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Reza returns to wow MNSU with magic The illusionist’s homecoming performance came with new tricks and stunts
EMMANUELLA SHOKARE Staff Writer “Instead of learning how to farm like others kids in their young age back in Dakota, I decided to learn magic,” said Reza the Illusionist. Reza was invited to perform on campus Saturday, Oct. 7. The event was organized by the Student Events Team. A guest magician also performed; he was discovered by Reza during one of his tours to find upcoming magicians. “Four or five years ago we invited him and it was a huge hit so we decided to do it again and make it a Saturday show that a lot of people will come to visit,” said Kylie Morton, the Homecoming competition chair. “We decided to do something more creative and spontaneous that is different and has not been done for a couple years.” At the beginning of the event, a student artist, Drawn to the Sky, sang some amazing songs to pump the audience up a little before Reza came on stage.
Photo by Jeremiah Ayodele
There were over 250 people in attendance, all looking to see some amazing tricks and magic stunts. “I saw the posters and thought it was fun and decided to bring my grandkids to come watch it with me since it was on a
Saturday,” said one of the attendees. After the songs by the guest student artist, Reza came on stage, causing the crowd to go wild. He performed magic tricks, such as attempting to pass through a spinning metal
blade wheel. Before he did those tricks, he warned kids not to perform these stunts at home, since it was dangerous. He engaged the audience by looking for volunteers to help him on stage. Some of the tricks were a bit scary,
funny and surprising to the audience, especially those who confessed that they were skeptical about magic. Reza tried to prove to those unconvinced audience members by taking them on stage to be volunteers, for them to experience it themselves and to prove that it is not a staged performance. One of the more fascinating tricks performed by Reza was tying his hands with chains and then using padlocks to lock it. He called on volunteers from the audience to come check if everything was properly done. He was then locked inside a box and in a few seconds he was able to untie his hands and freed himself from the locked box. This trick drove the audience wild. Another fascinating trick he performed was when he put a broken glass in a paper bag and there were other
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Awake film featured on campus brings native voices to light
BILL HAMM Staff Writer “We face the fear with love;” the fear they faced was the military action of the Police State brought down upon them on their own land. This action was spearheaded by the local and state law enforcement of North Dakota, aided by police forces from across the country and the mercenaries of the oil companies.
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Across our country, the militaristic tactics used against native peoples and they’re supporters were watched daily by many via the Internet. These independent news postings were coming from different organizations, such as Unicorn Riot out of the Twin Cities. Many of those scenes you will recognize in the documentary, “Awake,” which was featured on campus Oct. 5. The tactics being used against Native Americans were considerably harsher than those being used against Black Lives Matter in our cities where the corporate news cameras were ever present. The confrontation that was featured in the film was
the one that happened at Standing Rock, North Dakota in 2016. It was facilitated by the successful “white privilege” refusal of the citizens of Bismarck, North Dakota to allow this pipeline to cross the Missouri River upstream of their water intakes. This forced the DAPL pipeline south onto sacred Native American tribal lands, lands guaranteed to them by treaty. The route chosen and the methodology to achieve it clearly showed inadequate consideration for negotiated treaties rights, ancient burial grounds, and of the legalities that would have stopped construction of highways and any other building projects along this same route. For the
Oglala, Lakota, Nakota, and Dakota peoples, this is one more in a long line of broken treaties and promises. “We wanted to bring the ‘Awake’ film [here] to promote awareness and education regarding what happened at the No DAPL protest and where it’s at now,” Megan Rose Heutmaker, MNSU’s Indian Affairs director, said. “This issue isn’t over and there are many other communities fighting for clean and safe water all over the world. We wanted to bring their issues to light as well.” This film rightfully invoked feelings of anger, rage, and even shame in any compassionate human being watching it. It will show you
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the arbitrary, capricious, and brutal ways law enforcement attempted to deal with protesters on their own land. This includes the callous disregard for traditional burial grounds on Turtle Island. Aldo Seoane was a speaker at this event, who led a short discussion and panel on the events in at Standing Rock and the ways this has impacted the native communities. Seoane feels the documentary is being well
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News Editor Alissa Thielges alissa.thielges@mnsu.edu