MSyou Spring 2012

Faces from the campus of Minnesota State University, Mankato

A supplement to the MSU Reporter

Spring Semester 2012

Page 2

MSyou Spring 2012

Faces on Campus

Wh y M S You is I m p ort a n t

MEGAN KADLEC | news editor

Some of you have realized that today’s issue of the MSU Reporter may feel a bit heavier than it normally does, and you’re right.

Included in today’s issue is a special section we like to put together once a semester called MSYou. It’s spelled like MSU, only a little differently. I know it’s clever, but I didn’t come up with it. I’m just here to put it together.

The issue features Mavericks who stand out from the crowd.

They are students, professors, faculty and staff members who have done extraordinary things with their lives, or have simply done things that make them happy.

As I sit at my desk on a Sunday afternoon editing stories and laying out these expansive pages, I begin to realize something: this paper is more than a job for me.

I don’t do this job for the meager pay, the long days or the stressed panic brought about by empty pages with nothing to fill them.

The MSU Reporter is my passion.

It’s where I find fulfillment, happiness, gratitude.

In my second year at Minnesota State University, Mankato, I am one of the lucky ones. I’ve discovered what I want to do for the rest of my life. I know that I was born to work in journalism. I am supposed to spend the rest of my days on this planet telling the stories that matter.

The faces and names featured in MSYou this year are also lucky.

They’ve found their passions, their drive. They know what they want to do and they’re running towards it with full force. They understand that life is hard and in order to succeed, you have to take chances, but they are willing to take those risks.

Whether it is an ambitious graduate student who has already made their stamp on the world of reproductive rights for women or the sociology professor who teaches his students that their education system is failing them;

these people are real.

If you don’t love what you do, a major will simply turn into a degree and eventually a job, but if you find your passion, discover what makes you strive for excellence, you will have more than a job; you’ll have a career.

That’s what the individuals featured in today’s MSYou have taught me.

So as you flip through the pages of this issue, I implore you to take a step back and think about your life, about what it is that makes you happy. Fame or fortune won’t bring you fulfillment. Pushing yourself through biology and chemistry courses in hopes of being accepted into medical school and becoming a doctor won’t make you happy if you just want the money associated with the title. It will, however, make you happy if you truly love medicine and helping people.

Happiness, not money, is the one thing that will make you successful in life, or so I like to think. If you’ve discovered your passion, chase after it until you can’t breathe any longer. If you haven’t, take classes, join organizations, talk to your professors and friends, volunteer. Do whatever it takes to find your life’s passion.

I hope you enjoy reading this issue as much as I enjoyed putting it together for you. Thanks for your amazing support of this newspaper and our dreams in CSU 293, Mavericks. We appreciate it.

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Page 3

Ryan Anderson

Extreme athlete competes in Red Bull event

KYLE RATKE

• web photo

editor in chief

More than 80,000 people watched the Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championship located in St. Paul.

The event included some of the best extreme athletes from all around the world.

One even goes to school right here in Mankato. His name is Ryan Anderson.

And while Anderson wasn’t fortunate to move on to the championships, he was pretty ecstatic just being apart of it.

“I basically got a gold pass to do the whole competition,” Anderson said. “Red Bull personally asked me to go with a golden ticket. I got pretty lucky and got to skip the qualifying meets.”

Anderson, 22, has been involved in winter sports

his whole life. He ‘s played hockey his entire life, playing at Bloomington- Kennedy high school, and currently playing in Mankato in not only a men’s league, but also intramurals. He skates two to three nights a week, snow boards and also plays lacrosse.

It’s probably safe to say that Anderson is an extreme athlete.

“He was really lucky,” said Nik “Flip” Silipovich, an attendee of the competition. “It looked like a lot of fun. I was pretty jealous.”

Anderson qualified with a score of 92 to reach the semis, and did so without crashing. He did not advance past the semifinals,

Anderson / page 15

Page 4

MSyou Spring 2012

Tom a sz I ngl o t

Political science professor advocates for international programs MEGAN KADLEC

news editor

While most professors and students at Minnesota State University, Mankato enjoy watching horror f licks or action movies in their free time, Tomasz Inglot spends his free time catching up on political news and watching international films about politics.

A Political Science professor at MSU, Inglot specializes in European and Latin American comparative politics.

While Inglot enjoys American political movies like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, many of his favorite movies are international. One of his favorite movies, Blind Chance is a

polish film that explores the consequences of seemingly insignificant actions.

Inglot grew up in Poland and moved to the United States in 1983 after participating in grass root political activism in an attempt to rid the communist government of their power.

“In Poland, we went through a huge revolutionary movement. In 1981 I went through that turmoil and then the military rule after that which was very harsh,” Inglot said. “So that made me come here for political reasons.”

Inglot was involved with setting up a student government in a Polish University, organizing protests and mobilizing students.

“I was involved with grassroot politics and student government – all these things we didn’t have.

It was like building from scratch,” Inglot said.

Since his move from across the pond in ’83, Inglot has been slowly moving west towards Minnesota, where he finally settled down in 1995.

Inglot attended Stonybrook Col-

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lege in New York for his undergraduate degree before completing his Master’s and Ph.D in Chicago and Madison, WI, respectively.

“I like living in Minnesota. It’s a great state,” Inglot said. “There’s a great education tradition, progressive traditions and nice people.”

Even though Inglot has taken quite well to living in America, he frequently travels to Europe for both personal and professional reasons.

Inglot is currently in communication with several European colleagues who are aiding him in his latest book.

His first book, Welfare States in East Central Europe, was released in 2008 after an extensive publishing process.

The book focuses on government programs like social security, welfare benefits and how resources are distributed for those living in Central or Eastern Europe.

After spending nearly 10 years researching and writing the book, it took another five years to undergo the publishing process.

The book was published through Cambridge University Press, which Inglot said is one of the premier publishing houses for Political Science in the United States.

His latest book outlines and discusses family policies

in Eastern Europe.

