth consisted of a woman and two beautiful golden
retrievers; this team offered visitors lessons in part-life
regression and in better communication with pets. Another notable booth addressed the issue of Pagans being
forbidden from placing their symbol, “an interlaced, five
pointed star within a circle,” on graves of Pagan military
veterans. “The Veteran Affair’s refusal to allow the Wiccan Pentacle as a recognized religious symbol is a direct
violation of the US constitution and is a flagrant case of
religious discrimination,” proclaims the UM Pagan Alliance’s pamphlet.
The ignorance and fear of Pagans may stem from the fact
that many differ in specific beliefs, making Paganism as
a whole sometimes difficult for outsiders to understand.
Some Pagans believe in multiple deities, some in just one;
some believe in reincarnation, some in other forms of afterlife, and some believe that this is the only life we get.
Modern or “Neo” Paganism stems from many early nature-centered religions around the world, and the beliefs
of individual Pagans are a unique tapestry of pre-Christian European, African, Asian, and/ or Native American
beliefs. All pagans are united in a desire to celebrate the
sacredness in all of nature and in all fellow human beings, a desire which, frankly speaking, modern day Christianity, Judaism and Islam are, at times, lacking.
\ Sound & Vision
Klaxons
England’s newest hype band
hits the entry.
by carl carpenter
Same old story, right? Behind a whirlwind of hype and
accolades (recently named NME’s Best New Band), these
four blokes from the U.K. released their debut album
(Myths of the Near Future) on January 29th and are already off on world tours. They’ve even been assigned to
and/or accredited with their own genre of music, New
Rave. Having only heard a handful of songs, though I enjoyed them all thoroughly, I was unsure of what to expect.
Would they be as good as advertised (alla, Arctic Mon-
courtesy berlinfestival.de
keys, Bloc Party, The Libertines, and Kasabian) or were
they merely another over-hyped blog band from across the
pond (think Kaiser Chiefs or The Darkness).
They dedicated their biggest hit,
“Golden Skans,” to Prince in a clichéd, yet always welcomed gesture of musical thank you to the
city of Minneapolis.
DJ Sovietpanda, of Too Much Love notoriety, commenced
the festivities with his unique brand of well-listened Alternative selections transformed into one long, bumpin’
ass, dance saga. Klaxons took the stage at 10:30. Upon
first sight and sound, it was apparent they were less than
seasoned on all accounts. Vocal and instrumental capabilities were well limited and their first few songs exposed
lack of lyrical quality and song depth. Despite this realization, their high energy performance and complete acceptance of shortcomings culminated in all around great
time. They dedicated their biggest hit, “Golden Skans,”
to Prince in a clichéd, yet always welcomed gesture of
musical thank you to the city of Minneapolis. Dangerously catchy and danceable as all get out, their quick rise
to fame became much less confusing. Their drummer’s
struggle to keep up with their breakneck pace, added in
punk appeal what it cost them in clean sound. A personal
highlight was the guitarist’s outfit: tight black jeans and
giant wolf adorned long sleeve black t-shirt, of a size too
big for its occupant. An outfit I hadn’t seen since my days
in grammar school. The band maintained their high energy until the last note was played. A pulse of feedback
rang-out as they all dropped their instruments and meandered off stage in all different directions. It was a fitting move from these fairly inept Brits; they left the crowd
wanting more by pretending as though they didn’t care.
Good times were had by all and the world of music remained unpredictable.
\07
www.wakemag.org
Sound & Vision/
Reviews
Matt Jennings
Panda Bear
by Carl Carpenter
by Becky Lang
Matt Jennings, sibling of acclaimed singer/songwriter
Mason Jennings, moved from Pittsburgh to Minneapolis
in high school to play in his brother’s band. His stint as
the bassist, and then drummer, didn’t last long. He opted
instead to go back to school; upon graduation, he found
himself traveling the world. He studied Spanish in Mexico, and then spent some time teaching English in South
China and Thailand. When he returned home, he assembled a band and self-released his debut, Two Become One,
in the summer of 2005.
Panda Bear, whose real name is Noah Lennox, recently
lost his father. The result was Young Prayer an album of
soft clapping and wailing mourning, as he fights through
his loss with music. “Where are you?” are some of the only
discernable words, but if you listen closely, you can put
together the phrase, “This is how I’ll talk to you.” The result is an album that is like dark magic, a musical limbo
and oddly soothing sound of the living communicating
with the dead.
Two Become One
Having spent time playing in the different areas of his
travel, Jennings’ guitar playing is a fusion of several different styles and cultures. The percussive strumming of
opener, “The Tortoise and the Hare,” alludes to images
of two combating lover as his tango cadence intertwines
with long stretches of flamenco style guitar interludes.
More of this Spanish and other worldly influences take
precedent on the title track, “When Two Become One,”
as Jennings dances his fingers across the seemingly endless neck of guitar. Lyrically, all nine tracks seem to be
slowly drawn out testaments to various female contemporaries. Two exceptions are the restless for more adventure,
“Globetrekker,” and the life path questioning, “The Outer
Limits.” They’re a far cry from the effortlessly catchy
tunes crafted by older brother Mason, but that’s not what
he’s aiming at. It’s an eclectic mesh of his international
guitar capacity and is well worth a listen.
