November 29, 2016

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TUESDAY NOVEMBER 29, 2016

Survival 101: How to conquer finals week Tackle finals-week tests with these five studying tips.

ALISSA THIELGES Staff Writer As the end of the school semester nears, students at Minnesota State University, Mankato start to hunker down and prepare for the last week of school, known as the dreaded Finals Week.

Here are some tips on how to survive this scary – and stressful – time.

1. Seek shelter Finding a refuge from all the chaos is key to get all the studying that needs to be completed.

This doesn’t necessarily need to be a military-grade bunker, but your shelter should be able to endure maximum cramming sessions. Comfort and minimal distractions are key when searching. This can be as simple as your dorm or

(CC BY 2.0) by albertogp123 apartment room, or you can be adventurous and head to the local library.

2. Stock up on supplies Finals week is not the time to be running low on key supplies, mainly food. Head to the nearest grocery store or supermarket and pick up the necessary provisions, including snacks, and study

materials, such as pens, highlighters, note cards, and tabs to mark important pages in your textbooks.

3. Stay alert Those long hours and late nights are bound to catch up to you. Drink lots of caffeinated beverages to help combat this. If you don’t like coffee, hot chocolate

or tea are alternatives. If all else fails, a 5-Hour Energy or a can of pop can be equally effective. The main thing is to stay awake and focused. You also don’t want those zombies—er—sleepdeprived students to get you.

4. Arm yourself With knowledge, of course (although those heavy

textbooks could probably do some actual damage). The best way to beat those finals is to know the material you are going to be tested on.

Make sure to fill out the study guides your professors give out so you can study the appropriate material. Arm yourself with plenty of sleep and fluids as well, so you are well rested when the day comes to put your knowledge to the test. Literally.

5. Find your team There is safety in numbers.

The people who study together, win together. You don’t have to be an expert at everything, but if you can find a group of people from your classes to study with, you can balance each other’s strengths and weaknesses by sharing what you know.

Even if you aren’t in the same classes, sometimes it’s just encouraging to be around others who are in a similar boat and are also just trying to survive the apocalypse, er, finals week.

Meet the RSO: International Student Association

MARJAN HUSSEIN Staff Writer The International Student Association (ISA) works handin-hand with the Kearney International Center to help international students adjust to their new environment and oversee various international events on campus. The ISA is a diverse community established to provide programs, offer various

TODAY’S FEATURED STORIES

services, and create a friendly atmosphere for international students to interact with one another. The ISA constantly engages with the wider MNSU community as several international Recognized Student Organizations (RSOs) fall under it, enabling it to connect more with students of different origins.

The ISA oversees several international RSOs like the African Student Association, the Middle Eastern Student Association, and the Eurasian Student Association, to mention a few. Their large outreach through these various international RSOs enables them to engage

with students regarding inter national is sues, workshops, and ISA café’s, all to enhance cultural diversity on campus.

Khuzaima Shahid, the current vice president of the ISA, is truly honored to be in that position as it allows him to interact with people from all over the world every day. Shahid, an Information Technology major, originates from Pakistan but was raised in Saudi Arabia.

“Leadership was always something I felt drawn to, and being in this position has enabled me to achieve one of my goals,” Shahid said.

Shahid previously held

“The ISA oversees several international RSOs like the African Student Association, the Middle Eastern Student Association, and the Eurasian Student Association, to mention a few.” the position of International Festival Coordinator and going on to become VP of the ISA was a step in the right direction.

“Motivating students to be part of the ISA community is

An unusual Black Friday experience

Women’s basketball rides winning streak

Moana follows journey of self-discovery

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part of my typical day at the office along with ensuring

ISA page 5

Have a story idea or a comment?

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2 • MSU Reporter

News

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Top sites to buy your spring semester textbooks Ace your textbook shopping with the best online distributors.

NIRAJ GUPTA Staff Writer Each year, a large number of people make the choice to attend college and get a degree. The reason and motivation behind making such a decision might differ per person, but a common goal is to get a degree with good grades, which reflects their honed skills and knowledge.

Many students think that they would do well without needing the textbooks until they realize how wrong they were. If you find this to be the case with you, you also must have realized how important the textbooks are to achieve this goal. And how expensive plus tedious to find they can be if you don’t have an idea where to look.

Fortunately, there is an abundance of websites where you can probably find almost any textbook, either secondhand or brand new, followed by the digital versions (cheaper than the printed versions), including the latest editions. Plus, these websites provide several offers and discounts, and deliver your order at your doorstep, making life easier as a student.

The Internet has numerous online textbook sellers, and it is always a good idea to know

(CC BY-ND 2.0) by Danny Nicholson the best and most reliable ones. So, here are some top websites where you can look and buy your textbooks.

Amazon Amazon.com is certainly the largest company among textbook providers where you can find almost any textbook at decent prices to buy or rent. And if they are expensive, Amazon has a “Used” section where you can get the used books at a significant discount. If you are comfortable reading the textbooks on digital devices, you can find the digital editions of the textbooks, which are significantly cheaper.

Amazon also provides fast shipping so that you won’t face any inconvenience. Furthermore, when you are done with the textbook, you can always sell it on the website and save

some money.

Chegg Chegg is another vast collection of textbooks where you can find both new and used books with discounts of up to 90 percent. The website has a simple search engine based interface where you can type in the title of the textbook you are looking for and it will show it to you. Chegg provides hassle-free return service to its customers, so that you can return the textbooks anytime within 21 days if you need for any reason. Many of its most popular titles gives access to an online version while the physical copy ships, so you don’t have to wait until physical copy arrives to read the textbook. Furthermore, the site also has the rental and selling features that can save you some significant

GOOD LUCK WITH FINALS WEEK MAVERICKS!

money.

Half Half.com is an online textbook store owned by Ebay where you can look for the textbook you need.

It has a huge collection of textbooks, regular books, and even music, movies, and video games. The site did an effort upgrade itself and now it provides features like buying, selling, and renting.

Half.com also provides deals and offers which you can use to save some money. It is easy to find textbooks and other products since it also has search engine based interface and categorized listings.

Campus Book Rentals Campusbookrentals. com is one among the books retailers that has served thousands of students and saved them

over $113,715,753.12 until now. This site has a simple interface with integrated search engine where you just need to type in the name of book you are looking for.

This textbook provider also the features to return the textbook, rent them, and even sell them. The company lets you to use the book like you own it complemented with flexible rental periods and free shipping both ways.

Textbooks Textbooks.com is also a great place where you can look for the books you need with deep discounts up to 70 percent which can save you a lot of money. It is another giant among the textbook providers which also happens to have a very simple web interface combined with a search engine and categorical listing of top selling books and recent buyback quotes.

Along with these features, you can also sell your books, rent them, and get e-versions of text books. The store provides free shipping for the orders up to $25 and above.

Big Words Bigwords.com can be one among the best to look for the text books which lets you compare the textbook prices from all the best online stores at once, plus, helps you save up to 90 percent.

