The Wake

She only wanted,
independence.
The kind that walks alone in the alley
and has no shadow to follow.
Or the mountain that’s untouched
by human hands, thirty-five hundred feet away
prevailing, solidly.
The living right to fly
liberating, soothing and nonrestrictive.
She had dreams too
and wouldn’t come down
from cloud nine until she
was ready. I don’t really
believe that she wanted
to marry that man, she did
though, suppose she felt it was
“The right thing to do.”
Knowing what awaited her arrival,
a warm household …

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For as long as I can remember, most of my peers have been telling me that comic books are entirely uninteresting. This is usually after they notice that I’ve got three full boxes of comics plus a bookshelf dedicated to trade paperbacks and graphic novels. In fact, in high school I apparently had a reputation for carrying a briefcase full of nothing but comics (this is only half true; I’ll leave it to the reader to guess which half).What disappoints me about this negative view of comics is that they can be so much more interesting and descriptive than many …

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With each revving engine, climate change threatens our lifestyle and very existence. Many Americans make efforts to “go green” by recycling, but how often do we ignore the effects our other actions undoubtedly have on the environment? Driving is a necessity, cutting meat out of your diet is for ultraliberals and the factors that go into choosing a house don’t include sustainability. But four local mayors gathered Feb. 15 at the Mayors Summit on Affordable Housing’s GREEN Issues: Environmental and Economic Sustainability in the Hubert H. Humphrey Center to say that maybe sustainable and affordable housing options should be available …

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A cold Sunday afternoon finds the normally bustling Lake Street barren. Several blocks between Bloomington and Chicago Avenues are blocked off from normal traffic by police but the beating of drums seem to pull pedestrians from all directions to a crowd that is gathered in front of the Chicago-Lake Liquor store. Here in the shadow of the restored Sears building is a symbol of hope for economic change that citizens from all walks of life have gathered to support—to demand a change for immigrants’ rights.The March For Immigrants’ Rights, held on Sunday, Feb. 12, was meant to promote “immigrant dignity” …

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National Freedom to Marry Day was well on its way. The bathrooms were marked “unisex,” assortments of rainbow-colored balloons adorned the room and 150 people gathered in the Great Hall of Coffman Memorial Union Feb. 12 as the Queer Student Cultural Center kicked off its celebration to end discrimination against gay marriage.This event is the first time the QSCC has thrown a gala in recognition of National Freedom to Marry Day. “This event is usually much smaller,” says QSCC co-chair Jen Mohnkern. “Previously this has been an open house or lunch event mostly focused on the students who stopped by …

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After dominating the Western Collegiate Hockey Association for six seasons, the University of Minnesota’s Women’s Hockey team is adjusting to life in the middle. The Gophers put up their worst regular season record since the inception of Women’s Hockey in the WCHA, but when “worst ever” is third place is it really that bad?The Gophers opened the season with a bang. An impressive five-game winning streak in October left fans saying “Natalie who?” But after their streak-ending loss to Duluth they struggled; often failing to win back-to-back games. Most notably the weekend of Feb. 10, when Minnesota reached 20 wins …

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The World Series of baseball, an annual October tradition that brings to mind the pinstripes of New York, the jokers from Beantown and most recently the overachieving lads from the Windy City.But why are the victors considered the World Champions? Granted there are players from around the world participating in the event, but aside from a Toronto surge in the mid-’90s, all teams were based in the good-old United States.Perhaps it’s time for the ultimate baseball showdown to prove which country is the true World Champion. Players lured to the United States by big contracts could return to their homelands …

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