This long-running debate is even more pertinent to students at our fair university, whose daily travels often take them within a stones’ throw of Riverside. For many U students, the area has long been a source of confusion and target of misguided derision. For those of you just entering the world of higher education here in Minneapolis, I guarantee you it won’t be long before you have to endure a long-winded
description of the many deadly faults of Cedar-Riverside. It will most likely be given by someone who has never spent more than five minutes there. It will most likely grate.

It’s unfortunate that it gets reduced to that, though, because the issue is immensely complex. Cedar-Riverside is an area in flux, an area with real issues relating to its identity and its ability to handle emerging social issues. It’s an area whose faults are often misrepresented by bigots, elitists and the ignorant.

First things first: The Cedar-Riverside neighborhood is triangular-shaped area west of campus with three definitive boundaries: the Mississippi River to the west, Interstate 94 to the south and Interstate 35W to the west. It has long been a cultural center for artists, activists and students and now boasts the city’s largest immigrant population, according the City of Minneapolis’ website.

While the whole “artist/activist haven” torch seems to have been passed to Uptown (at least perceptually) in the past decade or so, that last point has been firmly entrenched in the mainstream perception of the area. Much like dive bars and monster truck arenas, Cedar-Riverside is an area that seems to bring out the worst in people. To wit: I’ve lost count of the number of times that I’ve heard people dismiss it as the “Somali ghetto” or fearfully avoid grocery stores because they’re staffed by people with dark skin. Much of the derision aimed at the area is not at all based in fact but in racist fantasies. These racist fantasies also infuse any incident with an unnecessary sense of gravitas, turning a mere snatch-and-grab into a denunciation of all Somalis, Muslims, Africans, etc.

I guess you could say that I’m tired of people trashing Cedar-Riverside without actually having lived there or even spent time there. It really is an interesting neighborhood that has its fair share of charms. With unique businesses like Mayday Books and the Hard Times Cafe that double as rallying points and performance spaces like The Cedar Cultural Center and Bedlam Theatre, the area has a lot to offer those curious enough to explore it. It also, as I mentioned earlier, is one of the most diverse areas in the city, which is refreshing after being submerged in thinly-veiled mega malls like our Campus or Hennepin Avenue. Given the gentrified nature of most Midwestern cities, I treasure any place that maintains a unique and diverse character in the face of corporate pressure.

That’s not to say that it’s some sort of ethnic wonderland. Cedar-Riverside is a real area with real problems, but simply ignoring them or glossing over the area as “beyond hope” only makes them worse. There are solutions, but the first step is accepting that most assumptions about the area are just plain wrong. Take, for example, the way that many citizens link the influx of east Africans to rising crime. This
perception currently focuses on rumors of Somali gangs roaming the streets of Cedar-Riverside, however, “most Somalis that we’ve arrested for violent crimes in the neighborhood did not live in [Cedar-Riverside], some did not even live in the city,” Luther Krueger, a crime prevention specialist for the Minneapolis Police Department said. This false perception has been problematic since Cedar-Riverside became a destination for the large influx of East African immigrants to the Twin Cities in the 1990s. The number of “Black or African American residents” increased more than 230 percent from 1990 to 2000 according to 2000 Census data, however the perceived crime associated with the group is largely unfounded.

A May 14th Cedar-Riverside public safety meeting also highlighted other issues facing the area. Gang violence, underage drinking and poor police response to recent murders in the area - including Somali teen Abdullahi Abdi and, more recently, Joseph Sodd III – were among the issues discussed, according to The Bridge. The conclusion reached by the end of the meeting was that more communication, collaboration
and education are needed to solve these problems.

Coincidentally, that’s exactly what the student population needs to do: let go of its misperceptions, do some research and take an interest in helping the community that they live in. Sure, you could argue that it’s not your community, but it’s an area that will always be linked to campus by proximity and shared interest.

When things go bad for Cedar-Riverside, things tend to go bad for campus and Dinkytown. Furthermore, it is no longer acceptable for students to live in the comfortable bubble that is campus and refuse to participate in city life. We are citizens first and students second and, as such, it is imperative that we do our part to make our city a better place. We’re paying hilariously large amounts of tuition money to feel like we’re the best and brightest, so why don’t we act like it? (I’ve already written about students and community action and blah blah blah before, so I’ll move on. Interested parties can check our archives online.)

Honestly, though, the main reason that I find myself frustrated with Cedar-Riverside’s bad reputation is not the racist stuff, (which is still awful, mind you, and will never fail to raise my proverbial hackles) but rather that it is causing people to abandon the area. With educated young folks - much like yourself, dear reader – ignoring the area completely, the people who are most likely to engage in community action and protect the area are leaving the fate of this vibrant community to the corporate interests and dispassionate
city planners.

You see, while the area has avoided rapacious commercial interest better than Dinkytown, (God rest her soul) a completely different kind of business has started to invade the area.

Within the past year, both the University of Minnesota and Augsburg College have both expanded their presence in the area in ways that are nothing short of intrusive. It seems like only yesterday I was awoken by the explosive sounds of industry that signaled the imminent arrival of the new Carlson building, the U’s enormous, phallic addition to an already overbearingly phallic building. It’s fitting, though, because it’s completely fucked the whole neighborhood.

Augsburg has done its fair share of damage with their newly built, all-purpose complex staking out a block or so of Riverside. They still have further plans to expand their recreational facilities and add a new center for Science, Business and Religion. When you add this to a proposed parking ramp behind Grandma’s, an expansion to Fairview’s Children’s Hospital and the new Light Rail Transit station to be placed beneath 19th avenue, you have to wonder where people are supposed to live, work, eat, exist, etc. When I remember how my old house was completely blocked out the shadows from Carlson’s new death star, I shudder to think what these new expansions will do to the area.

These projects may seem innocuous, but they pose a very real threat to the human and business traffic that sustains Cedar-Riverside. As the area is invaded by colleges and corporations, there will be less room for people to live and enjoy this great area. When you combine this with the crime problem, things get a lot more serious. My fear is that new development will decrease interest in the area and dehumanize that already struggling businesses and residents who call Cedar-Riverside home. This, in turn, will decrease public support for crime prevention measures and long-term plans to rejuvenate the area.

I don’t want the mainstream misperception of Cedar-Riverside to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. I don’t want this area to become a thinly-veiled ghetto sandwiched between colleges and bus stops. Now is the time for students to take an interest in this area and do what we can to save it. It can be anything from going to meetings and writing letters, to simply taking the time to educate your friends on what this neighborhood really stands for. The moral of this story is that it’s up to us to stop this area from being completely erased by ignorance and negligence. If we don’t stop the deluge, Cedar-Riverside will be a hazy memory buried under parking ramps, college insignias, and empty promises, instead of a part of our shared heritage.

Oscar award-winning documentarian Errol Morris sits down with The Wake to discuss his new documentary on the photos from Abu Ghraib.

WAKE: You must be pretty passionate about the events at Abu Ghraib to have made a documentary like “Standard Operating Procedure.”

Errol Morris: Well, I think these people have been scapegoated…I can’t begin to tell you how many people have asked me questions: How come he doesn’t say he’s sorry, how come he doesn’t express remorse…I don’t think they express remorse because they’re really angry. They feel that they have been blamed for everything, that they have been framed, that they have been blamed for everything inappropriately and that their story is unknown. They’re angry.

WAKE: What was it about the Abu Ghraib photos that made you think, “This will make a great documentary,” or “I need to do something about this?”

EM: There’s the realization that these are the most famous war photographs of all time. It’s an amazing thing to say, but it’s true. [These are] photographs that everyone had seen, but very few people really understood or knew anything about. I don’t know why I thought it would make a good movie, I think it is a good movie - but I must be crazy.

WAKE: We all saw the photos plastered across our TVs, but what was your initial reaction to them?

EM: What in God’s name is this? They were so bizarre and perverse, but I didn’t have the thoughts that I have now… I wasn’t understanding the picture correctly…I didn’t really know what was going on. But I just remember everybody had opinions: left, right and center, about all of this with very little evidence to back it up.

WAKE: It seemed that there was a bipartisan taking the pictures as face value, whereas the right saw it as a few bad apples as it was portrayed in the media, and the left saw it as the fault of the higher-ups.

EM: And of course the common denominator, they’re both evil. There’s someone to blame in the story. One of the biggest and most unappetizing stories of this war is that …it becomes this war that is tolerated…I don’t even know what you’re supposed to do about it. It’s not like I have some magic answer, but I do know that it’s not a good thing just to pretend its not happening. Because it is happening, and it does involve young people, most of these people you see in the movie were destroyed by this…and I think the whole country has been damaged by it. We’ve gone mad, the things that supposedly are our deepest values have been put by the way side. I don’t remember this in Vietnam, and that was the war when I was coming of age. This will be your war…Endless posturing, lies, recycling one political opinion after another, very little research, very little journalism…I think that the White House created policies and pressures that made things like Abu Ghraib inevitable…I do believe that Bush should be impeached, that’s what we have impeachment for.

