Aureus - Inaugural Issue

AUREUS

the quarterly feature magazine of The Rubicon St. Paul Academy and Summit School The Inaugural Issue May 2016

CONTENTS Shiny instruments by Iya Abdulkarim

Instruments Lesson teachers

6

by Sophie Jaro

Dr. Mayson’s sabbatical by Iya Abdulkarim

Remembering Erik Flom “Untitled”

11

by Marlee Baron

by Amodhya Samarakoon

Faculty bowls

by Amodhya Samarakoon

submitted literature by Mira Zelle

by Marlee Baron

Our bright mentors

Swimming for Survivors

“A City at Night”

by Amodhya Samarakoon

submitted literature by Frederick Keillor

A stellar time by Marlee Baron Signs of the past

by Sophie Jaro

13 15

18 20 23 24 26

by Gitanjali Raman

28

submitted literature by Miriam Tibbetts

30

Shining on the skyline “More Light!“

12

16

by Amodhya Samarakoon

Shining a light on domestic violence

9 10

Coin collections by Noor Qurieshy Sentimental trinkets

4

2 # A U R E U S All That Shines

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR The Rubicon was named after the Rubicon river, which Julius Caesar famously crossed in 49 BC. Aureus was given its name to complement The Rubicon and continue in the historical legacy of the name. The name of Caesar’s mother, Aurelia, has aureus as its root. Aureus translates to “golden,” which pairs with the sparkling blue waters of the Rubicon river to complete our school colors. Aureus is also the name of a coin used in ancient Rome known for its high value, and I assure you that this magazine will prove itself to be of similarly great value.

We are very excited to embark on this new voyage of feature magazine writing and design, and we thought that a fitting way to inaugurate the publication (considering the meanings of its name) would be to have the first theme be “All That Shines.” In this magazine, you will find a variety of people, places, and things that shine. Whether you are interested in the shine of a spotlight or the shine of a star, there is something here for you to read, discuss, and explore.

I wish that I did not have to leave this staff and this school just as we begin this new publication, but I am thrilled that after months spent figuring out how to make a magazine and laboring to get this done, it is finally out in the world for everyone to see.

This issue has been a sort of trial run, but I am sure that it can only get better from here, especially when I pass the baton to the highly talented Amodhya Samarakoon.

Thank you for everything; it has been incredible.

Meghan Joyce Aureus Editor-in-Chief

POLICY Each story in the Aureus is produced in a reporting team comprised of The Rubicon staff members, with each being designated as the designer, photographer, or writer of a story. The magazine is produced using digital SLR cameras and Adobe Creative Suite 6.

Some creative work not produced by The Rubicon staff members is included in the magazine. These pieces belong to the author of the work and cannot be reprinted without their permission.

300 copies of the magazine were published by Ideal Printing and distributed for free on the Goodrich and Randolph campuses.

CONTACT St. Paul Academy and Summit School 1712 Randolph Ave. St. Paul, Minnesota 55105

STAFF EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Meghan Joyce ASSISTANT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Amodhya Samarakoon DESIGNERS Boraan Abdulkarim Diane Huang Gitanjali Raman Javier Whitaker-Castañeda PHOTOGRAPHERS Iya Abdulkarim Stephanie Li Emily Thissen WRITERS Iya Abdulkarim Marlee Baron Sophie Jaro Noor Qurieshy Gitanjali Raman Amodhya Samarakoon ADVISER Kathryn Campbell

rubicon.spa@gmail.com

All That Shines A U R E U S # 3

t n e m u r t s My Shiny In

DESIGNER: Javier Whitaker-Castañeda WRITER/PHOTOGRAPHER: Iya Abdulkarim

In velvet lined cases carried with care lie the various instruments of St. Paul Academy and Summit school band members. The differently shaped and sized instruments sit comfortably in the hands of the band members. Having spent hours on end with their instrument, be it purchased or a rental, every individual has a connection with the metal tool they use to create extraordinary music. These instruments have been played in the band room, onstage in the O’Shaugnessy Auditorium, the Huss Center for Performing Arts, at other schools, and outside competitions.

Students at SPA are offered beginning instrumental courses prior to entering the Upper School and, as a result, many of them took the opportunity to continue playing.

Veteran Jazz band musicians often play more than one instrument. Whether there was a transition from tenor to bari saxophone or the purchase a new trumpet, every instrument which sits in the hands of students during rehearsals and performances has been cared for.

Sophomore and Blue jazz band member Lark Smith has played the alto saxophone for nearly six years.

“I got [my current instrument] last year in November. I am attached to my instrument. Its name is Bartholomew,” Smith said.

“I got my first [saxophone] at Yamaha, and I got my second one... at a store which is a twohour drive from Saint Paul,” she added.

Why did Smith choose brass?

“I quit piano after six years and I wanted to play another instrument,” Smith said. “My mom said she had always wanted to play saxophone, but her mom said that it was only for boys. So I started, I liked it, and I continued.”

Smith said that when she plays her instrument, “It un-stresses me.”

“I clean it everyday after I play for about twenty minutes,” Smith said. “I actually hope it is [blinding someone in the audience] because then it will be really shiny on stage, and the lights will reflect off of it and make it look really good,” she added.

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“I play the Trumpet. I have been playing trumpet since sixth grade, just in school,” sophomore Michael Hall said.

Hall, a member of the Blue jazz band, picked up his instrument when a relative quit playing it.

In sixth grade, my cousin went to college and he didn’t use his trumpet anymore, so I used that one,” Hall said. “Then I bought one the next year and I’ve been using the same one [ever since].”

“I really like it and I can tell the difference between the two trumpets I have played,” Hall said. “I still have the other one and it is not as good of a trumpet and I can tell that.”

Sophomore Izzy Denny a member of the Blue jazz band has experience switching to the Bari saxophone.

“I’ve been in band since sixth grade, and I play the baritone saxophone, or bari sax,” Denny said. “I started out with tenor and then in eighth grade I switched over to Bari. It’s the same fingerings and everything, just a bigger instrument,” she added.

“Bari Saxes are pretty expensive, so I always rent them from the school,” Denny said, “I started playing Bari in seventh or eighth grade, so I have a different Bari every year.”

“When I started playing the tenor, most people who picked the saxophone picked the alto saxophone. I liked the tenor because I was being a little different,” she said.

“When I switched to Bari, I genuinely liked playing the bari better than playing the tenor. I feel more comfortable playing it, and I really like it. I don’t get big solos or anything like an alto saxophone, but I am the base,” Denny said. “I have these parts that are behind the scenes, but if you don’t have that part in the band, then it doesn’t all fit together,” she added.

“When I am playing a song that I know well, I am confident and it’s really fun and enjoyable,” Denny said. “It is kind of calming, [but] it is not one of those things where I will forget about all my stresses in life.”

“I’m not really attached to the specific instrument that I am playing because it is a rental,” she said. “I’m definitely careful with it; I am not reckless or anything. I try to keep it nice and clean, neat, not broken, and get it fixed.”

All That Shines A U R E U S 5

From behind the music stand:

DESIGNER: Boraan Abdulkarim

PHOTOGRAPHER: Regina Marie Williams

WRITER: Sophie Jaro

lesson instructors talk about the effects of music on their everyday lives

B

ill Simenson has been freelancing and teaching trumpet, trombone, and French horn in the Twin Cities since 1983.

