The Wake - Fortnightly Magazine

Alleen Brown

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White Privilege on West Bank

On February 10, in the dark of the night, someone posted a series of writings by people of color in a stairwell at the U of M Barbara Barker Center for Dance. As spring progressed more images, words and phrases like “Privilege” and “What are you ashamed of?” continued to appear, all accompanied by the word “THIS.”

THIS is an anonymous protest. It is making people angry and …

Student Strippers

She doesn’t fit the stereotype. She’s got a nice body, yes, but not in an overt way. She does not spend time in the tanning bed nor are her boobs made of silicon. She describes herself as shy and nerdy and says she doesn’t like to party.

She pays her way through college by dancing at one of Minneapolis’s most popular strip clubs. But she’s not unintelligent, …

Dawkins the Divider?

The night of Richard Dawkins’ March 4 lecture at the University of Minnesota was quiet. There were no militant Christians with picket signs, no Evangelicals looking for a mass-conversion; even campus’s staple evangelist, Brother Jed, was absent.

Also suspiciously absent were the soul-less, vacant-eyed God-haters that atheists are known to be, as well as the corresponding lightning bolts that God traditionally uses to strike them down.

Dawkins …

Gropey and Me

Long after the bright lights have faded, after the reporters have stopped knocking on my door, I still think about my time with Gropey.

It was an instant, really. Our eyes locked as I approached the bus stop. I could see his mouth moving to form comment, but my headphones stopped me from ever knowing what those likely enticing words were.

I turned, eyes drifting to the church across …