KEQ
Volume 3. Issue 2.
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We are MN In this issue...
16
L Humans of the Twin Cities Photographer: Maya Berg
Volume 3 Issue 2
Publication Policy
KEQ is written and produced by the journalism students at BenildeSt. Margaret’s School. The views expressed in this magazine are the opinions of the writers and not necessarily those of the Knight Errant staff, advisers, or BSM administrators. KEQ is produced with the support of anonymous donors. It is distributed for free to all BSM high school students. Benilde-St. Margaret’s School 2501 Highway 100 South St. Louis Park, Minnesota 55416
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Contact at kkoshiol@ bsmschool.org
Staff
Editor-in-Chief: Rachel Lyons Photography Editor-in-Chief: Keenan Schember Graphic Editors: William Keivit, Tyler Matson, Anna von Kampen Writers: Grace Gyolai, Gunnar Lundberg, Grace Hedin, Maya Berg, Peter Linder, Lucas Latterell, Elizabeth Kupchella, James Libbey, Kathryn Sohm, Julia Feld, Abby Letscher, Mark Racchini, Andrew Plouff, Henry Bird, Christopher Jones, Elizabeth Ambre Photographers: Elle Ryan, Sisay Shannon-Tamrat, Katie Ercolani Designers: Charlie Peavey, William Krane, Bennett Delgado, Noah Shields 2/1/16 2:22 PM
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Hey there Readers, Fer this issue of KEQ, we are featuring our lovely home, the land of 10,000 lakes, Minnesota. You betcha we included all our favorite things about this state: the bike trails, the lakes, the food, and the history. Oy Vey! The idea fer the topic came from my interest in learning more about Minnesota culture, and I sure did. Once I introduced my ideas to the staff over here at the Knight Errant, they couldn’t stop coming up with story prompts, uff da. The cover fer this issue was a lot more complex than it looks, don’cha know. First, we tried to put a map of Minnesota inside a map of The Cities, jeez Louise. This didn’t work out, but I wanted to portray Minnesota as a whole, with a focus on The Cities. So, the design team came up with the new idea of a full map of The Cities inside an outline of Minnesota. The final product turned out great––oh fer cute! All of the pages are really cool, fer real, but some stand out in my mind. If you mosey on down to page five, you’ll find the design gem of the whole issue, with its cute color scheme, creative layout, and fun facts. If you’re a true Minnesotan and hate those Cheeseheads over in Wisconsin, you’ll love the article on page 26. It’s an in-depth look at the new U.S. Bank Stadium. Skol! Vikings! The feature of this quarter’s issue starts on page 16: Humans of The Twin Cities is an interview-based spread modeled after city-slicker Brandon Stanton’s Humans of New York. A wonderful staff writer hopped over to the Cities, went up
to strangers, and asked them tough questions about life. Holy Cow! Of course, Minnesota isn’t just a fun game of duck, duck, gray duck. There are some things about this state that aren’t too great, don’cha know. Our schools have one of the worst gaps in achievement between students of color and white students. If you want to know more about this problem, check out the story on page 22. The spread on page 12 is a report on the way Minnesota is combatting its sex trafficing problems. Now, I’d be lying if I said this magazine was all smooth sailing. We had to cut a lot of potentially great articles. There was one about the underground music scene, the large Somali population, and one about company headquarters located in Minnesota. So, uff da, these didn’t work out. But things could be worse! Overall, this is a great issue, even better than the last, all thanks to the KEQ writers, designers, photographers, and advisors. Thanks so much for taking the time to read this. Now, sit back, crack open a can of pop, and enjoy.
I suppose I should get going, I’ll see ya later, We should fer sure get together soon, Thanks fer everything, The hot dish was to die fer! Rachel Lyons Editor-in-Chief
Letter from the editor
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Lake Life
An exploration of the ever-present Minnesota culture, “Lake Life”
Countdown to Kickoff
A preview of the new U.S. Bank stadium
The Hot Dish
Favorite Minnesota foods and staples to the Minnesota diet
The Mill City
The history of Minneapolis, previously the biggest milling city
Urban vs. Rural vs. Suburban BSM students’ opinions about their neighborhoods
Safe Harbor
Minnesota sex trafficking reduced through laws and programs
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“People here, for the most part, are genuinely nice” -Harriet Cosslet
“I’ve lived here my entire life, so it will always be a place I can call home” -Colleen Wagner
M I N N E S OTA “ N I C E ” Minnesota may host the great Minnesotan get together, attract a variety of beach and lake goers, and torment residents with unpredictable weather that’ll fry you like an egg or freeze you to the sidewalk, but we’ll betcha we’re known as the nicest state around. Or are we? BSM includes a range of students stretching from the upbeat city to the laidback suburbs of Minnesota, but what really sets some students apart from others is whether they’ve moved to Minnesota from a completely different state. The different characteristics of these non-native students is what brings diversity to the BSM community. Minnesota has made an obvious impact on these students, but the various BSM students’ impressions of Minnesotans as a whole express multiple points of view. BSM sophomore Christian Sanderson moved to Minnesota the summer before 5th grade from the sunny golden state of California. “At first impression, I felt like Minnesotans were so friendly and always willing to help out. They seemed so nice compared to people that I had known in California,” sophomore Christian Sanderson said. Sanderson’s dad got a job offer in Minnesota and looked at this move as an adventure for their family. Eventually, Sanderson developed a different opinion about Minnesota’s title as ‘Minnesota Nice.’ “I had to adjust to there actually being seasons here, but an unexpected adjustment that I had to make was adapting to the
passive-aggressive [behavior] that people tend to use all the time in Minnesota. It was hard trying to make friends here because right when I got here I kind of felt like everybody already had friends and didn't need more,” Sanderson said. Sophomore Harriet Cosslett has an usual perception of ‘Minnesota Nice.’ This young British native was born across seas in England and moved to Minnesota when she was three years old and frequently visits England to see her family as often as possible. “The culture is overall different in England, so it’s hard to compare to Minnesota, but I believe that ‘MN nice’ really prominents in the Minnesotan population. I like how the customs and traditions are festive and give off a more community feel in Minnesota,” Cosslett said. Of course winter is very different because there’s no snow in England, so the first Minnesota winter Cosslett endured was difficult, but the friendly Minnesotan atmosphere makes up for the weather. “When we first moved here our neighbors brought us cookies. Initially my family thought this extremely nice gesture was a little peculiar. We’d never encountered such nice strangers like Minnesotans and it was a great first impression,” Cosslett said. ‘Minnesota Nice’ has been an opinion that’s remained very prominent in Mid-West stereotypes, but is a stereotype that has been broken. BSM students come from all walks of life and bring many different characteristics to our community.