The provider promises the prices that are 35 to 45

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MSU Reporter • 3

Students choose to #OptOutside for Black Friday Black Friday lines were a little shorter as people explore nature instead.

Opinion

ELLYN GIBBS Staff Writer I wanted my Black Friday this year to be different.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with shopping on Black Friday. Thanksgiving is over, and people are ready to prepare for Christmas. Many of them make it a family tradition and all venture out as one large tribe.

I’m not a big Black Friday shopper, and if I do go out, I usually go to very obscure small businesses like guitar shops and soap boutiques.

I have worked retail on Thanksgiving night through Black Friday morning, though, and that year I didn’t see many people who were sincerely having fun or enjoying family time while they shopped for amazing deals.

I wanted to make my holiday different by participating in #OptOutside, REI’s campaign that encourages people to consume less possessions and more nature. This is REI’s second year implementing

their campaign, which has become a nationwide movement. They have led the way by closing their doors on Black Friday and paying their employees to take a day off to spend time in nature with their families and friends.

I was able to spend nearly all of my Black Friday outdoors, in the beautiful White Mountains of New Hampshire, and it was the best Black Friday I’ve experienced yet. Although I love Minnesota, a change of scenery allowed me to breathe and briefly escape my swamp of final projects for this semester. Freshly fallen snow made the pines even more magical for a family hike beside Smarts Brook.

Our trail up an old drainage ditch led us to a giant boulder that is obviously a favorite place for rock climbers, due to the old chalk smudges all over it. I made a mental note to come back in the spring.

After an hour-and-a-half of hiking and snowball fighting, we returned to the house breathing hard and redfaced. I had worn too many layers to be hiking uphill both ways.

It wasn’t time to collapse beside the TV yet. We only stayed long enough to cram our faces with Thanksgiving leftovers before heading back out into the elements to work on a few outdoor projects.

Shoveling wheelbarrows full of dirt in the cold rain may not be as enjoyable as sipping peppermint mochas and browsing through clearance racks, but it did burn a few calories. After about two hours of that, the whole family returned to the house to sit by the fire until it was time to head back outside for a second Thanksgiving celebration.

The patriarch of the family had prepared an outdoor activity that divided everyone into three teams of five. It began with a photo scavenger hunt that sent us all over town. When we returned to the house hours later, we were soaking wet, exhausted, and it was pitch black outside. We finished the challenge by building a catapult and firing pumpkins down a hill in the yard.

At last it was time to eat cheesecake and collapse on the couch. I was exhausted, but my exhaustion was the content kind that left no room for stress. I’m already behind on buying Christmas gifts, but… whose rule book am I following for Christmas anyway? The hours and memories created with the family were priceless. I’m already looking forward to next year’s #OptOutside challenge.

Graphic by Ellyn Gibbs Many MSU students chose to ditch the store on Black Friday and enjoy the beauty of nature.

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Tuesday, November 29, 2016 EMAIL THE EMAIL THE EDITOR CHIEF: EDITOR IN IN CHIEF:

An unusual Black Friday experience Who needs Target when you can go discount antiquing?

Opinion

RACHAEL JAEGER Staff Writer The boycotting of Black Friday has led to a plummet in retail sales within the last several years. More people have gained an awareness of how much time the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge attitude has taken away from spending valuable time with friends or family.

According to Kate Taylor’s online article in The Business Insider, more than 40 corporations, including Barnes & Noble and Costco, chose to stay closed for Black Friday this year. T.J.J. Maxx announced on Pandora that it would also bow out of the tradition. Yet at the same time, the retail stores have also extended their commercialization of Black Friday, from one day to lasting all week.

I have boycotted Black Friday shopping since 2010, when I first attended school in Tennessee and experienced nearly getting trampled in a Target in Chattanooga. This year, however, I am guilty of doing a bit of shopping of my own – and mostly for myself.

I spent a few hours with my boyfriend, Christopher, in the early afternoon browsing an antique store in Omaha called The Brass Armadillo. We both have an

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Photo courtesy of The Associated Press appreciation for older things, possessions once treasured by their owners and the quality of the older designs.

Honestly, we both share smirks over the zombielike battles over cheap and heavily mass-produced items that take mere seconds for their creation before it is forgotten.

But depending on their use, each piece in the antique store we visited has its time and purpose and has a story behind them.

For instance, we passed a shelf full of hand-held lanterns from a time when people used to carry them from room to room so they could read before bed or find

Pulse ESTEFANIA LUJAN ANTHROPOLOGY

DENICE PEREZ MASS MEDIA

“I’m usually in the library on the first floor or the MCC to be a little social with snacks and coffee.”

“I study in my bedroom or at the dining table; It’s nice to have all of my books out. I also go to the library to be more productive.

their way around.

Christopher has a passion for collecting various pipes and is able to pick out where the mark is on each one based on how old it is. He also likes quality blankets, copper mugs, wooden boxes, and wood-working tools from what others may consider the Stone Age, while I enjoy amber fairy lights, princess depression glass dishes, random jewelry pieces ranging from the 1950s into the 1970s, and durable cooking ware. As I’ve lived on my own, I’ve appreciated using things that will last rather than singling out random plastic tubs or mixing bowls I could get

anywhere.

I’ve also had my eye on a few typewriters, but I am waiting for the right time to buy one. (I feel as a journalist, you are obligated to have a sort of revered nostalgia from your profession’s origins).

Antique stores are also where and how we learn more about each other’s interests and what we like.

Christopher got excited over an old brown, worn book of his favorite author, Alistair MacLean, back when the

BLACK FRIDAY page 7

“Where do you study for finals?”

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“My dorm room.”

“I study in the library or my apartment.”

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

MSU Reporter • 5

News

ISA

Continued from page 1

Photo courtesy of the International Student Association things run smoothly,” Shahid says. “Plus being part of the ISA has its benefits as the connections one is able to create with different students

will definitely be helpful in the future.”

Shahid strongly believes in hard work; he says that one can accomplish anything if

they set their mind to it and work toward achieving it.

Shahid’s language skills are impeccable as he is fluent in four different languages,

including Arabic, English, Hindi and Urdu. This is just one of the many qualities that he brings to the table.

The ISA office is located on the second floor of the Centennial Student Union.

International students can walk in anytime to have their questions answered or to acquire more information about the campus. The ISA hopes that prospective international students interact first with their own RSOs before becoming familiar with the ISA, as it acts as a binder for all the international RSOs. The ISA is a part of the Kearney International Center and has close ties with the Minnesota State Student Association, which is the students’ governing body.

The ISA is presented to all students, both domestic and international, during orientation to expose them to the diverse campus of Minnesota State University, Mankato. This also creates

a bond of trust between students from different origins, enabling them to exchange ideas or mix and mingle.