“The new book is about family policies and how different governments in Europe are trying to cope with certain problems.”

One such problem arises when dual earning families struggle with finding the resources needed to maintain their lifestyles.

“People aren’t having children anymore because it’s getting harder to have a family,” Inglot said. “I’m studying all of these different things that impact family life.”

Inglot said that without his European colleagues, he would never have been able to do the research he has completed. With tools like Skype, he is able to collaborate with professors and researchers around the globe.

“We work together. We write together. We go to conferences together,” Inglot said. “We can do more work in different countries.”

Inglot is currently collaborating with professors across Europe, especially Romania, on different articles and research projects.

Over the summer, he plans to travel to Denmark in order to present a research paper to his European colleagues.

While Inglot specializes his research in Eastern European politics, he also has a background in Latin Ameri-

can politics. Inglot said he enjoys Latin American politics because he is interested in democratization.

“I was interested in democratization, which is the way countries become democratic and Latin America is a good example of that,” Inglot said. “When I came here, the professor that was teaching before me was leaving and there was nobody who knew as much about it, so I took it over.”

During his time at MSU, Inglot has advocated for more international-based courses and more classes that involve international topics. He hopes that in the future, international professors could teach domestic courses through Telepresence.

“One day maybe we could teach together,” Inglot said.

“Having international professors teaching our students would be really fun.”

The number of students interested in internationalbased courses has decreased in recent years, though Inglot does not understand why.

He said that students should want to learn about international history and politics because understanding other countries is essential in the ever-changing

Inglot / page 15

Faces on Campus

Page 5

Pau l P r e w

Professor eases higher education worries with wisdom CHELSEA MILLER

staff writer

When it comes to the failures of higher education, blame has been placed on all involved.

Teachers are slow to adapt to the modern students needs and students view schoolwork as something to get done as quickly and easily as possible.

Communication between these two groups is more important than ever.

Minnesota State University, Mankato professor Paul Prew sheds light on the idea that the issue is not students fault.

“Your education has failed you,” Prew said.

Not surprising to anyone who has taken his class, Prew defends the students and teachers at universities. He calculates that it

in terms of the number of classes that they teach,” Prew said.

Universities benefit when professors submit research, so pressure to publish is constant. As one can imagine, this leaves professors with very little time to focus on their classes.

“It’s not lack of talent or desire, its just too many things to do and not enough personnel,” Prew said.

It seems that it is a vicious cycle. Prew admits that even if teachers had the time they needed, there could still be problems.

“Students are changing with technology, there brains are now wired differently,” Prew said. “So we have to be more visual, and try harder.”

Professors are now expected to be more than just

“Your education has failed you,” Prew said. is the amount of responsibilities put on teachers that forces their time away from their classes.

“They’re not willing, due to the lack of funds, to reduce teachers workload

patient and knowledgeable.

Often they have long lists of degrees, clubs they advise, and trips abroad they chaperone.

Prew is certainly no exception. He has a Ph.D in sociology from the Univer-

sity of Oregon. He teaches multiple classes a semester.

He even advises the Students for Sustainability Club, the Sociology Club and The Women’s Lacrosse Club.

Although he so humbly failed to mention it, the MSU website insists he is also “in the process of publishing portions of his thesis analyzing a nation’s role in the world-economy and their environmental degradation.”

Prew and professors alike are not required to run clubs, or, for that matter, have any contact with students outside of class and office hours. Yet we see their participation everywhere on campus.

Travel abroad programs are a great example of teachers showing their passion for students learning.

During the time Prew worked at Worcester State University in Maryland, he made multiple trips to Ecuador, two of the times being with a group of about nine students.

“We visited a lot of indigenous groups, and observed some of the social movements that were going on there,” Prew said.

Prew shares his hopes for more students to be able to afford trips like these because it is impor-

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• courtesy of morgan sierra Paul Prew, a sociology professor, has this drawing a student, Morgan Sierra, gave to him hanging up in his office.

tant to keep learning from other societies.

“Everybody in that tour was profoundly changed by the experience,” Prew said.

Study abroad trips, clubs and professors like Prew

bring hope to the issue of failing higher education.

Even though they have the free time of a single mother, teachers are still trying, and their passions still lie in the right place.

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Page 6

MSyou Spring 2012

Dav id Sc hiel er

Sophomore pays his homage to MSU through involvement ALLISON MATTHEWS

staff writer A junior by credit hour, sophomore by semester and freshman by age, David Schieler is the epitome of a go-getter.

Schieler makes it a priority to get involved in campus life at Minnesota State University, Mankato. Schieler said once he stepped foot on MSU’s campus, he instantly knew it was the right fit for him.

As a double major in Athletic Training and Biomedical Sciences, Schieler contributes to the campus community through his work in numerous MSU organizations.

To add to Schieler’s full load, he will be completing minors in chemistry and political science. Schieler said he hopes to go to medical school to become an athletic trainer.

Part of Schieler’s career aspirations comes from his mom’s work in athletic training. He used to shadow her at work to learn more about the field. It was then that he decided that he wants to follow in her footsteps.

“I’m not a huge fan of sitting in a lab. I like the personal interactions with people,” Schieler said. “I loved the sports aspect, so I decided to mix them.”

Now, Schieler serves as the Resident Hall Association President for the 2011-2012 academic year where he helps

students voice their opinions about the residential life community. RHA is a vehicle for students to address their needs on campus.

Additionally, Schieler is a College of Allied Health and Nursing Senator in the Minnesota State Student Association.

On top of both those positions, Schieler is in charge of brotherhood in his fraternity, Lambda Chi Alpha, as well as serving on various MSSA committees and other organizations.

Schieler also serves on the CSU Board alongside seven other MSU students. The students supervise all CSU policies and operations and run entirely through student fees.

“My level of involvement is an exception and shouldn’t be the goal,” Schieler said.

Schieler advises MSU students to join at least one organization while in college.