Writer: Elizabeth Ambre Designer: Anna von Kampen
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The Ho
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Hot Dish M
A look into the best dishes Minnesota has to offer from wild rice to Jell-O
innesota is known for many things: crazy cold weather, funny accents, and nice people. Unfortunately, many people overlook the foods and recipes that make our state unique. Minnesota’s culture is strongly influenced by the Scandinavian, German, and Polish immigrants who settled in Minnesota years ago, as well as its Native American communities. All of these different groups of people influenced the foods we now consider traditional, making for an interesting palette of tastes. Hot dish, called casserole practically everywhere else, was created back when farmers needed to feed their large families on a budget. It has since become a classic Minnesotan meal and a staple to Minnesotan culture. Most Minnesota families have all basic ingredients of a hot dish in their refrigerators on any given day: some meat, vegetables, and canned soup––making it a perfect, low price meal for large quantities of people. “It’s a classic comfort food. It’s home for some people. But its popularity might be going away. It might disappear for this generation, and then come back; I’m seeing it less and less and different version of it––healthier options,” Head Chef Raul Templonuevo said of tater tot hot dish. Jell-O salad is another classic Minnesotan food, which is made with different varieties of gelatin and fruits, cottage cheese, or marshmallows. Jell-O was created in the early 1900s and was popular because of its low price and accessibility. Women could take all of the family’s leftovers and put them into Jell-O, which helped with tight budgets. Another Minnesota food favorite is home-baked bars of all kinds, which are a popular dessert item. They are baked in pans and come in many different flavors: lemon bars, cheesecake bars, and the famous seven-layer bar. “I learned to make seven-layer bars from my mom, and once I got married I would make them for my family. It’s a great, classic recipe, and it holds a lot of tradition,” Mrs. Lora Hicks, mother of senior Madison Hicks, said. Cheese curds are usually defined as a Wisconsin food, but deep fried cheese curds are still a staple in Minnesotan culture. Cheese curds are famous for the squeaky sound they make when chewed, which means they are fresh. “If you go to the State Fair, the best cheese curds are going to come from the Mouse Trap. I am into cheese curds with a little bit of ketchup––just a little bit on the side. I like them piping hot,” theology teacher Mrs. Becca
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Meagher said. A popular food that is homegrown right in Minnesota is wild rice. Wild rice, the state grain, is a traditional Minnesotan food that has been eaten for many years. Native American tribes, such as the Ojibwa, consider wild rice to be a key aspect of their culture and cook it with a variety of dishes, like deer broth and maple syrup. Wild rice can also be made into a sweet dish, like rice pudding. Although it is a notorious part of Minnesota history, Spam is not love by all. Spam came on the market in 1937 by Hormel Foods Corporation. “Being from Hawaii, I cook a lot with spam. The reason it’s so popular is because in World War II, when military people came over they brought spam with them and then it came into local cuisine. The most popular dish is musubi, which follows the Japanese tradition of cooking rice with a layer of spam and seaweed,” science teacher Ms. Abbi Baker said.
Writing: Kathryn Sohm Designer: WIlliam Krane Photographers: Sisay Shannon-Tamrat and William Krane
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e can all agree that life in the Twin Cities has its perks: whether you’re a Minnesota Wild fan or year-round biker, our state has fun, year-round (yes, including the arctic winters) activities for everyone. So, if you’re stressing out about school work, tests, or the seemingly-eternal college search, Minnesota’s many amazing art museums offer the perfect de-stressing environments. Whether you need somewhere creative to give you some inspiration, or just a place to reflect, The Walker, The Weisman, and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA) are just some of Minnesota’s creativity-encouraging settings. Although each museum serves as a creative venue for the right-brained, each was founded by different individuals from contrasting backgrounds. The Walker, located on Lowry Hill in Minneapolis, was founded by Thomas Barlow “T.B.” Walker, a lumber baron in the 1800’s. When Minnesota withdrew from helping to build and fund Walker’s idea for a contemporary arts museum, he took it upon himself: a daunting task which proved a successful venture. Though the Walker is, of course, a venue for the arts, it’s much more than that. Being a contemporary arts museum has its challenges––namely, staying contemporary. The Walker’s history of community outreach includes school programs, visual and performing arts, and social justice. The Walker doesn’t have an official stance on political issues, rather promotes itself as a venue for people to learn and bounce ideas off one another. “We want to make the Walker a safe place to have dangerous conversations. It’s a place where you can have dialogue around headlines you see today,” said Chief of Marketing & Strategic Communications, Annie Cleveland. Today, the Walker is a center for creativity – in every sense of the word. “It [the Walker] offers performing arts such as dance and music. We also offer a type of art called ‘moving images’ because it’s not just films but it’s also video. It’s not just a museum it’s truly a center - having all different kinds of contemporary art.” Cleveland said. But, one of the best things about the Minneapolis art
scene is its diversity in time period and culture. Starting in 1915 with a completely different focus, history and classic art, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts is yet another popular venue for artists and art enthusiasts of the Twin Cities. According to Jeanne Stuart, events associate at the Museum, the museum has a certain uniqueness to it. “It has such an impeccable permanent collection that is more traditionally focused than a lot of other museums. It has the prestige and history to it that people just keep coming back again and again,” Stuart said. However, the museum doesn’t simply serve as a place to view classic works upon classic works. Along with the Walker and Weisman, the MIA makes an appreciable effort to actively engage in the community: “They’ve always had a long standing relationship with the school programs to make sure schools are accessible, too. We work a lot with low income neighborhoods and families to provide resources that would allow them to come to the museum,” Stuart said. Though the Walker and MIA were founded by individuals or small groups of individuals, the Weisman Art Museum, located on the University of Minnesota campus, was more of an institutional-initiated project: University President Lotus Coffman first expressed interest in an oncampus museum in 1934. According to Director of Communications and Marketing, Erin Lauderman, the Weisman has remained “true to Coffman’s pioneering vision: access to the arts––intellectual, emotional, and physical––is the foundation of all the museum’s programming today. The striking facility, designed by internationally acclaimed architect Frank Gehry, serves a university community.” Although the Walker, Weisman, and MIA are only three of many art institutions in the state, they serve as engaging, creative venues to inspire any museum-goer. As some of Minnesota’s premier places of interests for tourists and native Minnesotans alike, they’re a sure way to be immersed in Minnesota’s diverse variety of cultures and art programs.
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Writer: Elizabeth Kupchella Designer: Noah Shields Photographer: Elle Ryan, Sisay Shannon-Tamrat
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Taking Cen
he relationship between a city and its art is unlike any other. In order for artists to be able to work, they must be fully supported by the city and its citizens. The Twin Cities is one of a few cities in the U.S. that can safely boast about its fierce bond with theater. The theater community here has the second most theater seats per capita, beat only by New York. This is due to the dedication and connection the Twin Cities has with art. “The Twin Cities have always been very invested in the arts,” English teacher and One Act director Mrs. Maura Brew said. Theater has a lot to offer to a community. “Being invested in the theater makes us a more enlightened and accepting community,” Brew said. Theater contributes to the enlightenment of citizens of a city by allowing them to experience different cultures, and it provides an opportunity to see a perspective one may not normally consider. The Twin Cities has proven itself willing to invest in the arts and support its artists. In many places, artists struggle to make a living without working second jobs to support their income. In the Twin Cities, that is not the case. “There are lots of opportunities to work in the theater community, in a wide variety of settings and roles,” Union Stage Manager Katie Hawkinson said. However, theater can also be lucrative for the community. Around $100 million in taxes are generated annually between the State, Orpheum, and Pantages theater. Theaters also create a more attractive city to live and work in. “Large corporations use the strong cultural climate as a key attraction in recruiting employees to move here, who in turn run successful business making the region and state thrive,” President of The Historic Theater Group Jim Sheely said. When a city and its theaters work together, a community is formed. The residents are more cultured and open-minded, while the city attracts more visitors and business. The relationship creates a synergy that can only be found between a city and its art.
Other Theaters:
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Ordway:
The Ordway offers artistic On top of plays and musicals, dance performances. With con dway rarely disappoints. “[Au a performance as anywhere e Theater Group, Jim Sheely sai cation. It maintains a strong Public School Systems. It is a Education, a program dedica have the opportunity to expa cation to providing artistic exp chances to find passion in art m of the Twin Cities.
