Volume 29, Issue 29, April 19, 2007

THE

METROPOLITAN 4.19.07 • Vol. 29 No. 29 • http://www.mscd.edu/~themet • Serving the Auraria Campus since 1979

MEMORIAM

“

“

IN

It’s not just that we have to move on, it is very important for all of us to keep going.

– Ron Rorrer, UCD professor and Virginia Tech alumnus

MetNews

THE METROPOLITAN • PAGE 3 • GEOF WOLLERMAN • GWOLLERM@MSCD.EDU

Tuition hike on horizon

Stepping up for the earth

Projected enrollment increases still leave Metro’s budget short

By Geof Wollerman gwollerm@mscd.edu If approved by the Metro Board of Trustees, a 5 percent tuition increase for Metro students will go into effect this fall. The increase would amount to approximately $3 million in additional revenue for the college next year.

One of the factors contributing to the proposed increase in tuition is the state-mandated increase in salaries and health insurance assistance for state employees, Metro President Stephen Jordan said, adding that the budget allotted to all of higher education this year doesn’t even cover these mandatory increases.

This year Metro was allotted $3.4 million of the $48 million allotted to the overall higher education budget.

“In order to fully pay the mandated cost increases, some part of tuition increases are going to have to go to that, just to keep the institution whole,” Jordan said.

The increase doesn’t include covering other parts of Metro’s budget, such as adding new staff, increasing salaries beyond the mandated increase, or adding any additional student services, he said.

“Our trustees believe – and so does our president – that tuition should be kept very low. But we don’t want to keep it low to the point where we can’t provide services. ” -- NATALIE LUTES, METRO FINANCE DIRECTOR

Photo by Ryan Deuschle • rdeusch1@mscd.edu

An environmental activist holds a sign protesting the energy policies of the Bush administration during a rally April 14 organized by Auraria students Shae Whitney and Duncan Dotterer, a.k.a. the Climate Cats, for the national organization Step It Up to bring attention to the effects of global warming and what people can do to make a difference.

See TUITION Page 7

MORE INSIDE: Black WWII pilots land, tell their story on campus

“Even if we raise the tuition 5 percent, it’s going to be a very marginal revenue in the big scheme of things, and so we’ll have to set some priories about which (programs) we’re going to put our money to,” Jordan said.

Jordan also made clear that Metro’s increases over the years have been less than those of any other four-year institution in Colorado, which shows the board’s concern for students, but also means the college forgoes that revenue permanently because the increases are accumulative.

“Our trustees believe – and so does our president – that tuition should be kept very low. But we don’t want to keep it low to the point where we can’t provide services,” said Natalie Lutes, finance director for Metro.

“There are all these things that we continue to do without,” Jordan said. He pointed out that there are not enough full-time faculty members in the classrooms, programs for students, a big enough information tech-

PAGE 9

New activists invoke old nonviolent vision

PAGE 7

THE METROPOLITAN • 4.19.07

NEWS • 5

Photo by Amie Cribley • acribley@mscd.edu

From left: Adam Strickland, Jeremy Jordan and Valerie Eric.

Photo by Nicholas Duckworth • nduckwor@mscd.edu

From left: Hallie Van Staaten, Theresa Stiller and Shantae Bobo.

Photo by Andrew Bisset • abisset1@mscd.edu

From left: Paige Cosmas and Twite Mulunda lean on each other at the candlelight vigil organized for Auraria students by the UCDHSC Office of Student Life held at the Campus Village courtyard.

Photo by Tyler William Walton • twalton2@mscd.edu

UCDHSC Professor Ron Rorrer spoke to students gathered in the Campus Village courtyard.

Va. Tech tragedy illuminated

By The Metropolitan staff

I

n the wake of America’s most daunting and horrific shooting that claimed the lives of 33 people at Virginia Tech and injured many more, students from Auraria held a candlelight vigil April 17 at Campus Village to honor the perished and support the survivors.

“It’s an awful thing that happened so I’m

just trying to show some support,” UCD student Amanda Groves said.

The massacre has evoked a multitude of emotional reactions from students and people across the country.

“It’s not just that we have to move on, it is very important for all of us to keep going,” said Ron Rorrer, a Virginia Tech alumnus and professor at UCD. The congregation spent a moment in si-

lence in memory of the victims.

To close the ceremony, Zach Targos, a community assistant at Campus Village, read a poem by William Penn. Targos said his own words could not convey his intense feelings well enough – so he used another’s.

Although it will take time, the opportunity to change and grow is before us, said Kate Melvin, a community assistant at Campus Village.

Cover photo by William Blackburn • wblackb2@mscd.edu

THE METROPOLITAN • 4.19.07

Activist author challenges imperialist U.S. activities

By Brandon Daviet bdaviet@mscd.edu During the Vietnam War, students made their name as the outspoken activists of America. To mobilize a nationwide movement, the Students for a Democratic Society organized and became known as one of the most vocal opponents of the war and pioneered a system of nonviolent protest.

Now, in response to the war in Iraq, SDS chapters are once again springing up, including one here on Auraria. Scott Kwansny, who helped formed the Auraria chapter, said the group is needed because our current president is “living in the Stone Age.” As one of its first events, the group welcomed author Phyllis Bennis from the Institute of Policy Studies to speak about the Bush administration’s activities and policies in Iraq. Bennis has devoted many years to peace activism and was involved with SDS during the ’60s.

Speaking to a full house in the Tivoli senate chamber, Bennis declared that the “U.S. is trying to build an empire. It has to do with oil and it has to do with power.”

Bennis is currently speaking at campuses around the country about her new book Challenging Empire, which puts forth strong opinions about what needs to be done about the conflict in Iraq.

The book largely focuses on the roles that the U.S. and U.N. play in deciding foreign policy. The book also details the strength of public opinion and why the New York Times declared it the world’s “second superpower.”

Bennis took some time to speak about the effect the war has had locally. “In Colorado alone $5.1 million in tax dollars has gone towards the war in Iraq, and 32 soldiers from Colorado have died,” Bennis said.

In addition to the troops lost, Bennis pointed out that the government is largely avoiding commenting on the high numbers of Iraqi casualties that are a result of the war.

“We don’t know exactly how many Iraqis have died because the Pentagon doesn’t keep a body count, but a study

by Johns Hopkins University puts the number at more than 650,000 as of October 2005,” Bennis said.

Bennis pleaded for people to get involved in the peace movement and reiterated the message of SDS that when a government runs amuck, people have a right and an obligation to protest.

“We need to create a new concept of foreign policy that is based on justice and not the wants of the current administration,” she said. “That is the challenge that is facing your generation.”

For more information about Auraria SDS, go to the group’s blog at http://aurariasds.blogspot.com.

NEWS • 7

Brand Spankin New makes national mark

By Ryan Parker parkerya@mscd.edu

A company that began as part of a senior-level marketing class at Metro is growing rapidly and providing opportunities for both marketing and industrial design students.

Brand Spankin New is the only student-run furniture company in the nation, and it is drawing the attention of outside investors, including Metro alumni who may be interested in helping the company thrive.

“We have partners in actual companies who come and see what they like and might be interested in,” said Jacquilyn Esparza, a member of the internal marketing team of Brand Spankin New. “We are sending a team to meet with an alumnus of Metro, an entrepreneur living in Kansas City, for additional funding.”

Mod Livin, a Denver furniture company, held an event on April 6 to celebrate its new design studio in which pieces of furniture from Brand Spankin New will be featured.

The furniture designs will be featured in the studio will give a larger audience an idea of what Brand Spankin New has to offer. The company is the brainchild of two different classes currently offered at Metro, Seminar in Marketing Management and Reputation and Brand Management.

“We run the business and we decide what to sell,” Esparza said.

“Our goal is to be the largest student retailer in the world.”

Brand Spankin New offers such designs as the “Joey,” a coffee table with a hanging fabric pocket, and the “Lupe,” a wall-mounted magazine rack. The company has a website, http://www.brandspankinnew.org, where one can see designs currently offered and learn about the company’s history. All the company’s products are individually made and numbered by their designers, and no two pieces are exactly alike.

“We get no money from this. It’s all for a grade. One day we would love to go global,” Esparza said.

TUITION • Increases can no longer be deferred; operating efficiency maxed Tuition increases Continued from 5 nology section, or enough people conducting the business routines of the college. These are all problems because the college continues to defer the opportunity to increase tuition, he said.

“I think there becomes a point where you can no longer afford to keep deferring those decisions.

You’ve got to step up to them sooner or later. So I think the likelihood of a tuition increase that will approach – if not be at – the 5 percent is much greater this year than it has been in the past,” Jordan said.

At an April 4 Board of Trustees meeting, trustee Alex Cranberg, who heads the finance committee, pointed to a projected 17 percent increase in enrollment this fall and suggested that this would bode well for Metro’s coffers.

“The increases in student admissions, if sustained, would certainly present a very favorable financial picture for us next year. … It suggests that we might be able to get by without even having to have as high as a 5 percent tuition increase,” Cranberg said. “I would certainly urge us to be as conservative as possible when increasing tuition.”

Metro is the only Colorado higher education institution that is showing enrollment growth, Jordan said. And because the total amount of state money that is dedicated to higher education is fixed, Metro ends up having to subsidize many of its students. Jordan added that the net result of this is that the college receives significantly less money per student than other schools.

“The only way to try to minimize this is to maximize our tuition money,” he said.

Though a concrete plan has yet to be developed, one option Metro is looking at is deferring the increase for students who are enrolled in 13 or more credit hours and spreading the increase out among the rest of the student body, Lutes said, adding that the point behind this was to increase retention and graduation rates.

There are 5,000 students enrolled in 10 credit hours, and it would be these students that the increase would target in order to encourage them to graduate sooner, Jordan said.

While an increase in enrollment at Metro might appear to be a good sign for the college’s revenues, Lutes pointed out that it creates another problem in and of itself.

“If enrollment goes up we have to hire more people to teach here,” she said, explaining that Metro has already reached its maximum efficiency regarding its student/teacher ratio.