Schieler says his experiences in different organizations are what make his time in college worthwhile.

“Every student who graduates has that piece of paper that says what you’ve studied,” Schieler said. “What you do outside the classroom is what really matters. It makes you unique.”

Schieler decided to dabble in many different organizations at MSU because the university has given him many opportunities to grow and communicate.

• courtesy of mssa David Schieler often goes days without sleeping due to the various activities he is involved with on campus.

“Each position provides its own part that I love. In the student senate, I am participating in education by being a voice for students in my college,” Schieler said. “RHA provides me a voice in myself and those for on campus housing. Lambda Chi Alpha gives me a sense of belonging and family. What I do in brotherhood connects every man to each other.”

Schieler said he is known to skip meals and sleep, but

he still finds time to enjoy his hobbies such as biking or watching movies. Last summer, Schieler worked as an orientation peer assistant at MSU but still managed to regularly bike with his friends around Mankato. Schieler says he loves to visit Minneopa Falls in Mankato whenever can get the chance in the summer.

But more often than not, Schieler is often seen on campus attending meetings

or studying for class. Schieler says he feels his involvement at MSU is his way of paying homage to the university.

“I hit a transformative era when I came to MSU. I’m still only 18. I think if everyone had the opportunities I have had, they would feel the same way,” Schieler said. “I have to give back to MSU. If I wasn’t happy after not sleeping for 59 hours then I wouldn’t be doing it.”

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Faces on Campus

Page 7

Bruc e Y a ng

Doctoral student succeeds against all odds STEVEN YANG

staff writer

Against the odds of growing up in a community surrounded by gang violence and struggling to remain united in a family where both of his parents were never there for him, Bruce Yang has broken through all the stereotypes and statistics placed against him by society into becoming a doctorate student at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

Yang grew up in South Minneapolis during a time when gang violence was at its peak in the ’90s.

“Most of my friends were people who were one way or another affiliated with a gang,” Yang said.

He goes on to mention that one of his first cousins was the leader of one of the very first Hmong gangs in the country.

His brother was the leader of a subdivision gang from another bigger gang.

As Yang struggled to grow up surrounded by so much negativity, his parents were struggling to provide for their family so they were never home to supervise or watch over their children.

“My parents were always working so hard that they didn’t have time to look over us,” Yang said. “We were on our own and we had to take care of ourselves.”

The family had to seek means for survive anywhere

they could find, which meant becoming part of a gang for one of Yang’s brothers.

Yang and his other siblings, however, did odd jobs to make money while avoiding illegal activities. Scavenging for cans through alley ways for cans and bottles to recycle for cash was one of the things that Yang and his siblings did to make money.

“On the weekends when my parents were off of work, we would go to the farms as hired labors to pick cucumbers and other crops,” Yang said.

High school was challenging for Yang, not in terms of the difficulties to learn, but because he didn’t have the motivation to stay in school.

“I nearly dropped out during the first month of my freshman year. I missed school the first month and almost never went back,” Yang said. “My brother had already dropped out and I wanted to be like him.”

Whether one wants to call it fate or coincidence, a turn of events occurred when he decided to go to class for a day.

There, he noticed that his cousins attended the same school and it was then that he realized that going to school was an opportunity to just hang out while being educated. This was the spark that initiated the motivation for Yang to stay in school.

It wasn’t until 1998 that Yang experienced an event that changed his life.

“My grandmother had a stroke and eventually passed away. Before she died, she explained to us that even though we have a lot of problems, she still had hope for us and that we can change,” Yang said.

“Besides that, there were many other things going on at the time that had an impact on my thinking. I hit a level of maturity that motivated me to start caring about other things in life.”

“The biggest challenge in [my] education was the lack of direction and support.”

In 2000, Yang started college at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

“I felt incredibly incompetent. Other students seemed to know so much and were able to excel so quickly,” Yang said.

His challenge shifted from being affected by outside influences into his internal struggles and concerns about being able to catch up with his classes and his peers.

“I was really fearful of not being able to keep up but the only thing that I was able to do then was to keep on trying,” Yang said.

Yang quickly changed his original double major in microbiology and computer science into history and sociology when he fell in love with learning about its application to his experience as a Hmong-American and growing up in the US. After completing his undergraduate degree, he came to

MSU to pursue his M.S. in Sociology and Corrections focusing his project on how Hmong people perceived the Police in the Twin Cities Metropolitan area.

“This was mainly due to my curiosity towards the seemingly growing tension between the Hmong and the police after the shootings that had occurred a few years prior to my research,” Yang said.

Currently studying as a doctorate student in the Department of Counseling and Student Personnel, Yang serves as graduate assistant at the Intercultural Student Center (ISC) and works as the Program Coordinator for the Asian American Affairs Office.

“I work with the Asian American student organizations on this campus on various projects such as cultural events and other things in that nature,” Yang said.

Yang has learned many valuable lessons through his time spent in higher education, though one insight speaks louder than the rest.

This professor shared with a class an interesting story about meeting someone very old (101 years old to be exact), who explained to her that even at the age of 101, she still doesn’t know what she wants to be,” Yang said. “I connected with her story because before hearing it, I was always concerned about being the only who wasn’t

• courtesy of the AAPIA website Bruce Yang at the Asian Pacific American Conference last year.

entirely sure of what I wanted to be.”

If Yang were to give one piece of advice to students new to higher education, he would tell students to be open-minded throughout their education.

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Page 8

MSyou Spring 2012

Eriah Hayes

Junior forward living dream on the ice

JOEY DENTON

staff writer

When Minnesota State, Mankato men’s hockey junior forward Eriah Hayes isn’t being an offensive force on the ice, he’s a family man who loves to live life and simply wants to see how far hockey can take him.

On Jan. 21 Hayes, aka “Hazer,” had his best game of season and probably of his life when he recorded a hat trick in a 5-4 overtime win at home against NebraskaOmaha.