In addition to the larger theaters, the Twin Cities also has several lesser known theaters that contribute to its culture. The Mixed Blood Theater dedicates its time to social change. It has won various awards for its diversity and human rights accomplishments. The Star Tribune called Mixed Blood the “Best Theater for Diversity” in 2015. In 2011, Mixed Blood started the Radical Hospitality program, which provides any audience member with free access to mainstage productions. It was started with the goal of allowing everyone to experience theater, despite financial hindrances. Another smaller, successful theater is the Jungle Theater. It was awarded “Best Small Theater” by the Mpls St. Paul Magazine. The Jungle Theater has also won several Ivey Awards for individual and overall performances. Park Square Theater, 7th House, and Torch Theater Co. are also all worth checking out. Smaller theaters give audiences opportunities to experience more progressive productions that bigger theaters often aren’t willing to provide and are a huge influence on the worldliness of the Twin Cities.
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enter Stage Guthrie: Perhaps the most famous theater in Minnesota, the Guthrie Theater is nationally renowned for its excellence. The Guthrie has never failed to provide relevant and engaging performances for its audience. “All productions at the Guthrie are right up there with any production that you find in New York,” English teacher and One Act director Mrs. Maura Brew said. Brew, whose husband is on the Board of Directors of the Guthrie, is a longtime patron of the theater. On top of the quality of productions the Guthrie provides, it also offers a multitude of programs and resources for the Twin Cities community. It offers camps for children, classes for adults, business training, and internships that are all open to the public. The Guthrie also has partnerships with schools all over the state to help introduce theater to students. The Guthrie gives back to the community that allows it to continue producing art.
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ffers artistic experiences you often won’t find elsewhere. d musicals, the Ordway also hosts concerts, operas, and es. With consistently remarkable performances, the Oroints. “[Audiences] know they will see as high-quality anywhere else in the world,” President of the Historic m Sheely said. The Ordway is also committed to art edus a strong relationship with Minneapolis and St. Paul ems. It is also partnered with Perpich Center for Arts ram dedicated to ensuring that all Minnesota students ity to expand their artistic skills. The Ordway’s dediartistic experiences and offering the Minnesota youth ion in art makes it an amazing contributor to the culture
Writer: Abigail Letscher Photographers: Sisay Shannon-Tamrat Designer: Bennett Delgado
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Safe Ha
Minnesota is reducing sex trafficking statewide by increasing fun
S
tatistics travel around the internet and into the mind of people everyday, but not all of the staggering numbers found online are accurate representations of the issue at hand. For instance, many people quote that Minnesota is the 13th worst state for sex trafficking in the United States, but how can a statistic like this be measured? It is impossible to estimate the number of men, women and children being trafficked at a given time. Instead of using facts from small, skewed, and incomplete studies to evaluate a state’s level of sex trafficking, one must look to how the state combats the elusive issue that trafficking is. By looking at legislation, professional attention and training, and a statewide approach, it’s evident that Minnesota is at the top of the game, not the bottom of the pile. Minnesota, along with at least 28 other states, have adopted a version of the Safe Harbor Law. This law requires that victims of sex trafficking who are under 18 are to be treated as victims, not criminals. While many states have the Safe Harbor Law, Minnesota’s personal version is very successful and progressive. “[Our Safe Harbor Law] is very effective and unique in a few different ways. We have taken a statewide approach, but some Safe Harbor states just look at an urban area or a city...We have also increased the criminal justice responses to traffickers that trafficked youth, and buyers,” Safe Harbor Director for the Minnesota Department of Health, Mrs. Lauren Ryan said. Minnesota’s state legislator has proven their dedication to this issue through more than simply passing the Safe Harbor Law. “Our state legislature has invested money into trafficking, providing services, and additional training for law enforcement. We are doing a great job as a state, and we need to do more, but this is great progress,” Executive Director at The Link, Mrs. Beth Holger-Ambrose said. In partnership with the Safe Harbor Law, Minnesota created the No Wrong Door approach. No Wrong Door is the method
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that delivers service to victims of sex trafficking. This model insured that communities across the state are knowledgeable about sex trafficking and have the skills and resources to identify sexually exploited youth. Nonprofits and other organizations, such as The Link in Minneapolis, have been designated as Regional Navigators. The Navigators serve as contact points for youth who have been sexually exploited, and they are responsible for connecting youth to services and experts in their communities who can aid victims. These organizations and programs are often an effective substitution for juvenile detention services. “Counties are starting to realise that shelters are a much better response for trafficked kids if they can’t get returned home safely, than juvenile detention,” Holger-Ambrose said. The Link, like many of the Regional Navigators, provides many different services to sexually exploited youth such as housing, shelters, mental health therapy, family therapy, and court advocacy, but The Link is set apart with their adherence to youth involvement. “We have four youth advisory committees where we hire youth who have experienced homelessness and/or sex trafficking, and they apply to be on the advisory commissions, which are paid positions. They become part-time staff members of The Link and help us design all of our programming and help oversee it. They are truly the experts at what they need,” Holger-Ambrose said. The Link is also unique because they recognize that not all victims of sex trafficking are women. “Sex trafficking is often talked about as just girls being the victims, and we know that’s not true. Our shelter and housing program for sex trafficked youth is called Passageways, and sadly, it’s
the only one that is open to boys [in Minnesota]. It’s important to have the ability to serve boys and transgender youth, not just girls,” Holger-Ambrose said. While there are services available for some victims, it isn’t uncommon for some to resist treatment because they have never experienced such a level of aid before. “Most of the girls’ lives are already in a chaotic state. They have never had any structure or support and now, all of a sudden, they’re getting it, and they fight it. Now they have to live with the stigma of the abuse,” Sargent Heather Weyker for the St. Paul Police Department said. Resistance often occurs because many victims have been conditioned to believe that they are living normal lives, and that they are not victims at all. “A lot of trafficked youth have grown up in situations where their families are also involved in the life, and so that’s all they’ve ever know. They don’t get that they are a victims of a crime because they are so used to being exploited and abused,” Holger-Ambrose said. Despite initial defiance from some victims, the organizations that serve them understand their difficult situations and are always willing to help. “If they are not ready for services or help, we respect that and let them know that we will always be there whenever they want to come back in and get help or services. We need to get on that base to allow them to come in and out until they are ready to accept the lifestyle and get some help,” Ryan said. Whether it’s because Minnesota is being progressive in battling sex trafficking, or because sex trafficking is actually just prevalent across the globe, the Metro isn’t the trafficking capital some people believe it is; however, it isn’t a spotless area either. “Anywhere that there is Internet, there is sex trafficking. It’s everywhere: every city, every state. California might have ten times more, but they have ten times more people too. I wouldn’t say Minnesota has it any worse than any other state, but we aren’t any better,” Weyker said. Societies and governments are starting to focus on the crime of sex trafficking through the lens that the pimps are the criminals, and that the people being trafficked are the victims. Minnesota chooses to not only hop onto this bandwagon, but to be innovative in doing so. By passing the Safe Harbor Law, creating the No Wrong Door model, and taking a statewide approach, Minnesota’s legislature, police departments, and organizations are altering the way victims of sex trafficking receive services, and in turn, changing many lives for the better.