WAKE: Your son is 21 years old, and so also being around that age, I was wondering what his view on the film was?

EM: Well a lot of young people are just plain bored by all of it. I don’t know how better to describe it. Most people go to their news source- The Colbert Report, John Stewart. Because that is news, actually, it’s people saying something, and taking a position and thinking about stuff. There’s more there, more than I believe is ingenuous…than in any of the standard news shows, which I’ve stopped watching. I think it’s weird to be a young person in this country at the moment, I think it really is…I think young people might like this movie. I don’t know, what do I know?

Despite Minnesota Film Arts’ financial and institutional problems, the 2008 Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival will continue as planned. Running April 17 through May 3, the festival promises local citizens a wide selection of cinema’s finest films, from acclaimed international films to award-winning American independent films. More than 150 films will be screened during the festival, and below are just a few that you might want to look out for. For more information on tickets and showtimes, and for a complete list of the films, visit http://www.mspfilmfest.org.

Beauty In Trouble

This is a new Czech drama from Jan Hrebejk, director of the Oscar-nominated Divided We Fall In Beauty. A woman takes her two children and moves into a crowded apartment with her mother and stepfather. There she meets a charming older man and they begin to form a unique friendship. Screenings: Wednesday, April 23, 5:30 p.m.; Thursday, April 24, 9:15; both at St. Anthony.

Big Dreams Little Tokyo

This is a comedy about an American man with an unusual ability to speak Japanese trying to break into the Japanese business world without avail. Meanwhile, the main character’s Japanese-American roommate dreams of becoming a sumo wrestler, but finds his inferior weight and blood pressure holding him back. The two struggle to find their identities in a supposedly global world. Screenings: Tuesday, April 22, 9:30 p.m.; Thursday, April 24, 5:15 p.m.; both at St. Anthony.

Citizen Havel

Famed playwright and president Vaclav Havel is the focus of this sharp documentary about politicians and the private and public lives they must balance. Havel faces the day-to-day tasks of being a president in the Czech Republic - issues like finding a saxophone for a visiting Bill Clinton and being told by his wife to adjust his posture during photo ops. Screenings: Sunday, April 27, 3:05 p.m.; Wednesday, April 30, 9:15 p.m.; both at St. Anthony.

Choke

Actor/writer Clark Gregg’s directorial debut, based on the Chuck Palahniuk novel, stars Sam Rockwell as a man who deliberately chokes at expensive restaurants to make connections with the rich patrons who help him. After his hospital-ridden mother (Anjelica Huston) tells him about his missing father, he finds himself determined to uncover the secrets of his childhood. Kelly Macdonald and Brad William Henke co-star. This film won the Special Jury Prize for Work by an Ensemble Cast at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Screening: Saturday, April 26, 11:30 p.m.; St. Anthony.

Irina Palm

Rock legend Marianne Faithfull gives an acclaimed performance in Sam Gabarski’s comic drama about a fifty-something widow who takes a job as a hostess at a shop called “Sexy World” to pay for her grandson’s operation. She becomes a surprising success at her new job, until her neighbors start to wonder what exactly her new job entails. Screenings: Monday, April 21, 7:10 p.m.; Friday, April 25, 9:25 p.m.; both at St. Anthony.

Katyn

The newest film from legendary Polish director Andrzej Wajda is a multilayered epic set in the early days of World War II in Poland. Culminating in the depiction of the Soviet slaughter of 15,000 army officers and intellectuals in 1940, Wajda created the film as a remembrance for young audiences in Poland. This film was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2008 Academy Awards. Screenings: Sunday, April 20, 7:15 p.m.; Sunday, April 27, 9:20 p.m.; both at St. Anthony.

Manual of Love 2

As the sequel to last year’s festival hit, director Giovanni Veronesi crafts four connected stories showing the triumphs and tragedies of love. A young couple travel to Barcelona to seek help for their infertility, a gay couple makes preparations for their wedding, a waiter begins a relationship with a kitchen hand, and a car crash survivor falls for his physiotherapist (played by Monica Bellucci). Screening: Friday, May 2, 7:00 p.m.; Oak Street.

OSS 117: Cairo, Nest Of Spies

This hit James Bond spoof from France stars Jean Dujardin as agent OSS 117, sent to Cairo to solve the mystery behind a fellow agent’s death. There he becomes embroiled in a plot featuring Egyptians, Arabs, Belgians and Nazis, all poking fun at them with a distinctly un-politically correct bent. A comedic adaptation of the French spy thriller and subsequent 1960s film series, it won the Best Film prize at the 2006 Seattle International Film Festival and was nominated for 5 Cesar Awards in 2007, including a nod for Dujardin. Screenings: Wednesday, April 23, 9:05 p.m.; Saturday, April 26, 9:10 p.m.; both at St. Anthony.

Poisoned by Polonium - The Litvinenko File

Andrei Nekrasov’s film is as much a study of poisoned former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko as it is a sharp critique of Russia under President Putin. The filmmaker had full access to Litvinenko following his flight to London as well as interviews with murdered journalist Anna Politkovskaya and footage showing police and former Russian secret police intelligence agents at work. Screenings: Sunday, April 20, 5:05 p.m.; Monday, April 21, 5:00 p.m.; both at St. Anthony.

Roman De Gare

Academy Award-winning French filmmaker Claude Lelouch (A Man and a Woman, Les Miserables) crafts a complex and misleading thriller starring Fanny Ardant as a writer whose novels are eerily similar to the actions of a real life serial killer. Meanwhile, a young woman hitches a ride with a man whom she decides to be the perfect substitute for the boyfriend she was supposed to be traveling with. Screenings: Friday, April 18, 7:15 p.m.; Saturday, April 19, 5:15 p.m.; both at St. Anthony.

Romulus, My Father

The directorial debut of actor Richard Roxburgh (Moulin Rouge) stars Eric Bana as a man whose family is falling apart at the hands of his depressive wife (Franka Potente). This examination of immigrant issues in 1950s Australia, based on the memoir by Raimond Gaita, was awarded Best Film at the 2007 Australian Film Institute awards. Screening: Saturday, April 26, 5:00 p.m.; St. Anthony.

Savage Grace

This film depicts the shocking true story of Barbara Daly Baekeland (Julianne Moore) who was murdered by her homosexual son Antony (Eddie Redmayne) in 1972. An ambitious social climber, Barbara marries into money and social recognition. But as her marriage falls apart, she develops an unhealthy relationship with her son that eventually ends in tragedy. This film also stars Stephen Dillane. Screenings: Sunday, April 27, 7:10 p.m.; Monday, April 28, 9:40 p.m.; both at St. Anthony.

The Secret Film

Unable to release any other information about the film, the film festival website describes it as a “huge hit at a recent American Film Festival” whose distributor wanted to screen it here. Nothing further will be known until it screens, but it is likely to be one of the more popular choices at the festival. Screening: Saturday, April 26, 9:15 p.m.; St. Anthony.

Son Of Rambow

Director Garth Jennings (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) crafts a hilarious and nostalgic portrait of 1980s Britain. When a young boy raised in isolation discovers a pirated copy of Rambo: First Blood, he becomes determined to create a film of his own. He bands together with a group of children to create their own bloody action film, all the while hiding their actions from the stern authority figures that ban all such things. Jennings and producer Nick Goldsmith will be present at the screening. Screening: Saturday, April 19, 7:30 p.m.; St. Anthony.

The Unknown Woman

Giuseppe Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso, Malena) directs this noir thriller about a Ukrainian immigrant working in Italy who’s past indicates that the meanings behind her actions are not all they seem to be. This film is the winner of the Audience Award at the 2007 European Film Awards. Screenings: Sunday, April 27, 1:45 p.m.; Wednesday, April 30, 7:00 p.m.; St. Anthony.

The Visitor

This film is the opening night selection. This film, Tom McCarthy’s follow-up to his acclaimed 2003 film The Station Agent, stars Richard Jenkins as a professor who finds a young Syrian man and a woman from Senegal living illegally in his Manhattan apartment. While apprehensive, he allows them to stay and a special bond soon develops among the three of them. Screening: Thursday, April 17, 7:00 p.m.; Kerasotes Block E.

While most Minnesotans have stuck comedian Al Franken in their minds as the next Minnesota DFL Senate candidate, St. Thomas peace studies professor Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer is still vying for the party’s upcoming June nomination. Despite barely being mentioned in the local media, Nelson-Pallmeyer surpassed Mike Ceresi in the race and is slowly but surely winning over the most liberal sectors of the DFL. After looking into his campaign, I found out that Nelson-Pallmeyer is a more progressive, less elite alternative to Franken. Although Franken often mentions the late Sen. Paul Wellstone as his role model, Nelson-Pallmeyer’s grassroots campaign, stances on the issues, and intellectual demeanor (he’s an educator) resemble Wellstone much more than a comedian running for office does.

I stopped by Jack’s campaign office and briefly chatted with him about what he’d like to get done as Minnesota’s next U.S. Senator.

Most people describe you as the activist candidate. Let’s say you get the endorsement and you’re elected in November. Are you afraid that Washington bureaucracy will limit what you want to get accomplished as an activist?

