Volume 30, Issue 8, Oct. 4, 2007 by Met Media

METRO »

Alleged victim tied to other regional assaults

» A5

Serving The Auraria Campus Since 1979

Vol. 30 No. 8

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2007

http://www.mscd.edu/~themet

RTD passes rate hike

Students will vote to approve fare increase next semester » A3

Photo by RYAN DEUSCHLE/rdeusch1@mscd.edu

THE PRICE OF PARKING SPORTS »

Erik Fritsche waits to pay for parking in a long line on Sept. 26 at parking lot F at Auraria. The machines were having trouble taking quarters. When machines break down students are told to go to the parking oﬃce to get a ticket. The oﬃce is located on 7th Street and Lawrence Way. Auraria has 12 parking lots and two parking garages. Costs to park range from $1.50 to $5.

METROSPECTIVE »

New coach sets out METRO MUSICIANS PLAY FOR MS, FAMILY » B4 to revitalize rugby » A11 BRIT-BOX SHOWS OFF BEST OF POP GENRE » B6

metro THE METROPOLITAN » OCTOBER 4, 2007 » A3

» IMMIGRATION DEBATE »A5 » COPIRG GOES AFTER CREDIT CARDS »A6 » INSIGHT: THE MIRACLES OF COMING OUT »A8

ANDREW FLOHR-SPENCE » NEWS EDITOR » spencand@mscd.edu

METRO NOW

THIS WEEK »

RTD raises fees, forces vote

50th anniversary of U.S.S.R’s launching of Sputnik, the first man-made satellite

Transportation pass requires student poll and Board’s approval

Friday 10.5

By AMY WOODWARD awoodwa5@mscd.edu

Thursday 10.4

The Student Advisory Committee to the Auraria Board meets at 2:30 p.m. in Tivoli suite 329

Monday 10.8

Canadian Thanksgiving

Tuesday 10.9

Ecuadorian independence day

Wednesday 10.10 The Student Government Assembly Senate meets at 4 p.m. in Tivoli suite 329

THE METROPOLITAN 25 YEARS AGO » Oct. 6, 1982

Mall attracts curious crowds • After two years of construction and 12 years since it was first proposed, the 16th Street Mall opens with a week of festivities

Simpson sees future for MSC basketball • If ex-Denver Nugget Ralph Simpson has anything to do with it, Metro may soon have a men’s basketball team

THE NUMBERS GAME »

The number of goals scored against the German women’s soccer team in its successful bid to win the world cup.

THE MET REPORT »

This week’s top stories:

• Student sexually assaulted • National banned books week • DPS school closures • Sukkahmobile • Volleyball falls to Fort Lewis Check out Metro’s own student-run TV newscast at:

The Regional Transportation District’s board of directors voted Sept. 25 to increase fares, a change that will also increase the amount Auraria students pay for their RTD passes. RTD’s general fares will increase by 25 cents, and the cost of the student pass will go up by 13 percent, or slightly more than $4 per semester, according to Scott Reed, assistant general manager of public affairs at RTD. Auraria students now pay $33 a semester to ride the bus and light rail. RTD’s general fare increase will take effect in January. However, because the increase to the student pass exceeds 10 percent, it requires a vote from the campus. The vote will most likely take place sometime in the spring with the student body voting first, followed by a separate vote from the boards representing each of the campus’s three institutions, said Andrew Bateman, vice president of Metro’s Student Government Assembly. The Auraria Board of Directors will vote last and make the final decision about whether the program should be continued or done away with. Bateman and Gary Lefmann, speaker pro tempore of the SGA senate, attended the board of directors meeting Sept. 25 when the board approved the increase and said they feel the hike in fares is a result of RTD’s failed attempt to look at their budget to cut programs and prices elsewhere. “It’s an easy solution to raise a tax or fee to cover increased cost … but there are certain areas they are not willing to dig into and instead solve the problem with a fare increase,” Lefmann said. It was only two years ago that RTD raised their fares – also by 25 cents – and the new increase is too soon, Lefmann said. The fare inflation is due to high fuel prices and the demands that an increase in passengers has placed on RTD’s system, Reed said. Total passengers aboard the light rail in 2006 topped nearly 87 million, and RTD experienced a 6 percent increase in passengers this year with slightly more than 93 million riders using the light rail, he said. “We have little money to expand and we are maintaining what we have,” Reed said. “We will likely be facing service cuts and that is the last

Louis Meyer, a sophomore in aviation technology, shows his displeasure about the new increase in transportation fees. The Regional Transportation District, or RTD, announced Sept. 25 that the fare price will increase by 25 cents in January. Students will vote in the spring on whether to continue the semester pass program with a 13 percent hike in price. Photo illustration by ALICE AHERN/aahern2@mscd.edu

thing we wanted to do.” Service cuts have already been made, however, which include money needed to maintain and create new Park-n-Ride stations and other facility improvements. The G-line route from Nine Mile station to Lincoln station has been shut down and RTD is looking to close other routes in “nonproductive areas” to help save money, Reed said. A majority of RTD’s service funding is going to their Access-a-Ride program – a free service for persons with disabilities – that has seen a 10 percent increase in riders each year and is eating up funding, he said. When he opposed the increase to the student pass program, RTD’s board of directors acknowledged they should have come up with other ways

to ﬁnd funding, Bateman said, adding that the board said it was already too late this year and increasing prices was RTD’s only option. “Maybe in the future they can try to look for some more creative solutions,” Bateman said. The fare increase – which had been planned for 2009 – is a year ahead of schedule, Reed said. “If it is a question of cutting services we are here to provide, or increasing fare prices, moving the fare increase up one year made the most sense,” he said. Metro junior Ashleigh Cope has been taking advantage of the student pass since she started school. The fee increase is not a big deal to her and she is still going to ride, she said. “I don’t have to worry about

ﬁnding parking down here, and it goes right by my apartment so I can just walk to it,” Cope said about the light rail. “And (the pass is) included in Metro’s tuition so I don’t have to pay every time I get on. I just like the down time to sit and catch up on some reading.” Andy Nolan, another Metro student who lives in Littleton, has been using light rail for more than two years. Although it is convenient, with the expected hike in student fees for the pass program, he is considering driving to school instead, he said. “Usually I ride the light rail because it’s cheaper than coming here to park,” Nolan said. “The thing with the light rail is it takes longer than driving, but if it costs more to ride the light rail why not drive?”

THE METROPOLITAN « OCTOBER 4. 2007 « METRO « A5

Speakers wrangle over costs of immigration Debators argue over the need for labor force and economic development By DAVID CARDENAS dcarden5@mscd.edu and ALEX HERBERT aherber4@mscd.edu Illegal immigration issues sparked a ﬁerce debate that packed the Tivoli Turnhalle Sept. 27 with people seeking insight into the effects of immigration on the U.S. economy, human rights and terrorism. Several students and faculty members stood in line for the opportunity to express their ideas and ask questions of the two speakers who led the debate, former Colorado Gov. Richard Lamm and economist Benjamin Powell. Powell, an assistant professor of economics at Suffolk University in Boston, and Lamm, who is a professor at the University of Denver, were invited to talk about immigration, which is shaping up to be a major issue in the 2008 presidential election. The debate demonstrated how polarized the issue of immigration has become. Powell spent much of the time describing the economic beneﬁts of having immigrants in the United States, while Lamm argued that if immigration is allowed to continue unchecked it will harm not only the economy and society, but also the environment. “We live in a new world – our globe is warm, our oceans are warm, nature is trying to tell us something,” Lamm said. “The world of endless economic growth and endless compilations of growth is over. Do you want 16 million Coloradoans living in this area?” Illegal immigrants also keep wages down and create a loss of jobs for many Americans because businesses would rather hire labor at a lower price, Lamm added. But there is no evidence suggesting immigrant workers are taking jobs from Americans, and the only

work force that illegal immigration affects is “high school dropouts who compete with low-skilled jobs held by immigrant workers,” Powell countered. “Immigrants tend not to be substitutes for America, but in fact compliments. They possess skills that we don’t, which frees us all to do the things that we are more skilled at.” Powell attempted to discredit Lamm’s claim that illegal immigrants take American jobs by saying that there were an endless number of jobs available and that the only way jobs could disappear is if there were a fixed number of them. The same applies to the issue of decreasing wages: there is no evidence supporting it, and in fact poor families have more money now than the average family did in the ‘70s, Powell said. Lamm responded by pointing out that “cheap labor is like candy to companies” – if they can spend less for the same level of work, then they will, he said. Companies will use cheap labor regardless of where they get it, Powell said. If cheap labor doesn’t come here, then the companies will go there. It is this process that has created outsourcing to countries such as India, he said. Immigrants supply about $20 billion to the U.S. economy. If the United States admits more immigrants, that number would only increase, Powell added. But the population increase caused by immigrants creates a depletion of natural resources and is not worth the small impact of $20 billion to a $13 trillion economy, Lamm argued. If immigration were completely curtailed American business would be hit hardest, Powell said. For example, without immigrants, 24 percent of farms would be decommissioned and about 17 percent of painting jobs would go unfilled. Some farms have left as much as two-thirds of their crops to decompose because there were not enough workers to harvest efficiently, he said.

Photo by STEPHEN SWOFFORD/sswoﬀo1@mscd.edu

Benjamin Powell, left, and former Colorado Gov. Richard Lamm answer questions at the immigration debate Sept. 27 at the Tivoli Turnhalle.

During the question and answer period, Lamm was the subject of several derisive shouts from the audience. “When are you going to stop using despairing and insulting words to describe people who’ve come here,” said Metro student Walt Heidenfelder, who is from Austria. “After all, we’ve invited these people here for centuries.” People fear inﬂuence from other cultures, but the United States was built from mixing cultures and that is what makes it unique, Heidenfelder said. What many people forget is that illegal immigration includes many people from Eastern Europe. But when people think of immigrants they think of Latinos, which segregates a speciﬁc group and puts responsibility on them that is not theirs to bear, he said. Many people also fear terrorists will enter the United States using the same methods many illegal immigrants use, Powell said. But if there were more immigrants accepted into the country, there would be less of them coming here illegally and the

“Immigrants tend not to be substitutes for America, but in fact compliments. They possess skills that we don’t, which frees us all to do the things we are more skilled at.” BENJAMIN POWELL, ECONOMIST “The world of endless economic growth and endless compilations of growth is over. Do you want 16 million Coloradoans living in this area?” RICHARD LAMM, PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER government would have a better idea of who is here and what they are up to. Despite their opposing points of view, both Powell and Lamm agreed that current immigration policy is in need of reform. But while Powell asserted that the United States could boost its economy by encouraging

more immigration, Lamm said he favored securing the borders and implementing a better ID check, which would make it more difﬁcult for illegal immigrants to enter the country. “We have to know who is in the United States, and we have to make sure we get rid of this Swiss cheese attitude at the border,” Lamm said.

Sexual assault at West Auraria light-rail station linked to others Female student said she was groped and kissed, suspect later arrested By AMY WOODWARD awoodwa5@mscd.edu A Metro student was allegedly sexually assaulted around 2 p.m. on Sept. 27 while waiting to board the light rail train at the West Auraria light-rail station. The alleged victim reported that while she was waiting for the light

rail, an older white male, who was described to have one eye swollen shut and the other eye bloodshot, came up behind her and groped and kissed her. “It was very quick, very sudden and he left,” Auraria Deputy Police Chief John Egan said. The alleged victim then boarded the light rail on the southbound train and called a friend to report what happened to her. Egan said the alleged victim’s friend then called the Auraria Police Department, who told the friend to tell the alleged victim to come back to campus.

According to the alleged victim, the suspect ﬂed the area, but the Auraria Police Department later found out the suspect boarded a southbound train where he allegedly sexually assaulted three other women. The suspect was later arrested in Greenwood Village near a hotel around 8 p.m., said Sonny Jackson, a spokesman for the Denver Police Department. The suspect’s name has not been released but police said he appears to be a transient with four different cases against him, Egan said.