“We will always
be there whenever they want to come back in and get help or services.” -Lauren Ryan
men and children
y thought it was an option
Information from Wright County website
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Writer: Grace Gyolai Designer: WIlliam Krane Photographer: Katie Ercolani
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lake life Living in the land of 10,000 lakes gives Minnesotans an opportunity for a unique lifestyle that isn’t really available anywhere else: Lake Life. Whether for work or recreation, many Minnesotans spend countless hours enjoying life on their neighborhood lake. Students Liam Long, Ryan Tucker, and Matthew Tucker all work on the lake during the summer. Junior Liam Long is basically an “underwater handyman” who mainly works to remove lake weeds for Waterfront Restoration LLC. “My official title is project manager/dive technician for waterfront restoration. I enjoy my job because I just get to sit underwater, look at the fish all day. Although,I’ve nearly drowned countless times. Because I’m on a scuba tank, I run out of air when I’m thirty feet down and I don’t really notice. Then I have to panic and scramble to the surface for a breath,” Long said. While Long spends most of his time underwater, Ryan and Matthew Tucker spend most of their time on boats, cleaning them for Tidy Boats company. “I work for Tidy Boats, which is just a band of brothers that clean rich people’s boats in Lake Minnetonka,” Ryan Tucker said. “We’ve cleaned lots of different boats. For example in the bay we live in, there's a guy with a 55-foot long, $1.5 million boat that should be made for the ocean, but he thought it would be a good idea to put it on Lake Minnetonka. He made us clean his boat on July third because he had a party, and then we had to clean it again on the fourth of July because he had another party.” The Tuckers do spend most of their time on the lake working, but they also spend time in their boat having fun and laying back. “I like to go boating; we have our own boat with racing stripes on the side,” Matthew Tucker said. “Most of the time we just screw around and do stuff like trying to waterski on our snow skis, which failed miserably.” “I like boating too,” Ryan Tucker said. “After playing casual field games with the boys, I’ll have the boys over, and we go out
on the lake and do lake things like casual watersports, water skiing, jumping off the boat at full speed without a life jacket.” Other students, like Junior Maddie Turk, enjoy the more relaxing side to lake life, and some of the culture that comes with it. “It’s just very Minnesotan I think; it's just really fun to go out on the boat in the summer, and it's really relaxing to go out on the boat after a long day. It's easy to do and overall it's really fun,” Turk said. Juniors Michael Doppler and Grant Gustafson are long time fishing buddies who enjoy heading out on the lake to fish all times of year. “Well, there's all kinds of fishing. You got fly fishing, bobber fishing...trolling, bass fishing...sunny fishing, crappie fishing...walleye fishing...there's all kinds of fishing,” Doppler and Gustafson said. “But actually, the most enjoyable part about the lake life to us, to me, is that we’re just chilling with our friends...It’s awesome,” Gustafson said. Minnesotans that enjoy the lake life have some of their favorite memories on the lake. Liam Long’s was “that time I thought I was gonna drown and didn’t”. Ryan Tucker’s was “The time our propeller got shattered because one of us drove into a sandbar and ‘we’ had to fix it so our parents wouldn’t find out” he said glaring at his twin brother. Turk has fond memories of going out on the lake for her birthday every year. Grant Gustafson and Michael Doppler had some interesting experiences when they brought Eric Wilson along on one of their fishing trips “Yeah we take Eric fishing sometimes, and he is just so bad. I wouldn’t... he’s just so bad at fishing. It’s not hard but he is awful.” said Grant Gustafson. Overall, while some boats have to be cleaned and the odd propeller repaired, by and large it seems like everyone really enjoys lake life. Almost every interview I did was interrupted by laughter and shouts of “Oh remember that one time!” Life on one of Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes is one of the most memorable parts of being Minnesotan. Writer: Lucas Latterell Designer: Anna von Kampen Photographer: Kathry Ercolani
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Never Ending Cycle The cycling culture in the Twin Cities has grown drastically in the last few years as Minneapolis, St. Paul, and the metropolitan area continue to add numerous bike trails and lanes to their domains. The two cities have created hundreds of miles of new trails that can take you anywhere: from the Twin’s Stadium to Lake Minnetonka and the Mississippi to Minnehaha Falls. The Midtown Greenway, commonly jumped on after riding around Lake Calhoun or Lake of the Isles, is a six mile long stretch of tunneled trail that takes cyclists through the heart of Uptown, while being below the busy streets. Many get off by the Mississippi River and continue to make their journey towards the falls at Minnehaha. “The awesome thing about the Greenway is the single use of biking instead of trying to worry about bikes and cars at the same time,” Benilde-St. Margaret’s ACS teacher and avid cyclist Ms. Kirsten Hoogenakker said. Choosing to continue biking towards Cedar lake instead of exiting to get on the Midtown Greenway, will eventually lead a cyclist to the Cedar Lake Trail at the North of the lake. Further east on the trail, the towering skyscrapers of Downtown Minneapolis lead to the Mississippi River. Miles in the opposite direction is Lake Minnetonka. The design of the bike trails in Minneapolis have allowed for an efficient and easy way to explore. They also grant access to nearly every part of the city. “What’s really great about Minneapolis com-
pared to other places that I have biked, even in comparison to St. Paul, is the accessibility,” Hoogenakker said. Outside of the Twin Cities area, there are many trails that span the state. The main benefit, other than the beauty, is not having to try to compete with cars on these trails. “I biked around Green Lake in Spicer, [Minnesota], which was really cool. It’s nice to not have to worry about cars,” said Eric Atherton, cyclist and graduate student at The University of Minnesota. If a specific trail does not lead directly to a desired area, a bike lane will do the trick. The buzz about biking and its growing popularity is allowing the biking community to better their safety and overall enjoyment. “I think Minneapolis is doing a pretty good job adding bike lanes and [is] starting to get more public funding for reconstructing and upkeeping the trails that are being added,” junior at Benilde-St. Margaret’s and cyclist, Matt Paal said. Many of the trails are paved, but some are covered in crushed limestone. “If I had a bike that was made for it, I would like it more, but riding on those trails with a road bike is just too hard,” said Atherton. As the Twin Cities lead the country in the initiative of adding more bikes trails and lanes, other cities and their metropolitan areas are quick to follow the cue. “I went to Chicago over MEA and was really impressed with the biking and how much of it there was in Chicago,” said Hoogenakker.
Writer: Mark Racchini Designer: Tyler Matson
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DO YOU HAVE ANY GOALS YOU ARE WORKING TOWARD?
“THE NEXT SONG.”
HUMANS OF THE TWIN CITIES
“IN LIFE YOU ALSO HAVE TO REAL THAT THERE IS FAILU YOU’RE GOING TO FAIL, YOU GOING TO STUMB YOU’RE GOING FALL. B THE BEST PA IS BEING AB TO PICK YOURSE BACK UP AND S ‘OK I’M STILL GOIN AND THA THE MOST IMPORTANT THIN
WRITING AND PHOTO BY MAYA BERG DESIGN BY CHARLIE PEAVEY
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“IF YOU’RE GOING TO BE OUT HERE FOR SOMETHING, MAKE IT LEGIT.”
t
O REALIZE S FAILURE. AIL, YOU’RE STUMBLE, GOING TO FALL. BUT BEST PART EING ABLE YOURSELF P AND SAY, ‘OKAY LL GOING’ ND THAT’S NT THING.”
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WHAT IS THE BIGGEST OBSTACLE THAT YOU’VE FACED IN YOUR LIFE?
“MYSELF.”
“BE CURIOUS. ASK MORE QUESTIONS. DON’T JUST DO WHAT THEY SAY, AND TRY TO UNDERSTAND WHY IT’S HAPPENING.”
“YOU’RE LIMITLESS, PRETTY MUCH, UNTIL YOU GIVE YOURSELF A LIMIT.”
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“I GREW UP IN A VERY CONSERVATIVE HOUSEHOLD, AND WHEN I GOT INTO ADULTHOOD, I FOUND THAT THE PHILOSOPHY I’D BEEN BROUGHT UP IN DIDN’T REALLY WORK, AND SO I HAD TO EXAMINE MY LIFE AND MY ATTITUDES AND BASICALLY BECOME A DIFFERENT PERSON.”
“AND HERE I AM NOW.”
“SOME OF MY MOST AMAZING EXPERIENCES IN NURSING HAVE BEEN JUST HOLDING SOMEBODY’S HAND AS THEY PASSED AWAY. SOME PEOPLE THINK THAT’S REALLY MORBID, BUT IT’S THE MOST IMPORTANT LIFE EVENT OTHER THAN BEING BORN.”