The tuition increase is absolutely necessary and there is probably enough support on the board of trustees to pass the increase, Lutes said. But, she pointed out, there are some members of the board who will be hard to convince because they believe that Metro’s money trouble is just a matter of being more efficient.

“We really can’t be more efficient and provide a good education,” Lutes said. “We’re still doing it, but much more and we’re going to tip the scales.”

27.8%

A comparison of Metro’s tuition hikes to that of the University of Colorado at Boulder. Metro has consistently kept its tuition low, which is good for students, but may be adversely affecting the college.

Metro

® University of Colorado at Boulder

15.0%

9.0%

7.2%

6.2%

4.7%

5.0%

2.4%

2.5%

1.1%

02-03

03-04

04-05

05-06

06-07

THE METROPOLITAN • 4.19.07

NEWS • 9

Photo by David L. Yost • dyost2@mscd.edu

Retired Col. Fitzroy “Buck” Newsum speaks to the audience April 11 at the Tivoli Turnhalle. Newsum is a member of the Tuskegee Airmen who recently received the Congressional Gold Medal. The group is known as being America’s first black military pilots. Nearly 1,000 pilots were trained and graduated from the flight school in Tuskegee, Ala.

Tuskegees recount WWII heroics Pioneer black pilots tell tales of bravery, perseverance in war

By Elena Brown brownele@mscd.edu Reverence was in the air April 11 when the Tuskegee Airmen made their way into the Tivoli Turnhalle.

Retired Col. Fitzroy “Buck” Newsum, 88, Col. James Harvey, 83, Col. John Mosley, 85, and Tech Sgt. William Walters, 89, each took to the microphone to reflect on their experiences.

The octogenarians may have age in common, but it was their race and the audacity of their goals that would forever bond them into history books. That’s because in 1941 blacks in the military were mainly cooks and janitors.

These men were born for the skies.

“I saw my first plane at 10 years old, and I knew I wanted to be in that cockpit,” Newsum said.

The men did not set out to become pioneers.

They just wanted to fly planes, and if they could do so by serving the military, then so be it. But

the goal would have to be reached by paving their own runway. And the Tuskegee Airmen did just that.

The Tuskegee Airmen were America’s first group of black pilots trained by the then racially segregated American military. Nearly 1,000 pilots were trained and graduated from the flight school in Tuskegee, Ala. “The Tuskegee Experiment was designed to fail,” Harvey said, citing the mere nine months

Amid harsh criticism, the men performed valiantly. They destroyed 261 enemy aircraft and flew nearly 1,600 missions escorting bombers. Most notably, they never lost an American or Allied bomber.

Their outstanding record in World War II helped influence President Harry S. Truman to pave the way toward racial integration, not only in the military but also throughout the United States.

“When you get to be as old as I am, when you look back at those years, you could ask yourself, did I do a good job?

And I can answer yes.”

– Retired Col. Fitzroy “Buck” Newsum given to a black firm to build a functioning airfield, the remote location of that airfield, and the high washout rate of pilots generally.

The colored men did not fail. The Negro men succeeded. The black men excelled.

“I hope you have already decided what you want to do with this life,” Newsum said. “Set yourself a goal you want to accomplish in life, and go out and fight for it.”

“When you get to be as old as I am, when you look back at those years, you could ask yourself, did I do a good job? And I can answer yes,” Newsum said.

Although six decades have passed, the men were finally honored with the Congressional Gold Medal on March 20 in Washington.

“The Gold Medal will be housed in the Smithsonian Institute, but I have a copy,” Har-

vey said as he proudly displayed the medal to the audience who stood to acknowledge the achievement.

“This event was phenomenal,” said Sgt. 1st Class Thomas Mitchell. “They had to work twice as hard with double the standard and they prevailed.” Mitchell is a career counselor with the U.S. Army.

The Black Student Alliance at Metro and Metro’s History Club collaborated for the Tuskegee Airmen: Black Knights of Aviation event.

The Metro Poetry Club dedicated a book of poems in honor of the Tuskegee Airmen.

“We learned about them in fourth grade,” said 11-year-old Ray Field. “They’re very important men.” Field was in attendance with the Denver Urban League. “They let me know I can do something with my life.”

Many organizations respect and honor the Tuskegee Airmen for their beginnings including the Organization of Black Airline Pilots, the International Black Aerospace Council and the National Black Coalition of Federal Aviation Employees.

“We weren’t just doing it for us. We were doing it for our people,” Harvey said. “We’re saying, look, we can do anything anybody else can do. We just need the chance.”

metrospective `

Courtesy of Buntport Theater Company

From left: Erin Rollman, Erik Edborg, Brian Colona and Hannah Duggan star in the Buntport Theater Company’s original production Moby Dick Unread, based on Herman Melville’s classic novel.

Buntport captures the whale

By Adam Goldstein goldstea@mscd.edu The cramped stage is sopping wet. What started as mere puddles on the concrete floor has grown into pools that stretch the length of the theater’s 15-by-20-foot stage. The plain white walls are still stained with the water that has been flung in every direction during the performance. As four actors step from behind the red velvet curtains to take their final bows, their drenched costumes and soaked hair reveal that they have not been exempt from the waterworks.

It makes sense that the members of the Buntport Theater Company seemed a bit exhausted at the end of the second performance of their new play, Moby Dick Unread. During the show, each actor had been repeatedly drenched in water drawn from buckets, a watering can, a fish tank and, for one troupe member, a rubber squirter strategically placed in his long johns.

Their more impressive feat, however, lies in the fact that they have just managed to squeeze an epic milestone of American literature into a 90-minute stage play.

“The book, Moby Dick, is very postmodern in its writing,” said Samantha Schmitz, one of the Buntport’s production technicians. “Herman Melville goes from dialogue to monologue, from lists of whaling supplies to poems to verses to everything in between. ... We’re trying to bring the whole book to the stage.”

For anyone familiar with the Buntport’s past dramatic outings, their onstage venture into the world of 19th-century

whaling ships seems to fit right in. In its past productions, this Denver troupe has tackled Franz Kafka’s surreal short story, “The Metamorphosis” with ice skates and has lightened William Shakespeare’s bloodiest tragedy, Titus Andronicus, with an upbeat Broadway soundtrack.

Even with their well-established track record for melding the highfalutin and the slapstick, Melville’s 1851 opus posed its own unique challenges.

“A lot of things have more of a straight narrative than this. You know half of the book is lists of whaling supplies and what whalers do,” said Erik Edborg, a Buntport cast member who plays several parts in the stage show.

“Melville has a lot of weird misspellings,” said Hannah Duggan, another member of the company. “He messes up sayings all the time, but that’s just the way he wrote it.

He just wrote whatever he wanted – it seemed like he didn’t have an editor.”

To translate Melville’s 700-plus pages into a more tactile forum, the members have relied on their strengths: creative stage design, innovative prop work and their innate onstage chemistry. The play’s dizzying scope is matched only by its inventiveness.

A sanded rowboat salvaged from Cherry Creek dam stands as the Pequod, while a set of ropes in the rear of stage left represents the whaling ship’s lookout perch. A brown stocking symbolizes Ahab’s wooden leg. A series of eight water buckets strategically hung from the ceiling, along with a water can, provide all the necessary liquid to viscerally recreate the stormy and sodden atmosphere of the high seas. As

THE METROPOLITAN • PAGE 11 • ADAM GOLDSTEIN • GOLDSTEA@MSCD.EDU

for the great white whale itself, the cast makes use of rubber toys, chalk illustrations and tapestries to create the illusion of Ahab’s great oceanic foe.

“We were trying to bring the whole book to the stage, and it was hard,” Schmitz said. “I mean, we didn’t even get to put a whole whale on the stage.”

No, but the Buntport troupe did manage to include many of Melville’s diverse narrative threads – the supply lists, the jargon, the lessons on whale anatomy and the careful accounting of a ship’s culinary budget.

To string together these disparate parts, the four actors use their engaging brand of self-deprecating humor to retain the audience’s attention and credulity.

The cast’s familiar refrain throughout the play eloquently points to the impossibility of fully realizing the task at hand: “We’re making do!”

But somehow, impossible as it may seem, they more than make do. Through creative props, pithy dialogue and many a bucket of water, the four players manage to bring Melville to life in a new way. In fact, they seem to make this dense literary classic their own.

“It jumps around stylistically so much that I think it really lends itself to the stage,” Edborg said. “Every scene is like a new play in itself.”

Moby Dick Unread will run at the Buntport Theater, 717 Lipan St., through April 26. For more information, call (720) 946-1388.

PULLOUT SECTION

gameplay THE METROPOLITAN • 4.19.07

METROSPECTIVE • 12

Upcoming Releases

Hack and slash the road to glory May 4

300: March to Glory Platform: PSP Publisher: Eidos $24.99

Spiderman 3 Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC, PS2, DS, GBA, Wii

By Heather Embrey hembrey@mscd.edu Appearing first as a graphic novel, then translated to a Hollywood blockbuster and now finally available in game form, the release of 300: March to Glory for Sony’s PSP system completes the nerd trifecta of media.

For those unfamiliar with the material, the various iterations of 300 tell the story of 300 Spartans who held off hordes of invading Persians in 480 B.C. The Spartans ultimately lost, but the valor demonstrated in holding off the enormous Persian army inspired Greeks from all over to unite and take arms in battle, possibly saving Greek civilization.

Two key, interrelated questions must be answered when any popular franchise is made into a video game. First, is the game any good? Second, does it do justice to the source material?

In 300: March to Glory, players take control of King Leonidas, the self-appointed king of the Spartan army. Initially equipped with a sword and shield, players will eventually acquire spears and heavier armor. The majority of the game is a generic hack-and-slash through innumerable Persian troops, gaining experience points on the way. These points increase the character’s power and can be used to purchase weapons of mass destruction.

The action in the game is ultimately mediocre, and the game becomes extremely repetitive

Peter Parker battles some of his own demons in the latest complement to the epic Spiderman movies. More importantly, he also battles the New Goblin, Venom and the Sandman in the biggest city yet seen in a Spiderman game.

