November 25, 2014

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Minnesota State University, Mankato

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What do you SEEK? Catholic Mavs to attend national conference for college students in Nashville.

LUKE LARSON Staff Writer The Saint Thomas More Catholic Newman Center is preparing for what Joe Bakken, campus minister at the Newman Center, describes as “the experience of a lifetime.” The Catholic Mavs have already filled two charter buses and are in the process of filling their third bus to go to the biannual SEEK conference, being held this year in Nashville, Tenn. The conference, which is anticipating eight to ten thousand college students from across the country, is being held from Jan. 1 to the 5 and will feature the nation’s

top Catholic musicians and speakers. After celebrating the first mass Dec. 31 at the brand new Newman Center building located on Warren St., they will depart for Nashville.

Phil Stone, a Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) missionary at the Newman Center, stresses that the event is for everyone.

“SEEK 2015 is going to be a life-changing experience for anybody who decides to go, regardless of their faith background or what they’re seeking,” he says. “This will be the seventh time I’ve had the chance to take other people with me, and again and again I’ve seen it be a powerful and life-giving experiLuke Larson • MSU Reporter From left to right, Phil Stone and Anna Vanyo, the two missionaries at the Newman Center, and Joe Bakkan, the minister of the Newman Center, are featured.

Luke Larson • MSU Reporter Poster for the SEEK conference, which enlightens not only those of the faith, but everyone involved.

INSIDE:

ence for many, many people and I’ve never once had someone say they regretted going.”

Stone emphasizes that the conference is the right place to be for anyone pondering deep questions, exploring spirituality, or just generally looking for more in their life.

“You don’t have to be Catholic to enjoy this conference,” says Bakken, “it’s literally made for anyone, introducing them to a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ. That’s really the main goal of the conference.”

SEEK offers a great deal of independence to attendees, allowing them to craft an individual schedule for themselves each day to meet their interests and what they’re hoping to get out of it.

“It’s definitely a conference that you get from it what you put into it,” says Anna Vanyo, another one of the Newman Center’s FOCUS missionaries.

“If you’re going into it looking for a deep experience and you’re open to that and you’re exploring that, you’re going to get something big from it. But if you want to go into it and just test

the waters—it does allow you to explore at your own pace.”

Vanyo, whose decision to become a missionary was in part influenced by the SEEK conferences she attended as a college student in 2010 and 2013, met

many new lifelong friends from across the country during her experiences at SEEK. “There’s something unique about a conference that’s specifi-

SEEK • Page 11

Luke Larson • MSU Reporter Whitney Keer, MSU senior, who has attended the SEEK conference and eagerly awaits the upcoming one.

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Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Spotlight: Table Tennis Club Fresh club on campus looking to broaden horizons, recruit members.

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AMANDA HINDE Staff Writer Table tennis, or “ping-pong,” is a pretty young sport in comparison to other sports that we know and play today. It started in England during the 19th century by British military officers.

The sport was mostly played by the wealthier upper-class families of the time. Used frequently as an after-dinner game, it is thought that the British military officers who invented it even used books as paddles and the net.

Table tennis has come a long way from using books as equipment. It is even an Olympic sport, inducted in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Korea.

Our very own campus has a table tennis club that was started just this year. Joe Vang, a freshman majoring in nursing is the current president of the club.

This club is hoping to be able to get a group of players together to go to tournaments in the surrounding area.

h t b g l U b S g f h d h o t E w n N o

James Houtsma • MSU Reporter Two students playing table tennis, as the table tennis club does every Monday and Thursday. Tables are located in Pennington Hall on the MSU campus.

But to be able to go to the tournaments they need more people to join their group.

Member numbers are currently around seven serious players and a few others who come oc-

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casionally. There is even talk of making an intermural session for table tennis soon.

“I would really like to do that,” said Vang, who is hopeful.

With some of the players not

showing up as often as others playing the same seven people can get a little boring. Vang is hoping if the session of table tennis is started in the intermural bracket on campus that more

people will want to play pingpong outside of the intermural season.

Vang himself started getting

TABLE TENNIS • Page 11

Library Hours for Thanksgiving Holiday Wednesday, Nov. 26th.........7:30am-4:30pm Thursday, Nov. 27th.......................... Closed Friday, Nov. 28th.............................. Closed Saturday, Nov. 29th.......................... Closed Sunday, Nov. 30th............... 1:00pm-2:00am

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

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Mexico riots in response to 43 missing students Unmarked grave of 28 discovered, others yet to be found.

ALEX KERKMAN Staff Writer

Drugs and illegal narcotics have long been a problem for the country of Mexico. Situated between Latin American drug growing countries such as Colombia, and the deep pockets of United States, Mexico has long been a route for drug traffickers.

Since 2006, when the Mexican government first started using force against drug cartels, there have been more than 120,000 deaths and another 25,000 who have gone missing. Nearly half of those have occurred since the election of current President Enrique Neito in 2012. However, while death and violence are not new for Mexican citizens, this Nov. has seen death and violence on a whole different level.

On Sept. 26, 2014, a group of

120 students from the Ayotzinapa Normal School entered the city of Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico to protest recent reforms that had been made concerning education, and to raise money to put towards a planned future demonstration in Mexico City.

The students borrowed three buses from the station. However, before they could reach their destination, the buses were detained by local police, allegedly on the orders of local mayor Jose Luis Abarca, who wanted to stop the stop the students in order to bolster his wife’s political opportunities.

That night, confrontation between police and the students ended in bloodshed. Police and other armed men surrounded and ambushed the buses. While some managed to escape many others were dragged into the back of police car, as gunfire

2014

theatlantic.com One of the many shots of the uproar the 43 missing have caused. Seen above is a hand which symbolizes the lost number.

rang throughout the night. By the time the smoke cleared and day broke, two students were dead, along with three innocent

bystanders, including a 15-yearold boy. The next day, two more students bodies were found from a drug cartel style execu-

tion, and 43 of the Azoytzinapa students were officially declared

MEXICO RIOTS • Page 11

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Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Black Friday: origins of a controversial holiday tradition Despite thousands taking part in it every year, controversy always finds its way to America’s post-Thanksgiving shopping spree.

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A common image of Target on Black Friday, where people scrounge for their items and even fight dirty to get it sometimes.

RICHARD PRINCE Staff Writer With the holiday seasons approaching, we see decora-

tions and a change of music on the radio. It also brings a lot of people into malls and stores across the nation to shop for the holidays. One particular day where people wait all year for to

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get the best price for their buck is Black Friday.

Black Friday has always followed the day after Thanksgiving, and this year it will be on Friday, Nov. 28. There are many

ideas where the name Black Friday originated from, but many people could argue different reasons for that. Shopping the day after the national holiday Thanksgiving did not become a big thing until the 1960s, and the term Black Friday was not used that often that much until the 1980s.

The reason why retailers and stores started Black Friday was to entice people to kick off the holiday shopping. Due to lack of sales around the time of Thanksgiving, stores and retailers decided to offer big deals for shoppers. They did this hoping that their profits would increase, and people would buy more items.

During the 1990s the doors would open to people for shopping around 6 a.m. on Friday morning. Around the year 2000 many big retailers started opening even earlier around 5 a.m., and some 4 a.m. 2010 brought more extreme times for retailers to open the doors to shoppers.

Stores began to open around Friday at midnight, and some on

the national holiday of Thanksgiving.

The reason for the early openings was to increase profit for sellers, and let shoppers get a head start on their holiday purchases. Some people had an issue with the shopping starting on the national holiday of Thanksgiving. Many Americans believe that Thanksgiving should be a time for family, and to recognize what they are thankful for.

Sam Larson a construction management student, and a sophomore stated, “I believe that Black Friday may distract families from Thanksgiving, but not as much if families go shopping together. It can be a great source of family fun, and can give families another activity to do together during the holidays.”

Even though some may think that Black Friday shopping is a distraction from Thanksgiving it can be turned into a family outing that can bring them closer.

Larson also said, “My favor-

BLACK FRIDAY • Page 10

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Tuesday, November 25, 2014

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A look into the Uzbek culture

Writer speaks with three of five Uzbek students at MSU. LUKE LARSON Staff Writer

Chances are you don’t know much about Uzbekistan. If you know that it’s a country located in Central Asia, you’re probably doing better than the average American. The Reporter recently spoke with three of the five Uzbek students here on campus about the ancient and rich culture of their fascinating country and how they have adjusted to life in Minnesota. All three of them, before attending school at MSU, had been to the United States as exchange students.

Elnura Kadirova, a native of the city of Ferghana, stayed with a host family in Mesa, Arizona; Nigina Boltaeva, from Bukhara, stayed in Bakersfield, California; and Gulmira Fazilova, also from Bukhara, was here in Mankato.

“When I first came, the first thing that shocked me was the food,” says Fazilova, who is working as a graduate assistant while earning her Master’s in public administration. “I missed my home country’s food 0 so much. The food is so plain

here.”

The girls explained that Uzbek cuisine is all-organic and cheaper than in the United States and is centered around four main staples: meat, rice, vegetables, and beans. Meat is especially essential to the Uzbek diet.

“We love meat!” says Fazilova, going on to explain how difficult it would be to avoid it in Uzbekistan. “Even those who eat chicken call themselves vegetarian,” she says with a laugh.

The change in diet was not an issue for Boltaeva, who is earning her Master’s in teaching English as a second language, who was open to American food as an exciting new experience.

For her, the biggest challenge was the language.

“I was an English major, but I still couldn’t communicate,” she says. “It was such a shock to speak to native speakers – that was very hard.”

On her very first day in the United States, she recounts laughingly, she was trying to order French fries, but was calling them “fried potatoes” and had no idea why no one understood

Luke Larson • MSU Reporter Shown above are Elnura, Nigina, and Gulmira, Uzbek-natives who have been submersed in the American culture throughout the past couple of years.

her until she was corrected by a friend.

For Kadirova, the biggest shock was the differing social

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attitudes in the United States.

“We are very close to our entire family,” she explains, referring to the strong priority

of family in Uzbek culture. “I was living with a host family,

UZBEKISTAN • Page 10

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Imperfect body: a new discrimination Today’s society heralds a new way to hate yourself.

chicagomag.com

Roxane Gay, the writer of Bad Feminist and the essay, My Body Is Wildly Undisciplined And I Deny Myself Nearly Everything I Desire.

ALESYA DZENGA Staff Contributor

Modern society went through different kinds of discrimination, based on gender, race, sex, etc. Throughout the past decades, we’ve learned a new one: obesity discrimination.

Nowadays, overweight is considered a shameful burden which one must rid themselves of, as it is “unhealthy and unaesthetic.”

Every day, T.V. shows, advertising, popular magazines and more persistently try to convince us that we literally must struggle with our eating habits and discipline our bodies.

Celebrities are vivid examples of social media pressure: famous women can’t be

overweight. If she put on weight because of pregnancy, she must demonstrate how incredibly fast she loses it. Signs of being mother of newborn child are not appreciated today. Belly, stretch marks, and swollen ankles are objects of a shame, however it is natural consequences of giving birth to a human.

Although the idea of losing weight and starting a healthy way of life primarily was cre-

ated for our good, today it is turned out to be a ceaseless race to fit the standards of “ideal” skinny, fatless body, and it will have its consequences if we don’t stop supporting it.

Women are the most vulnerable victims of “It is a shame to be fat and not skinny.” According to societal standards, we should be ultra-slim and our clavicles and cheekbones should be visible; otherwise, we could not achieve a success, find a boyfriend and buy skinny jeans at American Eagle.

The main motto is very simple, but cruel: you cannot be happy if you are overweight.

Actually, it sounds like “you cannot be happy if you are not skinny,” because women who are not obese, but average also cannot be happy.