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F
rom 1880 to 1930, Minneapolis milled the most flower in the world. “‘Mill City’ is a nickname for Minneapolis, because the basis of the economy of Minneapolis was on milling for many years,” History interpreter at the Mill City museum Maureen
Trepp said. C.C Washburn pioneered the milling business in Minnesota; he built his first mill in St. Anthony Falls in 1866, and soon had four in the area, all before coming to Minneapolis and building the Washburn A-Mill in 1874. That mill was destroyed in a catastrophic flour-dust explosion in 1878 but was rebuilt in 1879. The explosion killed 14 people and served as the reason dust-collection systems soon became commonplace in the milling industry. The 1878 explosion of the Washburn A-Mill wiped over one-third of Minneapolis’ entire milling capacity. “Disasters are a big part of what happened here. If you look in the history of a lot of the early structures around here, you’ll find evidence that, if nothing else, at least fires. We’ve had several fires in the building here. The major disaster was the big explosion in 1878, which is considered by many to be the biggest explosion in history; they felt the blast in Stillwater, about 27 miles away from here,” History interpreter at the Mill City museum Marty Rykel said. By 1890, Minneapolis had a population of over 165,000 people, nearly 150,000 more than just twenty years earlier. During the peak of the milling industry in Minneapolis, the city had 34 flour mills. In addition to the competition between the flour mills, another business began to boom during the peak of the milling industry:
creating artificial limbs, due to the inherent danger that comes with milling. The railroad industry also faced steep competition in the Minneapolis area during the milling era, and often goes without recognition in the minds of the general public. “We had major train lines that vied to come into Minneapolis, and this whole mill industry is here because of the falls but also because of the trains. Trains service these mills [by] bringing in the wheat and taking out the flour,” Trepp said. Flour milling hit its peak in Minneapolis in 1900, when nearly 14.5% of the country’s grain was milled here. During peak production, a single mill in the Washburn-Crosby company could produce enough flour in one day to make over 12 million loaves of bread. “Minneapolis became the more powerful city [of the Twin Cities] because it had the production, [and] because of the land. The geography of the area allowed them to use the waterfalls to produce the energy to run the mills,” Trepp said. While the milling industry was huge in Minneapolis, by 1915 it was the railroad industry that began to really take off. Due to an overwhelming demand for farm equipment and flour, the railroads and the warehouse district soon began to out-profit the mills. “The train had these mills here, and they had access to the fields, and fields needed farm equipment. New equipment was made in Minneapolis and St. Paul. After a while, Minneapolis, specifically, became the major shipper of these materials to those fields. After 1915, more money was made out of the warehouse district than out of the mills,” Trepp said
Writer: Julia Feld Photographer: Keenan Schember Design: Will Keivit
Minneapolis was an industr by the economic gains of m
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The introduction of trains into Minneapolis lead to an explosion of shipping from the warehouse district, and eventually turned it into the largest one in the country. Despite these two major industries vying for space in Minneapolis, one more fought to make its mark here: the lumber industry. “You had not just flour milling but lumber milling, so two types of companies basically ran the city for many, many years,” Trepp said. Minneapolis surpassed St. Paul to begin serving as a mini portcity of sorts, because boats couldn’t maneuver around the falls to bring shipments directly into Minneapolis. “The falls created the city of Minneapolis and its first major industries,” Rykel said. “St. Paul [was] basically the port for the Twin Cities, because boats couldn’t get up the river into Minneapolis’ area because the falls dropped cut limestone into the river, and boats couldn’t navigate around the limestone,” Trepp said. Washburn eventually entered into a partnership with John Crosby, and their company Washburn-Crosby served as the foundation to what would become General Mills in 1928. General Mills was responsible for producing and packaging Gold Medal Flour, so when Charles Pillsbury announced his plans for an even bigger mill across the Mississippi River from the Washburn A-Mill in 1879, the competition began to heat up. The Pillsbury Mill, unlike its main competitor, the Washburn A-Mill, never caught fire or exploded and soon surpassed the Washburn Mill as the largest mill of the area; it had the capacity to produce 5,000 barrels of flour per day, which was unheard of at the time.
The Washburn Mill closed in June of 1965 where it remained vacant and abandoned for over 20 years until a fire ripped through and destroyed it in 1991, providing the site for what is now the Mill City Museum. The mill has seen more than it’s fair share of disasters, having been affected by fire or explosions at least four times since its creation. “Back in 1928 this building was gutted by fire and again in 1991,” Rykel said. The fire destroyed all the Mill’s equipment but left a tattered brick wall behind that is now part of the Museum. Parts of the upper floors of the museum bare remanence to the fire showing off stains of water and smoke damage from the fire fight. “We are located in an actual old mill, one of many mills. There were over 20 mills on this side of the [Mississippi] river and many on the other side of the river,” Trepp said. Most of the other mill buildings in the area have since been destroyed or torn down. “The significance of having a museum here is to tell that story [of how] the milling industry built Minneapolis,” Trepp said. In contrast, the Pillsbury Mill remained operational until 2000 before it fell vacant. In the summer of 2015, it was turned into artist lofts. The Washburn A-Mill was designated as a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service in 1983, and the Pillsbury Mill was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966 making both mills protected historical landmarks. “A lot of the industries in Minneapolis since then, are stemmed off the fact that we were flour millers. There are pieces of Minneapolis that are here because of the flour mills,” Trepp said.
strialhub, fueled f milling.
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A
The Achieve More Than
s Minnesota natives, it is easy to focus on facts that make us proud of where we are from, like our high rankings in health and well-being. It is not so easy to recognize the fact that Minnesota has one of the widest achievement gaps between students of color and white students in the United States. The cause of this gap can be traced to many different factors, and while strides are being made to fix this problem, Minnesota has yet to make significant progress in ensuring equal opportunity for all students. “This is a crisis. I may have had a very decent educational experience, but for many in my family, and many throughout our community, the educational system is not meeting their needs, so that really motivated me to say, ‘How can we do this better,’” Mr. Jeremiah Ellis, Director of Partnerships and Outreach for Generation Next, said. The crisis is not just being addressed by organizations like Generation Next that are dedicated to shrinking the gap. Rather, schools, teachers, parents, and the government have all recognized the need for reform and proposed some kind of solution. “The equity work happening is making sure every student, regardless of their race, ethnicity, income, language abilities, et cetera, get the education they need to be successful in their futures,” Director of College Readiness Consortium and Co-director of the Educational Equity Resource Center at the University of Minnesota, Ms. Julie Sweitzer said. “Equity work” has taken many different forms in Minnesota in the past few years, and these methods have generally given less than satisfactory results. The truth is, a subject like the achievement gap is nearly
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impossible to solve because it stems from many larger issues and years of history. “I don’t think you can look at the achievement gap in Minnesota without also noticing that all kinds of gaps between white people and people of color exist in Minnesota and are wider than they are elsewhere. ... The city that gets ranked number one on so many lists is really only prosperous, safe, accessible, and progressive for white people, not people of color,” English teacher at South High School in Minneapolis, Ms. Corinth Matera said. In 2013, only about 57% of black students graduated high school in four years, versus the 85% of white students who did, according to the Minnesota Department of Education. This statistic alone is enough to demand immediate change; however, such concrete numbers often cause the wrong approach to such issues. “Generally, the ‘achievement gap’ is a disparity between the ‘achievement’ of white students and students of color on a number of measures. The most talked about measures are standardized test scores, which I don’t believe are very valuable measures of anyone’s achievement or potential,” Matera said. “To some extent, I’m uncomfortable with the term ‘achievement gap’ because I believe students of color are just as capable of intellectual growth and achievement as white students; the gap is really about the way our society continues to fail to serve these students.” Test scores, percentages, and numerical rates are good indicators of disparity to some extent, but in order to tackle the educational
problems in Minnesota, we must look past numbers and look at students. Minnesota adopted the Common Core Language Arts standards in 2010 and was also regulated by No Child Left Behind sanctions, both of which use test scores as indicators of success. “What was good about No Child Left Behind was, that for the first time, it forced schools to look at every child, even if it was by groups of children,” Sweitzer said.
