The Wake: What got you interested in designing clothes?
Tim & Thom: Our grandpa was a tailor. We’re the youngest ones in the family so we always had to tailor [hand-me-down] clothes to fit us.

W: What are your fall designs like?
T&T: We’re doing more of a fall and winter idea. Using more dense materials and playing around with things. We like more practical clothing.

W: Do you have any upcoming projects?
T&T: We’re doing a lot of custom work, that eats up most of our time. We’re probably going to have a trunk show when our line is complete.

W: What styles do you personally like to wear?
T&T: When we’re working, whatever is most comfortable. We like vests and slacks. That’s most comfortable for us on a regular basis. It’s a nice look for any occasion.

W: What’s your inspiration for your designs?
T&T: Music and environment. We ride bikes a lot and we’re very active so we try to make clothes that are appropriate for people [who are] part of active things. We make normal-wear, not high fashion clothes.

W: Do you think Minneapolis has a unique style?
T&T: Minneapolis culture is relaxed and laid back. I think it’s a huge melting pot and people dress based on their personality, it’s eclectic. It hasn’t refined it’s style yet.

W: What styles do you not like for fall?
T&T: It’s hard to say. I don’t know until I see it. Fashion rules, like don’t wear white shoes after labor day, are getting debunked. People bring out winter clothes too soon. Something we really like though is scarves.

W: What makes your designs special?
T&T: The lines we create are simplified and really detailed. They’re all about cut, colors, and the finished product. We don’t use crazy patterns. What’s nice is we make clothes for more generic body types, not just for size two models.

W: How long have you been designing?
T&T: Officially since 2004. Unofficially since we were young. We would make our friends’ Halloween costumes, then we realized we could actually make money doing it.

W: Are there any designers you look up to?
T&T: Classic American Sportswear designers. I love that esthetic. We’re more inspired by local designers.

You can find their store, You and Me, at 2114B Lyndale Ave S, or on facebook at www.facebook.com/shopyouandme

People in Minnesota seem unhappy with how the sports teams in the state have been losing game after game and failing to win a championship or even anything close to that in the past few years. But Minnesotans are forgetting about one certain team, a team regularly overlooked, solely because it’s women’s team. Yes, I’m talking about the Minnesota Lynx, the number 1 team in the WNBA.

“What?!” “Were number 1?” “I thought we were on a lockout?” “We have a women’s pro basketball team?” These are just some of the reactions I got when I told some of my friends at the U that the Lynx are currently favored to win the championship this year. It seems to me that women in this country are always looked down on physically, particularly in sports.

Let me give a brief history of the Minnesota Lynx for those, which I know are many, who don’t know much about the current team. The Lynx are led by the U’s own Lindsey Whalen (Point Guard), along with Rookie of the Year winner, Maya Moore (Forward), and leading scorer (16.2 points per game) shooting guard Seimone Augustus. The Lynx had the best bench in the WNBA all last season, led by guards Monica Wright and Candice Wiggins. Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve was awarded the Coach of the Year Award for guiding the Lynx to best record in franchise history and in the WNBA Season. Their record (27-7) gave the Lynx home court advantage throughout the WNBA playoffs. After eliminating the San Antonio Silver Stars in three games and sweeping two-time champion Diana Taurasi and the Phoenix Mercury, the Minnesota Lynx will take on All-Star Angel McCoughtry and the Atlanta Dream in the 2011 WNBA Finals. The Dream, who got swept (0-3) in last year’s WNBA Finals to the favored Seattle Storm, are looking for redemption. The Dream has caused upsets to make the Finals by defeating the number one (Indiana Fever) and two (Connecticut Sun) seeds in the Eastern Conference. Home court advantage seems not important to the Dream. By the looks of it, the Dream seems to be the toughest team the Lynx will face in the playoffs even though the Lynx won both games against the Dream in the regular season. The Dream have won two of three road games in the playoffs, therefore we, the fans of Minnesota, must make sure we show our support for the Lynx and show the Dream what home court advantage truly means.

When we think of Minnesota basketball, we see Kevin Love and the Timberwolves, but right now, especially because the NBA Lockout still hasn’t been settled (*sigh*), we should remember that Minnesota basketball is also played by the Minnesota Lynx, a pro basketball women’s team in the women’s version of the NBA, for those who don’t know. The Lynx currently hold the best season record in the WNBA and are the number one seed in the playoffs. Minnesota’s hopes and dreams of winning one of the few championships since 1992 lies in their hands (or paws, really). Our Lynx are the best and they’ve got the record to prove it, but still they’ll have to show it again in the playoffs. With the opportunity the Lynx have been given with their talented roster, this is the biggest chance for Minnesota to show everyone that Minnesota can win championships too.

Let’s take a few minutes to look back in the grand history of Minnesota sports. Minnesota in the 1950’s was the most popular basketball location in the United States, and ever since the departure of George Mikan and the Minneapolis Lakers, the state of Minnesota hasn’t been able to get even a taste of basketball glory. Furthermore, outside of basketball, the state of Minnesota hasn’t won a championship since the Minnesota Twins won the World Series in 1991. Yes, major sports in Minnesota, from basketball, football, baseball and hockey, haven’t been so successful. There were some good times in some of these Minnesota teams, but as of late, all the recent attempts for a championship have ended badly.

The Minnesota Timberwolves have been free-falling in the NBA standings since the departure of Kevin Garnett, who failed to bring a championship to Minnesota after 11 seasons. The Minnesota Twins, who back in 1991 won the World Series, currently are the second worst team in pro baseball and is the worst team in the AL (American League). The Minnesota Vikings have had an inconsistent team since head coach Bud Grant led the Vikings to a Super Bowl win in 1969 and then departed the team in 1983. The 11 year old Minnesota Wild team have yet to win a Stanley Cup, although there were signs of a run in 2008 when the Wild won the Division title, but were quickly ousted in the first round of the playoffs and ever since haven’t been able to win 40 games or more in a single season. Our very own Golden Gophers have been unsuccessful in basketball and football in the past years and even if our hockey team has won the NCAA Championship in 2003, the Gophers haven’t made it back to the finals since 2003.

The Minnesota crowd, in championship poverty, have been cheering and praying that the Wolves would win the NBA Championship in the Garnett era, that the Vikings would win the Super Bowl, that the Twins would win the World Series, or that the Wild would win the Stanley Cup, but none of these male teams have been able to bring championship glory to the state of Minnesota in 20 years. If you would tell a fellow Minnesotan on the street right now that the women would be the one to bring a first championship in 20 years to the state, that person wouldn’t believe it, but they should believe it now. The Minnesota Lynx are on the hunt and are inching closer and closer to that coveted championship. We need to believe (I believe) they can accomplish the task ahead that they will win the WNBA championship, but they need our support and most of all we should not forget that the state of Minnesota has a team to be proud of, the Minnesota Lynx. Don’t forget that name.

To make sure you’re not that guy, we have compiled some of the best events and activities to take part in throughout the Twin Cities this summer. So whether you’re from out of town and need some local insight or you’re in a fight with “awesome activity idea” friend, read up and do something exciting this summer!

DRIVE-IN MOVIE THEATERS

Honestly ask yourself this question: when was the last time you came out of a movie satisfied? I’m sure that you chuckled a little at Your Highness and Hanna was “intense,” but do you really feel you got your $10 worth? Now, I love movies way more than next person and let me tell you this—there is a better way, but it’s only available for a limited time.

The key is drive-in movie theaters! (Yes, they still exist!) And they need you as much as you need them. They provide multiple, newly released movies for less than the price of one at your local AMC. More than that, you get to bring in whatever food you want (grilling, anyone?), watch a movie under the stars, and cozy up to your significant other with as many blankets as you want.

Best Drive-Ins:

Vali-Hi Drive-In, Lake Elmo

(3 movies, $8 per person)

Cottage View Drive-In, Cottage Grove

(2 movies, $8 per person)

MINNESOTA LANDSCAPE ARBORETUM

The University of Minnesota is full of surprises. It’s so gigantic that you can’t possibly know all it has to offer, even after four years. One of the facets of this institution that you should not overlook is the Arboretum.

Located west of Minneapolis in suburban Chaska, this 1,000 acre expanse is everything you could ask for in a perfect picnic location. The different areas vary from woodlands to wetlands to prairie, and with 12.5 miles of trails it would take you an entire day to see it all. Even if it takes you longer than that, who cares? It’s COMPLETELY FREE to U of M students. Try to smell every type of flower, play frisbee in a meadow, race the 10-year-olds there on a field trip through the labyrinth—whatever! Just promise me you won’t take the option of driving through the wildlife. Leave your car in the parking lot. Get your feet dirty.

For more info:

www.arboretum.umn.edu

U of M Students: FREE

Non-Members: $9

Every 3rd Thursday after 4:30 pm:

FREE to everyone

SEA SALT EATERY

Located within the picturesque Minnehaha Park, and conveniently next to a waterfall, the Sea Salt Eatery is the summertime restaurant. I say this because it is not your typical outdoor cafe. Yes, you sometimes have to wait a while to order your food. Yes, it is more expensive than McDonald’s (but from what I’ve heard it’s pretty cheap for people who actually make a decent wage). But none of that matters because it’s summer and it’s nice out and you’re craving fresh seafood. Or at least you better be, because this place has the best. Their menu has everything from catfish po’ boys to clam fries to marlin tacos. So grab a locally-brewed beer or some Sebastian Joe’s ice cream and get in line (Yes! You CAN have dessert before dinner!).

Good to know:

Open April to October

Daily Specials @

www.seasalteatery.wordpress.com

Don’t bring your impatient friend

MOVIES & MUSIC AT LORING PARK

Monday night movies & music at Loring Park has been a staple of summer tradition for years (and provided my first viewing of Cool Hand Luke!), which made their 2010 hiatus crushing for the thousands that flocked to the park, picnic blankets in hand, to dance like crazy and then lay in the grass for a classic film. Fortunately, The Walker and 89.3 The Current are bringing back the event for summer 2011, and will be bringing in live bands and screening films each Monday night in August. Though there has been no word yet as to the lineup or even the theme (which will be announced in May), The Walker has stated that on August 22 they will host a one-night affair that will feature a silent movie accompanied by a live band, harking back to the event’s 1973 roots.

For those of you who are unaware of what has transpired, here’s a recap: small local brew favorite Surly wanted to grow up and build a Target Field of beer, so to speak. The new brewery/restaurant would do all sorts of wonderful things: draw tourists, create jobs, and keep our thirst adequately quenched. The one catch was that by selling their beer on the premises Surly would disrupt the three-tier system of beer distribution (comprised of producers like Surly, distributors, and retailers like bars and liquor stores) already in place, or so the MLBA (Minnesota Licensed Beverage Association) claimed. The MLBA claimed that the proposed complex would give Surly a competitive advantage. If major producers followed suit, then the system would really be on its way to hell in a handbasket. Although the MLBA still opposed the bill, an agreement was made that allowed for construction of the complex (which will lead to taphouses in breweries at more than just Surly) without damaging the three-tiered system.

