The Wake

Think, for a moment, of all the Jewish actors, directors, musicians, comedians, writers and other pop culture icons that you can. Is your brain overloading or are you drawing a blank? A long list should probably come to mind, Rafi Samuels-Schwartz of Hillel says. According to the JCSC Fellow, the context in which pop culture exists is one that was shaped by “Jewishness.”In Hillel’s entrance lounge, Samuels-Schwartz and nine others gathered for a discussion entitled “Just how Jewish are we anyway?” to talk about the influence Jews have had on American culture. “This much,” one student joked, holding his thumb and finger about an inch apart. No serious conclusion was arrived at, but the January 30 conversation made the prevalence of Jews in pop culture easy to see. Take, for example, indie rock. It’s predecessor, …

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The Coffman Memorial Union Theater crowd’s enthusiasm was almost startling. The smiling faces are those of the children and their families from New Orleans who lost nearly everything except each other to Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005. “Children of New Orleans, Still Weathering the Storm” was sponsored by Mercy Corps, New Orleans Center for Creative Arts/Riverfront and Operation REACH, Inc.; each of which are organizations contributing to the rebuilding of New Orleans. The speakers were eleven children sharing the documentary they made during six weeks at Gulfsouth Youth Action Camp. Before the film was screened, a slideshow displayed photos of devastated homes and ruined communities. And it was impossible to ignore the children talking and laughing as the desolate photographs faded in and out in front of them. Their high spirits were admirable, …

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A basement room in Ford Hall was filled with a crowd of people who looked like they would be attending a talk about transgender rights. By this, of course, I mean people like me had gathered to hear Consolidating the Gendered Citizen: Trans Survival, Bureaucratic Power, and the War on Terror, a lecture put on by the Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies Department. The tattooed and pierced and poorly dressed bleeding hearts of the University of Minnesota had shown up full force, and it made me sad that the wrong people were going to hear the right message. It had looked as though there were a few stragglers lured in by the promise of free Diet Coke and Oreos, but other than that we all would’ve heard this a thousand times before and no one’s …

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On Monday, January 22, Associate Professor Erika Lee of History held a lecture and discussion in the Elmer L. Andersen Library on the West Bank about transnational methodologies and how this cultural shift played a vital role in the response to Asian migration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The lecture, called “The ‘Yellow Peril’ in the Americas: A Transnational History of Asian Immigration and Exclusion,” was one of a series of seminars sponsored by the Immigration History Research Center. The seminars are open to all students and, according to Lee, tend to attract a diverse audience—faculty, graduates, and undergrads from various departments including American Studies, History, Geography, and even the Humphrey Institute. Lee talked about the “yellow peril” in conjunction with the idea of transnationalism. Transnationalism refers …

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Thrust into a world of complete independence, we first-year students have reacted in a number of ways. No longer under the watchful eye of our parents and guardians, we were forced to step out of our comfort zones, and into a world of fresh faces and new obstacles. Twelve freshmen were selected through application to document their first semesters as freshman at the University of Minnesota. Through photography and journaling, these students captured this time of personal discovery, uncertainty, and stress. Would they fold under the pressures of increased workload? Could they survive the sheer size and population of the U? Would they achieve more A’s and B’s on their hepatitis reports than on their finals? Only time would tell. Over at the Coffman Art Gallery, I took in the fruit of twelve semesters of …

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Rapson Hall is hosting an art exhibition starting January 16 and running through February 17. Architecture + Graphic Design boasts a collection of work that blends the boundaries between two different disciplines. The exhibition is sponsored by WPA inSeattle. The show is located in the HGA Gallery in the commons outside of the Dean’s office in Room 101. Along the front and back of a long row of panels are brightly colored signs in various shades of primary colors. On theses panels is a compilation of 48 photographs of buildings and structures that demonstrate the work of WPA, Inc. and similar design firms.The phrase “Flexible and Adaptable Permanent and Integrated Democratization of Information” is written across one side of the panels. Twenty-four of the 48 photographs are displayed on this side. Each photo is …

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On the landing of the steps outside the Regis Center for Art, atop a trailer flatbed sits a large, red “A.” Part of the “A Project” by Minnesota artist Peter Haakon Thompson and a component of the current exhibit inside the Katherine E. Nash Gallery this month, the “A” symbolizes a system like that of Scruff McGruff—the Crime Dog and pal—but for artists. Instead of posting a sign in the window to indicate that a house is safe for kids, the idea is for artists and art supporters to display a window sign with the red “A” (provided in the exhibit), in an effort to tighten the connection between and among artists and community.Two years after writing a grant proposal to the University of Minnesota’s Graduate Research Partnership Program, curator Rachel Breen posed questions about …

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The entrance to “Dinkytown Histories: Multiple Stories, Multiple Meanings,” makes it immediately clear that what I am looking at was student-created. A large poster at the front of the room says the exhibit was created by University of Minnesota students in a public history course, but I don’t need to read the sign know that. Scattered about the room are numerous tri-fold posterboards with construction paper slapped on.As I walk around, I can’t help but wonder why the shiny plaques, huge murals and marble pillars displaying works of art that are typical of exhibits and museums are missing.Although what I first noticed was the amateur nature of the exhibit, it didn’t take long before I realized how much work these students put into it. Behind all the posterboard and colored paper is the history of …