Roxane Gay, the author of essay collection Bad Feminist, faced the prejudices of “It is a shame to be fat and not skinny” and wrote about it in her essay My Body Is Wildly Undisciplined And I Deny Myself Nearly Everything I Desire.

“Part of disciplining the body is denial. We want but we dare not have. To lose weight or maintain our ideal bodies, we deny ourselves rest by working IMPERFECT BODY • Page 12

“Do you think society encourages a negative view of “overweight” people?”

LARRY TUCKER, BUSINESS & MARKETING “Yes, I think the media, music, and T.V. gives an ideal view of what weight should look like.”

NOLAN JOHNSON, SPORT MANAGEMENT “Yes, I think the media tends to put overweight people in a negative light, but it shouldn’t discourage anyone from changing their body.”

NIKKI NEISU, COMM. DISORDERS “Yes, I believe that society encourages a negative view of obesity. The media portrays thin people.”

BAILEY FARRELL, COMM. DISORDERS “Yes; so much media encourages thin ideals and western beauty. The media portrays negative views on overweight ideas and lifestyles.”

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SHAYLEA SULLIVAN, ACCOUNTING “Yes, I do believe society and the media portray overweight people badly and glamorize skinny/”model-type” people. ”

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Tuesday, November 25, 2014

How to survive the significant other’s Thanksgiving Useful tips from writer and couples who fight the fight every year.

AMANDA HINDE Staff Writer As an introverted person, you would think meeting my friends or significant others’ parents would be the worst possible thing to happen after making a speech in front of thousands, but you would be wrong. I can’t tell you what it is, maybe my innocent appearance or my personality age of 45 instead of 20; who knows? But, not a lot of people have my luck of the draw and I thought, in the spirit of the holidays, I would help a few of you out.

Here is a list of tips and tricks from myself and other real people who have been in your shoes. With the holidays coming, maybe you will be just a little more ready for the meet and greet with families. Here are some of my own tips and tricks: The handshake: It’s a lost art form and our parental generation loves it. It should be a firm grip with one shake.

No slouching: When you don’t sit up straight and slouch your body language says that you are defeated and insecure.

When sitting it helps to sit all the way back in the chair and have your feet flat on the ground. While standing put one hand on your hip to keep your stance more open. It’s more of that awesome body language stuff.

Dress nice: Ask your significant other on the usual dress code for family events, i.e., is their family a more t-shirts and jeans kind of family? Button up shirt and khakis? A dress? And even get the outfit pre-approved from your significant other

before the event.

“Fake” a great conversation: If you are talking to someone, ask them questions and get them talking about themselves.

Studies show that people who are considered great conversers are just good at asking questions that keep the others talking.

Your go-to phrase after they ask a question about you should be, “And how about you?”

Another great idea is the go to tip that mothers across America have at one point told all of their children: “If you have nothing good to say, don’t say anything at all.”

If you have nothing else to say talk about food, everyone likes food. --If you have already out sourced that topic just make sure your face is stuffed with food when ever some one turns to talk to you, works like a charm.

Don’t make-believe: Don’t pretend to be someone you are not. If your significant other likes you, there has got to be some part of you that their family will like. And it’s hard to keep your separate lives on track; you’re not James Bond.

So many names: When introduced make sure you say their name in your salutation. I don’t know if you’re anything like myself—I can’t remember a name to save my life—so repeating their name helps you cement that name to that face.

Information overload: Keep the information about you to a minimum. If they want to know more they will find you, which they will (even if you’re hiding in a bathroom) and ask you questions.

Wallflowers unite: Talk to a person who isn’t talking to anyone. If someone sees you go over and talk to that person it shows that you are observant and that they don’t have to worry

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that you are bored.

No empty hands here: Bring something with you. Did someone say pie? Call and ask the host before the event what to bring.

Early bird catches the worm: Come early, but not really early.

Fifteen minutes should do the trick. People hate it when you are late.

Anyone need some help?: Ask if they need help with anything. That’s why you got there early with the pie, right?

The Observer: Sit back and listen to the family for a little bit, you shouldn’t be throwing out your opinions left and right; you might offend someone.

Rule of thumb is to speak when spoken to.

Here are some real couples that gave some of their tips also. Brittany Werner and Alex Blanch have been dating for over a year and a half. The way they showed up prepared for the interview spoke volumes about their relationship. Werner was prepped with a list and Blanch with some tips off the top of his head. Here are their tips: Be polite, be confident, be yourself: if they don’t like you, they don’t like you and you can’t change that.

Be informed: Ask about their family beforehand. Their relationships, who-is-who, family drama you should be aware of and any important topics you should steer away from.

Location: Make sure the place you are meeting at is comfortable for everyone, if you have the choice that is.

Kindergarten rules: Be on your best behavior, and use

Y S

Photo Courtesy of Amanda Hinde Amanda Hinde, a staff writer for the MSU Reporter, who enthusiastically gives tips to those who need them as often as possible.

your manners. That means please and thank yous all around.

Mouth shut: Don’t interrupt anyone. Listen to what their family is saying.

Eyes up: Show genuine interest in what parents or family are talking about. Make eye contact, as it also shows that you are genuinely interested. That means no cell phones!

Read the situation: “If the family is formal and shakes hands you should do the same.

Otherwise its awkward if you go in for a hug,” agreed Werner and Blanch.

Leave a strong and lasting impression: Make them remember you, but in a good way. You can do this by making them feel good by giving compliments, cracking jokes and funny stories. But make sure that they are

appropriate.

Don’t leave anyone out: Make sure you talk to everyone.

Don’t just talk to their mom or dad, or someone is going to feel snubbed and you’ll leave a bad impression for that person.

Be gracious, be happy, enjoy yourself: “Meeting the parents isn’t as scary as you think it is.

They [the parents] are a lot like A your partner. They have the S same humor and same attitudes towards life,” reassured Werner and Blanch.

“As long as you are knowledgeable and cheerful you will be fine,” stated Werner. “Yeah, just make sure that you are yourself, that’s most important.

They’re going to get to know the real you at some point. So start off right, “ added Blanch.

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Tuesday, November 25, 2014

MSU Reporter • 9

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Thanksgiving: An international perspective International writer explores the differences between the holidays.

YUSEONG JEON Staff Writer Thanksgiving, one of the biggest national holidays in the United States, is coming up. As an international student, when I first heard of the holiday, I had no idea what kind of holiday it was, except that it was an American tradition. I came to America last semester, so I did not know anything about the celebration.

Based on its definition, Thanksgiving is a religious and cultural tradition in the U.S. and is celebrated to give thanks for the blessing of the harvest of the year on the fourth Thursday of November.

Historically, Thanksgiving became an official Federal holiday in 1863 by President

Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. The most interesting search about Thanksgiving was how Americans celebrate the tradition. It seems to be a unique American family event, having dinner with family and with a lot of seasonal foods, such as turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, various seasonal vegetables and pumpkin pie.

As for me, it was especially interesting that turkey is featured as the main Thanksgiving meals is turkey, because I have never had Turkey before in Korea.

It seems that American students at Minnesota State University, Mankato celebrate Thanksgiving almost in the same way, when it comes to turkey and football games.

“I drive up to Le Sueur during Thanksgiving to celebrate it at my grandparent’s house,” said

Michael Maurer, mass media major at MSU. “We usually have lunch with turkey, ham and pumpkin pie and dinner with lunch leftovers. After having foods, we fall asleep while watching football games.”

Another American student, Tom Monsen in the electrical engineering department, also said, “Typically we go to my grandmother’s house and have good meals including turkey and pie. All the relatives after eating talk and have fun.”

Even though all the things that Americans do with their families during Thanksgiving sound fun, frankly speaking, I was not that excited to celebrate my first Thanksgiving because I have no family here in America.

That brings the question, how will other international students at MSU like me plan to celebrate Thanksgiving?

“I am going to Nebraska,” said Maria Montanez, computer

Bill Cosby swamped in scandal

ALEX KERKMAN Staff Writer

Over the past 50 years, Bill Cosby has portrayed the ultimate American family man; funny, clever, loving and goofy, Cosby is remembered by many Americans as one of the great television fathers in history. However, Cosby’s entire reputation seems to be crumbling around him as over the past few weeks, dozens have 3 women have come forward with allegations that Cosby sexually assaulted them over the course of his career the first coming as early as 1969, the latest in from 2004.

While the rape allegations against Cosby shocked many Americans the past two weeks, they are not new. Allegations were first made against Cosby in 2005, when a former employee of Temple University, which is located in Cosby’s hometown of Philadelphia, claimed he drugged her and sexually abused her. Four other women would come out with their own allegations in 2005 and 2006.

Yet for some reason, the public perception of Cosby remained unchanged.

Perception wouldn’t change for eight years, until actor

Hannibal Burros called Cosby a rapist during an October 15 comedy set. The remarks went viral, and gained a lot of recognition. Many women began to share their stories following Burros’s set, and the story took off from there. Though it took nearly a decade to finally make impact in the American public, Cosby was finally starting to fall from public grace.

After the November allegations, Cosby cancelled appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman, and The Queen Latifah Show. In his first public appearance since the recent allegations, an interview with National Public Radio, Cosby sat in silence and shook his head after being asked questions about the sexual assault allegations by host Scott Simon.

“There are people who love you who might like to hear from you about this,” Simon said during the interview. “I want to give you the chance.”

Cosby remained silent. Two days later, his lawyer released his first public statement on the allegations.

“Over the last several weeks, decade-old, discredited allegations against Mr. Cosby have resurfaced,” Cosby’s lawyer John Schmitt wrote in a state-

ment. “The fact that they are being repeated does not make them true. Mr. Cosby does not intend to dignify these allegations with any comment. He would like to thank all his fans for the outpouring of support and assure them that, at age 77, he is doing his best work. There will be no further statement from Mr. Cosby or any of his representatives.”

Things don’t appear to be getting better for Cosby any time soon. An appeal via social media to get fans to make positive messages for the comedian quickly backfired, as the internet responded with many sexual assault based Cosby memes.

The amount of women accusing Cosby keeps growing, and it seems like it at some point legal action may take place against him.

In the meantime he already is losing his battle in the Court of Public Opinion. Cosby was a beloved American icon who brightened up the lives of millions, but if these darkening allegations are proven to be true, it doesn’t give him the right to hide from his accusers.

Whether he is proven guilty or innocent, it will be hard for the American public to ever look at Cosby the same way again.

engineering major from Mexico.

“I lived in Nebraska before I came to Minnesota with my host family. The family was half-Mexican and half-American family. We used to eat so much foods and watch football games together. It was so relaxing.”

In fact, Korea has a similar celebration like Thanksgiving.

Our traditional holiday, called Chuseok, is celebrated August 15th in the lunar calendar when harvest is done in Korea.

Specifically, on that day we make offerings of grain and fruit from the first harvest of the year to our ancestors. Along with

Lunar New Year’s, it’s Korea’s biggest holiday when family members who live scattered in distant places get together for a reunion.

Thanksgiving reminds me of great times that I had spent with my family during Chuseok back in Korea.

Even though this was my first time that I couldn’t spend Chuseok with my family in Korea, I am glad that I can experience American Thanksgiving for the first time in my life. I hope everyone will enjoy the holiday and have a great time with his or her family.

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10 • MSU Reporter

News

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Nationwide protests follow T b Ferguson grand jury decision

AP -- Thousands of people rallied late Monday in U.S. cities including Los Angeles and New York to passionately but peacefully protest a grand jury’s decision not to indict a white police officer who killed a black 18-year-old in Ferguson, Missouri.

They led marches, waved signs and shouted chants of “Hands Up! Don’t Shoot,” the slogan that has become a rallying cry in protests over police killings across the country.

Activists had been planning to protest even before the nighttime announcement that Officer Darren Wilson will not be charged in the shooting death of Michael Brown.