“There was work to be had and I was a music major who played the trumpet,” Simenson said.

He performs polka, Latin, jazz, and in classical bands, orchestras, and ensembles. “This is a relatively small market. If you’re not a classical person, you really have to diversify,” Simenson said.

“A lot of freelance musicians teach alongside other work,” Simenson said about his choice to teach. “Most private teachers got to keep their skills up. Teaching is a way to make sure you are always learning new stuff.”

Simenson explained how freelance professional playing in a variety of venues has helped distinguish the skills that must be taught in the lessons.

“Any performing ensemble—the core of what it is you are doing, whether in symphony orchestra or in a Latin band—it is the same thing. You have to make sure you have the individual skills and you have the skills to be a team player,” Simenson said.

Simenson has played in the Wolverines Classic Jazz Orchestra, Latin Sounds Orchestra, at Mixed Blood and Guthrie Theaters, as well as with other groups including his own jazz and sometimes polka bands.

He shares insight into how to prepare for the stage: “The only way to practice is to, at the end of the practice session,

6 A U R E U S All That Shines

know you got something done.

The only way to get something done is to know what you want to get done in the first place,” he said.

And working with a lesson instructor isn’t enough.

“You can learn Trumpet some things from a teacher at a lesson, but you also have to discover some things on your own during practice, he said.”

Simenson emphasizes quality control for not only practicing, but also for taking tips.

He warned that, on the internet, there are lots of suggestions that sound strange and complicated, but do not truly improve upon traditional techniques.

“It used to a be a problem that there was not enough information. Now the problem is that there is too much information. You have to learn how to discern wacky ideas and things that work,” Simenson said.

Bill Simenson

“I

have to laugh when people wear headphones to listen to music, because I’ve always got music going in my head. For me, it is redundant to have outside music coming in,” Brenda Mickens, violin lesson teacher and professional musician, said.

Mickens has been surrounded by music since early childhood. Her parents were country musicians.

“We sang music in the car. Going on road trips, everyone would sing,” Mickens said.

At age six, Mickens began piano lessons. In middle school, Mickens took up violin.

“Violin speaks to me because it is so much like the human voice,” Mickens said.

Mickens played violin throughout high school. The summer she graduated, she auditioned as a substitute for the local semi-professional orchestra, the San Diego Symphony.

She won the position and played throughout college; finishing her degree with a music emphasis. After teaching for two years in Nebraska, she missed performance and entered graduate school to play in a full-time professional orchestra.

She received her masters degree for performance from Northwestern University.

Mickens came to Minnesota after winning a position in the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

“All my experience until then had been in a symphony orchestra, and I wanted to feel more important,” Mickens said with a chuckle.

For over 30 years, Mickens performed with the SPCO. After the 15-month walkout ended in 2014, Mickens left the orchestra. Since then, she has freelanced at local orchestras, substituted in the Minnesota Orchestra, and taught at home.

Mickens explains that her orchestral experience adds to her teaching.

“At the time I was teaching originally, right after my

undergrad degree, I was a very intuitive player so it was hard for me to think Violin technically about things,” she said.

“I just cared about making it beautiful and expressive.”

Although this method contributes to elegant and engaging performances, Mickens said it limited her ability.

“If you don’t understand how things work, it is hard to figure out how to improve things for a student,” Mickens said.

However, orchestra experience ingrained more technical understanding in Mickens.

“Along the way, I started reading more and learning from the players around me and figuring out more about the technical aspects of playing,” Mickens said.

Combining technical understanding with the basic skills, Mickens now shares her expertise with students.

“The hardest thing is teaching thoughtful practice,” Mickens explained.

As a student, “I really didn’t like to practice,” Mickens said. However, when teachers said she was talented but not improving, she developed a technique to motivate her: a practice chart.

“I would record every minute that I practiced a given skill. This many minutes on arpeggios, this many minutes on thirds, and this many minutes on that. I tried to improve my score, so to speak, with more practice,” Mickens explained.

After many years of playing in orchestra and teaching, music has become a source of comfort and stability for Mickens.

“Music is an emotional release in a lot of ways. There is an underlying stability about it too,” Mickens said.

Music goes far beyond a profession for Mickens.

“Bach’s six sonatas and partitas for violin are like the violinists’ Bible. A violinist always comes back to that. Every day I play Bach. It is a deep part of me. Those things that we learn so deeply are forever embedded in our soul,” Mickens said.

Brenda Mickens

All That Shines A U R E U S 7

DESIGNER: Boraan Abdulkarim

PHOTOGRAPHER: Iya Abdulkarim

WRITER: Sophie Jaro

S

8

usie Kuniyoshi’s music career brought her from Hawaii to upstate New York to Boston and across Europe. Her profession brought her to Minnesota when she was hired by the Minnesota Orchestra for half a season as Acting Principal Piccoloist. Now, this woodwinds specialist has spent over half her life playing in the Twin Cities.

Kuniyoshi began playing piano when she was seven years old. She started the flute in seventh grade. Private lessons were unavailable, so she taught herself. Despite a lack of formal training early on, Kuniyoshi earned degrees in both music performance and education, and became a formal trainer for other woodwinds players.

She says there is a strong give and take between her teaching and performing. “It is said that if you cannot take lessons yourself, you should teach. Nothing keeps you on your toes like teaching,” Kuniyoshi said.

The woodwinds specialist has given private, chamber and group lessons at the University of Wisconsin-Superior, College of St. Scholastica, and St. Joseph’s School of Music, to name a few. Now she also teaches woodwinds at St. Paul Academy and Summit School.

“Teaching and playing professionally are intertwined.

I learn a tremendous amount from my students,” Kuniyoshi explained.

“My favorite part of teaching is seeing the light bulb go on and seeing them ‘get it’,” Kuniyoshi said.

To help students reach that point, Kuniyoshi spends time at home experimenting with what will work for students, sometimes finding a technique that also improves her own playing.

In the same way, “when I have problem spots in my own practice, then hit upon a solution, I pass it on to my students,” Kuniyoshi said.

Kuniyoshi’s philosophy is that she A U R E U S All That Shines

should teach her students to fish rather than to give them fish. She does not like to spoon-feed music, but prefers Woodwinds to develop basic skills which allow the student to continue to work independently.

“I’m not impressed by fast fingers alone,” she said, “but prefer when pieces are played with good fundamental skills and musicality.”

Although Kuniyoshi’s go-to music style has a lyrical, soulful sound, her playing style depends on the situation, orchestra, and composer. Fundamentals allow students to develop musical flexibility. They can apply the same skills to a variety of songs and styles. Thus, not only do students need to learn musical flexibility, but professional musicians must focus on it as well, as it is a necessary skill of the profession.

Playing as a professional musician requires practice. Although Kuniyoshi says it can be easier to practice with the pressure of a performance coming up, there are days when it can be hard to motivate practice between performances. Therefore, music teachers can share their expertise in the art of practice with their students.

“When people ask me how to get their kids to practice I tell them to start with just 10 minutes, and go from there. Usually just getting started can be the hardest part. I will tell myself: ‘just twenty minutes, I’ll just practice for twenty minutes.’ Once I get started it is easier to keep going. Usually I end up playing for hours.”