For your information» Contact Info: If you have or feel threatened on campus, you should contact the Auraria Police Department at: (303) 556-3271 Dispatch: (303)556-5000

Free pepper-spray key chains Available at: The Auraria Health Center Patricipants must receive brief instruction, show a campus ID and sign a release of liability.

A6 » METRO » OCTOBER 4. 2007 » THE METROPOLITAN

CoPIRG urges charge card regulation Group will hold event to poll student support for credit card reform By KATE JOHNSON jokathry@mscd.edu

As students face the task of coming up with money to pay for college, the cost of living and going to school can sometimes be too much to pay up front. So when credit card companies come to campus looking for new customers, the Colorado Public Interest Research Group, or CoPIRG, looks to students to make sure those companies play fair. “We believe that credit card companies are targeting college students because they feel that they’re vulnerable and susceptible to this type of manipulation,” said Melanie Gann, CoPIRG campus organizer, regarding credit card companies’ attempts to lure students into contracts. In response to a recent call from more than 100 students who signed

a petition to regulate credit card solicitation on campus, CoPIRG will hold another signing session at the north side of the ﬂagpole area on campus Oct. 10 from 1 to 4 p.m. Some of CoPIRG’s proposed reforms include prohibiting credit card companies from using promotional items on campus, barring them from purchasing student information lists and requiring students be offered better contracts. The CoPIRG student chapter is a state-funded organization that works with students to investigate and ﬁnd practical solutions to problems on campus through education and advocacy. If student support for regulating the companies on campus is strong enough, CoPIRG will promote the passage of six fair trade practices that the companies will have to abide by that would address the problems it cites on campus. If CoPIRG receives the necessary

signatures, it will go to the three colleges’ respective student governments who could then sign a resolution to

support the six fair policies. “They would still be welcome to come on campus, but they would have to abide by the fair practices,” Gann said. “We think this is in the students interests in general because if these policies are adopted then students will not only have better educa-

tion on it, but they will see decreases in their debt in the long run.” Metro technical communications major Brian Sapp got his ﬁrst credit card more than 10 years ago when he started school at Arapahoe Community College. When the cost of living on his own and paying for classes soon proved to be too much, he became unable to make his payments. As a result, his credit was severely tarnished for seven years, during which time he was unable to qualify for another card. “I think many young people try to get a credit card because it does give them a sense of power, a sense of responsibility,” Sapp said. He said he was forced to rebuild his credit using a type of secured credit card that allowed him to spend only after he added funds to the account. “It was a step toward showing I could stay within my credit limit,” Sapp said. Once he cleared his credit he was able to sign up for another card. But

Sapp warns students: just because you can spend doesn’t mean you should. “Look at your ﬁnances,” he said. “Don’t spend frivolously. If you don’t have the money to spend, don’t use the credit card.” Metro music majors Joe Wilson and Josh Lundquist both pay about 21 percent interest on their credit cards. They said while credit cards can be problematic, it is up to students to be aware of the contracts they get themselves into. “People, they know what they’re getting into,” Lundquist said. “Research it. Make sure you know what you are doing.” Wilson agreed that adding that credit cards are all right so long as students read the ﬁne print, understand all the terms of the contract and know the annual percentage rate they will pay on their purchases. “It’s useful for large things and for emergencies, and to be able to spend money you don’t have and pay it back

Continued on Page A7

Single mothers pushed toward ‘cliff ’ by pay raises Groups come together to educate women on skill-building, rights By ROBERT FISHER rfishe@mscd.edu Most people jump at the opportunity for job advancement and a pay raise, but single, working mothers in Colorado think twice before accepting a promotion—because earning an extra dollar an hour could cost thousands, according to The Women’s Foundation of Colorado. Essentially, in Colorado making more money means losing more to taxes. The Women’s Foundation of Colorado calls this phenomenon the cliff effect, referring to state benefit cliffs a single, working mother is in danger of exceeding as her earnings increase. Work-supported benefits, which are designed to help working families make ends meet, can be forfeited entirely because Colorado does not have a sliding scale benefit system. As a new study by Columbia University shows, sometimes making $10 an hour is better than $12 an hour in Colorado. Some people shook their heads in disbelief as they listened to Jefferson County Commissioner Kathy Hartman speak about the cliff effect at the third annual Serious Women, Serious Issues, Serious Action conference Sept. 28 in the Tivoli. And others nodded as if they had known about this all along.

“Our families were telling us the truth. Small increases in income resulted in abrupt losses of beneﬁts,” Hartman said to the women gathered. Grassroots organizations Latina Initiative and 9to5, along with the National Association of Working Women, co-sponsored the two-day event. The sisters of the Pi Lambda Chi Latina Sorority hosted the event and answered questions from attendees as they signed in. “It’s a conference to bring together women and engage them in the political process,” said Whitney Hanson, lead organizer for 9to5. But Hanson acknowledged the role both 9to5 and Latina Initiative play in educating all women. “By no means do either of our organizations stop at the point of our constituency,” she said. “9to5 does not stop with low-income women nor does Latina Initiative stop with Latino women.” The diverse age range and ethnicities of women mingling and networking at the conference echoed Hanson’s sentiment. But when Katherine Archuleta, president of Latina Initiative Board of Directors, took to the podium and began to speak, the mood of the conference shifted gears and women in the room began to rally around what the conference really was about — a call to action. “I have a voice, I have a passion, I have the strongest interest any mother can have about what happens in our community,” Archuleta said to a

burst of applause and cheers. Over the course of the next two hours speakers covered issues such as immigration, affirmative action, health care and the cliff before a very receptive crowd. Many of the speakers cited examples from their own lives to put a real face to these issues. The conference also had a new goal this year to reach out to younger girls and women. “New this year is our youth component which is geared towards women 14 to 20,” Hanson said. “This is a new element and that is to demystify the political process.” But it wasn’t only about educating young women about the political process, it was also about the issues. “It’s all over the age range as far as who is impacted by this (Cliff Effect),” said Gretchen McComb, president of The Women’s Foundation of Colorado. “When you have younger children it is much more expensive and challenging to find child care so younger women are even more impacted by a lack of child care across our state.” Conference workshops scheduled for Sept. 29 would be either issue workshops, such as “Immigration,” or skill building workshops like “Hands on Organizing.” The first evening of the conference ended with two different kinds of performances. The first was spoken word poetry performed by Julie Gonzales, a Yale graduate. The night’s final event was a belly-dancing performance by Marrakech Express.

Photo by CORA KEMP/ckemp4@mscd.edu

Gretchen McComb talks about the Cliff Effect at the Latina Initiative Conference on Sept. 28 at the Tivoli. The Cliff Effect forces single, working mothers to take a pay cut, because if they get a pay raise they will lose their benefits.

THE METROPOLITAN « OCTOBER 4. 2007 « NEWS « A7

FROM THE STREET» Should the editor of The Rocky Mountain Collegian be ﬁred for printting an obscene editorial Steve Sorensen

“I view it is a free speech issue. (It was) not used in a sexual manner. If they did it again, I would back them.”

Brittany Johnson

“I’m not all about censorship but I think it’s pretty universal not to print curse words in a newspaper because of who could get their hands on it.”

day’s

Megan Harrison

END

“I don’t feel that it is entirely appropriate for a publication that is widely distributed. There are many places for that type of free speech.”

Laura Gardner, a Metro sophomore majoring in International Business, relaxes Oct. 2 on Ninth Street in front of Einstein’s (The Mercantile) after a long day of classes at the college.

Kyle Hameister

Photo by KENN BISIO/bisio@mscd.edu

CREDIT » Ethical guidelines needed for companies Continued from A6 little by little,” Wilson said. Darrin Duber-Smith, a Metro marketing professor, said that credit card companies are investing in campus promotions to gain “lifetime customers” who will develop a brand loyalty. “If you get a credit card in college, you are likely to have it the next 20 or 30 years,” DuberSmtih said. He said some credit card companies have a tendency to prey on uninformed students, but others are adopting good ethical guidelines to satisfy customers and distinguish their company with the rest of the pack. “There’s an idea businesses do have a moral obligation to do the right thing,” Duber-Smith said. “If it is done in an ethical manner, I think

anyone should be able to get a booth on campus.” But for CCD music major Aaron BurrisDeboskey, seeing some of his friends mess up their credit gives him ample reason to question credit card companies’ morals. “It’s business. People are going to do that and get new customers. But at the same time I don’t think credit card companies are telling you how easy it is to get into (debt).” He said while credit cards have their place, it’s not hard to lose a lot more money than you started out with – a lesson some of his friends had to learn the hard way. “I know people who keep their credit card in blocks of ice in the freezer so they never use them,” Burris-Deboskey said.

“There is an idea businesses do have a moral obligation to do the right thing.” DARRIN DUBER-SMITH, METRO MARKETING PROFESSOR

“I always thought that censorship was a violation of free speech.This is one of the many debates that will hopefully change the censorship laws.”

Nathan Weitzel

“It is free speech, but for something that’s going out into the public, he could have bleeped it out or said it in a different way.” Photos by DAWN MADURA/dmadura@mscd.edu

Some Things In Life Are Free…

Free Lunch with Tour 303.477.1950

RegencyStudentHousing.com

THE METROPOLITAN » OCTOBER 4, 2007 » A8

insight SECOND THOUGHTS

Putin on the campaign trail

POLL POSITION » bzoink.com HOW OLD WERE YOU WHEN YOU GOT YOUR FIRST KISS? 1-5: 6 percent 6-9: 9 percent 10-11: 12 percent 12-13: 28 percent 14-16: 21 percent 16 and up: 6 percent No first kiss yet: 18 percent

A BIGGER VIEW » Putin and power “After the chaos of the first post-communist years, Mr. Putin restored a measure of security and stability. He has done serious damage to the country’s fragile democratic institutions, creating a powerful and secretive presidential bureaucracy, imposing authoritarian controls over government and the press, and turning the Parliament into a rubber stamp. In effect, he led Russia back to its historical dependence on one powerful leader, and he did this with the support of a large majority of the Russian people. We cannot begrudge the Russians a measure of stability and prosperity after what they have gone through. But what they need now is to start building a true democracy on the basis of that stability and prosperity. We hope Mr. Putin will rethink this cyclical game.” – NEW YORK TIMES, Oct. 2

CORRECTION»

Re: Lesbians sit into history Memebers of Kate Burn’s family, including her sister and mother, did participate in her and Sheila Schroder’s committment ceremony in 2003. It was uncorrectly reported that there was no one from her family at the ceremony.

Illustrated by ANDREW HOWERTON » ahowert2@mscd.edu Written by The Metropolitan staff

Coming out creates second chances In life second chances are few and far between. Miracles are even more rare. Just ask the Colorado Rockies. No, this column isn’t about hockey, or baseball as my sports editor corrects me. This column is about coming out. Oct. 11 is National Coming Out Day. And I don’t want anyone to miss his or her chance to tell the world who they really are. Granted, circa now, coming out is a lot easier than the ﬁrst National Coming Out Day in 1987. And most of you reading this are either already out or have concluded you are indeed heterosexual, but the thought of coming out is still a daily occurrence and a topic that must be explored. I came out to my father in August three years ago. It was the night before I moved to Denver. My friend Jenna was having a party. Months prior, I had come into the company of a boy named Randy. He had come out long ago and it was his self-appointed duty to gay-it-forward. I remember his blunt-pseudo Socratic method when we met: “Would you ever have a threesome with a girl and another guy?” he asked me. “Sure,” I responded. “Do you think you might be gay, Nic?” What happened next is nothing short of melodrama. To keep it

NIC GARCIA ngarci20@mscd.edu simple, I developed feelings for him, but he had other plans. We tried to keep things normal, but neither of us could help it. Randy was at the party. And somewhere between cigarettes and chocolate milk he told me he had gotten back with his ex-boyfriend. My father picked me up from the party. And I needed fatherly advice. At that point he was of no help. How could I ask him what to do about a boy if he didn’t know I was into boys? So I had to do what I had wanted to do for so long, I told him I was gay. To some, leaving Pueblo is a miracle. To others, it’s a second chance. For me, it was both. I ﬁnally had a chance to be open and express myself in ways I never dreamed possible. Moreover, the move to Denver meant a chance to re-invent myself, shed the dry, dead skin from Pueblo.