I give this album a 6.5 out of 10 on Carl’s, less callous than
Pitchfork yet more rational than RollingStone, scale of
review.
Person Pitch
His sophomore album, Person Pitch is a gentler branch
off of the freak-alt-folk sound of his larger band, Animal
Collective. With songs like “Leaf House,” which sounds
like someone singing through a pinched tongue during a
ritual, and “Grass,” an up-beat, tribal-percussion tune
with a violent chorus of “Pow! Pow! Pow!” is known for
doling out the ugly right along with their unconventional
madhouse of sounds. Panda Bear ditches the shocks and
fury of his band, and creates songs just as strange, but
kinder to the ears.
“I’m Not,” is more a meditation than a song. The echoing
voices reverberate like ripples in a pond, creating a sense
of being in a deep cenote, a sacrificial well in Mexico, surrounded by water, vines, and lurking bones.
“Dressed In Nautica,” and other songs feature a vocal
chorus like a Beach Boys song faded in the sun. No element is prevalent enough to give the song a defined structure, so that they all float aimlessly like old radiowaves
masterfully blended.
Listen to Person Pitch alone, and experience the sound of
the lighter parts of your subconscious.
08/25 April-05 May 2007
16/11-17 April 2007
Voices/
Football loses out to soccer in
all facets of sporting
BY NAttie olson
I’ve seen games of hopscotch that were manlier than
football. God, with those constant interruptions of play,
coaches, apparently having seen Seinfeld, covering their
faces while barking out orders–and pause now for station
identification. It’s amazing to me how anyone has ever
watched, played in, or admired an entire game of football.
Seriously, why is it that, in our boring country, football is
held as the shining pinnacle of masculinity? The players
are draped head to toe in protective padding–why don’t
they just wear bubble-boy suits for when they bump into
each other?
Now the real football, what we Americans call “soccer,”
that is a man’s sport.
But first, what does that mean, to call something “manly”? An unfortunate byproduct of the feminist movement, (which, ask any coworker or female relative, I am
all about) was this misconception that being a man is
tantamount to being a homophobic, sexist asshole. True,
a lot of men are assholes. Conveniently, a lot of assholes
I know play football. But trust me, manliness is not synonymous with misogyny, or homophobia for that matter. I
think that the manliest guy I ever knew was a gay professor I had when I was living in Montana. If you can picture
a homosexual Randall McMurphy meeting Tyler Durden,
that’s kind of what he’d be like. And manly doesn’t mean
sexist either. I considered explaining this, but Bukowski
does it better with his poem “I am not a misogynist,” so
look that up, he’s a better writer anyway.
Talking sports, in soccer, you don’t have every twelve
seconds to rest for a breather while some assholes talk
over their next move, while you wait, for the hut, hut,
hike–flag on the play, oh, just hang for a moment. No, in
soccer, you have to be able to run, run, run, without time
to catch your breath or plot your next move. Maybe you’ll
get a second to wipe the sweat from your eyes as you’re
shoving your way through the human wall on a penalty
kick, but other than that, forget it. There’s that, and the
fact that in soccer the only pad you have is a little plastic
covering your shin. So when you’re a mid-fielder charging
full speed at an attacking forward, with the intent of using your body to take him down, you better brace for the
impact.
Football, like golf, is an elitist sport. Mouthguards,
shoulder-pads, those cute, tight white clam-diggers they
wear–all that shit adds up. In Brazil the kids will just roll
up a ball from trash and spent chewing gum, clear out a
section of dying yellow grass, pick sides and shout “Jogamos!” That isn’t exactly the case with American football.
I wasn’t the best player–once I was referred to as an “embarrassment” to my high school’s athletic department, but
I could play dirty. And lacking a conscience and any shred
of moral fiber, dirty always won. At least when you didn’t
10/25 April-05 May 2007
get caught. One time, I overheard something a mid-fielder
said about me, so when he had the ball, I clipped him from
behind, and sent him sailing. We both left the game. He
walked out under cheers and on the shoulders of caring
friends–I went under the glare of a red card and my parents covering their faces.
So yeah, I could be a real piece of shit back then, and I
guess I still can–but only when it’s due. The football players from my school were somehow worse than me–you
know this story. These were the guys who got away with
being trashed at Prom, who groped passed-out girls at the
keggers my fellow outcasts and I were unsurprisingly not
invited to, (which was probably for the best). Although
they were fuckfaces, in their public and private behavior,
they were always exonerated. In our local paper, at school
fund-raise’s and useless pep-rallies, even when they lost.
Fuck that.
Next time you’re at a computer, do a YouTube search for:
“Diego Maradona-Argentina Vs England.” Maradona was,
when he was still active and before he got into cocaine,
the best footballer ever, and of course, an embodiment
of the Argentine alpha-male. When I was in Argentina,
Maradona made the news, again, for missing his a flight
by a few seconds, and pounding on the door. Corrupt Argentine cops were at the airport, and one held a gun to
Maradona’s neck for overreacting. The headline all the
papers carried the next day was Maradona’s badass response to the cop: “Dalé. Tirá,” which means “Go ahead.
