Ray Kurzweil comes to MTU
The
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Peaches and Cream share another perspective
An interview with Mel Pearson
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Michigan Tech Lode
September 22, 2011
Serving the Michigan Tech Community Since 1921
Spice is Always Nice; 22nd annual Parade of Nations MICHAEL FRIESEN Lode Writer This past Saturday saw the 22nd annual Parade of Nations, this year with the theme “Spice is Always Nice”. The event included a namesake procession of representatives from various nations; many dressed in traditional clothing from their respective countries. The parade started at 11 a.m. in front of the Hancock Middle School after commencing with the National Anthem as sung by Tech Alumnus Karen Colbert. The parade proceeded across the bridge and through downtown Houghton until it arrived at the Dee Stadium around noon. Once there, the parade dispersed and was replaced with a fair-type gathering in the stadium arena, with tables selling traditional cuisine from some of the countries represented and a stage that was the site of live performances from noon to 4 p.m. This year’s spotlight entertainment was the Limanya Drum and Dance Ensemble, which performed music and dance traditional to the West African nations of Guinea and Mali. This year 70 nations (10 of which joined on the spot) plus several other groups were represented in the parade, with the parade-goers for each nationality’s section carrying the flag of their country and a printed card denoting said nation for
the crowd that lined the route. Several local organizations were also represented with floats, such as the Indian Student Association, Raptor (a hall in Wadsworth), and Keweenaw Pride, Tech’s student organization for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender students. The parade also included local groups such as Eagle Radio, Tech’s chapters of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) and the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) as well as Blizzard T. Husky and Tech’s Pep Band. Once the parade had ended at the Dee, Colbert sang the National Anthem again and the festival portion of the event began. Parade of Nations is put on every year for several causes. One of those, according to an organizer for this year’s festival portion, Bob Wentz, is to show the international students in both universities that they are welcome and appreciated. It is also a chance for students and other community members to display the culture of their home nations or heritage and to expose people to cultures that they would otherwise not get to see. “All of us came from some place,” said Wentz, “[including] Native Americans, and we should be proud of our heritage.” Parade of Nations is an event that is organized and held by Michigan Tech with the collaboration of Finlandia University and the townships of Houghton and Hancock. “Michigan Tech
is probably sixty percent,” said Wentz, “but everyone helps with planning and resources.” This year was the first timet hat the middle school was under the ownership of Finlandia University, which allowed the organizers to use the school building to store and arrange equipment such as flags and to have a more controlled environment for registration the morning of the event. Wentz described Tech as the prime mover for the event, and Finlandia as a partner, noting that they were very involved with planning and supplied much of the entertainment. Wentz also described Parade of Nations as thoroughly connected to the community, which was shown by the large crowd that gathered along the entire route and the numerous local businesses, volunteers, and sponsors that were involved in funding and running the event. A full list of sponsors is available at (http://www.ips.mtu. edu/Dee2011.pdf ). Always a source of humor and entertainment, this year Tech’s Pep Band was divided with half near the front of the procession and half near the rear. “We represent the Yooper demographic,” joked one member of the band as it gathered for the parade. Another Pep Band member, Grant Cox, noted that the front half of the band was in front of Tech President Glen Mroz, and humorously added, “We [the Pep Band] are the parade of nations!”
Multicultural Festival: A child is entranced by the colorful dancers at the Multicultural Festival that followed the Parade.
Photo by Kevin Madson
Building bridges between the Christian and GSM communities MICHAEL HILLIARD Lode Writer This past Friday, Sept. 16, Michigan Tech welcomed guest speaker Andrew Marin to speak about building bridges between the Christian community and the Gender and Sexuality Minority (GSM) community. Marin, himself a straight man and Pentecostal Christian, is the founder of the Marin Foundation, a non-profit organization that works to connect the GSM community with the Christian community through biblical and social education and gathering together diverse groups. The talk, sponsored by the Inter Christian Council (ICC) and the Center for Diversity and Inclusion, started at 8 p.m; Marin spoke for between an hour and an hour and a half before opening to questions from the audience. The Q&A section of the
event had no predetermined ending time, and so Marin and his audience stayed until 12:30 a.m. to ask and answer questions. During this time, Marin sold copies of his award-winning book after which the event was named, Love is an Orientation: Elevating the Conversation with the Gay Community. Marin opened his speech by giving his own history of his involvement with the GSM community. Growing up, Marin had three best friends, and he recalled that he rambunctiously used homophobic slurs with them, thinking nothing of it at the time. While at university, with three of them at the same university and another nearby, all three of his best friends came out to him as gay or lesbian, each in consecutive months. At first, Marin pushed them away, but after doing so felt a disconnection with
Love is an Orientation: Andrew Marin is the founder of the Marin Foundation and spoke to Michigan Tech students last Friday. Photo courtesy of amazon.com
God until he was moved to reconnect with them. The following weeks brought difficult, but heartfelt, talks with his friends until he moved with them to Boystown, a district of Chicago that is overwhelmingly gay men in its composition, with a heavy night-life and club scene influence. One of his first memorable experiences in his new location was going to a gay bar with his friends, where he was nearly instantly identified as not gay, and lead to him being audience to many stories of how his fellow patrons had dealt with realizing that they were gay and coming out to their families.
Marin reported that not a single story was a happy one. Through those and similar stories that Marin accumulated over the years through listening, he came to understand GSM people and the issues that affect them. Marin spoke of his own spiritual journey, of the journeys of those around him, and of the importance of learning to build bridges between diverse people. “Anyone can build an army,” Marin said, referring to the tendency of similar people to group together and foster hostilities towards people with differences, “But it really takes someone committed to build bridges.” Through his speech, Marin shared some quotes that were most influential on his spiritual growth and journey, including “It is the Holy Spirit’s job to convict, God’s job to judge, and my job to love.” by Billy Graham and ad the followcontinued on 2
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