Volume 29, Issue 30, April 26, 2007

THE

METROPOLITAN 4.26.07 • Vol. 29 No. 30 • http://www.mscd.edu/~themet • Serving the Auraria Campus since 1979

Virginia Tech aftermath Students, faculty receive pro-gun message

PAGE 3

UNC posts list of campus unwanted

PAGE 5

Vaya con Dios

Photo by Ian Bisio • bisioi@mscd.edu

Carved wooden crosses hang from a display at the gift shop of San Francisco de Asís Mission Church in Ranchos de Taos, N.M. In the background is the church, which was built in 1772. Students from Metro traveled to Taos, N.M. for their social documentary class. Full story page 12.

SPORT Hiatus doesn’t dull Teng’s dreams sing speed racer’s skills in Colorado PAGE 16 PAGE 24

METROSPECTIVE PULLOUT

Denver’s voices of the dead PAGE 14

MetNews

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

Students gather to remember

Photo by Tyler Walton • twalton2@mscd.edu

Jessica Jones (left) and Joey Marcotte (right) pay tribute to their lost classmates at the eighth anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting. Both were freshmen at the time. Jones was on her way to gym and Marcotte was in the cafeteria when the shootings began. The anniversary came less than a week after a gunman killed 32 people at Virginia Tech and called the Columbine shooters “martyrs.”

E-mailer advocates guns on campus

By Geof Wollerman gwollerm@mscd.edu An anonymous mass e-mail arrived in UCDHSC e-mail boxes April 20 declaring that those who are able and willing should start carrying guns to campus.

The e-mail described itself in the subject line as a “Safety Bulletin for the Auraria Campus,” but had no affiliation with the school. Though the e-mail appeared very similar to an official

college communication, it came from a .com address rather than the school’s actual website, which ends in .edu.

The unofficial e-mail, signed “The Abominable IceMan,” derided Auraria’s policy prohibiting weapons on campus. It also suggested that UCDHSC’s concern for student safety was “superficial” and that the school needed to stop infringing on students’ rights to defend themselves.

“Students and faculty who know themselves to be competent users of firearms should

come to their respective schools armed so that if need be they can quickly dispatch of those who might wish to prey upon their fellow man,” the e-mail said.

The missive was apparently in response to an e-mail sent out earlier in the week by UCDHSC administrators, following the Virginia Tech shooting, which outlined crisis safety tips provided by the Auraria police.

In a response to the anonymous e-mail, which was sent out the same day, UCDHSC

spokeswoman Danielle Zieg described the message as “spam” and “not a legitimate Safety Bulletin from the Auraria Campus, nor was it from the UCDHSC administration.”

It is unclear how many addresses the e-mail reached.

“We’re not sure they got the entire campus listing,” Zieg said, referring to whoever sent the e-mail. “We know that they got a lot. But because

See E-MAIL Page 5

CORRECTION: APRIL 19

CORRECTION: MARCH 29

• An award recipient and his mentor were incorrectly identified in the alumni awards story.

The recipient’s name is Kevin Vaughan and his mentor was Greg Pearson. Vaughan is active in the Greg Pearson memorial scholarship.

• In the Regency story one of the owners of the Regency was incorrectly identified. Her name is Lola Salazar. The Regency building was never condemned, it was shut down by a Denver court for failing to comply with Denver fire codes.

THE METROPOLITAN • 4.26.07

Campuses react after shooting Patrols of Auraria rise, UNC releases list of unwelcome students

By Elena Brown brownele@mscd.edu In response to the recent shootings at Virginia Tech, the University of Northern Colorado has turned to the Internet to boost its campus security.

A new webpage lists the names and pictures of those no longer welcome, at anytime, on campus. The individuals listed on the site have been issued a “no trespass order,” also called PNGs, or persona non grata.

“It’s an effort to highlight security on the campus,” UNC spokesman Nate Haas said.

Those on the list include Mitchell Cozad, a former UNC backup punter charged with attempted murder of a rival last year.

“Not all people listed are violent,” Haas said. “Some people on this list have committed violations of school conduct.”

The webpage was added to the UNC Police Security website. UNC also increased security on the campus by including an additional security officer beginning next month. That brings the total number of officers to 15 for the estimated 12,000 students on the UNC campus.

In the wake of the Virginia Tech shooting, campuses have taken steps to increase their level of security. On April 16 a gunman killed 32 students on campus and then committed suicide.

Auraria police have no plans to post unwelcome people on a website. The police department does issue “banning letters” to those unwelcome on campus. As of press time the Auraria police were unable to determine how many people are considered banned from campus.

Campus police have increased campus foot patrol and will host a buddy system to walk people to and from their cars, said Heather Coogan, chief of Auraria police. Although police have increased their visibility, the department has three job openings for officers.

“It takes time to add officers,” Coogan said.

“It isn’t done overnight.”

There are 19 officers for the estimated 40,000 students of UCD, CCD and Metro. That’s about one officer for every 2,100 students.

Although the campus isn’t at its full allotment of officers it is one of the safest campuses in the country, Coogan said.

While the campus doesn’t have a website of banned people, they encourage using one of the emergency telephones located in every classroom building to call 911 or (303) 556-5000 to report a crime.

Some students like the idea of having a webpage to access those that have been banned from Auraria.

“I think this is a good idea,” Metro student Amy Roberts said. “This would keep people aware and would be good information to have.”

Other students are taking their safety in their own hands, including UCD theater major Melanie Meers.

“Even though I don’t have a far walk, it’s still creepy at night,” Meers said. “I carry a pocketknife with me and have the Auraria police number in my cell phone.”

NEWS • 5

Boosting bookstore sales

By Ryan Parker parkerya@mscd.edu The Auraria Campus Bookstore’s sales have increased by almost half a million dollars from this time last year, which the director of the store said he believes is due to a new unity among the campus’ three colleges and the Metro student body’s growing pride in their school.

According to a recent report released by the Auraria Board of Directors, the bookstore saw a $490,081 increase in sales from last year. New textbook sales accounted for $334,388, and used textbooks added an additional $129,001.

“The cost of living has increased a bit from last year and that plays a part into it,” said Michael Clarke, the bookstore director.

Also, this December the store raised its buy-back rate 15 percent, which helped populate the shelves for the spring semester.

“We paid out $82,000 more this December than we did last December,” Clarke said, adding that the total payout for used books was up more than $1 million from last year.

Though sales are up, expenses for the bookstore have increased as well, up more than $400,000 from last year.

“We have more student hourly rates for the employees and credit card fees are up too,” said Sandra Sales, the chief financial officer for the Auraria Higher Education Center.

According to Sales, after expenses were paid, the actual profit of the bookstore was $80,778.

“That profit the store made will go back into the Student Auxiliary Revenue Bond Fund,” Sales said, explaining that the fund is set up to keep student fees down from year to year as new expenses for the campus are faced.

An increase in the availability of different clothing items and other merchandise has also aided the bookstore’s high sales.

“It seems like they have a lot more stuff this year and I like the designs on the shirts and I think it’s great they have coffee mugs and stuff like that too. Plus, it’s good to be proud of your school,” said Metro student Blair Bonham.

Sales of general merchandise have brought in $123,229 more than last year.

“I have seen and have been told by others that the spirit on campus is rising. You are seeing a lot more Metro State hoodies and baseball hats being worn by the students on campus,” Clarke said.

The push toward new merchandise began when the former director of the bookstore met with focus groups and determined what products students were interested in, according to Clarke.

“They have a new design for the baseball hats this year and I like it a lot better than it was last year. It fits better and looks nicer,” said Metro student John Buch.

Not all of the store’s sales are up. The computer section saw a decrease in sales from last year.

The decrease has a lot to do with the sale of iPods, which the book-

Photo by Cora Kemp • ckemp4@mscd.edu

Though she works in the Auraria Campus Bookstore, Metro student Wendi Garritano is a member of CoPIRG, a nonprofit organization that is working to get publishers to lower textbook prices. store offered last year at a discount that was extended to the store by Apple. Clarke said that because of the discount last year the bookstore was the cheapest place to get iPods. But this year things are different.

“We are not offering it this year. That is not our choice. The offer is extended to us by Apple and we, in turn, extend it to the students, but they didn’t do it this year. So, now ours are the same price as everywhere else they are sold,” Clarke said.

According to Clarke, the bookstore will continue with the projects it has started, along with carrying merchandise that is appealing to the student body.

“We just like to have what the students are looking for,” Clarke said.

E-MAIL • Campus prohibits weapons; sense of security lost Continued from 3 we know they did not hack into the system … we think it’s possibly that they literally spent hours copying and pasting addresses.”

Faculty and staff addresses are readily available from the Auraria campus directory, but student addresses would have to be culled from another source, such as class rosters, Zieg said.

UCDHSC’s information technology department looked into the origin of the e-mail and found it had “traipsed around a little bit,” Zieg said.

“We don’t really know who sent it or where they sent it from,” she said, adding that the e-mail was not sent from a UCDHSC address and that the school is continuing to pursue its origin.

Though UCDHSC’s response made clear the e-mail had nothing to do with administration policy, it did not address the issue of students or faculty bringing weapons to campus.

“Everybody absolutely has a right to their opinion, and if this was an environment where we were to give everybody an opportunity to share

their opinion through our university system, then we’d get that kind of dialogue back and forth,” Zieg said. “But that’s not the place for that kind of conversation … that’s not what we do.”

The issue is not the extreme nature of the expressed opinion, but rather the inappropriate use of the university’s e-mail system, Zieg said.