“
62% of white kids area move on to complete
degree. 42% of African Am out of St. Louis Park schoo secondary degree in within si
There’s a 20%
“The downside is we ended up looking at measurements that are single points in time: How did a school or group of a school’s students do on a Tuesday morning on April 11, between the hours of 9 and 12 am?” No Child Left Behind was a step in the right direction, a direction of questioning educational practices and searching for solutions, but it is in no way the solution
1/29/16 3:11 PM
vement Gap: an a Score to the many errors in the educational system. “If the message has to go through several channels before it gets to the end user, the experience is very different. No Child Left Behind goes through the federal government, goes through the state, goes through the school district, goes through teachers, and then finally gets to students, and the full intent of the law may be completely distorted by the time it gets so
e kids in the St. Louis Park mplete a post-secondary
can Americans who come schools complete a postthin six years of graduation.
20% gap.”
~Jeremiah Ellis
close to the end user,” Ellis said. While federally observed sanctions may have students’ best interests at heart, they have continually been criticized for shifting classroom focus away from students and toward test scores. “Lots of folks––mostly politicians and policy people who aren’t in the classroom––look at test score gaps and say, ‘What’s wrong with our children or
KEQ2_Pages22-23.indd 3
our teachers?’ I believe a more important question is ‘What’s wrong with our tests?’” Matera said. Besides often being inaccurate, concrete data is hard to obtain, especially with students at a young age, when the gap first manifests in communities. “We need kindergarten readiness. Can we get every kid screened at [age] three in Minneapolis and St. Paul? There are about 10,000 threeyear-olds in Minneapolis and St. Paul, but we only have data on about 3,000 of them,” Ellis said. Obtaining data reflective of the reality in Minnesota classrooms is one of the biggest challenges currently posed and needs immediate attention. “I think our challenge is finding whatever each student needs in order to be able to reach [state] standards, and we do have to keep a lot of creativity in our curriculum and allow students to use creativity in learning. That’s the challenge: figuring out how to assess that knowledge and gain that knowledge in ways other than traditional standardized tests,” Sweitzer said. The Minnesota Department of Education’s data reveal low levels of reading proficiency among nonwhite students. In 2013, Hispanic students were found to be about 35% proficient in reading. Low numbers like this lead to a reduction of future opportunities and the false perception that minority groups are less intelligent than white students. However, entire realms of knowledge are being overlooked. “Our curriculum needs to be multicultural and needs to reflect the histories and cultures of all the students in our classrooms. That
Writer and Designer: Rachel Lyons
means more African American history and literature, more Latino/a history and literature, and so on, and not just in special electives,” Matera said. Instead of simply focusing on mathematics and language arts, schools must broaden their curriculums, and standardized tests should be expanded to recognize diverse abilities, like fluency in more than one language. “Folks are not being prepared for the global economy. There is a larger world outside the United States that many in our community are unaware of. Particularly those of us who may live in homogenous societies don’t have access to people who are different than us, and when it comes to this global world that we are going to be moving into, we need to be able to move fluidly between cultural groups,” Ellis said. Before making any ground-breaking systemic change or completely re-working the process of testing, the people leading this battle need to start asking tough questions about race, poverty, and inequality. “We need huge social shifts in terms of fighting poverty and racism, decreasing income inequality, solving the health care crisis,” Matera said. “I think we need to listen to communities of color and make space for them to lead the way for solutions.” Minnesota’s wide achievement gap is an undeniable barrier to the overall growth of Minnesota’s society––economically, politically, and socially. Solutions to the problem won’t come overnight, but the gap must close, in order to secure an equal opportunity for all students and ensure the possibility of a bright future for everyone. “Education is the best, and maybe the only way, we can change the world––and that’s why I do what I do,” Sweitzer said.
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Writer: Lucas Latterell Photographers: Keenan Schember Designer: Bennett Delgado
Many BSM students choose to go to various schools all over the country while some prefer to stay close to home in Minnesota.
Close To Home Avery Bather - Gustavus
Sophia Elsenblast - St. Ben’s
Megan Haakonson - U of M
“I chose Gustavus for four main reasons: 1) I was able to continue studying music on the side of my other schoolwork. If I had gone to a big state school, it wouldn’t have been an option for me. But at Gustavus, it is extremely common for students to be involved in various music ensembles orlessons, even if they are not majoring in it. 2) I was asked to play on the women’s tennis team! 3) My parents insisted I choose a school either in MN or in a state that borders MN. (Partially for tuition costs, but mainly because my dad was afraid I’d meet a guy from some far away state, get married and never come back to MN to take care of my parents when they’re old.) Honestly, I wasn’t thrilled about staying so close to home at first; however, it turned out to be the best decision I ever made. Gustavus is the perfect school and perfect distance away from home for me. 4) They gave me the most scholarship money! My community at Gustavus is made up of some of the most incredible people I have ever met. Before coming to Gustavus, I had no idea I would fit in so perfectly.”
“I chose to attend the College of Saint Benedict because I loved the community feeling I felt when I arrived on campus as well as all of the different opportunities to get involved. I chose to stay in MN because in eighth grade I moved to Sioux Falls, South Dakota for two years, and I missed living in Minnesota so much. I already knew what it was like to live in a different state, and it made me appreciate Minnesota so much more, and I knew I wanted to stay.”
“I chose to stay in Minnesota for many reasons. I knew that I wanted to go to a state school and not a liberal arts school because I intended to do something in engineering, which typically liberal arts school do not offer. I was torn between the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and the University of Maryland, but I got a better scholarship at the U, and the Baltimore riots were happening in Maryland, so I went for Minnesota.”
Anna McGinn - Carleton
Ella Hurley - St. Thomas
“I chose Carleton primarily because of the academic opportunities available to me. Being a top ten liberal arts college, Carleton has given me the opportunity to study in a rigorous and fast-paced environment. I also chose it because I decided that I wanted to continue swimming at the collegiate level, which I am able to do at Carleton with its Division III team. I did not chose Carleton because it is in Minnesota, but more because it was the best fit for me. Now that I am here, though, I see many advantages in going to college in-state.”
“Honestly I chose the University of St. Thomas because of the scholarship I got there, and it’s a gorgeous campus. I also liked the size––I couldn’t see myself at a big school; I would feel lost. I stayed in Minnesota because I think it’s ridiculous to pay out of state tuition; it’s a waste of money especially if your parents aren’t paying for all your school. If you’re going to a private school, which UST is, then I think it’s ok to go out of state. But really it came down to which school is the cheapest for me.”
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MNRX Minnesota is known for it’s medical facilities and advanced healthcare procedures.
University of Minnesota Medical Center:
The U of M Medical Center is one of the most respected academic medical centers in the nation. “Our partnership with the University of Minnesota Medical School and University of Minnesota Physicians provides the platform to specialize in breakthrough treatments, surgical techniques, lifesaving therapies and to train tomorrow’s physicians,” says the University of Minnesota Medical Center website. Organ transplantations, blood and marrow transplantations, oncology, cardiovascular services, pediatrics, and behavioral health services are some of the areas where the U of M Medical Center excels.