Randy and I eventually stopped talking. He had his priorities and I had mine. Our relationship did not end on good terms. I thought I’d never hear from Randy again. I wondered about him a lot. And I couldn’t help but recognize the fact it was him being in my life that gave me the dilemma and the courage to come out. I had wanted to come out so many times before Randy. I was even asked if I was gay by my grandma years before the homo entered my life. I outright denied the fact. How and why could she ask that? Not coming out in high school when my grandma asked me is perhaps one of my only regrets growing up. But I can’t turn back time. Coming out is not a one hit wonder. That’d be too easy. Each and everyday, whether you’re an out and loud columnist like me or a quiet, disciplined student, we must wake up and acknowledge we’re gay. Still, we must communicate this with more and more people. It’s a double-edged sword really. The more we come out, the easier it becomes to be ourselves. The more we come out, the easier it becomes for people to hate us. I think it is fair to say people love to see others suffer. I also think it is fair to say people love to see the successful suffer more. And besides the

whole Bible thing, I really believe one of the main reasons why the gay community has so many “fans” is because we are able to say, “This is who I am.” You don’t have to be gay to come out. And before the Human Rights Campaign screams I’m trying to trivialize the importance of coming out let me make something clear: Coming out is no different than coming to terms, or coming of age. As a matter of fact, we all – gay or straight – come out. You can come out as a dork, a jock, a rock star, a geek, a blonde, a snob, a woman, a success, a mess, a YouTube celebrity, or a fair-weather Rockies fan. I was getting a pedicure not too long ago when I received a message from Randy. It had been more than two years since we last spoke. I didn’t know what to think. The boy that had brought me out of the closet only to stomp on my heart wanted to get to know who I had become over the last two years. And vice versa. I’m not sure if it’s a miracle – at least not to scale of the Rockies – but we’re giving our friendship a second chance. We all deserve second chances. And miracles. So this October we should all take the opportunity to express who we’ve become and watch the Rockies win the Stanley Cup.

metrospective

B1 » THE METROPOLITAN » OCTOBER 4, 2007

Art

JOSIE KLEMAIER » FEATURES EDITOR » jklemaie@mscd.edu

Overload Denver is gearing up to squeeze the last lively juices from the harvest moon like cider from an apple, showing the vitality of a season that, like the human spirit, keeps kicking until the very last breath. It’s also making the most of the millions of dollars spent on cultural additions and renovations by the city throughout the past five years. Denver’s first ever Denver Arts Festival is to kick off with October’s first Friday events and extend the monthly celebration and social viewing of the arts with original activities throughout the week of Oct. 5-12. The festival will provide a perfect opportunity to see all of Denver’s art districts and galleries that invite the public to their spaces for more than just buying and on more than one night. In addition to first Friday, downtown will also celebrate the fine art of German beer and heritage at its own Oktoberfest. Mmmm ... heritage… FRIDAY There are 17 neighborhoods and districts from Boulder to Denver participating in Denver Arts Week and

The 23rd Avenue Sculpture Gallery, on Tennyson Street Cultural District

with so much going on throughout the week, this might be the chance to take advantage of a more intimate event in a new-to-you neighborhood. The Highlands/Berkley Park neighborhood in North Denver is home to the Tennyson Street Cultural District, home to new galleries, shops and restaurants, and the recently revived Oriental Theater, which will host the talent-packed band New Monsoon. SATURDAY Take Saturday to bask in the elegance of Cherry Creek on the cheap. Pick up a map at any of Cherry Creek’s galleries for a self-guided tour of the district’s outdoor art sculptures, a workout that includes water bowls for much-welcomed four-legged friends. Once the dogs are barkin’, hitch a ride on a pedi-cab, all of which will be providing complimentary rides in the area Oct. 5-6. When the afternoon is over, don’t miss the unveiling of the world’s largest vinyl print at ArtDistrict on Santa Fe Drive and the sea of artists who will be ﬂooding the sidewalks and plazas of the Golden Triangle for an event called “Plein Aire,” an outdoor painting event. SUNDAY At 37th and Navajo, a blooming art district will be embracing some of Denver’s most historic homes, in one of its oldest neighborhoods. EDGE Gallery is inviting all artists to take a chance as they host Art Luck, a trend brought from New York that makes an art show out of personal slides that anyone brings in. In addition to their work, artists are asked to bring a dish for a pot-luck style affair. MONDAY-FRIDAY Monday morning may start out a little rough after taking in all the weekend had to offer, but don’t think you’re hallucinating when art starts

October’s ﬁrst Friday goes all week and steps beyond the sidewalk. Check out these best bets by josie klemaier, jklemaie@mscd.edu » Photos By GREG DAILY/gdaily@mscd.edu

The Denver Art Museum, part of the Golden Triangle Museum District . to appear across the city before your eyes. Throughout the weekend, the Denver Art Infestation 2007 will have seeped into LoDo with installations from local artists on fortune cookies, beer coasters, buses, windows, lights, in the form of magnets on everything, and even on homeless people. T-shirts with art on them will be distributed to those in need, along with counseling contact info and $5 gift certiﬁcates to local eateries. Other events throughout the week include $6 backstage tours of the Denver Performing Arts Complex and the Third Class Bash at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, where $50 buys two tickets to the Titanic exhibit, two beers, food and live music from Celtic western rock band The Indulgers. The event is geared toward young professionals and goes

from 6-10 p.m. Oct. 11 at the museum at 2001 Colorado Blvd. For tickets call 303-322-7009. Denver Arts week extends through Oct. 12 and will include contests and

discounts at various Denver establishments, including eco-friendly events at the Denver Zoo and the Wildlife Experience. For more information, visit www.denverartsfestival.com.

Paintings by Blake Flynn on display at the Habitat Gallery, part of the Art District on Santa Fe.

Where » THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE is the area that includes the Denver Art Museum, bordered by Speer Boulevard to the west, Broadway to the southwest and Colfax to the north. ART DISTRICT ON SANTA FE contains the blocks between 5th and 11th Streets. With a strong influence from the surrounding Hispanic population, plus the migration of artsy folk, Santa Fe offers a wealth of cultural diversity. RiNo is not the mysterious beast that roams the Platte River,

but it’s close. An abbreviation for the River North district bounded by Interstate 70 to the north, Park Avenue West to the south and Lawrence Street to the east. An old industrial area like LoDo, many of the galleries are truly rustic studios. CHERRY CREEK NORTH is north of the indoor mall with a more intimate pedestrian shopping district. TENNYSON STREET CULTURAL DISTRICT is between

38th and 45th Avenues, with a small-town feel full of pet shops and creative galleries. OTHER PARTICIPATING DISTRICTS: BELMAR, EAST END ARTS DISTRICT, GOLDEN, LITTLETON, WEST WASHINGTON PARK AND WESTMINSTER. For more information, visit www.denverartsfestival.com.

B2 » OCTOBER 4. 2007 » THE METROPOLITAN

timeout

Q: What happened at the ﬁght in the candy store? A: Two suckers got licked! CROSSWORD

ACROSS 1. Cartel 5. Theatrical entertainment 10. Takes to court 14. Dynamic beginning 15. Very hard mineral 16. Name of Isaac’s oldest in the Bible 17. Contest, ethnicity 18. Gentleness 20. Acute 22. 19th letter of the Greek alphabet 23. Hardy equestrian creatures 24. Polite 26. Vegas roller 27. Pertaining to actinism 30. Compactness 34. Sullenly ill-humored 35. Cheerful 36. Bruce ___ was a famous kung-fu movie star 37. Golf club which can be numbered 1 to 9

SUDOKU

38. Former Russian rulers 40. Former name of Thailand 41. Oxlike African antelope 42. Solely 43. Sheath 45. Overstay 47. Widen 48. Unit of electrical resistance 49. Organization 50. Cotton thread used for hosiery 53. Singer DiFranco 54. Cesspools 58. Conﬁnement 61. Jump 62. Swindle 63. Last letter of the Greek alphabet 64. Editor Wintour 65. Small mountain lake 66. Most unfavorable 67. Corrosion

Oct. 4 puzzle from www.crosswords.com. Solution available on the website.

DOWN 1. Obstructs 2. Wife of Jacob 3. Killer whale 4. Duress 5. Not emp. 6. Ipecac, e.g. 7. Open to bribery 8. Oﬃcial language of Pakistan 9. Regard 10. Faculties 11. Employs 12. facilitate 13. Figure (out) 19. Coming down 21. Fasteners 25. Country in SE Asia 26. Final course 27. Pal, south of the border 28. Horn-shaped bone 29. Freshwater ﬁsh 30. Golden, in France 31. Greek epic poem 32. Mock, annoy 33. Red Sea land 35. Narrow beam of light

39. Shortened version of actor Stallone’s ﬁrst name 40. Pertaining to the shoulders 42. Alternate 44. Entre ___ 46. Mirthless 47. Entities 49. Facial expression used by Elvis Presley 50. Catalog 51. South American Indian 52. The closest one to us is the sun 53. Shot, brieﬂy 55. Course list? 56. Gives a bad review 57. Petty quarrel, ejected saliva 59. At the present time 60. Make lace

CUT CORNERS

metropolitan staff and andrew howerton

MASTER PLAN

geof wollerman and andrew howerton

WHERE IS THIS? Be the ﬁrst to e-mail us the correct location and receive a free ticket to the Starz FilmCenter! Lucky you! Each week’s winner will also have the chance to have their photo printed in the following issue of The Metropolitan. Send emails to jklemaie@mscd.edu with “Where is this?” in the subject line.

puzzle courtesy of www.websudoku.com

NOW SHOWING AT THE STARZ FILMCENTER THE BUBBLE

FRI (4:25), 6:50, 9:15 SAT (11:30), 2:00, 4:25, 6:50, 9:15 SUN (11:30), 2:00, 4:25, 6:50 MON (4:25), 6:50 TUE-WED (4:25), 6:50 THU (4:25), 6:50, 9:15

BEAUTY IN TROUBLE

FRI (4:30), 6:55, 9:10 SAT (11:40), 2:05, 4:30, 6:55, 9:10 SUN (11:40), 2:05, 4:30, 6:55 MON-WED (4:30), 6:55 TH (4:30), 6:55, 9:10

ROOM AT THE TOP

SAT 7:00

ONCE

FRI (4:50), 7:25, 9:30 SAT (12:45), 2:40, 4:50, 7:25, 9:30 SUN (12:45), 2:40, 4:50, 7:25 MON-WED (4:50), 7:25 TH (4:50), 7:25, 9:30

DEATH AND A FUNERAL

FRI (4:40), 7:20, 9 :20 SAT (12 :35), 2 :35, 4:40, 7:20, 9 :20 SUN (12 :35), 2 :35, 4:40, 7:20 MON-WED (4:40), 7:20 TH (4:40), 7:20, 9 :20

2 DAYS IN PARIS

FRI (4:35), 7:10, 9 :25 SAT (12 :20), (2 :25),4:35, 7:10, 9 :25 SUN (12 :20), (2 :25),4:35, 7:10 MON-WED (4:35), 7:10 TH (4:35), 7:10, 9 :25