That game he displayed how offensively gifted he is on the ice. So far this season, the junior is second on the team in goals scored (10) and tied for second in points (18).

Even as a kid, the La Crescent, Minn. native knew he wanted to be a hockey player. When he was five, his family took him out to skate,

Photo Courtesy of MSU Athletics

play and watch hockey. Needless to say, it was love at first sight.

“I loved the game the first time I played it and have loved it ever since,” Hayes said. “My favorite childhood memory would have to be going to weekend tournaments and staying in hotels with the whole hockey team, staying up late and getting into a bit of trouble was always fun at that age.”

While continuing his passion for hockey, he was a multiple-sport athlete at La Crescent High School, playing wide receiver in football and center field in baseball.

Even though he was being heavily recruited by North Dakota State University for football, he couldn’t let go of hockey.

“I was recruited to play

football out of high school, but I knew hockey was something I couldn’t give up,” Hayes said.

It was a tough decision for Hayes to make, because he wasn’t really being recruited for Division-I hockey in high school.

“Since I am from a small town, not many teams were looking at me in high school,” Hayes said. “My town isn’t exactly a hockey hotbed, but I do remember coach means (current MSU women’s hockey coach and former men’s assistant) coming to one of my high school games my senior year.”

After graduating from La Crescent in 2007, Hayes decided to continue playing hockey for the Topeka Roadrunners in the North American Hockey League (NAHL).

Photo Courtesy of La Crescent High School Website

During his first season, he started to realize that he has a chance to play D-I hockey.

“Playing juniors was the best experience of my life.

I met a lot of great people and I wouldn’t change it for anything,” Hayes said.

After a few seasons playing in the NAHL and talking to college coaches, Hayes decided to take his talents to Mankato. Looking at his career so far, the Mavericks made a good pick-up. “(MSU) is close to home, so I get to see my family a lot. I’m a big family guy, so it’s been really nice,” Hayes said.

In his first season at MSU, Hazer scored 14 points with eight goals and six assists, and in his sophomore year he played in all 38 games, scoring 22 points with 11 goals

and 11 assists. He also led the team in shots on goal with 133 shots.

When he isn’t on the ice, he enjoys spending time with “the greatest parents in the world” and his three sisters, especially in the outdoors.

“I love the outdoors, love to hunt and fish; and when I go home for the summer I spend a lot of time on the river,” said Hayes. “I live right on the Mississippi, so I do a lot of skiing, tubing and wakeboarding whenever I have the time.”

The Business Marketing major doesn’t know exactly what he wants to do after his college career, but Hayes is hoping that playing hockey is going to be an option.

“That’s my ultimate goal.

I want to play hockey as long as I can.”

Faces on Campus

Page 9

Ta nner K ent

• web photo In January Kent became the new Currents Editor for the Mankato Free Press. Kent has two children and is happily married. He graduated from MSU with a degree in English literature.

‘06 Graduate Worked His Way Up Through the Reporter, Into the Free Press BRIAN ROSEMEYER | a&e editor

I

f there’s a difficult field to get a job in these days (besides telegraph operator), it’s journalism.

But 28-year-old MSU graduate Tanner Kent ignored the forebodings of his want and made something out of himself.

After Kent graduated high school in Stillwater, MN, he decided that Minnesota State University, Mankato was a good enough place for him to continue his education.

Majoring in English literature, with a minor in mass communications (emphasis in journalism), Kent arrived with notions of becoming a lawyer, professor or continuing onto grad school. As he continued his schooling, he found a niche in journalism at the Reporter.

“When I was a kid, I read the newspaper,” said Kent. “I would gobble up the sports section, I would read that thing front to back. So I always wanted to work for the college paper.”

After being denied his freshman year, Kent kept trying to land a position at the Reporter.

It was Doug Monson, editor-in-chief at the time and current copy editor at the Free Press, who let Kent write up his first story.

Kent wrote a piece about an anti-war protest

in Washington D.C. at the start of the war in 2003, which he attended with a friend.

Monson hired Kent after the story to cover the women’s softball and hockey beats for the sports section.

Kent then worked his way up through the ranks in the Reporter; becoming news editor, the year after he became editor-in-chief, and from there he became managing editor. Through college, Kent also worked a sports beat at the Free Press. Kent graduated from MSU in 2006 with an English literature degree.

“I kind of did everything [with the Reporter],” Kent said. “And I loved it.”

After graduation, Kent planned on going to grad school. While applying for schools, he was also applying for jobs.

An offer from the Poplar Bluff Daily American Republic newspaper in Missouri came, and Kent decided it best to work instead of continuing his education.

“I decided; ‘Screw it, I’m kind of tired of school,’” said Kent. “I was a good student, I busted my butt through college. So I took the job.”

For a year Kent covered high school sports in Poplar Bluff. It was in Missouri where he met his (now) wife, Crystal. “[After I met Crystal] we decided to get the

Jacob Downs

hell out of Missouri,” said Kent. “So I applied back at the Free Press for a full-time position.”

Kent got a job at the Free Press as a full-

time news reporter in 2007.

“My beats were education, K-12 and higher ed,” Kent said. “I did that until January of [2012].”

Kent is now the Currents editor at the Free Press, as well as associate editor of the Mankato Magazine.

Aside from journalism, Kent has managed to raise two children; a 4-year-old son (Noah), and a 7-month-old daughter (Merci).

Kent enjoys his new position at the Free Press, and is grateful for his family.

“I love [being the Currents editor],” said Kent.

“I love not having to be in the daily news grind, I never really enjoyed the blood, ambulances and lawyers side of news reporting. So now I enjoy working with music and art. I love it.”

Land of Memories and LandLocked in the Land of 10k Lakes

BRIAN ROSEMEYER | a&e editor

In a town like Mankato, sometimes it’s necessary to create ways to keep yourself busy.

This is something Jacob Downs has done.