May 10 quickly. Poor design decisions attempt to break up the monotony but only succeed in making things worse. For example, several times throughout the game it’s necessary to form a phalanx, a historical military formation usually composed of heavy infantry armed with spears.

Unlike the true phalanx, the formations are set in a line and as a result characters sustain more injury than in a normal fomation. Just as bad, this new line of defense slows down the gameplay considerably, leaving the player frustrated and impatient.

Another example is the stealth mode, which allows the Spartans to sneak up on enemies and get them from behind. The only problem is that sometimes they fall out of the player’s line of sight and end up turning the tables. The stealth

mode can work when characters are backed up against walls or on ledges, but for the most part, it’s better to simply hack and/or slash all the way to the end.

The game falls flat as a game, and it doesn’t do much to live up to the high standard set by the movie. The movie offered a riveting, emotionally engaging tale of loyalty, patriotism and courage in the face of overwhelming odds, brought to life by breathtaking action sequences. The game offers a clunky, repetitive and ultimately boring grind, crippled by poorly implemented game mechanics. Game developer Collision Studios prides themselves on handheld wonders, but they failed to capture the movie’s realistic battles and beautiful, computer-generated scenery enough to keep anyone interested.

Appetizer for action, conspiracy Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Platform: Xbox 360 Publisher: Capcom USA $59.99

By Heather Embrey hembrey@mscd.edu Imagine a world where humans struggle for survival as they invade a frozen alien planet while the indigenous monstrous beings wreak havoc over their existence.

Now imagine that you have an enormous plasma gun that can blast those creatures back to hell. This and more is possible in the thirdperson shooter Lost Planet: Extreme Condition on Xbox 360.

Launched on Jan. 12 by Capcom, some have praised Lost Planet as the next Halo, with a comparable dynamic and a similar lead char-

acter. That protagonist, Wayne Holden, exacts his vengeance wearing a biomechanical “vital suit” that includes hover ability and built-in laser scanners. The only substantial difference between the two monster competitors is Lost Planet’s third-person action.

Playing as Wayne, gamers make their way through the desolate world of E.D.N. III, a dreary landscape that echoes Hoth from The Empire Strikes Back. He challenges creatures and pitfalls on his hunt for the king of the monsters, Green Eye, hoping to avenge his father’s death.

The self-proclaimed snow pirates, who also inhabit the planet, accompany him. The plot thickens as a conspiracy develops between Wayne, his deceased father, the pirates and a strange company called NEVEC. The gameplay is typical of a third-person action shooter. The levels are long and come to a strong end with several boss fights. Weapons are plentiful and diverse, as Wayne can comman-

Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars Platform: Xbox 360 Three factions vie for control of the most precious resource on Earth, sending legions of high-tech weaponry into ferocious battle in the newest game in this classic real-time strategy series.

The PC version was well received, and now it’s making the jump to consoles, complete with the trademark so-cheesythey’re-good full-motion video cut scenes. If the controls are adequate to keep up with the action, this will make an excellent introduction to real-time strategy for the console crowd.

May 8 Halo 2 Platform: PC (Vista only)

deer several handheld weapons such as plasma guns, machine guns and a rocket launcher. The launcher is especially handy in fights against Green Eye and other bosses.

Wayne’s mobility is restricted to the capabilities of the vital suit and can make for difficult gameplay. However, the suit has its own advantages, as it’s upgradeable and can house several different weapons for use on the creatures.

For a good exoskeleton-crunching time, this latest release by Capcom will capture most players in its web.

Since its original release on the Xbox, more than 800 million hours have been logged in online Halo 2 battles. PC players finally get to experience Microsoft’s juggernaut franchise, complete with new maps, a full-featured map editor and the first Live Achievements available in any PC game.

timeout “ THE METROPOLITAN • 4.19.07

METROSPECTIVE • 13

A long time ago, in a country not so far away, I was 8 years old, doing my best Darth Vader imitation.

”

– HAYDEN CHRISTENSEN

Everyday Blues

Adam Goldstein • goldstea@mscd.edu

This Day in History 4.19.07 Today’s Birthdays

Prohibition lawman Eliot Ness – 1903 Bombshell Jayne Mansfield – 1933 Arthur actor Dudley Moore – 1935 Rocky Horror star Tim Curry – 1946 Gangsta rap producer Suge Knight – 1965 Samoan footballer Troy Polamalu – 1981 Hayden “Anakin” Christensen – 1981

On this day...

Horse power...

DTU

Joe Nguyen and Conor Drummond • nguyejos@mscd.edu • cdrummon@mscd.edu

1892 – The Duryea gasoline buggy, the first gas powered automobile, makes its premiere voyage in the U.S. This second incarnation of the gas buggy is much more successful than the first, which involved a traditional buggy pulled by a horse fed with gasoline.

Marathon man...

1951 – Shigeki Tanaka, a survivor of the atomic bombing at Hiroshima, wins the Boston Marathon. Some claim Tanaka cheated when he used his radioactive heat vision and fire breath to eliminate his competitors.

Chairman of the bored…

1967 – Frank Sinatra and his daughter Nancy win a gold record with their single, “Something Stupid.” The song is such a success, it is followed by songs like “Something Moronic,” “Something Inane” and, finally, “Something Friggin’ Dumb.”

Across 1- Short nail 5- King of Troy 10- Not bright 14- Tropical plant 15- Tripoli’s country 16- At any time 17- Leaf tool 18- Bendable twig, usually of a willow tree 19- Couch 20- Chief priests 22- Efts 23- Sibilate 24- Small amount 26- Twilight 29- Ceylon, now 33- Small branch 34- Martini garnish 35- Chatter 36- Second son of Adam and Eve 37- Hog 38- Askew 39- Fastener 40- Inanimate object 41- Stalks 42- Passing 44- Fatty part of milk 45- Suspend 46- Pouting grimace 48- Flavor 51- Made by hand 55- Land map 56- Chairs 58- Donkey cry 59- Dynamic beginning 60- Use a soapbox 61- Animate existence 62- Web-footed aquatic bird 63- Engender 64- Consumes Down 1- Diamond cover 2- Having wings 3- King of pop? 4- Tow under the bottom of a ship 5- Schemes 6- Ascends 7- Large wading bird 8- Affirmative vote 9- Mutilate, spoil 10- Previous monetary unit of Spain 11- Acknowledge 12- Remaining 13- Periods of history 21- Intentions 22- Egypt’s river 24- Twist forcibly 25- Shelter for honeybees 26- Wine fruit 27- Trademark 28- Last letter of the Greek alphabet 29- Toss 30- Monetary unit of Zambia 31- Destiny 32- Bottomless gulf 34- Unpaid 37- Type of guard 38- In a trembling state 40- Nicholas II was the last Russian one 41- Gulf War missile 43- Quantum of electromagnetic energy 46- Dull surface 47- Beginning 48- Petty quarrel, ejected saliva 49- Sheltered, nautically 50- Young salmon 51- Dutch name of The Hague 52- La Scala solo 53- Foolish 54- Baby blues 56- Weep 57- Before Crossword reprinted courtesy of bestcrosswords.com. Solution for puzzle can be found at http://www.bestcrosswords.com/. (Solution is under April 15 puzzle.)

14 • METROSPECTIVE

4.19.07 • THE METROPOLITAN

THE METROPOLITAN • 4.19.07

Night on the town

A trip through a Saturday night in the Mile High city

By Adam Goldstein • goldstea@mscd.edu Photos by Rachel Crick • crick@mscd.edu

A

long, bitter winter has finally submitted to a hesitant spring in Denver.

As the weather turns tolerable and the seemingly endless series of snowstorms recedes, The Metropolitan set out to see what the city has to offer on a Saturday night in way of food, fun and libations on a modest budget.

Our central question was simple: While the end-of-the-semester academic pressures mount, how is a starving student to find respite and relaxation from term papers and final exams?

From miniature golf to diner fare, from karaoke to Westernthemed bars, we took our yearly litmus test of the Mile High City’s nightlife. As always, we tried to avoid any chain establishments and instead focused on the quirky, the small and the independently owned purveyors of weekend fun.

Tom’s Diner 601 E. Colfax Ave. As a 24-hour eatery on one of Denver’s seediest thoroughfares, Tom’s Diner competes with the Denver Diner as the city’s most entertaining spot for people watching. When it comes to the food, however, the diner’s appeal plummets precipitously.

The grueling physicality of miniature golf had whetted our appetites, but Tom’s greasy fare soon turned our hunger into indigestion.

A member of our party tried to find value in Tom’s ambience.

Citing its rock wall and verdant houseplants, he extolled the gritty immediacy of the place. “This is a pretty real place,” he said. “Look at those plants – even those are real.”

Focusing on the quirky atmosphere didn’t spare us from the flavorless fries, the gristly meat and the dry toast.

Kennedy Golf Course 10500 E. Hampden Ave. As the sun sank in the west and the comfortable temperature turned chilly, we started our night with a traditional staple of American leisure: mini-golf.

While Kennedy Golf Course may seem a bit of a trek from downtown, its views of the Cherry Creek Dam and its expansive driving range provide a picturesque setting for putting.

With three separate mini-courses, putters can choose a lighthouse, a windmill and a castle as their central challenge. Unfortunately, during our visit, industrious rabbits had blocked the castle’s tubing with their nesting fodder, so we opted for the lighthouse.

Though a teenage couple trailed us on the course and a group of five or six players sounded off from one of the other courses, we weren’t forced to compete with a large crowd. We were able to start putting immediately and between four players, the competition quickly became fierce. As we made our way through challenging holes featuring jagged fake rock formations, geometrically placed concrete barriers and a plaster log, the trash talk and intimidation ran high.

With a postcard-perfect view of the dam behind us and the symphony of thwacks coming from the driving range as our soundtrack, we finished our 18 holes in high spirits. True, Kennedy’s mini-golf course sometimes showed its age – some of our balls got caught in the windmill, and we were forced to coax others from leaf-blocked tubing on our hands and knees. Still, the modest price of $6 a player and the expansive setting more than made up for these minor inconveniences.

