The Wake

I sweep the stars, encircling the sky
In trailing fingertips that move the sun
That paper made along with ink and I
While time I slowed to confiscate his run.
Inside this land the winter has prevailed;
My palms press frost into the morning’s rise
And choke the yellow sun until she’s paled,
Dressing the riverbanks in crimson guise.
But still the graying beard of time can tell
That all the painted pages I have made
Are bound and bonded purely to the well
Of ink in your eyes and the love you’ve laid.
So know that summer’s bliss lies …

Read more →

Physicists and theologists, academics and armchair astronomers have long wondered what it was that sparked the beginning of the universe. Now, mathematical physicist Roger Penrose is investigating what happened before the universe began. Two years ago, Stephen Hawking gave the conventional answer to the question—What happened before the big bang?, Hawking says the big bang was the event to begin all events so it makes no sense to ask what came before it.Lecturing to a small audience at the University of Minnesota on February 2, Penrose admitted that his own investigation of pre-big bang events breaks with convention.The Big Bang …

Read more →

On February 1, Abdi Samatar, professor of geography and global studies at the University of Minnesota, spoke to the public about the causes and effects of the war in Somalia. Samatar was born in Somalia and has spent years discussing the situation in the country. He also addressed what it will take to help the country become more safe and stable. He spoke about the history of Somalia and how he believes the civil unrest started.The speech, part of the Headliners forum, was sponsored by the College of Continuing Education. Minnesota has the largest population of Somalian citizens in the …

Read more →

When I heard that Coffman would be hosting a workshop, “Defense Against Dogma” on February 1, I had a good idea of what I was getting myself into. From what I’d heard, I knew that the workshop would teach intelligent arguments to use against Bible-hugging, dogmatic friends when they try to pick a fight. I assumed that the event was being put on by a public speaker, maybe a professor, or you know, someone distinguished. Boy, was I in for a surprise. When I walked into the room on the third floor of Coffman, the first thing I saw …

Read more →

From a front corner of the balcony, I watched three men in black tube-top dresses and red stilettos walk across the stage. The women on stage were dressed in the same attire, but naturally, the men in women’s clothing caught my eye. A dancer since the age of 5, I have learned that modern dance choreographers always have a feeling to express, a narrative to tell or a point to make when creating a dance piece. Unfortunately, the purpose isn’t always easily understood by the audience. After 15 minutes of the University Dance Theater’s (UDT) Dance Revolutions (post guys-in-heels), I …

Read more →

More couples break up on Valentine’s Day than any other day of year. Surprised? Given that everyone takes the frivolous festival way too seriously, this shouldn’t register as a shock. Just when you think you’re clear of another heavily commercialized holiday season, businesses and the media give you another excuse to splurge on worthless clutter. Never mind that your checkbook has yet to recover—now you’re obligated to buy flowers, cards, candies, jewelry, stuffed bears, little pink hearts and cupids for your sweetheart. What’s worse, the unattached are left out and made to look a fool. Valentine’s Day marks that special …

Read more →

The general belief among the American population today is that sexism is a thing of the past. When someone points out a sexist behavior or remark, the people around often write it off as hypersensitivity about being “politically correct.”The truth is that sexism is still extensive in our society, and the very fact that people believe sexism is nonexistent is symptomatic of the problem. One of the largest areas in which sexism is problematic is our language. Specifically, the word “girl” is often used to refer to an adult woman, whereas the word “boy” is almost never used in reference …

Read more →

Every August Minnesota is swept up in the whirlwind of off-color jokes, unexpected tender moments, and an eclectic variety that is the Fringe Festival. In the summer of 2006, The 13th annual Fringe Festival sold nearly 45,000 tickets, maintaining its official status as the largest non-juried performance festival in the nation, and its unofficial status as completely insane. From hip-hop to calculus, to the University’s own annual “Deviled Eggs,” what makes the Fringe unique is its method of selection. Shows are selected not by jury but by lottery to insure its three basic principles of “Fringeness: Unjuried, Uncensored, and Transparent.”In …

Read more →

Tucked away in a discrete corner of northeast Minneapolis is the Minnesota Center for Photography. On the outside, the center looks plain and drab, similar to the other shops around it. One step inside, however, transports you to art galleries, a bookstore and 8,000 square feet of an artistic atmosphere comparable to the Weisman. The entire place is a photographic paradise which is now focusing on its newest exhibition, ICY: Clear Views 01.ICY 01 is a new exhibit which will feature a handful of contemporary artists. This year the exhibit contains works of art by Caroline Burghardt, Kelli Connelland Jean …

Read more →

Duplicating the success of a heralded first album is a task unrivaled in difficulty. Bloc Party, a foursome out of England, set the bar high with their 2005 release, Silent Alarm, an album that led to frequent comparisons to dance rock predecessors like Gang of Four and Joy Division. They are now stepping up to the plate with their second album, A Weekend in the City.The opener, “Song for Clay (Disappear Here),” starts quietly. Singer Kele Okereke relays the thoughts of his troubled mind over strummed guitar and mounting strings. Unfortunately, the guitar riff is second rate, and fails to …

Read more →

Sometimes life can be a little pastiche. That is to say, there are so many different things going on that they seem random, or unrelated. According to the late American playwright Arthur Miller, “…theater is so endlessly fascinating because it’s so accidental. It’s so much like life.” And so it is. Jason Robert Brown clearly reflects the seemingly disjoint aspects of everyday life in “Songs for a New World,” a musical made up of 16 different songs, each of which stands alone as its own story. To Nicky Fritz, this sounded like a challenge she was willing to take.Fritz is …

Read more →

In case you missed it, the temperature was well below zero in downtown Minneapolis last Friday night. But as they say, the show must go on. On this freezing night about 75 people showed up to see First Avenue’s 11th Annual Cover Song Contest at the 7th Street Entry. Eleven area bands were given a half-hour to prove that they could play other people’s songs and a case of cheap wine awaited the winner.The night started with a thud. The Fillmores, moonlighting as Who’s the Boss and the E Street Band, opened the competition with a set of Bruce Springsteen …

Read more →

Chasing sun on water we glide
on husks of metal across
earth or sky not knowing
which end is up. Wind slides between shirt
and skin causing
bodies to search for heat,
thigh against thigh.His profile cuts
horizon, searching
infinite blue asI watch ripples recede from oar,
wooden, smooth, and slender.I grab his hand as we slip
through water like glass

I saw the tree and it was knotted and twisted
Its face was hidden from me.
It was twisted,
her body was twisted.
Right around the middle she was twisted.
And she was there.
Rooted and hunched and twisted.
She was rooted and hunched and twisted.
She was winding in her waiting,
growing more twisted,
waiting and growing,
…

Read more →

At the entrance of the Atrium Gallery in the Andersen Library, an old-fashioned marquee reads: “Now Playing: Blackface(s) in Film, The Givens Collection of African-American Literature.” The exhibit celebrates black film pioneers like actor Sidney Poitier and directors Oscar Micheaux, Spike Lee and Gordon Parks, who became Hollywood’s first major black director with The Learning Tree, 1969, and also happens to have spent some of his life in St. Paul, Minn.I walk the miniature red carpet into the exhibit and am greeted at the end by a mannequin, dressed like a ticket-taker in black pants and a gray suit jacket …

Read more →