The ISA has become a large part of the MNSU community as it has grown over the years. Through various events like Asian Night, the ISA can capture the interest of the general community, both internal and external, and educate people on various cultures overseas using exhilarating avenues.

The ISA spreads diversity, informing people about different nations, cultures and traditions while also sharing the various lifestyles of people across the world. The world is becoming a village today; therefore, educating people about exotic places is the perfect way to broaden their global perspective.

Letter to the Editor: One student shares moving display of unity So, the day after the election, Nov, 9, 2016, I had early on noticed that the campus seemed fairly quiet, more so than usual.

The students that I observed and heard speaking were of course discussing the results of the Trump victory in the presidential election, much of those conversations were held to a minimum volume.

As I stood outside of Armstrong Hall, I had taken notice to four Muslim students (two males, two females) standing in a circle talking. Their conversation was of no concern; I did not even give it much of a thought other than simply thinking that they too must be talking about what had transpired the night before in our political system. My back was turned to them when suddenly I heard the voice of another male student speaking to them.

What he said stopped me in my tracks and caused me to turn around to see who this was.

The student, a white male, along with another white male student, had confronted the group of four Muslim students and the one male

said “Just so you know, you guys have nothing to worry about down here, nothing is going to happen to you, we’ve got your back.” With that, the student reached out his hand in an offer of a handshake, which was reciprocated by one of the male Muslim students who lowered his head and simply said “Thank you.”

The white males turned and walked away, both smiling, as now were the four Muslim students.

These total of 26 words exchanged between this half a dozen students were truly moving and inspiring, unscripted and natural.

I stood there taking it in, almost feeling uncomfortable as I was watching this unfold in front of me; at the same time, I felt a lump form in my throat and my eyes fill with tears.

This interaction provided a glimpse of hope about our society, about our student body, and about our school and community.

Many believe that there is a new public display of hatred encompassing our communities, and they are right, there is. However,

moments like this proved that there are also those who see humans as humans, not as colors, genders, races, ethnicities, or classes. Better yet, it is our youth; it is those who will someday be the leaders in our communities that are displaying this acceptance of diversity in our society.

I would like to add that I am new to MNSU, Mankato, recently graduating from a campus filled with diversity, the University of Minnesota.

But what I observed the morning of Nov. 9 instantly made me proud to be a part of the Maverick community.

Yes, I am a sociologist, so I spend much of my time observing behaviors and norms of groups of people in their interactions, but I am first and foremost a human being, and what I witnessed that morning was, for lack of being eloquent or articulated, very cool!

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Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Cyber Monday transforms as shoppers are more connected NEW YORK (AP) — The Monday after Thanksgiving is still a time when millions of Americans pause to check out online deals and check off items from their gift list — but a one-day Cyber Monday frenzy appears to be going the way of the dial-up modem.

Shoppers who have high-speed connections at home and on their phones are pouncing on deals that stores are spreading out over several days, leaving the so-called Cyber Monday online shopping bonanza in danger of losing its title as the top online sales day.

“Because Cyber Monday is no longer about the connection, it’s just another sales day that I can plan for, like a Labor Day sale or Fourth of July sale,” said Gartner analyst Gene Alvarez. “’I know it’s coming, does it fit into my schedule, and will I do my holiday shopping that day, Black Friday or wait to see what comes up later?”

So instead of doorbuster markdowns on a select few products, retailers are shifting to a stream of discounts and alerts during the entire week via email and social media.

Cartwheel, Target’s digital app, started offering holiday deals including 50 percent off one toy per day on Nov. 1.

Amazon started offering 35 days of Black Friday deals on Nov. 16. And Walmart kicked off its Cyber Monday deals on Friday for the first time as it aimed to grab customers

Photo courtesy of The Associated Press ahead of its competitors.

“It’s really this weeklong flow of deals,” said Shawn DuBravac, chief economist at the Consumer Technology Association.

Lea Bishop from Carmel, Indiana, picked up tickets to the Texas Tenors at her local performing arts center because they had a rare buytwo-get-two-free deal. “It’s those once-a-year deals that I’m looking for today,” she said. Otherwise, she noticed retailers have been spreading out deals.

“It seems like they should rename Black Friday to Black Friday Week and rename Cyber Monday to Cyber Monday weekend,” she said.

Matthew Cannata of New Britain, Connecticut, said he and his wife meticulously map out their shopping weekend.

They hit the stores Thursday night and Friday morning and started browsing online Saturday. They saw more discounts early this year and use services like buying item online and picking them up in the store, Cannata said.

“We are casting a wide net on any and all types of gifts,” he said.

On Monday, he bought an Amazon Tap smart speaker for $40 off at $90 on Amazon. com and Bluetooth stereo headphones for $30, $100 off the original price.

The Monday after Thanksgiving has been the busiest day of the year for online shopping since 2010, and referred to the day when people returned after the holiday weekend to offices where they had high-speed internet connections.

GOOD LUCK ON YOUR FINALS! END OF THE SEMESTER HOURS: FRIDAY, DEC. 2...................... 7:30 AM - 10:00 PM SATURDAY, DEC. 3..............10:00 AM - 10:00 PM SUNDAY, DEC. 4................... 10:00 AM - 2:00 AM MONDAY, DEC. 5.....................7:30 AM - 2:00 AM TUESDAY, DEC. 6.....................7:30 AM - 2:00 AM WEDNESDAY, DEC. 7...............7:30 AM - 2:00 AM THURSDAY, DEC. 8..................7:30 AM - 2:00 AM FRIDAY, DEC. 9........................ 7:30 AM - 7:00 PM SATURDAY, DEC. 10..............10:00 AM - 4:30 PM

Cyber Monday still packs the biggest punch in terms of a single online shopping day — for now. Shoppers spent $540 million between midnight and 10 a.m. Eastern time on Monday, affirming that sales are expected to total $3.36 billion, up 9.4 percent from a year ago, according to an early tally

by Adobe Digital Insights, which tracks online retail transactions.

But other days are catching up. Adobe’s forecast puts Cyber Monday neck-andneck with Black Friday, when consumers spent $3.34

billion, a 21.6 percent jump from last year.

Joseph Jaconi, whose company TechArmor sells smartphone accessories through Amazon, other outlets and his e-commerce site, said Black Friday was his biggest sales day of the year and he expected Cyber Monday to outpace that, will sales about double or triple that of a normal day. Amazon kicking off its deals on Nov. 16 helped give the whole month a sales lift.

“Cyber Monday has kind of become Cyber Month,” he said.

Research firm comScore predicted that online spending on Cyber Monday will jump to $3.5 billion from $3.12 billion last year, and will release its tally for the day on Wednesday. The firm’s preliminary holiday shopping forecast, which includes November and December, is for online sales to rise as much as 19 percent to $81 billion.

Overall, the National Retail Federation trade group is forecasting holiday sales for the November and December period to rise 3.6 percent to $655.8 billion, better than the 3 percent growth seen in the year-ago period.