“This is America, we have a right to our opinions,” she said. “Just because we don’t agree with it doesn’t mean you can’t have an opinion.”

There is a strict campus policy in place regarding weapons and UCDHSC expects all of its students to adhere to it, Zieg said.

According to the Auraria Higher Education Center’s “no tolerance” weapons policy, anyone who is found in unauthorized possession of a firearm will be banned from campus. Though Denver allows residents to obtain a concealed weapon permit, this law does not extend onto Auraria.

“Anytime there’s an action or a tragedy that is so stark like this, you’re always going to have those factions or segments of the population that want to pursue their agenda or their cause,” said

Lance Denning, Metro associate professor of political science, regarding responses to the shooting at Virginia Tech. “So you can see why second amendment rights become such a clarion call.”

It is such a sensitive time and such a tragic loss of life that peoples’ responses are going to be heated and emotional, Denning said in reference to the e-mail.

“I’m not sure if we want to necessarily pursue those sorts of emotional responses,” he said, explaining that it really comes down to an issue of security – or the lack of.

“I think one of the reasons why we’re willing to have a little bit of a loss of our independence in this world is because we think it’s a compromise – a good compromise, a fair compromise – for developing a measure of safety and security,” Denning said. “(We’re) allowing that intermediary position, like the campus police or the government in general, to … make us feel a little less insecure. And so we get uncomfortable when we lose that trust.”

THE METROPOLITAN • 4.26.07

NEWS • 7

Metro eyes Hispanic future, funding Federal program would bring needed money to growing campus

By David Cardenas dcarden5@mscd.edu Metro faculty and staff gathered for a town hall meeting April 19 in the Tivoli Turnhalle to discuss the Hispanic Serving Initiative, which guarantees grant money for schools that have a Hispanic population of 25 percent or more.

Metro’s current Hispanic population is 12.5 percent, and the school plans on reaching 25 percent in the next 10 years, Metro spokeswoman Cathy Lucas said.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, in addition to the population requirements, a Hispanic-serving institution is also nonprofit and 50 percent of its Hispanic population must live in low-income households.

“Once we achieve a 25 percent Latino population, this designation opens up a world of possibilities,” Metro President Stephen Jordan said during the meeting. Grant monies could go to a number of different activities such as faculty development, renovation of instructional facilities and various student support services, he said.

Assistant finance professor Juan Dempere, who researched the benefits to Metro of becoming a HSI, found that in 2005 the U.S. Department of Education gave $96 million to Hispanic-serving schools, and of that, Colorado institutions received $1.4 million.

Colorado has six HISs: CCD, Trinidad State Junior College, Pueblo Community College, Otero Junior College, Adams State College and Colorado State University at Pueblo.

“The total dollar amount that has been distributed under the (HSI) program is around a half of a billion dollars,” Dempere said. “This is just one source of money … but

Photo by Tyler Walton • twalton2@mscd.edu

President Stephen Jordan spoke to guests about the role that Metro has in becoming a Hispanic Serving Institute at the Richard T. Castro Distinguished Visiting Professor luncheon honoring filmmaker Loudres Portillo. we’re talking about several millions of dollars each year.”

However, the overall graduation rate over a six-year span at Metro is 20 percent, while the graduation rate of Hispanic students is 18 percent, said Judy Diaz Bonacquist, associate vice president of enrollment management.

“These aren’t stellar numbers by any measure, but what it does give indication to know is that we’ve got some room for improvement,” Bonacquist said. “With making some changes we

can increase the graduation of all our students and obtain HSI status.”

Initial investment costs in the program have not been determined yet, Dempere said.

“The first step is to nominate members to integrate the Hispanic Serving Institution Task Force,” Dempere said. “Once appointed, these members will work on strategic plans for several areas including public relationships, retention and recruitment, professional development, campus climate, etc.”

Concerns regarding the initiative were raised at the meeting, specifically that becoming a largely Hispanic institute would detract from the importance of other communities on campus, such as the black community.

Jordan tried to allay these concerns.

“In truth, what the HSI says is that student body needs to reflect the population of our region,” he said. “If that is true, we will continue to recruit African-American students as well as Hispanic students.”

Conference sheds light on realities of modern slavery

By Jessie Yale jyale@mscd.edu The U.S. Department of State estimates that 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders every year, generating $7 billion to $10 billion in illegitimate revenue.

“We need to push the envelope on how we look at this growing problem,” said keynote speaker Rachel Lloyd at Colorado’s Response to Modern-Day Slavery and Human Trafficking conference. Lloyd is the creator of the program Girl’s Educational and Mentoring Services, or GEMS, in New York City, and a survivor of the sexual exploitation industry herself.

“We are talking about U.S. citizens, what others call child or teen prostitutes,” she said.

Lloyd said the images people have of victims of human trafficking are not the norm.

“People get these images of people chained up with guns to their heads when they think of human trafficking, and really, that’s not usually the case,” Lloyd said. “You don’t have to be chained to a bed to feel you can’t leave. You don’t have to be from another country to feel you have

no other choice.”

The victims Lloyd describes are mainly youths who are seen as unacceptable in society, such as drug addicts and runaways. She explained that many in today’s culture have a hard time seeing these people as victims.

“Society views them as people who have chosen this lifestyle and if they wanted to they could leave,” she said.

There is also the problem with some victim’s reactions when approached with help.

“It’s not all about ‘Oh, thank you! I’ve been rescued.’ It’s more like, ‘Fuck you. I like my life and I love my pimp.’ They are angry about it,” Lloyd said. “It’s not so much about rescuing, as supporting and empowering.”

Lloyd said it’s time society became involved in changing the way this problem is looked at.

“People need to focus on changing the language from teen/child prostitution to human trafficking or commercial sexual exploitation of children and look at the problem,” she said.

“They are victims, and although someone else may think these victims have a choice, they may feel they don’t. Not everyone has the same

economic advantages.”

Every child under the age of 18 is a target for human trafficking, she said, whether they are in the mall, walking home from school or surfing the Internet.

Some children are at higher risk than others, including those with lower incomes, minorities and those who have a historical mistrust of law enforcement.

The growth of this industry can be blamed on several factors.

“Society says it’s okay to look at porn and go to strip clubs. Porn is getting more and more violent and when men watch it, it becomes a fantasy that they want to act out,” Lloyd said.

“The guy doesn’t see a 12-year-old prostitute as a child because he paid for it, he feels he can do whatever he wants, including beating her.”

Advertising and pop culture also add to the problem. Lloyd explained that, with adolescents, it’s all about what you have, not who you are.

Traffickers and pimps play on the wants of children who have nothing; they give them the support, attention and material things they crave.

The “glorification of pimps ’n’ hos culture”

leads to the idea that this industry is cool and glamorous, Lloyd said. She used last year’s Academy Awards as an example, when Three 6 Mafia’s “It’s Hard out Here for a Pimp” won the award for best original song.

“They changed the word bitch to witch so it wouldn’t be offensive, but the fact that the song was about selling sex didn’t offend anyone. Try changing the words to ‘It’s hard out there for a trafficker’ and see how people feel about it,” Lloyd said. “People need to change their views about prostitution and human trafficking. It’s the same thing.”

Right now the cause is not widely known. To make this a larger cause, many others will have to get involved and bring attention to it, which is happening more and more, according to Lloyd.

“When Oprah decides it’s an issue then people start to recognize it as an issue,” she said.

She explained the need to spread the word to homes, schools, workplaces and communities.

“People need to stop ignoring it and face the reality that it’s happening,” Lloyd said. “A sexually exploited child in Calcutta is no different than a sexually exploited child in the U.S.”

THE METROPOLITAN • 4.26.07

NEWS • 9

Campus, clubs look for place on MySpace

By Brandon Daviet bdaviet@mscd.edu If Metro requested to be your next MySpace friend, would you add it?

Social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook along with text messaging and other forms of modern communication were discussed April 19 at a Student Government Assembly forum on campus communication in the Tivoli.

The event was inspired by the theories of author Andrew J. Milne, whose recent book, Entering the Interaction Age: Implementing a Future Vision for Campus Learning, explores the possibility of using social networking sites as learning tools, according to a Metro news release. In the book Milne declares that “higher education is entering a new age, an interactivity age.”

The panel included director of Student Services Larry Worster, associate director of Student Activities Brooke Dilling and Metro’s director of web communications Chris Mancuso.

“We are always interested in how to communicate with our constituents, past, present and future,” Mancuso said about the opportunity the sites offer.

The purpose of the forum was to imagine how social networking and gaming sites could be integrated into the classroom and campus experience at Metro. But the discussion also focused on using networking to promote campus events.

“We want to use social networking sites to rope people into activities that they normally wouldn’t pay attention to on a flyer,” Dilling said.

Plans were discussed that would allow academics to integrate more with networking sites, but there is a wariness about the implications of this sort of move.

“We are looking into incorporating social networking sites into classrooms and MetroCon-

Photo by Cora Kemp • ckemp4@mscd.edu

Metro student Edwin Montero checks his MySpace page April 24 in the Tivoli.

“We are hesitant to create an official MySpace site for Metro State. There are many schools who have done it and it has proved to be a big source of controversy .”

– LARRY WORSTER, STUDENT SERVICES DIRECTOR nect in the next five years,” Worster said. “But we are hesitant to create an official MySpace site for Metro State. There are many schools that have done it and it has proved to be a big source of controversy.”

One such incident involved a New York cheerleader who was expelled from her high school after sending nude pictures to a young man who then posted them on MySpace.

The panel also pointed out that while the sites are important, they can also negatively affect graduating students seeking jobs.