It’s certainly difficult arena to work in on many levels, but I think the approach I’m taking to the race really helps – and that is that I see my role as helping to build the citizen movement that we need. The stronger that movement is, the stronger my voice is in Washington. I also think that by electing Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, an activist, we’re going to shake up politics in this state and country in ways that are really important. I recognize [Washington’s] a difficult arena, but I think having an activist and candidate that gets there in the context of building a citizen movement will really help.

Sometimes it’s tough to find your name and campaign mentioned in the media. Realistically, how are you doing on delegate support?

We’re doing very well on delegate support. It’s still an open race. I think for a long time the media was focused in exactly the wrong spot, which is money. They assumed that because Al Franken and Mike Ceresi had millions of dollars, they were the two candidates they needed to watch. And that’s really unfortunate, because what they need to be watching is which candidates are resonating with people. Now that Mike Ceresi dropped out – and he dropped out because he was behind in the delegate count – that at least opened up some space for people to look much more seriously at my campaign.

Some of my friends have stated that a lot of your stances synch up more with, say, the Green Party rather than the mainstream Democrats. So why, specifically, are you seeking the DFL endorsement?

Well I think the issues that are resonating with people that I promote are held in a really wide spot in Minnesota. Everywhere I go, people are worried about health care. People want a national solution to the health care crisis. Now is absolutely the time to work for a single-payer health care system. It’s a similar with Iraq. People want to end this war. Now, they may share a concern that we have some ethical responsibility for helping a country we’ve destroyed, but people want to end the war. That’s an issue that’s very broadly held. I see my campaign as opening up the possibility of unifying a lot of Democrats, hopefully bringing in some Greens, some independents, and even some alienated Republicans around the agenda we need to do.

You’ve stated that you’ll support whoever gets the DFL endorsement. Why is that?

Both Al Franken and I, and Mike Ceresi when he was in the race, stated that we wouldn’t buck the DFL endorsement process. The reason that’s so important is because I believe Norm Coleman has been a cheerleader for the worst administration in U.S. history, and that that administration has led us to the edge of a cliff. So it’s very important that we beat Norm Coleman. If the Democratic Party had a fight that extended into a primary in September, we’d just be taking away time and money away from the core task, which is to beat Norm Coleman.

Ceresi’s out, and it’s down to you and Franken. What makes you the better choice?

I’m a candidate that’s had a lot of experience. I’ve lived overseas working in Central America for a number of years. I’ve engaged in hunger and poverty and economic issues. I’ve tracked environmental concerns for 30 years. I know the climate change issues – I understand what the science is going to require in terms of solutions. My history of being a critic of the militarized foreign policy of this country is extensive, and I think even people who may have disagreed with me at times would probably look back now and say, “He was right.” And that’s true with the Iraq War as well. I was an advisor to Paul Wellstone. I also debated Congressman Jim Ramstad before the Iraq War vote. I warned him that this was a disaster, that we were being manipulated by politics of fear. I think all those things make me a very good candidate to address those problems.

Hypothetically, again, say you get the nomination and you’re elected in November. Which Senate committees would you like to serve?

I think I would be happy on almost any committee that they put me on. Let’s say they put me on Human Services. There we could address issues of hunger and poverty and inequality and health care issues. If they want to put me on foreign policy issues, I have a lot of ideas about how we get this country transitioned from a dominant military superpower to a global partner that will help solve pressing problems. Put me on transportation and I’ll work to build the rail lines we need to connect our cities and the windmills we need to power them. Put me on an energy committee and I’ll resist nuclear power and stand up to oil companies and promote alternative energy. All these issues in my view are connected and I would be making those connections.

You’re running with a very strong message to get the U.S. out of Iraq immediately. You’ve called it the worst foreign policy disaster. What do you want to see done with the War in Afghanistan?

I think Afghanistan has also been an enormous blunder and I was opposed to the very metaphor of the War on Terror. As soon as I heard that metaphor I knew we were in deep, deep trouble, because you don’t defeat terrorism in a war. We have to address the roots of [terrorism], the anger that leads to it. In my view, the attacks of 9/11 should’ve been treated as crimes against humanity. War is a very, very dangerous instrument. By militarizing [Afghanistan], by having spilling casualties, we are creating a disaster. I know the common terminology is “Iraq is bad, Afghanistan is good, and Iraq took attention away from Afghanistan.” I think our approach in Afghanistan was wrong.

So you’d like to see troop withdrawal from that area?

Yeah, and I would like to see a fundamentally different approach. If you look at the history, any country that has tried to occupy Afghanistan has been bankrupted or defeated. You don’t occupy other countries and win. [Afghanistan has] issues, for sure, but they’re not going to be resolved by bombings that kill civilians, they’re not going to be resolved without a willingness to actually sit down and listen to people who don’t want us there. This notion that there are military solutions to this problem needs to be fundamentally challenged.

You have lots of international experience. You and your wife once lived in Nicaragua running an Augsburg study abroad program. Given all this international experience, what would you do domestically for the state of Minnesota if you’re elected?

Here’s where some of my priorities are: We need a national health care system. No other industrialized country allows the insurance industry to determine their health care system; we do. It’s ridiculous. So I would really work hard towards a national single-payer health care system, which has profound implications for back here. I would cut the U.S. military budget and use 10 percent of that cut to have a universal preschool program for 3-5 year olds, which we desperately need to help give kids a good start. I would take away tax breaks for the richest one percent and make college and university education affordable for any student who wants to attend and is qualified. I would work on establishing a progressive tax system instead of our regressive one, because we have the highest degree of inequality in any industrialized country and we’re probably at the highest level of inequality in the history of our country. It’s one of the reasons why our economy isn’t working. We have allowed the richest one to five percent to garner almost all the income and wealth in this country for the last 25 years. So, these all have domestic implications.

As a professor of peace studies, I’m assuming the student vote is important to you.

Absolutely.

A lot of my peers still haven’t heard of you. What are you doing to reach out to students in this campaign?

I will be, over the next number of months, trying to get to each college and university in this state at least once. I also have a lot of young people involved in my campaign that know a lot more than I do about things like YouTube, so I hope there’s a lot of outreach taking place at that level. This is very much a grassroots campaign that spreads word of mouth from person to person and through a lot of these networks.

In a recent Minnesota Monitor interview, you talked about your spiritual mentors. Who are some of your political mentors?

I had a lot of respect for Paul Wellstone. I knew him, I really liked his first campaign. In it, not many people gave him a chance, he was an outsider, he didn’t get a lot of institutional support, but he kept working and took a very grassroots approach. Outside of this country there are lots people I’d call mentors, including Gandhi, Oscar Romero in El Salvador, some of the Jesuit priests I met in El Salvador who had this incredibly progressive vision of what a university should be, that it should be about training people to transform their society. But my mentors have also tended to be common people who do extraordinary things. Those are the people I get my energy from.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

With the black tendrils of stress still lingering after weeks of dodging failing grades on papers and midterms, students look to the freedom of Spring Break to release some tension. Destinations are meticulously planned out months in advance as exhausted and overworked studiers search for the perfect place to blow off some steam. While you may have spent the last week tanning in Florida or scuba diving in Mexico, I was hanging out with the cool kids on Sesame Street.

While late nights and margaritas were destroying your brain cells, mine were being strengthened with the assistance of Elmo and crew at the Can You Tell Me How To Get To Sesame Street? exhibit in the Minnesota Children’s Museum. The interactive display moves viewers through the landmarks of Sesame Street with historical commentary, starting with the program’s commencement in 1969. Along the path are recognizable places to any aficionado, like Big Bird’s nest, the famous stoop outside address 123, and Oscar’s Newsstand.

The purpose behind Sesame Street is to provide educational television to young children in a method that would captivate them. How could a giant florescent yellow bird not capture attention? The exhibit achieves the same goals as the show by providing many opportunities for children to enhance their education and imaginations. Computer games assist kids in learning their numbers, colors and letters with the help and encouragement of their favorite pals. They can add and subtract with the silly pigeons on the telephone wire or count the animals hiding in the park with the Count. Literacy is a main component of the program, and the exhibit caters to that with a hands-on activity involving letter recognition in comparison to animals. Visitors are also quick to learn that Big Bird’s giant nest is the prime place to curl up with a good book.

Big Bird and friends teach the importance of compassion for cultural differences to the world’s youth. The cast of Sesame Street has always shown broad diversity, casting whites, blacks, Asians, and Latinos for their live action segments. In the exhibit, there is a television cube devoted to the human cast, which represents their diversity and family lineage. People can watch clips of their favorite cast members and view how they interact with one another. The muppets exhibited acceptance of differences when they introduced Big Bird, the only non-muppet puppet, who starred in the show in its beginnings.

The museum features a mini-theater that airs episodes of Sesame Street from different decades, highlighting the importance of diversity in the show. Whether it is country crooner Garth Brooks singing about how the opposite appearance of two muppets doesn’t stop them from being friends, or an all black hip-hop group proclaiming the importance of pride, Sesame Street teaches that differences are beneficial because people can learn from one another.