Despite all this technical speak, there is only one real reason why so many people supported Surly: we love beer. This isn’t shocking news, but its curious that we use the supplemental justifications of job-creation and tourist-attraction, when all we are really saying is “This should be allowed because Surly is awesome and getting a pint at the brewery would be awesome.” Now, I realize that kind of language would be out of place, possibly counterproductive, on the Senate or House floor. Even though the complex will require no state funding, for the government to amend state law genuine political results are necessary. Still, it seems important that we realize our own motives. It’s not as if liking the Surly bill for beer’s sake is so bad. Let’s face it, Minneapolis and St. Paul are beer cities. Summit and Grain Belt are brewed locally, and with a variety of good Wisconsin brews crossing the river it’s safe to say that this is one of the most beer friendly cities in the nation. Hopefully the new legislature will inspire all brewers, from the micro-brewers to you home brewers out there, to take the next step up and make our beer culture even better.

As a former attendee of shows that were held at the venue, I initially sided with the Buffalo location’s reason for being displeased. The Buffalo location was a home to many show-goers of all ages and musical interests. They provided a place for bands to establish themselves and earn a name in the Minnesota music scene. It was also a place where friends were made and kids could listen to their favorite genres of music at a reasonable price.

With the appearance of the new venue, many fans of the Buffalo location felt as if the church was trying to replace the memorable nights that were spent there. Instead of respectfully addressing their issues with the name choice, the fans and owners of the venue lashed out on a juvenile website for the public to see. It was entirely unprofessional and demeaning, but the fans and owners of the Buffalo location began to back down within a few days, sweeping the issue under the rug completely.

According to the director of the Minneapolis Vault, the new venue is confused by the scandal they have unintentionally created in the music scene. The name “The Vault” was selected as a result of a contest that the directors held to choose a name for the conjoined venue and coffeehouse in the basement of the Plymouth Congregational Church. Their space is also much different from the old Buffalo Vault, though both venues have the same drive to support the local music scene; created in an effort to provide a place for kids interested in music to go and enjoy themselves, Their only mission is to provide a “safe, Christian atmosphere where youth can hang out and listen to music” as stated by the director of the venue and also the Reverend of the church, Paula Northwood.

Although there are some obvious similarities between the two venues, there are also some glaring differences. The Minneapolis location is a Christian venue designed for an intimate, musical youth group evening that they hold once a month. It is held in the Plymouth Congregational Church in the Twin Cities. The Buffalo location was not a Christian venue, and held activities much more frequently, and is nearly an hour away from the church in a small, suburban area.

Unfortunately for the Buffalo location, the name of the venue was not copyrighted, leaving the name up for grabs. While the name may hold a bit of a bitter taste in some people’s mouths, but it is a place for kids to hear music, and a place for bands to play, which was the purpose of the former Buffalo location, and purportedly the purpose of any venue. This “scandal” will unquestionably be replaced by something even more juvenile. But instead of contributing to the fire, we should embrace this stride towards Minnesota’s ever-growing music scene by accepting what this new venue has to offer and casting harbored resentments over the name aside.

Ok, ok. I know that you know what the Mississippi river is—most of you probably see it every day! But do you see it as an integral part of life in Minneapolis? Do you interact with it in some form every day? Have you ever waded through a heated pool on the bank while looking out onto the beautiful skyline of our city?

Probably not, but all that is about to change.

On February 10, a winner was announced in the Minneapolis Riverfront Design Competition, an arduous contest involvlans to redesign the way we as a ing pcity, community, and individuals connect with the Mississippi. The area up for redevelopment starts at the Stone Arch Bridge and extends 5.4 miles north to the city limits. The competition, sponsored by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board and the Minneapolis Parks Foundation, outlined these three ideas that our city needs to actively pursue:

- Establish parks as the economic engine for development along the river.

- Knit communities on both sides of the riverfront to and across the river.

- Re-focus Minneapolis and the region toward of the three great rivers of the world.

Design professionals from around the world were invited to submit requests to vie for the job of plan master. Of the 55 teams from five continents that entered, the judging panel selected four teams which showed extreme promise.

These four teams, from Berkeley, Boston, New York City, and Beijing, were each given $30,000 and a little over two months to devise their plans. While that may seem like a lot of money to finance three plans that won’t ever be implemented, that money included travel expenses for the teams to visit Minnesota and learn about the river and the community. Also, these plans needed to be developed as if they were already given the job—each a comprehensive design factoring in a healthy ecosystem, surrounding neighborhoods, short-term and long-term cost, transportation, recreation, the connection of parks to the river, use of existing infrastructure, and community engagement, among many other things. The almost insane amount of work that each team put into their design could easily be seen on their sunken faces when they presented them to the public on January 27 at the Walker Art Center.

Yet, looking past the bags under their eyes, one could see sparks. The proposals were grand, innovative, and exciting, even to people who normally couldn’t care less about nature. The ideas amongst the teams ranged from floating swimming pools, to a light sculpture along the banks, to winding walkways above street level, to a man-made, 60-foot waterfall in a new park on the upper riverfront. Needless to say, I preferred the one with the giant waterfall. In the end, the panel of esteemed judges chose the group from Berkeley: TLS/KVA (or as I like to call them, “Not the Waterfall Team”).

TLS/KVA is comprised of three main parts: Tom Leader Studio, a landscape architecture group from Berkeley; Kennedy & Violich Architecture Ltd., a Boston design firm focused on environmental needs; and 14 supporting firms (nine based in Minnesota).

Their plan, titled RiverFIRST, focuses on four themes: Water, Health, Mobility, and Green Economy. Facets of their plan addressing these themes include natural landscape design, urban agriculture, sustainable public transportation, new bike/ski trails along the river, and clean technology. One of the more interesting parts of the plan described floating islands made up of recycled water bottles which will provide seven acres of protected habitat for migrating birds and endangered wildlife. The entire proposal, including a video showing animations and stills of what the riverfront will look like when the project is finished, is available on the Minneapolis Riverfront Design Competition website.

At this point you probably want to ask questions like:

1) Where is the money for this coming from?

2) When is this going to start/finish?

3) Why is this even happening?

4) Why should I care?

I’ll happily answer all of these.

1) The competition was financed with funds from the Parks and Trails Legacy Fund. The sources of funding for the actual implementation and construction phase have not been established yet, but the most probable include metropolitan regional park funds, Legacy Amendment parks and trails funds, State bonds, watershed district funds, and private sector partnerships.

2) This is taken straight from the official TLS/KVA proposal: “The RIVERFIRST Park proposal is visionary and practical in the 4-5 year time frame and impactful in the 40 year frame of 2050.” This statement is all sorts of vague, from the boastful words to the inclusion of “impactful” which isn’t technically a real word. From their pitch at the Walker Art Center and information from the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, it seems that key elements will be built and started within a relatively short time frame while the larger projects, such as wetland development and new housing, will be fully functional around 2050. That’s still speculation though, as the only established date so far is June 2011 when the Park Board will officially announce the next steps of the project.

3) Because the upper riverfront is in dire need of revitalization. Have you ever walked north along the Mississippi past Plymouth Avenue? Better yet, have you ever walked around the Mills District? You know, the picturesque area by the Guthrie Theater, the Mill City Museum, Gold Medal Park, and Mill Ruins Park? Well that place looked horrible 30 years ago. There was no way you were going to bring your sweetheart on a romantic picnic over there. But this city took action to transform it. Now it is an environmentally friendly place of business, arts, and recreation. That is what will be happening, albeit on a larger scale, to 5.4 miles of the river and surrounding city to the north.

4) BECAUSE THE ENVIRONMENT IS IMPORTANT YOU TECH-ADDICT. NOW STOP GOING ON THE INTERNET SO MUCH AND GO ENJOY NATURE…unless you’re reading this online. Hm. Well, you should finish this article AND THEN GO ROMP AROUND IN THE GRASS NEXT TO THE RIVER OR SOMETHING.

While this whole “river revitalization” thing sounds super neat and all that, it is a lot more complex than building a couple jungle gyms next to the Mississippi. Despite all the progress I’ve witnessed so far, I’m still not sure if this will end up being a revolutionary endeavor or just another failed idealist concept. I hope for the former.

Based on the report, China is the leading country of origin for international students studying at the University of Minnesota. There were 1,699 Chinese students at the U of M in 2010, and this figure does not include students from Hong Kong and Taiwan. India and South Korea are close behind in representation at the U.

International Student and Scholar Service (ISSS), is an office dedicated to serving all the international students and scholars at the University of Minnesota, helping them to transition to American culture, achieve academic goals, and get involved in university communities.

Facing the pressure of serving such a large number of international students and scholars, Kay Thomas, a director at ISSS, said that they are up to the challenge, and feel confident that the office will become a home for all the international students and scholars at the University of Minnesota.

When it comes to the challenges ISSS faced in 2010, Thomas said that it was the financial crisis that impacted them the most, keeping them from hiring new people. “However, we have already resolved this problem in another way, which proves to be a win-win,” she said in the interview, “we go hand in hand with Comparative and International Development Education (CIDE) program. The related major international graduate students can do consulting and administration work in ISSS. This on one hand relieves the pressure we face to hire new staff, and on the other hand, provides some international graduates valuable experience in consulting, administration and other fields. Some students are also able to volunteer for ISSS and earn credits in their courses.”

In addition, ISSS provides many interesting and meaningful activities for international students and scholars to get them involved in university communities, such as the “Small World Coffee Hour” and buddy program, as well as workshops where international students can gain practical work experience. In the “Small World Coffee Hour” and International Buddy Program, international students can make friends with each other, find their “fellow-townsman,” and learn American custom and culture.

ISSS also provides workshops for international students to gain valuable work experience. Different from CIDE program, this workshop offers Curricular Practical Training (CPT) and Optional Practical Training (OPT). These two training programs provide work authorizations, which allow students to work in a job directly related to the student’s major area of study before the degree is completed. Students who finish the application and meet the requirements can get trained for free and work for ISSS. As Thomas said, these programs are essential for students, especially international students, who have no related work experience and want to find a job after graduation.

In order to better serve prospective international students, ISSS has a special team called International Ambassadors Program. It is aimed at assisting prospective international students in application, program introduction, living and studying. Ambassadors post their blogs bi-weekly and answer questions at any time for prospective international students around the world. Ambassadors usually hold bi-weekly meeting in their tenure to talk about how to better serve prospective international students.

Serving international students and scholars is the main purpose of ISSS, and ISSS plays its part as a bridge connecting international students and scholars in the world to the University of Minnesota. When asked about plans and expectations for 2011, Thomas “hopes it would be successful for ISSS to expand their programs, including short-term programs as well as cross-culture communities.” She also expects that ISSS will receive sufficient financial support to enlarge their office space. Hopefully these hopes are realized and the University of Minnesota continues to attract, and provide a community for, students from around the globe.

