How do you get your caffeine fix? B4
THE STATESMAN UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA DULUTH
WWW.UMDSTATESMAN.COM
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013
Snow d ay!
18+ INCHES
OFF S NO W O From December 2-4, 2013
7. 5 I N C H E S F E L L D EC E M B E R 2nd A LO N E 2 X
18” 15”
12 ”
Fun fact: It snowed 25.4” 9” from Dec. 5-6, 1950 6”
See Student Life, B4 for full story on the Harbor City Roller Dames
New major offers students skills in multiple disciplines semester that the university offered the new major to students. It is considered to be the only extensive program like it in the country. The Cultural Entre-
preneurship program combines various aspects of cultural education with basic understandings of business economics. see NEW MAJOR, A4
One neighborhood’s trash is one gardener’s treasure
Art and Design program accredited
3” credit NOAA ILLUSTRATION BY JADE GOLEN AND JOE FRASER
BY GRAHAM HAKALA Staff Reporter
Students interested in learning about business who also like the cultural learning experiences of a
liberal arts degree now have an opportunity to take in both with the new Cultural Entrepreneurship program offered at UMD. This fall was the first
BY ALOYSIA POWER Outdoors Reporter
A mountain of gold can be found near campus, taking up the front yard of Marian Syrjamaki-Kuchta and piled in black garbage bags. The small rips and holes in the bags reveal that this treasure isn’t the aurous metal found inside a pirate’s chest, but rather raked and gathered fallen leaves from the lawns around Duluth. This urban gardener calls these leaves her “garden gold.” “Leaves are full of minerals and organic matter,” SyrjamakiKuchta said, who spreads the leaves over her garden soil. “They keep the weeds down, keep the moisture in, add organic matter.” In need of many leaves to keep up with Locals have been dropping their leaves off at Marian Syrjamaki-Kuchta's house on College Street near soil maintenance, Syrja- campus for about 15 to 20 years now. She uses the leaves as mulch in her gardens, then lets her friend maki-Kuchta decided to gardeners and farmers take the rest. ALOYSIA POWER/STATESMAN put a sign in her front “People are pretty is only the second batch my sign out there this don’t want to make the yard on College Street, good,” Syrjamaki-Kuch- this fall. If her garden- fall and leaves started trek out to the Western across from the outlet of ta said about the leaf ing and farming friends showing up,” she said. Lake Superior Sanitary University Drive, invitquality. “Occasionally didn’t stop by and fill up Along with the yard’s District in West Duluth ing people to drop their there will be McDontheir trunks and trailprime visibility, due to its to dispose of their leaves. leaves off every fall. She’s ald’s wrappers, or I get a ers with the leaves, the location on a main road, Between her friends’ been keeping up with the practice for the past lot of branches or rocks, garbage bags might just part of the reason her gardens and compost overflow onto the side- idea has worked so well piles and her own two 15–20 years. From the but mostly I get leaves.” The heaping pile that walk and into the street. is because her yard is a gardens, not a single leaf looks of her yard now, sits in her front yard now “I didn’t even have short stop for locals who the plan worked. see GARDNER A4
INDEX:
News: A1 - A4 |
Opinion: A5 - A6 | Sports: B1 - B2
| Student Life: B3 - B5
BY PAIGE WALTER Volunteer Writer
After almost a decade of planning and preparation, UMD’s Department of Art and Design has officially been accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD). According to NASAD, to be accredited means that an institution has met an external set of basic criteria for the programs it offers. They require that schools clearly publish their tuition rates and course descriptions. Board members must also assess the schools’ art curriculum and promote new standards to advance art education. Klueg said he finally feels a big sigh of relief now that this process is over. “It has been a long and exhaustive process, but this is a huge milestone for the department,” Klueg said. Klueg and the department started annually gathering and tabulating useful data for the accreditation process back in 2003. see ART, A3
STATESMAN CENTRAL PHOTO OF THE WEEK
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013
A2
SNOWDAY BY SARA STAUNER
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By Nate Kruse kruse214@d.umn.edu
Additional Info The Statesman is the official student newspaper of the University of Minnesota Duluth and is published by the UMD Board of Publications weekly during the academic year except for holidays and exam weeks. The editorials, articles, opinions and other content within the Statesman are not intended to reflect University of Minnesota policy and are not necessarily those of the student body, faculty, or the University or its Duluth Campus. The Student Service Fee dollars the Statesman receives covers printing costs for the academic year. The Statesman and the University of Minnesota are equal opportunity employers and educators. The Statesman promotes responsible activities and behaviors. Advertisments published in The Statesman do not represent the individual views of the newspaper staff or those of the University of Minnesota Duluth community.
