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SLANTED MAGAZINE SOUTHERN MINN. ARTS & CULTURE Published by LAWSON MEDIA & PUBLISHING
COPYRIGHT 2013 LAWSON MEDIA & PUBLISHING
THE DIVERSITY ISSUE NOVEMBER 2013
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Pages 4 & 5................................... Water: Who Owns It and How Clean Is It? Page 7............................................ Around the Web: Albert Lea Sucks Page 8............................................ Live Entertainment Photos Page 9............................................ Culture: Reverse Racism? Page 10.......................................... Media: Changing the World Through InямВuence Page 11.......................................... Standup Comedy Preview Page 12.......................................... Submissions and Arts News
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Who Owns Our Water and How Clean Is It?
SPECIAL REPORT IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE MANKATO GAZETTE www.mankatogazette.com There is a crisis taking place in our human and biologicial world that is not being discussed politically as it should, as oil, national debt, military spending, global warming and other issues are discussed. However, this issue is intricately tied to all
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issues mentioned and then some. It is the crisis surrounding our access to clean, safe and affordable drinking water for our communities. There are many private interests, many of them with histories dating back nearly 200 years with roots in post-industrial Europe. These companies have been using their so-called expertise to swallow up water rights and systems in countries all over the world, even in places where water is running out, like deserts - and many of them are right here in the United States. Three major companies that operate in the U.S. include Nestle (Swizz-based), Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola bottlers. Pepsi’s bottler, Wis-Pak, based in LaCrosse, WI has a manufacturing plant in North Mankato and has its own wells to pump several hundred million gallons from the water supply to bottle and sell to the public (many of whom do not understand that this water is exactly the same if not worse than regular tap water from the sink). If one Googled “Wis-Pak North Mankato Water Pumping”, they would find several negative reviews posted on sites across the web, al-
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legedly from a former employee of the bottling company. This person refers to Wis-Pak as an immoral institution that pumps too much water from public commons. Are they right, or is Wis-Pak simply an amoral institution that is acting on behalf of its stakeholders as is required of it to do? Most of the public believes that water is part of the public commons, not something that can be physically owned by one organization or person. This, according to state and federal law however, is not the case. Just as land can be siezed and owned, so can water. In fact, most states have water rights, authorities and regulatory bodies that govern the use of water. In some instances, governments or corporations have even staked claim to the rainwater - yeah, the stuff that falls from fucking sky! In Oregon, a man was charged and arrested for collecting rainwater run-off. It was on his own property, even! In April, the Mankato Gazette reported that the City of Mankato was putting water restrictions of public utilities for citizens, due to ng city of Mankato water. This decision was made based on lower river levels and strained groundwater supplies, long-term sustainability. Source - http://www.zoomvillage.com/newsStory.cfm?newsID=16014&checkArch ive=1 The city also instituted fines for those not obliging. The DNR warned of a drought phase at this time. Texas recently underwent a serious drought. Social media tells a story of the water crisis with new information daily from concerned citizens and people who simply stumbled upon the right articles. The Mankato Gazette reported a conversation (one of many that happen frequently online about this subject) about Mankato’s water quality and treatment practices. During a biology study for a class at Minnesota State University, Mankato, Ethan Schweizer commented on the fact that Mankato’s water supply is fluoridated: “I was looking up mankato water for a biology assignment and went on the mankato website to look some stuff out and found something very interesting.” Source link - http://www.zoomvillage.com/newsStory.cfm?newsID=14890&checkArchive=1 See screenshot. The Watershed Alliance is a group that discusses water quality and improvements for the environment of the Minnesota River Valley. U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell will visit the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge on Tuesday, November 5, 2013 around noon to announce a new nationwide report that details the economic contributions of national wildlife refuges to the economy. Following the release of the report, the Secretary will tour the refuge to discuss the economic importance of national wildlife refuges to local economies and communities and will lay out her vision for conservation for our country, as highlighted in her recent speech at the National Press Club. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) provides permits for pumping water in locations throughout the state. They provided the Mankato Gazette with the official numbers from Wis-Pak and the Mankato Gazette will be requesting official numbers from the City of North Mankato, whose city council is preparing to construct another well for future potential demand peak limit, according to the Mankato Free Press. Check the Mankato Gazette at www. mankatogazette.com and their Facebook page, facebook. com/mankatogazette for updates on this story. Submit your own thoughts on it at mankatogazette.com, Facebook or slantedcreations@gmail.com.
