All glibness aside, the Chinese government’s human-rights violations aren’t just a cause célèbre to activists like those who gathered in front of Coffman Union on April 16. The rally, staged by local politicians, professors, students and other activists, was part of the Human Rights Torch Relay, an international movement designed to raise awareness about China’s abuses in light of the upcoming Olympics. The day began with a relay of groups and individuals traveling from the Capitol to Coffman, continued with speeches from representatives of various organizations and causes, and culminated in a march across the Washington Avenue bridge with flags and banners.

The charges against the Chinese Communist Party center around three major issues. Most prominent at the rally and in news coverage is China’s control of Tibet, whose people desire independence. The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader, has been in exile since 1959, when the putdown of a rebellion forced him and other leaders to flee to Tibet. The situation flared earlier this year when protests by Buddhist monks in Tibet prompted the Chinese government to crack down harshly on supporters of Tibet independence.

China has also come under fire for its ties to Sudan. Most of Sudan’s oil goes to China, so the Chinese government plays a large role in financing the Sudanese government. That government, in turn, finances the Janjaweed militia responsible for carrying out atrocities against the people of Darfur. As Sudan’s biggest investor, China is funding the genocide when it could be using its leverage to help the situation, University of St. Thomas student Ben Nebo said. Instead, the Chinese government has not acknowledged the situation in Darfur as genocide.
Nebo, who studied six months in China, noted that the slogan of this year’s Olympics is “One World, One Dream,” which he calls ironic. “People in Darfur are not having their dream of accomplishment, they’re having a nightmare,” he said. “Whose dream are we pursuing?”

Perhaps less well known than the situations in Tibet and Darfur is the persecution by the Chinese government of practitioners of Falun Gong. The spiritual meditation practice, which became popular in China during the 1990s, follows the three principles of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance. The Chinese government banned Falun Gong in 1999 and has since imprisoned and tortured many of its followers. A 2006 investigative report by Canadian politicians and activists David Matas and David Kilgour published an investigative report which told of the Chinese government illegally harvesting organs from imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners. The Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong was one of the major organizers of the April 16 rally.
A counter-protest led by supporters of China, mostly Chinese students, was just as visible and vocal during the event as the anti-China demonstrators. While representatives of local government and various human rights groups spoke, many of the pro-China demonstrators cried “Lies, lies,” and at one point the group broke out in singing the Chinese national anthem.

Most of the Chinese students said they support the Chinese government and do not want protests to disrupt China’s chance to shine this summer.

“Being Chinese, I have the responsibility to support my country,” medical school researcher Nan Zhang said. “China should be united. We cannot tolerate any separation.” Zhang agreed that China needs to improve its human rights record, but said, “Without a peaceful, united China, we cannot achieve that. If you look at the history, our government is better than in the past. I know it’s not perfect, but we still need to support it.”

Most of the pro-China protestors wore shirts and carried signs with the slogan “Go Olympics—No Olympolitics.” The Olympics are about sports, not political issues, said Yan Zhang, a university staff member and Chinese immigrant to the United States who held a sign reading, “Stop playing the human rights card.”
Many of the speakers, however, said that protesting China’s violations is not political or intended to dishonor the Olympics, but a simple call for human rights to be respected.

“We want to send the message that we’re sympathetic to the athletes who have trained for years to get to this one special moment,” Mei Ling Lee, the Minnesota representative for the Human Rights Torch Relay, said. “But we can’t turn a blind eye to the fact that the Communist regime in China has broken its promise of improving human rights.”

The International Olympic Committee awarded Beijing the honor of hosting the Olympics in 2001 in the hope that the attention of the world would prompt the Chinese government to improve its policies, Lee said. Since then, however, the Chinese government has increased surveillance and clamped down on Internet use, she said. Persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, human rights advocates, and other groups has also increased.

The Chinese Communist Party is using the Olympics as “a public display of its own legitimacy,” to validate its regime—just as the Nazis did when Berlin hosted the 1936 Olympics, said Ben Grinberg, an American student and Falun Gong practitioner.

After the formal part of the rally, the protesters both supporting and criticizing China clustered in front of Coffman, crossing the lines between the two groups to discuss the issues at hand. Circles of people knotted around those who argued with raised voices and jabbing fingers, but many people spoke quietly and respectfully, urgent with the fervor of their causes but open to other opinions.

Several of the pro-China protestors questioned the validity of the claims against the Chinese government, saying that the supporters of Tibet and Falun Gong have not seen firsthand the violence of which they speak. Actually living in China shows a different story, they said.

Yajin Wang, a student whose father is a teacher in China, said that her own experience has shown that the Chinese system protects rather than persecutes minorities. Tibetans, for example, are exempt from the one-child policy to which most Chinese citizens must adhere, Wang said.

Those protesting China’s human-rights violations, however, said that they don’t have to see crimes against humanity being committed to know that they happen.

“How can you deny the killing of your own people?” asked one pro-Tibet protestor, who asked that his name be withheld. “You were alive when Tiananmen Square happened. You saw it, your parents saw it, the whole world saw it.”

Ben Grinberg said that students from China who are able to study here tend to be from the upper and middle class. But millions in China live in poverty, and there is “an enormous amount of discontent and resentment of the Communist government,” he said.

Westerners tend to focus on China’s economic success at the expense of criticizing its human-rights violations, Grinberg said. But the Chinese government, he said, is less powerful and stable than people might think. He said that the Soviet Union crumbled quickly despite being seen by the rest of the world as very powerful, and that the same upheaval is inevitable for the Communist government in China.

“As more pressure is put on the Chinese Communist Party to give people freedom, they will be less able to stifle dissent,” Grinberg said.

Student Nan Zhang is hopeful that reform and openness can happen in China. He said that China can use the United States as a model for improvement, pointing out that many people from China come here to study. “The current politicians [in China] learned from the former USSR. The next generation will learn from the U.S.,” he said. “That’s a good trend.”

The U of M’s EXCO chapter has “a principal of offering free education to the Twin Cities community,” according to Amy Pason, a U of M grad student who helps organize the U of M EXCO chapter. Anyone can take a class through EXCO and there are no tuition costs.

Experimental colleges are nothing new. EXCO is retro in its origins, which lie in the people power of the 60s. Oberlin College, which is generally considered to be the model for experimental colleges, began offering experimental classes in 1968. Oberlin is a highly selective private school in a smallish suburb just outside of Cleveland, OH. There, students started the experimental college as a vehicle for civic engagement within the community. The idea was to grant residents of the town more access to the happenings in the college. Eventually the experimental college was integrated into Oberlin’s regular curriculum.

At the time, EXCOs started popping up around the country. Unfortunately, within ten years, most had shut down their experiments.
In 2006, however, there was marked new growth in the movement as an experimental college sprouted out of a student group at Macalester. It all started after a significant raise in the cost of tuition. According to the EXCO Web site, the students started the organization “as an alternative to the inequalities and injustices of higher education…to offer the Twin Cities community the opportunity to teach or learn in a space open to alternative education.”

Currently, all chapters of EXCO in the Twin Cities are associated with a college or university. The U of M chapter is a bonafide student group, which means they have a bit of money and the ability to hold classes in campus buildings. Students who take and teach classes through EXCO may be able to get credits for their efforts.

However, there is a discussion among present EXCO organizers over how involved EXCO should be with the institutionalized university. “One of the reasons that we started EXCO is to recognize that the University of Minnesota as a state-public institution, it’s not necessarily that public,” Pason said.

What happens at the U of M, and most public universities, often stays there. The research rarely makes it into the public sphere. Every now and then a newspaper headline may grab hold of a charismatic research finding, but more often, benefits of academic endeavor remain largely inside the academic community.

Much of the U of M campus is designed so a student would never need to leave. Many people attending the U of M, especially undergraduates, never make it outside of campus and its surrounding student housing areas (think Dinkytown). Opening up the U of M would open resources to many community members, and open the real world to those stuck on campus.

“Even if we are a university-based official student organization and most of the people that take the classes are students, that’s not necessarily our long-term political goal,” said Arnoldas Blumberg, a U of M undergrad who also helps organize the U of M’s EXCO chapter. “We really want to sort of bridge the gaps between various communities around the Twin Cities.”

In the future, Twin Cities’ EXCOs have the potential to exist much more outside of institutions like the U of M.
Imagine an entire educational system organized by people in communities. Say you want to learn Spanish - rather than paying a grand to attend a university you could sign up for the EXCO Spanish class where you would meet other members from your community who speak the language. “We also are really working now on expanding the sort of community base,” Blumberg said, “seeing how EXCO can serve different community centers or grassroots organizations.”

