The Wake

Few musicians possess the humility and quietude that Jay Farrar is known for. As the songwriter and frontman for alternative country greats Son Volt, Farrar has become somewhat of a spokesperson over the years, an irony considering that he is a known introvert. “I’ve come to terms with labels,” Farrar says of brandings like alt country and Americana. “I’m okay with whatever they want to throw out there now.”However you categorize Son Volt, the music is of the highest quality. The latest record, Okemah and the Melody of Riot, features a new lineup and a fine-tuned sound, but still remains …

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Between Now and Then, Minnesota
Sept. 29, 6:00 p.m.
Mill City MuseumPhotographer Joanne Verburg will host this poetry reading featuring local writers Deborah Keenan, Gar Elliot Patterson, Patricia Kirkpatrick, Angela Shannon, Jim Lenfesty, and Michael Dennis Brown. The reading is inspired by Verburg’s work and will focus on the importance of our landscape. Raymond Federman
Oct. 3, 12:30 p.m.
University of Minnesota, Nolte HallFederman, a bilingual writer born in France, reads from his book “My Body in Nine Parts.” Although mostly known for his work in fiction, Federman has published poetry and translated others’ work. His writing engages postmodernism. …

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if i knew
what the Spanish know
next door
i would have the ghost of a heart
playing guitar everyday
in son sweet man blowing downthey party
maybe god dances
maybe god takes off his clothes
wears a Halloween mask
and rubs 20,000 matchstick heads
until he is blood burst red
a heart where cholesterol is only matter
between the atoms
and blood is a Russian tank fleet
filled with petroleumthat is how I imagine
the party next door
radios falling from tables
bodies singing with pinball bodies
only to love and then love
and love again
with only the …

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Men were thrown into a furnace and pulled out with a hook to be placed on the executioner’s block still alive. More often than not the flesh consecrated by the immolation was eaten.
Georges Bataille, The Accursed Share
MIT PressRoofs like baked cardboard sprawl above
the plastic factory cogs and dream catchers.
There are two ways to the bistro.
Take the one with the wide berth of Catholic Charities
to drink microbrew in panhandling forget-me-nots’ stead.
Besides this avenue’s quicker and
they’re vagrants and they’re lost.A stop in Kansas City with the black ones,
the garbage bags, the neck …

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i want
to find this outAs if I couldhunt you down
spell you outthere must be sections
spaces
ways & means
for people
like
you & Idid I look all right
was my speech all wrong
drowning, drowning
In a sea of polite indecencies
I feel like I’ve fallen behindas if it were a race
or some other spiral
…

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Salt water ledge
consternate and contemplative
in its own worldRevealing
playing cops and robbers
devils advocate or cherub innocenceYou’ll be her kicking dog
enraged valley above her dark orbs
tonight’s sweat and consideration is none too sweet

A child finds Nod
when the sun takes leave
and fiends of twilight
their games do weave.The peppermint man
with the roll-up face
and moon rock eyes
and hair of lacecreeps in the shadows
on the ceiling at night,
watching over babes
and keeping out of sight.Ne’er is he weary
in wake of scaries,
even when faced
with blightful fairies, though the fairy lord
wields a hunger, savage
as his minion droves,
what rape and ravage.But now is the calm
with the night soothing dark
while the stars, in peace,
shimmer and spark.Then half past the hour
of …

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Coffman, Moos, Sanford, Folwell, Wilson … Yudof? The names that grace some of the University’s most frequented buildings become ingrained in the mind of every student. These names become a part of a student’s experience here; they are comfortingly familiar. So it can be a little disconcerting when a building’s name changes. After all, it’s difficult to find your class if you’re still looking for the Basic Sciences and Biomedical Engineering Building, which the University renamed after former University president Nils Hasselmo this past spring. Things can get especially weird if you actually live in the building undergoing the name …

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While filling out my study abroad application, I started to wonder what it’s like for a student from another country to tell family and friends they’re going to study in “Bush country.” Even in northern European countries, where the popular cultures are similar, two students express their wariness of attending a university in America. Johanna Leinonen traveled from Finland in order to pursue a doctorate in history; focusing on Finnish American families. Although she had come to a different part of the world, she did not experience the usual culture shock. “American culture is everywhere back home,” says Leinonen. American …

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At tabling events last year, amongst the Christians and conservatives, the Deltas and the Democrats, one group’s slogan stood out. “Sell your soul for an Oreo,” read CASH’s tabling signs. The group’s display of characteristic wit and a certain appreciation for shock value did indeed draw in many prospective souls. However, despite their collection of students’ souls (stored for eternity in beads, or “soul vessels”) the Campus Atheists and Secular Humanists are more concerned with students’ minds. CASH is a 14-year-old, non-profit educational and social group that emphasizes learning and debate in order to cater to the University’s community of …

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One in four women could be the victim of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence or stalking. But whether we realize it or not it affects everyone. The Sheila Wellstone Institute led a briefing Sept. 8 at the University of Minnesota about the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). The act is set to expire Sept. 30. The Institute is encouraging small group dialogue across the nation about the correlation between VAWA and safety in communities. The hope is that after the discussions, people will be motivated to contact their representatives about the bill. VAWA was first passed in …

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Ultimate frisbee began in 1968 and has been growing ever since. It took off on the West and East coasts, but over the years colleges have been adding ultimate to their list of club sports. The sport, originally laid-back, has become more competitive. At the University of Minnesota, ultimate is a club sport that has become a passion for its 30-plus team members. The ultimate team at the U of M has enjoyed success over the past few years. Last year, the team finished with an impressive 24-8 record. They went on to win the sectional tournament for the first …

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The car door slams shut and I walk toward the first hole. I make big circles with my right arm, roll my neck from side to side and clear my throat with a cough. Hole one: 320 feet. There are sturdy oak trees to the left and right, only a narrow window for my disc to travel through. I line up my shot and focus on making the perfect throw. I take two steps, and with a flick of my wrist and a slight grunt, the disc flies off my hand and hits the tree 30 feet in front of …

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We’re all waiting. It’s not a question of if, but when. Soon, $3 will be the standard for a gallon of regular-grade gasoline. The tempers of drivers will no doubt be just as explosive as the gasoline itself. Why don’t those jerks in Washington do something? Cheap gas is a God-given right. Exactly how much have prices really “sky-rocketed”? What role does the government play? What is the holistic effect of burning mass amounts of fossil fuel? Why are gas prices rising? More importantly, is that so bad? One cause of rising prices at the pump that is often overlooked …

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Everyone keeps saying that all of the tragedy down South is costing us more in the North. For gas, that is. While it’s insensitive, Katrina is thought to be the cause of creeping pump prices, and the question of when—and if—they’ll go down has no certain answer. According to www.knowledgeproblem.com, gas prices are largely determined by high world-crude-oil prices. If this is true, we should be blaming China and India for getting greedy and wanting to use gas as much as we do, not pinning the pricing on the swimming refineries. The problem with raising gas prices is that it …

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