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Although it featured plenty of crazy costumes, Freakfest 2009 was Madison’s tamest Halloween celebration yet.
In its fourth year since beginning, the annual event saw far fewer arrests The Daily Cardinal
Freakfest began four years ago as a city-sanctioned event to offset years of Halloween violence and riots downtown, with this year being the tamest yet. “I think Freakfest has transformed the nature of Halloween in Madison,” said Det. Dave Gouran of the Madison Police Department. “People are having a good time for the right reasons.” As of midnight, Gouran said he had not heard of any violent events occurring. “It’s been buoyant and jovial … people are having a great
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Monday, November 2, 2009
Freakfest as tame as ever By Caitlin Gath
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time,” he said. Joel DeSpain, MPD’s public information officer, said in a statement that from a police perspective the event “went extremely well” this year. About 44,000 tickets were sold, and as of 2 a.m. there had only been 47 arrests, most of which were for minor offenses, he said. The majority of the people who received tickets were simply cited and released. Only two people went to jail, according to the statement. There were no major incidents reported in the event area, no sigfreakfest page 3
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Stephan Jenkins, lead singer of Third Eye Blind, performs in a wig during the Freakfest concert Saturday night.
Third Eye Blind draws huge crowd By Caitlin Gath The Daily Cardinal
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Madison’s annual Freakfest celebration on State Street drew in over 43,000 costumed partygoers in its fourth year.
Of the 44,000 tickets sold for Freakfest, not all were bought to parade around State Street dressed in disguise, but instead were purchased to see the event’s headlining band, Third Eye Blind. Stacy Fierstein, a resident of Chicago, said she traveled to Madison just to see them play. “I wouldn’t be here otherwise,” she said. “This will be my 41st time seeing them in concert.” Dee N., a Milwaukee resident, said she has never been to Madison for Freakfest and only made the drive to see Third Eye
Blind. The band, which began playing around 12:30 a.m., 30 minutes after they were scheduled to begin, captured the crowd’s attention right away. “This is my favorite day of the year and I had the time of my life,” lead singer Stephan Jenkins said to the audience. “This is not lost on us at all.” “You made us feel like a brand new band,” he added. “I feel like a vampire with brand new blood in his veins.” Although the band sang about starting riots, the crowd never fully got out of control. Band
Student involvement and interest in politics on the decline Part 1 of 3 in a series on student political activism By Jessica Feld The Daily Cardinal
Last fall the corners of Madison’s streets became soapboxes for political diatribes and the sidewalks transformed into mile-long billboards featuring the “Rock the Vote” campaign. An undeniable sense of excitement surged throughout the campus as students prepared for what would be a historic election. College Democrats Chair Molly Rivera recalled her organization’s kickoff event drew nearly 500 students, almost filling Humanities’ room 3650 to capacity. Overwhelmed with the amount of student interest, Rivera said, “We were just trying to figure out what
to do with all of our volunteers that we had.” Almost a year to date since the nation elected Barack Obama as president, the campus’ political climate, once vigorous and widespread, is now dormant and secluded. This year’s College Democrats kick-off event drew 140 people, less than a third of 2008’s attendance figure, Rivera said. Not surprised, Rivera attributes the decline in student interest to the non-election year. “Elections are exciting, elections are sexy, they’re fun to work on, students really enjoy that,” Rivera said. “Non-election years they would rather do homework; they have all these other things going on.” The election’s significance influenced UW-Madison senior Tirrell
Chester’s political involvement. “It was a big election,” Chester said. “Any presidential election is going to be, you want to know the different candidates and their viewpoints so you read up more on what they’re talking about.” However, when asked today about his current political participation, Chester said, “If the question is, ‘am I an activist? Do I actively support my political party?’ No.” Associate professor of political science Kathleen Walsh said a decline in political participation in a non-election year is normal in the political cycle. “Most people, regardless of age, are more politically interested and actively involved in politics during presidential elections,” Walsh said. According to College Republicans Chair Crystal Lee, students’ political
members instead said they tried to bring people together. “I think you should all take care of each other,” Jenkins said. “If somebody falls, pick ‘em up.” Sophie Lalambe, a concert-goer who saw the tail-end of the show, said it was pretty good, while Kristy Miller, also in the crowd, said the show was awesome. Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said it was great to see a variety of different demographics present at many of the concerts. He also said he would love to be able to create more space around the main stage in future years.
Location of Obama visit disclosed
detachment results from a decline in the media’s political coverage. “The media bombards you with [information],” Lee said. “You can’t hide from it. It’s everywhere. So, it’s a lot easier to get involved when it’s hitting you in the face.” During the 2008 election, senior Maria Lopez said she relied on media to remain politically active. One year later, Lopez said politics are no longer part of her daily life. “I’m not saying we should not care less about it, but we have other things to do,” Lopez said. With a decline in interest and lack of information, student organizations are challenged to reinvigorate political involvement on campus. Learning from the success of
President Barack Obama will speak at Wright Middle School in Madison Wednesday, the White House confirmed Friday. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will join Obama to likely discuss K-12 education. In a statement last week the White House said Obama would discuss “strengthening America’s education system.” According to Wispolitics.com the event is invitation-only and will primarily include an audience of students, teachers and school staff. Wright Middle School, a 12-yearold charter school, emphasizes community involvement and social action, according to its website. The school is named after the late Rev. James
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“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”