KIDS FIRST FREE MOVIE: FOLLOW ALONG- GARFIELD

SAT 10:30 AM

THE METROPOLITAN « OCTOBER 4. 2007 « METROSPECTIVE « B3

Mercury Café has students swingin’ Drop-in lessons come with lots of fun and little pressure by Tara Pingle, tpingle@mscd.edu » “When you hit the dance floor, you gotta be jumpin’, Jack! Like a wild train, rolling right down your track…” No one has described swing dancing quite so accurately as the modern swing band, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, on their track, “Jumpin’ Jack.” Swing dancing is very much like a guided train crash: exciting, romantic and somewhat explosive, if done correctly. It takes some time and training to thoroughly enjoy dancing, but Metro students are in luck. The best swing dance lessons in Colorado are just up California Street, and they’re darned affordable. At the Mercury Café, at 22nd Street and California Street, Dan Newsome and Tiffiny Wine, expert swing dance instructors with 10 years of professional dancing experience, charge only $6 for their 6:30 p.m. Sunday night beginner lessons. Newsome and Wine’s lessons are focused on the Lindy Hop style of swing dancing, which originated from the black culture of New York during the 1920s and 30s. The versatility of the Lindy Hop is perhaps the largest part of its appeal. This type of swing dancing can be sensual but free-spirited, chaotic but graceful. Everyone develops a style of their own. Some couples dart smoothly in and away from each other like tamed snakes while others jitterbug like the drunken hipsters that inspired the term, weaving their knees and bobbing their hips around in circles. Thanks to the improvisational nature, beginners will find it easier to transition to other forms of dance after learning the Lindy Hop. “I go to the Mercury Café to do something different, to have a drink and be with friends,” said Metro Spanish major Daniel Fuentes. The Mercury Café has been a popular hangout among students for years. It’s where Newsome and Wine got their start swing dancing, before going on to dance competitively across the nation. They came back to their origins to offer their affordable lessons, and also to work as coaches and choreographers for 23 Skiddo!, Denver’s nationally-recognized and award-winning swing dancing team. “It’s the best deal in the entire world,” Newsome said. “It’s one of the only all-ages dance lessons around. We get a lot of students from all the

different colleges, especially right after finals or during the summer.” According to Newsome, the best lessons for beginners are the Sunday night drop-in lessons, or their optional 7 p.m. Thursday night lessons, when students can pay $30 for four sessions, which progresses them to an intermediate level. The dance floor at the Mercury Café is a mix of warm colors and energetic emotions. Small touches like crimson covered tables, Indian tapestries and tiny yellow lights glittering on the ceiling add to the lively music to make a memorable night of dancing. This scene, full of people, tilts with each dance move, then changes into a blur as dancers fly into a wild arm-over-arm spin that is exhilarating, surprisingly easy and impressive to onlookers. Of course, it will be a while before beginners will be able to do really exciting moves like an “aerial,” where one partner is lifted over the other partner’s head. In the meantime, they’ll have a ton of fun learning basic “swingouts,” and “breakaways,” moves that allow dancers to move around and away from their partner with flair. “It’s like being in theatre,” said Metro theatre major April McAlister, who frequents the Mercury Café. “You spend a lot of time working on the show, perfecting your technique. It’s the same with dancing, where you spend a lot of time working with people,” McAlister said. Swing dancing is the perfect relief for people with busy, chaotic lives and little social time. When overloaded with school and work, there are few better ways to ease off stress and refocus the mind than swinging the night away. Dancing also provides an opportunity to connect with people of all ages and backgrounds. “It’s a great learning environment,” McAlister said. “If you see something you like, you can go up to anyone and ask them to teach you. People are happy to help you.” It’s a workout that will re-energize the spirit and put the mind at ease. Beginners don’t need to come with any previous dancing experience. The only thing swing dancing requires is that when you hit the dance floor, you better be jumpin’ Jack!

Photo by ANDREW BISSET/abisset1@mscd.edu

Students of all ages dance Sept. 30 at the Mercury Café at 2199 California St. in Denver during the Sunday night drop-in swing dance lessons.

Mercury Café » 2199 California St.

For complete dance lessons calendar visit www.mercurycafe.com Sundays 5:30 p.m. Beginning dance class $8 6:30 p.m. East Coast Swing/Jitterbug $8 or included with beginning dance

Tuesdays 6 p.m. Beginning Lindy hop series $30/month or $10/drop-in 7 p.m. Intermediate Lindy hop series $30/month or $10/drop-in Thursdays 6 p.m. Jazz series $30/month or $10/drop-in 7 p.m. Jitterbug series $30/month or $10/ drop-in

FILM »

Israeli-Palestinian conflict Bubbles with sex and emotion By DOMINIC GRAZIANO dgrazia1@mscd.edu To say Eytan Fox’s The Bubble is a modern-day Romeo and Juliet would be far too simple. As writer and director, Fox has brought the same canned story of one family against another to a global stage. Fox paints a picture of comfortable, escapist bubbles in a climate of fighting. The Capulets and Montagues are a little more trivial than Israel and Palestine, but The Bubble manages to boil one Middle East conflict down to a pair of starcrossed lovers. Noam (Ohad Knoller), an Israeli National Guard soldier, and Palestinian Ashraf (Yousef Sweid), meet at an Israeli checkpoint. A tragic roadside birth draws the two men together as they try to save a Palestinian woman’s baby. Later, as Noam settles back into life in Tel Aviv, along with roommates Yelli (Alon Friedman) and Lulu (Daniela Virtzer), Ashraf comes a knocking. When a sexual relationship between Noam and Ashraf de-

velops, Yelli and Lulu help Noam keep his new Palestinian boyfriend’s identity a secret. The three roommates take Ashraf under their wing, getting him a restaurant job with Yelli, a change of clothes, and of course, a non-threatening Jewish name. And they all live happily ever after in their bubble of youth. If only it were that easy. Maintaining a relationship isn’t easy, and Noam and Ashraf find that Noam’s two roommates’ respective relationships aren’t going to make it any easier. Yelli’s outspoken military boyfriend points out that most people outside the group’s bubble harbor hatred for Palestinians. Then Lulu’s current fling outs Ashraf—not as a homosexual—but as a cultural outsider. Inevitably, the metaphorical conflict becomes all too real and the bubble pops. Ashraf is forced to leave Noam and return to his home, the much more oppressive Nablus, where his sister is marrying a local Hamas radical. It is evident that Ashraf ’s native culture is far less accepting of his lifestyle, but The Bubble shows that hid-

ing sexuality from family is much easier than hiding nationality from complete strangers. When the movie comes to a close, it is clear that The Bubble does not contain some secret message that will solve wars in the Middle East. What it does have is a poignant message of how Palestinian and Israeli lives can be connected. As director, Fox has intertwined a very serious conﬂict with a story of two men who fall in love despite the cultures they come from and the problems they face.

The Bubble »

The Bubble starts Oct. 5 at the Starz Filmcenter. It will run until Oct. 11. For more information and show times, visit www.denverﬁlm.org/ﬁlmcenter.

B4 » OCTOBER 4. 2007

OCTOBER 4. 2007 « B5

THE METROPOLITAN

Reverberating meaning Four students ﬁnd a connection through one disease and pool their musical talents for a cause that is close to home by Amie Cribley, acribley@mscd.edu »

Photo by KRISTI DENKE/kdenke@mscd.edu

s the lights dimmed in the King Center Concert Hall Sept. 28, the fresh sound of a marimba echoed across the room. Luke Wachter and his friend Yolanda Calderon played their hearts out and were finally able to relax. Along with Joe Atencio, these Metro students had accomplished something that they never thought would happen. Wachter’s marimba, a percussion instrument, matched with Calderon’s sweet-sounding flute, brought immediate applause from the crowd. Wachter and Calderon are both seniors double majoring in music performance and music education, and Atencio, also a senior, is majoring in music education. The three Metro students put together the concert, Music for MS, to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis, as well as give smaller musical groups a chance to in the 520-seat concert hall, which typically only sees larger band and groups. “It’s a little surreal,” Calderon said before the concert. The three Metro students started thinking in February about a benefit that would use their music skills and connections and began working with organizer Ben Gelt in March. The three students knew there was much solo talent on campus. “We work so hard on solo stuff and usually don’t get to perform,” Wachter said. Among the students and Gelt, they

know about seven or eight people with the disease. Gelt’s mother has the neurological disease, as does Watcer’s and Calderon and Atencio know each other through a mutual friend who lives with it, as well. About 350,000 people in the United States have MS, according to the Rocky Mountain MS Center. It is an auto immune disease, which means the body attacks itself, damaging the brain and spinal cord and creating scar tissue, causing signals sent throughout the body to be short circuited, according to the Rocky Mountain MS Center. Wachter, Atencio and Calderon “didn’t realize logistically how hard it would be,” Wachter said. Before they had the cooperation of the Rocky Mountain MS Center, they tried the Metro music department. When too much red tape blocked their way they contacted the MS center and were able to work under a nonproﬁt umbrella. Signing the contracts and fundraising were the biggest challenges, Wachter said. The night of the concert, the King Center swarmed with people before the doors even opened. Wachter said they were hoping for about 400 people and had already sold 330 tickets by the day before the concert. They sold about 375 tickets by the end of the night. “I’m still a little in disbelief,” Wachter said. His mother, Sandy Wachter, was diagnosed with MS in 2000.

John Wachter recorded video of his son and Calderon’s performance. Sandy Wachter snapped photos. Throughout the performance they occasionally looked at each other and smiled. “I’m kind of overwhelmed,” Sandy said. “Just acknowledgment is nice and this is over the top.” During the performance, Sandy sat with her husband, John Wachter, who recorded video of his son and Calderon’s opening performance. Sandy Wachter snapped photos. Throughout the performance the couple occasionally looked at each other and smiled. The concert showcased performers from flutes and percussion, to the Metro State’s Women’s Choir. All of the groups, except for the choir, had five or less people. There was a jazz band, some modern pieces with flutes and a piano, even a few classics from pianist Celeste Hardinger. When Shannon Marti, the first vocalist, came out on stage she dedicated her song, “Not While I’m Around” from the musical Sweeny Todd, to a friend who was recently diagnosed with MS. In the final performance, voices of the choir joined together for their song, “A Red, Red Rose,” and the room hummed with excitement. The beauty of their

resonating voices created chills. Atencio played a saucy tune on his saxaphone by Steve Swallow called “Falling Grace” with the jazz band. “I’m glad we made it,” he said. In all, the students raised between $6,000 and $7,000 from tickets and donations before the concert was over. “I’m blown away by their generosity and initiative,” Gelt said. The money will go to the Rocky Mountain MS Center, a nonproﬁt organization working out of Swedish Medical Center. The center works with traditional and alternative treatments, as well as education and research on MS, according to the concert program. The entire concert was a big success in raising awareness, and giving people a chance to help out, Sandy Wachter said. “I love it,” she said. “All the performers did incredibly well,” Luke Wachter said after the concert. “I’m still so pleased with the way everything went.”

Photo by CORA KEMP/ckemp4@mscd.edu

Above: Kerry Webb mutes her trumpet with her hand Sept. 28 at the Music for MS concert. Webb also tap danced in the middle of one of her group’s, La Bella Brass Quintet, songs. Left: Sandy Wachter sits with her husband John Wachter after the MS concert. Below: Yolanda Calderon warms up on the ﬂute and Luke Wachter plays the marimba in preparation for their musical performamce Sept. 28 in the King Center. The two Metro music majors organized the event, which raised money for the Rocky Mountain MS Center. Photo by CORA KEMP/ckemp4@mscd.edu

Music for MS » • Colorado has the highest incidence rate of multiple sclerosis in the world. • Approximately 350,000 people in the United States have been diagnosed with MS. • MS is the most common neurologic disease diagnosed in young adults (ages 20 to 50). • MS is more common among Caucasians than other racial populations. • Approximately two-thirds of those diagnosed with MS are women. Source: Rocky Mountain MS Center, www. mscenter.org Photo by KRISTI DENKE/kdenke@mscd.edu

Top: Shannon Marti and Adria Howell bow after singing “When You Believe” from the ﬁlm The Prince of Egypt. Above: Metro’s Women’s Choir prepares for their second song, “Savory, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme.” Right: Metro’s Women’s Choir performed last at the Music for MS concert. They sang “ A Red, Red Rose” and “Savory, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme.”