Besides racial diversity, Sesame Street devotes itself to helping children understand differences between each other physically, mentally, and emotionally. Implementing cast members who used sign language demonstrated to the youth that not everyone has the advantages of hearing. The exhibit reinforces this by implementing closed captions on all of its video clips. Throughout the years, many segments of
Sesame Street teaches that differences are beneficial because people can learn from one another.

Sesame Street has always been a leader in creativity, and this is also expressed in the exhibit. Several hands-on booths encourage imaginative thinking and experimenting. There is a mail station where children can color and write postcards to the producers, describing what they would like to see happen in future episodes. Kids also have the opportunity to correspond with their favorite muppets via telephone. By pressing a button, children can play a guessing game with Ernie or learn about the letter Z with Zoë. A few feet away is an area for puppet shows, giving children the opportunity to perform skits for their parents with puppets resembling their favorite residents of Sesame Street. The exhibit even allows kids to star and be onscreen in their own episode of Sesame Street, fulfilling dozens of dreams and aspirations in the process. With the assistance of chroma-key technology, children have the opportunity to test their foreign language skills with Rosita, the Hispanic muppet, apply mathematical thinking with the Count, and interact with the rest of the gang.

Along with Sesame Street’s dedication to stimulate young minds, the creators hope to paint a picture that can be applied to the real world. Characters in Sesame Street travel to different locales in several episodes. Trips to aquariums, modern art museums, and several Native American tribes spark both child and adult interest.

The museum provides historic links between the program and global events, which highlights the creators’ attempt to create a relationship between current events and the Sesame World. In 1968, Sesame Street began showing at Head Start programs across the country in attempts to fight Lyndon Johnson’s proposed War on Poverty. It can be inferred that the show was implemented to improve literacy and enhance education; making children more interested in school. It is unknown if this theory was the actual reason or whether or not it was successful, but studies done at the University of Kansas show that Sesame Street increases vocabulary and enhances knowledge of both literature and mathematics. The turn of the century caused mass technological advancements, and Sesame Street was not far behind the curve, educating children about computers in episodes that aired in 2000. This is paired nicely with the addition of CD-ROMs to the marketplace of Sesame Street merchandise, which already included books and housewares.

Similar to the show, the exhibit caters to an adult audience as well. There are tips on how to encourage children and ideas for fun and educational games. The older generation will appreciate viewing historic pictures and memorabilia from their own childhood experiences with the gang of muppets, proving that no one is ever too old to kick back with an episode of Sesame Street. Music is an awesome reminiscent, and the Sesame Street classics “It Isn’t Easy Being Green” and “Rubber Duckie,” paired with the original theme song, are all available at the push of a button. There is a lot of unknown trivia about the show featured in the exhibit that may be interesting to nostalgic fans. For instance, did you know that Big Bird is not a universal character, but may take the form of a big parrot, turtle, camel, or a massive hedgehog depending on the region?

By now I’m sure you wish you would have partied with a furry blue monster who devours cookies instead of going on your trip to Cabo. Well, you are in luck…the exhibit will continue singing and educating through April 27th at the Minnesota Children’s Museum in downtown St. Paul, so you have plenty of time to catch up with the gang. Now the only thing you have to regret about spring break are those severely embarrassing pictures.

Art. Science.

These are two words that may seem to be hanging out on opposite sides of the room. Science is a tool for progress based on structure, rules and repeatable results. Art on the other hand takes structure and renders it unrecognizable; twisting rules and exploring the antipodes of expression and meaning. At times they almost seem like unrelated opposites. Many may ask what they have to do with each other. Lately the two have been necking in the corner and many people hope that they go farther. Because they have so much to offer each other. When art and science do hook up, it usually happens away from the crowds.

Up in the attic the little box beeps and boops wildly to the rhythm of tiny particles while different colored lights dance on the walls.

“This file is data from our Barium radioactive source,” says School of Physics and Astronomy Professor Prisca Cushman. “It is what we use to calibrate the detectors.”

In front of her is a wooden box with the dimensions of a milk crate, except a little shorter, sitting on a stack of orange books. Five metal cylinders slightly more narrow than soda cans and about a foot tall each rise out of the box. On each cylinder there is a clear plastic discs about the size of your palm. The whole thing stands no higher than your knee and altogether looks like a model for an apartment complex from the future. This is the Dark Matter Music Box:

Each one of the discs has four differently colored LEDs (light-emitting diode) inside of it: red, blue, yellow and white. Every time a note is produced, the corresponding LED is lit. A light in one of the top discs corresponds to a lower note while a light in the lower discs corresponds to a higher note. When Professor Cushman plays a file, the result is a symphony of synthesized chimes, voices and instruments with a corresponding light show.

The first piece comes out as a hectic smattering of instruments, voices, and lights; not a real distinct rhythm, but a constant barrage of notes. It’s very erratic and wild. The box emits these sounds and sights based on data received by an apparatus called a Cryogenic Dark Matter Search Detector which is kept at near absolute zero temperatures half a mile underground in the Soudan Underground Mine in Northern Minnesota.

The first file is from a calibration test, which means that the researchers themselves “sprayed” the sensors with particles generated by the researchers from a radioactive source.

Deep in the mine where the detector sits, tiny particles like photons and muons are being measured as they smash into the sensors. There, Professor Cushman and physicists from ten different universities, including her lab partner Erik Ramberg are waiting for proof of dark matter to strike the sensor from the heavens above.

Cushman and Ramberg are waiting for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles, known as WIMPS, to strike the sensors. These are the theoretical particles which, if measured, would help many physicists sleep a little easier by helping to verify the existence of dark matter. The whole idea of having the sensors deep in the mine, and covered by shielding, is to keep un-wanted particles out so that only the WIMPS can make it through. No one has ever measured one of these particles. The researchers in the mine haven’t seen one yet in the two years they have been looking, but as Professor Cushman says, “We haven’t seen one better than any one else.”

Professor Cushman offers to play another file. She says it is a file created entirely from data without a radioactive source nearby. This piece has a much slower pace. The only particles producing sounds are produced by sub-atomic decay within the shielding. This sub-atomic decay happens all over the universe all the time. Long pauses linger between the hits which sometimes come alone and sometimes in clusters. Soaking in the sights and sounds of the music box, an observer might or might not realize that the music coming out of that box is the music of the cosmos.

To artistically interpret these sounds of the universe, the music box produces a different sound and light depending on the energy, location and type of particles striking the detector. This means that to the properly informed ears and eyes, each sound and light tells you which sensor is hit, how hard each particle hits the sensors and sometimes, what kind of particle it is. Where does an idea like this come from?

“It was really a very collaborative process,” says Professor Cushman.

The brother of a fellow researcher had the idea. Karl Ramberg, a musician and sculptor, was visiting his brother in the mine for a week. He intended to compose a piece based on the physics research in the mine.

“I have always been inspired by the work [my brother] does” Karl says.

Karl Ramberg was hoping to use the piece for a grant and thought that “searching for dark matter in the bottom of an abandoned mine, they would at least look at my proposal… that was when I got the idea to make an instrument that would be triggered by the events that the detector recorded,” he said. During the time that Ramberg was developing a prototype of the instrument he found a program called Artwonk to translate the data into sound. He brought the prototype to his brother and Professor Cushman who decided how the sounds would reflect the particles’ properties

“It turns out that there is a whole genre of music of this nature that I had no clue about,” says Ramberg. “It’s called the sonification of data.” I think that’s a pretty cool idea.

The average person can’t really imagine how a muon travels, or what the size and weight of an electron is compared to the larger and heavier neutron. Someone can say that particles are flying about all the time, but it is difficult to perceive. Those words don’t register in any way that resonates even though particle physics affects the world that we live in.

Sounds are created by decaying particles, the ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-bup from the music box is a muon traveling through all the sensors, an electron is quiet because it is so small and light. Through music, a universal human love, these concepts can become something tangible for people.

Instead of explaining some abstract construction of reality with formulas and jargon, an explanation through an artistic creation like the music box becomes an experience of reality in itself. Art presents information in a way that grabs attention. Suddenly, an observer is aware that tiny little objects are flying around and through them right now. Right Now. RIGHT NOW.

As scientific inquiry explores more complex and abstract fields of knowledge, the result can often be too removed from people’s everyday to warrant their concern.

Common models of scientific topics, on the other hand, have been criticized for being oversimplified. Jonah Lahrer points out in Seed magazine, a scientific bi-monthly, that the reductionist approach to science often leaves us with no better, and even some times a more perplexed understanding of our day-to-day existence. He uses the example of neuroscience.

“[Neuro]scientists have reduced our sensations to a set of discrete circuits. And yet, despite this vast material knowledge, we remain strangely ignorant of what our matter creates.”

Human beings have used art to convey emotions and ideas for tens of thousands of years. Why not apply this concept to convey or even advance scientific ideas? Art can have a very visceral and felt effect on our lives. It can elicit strong feelings from us and also give us insight into how we experience existence. Both science and art are ways of understanding, but art is simply a little better at speaking the languageof everyday life.