Downs is a currently a senior at MSU, he co-owns Pagliai’s Pizza in downtown Mankato, he helped design the disc golf course at Land of Memories park, and he helped in founding LandLocked Magazine. He is also raising a young son and writes creatively when he finds the time.

Downs enrolled at MSu after growing up and graduating from high school in Mankato.

The Land of Memories design opportunity arose when Downs met Chad Carlberg (also of Mankato) at a friend’s bachelor party in Colorado. The two found a common hobby in disc golf.

Carlberg had been playing a lot of Frisbee golf in Colorado, and when he moved back to Mankato a year after he had met Downs, the two visited Land of Memories to play a round.

After they started playing, they realized that the course wasn’t up to par with what Carlberg had been used to in Colorado.

“It was only a nine-hole course,” said Downs.

“The baskets were starting to break and the chains were coming undone, and there just hadn’t been any upkeep to the park over the years.”

Seeing this, the two went down to the city offices in Mankato and met with BERNIE ANDERSON, who was the outgoing Parks Director.

At that time the city of Mankato was receiving a large grant (around $14,000) that was to be

used for parks and recreation, which Anderson turned over to Downs and Carlberg to be used to upgrade the Land of Memories disc golf course.

“It felt pretty awesome [to have the $14,000], Bernie [Anderson] was a really nice guy,” said Downs. “Since he was retiring, this was kind of his final thing. And I think he just really wanted to help out something that he knew a lot of people were going to get use out of.”

The new course opened in the summer of 2009, complete with concrete tee boxes, and a number of young trees, which will eventually grow into what the course was intended to look like.

“The course is still very young,” Downs said.

“But I’m really excited to see what it will look like in 20 years.”

In the meantime, Downs has established another outlet in Mankato, LandLocked Magazine.

The publication started in January of 2012 as a means of communicating through the art scene in town.

The magazine began when Downs and Brian Rosemeyer, found themselves in need of an internship, and few opportunities in Mankato.

“We started it as a way to promote events and artists within the community,” said Downs.

The magazine is a non-profit publication through the Midwest Art Catalyst available for free in bars, coffee shops and restaurant around

web photo • Downs; Pagliai’s Pizza co-owner, LandLocked founder and Land of Memories disc golf course designer with son (Henry).

Mankato.

“We’re on the lookout for unique things that not everybody may know about the Mankato area,” Downs said.

All the money raised by LandLocked is put towards publishing costs, and if anything is made over that amount, LandLocked donates the funds to MWAC and School District 77.

Downs continues to look toward the future, although satisfied with what he’s already done in Mankato.

“I still want to write a book,” Downs said.

“And then I can die.”

Page 10

MSyou Spring 2012

Joh n C a s t a n eda

MSU student becomes lightweight MMA champion South Dakota.

“I was going for a shot after I threw a combo (combination of kicks and punches) and he knee at the same time and cut my head open at the top. I needed 10 staples. It was pretty deep,” Castenada said. “Lucky after that I got full-mount and I TKO’d him before the referee could stop it because I was pouring blood and they would have stopped the fight. The doctor would not let me fight.”

Amazingly, Castaneda has only lost one time. It happened during his fifth fight in the spring of 2010.

“Losing sucks, it is like any other sport. It is personal feeling, like if you lose a football game you can’t really blame it all on you, but if you lose a fight it’s all on you,” Castenada said. “You put that effort into it, you put all that time into it and then you lose.”

Castaneda earned his title shot after his fifth fight. He won three fights in a row. His title shot was against Marcel Andersen at 155. Though Castaneda usually fights at 145 and the fight was a weight class above him, he accepted it.

“It was a tough fight. It was set for five rounds,” he said.

During the third round

•sandy hackenmueller, driller promotions John Castaneda is a student at MSU and Driller Promotions newest lightweight champion.

JUAN AYALA

staff writer

Minnesota State University, Mankato has a new Mixed Martial Arts champion, although he is not really well-known, yet. John Castaneda is 20 years old and he is the new lightweight champion of Diller Promotions. Majoring in Law Enforcement with a minor in Spanish, Castaneda wants to be a translator and work on the court system. He started wrestling when he was in seventh grade.

“I fell in love, wrestling is an awesome sport,” he said.

Castaneda was born in Dallas, Texas, but he moved to Waconia, Minnesota when he was three. He started fighting his senior year of high school.

“One of my buddies trained in Chanhassen,

Minnesota, at Gorilla Combat. It was great, the jiu-jitsu part of it was a lot of wrestling,” Castenada said.

His wrestling transferred over to jiu-jitsu. He started to evolve way more in jiu-jitsu than wrestling.

The first time he fought inside a cage was in Iowa, the summer he graduated high school.

“It was against some guy who was 1-0. Coming into the fight I was super scared. I was barely training fighting. It was nerveracking. When I got in the cage, they locked the door behind me,” Castenada said. “It is basically you and one other person. It is a tough sport. It is kind of like mind game. It was a very intimidating first fight. The rest of your fights just kind of come easy. You get used to the

feeling of being locked in the cage.”

He won his first fight by decision.

“It is like a totally different conditioning than wrestling,” he said.

Although his mom hates the sport, she has attended seven of his nine fights and has been very supportive.

“Even if she hates it, she knows she can’t really stop me,” Castaneda said.

“I love to do it, and my mom knows that.”

MMA is a dangerous sport. If the person fighting gets distracted or makes a mistake, serious injuries can be expected.

Castaneda knows that.

He has had many cuts, one on his eyebrows from an elbow on his second fight where he need eight stiches. However, his worst injury by far happened during his third fight in

Castaneda shot a jab and cross and went for a take down.

“I landed right in fullmount that is when I started going TKO, raining punches. When the ref said, “Marcel you got to defend yourself properly or I am going to stop the fight,” it gave me more motivation. I was so tired.

Eventually, the ref did stop it. I won the amateur belt,” Castenada said.

Castaneda had a hard time training for this fight because it was during Christmas break. He spent a lot of time at home and did not have as much training as he wanted. According to him, he has been in better shape for fights.