Kuniyoshi feels that music is universal because “music gives voice to what words cannot,” she said, “Music, like any other art form, is very important to humanity for self-expression. If you look at every culture, they have some form of music.”

Susie Kuniyoshi

Improving Improvisation mended them. I saw some fine, fine programs and it was very interesting,” Mayson said.

He also visited nationally recognized jazz programs in high schools in Seattle, Washington. Mayson visited the middle schools whose students proceeded to attend these award-winning high schools.

One of the groups, Roosevelt High School, wasn’t playing traditional jazz. They had been preparing for the world premiere of a piece for jazz band and for orchestra with the Seattle Symphony.

“I was sitting there listening, thinking...not only [would] I have difficulty sitting in with this group, I’d have to really practice to play the stuff that they are playing right now,” he said. “They were really amazing.”

Watching the many ensembles play, Mayson observed something unexpected.

“One thing I noticed in the vast majority of rehearsals where the bands were really terrific [is that] they are not very orderly,” Mayson said. “There is a lot of commotion: talking, playing when you shouldn’t be, that kind of stuff,” he said.

“I haven’t completely fleshed out what it means, but it seems to me that being really quiet and still at all times is not something that is needed to produce great jazz,” Mayson added.

It stands to reason that as Dr. Mayson moved around the country to learn and see great jazz during sabbatical, he came to realize that movement and producing great jazz go hand in hand.

DESIGNER: Diane Huang

Dr. Bill Mayson, Director of Bands at St. Paul Academy and Summit School, recently traveled the country listening to various jazz ensembles, but Astrid, Terako, and Bernadette stayed home. Who are Astrid, Terako, and Bernadette, and where was Dr. Mayson?

Astrid is a contrabass C, a typical large tuba that Americans use in orchestra. Also known as Papa Bear (as she is the largest of three tubas), her name refers to a goddess. “[For] my most recent solos I used Astrid because I think it is meant for Tubby the Tuba, a piece for children in orchestra,” Mayson said.

Mayson’s second tuba, Bernadette, is an F tuba by the same manufacturer as Astrid, and four inches shorter in length. Bernadette means “bear killer,” and “the famous [piece] for F tuba is the solo from Stravinsky’s Petrushka, the ‘bear solo.’”

And finally, baby bear is a ¾ size tuba named Terako that Mayson uses for smaller performances like brass quintet solos. The name was suggested to Mayson by one of his former students and is Japanese for “shining one.” “She is silver, she is small, and she has a wonderful bright voice,” Mayson said.

For his sabbatical fall semester, Mayson traveled between middle and high school jazz ensembles in different parts of the country to learn more about improvisational jazz programs. He looked into how rehearsals were run and the ways in which it is taught to students, as it is a unique, valuable, and important element in SPA’s performances.

“A few I went to because Dean Sorenson, who is the director of jazz program at the [University of Minnesota], recom-

PHOTOGRAPHER/WRITER: Iya Abdulkarim

Mayson uses fall sabbatical to observe, direct, and perform

All That Shines A U R E U S 9

A

soft glow reflects off the dull, metallic surface, catching the rays of sunlight that peer down, illuminating heavily detailed designs of state parks or a president’s profile. Coins are often thought of as just money, as quarters or pennies spent at the supermarket or dropped into the tip jar at a cafe.

Their seemingly bland, never-ending sameness deters many from noticing the intriguing details that make coins objects with great personal and cultural value.

Junior Jack Indritz’s collection lies in coin cases and safety deposit boxes. He’s separated his extensive collection into four categories: old, new, domestic, and international. Indritz also has sets of coins, such as state quarters, state park quarters, or dollar coins, many of which are part of his domestic collection but also stand apart.

coin making process lies in the stories that come out of errors in production or the material used for certain types of coins.

One such story lies in the cornstalk present on every Wisconsin state quarter, which was incorrectly printed so the number of leaves that appear on the cornstalk vary in number. This slight imperfection has led to multiple batches of coins that are worth a couple hundred dollars each.

“Nobody notices it because you’re like, ‘Oh, a quarter’,” Indritz said.

The cultural value Indritz sees in his coins lie in their artistic and historic legacy. He likens them to stamp art, as both coins and stamps have the same kind of everyday beauty that appeals to him.

DESIGNER: Diane Huang PHOTOGRAPHER: Emily Thissen WRITER: Noor Qureishy

Indritz actively looks for rarer coins for his collection, but many of the more modern coins he owns are ones he has found along the way.

“If it’s part of a set, then I’ll actively look for it but most of them [coins] I just see and I decide to get them,” he said. “The rarer ones—the ones that aren’t being produced, or the ones that are proofs you have to buy—I just find and I keep,” he said.

Proofs are special edition coins that are struck twice with a die (a stamp-like instrument that contains an image), creating highly detailed visuals.

However, the amount of care and attention that Indritz puts into his monetary coin collection comes not from sentimentality; for him, the true value of the 10 # A U R E U S All That Shines

“People use coins and stamps everyday...it’s sort of art that’s everywhere but no one notices it,” Indritz said.

It doesn’t often feel like coins have a huge impact, but the nature of the image they present to the world outside of America is important to consider. “[Coins] are a representation of our government, in the way that... the [American] flag [is],” Indritz said.

Indritz’s journey began when he first found coins that caught his eye, and he still searches for evasive limited edition coins. Continuously on the lookout for another addition to his collection, searching for that elusive shine.

DESIGNER: Diane Huang PHOTOGRAPHER: Emily Thissen

S

WRITER: Marlee Baron

F

our leaf clovers, horseshoes and rabbits feet are well known for their luck, but some people opt for more D unique charms. Whether it’s Pilot G2 pens, craft OO pom poms or dirty old shoes, different objects hold G meaning for different people.

From second to sixth grade, sophomore Tess Hick wore the same pair of Sketchers every day. According to Hick, she was able to do this because she doesn’t grow.

“I always have one pair of shoes at a time, and I only wear those. I don’t grow, I’m so short, and I’ve had the same shoe size forever,” Hick said.

Throughout the years her shoes got shabbier and shabbier. “In after school Spanish classes I ripped the netting out,” Hick said.

Although she didn’t grow much in height, her feet grew so long that she had to wear her shoes like slippers.

M “They were not shoes anymore, so my mom would C H A R threaten to get rid of them when I wasn’t looking.

Because of that, I started wearing them literally everywhere; I wouldn’t take them off,” Hick said.

Sophomore Lillian Pettigrew has two small craft pom Hick mostly wore her shoes out of stubbornness, but poms that she carried around with her throughout all of they also carry sentimental value. At 6th grade gradumiddle school and some of elementary school. ation, instead of the more traditional yearbook, Hick “I had this ridiculous thought that the pom poms asked her classmates to sign her shoes: “On the last day of 6th grade I was like ‘Here’s a good idea; let’s take this found me and were there to protect me, because I found one on a playground and one just in my pencil case one falling apart piece of fabric that used to be a shoe, and day,” Pettigrew said. make everyone in my grade sign it,” Hick said.

She would hold them in her hands when she needWhile some objects are special only because of the ed comfort and every night she held them in her hand memories they carry, other objects are special because while going to sleep. of the luck they carry. Junior Peter Schavee has a set of Because these pom poms were so small—less than Pilot G2 pens he brings to speech and debate tournaone inch in diameter—they got lost very easily, but ments for good luck.