“Employers are checking these social networking sites and if they see a red flag, that student might not be getting a job,” Dilling said.

Metro junior Kari Larson, expressed her apprehension about emphasizing social networking as an official form of communication.

“I’m very old school … I still write checks,” Larson said. “For me as a student I’d rather see a lot more real connection than cyber connection.”

Several other students in attendance echoed her sentiments.

While the panel’s members were sympathetic to the concerns of students, they stressed that with new generations being raised with the web.

Electronic communication is just another part of modern college life.

“We realize we have a big population that isn’t up on the latest and greatest technology,” Mancuso said. “On the other hand, e-mail is an official form of school communication.”

The college’s MetroConnect site, which offers a variety of electronic services, was launched in 2003 and has largely replaced the college’s paper communications.

“Budget cuts were a big part of the creation of MetroConnect because it cut out a lot of paperwork,” Mancuso said.

The forum took place just a few days after students and others around the world flocked to sites like MySpace and Facebook to express their grief and condolences over the recent tragedy at Virginia Tech.

Several newspaper articles have pointed to a lack of communication at Virginia Tech both during and leading up to the tragedy, and the panel took the opportunity to address how Metro could communicate with students through other means, such as cell phones.

“We are looking into sending out text messages in case of emergency because this isn’t the ’80s,” Mancuso said. “It’s today and we have a responsibility to do it.”

Metro students are encouraged to post their opinions on the issue at two sites the panel has set up: http://socialnetworkingandeducation.blogspot.com and http://educationalwiki.pbwiki.com.

Student Profile: Kalilah Shelton

Perseverance pays

By Rita Wold rwold@mscd.edu It will take more than negative perceptions to kill the spirit in one of Metro’s own.

“I think people take up the stereotypes about black people and black woman and they assume they know who I am,” Metro political science major Kalilah Shelton said. “I like to prove people wrong.”

Shelton, 23, recalled being a curious child who was more concerned with what was happening somewhere besides her own backyard.

“We would be in a store and we would skip an aisle, and I would go back and go down that isle just to see what was there,” Shelton said.

Born in Long Island, N.Y., Shelton is the third of four children. At age 8 she jumped at the chance to move with her great aunt to Denver.

“I’m a very impulsive kind of person,” Shelton said. “I have always been the one to say let’s do it, let’s see what it is all about.”

In high school she participated in a number of plays including Fiddler on the Roof and Marcus is Walking. Also a lover of literature, Shelton said she likes to read books that motivate her to be a better person.

As a freshman at Colorado Christian University, Shelton was discouraged from going into medical school – a dream she had since she was a kid – by a professor who told her to change her

Photo by Heather A. Longway-Burke • longway@mscd.edu

major because she would never become a doctor.

“That hurt me. I was still just 17 at the time,” Shelton said.

“It doesn’t matter what people say you can do, what they think you can do. It matters what you know you can do.”

According to Shelton, her first political science class was at CCD and she loved it. Since then she has participated in the Model Arab League and the Model United Nations. She is also a member of the Political Science Association. These experiences have made her want to become a human rights commissioner or an ambassador to a foreign country.

Although she believes there are some genuinely good people in politics, Shelton doesn’t want to be a politician.

“Once you get to a point in politics I think you lose the people aspect of it,” she said.

Shelton disagrees with the way television negatively depicts assertive black women, adding that if a black woman voices her opinion, it is treated as a bad thing. She thinks all girls should look up to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice because of what Rice has accomplished.

“She is doing something that someone told her she could not do,” Shelton said. “At one point someone said ‘maybe you should choose something different.’”

Graduating from Metro in the fall, Shelton said she loves the school and all it has offered her.

“I think we are lucky to have the professors we have,” she said.

After graduation Shelton plans on traveling and still aspires to enter the medical field.

“There are so many dreams that I have, and I want to fulfill as many of them as possible,” she said.

10 • NEWS

4.26.07 • THE METROPOLITAN

Photos by William Blackburn • wblackb2@mscd.edu

ABOVE: Best in Show, Starfest 2007 Costume Contest. From left: Dave Morgan, Lynelle Phillips, Gina Waller, Nigel Casantini, Jyn Burkhart, Kenneth Bodnar, Troy Ollom, Andrea Durst, Cathy Bodner, Leah D’Andrea, Drew Barker, Frank Leitz. BELOW: Leah D’Andrea, 25, accepts praise from friends after winning best in show.

Starfest lands

By William Blackburn wblackb2@mscd.edu

Each spring, thousands of science fiction fans converge on a hotel convention center in a celebration of all things sci-fi. The event is called Starfest, and has been going on for 30 years.

Leah D’Andrea, a 25-year-old Metro theater major inspired and led a team of costumers to win the Best In Show award at Starfest’s costume contest April 21. The team donned costumes from the movie Spaceballs.

Nigel Casantini participated in D’Andrea’s group and masqueraded as Dark Helmet.

“This was only the second or third costume I’ve ever been in, and the first costume contest I’ve ever entered,” Casantini said. He said D’Andrea was “hugely instrumental for the win.

She decided on our order and really cranked out a lot of costume work. She made the majority of at least three of the costumes.”

First time Starfest attendee and Metro graphic design and history major Katie Gregonis came for the experience.

“I just wanted to get back into the sci-fi culture,” Gregonis said. “I missed it. I’ve been a huge fan of Star Wars since I was 12. It’s been a real blast.”

More than 6,000 fans attended the threeday convention, according to staff members at the event.

Guest stars held panels over the course of the weekend. Panelists included Star Trek’s Leonard Nimoy, Buck Rogers’ Gil Gerard and Erin Grey, Star Wars’ Ray Park and Daniel Logan, Battlestar Galactica’s Kate Vernon and An-

dee Frizzell from Stargate: Atlantis.

Panels at the event included new movies, superhero cinema, model making, an art show, question-and-answer sessions with the stars and an opportunity to get pictures and autographs with the stars. Gregonis had Nimoy sign two vintage record albums that were produced

by Nimoy in the ‘70s.

Other convention events included a pirate vs. ninja debate, fan film presentations, horror festival, Harry Potter Quidditch tournaments, and tabletop role-playing games. The dealer’s room provided fans with products from every nook and corner of the sci-fi universe, such as

“I just wanted to get back into the sci-fi culture. I missed it. I’ve been a huge fan of Star Wars since I was 12.

It’s been a real blast. ” – KATIE GREGONIS, METRO STUDENT light-up lightsabers, airsoft guns, T-shirts, action figures, posters, comics and collectibles.

Similar upcoming conventions will include the Opus Fantasy Arts Festival May 25 through 27, and Mile High Con 39 October 26 through 28. More information on this convention and future Starfest conventions can be found at www. starland.com.

metrospective `

Photo by Lauren Conner • connerla@mscd.edu

Metro senior Ian Bisio photographs the grounds surrounding the San Francisco de Asís Mission Church in Ranchos de Taos, N.M. Ian was participating in Metro’s social documentary journalism class, which not only explores different cultures but also different approaches to covering them. The class visited Taos April 18 to 22. Full story page 12.

Wading through Middle Earth legacy

The Children of Húrin

By J.R.R. Tolkien Edited by Christopher Tolkien Illustrated by Alan Lee $26.00 Houghton Mifflin Co.

By Clarke Reader creader3@mscd.edu There was a time when Middle Earth was a vast wilderness of mountains and forests – a sprawling land of many wonders and dangers. Into this land came the elves and men, both races strong and proud, but both races flawed by a dark shadow that hung over the world.

The Children of Húrin, the first “complete” work by J.R.R. Tolkien since The Silmarillion, tells a tale of one of the greatest of the first men from Tolkien’s fictional Middle Earth.

The prose is beautifully archaic, imbuing the story with the sense of history and vague familiarity that helped make Tolkien the don of the fantasy novel.

Edited and pieced together by Tolkien’s third son, Christopher (who has spent much of his life editing and publishing his late father’s unfinished works), the book delves into the tragic tale of Turin, a man fated to meet destruction and death wherever he goes. The hapless hero encounters levels of tragedy that reach Shakespearean standards.

The novel takes place many hundreds of years before The Lord of the Rings, and is filled with more of the complex history and mythology that Tolkien created for his world. For those unfamiliar with terms like “Arda,” “the Valar” and “the Edain,” fear not. In the introduction, Christopher gives a brief but informative who’s who and history of what is going on in Middle Earth while the story is happening. There is also a glossary of names and places at the end of the novel, for those who are confused.

Still, describing the plot is difficult without getting bogged down in semantics. The novel revolves around the life of Turin, the eldest son of one of the great kings of men. During this time in Middle Earth, the great dark lord Morgoth is constantly raining down fear and destruction on both man and elf (for an idea of how bad Morgoth was, Sauron from Rings was his mere servant).

During a great battle, Morgoth captured Turin’s father,

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

Húrin, and because of Húrin’s refusal to submit to Morgoth’s power, Turin was cursed for life.

This is a bleak story from start to tragic finish, and there is very little of the mirth and wonder that can be found in Rings present here. Still, the tragedy makes the story moving and affecting. Tolkien’s words brilliantly capture a man battling with his own destiny. In many respects he is a character very reminiscent of Shakespeare’s own tragic man, Hamlet.

The text includes beautiful illustrations by Alan Lee, who did much of the artwork for the Rings films, and some very interesting information from Christopher about how he pieced the story together from his father’s notes. The book is an essential addition to any hardcore Tolkien fan’s collection.