Pull it.” So yeah, he kicks ass.
The clip is of a semi-final match during the 1986 FIFA
World Cup. Speaking of the World Cup in comparison
to the Super Bowl, why is the Super Bowl every year?
Doesn’t that diminish its relevance? Don’t make it this
time? Well, there’s always next year. Not so, with the
World Cup, the best sporting tournament ever. In the
clip on YouTube, you’ll see Maradona, who is a little guy,
something like 5’5”, charge up from near his own side’s
penalty box, and dribble around a dozen English players, all of whom look twice his size, then going on to make
the most badass goal in history. It was named the greatest
moment in sports history by ESPN a few years ago, and
even if that title is taken by another athlete, I can assure
it won’t be some football jock, because what is there to do
that is that impressive? You get to pause for a breather every twelve seconds, relax, scratch your ass if you want.
Go anywhere in the world and you’ll find people playing soccer. Shoes and a ball are all you need, and no, you
won’t get to rest every time someone falls down. No, you
won’t get a pad to cover every square inch of your precious skin, and yes, you are going to get hurt.
But also, you’ll have a lot of fun. American football is only
relevant in this nefarious nation of ours, soccer, on the
other hand, is slightly more popular than that.
dave hagen
\Voices
Shut Up and
Tell Me I’m Ugly
White lies distract us from
accepting reality
BY cole dennis
While as far as I can tell there is no shortage of shortages
(I’m here all night, folks) in this country, I am much more
concerned with the qualities we seem to lack as a society
than how much oil we’ve sucked out of the corpses of so
much endangered Alaskan wildlife.
There’s a shortage on truth out there, my fine-feathered friends. No one is honest with anyone else anymore.
Not just bad lies like, “I’m not cheating on you,” or “Cut
the blue wire or we all die,” but white lies too. I personally have gone entire weeks with food in my teeth and
no one has told me. Some argue that I should floss more,
while I often retort that they should shut the hell up. But
I digress.
When you tell your friend that his essay isn’t the biggest piece of shit you’ve ever read, it’s not doing him any
favors. His professor isn’t going to be as nice, and when
he gets it back with “This is the biggest piece of shit I’ve
ever read!” written in bold, red pen he’s not going to trust
you anymore. There is a link between this behavior and
a common trend to completely deny any and all compliments. This is often infuriating, as you’re just trying to
tell the douche bag that he has a cool backpack, but he
won’t even let you finish your sentence until after you’ve
broken out the chloroform. Who can blame these confidence-lacking wretches? When you’re constantly being
told things that you know aren’t true, you stop believing
people on the whole.
I’m not saying that you have to tell your roommates that
their zits looks like fetuses in fetu, but you also shouldn’t
tell them they’re barely noticeable. When they wander
into public, their false sense of security isn’t going to hide
any blemishes from the world. This example is relatively
innocuous, unless the modeling agents who would have
otherwise discovered them instead screams in horror at
the unborn twins sticking out of the side of their faces because you were a coward. There are, however, much more
detrimental effects from our impulsive niceties.
We live in a society where everyone, every single person,
is infatuated with his or her own appearance. There’s
nothing weird or uncommon about this, everyone is just
on high alert these days because we have such a visually
driven, sexually centered culture. It can really damage
people, but you can only blame so much of it on America’s
Next Top Model. Tyra Banks may be both a horrible entertainer and a snappy dresser, but she is not the sole root
of all evil in the world. A lot of the blame comes from everyday interactions.
If I’m your portly friend, and I say something negative about myself, and you rebut with, “You are not fat,
you are beautiful,” between pained grimaces and repressed heaves, you aren’t doing me any good. Again,
you shouldn’t agree wholeheartedly, brand me Shamu
and try to feed me a wayward sea lion, but you also
shouldn’t tell me I’m the hottest piece of ass to hit Minnesota since your uncle Jack drunkenly sat on the grill
at your family barbecue. First because no one cares
about your family barbecue stories, damn it, and secondly because you are giving me just as unrealistic a
body image as the advertisements for Abercrombie are.
Tyra Banks may be both a horrible
entertainer and a snappy dresser,
but she is not the sole root of all
evil in the world.
Eating disorders are caused by an unrealistic perception of your own body. When you are told one minute
that you’re a stick by your best friend, then immediately
called obese by pop culture, you are being mentally
torn apart. This inconsistency is just as damaging as
constant negativity—not to mention just plain embarrassing after your coaching convinced me to wear daisy
dukes to my next social engagement. Those poor people
had to deal with at least twenty five percent of my ass
cheeks at that awards banquet for the world’s smartest
magazine writers and guess whose fault it is.
In situations like those, the best thing to do is go with
a gentle truth. Maybe I am fat. If I am and I don’t want
to be, I need to know it so I can do something about it.
Maybe I need to be told an even bigger truth instead of
the convenient lie; that maybe looks aren’t as important as I think they are. Maybe it’s unflattering that I’m
more focused on my waist line rather than trying to be
a good person. Maybe I should worry more about the
snakes slaughtering their way through the aisles past
flight attendants paralyzed with fear and venom toward
my seat instead of my thighs.