Part I

Part II

Students shuffle into a classroom as the bell rings, slumping into desks and tossing backpacks to the floor. They regard their teacher with mild interest as he begins the lesson. Two boys and a girl trade whispered banter that’s half-teasing and half-flirting. A few seats away, a girl holds a cell phone under her desk and text-messages.

Only the papers hanging on the wall to the students’ left betray this as anything but a typical high school classroom. The words are scratched simply on notebook paper, framed by magazine photos of men with guns and the sorrowful faces of children. “11 years I have not seen Somalia. I want to go to Somalia,” one reads. “My country doesn’t have school and medical…1990 up to now my country civil war,” says another. A third is even more direct: “Many of my family are dead in my homeland… I wish I wish for peaceful country.”

At the Minnesota Internship Center’s English Language Academy, most of the students are from Somalia and Ethiopia, and none speak English as their first language. The internship center, a charter school aimed at helping low-income, at-risk youth graduate from high school, has five sites around Minneapolis. Four are for American youth; the English Language Academy caters to immigrants and refugees.

In the small school’s uncrowded hallways, clusters of students chatter in a mix of English and their native languages, smiling and waving to staff members who call them by name. Many poke their heads in classroom doors, looking for friends. Fliers dot the walls, encouraging students to take advantage of after-school homework help or to explore college and career options.

Most of the students are slightly older than American high-school students, between 17 and 20. They must complete the necessary credits before they turn 21 and can no longer finish high school, according to Heidi Skallet, coordinator for access to college and careers. The school offers classes from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. to help the students accomplish this goal. Students are divided not by grade but by their English skills, taking classes with other students who can speak and read at about the same level.

Besides the language barrier, the recently immigrated students face a cultural divide. Most of the students are Muslim, particularly those who are Somali or Oromo, an ethnic group found in Ethiopia and Kenya. All of the Muslim girls at the academy wear full robes and head coverings with only hands and face exposed, leaving them vulnerable to scrutiny from distrustful Americans. There’s also the fact that most refugees arrive in the United States with nothing. With no independent income and no renting history, Skallet said, many immigrants have trouble even finding places to live.

Some of the students have a hard time adjusting to parts of daily life that Americans take for granted. Student Makia Abbadulla complained about the hot and cold extremes of Minnesota weather, saying, “At home, the weather is perfect. No snow.” She also said she didn’t like the food when she first arrived in the United States. “I didn’t eat American food for a year—no, pizza, no milk,” she said. “Now, I can eat anything.”

Both Skallet and teacher Erica Twietmeyer note a separation between recently arrived immigrants and those who have been here longer and become more Americanized. Skallet said that new arrivals are very serious about their studies, while the kids who have been here longer might joke around with their teachers or skip class.

Twietmeyer added that students tend to lose some interest in school once they have become reasonably skilled in English. “They’re surviving socially,” she said. “They might have a car, a job. They feel like they don’t need to learn anymore.”

Those who had jobs in the United States before coming to the school, though, do take school seriously. Many of the students at the school worked at a Tyson chicken factory that didn’t require them to speak English, Skallet said. Their experience with meatpacking has taught them the value of an education in America.

After improving their English and earning high school credits, the center’s students are able to consider higher education. Through a program called The Power of YOU, graduates of Twin Cities high schools can attend Minneapolis Community and Technical College, St. Paul College or Metropolitan State University tuition-free. The program gives many of the academy’s students a chance to get a college degree and work towards a profession. These immigrants can look beyond their menial jobs to careers in computer science, journalism and engineering—dreams made possible by the English Language Academy.

I have always wanted to be a superhero. I am sure I am not alone in this dream. What with Superman, Batman, Spiderman, and Harry Potter out there, there is no chance that I am the only individual that wants to live the dream. But to be honest, my superhero knowledge begins and ends with the few episodes of Power Rangers I have seen and a handful of recent action films. In hopes of achieving my superhero goal, I decided it would be best to find some superheroes. I searched for a sign that would point me in the right direction, either to the bat cave or super-secret lair, but those signs are hard to find. Instead, inspiration came to me in the form of a pink Post-it note directing me to Relay for Life.

So, I had a direction, but I needed some force to fight against. A nemesis. An arch-enemy. A sinister power that threatened mankind. Relay for Life proved to be a great method of action against an overwhelming problem facing humanity: cancer. Today, one in three people will be diagnosed with some form of cancer. That is one third of the population. I had found my nemesis.

Time to find some allies. No great superhero is without allies and a network of support. Relay for Life has been held annually at the University of Minnesota for five years now, but this is the second year it has been student-run by the campus organization Colleges Against Cancer (CAC). Jenna Langer, co-chairperson of the CAC noted that the Relay is a wonderful community of support; a uniting force bringing people from all demographics and communities together: researchers, legislators, students, and so many more.

Langer is also a two-time survivor of cancer and knows how critical a support system is. “Losing hope is the worst thing that can happen,” she admits, but emphasizes that Relay for Life raises money for cancer research while creating an atmosphere of hope. Langer highlights the Survivor Walk, the first lap of the Relay, in which cancer survivors circle the track. The moment is powerful and it is “great to have people see the survivors’ network.”

The network does not stop there. With the startling amount of people that will be diagnosed with cancer in the future, it becomes evident that cancer touches everyone. Kirsten Lesak-Greenberg, member of CAC and first-time Relay for Life participant urges people to get involved. She supports research funded by this event, saying “it can save your family and it can save your friends.”

Langer’s first battle with cancer was aided with a new method of chemotherapy. She was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma, a pediatric bone cancer, which is usually treated with chemotherapy or amputation of the affected region. Her tumor was located in her brain and was surrounded by an artery. However, a doctor approached Langer with a new radiation process using a direct ray. This new technology was able to reduce the tumor and Langer entered remission about a year later.

Langer informed me that this year, the idea was to “fight back with superhero strength because that is what it takes: an entourage of superheroes. And everyone has different superhero qualities.” Her enthusiasm convinced me that this was going to work. The Relay for Life is more than a fundraiser for cancer research and new innovation; it is a celebration of survivorship. While doctors and researchers find new treatments and potentially a cure, everyone else can fuel the power of hope by joining together to celebrate, remember and fight back. “It is a great example of how engaged students are in something bigger then themselves,” Langer noted.

At least 42 campus survivors will be present at this year’s Relay for Life, helping to kick off Minnesota’s series of Relays. Financially, the goal this year is $130,000, which will go towards funding cancer research. In fact, a large amount of the money raised will return to the U of M’s cancer research center. Physically, the Relay is an opportunity to witness the comradeship and strength of some extraordinary individuals. Cancer survivors face the possibility of relapse for the rest of their lives, but with the celebration of survivorship and inspirational events like the Relay for Life, each person can live every day with strength and hope.

I know what you’re thinking: “Erik, what’s adventurous about eggs?” And you’re right to question me. Egg & I isn’t adventurous. But I’m a red-blooded American who happens to love a good breakfast, and Egg & I makes a damn good breakfast.

Located in a massive brick office building on University Ave. near Highway 280, the restaurant doesn’t score too many points when it comes to décor. In fact, if the various booths and tables were taken out and replaced with cubicles and copy machines I don’t think it would be a tough transition.

Their menu isn’t too vast. With the exception of some hot sandwich and burger options, Egg & I serves primarily breakfast items. From the “Biggest Cakes in Town” and “Kamikaze Cakes” (pancakes filled with blueberries, bananas and nuts) to “3 Egg Omelettes”, the restaurant is straight-up home-cookin’.

I got “Eggs Commodore”, which is like eggs benedict but with sausage instead of ham. I find a breakfast joint can be made or broken by the quality of their Hollandaise sauce. Widespread chains typically try and pass off a runny cheese sauce as Hollandaise, so don’t be fooled. Egg & I makes a nearly flawless sauce. It’s got a great creamy marriage of tartness and saltiness that complements eggs perfectly. The dish comes with hashbrowns, which are equally as impressive.

With graduation and/or moving home coming just around the corner, there should be an influx of parents into our little university community. This influx fortunately tends to result in free meals for us college kids. I know when my parents come up we always end up getting breakfast before they hit the road. Egg & I is the perfect place to make your parents pay for your meal. I say go for broke.