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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013
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Art
Continued from A1
Duluth's Cyclists of Gitchee Gumee Shores (COGGS) ceased their construction of the Gran Traverse mountain bike trail for the year, but will start up in the summer. The 100-mile interconnected mountain bike trail within city limits is estimated to be finished in at least five years. COGGS/SUBMITTED
Duluth to become largest mountain bike trail hub in nation BY ALOYSIA POWER Outdoors Reporter
Frozen ground and a blanket of snow marks the end of the trail construction season for the Cyclists of Gitchee Gumee Shores (COGGS), bringing a winter’s intermission until the trails are thawed and dried by summer weather. This past season is the first time the group has broken ground on its latest project, Duluth’s Grand Traverse mountain bike trail. The trail will flow from end to end across the city’s hills, connecting all the different mountain bike trail systems. This five-year project will give Duluth the largest national urban single-track mountain bike trail system, with a total of 100 continuous miles. “There’s been a lot of talk about it for years and years,” senior Travis Pedley said, president of UMD’s Cycling Club. “And now that they’ve finally got some money and some shovels in the
ground … things are starting to get going.” So far, the estimated $1.6-2 million project is being funded by city money along with grants: $250,000 from the State Legacy, $150,000 from the Federal Recreational Trails Program, $10,000 from Specialized Bicycles and several others. This money was used to buy construction equipment and hire professional mountain bike trail designers to reroute a 3.5-mile section in Lester-Amity trail system and 6.5mile loop in the Mission Creek area over the next few years. This season’s work saw two re-routes in the Lester-Amity trail system and a start to the trail through the Piedmont-Brewer Park. Out of the 100 miles, COGGS has 70 more to go. The rest of the summer-fall project labor was left up to volunteers, including UMD’s Cycling Club. The club helped reconstruct a portion
of the Lester-Amity Park trail, making it more resistant to water corrosion. Pedley said it was more play than work. “The cool thing about mountain biking is that the people that are behind it are very passionate about what they do,” Pedley said. So, even an organization like COGGS – which has grown very quickly in a very short amount of time – they’re still really able to stay on top of their game just because (they) have so many people that are dedicated to the sport and dedicated to the trail building and willing to get out there and do some work with smiles on their faces.” Along with fixing up Lester-Amity Park’s trails, COGGS worked on sections of the Piedmont trail system, Brewer Park, Spirit Mountain and the Hartley Nature Center trails. Certain sections received boardwalk additions or were rerouted and redesigned so they’re
more sustainable. “(Construction) can be anything from doing a new section of trail or closing down an old trail that’s not sustainable – not going to be used anymore,” Waylon Munch said, 2012 UMD alum and COGGS secretary. The Grand Traverse trail itself will be a beginner flow trail, connecting the different level trail systems in Duluth. Previous to this trail, Duluth hasn’t had much to offer for neither beginners nor experts, according to Pedley. The biking hub has always been geared towards intermediate bikers. Only within the past two years have more challenging trails been developed at PiedmontBrewer and Spirit Mountain. And with the Grand Traverse trail, the full skill-level spectrum will be complete. “(The Grand Traverse) is going to be really cool because it connects the whole city and it allows people – from anywhere that they
live – to really get out and enjoy the nature,” Pedley said. “And, it’s a multi-purpose trail, too. So, it’s not just biking: running, hiking, things like that – snowshoeing.” Munch added the giant trail system will benefit Duluth economically, too. “You add these mountain bike and outdoor recreation opportunities to a community, and it’s kind of a ‘if you build it, they will come’ sort of thing,” Munch said. “And if we can give Duluth an amazing mountain bike trail to ride, we’ll be getting a lot of people coming up for that reason. And, they are riding our trails. They are staying in our hotels. They are eating at our restaurants. It should all cycle back into the local economy.” Next summer, Munch said Duluth mountain bikers can get excited for a brand new 6-mile trail in west Duluth in the Mission Creek area. Until then, COGGS asks that riders stay off the trails until they are completely frozen.
They also participated in yearly data submissions to NASAD to help calculate statistics for schools that are nationally accredited and those that aren’t. The data included things like salary ranges and amount of program credits offered. Klueg also wrote a self-study in 2010 of more than 350 pages on the background of the program and how it meets the benchmarks of NASAD. In 2011, NASAD visited UMD to meet with the staff and faculty of the Department of Art and Design, as well as a few students in the program to get their opinions and feedback. NASAD also checked the program’s physical spaces and equipment for safety and upkeep. Along with the department faculty and staff, students in the Art and Design program are more than thrilled about the new accreditation. Junior Losa Jung is studying graphic design and was recently hired as a peer adviser in the department. “Not only am I excited to be a new peer adviser for students studying art and design, but I am also very proud when I tell people that we are a nationally accredited program,” Jung said. “It’s a great feeling.” Jung also feels that this accomplishment brings the department closer together as one. Now holding NASAD accreditation status, the Department of Art and Design must keep current with NASAD requirements and notify the organization if they decide to make any curriculum changes.
You can’t eat this: foods banned in America
O
ver the holidays, many of us ate as much turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce we could get our hands on. The last thing you probably want to hear about is more food. Well, don’t worry. These are some dishes that have been banned or restricted in the United States. A small warning to the reader: some of you might find the food unappetizing.
Haggis (nationally):
Considered the national dish in Scotland, haggis has been banned in the United States since 1971. Haggis is a sausagelike dish that includes a sheep’s insides. According to the History Channel, the dish became popular in Scotland when Robbie Burns, the famous Scottish poet, wrote the ode “Address to a Haggis.” He called the dish the “great chieftain o’ the pudding-race.”
Raw milk cheese (nationally):
Foie gras (California):
If you’re heading out west, you won’t be able to order foie gras in the Golden State. Foie gras is a fattened duck or goose liver. It is a considered a specialty dish in French cuisine.