Castaneda’s next opponent is Andersen’s teammate.

“He fought on the same card as me and Marcel that night, and I watched it. I wasn’t too impressed. It is going to be a good fight for sure,” he said.

He will be defending his belt for the first time at Hyatt Regency hotel in Minneapolis on March 3rd.

Today, Castaneda trains at the MNSU MMA Club and at Mankato Martial Arts Center located on Victory Drive.

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Check us out on Facebook @ Eagle's Nest • courtesy of the women’s media center Katie Stack has appeared in an MTV documentary , “No Easy Decision” and has also written an opinion column for the New York Times pertaining to her views on reproductive rights.

ALLISON MATTHEWS

staff writer Imagine the weekend before finals week. Many Minnesota State University, Mankato students are locked in the library for hours cramming in the last bits of an entire semesters worth of information.

For graduate student Katie Stack in the fall of 2010, her weekend before final exams consisted of f lying across the country to film MTV’s special documentary “No Easy Decision.”

Since MTV programs such as “16 and Pregnant” and “Teen Mom” garnered national attention, the show was created to show how young women who had abortions made their decisions. The show aired Dec. 28, 2010.

Stack, along with two other young women, shared their experiences having an abortion with Dr. Drew Pinsky.

“After I had an abortion, I wanted to be an advocate,” Stack said. “Through activism, I was able to speak out about it.”

After filming, Stack, a Gender and Women’s Studies graduate student, did not necessarily know the impact the show would bring for her career and education and overall life.

“I was really nervous coming back,” Stack said. “I had just moved here in my first semester of graduate school, but really, it was a good experience.”

Her presence on “No Easy

Decision” helped sparked a new journey of activism for Stack that is centered on sharing personal stories, communicating factual information about abortion and brining pro-choice issues to the mainstream political debate.

More than a year later, Stack is becoming one of the strongest voices in the reproductive justice movement across the nation. She has spoken at events in partnership with NARAL ProChoice America and National Organization for Women.

Stack serves on the board of NOW Minnesota.

In Spring 2011, Stack spoke at the San Francisco Power of Choice Luncheon alongside House of Representatives Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and feminist author Jessica Valenti. Stack received the Jan Yanehiro Speak Out for Choice Award at the luncheon because of her participating in “No Easy Decision” and work in reproductive justice.

In addition to public speaking, Stack takes her activism to the online community by writing on her own blog, “Katie Stack: a voice for reproductive justice” about the current pro-choice political and social movement.

In October 2011, Stack was published in the New York Times op-ed section for her critique of crisis pregnancy centers, “When I Needed Help, I Got Propaganda.”

Stack is a firm believer in students getting involved in their communities and raising awareness on the issues that make them tick.

Stack’s interest in activism stems back to her undergraduate years at Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa where she received a bachelor’s degree in political science.

While at Mount Mercy, Stack worked as a field organizer for various political campaigns.

“When I came to MSU, I knew I wanted to get more of a background in feminism,” Stack said. “MSU’s gender and women’s studies department is known for its focus on activism and academia.”

At MSU, Stack is a gender and women’s studies graduate assistant and a research assistant for Shannon Miller, a professor in gender and women’s studies.

Activism is at the core of Stack’s passions. Between blogging, tweeting, lobbying and writing letter to politicians Stack will only continue to make her voice known.

Stack sites lobbying and protesting as her favorite part of speaking out.

“It’s fun to meet other people who like to do the same things and who are feminists,” Stack said.

Stack, who graduates in May, plans to further her research and activism in the Midwest and across the nation helping others share their stories.

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Page 12

MSyou Spring 2012

JOSEPH R EISI NG Finance chair returns home to MN

MEGAN KADLEC

news editor

From 1960s rock and roll to Lady Gaga, Joseph Reising listens to anything and ever ything, as long as it’s upbeat.

The chair of the Depar tment of Finance and Minnesota State University, Mankato, Reising is an integral member of the College of Business.

After graduating with his Ph.D in f inance from Texas A&M, Reising moved to Califor nia to teach at the University of Califor nia Ir vine and Califor nia State Fuller ton.

In 2003, he took an oppor tunity to Minnesota to work as a professor in the College of Business at MSU. Reising was bor n in Far mington, Minnesota and was elated at the chance to move back to his home state.

“It’s not so much a small town, or a far ming town anymore,” Reising said. “It’s changed quite a bit.”

Reising then moved to Rochester, Minnesota where he grew up about a mile from the Mayo Clinic.

In 2010, Reising was elected Chair of the f inance depar tment, and took on many different jobs.

“I do ever ything that the faculty can’t do, or don’t do,” Reising said.

“There’s quite a bit of paper work and so for th.”

Reising is cur rently working on scheduling for the upcoming academic year.

“We work on cur ricular issues, always tr ying to update the cur riculum for the depar tment,” Reising said.

Reising is also responsible for assessment of cur riculum, managing personnel issues, evaluating faculty members.

In addition to his duties as the Depar tment of Finance Chair, Resing also teaches several classes ranging from the entr ylevel f inance course and advanced banking through classes for the Masters in Business Administration program.

As a child, Reising wanted to go into engineering, but soon lear ned that physics was not his for te. He wanted to stay in mathematics and there was

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• university website Joseph Reising, the chair of the Finance Department enjoys watching television with his wife in his free time, especially Top Chef.

a more obvious career path for economics and f inance.

Reising ear ned his undergraduate degree in economics and histor y from the University of Minnesota before receiving his Ph.D. “I ear ned my Master’s at Iowa State, but that’s just sor t of a transition thing,” Reising said.

W hile Reising said that his Master’s degree was merely a transition from being an undergraduate student and a doctoral student, Reising switched focus during his time at Iowa State.

“I star ted going to graduate school for [economics] and I received advice that that was not a ver y pr udent thing to do if I wanted to do the kind of work I was looking to do.”