Overall: 8/10

U.S. Congress defines homelessness in a fairly straightforward way: “Any adult whose primary nighttime residence is a supervised, publicly or privately-operated temporary living accommodation, including emergency shelters, transitional housing, and battered women’s shelters; or whose nighttime residence is not meant for human habitation, such as under bridges or in cars.” This definition also extends to youths.

Since 1991, Wilder Research has conducted a study of homelessness in Minnesota every three years. Their most recent study was published in October 2006 and found that at least 9,200 people were homeless each night in the state.

In summer 2006, Hennepin County and the City of Minneapolis began the Campaign to End Homelessness. During a 100-day planning period, county and city officials, and community leaders created Heading Home Hennepin, with a goal of preventing homelessness.

Cathy ten Broeke took over as Coordinator to End Homelessness for Heading Home Hennepin in late 2005. After eight years working as an advocate and director at St. Stevens Homeless Shelter in St. Paul, ten Broeke traveled the country researching homelessness for the National Movement to End Homelessness before being hired by Hennepin County.

Ten Broeke and Heading Home are working on two key areas to help end homelessness. One part of their work involves what she calls ‘inreach.’ Instead of waiting until people have already lost their home or found themselves on the street, Heading Home goes into institutions where people are at risk, and helps educate them about how to find and keep affordable and acceptable housing. The other component of the program provides support for those already on the street. The program aims to make available 5,000 new housing opportunities in the next 10 years.

“It is a proactive approach to homelessness,” ten Broeke says. “It’s about what it takes to move from managing homelessness to preventing homelessness.”

One of the greatest sources of homelessness is the fact that public systems, like jails, foster homes, and hospitals, are allowed to release people into homelessness.

“Once people leave the system they are just gone,” ten Broek says. “We try to go into institutions to work with people early.”

Though the United States has seen times of widespread homelessness (the Great Depression for one), it was not considered a major problem until as recently as the 1980s. But, since then, the number of homeless has risen dramatically. Housing costs have exploded, federal housing supports have gone down and the number of single parent households has grown. Other factors that have contributed to the recent rise are growing illegal drug use and the movement to deinstitutionalize the mentally ill.

This movement came about in the 1960s. Most institutions at that time were in rough shape; the facilities themselves were not always up to snuff—they were undignified places to be,” ten Broeke says. They tended to serve simply as a place for those with mental illnesses to stay. Until new psychiatric drugs and therapy techniques were introduced, mentally ill patients weren’t always receiving any productive treatment.

Many people were being held in institutions against their will. Finally, in 1967, California introduced the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, which put a halt to involuntary institutionalization, and eventually became the standard that other states followed. While these efforts have their roots in basic human rights, some negative consequences have arisen. In Minnesota, over half of those reported homeless in 2006 had a serious mental illness, according to the Wilder report.

“Unfortunately they (deinstitutionalization policies) didn’t create alternatives, so people ended up on the street,” ten Broeke says. “The answer isn’t to commit people, but it is hard for some to get by without supports.”

Like those with serious mental illnesses, youths and children can struggle to support themselves alone. Ten Broeke says that 70 percent of homeless youth were in foster care at some point. Heading Home hopes to reach out to children at younger ages in order to educate them about their futures and make sure that they don’t end up without a job or a home when they turn 18.

The Wilder foundation has found that affordable housing in the Twin Cities has become very difficult to come by. According to their Web site, the generally accepted rule is that housing should cost no more 30 percent of one’s income. When this percentage goes over 50, housing is considered to be a heavy burden.

The median income of homeless persons who were employed in 2006 was $800. Compare that to what is called the fair-market rent price (set annually by the federal government), which was $707 for a one-bedroom apartment in 2006. That would leave only $93 for all other monthly costs, and would leave those without employment on the streets.

New housing opportunities must be created that are not only affordable, but offer services to those with special needs.

“We are no longer accepting shelters as the solution,” ten Broeke says. “People rely on it as a permanent housing option, but there are better options.”

According to ten Broeke, another major hurdle faced by homeless people is that many of the services set up to help them are spread throughout the city. “People have to go all over town to get connected. It becomes a full-time job,” she says. For this reason, Project Homeless Connect was initiated in 2005. Twice a year, the project brings every possible service for the homeless into the Minneapolis Convention Center for two days. Here people can get medical care, haircuts, clothing and housing help, among many other things.

The events are almost completely privately funded, as local organizations pitch money, time, staff, and supplies. To run the events The Convention Center’s Kelber Catering provides food for all the guests, a number that is expected to exceed 2,000 on April 28.

Ten Broeke is hoping for 1,000 volunteers to staff the event. As of April 1, they were about halfway there.

“We have had wonderful support from students in the past,” she says. “They work one-on-one with the guests and serve as navigators to help them find the services they need. It is a great opportunity to learn about and interact with homelessness.”

Volunteers must be 18-years-old and attended a training session prior to the event.

Project Homeless Connect can be reached at projectconnectmpls@gmail.com.

Most college students have difficulty trying to balance their checkbooks. The students in Professors Sean and Meg Emery’s class do a bit more than that. They balance themselves on chairs, ropes, and even a trapeze. One student juggles while a partner sits on his shoulders. Another practices forward rolls and leaps on a mat. Yet another student opens a fan fast as lightning with a flick of his wrist. One student dangles her body on the trapeze. This is Circus Performance class.

“Once people realize that they can learn this, they really have fun with it,” Professor Meg Emery says. Emery says the idea for another circus class at the University of Minnesota came up at a party, while her husband, Sean, was performing clown tricks. Meg Emery, a trapeze artist herself, has taught aerial arts performance for about 30 years. She met Sean Emery, a veteran clown performer, in 1980 while the two were in Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey circus. They created Xelias Aerial Arts School in 2001, and offer aerial arts classes at their studio in Northeast Minneapolis.

This class is offered by the theater department and meets this spring every Tuesday from 11:15 to 1:10. the class takes place inside a fairly large studio on the fifth floor of the Rarig center. The room itself looks quite bare, save for a blue curtain on the west-facing wall, a trapeze hung about ten feet off the ground, and a large rope hung from the ceiling, about 20 to 25 feet in the air. The rope has a little loop in it, about 15 feet from the ground. This is the Spanish Web, Meg Emery’s favorite aerial arts style. Mats lie in various places around the studio space, and wherever one steps there’s bound to be a juggling ball or two rolling past. Students are performing amazing physical feats all around the classroom.

“I was surprised at what my body and what other peoples’ bodies are capable of doing,” says Molly Duvorsky, a junior theatre major. Duvorsky is currently working with three other students on their final project, a performance piece which demonstrates at least three techniques they’ve learned while training under the Emerys. However, not only theater students can sign up. The list of majors in the course this spring includes mathematics, journalism, individual studies, youth studies, and others. Oddly enough, Sean Emery says some of the best performers he’s taught in this course have been history majors.

The origin of circus performance comes from the Roman Empire. People were elected to the position of Aediles, who then organized mass extravaganzas for the Roman people, including gladiatorial combat, chariot racing, and large animal shows. These circuses were held until the fall of the Roman Empire, plunging Europe and circus performances with it into the Dark Ages. Until the 16th century, small troupes of performers would tour the countryside, playing and entertaining at village fairs. After legislation was passed banning touring groups from performing, entertainers banded together in more permanent locations, usually at county fairs.

The beginnings of modern-day circus performance started with Philip Astley, a former sergeant-major of the English Army and a skilled horse trainer. Astley created the famous Amphitheater Riding House in 1768, teaching daring feats of horseback riding and eventually performing for the audience inside what is now known as the circus ring, which he put in the arena to help him stand on the backs of cantering horses. By 1770 he hired acrobats, tightrope walkers and jugglers to help pass the time between equestrian displays. These circus shows made their way to the American Colonies through performer John Bill Ricketts, who toured from Philadelphia to New York. Since then, circus has evolved in its complexity, as Cirque du Soleil’s acrobatic performances demonstrate.

The class begins with an intense warm-up. Everyone stands in a circle in the middle of the studio, stretching their arms and legs in various positions. They move on to curling themselves into a ball, rolling back and forth, finally springing up from the ground in a fluid motion. The intensive stretching follows, leaving every muscle aching before the actual lessons begin. At one point, the students are asked to lie flat on their backs and then place their hands on their ankles. After pushing up their lower bodies, everyone places their hands behind their shoulders and pushes up, forming a bridge with their bodies. Of course, this appears much easier on paper than it is in reality.

Once warm-ups have ended, each student drifts off to work on their final projects. With four classes left before they perform for one another, everyone is busy fleshing out what their routines will become. Some are working together in small groups, while others are working alone. Allison Witham, a theater and English major sophomore, will perform a piece with her partner centered on their hats.