So let’s all make a promise here today, folks. Let’s all
promise that we’re going to try and stop looking at the
world through rose-colored glasses. Most people call me
a pessimist for wanting this, and they are wrong. I may
be a bitter, lifeless husk of a hunky, available columnist, but my views on lying to others and ourselves don’t
make me so. Accepting the way things are allows for
improvement and a better future, which is essentially
the soul of optimism. You can’t pull yourself out of the
waist-deep shit we’re all mucking through if everyone
thinks the water in the kiddy pool is just a little thicker
today. First we have to acknowledge that somehow we
stumbled our way into a sewage pipe. And it is fucking
gross down here.
Photo Poll
by Ethan Stark
Why are we here?
To screw things up.
AUDREY CLUNGEON
History
2008
So that mosquitoes can
thrive on our blood,
providing food for the bats.
JULIE STORCK
Business
2009
To cultivate our gardens an
seek Satyagraha.
VANESSA MAGOWAN
HORROCKS
Theater
2nd Year Senior!
To become better people.
MICHAEL ANDERSON
Landscape Architecture
2010
\11
www.wakemag.org
Feature/
Something to the Effect of
Careful or I Will Stab You
with My Bayonet
Ragtime author retells Sherman’s Annihilation
BY Trey Mewes
Even after more than 40 years of writing, E.L. Doctorow still
possesses the ability to draw large crowds with his fiction. As a
professor at New York University, he writes amazingly, showing the world how history can blend with fiction to create something unforgettable, as he shows in his latest book The March. It
is a fictionalized version of General Sherman’s brutal campaign
in the southern part of the United States during the Civil War.
Recently, the ever-controversial Doctorow decided to come on
down to Ted Mann Concert Hall to give a reading as the 2007 Esther Freier lecturer, which proved not only entertaining but also
enlightening.
mike mason
12/25 April-05 May 2007
“It was unlike anything else in the war,” Doctorow says. “It really destroyed the Confederacy’s ability to fight.” As he toyed
with the idea of writing a novel about the march, he looked into
the writings of both General Sherman and General Ulysses S.
Grant. According to him, both generals were gifted at writing.
“I wish our generals now could write like that,” Doctorow says.
He began reading his book with a passage concerning two characters in a Confederate jail. Immediately the passage drew in
attention with its concise yet fluid descriptions, as well as the
charm both of the characters
The atmosphere at the lecture
After a few jabs concerning the president’s possess. Will, a young soldier,
is supposed to be hung in the
was lighthearted as droves of
religious tendencies, Doctorow explains
morning for desertion, while
people gradually filled almost
his newly made acquaintance
all of the seats on the first level
how he had written his essay about the
Harley tries to lighten the
of the concert hall. As Docpresident in an hour, and how a local
mood through religion. The
torow took the stage after not
one but two lengthy introducnewspaper asked to publish the essay. Soon plot turns, however, when everyone at this particular jail
tions, it became apparent he
after, it spread to the Internet like wildfire. is pardoned if they’ll join the
had quite the sense of humor.
Georgia militia.
The first thing he said as he
took the podium was “I think its always good for me to find out
Doctorow’s humor shines through his writing just as clearly as
what I’ve been up to,” referring to his introductions. He immedihis lecture. When Will asks Harley what their odds of surviving
ately delved into his latest book with flair.
are, Harley simply replies, “Pisspoor.” Will concurs. Later, during a battle in which they both desert the militia, Will is grazed
Doctorow explained that his inspiration for The March lay 20
by a bullet. As they both turn to escape the onslaught, Harley
years in the past. He had been reading a history of Sherman’s
explains their situation to Will by saying, “God has his eye out
march, an infamous military campaign in the late part of 1864.
for us, but that don’t mean he can’t play around a little.”
Fresh from his conquest of Atlanta, General William Tecumseh Sherman led Union forces towards Savannah, Georgia, and
Yet Doctorow also pays close attention to the trauma war can
then made his way up the coast of Georgia into the Carolinas,
bring. The next passage he reads is about a young woman
where his forces remained fighting until the end of the war. This
whose home was taken over by Union soldiers. Emily Thompparticular campaign was made famous through its use of the
son, the daughter of a prominent judge, has to allow the sol“scorched earth” military policy Sherman used. This policy condiers free room and board, as well as take care of her sickly
sisted of living off whatever food the Union army could plunder,
father. In the middle of the night, she discovers her father is
as well as destroying anything that could be useful to Confederclose to death, at which point she rushes out of the house into
ate forces, such as crops, livestock and factories. As Doctorow
town to find a doctor. She finds the doctor has left ahead of the
read about the campaign, he was amazed by the amount of detail
soldiers and bitterly laments her father’s ill fate. After wanthe author used to describe Sherman’s policies.
\Feature
dering, she manages to find the Union army hospital, which
horrifies her. Doctorow’s descriptions of severed limbs and
gruesome conditions would be enough to shock and disgust
anyone. The soldiers move on the next day, leaving Emily to
leave her own house, as she realizes that the town will no longer survive. Doctorow describes the situation perfectly when
he writes “When the war began, Emily didn’t understand what
the war meant. It meant the death of her family.”
Doctorow took time to answer questions after his readings,
which proved to be more enlightening than his fiction. Of
course, he rarely let the audience take him too seriously.