As a departure point, Kennedy provided the perfect mixture of fresh air and competitive adrenaline. It would prove to be a healthier forum for fun than the next stop – a greasy eatery that left us all with heavy, unsettled stomachs.

The former site of Sweet Rockin’ Coffee takes full advantage of its smaller size with kitschy leather sofas, Western lamps and a blues-infused jukebox. With a menu featuring pizzas from $8 to $12 and drafts that run from $3 to $6, the bar provides affordable fare and a relaxed ambience.

After picking up a few drinks at the bar, we easily settled into the lounge’s casual atmosphere. We moved to the sitting room, where we revamped the earlier competition of mini-golf at the pool table.

After a few beers and a few games of pool, the heaviness of the diner food finally evaporated. We soon forgot the greasy eggs and sandwiches in the bar’s convivial atmosphere.

With its unassuming appeal, the Horseshoe Lounge provided the perfect grounds for our gastronomic recovery. The lounge’s small size and understated façade served as a hidden haven to catch our breaths, shoot some pool and prepare for our final and most challenging stop: karaoke.

SoBo 151 151 S. Broadway

“I guess that tastes like chicken,” I offered as we forced ourselves to finish our meals. With a median price range of $7.95, the prices are definitely modest. Still, that doesn’t include the cost of the Pepto-Bismol required for its digestion.

Our bloated stomachs grumbling, we exited the diner in search of an alcoholic salve for the large amounts of grease we’d just ingested.

The Horseshoe Lounge 414 E. 20th Ave. Occupying a small space off of 20th street, the Horseshoe Lounge’s modest proportions recall the cramped, intimate taverns of Manhattan. The lounge’s smaller dimensions – a main bar and a sitting room – are a plus, as the cozy atmosphere lends for conversation and comity.

Touting a unique menu that features Czech cuisine, SoBo 151 has gained a reputation among late night Denver-diners as an unparalleled eatery. With dishes that run from $5.95 to $9.95, SoBo’s colorful menu encompasses everything from pickled knackwurst to beef goulash.

Notwithstanding its unique culinary offerings, our purpose in visiting the Broadway bistro had nothing to do with food. With one of the most extensive karaoke menus in the city, we were ready to turn on our star power.

Taking advantage of the $3 Newcastles, we primed our pipes with affordable brews. We chose several crowd-pleasers, including Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing,” R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” and Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler.”

The crowd was modest, but its enthusiasm was boundless.

Every number we chose elicited sing-alongs and dancing, and we were treated to unmatched spectacles as other patrons picked their favorite numbers. A short, stocky bald man called forth the Godfather of Soul as he flawlessly performed a James Brown number. A proper, primped blonde woman shed her inhibitions in a convincing rendition of Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise.”

As we downed more beers, our choices became less inhibited.

A rousing round of Harry Belafonte’s “Day-O” preceded a performance by our most reticent companion of Sublime’s “Santeria.”

As the evening wound down and we warbled our last refrains, our night on the town played itself back in my mind. Despite the heavy diner food, the night proved that a random sampling of Denver’s nightlife still provided a diverse and delectable menu of fun.

As much as others may label our city a cow town, any devoted fun seeker is sure to find thrills cosmopolitan and refined enough to match any big city’s.

Left: The menu at Tom’s Diner, 601 E. Colfax Ave., includes sandwiches, burgers and traditional American meals.

Top: Matt Gunn racks a game of pool at the Horseshoe Lounge, 414 E. 20th Ave. The bar boasts a quirky ambience complete with Western furniture and a blues-infused jukebox.

Above: A half-eaten plate of fries is all that remains of an entree at Tom’s Diner on Sat., April 14.

Right: The Metropolitan’s Joe Nguyen plays miniature golf at Kennedy Golf Course, 10500 E. Hampden Ave. The golf facility includes a full course in addition to three separate mini-golf courses. Kennedy is operating on limited hours in April, but will open for night games in mid-May.

METROSPECTIVE • 15

THE METROPOLITAN • PAGE 16 • MEGAN CARNEAL • MCARNEAL@MSCD.EDU

audiofiles

Upcoming shows Sean Lennon April 21 Bluebird Theater 3317 E. Colfax Ave. Doors 8 p.m., show 9 $20, 21+ With his round, big-rimmed glasses, Sean Lennon is the spitting image of his late father, John Lennon. It is said that Sean was famous long before he started playing music, and critics have claimed he relies on his father’s talents to get by. Those critics are wrong, as Sean sought to find his own sound in the music world. Teetering between melancholy, tender songs and experimental noise, Sean shows he isn’t just following in his father’s footsteps; he is making his own.

Cassie Hood • hoodc@mscd.edu

The sound of jazz Photo by Cora Kemp • ckemp@mscd.edu

Having just finished in the warm-up room, Ian Skaronea of Career Education Center School and his band members prepare to perform for the judges during the April 13 Jazz Celebration at Auraria.

By Emile Hallez ehallez@mscd.edu A handful of Hot Tomatoes, a woman scatting against homelessness and an eccentric drummer possibly abducted by aliens headlined the Jazz Celebration, an eclectic three-day extravaganza of jazz clinics and concerts April 12 to 14 at Metro.

The series of shows coincided with one of April’s lesser-known themes: National Jazz Appreciation Month.

The Hot Tomatoes Dance Orchestra, a ninemember Denver arsenal of horns, vocals, strings and drums, filled the King Center Thursday night with their classic brand of Glen Miller-esque swing. Feet were tapping and hands were clapping among the audience young and old alike.

René Marie’s risky but successful mix of scat, blues and manifest emotion earned her two standing ovations Friday night.

“I’m feeling everything,” Marie said about her mindset during her extroverted performances. “I’m totally spent afterwards.”

One of Marie’s final songs was “This is (not) a Protest Song,” a piece she wrote to help raise awareness about homelessness in the U.S. One by one, audience members stood, following Marie’s initiative to sing along, fists in the air.

“I feel a little anger at the fact that there’s even a need to write a song like that. I feel sad because I’m thinking about my brother and aunt, but I also feel really happy that I see if people

are being moved.” Proceeds from the sale of her single of the song go to groups that assist the homeless, she said.

Matt Wilson’s Arts & Crafts opened their set Saturday night with “We See,” an up-tempo explosion that ended with Wilson leaping off his drum kit to center stage, simultaneously playing a harmonica and a Nacho Libre talking pen.

“It represents the freedom in which we can express ourselves with various things,” Wilson said jokingly about the novelty pen. “I like the way it sounds.”

Wilson and his band of organ, trumpet and bass players are a veritable force in the revolution of popular jazz. Despite the surgical precision with which they operate their axes, they fight the traditionally academic and intimidating air of the genre with punchy swing and a lighthearted approach.

“I think people are scared of jazz musicians, like they think their music is intellectual ... but it is a folk music, for god’s sakes,” Wilson said.

“People should give it a chance.”

In fact, the manner in which Arts & Crafts presented jazz was so alien that, not surprisingly, Wilson confessed to a fabricated rumor that he is an inhuman vessel sent from the galaxy Percussia Omega Nine to disseminate drum-related propaganda.

“Sure, that’s all true. I was actually kidnapped years ago by an alien vessel and given clues about what this is all about, and I’ve tried to spread that word as much as possible,” he said.

While the festival was a means for Metro to attract potential music students, it gave both students and teachers a chance to interact with one another and polish their skills.

“Recruiting is a big idea, but ... I really just think of it as a chance for these young students to come here and get a chance to hear each other and hear some suggestions on ways they can be better musicians,” said Metro music teacher Ron Miles, producer of the Jazz Celebration, who performed Friday and Saturday evenings with Marie’s and Wilson’s groups. Events at the festival ranged from high-school student performances to clinics for vocal jazz and teacher education.

“The people that participated this year are some of the biggest jazz names,” said Antwon Owens, a music education major at Metro who helped produce the event. “A lot of the feedback that we got back from the teachers that participated (said) that this was one of the best festivals, up and coming.”

Perhaps the most salient aspect of the festival was that jazz, while far from dead, is an underappreciated form of entertainment. The King Center’s Concert Hall was merely half full during Marie and Wilson’s shows.

“It can be Jazz Appreciation Month, and still audiences are dwindling,” Wilson said. “People are staying home too much. ... The world needs to get out of their house more and experience any kind of art, whether it’s a jazz concert or even going to clubs.”

DJ Z-Trip April 22 Fox Theatre 1135 13th St., Boulder 9 p.m. $18 in advance, $20 at the door, all ages At this time of the semester everyone is wishing there were a way to balance the many stresses of life. If students could only mix their lives together with the same fluidity as DJ Z-Trip mixes his albums, going from Led Zeppelin to Public Enemy to create the perfect DJ set. However, with Z-Trip playing over a hundred shows a year, producing on numerous hip-hop albums and creating an endless number of danceable tracks, it looks like the secret to mastering one’s life is nothing more than hard work. Who would have thought third-grade teachers were right on that one?

Chris Gilmore • cgilmo10@mscd.edu

Go Betty Go April 24 3 Kings Tavern 60 S. Broadway 9 p.m. $4, 21+ Drama comes with the territory of being in a band. For some bands it can rocket them into the land of “creative differences.” Leave it to a girl band to work through their problems in group therapy sessions full of tissues and shared feelings. Now, through the power of psychiatry, Go Betty Go can focus more on their riot-grrl attitudes and their sugar-highinducing pop-punk. Better than catfights and PMS.

Megan Carneal • mcarneal@mscd.edu

THE METROPOLITAN • 4.19.07

AUDIO FILES • 17

spotlight! Star devastates the realm of modern pop love

Star Devastator (Lovely Rebel Records, 2007)

By Christopher Gilmore cgilmo10@mscd.edu

freeplay

The portrayal of true love in pop culture is about as believable as the tagline “Inspired by true events” would be on the poster of the last Star Wars film.

The Chicago-based band Star has no illusion about the authenticity of pop love, and absolutely no affiliation with Lucasfilm Ltd. The cross between subtle, electronic beats and highly distorted guitar meets perfectly with the warm and vulnerable vocals. The guitars and lyrics emit a dark aura with an unfamiliar, soothing and attractive voice. This pop-noise act refuses to follow the rules that dominate pop love songs.