This chart from the City of Mankato shows that the state requires flouridization of water and furthermore shows levels of contaminant in the water, which includes runoff from chemical fertilizers and aluminum factories. Prozac type pharma substances have also been found in MN water.
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DOES ALBERT LEA REALLY SUCK?
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by ROB LAWSON PUBLISHER
Every now and then, a person stumbles upon something truly entertaining and intruiging all at once. This brings me to my own experience in cyberspace recently, as I happened to stumble upon a site literally called “Albert Lea Sucks.” I immediately grimmaced. I graduated high school from there, after all (though I only lived there a couple years). So does it? Maybe. Probably. Apparently at least one blogger thinks so. The site appears to be run anonymously and it is unclear whether the site is run by one person a group. What is clear is the message: Albert Lea is a wasteland of sex offendors, drug users/dealers, bratty ignorant teenagers and an old guard that fears anything new or anything young. The most recent posts relate to crime reports from local media. The posts are framed in their signature critical tone to exhibit just how much Albert Lea really sucks by pointing to Albert Lea’s most shocking moments, politics and local residents that make it the place it is. The posts are mostly negative, but that should be assumed from the name of the site. Opinion on the site is staunch. Here are a few jaw-dropping headlines that have been posted on the site: “28 Guns, Bitches” “Conservatives in Albert Lea Are Pussies” “Potatoe Thieves Are Bastards” “Shine That Turd” “Now We Know Why The Albert Lea Tribune Has A Problem With Racism” These headlines represent a slice of the posts that fill the feeds of this Blogger created site. The writer concedes in one post entitled, “300 Posts”, an update informing the Internet that 300 posts had been created, that the site was basically a guilty pleasure: “This site is built on a premise that cannot be supported. Albert Lea, Minnesota, does NOT suck but the idea took hold a long time ago that it does. Why? How did it get that way? I have no idea, but it is fun to imagine that you can answer that sort of question with a series of ridiculous blog posts that mock people who say stupid shit. This has allowed me to be the jackass I always wanted to be, and in print, as well.” The first post on the site was in August 2011. The site was hit by overseas spammers numerous times, according to the author who has continually run the site, on and off with some issues, for more than two years. Also, according to the author, the site was initially intended to deal with this prairie community’s newspaper content: “This has actually turned into an instructive tool for analyzing how a small town newspaper can be a fountain of racist bullshit. I’ve been having about as much fun as it is possible to have while reading some of the craziest letters-to-the-editor ever written. A good number of them were clearly burped out by deranged shut-ins with almost no connection to decency or morality.”
ALBERTLEASUCKS.COM
www.albertleasucks.com screenshot
“This has actually turned into an instructive tool for analyzing how a small town newspaper can be a fountain of racist bullshit. I’ve been having about as much fun as it is possible to have while reading some of the craziest letters-to-the-editor ever written. A good number of them were clearly burped out by deranged shut-ins with almost no connection to decency or morality.” --??????????