Two such indications have been talked about quite a lot, but are at first glance the least obvious signs of the end-time. I’m talking about Tim Pawlenty and Michele Bachmann running for president (though hopefully not on the same ticket). There have always been crazy people running for president (and governor: Fancy Ray I’m looking at you), but the fact that the public takes these particular candidates seriously can point to nothing short of the deterioration of society.

Tim Pawlenty has openly made up “facts,” one of many instances being in an Op-Ed article for the Wall Street Journal back in early December, which was proved rife with fabrications by PolitiFact. Unfortunately people don’t seem to care about that sort of thing. During his recent appearance on “The View,” audience members thought he seemed like a really nice guy, some even stating, “He’s got my vote,” according to a report by the Star Tribune.

Then there is Michelle Bachmann, the subject of countless “Top 10 Craziest Quotes” lists, of which my favorite is this 2009 classic: “I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out then under another Democrat president Jimmy Carter. And I’m not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it’s an interesting coincidence.” There is so much wrong with that quote that I don’t even need to comment on it. So we have a liar and an insane person vying for the head of one of the most powerful countries in the world. And you doubted the 2012 theory.

Then there was the December 12 Metrodome collapse. Though it had been 24 years since any major damage to the roof has been reported and no similar collapse has occurred in its existence, people seem relatively calm about the whole predicament. The people in charge come up with how much it will cost to repair, plans start forming, and everyone forgets all about it. People are forgetting that in every end-of-the-world scenario landmark sports stadiums are always the first to go. Think about this—the Metrodome’s roof is 10 acres in area, according to the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission website, and snow took it down. Only weather nearing apocalypse-status could produce that kind of snowfall, and you can bet a year from now that Metrodome will be out of commission once again.

Popular 2012 predictions tend to include drastic changes in weather patterns that cause the oceans to encroach onto continents, or Texas-sized meteors crashing into Earth. The signs as of this moment, however, point towards a mutant takeover, the first appearance of which is scheduled for summer 2011, thanks to a November sewage spill into Lake Minnetonka.

According to Fox 9 News, in early November an estimated 150,000 gallons of raw sewage leaked into one of Minnesota’s most popular lakes. With the clean-up crew unable to extract it and the lake freezing over in December, that toxic sludge is now undoubtedly transforming the once docile lake creatures into disgusting, flesh-eating monsters. Come the beginning of swimsuit season, Lake Minnetonka is going to look like 2010’s 3D horror Pirahna.

Not going anywhere near the lake this year? You’re still in danger, and from something much more frightening than disfigured bass, as the Minnesota ban on new nuclear power plants is on its way to being repealed. With new nuclear power comes nuclear waste, and with nuclear waste comes human exposure and mutation. With all things considered, those mutations will lead to beings more akin to Sloth from The Goonies rather than the X-Men, obviously with a taste for human flesh.

There is always good news and bad news. This time, the bad news is that 23 months from now we’ll all be dead. The good news is that you now know and have 23 months left to complete your bucket list and party as much as you possibly can. Go!

The treaty goes a step further than the Moscow Treaty of 2002, which lowered the total number of U.S. warheads from about 11,000 to today’s level of about 5,000. That treaty built off 1991’s START I, which lowered the number of warheads between Russia and the U.S. from about 50,000 to 20,000—about 10k each.

For the sake of partisan venting, it should be noted that when compared to Bush Jr. and Sr.’s treaties, the efforts spent by Senate Republicans and the goons at the Heritage Foundation to derail this modest treaty is empirical proof that “the opposition” will oppose anything with so much as Obama’s fingerprints—even if that means rejecting military consensus or their own precedent.

But now that the deal is sealed, it begs the question, what will happen to these discounted weapons of mass destruction? Back to where they came from, of course. Not anytime soon, mind you—sure, they’ll take out the batteries—but these newly discarded weapons will probably wait in storage for many years to come, until we’ve finished cleaning up after the cold war arms race.

There haven’t been any new nuclear weapons built since 1989. Since then, American production facilities have been tasked with various research and design projects, or in the case of the Pantex plant in Amarillo, Texas, disassembly. Since the early 90s, the Pantex plant has been tasked with piece-by-piece disarmament in their many concrete bunkers; removing explosives and their highly enriched uranium metal components from strategic and tactical nuclear missiles. The radioactive warhead components are reduced to metal shavings which are then melted and filtered into highly enriched uranium (HEU) after contaminants are chemically removed; the HEU is converted to a gaseous state and cut with low enriched uranium to make a blended low-enriched uranium that is burned as fuel for civil nuclear reactors—mostly those belonging to massive federal utility corporation Tennessee Valley Authority. Now, some bombs use plutonium instead of HEU so until a US nuclear reactor can process its mixed oxide fuel, those will continue to be packaged into lead containers and buried on site.

After the reactor is spent it gets shuffled in with the other 70,000 tons of radioactive waste that the US government isn’t sure what to do with; perhaps it will even end up at Minnesota’s own Prairie Island or Monticello nuclear generating plants—two of the 120 or so temporary domestic storage facilities.

In Russia, they’ve been converting their stockpile to fuel under the Megatons to Megawatts program for years. In fact, nearly half of all the electricity currently generated by US nuclear power comes from uranium that was once part of a Soviet warhead. Back in 1991, with Soviet implosion eminent, the rival countries struck a deal—partially because Russia was broke, partially because the US has never had consistent access to uranium—in which a branch of the Department of Energy (currently the privatized USEC) called U.S. Enrichment Corporation that would, “at very modest cost to the U.S. taxpayer,” essentially buy Soviet warheads in the form of a bulk uranium purchase.

Normally, an American utility company would buy natural uranium from a mining company in “yellowcake” form, and then hand it off to an enrichment company like USEC, paying them to create what will ultimately feed their reactors; under Megatons to Megawatts, USEC acts as only a middleman. In the 1993 agreement USEC paid Tekhsnabeksport (TENEX), the executive agent for Russia, $12 billion for a 20 year supply of HEU blended down in Russia and shipped to Kentucky. Local nuclear reactors then pay USEC for the fuel as if it were their own “yellowcake” uranium which had been enriched. The most recent calculations from US Council on Foreign Relations indicate that the deal has provided US reactors with wildly subsidized fuel—Russia is receiving approximately $72 per kilogram while the estimated 2011 uranium prices place it at an actual value of nearly $175; this is precisely why Russia has no plans to renew this contract when it expires in 2013.

Regardless, Megatons to Megawatts is widely considered a success story in non-proliferation, claiming the disarmament of 20,000 nuclear weapons while laying the critical legal groundwork for efforts to come. Just this January 11, it was confirmed by Moscow and Washington that “Agreement 123” has now come into effect, allowing US companies to sell nuclear materials like reactors and spent fuel rods back to Russia.

Much of the controversy surrounding nuclear power as a viable alternative energy is that uranium, like oil, is finite. Current uranium demands are double the current supply, in part because all the good uranium deposits have been used up. While traditional reserves dwindle, demand is set to explode; China’s new imports alone will gobble up a third of the current market and uranium prices will dramatically rise accordingly. Whether now, or when this price jump occurs, Russia will undoubtedly continue some sort of bombs to fuel exchange—either at much higher prices directly with US utility companies or foreign reactors that can process downblended plutonium, or with the Russia’s own recently opened nuclear fuel bank in Siberia. From the bank, a country with a clean proliferation slate can purchase low-enriched uranium for civilian reactor use. When faced with non-nuclear weapon states with civil nuclear reactors dependent on global uranium reserves for basic electricity, sitting on a nuclear stockpile leftover from the 20^th century may hold resoundingly profitable implications, establishing a whole new dimension of the “military industrial complex.”

Members of the U of M student group Students Organizing for America (SOFA) are facing criminal investigation and potential felony charges in the aftermath of November’s civic holiday. The controversy is centered on illegal voter vouching at University Lutheran Church just off Washington Avenue. Third party vouching is a way of registering on Election Day without proper ID or a bill with one’s current name and address on it. Someone registered at the same precinct must sign an oath claiming that they know that the individual is a resident of the precinct.

Allegedly, several members of SOFA were congregating outside of University Lutheran and pairing up vouchers and individuals that needed to be vouched for. It is unclear whether or not the pairs knew each other; if they did not know each other and the voucher signed the oath, he or she would be in violation of Minnesota state law and face felony charges. Eventually a judge approached a woman from the group and confronted her about the person she was vouching for. The woman said she did not know the individual and was merely doing what SOFA instructed her to do. When attempting to vouch for an unregistered woman, another SOFA member could not give the woman’s correct address and was told by the judge that he would not be allowed to vouch for her. The SOFA member then got into a shouting match with the judge and was literally dragged off the premises. SOFA president Jeb Saelens was present when these events took place but was asked to leave because the state’s 15-person vouching limit had been reached for the day. Saelens declined to comment for the article.

SOFA is a registered University of Minnesota student group that supports the Democratic Party and is “committed to continuing President Obama’s grassroots efforts.” The organization is dedicated to promoting voter education and increasing youth voter turnout rates. The U of M group is merely a branch of the much larger tree, Organizing for America (OFA). OFA was created by Obama just three days into his first term as president. The organization is also dedicated to propelling aspects of Obama’s agenda such as the reformation of the healthcare system and the 2009 stimulus package.

Minnesota is one of only states to allow vouching as a means of on-site registration. The concept is controversial because critics argue that the inevitable chaos at voting sites may foster illegal vouching, as may have been the case at University Lutheran. Supporters argue that vouching is a feasible way to justly increase voter turnout rates. Vouching is perhaps one of the reasons that Minnesota consistently ranks among the top states in voter turnout rates. In 2008, 78 percent of eligible Minnesotans turned out to vote in the presidential election. This was the highest voter turnout among all states.

The supposed vouching fraud incidents of Nov. 2 seem to have been overlooked by the news media. The Minnesota Daily reported on the incident but thus far Fox News is the only major mass media organization to have covered the events. The Star Tribune, Pioneer Press, and other Minnesota news sources all have omitted the events from their daily coverage.

As of right now the cases are under further investigation. A report has been submitted to the Hennepin County’s attorney’s office and the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office but Chief Deputy County Attorney Pat Diamond has yet to speak out regarding the report. Only time will tell if the claims have credibility or if the controversy is directed at just, law-abiding citizens.

Wake file: Students for a Democratic Society.

On Wednesday Nov. 10, 50,000 students gathered in London to protest the government’s proposed tuition raises. Currently, most British university students at public institutions pay just under $5,000. The tuition increases would raise yearly rates to a maximum of about $14,000.

According to the BBC, government ministers have said that their plans offer “a fair deal for students.” When I first read about the proposal, I was shocked for two reasons. The first was because of how drastic the proposed increase was. However, I didn’t feel bad for the students at all. The cost of in-state tuition at the University of Minnesota is comparable to the proposed rate, and often the cheapest option for a four-year degree that Americans have. Our European counterparts have it good when it comes to higher education. A friend of mine from Norway was actually paid to go to school, and in Portugal students generally pay only for their textbooks. As recently as 1997, all British students were offered a free university education.