“We kind of have a skeleton of our piece right now,” Witham says. “We’re going to do hat tricks, cane tricks, juggling, tumbling, clown tricks, chair falls and rolls.” She and her partner also want to incorporate “rolling into [their] clothes and hats” into their piece. Witham was in the juggling club at her high school, but hasn’t found the time to participate in the U of M’s juggling club. She decided to try this class instead. It has certainly paid off for her. At one point, she balanced a hat on a cane before balancing the cane on her chin. Suddenly, she deftly removed the cane with one hand, popping the hat into the air before landing it perfectly on top of her head.

Both professors move about the class, giving instructions to students as they work. At one point, Sean Emery gave instructions to two performers attempting a two-person forward roll. While one person attempts to roll over the other, Professor Emery makes sure they “stay tight,” to each other, in order to minimize the risk of injuring one another. He stopped them, explaining how the standing performer should aim as close as they can to the performer on the ground. By aiming for the other person’s butt, the rolling performer will rotate their head just enough to land on their shoulders instead of their head.

Meg Emery is busy working with another student who has scaled the Spanish Web. The student places her wrist inside the loop high on the rope, grabbing another section of the rope to her side. As Professor Emery slowly starts to spin the rope, the student begins to drift gracefully in a circle, moved by centrifugal force. The student executes various positions as Emery calmly gives her instructions, moving the rope, and consequently the student, faster and faster. After coming to a stop, the student climbs down from the rope.

“It challenges you,” Tammy Thorson says. Thorson is an individual studies major who specializes in exotic animal training care and performance with an emphasis on marine mammals. Because of her unique major, an advisor suggested she take the class. Thorson is taking circus performance for the second time, despite her initial fear during her first time taking the course. When she walked into class the first day, she felt scared of the aerial tricks. Now, Thorson says she loves doing acrobatics on the trapeze and on the Spanish Web.

Nearly every student in the class says they were terrified at first, but now love practicing and training for their final performance. Each student has taken away something from the class, whether it’s confidence, a higher physical fitness, or respect for circus performers. That’s the goal of the class, according to Sean Emery. Emery says although the course revolves around intensely physical risk-taking maneuvers, it soon becomes more than that. It challenges the students to show a willingness to try things they never imagined they could do, while teaching students acrobatics that a normal high school physical education program wouldn’t offer. Ultimately, students walk away with something better than circus skills.

“It’s about learning something about yourself,” Sean Emery says.

The class ends with conditioning exercises. Although the exercises vary from class to class, the students use a variety of exercises meant to strengthen core and arm muscles, according to sophomore theatre arts major Cameron Nelson. Each student will perform maneuvers like tuck ups, side tuck ups, cat’s stretches, push ups, and abdominal lifts off of the ground before parting ways to get to their next class.

“It’s worth the blood, sweat, and tears, which you get all of,” Tammy Thorson says.

For more information on Xelias Aerial Arts School, go to www.watchhumansfly.com

There is much to lament – and praise - in the fusion of social networking with online social networking. Like a newspaper in a bathroom stall, or a simple handshake, however, the conquest of digital technology has its limits, and small niches considered “ways of the old” remain, at least for now, stubbornly irreplaceable.

Enter Mayday Bookstore. Founded in 1975 on the corner of Selby and Western in St. Paul, Mayday was originally a Maoist collective. Today, many ideological splits and much collective infighting later, the bookstore has an expanded and refined range of leftist literature in its home of 17 years on the West Bank.

However, what is most significant about Mayday is not simply the staggering collection of progressive literature, or the fact that the store is cash only, not-for-profit and volunteer run, but in fulfilling that irreplaceable role so essential to social activism: a place to meet, face to face.

Mayday has served as “headquarters” for numerous activist groups. Earl Balfour, a volunteer for over 20 years, recalls the Nicaraguan Solidarity Committee and groups against U.S. involvement in East Timor, Somalia, and up through more recent anti-war groups like the Iraq Peace Action Coalition. The anarchist and anti-authoritarian Republican National Convention Welcoming Committee also meets here.

In addition to supporting these leftist groups, Mayday offers its space to forums and lectures on progressive issues as well as training in areas like civil disobedience. What is the cost for such hosting? Volunteers pass around a donation bucket.

It is difficult to discern, in this symbiosis between the bookstore and the activists, which side is more enabling of the other. It is clear, however, that neither would amount to so much as Mayday’s longevity without an unbending dedication to the issues so central to both.

Craig Palmer has volunteered at Mayday longer than any other current worker. He became involved in 1980 when the store was located on Franklin and Chicago. A veteran of the Vietnam War, Palmer found some help in answering questions about the war he entered so enthusiastically and returned from so disillusioned.

“Most Vietnam Vets back then - and probably a lot still are - were confused about the war,” he said. “Most people have forgotten about the war, a major war, except veterans, and now we have another major war.”

Palmer said the literature he found at Mayday helped him exact the “real story” behind the conflict and define his own involvement. Palmer’s account makes explicit Mayday’s power to offer different perspectives through literature, especially regarding history.

It is appropriate then that the best-selling book at Mayday for over 15 years and the book that Balfour says “pretty well” explains the bookstore’s political position, is Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States. For people both unfamiliar with and well versed in progressive literature, Palmer recommends Zinn.

“People who have opposing viewpoints generally have a different sense of history,” he said. “If you don’t understand history, where is your reference point?”

In some ways contributing to this sense of history, most of the volunteers at Mayday are of older generations. Of the 10 to 12 current volunteers, only a few are in their thirties. There is for instance, Tom Dooley - an 82 year-old veteran of “Two” who started volunteering soon after the first Gulf War and joining Veterans for Peace.

The absence of youth is not noticeable per se, considering the makeup of many of the activist groups that frequent Mayday’s space includes many young people. However, the absence of student browsers, particularly University of Minnesota students, is at least notable due to the bookstore’s proximity to the West Bank campus.

Besides the store’s low physical visibility, there is a trend these older radicals and anti-capitalists are, not surprisingly, aware of when comes to students of this generation. We’re simply too taxed.

“The economy is a lot harsher,” said Palmer. “Most students pay an arm and a leg to go to college and take their classes very seriously.”

Palmer recounts how students in the ’70s would take out a loan and go to Europe and spend more of their time engaged in activism.

“Now, all they can do is work and go to school,” he said, laughing. “It’s probably by design.”

Mayday Bookstore is open during the week from noon until 7 p.m., from noon until 6 p.m. on Saturdays, closed on Sundays, and, according to Palmer, offering services as long as the U.S. keeps going to war.

The sound is music to the ears of paintball enthusiasts everywhere. It’s also a sound that can be heard around campus, if you listen closely enough. But that wasn’t the case until recently.

After playing paintball throughout high school and during his first year of college at St. Mary’s, John Thomason transferred to the University of Minnesota and was stunned to find no club team affiliated with the National Collegiate Paintball Association (NCPA), a league designed specifically for college students.

Thomason decided to take initiative and sought to launch a paintball club team. “Being that the U has such a large student body, I knew I could find enough people to get the club started,” he says.

The paintball club became recognized by the U of M last September and launched with six members; since that point, membership has grown to 20. Despite its relative youth, the club is currently ranked 12th in the nation by NCPA and placed second out of 26 teams in a late February tournament in Wisconsin.

Paintball breaks down into two categories; recreational woodsball and competitive speedball. The University team fits into the latter category, a fast-paced game played in a relatively small arena filled with bunkers. Getting into the sport at an advanced level such as this can be expensive (players on the team use guns, or “markers,” that run upwards of $700), but those who get into it take it very seriously and seem to enjoy it thoroughly.

“When I started my freshman year last semester, I had just about given up on paintball,” says Jordan Carlson, a team member who had been playing for about eight years. “Then my life was changed by finding out about the U of M team. After I found out, all I wanted to do was get on the team and play for the University of Minnesota.”

This is a very young squad still looking to make a name for itself. Currently, the paintball team is only recognized by the U of M as a “club” and not a “sports club;” it is an important distinction because the latter receives more school funding and access to facilities. They are on a one-year probation period toward becoming a sports club, and Carlson notes that they have made efforts to set up a table in Coffman Memorial Union to spread the word and recruit new members. Considering the rapid growth the team has experienced during its first six months of existence, it seems only a matter of time before the U of M can field one of the nation’s elite paintball squads.