Pettigrew found them every time and, although she no “They got me first place at [a] speech tournament,” longer carries them with her everywhere, she still has Schavee said. them today.

The pens he uses are not just any random pens “I had them everywhere, so they could get lost anythough: Schavee drove to over twenty stores to find his where and they did. One time they fell into the seat of a special pens. rental car so my mother and I spent hours on the floor “I went to a bunch of stores and I examined each trying to get them out. They disappeared in my bed a pen. I tore open all the bags, put the pens on the floor few times, and I would get so upset and sob,” Pettigrew and if I liked them, I bought them,” Schavee said. said.

Although he got kicked out of two different stores Some people carry good luck charms because of for opening unpaid merchandise, he found his pens in memories, some for protection, and others for luck at the end. a competition, but regardless of whether or not they Other objects are special to people because of their work, they carry happy memories for whoever holds sentimental value. them, and sometimes that’s enough.

All That Shines A U R E U S # 11

Tyler Seplak ‘15 poses for a photo after receiving a Head of School Bowl.

DESIGNER: Javier Whitaker-Castañeda

PHOTOGRAPHER: Greg Helgeson

WRITER: Amodhya Samarakoon

Commencement bowls hold honor & significance

at the Faculty Bowl reene ‘15 receives

Eva Perez-G

The Alumni/ae Bowl is elected by the faculty from nominations made by the senior class, and is given each year to that member of the senior class deemed to be most outstanding in many areas of school life.

The Faculty Bowl is awarded to that senior who has shown unusual breadth and depth of intellectual interest and outstanding commitment to academic excellence.

1 2 # A U R E U S All That Shines

Head of School Bowls are awarded to those members of the senior class who have been recognized by their peers and teachers for significant contributions to the school.

Commencement.

Perhaps this bowl-shaped award is kept on top of a dusty shelf, nestled somewhere between the aged books and childhood trophies. Maybe, it sits upon the uneven pebbles and concrete surrounding a fireplace, proudly displayed for each guest to admire.

When a student receives a bowl, onlookers only get a mere glimpse of it during the commencement ceremony, between a handshake and a smile.

These silvery bowls given out at graduation have long histories - reaching back to before the Summit School and St. Paul Academy School merged - that the average SPA community member may be unaware of.

Three of the most well known and anticipated awards given out each year are the Alumni/ae Bowl, Faculty Bowl, and the Head of School Bowl.

Last year’s recipients of these awards, from the Class of 2015, were Afsar Sandozi for the Alumni/ae, Eva Perez-Greene for the Faculty, and Sarah Romans and Tyler Seplak for the Head of School.

This year’s winners will be revealed at Commencement on June 12.

The story of Erik Flom

An unwavering optimist leaves a brilliant legacy

DESIGNER: Javier Whitaker-Castañeda

PHOTOGRAPHER: Stephanie Li

WRITER: Amodhya Samarakoon

T

he Erik Flom Memorial Award, unlike the other graduation bowls, is only given when the senior class and faculty strongly believe that someone’s characteristics align with what the award symbolizes.

This award, named after Erik Flom - brother to Middle School French teacher Kris Flom - was created in honor of him after his passing in 1976.

“My parents created the award as a way to honor the giving spirit that my brother Erik had,” Kris Flom said.

In the spring of 1973, when Erik Flom was in 9th grade, he was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous Leukemia.

Caused by spontaneous chromosome mutation, this illness is a rare blood-cell cancer - causing only about 0.4% of all cancer cases - that originates in the bone marrow.

“He broke his leg while downhill skiing and routine blood tests showed that there was an abnormality in his blood,” Kris Flom wrote in a piece for an Upper School Faculty Meeting and for the 1998 senior class.

For the following two and a half years, Erik was able to live a relatively average life - the only disruption to the normalcy being an inability to participate in contact sports, occasional medications, and consistent blood tests.

“I didn’t think of my problem as leukemia because it didn’t affect me in my day to day life. I was just aware that I had a blood problem,” wrote Erik Flom in an article for The Rubicon in 1975.

At the end of that same summer, before writing the article, Erik Flom had to remove his spleen which was enlarged due to the leukemia - soon, he went into remission.

“I was sent home and told that I was being ‘taken off the front burner and put on the back shelf,’” Erik Flom wrote.

Soon after, he fell ill and doctors decided to hospitalize him and begin total body radiation with a bone marrow transplant.

In Erik Flom’s article, he writes about his situation optimistically - even humorously mentioning “some rare, expensive machines at the hospital” used in the transplant process and “some other complicated biology” involved in matching chromosomes between him and his older brother, Joe Flom.

Erik Flom decided to shave his head since his hair would have fallen out as a result of radiation anyway, writing in his article that his friends took up a collection for a blow comb.

“He did the collection by having my sister, Karen, who was an SPA ninth grader, put up a polaroid picture of him bald and asking people to donate to his hairdryer fund … A family friend said Erik ‘was happy from the time he woke up until he went to bed,’” wrote Kris Flom.

All That Shines A U R E U S # 1 3

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WRITER: Amodhya Samarakoon

The 2004 recipient of the award is Martha Polk, - US English teacher Lucy Polk’s daughter. When Martha Polk was in 7th grade, she fell ill to a rare autoimmune disorder that pulled her away from school that year and a again in her senior year.

“It was a tough time in terms of missing school trying to stay on top of classes, missing the end of my soccer season, feeling weak and depleted from the day’s ordinary activities, and taking a lot of medication that made it hard to focus and difficult to be in my body,” Martha Polk said.

She managed to get through high school with a positive and strong spirit despite her difficult situation. “[During graduation] I had this slow realization that Ms. Flom was talking about me. I felt my heart start to speed up and my face go red,” she said.

The award meant a lot to her as it recognized everything she had gone through and dealt with over the years in front of her classmates.

“The award came as a powerful recognition and validation of all that really is grueling mental and physical work … And it’s a really beautiful thing to have an award that recognizes other kinds of work that kids are doing outside of their scholarly and athletic endeavors,” she said.

Martha Polk’s spirit along with her hard work are symbolic of what Kris Flom and her parents want to celebrate with this award. “[Martha Polk] was upbeat, hard working, concerned about the well-being of others, and also had a fantastic sense of humor,” Kris Flom said. “Just like Erik.”

DESIGNER, PHOTOGRAPHER: Javier Whitaker-Castañeda

At the end of the article, written in November of that year, Erik wrote “I hope I’ve made my situation clear to you.

I learn something new everyday and it is intriguing. I miss you all and I hope school goes well.”

Just two months later, after 99 days and nights in the hospital, Erik Flom died on Jan. 3, 1976.

Although he passed away, his family, friends, and others who knew him remembered him for his humor and endless optimism. Despite his circumstances, he never let his illness smother his exuberant personality.

“His omnipresent smile and good will were far more than contagious. His effusive optimism, in all its sincerity, emanated from his being … His unbelievable courageous realism never produced cynicism or self-pity, nor was his inextinguishable hope ever dampened,” alumnae Kelly McCullough O’Neill wrote in Erik Flom’s 1976 yearbook dedication.