The racially charged case in Ferguson has inflamed tensions and reignited debates over police-community relations even in cities hundreds of miles from the predominantly black St. Louis suburb. For many staging protests Monday, the shooting was personal, calling to mind other galvanizing encounters with local law enforcement.

Police departments in several major cities said they were bracing for large demonstrations with the potential for the kind of violence that marred nightly protests in Ferguson after Brown’s killing. Demonstrators there vandalized police cars, hugged barricades and taunted officers

with expletives Monday night while police fired smoke canisters and pepper spray. Gunshots were heard on the streets.

But police elsewhere reported that gatherings were mostly peaceful immediately following Monday’s announcement.

About 100 people holding signs that read “The People Say Guilty!” blocked an intersection in downtown Oakland, California, after a line of police officers stopped them from getting on a highway on-ramp. Minutes earlier, some of the protesters lay on the ground while others outlined their bodies in chalk. A similar scene unfolded in Seattle as dozens of police officers watched.

Several hundred people marched through downtown Philadelphia with a large contingent of police nearby.

“Mike Brown is an emblem (of a movement). This country is at its boiling point,” said Ethan Jury, a protester in Philadelphia.

“How many people need to die?

How many black people need to

die?”

Several hundred people who had gathered in Manhattan’s Union Square to watch the announcement marched peacefully to Times Square after the family of Eric Garner, a Staten Island man killed by a police chokehold earlier this year, joined the Rev. Al Sharpton at a speech lamenting the grand jury’s decision.

Photo Courtesy of Associated Press

In Los Angeles, which was rocked by riots in 1992 after the acquittal of police officers in the videotaped beating of Rodney King, police officers were told to remain on duty until released by their supervisors. About 100 people gathered in Leimert Park while others held a small news conference demanding changes in police policies.

A splinter group of about 30 people broke away and marched through surrounding streets, blocking intersections, but the demonstrations remained mostly small and peaceful.

Chris Manor, with Utah Against Police Brutality, helped organize an event in Salt Lake

City that attracted about 35 people.

“There are things that have affected us locally, but at the same time, it’s important to show solidarity with people in other cities who are facing the very same thing that we’re facing,” Manor said.

In Denver, where a civil jury last month found deputies used excessive force in the death of a homeless street preacher, clergy gathered at a church to discuss the decision, and dozens of people rallied in a downtown park with a moment of silence.

At Cleveland’s Public Square, at least a dozen protesters held signs Monday afternoon and

chanted “Hands up, don’t shoot,” which has become a rallying cry since the Ferguson shooting.c Their signs referenced policec shootings that have shaken theI community there, including Saturday’s fatal shooting of 12-year-s old Tamir Rice, who had a fake gun at a Cleveland playground when officers confronted him.

A few hundred people marched from Chicago police headquarters toward downtown after hearing the Ferguson decision, using profanity but causing no damage. Police on bicycles, horseback and in squad cars closed portions of roads along the protesters’ route.

BLACK FRIDAY “Around 2000, many big retailers started opening even earlier around 5 a.m., and some 4 a.m.” continued from 4

ite part would have to be not just the great deals, but also spending time with my friends and family while shopping.”

Looking at Black Friday as a positive thing that can bring families, and friends together is how some students look at it.

Others are completely opposed to the idea of Black Friday shop-

ping all together.

Luka Zane, a sophomore, said, “I think Black Friday is the perfect way to get caught up in greed. When families could be spending time with each other.

They are spending money trying to express how much time they could spend with their loved ones.”

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That’s one of the problems people have with the idea of Black Friday shopping. People get wrapped up with materialistic items, and do not realize what is important in life.

Zane also stated, “I don’t like Black Friday, but heck I love the deals.”

With that statement alone

shows that people that do not like Black Friday still love the fact that there are great deals.

People love that they can get something they want for less than it usually would be.

There is one thing for certain about Black Friday shopping, and that is it’s here to stay.

Buyers love saving money

GOOD LUCK MAVERICK FOOTBALL IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT!

when shopping, and sellers love making more money. Expect for Black Friday to only get more extreme, and marketed more in the next coming years.

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Tuesday, November 25, 2014

TABLE TENNIS “But to be able to go to the tournaments they need more people to join their group.”

MEXICO RIOTS “That night, confrontation between poliece and the students ended in bloodshed.” continued from 3

continued from 2

into table tennis recently from his older brother. He started playing his brother just for fun and became more interested in the game itself. His brother promised that if he were serious enough, he’d buy the equipment.

That started the love of the sport that sent him, as only a freshsman, to make the table tennis ”club an official club on camps. y “It was unofficial when I .came here. So I made it an offiecial club with a constitution that eI wrote,” Vang explained.

- When asked what his favorite -strategy or move that he uses e d

MSU Reporter • 11

News

Vang sat for a bit contemplating, then stated, “Whenever I serve I do a short serve. It’s harder for the opponent to get to the ball and if they do get to the ball they generally loft it. And I can smash the lofted ball. It’s a lot of fun to spike the ball.”

It seems his go-getting personality is hinted to at his answer. To start a club in just his freshman year is a great feat. If you have any questions about the club or want to officially join, send Vang an email at joe.vang1@mnsu.edu.

If anyone is interested in

joining the club or just to check it out the club meets at Schellberg’s Gym on Mondays, from 7 to 9 p.m. and Thursdays from 9 to 11 p.m. So if it is late at night and you either have the hankering to play some ping-pong or just want to avoid homework for some time, head over and play.

“If they want to play they are welcome to at any time. We want to see new tips and skills.

We always welcome a different variety of people too; right now it’s just the same people. And any skill level is welcome. We don’t mind teaching.”

SEEK “You don’t have to be Catholic to enjoy this conference...it’s literally made for anyone”

e e n g , s

missing.

In the following months, chaos has erupted. A mass grave found were determined to hold the remains of 28 of the students, and Abarca fled his office after Governor Angel Aguirre ordered him to report himself to authorities. Large student led demonstrations soon followed. One of the biggest involved 200 protestors storming office and government buildings in Chilpancingo, the capital of Guerrero state, burning down the buildings in the process. Thousands of Mexicans have taken to the streets over the past month in Mexico City and other major cities throughout the country to protest the corruption in government and drug problem in the country. As one slogan put it, “It’s safer to be a gangster than a student.”

Nearly a decade has passed since the War on Drugs first

continued from 1 cally for college students,” Stone says. “There’s an energy and an excitement surrounding being there with primarily other eighteen to twenty-two year olds and desiring to understand and to live a life of faith and meaning.”

Whitney Kerr, an MSU senior, had an incredible experience at the SEEK conference she attended as a sophomore and can’t wait to go back this year.

“I honestly want to be there, like, yesterday. I don’t want to wait anymore, I just want to go!” she says.

Kerr explains that, entering college, she had a desire to live out her faith, but faith was not a priority among her friends, so she came to see it as unimportant as well.

“It was such an eye-opening experience to know that that many students were there because they wanted to be on fire for Jesus,” Kerr says. “It changed my life completely – it did a 180 for me. I saw what was out there, and once I got back, I couldn’t go back. There was no

transitioning back into everyday life because of what an amazing experience it was.”

Katie Weidner, also a senior, had a similarly positive experience at SEEK 2013, where she met her best friend, and can’t wait for the upcoming conference. “It was literally the best five days I’ve ever experienced,” she says, citing the great speeches that were given, which she still goes back listens to from time to time.

“I’ve never met anybody who has gone to this conference and regretted it,” adds Vanyo. “I’ve had many friends that have gone that have not been Catholic [and] have not necessarily been Christian, and it’s something that people just truly enjoy.”

SEEK 2015 is being hosted at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Resort, which Bakken describes as the “Disneyworld of hotels.”

The resort is essentially an indoor city, with shops, restaurants, nine acres of gardens, and other recreational activities situated beneath gigantic glass

roofs and surrounded by six floors of balconied rooms, according to its website. The hotel also contains 600,000 square feet of meeting space. Bakken also notes that the entire resort will be decked out for Christmas during the conference. Rates given on the resort website show that a standard room at Gaylord Opryland costs around $200 a night. SEEK participants pay only $399 for the entire five-day conference.

Organizers at the Newman Center say that there is still plenty of room for students who are interested in going but have not yet signed up. The registration deadline for SEEK 2015 is this coming Tuesday, Dec. 2. Students may register online at www.catholicmavs.org or in person at the Saint Thomas More Catholic Newman Center on the corner of Maywood Ave. and Warren St.

Good Luck Maverick Football

broke out between the cartels and the Mexican government, but not until recently has it truly been revolutionary. In the past month, country citizens have demanded a level of accountability from Mexican politicians that had not been there in the past. More than 20 police officers were initially arrested in the days after the massacre, and Abarca and his wife were captured on November 4, and are awaiting trial.

Though it is more than likely that the students are deceased, perhaps there is still a chance to give them justice. Only time will be able to tell if Mexico is finally able to overcome its drug trafficking problem, but the Ayotzinapa student massacre and kidnapping has pushed citizens to the edge, and may mark the beginning of a new age in Mexico.

12 • MSU Reporter

News

UZBEKISTAN “I missed my home country’s food so much. The food is so plain here.” continued from 5 so I saw how teenagers talked to their parents and how they treat them. We have completely different relationships with our parents, so that was shocking for me.”

Coming back to the United States for the second time was not nearly as difficult as the first time, Fazilova explains. The shock value has dissipated and she now feels at home.

“I was depressed when I first came here because everything was different,” she says. “I was like, ‘I want to go back! I just hate this place!’ But after three months, I started seeing the positive sides of America and the negative expectations weren’t happening.”

Homesickness is still intense for the students, however, and all three communicate with their families back in Uzbekistan on a very regular basis. They all express a deep love for their home country and are very eager to share their knowledge and experience of Uzbekistan with others.

They point out that, unlike in the United States, knowledge of multiple languages is essential in Uzbek society. In addition to English, all three girls speak

Uzbek (a Turkic language) and Russian, the languages used in Uzbek schools. Both Fazilova and Boltaeva also speak Tajik, a language related to Persian, which is the mother tongue of their hometown of Bukhara as well as the neighboring nation of Tajikistan. Large immigrant communities of Koreans, Georgians, Azerbaijanis, and Turks add even more rich linguistic diversity to the nation.

Though they were mere toddlers when Uzbekistan gained independence from the Soviet Union, they still feel a strong affinity for their former nation.

“All of us in the former Soviet Union still eat the same food, mostly, and still speak the same language,” Boltaeva explains.

“It’s just that the countries are different – the culture is still the same.”

They stress that modern Uzbekistan is very safe and successful and want to dispel any inaccurate assumptions Americans may have about the country.

“People say ‘Uzbekistan neighbors Afghanistan, you must also have radical Muslim groups,’” Fazilova says, explaining that such a misconception

could not be further from the truth. “It’s very secure to live in Uzbekistan compared to the United States. I wouldn’t go out at night, even here in Mankato, a very secure place.”

Fazilova encourages Americans to experience Uzbekistan for themselves: “It’s worth seeing and it’s not that expensive.”

Despite the many differences, there are still similarities between Minnesota and Uzbekistan. The students were quick to point out how impressed they were by the friendliness and generosity of Minnesotans, cultural values which echo their native Uzbekistan. Although the deserts and forested mountains of Uzbekistan share little in common with the plains of Minnesota, the two are alike in their hot summers and cold, snowy winters.

But despite these similarities, the Uzbek community on campus clearly still longs for home. In the words of an Uzbek proverb specially selected by the students, “Uzga yurtda shoh bulguncha, uz yurtingda gado bul.”

That is, “It is better to be poor in your own country than to be rich in a foreign one.”

IMPERFECT BODY “Women are the most vulnerable victims of “It is a shame to be fat and not skinny.””