Photo by CORA KEMP/ckemp4@mscd.edu

Photo by DAWN MADURA/dmadura@mscd.edu

audioﬁles

B6 » THE METROPOLITAN » OCTOBER 4, 2007 JEREMY JOHNSON » MUSIC EDITOR » jjohn308@mscd.edu

» ’GOD’S WILL’ A MUSICAL TALE OF DISASTER» B7

half notes

UPCOMING SHOWS » Friday 10.10 Jethro Tull

7:30 p.m. @ Temple Buell Theater $35, 21+

Toots And The Maytals w/ Chris Pierce 9 p.m. @ Fox Theatre in Boulder $25, 21+

TICKETS ON SALE » Saturday 10.11 Alice In Chains

Tuesday, Oct. 23 8 p.m. @ Ogden Theater

Ozomatli

Saturday, Dec. 8 9 p.m. @ Ogden Theater

NEW RELEASES » TUESDAY 9.25 THROWING FAT ON THE FIRE... Fatboy Slim

Late Night Tales Thrive Records www.thrivemusic.com

The Fiery Furnaces Widow City Thrill Jockey Records www.thrilljockey.com

Green Lantern

Hood Rules Apply Vol. 6 Noiseland Industry www.noiseland.com

Woodpile

Keep Your Enemies Close And Your Heat Closer West Coast Mafia Records www.westcoastmafiarecords.com

For new music releases visit: www.newmusictipsheet.com

The Brit Box is coming! By JEREMY JOHNSON jjohn308@mscd.edu For those of us who think of the “British invasion” in terms of Morrisey, Blur and Oasis rather than The Rolling Stones, The Kinks or The Beatles, radical retro label Rhino Records has recently released one of the more comprehensive and complete collections of Brit-pop. The Brit Box: U.K. Indie, Shoegaze and Brit-pop Gems of the Last Millennium is a chronological mix of the melancholy era of music during the ‘80s and ‘90s that was coming out of the streets and pubs of post-punk London. The Brit Box set begins by introducing the beginning years of Brit -pop (1984-1990), when the British music scene was fading from the reign of the punk revolt and, aside from staples such as the Clash, punk rockers were fading from the scene as quickly as heroin was appearing in bathroom stalls. In light of that shift in instrumental energy and the surging popularity of ‘80s synthesized, sticky-sweet sound, the ﬁrst disc is an exquisite exercise in apathy and, if nothing else, a nostalgic nod to the ever-popular article “the.” Godfather of Brit-pop, Morrissey, and The Smiths appropriately open the anthology and other disc-one notables include The Mighty Lemon Drops, The Cure, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Stone Roses, The La’s and The Sundays. Over the next two discs (19911995), The Brit Box clearly documents the music’s transition from melancholy to manic (or from shoegazing to shocking), much in the same manner as late ‘80s American rock was transitioning from ﬁnicky gimmicks to more emotionally elu-

DISC ONE 1. The Smiths, “How Soon Is Now?” 2. Cocteau Twins, “Lorelei” 3. Felt, “Primitive Panthers” 4. Shop Assistants, “Somewhere in China” 5. The Mighty Lemon Drops, “My Biggest Thrill” 6. The Cure, “Just Like Heaven” 7. Echo & The Bunnymen, “Lips Like Sugar” 8. The Jesus and Mary Chain, “April Skies” 9. Spacemen 3 “Walkin’ With Jesus (Sound of Confusion)” 10. The Primitives, “Crash” 11. The Wonder Stuff, “Unbearable” 12. The Stone Roses, “She Bangs The Drums” 13. The Charlatans UK, “The Only One I Know” 14. Happy Mondays, “Step On”

sive but yet exposed grunge metal hardcore scores. So while Morrisey and The Cure’s Robert Smith elicited a certain mortification and sad gloom in their music, the ensuing Brit-pop of the era proved more danceable, driving and determined. Not only did the new, heavy beats demand the British be recognized for their own brand of funk, but sheer volume and gritty, lyrical sneer guaranteed that Britpop musicians would be recognized for their backbone and born identities as musical entities. Not to mention, Brit bands of the early ‘90s seemed to have lost their obsession with articles and began adopting one-word and even monosyllabic names such as Blur, Pulp, James and Suede. The copious scope of ‘90s Brit-pop is firmly established with mainstream and underground artists who also include cornerstone acts such as Oasis, Catherine Wheel, Stereolab, Elastica, Super Furry Animals, The Verve and Cornershop. Although Rhino Records has established itself as a fully-functioning recording studio, the company is still mostly known for its reissues of decades worth of pop music and iconic pop culture classics such as cartoons The Transformers and G.I. Joe, and the movie-spoofing Mystery Science Theater 3000. But on Brit Box, the execs at Rhino Records display a masterful knowledge of a music era and show that box sets can be comprehensive collections of a broad perspective of a genre. In other words, this set (with just one song each from nearly 80 artists) doesn’t play as a pseudo greatest hits album as some box sets are known to do. Instead it is a vast and historic compilation of the artists that changed music stylings in the U.K.,

15. Primal Scream, “Loaded” 16. Inspiral Carpets, “This Is How It Feels” 17. The Trash Can Sinatras, “Obscurity Knocks” 18. The La’s ,“There She Goes” 19. The Sundays, “Here’s Where The Story Ends”

DISC TWO 1. Ride, “Vapour Trail 2. Pale Saints, “Sight of You 3. My Bloody Valentine, “Only Shallow” 4. Lush, “For Love” 5. The Telescopes, “Flying” 6. Chapterhouse, “Pearl” 7. Catherine Wheel, “I Want To Touch You” 8. Bleach, “Trip & Slide” 9. Curve, “The Coast Is Clear” 10. Five Thirty, “You” 11. Moose, “This River Will Never Run Dry” 12. The Family Cat, “(Thought I Died) And Gone To Heaven”

Photo courtesy of www.vivirguadalajara.com

Above: Morrissey moans melancholy all the way to the top of the Brit-pop scene. Below: Graham Coxon, Alex James, Damon Albarn and Dave Roundtree were more than just a “Blur” during the 1990s’ explosion of alternative British rock.

Photo courtesy of www.aristopia.com

The Brit Box set comes in the shape of a red, English phone booth and includes an 80page booklet with interviews of artists and essays thereof. It’s currently available for $65 at record stores nationwide or on online at www.rhino.com or www.amazon.

13. The Dylans “(Don’t Cut Me Down) Mary Quant In Blue” 14. Thousand Yard Stare, “0-0 A.E.T. (No Score After Extra Time)” 15. Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, “Grey Cell Green” 16. Birdland, “Shoot You Down” 17. Manic Street Preachers, “Stay Beautiful” 18. Teenage Fanclub, “Star Sign”

10. Stereolab, “Wow And Flutter” 11. Blur, “Tracy Jacks” 12. Oasis, “Live Forever” 13. Pulp, “Common People” 14. These Animal Men, “Speed King” 15. Mega City Four, “Wallflower” 16. Echobelly, “Insomniac” 17. Gene, “Sleep Well Tonight” 18. Menswe@r, “Sleeping In” 19. Supergrass, “Alright” 20. Cast, “Alright” 21. Elastica, “Stutter”

1. Suede, “Metal Mickey” 2. Swervedriver, “Duel” 3. Eugenius, “Breakfast” 4. Superstar, “Barfly” 5. New Order, “Regret” 6. James, “Laid” 7. Nick Heyward, “Kite” 8. The Boo Radleys, “Lazarus” 9. Saint Etienne, “You’re In A Bad Way”

DISC FOUR

DISC THREE

1. Dodgy, “In A Room” 2. Ash, “Girl From Mars” 3. Sleeper, “Sale Of The Century” 4. Marion, “Sleep” 5. Kula Shaker, “Tattva” 6. Ocean Colour Scene, “The Riverboat Song”

7. Babybird, “You’re Gorgeous” 8. The Bluetones, “Slight Return” 9. Super Furry Animals “Something 4 The Weekend” 10. The Divine Comedy, “Something For The Weekend” 11. Cornershop, “Brimful Of Asha” 12. Silver Sun, “Service” 13. Spiritualized, “Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space” 14. Mansun, “Wide Open Space” 15. Hurricane #1, “Step Into My World” 16. The Verve, “Lucky Man” 17. Rialto, “Untouchable” 18. Catatonia, “Mulder And Scully” 19. Placebo, “You Don’t Care About Us” 20. Gay Dad, “Oh Jim”

THE METROPOLITAN « OCTOBER 4. 2007 « AUDIOFILES « B7

Broken levees, broken hearts By CLAYTON WOULLARD cwoullar@mscd.edu At one point during Spike Lee’s 2006 documentary on Hurricane Katrina, When The Levees Broke, New Orleans trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard gets choked up when talking about his mother’s home, which was completely destroyed. Blanchard, like so many others, was outraged at the federal government’s poor response to the disaster. The Village Voice quoted him as saying that President George Bush “got away with murder.” He even refused an invitation to a Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz reception held by the White House last fall. This anguish is the foundation for Blanchard’s A Tale Of God’s Will (A Requiem For Katrina), and is evident with every aching and moving note of this tribute to the city that has lost so much and continues to rebuild after America’s worst natural disaster. The album—released only two weeks before the two-year anniversary of Katrina—is actually a suite the trumpeter adapted for a jazz ensemble and 40-piece orchestra from the compositions he wrote for Lee’s documentary. And while he has scored other Lee ﬁlms over the past 20 years, including Malcolm X, A Tale of God’s Will is a soundtrack to a story of loss and rebirth that Blanchard and his family themselves lived through. When accompanying Lee’s heartbreaking images of the aftermath of the storm, the combination is a forceful pull on your emotions. That’s why Blanchard’s opus is easily one of the most poignant and important jazz albums of this decade. The album is meant to follow the

Photo courtesy of www.quadcityarts.com

Terence Blanchard lets his horn do the talking in his new album A Tale Of God’s Will (A Requiem For Katrina), a tribute to the victims of the natural disaster. story of Katrina, and he executes it beautifully. Blanchard opens with “Ghost of Congo Square,” a more standard jazz number, as with “Ghost of Betsy” and “Ghost of 1927,” which are harken back to the roots of jazz that lie in New Orleans. The second track, “Levees,” is perhaps the most important piece

on the album. It opens with sweeping violins meant to represent the calm before the storm, then merging with Blanchard’s sorrowful trumpet meant to represent the storm and the levees breaking, culminating with the intense wailing of his horn meant to represent the desperate pleas of residents stranded on their rooftops. And

CMJ Jazz Top 20 Chart TW LW ARTIST

ALBUM

LABEL

Terence Blanchard

A Tale Of God’s Will (A Requiem For Katrina

EMI

Billie Holiday

Remixed and Reimagined

Legacy Sony

Bruce Hornsby

Camp Meeting

Legacy Sony

Charlie Hunter Trio

Mistico

Fantasy

McCoy Tyner

McCoy Tyner Quartet

Half Note

Floratone

Blue Note

Christian Scott

Anthem

Concord

Matthew Shipp Trio

Piano Vortex

Thirsty Ear

Bad Plus

Prog

Heads Up

Ella Fitzgerald

Love Letters From Ella

Concord

Soulive

No Place Like Soul

Stax

Luciana Souza

The New Bossa Nova

Verve

Ron Carter

Dear Miles

EMI

Billy Mays’ And The Inventions Trio

Fantasy

Palmetto

Pearl Django

Modern Times

Modern Hot

Charles Mingus

Cornell 1964

Blue Note

Dave Brubeck

Indian Summer

Telarc

Nels Cline Singers

Draw Breath

Crytogramophone

Poncho Sanchez

Raise Your Hand

Concord

Compilation

We All Love Ella

Verve

Blanchard’s trumpeting is distinctly New Orleans, with a voice similar to that of Louis Armstrong, yet with the silkiness and control of his hero Miles Davis. Not all of the tracks contain Blanchard’s trumpet, but that doesn’t take away from their power to move and tell the story, as on “Wading Through” and “Mantra Intro.” And not all the orchestrated tracks are sorrowful. “Ashé,” written by pianist Aaron Park, is meant to convey acceptance of what’s happened and optimism for the future. But it’s the last two songs that were the hardest for Blanchard to

write and the most personal. “Funeral Dirge” conveys the heartache the trumpeter, and surely all his bandmates, felt seeing so many dead bodies in a major city in their own country. “Dear Mom” is a letter to his mother sharing his pain for her, but in a touching way that lets her know everything will be all right. We may not like to be reminded of the tragedy of Katrina, but it’s important we not forget its lessons, and that we not abandon our own citizens in times of crisis. A Tale Of God’s Will is a timeless telling of that story and one that needs no words to remind us of those lessons.