When you look at a good drawing of a woman’s face, the pencil lines on the paper are no more the woman than the pencil lines of a mathematicians equations of her dimensions are. They both try to represent what we perceive; the pencil drawing just does it in a way that makes more people go, “Damn.”

Of course science has always been a huge help to art as well. Just think of an art medium that you love and try to imagine it without the technologies involved. This is true for everything from cameras to paint.

If you’d like to get a further grasp on this concept, there are plenty of places around the Twin Cities campus you can go explore. The Bell museum has had beautifully painted dioramas up for decades depicting various environmental scenes. Right now it is also hosting an exhibit on climate change that touts collaborations between art and science.

Professor Cushman is trying to get the music box placed into the Science Museum in St. Paul so perhaps in the near future the music box will be there for you to see and hear .

See the Dark Matter Music Box Now!

A special thanks to Professor Cushman and Karl Ramberg for their help.

All children have their own farfetched illusion of the glamorous, successful and fame-induced journey that they will embark on later in life, signaled by the common expression “When I Grow Up…” Some dream of becoming astronauts, actors or actresses, dancers, or firemen, while others dream of riding orca whales at Sea World. One of the most common childhood dream careers is the rock star. Fantasies come and go, but for some particularly musically inclined individuals, the dream becomes an actuality. The progression of musicians to the level of “rock-stardom” is a challenging and sufferable path. Few will reap the glorification and wealth of fame. The few who make it to the top must combine impeccable musical talent with a great deal of luck and scores of highly regarded connections. All aspiring artists need some sort of launching pad by which they can make a name for themselves.

The Minneapolis local arts community now prospers with innumerable local artists, some more well known than others. What seems to be the crucial difference between those who will be successful and those who will not is their method of attracting attention and gaining a reputation. With the diversity of the Twin Cities’ music scene, becoming noticed can be an extremely difficult process. Fortunately for aspiring artists, with the ease of internet publishing and relatively affordable recording technologies demos and CDs can be produced without the hassles of a record company. A Minneapolis based philanthropic organization called the McKnight Foundation conducted a survey that apparently “revealed the survival struggles of individual artists.”

The results of this survey inspired the website www.mnartists.org. The mission of this website is to “improve the lives of Minnesota artists and provide access to and engagement with Minnesota’s arts culture.” The website serves as a database of essential information for artists of all mediums. Visiting artists can see what other artists in their area are doing and become informed of upcoming events that could make an impact on their careers.

Mnartists.org and Summit Brewery sponsor a “call for music,” which they have dubbed “mnSpin.” MnSpin is a “quarterly music contest featuring Minnesota musicians with winning tracks selected by panelists from the music industry.” Every week on both the mnartists.org and Summit Brewery websites, a three-song playlist is posted, featuring the winning submissions. Parties are coordinated for the winners every month at different venues located in the Twin Cities. Annually, a CD compilation of all the winning songs from the past year will be released. The only requirement for entering the contest is a free membership to mnartists.org. The Wake was curious about the influence that the contest had on its winners. Would the mnSpin competition grow to catch the eye of major record labels and be the “launching pad” that many artists desperately need? Or, is it just another shiny trophy that gives “props” to the winning bands. To determine mnSpin’s affect on their winning participants, The Wake caught up with a band called “The Sexy Bang” to discuss whether the contest has given them an edge on the rest of the ruthless competition.

The Sexy Bang is comprised of Joe Krasselt (guitar/lyrics/vocals), Evan Taylor (trombone), Joe Sederberg (drums), An Hong (bass), and Steve Pease (guitar). The band was started in Minneapolis and, according to their Myspace, are classified as a “progressive American indie rock band.”

Their influences span different continuums of inspiration. “The intangibles” are the philosophical, scientific, and intellectual yearnings of the band (geography, social science, algorithms). “Immortal influences,” include Chuck Cecil, Herschel Walker, and Barry Sanders. Their musical influences include Beck, The White Stripes, The Strokes, Modest Mouse, The Who and Tapes ‘n Tapes.

The Sexy Bang recently released their debut EP, Signals from Sputnik, which contains the acclaimed song, “Our Bodies Don’t Know Better”, which was chosen by the mnSpin panelists. The Sexy Bang’s distinctive sound is defined by the harmonious trombone, invigorating rhythmic guitars, lyrical bass, encompassing drums, and unconventional vocals. Currently unsigned, The Sexy Bang are releasing a new album sometime in 2008.

The Wake sat down with the original three members of The Sexy Bang (Joe Krasselt, Evan Taylor, and Joe Sederberg) to discuss mnSpin’s influence on their musical identities.

Wake: How did you learn about mnSpin?

JK: We play a lot of shows at the Nomad [World Pub], and the guy who does the booking there is Matt Perkins. We have kind of worked our way up at the Nomad, and we ended up having our CD release show there. Matt had gotten an e-mail about mnSpin, and he sent us the e-mail and said that he thought we had a shot at doing well at this.

JS: The first time I had heard about it was when An had sent the band an e-mail saying that we had won.

JK: And you know there are a lot of websites like that, but mnSpin really stands out.

Wake: What specifically caught your interest about the contest?

JK: Well we had just released our first EP, and so we were just kind of looking for ways to get it out there…and we thought the worst we could do was lose…because you know we’re just trying it out.

JS: Cool people will hear our name.

Wake: Have you heard any of the other competition, or any of the other winning artists whose songs will be on the compilation CD with your song?

JS: Well there were three winners for the first month, and Alison Rae was one of them… and there was another one [Stacy K]…they were both ladies who play acoustic…

JK: Yeah, beautiful music. The one girl Alison Rae was very talented, so it was just kind of nice to be in the same category.

Wake: What do you think are strong points of your music; or at least what do you think made your song stand out in the competition?

JK: Well there’s like two phases to the song, you know if you listen to that song, the first 12 bars are totally raw and un-mastered which transforms into the main riff and then comes together as this duality of the rawness and the melody. [He adds that the trombone provides a unique sound as well.]

AH: I just think our band has a certain sound that caught the attention of the panelists. The song they chose definitely has a different sound and is unique in that aspect. I haven’t given much thought to what the judges were looking for in the competition… I’m just happy we were selected.

Wake: Have you made any important connections so far through mnSpin?

JK: Well you know we’ve contacted Chris Roberts [the current]…we sent him our CD and an e-mail.

ET: Then we sent him another e-mail to see if he received the album, and he said “yes.”

Wake: How do you think that this accomplishment will help your musical careers in the future?

JK: I think it will help with booking shows and stuff like that; just to say that we had the song of the week. We were able just yesterday to book a show at the Dinkytowner…we were going to get a show no matter what, but when I said that we had won the mnSpin contest he said “well how would you like a Saturday night show?”

MnSpin’s quarterly music competition has the potential to pave the way for upcoming local artists in the Twin Cities. Mnartists.org’s goals of representing the Minneapolis arts community appear to be successful as the mnSpin “call for music” is creating a launching pad for The Sexy Bang, as well as the other participating artists. Catching a break is hard, especially in a city with so many great artists. Give mnSpin a shot and see if you have a chance at “rock-stardom.” After all, as The Sexy Bang says, “the worst you can do is lose when you’re just trying it out.”

As part of a speech at the Coffman Union Theater, Black Panther Party co-founder Bobby Seale called for a broader and more profound progressive movement. In the voice of a veteran revolutionary, he brought up a wide range of issues, many of them on the current national radar.

On Iraq: “We need to end this damn war.” On global warming: “It’s interconnected to every civil rights issue.” On the upcoming Presidential election: “Obama is a very progressive brother. I like sister Hillary Clinton too, although she’s not going to win this one.” On racist crappy politicians: “They categorize you and pin you as something you’re not.”

He talked about filmmaker Carl Franklin’s proposal to have him participate in a six-hour Black Panther HBO documentary. According to Seale, HBO wasn’t willing to contract his literary property.

“I told him, ‘I was kicking Nazis’ asses when you were swimming around in your daddy’s nutsack!” he said.
An iconic figure of the 1960s and early ‘70s, Bobby Seale is known to most as a leader of the pro-black, anti-racist Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, one of the many activist movements that sprang up in the midst of the Civil Rights and anti-war era. Established in Oakland by Seale and Huey P. Newton in 1966, the Black Panthers grew to 48 nationwide chapters and totaled nearly 5,000 members by 1968. At the foundation of the Panthers’ ideology was a ten-point program that called for full employment, decent housing, military service exemption and ultimately freedom, among other things, for all African-Americans.

In 1968, Seale was involved in the mass protests of the Democratic Convention in Chicago. He was soon charged with conspiracy to incite rioting in the “Chicago Eight” trial (later known as the “Chicago Seven” after Judge Julius Hoffman exiled Seale from the case) alongside Youth International Party founders Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman and Students for a Democratic Society founders Tom Hayden and Rennie Davis. When Judge Hoffman denied postponing the trial after refusing to allow Seale to represent himself, Seale’s trial outbursts prompted the judge to have him chained, shackled and gagged in the courtroom. It led to what Seale described as “two years of jail without bail.”