Of course, this brings up the question of whether or not the casual reader will be able to access the story. There is so much history and background work in the book that it is easy to be intimidated. Luckily, Húrin is right around 300 pages, so it doesn’t compare to The Silmarillion’s sheer density. The guides and explanations that are included at the beginning and end of the book provide more than enough information to help the novices.

One doesn’t need to know everything about the French Revolution to understand Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, and similarly, one needn’t be a Tolkien expert to understand Húrin.

The idea for this story first appeared in Tolkien’s writings during World War I, and he slowly picked away at it the rest of his life. It is fitting that it should finally be presented as Tolkien wanted it, in a complete, moving narrative.

PULLOUT SECTION

METROSPECTIVE • 12

THE METROPOLITAN • 4.26.07

Capturing Taos Metro student journalists tackle the Southwest in social doc trip

By Taylor Sullivan tsulli21@mscd.edu We abandoned the ant-farm city, where the streets are our all-night bartenders and there is always something to drink, driving south like mad because our Denver lives wouldn’t let us slow down. We slammed into Taos like a rabid hoard of vampire bats, looking to suck the story out of anything that showed any sign of life. But Taos has thick skin, worn dry and leathery from decades of persistence: persistence of personality, of creativity, of autonomy. Taos taught us to hear the people we met, not just record what they said, to see what they looked like, not just snap a picture of them. Like its artist residents, Taos carved better journalists out of us. It chipped, cut and sanded better students and better people out of our former selves.

I crawled into the 9 a.m. critique a half hour late on the last morning of the trip. Karaoke at the hotel bar led to an ill-considered thirst for adventure the night before. The discovery of some infamous hot springs seemed like such a Cortezinspired idea eight hours earlier. We drove, seven of us folded into a Jeep with the worst-off hug-

Photo by Kate Johnson • jokathry@mscd.edu

ging the spare like a toilet, following a bellhopscrawled map to the fountain of youth; it seemed so reliable at the time. We found an end to the dirt road and felt around for a trailhead on the lip of the Rio Grande Gorge. We didn’t have any lights, nothing to illuminate the death path in front of us.

And as we stood frozen at the invisible course to our near future, the question hit us: what are we doing here?

Three hours of sleep later, the question still plagued me. My compatriots and I stumbled and tripped through our stories, rendering Taos as two-dimensional as the pages we were writing on, despite how hard we worked them. The pictures we took may have shown what Taos was, but we couldn’t figure out the shutter speed to show what it meant. It became clear to everyone that we owed our subjects more; that everything that we’ve learned in class did nothing to prepare us for the responsibility we now face as journalists.

The Social Documentary class that led us to Taos was invaluable to this education. It force-fed us the real world, the rude awakening we needed.

Taos proved that it was going to take more than just a diploma to earn our place as the world’s storytellers.

Social Documentary is a Metro journalism class headed by professor Kenn Bisio, who takes students to different locations around the world, including Scotland, Monterey, Calif., and along the famous highway, Route 66.

Photo by Lauren Conner • connerla@mscd.edu

Top: Metro student Ryan Deuchle makes an exposure with his Hasselbald 501 CM film camera at the Gorge Bridge on the Taos Mesa.

Above: The historic Taos Inn at 125 paseo Del Pueblo Norte shines like a jewel.

Right: A tourist walks by the adobe houses at the Taos Pueblo.

Photo by Elani Engelken • eenglek2@mscd.edu

timeout “ THE METROPOLITAN • 4.26.07

METROSPECTIVE • 13

Adolescence is just one big walking pimple.

Everyday Blues

”

– CAROL BURNETT

Adam Goldstein • goldstea@mscd.edu

This Day in History 4.26.07 Today’s Birthdays

Blues maven Ma Rainey – 1886 Architect I.M. Pei – 1917 Comedienne Carol Burnett – 1933 Greaser guitarist Duane Eddy – 1938 Chinese-born actress Joan Chen – 1961 Martial artist Jet Li – 1963 Pro wrestler Glen “Kane” Jacobs – 1967

On this day...

The sky is falling...

DTU

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

1803 – A shower of more than 2,300 meteorite stones rains upon the population of L’Aigle, France, 100 miles west of Paris.

Though the extraterrestrial rocks cause no injuries, the small town’s residents start carrying iron umbrellas.

The phantom toll Booth...

1865 – Union soldiers corner John Wilkes Booth in a Virginia barn. When confronted by cavalrymen, the former actor and fugitve presidential assassin fumbles for a redemptive excuse. “I swear, I didn’t know it was the president,” he cries. “I honestly thought I was shooting the theater critic!”

The facts of life…

1937 – Life magazine commits a grand faux pas when it overlooks printing its logo on the upper left hand corner of the magazine.

Since the cover features a large picture of a rooster, many befuddled readers mistake it for the controversial erotic farm magazine, Cocks Weekly.

Across 1- Slap 6- Lather 10- Feminist Lucretia 14- Slender boat 15- Send forth 16- Once more 17- Hawaiian greeting 18- Comply 19- Motion picture 20- Monster in Greek myth 22- Sullenly ill-humored 24- Earthen pot 25- Pressed 26- Monetary unit of Thailand 30- Greek goddess of the earth 32- 8th month of the Jewish religious calendar 33- Mountain goat 35- Browned sliced bread 40- Tangy summer beverage 42- Recluse 44- Mix dough 45- Competent 47- Mid-month times 48- Type of ranch 50- Hidden 52- Strikes 56- Insult 58- Alberta’s home 59- Young pike 64- Islamic call to prayer 65- Penniless 67- Second letter of the Greek alphabet 68- Part of an eye or camera 69- Compare 70Musical group 71- One hunted 72- Excrete 73- Kill Down 1- Swindle 2- Niger neighbor 3- Soon 4- Silver salmon 5- Film comedian and director 6- Capital of South Korea 7- Offense 8- Pass away, perish 9- Hinder 10- Start of something big? 11- Pungent bulb 12- Rigid 13- Coarse wool cloth 21- Chilly 23- To talk, usually in a pompous manner 26- Worm fiber 27- 16th letter of the Hebrew alphabet 28- Domesticated 29- Geographical expanse 31- Skating jump 34- Glass ornament 36- Exclude 37- Helper 38- Type of gun 39- Exam used to measure aptitude or intelligence 41- Summed 43- Bright 46- Made to individual order 49- Good, in a way 51- Biblical beast boat 52- Skin of the upper part of the head 53- Large drinking bowl 54- Silly 55- Aromatic herb 57- Finds pleasing 60- Recedes 61- Actual 62- Gas burner or Sicilian volcano 63- Gentlewoman 66- Semi Crossword reprinted courtesy of bestcrosswords.com. Solution for puzzle can be found at http://www.bestcrosswords.com/. (Solution is under April 20 puzzle.)

14 • METROSPECTIVE

4.26.07 • THE METROPOLITAN

THE METROPOLITAN • 4.26.07

Ain’t ‘fraid of no ghost

Photo by Jason Small • jsmall4@mscd.edu

An orb, the most common evidence of paranormal activity floats in the middle of the infamous Valentine Suite.

THE

T

Haunting

he Lumber Baron Inn looms ominously on the corner of 37th and Bryant Street.

Though the house has undergone many transformations over the years, its haunted past remains constant.

What is now the Valentine Suite at the inn used to be a tiny studio apartment rented by a 17-year-old runaway girl in 1970 for about $150 a month. On the night of Oct. 13, 1970, the tenant and her friend were murdered. Both girls

“Room inside a room.”

When Walter Keller bought the house in 1991 and turned it into a quaint little bed and breakfast, he had no idea what he was getting himself into.

About six months after he bought the property things started to get weird.

One day a policewoman knocked on the door asking, to Keller’s surprise, if he had any new information on her missing persons case. Keller was told that before he bought the house the policewoman had been sleuthing with a detective and a psychic, looking for information on the case.

When they drove past the house, the psychic told them to stop. They looked around the house until the psychic was drawn to the basement. The psychic had said she kept getting a message in the basement: “Room inside a room.” Since there

By Megan Carneal mcarneal@mscd.edu

were found in the room, each killed in a different way.

The tenant’s friend was found lying on top of the bed, her arms folded across her chest with a single, executionstyle, gunshot wound to her head. The tenant was not so lucky. Her body was found shoved under the bed, naked, sexually assaulted and stabbed. The events surrounding the murder are still a complete mystery to police.

was no other room in the basement, the trio left.

After hearing her story, Keller told the policewoman that he had just bought the property and he had no information. Then he thanked her for the sleepless night that awaited him.

“Later that day, over a couple of cold adult refreshing beverages,” Keller laughed, “my buddies and I are sitting around talking about this story, and I said ‘let’s go down in that room and look around.’”

Keller and his friends looked around for a bit until they found a strange opening behind a box that led to a coal tunnel extending to the middle of the street outside. His friends suggested that he crawl through the tunnel to investigate. He crawled through the arachnophobic nightmare and turned back to see his friends.

“I couldn’t believe what I saw when I looked

back,” he said. “I could see that they were standing over a small mini cave that someone had dug back under the cement. They had dug back about two feet, and stashed in that mini-cave there were some old, dirty clothes and a shovel.”

They dug with hopes of finding the body of the missing person, but came up empty after about a foot of digging when they hit flank stone.

“No missing person, but close. Really, really close,” he said.

As for the room now, it is where his son sleeps.

“I guess as a new home owner you’d like to hope that you haven’t bought a haunted house,” Keller said. But he is now open to the fact that his charming little bed and breakfast has a very dark history and energy. He opens it up for the haunted university tour about four times a year.

At first, Chris Moon tried to overlook the fact that he had a special ability to connect with the dead. But after a while, it was hard to ignore.