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Tuesday, November 29, 2016

MSU Reporter • 7

News

Southern storms should ease drought, but fire threat remains ATLANTA (AP) — Storms rolling across the South appeared to be taking aim at some of the largest wildfires burning across the region, which could finally help firefighters in their efforts to subdue the blazes, authorities said Monday.

As the storm system passed over Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee late Monday, it was heading toward some of largest wildfires in Georgia and North Carolina.

The rain forecast “puts the bullseye of the greatest amounts right at the bullseye of where we’ve been having our greatest activity,” said Dave Martin, deputy director of operations for fire and aviation management with the southern region of the U.S. Forest Service.

The projected rainfall amounts “really lines up with where we need it,” Martin said Monday. “We’re all knocking on wood.”

Yet after weeks of punishing drought, any rain that falls should be soaked

up quickly, forecasters said.

It will provide some relief but won’t end the drought — or the fire threat, they say.

Drought conditions will likely persist, authorities said.

The problem is that rainfall amounts have been 10 to 15 inches below normal during the past three months in many parts of the South, authorities said.

“I think we racked up deficits that are going to be too much to overcome with just one storm system,” said Mark Svoboda, director of the National Drought Mitigation Center in Lincoln, Nebraska.

“I would say it’s way too early to say ‘Yes, this drought is over,’” Svoboda said.

“Does it put a dent in it? Yes, but we have a long ways to go.”

The rain also brings danger since strong winds at the leading edge of the storms can topple trees and limbs that can kill and injure firefighters, he said.

Some of the storms could be severe, according

to forecasters at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

Damaging winds will be the primary threat, with tornadoes also possible, forecasters said.

In Louisiana, a tornado watch was in effect until Monday evening for western and northern parts of the state.

In Mississippi, more than 14,000 customers were without power Monday.

Outages were concentrated in central and southeast Mississippi, according to power providers.

The northern part of Mississippi could get between 3 and 3 ½ inches of rain, said forecaster Anna Wolverton of the National Weather Service in Jackson.

With drought conditions across much of the Deep South, Wolverton said, “Any amount will help.”

“Most of the state had a wet spring and summer, but going into the fall months we are about 9 inches below

TEXTBOOKS

Continued from page 2 “Although the websites have many things in common, they also have some distinct features that puts them in the top list of online textbook providers.” percent cheaper than other online stores. Apart from these distinct features, this site also has the common features as seen in other big online store such as buying, renting, and selling textbooks along with the search engine based interface.

To summarize, there are a lot of textbook providers on the Internet where you can look for the books you need, but these are some

of the popular ones where you can find almost any text book with significant deals and great service that will save you a big chunk of money. You can use the rented book as your own, return them within a period if you don’t need it anymore, you can sell them over once the semester ends, get a digital version of the textbook per your preference, plus you don’t have to worry about the

shipping since the providers put great effort to make the experience convenient for you. Although the websites have many things in common, they also have some distinct features that puts them in the top list of online textbook providers.

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BLACK FRIDAY Continued from page 4 book sold for 35 cents. He also stumbled across an old icebox that was made in 1910, pointing out that the upper shelf was used to place ice so it would melt and trickle down to keep food cold.

We went back a day

later. I finally bought my first Santa doll designed from roughly around the 1960s to start one as a new collection. After all, Christmas only springs up once a year, and who better to serve as a best reminder to maintain a cheery and

generous spirit than Santa?

Remember, the holiday season does not have to be about buying gifts; it can be about touching others with your genuine soul as well.

normal,” she said.

Alabama was expected to see severe weather by Monday night.

In Georgia, high wind

In South Carolina, the stormy forecast was giving hope to firefighters battling a blaze in the northwest corner of the state. The

“The rain also brings danger since strong winds at the leading edge of the storms can topple trees and limbs that can kill and injure firefighters...” warnings were issued for mountainous areas in northern parts of the state through Monday night.

Scattered thunderstorms were possible over north and portions and west central Georgia on Monday night, forecasters said.

South Carolina Forestry Commission hopes to contain the Pinnacle Mountain fire by the middle of next week.

8 • MSU Reporter

News

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Five challenges facing states that wade into legal marijuana DENVER (AP) — Four more states just legalized marijuana for all adults, and more than half the states now allow pot use by people with a long list of ailments. But don’t break out the Goldfish and Cheetos just yet.

into legal weed are in direct defiance of federal drug law, so they’re on their own when it comes to regulating a drug that had been illegal for almost a century.

A look at the top issues facing states that are moving

“States wading into legal weed are in direct defiance of federal drug law, so they’re on their own when it comes to regulating a drug that had been illegal for almost a century.”

That’s what the Colorado governor famously said after his state and Washington became the first to legalize recreational pot in 2012.

The joke belies an important truth about the nation’s evolving marijuana experiment: It’s too soon to say how these experiments will turn out. States wading

toward legalization: ELIMINATING THE BLACK MARKET The black market for pot does not go away just because the drug is legal under certain circumstances.

States facing a shifting marijuana regime want to eliminate corner drug dealers and keep drug cartels out of

the legal drug game. To do that, governments need to set tax rates that are high enough to cover regulatory costs but not so high that drug dealers decide to stay in the shadows, where they go untaxed and unregulated.

The current marijuana states tax pot at about 30 percent or more. The result is a nagging black-market problem, so new marijuana states may consider a different approach.

KEEPING POT AWAY FROM KIDS When it’s illegal to give weed to anybody, there’s no need to make it a crime to give marijuana to a minor.

States that legalize pot will need to look at their alcohol codes and create new crimes for sharing marijuana with minors or anyone else not authorized to have it.

Public health advocates will call on their states to do more work tracking how many kids are using pot, through youth surveys and by adding school health workers and counselors.

KEEPING HIGHWAYS SAFE States that have legalized

pot have seen more drivers arrested for driving high, but overall traffic safety and fatality rates in those states have dropped or remained flat.

Expect to see new marijuana states ramp up police training for spotting stoned drivers. It’s also possible that drivers will complain about getting pulled over more often in neighboring states by officers on the lookout for impaired motorists.

CONFRONTING EDIBLES AND CONCENTRATES Smoking doesn’t become any less stinky when marijuana becomes legal.

But states with legal marijuana markets have been caught off guard by the popularity of edible and concentrated marijuana, which can be incorporated into a dizzying variety of products as diverse as cookies, pasta sauce and skin cream, even personal lubricant infused with cannabis.

Concentrated pot, as the name suggests, can be quite strong. So states that have joined the marijuana

experiment will want to be ready for more calls to poison control, more people showing up at emergency rooms complaining of overindulging in pot and more kids arriving at school with not-soinnocent brownies.

KEEPING CULTIVATION GREEN Public officials who don’t want to see fields and backyards full of weed often try to force production into greenhouses, warehouses and basements.

That keeps pot out of public view, but growing it that way requires enormous amounts of electricity and water. And the plants are more susceptible to disease and pests.