The second reason I was shocked was because of how many students came out to show their discontent with the government’s handling of its affairs. Imagine 10,000, let alone 50,000, students showing up for an event at the U of M that doesn’t have to do with football!

The last time something even remotely radical happened at our university was back in 2009 at convocation for the class of 2013. I was there (however unwillingly), and witnessed the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) banner drop from the upper deck box seats. Unfortunately, most of the crowd was made up of wide-eyed kids fresh from Faribault or Woodbury with not the slightest clue what the banners were referring to. Even with all of the literature that was dropped from the upper levels onto us incoming freshmen, most people that I talked to later were confused.

Protests do sometimes occur on campus. On Oct. 7 of this year there was a protest against high tuition and worker layoffs, but the gathering of 100 people in front of Northrop Auditorium wasn’t exactly radical. It was but a blip on the radar for the greater university population, and no one cares about another protest out in front of a building. How about a sit-in, at least? Without highly organized coordination and support from groups across campus, we will do nothing of lasting importance at our university. At the same time, we need people to participate in these groups.

Where have all our activists gone? We need to get people agitated again. No one enjoys taking out student loans and paying all the money he or she earns to the university, so why aren’t more people visibly upset? It is because we have become so apathetic that we barely give any struggle a passing glance. But this is our struggle, our university, our future. This isn’t some person on a street corner with a clipboard asking us if we have a minute for starving children or the Boundary Waters.

If unorganized radical student groups with no sense of solidarity cannot help our cause, where else can we turn? Well, we have the Minnesota Student Association (MSA), our student government of sorts that is modeled after our state’s legislature and gets about as much done as a middle school student council. Any resolution that is passed is non-binding, which basically means the MSA has no real power in our university’s system. According to its description on the U of M website, the council’s “principle events and programs include DEF and SEF Grants, the ‘Lend a Hand, Hear the Band’ Concert, Student Concern Forum, the Renter’s Survey, the Renter’s Guide, and community safety walks in addition to other events.” A community safety walk isn’t going to address my issues with tuition, and “Lend a Hand, Hear the Band” isn’t going to affect my disillusionment with the school’s high-paid administration.

With a seemingly exhausted list of ways to produce change on campus, what’s an angry, radical student to do? We can look to Europe and Canada for examples. How did students in London get 50,000 people to show up for a march against the conservative party in power? How did French students coordinate university participation in last month’s nationwide strike? What made for such high student participation in the riot-protests in Greece this past spring? The answer is student unions. What I am talking about is completely different from the University of Minnesota’s own Coffman Union. In Europe or Canada a student union functions more like a labor union, representing a collective student voice that can put pressure on the administration or on the state to give into its demands.

Instead of having a group of people that few people actually voted for play congress with the university president as “student representatives,” the union would be made up of us, your regular run-of-the-mill students. We would make decisions that affect our university life, and then, through direct actions, demand that our voice be heard. Such direct actions could include sit-ins, marches on the president’s office, or university-wide strikes—anything that would make the cash-cushioned regents turn their heads and shake in their robes.

We need to make them understand what we can do together, and eventually they will give in. Bruinink’s regime will end next year, and the presumptive new President Eric Kaler, another old white guy, will take his place. Now is the time to change the direction of the university. It’s time to organize and put some power into our hands.

Given these facts, one would expect the Republicans to immediately start talking up their plans for job growth and stimulating the economy upon taking office. As it turns out, that is not quite the case. Boehner’s “mandate” claim was not about jobs at all; in fact, he claimed the mandate was “for Washington to reduce the size of government.” In other words, he interpreted the election results to mean that Americans wanted government to do even less to promote job growth.

Republicans around the country have rapidly signed on to this baffling misinterpretation of the message from voters. The policies they have put forward almost exclusively work to undermine economic recovery and job creation.

Nationally, they have proposed to cancel what remains of the spending from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (aka the stimulus bill), which has already created or saved as many as 3.3 million jobs and lowered unemployment as much as 1.8 percent according to the Congressional Budget Office. They have spoken out strongly against the bailout of General Motors—in fact, the bailout was one of the events that kicked off the Tea Party movement, which proved to be a major reason Republicans were so successful in 2010.

The only problem is that the GM bailout actually saved over 1 million jobs in 2009, and has saved over 300,000 more this year (and will wind up costing taxpayers almost nothing to boot).

On Nov. 18, House Republicans blocked the extension of unemployment benefits. In addition to being flagrantly uncompassionate and unfair, especially while simultaneously calling for cutting the taxes of the wealthiest Americans, this is poor economic policy. When unemployment insurance was created in 1935 after the Great Depression, it was not to create a nanny state that invited freeloaders to live off the government; instead, it was to sustain demand during economic downturns and periods of high unemployment. Instead of the economy losing a laid-off worker’s entire wage, it would only lose a fraction, and the newly unemployed citizens would immediately put these payouts back into the economy by spending them on necessary goods and services.

Most economists agree that unemployment insurance payouts are one of the most effective ways to stimulate the economy, and a study by the Department of Labor found that extending unemployment benefits in 2008 and 2009 “kept an average of 1.6 million Americans on the job in each quarter” and “lower[ed] the unemployment rate by approximately 1.2 percentage points.” The further extension that House Republicans blocked could save up to 700,000 more jobs.

Incoming Republican governors have also announced plans for massive cuts that will remove demand from the economy and cost jobs. In Wisconsin, the governor-elect, Scott Walker, has promised to cancel a high-speed rail project (funded entirely by the federal government) for which construction has already begun, a measure that will cost jobs in construction, operation, and maintenance of the line, plus detract from the projected economic development around the line—a number that could be in the thousands. He has also promised reduced pay and benefits for state workers. Likewise, Michigan’s Rick Snyder and New Mexico’s Susana Martinez are proposing cutting the state payroll to cover budget deficits. New Jersey governor Chris Christie, elected in 2009, rejected $3 billion in federal money for a rail tunnel project that would have created 6,000 jobs. Florida’s governor-elect Rick Scott has similarly pledged to return $2 billion in federal funds for high-speed rail in his state.

There’s no getting around it: these cuts will cost their states jobs. Complicating the issue is that many Republican gubernatorial candidates will have to solve budget deficits caused by the recession, yet made campaign pledges not to raise taxes. For example, in Ohio, Governor-elect John Kasich will face an $8 billion budget deficit, but said he would not raise taxes to fix it, and would in fact simultaneously eliminate Ohio’s income tax. Balancing an $8 billion dollar deficit with only spending cuts while also making the problem worse with massive tax cuts will suck a huge amount of demand from Ohio’s economy, necessarily costing a significant number of jobs. And any economic help from the tax cuts they propose will have to be offset by even further spending decreases, further lowering demand.

While Republicans talk almost constantly about the need to create jobs, the policies they are pursuing will actually cost jobs and halt economic recovery. They are parroting ideological tenets that are not based in economic reality. Either they are being intellectually dishonest for political purposes in the promotion of their policies or they have a profound misunderstanding of how government and the economy work.

Ironically, Republicans have claimed a popular mandate for these policies, even though their consequences will fall most heavily on the working and middle classes. Indeed, they won the election to a significant number of offices by campaigning on these policies. But they only did so by telling a story about the economy and job creation that the facts simply do not support.

After years of persuasion, City Council finally approved the implementation of a long-term streetcar network. March marked the beginning of a 20 to 50 year plan to rebuild seven streetcar routes in and around the metro area. The metro area already claims an intricate bus system, and plans for the expansion of a light rail are in progress, so a third mode of transportation may seem excessive. The fact that this proposed mode of transportation would be the nostalgia-inducing streetcar seems almost overindulgent. But streetcars today are a far cry from the horse-drawn relics and quaint tourist boxcars that hark back to the 1800s.

In national studies, modern streetcars have proven to draw in 40 percent more riders than busses. The return of the streetcar may be scoffed at for its old-fashioned notions, but ironically, it’s the very simplicity of the “old-fashioned” streetcar that makes it more attractive than the bus. New riders or tourists who worry about climbing onto the wrong bus can have absolute trust that they are taking the correct route on a streetcar. They need only look at the tracks bolted to the ground and pick the direction they want to go. In addition to simplifying travel, the set routes also help to catalyze development in communities around the transportation. A permanent route and high frequency of stops means a more consistent flow of human traffic than the light rail can provide. More than this, it’s the increased environmental efficiency of the streetcar that makes it attractive to Minnesota public transportation planners. Streetcars promise to connect Minneapolis to the neighborhoods and cities around it while staying 95 percent cleaner than diesel buses.

But in a time when money is tight, is the resurrection of ye olde streetcar something worth investing close to $500 million in? Federal funding from grants is allotted to cover half of the cost, but that still leaves much to be accounted for. According to Access Minneapolis, the city’s working plan for transportation reform, the remaining 50 percent of funds would be attained through a 12.5 percent increase in meter fees and a $50 annual surcharge on public and commercial parking spaces for those within the “streetcar benefit zones.”

Though streetcars can provide more consistency and comfort than buses, they can’t promise a faster trip. Streetcars run in the street with normal traffic so there is no way for them to maneuver out of possible backups or traffic jams like buses can. In addition, the streetcar consumes hefty amounts of street space and could elbow out room for bikers and cause congestion on the road.

Minneapolis is already dealing with some loose transportation threads as promised light rails and new bus lanes remain unfinished. The implementation of a streetcar system will mean another “work-in-progress” in the streets of Minneapolis. There’s a feeling of contentment that comes from checking a completed task off a list. It’s a shame city transportation planners can’t seem to experience it.

Mesa Pizza is undoubtedly a staple in the Dinkytown social scene. Its reputation is echoed throughout campus and its validity is vehemently testified to up and down frat row, throughout the mall, in classrooms, East Bank, West Bank—everywhere. Finely tailored to the collegiate lifestyle, Mesa is cheap, open late, and its convenient 4^th street location funnels in a crowd that brings the hooting and hollering of inebriated stress relief.

Raised in Minnesota, I had heard the “oohs” and “ahhs” about Mesa before I had even applied to the U my senior year in high school. My first experience, though recalled foggily at best, left me full and quite content. I remember the unique pizza options and having great difficulty communicating to the staff amidst those folk who had lost all control over the decibel levels of their voices. Nonetheless, I strolled on out of there with a full tummy and only a small dent in my wallet. It wasn’t until I sat down and ate at Mesa on a Tuesday afternoon with a clear head that I began to contemplate Mesa’s prestige status. Upon digesting my third bite of a fresh southwest chicken slice I had an epiphany. I instinctively uttered aloud, “This is a mediocre piece of pizza.”  This statement was met with expressions of disgust, shame, and betrayal on the faces of my friends. I felt as if I had shown up to TCF Bank Stadium decked out head to toe in Wisconsin red (face paint and hair dye included). As I pressed forward with the notion, I was presented with no logical defense of Mesa’s place atop the totem pole. To my friends, Mesa Pizza was the best because Mesa Pizza is the best and that’s the way it is.