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

THANKSGIVING “No empty hands: Bring something with you.

Did someone say pie?

Call and ask the host before the event what to bring.” continued from 7

Real life married couple Michael and Jessica Provancha, both coming back for more schooling, shared a few of their secrets to making the first meeting work. Michael will be graduating this spring from the social work program and Jessica is an undecided junior.

Socialize: Make sure you talk, smile and be friendly. It will go a long way if you show that you are friendly and are willing to talk people tend to want to talk to you more.

Common ground: Find common interests and focus on those. Maybe a favorite sports team or musician.

P’s and Q’s: Manners are a no-brainer so make sure that you bring them. Compliment your significant other, and the host on the food. Maybe even

ask for the recipe.

Love is in the air: As weird as this sounds, flirt with your significant other. It shows that you care for them, how much fun you guys have and that you are comfortable with their family. Just make sure that it’s appropriate for the situation.

“Don’t say what football team you support right away, if it’s not their favorite, at least for then. Let them get to know you before that,” joked Mrs. Provancha.

If you use any of these tips and tricks for impressing your significant other’s family and friends this season, you will do fine! You’ve got this!

continued from 6 out. We deny ourselves peace of mind by remaining ever vigilant about our bodies. We withhold from ourselves until we achieve a goal and then we withhold from ourselves to maintain that goal,” Gay writes.

Her idea is supported by the content of forums for women, the pictures of models in glossy magazines, pop-songs and images of “ideal” women in Hollywood movies: 1. Beauty means to be flat and without any hint of belly; 2. Women should control their appetite; 3. If you ate too much, work out next day. Or better today. No rest!

4. If you overeat, you are bad, and your body is like an undisciplined kid, who must be punished; 5. If you are fat, you cannot afford to eat on people; you cannot afford to eat “wrong” food; you cannot afford eat anything except low-fat yoghurts, snacks and broccoli; 6. If your weight is under a standard, you cannot wear

bikini, miniskirts and clinging dresses; you will look ugly; 7. Eat healthy, work out hard and maybe, one day you will find a well-paid job, boyfriend (potential husband) and you will be happy.

This is another trap that caught women, who following this idea of “It is a shame to be fat and not skinny”: weight loss does not guarantee that you will be happy. Losing weight, we literally lose weight and nothing more. It cannot make you more confident, if you do not believe in yourself; it doesn’t help to find a boyfriend if you are burr in the saddle; you will never find a job if you don’t make efforts.

The idea of being skinny as the only way to be attractive, is a failure. It is a regular trend of fashion that forces women to follow it. It doesn’t take into consideration that we are all different and unique; we are all of different constitution, age, skin color and other features of our bodies. My position is not to deny healthy life habits. Eating healthy, working out and sleep-

ing well are the most positive influences of our century. However, I am against forced ideas of beauty that make women feel uncomfortable in their bodies and hate themselves for being weak-willed, or for eating a cupcake after midnight.

The idea of being healthy and fit should come from the primary idea of love to our bodies and acceptance of its imperfections.

The harmony with your body couldn’t be based on hatred and rejection. We are all humans and no one of us wants to straggle for ideal body during the whole life. All we want is to be happy.

Allowing yourself to be happy in your body, we should live our own lives in a way we want, not the way social media creates for us. Humanity went through different kinds of discrimination, and it will result in a big mistake, if people keep supporting the new one, “it is a shame to be fat and not skinny.”

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Tuesday, November 25, 2014

MSU Reporter • 13

News

Where has chivalry gone?

One writer outlines the everyday struggles with the modern-day gentlemen.

Photo Courtesy of Rachel Lindquist Rachel Lindquist, a staff writer and current senior at MSU.

RACHEL LINDQUIST Staff Writer Why is it that the expectations of men today have changed? Back in the day, it was expected that the men court women. When I say “court,” I

am referring to holding the door open for women and taking the time and effort to bring women out on dates. Kissing on the first date was a big step, and nowadays it’s considered bad if you don’t at least get some “action.”

Most men today don’t feel obligated to respect women nor cherish women. Personally I have experienced men simply expecting to take me home after just one encounter. Where did

the morality and values go? Today it seems that men’s egos are fed off of how many girls they talk to, are sleeping with, and how much attention they can get.

So what is it that makes men think that they don’t have to respect women?

In my opinion, today’s music has had a great influence on this issue. Music and the music videos that go with them outright depict women poorly.

Take rapper Juicy J and his song “Bandz A Make Her Dance.”

Although the song is catchy and popular if you look up the lyrics, offensive language is evident. Or Usher, who has come out with a new single “I don’t mind;” in the song Usher states that he doesn’t mind if his girlfriend is a stripper. With music like this playing on the radio it sets the tone of how a woman is portrayed society. Thus, how they get treated by men. This then goes into the issue of how women than lack self-respect.

My parents, who were born in the baby-boomer era, have an old-fashioned expectation of men. They have taught my brothers what correct courting entails, and how to properly respect women. This entails

manners such as calling women on the phone and not just texting them. Or dining in an upscale place to make the woman feel appreciated and valued. I have yet to bring a man home simply because I know what my dad almost requires out of a man and I am not confident that guys today meet those requirements.

I remember a friend of mine meeting a guy and her being shocked at how he was treating her. Not because he was being a jerk, but because he was being an actual gentleman. On their first date, he walked up to the door instead of texting her that he was outside. And as they began dating, he still continued to court her. He would buy her her favorite flowers and make an effort to let her know he wasn’t pushing her towards things she

wasn’t ready for. To be honest, we were all shocked by this newness.

In my opinion, it’s almost as if gentlemen are a rare breed these days. I mean, it would be refreshing to know that men are not just thinking with their physical urges, but with their souls and their minds.

As humans we feel the need to “one up” each other; life is competitive. And for men, women are one of the contests. In my opinion, from women there is pressure that men have from each other to feel cool or good about their relationships with women. I don’t think it is right, but at the rate of how things are going, things don’t seem like they will change anytime soon.

14 • MSU Reporter

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Mavericks sweep nation’s best Stephon Williams wins WCHA Goaltender of the Week for first time this season on his way to leading the Mavericks to a no. 7 national ranking.

DEREK LAMBERT Staff Writer A week ago, the Minnesota State University, Mankato men’s hockey team was preparing to take on the top-ranked team in all of Division I men’s hockey.

Michigan Tech University was billed as the top team last Monday after starting the season 10-0-0, the best start in the program’s 94-year history.

With an 8-0-0 start in conference play, it appeared that this year’s Michigan Tech team could be last year’s Ferris State; leading the WCHA with all other teams chasing them. The Mavericks had other plans, though.

Last season, MSU was chasing Ferris State in the WCHA standings for much of the season, until a late season sweep over FSU put the Mavericks in position to win a share of the regular season league title, which they fell one point short of. This past weekend, the Mavs showed that they aren’t waiting for a late season push to put themselves at the top of the league, they want to make that push now.

On Friday night, the no. 9 ranked Mavericks went into the MacInnes Student Ice Center in Houghton, Mich. and handed the Huskies their first loss of 20142015 with a 2-1 victory in a tight, defensive game.

After a scoreless first period,

Alex Petan got the Huskies on the board first when he buried a rebound past Maverick goaltender Stephon Williams. Williams made the initial save on the rush, but the rebound gave Petan a mostly open net to deposit his shot into. From there, over half of the game went without a goal until just past the midpoint of the third period.

At 11:58 of the third period, Brett Stern scored his second goal of the season to knot the game at one apiece on a skilled pass by junior Teddy Blueger.

Down low, Blueger saw Stern crashing towards the net and fed him a pass that Stern fired past Jamie Phillips to break the seal for the Mavs.

Just 24 seconds later, junior forward Dylan Margonari gave MSU the lead on a bouncing puck that he swatted in past Phillips. The play would be reviewed, but the goal would stand as the game winner.

Williams would collect 30 saves in the win, in some of the best hockey he has played since his freshman season where he was awarded WCHA Goaltender of the Year.

“I knew I had to come in and be better than their goalie,” Williams said. “He’s been tremendous coming into this weekend.

But I also knew coming in that our (defensive) corps and our forwards with their pressure were

Trevor Cokley • MSU Reporter Mavericks look to extend their four-game winning streak this weekend at Lake Superior State University. The puck drops at 6:30 p.m. Friday, and an earlier 6:00 p.m. start on Saturday night.

going to be a tremendous help.

They keep shots to the outside and clear dangerous pucks.”

Stern, a senior captain for the Mavericks, admitted that it’s nice to beat the top ranked team, but it doesn’t guarantee success. “It’s just another game,” said Stern.

“Every weekend is going to be tough.”

Saturday night, the Mavericks were going for the sweep, while Tech was trying to salvage a se-

ries split. Generally, a split isn’t the goal for a weekend series, but in the case of two teams ranked among the top ten in the country, a split wouldn’t have hurt either the Huskies or the Mavericks too much. A sweep, however, could make a significant difference.

Once again it was the Huskies who got on the board first at home when Petan tallied his second goal of the weekend on a one-timer in front of Williams to

give MTU the 1-0 lead early in the second period.

Just under two minutes later, the Mavs would tie things up.

Jordan Nelson scored his second of the season in a scrum near the goal. With the puck loose, Nelson kicked the puck to his stick and stuffed the puck in. After review, the goal stood and the game was tied at one apiece.

MEN’S HOCKEY • Page 19

NCAA round two: Mavericks vs. Gorillas

CHUCK ABBOTT Staff Writer The Mavericks went into the Division II Tournament as a no.

2 seed in their region out of four total regions. No. 1 and no. 2 seeded teams from each region are awarded a bye for the first week, and the Mavericks have been preparing for both Harding and Pittsburg State. The two teams played this past Saturday with Pittsburg State winning by a score of 59-42. The Gorillas came back from a 21-0 deficit at the end of the first quarter by scoring 38 unanswered points as their defense held up just enough for them to get out of the first round against a tough Harding

team. Now, the Mavericks shift their focus completely to the Go-

Josh Gordon rillas and Coach Hoffner was impressed with their victory.

“Their ability to come back

from the 21-0 deficit is extremely impressive, and we as a team can learn from that to not let our guard down against this team.

Their ability to respond got them back in the game and we cannot overlook that.”

The Pittsburg State Gorillas came into the playoffs with a 10-1 record, their only loss coming from Fort Hays State as they failed to put up any sort of offense, losing 6-7. They are the no. 3 seeded team in our region, and deservingly so, with an outstanding quarterback and a stout defense.

Pittsburg State quarterback Anthony Abenoja has had a terrific year thus far and is one of 36 Division II football players

being considered for the Harlon Hill award, the equivalent

Marquise Cushon to the coveted Heisman Trophy for Division I athletes. He led the comeback for the Gorillas

last Saturday, completing 25-45 passes for 279 yards and 4 touchdowns. He also added a rushing touchdown as well. The senior quarterback is fourth in the nation in passing yards with 3,623 to go along with 30 touchdowns to just seven interceptions. Look for the Maverick defense to try and get after Abenoja early and have a similar game plan they had against Sioux Falls quarterback Luke Papilion, who struggled against MSU throwing the football, with two huge interceptions created by the Maverick defense.

“He’s definitely a gifted player and he’s up for the Harlon

FOOTBALL • Page 19

16 • MSU Reporter

Sports

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Women’s soccer historical season ends at Sweet 16 The no. 1 Mavericks got knocked out by University of Central Missouri with a 3-2 overtime defeat.

TOMMY WIITA Staff Writer The Minnesota State women’s soccer team was flying high as they held a 22-0-0 record on the season, ranked first overall in Division II and came into the NCAA Division II tourney with the number one seed. The Mav-

ericks hit a wall last Friday the 21st, as they matched up against a tough Central Missouri squad.