Marijuana states have to wrestle with regulating production so that the weed industry doesn’t sap energy and water better used elsewhere. They will also need to write their own rules when it comes to pesticides.

MSU Reporter • 9

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Have a story idea or a comment?

Minnesota State University, Mankato

EMAIL

Sports Editor Tommy Wiita

thomas.wiita@mnsu.edu

Women’s basketball rides winning streak The Mavericks have won three games in-a-row heading into NSIC play.

COLT JOHNSON Staff Writer Minnesota State’s women’s basketball team has swept its competition through their first three games, as they are looking sharp to begin the season.

The Maverick women’s basketball team came out of the gates firing at all cylinders. They have been clicking, but head coach Emilee Thiesse isn’t trying to get caught up in all the talk and noise of being undefeated.

Last season didn’t quite start, or finish, the way Minnesota State would have wanted.

“Surprised with the early

Reporter Archives Junior Claire Ziegler (44, left-middle) and senior Sammie Delzotto (10) will prove to be key players for Mavericks this season. Delzotto is averaging 15 points per game and Ziegler is averaging almost a double-double through three games played. success, but not trying to get caught up in their record,”

Thiesse said.

It is only three games in,

but it is nice to see the Mavericks win their first three

games of the season; two of which came from the same teams to begin the season just a year before.

Minnesota State’s first game of the 2016 season was against Missouri Western State. The Mavericks started out a little slow, putting up only 14 points to the Griffins’ 15 at the end of the first quarter. However, by the end of the half Minnesota State had taken the lead at 29-26 and never looked back, putting up 18 points in each quarter and limiting Missouri Western to only 13 and 15 points in their respected quarters.

Leading the way for the Mavericks was Mankato-native Claire Ziegler with her first double-double if the

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL PAGE 11

Mavericks defeat Huskies, 79-62 Nine players reached the scoring column in Minnesota State’s fourth victory.

COREY YUMAN Staff Writer The winning streak continues for the Minnesota State Maverick men’s basketball team, as they defeated the St. Cloud State Huskies this past Saturday. With it being their third-consecutive weekend on the road, the Mavericks made easy work of the Huskies to extend their winning streak to three games, putting their record at 4-1 on the year.

Minnesota State showed off the depth they have on this year’s squad as seven different Mavs put points on the board to start off their run.

Minnesota State’s Jon Fuqua drained a free throw just under five minutes into the game to put the Mavericks

up by one. From that point, the Mavericks never looked back. Just over twelve minutes into the first half, MSU’s Trey Sampson drilled one from deep to extend the lead into the double-digits.

St. Cloud’s Kurt Hall supplied four points and an assist to bring the lead back down to single digits, but Minnesota State’s attack did not slow down. Fuqua nailed two free throws and Cole Harper hit a layup followed by an andone to give the Mavericks a 13-point lead with a minute to go in the half. When the guys walked into the locker room, that 13-point lead was sustained with a 34-21 score.

Fuqua led the team in the first half with six points and five rebounds, while Harper was close behind with five points and four rebounds. St. Cloud’s Hall had seven points and seven rebounds in his 12 minutes.

Coming out of the half, Minnesota State showed no intentions of letting upon the

Huskies as Harper continued his scoring attack and Fuqua split free throws followed by a successful jumper to give the Mavs a 14-point lead. St. Cloud tried to follow that with a three-pointer, but missed and the Mavs took it to the other end where Joey Witthus drained a three-pointer to put the Mavericks up 4225, two minutes into the second half. The 17-point lead was the largest lead in the game up to that point.

Minnesota State built that lead up to 18 before St. Cloud started to chip away.

With 12:51 left in the game, St. Cloud State’s Trevon Marshall hit a layup that brought the lead down to 10 and Brindley Theisen made a layup of his own to bring the lead down to eight points. Theisen sunk a free throw shortly after to get within seven, but it was the closest St. Cloud State would get the rest of the game.

Two minutes later, Fuqua scored four more points,

Reporter Archives nabbed a steal, and grabbed a rebound which resulted in in a made basket from forward AJ Patty which helped get Minnesota State’s lead back up to 14. With just under five minutes left, MSU’s Charlie Brown nailed two three-pointers back-to-back which essentially solidified the win. St. Cloud State would not get the lead back within

double-digits again and Minnesota State won 79-62.

Minnesota State will be hitting the road once again as they will play their sixth and seventh consecutive road games of the year. The Mavericks will take on Wayne State on Friday in Wayne, Nebraska and Augustana on Saturday in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

10 • MSU Reporter

Sports

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Women’s swimming and diving loaded with talent The ladies are currently ranked 21st in the CSCAA Coaches poll.

JAMES ANDERSEN Staff Writer The Minnesota State University women’s swimming and diving team are halfway through their 2016-2017 campaign. They are currently ranked 21st in the Nation, according to the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Coaches poll. They are 1-1 in dual meets this season, with their most recent victory against Minnesota State Moorhead 186-114 on Nov.

sprint freestyler, Cheyenne Rova has had an outstanding season so far this year. Last season’s team MVP owns two school records: the 50-meter freestyle (23.43 seconds), which won her the conference championship, and the 100-meter freestyle (51.28 seconds). According to Owens, Rova has been posting the fastest times in the conference.

Junior Chelsea Calhoon is another key swimmer that Owens mentioned. Last season, she placed third at the

Reporter Archives

18. They have also competed in two double-duals, where they face two opponents in one match, and have finished first in both meets. The only invite they have competed in was the St. Thomas Invite in St. Paul, Minn., where they finished second behind conference foe St. Cloud State.

Their next event is the Rochester Invite. It is a threeday event held from December 2-4. It will be a major test for the Mavericks, and head coach Nathan Owens says he’s looking forward to the meet.

“We feel good about all the work that we’ve put into the training thus far. Competitions are more fun for the athletes when they’re rested.

They’ll be very well rested for the Rochester Invite after a long Thanksgiving weekend,” Owens said. “We’re hoping for a great meet with a number of top-16 and top-8 finishes.”

Now, time for a look at a couple returning impact members of the team. Senior

New South Intercollegiate Swim Conference (NSISC) Championships in the 200yard backstroke with a time of 2:01.56, which is also a school record for Calhoon.

She was also a member of the 400-meter freestyle relay team that finished 15th in the NCAA Championships. “[Calhoon] can do nearly any event. [She] has been on fire this fall. She’s won a ton of big races in every meet,” said Owens.

There have been a few surprise swimmers and divers this season for the Mavericks.

Per Owens, freshman Maggie Knier has been outstanding this season.

“She’s posted a few lifetime best times and has been even better in training,” said Owens. “She’s on track to have a great mid-season meet in Rochester this coming weekend.”

The Maverick diving team is very young this year. Three freshman divers in Jaycie Klein, Krista Kovar, and Lauren Hake, are competing

this year. Owens says that all three of them have made big contributions to their team’s success this year. In fact, Klein just posted a national-qualifying score on the 1-meter dive with a score of 392.20 in the dual against Moorhead.