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It’s the most controversial plant in existence and a subject with no clear right or wrong. Some believe the topic is completely taboo. Others find it absurd that there is any controversy at all. Your church youth leaders might like you to think of it as poison for both the body and soul, and your school administrators fashion it as the fast track to ruining your life. Ricky Williams thought it was worth walking away from fortunes in the NFL. And one of the’08 presidential front-runners, Barack Obama, is an admitted former user. One set of parents will send you straight to boot camp for coming home with a pair of red eyes and a smoky sweatshirt while another will recognize it as simply a part of growing up. Whatever your opinion, Café Scientifique: The …

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The Wienery
I’ve come to quite appreciate the irony of actually having to use a greasy spoon at this West Bank staple. Really, Al’s Breakfast has nothing on the hole-in-the-wall that is the Wienery, both in terms of grime and quality. While the specialty is obviously the Chicago-style hot dogs, breakfast food is where the Wienery shines—and it’s dirt-cheap, too.Mitch
Stop by Palmer’s and order a “Kool-Aid drink” from Mitch (the bartender with a cancer tattoo on his neck). Get lucky and he may upgrade you to a pint glass free of charge. And while you may fancy yourself quite the boozer, this drink will still probably leave you naked on the St. Paul campus. The Hideously Deformed Hobo Who Occasionally Wears a Paper Bag on His Head
I wish I were joking. While normally …

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Want to jumpstart your career, meet new people, begin networking, boost your confidence, learn a new language or become familiar with a new culture? Those are only some of the benefits listed by those who have studied abroad. “The objective,” American Field Service President Tachi Cazal says, “is to look at the differences in the world, to appreciate [them], to learn to look at the world from a new perspective.” Cazal spoke at a discussion entitled “The Power of International Exchange” at Cowles Auditorium on November 29. “There are so many things that we learn, sometimes without noticing it,” says Austrian Ambassador to the United Nations Gerhard Pfanzelter, who also spoke at the discussion sponsored by the Minnesota International Center, AFS and the Humphrey Institute for Public Affairs. “[Studying abroad] gave me and Tachi the …

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“Energy may be the most important problem of the 21st century,” Regents Professor Lanny Schmidt says to an attentive audience in the Coffman Theater. The chemical engineer says that the United States is in a precarious situation. “We could choke our economy over energy.” “In your kids’ lifetime,” Schmidt goes on, “we got to have made the switch. We better make the switch.” The switch he’s referring to is renewable energy, informing his audience that oil is running out and now is the time to make the transition to realistic practices. “There’s no question about it. We’ve got to be sustainable.” Fortunately for Minnesotans, the state is leading the nation in the exploration and utilization of renewable energies, Schmidt says. “Minnesota is in amazingly good shape.” Some 20 percent of the energy used in the …

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With final exams just around the corner, it can often be difficult for students to adequately prepare for the upcoming holiday season. There is just not enough time to ace all of those exams as well as pick out that perfect gift. With the amount of time consumed with studying for and taking final exams, students tend to only have a small window of opportunity in which to purchase thoughtful gifts and bake loads of holiday treats.Student organizations, Retail Association of Undergraduates (RAU) and Damn it Tastes Good (DITG), are teaming up in an effort to reverse this trend. They are protesting final exams by organizing a walk-out. The walk-out is scheduled to take place at noon, on Thursday, Dec. 14, the first day of finals. In a joint statement released on Monday, the organizations …

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Increasing application numbers and rising tuition costs have the University of Minnesota Twin Cities re-examining their policies on education and graduation.Effective September 2007, all incoming freshmen will finish their education in record time, walking in the graduation procession in May of 2009. The university currently has a 13-credit policy each semester to ensure that its students graduate in four years. This is set to change to a two year goal. This means that all students will have to take 30 credits a semester to graduate with 120 credits.Through extensive research, the university has found that 84 percent of its students do not graduate in the four years allotted. “We are very concerned that our students aren’t taking their education seriously,” Bill McPhee, a member of the University administration, says. “Quite honestly, we think …

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The highly anticipated unveiling of TCF Bank Stadium is set to occur this coming fall in time for the 3009 academic and athletic season.“Sure we’ve had a few setbacks, but the important thing is we’re now on track to reach our goal,” recently unfrozen past University President Bob Bruininks says. His cryogenically preserved body has been in storage since 2018 when he vowed that an on-campus stadium would be achieved within his lifetime.The ostentatious coliseum is reported to be well-worth its staggering $248 billion price tag. Stadium features include: an invisible quasi-dome giving the impression of an open-air environment (the atmospheric carbon monoxide will be filtered by Hyperosmosis™), trampoline-grass turf, 50,000 swivel-chair seating capacity, TCF Bank’s elaborate subterranean vault system and $1 hot dogs. In addition, the stadium will be home to the University of …

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