Though Mesa’s reputation is mostly derived from hazy, 2 a.m. experiences, it has skillfully infiltrated the minds of sober weekday customers. The greasy, Americanized, oddly topped pieces of pizza seem to be sprinkled with a special ingredient that has allowed Mesa to flourish—nostalgia. Each bite is flavorfully seasoned with subconscious recollections of good, stress-free times. It only costs $3.25 to take a break from studying and taste last weekend, or the weekend before. The pizza itself has come to represent the joys of college nightlife. When stripped of this context, all that’s left is a mediocre piece of pizza. I’m not a big fan of Mesa Pizza.

Later in the year, state prosecutors added charges of conspiracy to commit criminal damage to property in furtherance of terrorism, as well as charges without relation to terrorism. These new charges left the defendants with four felony charges apiece. As a result of outside pressure from the Twin Cities community and various groups around the country, prosecutors removed the charges of terrorism in early 2009. In August 2010, the first defendant accepted a plea bargain agreeing to a single gross misdemeanor charge, and began serving a 91-day jail sentence on Oct. 20.

Later in September the prosecution, due to a lack of supporting evidence, dropped the charges against three of the RNC 8. Before taking the plea agreement last month, the four remaining defendants were scheduled to begin their trial on Oct. 25.

Max Specktor, the youngest of the eight activists, is a University of Minnesota student taking a hiatus from his studies to accommodate the time commitments the trial would have entailed. Specktor, who is active in other groups around the Twin Cities including the MARS Collective and the Jimmy John’s Workers’ Union, has mixed feelings about taking the plea bargain. “On one hand, it would have been nice to be able to make our case in court,” he said, “But on the other hand, I wouldn’t have trusted a jury hearing our case. It wouldn’t have necessarily been a jury of our peers, and probably wouldn’t have been a fair trial.”

As part of his plea agreement, Specktor will be on probation for one year, and is required to complete 100 hours of community service, a task that comes naturally to him. In his pre-sentencing statement, read before the judge on Oct. 19th, Specktor said, “I refuse to sleepwalk through life. Instead, I’ve chosen to celebrate life and fight to defend it. In practice, this means I am an active participant in my community, and work to provide resources to assist in supporting that community. In these hard times, I believe that communities need to learn how to support themselves and I am committed to furthering that goal.”

The other three defendants also made statements at the sentencing, and used the time to make political and social observations about the trial, as well as the current state of the world in general. Nathanael Secor, another member of the RNC 8, told the judge, “The Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office and other cooperating agencies broke down unlocked doors and used violence and threats for the political purpose of repressing activists and agitators working to expose the injustices of colonial wars and environmental destruction.

We are told this is called ‘keeping the peace’ and was done in the name of ‘justice,’ yet when other people find it necessary to go beyond the sanctioned means of protest, they are called ‘terrorists’” He added, “We must seize every opportunity to abolish these institutions of domination. We must be prepared to firmly face the politics of business-as-usual. And we must continue to work for nothing less than full liberation.”

The legacy of the RNC 8 case will most likely hang over the leftist community for a long time to come. As it took place in the Twin Cities, it shook up many people locally, and opened their eyes to the repression of dissent that goes on every day in the United States. It also brought together a strong and committed group of people, the Friends of the RNC 8, to defend the rights of political and social activists. If nothing else, the case has fired up another generation of people drawn to causes of peace and justice. As Max Specktor said in his pre-sentencing statement, “My only hope is that out of this chaos, we can maintain the wisdom and foresight to build the world we wish to see.”

The University’s directory search allows the search for current students, faculty and alumni by their name or Internet ID and can filter by the person’s role or campus location. If no adjustments are made to one’s University account, your information, such as current enrollment semester, email address, internet ID, home or campus address, and phone number, will be publically displayed on the website.

This private information is not exclusive to the web either. The University also publishes a campus directory – committing your information to libraries and alumni dial sheets for your second and third tuition contributions.

Your personal number and address could be in the hands of anyone – including a stalker from a lecture who thought the back of your head looked pretty cute in 2007.

So how do you retreieve this information from the world’s fingertips? It can be difficult to find on the Internet labryinth that is umn.edu – afterall, the University is looking to keep you on those call lists.

The quickest way is to direct your browser to https://webapps-prd.oit.umn.edu/personaldemographics/

Select your campus and using the dropdown menu navigate to your desired page. There are individual pages to change any of your (in)accurate personal information. Though the menu option of primary interest is “Directory Suppression”.

From this page you will be able to select the degree of your suppressed information. There are five options: Suppress only phone numbers, suppress only address, suppress both phone numbers and address, suppress phone numbers, address, and email, or suppress all information.

The last of these options will remove you completely from the directory. If a third-party even wants to know you attend or attended the University of Minnesota, the University must first obtain your address.

Of course, as the website will tell you, the limit of directory suppression will not limit access to your information by authorized individuals (for example: subpoena-holding individuals, the law, and probably any paper-pushing, inspired organization – coughloancollectorscough).

Further, the website will warn you that completely removing your information from the directory may prevent classmates or professors from getting in touch with you for group assignments. With a bit of foresight, this could be easily avoided by getting contact information to and from your professors and classmates on a case-by-case basis.

To check the degree of your personal advertisement go to umn.edu/lookup

The Hello Neighbor project provides volunteers with gift bags for the new members of the community: tote bags stuffed with “Tap Minnesota” water bottles, prepaid calling cards, coupons for nearby businesses, and information about city services.

The goal is to reach 500 new residents in the Minneapolis neighborhoods within the first year of the Hello Neighbor program. Then the city can start thinking about branching out to welcome all new residents to the area. Hello Neighbor is meant to be a “holistic effort to establish a human connection with newly arrived immigrants at an early stage with the hope that new residents will learn about city services and resources, feel a part of the community, connect with civic and neighborhood organizations, and improve their overall quality of life,” according to the Neighborhood and Community Relations department.

Hopefully volunteers heading out this month will start their welcome campaign by shaking off the image the comment boards of the Star Tribune, Pioneer Press, KSTP, and other websites give of immigrants.

On the Star Tribune’s message board under its short article on Hello Neighbor, six of six people “liked” the following comment: “They should include an English dictionary in that care package, as well as a driving manual.”

Another person wrote: “Really? How about including a bus ticket to Chicago, or better yet New York,” and “Can’t we just mail it to them, with their welfare check?”

With that sort of sentiment (and I warn you those are tame comments), it’s no wonder the city of Minneapolis decided to invest in a welcome program.
The Hello Neighbor program got the go-ahead in January 2010, when the city council authorized the Neighborhood and Community Relations department to accept a $100,000 grant from the Bush Foundation for the pilot program.

The beige canvas totes and the distribution materials volunteers will hand out, including the large folder full of city services information, are emblazoned with a blue and green earth and Minneapolis skyline logo designed by student Tousue Vang from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. A blue water design on the back of the tote will be printed with the word “welcome” in English, Oromo, and Somali.

Mayor Rybak’s office, the Neighborhood and Community Relations department, City Council Vice President Robert Liligren, and Council Member Cam Gordon were all involved in the launch of Hello Neighbor.

To get involved in the program, contact Ahmed Muhumud, the Access and Outreach Manager with the Neighborhood and Community Relations department: ahmed.muhumud@ci.minneapolis.mn.us. Or call his office at 612.673.2162.

In the speech, Obama argued that Mark Dayton could strengthen the state’s economy, put people back to work, and save taxpayer dollars by cutting waste and abuse. He spoke of “a brighter future” under a Democrat-led state government, in which new jobs would be created, the economy would improve, and healthcare and education systems would bulk up. “[Obama] stirs up people’s enthusiasm, makes full use of it, and hopes to turn it into Mark Dayton’s vote,” said Kathryn L. Pearson, a Professor in Political Science Department.

Obama’s speech lasted for nearly half an hour, and was punctuated by frequent applause. He stated by analogy that before his administration, the American economy was sluggish, like a car trapped in a ditch; 8 million people lost their jobs, many small businesses went bankrupt, and families couldn’t afford to send their children to college.

The President addressed jobs, economy, school and health—people’s foremost concerns today—making it clear that Obama knows what most people want to hear, and makes use of it to stir up emotions. He convinces people that he is trying hard to “get the car out of the ditch,” and that though it is hard, it is possible, and that Mark Dayton is the only candidate who could “pull the car out” for Minnesota.

When it comes to the influence of Obama’s speech on the upcoming election, his purpose became just to “mobilize the base,” Pearson says. “His speech mainly plays a part in encouraging people who already intend to vote for Mark Dayton, instead of persuading people to change their opinions to vote for Mark Dayton.”

The University of Minnesota was the last rally station in Obama’s cross-country campaign trip. He chose the University to draw more young people into the election, especially given that there are many political activists at the U of M. “Obama inspired many people’s enthusiasm in 2008 for the upcoming election,” Professor Kathryn says. “Among them, were young people. This rally should help Mark Dayton in the elections, as Dayton is too serious to inspire people in the same way that Obama can.”

While Obama may have motivated a few Dayton supporters to actually go out and vote, the election results show that Obama’s speech did not affect students who were already planning on voting for Emmer or Horner.

Until the week before the election, Mark Dayton led Republican opponent Tom Emmer by 7 and 10 percentage points in the governor’s race. In addition, the chance of each candidate winning based on 100,000 simulations with random variation in the local and national political environment conducted before the election showed Mark Dayton at 85.1% while Tom Emmer had 14.9%, according to the Minnesota Independent News Network.

President Obama also visited universities in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Nevada to rally students to vote Democrat. However, in each of these states the Gubernatorial race was either won by the republican candidate or was so close that votes are being recounted. In all but Nevada, the Senate race was also won by the Republican candidate. While many of these election results are still being held up by recounts, these preliminary results illustrate the failure of Obama’s get out the vote campaign for the 2010 elections.

With Dayton leading Emmer by only 9,000 votes on election day, it seems Obama’s rally may not have had the desired effect. In Minnesota this means we are again stuck in a too-familiar recount limbo.

“The Other Hangover” is the real deal. Unlike the typical hangover where you undergo the physical ramifications of extreme drunkenness and debauchery, “The Other Hangover” is characterized by the social aftereffects of getting well and truly drunk.

We have been seeing different aspects of “The Other Hangover” advertising campaign for the past several weeks. There is a billboard in Stadium Village. There are posters hung in bus shelters, residence halls, and student unions. There are sidewalk clings, mirror clings, and coasters in bars and restaurants. There have even been ads in the Minnesota Daily, not to mention the fact that the campaign has been publicized via Facebook and Twitter.