Everything old is new for Caribou

Jill Scott’s third installment keeps it ‘Real’

producer, and the use of his trusty laptop in production. This gives the music on Andorra a crisper, cleaner, more well-produced feel – something not heard when comparing Caribou to bands such as the Olivia Tremor Control and Of Montreal. As it is with much of the psychedelic pop genre, the production values of this style of rock’s early days are worn like a badge of honor. Caribou, though, eschews this method in favor of creating spacious walls of cascading sounds. On songs such as “Sandy” you can hear Snaith’s talent for creating carefully chaotic soundscapes, wrapped delicately around simple pop tunes. Caribou’s soothing, astral vocals ﬂoat, rising delicately above the washes of sound, chimes and driving bass. “She’s The One” takes a modern reﬁned look at an even older era of pop and rock, paying

Sounds Vol. 3. debuted on the Billboard singles at 36 and is already a likely Grammy contender this year. The Real Thing is personal and provocative and most of her songs refer to the staples of love, sex and the emotions involved with both. The ﬁrst track, “Let it Be,” is a song about the difﬁculties involved in change, and her lyrics are a straightforward interpretation of the adage: “If it’s deep soul/ Rock and roll/ Spiritual, factual/ There it is/ Let it be.” On the second track, “The Real Thing,” Scott is honest, reassuring that she will not pretend to be anyone else except herself: “I’m the real thing in stereo/ I got a lot of highs/ I got a lot of lows/ Follow this and let it go/ I can make it shine/ I can make it glow.” Many of the songs are full of sexual content and the messages aren’t so subtle.

By JOSHUA SMITH jsmith293@mscd.edu

Caribou (formerly Manitoba) has released music ranging from acoustic folk rock to four-on-the-ﬂoor dance beats. But with Andorra, he takes a step farther down the path of psychedelic pop that he’s been exploring for the last several years. The result is a past and future hybrid of live instrumentation and electronic programming resulting in some incredibly forward-thinking pop tunes. Truthfully, the music of Daniel Snaith is nothing new but more like ‘60s inﬂuenced psychedelia with dreamy vocals backed by spacey pop music. Andorra is a refreshing, new take on pop music, such as Panda Bear’s recent epic Person Pitch. What makes Caribou stand out from his indie rock contemporaries is his history as an electronic music

homage to late 50s soul music. A looped, backing chorus of ghostly, feminine voices accentuate and help bring Snaith’s voice to the front, nestling all of the sound among thick, expansive drums, bass and guitar. Though Caribou isn’t breaking any new ground, he’s also not beating the same old dead horse. His reﬁned sound and emotionally mature compositions make Andorra a must-have for any fan of modern dream pop.

By DESIREE CLARK dclark67@mscd.edu Nine-time nominee and two-time Grammy-winning singer Jill Scott released her newest album Sept. 25. And, after a devastating divorce and the emotional rollercoaster of making a new record, there is no doubt Scott’s new effort is for real. Scott – an American R&B, soul, jazz and hip-hop artist who helped create a separate genre called neo-soul – produces her songs from poetry she writes, often compared to that of Maya Angelou. Respected in the hip-hop community, Scott has performed with music legends such as The Roots and Erykah Badu. After releasing Who is Jill Scott? Words And Sounds Vol. 1 and Beautifully Human: Words And Sounds Vol. 2, the third installment of the series, The Real Thing: Words And

For instance, “Crown Royal” describes how smooth and satisfying her lover is while he engages her: “He’s Crown Royal on ice.” On the ﬂip side is track 12 and the self-explanatory “Celibacy Blues:” “It’s been hard to sleep at night/ I need you to scratch it right/ I guess it’s not reasonable every night/ No, this here is celibacy.” It’s easy to get lost within Scott’s music, and the meaning of her songs hit close to home. They stand the test of time as Scott, again, proves she’s the real thing.

THE METROPOLITAN « OCTOBER 4. 2007« INSIGHT « A9

Flag left red, white and bruised I was strolling along South Broadway earlier this week and noticed a battered American flag lying in the road while cars carelessly passed over it as though it were a dead house cat. There are a lot of car dealerships on South Broadway and they tend to fly the red, white and blue banner on every automobile they peddle. I cannot imagine any sane reason for doing this, but people seem drawn to the national symbol and to anything upon which it is placed with the possible exception of the ass end of some punk kid. The flag in the road must certainly have come from one of those dealerships. My first reaction to the scene was to rush out into the street and salvage the tarnished bastard. I have a generous accumulation of American flags, which I’ve rescued from various places including streets and car dealerships, and my first thought was to take this one with me and introduce it to the others. I usually have to wash them because, aside from those I steal (or reclaim) every Flag Day, I tend to recover them from street gutters and they require cleansing. This lonely flag lying hopelessly in the street would need a good scrubbing as well. I had almost acted entirely on instinct with the aim of rescuing the poor thing. However, upon looking for oncoming vehicles I began to feel this miserable sense of hopelessness. I lingered on the sidewalk for some time staring at the filthy symbol lying there in the road as it took terrible

Is it so terribly wrong to despise one’s homeland? Should I be heckled for refusing allegiance to my nation and rooting for its collapse when my nation appears to be wicked and dumb? JIMMIE BRALEY jbraley@mscd.edu beatings from every car that passed over it. I began to wonder if the icon could ﬁnally have been corrupted to a degree by which it exists equally alongside the Pepsi-Cola label or the golden arches. I would certainly never rush into the street to save a soda can for any other reason than to have it recycled and hope I never see it again, and I would pull up a chair and shriek with pleasure at the sight of a McDonalds being destroyed. Why would I rush to the aid of an American Flag? As I’ve said, I had done it before and even broken a number of laws to do so, but I was suddenly taken aback and couldn’t seem to grasp any motivation to do it. I began to panic. There were cars moving north and south at matching speeds, one after another like lemmings. No person in any of these cars appeared to be confused by the same dilemma with which I was grappling. None stopped to pick it up and probably very few, if any, noticed

it at all. That poor little flag, that symbol of hope and freedom to so many immigrants, was withering and dying right there in the street before my eyes. Worse than that though, was the fact that I had found myself admiring and utterly cheering for its demise. I’m not concerned with being a patriot. That is something I am not. I find them, by and large, to be thoughtless, bellowing dupes, victims, to be sure, hopelessly unaware and naïve of their very environment. Is it so terribly wrong to despise one’s homeland? Should I be heckled for refusing allegiance to my nation and rooting for its collapse when my nation appears to be wicked and dumb? It dawned on me that my collection of flags is nothing but a tribute to the dead philosophy that is the American Dream. Perhaps it was an impossible ideal, a completely absurd assumption that human beings, generation after generation, would make positive contributions to their freedom, or even understand why it is important that they be free. Freedom is not one’s ability to buy a car, to feed one’s children or hold a

job. Freedom is not inherent in a political system that promotes the candidate whose name alone generates all of his or her popularity. I am not free simply because I was born into a hoodwinked nation of economic slavery which defrauds its people and destroys its environment. Freedom lives in those who have seen the beauty in rushing into the street or onto a mine-ridden beachfront to salvage an idea. This flag we look upon today with apathy and false concern no longer supports the burden of a free nation, but promotes greed, inequity and the murder of all who stand in the way of those out to make a buck. I pity our disgraceful nation. We have undeniably lost our plight to create the world’s first completely free sanctuary and have become determined to hand ourselves over to whoever offers the biggest combo meal or builds the biggest truck. There may be hope somewhere, but it certainly wasn’t lying there in the road with that fraudulent charlatan of a flag. Prepare your children, if indeed you’ve brought any into this place, for they have a perilous fight ahead of them.

Points made but lost in Braley column Jimmie, I warned you about the ranting writing style of yours in research class. While you made many good points in your column, they where almost buried in the rant. As to the “let us imagine ... spirituality is a product of the neurological makeup of the human mind” it sounds from this and the other statements that you follow the atheist viewpoint. That is your right, but you shouldn’t belittle those of faith for their beliefs. You state “Modern humans... are unlike all the rest of Earth’s species.” This is a true statement and one recognized by philosophers of ethics for thousands of years. We are capable of much more than the rutting and eating. However, millions of years of conditioning have made us still pursue the lesser instincts rather than seek higher things. The problem with society isn’t really the cars (which you

suggest blowing up) but the desire to impress the opposite sex by having the biggest fanciest gas-guzzler we can. I’ve always enjoyed public transit even when I had a car and usually preferred the economy models (even though it makes it hard to move at times.) Perhaps if the ladies started turning up their noses at the hot rods and monster trucks we might get a little sanity in the world. You hit the nail on the head when you said, “perhaps we should stand up and solve our own man-made problems with man-made solutions.” Bravo, that was the early meaning of earth day. We should all be concerned about the environment. Not just the pollution from cars, but the waste from factories and the garbage we leave on the side of the road. The EPA has rules but they can’t be everywhere at once to catch people and factories dumping toxic waste in the environment. Finally, regarding Greenland melting away. Don’t panic, it happened before, the current warming is just part of nature’s cycles. Don’t be anthropomorphizing the earth saying its angry and strik-

The Metropolitan welcomes all letters from Metro students, teachers, faculty and administration. Letters must be typed and submitted to The Metropolitan by 3 p.m., Monday before production. Send letters to dpollan@mscd.edu or

Since 1979

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF David D. Pollan dpollan@mscd.edu MANAGING EDITOR Geof Wollerman gwollerm@mscd.edu NEWS EDITOR Andrew Flohr-Spence spencand@mscd.edu ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR Amy Woodward awoodwa5@mscd.edu FEATURES EDITOR Josie Klemaier jklemaie@mscd.edu ASSISTANT FEATURES EDITOR Rachael Beieler rbeiele2@mscd.edu MUSIC EDITOR Jeremy Johnson jjohn308@mscd.edu SPORTS EDITOR Eric Lansing lansing@mscd.edu ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR Zac Taylor ztaylor2@mscd.edu PHOTO EDITOR Amie Cribley acribley@mscd.edu ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITORS Cora Kemp ckemp4@mscd.edu Dawn Madura dmadura@mscd.edu DESIGN EDITOR Nic Garcia ngarci20@mscd.edu ILLUSTRATOR Andrew Howerton ahowert2@mscd.edu COPY EDITORS Clayton Woullard cwoullar@mscd.edu Kate Johnson jokathry@mscd.edu DIRECTOR OF STUDENT MEDIA Dianne Harrison Miller harrison@mscd.edu

IN RESPONSE » Letters to the editor

Re: Betterment of species by Jimmie Braley, Sept. 20

THE METROPOLITAN

ing back. Though the so-called scientists of the IPCC refuse to recognize it the Earth was warmer during the Middle Ages than it is now. Greenland’s name wasn’t a publicity ruse, it was once a green and lush land where the Vikings were able to grow crops and herd sheep. The History Channel has a wonderful ﬁlm about the “Little Ice Age,” if you have a chance watch it. The scientists in the ﬁlm say that we are only about four degrees Fahrenheit warmer now than the Little Ice Age. As for the furry animals, they have survived many cycles of warming and cooling. They’re not likely to drop from heat exhaustion now. For example, the polar bear population despite what Al Gore has to say, has quadrupled in the last 20 years. Only the small segment of land he chose to point to has the population gone down, and that is believed to be due to poaching. Paul Confer pconfer@mscd.edu

leave your letter for David Pollan in the Ofﬁce of Student Media, Tivoli Student Union, Room 313. Editors reserve the right to edit all letters for content, clarity and space. Letters must be signed and dated with contact information.