Central Missouri was ranked number 10 in the country and was undefeated (20-0-2) going into the match.

“We know we can’t take anything for granted, and we just have to play our game,” Sopho-

Trevor Cokley • MSU Reporter In the Mavericks’ 22-1 record, they outscored their opponents 65 to 8.

That’s domination.

more Dana Savino said. The ladies would go head-to-head in Somers, Wisc.

Early during the first half of play, the Mavericks had a scoring chance when junior Korey Kronforst took a shot that ricocheted off the left post. The Jennies of Central Missouri took advantage shortly after the missed opportunity by MSU. Central Missouri put a corner kick into play during the 18th minute and Hannah Pyle took the assist from Taylor Thompson to put the Jennies up 1-0. Before this point, the Mavericks shut out their last seven of eight opponents, only allowing one goal in that time frame. This also marked the first time all season the Mavericks were trailing in a game.

The Jennies were not finished with their scoring for the day.

Only a few minutes after that shock against MSU, UCM added another goal. This one came off a header from Megan Woolley to have the Jennies of Central Missouri leading the Mavericks of Minnesota State 2-0 at the half.

It was quite the shock, as Minnesota State was simply outplayed for the first time all year in a half. Central Missouri outshot the Mavericks 7-4 in the first half and also had the advantage of corner kicks over MSU, 5-4. The Mavericks knew they had to get back to their ways quickly to turn this one around.

The Mavericks did answer the bell and battled through adversity. In the 51st minute, sophomore Kiana Nickel deflected a rebound to Kronforst where she settled it

to the back of the net to cut the Jennies lead in half. 20 minutes later into the match, UCM was whistled for a handball violation, which set up a penalty kick for the Mavericks. Sophomore Dana Savino was awarded the chance, and took full advantage of the prime-time situation. Savino was able to direct the ball into the right side of the net to even up the score to send the game into an eventual overtime.

The Mavericks came back strong in the second half of play, but they could not contain the persistent Jennies scoring attack.

Only two minutes into the overtime period, Mikala Modiri of Central Missouri snuck one past senior goalkeeper Molly McGough to end Minnesota State’s season. A shocking way to end the most promising season with no-limit potential, the Mavericks would end their season of a record of 22-1-0 record. The mark of 22 wins on the season is the most the program has ever seen in its history.

There are some individual accomplishments to take note of after a historic season. Senior Breanna Steele was named First Team Capital One Academic AllAmerican while senior Molly McGough and junior Korey Kroforst boasted Second Team Capital One Academic All-American honors. This is the first time for Steele and Kronforst to win the honors for the Capital One Academic All-American teams and the second time McGough has won the honor.

Breanna Steele is from Eagan,

Minnesota and owns a 3.93 GPA in Elementary Education. The 2014 NSIC Defensive Player of the year was the core of the incredible defense Minnesota State put on display this season. The defense allowed just eight goals on the entire season and only 5.7 shots per game. Steele played in 89 games in her career and started 45 of them. She totaled five assists and four goals for 13 points in her career.

Molly McGough is from Centennial, Colo. and possesses a 3.68 GPA in the Nursing program. The 2014 NSIC Goalkeeper of the year produced 13 shutouts in 2014 and has 45 career shutouts at MSU. This season she made history, as she posted a record of 20-1-0 to become the all-time winningest goalie at Minnesota State. She posted 67 career wins for her tenure.

Korey Kronforst is from Cary, Ill. and embraces a 3.72 GPA as a Special Education major. She started every match this season for the Mavs, and was an offensive force. She led the team in points (36) and goals (16), while adding on four assists to the stat book.

The Mavericks as a team have now made four-straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament.

Each season they look to be even better, so maybe those championship aspirations are right around the corner for Head Coach Brian Bahl.

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MSU Reporter • 17

Sports

Men’s and women’s cross country compete in central regional meet DENZELL CASTRO-OATS Staff Writer The Minnesota State men’s cross country team completed its season with an eighth-place finish at the 2014 NCAA Division II Central Region meet held in Wayne, Neb., Saturday.

Augustana won the 22-team, 10K-competition with a score of 28 points. They were followed by a second-place finishing Sioux Falls team that accumulated 82 points. Missouri Southern came in third with 93 points. MSUMoorhead who was ranked eighth coming in finished fourth with 151 points while NebraskaKearney finished fifth among with 164 points, while Pittsburg State coming up with 186 points finished sixth. East Central finished seventh with 218 points, and Minnesota State took eighth place honors with 233 points The top four teams, along with the top three individuals not part of a qualifying team, advance to nationals.

The Mavericks team had a respectable finish. Senior Josiah Swanson, who turned in a time of 32:20.30 finished at 19th overall and was the top individual for the Mavericks. Senior Swanson, who was only a heartbreaking three seconds shy of qualifying for the National meet, also took All-Region honors at the meet which was granted to the top 25 runners in the competition.

Senior Ryan Ness, running a time of 32:41.80, was the second runner in for the Mavs; placed 31st. Junior Matt Longen came in 41st with a time of 33:08.71 while sophomore Ryan Erdman running a time of 33:40.50 placed 61st. Sophomore Brandon Gessner running a 34:11.80 was 84th, freshman Connor Westlake

ran 34:18.90 was 88th and senior Matt Stocker was in at 34:58.30 finished 105th in the competition.

It was a valiant effort according to senior captain Swanson.

“We may have not finished where or how we would’ve liked, but we all had respectable seasons. I will add three seconds is a tough one to down but I went out with my best,” he said.

As for the women’s cross country team, they wrapped up their season with an 11th-place finish at the 2014 NCAA Division II Central Region Meet.

The women came into the competition unranked in the top 10 but were able to beat the eighth ranked team Harding who dropped to place 13th.

The competition, however, was overtaken by Minnesota Duluth, who totaled a score of just 67 points. Augustana followed with 67 points, while Missouri Southern with 150 points was third. Winona State scoring 151 was fourth.

For the Maverick women’s team, senior Marina Paul, who turned in a time of 22:33.15, capped a stellar senior season for the Mavericks with a 22nd-place finish. She once again led the Mavs as she has done all season with a strong finish which also earned her All-Region honors.

Freshman Erica Hauf, who also had a superb season came in second for the Mavericks with a time of 23:37.78. She was 58th overall in the competition. Freshman Erin Baker clocked in at 23:48.75, she checked in at third for the Mavericks and was 63rd.

Senior Stephanie Steenhoek came in at a time of 24:05.47 finished 76th while senior Kimberly Allan finished 24:33.65 and placed 99th. Freshman Mariah Betzler came in 104th with a

Photo Courtesy of Minnesota State Athletics The men’s team finished eighth out of 22 teams while the women’s team took 11th place at their NCAA regional meets.

time of 24:42.75 and freshman Jaden Roddick in at 25:17.54 took 131st to round out the Mavericks.

Senior captain Paul looks back on a successful senior year with the Mavericks.

“We were definitely overlooked this year I think” Paul says, “But we responded to that with our competitiveness and our drive to never give up on the season. I am proud of the girls and we have a young group coming up, I will be excited to see what they can do in the upcoming years”.

Both cross teams have wrapped up there season and will be moving indoors for the winter indoor track and field season which kicks off Saturday December 6th in Myers Field House.

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18 • MSU Reporter

Sports

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

2014-2015 Men’s basketball preview LUKE LONIEN Staff Writer The 2013-2014 season was a successful one for the Mavericks, finishing the year with a 30-5 (19-3) record. The Mavericks brought home the NSIC Tournament title to go along with a trip to the NCAA Central Region tournament where they fell to Northwest Missouri State 71-66.

“We have won five of the last seven conference championships and we want to continue that on,” said head coach Matt Margenthaler. “we look at getting better every day, defensively and offensively.”

The Mavericks will be led by seniors Assem Marei and Zach Monaghan. Marei is coming off of an impressive season where he put up 16.3 points a game and 8.2 rebounds a game, leading the team in both and earning himself All-NSIC first-team honors.

Monaghan is coming off a season full of accolades. Monaghan averaged 15.4 points per game and 8.1 assists per game, which led the nation. Monaghan earned All-American second-team honors, NSIC tournament MVP, NSIC Player of the Year and Daktronics Central Region Player of the Year.

“Zach led the nation in assist which is huge because he gets guys shots, and Assem is a very talented big man in the post. When you have a great big man and a great point guard it is a great place to start,” said Margenthaler.

Other key players for the Mavericks are senior Zach Romashko, sophomore Mike Buscaks, junior Lucas Brown, redshirt freshman TJ Lake and senior transfer Connor Miller.

“These are kind of our core

guys for us,” Margenthaler said.

“We have to get better defensively and gel. We have to do better rebounding the basketball and not allowing our opponents second and third chances,” said Margenthaler. “Offensively we have some new faces and we have to get that continuity going.

We also have some really good shooters not shooting well right now and we have to get that rolling.”

Romashko has played some good minutes for the Mavericks the past three seasons, averaged 7.3 points and 2.9 rebounds a season ago. Busack averaged 5.6 points and 2.8 rebounds in 26 games for MSU in 2013-14, connecting on 39 shots from beyond the three-point line. Brown suffered an injury a season ago and played in 2 games, putting up 16 points and three rebounds.

“Making the postseason is a goal for us. Anytime you have an opportunity to make postseason you have a chance to do great things. That is a really big goal for us.”

The MSU men’s basketball team took care of business over the weekend, winning both of their games against Northland, 82-43, and Waldorf 86-62.

Taking on Northland, the Mavericks shot an impressive 50 percent from the field in their blowout win. The Mavericks were able to open up a doubledigit lead on a layup from Marei. The Mavericks kept the run going as they carried a 22-point lead into halftime, ending the half on a 7-0 run on a Romashko three-pointer.

The Mavericks pushed their lead to 33, midway through the second half on Lake’s jumper.

The Mavericks led by as much as 43 before finishing the game

c

Trevor Cokley • MSU Reporter Redshirt freshman T.J. Lake has been a big contributer for the men’s basketball team early on, averaging 10.3 points a game and shooting an unprecedented 63.6 percent from behind the three-point line.

with an 82-43 victory.

Romashko led all Mavericks with 15 points, followed up by Marei who added 14 points along with five rebounds for the MSU. Busack scored 13 for the Mavericks, while Monaghan led the Mavericks with eight assist.

The Mavericks also took on Waldorf over the weekend where MSU ended the first half on a 30-11 run that really opened the door to a Maverick victory. The Mavericks and Warriors were tied at 14 apiece when MSU took off on the run. The Mavericks used the run to take a 44-25 lead into halftime.

The Mavericks saw themselves push the lead to over 30

in the second half which help the Maverick ride out the second half to an 86-62 win.

Marei led all Mavericks scorers with 13 points to go with his 9 rebounds. Lake added 12 points for the Mavericks on 5-9 shooting. Monaghan led the Mavericks with seven assist to go along with his seven points.

“I thought we played o.k.,” said coach Margenthaler. “We just wanted to get better, and I thought in several spots we got better, It showed what we have to work on and whenever you can get two wins and still find those things out it’s a successful weekend.”

“We know we are a work in

progress, and we have to continue to get better here on out. We have two great games in Florida and then we start league play.”

The Mavericks move to a 3-1 record on the season after the weekend sweep. MSU now takes the trip to St. Petersburg Fla. for the Eckerd College Thanksgiving classic. The Mavericks take on Tampa on Friday at 4 p.m. and take on Eckerd on Saturday at 6:30 p.m.