“They’re going to be a fun group to watch over the next several years,” said Owens.

The team still has a few major competitions left this season, but when asked where the team will stand come championship time, Owens certainly did not count out his team.

“Because of their team depth in almost every event, St. Cloud is going to be very tough to beat at our Conference Championship in February,” Owens said. “That said, our team will be very competitive with them and I’m confident that we can beat them at the NCAA Championships in March. Our team may not have the same amount of depth, but what we lack in depth we make up for in talent. It will be fun to see what we can do at the end of the season.”

Minnesota State’s next event will take place December 2-4, at the Rochester Invite. They will then travel to Honolulu, Hawaii for their winter break training trip to resume action after the break.

Reporter Archives

“‘We feel good about all the work that we’ve put into the training thus far. Competitions are more fun for the athletes when they’re rested.

They’ll be very well rested for the Rochester Invite after a long Thanksgiving weekend,’ Owens said.”

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

MSU Reporter • 11

Sports

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

CONTINUED FROM 9

“The Mavericks had four players in this game score double-digit points. Scherber scored 14 points and was a perfect five-for-five from the charity stripe.” season. The junior forward finished with 14 points on 50 percent shooting from the floor. She also came down with 11 rebounds in 29 minutes of action. Two other players were also able put up double-digit points in the matchup. Senior forward Karina Schroeder finished with 12 points, making four of six shots. The senior also brought down 9 rebounds, just one away from reaching the double-double mark as well. Senior guard Britney Scherber was only two for nine from the field, but managed to hit five of six at the free-throw line, giving her 10 points to finish the night.

The final score was 65-54 Mavericks, clinching their first win of the season.

Game number two also took place at the Taylor Center and Minnesota State dominated on the floor. After the first half, the Mavericks had scored 49 points on 50 percent shooting from the field

have this season without our great leadership,” Thiesse said.

Minnesota State’s next game is on the road against Wayne State in Wayne, Nebraska and will finish up their three-game road trip in Sioux Falls, South Dakota to play the Augustana Vikings. Their next home game will be on December 9 at 6 p.m. against Winona State. Wayne State is 5-1 overall on the season, and 0-1 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC). They lost to Augustana on November 21 by six points in Sioux Falls. The Vikings of Augustana are currently 6-2 overall and 1-0 in the NSIC. After starting the season 1-2, the Vikings have won five-straight games.

Reporter Archives Junior forward Claire Ziegler showed her dominance through the first three games, averaging 12.3 points per game and 9.7 rebounds per game. She was named the NSIC South Division Player of the week for her perfomances.

“...Minnesota State dominated on the floor. After the first half, the Mavericks had scored 49 points on 50 percent shooting from the field, and had a 49-34 lead going into the second half. “ and had a 49-34 lead going into the second half.

Leading the way for Minnesota State in the first half was senior guard Sammie Delzotto with 13 points on five-for-

Sammie Delzotto

six shooting. Delzotto would end up leading the team

with 20 points on the night, shooting lights out from the field making eight of her 11 attempted shots. Ziegler finished with a double-double once again, scoring 15 points on five of nine shooting and pulled down 12 rebounds to help the Mavericks win.

The Mavericks had four players in this game score double-digit points. Scherber scored 14 points and was a perfect five-for-five from the charity stripe. Scoring 10 points and coming off the bench was freshman guard Taylor Klug. By the end of the game, Minnesota State had finished with 89 points and held Missouri Southern State to just 64 points.

Game three was a tight one for the Mavericks on the road that finished with a 71-67 score. The third quarter surge was what propelled Minnesota State to their third victory.

Delzotto lead the team once again with 19 points at the end of the game, and Scherber tallied 13 points. Thiesse attributes the early success

the Mavericks have seen to the depth of the roster and the leadership of the team.

“We wouldn’t have been able to take the steps we

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12 • MSU Reporter

Minnesota State University, Mankato

A&E

Tuesday, November 29, 2016 Have a story idea or a comment?

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Movie review: Set sail for an adventure with Moana New animated musical follows Polynesian woman on her journey of self-discovery.

DAVID PARPART Staff Writer From the creators of Zootopia and Frozen, comes the next Disney musical adventure on discovery and finding yourself.

Moana is the fifty-sixth Disney animated feature film directed by Ron Clements and John Musker (who brought us The Little Mermaid and Aladdin). The film features music written by Lin-Manuel Miranda (who wrote Hamilton: An American Musical), Opetaia Foa’i, and Mark Mancina. Moana tells the tale of a young Polynesian woman named Moana who feels like she’s being called to something out in the great unknown. Disney invites you to set sail and take an incredible journey beyond the reef.

Moana is the daughter to the chief in a long line of navigators of her tribe. The movie follows her on an epic

Photo courtesy of The Associated Press and daring journey to save her people. Along the voyage, she meets the demigod, Maui, who guides her in her quest to become a master way-finder. Together, they

sail across the open ocean as they encounter and battle enormous monsters and impossible odds. Along the way, Moana fulfills the ancient quest of her ancestors

and discovers the one thing she always sought: her own identity.

The film opens with Gramma Tala as she tells the story of how the demigod, Maui,

stole the heart from the island goddess, Te Fiti. Because of his actions, a lava monster, named Te Ka, drains fish from the ocean and swallows up one island after another until there is no one left. After the storytelling, we find Moana growing up as she is learning everything about life on the island. She finds herself drawn to the ocean, but every time she goes near it, her parents drag her back, away from the water. Gramma Tala encourages Moana to follow her heart and listen to the voice inside, to figure out who she really is.

As Moana makes her rounds of the island, she notices that there have been fewer fish to catch every day and that the fruit has been drying up and dying. Gramma Tala takes

MOANA

page 15

Schindler’s List: A director’s perspective A look at Steven Spielberg’s personal connection to the 1993 best picture.

RACHAEL JAEGER Staff Writer As a writer myself and an aspiring film enthusiast, I wonder if what makes your creation or story good is not only the time and focus you put into it, but also knowing what makes you, you. For Steven Spielberg, he gained an appreciation for his Jewish heritage and it was not until he directed Schindler’s List that he actually embraced it.

His mom, Leah, ventured outside of her own Jewish roots and while Spielberg and his siblings grew up, she moved her children into a neighborhood where no Jews lived. She quickly learned what a mistake that was since the neighbors uncovered the roots anyway and the other kids would call them “dirty Jews.” When others pushed him around because he was Jewish, Spielberg sought a deeper answer when he was sixteen years old in an inter-

(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) by xTrish action with the same boy who bullied him.

“Instead of challenging him to a fight after school, I worked on making this boy into my friend,” Spielberg explained in a 2014 interview with USA Today. “It turned out his reason for bullying me was a fear of Jews. This taught

me a lot — we became good acquaintances.”