CREATIVE COMMONS
Beluga Caviar (Nationally): Beluga caviar is the most expensive caviar in the world and considered a delicacy. You can’t consume it in the United States though. The New York Times explains that the U.S. Banned the sale of the eggs after the beluga sturgeon was deemed an endangered species due to overfishing. The ban was implemented in 2005.
Well, sort of. Raw milk cheese must age for 60 days to be deemed acceptable by U.S. authorities. Many specialty cheeses in France are made from unpasteurized milk. So, where can Americans get some of this cheese? Quebec.
The rest of Canada has the exact same law as the United States (60 day period). However, the province of Quebec is the exception to the North American rule. According to the Globe and Mail, “Cheese lovers maintain that certain soft cheeses like Camembert reach their peak ripening point at 21 to 30 days.” This has been a controversial law among cheese makers and the Food and Drug Administration. According to the New York Times, cheese makers think that some cheeses will lose their flavor after 60 days. They also feel the 60-day process is arbitrary as cheeses age differently. U.S. officials
News Editor / Shannon Kinley / Kinle005@d.umn.edu
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013
New major
Gardener
Continued from A1
Along with those disciplines, students also study two foreign languages. “What is essential to this program is the intersection between culture and business,” said Aparna Katre, assistant professor in the Cultural Entrepreneur program. “We’re trying to really equip these students with these competencies.” The program offers students a wide variety of career paths after graduation. Graduates can go into fields such as marketing, tourism and international affairs. The conceptual nature of the program allows for a flexible education that lends itself to more than just small-business ownership. The program focuses on fostering innovation and creativity among its students. “Creativity is instrumental, regardless of which industry you get into,” Katre said. “We
Continued from A1
introduce the students to creativity and innovation.” “It’s ambidexterity of thinking,” said program director Mike Mullins. “One of the exciting things about this is the pedagogical aspect. It’s a new way of thinking, and a new way of teaching.” Combining the multiple disciplines under one roof provides students with an understanding of real-world applications that will allow them to navigate intercultural landscapes. “Real world issues are complex issues that need multi-disciplinary thinking,” Katre said. “Educating students in a single discipline doesn’t help them solve real world problems. So by virtue of bringing together so many different competencies, in a coherent way, it equips (students) a lot more to face complex, real world issues.” The language require-
ments give the students the necessary tools to communicate and do business on a global level. “(Students) love the idea of learning the culture and the language,” Mullins said. “That, I think, sets us apart from traditional business schools. The value of culture and language, those competencies, those fluencies, our students like that a lot.” While the program teaches students to be adept at maneuvering international cultures on a global level, the focus of entrepreneurship is much more based on a local level. “It seems like a contradiction, being as we’re talking global, it’s all about local,” Mullins said. “We have this global aspect, which we capture with the language and cultures in CLA, combined with an intent interest on local economies.”
The Cultural Entrepreneur program is hosting an event at the Zeitgeist theaters on Wednesday, Dec. 11. “Cue & A: A Dialogue with the Community” will have presentations on arts and culture, as well as media and culture. The event runs 4–7 p.m. The idea to bring the program to UMD came from Olaf Kuhlke, CLA associate dean. He and Mullins noticed that these types of programs were being offered internationally, but there was nothing like it here in the U.S. After a two-year process, the board of regents approved the program in June 2013. As of now, the intro course has nearly 30 students. Well over a dozen have already declared the program as their major. Mullins expects that number to continue to rise as he continues to see more interest.
New major offers students skills in multiple disciplines
Students at UMD have a lot of requirements the have to fulfill before they can get that diploma. Students must complete exit counseling before they graduate or leave the university for any reason, which is now offered online. The program itself is not new, however, students leaving the university fall 2013 or after, now have the opportunity to complete the 45-minute course at home on their computer, rather than physically meet for a group session. When a student submits their intended graduation date to One Stop Student Services, they are automatically sent an email about the exit counseling program for that semester. Any student who is about to graduate, leaving the university for any reason (even if only temporarily), dropping their registration below half-time, transferring to another school, or leaving for a National Student Exchange
“
BY PAIGE WALTER Volunteer Writer
“
The hold will delay a diploma, prevent class registration and prevent any access to the students transcripts...
experience must complete this online course, or else a hold will be placed on their record until they do. The hold will delay a diploma, prevent class registration and prevent any access to the student’s transcripts. Financial Collections Supervisor JoAnn Morley believes this program offers information that is essential to students’ knowledge, and it has been put online for convenience. “We wanted students to be able to access the program anywhere at anytime, even if that
A4
means completing it in the middle of the night,” Morley said. “It doesn’t matter when or where it’s taken, as long as students are informed that they are responsible for their loans.” When students take out loans through the University of Minnesota (at any location), they are fully responsible for how the money is paid back. The online exit counseling program presents students with information on how and when they can repay their loans, available payment plans and what happens if the loans are not paid on time.