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LIVE
ENTERTAINMENT
PHOTOS OCTOBER 2013
TOP LEFT: Twin Cities Comedian Tommy Thompson split sides at his October Performance at the Mankato Event Center. The Mankato Event Center features live professional comedians with national appeal every second Thursday of the month, with food and beverages catered by Charley’s Restaurant. MIDDLE LEFT: Zack Kolars hosted the first free open mic at the Mankato Event Center in October. Several comedians from the Maverick Comedy Club performed sets as well. A few people from the general public stepped up to the mic as well and it turned out to be a pretty damn funny night in Mankato. Look for free open mic at the Mankato Event Center every fourth or last Thursday of the month. www.slantedmag.com
LEFT: Michael Callahan, local St. Peter comedian, performed at the St. Peter Public Library. RIGHT: Performance at Savoy in Mankato. www.facebook.com/slantedmag
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Reverse Racism: Definitions, Beliefs, Attitudes Originally submitted to the Mankato Gazette - Online Newspaper and Tourism Guide for Greater Mankato www.mankatogazette.com Submitted by Luke Excel
Just another typical Tuesday, I found myself scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed. Between the complaint memes of the new “Miley Cyrus Movement,” and of course, the daily diaries exposing the horrors of preteen love stories, I came to find the words “reverse-racism,” not so elegantly attached to a comment with a news story. The article introduced the story of Scott Henson- middle aged white male- taking a sunny stroll with his 5-yearold daughter- who happened to be an African-American- and their accounts of multiple encounters with Texas state police. The police racially profiled Henson as a kidnapper and proceed to detain him in both instances. The article to me is a classic example of racism, but my friend on Facebook declared otherwise conversely saying it was “reverse-racism.” My friend introduced me to multiple online dictionary definitions all providing the same consensus: reverse-racism is discrimination from a majority group directed towards a minority group. This was news to me, as I was always taught racism was not defined by any form of separation or segregation of races; to me that seemed like a paradox. Coincidentally I heard an interview on a radio show with Colin Flaherty discussing his new book White Girl Bleed A Lot, describing the inequality of coverage on news stations and newspapers only provided a basis of mass-media ignorance. In other words, some major media outlets have been avoiding coverage of many hate crimes committed against non-minority groups. This compelled me to do some research of my own and what I found was the most recent estimate by The Bureau of Justice Statistics from 1999 providing more than 657,000 black on white crimes of violence were committed of that year alongside more than 91,000 white on black crimes. I do realize that was over a decade ago, but these instances have only increased in the last 14 years. In one recent example, after a motorcycle brigade supposedly 40 white males attacked and brutally killed an African-American trucker who was said to have accidentally bumped one biker- who was uninjured. Independent media outlets later released that the man attacked was by a black biker gang Outlaws of Alabama, and the victim was actually white. I believe it is also important to address that George Zimmerman, suspected of many to be guilty for the murder of Treyvon Martin, is Hispanic and a quarter African-American; though our national press has continuously maintained that Zimmerman is white. All statistics and even speculation aside one thing is very certain: we are all in this together. When we compound racism by using contradicting terms such as “reverse-racism” we only build a rubble on our wreckage. As controversial as these words may be the voice of the people needs to be heard within a spectrum of equality, and not all of the facts are being reported for whatever reason. Whether it be some internal agenda to stifle our achievements among our conscious recognition of indifference, or fear of mass scrutiny that may be gained from publishing something that could be seen as degrading to a minority, it is obvious this is a conscious effort to propagate tragedy. An effort to regress our current state of unity, or a calculated, communicated, measure taken in the guise of fear to avoid controversy?
OPEN MEDIA
Sincerely, Luke Excel Reynolds ProsaiC Minds, LLC Artist, CEO, Founder http://prosaicminds.net/excel
VOICE YOUR OPINION ON THIS TOPIC
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CHANGING THE WORLD THROUGH INFLUENCE
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Communities are faced with many challenges in our new global society. How do we survive in this new world, when everything seems like it is turning on its head? Solutions may have been here all along, and new ways of doing things are emerging with the development of technology and the revolutionary thoughts of young entrepreneurs and social geniuses. Many communities are now realizing that the top-down, directive approach to decision making is not going to work in this new dynamic world. Disruptive technologies such as 3-D printing may bring local manufacturing back, and even more striking are the endless possibilities for collaboration with just this one technology. It isn’t simply the technology and processes that are driving these changes. It is the way people are thinking in this new economy of creativity. Ecosystems and cooperatives are replacing the once standard corporations that hold empires stretching back further than many modern governments. It is because of the incentives provided through empowerment of the individual within the community that makes this idea work. A centralized, bureaucratic, pyramid proves to be much more expensive, risky and costly. The power of influence alone can be the greatest common denominator in facilitating change. A perfect example of changing the world by way of influence is the Sowela Institute, a group that provides facilitation, community engagement, organization and leadership development services through world class facilitation in the Art of Hosting. Their stated mission is to harvest conversations that matter. Here is their description via Facebook: “These are complex and chaotic times where our communities, organizations and businesses are facing unique challenges and opportunities. We all seem to be approaching a learning edge, actively seeking new leadership skills and facilitation tools to help us navigate through the changes. Some of our deepest learning happens in conversation and the good news is that conversational methodology has evolved. This evolution has lead us to new defined principles of practice that are shared all over the world through Art of Hosting. Art of Hosting has tools that are designed to enable us to work together with intelligence and wisdom in large or small groups to create an opportunity for all voices present to be heard and listened to and where people are treated with respect regardless of their views. These tools create the opportunity for the wisdom in the room to emerge. They support group dialogue and conversation where the gathering is designed not as a meeting but as a harvest of ideas and actions so that participants feel a sense of ownership in the outcomes. These methods include Circle, World Café, Pro Action Café, Open Space Technology, Collective Story Harvest, Appreciative Inquiry, the Chaordic Stepping Stones planning process, as well as strategic planning and focused conversations.” Another example of this is Minneapolis native Luke Excel’s non-profit group, the Progress Foundation. The Progress Foundation proudly endorsed by ProsaiC Minds and their affiliates. They strive to achieve progression towards economic reformation, and growth of our economies. They are devoted to achieve economic reform through means of fundraising and providing education to the people. There are many more ideas that can be presented on this subject. Please feel free to connect with Slanted Mag on Facebook and share your thoughts on changing the world through influence - because we’ve used guns, germs and steel for too long.