In an older interview with The New York Times, Leah also observed that her son was “not terribly gregarious, not a fabulous student, but always saw things differently than anybody else.”

To add a personal note in

that regard, sometimes people mistake shyness for reservation or reflective thoughts.

Sometimes the deepest work for a writer, musician, movie director, or artist sparks when they listen to the world and do less talking.

Spielberg heard stories of Nazis breaking fingers off

from Jews who were involved in the creative arts, including a pianist who performed a symphony that the government had disapproved of.

Once he released Schindler’s List in 1993, he admitted that he felt his life take another course while he directed it and learned others’ stories. He produced the film in black-and-white instead of in color. The only part where he shows color in the film is the girl in the red dress, which we later learn as an audience is an indication he cannot save everyone, even if he wants to.

While Spielberg hired professional actors, for the first part of the film he focused on scenes of random Jews at the labor camps to show the real scenario of what was going on. The Nazis also did call them out and ask them their names before they de-

SPIELBERG

page 15

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

MSU Reporter • 13

A&E

Smell the Revolution: Rum-scented mug among museum’s items Exhibit featuring George Washington’s tent to open April 2017 in Philly.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — History buffs will be able to peer into the eyes of a “most excellent likeness” of George Washington and get an actual whiff of the Revolutionary War when Philadelphia’s Museum of the American Revolution opens next year.

Curators have scoured the country for the priceless artifacts to display in the museum, including a 1770s-era creamware mug that stills smells of rum, due to the material it’s made of. The vessel was created to celebrate Boston’s fight for liberty.

“It’s like having a little surround-smell of the revolution,” said R. Scott Stephenson, the museum vice

president of collections, exhibitions and programming.

The museum is set to open April 19, the anniversary of the opening battles in 1775 between British troops and American colonists in Lexington and Concord and the “shot heard round the world.”

The 118,000-square-foot museum just two blocks from Independence Hall will feature a collection of art, printed works, immersive exhibits and objects from the Revolutionary Period.

One of the marquee exhibits will be Washington’s headquarters tent during the Valley Forge winter of 1777-78. It will be in a sealed environment but viewable

through a glass wall.

Museum staff unpacked the museum’s 3,000-object main collection, which was shipped from a secret storage location in suburban Philadelphia, in phases and are making final conservation efforts and placing objects for display. About 500 of those objects will be on display for the public on a revolving basis.

Recently unpacked was a terra cotta and plaster bust of Washington that hadn’t been publicly displayed for generations.

“He’s been hiding away,” Stephenson said of the bust, which was in a Philadelphia store and then passed

through a number of city families. “When it was exhibited it was noted in the press at the time that people who had known Washington said that was a ‘most excellent likeness.’”

For Stephenson, some of the greatest material in the collection came from private collectors.

“These pieces have come from all over, and our lenders are literally everything from descendants and families to collectors who have hidden these pieces away in bank vaults and in studies and basements and think, ‘But what’s the point in having all of this stuff if I can’t share it with the world?’” he said.

Descendants of a Massachusetts soldier have donated a newborn’s shoes made from a British red coat brought back at the end of the war and preserved through generations. Written accounts tell the story of the young man, who went off to war in 1775, rose to the position of sergeant in 1783, lost his brother in an attack that ended in a mass grave burial, and returned home to marry and have a child.

“It all seems so cut and dry now, life liberty and pursuit of happiness. Who wouldn’t be into that? But there was danger and heartbreak, and we want to capture that,” he said.

Jurassic World comes alive at Philadelphia exhibit Traveling show includes dinosaur petting zoo and real science.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Dinosaurs in museums tend to be of the fossilized variety, but a new exhibit in Philadelphia is bringing the creatures and their world to life.

“Jurassic World: The Exhibition” opens at the Franklin Institute on Friday. Based on the blockbuster dinosaur movie franchise, the experience mixes the vibe of a theme park with the backstory of science, but the big — like, really big — attraction is the animatronic dinosaurs, some measuring over 24 feet tall.

The traveling show made its world premiere in Melbourne, Australia, earlier this year, but Philadelphia’s U.S. debut offers some new features.

Here’s what visitors can expect at the exhibit, which runs through April 23: DINOSAUR PETTING ZOO Guests can meet a towering Brachiosaurus, come face-to-face with a Velociraptor and get up close and personal with a Tyrannosaurus rex. The lifelike, life-size dinosaurs were designed by The Creature Technology Co., which created the enormous creatures for the “Walking with Dinosaurs” arena shows.

A family-friendly “Gentle Giants Petting Zoo” also promises interactions with a baby Pachyrhinosaurus and its 29-foot-long mother. Visitors can even “pet” a small dinosaur.

WHAT’S DIFFERENT FROM MELBOURNE?

The U.S. debut of the exhibit offers a look inside a raptor training paddock, like the one used by Chris Pratt’s character in 2015’s “Jurassic World.” It also includes an interactive raptor.

Tom Zaller, president of Imagine Exhibitions, said that the U.S. show also adds additional science-related content and interactive elements.

The exhibit is nearly dou-

ble the size of the Australian version.

PRO PALEONTOLOGIST Exhibit organizers worked closely with paleontologist Jack Horner, one of the bestknown dinosaur researchers in the world, to help get the science right. Horner discovered the world’s first dinosaur embryos and found that dinosaurs had nests and cared for their young.

In his book “Jurassic Park,”

Michael Crichton based the character Alan Grant on Horner. Steven Spielberg brought Horner on as a technical adviser on all of the “Jurassic Park” movies — and Horner did it without a college degree and with dyslexia.

FAKE CREATURES, REAL SCIENCE The museum hopes to appeal to fans of science in addition to fans of the movie. An educator guide offers

ways to look at the exhibit through scientific eyes on topics including: ethics in science; climate change; DNA and genetics; and extinction.

It also offers interactive exhibits. Brave visitors can even stick an arm into a pile of dinosaur dung to feel its squishy, warm interior as a way to learn about identifying animals by studying their leavings.

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14 • MSU Reporter

A&E

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

For Kanye West, a swirling, eventful year ends in a hospital Family, media, music career were main stressors in rapper’s 2016.

NEW YORK (AP) — It’s been a hectic year for Kanye West. There was a new album that had a tortured, monthslong release. Two fashion shows that were plagued by last-minute changes and long delays. There also was the reopening of a bitter feud with Taylor Swift, an ambitious U.S. concert tour, a newborn son, and a harrowing robbery of his wife.

“When was the last time I wasn’t in a hurry,” West asks on the song “Real Friends” from the new CD “The Life of Pablo.” On another track, West admonishes his less industrious friends: “Y’all sleeping on me, huh? Had a good snooze?”

A relentless schedule and a churning life in the media glare with his wife, Kim Kardashian, apparently took their toll on the Grammy Award-winner. West was taken to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles on Monday afternoon for stress and exhaustion.