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF STUDENT MEDIA Donnita Wong wongd@mscd.edu 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. Tivoli Student Union, Room 313. P.O. Box 173362, Campus Box 57, Denver, CO 80217-3362.

sports THE METROPOLITAN » OCTOBER 4, 2007 » A11

» MEN’S SOCCER SHUTS OUT OPPONENTS »A12 » WOMEN’S SOCCER COMES FROM BEHIND FOR WIN »A12 » VOLLEYBALL LOSES TWICE TO RMAC OPPONENTS »A13

ERIC LANSING » SPORTS EDITOR » lansing@mscd.edu

SIDELINE

THIS WEEK »

Thursday 10.4

VOLLEYBALL 7:00 p.m. at Adams State

Friday 10.5

VOLLEYBALL 7:00 p.m. at Western State SOCCER Women 4:00 p.m. at Neb., Omaha Men’s 3:30 p.m. vs. St. Edwards at Auraria Field

Saturday 10.6 VOLLEYBALL

7:00 p.m. vs. CSU-Pueblo at Auraria Courts

Sunday 10.7 SOCCER

Women noon at Washburn Men’s noon vs. Incarnate Word at Auraria Field

SAY WHAT? »

“The fact that Phillip tied the record is a true testament to the fact that he is one of the hardest working guys on the team. He plays hard from the ﬁrst to the 90th minute.” - Men’s head coach Ken Parsons on forward Phillip Owen after his two-goal performance Sept. 31 against Regis. Owen’s goals tied him for Metro’s career mark at 46.

DID YOU KNOW »

Metro women’s soccer is ranked first in the RMAC in points (140), goals (49), assists (42) and goals against average (0.54). Goalkeeper Rachel Zollner is first in goals against average (0.41) and forward Becca Mays is tied for first in assists with seven.

NUMBERS GAME »

Points Metro men’s soccer forward Philip Owen has this season, which is enough for second in the league. He also has 12 goals so far this season.

Rugby catches new break Club team has new coach, new players but bring same, tough game By ZAC TAYLOR ztaylor2@mscd.edu The Metro rugby team has found a new life and a new coach after a rough offseason has brought many new faces. Head coach Stewart Hansen has stepped in to revitalize a club that had hit a speed bump after the sudden departure of the club’s previous, longtime head coach. “I want to get them back to their winning ways from a few years ago,” Hansen said about his new team. His energy can be seen on the sidelines of a rugby match, as he offers encouragement and a pat on the back for injured players. Even after their opening conference matchup turned into a big loss to Colorado School of Mines Sept. 31, he sat down the players, and they went over what needed to be done to improve for the next game. Then the players walked away from the game smiling and talking about an aftergame party, and prepared to play their next match. “It was a gutsy performance for an inexperienced team,” Hansen remarked afterward. This isn’t a new club however, and Metro’s rugby program was one of the ﬁrst clubs on campus. But at the end of last season the established club lay in dire straits. After losing in the playoff qualiﬁer for the second straight season and once again missing the postseason, rugby captain and senior Zach Dickerson received a phone call from the club’s former coach Greg McCorkle, saying that he would not be back for the 2007 season. “Our coach just up and left us high and dry,” Dickerson said. “He didn’t even give us a warning or anything.” Dickerson, being the senior member of the team, was now forced to step up and keep the club going as his just departed coach had told him. The captain didn’t disappoint and he found his old high school rugby coach who was now an assistant for the Regis team. Hansen became the new Metro coach. “(Hansen) came over and ever since then we’ve been recruiting,” Dickerson said, “We actually got it

going again.” The coaching change wasn’t the only event in the offseason, as the club lost many of its top players to graduation. Dickerson has ruled this season as one of rebuilding as new players unfamiliar with the rules are joining and need to be taught the game. Once these players are in the know, they join one of the major sports of Western Europe with fans and powerful teams all the way to Australia. “If you meet someone who has played rugby before it’s almost like you’ve been best friends since you were little,” Dickerson said about meeting other fans. “It’s almost like a brotherhood.” The National Rugby Union notes that the invention of rugby stemmed from the Rugby School in Rugby, England allowing football (soccer) to be played by picking up the ball and running with it in Victorian times. William Webb Ellis, a student of the Rugby School, is widely claimed to have been the first student to pick the ball up in 1823. For his “fine disregard for the rules of football,” as said by Bloxam, another student at the Rugby School, a statue now resides in the town of Rugby where the sport began. Now, present-day rugby has become a major sport in the Western Hemisphere and is growing rapidly in the U.S. The first game in the U.S. was played in 1874 between Harvard and McGill University from Montreal. Since then, the USA Rugby organization has grown into 65,000 members from high schools and colleges, all the way to the USA Eagles men’s national team that is currently playing in the Rugby World Cup in France. Dickerson has actually entered the ranks of the Men’s League, the semi-pro club in the U. S. His foray into rugby didn’t start with such high aspirations, however, and he only joined to work on his football skills in the offseason. “I started (rugby) to work on my tackling and I’ve just been playing ever since,” Dickerson said. Eight years later he is still playing and teaching more people about rugby as he leads the Metro club, along with new coach Hansen, through the adversity and into another season. “(Rugby) has brought me a long way,” Hansen said. “It’s not a paid job but you don’t do it for the money. You do it to teach young guys the game that you’re passionate about.”

Photos by KRISTI DENKE AND STEPHEN SWOFFORD/kdenke@mscd.edu and sswoﬀo1@mscd.edu

Above: Alex Searoe, being lifted on the right, reaches for the ball during Metro rugby club’s opening game against Colorado School of Mines Sept. 31 in Golden. Below: Metro’s club rugby team scrum for the ball Sept. 9 against the Denver Highlanders in its scrimmage game at the beginning of the season.

Metro Rugby Schedule Oct. 7 - Noon, Metro at Western State Oct. 21 - 3 p.m., Metro at CSU C team Remaining games have yet to be scheduled

A12 » SPORTS » OCTOBER 4. 2007 » THE METROPOLITAN

Men’s soccer on top Rockies are for real By BRODERICK JOHNSON bjohn116@mscd.edu

No. 18-ranked Metro men’s soccer team cruised to two impressive shutout wins this weekend by dominating the Riverhawks of Northeastern State 3-0 on Sept. 28 and following up with a convincing 2-0 victory over archrival Regis Sept. 30. Both games took place at Auraria Field. The first match was plagued with an enormous amount of physical play, which led to a total of 36 fouls being called including six yellow cards and two red cards. In the cluster of fouls, the Roadrunners fell down a man when midfielder Ola Sandquist was ejected after receiving a questionable red card midway through the second period. “When we went down a man, we had to step it up as a team,” midfielder Sam Rolph said after the game. Metro used two first-half goals by midfielder Phillip Owens – one a penalty kick – to take a commanding 2-0 lead into the second half. Minutes into the match with Northeastern, Owens was taken down in the box and was awarded a penalty kick in which he banged a shot past the Riverhawks goalkeeper Ransone Rose to give the ’Runners a 1-0 lead. Metro’s stifling defense forced Northeastern State ball-handlers into careless turnovers which propelled the ’Runners offensive attack. Metro outshot their opponents 16-3 for the match. “It should have

Photo by KRISTI DENKE/kdenke@mscd.edu

Metro goalkeeper Ryan Vickery ﬁelds a corner kick during the ’Runners 3-0 win over non-conference Northeastern State. Vickery made one save in the victory. been a bigger victory,” Owen said. Rolph netted his fourth goal of the year late in the closing minutes of the game to seal the win for the ’Runners. Coming off Friday’s shutout victory, Metro put its national ranking and undefeated conference record on the line against fellow Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference opponent and archrival, Regis. In front off an enthusiastic and split crowd, Metro ﬁrmly placed itself as the team to beat in the RMAC by soundly defeating Regis 2-0. Owens continued his superb play by scoring both goals in the contest, giving him a league-tying 12 goals on the season. In doing so, he also tied Metro’s record for career goals at 46. “The fact that Phillip tied the re-

cord is a true testament to the fact that he is one of the hardest working guys on the team,” Metro head coach Ken Parsons said. “He plays hard from the first minute to the 90th minute.” Owens first goal came off midfielder Tyler Hambrick’s cross in the 16th minute and his second score of the match was assisted by Mike Martinez, who put a cross in front of the net where Owens kicked it home in the 78th minute. The win places Metro in the driver’s seat in the conference as they improve to 6-0-2 in the RMAC and 9-1-2 overall. The ’Runners remain at home for their next weekend set as they host St. Edwards Oct. 5 and No. 4-ranked Incarnate Word Oct. 7 at Auraria Field.

Metro gets comeback 3-1 victory By BRODERICK JOHNSON bjohn116@mscd.edu In a game that featured four second-half goals by Metro, the fifthranked women’s soccer team rallied for a 3-1 victory over Florida Southern Sept. 28 at Auraria Field. To go along with Metro midfielder Katie Kilbey’s insurance goal, Metro forward Vanessa Mais scored the goahead goal off a header in the 74th minute to give the ’Runners a 3-1 lead that they held the rest of the game. The ’Runners scoring opportunities in the first half came few and far between, as Florida Southern used a stymie defense to limit Metro to two shots on goal. Metro midfielder Amanda Nance had a seemingly clear shot on goal, but the ball was thwarted away in a sliding block by a Moccasin defender that ended Metro’s only real scoring chance in the first half. The Moccasins struck first with a goal by Erin Hopkins in the 63rd minute of play. For the rest of the game Metro’s offense couldn’t be stopped, and the Roadrunners scored three goals scored in a 19-minute span to put Florida Southern away. “I am pleased with how we responded after falling down by a goal early,” Roadrunner head coach Dan-

I was watching the wild-card play-in game on my TV in my apartment when Matt Holliday made his heroic slide into home, coming up bleeding, but the certain MVP of the 2007 Colorado Rockies. For more than four hours I had been pacing the room, as my eyes watered and the screen became blurred. There they were, celebrating in the bottom of the 13th inning, Matt Holliday had just scored the winning run, and the Rockies were playoff bound for only the second time in their young history, and for the ﬁrst time since 1995. A few weeks earlier, before the Rockies won 14 of 15 games, I was ready for football, having already ended baseball in my mind. Just like every previous year, fans in Colorado have watched the Rockies start a streak and “get hot,” only to once again be home when the leaves began to fall. So this year, when the Rockies won seven straight, everyone was talking postseason, while the odds loomed up against them and they prepared for September baseball. Then came another, unanticipated streak – 11 straight wins. Included was a sweep of the wild-card leading Padres, and baseball had extended its stay in my mind. Unfortunately, even after those 11 great days the Rockies were still on the wrong side of the fence, one win from the wildcard playing the NL West-leading Diamondbacks. When they ended their winning streak and lost to Arizona I thought the dream was over, and even the commentators seemed deﬂated when just hours earlier they had talked of October. Now the sacred baseball month was merely a whisper in the wind. Thus I gave all of my thanks to those wonderful Milwaukee Brewers when, with nothing to play for, they took two from a San Diego team that only needed one of those games to

ZAC TAYLOR ztaylor2@mscd.edu clinch the wild-card. That final victory by Milwaukee, coupled with a tense win by Colorado over Arizona, was enough for both daily Denver newspapers to put the Rockies on the front page of the Monday edition, even though the cherished Denver Broncos had played Sunday as well. So after all of that excitement to get to October, how could a nine-inning, single elimination playoff qualifying-game do this improbable run justice? Well, the game went to the bottom of the 13th, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was discovered that more than a few heart attacks were caused before the final 9-8 Rockies victory. Wow, what a season. Now the Cinderella Rockies get to go to the ball, though the Philadelphia Phillies are no Prince Charming. They bring a similar makeup with big hitters and so-so pitching, as well as a last second run to the playoffs of their own over the floundering Mets. But it wasn’t the same story, and the Phillies have played in far more Octobers than the Rockies. So if this story is really meant to be the fairy tale classic which ends happily ever after, then the story isn’t over yet. Now that they’ve made it to October, the Rockies can’t be passed over by anyone. And if you saw how the season ended, the Rockies can’t be discounted at any point in October, even if they make the World Series.