During that jail time, Seale was indicted for allegedly ordering the execution of Alex Rackney, a former Black Panther suspected of being a government informant. The case resulted in a hung jury and led to Seale’s release from jail. He returned to Oakland to find the Black Panthers on the verge of destruction after constant infiltration from the FBI’s Counter Intelligence program (COINTELPRO), which aimed to “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize” organizations of political dissent.

Despite its disintegration, Seale is confident of the Black Panthers’ achievements, mentioning their success in feeding 250,000 poor black kids in the Free Breakfast for School Children Program by 1969. The program prompted then–California State Rep. Willie Brown to push for $5 million worth of free breakfast programs, Seale said.

“It was one of our great grassroots accomplishments,” he said. “It pushed other states to do the same thing.”
While the Panthers were widely seen as militant, Seale said they picked up guns solely for self-defense against police brutality. He pointed out that shootouts never occurred during the Party’s first year of existence and alluded to the support the Party had from the young white left.

“We didn’t care if you were white, black, green, yellow or polka-dot,” he said. “It was all about where your heart, mind and soul was.”

Seale is vehemently critical of the New Black Panther Party, a Black Nationalist organization set up independently of the old Party in the late ‘80s. Seale said they’re antithetical to the original Panther message.

“We’d invite them to events to try to teach them but they don’t want to learn,” he said. “They haven’t set up one community program since 1988 and they call themselves the New Black Panthers? That’s an insult to my dead brothers and political prisoners!”

At 71, Seale’s still pulling for a society of cooperative humanism.

“He’s an animated speaker,” said Jack Spencer, one of the students attending this Black Students Union-sponsored event. “He’s got some important things to say.”

In the debate over what the apocalypse will consist of, I side with film director Richard Kelly over Al Gore, if only because I’d rather see the species implode through a combination of hyper-pervasive entertainment, mad scientists, and interfering parallel universes – à la Southland Tales – than by hearing until death the latest measurement of ever-shrinking polar bear testicles and what that means for my children.

By this I don’t mean to deny the very real effects of global warming, or even to imply that polar bears can go to hell while I watch movies. I simply ask why Mr. Gore, for a person who bears the largest grudge against the current Commander-in-Chief, would set the stage using the same fear tactics that informed the other great omen of the end in the War On Terror? I guess in a twisted way these tactics could be considered effective, but the only thing the boogey man ever taught anyone was to be afraid of the dark, something I think we can all say we have overcome.

In 2007 we were treated to an over saturation of bird flu, obesity, and spikes in other disease, along with the usual suspects of global warming and terrorism. While the media performed its usual routine, manning the flagship of hype, our scientific, cultural and governmental leaders took on a much more disconcerting role. These entities consistently suggested, right or wrong, that the status of these concerns was increasingly dire while skirting real action. For instance, Sir Paul McCartney wants everyone to give up meat because he believes it is the best way to fight global warming, while the secretary general of the U.N. Ban Ki-Moon resorts to Hollywood inspired analogies. Despite being valid to wildly varying degrees, these concerns were widely espoused, forcing grocery stores to replace the shelves of plastic wrap and duct tape with Tami flu and fostering the masochistic notion that humanity is the creator of both the hell and the hand basket.

Take the state of “health care” in the U.S., a more proper apocalyptic analogy than any Spielberg vehicle. As the only modern industrial nation without universal health care, the health economy alone in the U.S. is larger than the entire economy of either the United Kingdom or France, effectively making it the fourth largest economy in the world. Yet we are falling behind other countries in such essential measures as the infant mortality rate. Now, there are many facets as to why health care in our country is so utterly fucked, but the aspect worth noting here is the prevalence of over-medicating and fear mongering.

For example, there is a debate among medical scholars about the definition, effects, and trends of obesity. The British Medical Journal recently published a “Head-to-Head” article with two groups assessing the “hype” around this condition. Unequivocally, the statistics showed childhood obesity on the rise, but the links between childhood obesity and adult obesity and between adult obesity and mortality were unclear if not tenuous. One scholar’s findings suggest, “…as populations grow healthier, prosperous, and longer lived” they naturally become taller and yes, fatter.

Again, like global warming, childhood obesity and many other health afflictions are serious concerns. But it is the tone of the discussion that drives the often superfluous and ever-expensive treatment of these afflictions that result in a backwards-facing system and sharks off the coast of Florida testing positive for anti-depressants.

This also contributes to a disillusioned society. A recent BBC poll found that 93 percent of respondents described themselves as “optimistic” about their own current family life, while 70 percent thought other families were worse off than they used to be.

This sensibility is what author Frank Furedi describes as a “crisis of nerve.” We perceive insurmountable difficulties facing society and the planet and worry over the future while less and less creative energy is spent on the problems of the present and the small realistic efforts that can make a difference.

What is needed in this discussion is a bit of humanism to refute the prevalent misanthropy and strong, innovative leadership. There are presidential candidates who invoke a possibility of this leadership, and “hope” is a much healthier motivator than the fear we are accustomed to. Obama speaks of this most prominently and talks of reinventing AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps for us youth in an effort to repair parts of our country and the world.

In the meantime, it seems as if the end will not come with a bang but a whimper after all. It’s at least as likely as Al Gore becoming the next president.

Minnesota held statewide caucuses on Tuesday, February 5, and it was a sight to see. Ford Hall was the place to be for young Republicans on campus. Caucus organizers expected a measly 10-20 people, while roughly 300 decided to make their voices heard. With no organization whatsoever, lines stretched across the first floor of Ford Hall, and classrooms were standing room only.

One might find this turnout to be encouraging, and for the most part it truly was. However, there was a strong fanatic following of a particular candidate, which ranged from true believers of his message, to those who saw him speak once and flocked like sheep. No, this person was not Jesus Christ. It was Ron Paul.

For those who have never heard of Dr. Ron Paul before, he is a specialist in obstetrics/gynecology and has been a congressman from the 14th district in Texas since 1997. He ran for president one other time as a Libertarian in 1988 and is seeking the Republican nomination this year, but has won only five delegates.

Recently, his bid for the Republican nomination in the 2008 election has slowed down. At the caucus, I remembered chalk drawings that said “Google Ron Paul.” I used to wonder who the fuck Ron Paul was and why Googling his name would be more entertaining than my own. Now I was intrigued why so many college kids still love him and both the media and his own party thinks he is the apocalypse, the plague, and herpes all rolled into one.

As I wandered down the long line of elephant huggers prior to the caucus festivities, I needed to find someone that looked like a Ron Paul supporter. Finally, I hit the jackpot.

His name was Ryan Wilson and he loved what Ron Paul had to say the night before in his speech held in Northrop Auditorium. Wilson was a young, red-haired idealist who just wanted the government to lay off him.

“I don’t like the privacy of government. I don’t like a thousand departments of who knows what they’re doing or what’s going on,” Wilson says, “And I don’t like it that my tax dollars are going to stop me from smoking my weed!”

I scoured Ron Paul’s Web site, ronpaul2008.com, to find his stance on drugs and drug use, but only found articles he wrote about how prescription drug companies are the true drug cartels. So will Ron Paul really allow you to smoke your weed?

Another college-aged kid I ran into was named Josh. He was at the caucus and was voting for Ron Paul, but it seemed like he was either really tired or just stoned.

He said he went to the Ron Paul speech under the influence, which was probably the best way to go. When asked why he was voting for Ron Paul, he made a very articulate and logical argument.

“He likes small government, and, and I don’t remember.” Josh says. “I went to his rally drunk last night and the things he said, I don’t remember, but I was happy at the time.”

Is this really the way Paul wants his message heard? By some drunk kid and another who just wanted to get a little high? I knew there had to be someone out there who knew what Paul is really trying to accomplish through his small government ideals. I found them as the caucus progressed.

There was one who truly believed in Ron Paul and was voted as a delegate for the district. His name was Jonathan Kuipers, a student in the dental school. If there was an award for most passionate person at the caucus, he would have been at least a nominee.

Many Paul supporters are in favor of his small government ideas. Kuipers says that Paul’s voting record shows he is the true conservative vying for the nomination. He says he usually votes Republican, but has become disenfranchised with Republicans. He believes Paul is the one who can bring these conservative ideals back to the party.

“They’ve embraced the things they used to not like i.e. larger government,” Kuipers says. “They’re spending like crazy and they haven’t done anything to change it.”

Another issue that many Paul people rally behind is his stance on military action. Paul said he voted against the Iraq War from its inception and vows to bring troops home. He has also said on numerous occasions that he voted against the Patriot Act. Kuipers says he agrees with Paul’s stance that the Patriot Act is too invasive, even if it is supposedly for our own good.

“He voted against the Patriot Act against all his Republican colleagues,” Kuipers says. “It is my opinion and (Paul’s) also that if we’re willing to give up our freedoms in exchange for security, then that’s a really bad deal.”

Kuipers went on to reference a stirring Ben Franklin quote:

“People who are willing to give up their freedoms for security, they will end up with neither,” Kuipers says.