Song-writing duties fall squarely on vocalist Shannon Roberts, and her songs are a refreshingly honest, and sometimes nihilistic, look at modern love and life.

The heart of the album contains back-toback musings on people living life while rubbing others the wrong way. “Jailor” is about a beautiful veneer covering ugly emotions. The lyrics tell of the conscious desires to restrain the ones responsible for tainting the flawless image of beauty with vengeful thoughts. The throbbing perversion of Scott Cortez’s guitar indicates the

emotion leading to the blind rage of being in the presence of a truly vile person.

The song is directly followed by the musically uplifting, lyrically depressing track “Champion of Love.” The bitterness from a relationship that ended on bad terms drips off the sultry vocals as Roberts sings, “I realized I’d rather die than hear you talk/and if I’d stick around my death would be my own fault.” The consistent imposing drums and driving guitar press against the vocals, playing up the tension and hatred of a former love.

Star has a knack for avoiding the detrimental ideals conveyed in traditional pop love songs. Instead they opt for an authentic look at the raw emotions of a broken heart. Devastator conveys the disappointment of failed desires and unrealistic love. The band’s ironic take on a love song, “Liars in Love,” tells of an all-to-familiar routine of modern dating. It explores the process of avoiding intimate connection only to get caught in the perpetual cycle of sharing pointless petty gossip, giving the illusion we are interesting people.

Star’s Theodore Beck composes subtle beats that create a strange, mood-setting mix for the introspective direction of the album. Some songs rely on simple traditional percussion elements, such as tambourines, cymbals and the standard drum-kit essentials. At other times, the songs weave a cosmic electronic texture that provides a backbone. When the warped guitar drives the direction of a track and threatens to dominate the album, the beats allow the guitar to flourish while retaining the collective focus on the group.

When the realm of science fiction is less fantastic and more believable than the majority of love-based narratives, society needs a champion like Star to bring our heads out of the clouds.

Devastator is the album to do that.

Santa Inferno Desert Music

By Shannon Yoshida syoshida@mscd.edu

If only more bands named their albums according to when and where they should be played. Santa Inferno has taken the step that other bands won’t by pointing the listener in the right direction with Desert Music.

“Let me hear those drums motherfucker!” are the first lyrics to be heard, followed by a nine-second drum solo. Despite the abrupt introduction, the lyrics continue with “last night was magic/so close/yet oh so tragic.” Santa Inferno starts off strong, as the next three songs exhibit the same

The wizardry of Nas

By Billy Schear wschear@mscd.edu Do not let the Scarface references, mafia themes, urban clothing line endorsements, or his own brand of sneakers fool you. Nas is a man with designs to bring integrity back to hip-hop.

With a flow as smooth as melted butter and a host of first-person narratives depicting a dark and introverted view on urban poverty, Nas is at his best when he is opening up the wounds covering his life, exposing every raw nerve to the Photo courtesy of defjam.com scrutiny of public opinion. The more personal he Nas knows he can be what he wants to be. gets, the better his delivery becomes, choosing just the right samples and fitting them perfectly were crucified in typical Roman fashion. with happening beats.

The live spectacle that is hip-hop will not It has never been solely about perpetuating be absent from Nas’ performance. Energetic black urban stereotypes for Nas, whose 1994 and introspective, the set list is likely to include debut album, Illmatic, gave a new criteria for many songs from later albums such as the 2006 judging hip-hop by both hard core fans and murelease Hip Hop is Dead, an album many considsic critics alike. The album’s streetwise themes er to be a return to form for Nas, going back to stray from the guttural, cursory observations of his noncommercial politically incorrect self. In street life by putting an insightful, poetic spin on fact, many in the South’s burgeoning rap scene what was quickly becoming a stagnant genre. raised up in arms over the album, claiming that Throughout the years Nas began to slowly it’s deliberately antagonistic to their scene. but steadily allow himself to be embraced by It’s probably best to see him now, before the mainstream. Acting on the coaching of his management once again decides that credibility management, his albums began to take isn’t important, a point that will soon on a more commercially friendly vibe be evident in Nas’ upcoming MTV while the budgets and exposure reality show Mr. And Mrs. Jones.

Nas will perform of his music videos grew larger As long as pumped crowds at 8 p.m., April 25 by the project. Cementing his continue in their support, ascension into the realm of live hip-hop will become at the Fillmore Auditopopular music was his 1999 more hopeful, and instead rium, 1510 Clarkson St. collaboration with Sean “P. of remaining dead it will be Tickets are $35. 16+ Diddy” Combs. The single “Hate re-animated with vigor and Me Now” off of the album I am… an insatiable craving for fresh resulted in the controversial music voices and new perspectives. video in which both Nas and Combs

CORRECTION: APRIL 12 • Johanna Snow, jsnow@mscd.edu, was not properly credited for the Charlie Louvin picture.

happy, pop-punk tempos with the narratives of Hollywood wannabes with suburbanite lifestyles.

By the fifth track, the band makes it apparent that style changes are their style, with a jump to Elvis impersonations in “A TV Guide Zealot’s Xmas Carol.”

The song “Marmalade” features the standard disclaimer: “Due to mature adult content, parental discretion is advised,” followed by brief monkey sounds, gentle guitar playing and pretty-boy vocals. The disclaimer’s sarcasm soon becomes sparkling clear a minute and a half later as the song proves void of any salacious content and the singer is just barely hitting high pitches while singing, “What’s going to happen to baby when she loses her game?”

The sentimental seventh track starts with rainy sound effects, muffled vocals and the already familiar, tenderly strummed guitars.

The ninth and final track, “Tears on the Rocks” has more nature-themed sound effects, first with wind, followed by a thunderstorm, while the actual song is more like a distant sound, fading in and out. On top of more wind come the lyrics, “I was genuflecting on the edge of the world,” which continue into a slew of hard-to-follow sentences. Then the song title finally comes to light with the line, “The bartender slides me a tears on the rocks.”

While the world might blister in Santa Inferno’s Desert Music, the melodies are as refreshing as a glass of “tears on the rocks.”

Download Santa Inferno’s Desert Music at http://imaginaryalbums. com/ia007.html

$ x Every week, Freeplay will cover the best free albums and EPs to be found on the World Wide Web

THE METROPOLITAN • 4.19.07

NEWS • 19

Obituary: Kurt Vonnegut

Visceral visionary, wielder of caustic wit

By Geof Wollerman gwollerm@mscd.edu After several weeks of battling complications from a recent head injury, visionary author Kurt Vonnegut died April 11 at the age of 84. He is survived by his wife, the photographer Jill Krementz, and several grown children.

While he often looked toward the future, Vonnegut also pined for the past, and his parables illustrated the many hidden perils of technological and societal progress.

His poignant cynicism and caustic wit engaged the skepticism of activists, protesters

and others who opposed the burgeoning influences of the powers that be.

The Indianapolis native witnessed the firebombing of Dresden, Germany, during World War II, and the experience proved to be the inspiration for his best-selling novel Slaughterhouse Five. In almost all of his novels, Vonnegut alludes to the futility of war and humans’ seemingly boundless capacity for destruction and violence.

Despite his cynicism, Vonnegut’s writing remained discreetly optimistic for most of his life, though the tone of his last published work, a collection of essays titled A Man Without a

Photo courtesy The Lavin Agency

Country, was darkly defeatist. The voice that once rang out with loud, incisive honesty, in the end seemed drowned out by the din of the humanity it sought to elevate.

The author of 14 novels, several plays and numerous essays and short stories, Vonnegut was perhaps not as prolific as some, but the indelible mark he made on 20th century literature is undeniable. His work is used in English classes across the country, and he continues to inspire new generations of writers and humanists alike.

If Vonnegut hadn’t been so playful in dispensing his cutting quips, a first-time reader might dismiss his stories as stodgy and bitter.

Fortunately, good humor and benevolence were his true tendencies.

Vonnegut was more in touch at times with the collective we of the human race than we seem to be with ourselves. He was both proud and ashamed of his species, and reminded readers that, “in no matter what era in history, including the Garden of Eden, everybody just got here. And, except for the Garden of Eden, there were already all these games going on that could make you act crazy, even if you weren’t crazy to begin with.”

He made old seem fun, but more precisely, he made young seem like forever. Laced with a curious blend of mystery and truth, Vonnegut’s books can be mulled over and returned to, like rooms in an old house. There is a quality to his writing that sometimes seems as if he is talking to himself and the reader is simply tuning in – not wanting to interrupt, or for the voice to ever grow thin.

What else floats?

WORKS BY KURT VONNEGUT Novels Player Piano (1952) The Sirens of Titan (1959) Mother Night (1961) Cat’s Cradle (1963) God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, or Pearls Before Swine (1965) Slaughterhouse-Five, or the Children’s Crusade (1969) Breakfast of Champions (1973) Slapstick, or Lonesome No More (1976) Jailbird (1979) Deadeye Dick (1982) Galapagos (1985) Bluebeard (1987) Hocus Pocus (1990) Timequake (1997)

Short Fiction Canary in a Cathouse (1961) Welcome to the Monkey House: A Collection of Short Works (1968) Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction (1999)

Plays

Photo by William Blackburn • wblackb2@mscd.edu

(Left to right) Mike Dunbar bails out the canoe, while Jason Igo and team captain Dan Bentz row during the men’s concrete canoe race endurance heat of the 2007 American Society of Civil Engineers Rocky Mountain Regional Conference held April 14 at the Boulder Reservoir. While the boat performed splendidly on the straightaway, it did not have the buoyancy for the men, and had to be bailed out constantly. The men did finish the heat, but sank immediately after crossing the finish line.

Happy Birthday, Wanda June (1970) Between Time and Timbuktu, or Prometheus Five: A Space Fantasy (1972) Make Up Your Mind (1993) Miss Temptation (1993) Essays and Collections Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons (1974) Palm Sunday (1981) Fates Worse Than Death: An Autobiographical Collage (1991) God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian (1999) A Man Without a Country (2005)

20 • NEWS

4.19.07 • THE METROPOLITAN

Metro alums honored for achievements beyond graduation

By David Cardenas dcarden5@mscd.edu Metro alumni gathered for an award ceremony at St. Cajetan’s Center celebrating those that have demonstrated hard work and dedication to their community.