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Free Family Concert Series: Viva Vivaldi
Mankato, Minn. – October 29, 2013– Come and enjoy the second of four hilarious and fun filled performances based upon Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with the Italian composer himself, and the Mankato Symphony Orchestra String Quartet. This is a show for all ages! Each child takes home a gift and a snack at the end of each show. The first performance of this series will be taking place Saturday, November 23rd, in the Mankato YMCA Exercise room. The first performance of the series on September 21st was quite successful and drew a much larger crowd than anticipated, so be sure to show up early! Performances begin at 11:00am, last approximately 45 minutes, and feature live classical music and interactive educational activities. This is a perfect first concert experience, with a family friendly atmosphere suitable for all ages. Minnesota State University, Mankato student Kristen Lucas stars as Vivaldi. Lucas has sung with the orchestra twice before, in a minor role in the opera Carmen and as Gretel in the opera Hansel and Gretel. For the first time the Mankato Symphony’s Family Concert Series is free, thanks to support from the Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council. September 21, 2013 at 11am-Autumn November 23, 2013 at 11am-Winter January 25, 2014 at 11am-Spring April 5, 2014 at 11am-Summer Mankato YMCA Exercise Room
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Arts News and Community Submissions MSU Mankato’s Good Thunder Reading Series completes its fall lineup when it hosts creative nonfiction writer Angela Duryee and fiction and creative nonfiction writer Luis Alberto Urrea for the Nadine B. Andreas Visiting Writer Residency on Thursday, November 14. Urrea will meet with community writers in Centennial Student Union Room 238 in the morning and be interviewed on KMSU 89.7 FM. At 3:00 p.m. in Centennial Student Union Ostrander Auditorium, he will lead a discussion on the craft of writing. At 7:30 p.m. in CSU Room 253, he will join Duryee to read from their current work. All events are free and open to the public. Angela Duryee, the Andreas Graduate Assistant for 201314, went to Southwest Minnesota State University and MSU Mankato as an undergraduate. She is now a third-year MFA candidate in creative writing, concentrating in creative nonfiction. Luis Alberto Urrea is a prolific and award-winning writer. He is a master of language and a gifted storyteller who uses his dual-culture life experiences to explore greater themes of love, loss and triumph. The author of fourteen books, Luis Urrea has published extensively in many genres and has received many prestigious awards, including the Pacific Rim Kiriyama Prize, the Western States Book Award, the Lannan Literary Award, and the Edgar Award. The Devil’s Highway, his 2004 nonfiction account of a group of Mexican immigrants lost in the Arizona desert, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Collectively, Urrea’s books have been chosen by more than thirty different cities and colleges across the country for One Book community-read programs. His most recent book is the novel Queen of America. This year’s Good Thunder Reading Series is funded by the Minnesota State Mankato Department of English, the College of Arts and Humanities, the Office of Institutional Diversity, the Nadine B. Andreas Endowment, the Eddice B. Barber Visiting Writer Endowment, the Robert C. Wright Endowment, and individual donors. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board and the Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund. MSU Library Services and the Barnes & Noble Bookstore at Minnesota State offer additional assistance. For more information about the series, contact Richard Robbins at the MSU Mankato Department of English, 507.389.1354, or see the web site at www.english.mnsu.edu/gt/.