Though the actual quote is, “Those who would give up essential liberties to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety,” I applaud him for the effort. At least I found someone who knows something about America and has some passion.

Of course with the lovers come the haters. One of these non-Paul supporters was junior finance major Paul Delahunt. He says he voted for Mitt Romney because he has shown good leadership qualities by running a state and a corporation, but also says he was not enthusiastic about any candidate.

Delahunt says he actually agrees with Paul’s principles, but thinks Paul is too inexperienced to be president. While Paul’s rivals have been more prominent in politics, Paul has just been a representative.

“I think he would be a horrendous candidate,” Delahunt says. “He’s definitely not qualified to be president.”

Another knock against the Ron Paul bandwagon is Paul’s extreme ideas. Delahunt says that though he agrees with what Paul stands for, he says Paul is too out there to be president.

“In a lot of respects he’s rather crazy,” Delahunt says. “He wants to eliminate every government department we have and I feel like that is actually irresponsible.”

However, many Ron Paul believers think his small government ideas are plausible. Noelle Harden, a senior geography major who was voted to be a delegate, is a strong Ron Paul supporter. She had a giant Ron Paul sign and some stickers. She says that the media and people in power promote the idea that Ron Paul is batty.

“There’s a complete monopoly on the media,” Harden says. “If people actually listened to the man speak and listen to him state what he believes in, I think his numbers would be a lot better.”

To me, this is a huge statement about the American people. That statement is that we are still lazy when it comes to politics. We whine and complain about hearing the same shit, yet we still vote people into office that are saying it. If we do not take the time to listen what candidates are truly saying, then we deserve to hear the same recycled bullshit pandering that we have heard for 232 years.

However, not all who attend the U of M need face the realities of life at a public university, nor of the world-at-large. They’ve got a student group to keep you safe from that. It’s called Campus Crusade for Christ, or Cru, and within its cushioned social circle, you needn’t let college change you at all. You can meet hundreds of students who think just as you do, and will gladly reinforce everything you learned in your sheltered home town.

Now before you start taking me for an angry atheist lashing out from behind a keyboard, let me tell you a little about myself. I hold no religious affiliation whatsoever. I look at religion as a natural extension of every human’s quest for understanding, and fear of the unknown. I’d gladly attend and participate in any religious service or ceremony, and chalk it up as cultural experience. I have no problem with anyone’s personal beliefs, so long as they don’t mind that I don’t believe the same. And therein lies my grievance with Cru. My comment about students leaving college the same as they came in was merely an observation. If you’re content to live having never challenged what you learned as a kid, then who’s to argue. Happy is happy. The problems come with things like the roof-spanning banner that resides across the front of the Cru campus headquarters on 11th and 5th in Dinkytown.

“Jesus Christ Is The Lord Of The University Of Minnesota,” it reads, spraying like spit into every blind eye we all turn, either too busy with the school day to pay it mind, or too accustomed to this kind of fanaticism to care. Think about what an international student must think reading that upon their arrival. It might as well say, “Welcome to America, home of the crazy Christians. Leave your beliefs at the border.” It was this wildly offensive statement that first prompted my interest into the matter of Cru. Well, that and one particular Coffman Union run-in with the culprits.

I was walking towards the bookstore when I spotted a table full of candy. Each individual piece was spaced in just such a way as to suggest, “Hey, why don’t you come over and take some of this… for free.” Jolly Ranchers and Starbursts, BOWLS full of mini-candy bars, REGULAR-SIZED bags of Skittles… who could possibly resist?! I walked hastily towards the table, my eyes fixed to a particularly tasty looking Twix single.

“Hey there!” beamed two 25 to 35-year-old men in similar button up dress shirts. “Oh, hey,” I stammered, feeling guilty, and deciding I had better at least half-heartedly inquire about the bevy of brochures and pamphlets that were also up for grabs. “What’s all this about?”

Over the next 5 minutes, I nodded politely, fixating with believable interest upon each of the leaflets presented, all the while trying to decide how many pieces of candy I could take without provoking objection. I had concluded that 4 or 5 pocketfuls should be safe, and then it hit me. “Sweet Moses!” I thought, trying to conceal my revelation, “These are the clowns responsible for that horrific banner I’m forced to read every day on the way to class.” I decided I had no choice but to raise some Christian blood pressure. My garlic to their Vampire being the fool-proof foil to every Christian argument: exposing the inherent intolerance and unsupported nature of their ideals.

“Oh yeah, I saw this house the other day on my way to class. It said ‘Jesus Christ is the Lord of the University of Minnesota.’ Is that you guys?” I asked, wearing the most sincere of interested expressions. Their welcoming smiles grew even wider. Like frothing wolves to a wounded deer, I could sense their excitement. A new recruit! They moved in for the kill. “Oh yeah, that’s us!” “Yeah that sure is!” they proclaimed, tripping over each other’s sentences in anticipation of another successful conversion. “Yeah, you should stop by next time! Anytime!” “Yeah, we’re always there! Ha.” “Yeah, we sure are. Ha ha.” “Actually, our next meeting is coming up! It’s this.. . . .” But I cut him off before he could go any further. “Well… don’t you think that’s really offensive?” I interjected, prompting confused glances to be exchanged. “No.” “Of course not.” They assured. “How would that be offensive?”

“Well, what would you say if there was an… oh, I don’t know, a Muslim student group across the street, and they decided to put up a banner that said, ‘Allah is the Lord of the University of Minnesota?’ Would you be all right with that?” Their faces cringed in nearly comic disgust. “Well that would just be wrong.” “Yeah. That’s just simply not true.”

In the momentary silence that followed, there was a distinct change in their attitudes toward me. It was a palpable distain. I was the enemy. I didn’t believe, I wasn’t going to be converted, and I was no longer of any purpose. I was just there to instigate. Never mind the potential logic behind my statements. Never mind that it’s obnoxious and aggressive to proclaim a place as big and diverse as the U of M as your own. But they’re not in the business of rationality. They’ve no time for fair discussion involving open-minded consideration of opposing views. They deal strictly in the art of persuasion.

The other students circled around the table sensed the tension, and were now listening intently. I let the moment linger, and the stupidity of their argument settle in. How could I possibly respond to such a ridiculously groundless statement? They were essentially saying, “No, you see, everyone else is wrong because we’re right.”

The other students at the table were now staring at me with unabashed disgust. I decided to concede the fight for the time being. I stuffed my pockets with mini-Nerd boxes and made a break for the escalator.

Over the next month and a half I attended various Cru events in an attempt to gain further understanding. I approached these events as any prospective new member would, and incurred through this process the journalistic spoils of unguarded quotes and an insider’s perspective.

My first event was one of their weekly meetings held in the cavernous lecture hall, Wiley 175. Out in the hallway I was greeted by a name-tag-sporting duo. The boy introduced himself as, “Funzo.” He pointed to his name tag, on which the name was spelled. The girl laughed knowingly and apologized for her welcoming partner’s wackiness. “Oh don’t mind him; he’s crazy.” She then explained that they often write wild and crazy names in place of their own. We talked for several minutes, but it was quite a struggle. I couldn’t seem to find the flow of their conversation, as hard as I tried. The whole ordeal was like an extended flirting session with Ross Geller. In a world of mandatory sobriety and exclusion from edgier pop culture, this type of “kooky” behavior isn’t uncommon. At a long-awaited break in this tireless charade, I escaped through the lecture doors.

The telltale strumming of camp counselor guitars indicated a praise band in full swing. I walked cautiously forward, hoping not to draw too much attention. I took the corner and found myself face-to-face with a full room. 500 or more students turned to look directly at me. I darted up to the top row to observe in safety. The songs they sang were primarily Jesus-related. I knew many of them well from my younger days of youth groups and Young Life gatherings. I could even recite some of the classics, such as “Open the Eyes of My Heart Lord,” and “Prince of Peace,” without a single consultation of the lyrics.

There’s a really interesting dynamic among the students as they sing these songs. Some of them close their eyes. Some sway from side to side. But only a few are willing to go as far as to hold both hands in the air, and grimace as if overwhelmed by emotion. It reminded me of a time when a youth leader made one of the most memorable comments I’ve heard. I was at a similar youth-worship type gathering. As the songs intensified, several of the kids began to close their eyes and hold their hands up while singing. The youth pastor/lead singer issued a warning. It was right in the middle of the song’s peak. He leaned into the mic and cautioned with a concerned tone in his voice, “Now don’t just put your hands up because the person next to you is. Only put ‘em up if you can really feel Christ inside you.” Everyone looked around to see who had been genuinely filled with Christ’s love, and who had just been pretending to fit in. You can see that same sense of uncertainty with-in the Cru crowd during their sing-alongs. The students observe each other anxiously to see who’ll be the first to “feel Christ’s love.”

After the music, one of the Cru leaders gave an address, rallying the Cru faithful to take more aggressive actions in their personal relationships to spread the word of Christ. “Your fellow classmates here at the University of Minnesota are lonely. They drink and do drugs and have sex to fill the empty void where Christ would be. We all know that Cru is a safe place to make authentic relationships. We here at Cru are a guiding light on campus. We need to be brave enough to be honest. We need to take that risk to open up to the people we meet, because if you do, I can assure you that they will open too, and we can show them the light of Christ.”