bag goes to waste. In her backyard, Sy r jama k i-Kuchta tends to five chickens, raspberry bushes, a couple of apple and cherry trees and a blackcurrant shrub. At her plot in the Arrowhead Community Garden, she grows about 25 different vegetables. A lot of the harvest goes to her daughter, Abby Klema, and her family. “We had green beans almost every single meal for like the whole winter,” Klema said. While SyrjamakiKuchta enjoys sharing her produce, much of it stays at home, supporting her through the winter. “My mom has this huge freezer in the basement — you could put like a bunch of dead bodies in there, I always say — and it’s always full of garden stuff,” Klema said. Before the sign went up in her yard, Syrjamaki-Kuchta and Klema would drive around town, picking up bags of leaves from other yards. Klema said she remembers sitting in the car and “being packed in
the back with all these leaves.” Syrjamaki-Kuchta would also take Klema to collect horse manure from ranches and rock dust from construction sites for her garden. “I guess when you live in the city and you don’t have those available resources, you look where you can find them,” Klema said. The gardening resources escapade was and continues to be worth it for Syrjamaki-Kuchta because it allows her and her family to eat food they can trust and get it on a small budget. “It’s labor intensive, but it’s free material,” she said. Although she hopes people start to realize the value of their leaves and begin to garden themselves, SyrjamakiKuchta secretly wants the leaves to herself. “Really, you’re benefiting from the fact that other people are depleting their soil by bringing you their leaves,” Klema teased her mom. Syrjamaki-Kuchta quickly retorted: “Don’t tell them.” They both laughed.
“Many students think that when the hold is still on their record after they complete the online program, that something went wrong,” Morley said. “After a student finishes the program, it takes a few days for the information to go through the system and take the hold off their account.” Morley explained that another challenge many students face is realizing they actually need to take another semester of school after they have submitted their intended graduation date form and have already been put on the mailing list Do you enjoy writing? of students who need to complete the exit Do you want something program. When this to put on your resume? happens, the student must re-submit their Do you need a cover for intended graduation yourSoftball vigilante alterTrack ego? date paperwork so that Football Hockey Soccer Tennis they will not have theVolleyball Baseball Basketball Cross-Country Footb hold on their record Hockey Soccer Softball Tennis Track Volleyball until the semester before Baseball Basketball Cross-Country Football Hocke they plan to leave the Soccer Softball Tennis Track Volleyball Baseball university. Basketball Cross-Country Football Hockey Soccer For more information Softball Tennis Track Volleyball Baseball Basketbal on the online exitCross-Country Football Hockey Soccer Softball Tenn counseling program, Track Volleyball Baseball Basketball Come into The Cross-Countr Statesman’s visit UMD One Stop Football Hockey Soccer office Softball Tennis and apply!Track Student Services online. Volleyball Football Hockey Soccer Softball Tennis
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OPINION
Opinion Editor / Satya Putumbaka / putum003@d.umn.edu
COLUMN
Prof talks ON ACCESS TO EDUCATION BY RICHARD GREEN Columnist
Inequality is one of the largest moral and social problems in the United States today. We have large inequality in income and even larger inequality in wealth. We also have inequality in opportunity. Some of this is unavoidable. Indeed, some inequality is valuable, because it can result from rewarding effort and accomplishment. Some inequality may also contribute to the efficient allocation of resources. However, the massive inequality that we have in the United States today does more harm than good. A society in which most of the wealth is owned by the richest three or four percent and most of the income is earned by the top 10 percent is unfair, because it leaves too little for the rest. While it does not have to be, our society is also cruel, because the rich justify their wealth by abusing the character of the poor. Our society is also corrupt, because the rich control its economy and economic institutions for their own advantage. The apologists for inequality in income and wealth often argue that what we see is inequality of results, not inequality of opportunity. It is claimed that public education is an institution that provides opportunity to all. There is some truth to this claim, but the opportunities offered by public education are far from equal. Public education, particularly public higher education, is underfunded, and it falls far short of providing equal opportunity. This inequality in opportunity has been shown is a series of studies by Thomas Mortenson, who compared the proportions of students in different income groups who (a) graduate from high school, (b) begin college and (c) complete college. In the latest of these studies, including data through 2009, Mortenson showed that in 2009, the dependent children of parents whose incomes were in the top quartile (whose family income was over $108,294 per year) had a 82.4 percent chance of earning a four-year degree by the time they were 24. Children of parents in the third quartile (with family incomes over $65,310) had a 36.1 percent chance of earning a four-year degree by the time they were 24. The second quartile (with family incomes over $36,080) had only a 16.5 percent chance, while the lowest quartile had only an 8.3 percent chance. That is, children whose parents are in the top quarter of the income distribution have ten times the chance of getting a four-year degree by the time they are 24 as children in the bottom quarter do. There are differences among the income groups all along the line. For example, children whose parents are in the lowest income group are less likely (70.3 percent) to graduate from high school than children from the highest group