“I’m prepared to answer any questions as long as they’re easy,”
Doctorow says just before the first question. One girl asks what
he thinks of the musical Ragtime, which was based on his book
by the same name. Doctorow explains how involved he was with
the musical, even writing notes about the book that were longer
than the book itself. Overall, he thinks the musical was wonderful, yet he did note with a straight face that he liked the book
better.
Doctorow’s controversial side came out at one point during the
questions, when a young lady asked Doctorow about his views on
the Bush administration and whether or not The March was an
anti-war book. Doctorow had stirred up controversy in May of
2004, when he made comments critical of the Bush administration during a commencement address at Hofstra University. He
later wrote a critical essay on the president which can be found
easily on the Internet.
Doctorow responds by sharing how he had given Gen. Sherman
a soliloquy in his novel which reveals Sherman’s apathy towards
death. He tells the audience how he was angrier at the president
for not understanding death than he was at Sherman. After a
few jabs concerning the president’s religious tendencies, Doctorow explains how he had written his essay about the president
in an hour, and how a local newspaper asked to publish the essay. Soon after, it spread to the Internet like wildfire.
“And that’s how I learned about the Internet,” Doctorow says.
Aside from Doctorow’s humor and controversial nature, his lecture provided his audience a view inside the life and practices of
an author. From explaining how much time he spends researching information for his essays (just enough) to describing how
useless quotation marks can be at times, Doctorow lets his audience feel what it means to be a writer. Of course, he also gives
his opinions on where he gets his creativity.
“The last person in the world to ask about imagination and creativity is the person who works with it,” Doctorow says. He explains how he really doesn’t know where it comes from, or how
it works, only that sometimes people just tap into it in a way he
can’t explain.
“Henry James once said, ‘You just take the nearest vibrations in
the air, and by means of that, you just see into the unseen.’ But
that’s not explanatory, that’s just Henry James.”
\13
www.wakemag.org
Campus/
dave hagen
BY kelly gulbrandson
Communication in the U.S. today is a
problem. Groups of people have trouble
communicating with other groups that
they work with. One student group is
changing that. “Through this group, students learn to break down preconceived
notions of other professions and can even
become friends,” says Tracy Hanson, student president of CLARION.
The student group CLARION was formed
in 2002 by two students who wanted a way
for medical students and students in public health, pharmacy and nursing to connect. They believed that if students from
different fields could find a way to come
together, it would make it easier for them
to work together after graduation. “Often times when the students enter the real
world, they have a hard time communicating with each other,” Hanson says.
The group is located in the Center for
Health Interprofessional Programs Student Center. CLARION’s board consists of
sixteen students and faculty advisors who
represent the fields of health administration, public health, nursing, medicine and
pharmacy. While nearing the end of her
term as student president of CLARION’s
board, Hanson had a few goals for the
group that she has worked on during the
past academic year. The main goal was
to continue to raise funds for the group.
Since government funding has decreased
14/25 April-05 May 2007
over the past years, they have needed
to focus more on obtaining their money
through fundraising and private sources.
Last year, they were able to raise $50,000,
but it has been a struggle to raise that
much this year, Hanson says.
She requested to have $11,954.50 for
CLARION from the student services fee
committee to be used strictly for University events and not the National Case Competition. They only received $494 from
the committee, well short of their request.
“We went to the student services committee to request a more stable source of
funding, but were denied.” Hanson says.
Hanson states that mistakes regarding patient care can lead to wrong site surgery,
suicide, op/post-op complication, medication error or a delay in treatment because
of the lack of communication between the
different sides of health care. This creates
blaming and finger pointing between the
groups that could lead to more mistakes.
According to a report released by the Institute of Medicine in 1999, as many as
98,000 people in America might die each
year due to medical errors. This report
has created a lot of national attention on
the care of patients in hospitals and clinics
across the country.
“It’s really important to realize that although we might be on different sides, we
have the same ultimate goal: to treat and
care for patients.” Hanson says. The reason that these different groups of professionals do not communicate is because
they have been taught to be separate from
each other and also because the current
culture of healthcare operates in silos;
each profession has their own way of doing
things, their own way of thinking.
One way that CLARION tries to correct
this problem is by having the Case Competition event. The Case Competition is
an event where participants have a chance
to solve real-life problems regarding patient safety and quality control within the
healthcare system. Each team is composed
of students from each of the health care
fields and is presented with a problem that
has been assigned by the faculty advisors. The competition consists of various
cases that have a common theme in patient
care and the groups are asked to come up
with a solution and present it to a group
of judges. These problems are based on
real life situations. It gives the students
exposure to real life experiences, helps
strengthen problem-solving skills and creates a communication link. This year’s
local Case Competition is in March, and
the U hosted the national competition in
April with teams from across the country
competing.
Last year, Hanson not only participated
but won the local competition and was able
to move on to the national competitionShe worked on a team with a pharmacy
student, a medical student and a nursing
student. Participating in the competition
is a lot of work, but depends on whether
you are in it to win or just looking for the
experience, Hanson says. Besides their
classes and studies, they spent an average of 10 hours a week working on their
presentation. This year’s case involves
confusion at a fictitious hospital regarding
the care plan of a recurring patient with
alcohol problems. Each team had to come
up with an action plan on how to best deal
with the situation and how to deal with
future situations. The experience of being
in the Case Competition and being on the
executive board of directors has allowed
Hanson to see how appreciative people are
of what the group does.