There have only been two alumni ceremonies in the past 10 years, and there was a need to keep Metro alumni involved in the school, said Stephanie Carroll, assistant director for alumni relations.

“Of almost 60,000 alumni that have graduated from Metro, 80 percent of them live in the Denver metro area,” Carroll said. “We want to get them involved in the (alumni) program.”

Awards were presented for work ethic, community service and school pride, along with two distinguished alumnus awards to those that demonstrated achievements in their respected fields. Among them was journalist Kevin Vaughn, known for his critically acclaimed story “The Crossing,” which appeared in the Rocky Mountain News.

“This school is very important, as well as the (alumni) program that lets us cultivate relations with the alumni as well as the community,” Vaughn said. “This school offers the opportunities to those students that might have it otherwise … I learned a lot on this campus and in these classrooms.”

During his time at Metro, Vaughn was

taught the essence of journalism by mentor Greg Parson, who was the “first one to believe in me other than my parents,” he said.

Vaughn is active in the Greg Parson Memorial Foundation, which offers scholarship opportunities to journalism students.

Vaughn is best known for his 33-part series “The Crossing,” which depicted the lives of the 20 children who died in the worst vehicular accident in Colorado history when a school bus collided with train.

“It was most challenging not as a reporter, but as writer, trying to tell this incredible story,” Vaughn said. “I believe in what newspapers do, and that’s telling stories like these.”

Industrial design professor Kenneth Phillips,

another honored alumnus, is one of the leading players in Brand Spankin New, a student-run company that markets products designed by Metro students.

“I’ve heard this misconception that Metro is the best second-choice school, but that’s not what I hear from the students,” Phillips said.

“Programs like (Brand Spankin New are) allowing students to excel.”

Carroll hopes that establishing annual alumni ceremonies can benefit those wanting to be involved in the school after graduating.

“We want (alumni) to be emotionally supportive in this school,” Carroll said. “By feeling pride in their alma mater, they come back here wanting to be involved.”

@Metro

Auraria police offer campus crisis tips In the wake of the April 16 shooting on the Virginia Tech campus, in which a lone gunman took the lives of at least 32 people and wounded many others before taking his own life, the Auraria police offer the following tips.

Always be aware of what is going on around you.

Many violent situations unfold in the same general way – a person makes threats or threatening comments. They show up at a business, school or workplace dressed in military-style or inappropriate clothing, such as a trenchcoat in summer, and pull out a firearm and start calmly and methodically firing. Look for people acting strangely or dressed inappropriately. Take threats seriously.

Believe what you see.

As events unfold in front of you, trust your eyes and your ears, as you see people running or hear the gunfire and people screaming. Many people report that they thought the event wasn’t real. They think it is a movie or a joke.

Stay aware of what is happening around you, and trust your instincts that something is wrong – believe the warning!

Hit the ground!

Your first priority is to get out of the line of fire. Get on the ground immediately and assess your escape routes. Do not hesitate, move!

Find cover.

Get behind something that will stop bullets, not just conceal you. High-powered bullets can penetrate a large amount of materials. Look for brick walls, planters, mailboxes, cars or thick trees.

Put distance between you and the shooter.

Your chances for survival in a gunfight rise dramatically the farther you are from the gunman. Stay down and crawl away from the origin of the shooting. Try to get better cover or escape out of a door or window. Just get out.

Escape!

If you have been trapped by gunfire and there is a noticeable dramatic silence, the gunman may have run out of ammunition and is either reloading or switching to another weapon. If at all possible, move to an exit to escape.

THE METROPOLITAN • 4.19.07

NEWS • 21

Photo by Geof Wollerman • gwollerm@mscd.edu

Members of the Shaolin Hung Mei Kung Fu school perform the lion dance during the masters’ demonstration on April 14 at the Zhang San Feng festival in the Auraria Event Center. The performance was part of an exhibition for a competition that will take place next year and in preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Tai Chi and Wu Shu, styles of martial arts, will be featured as sports in the 2008 Olympics.

New generation learns ancient art

By Rita Wold rwold@mscd.edu

Photo by Geof Wollerman • gwollerm@mscd.edu

Master Christophe Clarke performs a broadsword version of tai chi.

Auraria will make history in April 2008 when it presents the nation’s first Zhang San Feng All Tai Chi and Wu Shu Classic tournament, according to an announcement made April 14 during the Zhang San Festival at the Auraria Events Center.

The Zhang San Festival has been celebrated every year since 1992 in honor of the founder of tai chi, Zhang San Feng.

Master Christophe Clarke started the festival to unite tai chi practitioners in celebrating the founder’s birthday.

“I want to give them a taste of what is going to come,” Clarke said regarding the festival’s goals. Clarke and other organizers will have an entire year to prepare for the upcoming tournament and have high hopes for its success. “You haven’t seen nothing yet,” he said.

Joe Brady, a tai chi instructor at Auraria, helped host this year’s festival, which was composed of competitions, workshops and professional demonstrations.

It included the lion dance, a Chinese art performed with two people moving like a lion underneath a costume, to the beat of percussion instruments. The tai chi demonstrations involved slow movements that began with the feet and hands, and sword tricks that utilized a blend of gymnastics and ballet.

Tai chi is known as a therapeutic exercise and as a selfdefense method. It will include boxing when it is introduced at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Calling it a “competition of pure skill,” Clarke said the upcoming tournament is designed to make the principles of tai chi and kung fu shine. These principles include being re-

laxed, moving slowly, improving circulation and moving the body as a unit, he said.

As a former member of the U.S. kung fu team, Clarke won the gold medal in 1990 and 1996.

He has worked with the Denver Broncos on coordination and visualization techniques, and also with the FBI teaching their SWAT team martial arts techniques. The West Indies native has practiced tai chi for 34 years and has starred in five martial arts films.

“My body is very fluid as a result (of tai chi),” said Diane Carrick, 76, a student of Brady’s who has been practicing the art for eight years.

She loves the Chinese form and the age variety that was displayed at the festival, she said.

“What we are doing is bringing the community and the world we believe in – the one denomination – together,” Clarke said regarding the diversity displayed at the festival.

“Tai chi is something to promote on this earth. We are earth links. We are part of one race, the human race.”

Festival performer Shane Wang said he started practicing tai chi after seeing how it built character in his 15-year-old son. They both attend Shaolin Hung Mei Kung Fu, a Boulderbased organization.

“It brought the family closer together,” said Wang’s son, David.

Learning to balance and harmonize is what drew Clarke to tai chi, he said.

“It’s about learning to deal with your ego, your arrogance, your conceit, learning to control your behavior,” he said, adding that the true war is “the demons that we have inside ourselves. We must learn to defeat those demons.

THE METROPOLITAN • PAGE 22 • ANDREW FLOHR-SPENCE • SPENCAND@MSCD.EDU

Insight “

Every time we ignore the suffering of others or stand by and watch, we do not only act against our own interests but we violate a part of our humanity.

”

– AFGHANISTAN PRESIDENT HAMID KARZAI

Conor Drummond • cdrummon@mscd.edu

ZOË WILLIAMS williamz@mscd.edu

End the Itali-ban

Dems pin win to Iraqi unrest With President Bush having submitted a $105 billion emergency war-spending bill to Congress to continue funding military operations in Iraq, Democrats in both the House and Senate are using the occasion to pursue their own partisan political agenda.

Since liberals have opposed the Bush administration’s new war strategy to secure Baghdad and Anbar province by sending an additional 26,000 troops to Iraq, one would expect that they would have voted to terminate the funding of the war. Instead, Democratic congressional leaders added nearly $20 billion in pork barrel spending in order to buy the votes of their reluctant moderate colleagues. The Democrats do not have a winning strategy for Iraq. They are convinced that if the U.S. fails in Iraq they will secure the presidency in 2008. If the U.S. prevails in Iraq, Democrats are not so sure.

In contrast, President Bush’s and Tony Blair’s persistence in Iraq illustrates their firm belief that a successful outcome in Iraq will promote U.S. and Western security, as well as provide the Iraqi people with the opportunity to exercise control over their own lives by placing political power in their hands. The right of self-determination is an essential component of the president’s strategy to prosecute the war on terror.

The preamble of the joint resolution authorizing force in Iraq in 2003 includes: “Whereas

KELLIE LUDWIG kludwig3@mscd.edu members of al-Qaeda (sic), an organization bearing responsibility for attacks on the United States, its citizens and interests, including the attacks that occurred on Sept. 11, 2001, are known to be in Iraq; … Whereas the Iraq Liberation Act (Public Law 105-38) expressed the same sense of the Congress that it should be the policy of the United States to support efforts to remove from power the current Iraqi regime (Saddam Hussein) and promote the emergence of a democratic government to replace that regime…” This act was approved by an overwhelming majority in the House of Representatives, by unanimous consent in the Senate. Why then is there such great animosity toward the Bush administration by leaders of the Demo-

cratic Party, who less than five years ago agreed with his objectives?

It has been reported that in the last few weeks the level of violence has declined in Baghdad and in the Anbar province. Some Sunnis have now aligned with Iraqi and U.S. forces in tackling al-Qaida in Iraq. Last November, members of an Iraqi battalion which had been patrolling and fighting al-Qaida in the area from Fallujah to Ramadi were astonished to hear from a young local sheikh, “We have decided that by helping you, we are helping Allah.” This group has been involved in raids that have resulted in the arrest of 30 insurgents.

With the implementation of the surge strategy in its infancy, one can only wonder why Democrats would now tell our adversaries when we will pull out of Iraq, which would leave Iraq with the expectation that the sectarian violence will dramatically increase, and knowing that alQaida has great ambitions to establish a ruling caliphate in Iraq. Providing our adversaries with our withdrawal date signals our defeat and acknowledges that our commitment to eradicate terrorism in the world is not as great as al-Qaida’s commitment to its cause.