SOCCER BOX SCORES Men’s Women’s Metro vs Northeastern (09/28/07 at Auraria) Photo by KRISTI DENKE/kdenke@mscd.edu

Metro midfielder Vanessa Mais, No. 12, separates from a Florida Southern player during the Roadrunner’s 3-1 win Sept. 29. Mais scored the game-winning goal. ny Sanchez said. “We picked up our play in the second half and scored three great goals.” The first of Metro’s three goals came in the 71st minute when midfielder Gabby Klipp headed a deflection into the right corner of the net to tie the game at 1-1. The ’Runners’ go-ahead goal came minutes later off their first corner kick of the half. Defensive back Jenna Oney took the corner and sent a bender to the front post where Mais was able to get a header on the ball place it past the goalkeeper

to give Metro a 2-1 advantage. Kilbey added her 12th goal of the season in 85th minute to secure a 3-1 victory for the Metro. “Coach challenged us at half to play like we wanted it more, we came together and played as a team in the 2nd half,” Kilbey said. The win improved Metro’s record to 8-2-1 and they will play next on the road in October 5-7 to take on Nebraska-Omaha and Washburn in Nebraska.

Metro vs FL. Southern (09/23/07 in Lakewood)

GAME SCORE 1 2 Total Metro..................... 2 1 - 3 Northeastern............. 0 0 - 0 STATS: Metro: Sh Phillip Owen.... 5 Sam Rolph........ 1 Steven Emory... 0

G 2 1 0

A 0 0 2

Northeastern: Sh Paul Marshall 1 Austin Bray.... 1 A. Dingledine 1

GAME SCORE 1 2 Total Metro .................... 0 3 - 3 FL. Southern... .......... 0 1 - 1 G 0 0 0

A 0 0 0

Metro vs Regis (09/30/07 at Auraria)

Sh 6 0 0

G 2 0 0

A 0 1 1

Regis: Sh Nathan Kafer 3 Chris Camp.... 1 Sam DePetro 1

G 1 1 1 0 0 0

A 0 0 0 1 1 1

FL. Southern Sh Erin Hopkins 3 C. Crooks....... 0 P. Haley......... 2 J. Bachteler... 1 Liz Gorman... 1

G 1 0 0 0 0

Leading Scorers This Season

GAME SCORE 1 2 Total Metro..................... 1 1 - 2 Regis. ....................... 0 0 - 0 STATS: Metro: Phillip Owen.... Tyler Hambrick Mike Martinez

STATS: Metro: Sh Katie Kilbey ...... 3 Vanessa Mais.... 2 Gabby Klipp...... 1 Jenna Oney....... 1 J. Montoya....... 1 A. Munchiado... 1

G 0 0 0

A 0 0 0

Women:

Katie Kilbey - 12 goals

Men: Phillip Owen - 12 goals

A 0 1 0 0 0

THE METROPOLITAN « OCTOBER 4. 2007 « SPORTS « A13

Volleyball hits roadblock in RMAC Metro falls to Fort Lewis, Mesa in conference play By ERIC LANSING lansing@mscd.edu After Metro looked to have the makings of a top-ranked conference team, the volleyball squad fell back to Earth Sept. 28 and 29 after getting swept by Fort Lewis 3-0 and falling short to Mesa State 3-2 in conference play at Auraria Events Center. The Roadrunners had won four straight before their contest with the Skyhawks, who came onto Metro’s home floor with a five-game win streak of their own. It was a matchup of conference heavyweights, but Fort Lewis made the home team look like the young team they are with a 3230, 30-21, 30-18 beating. “(The Skyhawks) were in system all night long and they ran their offense flawlessly,” Metro head coach Debbie Hendricks said. “They run a very fast-tempoed offense and when you get a team like that and you’re not getting them out of system, they get to use all their weapons.” The Skyhawks, (8-1 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference), were the more experienced team with eight upperclassmen, and they pounded the Roadrunners with a .233 kill percentage. Metro came into the match leading the conference in digs, but Fort Lewis seemed to find the open

holes in the defense and attacked them with consistency. “Well, part of the problem was we were not slowing them nearly enough down at the net,” Hendricks said. “The reasons we were able to get so many digs last weekend, and we do a good job in general, is the quality of the block, and since they run such a fast-tempoed offense, our blocking really struggled.” Outside hitters Julie Green-McFarland and Kelsey Ellis, Metro’s goto superstars, also struggled below their capability, as Green-McFarland hit a lowly -.020 kill percentage while freshman Ellis hit -.086. On a handful of occasions Green-McFarland and Ellis were a little eager in the game as they spiked the ball into their own net. Green-McFarland had 11 kills in the match, but 12 attack errors. The team as a whole hit a very dreadful .064 for the three games combined and it looked like the ’Runners just didn’t come ready to play. Fort Lewis’ Nicole Schwab, who is conference’s preseason player of the year, was actually held in check by Metro’s defense. Schwab came into the contest fourth in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference with 216 kills and ﬁrst in blocks with 73, but was held to only eight kills and zero blocks. However, the rest of the Skyhawks came through to back up Schwab as outside hitters LeeAnne Greenwade and Sara Feehan posted 27 total kills to extend their win

streak to six. “It’s a sign of a good team,” Hendricks said. “It’s a sign of a team that is in system and they are experienced. They know a lot of teams are going to key on certain players, especially on a player like Nicole, so they had other players step up big time and that was the difference in the match.” On the following night, Metro rallied to tie the match at two games apiece against Mesa State, but in the deciding game, the Mavericks scored the last seven of eight points to extend their winning streak to three. The Roadrunners hit -.267 in final game of the match losing 15-9 after rallying from a 2-0 game deficit. Four Roadrunners hit double figures in kills including 18 from Green-McFarland and a career-high 13 from middle blocker Lisa Jones. Metro has lost two consecutive games for the first time since Aug. 31 when they lost to Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville and West Texas A&M in the Colorado Premiere Challenge tournament. “I think this entire weekend we went back to the mentality of playing not to lose,” Hendricks said. “You’re not going to win any games hitting -.267.” The losses put Metro’s record at 7-10 overall and a 5-3 record in conference play. The Roadrunners begin a three-game road trip Oct. 4 and will play Adams State, Western State and Colorado State Pueblo.

Photo by ALICE AHERN/aahern@mscd.edu

Metro middle blocker Lisa Jones prepare for a spike while fellow middle blocker Stephanie Levi watches Sept. 28 during their 3-0 loss to Fort Lewis at home.

Favre: a fantasy legend you can still count on There is no better way to start a fantasy football article than to congratulate one of the greatest all-time fantasy players ever to grace the computer screen; Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre. Favre threw two touchdown passes against the Minnesota Vikings Sept. 30, passing Dan Marino for the lead in total touchdown passes with 422. The ﬁrst one, which went to Packers wide receiver Greg Jennings, broke the National Football League record of touchdown passes thrown in a career. He surpassed Marino’s record of 420, which has been in the books since 1999, but what makes it an even more astonishing feat is Favre did it in 240 consecutive starts during a time in which defensive players are much faster and much stronger. So for those owners who won championships, such as myself, thanks in part to Favre’s many touchdowns, remember to thank the old man for all he has done. MATCHUPS: New York Jets against New York Giants: Probably not the most exciting matchup in terms of record and

diplomacy, the real matter is, who is the home team since they share a stadium? Anyway, this contest will be good for fantasy owners because neither team can play defense. Jets quarterback Chad Pennington puts up decent fantasy numbers each week and the Giants defense gives up 218 yards passing per game and have given up eight touchdown passes all season. So start Pennington, wide receivers Laveranues Coles and Jerricho Cotchery. On the other side, the Giants like to score while the Jets defense doesn’t like to stop anyone, allowing more than 30 points per game. Start everyone on the Giants offense including quarterback Eli Manning, wide receiver Plaxico Burress and tight end Jeremy Shockey. The winner of this game can plant a ﬂag in the center of the ﬁeld and call it their own. Arizona Cardinals against St. Louis Rams: I am going to apologize right now because I am hell-bent on believing the Rams will burst out of this slump at any moment. The Cardinals are actually pretty solid in passing defense as they stand in 10th place in the NFL. But after having many attempts to break out against

ERIC LANSING lansing@mscd.edu weaker defensive teams, it could be time for Rams quarterback Marc Bulger to ﬁnd wide receiver Torry Holt a few times in the endzone. The Rams defense is horrendous giving up 26 points per game, so expect the Cardinals to put up 30 points on them no matter which quarterback is playing. Make sure you have Cardinals running back Edgerrin James and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald in your lineup. If the Rams scoring drought continues in Week 5 you can blame me for your loss. Besides, I may jump off this Rams scoring bandwagon that seems to have broken down on the side of the road. Jumper cables anyone?

WHO TO START:

FREE AGENT PICKUPS:

Quarterbacks: Brett Favre against Chicago, Jason Campbell against Detroit and Eli Manning against the New York Jets

Dominic Rhodes/Justin Fargas, running backs, Oakland: With Culpepper running things in Oakland, it is once again possible for this team to throw downﬁeld, opening things up for the running game. LaMont Jordan can’t stay healthy and one of these guys is going to score some points. Fargas probably sooner than later as Rhodes is coming off suspension and may take a week or two to get ready. But Rhodes was a big-time fantasy player in Indianapolis. Then again, so is everyone on the Colts.

Running backs: LaDainian Tomlinson against Denver, Ron Dayne against Miami, Edgerrin James against St. Louis and Willie Parker against Seattle Wide receivers: Wes Welker against Cleveland, Terrell Owens against Buffalo, Brandon Marshall against San Diego and Santana Moss against Detroit Tight Ends: Ben Watson against Cleveland, Owen Daniels against Miami and Randy McMichael against Arizona Kickers: Josh Brown against Pittsburgh, Nate Kaeding against Denver and Morten Andersen against Tennessee Defenses: Houston against Miami, Tennessee against Atlanta and Green Bay against Chicago

Patrick Crayton, wide receiver, Dallas: The Cowboys love to score and they do it through everyone on the team. After wide receiver Terry Glenn got injured, Crayton became the No. 2 option, but until last week against St. Louis where he scored two touchdowns, he had been left out of the scoring frenzy. Now that Romo can trust this guy to catch the ball, he will be used more often. This team could be this year’s Colts, so heed my call and pick this guy up.