Since finally accepting his gift, Moon has founded the Haunted Times magazine and travels the country putting on the Ghost Hunter University tours at various haunted venues.

April 7, the tour came to the Lumber Baron Inn. “We get people that come just because there is a certain energy to the house,” Keller said.

There is a draw to the house, and maybe that is what attracts some of the more incredulous guests to participate in the tour. The guests range from skeptics dragged along by curious cohorts to true believers who have followed Moon throughout all his endeavors. The allure could also be due to the giant star atop the house, which longtime Denver residents will recognize as the star that used to sit on top of the now demolished Celebrity Fun Center.

Once all of the guests were name-tagged and seated for the tour, Moon broke the ice with a humorous opening: “Hi, my name is Chris Moon and I see dead people.” Introductions were made around the room, and nonbelievers were kindly, if not embarrassedly, pointed out. The evening began with a slide show presentation explaining the many intricacies and subtleties of what it means to be a professional paranormal investigator.

“We’re always concerned about people who just jump into this from a TV show, or reading an article, or whatever the case might be.

There are a lot of hidden dangers,” Moon said.

The slide show, presented in the impressively large third-floor ballroom, was followed by a dinner full of ghost stories relating to the house and plenty of strong coffee to keep nerves on edge.

After the dinner, the real ghostbusting began. Guests were allowed to use some of the tools provided by the Haunted Times University crew, with hopes of having their own paranormal experience. Moon encourages guests to bring digital cameras to capture the most traditional form of paranormal evidence: orbs, or little bright spots of light visible only to cameras, animals and children who are all uncorrupted by the cynicism of the world.

METROSPECTIVE • 15 Many of the guests managed to capture pictures of orbs, but the most exciting part of the tour was “the telephone to the dead.”

According to Moon, it was first contrived by Thomas Edison with the hope of contacting his late mother. The purpose of the phone is to collect EVPs – electronic voice phenomena – another form of paranormal evidence.

For maximum creepiness, the phone was set up in the Valentine Suite and guests were allowed to ask their own questions. The purpose of all this, Moon said, was for both scientific research and the criminal investigation into the murders of the two girls. Moon someday hopes to help solve these murders with the research he has conducted.

For one guest, 12-year-old Corey Stanely, “skeptic” is a word yet to be learned. For his birthday, he and his mother stayed in the Valentine Suite. Throughout the night, Stanely conducted his own investigations along with Moon’s own daughter, 10year-old Sarah Huff, and managed to capture several orbs on camera and claims, with the unbridled belief of a preteen, that he recorded his own EVP. The night may not have ended with absolute proof of the paranormal, and, maybe for an ultimate skeptic, the tour provided nothing but amusement. However, some guests, even the innkeeper himself, swear they will never doubt the paranormal again.

“I was skeptical I would say,” Keller said. “I think now there’s just overwhelming evidence to confirm that it has to be haunted.”

Photo by Jason Small • jsmall4@mscd.edu

Walter Keller bought the property on April 1, 1991, not knowing how big of an April Fools’ joke it was.

Photo by Megan Carneal • mcarneal@mscd.edu

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

audiofiles

Upcoming shows Possessed by Paul James April 27 3 Kings Tavern 60 S. Broadway 10 p.m. $5, 21+ It’s not quite clear who exactly Paul James is, and why he is possessing this trio, but do not call an exorcist. Whatever Paul James is doing to give this group a deeply soulful blues, it’s working. Whether or not Paul James is guiding the sardonic, and spiteful anti-love songs is a mystery; let’s just hope this group can handle being possessed by such an angry spirit.

Megan Carneal • mcarneal@mscd.edu

The Books May 2 Boulder Theater 2032 14th St. Doors 8 p.m., Show 9 $21, all ages

Vienna Teng proves that environmentalists are not all dirty hippies.

Photo courtesy of Rounder Records

It’s not easy being green

By Joe Nguyen nguyejos@mscd.edu Former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley once said, “The only thing that will stop you from following your dreams is you.”

In 2002, Cynthia Shih abandoned her cushy job as a Cisco Systems software engineer to pursue her dream and enter the unstable world of music. Although her departure was a loss for the computer industry, folk rock fans rejoiced.

Today the 28-year-old singer-songwriter, who is better known to her fans as Vienna Teng, has three albums under her belt. She is identified by her trademark sweet, lucid vocals accompanied by her intricate piano arrangements.

In March, Teng embarked on her “Green Caravan Tour,” a two-month national trip, for which she and her four-piece band have teamed up with Habitat For Humanity. The name is a play off of her song, “Blue Caravan,” from her latest album, Dreaming Through the Noise.

“It was just something I thought up and ran by the band,” she said. “We had always wanted

to get involved with the community of any given town we’re playing in. It’s usually very difficult to do when you’re a traveling musician.”

According to Teng, the band scheduled days off during the tour where they volunteer with Habitat For Humanity. In addition, a part of their CD sales is donated to the local affiliate in each city on the tour. She encourages her fans to also volunteer by offering incentives.

“The thing that we’re doing that people are taking advantage of is if you get your volunteering done ahead of time … you can get free tickets to the show,” Teng said. “And we were saying there’s a limited number, but it turns out that we actually have plenty for every show.”

In addition to free tickets, fans that volunteer can also get $10 off merchandise and hang out backstage with the band.

“We just wanted to figure out a good way to thank people for getting out and volunteering,” she said.

Initially Teng wanted to drive from city to city in an environmentally friendly biodiesel van or hybrid vehicle. Unfortunately these options

weren’t available at the time of the tour.

“Hopefully next time we go out we’ll be able to do, like, a biodiesel van,” she said.

Despite her busy schedule, Teng said the tour has been a success.

“It’s going really well,” she said. “I’ve been feeling kind of hectic. There’s a lot of people to meet, a lot of people to play for, (and) a lot of extracurricular activity.”

For a long time, folk music has featured everyday objects turned into musical instruments. The Books follow in this tradition, producing enchanting, accessible and unusual folk music with the ubiquitous tool of the information age, the personal computer. Their three records have received widespread critical acclaim and attention for their innovative melding of electronic and folk into something startlingly beautiful and new.

Cory Casciato • casciato@mscd.edu

The Chain Gang of 1974 May 3

Vienna Teng will perform at 8 p.m., April 30 at The Cellar, 1209 13th St., Boulder. Tickets are $10.

All ages. For more information on Teng, check out http:// www.viennateng.

com.

Larimer Lounge 2721 Larimer St..

8 p.m. $8, 21+ When the Vanity broke up, Kamtin Mohager still wanted a piece of Denver’s music scene. So he decided to break out on his own and play melt-your-face keyboards. He keeps the crowds entertained with his wit-and-sass lyrics, showing Denver that sometimes it’s better to be one man behind a keyboard.

Cassie Hood • hoodc@mscd.edu

THE METROPOLITAN • 4.26.07

AUDIO FILES • 17

Bright Eyes lost on twang binge

By Taylor Sullivan tsulli21@mscd.edu

freeplay

If only Conor Oberst was still 18. If only I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning hadn’t convinced everyone that Nebraska was more than just a place to forget. If only 30 million 14-year-olds in Chuck Taylors and eyeliner hadn’t built a shrine to Bright Eyes and slit their wrists in honor. Then maybe Casadaga would be better than its clever, time-consuming packaging; then maybe Oberst, the drunk and dreary frontman, could live up to his previously set standards.

With Bright Eyes’ 2004 double release of I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn, Oberst asked “What do you guys want to hear? Rehashed country hymnals, or progressive, digital compositions?” And as though the comparisons of Oberst to Bob Dylan weren’t ubiquitous enough, the whine generation reacted in much the same way as the beats did when Dylan picked up a Fender at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.

Digital Ash was regrettably burned as electric blasphemy, forgotten as an unfortunate accident, and the twang prevailed.

So follows Casadaga – and the fans got what they asked for.

Oberst was born with the devil in him, one he would sometimes fight but most times indulge. His legacy was bred from the open-wound rawness that this devil brought to his lyrics.

The soul-driving demon saturated his earliest works and reared its whiskey-soaked head as both Lifted and Fevers and Mirrors. The truth he injected into songs was supplemented by the jagged-edged composition and second-rate recording. It was through his willingness to be

imperfect that he connected with his audience.

They weren’t perfect either, and they had the anti-depressionants to prove it.

The angst, the anger, the soul started dissipating on Wide Awake, with some saying Oberst was just growing up, he was maturing as a person and a musician. But maybe it was the confused adolescent ego that made his earlier work so remarkable.

Casadaga casts aside his previous notion of beautiful mistakes, carrying an air of perfection that buries the album under a slick coat of composition and chokes any truth from Oberst. Listen after listen reveals the undeniable truth that Casadaga’s soul is dead, like Charlie Daniels and his fiddle drove that devil right out of Oberst.

You can still hear the strength behind Oberst’s lyrics and core song writing, but 20-bar fiddle solos like the one on “Four Winds,” destroy his message. In fact, there are more out-ofplace instruments on this album than there are assholes in Texas. A mere 35 people contributed to the album, and God knows it wouldn’t have been right without that bass oboe. Calculations are still out, but there might be more slide guitar on Casadaga than the entire Dixie Chicks’ catalogue.

And beyond the overproduction, the whole thing plays like a cover album. Every song vaguely sounds like you’ve heard it before, but can’t place. “Soul Singer in a Session Band” is an obvious attempt by Oberst to fill Dylan’s crystal slippers, “Middleman” sounds like it came right off the Deadwood soundtrack, and Death Cab For Cutie did “Cleanse Song” much better as “I Will Follow You Into The Dark.”