It is a critical time in Iraq, and despite recent events that illustrate progress there, Democrats have tied their future electoral fortunes to America’s failure and humiliation.

In October 2001, the Italy-based international aid organization Emergency was the only nongovernmental organization to remain in Afghanistan as the U.S. and Britain declared war.

Holding residence in Afghanistan since 1999, Emergency continued to operate three surgical centers, a maternity center, 25 clinics and six Afghan jail clinics completely free of charge.

On April 11, the head of the U.S.-backed Afghan intelligence services declared that Emergency is working with the Taliban in Afghanistan and is thus an ally to terrorists.

Subsequently, Emergency has been forced to withdraw its entire foreign staff and leave the hospitals to local management.

Seventy percent of Afghans have no access to medical health professionals, according the United Nations. In a nation with 10 million land mines and unexploded cluster bombs, topped with three decades of conflict, numerous natural disasters and crippling poverty, a health crisis has surfaced.

Emergency has treated 1.4 million Afghans for illness and injury. Emergency care centers treat any patient, regardless of nationality, religion, organizational affiliation or military membership. These programs are initiated in the belief that no war can be just and operated in the spirit of promoting solidarity.

In Afghanistan, Emergency recently aided negotiations to release Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo from the Taliban, transporting messages between Rome, Kabul and the Taliban. Following the release of Mastrogiacomo, Emergency’s Rahmatullah Hanefi – who delivered the messages – was arrested and detained in Kabul without charge or evidence.

The claims of the U.S.-backed Afghan government are substantiated by little more than a dislike for the objectives of Emergency. Emergency operates in complete opposition to armed combat with the knowledge that, since World War II, 90 percent of victims of war are civilians.

Civilians are the people who will feel the brunt of repression against Emergency, which operates in more than 10 countries. Should the Afghan government pursue further charges against the group, the U.S. may back them, resulting in an end to free, high-quality health care for civilians. If this is a risk we are willing to take, then we are willing to risk the future of all notions of human rights.

THE METROPOLITAN • 4.19.07

INSIGHT • 23

Matthew Quane and Andrew Howerton • mquane@mscd.edu, howert2@mscd.edu

The Trebuchet of Images STEVE LEWIS slewis42@mscd.edu

Petrocracy gives us too much gas “Green is the new red, white and blue,” wrote columnist Thomas Friedman in a forthright and passionate article entitled “The Power of Green” in the April 15 New York Times Magazine. By which he means that two seemingly disparate issues such as environmentalism and foreign policy are in fact closely connected and that sound environmental policies are not only sensible; they are patriotic.

With the climate change bandwagon now rolling merrily in the right direction and only the occasional maverick academic or Bush administration official still holding out, Friedman sets out the environmental disaster in the offing and the science that compels the world to make changes in our use of energy. What he also contends is that confronting our addiction to oil and weaning ourselves off it will have significant foreign policy benefits both for America and for the spread of democracy.

By “financing both sides in the war on terrorism” – firstly our military with tax dollars and then all manner of mayhem with our purchases of oil – Friedman says we are doubly stupid and he is right. With a barrel of oil nearing $70 and the U.S. unable to quench its thirst for the black gold, we are pouring untold riches into the coffers of some pretty unsavory characters and propping up regimes which are far from democratic.

Some glaring examples of this new “petrocracy” are our friends in Saudi Arabia, the corrupt House of Saud, who have bought off the fanatics within and directly financed terrorism without, the current genocidal regime in Sudan, our new enemy-du-jour Iran, everyone’s favorite anti-American Hugo Chavez – the list goes on and on. Friedman invokes what he calls the “First Law of Petropolitics,” which is that high oil prices allow bad people to hold onto power while low oil prices force those very same bad people to open up their countries and their societies by seeking foreign investment. There is a clear correlation between low oil prices and democratic progress. If we really want to spread democracy across the globe, (and do we, really?), then not buying oil is perhaps a more effective manner of doing it than trumped-up wars or forced globalization at the hands of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

So no more red states and blue states – let’s go green states. Doing the right thing for the planet is also doing the right thing for the foreign masses yearning for freedom and doing the right thing for America’s place in the world.

The world’s problems are clear for all to see.

Friedman’s brand of green geopolitics is beyond seductive; it is common sense. But do we have the will to effect change or do we have a system in which our powers that be benefit from the oil and war circus? So take the bus, forget the plastic bags, but keep an eye on the Halliburton stock price.

Ceci n’est pas un char de Lego.

My big, hairy war on taxation Protesting the war in Iraq is easier than ever; just check it off as an unofficial deduction on your federal income taxes next year. But make sure you have some serious cojones.

Most American taxpayers helplessly pay for an endeavor they vehemently oppose. But some are fighting to end their part in military financing through tax resistance, refusing to pay the percentage of their incomes destined for war spending.

“Adjustment of lifestyle to avoid tax liability” and “protest and refusal” are a few ways the National War Tax Resistance Coordination Committee offers guidance on their website to such conscientious scalawags.

A lifestyle change might include being selfemployed as well as changing jobs frequently to evade the IRS. “If you quit a job as soon as IRS levies your wages, they will often give up on trying to collect from you, or it might take them months or years to catch up with you at a new place of employment,” the group states in its publication “Practical War Tax Resistance #3.” The document comes with a disclaimer that some of the suggestions may be considered “criminal violations” of the Internal Revenue Code.

EMILE HALLEZ ehallez@mscd.edu The National Priorities Project, a nonprofit that works “to educate the public on the impacts of federal tax and spending policies at the community level,” recently published a breakdown of fiscal 2006 federal income tax allocation.

Forty percent of the funds were poured into military expenses, the group said, while a scant 5 percent was thrown at education and less than half of that went to affordable housing programs.

But who wants a free education in lieu of bombs that might as well have our names on them? After all, intelligence isn’t going to win us any wars.

“For the amount of the cost of the Iraq war, we could provide university scholarships for every single graduating senior this year,” said Pamela Schwartz, communications director for NPP, during an interview on the radio show Democracy Now! “It’s very disproportionate. I think the priorities of our government are very mixed up and backwards. We’re not bettering our nation,” Metro senior Patrick Lally said.

As a student and an opponent of war spending, I must concur. Expenses on current military endeavors, which do not include interest on war debt or veteran benefits, account for the highest percentage of federal income tax spending – 27 cents of every dollar.

“It’s ridiculous. It’s a waste,” Metro student Shiraz Choudhry said. “People work too hard just to pay for the military.”

Does it take balls to evade tax collectors?

No doubt. Will it make a difference in the grand scheme? Maybe. Is it the right thing to do? You bet your sweet ass it is.

But if, like me, you lack the cojones to travel onto the other side of the law, consider writing to Congress. If enough people do the same, we might actually see some changes in tax allocation.

SERVING THE AURARIA CAMPUS SINCE 1979 EDITOR IN CHIEF Cory Casciato • casciato@mscd.edu MANAGING EDITOR David Pollan • dpollan@mscd.edu SENIOR EDITOR Matthew Quane • mquane@mscd.edu NEWS EDITOR Geof Wollerman • gwollerm@mscd.edu OPINIONS EDITOR Andrew Flohr-Spence • spencand@mscd.edu ASSISTANT OPINIONS EDITOR Emile Hallez • ehallez@mscd.edu FEATURES EDITOR Adam Goldstein • goldstea@mscd.edu ASSISTANT FEATURES EDITOR Josie Klemaier • jklemaie@mscd.edu MUSIC EDITOR Megan Carneal • mcarneal@mscd.edu SPORTS EDITOR Eric Lansing • lansing@mscd.edu

DESIGN EDITOR Joe Nguyen • nguyejos@mscd.edu PHOTO EDITOR Jenn LeBlanc • jkerriga@mscd.edu ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR Amie Cribley • acribley@mscd.edu ILLUSTRATOR Andrew Howerton • ahowert2@mscd.edu COPY EDITORS Jeremy Johnson • jjohn308@mscd.edu Taylor Sullivan • tsulli21@mscd.edu Joel Tagert • tagert@mscd.edu Clayton Woullard • cwoullar@mscd.edu DIRECTOR OF STUDENT MEDIA Dianne Harrison Miller ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF STUDENT MEDIA Donnita Wong ADVISER Jane Hoback

The Metropolitan is produced by and for the students of Metropolitan State College of Denver and serves the Auraria Campus. The Metropolitan is supported by advertising revenue and student fees, and is published every Thursday during the academic year and monthly during the Summer semester.

The Metropolitan is distributed to all campus buildings. No person may take more than one copy of each edition of The Metropolitan without prior written permission. Please direct any questions, comments, complaints or compliments to Metro Board of Publications c/o The Metropolitan. Opinions expressed within do not necessarily reflect those of Metropolitan State College of Denver or its advertisers. Deadline for calendar items is 5 p.m. Thursday. Deadline for press releases is 10 a.m. Monday. Display advertising deadline is 3 p.m. Thursday.

Classified advertising is 5 p.m. Thursday.

Our offices are located in the Tivoli Student Union, Room 313.

Mailing address is P.O. Box 173362, Campus Box 57, Denver, CO 80217-3362.

THE METROPOLITAN • PAGE 24 • ERIC LANSING • LANSING@MSCD.EDU

Sport

DID YOU KNOW...

Team captain and starting catcher Reece Gorman won the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference’s Player of the Week for his performances against the Colorado School of Mines April 14 and 15 in Golden. Gorman had nine hits in 13 at bats, a .692 batting average, with three home runs, nine RBI and nine runs scored.

Gorman was the second Metro baseball player to win the award this season as starting pitcher Braden Ham won it on March 14.

Men manhandle Mustangs, women wilt under pressure

ERIC LANSING lansing@mscd.edu

Baseball fans have reason to celebrate In light of the 60th anniversary of what is recognized as the pivotal moment in sports integration, there is finally something positive to write about in the world of professional baseball: Jackie Robinson.

A few weeks back, I wrote a column about the diseases that plague Major League Baseball and its 2007 season. Well, now I can turn away from the dismal side of the game and turn toward one of inspiration and courage.