Stories like this one and that of the Premier Dance Team, which I covered a few issues ago in this column, illustrate a very important and encouraging truth about attending a university as massive and well-populated as this one. If you have an interest or hobby in the field of athletics, there are almost certainly others who feel the same way. And if there isn’t already a club or team available, it isn’t too tough to get one started on your own.

Walking into the store, I was immediately struck by the expansive glass display cases containing dozens upon dozens of sausage varieties. From Andouille to Blood and Tongue, almost every imaginable classification of meat is slinked and linked for your pleasure. The rest of the store also flaunts imported European pastries, breads, candies and cheeses.

The restaurant is located in the next room, which also holds the seating area. The long deli counter boasts a plentiful assortment of ethnic European dishes, all modestly priced between $5 and $10.

I was incredibly hungry. Lucky for me, Ukrainian food is designed to quell even the greatest of appetites. The meals are all hearty, meat-and-potatoes kind of stuff.

Because it’s Kramarczuk’s, I decided to order the Ukrainian Sausage. For $6.99 I got a thick tube of meat splayed across a bun and covered with melted Swiss cheese and sauerkraut. I also ordered a side of Szegedin Goulash, which contains pork, sauerkraut and onions with paprika.

Needless to say, the meal filled me up. The sausage was satisfying, and would have gone perfectly with a dark ale. The goulash transported me back to my home and childhood, because it tasted almost exactly like a recipe my mom uses.

My experience at Kramarczuk’s doesn’t appear to be uncommon. Countless patrons come back for more, longing for a piece of their heritage, and with thick accents and empty stomachs they dine on the foods of their forefathers.

The increased visibility of women in roles of political leadership – especially Hillary Clinton’s omnipresence as a presidential candidate – made the theme of the 13th annual International Women’s Day Celebration and Workshop on Saturday, March 15th particularly timely. Presented by The Advocates for Human Rights, the event ran under the theme “Women Leading for Gender Justice.” The day was filled with opportunities for women of all backgrounds, ages and races to explore the unique female leadership experience, as it is understood around the world.

This year’s celebration held a special meaning for indigenous women because in September 2007 the U.N. General Assembly voted to adopt the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This declaration states that native peoples have the right “to the recognition, observance and enforcement of treaties” concluded with States or their successors.

The declaration also prohibits discrimination against indigenous peoples and promotes their full and effective participation in all matters that concern them. Along with Canada, the United States was one of only four countries to oppose the declaration for fear of conflicting interest between indigenous groups and the government.

The keynote address was given by Robin Morgan, an award-winning poet, novelist, political theorist and best-selling author. Morgan’s words gave a tone of optimism, determination and sisterhood that carried throughout the day. The day’s activities included a photo history of influential women, workshops on “Women in Armed Conflict,” and tables featuring arts and crafts from all over the world.

Luella Greene’s “Voices and Images of Women” exhibit depicted a photo timeline of extraordinary female athletes, artists, entertainers and activists who changed the course of history through bold actions and unmatched resolve.

As visitors read about the lives of these incredible women, an elderly lady, nearing at least 80 years old, slowly walked into the exhibit, her back hunched and her steps soft. As she stared at the photos and read the descriptions, she whispered a nearly inaudible and fascinated “wow.” Spanning generations, Greene’s photographs evoke a feeing of pride and hope in any woman whether she is a 19-year-old college freshman or a spry octogenarian.

Multiple hour-long workshops were held early in the day on topics as diverse as “Safe in a New Home: Women and Asylum, with a focus on Kenya and Cameroon” and “Local Women Respond to Global Water Crisis.” International Women’s Day is meant to celebrate the struggle of women that has persisted to present day, but it also serves as a time for women to come together and recognize the contemporary issues they face.

According to Robin Phillips, Executive Director for The Advocates for Human Rights, some of the main issues women still struggle with today are violence, equal access to education and economic opportunities, and the disproportionate response to terrorism, which has diverted attention and funds away from the plight of the female American.

Particularly insightful was the “Plenary Panel on Women and Indigenous Communities” with panelists Teresa Ortiz, State Senator Mee Moua, and Laura Waterman Wittstock. The panelists clearly articulated that violence against women is still very real and prevalent in today’s society.

Laura Wittstock of the Seneka tribe described the unique position of women in her tribe, “I am the inheritor of the land,” she stated, and “we wish to re-establish women as the head of a household, which is a Seneka cultural tradition.” As for the future, Wittstock was “hopeful” but has observed that “women don’t have the luxury of being mediocre leaders” as men do, and must often work harder to obtain a similar position of leadership in a community.

Teresa Ortiz gave a separate, yet strikingly similar account of an indigenous woman’s experience in Latin America. Ortiz noted that it is often common for indigenous groups to turn their frustration with the government inward, resulting in low-intensity conflict against women such as rape or harassment.

A passionate and stalwart Ortiz asserted that “enough is enough; we do not want a world where we are not here. Indigenous people are here.” It is thanks to women like Ortiz that the future for indigenous communities in the United States will continue to progress toward social equality.

As the day came to an end, the women attendees gathered to watch a final performance by singer song-writer Maria Isa. Isa has been recognized for dedication to the celebration of her Puerto Rican heritage through music and political activism. Her lyrics reference feminist icons like Frida Kahlo, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Evita Peron and advocate for social change. A fitting end to the day, Isa’s performance seemed to usher in a new generation of passionate women willing to join together to move forward.

Comment taken from wakemag.org:
I have been wondering for some time now what Stephen Glass was up to. Guess he’s studying abroad.

This article further reinforces the growing belief on campus that The Wake and the MN Daily are tabloid rags filled with cartoon stories penned by whiny children.

So President Bush has had a bad policy in Africa? Hmm. Bob Geldolf would disagree with you.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1717934-1,00.html

Religion has ruined politics? Strange. Wasn’t this the first Nobel Peace Prize ever awarded for Religion? I guess we should keep Global Warming talk out of politics. I’d agree with you on that one; religion is just beginning to ruin politics.

I’m surprised you think Johnathan Bislew is voting for Mike Huckabee. If you had bothered to ask him, at no point would he have endorsed Huckabee. Far from it in fact. As a rational voter, he would back Ron Paul; heck, you’d think all students would support someone who wants to get rid of the tax on tips!

Perhaps you should give Johnathan a call, maybe let him take you out to dinner when you get back? Perhaps clear up some misconceptions.

Or are you afraid to do that? Are you afraid to actually take responsibility for your words and test them? Any of us Maranatha members (Maranatha. Not Cru.) would be delighted to sit down and inform you of the truth to your claims. Without even a hint of evangelizing.

These articles belong back at community college. Until you can get your facts straight, you do not deserve to be published on anything more than a blog.

Audra, Grant, Johnathan, Bruce and I would be willing to debate you. On paper. In The Wake. If you are up to it.
- Stuart.

Stuart—You’re putting words in my mouth man. You’re seeing what you want to see; you’re seeing in me things that fuel your fire, that reaffirm your beliefs. But you’re selling me, and yourself short here. You’re not challenging yourself in any way. You turned on instant defense mode, and in the process, misinterpreted all the points I made. I understand that it’s hard not to get defensive when something you stand for is being questioned.

As for the debate, sweet Moses! Yeah of course I’m up for it! I’m glad that you proposed it and feel like it might be a step towards common ground, something that Maranatha seems to have a hard time establishing. Not surprising given in one posting session alone, you absentmindedly implied that kids who opt for Community College are inferior writers, and that everyone who’s worked for either the Daily or Wake were employed by “tabloid rags.” Come to think of it, do you by chance work the tables in Coffman union from time to time?
- Carl Carpenter

*Please read these posts in their entirety, along with over 50 others, on the message boards for the first two installments.

College is stressful. Nervous tension is a part of life that inevitably gets more complex with increasing maturity and responsibility. A knack for multitasking is practically perfected during these years of juggling activities outside of class, deciding what career path to take, paying bills, having a social life, maintaining strong family relations, staying in shape, and probably over a dozen other things in addition to academic work. With midterm exams to prepare for again, university students are reminded of just how stressful school can be.

Aerospace Engineering major, member of the NROTC (Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps), leader of a drill team, and campus jobholder Dan Efinger plainly says “I know all about stress!” He attributes most of it to the pressures of ROTC. “There’s always something to do and always something to anticipate doing,” he says. Academic pressure also plays a role in his daily stress; being expected to perform at the highest aptitude, along with other ROTC members, gets him desired higher rank in addition to the satisfaction of good grades.