After his passing, 12 evergreens were planted by Erik Flom’s peers near the MS wing as a living memorial for him and the Erik Flom Memorial Award was established to commemorate Erik’s spirit and recognize other students over the years who emulates his strong, caring, and joyful soul in the face of his/her own or someone else’s obstacles.

“This award is intended to honor one of these two traits: a person who, while facing difficult circumstances, is still able to live life to its fullest like Erik did; or, a person who has shown exceptional ability to help others like those people who helped Erik, my parents, my three other brothers, my sister, and myself,” wrote Kris Flom.

Overall. Kris Flom said that the award is meant to honor life spirit, service, perseverance, fortitude, courage, and a sense of humor - all traits that Erik Flom and those who played a large role in helping him during his illness embody.

Untitled

I am amazed at the way she sparkles.

Literally. Her face is coated in liberal doses of highlighter, satin eye shadow, lip-gloss, and something that has to be moisturizer but makes her skin glimmer in the sunlight. She’s beautiful. I want to tell her, but no, that’s not something you do. Is it? I think I want to be her. ​She doesn’t see it. She tells me this later, lying on the floor of her bedroom. The light is coming in through her window, it illuminates the bright colors of her room, bright purples and blues and creams, black and white, and gray that isn’t boring anymore.

Everything about her glows. She thinks she’s ugly. I tell her now: I don’t see it, never have and never will. We confess to each other while she sticks grains of glitter in my eyebrow. I shine. ​I shine in my own way. It’s not as literal as her, but it’s there. My boyfriend starts to notice; he calls me beautiful more often. I like it, but it doesn’t really matter. In history class, she confided to me that her shine comes from within.

She’s looking more matte than ever before. I can’t help but wonder if my shine is taking hers away. ​A month later, we sit on my bathroom floor gossiping and doing each other’s makeup We douse each other’s faces in glitter, not caring what we look like No one can take this feeling away; we’re flying high above the clouds, the sun looking down on us in jealousy because we shine brighter than she ever could. It’s that invincible feeling of being a teenager, fleeting and cruel when it’s over. Right now, we just breathe. We bask in the warmth of our own happiness, like a cat lounging in the sun.

Right now, we shine.

DESIGNER: Javier Whitaker-Castañeda

Mira Zelle ‘18

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Our

BRIGHT

DESIGNER: Gitanjali Raman PHOTOGRAPHER: Emily Thissen WRITER: Marlee Baron

Mentors

A mentor is someone to look up to, someone to aspire to be. A mentor can be anyone; it can be a friend, teacher or family member. They can also be a historical figure or a politician. The role of a mentor is to motivate and inspire their mentee. Many students at St. Paul Academy and Summit School have a mentor who inspires them.

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FRESHMAN MAX MOEN

Freshman Max Moen’s role model is Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany. “[She is my role model] because of how she’s handled the refugee crisis with such a strong hand. I really admire how she has taken such lengths to be so welcoming to these people who have dealt with so much by allowing them to finally have a home in her country. I really hope to be like her by treating all people with equal respect regardless of their background as well as being compassionate and by understanding that everyone has their own story, and everyone’s is different, so you can’t really place any labels on everyone. You always have to be aware of the differences in our community,” Moen said.

SOPHOMORE LILLIAN PETTIGREW “My mentor is my godfather, a close family friend. He passed away from cancer on Christmas Day when I was in 8th grade. We had the same sense of humor; we bonded over these little, witty games that we would play together. He was an amazing person: he was a teacher, than later a principal at an inner city school. He was so incredibly committed to his job and to helping these kids. At one of his memorial services and young girl sang “Amazing Grace” in memory of him. He had been at her birth because her mother was one of his students and he had gone to the hospital. The mother didn’t have any parents to be with her, but he was there. He touched so many lives in incredible ways. He was really smart, hilarious, warm and witty. He was very welcoming,” Pettigrew said.

SOPHOMORE TESS HICK

“With the mentor program last year I was paired with Maggie Vlietstra. At first I was like ‘ugh’ because I had about 80 senior crushes and Maggie was not one of them and I wanted to be with one of my senior crushes, but I was not. I was with Maggie Vlietstra. We went and sat down outside the choir room and she asked me what I like to do and I was like ‘I don’t know, what do you like to do?’ and she was like ‘I like fashion,’ and I was like ‘Ugh... I only wear jeans with holes in them.’ So I was like I don’t like you but I didn’t actually say that because I’m a good person. Later on we started doing theater together and I had forgotten that she was my mentor. She always drove me home, so we would sit, talk and watch the lights of the freeway fly by. She became one of my best friends because of the quiet moments where we could just sit and talk about our days. I don’t have any classes with her because she is a senior but I see her in choir and in Summit Singers and she always smiles and that just makes my day. I admire her so much because she isn’t afraid to be out there and she is spontaneous and awesome. She isn’t afraid to try new things which is something I struggle with. I want to be as ambitious and courageous as Maggie Vlietstra. I love her a lot,” Hick said.

All That Shines

AUREUS# 17

Swimming for Survivors

SCREEN CAPTURE FROM: C Gibbons on YouTube

She swims as a survivor. Every time Ceallach Gibbons’ limbs slice through the water, she reclaims a piece of herself that was once victimized by sexual assault. Each splash reverberates across pools and oceans, empowering other women along the way — she simultaneously collects and spreads hope like the water that swirls between her fingers.

“Slowly, one stroke at a time, I am reclaiming my body. Swimming has helped me realize that there’s a difference between being victimized and being a victim. I was victimized, and I am not a victim. I am a survivor,” she said.

Gibbons, a 2012 SPA alumnae, survived sexual assault at the age of 16.

After the rape, Gibbons struggled with her identity as a survivor and an athlete — so, she turned to swimming, a sport she’d participated in for years, both at SPA and outside of school.

A year ago, she began training for the English Channel swim in July of 2016 and decided to combine her passion for swimming with her desire to spread awareness

DESIGNER: Boraan Abdulkarim

DESIGNER: First Last

PHOTOGRAPHER: First Last

WRITER: Amodhya Samarakoon

Alumnus Ceallach Gibbons (‘12) advocates for sexual assault survivors through swimming

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about sexual assault by creating an organization called Swim for Survivors.

“Swimming has been a critical part of my journey as a survivor of sexual assault,” she said. “I wanted to use the platform that comes with swimming the Channel to talk about what swimming means to me.”

Gibbons began swimming competitively at age seven, eventually captaining SPA’s high school swim team for two years.

“I was raped during the middle of my senior high school swim season, and that dramatically diverted the course of my swimming career,” she said.

Afterwards, her confidence fell, taking a toll on her swimming. Nonetheless, she continued to draw strength from her sport.

“Even on my worst days, even when I was at my most depressed, I felt safe and powerful in the water,” Gibbons said.

After a friend swam the English Channel, Gibbons set her mind to conquering it as well while using the swim as a platform to stimulate a larger discussion about sexual assault.

“I wanted to make the sexual assault more central to my campaign, since swimming will always be such an important part of my ongoing recovery,” Gibbons said.

On her YouTube channel, Gibbons has published two videos about her journey, goals, and organization. The first one, produced a year ago, was professional, recorded in a studio, but in the end felt too structured for her.