“It’s important to become knowledgeable
of current problems and know how to solve
them.” Hanson says.
For more information on CLARION and the Case
Competition, go to http://www.chip.umn.edu/CHIP/
committees/clarion.html.
\ Voices
jeremy Sengly
University Dining Services
Worth $8.30 per meal?
BY becky lang
Living in a dorm feels like being stuck
on a huge ocean liner. You’re confined to
a stuffy cabin, the winds sound like dogs
fighting against your window and since
the kitchens already got your money, the
food gets increasingly more apathetic. It’s
similar to staying at an all-inclusive hotel,
where the drinks are watered-down and
the fried ice cream is simply a scoop of vanilla stuck in a defrosted puff pastry. By
the end, your family is sick and you’re surviving on sugary cereal.
All students who are living in University
housing without a kitchen in their room
are required to have a meal plan, which
can be used at any of the dining halls.
Many students go for a plan of 150 meals
and $100 of FlexDine, at a rate of $1,347
per semester. That comes up to be about
$8.30 per meal. For that much money, you
could buy two Panda bowls of chicken and
noodles at Coffman’s Minnesota Marketplace, or an entire lunch entrée at Loring
Pasta Bar. $8.30 isn’t so bad for say, a football player who walks through the buffet and eats two bagels, a chicken breast,
three different beverages and some ice
cream. But when I show up for breakfast
and eat a bowl of cereal and a cup of weak
coffee, I can’t help but imagine the strawberry-filled, whip cream-adorned Swedish
crêpes that I could be eating for less at a
real restaurant.
“Eating at UDS really helps keep your
weight down,” freshman Elizabeth Spencer, points out. Another freshman from
Comstock, Emily Hanson, later says, “I
can’t see how I’d gain the freshman 15.
Maybe five pounds, with the money I have
left to eat at other places.”
Very rarely do I want
to put down my Italian
book, put on boots and a
parka, and walk in subzero weather for a slight
chance that there might be
fresher bread or a better
slab of meat at a different
dorm.
My dorm, Comstock, gets less-than-raving reviews. Unlike Middlebrook or Centennial, who have pizza at most meals,
Comstock’s staples are burgers and huge
slabs of meat. The salad bar leaves ice
crystals on the vegetables, and there is often one key utensil out of stock. Breakfast
is fairly decent, with a consistent supply
of muffins, although my friends and I suspect that after Christmas break too many
manifestations of the potato (tater tots,
potato squares) were sacrificed due to an
accidental surplus of hash browns. Among
other surpluses are squash, which seems to
be in every dish and water chestnuts. Such
occurrences lead one to believe that the
inspiration for whatever blend of entrées is
provided usually has to do with which vegetables the company can get at the cheapest rates.
Sanford is probably the best bet for quality food. Their expo stations don’t get
squash-happy, and when they try out Malaysian or Italian food, it actually tastes
exotic. They usually provide more types
of bread and vegetables than other dorms,
and have the news playing on multiple
TVs. The view is the best as well; on a
sunny day, all of the Minneapolis skyline
can be seen.
The problem with the inequalities between
dining halls goes back to my ship metaphor: you’re stuck at your own dorm the
majority of the time. Very rarely do I want
to put down my Italian book, put on boots
and a parka, and walk in subzero weather for a slight chance that there might be
fresher bread or a better slab of meat at a
different dorm.
Probably the most common complaint is
that there is no variety and quality in the
staples. What many resort to when the
noodles look dry or there simply is no hot
food is the things like cereal, ice cream
and sandwiches. But by spring, most people have eaten Reese’s Puffs literally ad
nauseum. I can’t even make it through an
entire ice cream cone anymore if it’s the
traditional strawberry, chocolate or vanilla. It can’t be that hard to rotate in some
Trix cereal every once in a while, or provide a type of jelly that wasn’t bitter, and
didn’t have to be scooped out of a vat.
Vegetarian options are provided, but lots
of vegetarians aren’t pleased. “Non-meat
protein is something that needs to be offered more, not just for the health of vegetarians, but for anyone who wants to avoid
red meat,” Stephanie O’Donnell says. She
also thinks that veggie-friendly Morningstar products are delicious, and she’d like
to see more of them. “Even meat eaters
scarf the products down,” she says.
I’ll admit that having a meal plan does
help your social life; you instantly have
something to complain about with every
other dorm resident. And there’s nothing
like taking your date to the cafeteria for
some fried eggplant and watery cappuccino.
\13
www.wakemag.org
Literary/
Food-Based Musings
By Daniel Weispfenning
Concerning String Cheese
Sweat has made my hair coarse and wiry. The ink-stained 100% cotton t-shirt feels like a burlap sack on my
exhausted body. I just returned from a day working at an industrial screen printing factory. Between stacking empty
bottles inside boxes and resisting the thought that, through a horrible series of events, this could end up being my life,
my entire being is tired. I need to take a shower, but I don’t have the energy. Instead I shamble over to the couch and
shift my weight so that I fall into what I hope will be a comfortable position.