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Tuesday, November 25, 2014

MSU Reporter • 19

Sports

FOOTBALL

MEN’S HOCKEY “Not many teams do well in a season without upper-class leadership, Mavericks head coach Mike Hastings said. “That’s what we needed, and we got that this weekend.””x

continued from 15

continued from 15

Heading into the third period with the game tied, senior Matt Leitner gave MSU the lead on an odd power play goal. Leitner attempted to throw a shot on goal, but the shot was deflected by a Huskies defenseman and the change-up fooled Phillips for a 2-1 Maverick lead.

Then senior Jean-Paul Lafontaine extended the lead when he collected a loose puck behind the net and wrapped it around to the far side and tucked it into the Huskies’ net for a 3-1 lead halfway through the third period.

Tech would score a late power play goal to close the gap at 3-2, but Williams stood tall in goal and gave MSU the sweep over the top ranked team in the country. r This was a huge weekend for the Mavericks as the first time in the program’s Division I history where they swept the no. 1 ranked team in the nation. There are a few things that can be taken away from this weekend.

It appears as if junior goaltender Stephon Williams has gained his confidence again, taking over the starting goaltending position for MSU. While last season Stephon Williams struggled early on and ultimately lost the starting job to now sophomore Cole Huggins, he seems to have found his footing once again. Williams holds a 9-1-0 record and a gaudy 1.85 goals against average to go along with a respectable .915 save percentage. Though he hasn’t been greatly tested this year until this past weekend, that record and only allowing three goals in two games against the nation’s top team is a good sign for the Mavericks.

Another thing to take away from this weekend is the upperclassmen leadership. Leitner and Lafontaine lit up the scoreboard in the WCHA last season, but have been relatively quiet in the goal column so far this season.

Some may have thought they were in a slump, but both were still doling out assists on a regular basis. Saturday night, the pair each scored a goal in securing a sweep over Tech, and assisted on each other’s goals.

“Not many teams do well in a season without upper-class leadership,” Mavericks coach Mike Hastings said. “That’s what we needed, and we got that this weekend.”

The last thing to take away from this weekend sweep is what it means for the Maverick team as a whole. While the college hockey regular season is roughly

only one-third complete, MSU is in good position if they can keep winning. After the sweep, the Mavericks now sit in first place in the NCAA pairwise rankings.

These rankings are based on the team’s record and strength of schedule, and they are the rankings used to seed teams for the NCAA tournament.

While it’s far too early to get overly excited about this, it should be recognized that it puts the Mavs in good position for the rest of the season. In the WCHA, MSU is in second place, two points behind Tech, but with two games in hand. Also, the sweep over Tech puts MSU in position to remain among the top 16 in the pairwise rankings for the season if they continue to play well.

This weekend, the Mavericks will again head to Michigan, this time to face off against Lake Superior State University. Though the Lakers lost their first nine games of the season, they have won three of their last five. LSSU will look to continue improving their record, while the Mavs will look for a sweep to extend their winning streak to six games.

The puck drops at 6:30 p.m. on Friday at Taffy Abel Arena in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., with a 6:00 p.m. start on Saturday night.

Hill Award for a reason. We as a defense have to prepare to slow him down throughout the game,” Coach Hoffner said. “It boils down to whichever team can create turnovers for their offense.”

The Pittsburg State defense is nothing to joke about either.

They allow just under 15 points per game, which ranks eighth in total defense in the nation. They are excellent against the pass, ranking 5th in passing defense.

They did struggle against Harding’s Keenan Kellett, however, giving up 307 yards and 3 touchdowns through the air on just 9 completions which averages out to an outstanding 34 yards per completion. Nick Pieruccini and Ricky Lloyd might not throw a lot this game due to the Gorillas’ ability to defend the pass this season, but when they do, look for it to be play action and try to catch the Pittsburg State second-

ary sleeping and burn them deep a couple times.

PREDICTION: This game will come down to two things.

First, how will Minnesota State look to contain the Gorilla pass game and Anthony Abenoja, and second, can the Maverick offense control the clock and win the time of possession to keep this passing offense on the sidelines by sustaining drives, especially on third downs. I think Abenoja will find his zone early and take

Trevor Cokley • MSU Reporter

an early lead, but the Mavericks will wear out the Pittsburg State defense by playing power football behind their great offensive line. The MSU secondary will make key adjustments, as they did with Sioux Falls’ Luke Papilion and Upper Iowa’s Cole Jaeschke, and find a way to get a key interception to flip momentum to the home side. Mavericks 31, Pittsburg State 21.

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Sports

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Former MSU baseball player has enough confidence to coach third base for Twins JOEY DENTON Sports Editor A lot of the great athletes not only possess the physical gifts and hard work ethic, they also need to have great confidence.

Not arrogance… Confidence.

Coaches also need to have that confidence to lead his team, and newly-hired Twins third base coach Gene Glynn has that confidence.

Glynn is also one of our own… a Maverick. After a fouryear baseball-playing career here at MSU, Glynn took what he learned in Mankato and took it with him in his coaching career that eventually took him to the big league level.

“I just learned a lot of a grounded, fundamental approach to learning the game, how it’s run and was fortunate enough to be around so many good people,” Glynn said about MSU. Glynn mentioned studentathletes at MSU developed relationships with all the coaches back in the day and was glad to be coached under Dean Bowyer (baseball coach for 32 years), Butch Raymond (former men’s basketball coach) and Jerry Bodelson (Raymond’s assistant).

But after the fundamentals and game plans, there was one thing they couldn’t teach Glynn… his natural confidence.

“He’s always had so much confidence. Not arrogance, but confidence. And that confidence rubbed off on the players, and that’s why he was so good at

AAA,” Bowyer said.

According to Bowyer, coaching first base doesn’t compare to the mentally vigorous work third base coaches go through. First base coaches just grab the hitter’s batting gloves, say “further” or “back!” and discuss with the runner where they are going to eat right after the game.

Third base coaches have to be aware of the great outfield arms, know his runners speed on the base paths, know their runner’s awareness on the bases and have the confidence in their decision making to send a runner home or hold them at second. Besides home run balls, every run is decided by the third base coach’s decision to send his guy home.

That’s where Glynn comes in.

Glynn was an aggressive player, which translates why he is such an aggressive coach, specifically on the base paths. That fundamental has and will never change and Glynn likes to reflect on his playing days to help his coaching.

“You always reflect on the time where you were first introduced to a certain fundamental or idea that works for and you just try to pass those on and it might click for someone else,” Glynn said.

Coach Bowyer also believes his teaching ability caught the Twins organization’s eyes.

“He just knows how to teach the game, and he doesn’t force his way,” Bowyer said. “He’s able to coach kids according to their ability and what they are able to do.”

GOOD LUCK

He’s also what the sporting world calls a ‘players’ coach.

“He’s just a down to earth guy.

That’s why I think the ballplayers respect him and he knows the game. But he really cares about the guys and tries to help them become better.”

Some of the products had an impressive 2014 season at the MLB level, including first baseman Kennys Vargas, who hit nine home runs, 38 RBIs and for a .274 average in 215 at bats, and Danny Santana, who became the everyday shortstop at the end of the season and batted .319 with 20 stolen bases and hit seven home runs and 40 RBIs. Both great Maverick baseball minds in Bowyer and Glynn agree with the Twins decision to hire Hall of Fame player Paul Moliter. He matches Glynn’s aggressiveness and both guys understand they are building this season through the young, tal-

ented farm system.

“I think Paul Moliter’shistory speaks for itself. He was an outstanding player, recognized by his peers in the hall of fame,” Glynn said. “He’s just a great guy and he’s knowledgeable.”

“I think what Maliter is going to bring is a new look,” Bowyer said. “He’s more aggressive and was a former base runner. He likes to steal and I’ll think you’ll see more hit and running.”

In his four-year career at MSU as an athlete, Glynn not only played second base for the baseball team, but he was also the point guard for the men’s basketball team from 1976-1979.

As a point guard, he broke the assists in a game (16), in a season (221) and for a career (772).

On the diamond, he owns the single-season record in steals with 32 in 1978 and holds the career steals record with 81 in four years.

Startribune.com

After college, he was signed by the Montreal Expos and played for seven seasons in their organization, but never made it to the show as a player. His best season was in 1982 with their AA team in Memphis when he hit .241 with two home runs, 25 RBIs and stole 16 bases.

His coaching career has brought him to the show, however. After many years of scouting and a short coaching stint with the San Diego Padres minor league organization, the Twins hired him to be the field manager for the their AAA team in Rochester, New York. His River Bat teams were consistent record wise with a .500 debut season and finished 77-76 this past year.

The Maverick family wishes him good luck to him and the Twins this upcoming season.

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Stars shine in Minneapolis The original upbeat downers perform at First Avenue to celebrate release of new album.

CHELSEY DIVELY Staff Writer Last Wednesday at First Ave in Minneapolis, Stars performed to celebrate their new album No One is Lost along with opening band Hey Rosetta! The concert was also available on a free live stream broadcast at livenation.

com. It was a very interesting experience because the headliner, normally a very blood and guts band, transitioned to being faster paced and spunky during the performance. The first few songs by Stars were a letdown because the energy on stage was weak— it was an extroverted dance riot instead of an intro-

spective riot.

The opener, Hey Rosetta, is more of a jamming indie-rock band with intense backbeats and beautiful usage of a violin, French horn and cello—they didn’t use a single synthetic instrument. The band has beautiful vocals, but the older songs have lyrics that sound like part of a teen movie summer montage. Their new music, on the other hand, is much richer with deeper context. One of their new songs was compared to “floating on the skyway (in Minneapolis) only to come down to the icy shard of…6th St.” Joseph Mooie commented that “It was awesome, I liked the violin but I preferred the electric guitar because it meshed better.”

Hey Rosetta’s new album will be released in January, look for

ethosmagonline.com Above, members of Stars. Left, members of Hey Rosetta!

it in stores.

Dancing erupted across the tightly packed space when Stars played their set; it was interesting how the band was capable of creating pure joy in its listeners.

To describe the musical group, you could say they’re the original upbeat downers capable of

making a ballad look badass.

It wasn’t until about the third song that Torquil Campbell, the front man for Stars, brought up the energy with some wild dancing. Finally, the band brought out the critical think-

STARS • Page 22

Merely Players presents The Best Christmas Pageant Ever Local theatre company offers a holiday show the whole family can enjoy.

LORIEN MEGILL Staff Writer

The Merely Players Community Theatre presents The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, just in time for the holidays. Adapted from the book of the same name

by Barbara Robinson, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever tells the story of a Sunday school

Christmas play that becomes more complicated when the Herdman children (a rather rowdy bunch) arrive and are given roles in the show. What ensues is both heartwarming and hilarious as the chaotic Christmas pageant unfolds.

The Merely Players Community Theatre has been a part of Mankato for over thirty years,

Photo courtesy of Elaine Hardwick

producing over one hundred shows made up of volunteers from the community. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is being directed by MSU student Seth Rausch, who said of his experience with the show: “Directing this show had been an absolute blast. Getting to work with this group of actors has been amazing.

The one great thing about this show is that the actors really bring this show to life.

Watching them really get into their character and taking their roles to new places and showing me new things is great.”

Rausch has previously directed Good Talk and Brothers Grimm: Out of Order, this is the first show he has directed with the Merely Players.

Also involved with the show is Laura Conn, who plays the

role the mother, Grace Bradley (and who has also assisted in building the set). Laura, who has been involved in shows with the Merely Players in the past, spoke of the excitement and enjoyment generated by being part of this uplifting Christmas of

show: “My daughter, Abby is a costuming assistant. It’s fun to have something we can share.

This particular show is fun to be part of for a few reasons.

As a child, I was in my hometown production of the show as ‘Beth Bradley, the narrator’. So it’s cool to be part of it again as an adult.

I love Christmas! Advent is a wonderful season—the music, the decorations, the generosity, the snow, the magic of Santa Claus, hot cocoa, cookies, holiday movies. . . So, it’s pretty awesome to spend several weeks hanging out with a fantastic group of people - making new friends and celebrating the spirit of the Christmas holiday!”