Reising soon lear ned that the pr udent choice was to get a f inance degree, and that’s what he did in order to practice f inancial economics.

W hen asked what work he would do in f inancial economics, Reising laughed and said, “I’m not sure. Financial economics is kind of a hybrid between f inance and macroeconomics, so a lot of forecasting and so for th.”

Reising said that f inance is different in that it focuses more on microeconomics; the system and how institutions operate.

Reising went into teaching because he liked the research, but also because he enjoys helping individuals understand f inances and the economy.

“I also like to help others see how these things work, I guess, the beauty of how the market place works,” Reising said. “It’s not necessarily easy for people to see that. It’s def initely a distributive str ucture.”

Reising said that until the inter net was developed, individuals didn’t understand distributive str uctures, or the power those str uctures have.

W hile Reising enjoyed working in Califor nia, he said he liked the University environment in Minnesota more.

“One of the things I found when I got here was that the faculty worked so well together. It is a much more pleasant environment,” Reising said.

“Aside from that fact, the students are a little bit quieter. I actually like teaching the Minnesota students better any ways.”

Reising said that Minnesota students work harder and more motivated than the students he taught while in Califor nia.

Reising said that his schedule looks different ever yday of the week.

Because Reising has so

Reising / page 15

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Page 13

Di a n a Joseph

English professor takes on Hollywood

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• courtesy of diana joseph Diana Joseph is an English professor at MSU and has also published a memoir, “I’m Sorry You Feel That Way,” in addition to pitching an adaptation of the memoir to numerous firms in Hollywood.

CHRISTIAN HAGEN

web editor “I’m pretty happy. If anything, I wish I could have about a dozen careers,” said Diana Joseph, English professor, acclaimed author, and nearlyprofessional screenwriter.

It might seem like the careers she already juggles is work enough for her, and you might be right; since arriving at Minnesota State University, Mankato in 2005, Joseph’s life has been plenty hectic.

Her years at MSU have seen, among other things, the creation and release of a memoir (I’m Sorry You Feel That Way, which scored an A- from Entertainment Weekly in 2009), a new marriage, and, in the last year, the birth of a baby and a trip to Hollywood.

“My writing partner is Karen Leigh Hopkins,” Joseph said. “She’s a screenwriter who contacted me after she read my book.

She said she wanted to adapt it for a film, and did I want to co-write. At the time, I was between writing projects, working on a lot of things but not ready to commit to any of them. So I thought, why not?”

Joseph and Hopkins pitched a series based on Joseph’s book to six networks in Los Angeles.

“One said our show was

too dark; another said it wasn’t dark enough,” Joseph said. “One said they’d like it if it was from the teenage boy’s point of view; another said they were already developing a similar premise. Another said it was too female-centric for their audience. In the end, they all passed.”

Joseph took the setback fairly well.

“I think Karen was more disappointed than I was.

But pitches are part of her regular job. I’m not from that world,” Joseph said.

“I felt lucky to even have a quick glimpse of it. And writing for television is so crazy competitive that it seemed arrogant to think I should sell something the first time I tried.”

Joseph and Hopkins are still looking to tackle the series, re-tooling what they have to see if they can get it made in the future. In the meantime, Joseph is preparing to return to teaching after she took the year off to be with her newborn son, Teddy.

“I’m currently preparing to teach a summer school class that’s going to be very cool,” she said.

The course she’s working on, a collaboration with Art professor Brian Frink, will be a combination of writing and visual arts, to examine how those media can work

together.

“We will make things.

We will write things. We will talk about the things we make and write. Stuff like that,” she said.

Joseph is hoping that the open nature of the class (it’s for undergrads as well as graduate students, with no prerequisites of skill in either art or writing) will draw interest from students looking to take part in a new and unique course.

With all the work that comes with both writing and teaching, she is surprisingly unsure about which is her preferred line of work.

“It depends on the day.

Both [writing and teaching] have their challenges and rewards,” Joseph said. “But I can’t imagine doing one without doing the other.”

Coming from Pittsburgh, Penn. to Mankato might seem an odd fit to some, but for Joseph, it’s been just fine.

“Before moving to Minnesota, I lived in the high desert of western Colorado where the sun shines for over 300 days a year, and I griped about that, too,” she said. “ So why not Mankato? My job is here, and people I love are here.”

With all she’s been able to accomplish in her time here, it’s no wonder that she’s happy to stay.

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MSyou Spring 2012

L au r a W eber Senior rises to challenge just in time

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• courtesy of Maverick athletics Laura Weber, became the MSU women’s basketball team’s standout player after star Ali Wilkinson suffered a serious injury that put her on the bench for the remainder of the season.

TIGE HUTCHESON

staff writer It happens all of the time in athletics. A team centered mainly around the play of one star player quickly finds itself with its back against the wall when that player, for whatever reason, is no longer part of the picture.

More times than not, a team will crumble without its star.

There are too many questions; too many changes; and the player’s teammates are unable to adjust to whatever new role is asked of them.

But for some teams, the sudden change is just drastic enough to spur some pretty incredible changes.

For the Minnesota State University, Mankato women’s basketball team, the world seemed to shake when doubledouble machine (12 in 2010-11) Ali Wilkinson was ruled out for the remainder of the season following a sudden, yet severe injury just after the beginning of conference play.

The team’s leading scorer (12.0 points per game) and rebounder (9.2 rebounds per game) throughout the 2010-11 season was no longer a piece of the short-term puzzle. With a gaping hole on one side of the post, MSU found itself desperate and praying for someone, anyone, to emerge as a force down low.

Lucky for MSU, someone did.

After the initial shock of watching her frontcourt counterpart go down in such devastating fashion, senior center Laura Weber

found herself in a tough spot.

“When it first happened it was just sadness. [Ali] is a great player and nobody wants to see their teammate get injured, especially when it’s season-ending like [Ali]’s was, so we were all really sad and really hoping for a quick recovery,” Weber said. “But after that we all realized that we needed to step up our games. Ali is a big part of our team and we knew that we’d have to step up and come together as a team if we were going to get through it.”