Mayo Clinic:
Abbott Northwestern Hospital:
Park Nicollet:
Medtronic:
Mayo Clinic was born in 1864, when Dr. William Worrall Mayo opened his medical practice in the small town of Rochester, Minnesota. He eventually passed everything down to his sons, Dr. William J. and Dr. Charles H. Mayo, who transformed the family practice into Mayo Clinic. Today, the Mayo Clinic is a world renowned medical center. The Mayo Clinic has buildings and hospitals in Arizona, Florida, and its original facility still in Minnesota. Around 1.3 million people from all 50 states and 143 countries visit Mayo yearly to seek medical care. With a total personnel staff of 59,500 comprised of physicians, scientists, residents, and other allied health staff, Mayo Clinic is one of the largest medical centers in the nation. Also, with an excellent medical school and research institute, many doctors from all over the United States do some part of their medical studying at Mayo. In 2014, Mayo Clinic celebrated “150 Years of Serving Humanity.” says the Mayo Clinic website.
Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital, affiliated with Health Partners, is located in St. Louis Park. Methodist is known for its high quality of patient care, medical expertise, and disease management. Park Nicollet is also a leader in cancer, cardiovascular, and maternity care and has many specialty buildings to provide that care. “Our mission is to improve health and well-being in partnership with our members, patients and community,” says the Park Nicollet website.
Writer: Grace Hedin Designer: Noah Shields Photographer: Katie Ercolani
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In the beginning, Northwestern and Abbott were separate hospitals. Northwestern was founded by Harriet Walker in 1882. She summoned 44 women to help her start a charity hospital in a small rented house that would serve only women and children. Later, Northwestern Hospital dedicated the first structure for hospital use on June 10, 1887, at the corner of Chicago Avenue and 27th Street in Minneapolis. After twenty years of working, Dr. Amos Abbott, one of the physicians that was apart of the first medical staff at Northwestern, left to start his own hospital community less than a mile away. He often would reduce or waive fees for those that could not afford to pay. Abbott and Northwestern hospitals were merged together into the Abbott-Northwestern Hospital Corporation in 1970. Today, Abbott Northwestern is the Twin Cities largest nonprofit hospital and helps a great deal of the community.
Medtronic, with its Operational Headquarters in Fridley, Minnesota, is the world’s largest stand-alone medical technology development company. Medtronic has around 85,000 employees and has helped well over 53,000 patients all around the world. “At Medtronic, we define value-based healthcare as an effort to develop and deploy products, services and integrated solutions that improve patient outcomes per dollar spent in the healthcare system by improving the quality of care and/or reducing the associated expense,” says Medtronic’s website.
25 1/27/16 12:31 PM
Countdown
Since the snowy collapse of the Metrodome field in 2010, the brand new U.S. Bank Vikings Stadium has come a long way. The state-of-the-art stadium is projected to open before the fall of 2016 and will cost approximately $1.082 billion. It will become a haven for all sports players, Vikings fanatics, and sport stadium fans in between. The U.S Bank Stadium, located in the same spot as the old Metrodome, is predicted to liven up Downtown East Minneapolis. With the Guthrie Theater, Stone Arch Bridge, Mill City Museum, and many other iconic buildings nearby, the U.S Bank Stadium will fit right in. Parking ramps with skyways from the north and south sides of the stadium and connections from the stadium to the downtown Skyway System will make it easy for all fans to get to games. The U.S. Bank Stadium broke ground on December 3, 2013 and construction workers began pouring concrete for the outer shell of the stadium. Today, approximately 620 workers are on the site daily. The construction has involved complex structures and lots of heavy lifting; the largest piece of steel, the roof ridge truss, weighs 750,000 pounds. The final piece of the iconic Viking prow, the portion of a ship’s bow above water, was placed out front of the stadium. The piece weighs 400,000 pounds and is 200 feet long and 20 feet deep. As of December 31st, 2015, the latest part of the stadium laborers are constructing are the elevators and escalators. There will be a total of 11 elevators and 33 escalators. In contrast, The Metrodome had only three elevators and zero escalators. The U.S. Bank Stadium will allow for easy navigation and access all around the stadium. The new stadium project had goals set in place to advance the equality of all of the workers. According to the Minnesota Viking’s official website, one of these goals was to have 32% of all workforce hours performed by minority employees, and the project is currently achieving 39%. Another goal was to have 6% of hours worked by women, and the project is currently achieving 9%. The goal for minority-owned businesses was 9% and the new stadium is achieving 11%. And finally the goal for women-owned businesses was 11%; the project is achieving 17%. The old Mall of America field cost only $55 million to build in 1982. The U.S. Bank Stadium will have almost double the square footage of the old Metrodome with 1,750,000 square feet compared Writer: Grace Hedin Designer: Tyler Matson
26 KEQ2_Pages26-27.indd 2
to the 900,000 square feet of the old stadium. With seven levels of seating areas and a total seating capacity of 66,200, which can be expanded to 70,000, the new stadium will be able to hold more fans than ever before and will be perfect for the upcoming Super Bowl in 2018. The U.S. Bank Stadium will also house one Vikings Hall of Legends, one restaurant, and two team retail stores. The technology being put into the new facility will make it one of the most advanced stadiums in the NFL and all sports leagues, for that matter, according to the Minnesota Viking’s official website. With two hi-definition video boards located in both the east and west end zones, that each span 12,560 square feet, 2,000 flat screen HD TV’s, LED lighting, and wireless internet, the U.S. Bank Stadium will be quite the deluxe facility. Another feature of the U.S. Bank Stadium is the transparent windows that make up the walls of the stadium. The open structure of the stadium will connect fans to the outdoors in a climate-controlled environment. In recent weeks, Pentair, a global water and thermal management business, was named a Founding Partner of U.S. Bank Stadium. As the official sustainable water partner of the Minnesota Vikings, Pentair will provide clean drinking water for fans by installing numerous drinking fountains and water-filling stations. Another ‘founding sponsor’ company, Polaris, signed a 10-year marketing deal with the Minnesota Vikings and owns the U.S. Bank Stadium gate and branding inside and outside the facility. Polaris makes off-road vehicles, snowmobiles, and motorcycles and gave a bunch of purple and gold customized products to the Vikings. “We are extremely pleased with the exposure of Polaris in the new U.S. Bank Stadium and what we will get through the year in the way of various outreach efforts with the Vikings,” Polaris CEO Scott Wine, father of BSM sophomore, Turner Wine, said in an interview with the StarTribune. Not only will the U.S. Bank Stadium allow for the Vikings to practice and host games, but many high schools and local colleges will be able to use the stadium as well to host camps, sport clinics, and State Championship games. The BSM girls’ soccer team won the Minnesota State High School League Championship this fall when they played at St. Cloud State. Now, hopefully, instead of having to make the long trek to Husky Stadium, the girls’ soccer team and other BSM sports teams will take home their future High School State Championships at the U.S. Bank Stadium.
VIKI 1/22/16 8:31 AM
T a
n to kickoff The Vikings’ U.S. Bank Stadium, a project three years in the making, will include a variety of advanced features and upgrades.