“Before you got wasted, you weren’t known as ‘The Creep’,” says one sign. “’But I was drunk,’ doesn’t repair the friendship,” proclaims another. The posters depict college-age men and women drinking alcohol and behaving in a manner that can only be described as socially inappropriate. One poster features a young woman apparently flashing her peers, much to their astonishment (or in the case of some of the men, to their delight). “Reputations aren’t drunk proof,” the caption says.

Developed by undergraduate advertising students from the University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication, “The Other Hangover” speaks out against binge and high-risk drinking on the university campus. The campaign, which was originally developed for competition in the 2008-2009 National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC), focuses attention on the social consequences of over-drinking, like shame, regret, embarrassment and guilt.

The competition’s sponsor, The Century Council, is a non-profit organization that encourages and promotes responsible drinking habits. After the competition, The Century Council invited the team to apply for a grant totaling $75,000 which could then be used to implement the campaign at the University of Minnesota.

Unlike traditional anti-binge drinking campaigns, “The Other Hangover” does not focus on the negative health effects that accompany binge drinking but instead on the negative effects over-drinking may have on your social life or reputation. Why? According to the project’s co-advisor Michelle Gross, a graduate student at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, research indicates that many college students tend to ignore the consequences binge drinking may have on your health, finding the most serious of these unrealistic and not applicable to themselves.

“For our campaign to be effective, people need to actively regret their actions,” Gross said. That’s all very well and good, but can a campaign like this actually reach students and convince them to stop binge drinking? Even the team members of “The Other Hangover” find this unlikely.

“We recognize that we can’t effectively change everyone’s attitude and behavior during a three-month campaign,” Gross said. What “The Other Hangover” does hope to do is get people talking about binge drinking and in turn thinking about it. In addition, Gross acknowledged that though they hope to reach as many students as possible, the campaign is estimated to reach only about 35 percent of the students on campus.

As well as actually implementing the campaign, the team members of “The Other Hangover” hope to evaluate its effectiveness throughout the course of the fall semester. One way they will be doing this is by performing a longitudinal-style survey, said Gross. For us laypeople, this consists of making observations of the same group of people over time in an attempt to determine causality.

The team surveyed a group of 550 people once before the campaign in an effort to determine their attitude and behavior towards binge drinking and will survey them twice more throughout the course of the semester, said Gross. Gross said they will also be performing before and after surveys which tend to be less biased than the longitudinal method.

Overall the campaign seems to be pretty popular. So popular in fact that many students have actually taken to sequestering campaign materials for their own use. Within in the first two weeks of the campaign several of the campaign’s posters, sidewalk clings, and mirror clings have mysteriously disappeared. Whether or not students are taking them to promote the cause or just as a joke, apparently the stylish ads are well worth the risk.

Clinics and Health Services

While everyone is required to have health insurance to attend the U, that doesn’t mean that the insurance plan makes health care affordable: high co-pays and long waiting lists for appointments are still huge problems for many students.

Boynton Health Service is one resource on campus to consider; from primary care to mental health to urgent care visits, Boynton does it all (as long as you’ve paid your student services fees).

Another service on campus is the University Counseling and Consulting Service. The UCCS offers individual, group, and urgent counseling resources. The UCCS is not only for students experiencing mental health difficulties, but also includes career and academic counseling. Again, these services are included with tuition.

Planned Parenthood is a classic choice for the uninsured or underpaid. With many locations around the city, service fees are charged on a sliding scale. One major plus about PP: free condoms. Red Door Clinic is another clinic in Minneapolis, focusing on HIV awareness in all communities. Red Door operates on donations, and while there are price recommendations for services, no one is turned away if they are unable to pay.

While there are many clinics near campus offering free pregnancy testing (including the coupon offered in the Campus Special coupon book), it is important to be wary of the motives behind the organization: many of these clinics will attempt to persuade women to keep their child or choose adoption, and while these are both valid choices, they will discourage others.

Food

Most importantly, food is required to fuel studying (and partying). But food prices have continued to rise in the past few years, making eating cheap a difficult feat.

Mesa Pizza is a no-brainer choice for quick, cheap, food around campus. Though they recently raised their price per slice by .25 cents, Mesa still beats most of the competition when it comes to price and creativity. Plus, they are open after bar close on weekends.

Hoan Tien Yi

Tucked in a strip mall off of Nicollet Avenue and 28th Street, Hoan Tien Yi is worth the trek. Bahn Mi, vietnamese sandwiches, is the specialty and at $3.50 per full-sized baguette, one could live off Bahn Mi alone. The dining area is usually filled with the sounds of Vietnamese tele-dramas and fresh tea, hot or iced depending on the season, is complementary. While it is a good distance from campus, the huge portions make $3.50 stretch over two meals.

Taco Taxi

Open until 2am weeknights, 3am weekends, this hole in the wall taco joint is what it would look like if Mesa did Mexican. Individual tacos are a mere $1.75 each regardless of filling (they even offer tongue and tripe for that authentic flavor), and delivery is available. When you get sick of pizza, Taco Taxi is the place to call. Be sure to know whether you want your tacos American style (smothered in sour cream and cheese) or Mexican style (classic cilantro and onions only).

Wally’s

While Dinkytown is filled with falafel and gyro options, Wally’s is the best choice of them all. Deluxe falafel sandwiches run under $5 and are stuffed full of falafel, cauliflower, tahini, eggplant and onions. The shawirma and chicken roast on electric spits in the front window, a sure sign that this is the place for gyros. The service is friendly and the music sounds as if it is the Arabic language version of reggatone. Don’t forget the baklava!

Mayday

Looking for somewhere to study, but Espresso Royale too full of Ugg boots and U of M hoodies? Sick of dirty looks from the Hard Times baristas? Mayday is a neighborhood cafe staffed by friendly baristas and talented bakers. A small coffee runs exactly $1, and a huge, cheesy, black bean burrito with chips and salsa is under $5.  Get ready to share your table during busy hours; seating is intensely communal. The one drawback: hours are 6am to 6pm, which doesn’t leave much room for late night studying.

The expansion will be a 140,000 square foot, four-story addition on the massive structure near the McNamara Alumni Center and the proposed Physics and Nanotechnology building, which is yet to receive sufficient funding to begin construction. The Board approved the project less than one year after the opening of the TCF stadium.

The major push for completion of the project seems to come from a sense that the center is not fulfilling its purpose of being social grounds for the community. Research conducted by the U found that people who use the facilities have a higher level of social integration than, presumably, those who do not. As such, the new facility will not only include space for exercise, but also a café, a social lounge, and public toilets.

According to the proposal presented by Vice President Kathleen O’Brien, the new facility will be a closer vision of what “U of M students, staff, and faculty desire and deserve”.

During the same Board of Regents meeting on Wednesday, September 8, O’Brien presented a proposal for the transformation of the Oak Street parking ramp into a campus Bike Center. The board is planning on transforming a current structure rather than building a new one because they are “prioritizing projects that decrease the amount of space and optimizing the use of existing space”.

Another hope for the project is that it will also play a key role in drawing more students to the U, claiming that the addition will be an investment that will “leverage unique regional assets”. One of these unique regional assets, you could say, is the constant construction that happens both on and around campus year round. The scheme dwells heavily on the promise that the facility will bring the University a higher head count that we would not have without it.

For those of you keeping a running total, this means that the University is hoping for approval or beginning construction on, at minimum: The Rec Center, Folwell Hall, the light rail on Washington Avenue, the Oak Street parking ramp, The Physics and Nanotechnology building, Northrop auditorium, the Weismann, and Coffman Union.

Funding for the project will be paid for by a capital enhancement fee assessed to the current students. You can expect to see construction trucks adjacent to the as early as spring 2011 lasting until the end of spring 2013

Opponents of the Rec Center project should be happy to hear that Board is not blind to protests. The edifice will use natural lighting and ventilation to reduce energy consumption and will use pre-existing voltage switchgear to receive its power.

Hardback books usually cost around $25, paperbacks around $15. But even $15 can be a lot for working class readers (or students) to risk on the recommendation of a friend or review—what if you hate the book? The Internet has offered some encouraging solutions. For example, pop-culture essayist Chuck Klosterman has begun offering his essays for download at 99 cents each, mirroring iTunes’ price structure for music. When someone wants to sample Klosterman’s work, he or she can spend 99 cents instead of $15.

Why not apply this price structure to short story and poetry collections? You, the reader, will be more inclined to sample an author’s work on a recommendation; if you like it, you could “complete the book” for the rest of the $9.99. An author might lose whole-book sales at first, but they will be from readers who didn’t actually like her work anyway. To compensate, the author would certainly get more readers to try her work—readers that will pay 99 cents (or more) instead of not buying anything at all and letting the recommendation pass—and as a result may get many “completed book” sales and greater word-of-mouth promotion.

These prices make sense for now: a $9.99 e-book has a similar profit margin to a $25 hardcover book and a much higher potential sales volume. 99 cent stories or essays (and poems around 49 cents, since the typical poetry collection has about twice as many “pieces” as a short story collection) would be much more accessible to casual and less wealthy readers.

One literary magazine, Electric Literature, is making a similar push for more accessible literature. A subscription to the physical magazine costs $32 per year, or $8 per issue—a typical price for a literary magazine, but a psychological barrier for someone who wants to “try” literary fiction or read it casually. However, Electric Literature offers an electronic subscription (as a downloadable PDF file or via e-reader) for half that price. $4 per issue is much more affordable to casual and working class readers.

The bottom line is that cheaper fiction will reach more readers. If, through wider distribution, literary fiction and poetry could take back some cultural space (and the increased sales that come with it), making a living off one’s writing could become realistic for many more writers. More people who want to write would be able to and more people who want to read and think would be able to. And maybe, just maybe, a kid somewhere in America, right in the middle of a Jersey Shore marathon, will turn off his TV, go to a computer or e-reader, find a George Saunders story that a friend recommended, and read that instead.

I first noticed this phenomenon walking to my car with an armful of books I’d purchased at the bookstore. There was a dumpster with its lid off in which a few lone childrens books were visible. Having been blessed with a healthy sized curiosity i poked my head in and began flipping through titles. A Half Price Book employee noticed my interest and gruffly told me that I was intruding on private property. Excuse me? You want to throw away hundreds of books in perfectly good condition, and I’m not allowed to save a few from their fate? Let’s just have a public book burning; the sentiment may not be the same but the disregard for literature is equally abominable.

I returned at the witching hour to browse the discarded books at my leisure. But there was already someone there, rifling through the contents of the garbage can. It was dark, it was eerie, but I had a fire in my belly so I poked my head in. After awkward introductions with the soft-spoken man knee-deep in books who introduced himself as Tom Clancy, I was welcomed to join in the veritable free-for-all. He explained that he comes every once in awhile to browse this free version of a bookstore, to add to his growing collection, all the while naming out titles he thought might interest me. I walked away with an armful of abandoned literature, though Tom Clancy was still busy, seemingly determined to make it to the bottom of the dumpster before trash collection.