Robinson’s name echoes throughout the entire sports world as does his legacy of breaking the color barrier in baseball and fighting through the civil rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s, even after his baseball career.

And let’s not forget that Robinson was a great player. I think that gets lost behind all of his struggles with injustice, and understandably so. But Robinson wasn’t just a man who crashed color boundaries; he was an excellent athlete on the diamond as well. He won Major League Baseball’s first Rookie of the Year Award in his inaugural season, while leading the league with 29 stolen bases. He was nominated for six All-Star Game appearances, won the National League’s Most Valuable Player in 1949, and played in six World Series, including a title in 1955 over the Yankees.

Robinson took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. Those first steps he took toward his position at first base were huge strides in abolishing racism and bigotry in not only the game he played in, but in the world he lived in.

Fifty years later, in 1997, MLB wanted to remember the man who pushed through racial discrimination by retiring No. 42, so that no player would be assigned the number again.

Soon after, most ballparks displayed a No. 42 on the outfield wall, showcasing it in remembrance

See LANSING Page 25

Photo by Emily Mehring • emehring@mscd.edu

Metro tennis player Alecia Jenkins uses a forehand to return a shot against her opponent April 17 at Auraria Courts. Metro split their match against Western New Mexico as the men won 8-1, with the women falling 7-2 to the Lady Mustangs. Jenkins won her singles match over Izelle Olivier 6-3, 6-0.

‘Runners fly high over Mines

By Eric Lansing lansing@mscd.edu Metro’s baseball team outscored the Colorado School of Mines 63-20 April 14 and 15 to sweep the Orediggers in a four-game series in Golden.

The Roadrunners, who have struggled in every baseball category this season, seemed to have hit their stride the past few weeks, winning five games in a row. They split a two-game series with Nebraska-Kearney on April 5, winning the second game 4-3 in 10 innings.

Metro ran on all cylinders against the ’Diggers, with superb pitching to go along with their offensive fireworks.

“We finally came together as a team like we always thought we were at the beginning of the season,” Metro catcher Kyle Christensen said.

“That series was how we thought the whole season was going to go.”

Metro head coach Bobby Pierce was pleased with the sweep, but kept the focus on the task at hand.

“It was definitely exciting to see them play that well,” Pierce said. “But we have to let those games go. I wish they could think about those games for the rest of the season, but we have games still left to be played.”

In the first game of the series, starting pitcher Braden Ham continued his dominance on the mound by pitching eight innings, allowing one earned run and striking out seven Orediggers in the 9-3 win.

But this time, Ham (2-6) got the win and the run support that has been previously lacking. The offense came through with nine runs

See BASEBALL Page 25 April 14 at Darden Field, game one Metro Mines

R H E

0 0 0 3 2 0 1 0 3 9 16 4 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 3 10 3

Metro: 2B – Gorman (9), Palmer (10), Molinar (4); RBI – Palmer 3 (28), Christensen 2 (11), Gorman 2 (27) Mines: 2B – Naccarato (7); RBI – Walker (20), Gallegos (9), Gremmer (17)

April 14 at Darden Field, game two Metro Mines

252 300 8 000 021 0

R H E 2020 0 3 7 3

Metro: 2B – Christiansen (8); RBI – Palmer 4 (31), Gorman 3 (31), Christensen 3 (14), Nahm 3 (11), Bowman 2 (14) Mines: 2B – Hensley (5); RBI – Revielle 5 (26), Matsuda (6) April 15 at Darden Field, game one Metro Mines

R H E

0 0 0 5 1 2 1 3 1 1311 3 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 4 8 12 7

Metro: 2B – Bowman (6); RBI – Palmer 2 (33), Gorman 2 (32), Christensen 3 (17), three tied with one Mines: 2B – Revielle (24); RBI – Rudkin 3 (32), Matsuda 2 (8), Naccarato 2 (29), Siderius (20) April 15 at Darden Field, game two Metro Mines

009 250 5 100 020 3

R H E 2118 0 6 12 1

Metro: 2B – Palmer 2 (12); RBI – Nahm 5 (16), Sbresny 4 (7), Gorman 4 (36), Palmer 3 (36), Bowers 2 (19) Mines: 2B – Revielle (25), RBI – Rudkin 3 (35), three tied with one

THE METROPOLITAN • 4.19.07

LANSING • All colors have

right to wear No. 42

SPORT • 25

Getting their run, walk, stroll on at the Metro 5K

Continued from 24 of Robinson’s accomplishments.

So on April 15, in honor of Robinson’s 60th anniversary, more than 150 players wore the No. 42, including five entire teams. That had to be tough for the statisticians who needed to record hits, runs or double plays.

Baseball has always brought the most historical tradition to the table – more so than any other sport in the U.S. – and it is exciting to see baseball teams and players focusing on what it is good about the game of baseball, instead of the headlining steroid accusations that we hear about every other day.

Sigh. I was hoping to go through an entire column without mentioning something negative, but it came to my attention that Torii Hunter, a black outfielder for the Minnesota Twins, made it known that he didn’t think white players should be allowed to wear Robinson’s number.

He didn’t give a reason why, other than that it is simply his opinion.

Have we learned nothing from Jackie Robinson?

Robinson joined an all-white baseball league to not only to represent blacks as skilled athletes equal to whites, but to destroy that prejudicial line that segregates all races from being a single unity. And Brooklyn Dodger club president and general manager Branch Rickey hired Robinson with the very same hopes and intentions.

Anyway, I hope one ignorant player didn’t

Photo by Nicholas Duckworth • nduckwor@mscd.edu

Runners take off from the starting line for the second annual Go Metro State Downtown 5K April 15 at the bus turnaround in front of the Tivoli. More than 250 male and female runners competed in the three mile race with the proceeds going toward Metro’s cross country team. Kristen Marie Fryburg of Boulder won from the women’s side in a time of 16:53. The men’s first place finisher was Nick Hirsch of Gunnison who completed the track in 15:03.

BASEBALL • ‘Runners 5-game winning streak has playoffs in reach “I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me...all I ask is that you respect me as a human being.”

– JACKIE ROBINSON, MLB’s first African-American player bring down a celebratory and beautifully historic day in baseball history and black history.

Let’s just hope Mr. Hunter rereads the history books and discovers what April 15 really stands for.

As Robinson put it, “I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me … all I ask is that you respect me as a human being.”

Continued from 24 on 16 hits including three home runs. The 2-34 hitters, which consist of catcher Kyle Christensen, designated hitter Reece Gorman and left fielder Jake Palmer went 10-of-15 with seven RBIs, seven runs scored and one home run each.

Game two saw the Roadrunners pound out 20 runs on 20 hits, including eight runs in the final inning, to secure a 20-3 win. Ten ’Runners had at least one hit, 13 had at least one run and eight had at least one RBI. Palmer was once again the hitting leader for Metro as he had four hits in six plate appearances with four RBIs and two runs scored. Palmer also hit a threerun shot in the seventh inning to give his team a 15-3 lead.

Mines had four pitchers take the mound to

try and slow down the ’Runners, but each gave up at least two runs and two walks. Mines pitcher Cory Quakenbush took the worst punishment, as he came into the fifth inning in relief and went on to give up eight earned runs on eight hits and walking three batters in three innings pitched.

Day two of the series saw the revitalization of two Metro veteran pitchers who have had rough seasons up to this point. Starting pitchers Josh Eckert and Mike Bilek had their best outings of the season and led the Roadrunners to 13-8 and 21-6 victories on April 15.

Eckert, who has a record of 2-4 with an earned run average of 6.82, allowed only one earned run in six innings, walking only one batter and striking out four Orediggers.

Eckert was pulled after the sixth inning for pitcher Scott Covell. Covell gave up five earned runs, allowing Mines to pull within five in the bottom of the ninth inning. But pitcher Matt Backes came in and stopped the bleeding by recording the final out of the game.

In the final game, Bilek ensured the team’s first series sweep of the season with a fivestrikeout effort, while allowing only three earned runs in the win. Gorman, who played designated hitter, stood behind the plate for Bilek and pre-

dicted a positive outcome for his buddy.

“I only caught one game this weekend,” Gorman said. “And I told Bilek we were going to get his first win this weekend and it happened.

Eckert looked amazing out there, and it looked like he was throwing about 10 mph harder than usual.”

Gorman, Christensen and Palmer had their best series of the year as they contributed in all four weekend games. Gorman went 9-of-13 with nine RBIs and nine runs, Christiansen went 8of-17 with six runs and seven RBIs and Palmer finished the series with 11 hits in 19 at-bats with seven runs scored and 12 RBIs. “I just wanted to go out there and play the game like it’s supposed to be played,” Gorman said. “I’m glad everybody came through behind me as a team. Palmer, Christensen and I tried to get everyone behind us. We are trying to lead the way, which takes a lot of the pressure off the other guys.”

The sweep improves Metro’s record to 11-25 overall and 9-16 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.

Metro will face off against Colorado Christian April 20 and 21 for a four-game series in Lakewood.

MAKE A LASTING IMPACT ON OTHERS’ LIVES BY CONTRIBUTING A SENIOR GIFT.

Your choice changed your life.

Your gift will fund student scholarships. It can be made in honor of any individual who was key in your success at METROPOLITAN STATE COLLEGE OF DENVER. Your gratitude toward Metro State, and those who helped you succeed, will help others achieve their success.

Your support will change someone else’s.

For more information about the Senior Gift Program or how you can participate, call 303-556-8424 or visit the Web site.

The Senior Class Gift, a tradition at many schools, is your opportunity to give a gift to your alma mater to say thank you for everything you have gained during your time at Metro State.

It’s not the amount of the gift that matters. Your participation at any level will say thank you to Metro State and help the students that follow you.

Your Senior Gift truly makes a difference!

All graduating seniors making a Senior Gift that is received at the Metro State Development Office by April 27 will be listed in the final spring edition of The Metropolitan newspaper.

METRO ST ATE SENIOR GIFT PROGRAM

www.mscd.edu/news/seniorgift