Up to a certain point, stress is natural. Without it, life would be boring and not a lot would get done. Stress is a short-term physiological tension and added mental alertness that subsides when the challenge has been met, enabling you to relax and move on to something new. When a person isn’t able to return to a more relaxed state, then the stress becomes unconstructive. Glenn Hirsch, the University of Minnesota’s interim director of Counseling and Consulting Services and licensed psychologist said that between the eighth and ninth week of every semester there’s a drastic spike in students seeking counseling services. “This of course is due primarily to the often overwhelming exam period,” he says.

Results of negative stress can be both physical and psychological, they include irritable or anxious feelings, forgetfulness, difficulty concentrating, headaches, tooth grinding, and insomnia. Hirsch explains that everyone experiences stress differently. “It can be a facilitating factor for some and more interference for others,” he says.

For Efinger, stress is motivational. “I feel more accomplished when I’m stressed about things, if I don’t have a lot to do I start to get bored and look for things to do,” he explains. He goes on to say that when a task is completed he experiences a “sigh of relief and feeling of achievement.”

On the other hand, Sarah Meade, pharmacy major, explains that several four-hour-long labs, lectures, lack of free time is starting to get to her. She shows her bitten fingernails to prove it. “A nasty habit I have,” she says. Finding time to relax on the weekends, hanging out with her roommates and swimming during the week “keeps me sane,” she says.

The University of Minnesota’s Student Health Survey found that significant stressors for students on campus include: serious physical illness, death of someone close, ending of a long personal relationship, excessive credit card debt, and failing a class.

A recurring cause of stress seen on campus by Hirsch is work overload with students who hold outside jobs while being full-time students. “[Students] figure it’ll be fine if they pick up more hours at work until they realize how much time their schoolwork requires,” Hirsch says. Emily Widen, a family and social science major can relate to her job interfering with her academics. “I wake up twice a week at 5 a.m. and don’t get home again until after 7 p.m. I end up being tired all day and sometimes put homework aside so I can catch a nap …it’s probably not the most responsible strategy but I make it work,” she says. Hirsch emphasized that the work that is done outside the classroom for the average amount of credits is equal to the amount of time one puts into a full-time job. “If you have both, it’s literally like having two full-time jobs,” Hirsch says.

Hirsch explains that there are two kinds of stress to be aware of: combative and preventative. Combative stress is acknowledged once you’ve become stressed and take active steps to get back to “normal.” Preventative stress includes actions taken to prevent stress from becoming overwhelming. “It involves primarily time management,” Hirsch says. “Most people don’t function at their best for extensive lengths of time. After two hours or so their attention span lessens and continues to lessen more the longer they [work]; they get more and more easily distracted.” He recommends preventing this “diminishing hours” effect by anticipating the time it’ll take to work on something and allowing for short breaks.

The U of M’s Boynton web site lists numerous techniques for coping with stress. Strategies included: going for a walk, exercising, taking a short nap, taking time to be alone or with friends, eating healthy, or doing something you enjoy. Hirsch says that students should particularly avoid doing things that are bad for them even though they may be tempting. “Typically when a person is stressed they’ll be drawn to do things that will make them more stressed,” he said. Examples include using nicotine, consuming alcohol or drinking lots of coffee to stay up for late night cram sessions. Hangovers and sleeplessness are in no way helpful to eliminating stress.

No matter how bad you’re stressing out, try to find something relaxing. For ideas, visit the University Counseling and Consulting Services’ webpage at http://www.uccs.umn.edu.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. Zakia Deli, a Lebanese-American joint on Kennedy St. and Stinson Blvd, presents food far from my 7th grade stereotype.

Lebanese food is similar to other traditional Mediterranean cuisine; there are olives, vegetarian dishes, cheeses, and various spiced meats. Additionally, because of its history of foreign rule and invasions, there are subtle Middle Eastern influences in many of the offerings. The American element to Zakia Deli is the, well, deli. One of the features of the restaurant’s menu is a build your own sandwich bar for $3.99 (there are loads of different possible combinations.)

The menu features multiple daily specials and permanent specialty sandwich menu items. Some of the mainstays are falafel, gyros, and kibbi, which is a sort of cross between falafel and gyro meat. I ordered a “Kafta Meatball” specialty sandwich for just under $6.00. Wrapped in thin grilled pita bread, the seasoned meat was dressed with onions and parsley, and laid over a thin layer of mild hummus. For the price, it was incredibly filling and hit the spot perfectly.

No matter what your taste is, Zakia Deli most likely has something to satisfy you. And for the price, few restaurants in the area compare.

Overall 8.5/10

College freshmen tend to bring something familiar along with them to campus, to keep in touch with their roots. Some people bring favorite movies or a warm pair of slippers. Travis Lee brought hip-hop. In the 1980s, the University of Minnesota was an important place in the Twin Cities’ budding hip-hop scene for Lee and others.

In 1981, the young Brooklyn native moved to Minnesota to attend his first year of college at the U of M. But it was more than a large metropolis he left behind for the Midwest. Hip- hop culture, including rapping, DJing, breakdancing, and graffiti, had been born in the Bronx half a decade earlier and was an exciting way of life for New York youth. Lee had witnessed record scratching, rap freestyles, and break routines first hand and taken it all in, loving every bit of it.

“I really wanted to do a rap career,” Lee says. “We were just about to sign a contract… But my family said, ‘you ain’t doing that, you going to school.’”

Lee’s uncle, Ollie Shannon, had attended the U of M and played Gopher Men’s Basketball in the early 1970s.So it was that Lee wound up here, a world away from Brooklyn and the music he loved.

When Lee arrived in Minneapolis, he desperately searched for a similar hip-hop culture in the Twin Cities. “I was bored out of my mind,” he laughs.

Though Minneapolitans were partying like it was 1999 to Prince’s funky grooves, hip-hop had not yet penetrated this far into the Midwest. “I thought I was in a time warp when I first arrived,” Lee told Peter Scholtes from City Pages. “New York was maybe 10 years ahead.”

Lee soon realized that if he wanted to have hip-hop in Minnesota, he would have to bring it here himself. Under the stage name DJ Travitron, Lee began traveling around campus with his equipment and playing at parties. But his style wasn’t what University students were used to. “I’d start scratching and people would be like, ‘what the hell are you doing?!’ Cause that was exactly what you weren’t supposed to do to a record!”

As a black kid from Brooklyn, Lee initially found it difficult to blend in at the University of Minnesota. “We felt real isolated as African Americans,” he admits. Lee and his friend Travis Mitchell decided to start a campus organization that would promote the U of M to young black students in the Twin Cities. The Socialites’ main mission, Lee explains, was “to try to integrate the U of M into the greater community.”

Their philosophy was, “if we could make opportunities for young people to come on the campus to see the University, they might be more inclined to go to the University.” Lee insists it was never a mandate. He and Mitchell just wanted a little more cultural diversity.

Lee realized he could combine his two interests and invite area youth to campus while bringing hip-hop to the people. The Socialites hosted the first All High School Throwdown in 1981 at Coffman Union’s Great Hall. Local radio station KMOJ helped promote the event at all area high schools. 700 kids showed up at the event featuring cutting-edge local DJs, breakdancers, and rappers like the TNT Breakout Crew which included Lee, Mitchell, and female MC Sugar Tee.

“A lot of people saw their first rap or scratch routine at Coffman Union in 1981,” Lee boasts. “The walls were sweating. The mics were literally wet,” he reminisces. “It was just incredible.”
With the influence of DJ Travitron’s parties, hip hop’s presence in the Twin Cities spread. “Travitron was the godfather. If you had a party on the night Travitron had a party, then your party wasn’t getting packed,” DJ Disco T said in a City Pages interview.

It wasn’t only students who were attending Lee’s parties. “I could not believe the range of people that came,” he admits, crediting the U of M’s central location for the diverse crowds that came from as far away as Edina.

DJ Travitron also attracted the attention of bigger names. Lee proudly references a prized photo of himself shaking hands with Grandmaster Flash in 1982. In 1983, Jimmy Jam showed up at one of his parties and asked him to play Prince’s new record “1999.” “I was just 19 years old! I couldn’t believe Jimmy Jam was coming to one of my parties!” Lee laughs. When breakdancing hit Minnesota, Lee started The International Breakers, who went on to battle the famous New York group Rock Steady Crew at First Avenue in 1984. As for Lee’s local importance, his work has influenced everyone from Rhymesayers founder Brent Sayers (aka Siddiq) to B-96 DJs.