The show is fit for audi-

PAGEANT • Page 23

22 • MSU Reporter

A&E

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part One review Are two movies better than one?

JAMES HOUTSMA Editor in Chief Two halves are better than one. This idea seems to have become white noise for Hollywood producers and that means no literary adaptation is safe. The trend of splitting final books in a series into multiple films has been, in a nutshell, creatively disastrous -- exemplified by the uneven Harry Potter finale and the criminally overstuffed Hobbit films.

Things were looking up for the Hunger Games series, with director Francis Lawrence coming off delivering a spectacular entry that lives up to the hype with Catching Fire. Alas, good will alone can’t save the series’ last installment from the dreaded split, as Mockingjay - Part 1 comes up largely empty on content, making for the dullest entry in the saga of Katniss Everdeen yet.

After the events of Catching Fire, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) is taking refuge in the secret underground world of District 13, once thought to be bombed out of existence.

There, publicity master Plutarch Heavensby (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and stoney district president Alma Coin (Julianne Moore) are intent on molding Katniss into the face of the rebellion. Katniss, meanwhile, is more hung up on crying over Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), the Capitol’s hostage, who is being used to denounce the rebellion.

Once she witnesses the Capitol’s capacity for cruelty and with a promise to rescue Peeta in place, Katniss embraces her destiny as the Mockingjay.

The general justification behind splitting a final installment into two movies is that it allows for a more detail and closer adherence to the book. True to form, Mockingjay - Part 1 basks in capturing the intricacies from its source material, taking things slow to catch everything it can.

The unfortunate result is a film that has, realistically, about an hour of good content stretched to two hours, stuffing filler in where it can and killing all pacing.

There is promise in the blocks of the film that do work, with a satisfying look at how this re-

STARS continued from 21 ing songs and equally awful dancing that fans have come to love. The vocals of the band were absolutely pristine, they never scooped for a single note, but someone should buy these people some dance lessons.

Campbell has a history with the Twin Cities because his parents met at the Guthrie Theatre and fell in love there.

Campbell shared some stories about his parents’ relationship with the crowd, who were touched by the quirky but sweet anecdotes about their time together. After his father’s death, Campbell wrote the song “Dead Hearts” about embracing the ghosts around you.

The only issue with the headliner was issue with mixing the sound because First Ave uses an old analog Midas

board instead of a digital soundboard, this means they cannot record cues or levels and all of the mixing is done on the fly. There is nothing wrong with analog, but in this case the music wasn’t proficiently mixed and slightly distorted due to the use of digital amplifiers. The technical setups of this event lead to moments where the harmonies greatly outweighed the melody and created awkward sounds that completely ruined the song “Take Me to the Riot”.

Overall the concert was lively and the crowd thoroughly enjoyed themselves in the industrial venue of First Ave with the only issue being the blocked vocals and the imbalance of harmony and melody.

If you haven’t already, go check out the Stars new album No One is Lost.

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dailymail.co.uk Jennifer Lawrence reprises her role as Katniss Everdeen in the first installment of Mockingjay.

bellion is fought with publicity as much as combat and a small handful of interesting action sequences and plot turns, including the destruction of a dam.

However, if any book in the series was in need of an overhaul, it would be Mockingjay.

In cribbing from and expanding on its source material to the degree needed for a two-parter, the film never finds the visual and emotional pop that we saw in the last story. This can undoubtedly be attributed to so much of the movie consisting of people in identical grey jumpsuits having prolonged conversations in a dingy, underground bunker.

One thing that these movies had going for them through thick and thin was that Katniss was, for the most part, a relatable character and Jennifer Lawrence sold it. Here, even our steadfast protagonist reaches the point of unlikable. For a series that had wisely put the love triangle aspect in the background, Katniss’ whole purpose here seems to be to juggle her clearly-interestedfriend Gale at an arms length while breaking down to an everincreasing state of weeping. Every action this character takes here seems to revolve around her fake boyfriend, Peeta, as op-

posed to, say, the good of others in this rebellion. Unfortunately, in a war between fascists, she’s the best we’ve got to root for -- if only this movie didn’t make that such a pessimistic prospect.

There’s no doubt that the Hunger Games films are in better hands with Lawrence as director than Gary Ross, but even the I Am Legend helmer’s skills aren’t enough to avoid being hobbled by an unnecessary split to two parts. After a non-conclusion, Mockingjay - Part 1 ends on a passive cliffhanger, befitting of such a passive movie.

Hopefully, Mockingjay will follow the Deathly Hallows pattern of the final part going out with a bang, but for now Part 1 is a film that can’t sustain itself on just an hour of content and doesn’t come close to justifying it’s existence as a separate film. In the long run, it’s the equivalent of a big shoulder shrug.

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Tuesday, November 25, 2014

“Curiosity: it’s what a writer needs” Bonnie Jo Campbell brings her dedicated writing style to MSU campus for reading and talks.

LORIEN MEGILL Staff Writer Last Thursday, fiction author Bonnie Jo Campbell came to the MSU campus for a day full of events offered by the Good Thunder Reading Series in conjunction with the MSU English Department. Campbell is the author of two short story collections: Women and Other Animals (winner of the AWP short fiction prize) and American Salvage (National Book Award and National Book Critic’s Circle Award finalist); and two novels Q Road and Once Upon a River.

On Thursday morning, Campbell began the day with a question and answer session. In this laid-back setting Campbell talked about how a short story is like a mathematical proof (except in mathematical proofs everyone is speaking the same language and in a short story an audience may not speak the same “language” as the writer).

She also talked about how many of her short stories tell of people and situations in rural Michigan, which is where she grew up, giving her an inside knowledge and an empathy for the people.

Thursday afternoon Campbell gave a craft-talk in Ostrander Auditorium. Campbell talked about writing from real-life situations and gave an example of a one such situation that she wrote about in a non-fiction essay, two poems, and a short story. Camp-

bonniejocampbell.com Bonnie Jo Campbell shared works from her two short story collections and novels

bell, who spends years working on a short story, said that the key is obsession—latching on to something and being unable to let it go until it’s working. She repeatedly touted the importance of obsession and wanting to learn more, saying “curiosity, it’s what a writer needs.” She also said that she writes from love (rather than writing from a place of anger or revenge), and love doesn’t burn out, which allows for an obsessive nature to her work.

Finally, on Thursday evening Campbell gave a reading. She started with the “The Solution to Brian’s Problem,” a short story written in second person that lays out possible solutions for Brian’s rather serious problem.

She went on to read the beginning of her novel Once Upon a River, and finished with a short story titled “Shotgun Wedding,” which she said was her attempt to make a wedding interesting.

Campbell was a very engaging reader who seemed at ease in front of the group, and her reading was an excellent end to her visit to MSU. The Good Thunder Reading Series will return in the spring semester on Thursday January 29 with two more visiting writers. Poets Traci Brimhall and Ed Skoog will give a Talk on Craft at 3:00 p.m. in CSU Ostrander Auditorium and a Reading at 7:30 p.m. in CSU 245.

Music at MSU Next week has a host of vocal and instrumental events in store.

CHELSEY DIVELY Staff Writer Coming next week are several choral and instrumental performances on both December 4 and 7 to celebrate the festive Holiday spirit for the enjoyment of the public.

The event on the 4 is the University Contemporary Vocal and Instrumental ensembles performance in the Performing Arts building at 7:30 p.m. Different ensembles will focus on different forms of music; the vocal ensembles will be singing various a capella Holiday music by drawing inspiration from

groups like Pentatonix, Take 6, and Home Free.

The instrumental groups will be performing a mixture of jazz, pop, and rock with music by Autumn Leaves, All Blues, and Pick Up the Pieces.

The recently formed Electronic Music Ensemble will be contributing to the over all experience by playing their recorded remixes over the house system before and after the concert.

This group will also perform an original piece that will be a combination of live performers and pre-recorded tracks meshed together. The Pentatonix can be seen in next May’s release of

MSU Reporter • 23

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the sequel to Pitch Perfect.

On the seventh will be the a compilation of Holiday Choral music from the Chamber Singers, University Chorale and Concert Choir which will take place at 3 p.m. at St. John Baptist Catholic Church, 623 South Broad St. The Director of the Chamber Singers and the Concert Choir, Dr. David Dickau, says “his concert gives the choral groups an opportunity to do music of the season along with a mix from Renaissance to contemporary.” The portion of the concert with these two groups will include works from Men-

MUSIC • Page 25

PAGEANT “The Merely Players

Community Theatre has been a part of Mankato for over thirty years, producing over one hundred shows made up of volunteers from the community.” continued from 21

ences of all ages, giving it the potential to be a wonderful holiday experience for the whole family.

“This show is a great show for families to come see, that is what draws me to this show.

Getting to see all the families that get to watch the show, as well the families that are involved in the actual production. It’s a hilarious show and everyone will love it.”

Rausch said. Conn had similar thoughts: “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is a fun show for ALL ages, not just the kids. I promise there will be lots of

laughs, wonderful songs and goodwill among all!”

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever has performances on December 5, 6, 12, and 13 at 7:30 p.m. and December 6, 7, 13, and 14 at 2:00 p.m..

All performances are at the Lincoln Community Center, 100 Fulton St, Mankato.

Tickets are $15 for adults, $13 for seniors, and $10 for youth, and can be purchased at www. merelyplayers.com or over the phone by calling (507)-3885483.

GOOD LUCK

MAVERICK FOOTBALL

Best Wishes Maverick Football!

Good Luck Maverick Football!

24 • MSU Reporter

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Tuesday, November 25, 2014

It’s beginning to look a lot like Pinterest Spice up your holiday season with something creative and new.

pinterest.com

The holiday season is the perfect time to try your hand at some kitchy cookie decorating or themed cheescake making.

TEREASA HATTEN Staff Writer The holidays are fast approaching and that means preparations are in order as everyone is either revving up or wrapping up their planning for this year’s festivities. For many, planning for the holiday parties and gettogethers includes interior and exterior decorations, table settings, meal menus and more.

Is this year your first time hosting a holiday event? Want to shake things up? Looking for cheap DIY gift ideas? There’s one site that has all that and more with plenty of simple ideas for those who are tackling their first year of the mayhem as well as new challenges for holiday veterans: Internet sensation Pinterest has seemingly become answer to everyone’s DIY prayers.

So what “Pinterest” thing about? Pinterest is a tool that can be used to share ideas and information. Every user has “boards” that they use to categorize the photos and tutorials they will “pin.” These pins can be recipes, home improvement projects,

teaching aids, skin care, fashion advice, funny photos and more.

You can follow other pinners and have followers of your own to share your common interests, all conveniently stored in one place and organized just how you want it.

And because Pinterest has such a great variety, you can find practically anything you could ever want or need there. This includes a myriad of helpful things

for the holidays. Although the options are vast, a few categories really stick out: recipes, decorating tips, gifting ideas (on a budget too!), and a plethora of do-ityourself anythings.

Recipes: If you’re tired of traditional turkey, check out Pinterest for their turkey tips. A simple search of “Thanksgiving turkey recipes” will provide tons of dos and don’ts, step by steps, and plenty of options to refine your search.

Want a recipe that includes bacon? Just add it to your search criteria. Don’t have the time to make all the classic sides for your holiday dinners? A search of Christmas or Thanksgiving

side dishes will pop up easily, but add make-ahead to that and all your time crunching issues can be solved because you can throw it in the freezer and heat it up Thanksgiving day!

Decorations: In general, I’d say most people have their exterior decorations figured out, at least when it comes to Christmas. Decorating for Thanksgiving, whether inside or out, can be a whole lot trickier. Pinterest is the answer, whether it’s for tablescapes or mantle and door décor, so search for Thanksgiving decorations for DIY, table, mantle, wreathes, the possibilities are endless!