The problem with this scenario is not that there are books being discarded, but that they are going to waste and not to bookshelves in bedrooms or libraries. Not that there are free books for the taking, but that it is made illegal to scrounge for literature. What’s up Half Price? We just want to love your abandoned books.

The bus ride to St. Paul really isn’t all that bad, and while mildly confusing, the campus itself is fairly compact and winningly verdant, so what seemed like a potential odyssey on the outset became a rather pleasant jaunt. In the basement of this lab of Meat Science there is a veritable maze of hallways, walk-in-refrigerators and laboratories where actual mad science is being practiced, beakers and all. Once you’ve navigated the labyrinth you might meet Jodi Nelson, the Senior Lab Services Coordinator for the Dairy Salesroom. A genial woman with an office oddly stuffed full of gourmet rootbeer, test tubes, and various other snack foods, Nelson occasionally raises her voice to get confirmation from a coworker across the room on the historical accuracy of the facts she’s giving me.

By consensus, it was divined that the Dairy Salesroom was opened some time between 1958 and 1960 and serves as a way to sell off the projects of students in the dubiously named “Ice Cream Class” and “Cheesemaking Class.” For a CLA student, it’s rather difficult for me to imagine my final grade for a term hinging on my professor’s taste in vanilla, but I suspended a bit of disbelief and soldiered on.

Apparently, the department is awash with student-produced dairy product, and thus can afford to sell high-quality goods for discount prices, with the aforementioned kicker of only being open for two hours on a Wednesday every week. This, of course, leads to a line.

All sorts of people begin to queue up at roughly 2:45 outside the salesroom: older professionals, neighborhood residents, students and staff. Those in the line chat amongst themselves about favorite flavors and stories of how they discovered this little gem and when the doors finally open at 3 p.m. the line gently but firmly presses inward. The Salesoom itself is about the size of triple-dorm room, with a small table of free samples. The Housemade Chili Cheese M’s were delectably salty, something akin to what Fritos would be like if mom made ‘em. The “Brick” cheese was pleasantly sour and creamy, with a perfect soft, pop-able texture. The New World Bleu spread (one of the top sellers, according to Nelson) was a classic of the genre, tangy without being overwhelming while deliciously pungent.

I selected a few small chunks of cheese from behind the counter (assisted by Nelson herself) from a large variety of types and sizes, eventually settling on Feta, Colby Jack and Gruyere. The Dairy Salesroom will often sell small chunks of cheese, the size that can be finished in one sitting, for $1-2 with the knowledge than many students just drop by for a snack. Against a far wall lie two long refrigerator cases full of a multitude of ice cream flavors. My bewildered companion and I finally settled on “Black Raspberry Xplosion” and “Cookies and Coffee” and approached a couple of student-staffed cashiers to pay surprisingly little.

On our way out we stopped to talk to Kathryn Macziewski, a Retail Merchandise major and Kelly Rinehart, a Food Sciences major, about their ice cream selections. Rinehart’s “White House” (vanilla with Bordeaux Cherries) merited an “8.3 on a scale of 1 to 10,” whilst Macziewski’s Chocolate Peanut-Butter Truffle earned a more succinct “awesome, very good.”

My Cookies and Coffee ice cream promised Oreo chunks that were never realized but was otherwise delightfully rich. What it lacked in coffee flavor was made up for a pleasantly mellow cookie-chocolate mixture. My friend’s Black Raspberry Xplosion fared slightly poorer, earning a 6 out of 10 from her despite its charmingly authentic fruit flavor. The cheeses were all excellent, with the Colby Jack being the standout. The feta, while not made with the traditional goat’s milk, was still musty and delicious. The Gruyere was a study in subtlety, with a dry, nutty flavor that stood nicely next to the powerful tangy Jack.

So perhaps campus foodies who frequently find they’re eating themselves out of rent money have found a new savior in the Dairy Salesroom, a tucked away little secret in the sleepy eastern campus. If they’re smart, they’ll keep the word to themselves, because an opportunity this good will have campus lining up down the block.

New bike trails, more public gardens, higher emission standards, cleaner air, lakes and drinking water. These are just a few of the aspects Minneapolis Greenprint looks at, evaluates and fixes. Minneapolis Greenprint is a project run by the city of Minneapolis to improve and evaluate environmental conditions in the city and to continue to promote green energy. On April 5, Greenprint released its 2010 environmental report at city hall, which outlines through stats and graphs how the city has improved and tried to improve the city in a green fashion over 2009 and the last five years.

“Our environmental efforts go beyond the borders of this city,” says Greenprint project coordinator June Mathiowetz. Mathiowetz says the project started five years ago when the mayor and city council wanted to develop a community environment project to measure certain aspects of the quality of outdoors in Minneapolis.

The effort, funded by taxpayers, has required a large staff to track dozens of environmental standards in the city.

From where the city was five years ago to now, Greenprint has made big changes and advancements in certain aspects of the city. Minneapolis is the only city in the country to now accept electronics free of charge for curbside pickup, which promotes cleaner ways to dispose of some hazardous materials. According to the report, 800 tons of electronics were picked up in 2009.

The city dealt with heavy rainfall complaints where if flooding occurred, causing septic systems to possibly back up, water could become polluted. Through the project the city has done extensive work to make sure when there are heavy rainfalls the impact is minimal. They have also rapidly expanded the number of rain gardens in the city.

To promote cleaner air and reduce carbon emissions the city began the Northstar commuter rail, which was actually a direct impact of findings by Greenprint. The city increased its number of hybrid vehicles by 9 percent. The big improvement the city has seen is through their promotion of bicycling. According to the report since 2000 the total miles of bikeways in the city has increased by 34 percent. Now Minneapolis has been rated the number one city for the percentage of people who ride their bikes to work.

The number of bicyclists in Minneapolis is 20 times higher than the national average. University of Minnesota student and cyclist Nicole Muenchow says she is not surprised by the findings because the city does a great job in adding bike lanes and promoting less driving. “I’ve noticed that more and more people are biking to school, work or wherever. Now all types of residents seem to be out on their bikes and not just in fair weather.”

Greenprint has also been working with the U of M for its research. They don’t have the funding or staff to do most of the background research for many areas, so the researchers at the university provide the city with much of that information. They also work with them on the development of local food and compost projects.

Council Member Diane Hofstede was impressed by the findings. “This is a remarkable report. We have made incredible strides,” Hofstede says. “Now people can see how dedicated we are to alternative methods of transportation and energy.”

The report did find some failures. The Emerald Ash Borer is causing a losing battle against the city’s tree population and around the state. The city has to cut down trees faster than they can plant them, and it is hard to replace the canopy of one mature tree when multiple little ones need to be planted to replace its impact. There have also been issues with getting residents motivated and able to purchase solar energy for their homes. There was also a dip in regional transit ridership, possibly due to new higher costs.

Greenprint has bold visions for their future. They plan on increasing bikeways from 123 miles to 178 by 2015. They are working hard to retain the 148 green businesses in Minneapolis and vastly increase that number. They want to continue to promote local farmers while protecting the land they are using. They plan on encouraging homeowners to plant their own gardens, trees, and reduce carbon emissions inside their homes.

“We have to give the people the information they need to make an impact,” Mathiowetz says.
The environmental report is now available to pick up in city hall, and much of the information is placed online as well.

While currently one of the restaurants affected by the fire, Heidi’s, plans to reopen in the near future, no one knows whether it will be in the same location, or some far flung suburb where their insurance settlement will afford them a snazzier location and clientele.

The situation is reminiscent of the time when a tornado ripped down Park Avenue in the early 80s, destroying mansion after mansion and forcing hundreds of white people to flee to the suburbs. At this time, the suburbs included the furthest reaches of what is now South Minneapolis, and so the white people only had to go so far to settle in what is now Linden Hills and the surrounding area. And so Heidi’s was set up for success, surrounded by gourmet-food-hungry white people whose old gigantic homes had recently been destroyed and were now replaced with even bigger homes paid for by insurance money.

But then came the fire; we didn’t light it, but we tried to fight it. The destruction was massive; four separate businesses were brought to their knees by this fiery force. While currently none of the affected businesses have publicly announced their plans to abandon this neighborhood for the promise of the good life in the suburbs, slowly but surely these once-local businesses will move their way out of their once-posh, toeing the line between urban and suburban neighborhood.

Already, the future is clear. Heidi’s and Blackbird will make their way further south, into the nearest reaches of Edina, and settle back into their swanky new digs and continue to flourish. Patina and its local goods store will cut its losses and move on with their three other metro locations, and possibly open a fourth in the Galleria near Southdale. This location would be perfect to reach its bourgeois clientele that live near the city, but not too close.

But what will take over this now-vacant space? My best guess is two mini-marts, both supplied with Halal meats, a botanica, and a Super America. Half of the residents of the neighborhood will be scared off by the very idea of Halal meats, with another quarter of the residents annoyed by all the “illegals” frequenting the botanica. The Super America will be put in only to add insult to injury; it will be easier for the youth of the neighborhood to buy their American Spirits and fill up their mom’s Volvos.

Soon there will be for-sale signs on every house in the neighborhood, and they will quickly fall into disrepair, seeing as the families who once lived in those homes will choose to cut their losses and move right in to their new suburban digs before their old homes have even sold. Houses will be broken into for their copper pipes, and accidental home explosions from accidentally cutting the gas lines while scrapping will become rampant. But the residents who used to run this neighborhood will have forgotten about this place by now, this place that was once their home has now become unrecognizable to them. They will vaguely recall their first homes in such a grandiose neighborhood while sipping their wine at Heidi’s new location on 50th Street and France Avenue.

by Zach McCormic

So, like most of you, I was shocked, appalled, angry, scared, disgusted, aroused and hungry when I heard the news via Twitter update that the block that contained the Malt Shop, Patina, Blackbird and Heidi’s had effectively burned to the ground on Feb. 18th. As a longtime Southwest Minneapolis resident (I grew up less than 6 blocks away), the news hit me pretty hard. Bryant and 50th, the stricken intersection, was quickly becoming the tastiest spot in all of Southwest, with the twin upstart cafés Blackbird and Heidi’s cranking out award winning cuisine, and neighborhood favorite The Malt Shop serving as an excellent cheap greasy-spoon alternative with serious ice-cream slinging skills to back up the salt. I remember countless times taking bike rides with my friends around the neighborhood and finishing it all up with what could very well be god’s own recipe for Hot Fudge Banana shake.

Stewart Woodman, owner of Heidi’s, was quickly becoming a jewel of the Minneapolis foodie scene. With a nomination for the James Beard Award under his belt for his work at the celebrated Levain, Woodman’s homey little café named after his wife was a racking up awards like nobody’s business. The Blackbird Café next door had the distinction of being one of Mayor R.T. Rybak’s favorite places in town to eat, and even Patina next door had an amusing array of nick-knacks and gifts for the garden party set.