It reminded me of a documentary I’d seen about an Evangelical camp in Devils Lake, North Dakota, not far from my hometown in Minnesota. Jesus Camp, filmed in ’05, released in ’06, and Oscar-nominated in ’07, is an objective depiction of the camp’s purpose: training children to join “God’s Army.” The camp, officially known as Kids On Fire School of Ministry, was founded on a belief that, “Children will play a major role in ushering in the last great revival and soon return of Jesus.” The unwavering commitment shown by such young, impressionable kids is an eye-opening experience. At the film’s conclusion, one of the little girls talks excitedly about how she can’t wait to get back to school and pass leaflets and talk about the church and fulfill her duty to the Lord.

Isn’t this what causes wars? Isn’t this what leads to hatred and violence? The teaching of blind, unyielding faith to someone too young to fully comprehend the consequences of her own actions. This is catastrophic. Not just to our society, but to this poor girl’s own life. After the film, I sat for the longest time thinking about what her coming years would be like. She’d grow up alienating herself from her classmates because of the social growth her parents, and this upbringing, had stunted. Think of all the people she won’t be able to meet, and learn from, simply because they don’t believe what she was taught. She hasn’t even graduated elementary school and she’s already as confrontational and narrow-minded as those Cru reps at Coffman. She’s already prepared to stand proudly under any banner her pastor or youth leader (or Cru house owner) might pin up, with out thinking twice of its isolating effects.

Campus Crusade for Christ… a shining light or blinded youth? Part 2 coming soon.

*The banner mentioned in this story is not actually the property of Campus Crusade for Christ, though I was under that impression at the time of these events. The true owner of that house will be identified in part two of this article.*

A few hundred yards off the eastern shore and onto the frozen Medicine Lake lies a village of sorts. In a way, this village resembles the ice fishing communities that often dot the lakes during the winter. Instead of grime-covered trucks, quasi-public urination, and Coors Light cans, there are art car taxis, receptacles for empty beers, and one giant robot ride. Why hell, it is the fifth annual Art Shanty Projects!

This twist on a quintessentially Minnesotan past time presents a challenge for local artists and performers: create something that is interesting in construction and purpose while keeping spectators warm. But the primary concern for artists is the drive for interactivity. This is destination-art after all, and last year’s projects drew in over 3,000 visitors. It is the foremost goal of the Art Shanty Projects to encourage the artists to engage their audience enough to pull open the doors, walk inside, and view what they have to offer.

The Soap Factory curates the projects, so not just anyone with spare time and plywood can participate. With the help of a number of local art hubs, a general call is put out for shanty plans in the summer. These proposals then meet a deliberation by jury in the fall, when the best are culled from the pack. If an idea is one of the lucky twenty to be selected for sponsorship, the artist will be handed $700 and given about a month to build his or her very own dream shanty.

In five years, the scope of the projects has grown to reach the current cap of about 20 funded shanties. Of course, a few “squatters,” the dedicated Shanty men and women who are unfunded by the Soap Factory, always join the neighborhood. 27 bona fide art shanties are on the lake this year, with a new donation system incorporated to help diversify the funding for future projects, as many of the builders spend more than their modest stipend.

When this ice colony is finally assembled in all its quirky glory, the events commence regardless of the appallingly cold weather. However, there is a somber note to the festivities this year. Matt Zaun, a founding contributor, co-builder of the Bigloo, local artist, designer, and musician, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly in November. Art Shanty Projects 2008 are dedicated to Matt.

The Shanties and the Artists Themselves

Photo by Scott Tuska

The Wake trekked out to the Art Shanties as a two-man team on the weekend of the 25th. The weather was warm considering the subzero temperatures that courted the projects in its first two weeks. At the shoreline was the soon to be moved Art Car Taxi Shanty. Familiar grills of the summer art car parade were enlisted to taxi visitors to Shantytown, but due to insurance concerns from the county, they soon retreated to the town itself and set up for hot dog and cocoa service.

The next shanty we encountered wasn’t really a shanty at all, but more of a $31 sculpture in the shape of a fish head made of millwork, and a set of hinges. Or so said its creator, Stewart Grange, who bellyached over his creation’s constitution in lieu of the surrounding works. His only ode to interactivity was his own duct taping of beer bottles that he lay inside the sculpture where a wooden fish had hooked a miniature man. We felt obligated to contribute, but unfortunately Grange had just finished taping up his last bottle.

It was difficult not to gravitate towards the nearest shanty. It stood 16 feet tall and had attracted a legion of children around its base. It was the Giant Robot. Up to 6 kids at a time crawled up into the floating belly of the machine, which was then rocked by its builder. The children inside the chest cavity tried communicating in their best robot voices to those on the ground as we moved on.

From the robot site we crammed into the converted sauna that made up the gallery for Ye Ol’ Black Box Theatre, the smallest theatre in Shantytown. Inside, we were treated to charmingly disjointed renditions of Roger Miller’s golden hits by a stuttering clarinet, infrequent snare, and two guitars. One guitar read: Cruelly Tested on Animals. All the musicians were dressed in ragtag oater garb while the theatre itself was furnished with bookshelves, stools, and old-fashioned curtains. They encouraged us to stoke the wood burning stove and join in on the chorus. As we left the lead singer handed out his calling card: David Friedman, Sensual Jewish Man: ‘He’s got a lot to offer, and nothing to lose’.

Photo by Scott Tuska

We actually had to chase down and board the next shanty. Literally dubbed The Mobile Home, this metal-worked shanty was built atop the drive shaft and axles of a Ford F-150. The shanty is completely powered by human muscle, with the drive shaft modified to fit six sets of bicycle chains and pedals. “How fast does this thing go?” asked one rider. “How fast can you move?!” was the reply of one of the builders, manning the billiard ball-topped steering rod as we roared forward. We stopped along the cleared path, which also serves as the bike-racing course, to pick up a woman dressed as her dog, who was in turn outfitted to resemble the woman. Only a short while after these new riders we were joined by a giant man dressed as the late Evil Knieval. We rounded the course until our treasured winter gear became too miserable to wear and dismounted from the hulking shack outside one of the “squatter’s” shanties.

Here we met Maggie Evans and Paul Linden at their Woodworking Shanty, where one could do nearly anything one would do at a cabin by a lake, like play board and card games. They also taught us how to make studded bike tires as well as a thing or two about Swedish carving knives. Like many of the hardcore builders, Linden and Evans often stay overnight in their shanty.

We wandered around until the start of the BIcicle Race on Ice, where 11 bikers, including Evil, who was now perched atop a children’s bicycle, scampered around the mile long course. The contestants managed to conduct the race with only one multi-cyclist , while Mr. Knieval was forced from exhaustion to collapse upon completion of his first lap.

Photo By Scott Tuska

We then proceeded to the acrimonious Serious Undertaking Regarding Visionary Investigations into The Vital Attributes of Longevity Shanty. Apparently, this downed airplane was carrying a documentary film crew, made up of a few ex-Wakers, who are now forced to document their fight for S.U.R.V.I.V.A.L. Even being blogged about daily has done little to avail the survivors of their treacherous disposition, forcing the remaining crew to demonstrate through performances, screenings, and Survival Sunday School what it takes to stay alive in extreme circumstances. On our visit we ate some venison prepared by a makeshift poncho and blanket smoker while playing an extreme game of croquet.

Empathetic for the crew, we thought it only civil to send a letter informing loved ones of the survivors’ conditions. We therefore headed over to the Postal Shanty. Here, letters were being sent to places as far away as Germany and Nova Scotia. Hoping to combat the monotony of regular mail offices, creators Caleb Peterson and Gabe Walker kept the shanty moving with Run DMC and an assortment of Schnapps.

From the Postal Shanty we moved on to enter the chalkboard exterior of the The Medicine Lake Drawing Club. An earnest Tim Nickodemus encouraged us to make drawing log entries as he spoke of his lesson plans. Multi-hand drawings, portrait-fencing, image-fishing, and idea-stealing, as well as exquisite corpses were in order. We sketched our own feet as requested by the log and left, as all other visitors do, members of the club.

We left that day after listening to the first solar-powered act at the Ice Museum Shanty – which was, ironically, HeatdeatH – and returned on Sunday to visit the remainder of the shanties and to speak with David Pitman, one of the Art Shanty Projects’ founders.

Pitman’s shanty hosts 97.7 K-ICE, the town’s very own radio station, powered by a drive-in theatre’s mini-tower. Pitman plays music and invites anyone to join him on air to read the weather or tell stories. He asked The Wake not to focus the story on him or co-founder Peter Haaken Thompson, explaining that the real value of the projects lies with the ingenuity and dedication of the many other shanty men and women.

Walking around the town for a weekend among wandering dogs and sled riding children, we repeatedly ran into people who were overawed with the projects and wondering out loud why they hadn’t visited before, while pledging to spread the word. These were our th