(93.5 percent). The biggest difference seems to be in the chance of finishing college once it has been started. Many more children of parents in the top quartile of incomes (84.2 percent) begin college than children of parents in the bottom quartile do (41.4 percent). Further, almost all of the children in the highest group who start college finish their degrees, while only about 20 percent of the children in the bottom group finish. Some students whose parents are poor cannot afford to attend four-year colleges. They may begin in community colleges, borrow money, and end up in debt. A recent study of college loan debt by the Minnesota Office of Higher Education showed that of students who earned an associates degree from Lake Superior College in 2009–2010, 72 percent had student loan debt, and the average amount of their debt was $18,131. Family income is such an important factor affecting college completion; more than half of the dependent students who obtain a fouryear degree by the time they are 24 are from families in the top one-quarter of the income distribution. One reason that family income is so important is that tuition is so high, not only at private colleges, but at public colleges as well. Tuition in public colleges and universities is so high because public support has not kept up with increasing costs. From the 1950s, college enrollment has increased tremendously. Until the late 1970s, the increase in student numbers was matched by an increase in the proportion of national income devoted to government support of higher education. This increase in support was nationwide, but it was greater in Minnesota than in the nation as a whole. Following the tax revolt in California in 1978 and the Reagan revolution in the 1980s, the proportion of national income devoted to government support of public higher education declined nationally. The decline was even greater in Minnesota. At the same time, college costs continued to increase, and increasing tuition made up for the difference between costs and government support. Tuition at UMD in inflation-adjusted dollars is now more than four times what it was in 1980. I think that the tuition that we now charge at UMD is too high for a public university. It is socially harmful and it has profoundly undemocratic effects. Tuition rates have been increased to raise more money for the university. The managers who increase tuition rates are not unfair or cruel people, but their interest is in raising money, not in the side effects of the methods they use. Until tuition becomes so high that people cannot, or will not, pay it, the managers will not see a problem. In fact, there will have been a financial problem for students and a fairness problem for society for a long time, but as long as it does not become a problem for funding the university, the managers will not see it as their problem. As citizens and as human beings we should think about fairness and justice in deciding policy. We should not think only about how to get what we want and what we think we need.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4 2013
A5
COLUMN
TALKING NERDY
Talking Nerdy The joe Console with haeg BY ZACK WEBSTER Columnist
Being the ever-responsible college student that I am, a little under two weeks ago I purchased a fine new PS4, complete with a $400 price tag and not really any games I wanted to play on it. This is more of an investment. By this time next year, it will have games I want, so I might as well get the most expensive part out of the way. But the PS4’s release, coupled with last weekend’s release of the Xbox One, is an exciting time within the game industry and one that has needed to happen for a while. It would be remiss to go on without at least mentioning last year’s release of the Wii U. (If you do not know what that is, don’t worry; Nintendo’s terrible marketing is to blame for that.) That truly began the “eighth generation” of consoles, which are vaguely defined by a combination of the time period of release and relative power levels, which began in the 1970s. The Wii U came out to great fanfare before slowly dragging along through its first-year jitters. Barely any games came out for it, and it sold even worse than the PS3. However, games are beginning to come out for it now — just in time for the drought to begin on the PS4/XB1. The reason I give importance to the release of what are essentially glorified toys is mostly the perspective it gives of the past. Speaking from my own experience, when the Xbox 360 came out, I wasn’t even in high school yet. Its successor arrives a semester away from my graduation from college. That’s eight years. I bought my Wii and PS3 in my first year of high school and barely a year ago, they were finally replaced. Normal console lifecycles are about five years — this last one lasted the greater part of a decade. This was in part because of the economic downturn and in part because the cost of AAA game development has gotten so out of hand that the companies flat out can’t afford to update more regularly. Hell, even in the 12 years or so that the Xbox has been around, Microsoft has still lost more money on it than its made. The reason time is so important is because it shows how long the industry has been stagnating under the same hardware. Annualized sequels became the norm to recoup runaway costs, reusing many of the same assets developed near the start of the generation, some even earlier. The rise of online multiplayer homogenized the industry to keep making games to try and beat “Call of Duty”; none of them realizing that you can’t beat “Call of Duty” by playing them at their own game. As a result, genres that weren’t some mix of shooting, action, or role-playing evaporated. Japanese development, responsible for many of console gaming’s quirks that manage to separate it from PC gaming, fell to the wayside as they failed to adapt to the new market and the extra costs of HD development. If it weren’t for the explosion of the indie gaming market, over half of the games you would have played this last generation would have been something like “Battlefield Duty: Warfighter’s Honor Gun.” But new consoles give an excuse for companies to take risks again. The best time to introduce new ideas and IPs is during the beginning of a console’s life, when games are few and people will play whatever they can get their hands on. PCs becoming the norm and standard means that in the next decade or so, console gaming will likely go the wayside or be absorbed into other technology, so this may be our last generation of traditional home consoles. And that does make me excited. It makes me feel like I opened the Super Nintendo for the first time again.