Gifting: The holidays are only getting more expensive, so there’s no better way to accommodate than by gifting friends and family something heartfelt and homemade with some of the great gift ideas on Pinterest: jarred bath salts, foods, candles and signs are very popular and easy, while transferring prints onto wood or tile has become a huge gifting trend.

DIY and Everything Else: You can DIY just about anything these days, but it’s especially fun around the holidays as you can DIY your decorations, ornaments, gifts, and snacks.

Whatever comes to mind, a simple Pinterest search is the only thing keeping you and your ideas apart.

I clearly didn’t cover everything here – it simply would have taken forever! So be sure to check out the site at pinterest. com on your desktop or download the app for iPhone or android.

Good Luck Maverick Football!

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Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Blood Sport: The Ultimate in Immersive Gaming Kickstarter campaign draws concerns, blood.

MATTHEW EBERLINE Staff Writer

which transmits the signal to the blood collection machine and

Canada commences.

The project has garnered a

Last week a decidedly bizarre project appeared on the popular crowd-funding site Kickstarter called “Blood Sport: The Ultimate in Immersive Gaming.” By connecting a controller’s rumble capability to a blood collection machine, the project aims to generate a realistic experience by drawing blood from players when they are injured in-game.

keeps track of how much blood has been pulled from the player.

Using input such as the player’s

great deal of concern and skepticism, particularly toward its health affecting nature. However, the project’s developers are quick to address these concerns, stating “Obviously, Blood Sport has a lot of skeptics. More than anything, people fear giving blood. And when you add a competitive layer to it, even more so.

But by running carefully monitored tests with medical professionals, we’ve created a unit that makes blood donation easy, fun and nearly painless.” Participants who agree to try the device must fill out an injury waiver, as well as the usual blood donation paperwork. According to the developers, the device is not for sale and will not be manufactured for home use.

While the project certainly presents an intriguing premise, it seems it may not come to fruition after all as funding for the project was suspended early Monday. Kickstarter has refused to comment on the suspension and no explanation from the developers was available at the time of writing.

cnet4.cbsistatic.com

According to the peripheral’s Kickstarter page, this will create “a refined multi-player unit that can be taken across the country for blood donation events.”

The setup is pretty straightforward: two wires connect the controller’s rumble feature to an Arduino board (an electronics platform for interactive projects)

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age, weight, and preexisting medical conditions, the Arduino board will power down the collection machine before too much blood is drawn. Altogether, the project’s creators hope to raise around $250,000 to cover development and equipment costs, as well as the cost of transportation once the planned tour across

MUSIC “The instrumental groups

will be performing a mixture of jazz, pop, and rock with music by Autumn Leaves, All Blues, and Pick Up the Pieces.” continued from 23

Photo courtesy of Dale Haefner

delssohn and Sweelinck, and the familiar staples of Holiday music, as well as a choreographed piece from East Africa.

The University Choral (a non-auditioned choir of students from across the campus) will be performing Holiday songs from around the world including the traditional carols as well as a folk carol from the Catalonia region in the northeast of Spain.

The cost of admission for both concerts is $9 for general admission and $7 for students when they present their MavCard-there are also discount

tickets available online for University students. To purchase tickets online go to www.mnsu. edu/music and for further information call the Performance Series office at (507)-389-5549.

The one difference between the two concerts is that the University Choirs performance on the seventh has a child discount of $6. It is highly recommended to purchase tickets in advance.

Staff: Campus Pastor Wong, Reverend Roger Knepprath, Mark Probst, Vicar Allen Kirschbaum, RA Kody Green

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26 • MSU Reporter

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Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Changing times bring new art Alternative comics push social limits in Egypt.

apexchange.com

CAIRO (AP) — A new feminist comic book, the Jewelry Box, has emerged in Egypt, the latest addition in a blossoming scene of alternative comics, as artists seek freer outlets of expression in a country where independent voices are finding it harder to speak.

Cartoons and political satire go back over a hundred years in Egypt, and are a staple in newspapers that have often lampooned social mores and officials in public office. But a new generation of young comic artists is finding space to express what is often a hard sell in mainstream media. Building on the region’s spirit of rebellion over the past four years, they are experimenting with new and more subversive style to look at Egypt’s realities.

This month’s first issue of Shakmagia, which means “Jewelry Box” in Arabic, focused on sexual harassment and violence,

so endemic in Egypt that finally the government this year had to toughen penalties against perpetrators. A dozen artists presented stories depicting how women endure harassment and how men get away with it so easily when most people turn a blind eye.

Other new magazines feature vignettes, often presenting slices of life among young people. The most successful is an alt-zine named TokTok, where stories deal with love, joblessness, the attitudes of their elders and the authorities or the chaos of Cairo.

Sometimes the approach is humorous, sometimes dark, and sometimes surreal.

“Doors on new worlds have opened,” said Muna AbduRahman, a 27-year-old scientist who after the 2011 uprising against autocrat Hosni Mubarak took a leap and started as a newspaper cartoonist. She contributed her first story to Shakmagia, published by the Nazra Center for

Only 1 Mile Away From Campus!

Women’s Studies.

“People started to care about new art as a way to connect with the changes taking place in the country,” she said.

Jonathan Guyer, a Cairobased scholar researching Egyptian comics, compares the new zines to the founding of Mad magazine in the 1950s in the United States, with underground stories challenging the status quo.

Often, he said, that doesn’t mean literally addressing politics, but instead looking at social issues behind the 2011 revolution — dignity, justice, economy and class. “They are teasing out all these difficult issues and often through a backhand way.”

With changing politics, the space for cartoonists has shifted.

Satirical cartoons were prominent during the 2011 protests.

After Mubarak’s fall, interim military rulers bristled at criticism, putting journalists under investigation and pressuring editors to tone down criticism.

Newspapers pushed back some: One independent daily ran a cartoon of military boots stamping down on pencils.

After the election of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, TV political satirist Bassem Youssef was briefly detained and questioned for his lampoons. But cartoonists had a field day mocking the Islamist leadership.

Since Morsi’s June 2013 ouster by the military, newspapers have largely bent to demands by the newly elected president, former army chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, to mute criticism. In general, voices of dissent have been hounded out the media and dozens of pro-democracy activists have been arrested for protests, while the government also wages a fierce crackdown on Islamists. The red lines are not always clear, but comic artists know again that Egypt’s leader is off limits.

Hagrassy, one of the country’s promising comic artists, said his newspaper stopped running cartoons altogether after el-Sissi’s election. Recently, the paper asked them to restart, but nothing has been published yet.

“We are not back to 2010.

More like the Middle Ages,” Hagrassy said. He and several others in the magazines go only by their artists’ names.

Andeel, another of the genre’s rising stars, quit his newspaper last year. It wasn’t only because of censorship but he wanted to try something more “confrontational” artistically.

“There was always constant pushback against any attempt to experiment or get out of the familiar,” said the 28-year old artist, known for his dark, heavystroke drawing style.

Andeel was among the

founders of TokTok, named for the three-wheeled rickshaws that crowd the streets of Cairo.

Launched in early 2011, the quarterly is considered a success. It just put out its 12th issue, printing 2,000 copies each edition — a high number in Egypt’s prolific publication market.

“The idea is to open up and change the way people think,” Shennawy, another TokTok founder, said. “Not just on political issues, but in thinking about what’s around us, relationships, girls, social relations and love.”

That can mean just straightup gags. One character created

by Shennawy is street parking attendant — a well-known figure around Cairo, grubbing for tips as he finds parking for drivers.

In one strip, he parks the tanks of the extremist Islamic State group as it invades Cairo, only to be beheaded when the militants’ vehicles are booted.

Or stories can be more complex, like one depicting the travails of a man on his motorcycle trying to make it home through Cairo’s monstrous traffic to see his dying grandmother.

Andeel calls it starting a dialogue at a time when the culture of dialogue is missing.

“The regime fears the idea that someone has an opinion to express ... even if it is about zucchini or onion.”

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Tuesday, November 25, 2014

MSU Reporter • 27

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Kabul City Park W EEK LY PEEK NOV.

THURSDAY

27

Happy Thanksgiving!

Drive safely!

NOV.

FRIDAY

28

Friday Night Magic 4:30 & 6 p.m., The Dork Den thedorkden.com

NOV.

SATURDAY

29

Kiwanis Lights 5 p.m.-10 p.m., Sibley Park www.kiwanisholidaylights.com

NOV.

SUNDAY

30

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever Preview 4:30 p.m.- 5 p.m., Barnes and Noble

DEC.

MONDAY

01

Swing Dance Lessons & Dance 9 p.m., CSU Ballroom MSU Mankato Swing Dance Club FB

DEC.

TUESDAY

02

Community Orchestra Holiday Concert 7:30 p.m., Performing Arts Center http://www.mnsu.edu/music/

DEC.

WEDNESDAY

03

Senior Arts Exhibit 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Conkling Gallery mnsu.edu/artdept

TWIN CITIES SERVICES MSP Airport Select Downtown Service (Minneapolis & St. Paul) Train Connections to The Mall of America and Event Centers

Afghanistan amusement park opens its gates KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Excitement builds in the queue forming behind the barbed-wire security fence outside Afghanistan’s first amusement park as children in bright clothes clutch their parents’ hands and hop from foot to foot in anticipation of the pleasures waiting behind the high concrete blast walls.

For the thousands of families who have visited Kabul’s City Park since it opened during a national religious holiday weekend in October, it is a rare escape from lives blighted by war, death and misery.

Squealing children hardly know where to look as they race through the gates. Inside, they find large friendly characters that look almost, but not quite, like Minnie Mouse and Tom the cat from Tom and Jerry — all dancing together and dispensing hugs.

Traditional fairground rides — including a Ferris wheel and bumper cars — attract the older kids, while a carousel, face painting and games keep younger children happy.

“It’s very nice, everything is very beautiful, the carousel horse ride is nice,” said 6-yearold Sadaf through a gap-toothed grin as she had her face decorated like a mouse.

Set at the foot of the snowcapped Hindu Kush mountains, next to the filthy Kabul River and near a zoo famous only for its abused, one-eyed lion, City Park is one of few places residents of the Afghan capital can

dailymail.co.uk

take their children for a relaxing day out.

The city of almost 6 million people is a virtual fortress. Major buildings are protected by concrete and barbed wire, roads are choked with traffic as former thoroughfares are blocked to prevent suicide bombers reaching potential targets like the Presidential Palace. Gun-toting security forces guard almost every street corner.

Afghanistan has been at war for more than 30 years, and while U.S. and NATO combat troops prepare to leave next month, the Taliban insurgency shows no sign of abating.

Few families in Kabul have been untouched by the violence, said Almas Qaseemi, the park’s deputy general manager. “The park is a place for entertainment, and there is not much of that in Afghanistan.”

“We have a great feeling when we see our people forget their sorrows for a few minutes and smile when they come here,” Qaseemi said.

Thousands come every day, he said, peaking on the weekly Friday holiday at close to 10,000.

The park is set on 10 hectares (24 acres) of land owned by the Kabul Municipal Government and leased for five years to a private company called Mufkora — which means “concept” in English.

Rahela Kohistani, the municipality’s cultural director, said that $1.5 million has been invested in the park with the municipal authority taking 26 percent of profits and the rest going to Mufkora.

“So far we are happy, and it seems that people are happy, too,” she said.

For Ishfaq Ahmad Adeb, 20, who spends his days at City Park as Tom the cat, and 18-year-old Omid who plays Minnie Mouse, the children’s joy rubs off.

“When the children see me in this outfit, they really believe that Minnie Mouse has come to Kabul,” said Omid. “They laugh and try to shake hands with me, they really enjoy it.”

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