It’s not that Casadaga is a total waste. It absolutely has its strong points, including an

Sons of Vikings Heavy Metal 2007

By Geoff Page gpage2@mscd.edu Some people remember the glory days of heavy metal when the emphasis was on being as epic and majestic as possible.

South France’s Sons of Vikings are determined to bring back these glory days of heavy metal, chock-full of cheesy, high-pitched vocals, lyrics about Vikings and plenty of ambitious guitar solos. This may seem like a joke, but as far as song structure and musical content goes, these guys are dead serious.

epic introduction that mixes their strengths, from building and crashing composition to their trademarked sampling of creepy old voice recordings.

Hopefully Bright Eyes will expose these strengths Saturday, April 28, at the Buell Theatre; if only Oberst would realize the potential he holds in his words alone, put the fiddle down and pick up that old four-track recorder.

Bright Eyes will play at 8 p.m. on April 28 at the Buell Theater, 1031 13th St. Tickets are $30, 16+

Photo courtesy of Press Here Publicity

Conor Oberst’s eyes must have been shut during the recording of Bright Eyes’ new album, Casadaga. Oberst will be in Denver April 28, doling out the melancholia at the Buell Theater.

The first track is “Heavy Metal,” which verges on selfparody, but nonetheless is stunning. The second the music starts, Sons of Vikings whisks the listener away to a magical, fantasy land where the Vikings rule and dragons and mythological creatures are fact. It is fast, upbeat rock with soaring vocals and dominating riffs.

“Descent” is a larger-than-life ballad meant to entice the listener to turn off the lights in the room and wave a lighter around. It is actually a very relaxing track even though it gets a little bit heavy about halfway through.

“Blind Love” begins with a slow guitar which is the calm before the storm of speed that bombards the track. The pace is upbeat, the guitars are shredding and the music is heavy, but Sons of Vikings places an emphasis on the musicianship and the accessibility of the music, not on being heavy for the sake of being heavy.

“Sons of Vikings” is about as extreme as this album gets. It kicks off with the lead singer screaming “Sons!

Sons! Sons of Vikings” and a brutally fast drum beat, and proves to be the most satisfying moment of this album. In an ode to themselves and what they are trying to accomplish the Sons of Vikings declare on this track that they are a serious band with serious intentions.

This album may not be the most cutting edge or innovative heavy metal album out there but in terms of nostalgia and tradition Sons of Vikings can compete with the best of them. In terms of classic heavy metal, there really isn’t a new band playing this style any better.

Download Sons of Vikings at http://music.download. com/sonsofvikings/ 3600-8667_32-101006511. html?tag=MDL_ listing_song_artist

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

THE METROPOLITAN • PAGE 19 • ANDREW FLOHR-SPENCE • SPENCAND@MSCD.EDU

Insight “

The only way to avoid prosecution under this law is not to do abortions.

Go be a dermatologist.

”

– DR. WARREN HERN, founder of Boulder Abortion

Clinic, speaking on the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban

Tess McCarthy • tmccart9@mscd.edu

ZOË WILLIAMS williamz@mscd.edu

Aborted rights

Three dollars buys much green Like hordes of Girl Scouts and Mormons before it, Auraria is knocking at your door. But it isn’t selling cookies, Jesus or a tasty combination of the two; it wants money for low-flow toilets and renewable energy certificates.

Deciding to add a $3 renewable energy fee to current institutional costs is one issue students will vote on during the April 25 and 26 election. The fee will apply to the spring, summer and fall 2008 semesters and will be tiered, reaching $4 per student in 2009 and $5 in 2010 and 2011. The Auraria Board of Directors plans to use the money to expand the existing program, for which students are bled for a dollar every semester.

Some of the upgrades the campus could receive include water-saving toilets, more sensor-activated faucets and energy-efficient lighting fixtures. About 10 percent of the fee would be used for marketing and education – creating informational banners for “green” buildings and hosting talks by environment experts, said Shaun Lally, chairman of the Student Advisory Committee to the Auraria Board. More funds would also be pumped into the campus’ recycling programs, he said.

The campus won’t actually be powered by

EMILE HALLEZ ehallez@mscd.edu wind, solar power or biofuels, but Auraria will purchase renewable energy certificates that offset the amount of electricity provided by other sources. Like most buildings in Denver, Auraria’s power comes from Xcel Energy, whose electricity is generated predominantly from coal – not exactly the face of environmental consciousness.

“Coal-fired power plants are a leading cause of respiratory illness, and already account for more than 40 percent of our nation’s carbon dioxide emissions,” reads a statement from the Sierra Club.

Auraria currently offsets 45 percent of its

electricity with 51 million kilowatt hours in wind energy certificates purchased in 2006 to last through June 2009. The expanded fee will be used to purchase enough certificates to offset 100 percent of our electricity, Lally said. The energy certificates come from Sterling Planet, a company that puts electricity from renewable sources into a national power grid. It won’t directly power Auraria, but it will provide peace of mind in paper form.

Despite the potential the Sustainable Campus Program shows, this referendum is blatantly ambiguous in terms of fund delegation. There is no mention on the voter information sheet of how much will be spent on each aspect of the program or of specific implementations to make buildings more efficient. Money thrown at this cause will be given to good intentions that lack certainty. But three to five dollars is less than a lot of you spend on Ding Dongs every week, so tossing it at renewable energy once a semester is comparatively money well spent.

Open up your wallets, comrades. This one’s a no-brainer. While your money won’t guarantee salvation in the afterlife or fill your guts with Samoas, it will give Earth a much-needed pat on the butt.

The Supreme Court outlawed “partial birth” abortion last week in all circumstances, delivering a heavy strike on women’s rights.

Only in this country can an unelected governing body implement political jargon as medical terminology and support a foundation of misogyny that undermines one half of its population’s rights to privacy, liberty and equity.

“Partial birth” and “late term” abortion are not scientific terms and do not exist outside of the vocabulary of the National Right to Life Council. The procedure that was outlawed by the Court is called intact dilation and extraction (D and X). It is performed as early as the first week of the second trimester.

To understand the repercussions of the ban, look at who will benefit and suffer. In the United States, adolescent females undergo the most abortions after the first trimester. Females under age 15 are the most likely to obtain abortions after 21 or more weeks of pregnancy.

There’s another interesting pattern in this demographic. Females under the age of 17 comprise 29 percent of rapes. Females under the age of 12 account for more than half of these rapes. These are children, and vulnerable ones at that. Apparently the Supreme Court is not worried about them.

D and X abortions are an option for women with pregnancies that pose serious threats to their lives. These abortions are also performed when a fetus faces severe chromosomal defects and will not survive outside of the womb. Without the option of D and X abortion, women may be required to carry pregnancies to term only to host a funeral the day after birth.

Politicians and the religious right are the only winners from the ruling. Their organizations and media offices are gloating in a success they claim will serve to end abortion.

However, abortion will not end with laws.

When doctors are not an option, coat hangers, “back alley” procedures and suicide replace them. The religious right and other supporters of the ban are celebrating a political victory that has put the lives of women in peril.

Let this ban be a lesson to women and advocates for reproductive choice. The governing bodies of this nation are willing to risk the health and freedom of women for political gain.

Will we wait for the next blow to occur, or are we going to fight back?

INSIGHT • 21

THE METROPOLITAN • 4.26.07

Emile Hallez • ehallez@mscd.edu

KELLIE LUDWIG kludwig3@mscd.edu

Fallen soldier’s statue depicts duty, not violence A memorial to be unveiled on July 4, in honor of a U.S. Navy Seal who was killed in Afghanistan has been the subject of criticism by some Littleton citizens.

A bronze statue of Petty Officer 2nd Class Danny Dietz Jr. is to be located in Littleton’s Berry Park. The statue will depict Dietz kneeling with his rifle. With three elementary schools adjacent to the park, neighbors feared the memorial would promote the wrong message to their children.

The subject of most of the controversy is the display of a large automatic weapon. Those opposed contended this statue glorifies violence and opposes the spirit of nonviolence encouraged by the community since the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School. A flier circulated in the surrounding neighborhoods stated, “in light of our community’s experience with the Columbine tragedy, and the clear message of nonviolence that we teach in Littleton schools, what was our city thinking?”

It is appalling that people compared a fallen serviceman to the deranged students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.

Most adults should understand the difference between recognizing a man who died serving his country and psychopathic murderers. The distinction is no less obvious than honoring an armed policeman instead of a gun-wielding criminal.

It is the obligation of parents as part of the moral upbringing of their children to clearly point out these distinctions so that their children understand the difference.

We should honor our fallen war heroes and instill in all of our citizens a sense of honor, duty and the importance of service to the country. I have visited many war memorials, and some portray weapons of various sorts, because weapons are a part of war.

We should encourage all parents to expose their children to the military heroes of this country to whom we all owe so much.

As the family of Dietz mourns their loss, they now have to endure the controversy that has erupted over the city’s attempt to honor Dietz, who was awarded the Navy Cross posthumously. Maria Dietz, the soldier’s widow, was quoted by the Washington Times as saying, “for them to compare that to Columbine is offensive not only to my husband but to every other citizen who died behind enemy lines.”

“He is a role model for any kid in that area,” she said.

While it is important to promote nonviolence to children at young, impressionable ages, the men and women who give the “full measure of devotion” should never be compared with violent criminals.

The Supreme Court hands down its ruling on late-term abortions

In response: letter to the editor

The Met needs to take on bigger issues What is wrong with the Met? It takes no stand on any issues – it has no opinions – and it’s so politically correct!