“I presented myself as a complete success story… It wasn’t a completely honest video. However, it was probably all I was capable of at the time…

As I made strides with my mental health, and as I worked with other survivors, I decided that I needed to make another [video]… you can actually track my healing through the progression with the two videos,” she said.

In the second video, she sits in front of the camera in a very personal setting and explains the emotional impact of the rape. As her eyes well up between clear blue shots of her body’s underwater movements, the significance of swimming becomes clear — the idea of support, recovery, and safety — in the larger issue of sexual assault.

According to RAINN (the Rape, Abuse, Incest, National Network), 44% of rape victims are under the age of 18, and there are over 200,000 victims of sexual assault per year in the United States. Very few can doubt the severity of this problem from a few statistics alone. Yet, only two out of every 100 rapists serve time for their crimes. This is an issue that Gibbons attempts to combat through Swim for Survivors.

“I wanted to create a movement that would reach people who have survived a sexual assault, but perhaps they haven’t shared their experience

with anybody. Rape is the second most underreported crime, only to domestic violence,” she said.

Gibbons states that this idea ties into the victim-survivor differentiation that often gets neglected in the current conversations about rape. “[The term] ‘Victim’ reinforces the crime…Victim is not an empowering word. It gives power to the attacker, and it implies passiveness,” she said.

This issue of underreporting and victimization increases the difficulty of spreading awareness, healing, and increasing the conversation about rape. One method Gibbons has to further this dialogue is to make it personal — to emphasize that sexual assault does not only affect that one girl on the news, but also that viewer’s friends, family, or peers.

“We need to love and support without imparting judgment. I hope Swim for Survivors can both help survivors and teach other people how to help by removing judgment from the discussion.”

Gibbons acknowledges that it takes effort to create a safe environment for survivors and others to talk about rape — she credits time, therapy, supportive friends, and her loving family for her ability to talk openly and comfortably about such a difficult topic.

“The more I look outward and try to help other people, the easier it’s been to look inward and be honest with myself,” she said.

Her recovery journey continues, but by creating Swim for Survivors, Gibbons refuses to let herself or other women to be labeled as victims, and refuses to let rape remain a silent crime. Each donation and each stroke across the water builds for Gibbons and other survivors a strong support system and invites a loud voice.

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n rakoo ya Sa ma R: A m od h n WR ITE l i Ra m a

Shining a Light on Domestic Violence

DE SIG

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Gi tan

j a l i Ra man

I L LU S T

R ATO

R: G i t an ja

Nine seconds. It’s how long a student zones out in class before shifting back into reality. It’s a few moments longer than a blink, a second shorter than a stare. It’s an easy math problem, a stretch, and maybe a yawn. It’s a moment of time that passes in front of our eyes but does not get converted into a memory.

Every nine seconds in the United States a woman is assaulted or beaten, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Along with this fact, the NCADV publishes numerous statistics, in seconds and minutes and fractions, which reveal the sobering truth behind domestic violence.

Some people and organizations strive to make this nine second gap longer - nonexistent if possible. Such programs include the NCADV, the Battered Women’s Justice Project, and one local organization created by St. Paul Academy and Summit School’s Security staff member, Jesse Peterson, called FightDV. A main motivator for Peterson when deciding to create FightDV was that he noticed a common trend among most organizations that focused this issue: highlighting negative statistics and then requesting donations.

“I just felt like society could use an approach that possibly provides more continued engagement from viewers, and one that equally fights the issue on both sides of the spectrum by not only assisting with the aftermath but also doing more about the prevention of domestic violence,” Peterson said.

Peterson has long been involved in helping the

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community — after serving in the military, he began tutoring students on the weekends, has volunteered at the Children’s Crisis Nursery, and drives the SPA cafeteria leftovers to a homeless shelter in St. Paul every weekend. Eventually, he started the organization called FightDV (DV standing for Domestic Violence) which strives to spread awareness about and prevent domestic violence.

The things Peterson strives to convey at FightDV extend beyond the well-known yet under-discussed proportion stating that 1 in 5 women has been raped in her lifetime. 1 in 15 children are also exposed to domestic violence each year. Along with rape, domestic violence can include physical abuse, psychological abuse, stalking, child abuse, and homicide.

“The thing that sparked my interest in preventing domestic violence was that, apart from having responded to various domestic calls in my line of security work throughout the years, I also strongly believe that if we can impact that change early on in homes, maybe some of those extremely intelligent children will go on to do something positive such as become role models, leaders... rather than going down a negative path in life,” Peterson said.

He states that one main goal of his website is to not only reveal the difficult truths about domestic violence, but to show the positive impact that domestic violence prevention and awareness has on people’s lives.

Peterson does this by giving away T-shirts, wristbands, and other gear, and by posting photos on the FightDV Facebook page.

“I feel that I am doing a great job with getting others involved and if I could make a living promoting

the fight against domestic violence every day, I would,� he said.

Although students at SPA may support the fight against domestic violence, many may not realize the importance it holds within their own lives.

For those who have never experienced it first hand, the fact that some of their peers may means that be struggling with dangerous home situations may not register in their minds. However, it’s important to

All That Shines A U R E U S # 2 1

STATISTICS

on domestic violence

Source: National Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Over 20,000 phone calls are made to domestic violence hotlines everyday understand how to prevent and help those dealing with domestic violence — not only because high schoolers may be dealing with it now, but because it can also come up or persist later on in life.

“Just think of the teens that are starting their first relationships and primarily going off of the learned behaviors that they observed in their homes. If their home involved domestic violence, abuse or neglect...the chances for them to behave in the same manner puts them that much higher at risk, especially when you consider the wide range of emotional changes that teens tend to go through as they are transitioning towards adolescence… and unfortunately some teens don’t handle relationship changes as well as others,” Peterson said.

Spreading awareness about domestic violence and the early warning signs can help prevent people from ending up in situations where they are domestically abused or where they end up abusing others.

And, Peterson states that high schoolers play a key role in the success of organizations like his. “[Teens] use social media far more, they network with larger groups of people, they can easily put together events using their school campus, they can distribute fliers and items quickly by getting others to join them,” he said.

Through creating this organization and interacting with different people who support the cause, Peterson has built connections with numerous supporters and victims of domestic abuse. The impact of FightDV’s work on people’s lives has strengthened Peterson’s sense of joy and pride in his organization’s goal.

“One of the fans of the FightDV page knew of a girl that had a GoFundMe fundraiser … called ‘Wheels for Ki-

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ara’ going because she left an abusive relationship and had to leave everything behind, including her vehicle and still needed transportation for her and her toddler,” Peterson said.

Peterson showed public support for Kiara’s fundraiser by promoting it through FightDV and donating, which led to other FightDV fans pitching funds towards getting her a car.

“Not long after, she was able to afford a running vehicle and it was a very meaningful honor for me to give her a FightDV.org bumper sticker for the vehicle,” he said.

Along with helping survivors of domestic abuse, Peterson cherishes the unexpected moments when he is able to help someone personally affected. After mentioning the organization to someone, that person requested a FightDV hoodie. “[He] informed me that he had lost his sister and aunt to two separate domestic violence incidents… I believe that he felt that it helped him to honor them in a sense by promoting the message [and] it helps show that he is taking a fighter’s stance against domestic violence,” Peterson said.