COLUMN
Your neighborhood centipede The hitherto friendly and overlooked house pet
BY BEN LABERGE Columnist
College is a veritable paradise for bugs and creepy-crawlies and with good reason: students are messy beasts. We leave food out and crumbs undisposed; the trash piles up and there’s always a layer of dust on every surface. It’s the perfect attractant for the tiny arthropods who enjoy snacking on our waste and living in the cracks of the room and rugs we lay down. I’ve worked in Facilities Management long enough to see what a mess left unchecked can bring to an apartment. I’ve seen fruit flies forming thick clouds around composing garbage, silverfish eating away at moist bathmats, spiders in webs that took over whole light fixtures, and (worst of all) a whole colony of bed bugs living within a mattress. Phone: (218) 726-7113 Fax: (218) 726-8246 E-mail letters to: kunke063@d.umn.edu Web site: www.umdstatesman.com
Now, before you run for home out of terror or disgust, I can say that for all these blatantly obvious many-legged nightmares, I have found one elusive critter that seems to have evolved to help us with these pest problems. While on cleaning detail one day, I saw a piece of fuzz that floated across the carpet faster than a dust-bunny had any business moving. As I peered closer to inspect the blur, I discovered that it was not simply a piece of dust, but a centipede. And I know what you’re thinking: centipedes are the devil. The more legs, the worse they are, right? But just hear me out on this. The elusive creature I found is Scutigera coleoptrata, otherwise known as the house centipede. They’re only about an inch long, with a light-brown coloration, and they can move at 16 inches per second. So what separates them from all the other pests? Unlike
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the other pests that feed on garbage or make large webs to catch prey, they feed on the other pests. Ants, silverfish, bed bugs, even spiders and wasps are prey to the house centipede. They’re solitary hunters, meaning if you find one it’s very likely to be alone. And don’t worry, they’re mobile so they’ll just hunt and move on, leaving you alone once the job is done. You’re not very likely to run into a house centipede unless you make a habit of waking up at odd hours of the night to check on your current pest tenants. It’s important to know that they want to be around you as much as you want to be around them, so they will keep their distance and usually only move when nobody is awake or around. So if you do happen to see one, just leave it alone. It will find its way out of your room eventually if you let it. They are considered harm-
EDITORIAL BOARD: Opinion Page Editor___________ SATYA PUTUMBAKA Editor-in-Chief_______ ANNE KUNKEL CHRISTIANSON
less to humans; the stingers they use to incapacitate their prey are too short to puncture most human skin, but there have been rare cases of allergic reactions to the sting so it’s probably best that you just let them be. While not every person would be so inclined to keep them around, some people do keep house centipedes as pets. Their fuzzy appearance and harmless nature are attractive elements, like keeping a smaller version of a tarantula. So if you’d rather not entertain the thought of having a house centipede in your domicile, keep it clean and prevent other pests from moving in. But if you do have a knack for stacking up trash in your room, try not to squash these fuzzy bugs. They’re here to help and stay out of the way. As far as I’m concerned, they’re just as much Facilities Management as I am.
All letters must include the writer’s name, address and phone number for verification, not to publish. The Statesman reserves the right to edit all letters for style, space, libel and grammar. Letters should be no more than 300 words in length. Readers may also submit longer guest columns. The Statesman reserves the right to print any submission as a letter or guest column. Submission does not guarantee publication.
Opinion Editor / Satya Putumbaka / Putum003@d.umn.edu
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013
A6
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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013
Sports Editor / Kyle Farris / farri060@d.umn.edu
B1
Not much to show
Bearcats 45, Bulldogs 21
Justin Fowlkes looks for room to run Saturday. UMD ATHLETICS/SUBMITTED
Football digs hole too deep BY EVAN SMEGAL Volunteer Writer
Bearcat quarterback Trevor Adams threw for 277 yards and four touchdowns, and backup quarterback Brady Bolles scrambled for two more as Northwest Missouri State overwhelmed UMD, 45-21, in the second round of the NCAA II Tournament Saturday in Maryville, Mo. Northwest Missouri State (12-0) hosts St. Cloud State in a quarterfinal game Saturday. After stuffing UMD running back Austin Sikorski on a fourth-and-goal from the two-yard line when it was 0-0 late in the second quarter, the Bearcats seized momentum and rattled off 31 unanswered points. By the time UMD responded, it was too late. The Bulldogs scored 21 unanswered points of their own to knock the deficit down to 31-21 with six minutes and change left in the fourth quarter, but Bolles’ two rushing touchdowns put the final nail in the coffin. UMD (11-2) was held scoreless through three quarters for the first time since a 35-7 loss to St. Cloud State in 2011. “We gave up a couple plays defensively, and offensively we couldn’t stay on the field,” head coach Curt Wiese said. “Our third down execution offensively was bad, but it really came down to first down and not (being) able to rush the ball effectively.” see FOOTBALL, B2
Senior captain Jamie Kenyon beats Wisconsin goaltender Alex Rigsby for her seventh goal of the season during Friday’s 2-2 shootout win. SARA HUGHES/STATESMAN
Tight series with Badgers nets just a tie BY NICOLE BRODZIK Volunteer Writer
A Thanksgiving weekend matchup between the UMD women’s hockey team and the No. 2 Wisconsin Badgers ended with the Bulldogs receiving only two points, despite tightly contested games both Friday and Saturday. UMD struck first in Friday’s bout, as freshman Demi Crossman redirected the puck past Badger goalkeeper Alex Rigsby at 12:11 of the first period. Wisconsin fired back with a goal from defenseman Courtney Burke two minutes later to tie the score. The Bulldogs retook the lead in the second period with another even-strength goal, this time by senior captain Jamie Kenyon off a feed from forward Jenna McParland.
Team Russia beats UMD 5-2 Monday Alexandra Vafina, who played with UMD last winter, had a goal and two assists for Team Russia. With the win, Russia evened this year’s exhibition series between the clubs. UMD took the first meeting 8-0 Nov. 26.