I am a 56-year-old black woman and a student. I have been discriminated against the majority of my life, as a woman and as a black. I work part time as an equal-employment counselor and I still see the discrimination among races, national origin and gender.

Before Dr. King there were my parents, (and a world full of “my parents”), who fought hard just to be called colored, then fought hard just to be called Negro. We fought hard to be called black.

Now we have Don Imus, who has been on the radio longer than dirt, and yet he almost got away with foulness against women. First the tattoos that could have gone against the whole team (eight black and two white), the “hos” which still could have gone against the whole team, but he narrowed his speech down to “nappy-headed” and “jiggaboos,” which brought the focus to the black women on the team.

The women on the team handled themselves with grace and dignity – a characteristic that white people are so surprised to see we, as a people, exhibit.

I’m not against free speech, but Imus is not a poet, a journalist, a creative writer, a rapper, etc. He’s a radio personality who uses words in a creative manner, sells radio time, products and tries to be humorous.

But he is not humorous – he is a misogynist, a racist creep, an insensitive lout and a congenital idiot. How’s that for free speech?

Imus refers to one of the nation’s best reporters, Gwen Ifill, as “the cleaning lady,” New York Times sports reporter Bill Rhoden as a “quota hire,” tennis player Amelie Mauresmo as “a big old lesbo,” and tennis player Venus Williams as an “animal.”

Why didn’t the most prominent women in this country – Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and Condoleezza Rice – take on Imus? Instead, we have an Oprah show in which the panel discussion is a joke.

The only reason Imus was fired is that the backers were pulling their ads – it always comes down to money and politics. I read somewhere that Imus got a $45 million severance package.

Why is there nothing in the Met about this? Why does a black person have to bring up the subject? Are you just too timid? Don’t be scared white people. Don’t be scared people! Speak up!

As young adults you are a very powerful group and you don’t have to wait for my generation to die off before you make your opinions known!

Women, if someone calls you any of the names you hear on CDs or in person, it is not a compliment – and tell them so!

Viola B. Nathan • nathanv@mscd.edu

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.

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THE METROPOLITAN • PAGE 23 • ERIC LANSING • LANSING@MSCD.EDU

Sport

DID YOU KNOW...

Metro’s starting pitcher Braden Ham was named to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference All-Academic first team April 23.

He joins 10 other baseball players from the RMAC receiving the award. Ham has a 3.63 GPA as a marketing major. Metro pitchers Mike Bilek, Armando Casas, Josh Eckert and shortstop Tommy Frikken were named to the second team.

Runners, soccer team kick it at invite Metro gets help from another outside sport at Fort Collins meet

By Eric Lansing lansing@mscd.edu

Photo by Heather A. Longway-Burke • longway@mscd.edu

Metro distance runner Gabe Luna runs at the RMAC Indoor Championships Feb. 24 in Golden. Luna ran in the men’s 800-meters and finished third at the Jack Christensen Invitational April 21 in Fort Collins.

Metro’s cross country and track teams saw great performances from Sheila Hughes, Anthony Luna and Gabe Luna, and got help from the women’s soccer team April 21 at the Jack Christensen Invitational in Fort Collins.

“The team ran tough,” Metro distance runner Anthony Luna said. “We came and competed today. We had some good competition, that’s for sure, running against some pretty good D-II schools and some D-I schools.”

Hughes continued her dominance in the sprinting events with another outstanding performance in 100- and 200-meter dash. She completed the 100 in 12.37 seconds which landed her in second place overall. She finished behind Janay DeLoach who finished with a time of 11.78 seconds. Hughes finished the 200 in 25.80 seconds, which placed her sixth overall.

“I felt really good in the 200,” Hughes said.

“I had a great start and a great finish.”

But before Hughes ran in the 100-meter dash, she had to play coach to a few newbies to the track team as Katie Kilbey, Nicole Cito and Carrie Aversano of the women’s soccer team also ran in the 100-meter dash. It was the first time any of the girls had run in a collegiate track event.

“I was nervous at first, (because) I knew I was going to lose,” said Kilbey, who finished 19th and is a two-time Division II national champion in women’s soccer. “I don’t mind it. I

really liked running back in high school.”

Cito said Hughes told them to make sure that they sat still in the blocks so they wouldn’t false start. Cito was worried because she was unfamiliar with the blocks.

“We are fine with the running,” Cito said.

“But it was the blocks. It was the first time I ever touched them. That’s all I wanted to do was not false start, and to stay in my lane, where I almost fell out.”

The three soccer players came to Fort Collins to help out the track team, just like a few basketball players and swimmers have done already, to add more athletes to the squad and allow the ’Runners to qualify for the NCAA Championships on May 24.

Runners like Gabe and Anthony Luna, Hughes, and Todd Tolentino, who have a shot at qualifying for the national tournament, get a chance to compete, thanks in part to the other sport athletes putting numbers on the roster.

Gabe Luna competed in the men’s 800-meter run and finished a spectacular third place amongst the toughest competition in the state.

Luna finished with a 1:54.29 time and was only a second away from qualifying for a provisional spot in the NCAA Championships. Luna finished behind Jared Peacock of Boulder Running (1:52.92) and Larry McDaris of the Colorado School of Mines (1:52.99).

“I felt really good,” Luna said. “When I wanted to move and make my move, I felt like I could. I wasn’t as dead as usual. I just feel like I am getting more in shape now. We’re starting to get fit.”

Gabe Luna’s twin brother Anthony also finished in third place in the men’s 1,500-meter run

See TRACK Page 24

Roadrunners clean Cougars’ clock in near sweep Metro runs win streak to eight games before falling in series finale

By Josh Speranza speranza@mscd.edu Metro’s baseball team extended its winning streak to seven games April 20 by sweeping a doubleheader against Colorado Christian and put itself one step closer to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference playoffs.

The ’Runners once more faced off against

the Cougars the following day and split two games of a second doubleheader, holding onto sixth place in the conference.

On the first day, Metro starting pitcher Braden Ham turned in a great performance, pitching a complete game while giving up only two runs for the first win.

When asked about their playoff chances, Ham likened the ‘Runners to another local team.

“It’s like the Nuggets getting hot at the end of the season, looking into the playoffs,” Ham said.

Ted Jamison threw six strong innings in the second game, pitching his way out of trouble in

See BASEBALL Page 25

April 20 at Regis Memorial Field, Game one

R H E

April 21 at Regis Memorial Field, Game one

R H E

Metro 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 3 6 12 2 Colo. Christian 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 8 0

Metro 3 0 0 0 2 5 1 3 1 1520 0 Colo. Christian 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 4 10 7

Metro: 2B – Frikken (2); RBI – Palmer 3 (39), Bowers 2 (21), Frikken (7) Colorado Christian: 2B – Adams (3), RBI – Garcia (36), Adams (12)

Metro: 2B – Palmer 2 (16); RBI – Palmer 3 (44), Bowers 2 (23), Marner 2 (26), four tied w/ one Colorado Christian: 2B – Cavazos (13), RBI – Worthington 2 (9), Garcia (37), Rutt (5)

April 20 at Regis Memorial Field, Game two

R H E

April 21 at Regis Memorial Field, Game two

R H E

Metro 100 040 0 Colo. Christian 0 0 0 1 0 1 0

5 10 0 2 10 4

Metro 022 020 0 Colo. Christian 4 0 1 3 0 4 X

6 5 3 12 8 2

Metro: 2B – Gorman 2 (11), Palmer 2 (14); RBI – Palmer 2 (41), Gorman (38), Marner (24) Colorado Christian: 2B – Candelaria (4), RBI – Candelaria 2 (20)

Metro: 2B – Christensen (10), Palmer (17), Gorman (12), RBI –Marner 2 (28), Bowers (24) Colorado Christian: 2B – Garcia (15), RBI – Polton 3 (14), Cavazos 2 (18), Candelaria 2 (22), two tied w/ one

24 • SPORT

4.26.07 • THE METROPOLITAN

Sprint star gets back on track at Metro 7 years out of school, competition, Hughes regains sprinting form

By Eric Lansing lansing@mscd.edu She came to the right place at the right time.

Metro sprint star Sheila Hughes graduated in 1999 from Overland High School where she lettered in track all four years. She then went on a hiatus that lasted seven years. Not many athletes can regain their form after such a long break away from their sport, but Hughes is just that good.

“I am that blessed,” Hughes said humbly about her talents on the track.

Hughes wanted to get back into school and had a few different universities in mind. But her love of the track eventually brought her to Metro, along with the “great” behavioral science program.

“It was either with my best friend at Metro or my other best friend at the University of Phoenix,” Hughes said about her final choices of colleges. “And I thought it would be cool to go to school and run track again. I want to be a counselor and work with adolescents, especially with at-risk youth.”

But at that time, Metro only had a cross country team, which consisted of runners in long-distance events. Hughes was a sprinter, but decided to contact Metro’s cross country assistant coach, Sean Nesbitt, anyway.

“He told me that they didn’t have a track team but let’s meet in a few months,” Hughes said. “So they contacted me and I met with (head coach Peter Julian), and he told me it was a great time because they decided on developing a track team and that they had a couple other people inquiring about it, so it was perfect timing for me.”

Perhaps Julian and the rest of the athletic department knew the gem they had in Hughes and developed the team just for her. It at least accelerated the talks into forming one. Although she was interested in joining the newly formed track team, she was nervous about being away from the sport for so long. Hughes wasn’t sure how she would perform.