On one hand, Wilkinson was still a teammate and was still an irreplaceable piece of MSU women’s basketball beyond this season. But the Mavericks would either fall behind or find some way to move on without Wilkinson, at least temporarily.

Refusing to mail in her senior season, Weber found herself asking what her new role needed to be on the team.

“I’d say the biggest thing I did was just focus on becoming a little more offense-minded,” said Weber. “I’ve been practicing against Ali every day for quite a while now and the biggest thing I thought the team needed me to do was just get more involved in the offense and work on putting up more points.”

Fast forward a few months later. MSU (9-6, 13-6 NSIC) has established itself as a legitimate Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference contender, and the revolutionized play of Weber has been one of the most obvious reasons for it.

Weber recorded her fourth double-double of the season over the weekend against Upper Iowa (23 points, 10 rebounds) and is averaging team-highs in points per game (12.7) and rebounds per game (7.2).

Weber even turned heads all across the NSIC on January 9 when she became the first MSU women’s basketball player since Wilkinson last season to win the NSIC’s Player of the Week award.

Even though Wilkinson is forced to simply watch from the sidelines, Weber still credits her teammate for inspiring how she has performed this season.

“I’ve picked up her competitiveness,” said Weber of Wilkinson. “She always tries her best every practice, every play and every game, and I’ve really learned from her that every possession is important and that you have to play with heart.”

Friedrich Nietzsche once said: “That which does not kill me makes me stronger.”

Even in the midst of a breakout senior season in which Weber has proved the above statement true, it’s hard to take pride in her renewed strength knowing it took so much to happen before she learned her lesson.

“It’s horrible what happened, but in the end it really did force me to really step up and change my game for the better,” Weber said. “Still, I really wish she could be beside me and helping the team in all of the ways she does.”

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REISING “I know it’s not perfect, but seeing the billions of people work together in an integrated system is pretty impressive.” continued from 12 many responsibilities as the f inance chair, he f inds that he loses a lot of time he used to devote to his personal research.

“That’s what weekends are for,” Reising said, laughing. “I’m [cur rently] looking at f inancial institutions and their compensation str ucture around the changes in the last few years. One of the big questions has been, ‘How do banks pay their executives and is that pay str ucture appropriate given that pay str ucture might impact decisions that led to the crisis?’”

W hen Reising isn’t at the University or conducting personal research, he can most likely be found sleeping, watching televi-

sion, reading or listening to podcasts and music.

Reising enjoys watching Top Chef, Mythbusters and watching spor ts.

W hile his choice in music and television is diverse, Reising enjoys listening to f inancial, business and economic podcasts.

W hile Reising enjoys his free time, he also enjoys looking into the f inancial systems in the United States.

“I can see the beauty of how the system works,” Reising said. “I mean, I k now it’s not perfect, but seeing the billions of people work together in an integrated system is pretty impressive.”

Reising’s biggest piece

ANDERSON “There’s a lot of screaming and yelling, it kind of makes you want to have a stellar run.” continued from 3

but the adrenaline was still at an all-time high for Anderson.

“At the top of the starting gate, the gate coach starts to yell “Five seconds” and counts down,” Anderson said. “You shoot out of the gates. It’s the most adrenaline I’ve ever had in my life… Everyone’s yelling and screaming, there’s cowbells and everything. I mean, there are 80,000 people there. Coming around the corner and they can all see who’s coming. That’s probably the coolest part.”

The training for the competition started on Thursday, which Anderson says was “pretty scary” as everyone was pretty new to running down the track, section by section.

“It was mind-blowing,” Anderson said.

Most athletes were new to this course, and amateurs like Anderson, had never been part of an event like this. Anderson watched patiently as others did training runs, and time trials.

“It was pretty intense,” Anderson said. “There’s a lot of screaming and yelling, it kind of makes you want to have a stellar run.

Some are even cheering you to fall.”

While there were athletes

from all around the world, Anderson admits that it was a bit intimidating, overwhelming at times, kind of funny.

“There’s a mix of international athletes, (in the locker room),” Anderson said. “You look at them, not knowing their language and watch them interact with people. It was different.”

For Anderson, extreme athletes, and sports fans in general, the Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championship was an extremely successful event. Chances are there will be many more to come, as it has been going strong since the birth of the event in 2001.

Whether or not Anderson will get another opportunity is a different story.

“I actually didn’t get to see him race,” Silipovich said. “I just went to the last day. I guess I kind of missed out on that.”

Hopefully Silipovich will get another chance to watch Anderson. If his competiveness shows us anything, Anderson will do what it takes to get another opportunity, even if he doesn’t get his golden ticket.

of f inancial advice he can give to students is this; “Beware of credit cards.

They’re a quick way to get money but you have to pay back a lot if you’re doing minimum payments. They are tempting and theor y says that it is a good thing they exist, but you can get into trouble with it.”

Like any great professor, Reising bases his success on the accomplishments of his students and colleagues.

“My major motivation in being chair is to help the students and faculty succeed and if they succeed, then I’ve done a good job,” Reising said.

Page 15

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INGLOT “I have experience with a system where we didn’t have any power and tried.” continued from 4 should want to learn about international history and politics because understanding other countries is essential in the ever-changing world in which we live.

“Students are living in a different world now where they will be connected to the world in more ways,” Inglot said.

Inglot said students should become involved in politics not only to have a say in the costs of higher education, but also to exercise the power they have to participate in government.

“I have experience with a system where we didn’t have any power and tried to [have a voice] and how important it is to participate in democracy,” Inglot said.

Inglot said that his favorite part about teaching is student interaction, and seeing his student become involved with politics in order to make their own voices heard.

“I enjoy seeing students making progress and getting involved in politics and having interest in politics of other countries,” Inglot said.

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MSyou Spring 2012