“In the last 12 months, there probably hasn’t been anyone more in the spotlight than Kanye and his wife,” said Bob Williams, the CEO/ COO of Burns Entertainment & Sports Marketing , which specializes in celebrity procurement and music licensing.

“I don’t know any celebrity who has been under more scrutiny than the two of them are,” Williams added. “That creates tremendous pressure from the outside — expectations to perform, pressure to respond. It takes time. It takes effort.”

In the days leading to his hospitalization, West’s behavior was somewhat erratic.

On Saturday in Sacramento, California, he ended his show after just four songs but not before a 10-minute tirade about Beyonce, Jay Z, Hillary Clinton, Mark Zuckerberg, the radio and MTV. West also flooded his Instagram account with nearly 100 fashion photos, many snaps of photos that were out of focus and poorly cropped.

Then Sunday’s concert in the Los Angeles area was canceled just a few hours before it was to start; West soon decided to scrap the entire tour.

Requests for comment from the rapper’s record label have gone unanswered.

Chuck Creekmur, the founder of AllHipHop.com , has met West several times and while he has no inside knowledge into the artist’s mind, he said it feels like the relentless publicity and stress

Photo courtesy of The Associated Press of creativity may be too much.

“The lights are bright and if they are on you all the time — coupled with your own quest for immortality and greatness — I can only imagine it’s like running a marathon that never ends,” Creekmur said.

For much of 2016, West has been front-and-center, showing off his work and ideas — finished or not — like a ringmaster at a never-ending cultural circus, fueled by his perfectionist streak.

“That perfectionist mentality can become a consuming state of being because there’s no such thing,” said Creekmur. “If you are in pursuit of perfection, you’ll

probably find yourself going insane because there is literally no such thing as perfection.”

West’s year included debuting his latest Yeezy fashion line in baking heat that felled some of the more than 100 models during New York Fashion Week this fall. He was also on “Ellen” with a rambling speech that was full of name-dropping, ambition and “realness.”

He also went on Twitter to complain he was $53 million in debt. He rushed to the side of his wife after she was tied up and robbed of more than $10 million in jewels in Paris, which left her badly shaken.

He melted down at “Satur-

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day Night Live” when staffers tore out the shiny stage he had requested.

And in perhaps the most jaw-dropping act of synergy and ambition, West took over Madison Square Garden in February, spinning new tracks from “The Life of Pablo” while simultaneously debuting his third clothing collaboration with Adidas. Not only did he get 20,000 people to attend at up to $500 per seat, he also streamed it live on Tidal and movie theaters. No detail was too small: There was a list of 38 rules to which models had to adhere, including “do not act cool.”

The CD — which was going to be called “So Help Me God,” then “SWISH” and briefly “WAVES” — would actually not be released until April. West had vowed it would only be available on Tidal but backed down.

The album did produce two much-discussed cultural items — one lyrically and one visually — from a single song, “Famous.” On it, he rapped: “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex” and took credit for her fame. It re-ignited the bitter Swift-West feud — West infamously snatched the microphone from Swift at the 2009 MTV Music Awards — and led to furious backand-forth between the superstars..

The video to the song only added to the firestorm. On it, West and Swift are shown naked, along with a post-coital Chris Brown, Rihanna, George W. Bush, Anna Wintour, Caitlyn Jenner, Bill Cosby and Donald Trump.

Trump would also feature in the lead-up to West’s hospitalization. On Friday, during a concert in San Jose, California, West said he didn’t vote for president but would have cast a ballot for Trump, praising the president-elect’s “method of communication” as “very futuristic.” He also spoke about his plans to run for that office in 2020, saying that he will become “a different kind of president.”

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

MSU Reporter • 15

A&E

SPIELBERG Continued from page 12

MOANA Continued from page 12

(CC BY 2.0) by Prayitno Photo courtesy of The Associated Press cided what they would do with them, either kill them or spare them—at least for a time. One woman who studied engineering at a university observed that unless the camp rebuilt the foundation, it would cave in and kill them all. That alerted the Jews to what lay ahead of them and so, despite her defensive statement that she was just doing her job, a Nazi soldier shot her.

The Jews are stifled with any opportunity or a means of thinking for themselves.

Spielberg’s choice also shows in no matter if Jews speak up, they are eventually destroyed anyway or remain at the mercy of those who choose to risk their own lives and save the Jews.

A couple of characters protect the Jews, including the main protagonist named Mr. Oskar Schindler who takes Jews into his own factory to keep it operating. While he does not murder any Jews, he has his own flaws such as be-

ing an alcoholic, a womanizer, and a money lover that affect the people around him.

His ulterior motive in hiring Jews was to rip-off labor from them while he pays them sparse wages. But in the end, the redeeming aspect is the care he accumulates for the Jews. He experiences a gray area when he admits to his accountant he kissed a Jewish girl and has a revelation he may be falling in love with her. After he presents a speech where he admits his fault, Schindler also asks for forgiveness from the Jews whose family members ended up murdered.

In a way, it reflects the impact on Spielberg’s own heart from making the movie and learning about the different characters’ individual stories. He even said in movie commentary that it changed the course of his life. Toward the end of the film, Spielberg changed the scenes to color to indicate that the present still has a hope that the peo-

ple affected can remember the loved ones they lost and still move into a brighter future because of that.

What I enjoy about Spielberg overall is his ability to weave moralistic themes through complex people. Life is not cut and dry, but it is the characters who improve the life afterward and learn how they can work together despite such a tragic horror like the Holocaust. Spielberg, however, does not try to end the story happily, but he relays the information as it happened in the best way he can.

Because sometimes in life, there are no answers, despite the desperation with which we seek them. Sometimes all we can do is learn from history and that humbles us to transform into better humans and have the power to change perspectives from even the ugly stories.

Moana to a cavern where she can get the answers she’s been looking for. After she discovers the truth behind why her ancestors stopped voyaging, Gramma Tala gives Moana the heart of Te Fiti, which has been kept in Tala’s necklace, and sails off to find Maui and help return the heart of Te Fiti back to its rightful place.

Moana is fleshed out, given strengths and weaknesses. It completely delivers visually, character and story wise, and in almost any other category you can think off. It really grasps on identity and what it really means. Usually the things we do define us, but Moana teaches us to listen and follow our hearts and to not let others define who you are.

Moana does it simple and does it well. It’s

also nice to see Disney continue to explore less recognizable cultures and introduce their rich ancestry and mythology to everyone in a respectful manner. With its story and music, Moana is culturally dedicated, well thoughtout and simply beautiful to watch and enjoy. Like any other Disney movie, you will leave the theater with a warm feeling of hope for the world.

Moana features the voice talents of Auli’i Cravalho as Moana, Dwayne Johnson as Maui, Rachel House as Gramma Tala, Nicole Scherzinger as Sina, Temuera Morrison as Chief Tui, Jermaine Clement as Tamatoa, and Alan Tudyk as Heihei.

Reporter Rating

5 5

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