“I told the coach I just wanted to maybe train,” Hughes said. “Kind of a health goal of mine, to just get back into shape. But once I started training, coach told me I was running in (the 60-, 100and 200-meter dashes). It was just something he put me into, and I thought if he had faith in me, then I should have faith in myself.”

TRACK • Luna runs NCAA provisional time in 1,500 Continued from 23 in a time of 3:58.06. His time was good enough for a provisional spot in the NCAA Championships.

Anthony usually runs in the 800-meter run, but Julian placed him in the 1,500 to strengthen his 800 time. Julian also had Deserea Gleason, who usually runs in the 1,500, in the 800 while

Photo by Heather A. Longway-Burke • longway@mscd.edu

Sheila Hughes, 25, is a sprinter for Metro’s track team and practices for two to two and half hours, Monday through Thursday. Hughes now owns the season’s fastest 100-meter dash in the conference with a time of 12.09. She is currently majoring in behavioral science in hopes of working with at-risk youth.

“She’s a really heavy hitter when it comes to her sprints,” Metro head coach Peter Julian said. “She is a positive team leader, does well academically, and is just the best runner in the conference.”

When she isn’t lining up on the blocks or stretching for an upcoming event, Hughes is

“I want us all to do well as a team. So if we can help each other out, or if someone knows more than another person, we should always help each other because we are a team.”

– SHEILA HUGHES, METRO SPRINTER

moving Marjaneh Gross to the 400-meter run instead of her usual 100- or 200-meter dash.

“Coach kind of switches it up,” Anthony Luna said. “Say for example (Gabe) usually runs in the 800, but the coach will put him in the 1,500 to build up his strength. Most of the time you want to race in your respective event, because that is your best event. But it also helps in the long run to run little longer races and then come back and do really well.”

Hughes respects her teammates for running outside of their normal events and said it is bringing the team together, which leads to great performances, including the Jack Christensen Invite.

“I think we did great,” Hughes said. “I think

cheering on her teammates or readily giving senior advice, even though she is only a sophomore. With so many freshmen on the team, and athletes coming from all over the Metro sport spectrum to help out the track team, Hughes is a leader for the team.

“It’s cool that we have her on the team,” said Anthony Luna, a long-distance runner and teammate of Hughes. “She boosts the team up, gives congratulations, and she is a really good sport and a really good team player.”

Hughes knows the importance of teammates and sportsmanship to succeed, especially for the first-year track program at Metro, and it doesn’t matter to her whether you’re a sprinter or a cross country runner.

“I want us all to do well as a team,” Hughes said. “So if we can help each other out or if someone knows more than another person, we should always help each other because we are a team. We are also representing our school.”

And represent the school she has, holding the top Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference time in the 100-meter dash (12.09 seconds) and ranking

everyone showed great sportsmanship, even running in events they didn’t want to run in. We just came out here and worked as a team. I’m glad and I’m proud.”

The Roadrunners will get a week to prepare before heading to Alamosa May 6-8 to compete in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships.

“In the beginning of the season, those meets didn’t really matter,” Anthony Luna said about the team’s season progression. “It really starts to matter right now, when you are getting close to the conference, and we will start seeing peak performances (in Alamosa).”

second in the 200-meter dash (25.97 seconds).

Hughes won the RMAC Track Athlete of the Week March 28 for her performance at the Ron Upton Invitational where she beat out top runners from the University of Wyoming and University of Colorado-Colorado Springs in the 200.

Hughes is ready to wear Metro’s blue and white colors May 6-8 for the RMAC Tournament and put her abilities against the top runners in the conference.

One in particular is Adams State’s Drew Houston, who has bested Hughes in a few competitions this year. At the RMAC Indoor Championships Feb. 24, Houston squeezed out close wins over Hughes in the 60 and 200.

“I’m so excited about the RMAC (Championships) because there’s some people I want to put my skills up against and see if I can actually get her this time,” Hughes said suggestively about her fiercest competitor in Houston.

While Hughes is only in her second year at Metro, and still working on getting back into top physical condition, there is plenty of optimism in the newly formed track program for years to come.

SCHEDULE Cross Country/Track RMAC Championships All day, May 6-8 Alamosa

NCAA Championships All day, May 24 Charlotte, N.C.

THE METROPOLITAN • 4.26.07

SPORT • 25

Men’s tennis team takes RMAC title Roadrunners avenge 2006 loss to Kearney, ending Lopers streak

By Eric Lansing lansing@mscd.edu The Metro men’s tennis team did something that hasn’t been done in more than three years: They won the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament Championship April 21 in Pueblo.

The Roadrunners defeated Nebraska-Kearney 5-2, which was the first conference loss for the Lopers since May 2004.

Metro advanced to the RMAC finals after defeating Western New Mexico 5-0 on April 20 in Pueblo. They swept the Mustangs in doubles competition and clinched the match after Mark Milner and Sean Carlton won their singles matches.

“We played great in doubles,” Alden said.

“Sean and David (Scott) played lights-out in doubles and Sean carried that over to singles.”

Before their loss to the Roadrunners on April 21, the Lopers had won 23 straight matches dating back to the 2004 NCAA Tournament when Colorado State University of Pueblo defeated Nebraska-Kearney. The Lopers also won three straight RMAC Tournament titles before losing to Metro, which was a rematch of the 2006 title match where the Lopers took the 5-2 victory.

In the finals, the Roadrunners took two out of three doubles matches against Kearney. The only loss came from Scott and Carlton who fell

8-3 to Kearney’s Luke Backhaus and Miguel Acosta.

Metro’s Milner clinched the title after defeating Drew Mercier 6-3 and 6-2. Milner also won his doubles match, pairing with Drew Machholz to defeat Kearney’s Andres Espinoza and Mercier.

The title was Metro’s first conference championship since the 2003 season. The men’s team now waits for their seeding in the NCAA Tournament that will be announced April 25.

Last year in the NCAA Tournament, Metro’s men lost in the first round against Northwest Missouri State 5-1.

The only win came when Milner and Machholz defeated Daniel Isieto and Jake Saulsbury in doubles, 8-5.

The women’s team earned the No. 5 seed in the RMAC Tournament, but fell to No. 4-seeded CSU-Pueblo 6-3 in the first round.

The Thunderwolves took two of the three doubles matches and four of the six singles matches to end the Roadrunners difficult season.

The only victories for Metro came from Mitra Hirad, who won in straight sets over Jamie Raun 6-3 and 6-4, and Alecia Jenkins, who came away with the match against Jessica Hardy 6-3, 3-6 and 1-0 (6).

Metro’s women have only won two matches all year, but with six underclassmen on the roster, plenty of experience was gained for next year.

“We battled and the girls left everything out on the court,” Alden said. “Alecia had a fantastic win and we hope to build on that going into next year.”

Photo by Emily Mehring • emehring@mscd.edu

Metro tennis player Sascha Ruckelshausen warms up before his doubles match April 17 against Western New Mexico at Auraria Courts. Ruckelshausen won his singles and doubles matches in the RMAC finals.

BASEBALL • Metro sits in final RMAC playoff spot

innings to avoid the sweep. Cougars starting pitcher Justin Quador recorded the win for his fourth victory.

Metro (12-17, in the RMAC, 14-26 overall) is tied with Regis (12-17, 20-23), with Regis holding the tiebreaker in head-to-head play.

Passing Regis for the fifth slot would allow the team to avoid top seed Mesa State in the conference tournament.

“Right now we’re playing relaxed, having fun out there,” Pierce said.

With the playoffs looming, Ham believes the team is finally coming together.

“At the beginning of the season our potential was real high, but we were not playing that well,” he said. “Now we are playing up to that.”

Continued from 23 the fourth and sixth and holding the Cougars to two runs.

The heart of the offense provided the majority of the firepower as the third, fourth and fifth hitters finished a combined 12-for-25 with nine RBIs. The ‘Runners took the first game 6-2, and won game two by a final of 5-2.

Outfielder Jake Palmer finished the two games hitting 5-for-8 with six RBIs. Third baseman Brent Bowers went 3-for-4 in the first game driving in two runs, and reigning player of the week, catcher Reece Gorman, went 3-for-4 in the second game while driving in a run.

The Cougars committed four errors during game two, which helped fuel the ‘Runners fourrun outburst in the fifth inning, with 10 Metro batters seeing the plate.

There were some missed opportunities for the ‘Runners offense, as it stranded five men on base in the first two innings of game one, and left the bases loaded again in the fifth inning of game two.

“We wanted to score a few more runs,” Metro head coach Bobby Pierce said. “Every person in the lineup hit the ball hard, a lot were just

Photo by Jeremy Bills • jbillis@mscd.edu

Metro catcher Kyle Christensen swings at a belt-high pitch April 21 against Colorado Christian at Regis Memorial Field. Metro took three wins in the four-game series and have won eight of its last nine games. right at people”.

On the following day, the Roadrunners took game one of the doubleheader by scoring 15 runs on 20 hits, while starting pitcher Josh Eckert put together his second consecutive win. Eckert gave up three runs in seven innings and struck out four Cougars for his third victory of the season. The win extended the ’Runners’ winning

streak to a season-high eight games.

Palmer led Metro with five hits, two runs and three RBIs to add to his team-leading 44 on the year.

The winning streak finally came to an end in game two of the second doubleheader, as Colorado Christian roughed up Metro’s pitchers in a 12-6 victory. The Cougars put up two four-run

SCHEDULE Baseball

No. 3 St. Cloud State 3 p.m., April 27 Las Vegas

No. 3 St. Cloud State 11 a.m., April 28 Las Vegas

No. 3 St. Cloud State 3 p.m., April 28 Las Vegas