I consider the string cheese log, which I hope will provide the necessary energy to move to the bathroom. As it
lies on my chest, I think about peeling it into its namesake shape before deciding that’s too much effort. I bite the end
off. It tastes different, worse, like the filaments are actually bonded together by essence of nasty. Only pulling the fibers apart can destroy these bonds.
This teaches me a valuable lesson. Apart we shall fall, but together we will stand because we taste gross.
The Salad Conspiracy
There is no workable definition for what a salad is. No unifying ingredient or principle provides a boundary
between salads and non-salads. Nothing could conceivably pass in potato salad, garden salad, jell-o salad and fruit
salad. Only a lack of specific arrangement unites those salads, but not all foods considered salad share that trait. My
parents are adamant that a plate of alternating tomatoes and cheese arranged in a circle counts as a salad.
Because of a lack of any criterion that needs to be met for a food item to qualify as a salad, every edible substance is a salad. Hamburgers are a bun and ground beef patty salad; cereal is a salad specially suited for the demands
of breakfast. When asked “soup or salad?” the question really is “salad or salad with an excessive amount of dressing?”
Want Salt With That Orange?
It is halftime at a youth soccer match. Winonan tradition dictates that players are furnished with oranges at
halftime. I devour them. The orange quarter is positioned in my mouth so that I cleave the flesh from peel in one bite
then smile revealing the rind covering my teeth, a citrus mouth guard.
Last Chance
to Show Off!
Make it
ridiculous.
Make it
stick to the
roof of the
reader’s
mouths.
The orange juice coats my hand. Children like me are the reason for the invention of the trough bib. Being
their normal state, the sticky condition of my hands doesn’t faze me.
The time to rally ourselves to victory with a hands-in-the-center cheer arrives. One of my teammates tells me
“Don’t touch me your hands are icky!”
I will never eat halftime oranges again.
Make it happen.
[email protected]
Dissapearing a Culture—With Only a Spoon
Nostalgic for the middle school days when I would read all the writing on juice boxes for the amusement of my
easily amused tablemates, I turn the tapered skunk-trapping tube around. It is vanilla yogurt. I cannot stand the fruit
flavored yogurts because of the wads of frozen matter suspended in them. Yoplait claims that they are fruit—lies.
Near the bottom I find a proclamation that the yogurt is a living and active culture. Thinking about the organism in my mouth I chew it unnecessarily. As my teeth crush it, I think of the yogurt begging for mercy. Request denied, on the grounds of deliciousness.
The amorphous nature of yogurt helps it survive my jaws. But it won’t survive the vat of acid that is my
stomach.
HOW TO submit to the
Literary section:
Submitting is easy! Send your poems, short stories or suggestions to [email protected]
Attach your work using Microsoft Word and also
include your piece in the body of the e-mail. Any
accompanying illustrations must be sent at 300
DPI.
Still have concerns? We are also available to
meet in person to workshop your creative work.
Just send an e-mail to set an appointment. We
don’t bite... hard.
16/25 April-05 May 2007
\Literary
Many Will Forget It
Literary Events
By That Bird Outside of the Window
The last time I rode a bicycle before today, I remember,
this was a summer ago, as I remember it,
a summer ago as I remember, I rode a bicycle through photographs
in the Northrop Mall, as I remember it,
riding through photographs on Northrop Mall
posing motion for brochure catalogues, as I remember it,
while I ride, as I remember the contrasts
of the overcast today to the picaresque under the Boynton Clock Tower
to the skin grafts beside the Stone Arch
and the mad dash to the Alumni Center
for fake graduation gowns
for that final cap to the ad; this photograph,
today, as I remember it,
as I remember the helicopter skim above,
as I remember it, stalled on Hennepin over
What do we want? “Peace!”
When do we want it?
“Now!” as I remember it,
the snap of the drum beat,
it was now,
that not my voice was taken, not then, not my voice, not our voice
that was taken, as I remember it
on my bicycle, as I remember the exit
from Loring Park, as I remember it,
we left Loring Park through a split curtain of trees,
as I remember it, passing a pedestrian, as I remember it,
behind my friend, as I remember that
even she, the pedestrian, picked up her camera then,
as he passed and, as I remember
just passing, the aperture snap,
as I remember it, just the miniscule snap
of her aperture, as I remember it,
just a brief
snap.
Who: Robert Bly
What: Poetry
When: Wednesday, April 25th, 7 pm.
Where: St Anthony Library (2941 Pentagon Dr, St.
Anthony), FREE
Who: Sun Yung Shin (U of M MFA Reading)
What: The author reads from her poetry, ‘Skirt Full
of Black’
When: Wednesday, April 25th, 7 pm.
Where: The Loft Literary Center
Who: GLBT Reading Series: Empowered
Expressions
What: GLBT students read from their work.
When: Wednesday, April 25th, 7:00 pm.
Where: Intermedia Arts (2822 Lyndale Ave S, Mpls.),
FREE
Who: Latasha N. Nevada Diggs
What: The poet/vocalist reads from her writing
When: Thursday, April 26th, 4 pm.