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Featured Local Artist
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Ben Schindle
Personal History: Born 1987, graduated from a small local school in 2006 with honors. doodled incessantly later in high school. attended college, but never finished or could decide what I was meant to study; I think too much. Favorite styles of art: I enjoy using ink primarily. It’s sharp and concise. It forces you to change the piece as you repair the mistakes you believe yourself to have made in its creation. I never sketch first, it flows as I draw and inspiration comes and goes with time. I never decide to start drawing or stop drawing; it just happens. Influences (art & music): Art: Pablo Picasso, Alex Grey, Brandon Boyd Music; Tool, NIN, Beck, Alice in Chains, Deadmau5 How music you listen to influences your art: It heavily inspires my art. When I hear the music I respect, the emotion evoked in me becomes inspiration. How long you’ve been active in your art: I don’t consider myself active. It comes and goes as it pleases. I wont call myself an artist let alone call it “art”. It’s a meditative release and the apparent embodiment of some process in my head. I’m not sure I understand it or what it ultimately means to me. Background today: College drop-out. Retail assistant manager.
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Cabaret brings a little Chanhassen to Southern Minnesota
Don’t want to board a bus, drive up to a dinner theatre in the Cities in the middle of winter? Don’t worry, Cabaret Le Ruse is bringing a dinner theatre to you. The holiday show “Xmas Misfits” will offer its comedy dinner/theatre experience 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 5, at the City Center Hotel with chefs from 101 Main Restaurant serving the meal. The show features a four-person troupe of actors, music from the band String Theory, and special musical guest Ben Marti. “We wanted to offer a nice, relaxing dinner with a holiday show that has music, dance, singing and short plays – without people having to drive to the Cities to enjoy it,” said Eli Hoehn, who heads up the St. Peter band String Theory. Tickets are just $28 in advance for the dinner and show. And if you want to see just the show without the dinner? There are performances 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16, at the Madelia Golf Club; 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22, at the Roadhaus in Henderson; 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23, at the Grand Kabaret in New Ulm; and Friday, Dec. 6, at the Arts Center of St. Peter. Tickets for those shows are just $9 in advance. The show is chocked full of comedy sketches, dance and music, including Poetry Boxing. “We were trying to find a way to include poetry in the mix without it being the signal for all the guys to grab their cell phones or head to the restroom,” said writer Esther Hoffmann. So the troupe tied the heady art of poetry to the brutish testosterone-filled sport of boxing. The audience can root for their favorite boxer, who does only as well as the poetry fed to them during the round from Hoffmann and Poet John Rezmerski. Another quirky piece is “The Painfully Obvious Murder Mystery,” written by Greg Abbott. During a company holiday party, an intern is murdered. And what starts as a pretty obvious suspect spirals to a Monty Pythonish finger-pointing conclusion. “I’ve written several murder mysteries for the local community theatre group,” said Abbott. “My fear is walking that fine line of giving enough clues for people to guess right, but not giving too many clues so everyone knows who did it. So this time, I wanted to make something so obvious that it’s absurd.” String Theory’s “Captain Gravitone” also makes a return to the show – the superhero who helps people to make better choices is faced with his own conundrum when he is given a Christmas box of Twinkies from the evil General Idiocy. Can anyone resist? And fans of Mankato Mosaic’s “Brrrlesque” show will get a brand new radio play from Gary Garrison. It’s all about a magical fruitcake being sold at a church auction, and what two church ladies will do to outbid each other and get their lifelong wish. The show uses the acting talents from the troupe, but also grabs some of the band members to showcase their talent – such as String Theory’s Karen Kozak, who is a tap-dancer. She’s featured in “The Little Tapper Girl” a story based on non-facts of how a tap shoe was found in the town of Bethlehem and feminists believe that it was actually a tap-dancing girl, not a little drummer boy, who performed her talent for baby Jesus. It comes complete with a kazoo audience band. “If there’s a holiday show you need to see this year, this is it,” said Hoehn. The show ranges from Hoffmann’s “Cat Caught in Christmas Lights” dance, to the comedy “Karaoke Christmas” where a family must survive a trip to Grandpa’s, who doesn’t have TV, Internet or phone reception. Tickets can be purchased at any of the venues – The Roadhaus, City Center Hotel, The Grand Kabaret and Arts Center of St. Peter – or online at www.stringtheory-seven.com. For more information, call Eli at 351-2155.
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