Team retail stores
620
Construction workers
Restaurant
2,000 HD TV’s
INGS KEQ2_Pages26-27.indd 3
2
1,750,000 Square feet
27 1/22/16 8:32 AM
Urban vs. Rural
One of the greatest features about M that it offers to its residents. The three city, the suburbs, and the wide open cou advantages and disadvantages. The city, portunities and a social rush, but it also While the suburbs can offer a quiet geta the commute to work or friends’ houses c of Minnesota are very serene and quiet but are even more removed than homes
The city is a place where there is always something to discover, whether it be a family-run cafe, restaurant, or store. The amount of opportunities in the city have a wider variety compared to the suburbs and the country. However, the many attractions are difficult to get to with the constant traffic of the city streets. The city offers many diverse places to live. “My neighborhood is right by two elementary schools and a middle school, so I live near a lot of young kids and families,” junior Macy Rooney, who lives in St. Paul, said. Many others live on busy streets where traffic is endless. “I live right in front of a busy street. It’s really hard to play in our yard because we don’t have enough space or boundaries. I think my volleyball has been ran over by about five different cars,” sophomore Maddie Markley, Minneapolis resident, said. Although the congestion and fast pace can be a problem for some, most people can adapt to city living very quickly. “I think that moving to the city would be a hard change for most people. However, once people get use to it, living in the city is really fun,” Rooney said. With a large population, city dwellers often have trendy and unique styles that add to its overall diverse culture. “I think that living in the city allows you to have a cool, funky style. A lot of clothing trends originate within the city,” Markley said. The city has great educational opportunities for all students, including many arts schools and charter schools with more specialized learning environments than most schools found elsewhere. “There are so many schools in the city, so it allows families to find the best school for their children,” Rooney said. Overall, living in the city gives people a variety of life that they wouldn’t have in the suburbs or the country. The city has just about everything a person needs for a fully diverse lifestyle. “I love living in the city. I’ve lived in it for all my life and I think it has much to offer,” Markley said.
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Rural areas of Minnesota have many advantages that ur country offers a lot more space for people, and land is much c country features sights that the city just can’t match. Whether setting offers many beautiful views. Because of this, running in running in the city. “There are tons of running trails around view is always amazing,” senior Lilly Johnson, resident of St. Sadly, a lot of the country is rapidly disappearing. Whe Plymouth, was he was a child, his farm was surrounded on Since then, however, new neighborhood’s have appeared arou High School, so the school has been buying land near his hou debating selling some of the land to Wayzata,” Busch said. Even if a lot of the country is fading because of growing s that keeps its rural charm, that the city can’t provide. “I love much charm and originality to it,” Johnson said. People who live in an urban environment often enjoy a fa the city has to offer. However, the country offers many differ city. “Every year I tap for Maple Syrup with my dad, and I al wheeling in the summer,” Busch said. Johnson also enjoys act only be found in rural areas. “Riding the horses is always fun out back and give them carrots,” Johnson said.
1/15/16 7:35 AM
al vs. Suburban
about Minnesota is the diversity in lifestyle e three main areas in Minnesota are the open countryside. Each area offers unique The city, for example, offers plenty of oput it also comes with constant car horns. uiet getaway from all the noises in the city, houses can be treacherous. The rural areas d quiet with no evidence of a city nearby, homes in the suburbs.
ages that urban and suburban residents can’t enjoy. The d is much cheaper than that of the city. Furthermore, the h. Whether it’s farmland, lakes, forests, or plains, a rural running in small towns can be a lot more enjoyable than ails around my house, so I go running all the time. The dent of St. Bonafacious, said. earing. When Senior Joe Busch, who lives on a farm in ounded on all sides by other neighboring farms like his. peared around his land. His farm is very close to Wayzata near his house to use for school grounds. “My grandpa is sch said. of growing suburbs, there is still a lot of land farther away ide. “I love the feeling of an old, country town. It has so
n enjoy a fast paced lifestyle, and the many activities that many different activities that one cannot find within the ad, and I always go snowmobiling in the winter and fouro enjoys activities that require lots of open land that can s always fun. And if I’m ever bored, I can always just go
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Suburbs offer good schools, fun attractions close by, and a quiet, family-friendly environment. One of the most common suburbs for BSM students to live in is Edina. About 120 students live in Edina and attend BSM. Edina offers a great selection of restaurants, shopping centers, and parks. It is a picturesque family environment. In addition to offering those attractions, Edina is a very safe place to live––as are most suburbs. Students at BSM also live in the suburbs of Wayzata, Plymouth, and Eden Prairie. Each of these cities offer their own unique attractions. Wayzata offers a small town feel and great shopping opportunities, an excellent view, and really good food. Eden Prairie has restaurants that serve all kinds of food and many entertainment options including movie theatres and the Brunswick Zone. Many students that live in the Plymouth, Wayzata and Orono enjoy the easy access to schools and close proximity to friends’ houses. Plymouth is unique in that it sits right on a major highway that provides easy access to places like Ridgedale, Lake Minnetonka, and a longer drive to downtown Minneapolis. Plymouth is known to be a very safe and family friendly place to live. Many people like Plymouth for its wide assortment of entertainment options as well as its restaurant selections. “It’s only about twenty minutes away from any place you want to go,” senior Emma Sather said. Junior Tyler Matson, who lives in Edina, enjoys the activities available where he lives, and its close proximity to Minneapolis. “It is close to the city; I like the city, but it is not as busy as living in the city,” Matson said. This sentiment is similar for many people who like the attractions of the city, but prefer a calmer and more secluded neighborhood.
Writers: Andrew Plouff, Christopher Jones, Henry Bird Designer: Will Keivit
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Light Spee One important development in the Twin Cities area is the light rail system. With lines providing transportation through the University of Minnesota campus, the airport, and even up to Big Lake, its development is expanding public transportation throughout the Twin Cities community. The light rail system originated in 1988 when the state legislature gave funding to the construction of light rail facilities. This helped with the Blue Line, also known as the Hiawatha Corridor, when construction began in 2001, a $60 million project. The Blue Line opened June 26, 2004, marking the beginning of the light rail systems in the Twin Cities, connecting downtown Minneapolis, the airport, and the Mall of America. Since then, the Northstar Corridor and Green Line have both been added to the system. The Northstar Corridor connects downtown Minneapolis with Big Lake, helping commuters from the Northwest metro area. The Green Line connects downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul, running through places like the University of Minnesota and Target Field. All of these lines have helped with transportation for many reasons in the Twin Cities. One of these is improving traffic, which nearly everyone loves to see. With the addition of light rails, there are fewer cars and buses on the roads, so there will be less traffic in the metro area. Another advantage is that the light rails are more comfortable for transportation with conveniences like heated stations. They are also more accessible, allowing for those with disabilities to use them. “For the population with disabilities, the light rails are a lot more user friendly and follow more of a universal design,” senior high engineering teacher Ms. Kirsten Hoogenakker said. Compared to other light rail systems, the Twin Cities
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light rail system has a more luxurious feeling. “The light rail in the Twin Cities does a really nice job keeping the trains clean. Because our train cars are newer, it seems like a more luxurious experience than taking subways,” Hoogenakker said. Another contrast between the Twin Cities Light Rails and other cities’ is that there is more space on the light rails here than on systems elsewhere. Other cities’ light rails and subways are more crowded because of a denser population and because people leave more space for each other in Minnesota than other areas. There are plans for expanding the light rails in place. One of these plans is the Southwest Corridor, which would extend the Green Line to Eden Prairie. There are also plans for the Midtown Corridor, which would connect the Blue Line to the Southwest Corridor. It is also possible for there to be a train connecting the Twin Cities to Duluth, though those plans are in the early stages of planning. Hoogenakker also feels that there should be an extension on the Northstar. An idea Hoogenakker has is to also put light rails in unexpected parts of town. “If there were more light rail options through North Minneapolis, we would help with a lot of socially constructed issues since the North is so closed off,” Hoogenakker said. Light rails create a few problems. During construction, detours make it more difficult to travel around the route being put in place. There have also been issues with synchronizing the timing of lights on University with the Green Line. However, these problems are resolved over time. “When you look at the number of people who are affected [positively] by having the light rail versus the number of people affected in a negative way, I think the positives outweigh the negatives,” Hoogenakker said.
Writer: James Libbey Designer: Tyler Matson Photographer: Katie Ercolani
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eed Ahead
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