Where: Nolte Center Lounge (U of M), FREE
Who: Spoken Word: From the Griot to the Emcee
What: Frank Sentwali performs
When: Thursday, April 26th, 7 pm.
Where: St. Louis Park Library (3240 Library Lane,
St. Louis Park), FREE
Who: Granta’s Best of Young American Novelists II
What: Reading
When: Friday, April 27th, 7 pm.
Where: The Loft Literary Center
Who: Joseph Lease; Mark Nowak
What: Poetry
When: Sunday, April 29th, 6 pm.
Where: Magers & Quinn Booksellers (3038 Hennepin
Ave S, Mpls.), FREE
Who: Linda Olsson
What: The author discusses ‘Astrid & Veronika’
When: Monday, April 30th, 7:30 pm.
Where: Barnes & Noble (3225 W 69th St, Edina),
FREE
Who: Sun Yung Shin; Yuko Taniguchi; Wang Ping
What: The authors celebrate recent publications of
their work.
When: Tuesday, May 1st, 7:00 pm.
Where: The Loft Literary Center (1011 Washington
Ave S, Ste 200, Mpls.)
\17
www.wakemag.org
Photography/
18/25 April–05 May
2007
/Photography
Krissy Stockton
\19
www.wakemag.org
Athletics/
Bring it on (Not)!
denise rath
A chat on Vietnamese Vo
Lam Kung Fu
Tammy Quan
Today I rushed toward Cooke Hall 308 where the
University of Minnesota Vo Lam Kung Fu workout
takes place on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7 p.m.
Knowing nothing about the true nature of Vietnamese Vo Lam kung fu, I envisioned bloody boxing
matches and street brawls that looked like screenshots from my two favorite fighting video game series, Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter.
In point and actual fact, many of the philosophies
that I have encountered in books on Shotokan karate
and Shaolin kung fu highlighted the importance of
harmony and self-defense. Until chatting with Josh,
the instructor, about the characteristics that make
Vietnamese Vo Lam kung fu unique and observing
him teach the participants practicing the martial
art, I thought I might only see people strike each
other.
Josh reminded me that martial arts have other purposes besides fighting. He emphasized the peacefulness of his martial art. “I liked the traditional style
that it is taught in,” he says about his club. Participants bowed when exiting and entering the gym,
which I mistakenly thought might contain several
punching bags, weight-training equipment and mats;
instead, they put together their hands and bent down
slightly at the doorway of a room with only a wall
mirror, white beam and ample space for exercise.
I found this scene intriguing for its simplicity, which
I thought advantageous in allowing the participants
to focus on practicing technique without the distractions of a complex atmosphere. Rather than wearing the white or black coats that many other martial
artists wear, some of the participants wore a yellow
outfit with white cuffs while others wore a gray shirt
20/25 April–05 March 2007
and black pants. I paid little attention to the color of the
belts that they wore since Josh told me that they did not
compete in tournaments like practitioners of Shotokan
karate and tae kwon do.
“We don’t fight, but we can,” he said when I asked him
if they break boards. However, he said that knowing
“punches and blocks” helps them to learn how to defend
themselves. He adds, “black belts only break boards, and
this strength comes from internal power generation.” Interestingly, as soon as he mentioned that they “build from
basic techniques and build up,” I somehow saw a commonality between math and martial arts.
I agree with Josh’s comment that “Vietnamese Vo Lam
kung fu provides an excellent workout.” In preparation
for their practice routine, many of the students spent a lot
of time stretching, bending and swinging their legs while
holding onto the white beam. One of them side kicked the
brick wall. One of them faced the mirror to perhaps find
ways of improving their techniques. I had no doubt that
Josh’s legs ached, especially with the numerous repetitions of exercises and the 30-45 minute basic stance work
that he mentioned. I understood why they needed a break
at 8 p.m.
From the first half-hour of the practice, I listed 47 different parts of a practice routine, including the deep breathing exercises that tended to follow a series of punching,
blocking, chopping, kicking or rolling techniques that
looked somewhat like the black and white photographs in
a book I read on ninjutsu. Their endurance surprised me.
I saw every part of their body stretch. They rolled their
heads, waved their wrists, bent their legs at the knees,
swung their hands back and forth and shifted in all directions to build strength in their stances.
In every snap or rotated kick, the students coordinated their arm and hip movements as well. When they
punched, they sometimes moved their legs apart to keep
their form, or they placed one bent leg ahead of another to
form a front stance with their legs. Even when they threw
strikes with two fingers, I saw some kind of stance and
arm movement that supported the strength of the attack.
With all these movements, I lost track of count after a
while, but I did recognize Josh’s observation of Vietnamese Vo Lam kung fu’s balance between the hardness and
softness as well as the equal use of the upper and lower
body that distinguishes it from other types of martial
arts. They applied both linear and circular techniques;
their ability to directly strike an opponent and to add
strength to their punches and kicks through swinging
their arms, legs and hips demonstrated this unique quality. They did not concentrate on only one part of the body
but the body as a whole for use in self-defense.
The Wake Student Magazine
is now hiring for Fall Semester
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Voices Editor
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Senior Staff Writer
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Distributors
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mixed nuts
alex Judkins
by Jeremy $engly