The Wake

At first, when Gil Schwartz went vegetarian as a seventh-grader he didn’t really understand why. Later, when he got involved with animal rights issues as a junior in high school he became a vegan. Schwartz decided to become vegan because he saw how animals were treated on factory farms. Now as a member of Compassionate Action for Animals (CAA) and president of Minnesota Student Animal Rights Alliance, Schwartz actively campaigns for animal rights.“Animals are raised in wretched conditions,” Schwartz says.While he is not fundamentally against eating meat, Schwartz says he believes humans no longer need to rely on animals for …

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The Progressive Student Action Coalition comprises of many campus chapters, including Jewish Progressive Students, The Young Voter Project and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, joined forces to hold Progressive Student Action Day on Monday, October 11 at Coffman Union. The event helped students become more involved in the political process by registering them to vote. Progressive Student Action Day was the result of student groups concentrating their efforts to get out the vote and make students aware of progressive causes that each student group advocates. “It has worked out really well. We just decided to …

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Names rung out in solemn, clear voices, cutting through the chilly air of early fall on the Northrop Plaza at 12:30 a.m. on Sept. 29.Over a 24-hour period, each volunteer took approximately 15 minutes to read a section of a book that held the names of an estimated 12,000 to 14,000 Iraqi civilians and more than 1,000 Americans killed since the beginning of the war. The event was sponsored by Faculty Against War. David Bernstein coordinated the efforts of 92 volunteers, 60 to 65 of whom were faculty members. “We want to put a human face back on the …

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We find ourselves trapped in the heat of election season once again. So many issues are being discussed and debated that they all blend into one grand argument. However, have you given any thought to human rights lately? Have you heard anyone talking about this hot topic? Has it even been an issue to discuss, since the Nazi internment camps, the horrors of Rwanda or the humiliating incidents of Abu Ghraib? It is an important issue that continues to present itself.In the post 9/11 society we now live in, our country has been forced to re-evaluate its stance on human …

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So, school’s started and you’re finally getting settled into that great new apartment. One problem—you have no furniture. There aren’t many college students that can run right down to Gabberts to gobble up all the latest in home furnishing fashion. So what are our options? The cheap and chic home furnishing market became more than just the offerings of your local Target store this summer with the much-anticipated opening of Minnesota’s first Ikea. Those pesky trips to Chicago (previously the nearest location) are no longer necessary in order to obtain the fabulous Scandinavian flat-packaged items you’ve been drooling over in …

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Democrats are still feeling the burn from the razor-thin margin by which Al Gore won the popular vote in the 2000 presidential election, and republicans would like us to forget the tenuous circumstances that brought us under the leadership of George W. Bush. So, in order to squeeze the most votes out of the lump in the political bell curve, the two major parties have made the current race into a fight for the elusive swing voter. In a mad scramble toward the moderate, democrats and republicans are leaving their ideological stalwarts out in the cold.
The democrats had …

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Students hold varying opinions on affirmative action, and their stances seem to be dictated by whether it has harmed or helped them. If some white students believe they unjustly lost out to students of color, they are obviously going to strongly disapprove of affirmative action. Such is the case with Mike, a white man and a junior at St. Thomas. Mike seems to clearly understand that the purpose of affirmative action is to “establish diversity in places where prejudice might otherwise prevent it,” but he questions if this is always the right route to take. He knows he didn’t receive …

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There’s a running joke that if you ask for two different Jews’ opinions, you’ll hear three. In other words, don’t come over for dinner unless you enjoy arguing. Especially about politics. It’s true in my family æ don’t come over to my parents’ house for a meal unless you would like to spend hours in a heated political debate. With the election coming up, it’s hard enough to escape such arguments on campus. But I promise, one evening in my family’s dining room and you’ll wish that you were having dinner with Michael Moore and …

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There is only one word that can fully describe Scissor Sisters’ self-titled album –- pastiche. Their postmodern reveling crosses the boundaries of time and within one album, the listener gets to experience at least three decades of musical influence. The Sisters, who hail from New York, take Elton John piano thumping and vocal projection (“Take Your Mama Out”) into a new era where the crazed combination of genres make celebrity. But that’s not to say Scissor Sisters don’t deserve the attention their danceable album has received. Their songs are well-crafted, beat-driven, hectic fun. Not only do they invoke Elton’s …

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Surf-y chimed out San-Fran sand pop. Any way you spell it, Rogue Wave’s debut album, “Out of the Shadow” is quintessential California. Floating on the kind of pot-induced planetary poetry that made Paul McCartney’s “Got to get you into my life” deliciously ambiguous, the album is a welcome venture into a world where people struggle to sound sad beneath the sun. Lead singer Zach Rogue writes like someone who just lost his job (he did), and is struggling to come to terms with the realities of growing up (he was). The album itself is fantastic. “Sewn Up” is a …

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The other day I sat outside Coffman, soaking up the remnants of summer sun, watching students pay more attention to those pink, corporate-leashed dogs left around campus by corporate marketing mavens (it’s no “Secret”), than to the people who care enough to register new voters. They hurried by them, avoiding eye contact at all costs. Instead, they chase pink envy, beg for freebie, thong-sized dreams and care only about self. We lock our doors and feel safe locked inside gates. We act afraid to look the next man in the eye. We connect only through battery power …

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It’s quite possible that listeners will be confused about how to feel after hearing Pedro the Lion’s latest effort, “Achilles Heel.” In many of the tracks, singer/songwriter David Bazan tells haunting stories in a matter-of-fact matter over upbeat and poppy guitar parts. Somehow, Bazan’s almost monotone voice and the soothing melodies of the guitars fit together adequately.Bazan tells morbid stories of a man who gets his legs cut off by a train (“Transcontinental”) and a drunk who wakes up in a hotel in a pile his/her own slop (“Keep Swinging”). The album contains some songs that reveal that …

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OK – so you’re perusing the music aisle at some wasteland like Best Buy, looking for a CD. Say you’re looking for the new Green Day album and you find the titles “Rock” or “Alternative” or even “Indie” hanging over your coveted music. How are you able to easily find new bands similar to your old favorites? How are you able to clearly chart music movements and ideas if everything is subsumed by “Rock,” “Alternative,” “Indie” and the über-vague “Alt-Indie” titles? They are gluttonous; they say nothing about the types of music out there or what you are looking for …

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[Editor’s note: We all know that the food at McDonald’s changes on an almost hourly basis. With each shift it seems comes a different selection of culinary skill levels. That said, we thought it’d be nice to have a food review to fit such consistently fluctuating quality levels. So – feel free to fill in the blanks tell the world just how your golden arches was today!]They come, inebriated and hungry, searching for cheap satisfaction. The yellow neon lights attract bar flies for miles around. What could be a better mid-party break than a double cheeseburger and twist …

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Jean Grae spits rhymes, kicks ass (literally) and hates infatuated groupies. In short, she’s cool as hell. A writer, rapper and risk-taker, she’s a picture of poetic prowess.
As independent as she is skilled on the mic, the emcee from Brooklyn, N.Y., has exploded on the underground hip-hop scene in the past few years. Born in South Africa to two jazz musicians, she’s already established herself as one of the best rappers in the game. Smart, socially concious and tremendously talented, the prodigious Grae made a name for herself writing the kind of rhymes that make Lil’ John …

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