It remained 2-1 into the third period, but Wisconsin need just 1:01 of the final frame to forge a 2-2 tie. More concerning for the Bulldogs, however, was penalty trouble. UMD skaters accumulated 17 penalty minutes in the third period, 10 of which came on a check from behind by freshman defenseman Lara Stadler that led to a game misconduct. The score stayed 2-2 through regulation and a five-minute overtime period, sending the game to a shootout. UMD’s Kayla Black stopped all three shots she faced in the shootout, continuing a stellar night that featured 35 saves. Junior forward Meghan Huertas turned out to be the hero, scoring on Rigsby’s high glove side to win it see HOCKEY, B2
A Badger shot sneaks past UMD goaltender Kayla Black Friday. SARA HUGHES/STATESMAN
Basketball drops NSIC openers Men handed another Women fall despite double-digit defeat Newman’s 18 points BY KYLE FARRIS Sports Editor
Five years can feel like an eternity in college basketball. It’s longer than most playing careers and some coaching tenures. And it’s the length of time that has passed since UMD last beat St. Cloud State. The Huskies continued to hold the Bulldogs’ number Saturday night, cruising to an 86-65 victory — their eighth in a row over UMD and fifth in a row to open this season. UMD’s last win
in the series was Jan. 9, 2009. The Bulldogs fell behind 41-22 at halftime and never led on their way to a second-straight double-digit loss, and third straight including a 92-57 exhibition loss to Green Bay Nov. 23. Taking full advantage of a UMD lineup missing starting center Brett Ervin, who was lost to a season-ending knee injury, the Huskies held a 42-22 edge in points in the paint and a 44-34 edge in rebounding. St. Cloud State made 47 percent of its field
goal attempts, including 53 percent in the first half, and dropped in 19 second-chance points. UMD shot 41 percent from the floor and 38 percent (8-for-21) from beyond the arc. Husky big man James Fort scored 18 of his career-high 20 points from the painted area, hitting on nine of 11 shots in 20 minutes of floor time. Fort and the rest of St. Cloud State’s starters combined for 53 points — 29 more than UMD’s starting five. see MEN’S, B2
BY KYLE FARRIS Sports Editor
NSIC North Preseason Player of the Year Katrina Newman looked as sharp as she had at any point in the first few weeks of the basketball season, but the senior forward couldn’t keep St. Cloud State from sneaking past UMD, 81-73, Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs overcame a first half in which they shot just 31 percent, including one-for-seven on three-pointers, to hold a
53-52 lead midway through the second half. Newman Newman f i n i s h e d UMD a ATHLETICS/ with SUBMITTED game-high 18 points after being limited to four in the first half on two-for-eight shooting. Two early fouls kept her on the bench for most of the first half, but she returned after halftime and didn’t pick up a third foul until the last few minutes of the game.
UMD trailed by 11 with 12:08 remaining before mounting a 14-2 run to take a 53-52 lead at 8:08. The Huskies led the rest of the way, most of the time by two possessions, but struggled to distance themselves further. Newman scored 10 points in the space of four minutes (beginning at 5:58) and assisted on a Taylor Meyer bucket with a minute left to make the difference 74-72. St. Cloud State ended on a 7-1 run see WOMEN’S, B2
“
Sports Editor / Kyle Farris / farri060@d.umn.edu
Football
Continued from B1
The Bulldogs typically control games by pounding teams with the run, but the Bearcat defense was remarkably stout up front. UMD entered with the eighth-best rushing offense in the country at 303 yards per game, but was held to a seasonlow 98 yards on 39 carries. UMD started seven drives pinned inside its own 20, and finished 2-for-15 on third down. “They had a great D-line and they game-planned for us well,” said Sikorski, who had 21 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries. “We didn’t quite execute the way we needed to. They just did a good job.” The Bulldogs had plenty of chances to capitalize on Bearcat mistakes, but came away with little to show for it. Although Adams tossed four touchdowns, the Bulldogs picked him off three times, including one that was returned for a touchdown by senior linebacker Colby Ring. Freshman defensive back Hunter Malberg had interceptions on back-to-back drives in the fourth quarter, but the offense failed to turn either into points. On his second pick, Malburg positioned UMD at the Northwest Missouri State 14-yard line. The offense stalled and Andrew Brees’ 32-yard field goal attempt
To look our seniors in the eye knowing what these guys have done for our program, and to have it be their last game, it’s tough. sailed wide right. The Bulldogs even used two fake punts to try to swing the momentum. On UMD’s opening possession, Brees scrambled up the middle for 18 yards, enough for a first down, but was stripped and turned it over to the Bearcats. Later, offensive lineman Tom Olsen received the snap and floated a pass to defensive back Tyler Smrcina for 27 yards and a first down. The drive continued deep into Bearcat territory, but Sikorski was stopped on fourth-and-
goal. “We knew going in that we needed to have some execution in the kicking game to create a little bit of momentum,” Wiese said. “Unfortunately, we weren’t able to capitalize on the momentum in the first half.” The loss ends the collegiate playing careers of 20 UMD seniors. “To look our seniors in the eye knowing what these guys have done for our program, and to have it be their last game, it’s tough,” Wiese said.
Volleyball’s playoff road starts at home BY KYLE FARRIS Sports Editor
Thursday, 11 days after sweeping Concordia-St. Paul to claim the NSIC Tournament title and the top seed in the NCAA II Central Region, the UMD volleyball team will play host to Arkansas Tech and the rest of the Central Region’s playoff qualifiers. UMD (31-2) enters having won 12 straight matches, the last three coming in the NSIC Tournament. Arkansas Tech, the Bulldogs’ quarterfinal opponent, has compiled a 25-11 record this season in the Great American Conference. During their winning streak, the Bulldogs have beaten six-time defending national champion Concordia-St. Paul twice (3-1 Nov. 16 and 3-0 Nov. 24) after losing to the Golden Bears in September. UMD and Concordia-St. Paul could meet again, but not until the regional finals. Nebraska-Kearney plays Central Missouri and Southwest Minnesota State plays Washburn in the region’s other first-round matchups. All three regional rounds will be contested at Romano Gym, with the semifinals set for Friday and the final for Saturday. In 2007, the last time they hosted a playoff, the Bulldogs advanced to the regional final before falling to Concordia-St. Paul 3-1.