“I’m the tree that everybody else branched from. I can honestly say that,” Lee claims. He transplanted everything he’d witnessed in New York’s budding hip-hop culture into “the middle of nowhere.”

“Hip-hop was fun, it was new, everybody was into it,” Lee recalls. “It was a fun time. The music was fun, the music was innocent.”

On the surface, Ole Hovde looks like any other university student killing time at a café. Although he’s indoors, he keeps a beanie on his head, perhaps as a way to cope with the constant scrambling that accompanies everyday college life. Resting beside him is a sociology textbook thats been temporarily swapped for the latest issue of The Onion. His concentration is frequently interrupted by text messages on his Blackberry from his friends, family and professors. Yet one thing separates the political science junior from the rest of his college-age peers: he’s the latest student to oppose Rep. Phyllis Kahn for the District 59B seat in the Minnesota House of Representatives.

A tall, blond, modestly-built 21-year-old, Hovde bases his political campaign on a mantra of fiscal responsibility. Like his broad and atonal voice, his approach to taxes is simple and clear: “Don’t spend the money you don’t have.” It’s a plain contrast to Kahn, who’s never opposed a tax increase in her long political tenure.

Kahn, who’s been serving the seat almost twice as long as Hovde has been alive, will prove to be a tough cookie to crumble in this fall’s election. Her closest recent election, against Ben Bowman in 2000, left her with 63 percent of the vote, enough to still be considered a landslide in the world of politics. She has remained highly popular in Minneapolis throughout the years. With multiple Ivy League degrees in science, a pair of thick glasses and a grandmotherly demeanor, Kahn projects an activist image and a legislative agenda that speaks for the University of Minnesota community, along with Prospect Park and portions of the Northeast and Seward neighborhoods. Her various labor and environmental endorsements add to her Mother Jones-like image.

“I do a pretty good job responding to people,” the 71-year-old Kahn says over the phone at 11 p.m. on a Wednesday night. “I’m highly regarded. I’m what people expect their legislator to be.”

By contrast, Hovde is hardly what you’d expect in a political candidate. While Kahn is old enough to retire, Hovde is barely old enough to drink a beer. While Kahn votes in the House, Hovde listens to professors in lecture halls. The differences between their political agendas are about as great as the half-century age gap that separates them. Kahn’s a liberal and Hovde’s a conservative living in her leftist district.

Tuition costs are near the top of Hovde’s campaign issues. Reducing tuition is a major goal, but for now Hovde’s first step it to essentially freeze the costs and have students pay their freshman tuition rates for the rest of their undergraduate years. “Can the U of M be fiscally responsible?” he asks. “I’m sure we can cut programs, I don’t know which ones yet, but I’m sure we can do something.”

When asked about how he’s going to lower or at least freeze tuition, Hovde is blunt in acknowledging he still has to figure that part out and admits he risks looking stupid with no solutions. But he says cost-cutting is the answer and is working with his campaign committee to look at how the university can shave expenses. One thought is to cut the frequency of the campus connector route that connects the school’s East and West banks. “We have that wonderful tunnel,” he says, referring to the enclosed portion of the Washington Avenue foot bridge. “We live in Minnesota – people can walk.”

Another thought is ridding the university of its Driven to Discover PR program, which seeks to make the U of M one of the world’s top three public research universities. Hovde says it has already cost the school $6 million. “If I can see it’s proven to work, I will support it, but so far it hasn’t,” he says.

Hovde is not new to politics. His resume’ includes working for President Bush’s 2004 reelection campaign, interning for Minnesota State Rep. Mike Beard (R – Shakopee), serving as Senior Vice Chair of the College Republicans, and now interning for Collegians for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT). He also owns a small business, “Ole Does Windows,” which cleans local residential and commercial windows. He likes to say he became a conservative when he started his company, but it really dates back to when he was 13 and working his first job at a golf course. His first paycheck deducted $70 worth of taxes. Confused, Hovde asked his dad what was going on.

“He sat me down and explained to me why, without saying anything about his views,” he says. “I knew instantly I didn’t agree with it. When you’re 13, $70 is a lot of money. Hell, when you’re a college student $70 is a lot of money.” Years later, high taxes on his small company would reinforce this viewpoint. He’s been running his window-cleaning business since 2005.

Hovde’s position as a small business owner may win over the trust of some. “He knows how to do payroll taxes,” says Rep. Beard. Beard contends that Hovde has an ability to appeal to taxpayers that is more valuable than what he called Kahn’s academic, “ivory tower” approach to politics. “This job doesn’t require Ph.D.s, it requires connections with people. And when it comes to smarts, Ole’s as sharp as a whip,” he says.

University student and unofficial campaign manager Sean Niemic agrees. “There’s nothing better to do on a Friday night than chat with Ole about the issues,” he says. Niemic, who’s currently overlooking much of the campaign until they have a manager ready, is also passionate about Hovde’s proposal to increase the number of campus police officers. According to Hovde, there are two university cops for every 10,000 students. “It’s going to cost money – I understand that,” Hovde says. “But it’s going to lower crime.”

However, Hovde has a formidable challenge lying ahead. With her constant community appearances, easily recognizable face and inability to lose elections – so far – Kahn’s persistence will be something Hovde can’t afford to ignore. Yet in her long years as a legislator, she hasn’t remained free of controversy. In the past, she has taken positions unpopular among even her DFL counterparts, including co-sponsoring a bill granting non-residents the right to vote and advocating reducing the voting age to 12. “I welcome opposition at any time,” Kahn says. “I hope it means we have a serious debate.”

She doesn’t think the district, where a majority of households make less than $35,000 a year, will support a conservative candidate. “This is a very activist district,” she says. “It expects a legislator who thinks for themselves.” When it comes to supporting tax increases, Kahn’s unapologetic. “My opponents will say I’ve never met a tax I didn’t like,” she says. “But you can’t fund institutions and issues without taxes. If you cut them, it leads to rising tuition and mediocre education.”

Still, Hovde remains optimistic and sees himself as a candidate for the students. “We’re going to take on Kahn one door, one person at a time,” he says. Although still an undergrad, he’s already talking like a career politician. “I’m not in this for the short term,” he says. “There’s a 99 percent chance you’ll see me in 2010 if I don’t win this year. Either way, you’ll see me again.”

Bobby Seale Speaks

The Cedar-Riverside intersection has tons of authentic ethnic restaurants to offer, so what makes K Wok stand above and beyond the others? Well, nothing in particular, except for maybe its towering blue sign that makes it an easy spot to target.

The Vietnamese/Chinese eatery is a family-owned joint that, in the spirit of its Hard Times and Wienery neighbors, dimly resembles a do-it-yourself diner. The décor is a muddled mish-mash of Chinese regalia and out-of-place pieces like a painting of rich white people and wooden monkey statues. The space features two dining areas, one of which is a larger room, and the other seems like a dining car with booths. If you take away the flower-patterned tablecloths and the window drapes you’ve got a 1960s greaser hangout.

While the menus have been noticeably marked on – most meal prices have been written over their old prices with pencil – the owner will never cease to stop refilling a water glass. When he’s not serving, he’ll be sitting down twirling the long mole hair on his face. Running a restaurant takes deep concentration.

The food is fried and greasy, but not the kind of sub-par, over-fried, over-crispy Asian food that is sometimes a hit in this city. I consumed wontons, sesame chicken and fried rice, the last of which was above average. But in general, the food quality is equal to the price. An average meal costs roughly $6 – a fair exchange for curing last night’s hangover. But, if you have the means and the motivation, look elsewhere for your MSG fix.

Overall: 6/10

1813 Riverside Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55455–1034
Phone: (612) 338–4238
M–Th: 11 a.m.—9 p.m.
F: 11 a.m.—10 p.m.
Sat: 12 a.m.—10 p.m.
Sun: CLOSED

As the calendar rolled from February to March a year ago, things looked awfully glum for the Gopher men’s basketball team. Holding a 9-21 record, the Gophers were still adjusting from a mid-season coaching change, and looking towards a very uncertain future.

What a difference a year makes. With new head coach Tubby Smith at the helm, the Gophers have returned to respectability. His Gophers entered this March with a 17-10 record (7-8 in the Big Ten) and as outside contenders for a spot in the NCAA Championship Tournament.

The effect that Smith has had on the fan base has been remarkable. Students are once again filing enthusiastically into Williams Arena for each home game. Judging by the promotions at the games and the t-shirts worn by fans, one might conclude that there are more Tubby Smith fans around campus than Gopher basketball fans.