Afterwards, the person donated through FightDV to a domestic violence shelter in his sister’s home state.

“Not long after, I felt even more rewarded when that shelter sent me a letter informing me that they researched his story... So as you can see, the rewards from promoting a cause like this are profound and abundant,” he said.

Students at SPA are not distanced from domestic violence — sadly, it’s something many people face every single second, and it can happen to families, friends, and siblings.

“Almost everyone that I introduce to the cause mentions having a link to domestic violence, so it’s up to people like you and me to break those chains… every chance we get,” Peterson said.

1 in 4 men and 1 in 3 women are assaulted everyday.

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A City at Night through shuttered windows, the hands of a playful child pressed against the glass as to almost reach and feel the cool droplets on her skin. Every so often a car will pass, hissing across the road as it casts puddles to the sidewalk and the gurgling storm drains. The headlights fight against the downpour, casting long shadows across wet brick and stone. The residents seek shelter from this night, they leave their sidewalks and their shops, but the city has a pulsing heartbeat, is not asleep, no, it is waking again. It seeks not now the cars and trucks of day, no, it seeks to cleanse from its alleys and avenues the sorrow of the day.

Washed away, to be replaced by an earthy and sweet smelling dawn.

- Frederick Keillor, ‘18 DESIGNER: Diane Huang

It is when the sun sinks deep into the obsidian sky and the moon pulls its way through the evening clouds, that the rain dances across the asphalt, filling the air with the delightful smell of wet stone, and seeming to polish the various pebbles and tar that pave the boulevard. The shop windows spill their light onto abandoned walks and the cracked old street, catching in the dark pools of water.

Adorned in such shop windows hangs a menagerie of signs. Their fine glass tubes of neon course with a violet glow, gently buzzing a harmony to the rumbling of the thunder.

As the thunder comes, so does the lightning, striking upon the towers which dot the sky, thrusting light upon the streets, only to have it shatter in the darkness. Curious heads peer

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DESIGNER: Boraan Abdulkarim

FAIR USE IMAGE: Flickr Creative Commons WRITER: Noor Qureishy

Space Science class hosts star parties

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inpricks of light shine through seemingly endless stillness, forming constellations, a myriad of patterns and pictures in the sky. Observing the night sky in all its wonders as a class, the students in the spring Space Science elective enjoy unique opportunities to attend star parties.

Star parties usually occur once a week, on days when the sky is clear and perfect for stargazing. Students fill out their observation sheets on the athletic fields with US science teacher Steve Heilig. Heilig has seen students, family members (including grandparents) and neighbors at the star parties; while they’re usually not a big affair, large events can draw crowds of up to a hundred people.

Heilig believes that star parties give students an eye-opening experience that helps them succeed in class and experience the marvels of space: “I give the students these star charts, but you’re looking at this small piece of paper and the sky is really huge… it really helps to have somebody to point it out the first time,” Heilig said. “When anybody looks through the telescope… it’s like a time machine; you’re looking into the past.”

The students have seen planets, constellations, satellites, and the International Space Station. But the sighting Heilig

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remembers best is the trash hauler from the ISS. “We were going to see the space station, we were all ready… and we saw something on the path of the space station… that wasn’t that bright. All of a sudden we looked… we thought ‘What would be in the same orbit? What would be following the same path as the space station?’,” Heilig recounted.

“The amazing part of witnessing the journey of trash hauler was how unlikely their chances of seeing it were; there was barely a one day window between when it was jettisoned from the space station and when it combusted. It is moments like these that excite students, leading them down a path of discovery instead of monotonous staring into the sky,” Heilig said.

Senior Michelle Heilig believes that star parties give students a unique venue to learn about space. “We get to connect concepts from class to things we can actually see,” she said. “[We get] to see, in real life, what we’ve been talking about in class and gain some context.”

Her favorite part about attending a star party is finding constellations and learning the stories that go with them. “We looked at Sirius, the brightest star, and saw its rainbow colors and twinkling, and knew that it was due to the atmosphere,” she said.

Senior Peter Baker also has his share of memorable moments at star parties. “My peanut butter and jelly sandwich froze

during the first star party… Dr. Heilig set everything up long before the students arrived and it was really inspiring that he was willing to brave the elements in order to better facilitate our understanding,” he said.

Some of Baker’s favorite sightings have been the occasional satellite or meteor shower.

Baker also believes that the star parties have helped him succeed academically.

“Just as students perform labs in Chemistry and Physics, star parties provide students a way to experience and observe what they are learning about,” he said.

Coming to star parties has allowed Baker to learn about topics related to space that he never would have encountered in the classroom. “Depending on the night there might be something extra worth noting in the sky and that will prompt a whole new tangent of discussion and learning that would have otherwise been missed out on,” he said.

However, the star parties this year have gotten lower attendance than usual. Michelle Heilig believes this is due to the timing of the parties, which is often unpredictable and difficult to deal with. “To see planets, we’d need to wake up ridiculously early and even the evening star parties can be inconvenient,” she said.

Senior Christine Lam also believes that attendance has been an especially prevalent

problem this year. “People are interested to an extent, but they’re not willing to show up,” she said.

However, Lam believes that the experience of those who did come was especially valuable. “We have observation assignments and it’s a lot better having Dr. Heilig explain it [the stars] to me… I know people who didn’t go had a hard time finding stuff [for their homework],” she said.

Lam also believes that the higher quality telescopes have helped her to complete her homework better. “[Going to the star parties] makes the assignments easier and it increases your understanding… I don’t have to guess around,” she said.

The star parties, and by extension, Space Science, have increased Lam’s appreciation of the night sky.

“It’s interesting in that I never used to look at the stars… look for specific constellations or look at them closely,” she said.

“It’s cool, when you hear about [constellations], to know where they are and to be able to spot them in the sky.”

Baker shares Lam’s renewed appreciation of the stars, and enjoys the new perspective the star parties have given him on the celestial world.

“So rarely do students, especially in the city, have the opportunity or the reason to just spend time studying the night sky. It is something so familiar and yet so foreign to many of us,” Baker said.

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Signs of

Originally built to advertise for local flour, beer, wool, and theater industries, these shining signs illuminate the history of the Twin Cities’ rise to importance from the 1850s to 1940s.

Recently, the unique industrial advertisements-turned-artifacts have been restored to shed light on the Minnesota history behind them and serve as a glowing source of Twin Cities pride.

The Heights Theater 3951 Central Ave. NE Columbia Heights, MN 55421 The Heights Theater sign serves as a symbol of Minnesota’s longest operating show-house. The theater was built in the Beaux Arts style in 1926 by a brewery heir Arthur Gluek as a prohibition real estate venture. The Heights originally ran vaudeville acts and first run movies but now functions as a high end venue for both classic and modern film screenings. According to the theater’s website, the Heights Theater has survived at least three fires, one bombing, and “The Big Blow of 1949” when a tornado twisted the tower sign. Located at the crossroads of 40th Avenue and Central Avenue in Columbia Heights, the sign beckons passersby to be transported back to the age of original cinema if they enter the theater, which is adorned with shimmering chandeliers, vintage interior decor, and a classic grand piano in the lobby.