Neighborhood residents can take some solace in the fact that The Malt Shop, in an adjoining building, was only lightly damaged by the fire and therefore will probably keep on serving shakes as the city crumbles around it. For the rest of the block, through the wonderful machinations of property insurance, the losses will likely be at least partially reinstated. Patina, a chain, still stands strong, with several other locations for you to purchase your ornate bird-feeders at. For Heidi’s and Blackbird things aren’t so rosy though. As a restaurant, they don’t really have Internet sales to fall back on or really any other way of making money while they wait for their space to be reopened. They live or die on the money they make in the kitchen. But fear not, southwest residents and friends: there is good news coming for prized cafes.

As often happens when tragedy strikes a beloved business, the charity and goodwill of the entire neighborhood is shining down on our stricken chefs. Donations have poured in from concerned citizens along with gifts of flowers and very thoughtful cards bought from another Patina location. A mysterious benefactor donated a hefty sum, cryptically signing the sizeable check with the words “your favorite crowd-surfer,”just days after the crisis, a fleet of Toyota Priuses converged on the intersection of 50th and Bryant, and a silent vigil was held. A neighborhood task force is being mobilized to take decisive action to aid the area’s businesses, as soon as they finish voting on a committee leader. So fear not Southwest foodie and let it echo from Washburn High, from the bottom of Minnehaha creek to the top of the Watertower, loud enough to hear in Edina: 50th and Bryant will live again!

“The idea is to bring about awareness and give students a public face of Islam, rather than the negative portrayal they often see in the media,” Mohammed Hanif, the vice president of Al-Madinah says. Blame can reside with the mainstream media for a distinct lack of nuance in its coverage of Muslims or a variety of other parties, but the fact of the matter is that most Americans just don’t see much of the human face of Islam, which is something that Hanif and the Al-Madinah Cultural Center are actively working to change. According to Hanif, the event was a smashing success.

Islam Awareness Week featured a variety of events, mostly lectures and panel discussions based around key facets of Islam as well as current events in the Islamic world. Monday featured a lecture on the influential teachings of the Prophet Muhammed as well as a documentary film on the rise of Islam. Lectures on Islam’s contribution to the scientific community and medical ethics in Islam took place on Tuesday. Wednesday saw what Hanif claims to be the one most successful event of the week: an activity on the lawns of Coffman that allowed non-muslim women the chance to wear a hijab (traditional headscarf) for a day. “The hijab and niqab [facial veil] are the most obvious sign that a person is a Muslim,” says Hanif, “Muslim men are able to blend in easier in America since they don’t have to wear it, this activity let non-Muslim women experience the immediate identification that comes with wearing the hijab.”

Hanif cites Thursday’s lecture and discussion on Women in Islam as another popular event. “Our women in Islam event had our best turnout, it’s always a big topic for students,” he says. The often misunderstood and complex issue of women’s role in what, to an outsider, might appear to be an oppressive religion is exactly the kind of gray area Islam Cultural Awareness week seeks to shed light on. Thursday’s other event, a lecture titled “Does Islam Guarantee Human Rights?” also took a loaded topic head on. The week wrapped up with entertainment from local artists and members of Al-Madinah.

Hanif hopes that if U of M students took only one thing away from the week, it would be a better understanding of what Islam actually is, rather than the image American media has created for it. He encourages curious people to “go to the texts” and read the Qur’an for themselves rather than have a third party interpret it for them. Without bandying about clichés like “global citizen,” campaigns like Islam Cultural Awareness Week enrich the U of M, shedding insight and allowing students to have a personal connection with a culture most of us don’t fully understand.

As of March 23, the GAMC was slated for the ax, due to repeated Pawlenty vetoes on bipartisan- supported Democratic renegotiations of the reform bill. Minnesota Health Care Programs include GAMC, MinnesotaCare, and Medical Assistance that provide aid to those who do not qualify for federal assistance. Minnesota Department of Human Services announced the same day that those who were on the GAMC program would still have health care coverage—they would be shifted to another MHCP. Before that date, a mandatory switchover to Transitional MinnesotaCare was in the works for most of those on GAMC. However, MinnesotaCare would have had to expand such that this mandate would only raise costs for patients and providers, and eventually deplete the standing Health Care Access Fund on which it is sustained.

MinnesotaCare carries a monthly premium, mandatory copays and a host of services available under most insurance plans, most notably alcohol and drug treatment, doctor and clinic visits, dental care, immunizations, surgery and prescription drugs. GAMC offers most of the same critical services without mandatory copays or monthly premiums—and so picks up those chronically poor and mentally ill Minnesotans who can’t afford copays and premiums but may need health care even more than MinnesotaCare members. Proponents of GAMC argue it is critical for these downtrodden that GAMC persists in some form.

Erin Murphy, a registered nurse-turned-State Representative and the champion for the continuation of GAMC, was tearful and outspoken on the floor of the Minnesota House. On March 25, Brian Lambert of MinnPost quoted Murphy, who said, “the people who live in the shadows of our society deserve care…and we have made that promise to them…[w]e have said that you still matter to us, and even though we don’t have a lot of money, we are going to make sure that you get the care that you need.” Due to the successful lobbying and bill tweaking of Murphy and her cohorts, Pawlenty was browbeaten into signing a modified GAMC continuation plan on March 26.

Maureen, who didn’t give her last name, is covered by GAMC. She caught wind of the impending closure of the program and raced to get a host of medical tests performed before the understood termination date of April 1, cognizant of the fact that she would be unable to afford the copays and premium of MinnesotaCare. The communications trickling out of the bureaucracy are apparently insufficient; she was unaware that GAMC had been extended.

Budget cuts being what they are, the GAMC is still due for extermination on June 1. It appears, however, that the Transitional MinnesotaCare got the ax that was originally intended for GAMC; a MDHS bulletin on April 1 instructed care providers not to approve Transitional MinnesotaCare beyond that date. GAMC benefits and eligibility criteria remain essentially the same except that a GAMC qualifier is no longer needed for eligibility. Said qualifiers include receipt of General Assistance, payment under Group Residential Housing, obtainment of disability income, homelessness and other institutionalized proofs of poverty. The MDHS states as of this issue’s press that GAMC benefits and acceptance will continue through May 31, at which point an as-yet unrevealed care coordination system will take effect.
If the destitute are to receive medical care, it must be provided with a reasonable understanding of their poverty level. Paul Farmer, a medical anthropologist—and a vocal advocate for an end to the structural violence that continually crushes the poor—writes in Pathologies of Power that “[i]n the name of ‘cost-effectiveness,’ we cut back health benefits to the poor, who are more likely to be sick than the nonpoor.” Erin Murphy witnessed enough structural injustice in her days as an RN that she asserted the necessary humanity on the House floor throughout March and shifted the tides of reform toward more compassionate shores. Murphy, her cohorts, and the rest of us Minnesotans now have the opportunity to affect how humane the outcome of the new care coordination system will be. Given this chance, we can determine whether this system will be adequate for those who may need medical care more than us, and whether it will help to mediate that structural violence that creates and sustains poverty.

Being the second building ever constructed on campus, the building comes with many forms of what the city now determines to be code deficiencies.

The building was first used as a center for the Student Christian Association before hosting a YMCA chapter, Child Welfare and Music Education departments.

After being vacated, the building was placed into a lay-away state in 1997. The building was closed for multiple State Building Code deficiecies, a failing roof system, physical inassecibility, lack of elevator, proximity to the roadway and lead and asbestos-containing materials throughout the building.

The University explored several reuses of the building during its lay-away status, including offers for use outside of the University.

Among these potential uses for the building were: a new Center for Disability Services, renovated classroom or seminar space, a University departmental or student organization office space, rental housing, scholars housing, a unique food service center (restaurant, coffee or snack shop), utility infrastructure or a storage building.

Neccessary restoration work is estimated to cost around $2.9 million. Because of the high expense of rebuilding for accessibility it is more financially feasible for the University to demolish the building.
President Bruininks recommended for the approval of the deconstruction and demolition of the Music Education Building last July 2009.

An Environmental Assessment Worksheet is required to be completed before deconstruction of the building. The worksheet notes certain materials will attempted to be preserved during deconstruction.
Salvageable materials identified in the Environmental Assessment Worksheet, such as the building’s exterior stone carvings, will be protected and stored either for reuse in a future University facility or used in an education or interpreteive setting. The latter of these potential uses will be completed with oversight by the Minnesota Historic Preservation Office.

Outside of indentified salvageable materials (of presumed historical value), all other materials will be salvaged or disposed at the legal responsibiltiy of the selected General Contractor, PCL Construction.
The deconstruction project remains in the environmental assessment stage so no scheduled date or time frame for demolition has been authorized.

Once the building is demolished, however, the University plans to extend East River Parkway vehicular, pedestrian and bike roads and trails to connect with Main Street SE just West of where Music Education now stands. It is hoped that better landscape features will be compatible with these new connections and increase pedestrian and bike traffic through the area.

“From Vices to Verses: A New Era of Hip Hop and Action” is a three-day conference organized by the University of Minnesota student group Voices Merging, along with the Cypher Coalition, Substance, and numerous supporters from the Twin Cities, that is bringing some of the most influential and innovative voices in hip hop culture, including hip hop activist Rosa Clemente, journalist Bakari Kitwana, and spoken-verse poet Marc Bamuthi Joseph. The conference’s completely free weekend is filled with workshops, panels and performances. On April 10, a concert will be given at the Cabooze Club featuring Twin Cities artists like Toki Wright, Maria Isa, PosNoSys, Ill Chemistry, the Tru Ruts Crew with hip-hop legends Dead Prez headlining.

The goal of “From Vices to Verses” is demonstrating how hip hop pedagogy can be used to educate, empower and transform communities. This year’s conference will focus on three major issues in hip hop culture today: feminism and women’s roles in hip hop, hip hop as an agency of unity that is capable of crossing generational, national and cultural boundaries, and hip hop’s transformative and healing powers amongst individuals and communities. Anna Pirsch, co-chair of the Voices Merging student group, is very excited about the conference, saying “it is important because it is the first of its kind in the Twin Cities. It is a true collaboration of over 25 different partnering organizations.”

In Bakari Kitwana’s book The Hip Hop Generation, he says that he wants “the discussion of hip-hop [to go] beyond the music and cultural movement to consider the sociopolitical forces that birthed the generation itself. It [is his] hope that within that more enlightened climate we could find ways to empower our generation and effect positive social change.” This is the goal of the conference, to thoughtfully engage members in the local and global hip hop communities to work toward a stronger future and rejecting stereotypes, while inspiring new modes of social change.

For Pirsch, “the conference will remind us of the change we are capable of making, and it gives us a tangible way to do so.” This event will not only affect the Twin Cities, the Twin Cities’ hip hop community, or the global hip hop community, but it has the potential to transcend all communities—no matter the age, location, academic level, race, or sex—and establish a framework for social activism and sense of community. “From Vices to Verses” will bring an important dialogue to the local community; it is not just calling for change, it is starting the change, going from vices to verses.

Register at http://vicestoverses.com.