This is interesting, because Smith really seems like the polar opposite of the University’s other relatively recent high-profile coaching hire, football coach Tim Brewster. Unlike the boisterous and emphatic Brewster, Smith maintains a relatively low profile and keeps to himself for the most part. In post-game interviews, Smith speaks calmly and evenly, and he doesn’t go out of his way to sell fans on his team.

Amanda Mrotek is the Marketing and Promotions chair with the Barnyard Board, a group of students who oversee the student section at Williams Arena (a.k.a. “The Barn”) and plan events and promotions to increase attendance and excitement among the student fan base. Mrotek says that she has noticed a dramatic rise in attendance and enthusiasm among fans compared to last year. She adds that these trends are largely attributable to Smith’s arrival, because the team’s roster is roughly the same as it was last year.

So what is it that has caused people to embrace Smith so fervently?

“His success and his track record in college basketball, I think, got people excited about what he could do for Gopher basketball, and I think he’s proven himself,” Mrotek says of Smith. “The improvement that fans have seen in the same team that they were watching last year is huge, and it’s a lot of fun to watch.”

Indeed, Smith has breathed new life into a group of players that seemed unmotivated at times last season. The 2006-07 team did not have any seniors, so nearly every member of that team (which finished 9-22, 3-13 in the Big Ten) returned this year. A few freshman additions, such as Blake Hoffarber and Al Nolen, have delivered helpful contributions, but it is clear that a fundamental change in coaching philosophy has fueled this program’s dramatic turnaround.

Smith’s immediate results speak for themselves, and he has a recruiting class in place that is currently ranked No. 20 in the nation by the Web site Rivals.com. Smith hasn’t needed fancy words or gimmicks to infuse the fan base with hope. He’s simply carried over the style and skill that brought him success at the University of Kentucky and at the University of Georgia before that.

Judging by the reaction Smith is getting at The Barn, I doubt many fans will be squawking their disapproval.

This is the second installment in a two part article on religion. It was originally going to involve just one student group, Campus Crusade for Christ. However, a trail of misinformation left me with a second to consider. Last issue, I wrote about a Dinkytown house that proclaimed, “Jesus Christ is the Lord of the University of Minnesota.” I also told of a candy-filled table in Coffman Union which led me to the owners of the house. They defended their offensive and blatantly inaccurate claim proudly, casually denigrating campus Muslims in the process.

My association of them with Cru stemmed from two specific experiences. First, I had purchased a swivel chair from that house on the way back from class first semester. The students who sold it to me mentioned their affiliations with Cru, but failed to speak of the five student groups that are actually based out of the house. This belief of Cru being the owners of the “Jesus House” was strengthened at the homecoming parade. My group marched behind a campus minister. He told me of his close ties to the Cru organization, but quickly diverted the subject, later inviting me to stop by “the house.”

My curiosity over the house, coupled with the Coffman incident, led me to several Cru events over the fall semester. I didn’t realize the banner wasn’t their doing, and those Coffman reps weren’t actually Cru affiliates, until after attending all of these events. It went a long ways in clarifying the picture. I was confused at the end of my Cru involvements, because that banner and the antics of the table workers didn’t match up with the Cru mentality I’d witnessed.

Besides that first event, there was hardly a hint of Evangelical activism in their weekly meetings in Wiley 175. And even then it was just in a speech from one of the leaders, though she did urge the members to take more aggressive action in their personal relationships. Despite my misinformed associations, I emerged with a strong impression of the impact Cru has on its members, and the overall function Cru serves on campus. But before I elaborate, let me clarify the banner.

The man whom I met at the parade that day was Johnathan Bislew, an assistant pastor at the Maranatha Christian Church, a.k.a. the “Jesus house.” After we spoke, I told him I wanted to interview him about an article I was writing on Cru. He gave me his email to set up a time for me to, “Stop by the house,” failing to mention that it was actually a church, and he wasn’t involved in Cru.

In Bislew’s online entries, he describes his work on campus for the Maranatha Christian Fellowship. He sets up a weekly table in Coffman and “seeds” the campus with leaflets and flyers, all in hopes of attracting new recruits. His efforts appear largely unsuccessful, as his prayer groups at the Church draw an average of only 5-10 people.

The Maranatha Christian Fellowship is a religious relic, a throwback to the days of unregulated Evangelical scheming. The organization from which Maranatha Christian Fellowship was spawned originally formed back in 1971. Named the Maranatha Campus Christians, it was built on the principle of seeking out the best and brightest at universities across the nation. The plan was to flood the next generation with CEO’s and top politicians who’d be able to turn Christian beliefs into top national priorities. The “Jesus House” continues on in this tradition with its certified credo of, “Confronting the hot issues of abortion, homosexuality, sex outside of marriage,… every day right in the center of university society.”

On his site, Bislew talked about trips that have been made to the war-torn African country of Sudan. He spoke of great relief delivered in the form of Bibles and religious promise, about offering the Sudanese escape from their harsh realities by focusing on a more important eternal reward. This logic is about as sadistic and twisted as George W. Bush’s efforts in Africa. Bush has long advocated abstinence as an answer to the AIDS epidemic. He’s even gone as far as to withhold funding from nations failing to comply in these educational programs. Instead of infusing programs teaching sex education, and offering viable solutions to a continent in overwhelming pain, Bush is attempting to force his religious beliefs on an entire continent. This is another painful example of religion ruling over reality and rationality.

I’m currently doing a semester abroad in London. Over here, the notions of religion influencing politics are laughable. Issues like abstinence and abortion are treated as matters of individual conscience, not as rallying points for Republicans to scare Christian voters into submission. In 2004, 27 million evangelicals voted to re-elect Bush, a 4 to 1 margin forming over a third of his total vote. It was the direct result of a well crafted campaign targeting these voters, and Bush successfully exploited his way into the White House. Which religion a politician chooses to practice, if any at all, is of little concern to voters in England. In fact, if a candidate were to begin suggesting he might let his personal choice of religion influence his policies, his career would be over.

When British students ask me about the American elections, they can’t even begin to wrap their minds around the concept of a leading candidate the likes of Mike Huckabee. Given they’ve been raised in a country where religion is genuinely separate from politics, and Darwin’s face is printed on the currency, I can understand their confusion. Huckabee doesn’t believe in evolution, openly advertises himself as a “Christian leader,” and advocates for the reversal of Roe vs. Wade. He finished second in the republican primaries and still remains a leading candidate for the VP nod. Who would possibly care to elect such a man into office? Well, someone who places more importance on these religious issues than on health care system that works and international relations, which have reached all time lows.

I can tell you one man who might be advocating for Mike Huckabee in his sermons and daily exchanges. It’s our old friend Johnathan Bislew. On his website, Bislew tells a story about a Sudanese student named Both. Both was one of 14 siblings, and the only one to make it out of Sudan. He hadn’t been in the country long when he met Bislew. This was a common trend I noticed in many of Bislew’s accounts. His few success stories usually involved foreign students who had just arrived in the United States, and it makes perfect sense. Who better to recruit? Who better to manipulate than someone who’s new and alone? Bislew writes, with great self-importance, of saving Both from believing what he learned in an anthropology class. Evolution was a foreign concept to Both, and when he met Bislew, he told him that he was staring to understand it. “You can begin to see how the enemy was using the lie of evolution to take his mind captive,” explained Bislew. Is this the kind of guy we want walking around our campus? Declaring our professors to be “enemies,” taking advantage of vulnerable exchange students, “seeding” our beautiful campus with flyers (i.e. littering), and isolating minority groups at every turn.

Maranatha Campus Christians was removed from several campuses for its authoritarian nature and the organization disbanded in 1989. The U of M’s Maranatha Christian Fellowship sued the U of M in 2003 for being forced to sign a discrimination statement required of all U of M student organizations. Maranatha felt that allowing homosexuals to join their group would undermine their ability to spread their anti-homosexual sentiments. They were backed publicly by the Campus Republicans group. They ended up surviving in a settlement which created a narrow loophole, allowing only religious groups to forgo signing the statement.

Despite what Maranatha Christian Fellowship would hope you to believe, they hold few similarities to Campus Crusade for Christ. They’ve got a lot more in common with Brother Jed, and his legion of fire and brimstone fanatics who take the mall each year. They try to downplay the difference by saying they take a more “charismatic” approach to their “spreading of the gospel.” In all actuality, it’s a lot closer to brain washing, as was exemplified in Bislew’s self offered story involving the Sudanese student.

Cru isn’t necessarily in the business of conversion, or at least I was never approached about it at any of the events. It’s mor