Gold Medal Flour 704 S 2nd St. Minneapolis, MN 55401 Gold Medal Flour was clearly destined for success when it began overproducing for the small Minneapolis market in 1849.

Following years of the company’s prosperity, the Gold Medal Flour sign was built in 1910 atop the Washburn A Mill. Originally, 1,500 tungsten globes positioned in the recesses of the letters illuminated the sign. During a 1945 restoration, these globes were replaced by neon tubing. When the mill was closed in 1965, all of the various lighting sources were abandoned when the sign was turned off. It remained dark for over 30 years. In 2000, various organizations produced $250,000 to relight the sign. At the time of rehabilitation, the original neon tubes had to be restored because LED technology that would be used to relight other signs in the city was not advanced enough. Admirers of the once-again-glowing Gold Medal Flour sign can visit the Mill City Museum, which occupies adjacent ruins from the Minneapolis flour industry.

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the

Past

DESIGNER: Diane Huang PHOTOGRAPHER: Stephanie Li WRITER: Sophie Jaro

North Star Blankets 117 Portland Ave. S Minneapolis, MN 55401 The North Star Blankets sign once shone as a signal of the soft wool blankets and rough industrial working conditions produced within the North Star Woolen Company manufacturing facility. By 1925, the company became the nation’s largest manufacturer of wool blankets, adding to the growing prosperity of the industrialized metro area until it moved its operations to Ohio in 1949. Today, the North Star Blanket sign is no longer maintained as a marketing campaign, but a historical treasure. In July 2015, a successful campaign to protect the historical sign secured a quarter million dollars for its restoration.

After being taken down, refurbished, and refitted for new LED lights, the sign recently resumed sparkling on the Mississippi waterfront with new purpose.

Grain Belt 2-4 West Island Ave., Nicollet Island Minneapolis, MN 55401 Grain Belt Beer was a product of the Minneapolis Brewing Company, an enterprise formed by the merger of four local breweries in 1890. (The “M” inside a circle above “Grain Belt Beer” is the logo for the original brewing company, Minneapolis Brewing). The company built the Grain Belt sign in 1940 as part of a scheme to increase beer sales following Prohibition and the Great Depression. The sizable sign, which measures 50 feet wide by 40 feet tall, originally perched atop what is now the Hyatt Hotel on Nicollet Avenue, but was moved to Nicollet Island in 1950.

The sign’s 1,100 incandescent bulbs and 800 feet of exposed neon tubing remained lit until 1975. The sign went dark until being briefly relighted, with much fanfare, in 1989, before going dark again. Earlier this year, the current owner of the Grain Belt brand, August Schell Brewing Company, purchased and promised to restore the porcelain sign. The company speculates the lights of Minneapolis’ landmark Grain Belt beer sign will glow again in the summer of 2017.

First National Bank 332 Minnesota St St. Paul, MN 55101 In February, wind damage indefinitely darkened the iconic First National Bank neon sign in the St. Paul skyline. This beacon of St. Paul, a sign that can be seen from almost 75 miles away at night and 20 miles away on a clear day, shut off after 80 years due to damage to the tubing and its recent change in ownership. The thirty-two-story building the sign stands on was constructed in 1931, competing with New York City’s Empire State Building for construction materials. Although first built to house a bank, the building now serves a variety of other purposes.

This is certainly not the last that will be heard of the First National bank sign.

According to a Star Tribune article written the day the sign went dark, Scott Goltz, vice president of St. Paul-based Madison Equities, which owns the building, said it is likely that the sign will be repaired and relit this summer.

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h n

Capella University

S ini g Skyline

DESIGNER: Diane Huang

PHOTOGRAPHER: Stephanie Li WRITER: Gitanjali Raman

The newest addition, U.S. Bank Stadium, features architecture inspired by Minnesota landscape

A

testimony to Minneapolis’ climate, geography, technology, and the rich history of progressive civic structures, the U.S. Bank Stadium is Minneapolis’s newest addition to the skyline.

The U.S. Bank Stadium is set to open in July 2016 and will cover over 1,000,000 square feet. The main architecture company of this immense creation is HKS. Minnesota architecture firms Studio Five, Studio Hive, and Lawal Scott Erickson Architects worked alongside HKS in completing sections of the stadium.

The stadium is modeled after the natural formations near Minneapolis.

“We used the fragmented ice flows and the historic photos of the jagged rock formations in the Mississippi River near St. Anthony falls as major design influences,” Sports Principal in Charge of HKS John Hutchings said.

There are many unique features of this new stadium. Some prominent features include the ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) roof and the world’s largest pivoting doors.

We used the fragmented ice flows and the historic photos of the jagged rock formations in the Mississippi River ... as major design influences.

-John Hutchings, Sports Principal in charge, HKS

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U.S Bank Stadium

The IDS Center

Thrivent Financial

Weisman Art Museum The Minnesota architect firm, Studio Five, was in charge of the exterior envelope and roof assembly. Linda McCraken-Hunt, lead Principal of Studio Five, commented upon the uses of ETFE. “ETFE is a very interesting product. It allows the sunlight in and...you can see the sky and the clouds through the ETFE. A layer of that film is not much thicker than a Ziplock freezer baggie. It’s very lightweight,” she said.

The roof is mainly made up of the transparent ETFE. The roof was shaped by HKS’ requirement to get the snow off of the roof in a response that is both sustainable and consistent with the traditional efficient Nordic roof designs.

“The ETFE roof on the stadium south side is a first for the NFL and will allow the outdoors to be present as fans are in the seating bowl, but keeping the harsh weather out. The ETFE roof is the largest ETFE roof installation in the Americas,” Hutchings said.

The U.S. Bank Stadium offers more amenities to visitors than the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome did. Spectators have access to more specialty club rooms, social spaces, suits, and concessions. The concourse is also much wider, allowing for more elbow room. In addition to more space, the stadium’s large windows offer plenty of natural light to the concourse area.

“You don’t feel like you are in a basement,” McCracken-Hunt said.

The stadium’s first game will not be football, but soccer: the International Champions Cup will be held in the U.S. Bank Stadium on Aug. 3. Two concerts have been scheduled to perform at the venue in August. In fact, Metallica’s concert, on Aug. 20, sold out in 10 minutes on Mar. 25. Metallica will be the second performance in the stadium, preceded by country music star Luke Bryan on Aug. 19.

Marriot Hotel City Center

AdvisorNet Financial HQ All That Shines A U R E U S # 29

More Light

DESIGNER: Javier Whitaker-Castañeda

Miriam Tibbetts ‘16 Can I let the cat out?

Calls my sister from the doorway and the doorway shines, glistens like the lake we used to plunge into like stones from the great, green sea.

Every morning a light.

Every morning yet another example of fluorescent lighting’s rudimentary cares.

It’s all done with a mindless flick of the forefinger and then suddenly.

A light!

I can already tell when the sun begins to rise.

It’s not intuition, but the incidental plummet of salty dust particles in my peripheral vision when I’m turned away from the window, frosting my cheeks with even more light.

More light!

Reflect, mirrors!

What else have you to do when such a pretty picture exists to shine on everything it birthed?

3 0 A U R E U S All That Shines

A U R E U S All That Shines # 3 1

Aureus St. Paul Academy and Summit School 1712 Randolph Ave Saint Paul, MN 55105