UMD (1) Arkansas Tech (8)
Dec. 5 8:30 p.m.
Bearcat wide receiver Reuben Thomas gets dragged down. UMD ATHLETICS/SUBMITTED
Men’s
Women’s
Continued from B1
Bulldog starters Reece Zoelle, Kristopher Jackson and Jake Harder were held scoreless, leaving Peter Crawford (14 points), Justin Byrd (10 points) and the UMD bench to bear the offensive burden. The bench racked up a season-high 41 points, 25 more than its average entering Saturday, but it wasn’t enough to keep the game competitive. UMD trailed 17-7 five minutes in and couldn’t trim the margin to single digits the rest of the way. The Bulldogs didn’t attempt their first free throw until 18:47 of the second half, and finished with seven points from the stripe to St. Cloud State’s 22. After being outscored by 19 in the first half, the Bulldogs were outscored just 45-43 in the second. The closest UMD got was 15 down with 14:53 remaining, but St. Cloud State pulled away with a 21-8 run over the next eight minutes. The Bulldogs (2-3, 0-1 NSIC) will have an opportunity to even both their overall and conference records Friday at Minnesota, Crookston. UMD took both of its matchups against the Golden Eagles last season (6661 Dec. 7 and 66-64 Feb. 23).
Continued from B1
highlighted by a 3-pointer that made it a six-point game with 21 seconds left. The Huskies, who moved to 5-0, shot 48 percent from the floor in both halves and scored 49 points in the second, the most UMD has allowed in a half this season. St. Cloud State had five players in all and four of five starters score in double digits. Senior Jessica Benson had a team-high 17 to go with 11 rebounds, while Rachael Moen added 15 and six assists. Husky starters were 17-for17 from the free-throw line excluding Benson, who was four-for-seven. As a team, St. Cloud State was 24-for-28 (86 percent) from the charity stripe, compared to 12-for-20
(60 percent) for UMD. The Bulldogs did most of their damage in the second half down low. UMD rang up 22 points in the paint after halftime, which equaled St. Cloud State’s total for the game. Even with Newman’s season-high 18 points, UMD stayed relatively balanced on the offensive end. Meyer scored a career-high 15 points off the bench, and senior center Hannah Rutten dropped in 11, narrowly missing a double-double with nine rebounds. UMD (3-2, 0-1 NSIC) will close out a three-weekend road trip with games against Minnesota, Crookston Friday and Bemidji State Saturday.
Dec. 5 S’west Minnesota State (5) Washburn (4) 6:00 p.m. Dec. 5 3:30 p.m.
Central Missouri (2) Nebraska-Kearney (7)
Dec. 5 1:00 p.m.
Nothern State (6) Conc. -St. Paul (3)
Hockey Continued from B1
for the Bulldogs. Saturday the Bulldogs backed up their shootout win with another solid performance, sticking with the Badgers for a majority of game two. Black and Rigsby played strong in the net, maintaining a 0-0 stalemate until 2:12 of the third period, when Wisconsin’s Karley Sylvester notched her sixth goal of the season to break the tie. Despite outshooting the Badgers 22-17 over the final 20 minutes, UMD failed to capitalize on its chances and ultimately fell 1-0. UMD (7-6-3, 5-6-3 WCHA) heads east to take on Boston University this weekend, and won’t return to AMSOIL Arena until Jan. 10 against Minnesota State-Mankato.
Schedule
STAT
All events are subject to change.
Men’s hockey
St. Cloud State AMSOIL Arena Fri., Sat. 7:07 p.m.
Women’s hockey
Boston University Boston, Mass. Fri., 4 p.m. / Sat. 2 p.m.
FALL 20I3 UMD Music Events D e c e m b e r 7- I 4 T H Saturday, 7 | 7:30 pm | DECC | Special details on music website
Sounds of the Season
University Singers, UMD Symphony Orchestra, Symphonic Wind Ensemble, and Jazz Ensemble present holiday music of the season. Monday, 9 | 7:30 pm
Guitar Ensemble Guitar Ensemble I • Billy Barnard; Guitar Ensemble II • Jacob Jonker Tuesday, I0 | 7:30 pm
Concert Band: A Holiday Spectrum, Daniel W. Eaton, conductor FRIDAY I3 | 7:30 pm
Vocal Jazz Concert: Chill Factor & Lake Effect Tina Thielen-Gaffey, conductor SATURDAY I4 | 7:30 pm
Choral Brass Chamber Concert
Full Listing of UMD Weber Music Hall * Events visit d.umn.edu/music
tickets.umn.edu | 2I8.726.8877 The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer. | *Unless otherwise noted
DEPARTMENT of MUSIC SM
OF THE WEEK
Volleyball
Arkansas State Romano Gym Thurs., 8:30 p.m.
89.4:
UMD’s penalty kill this season, which ranks seventh in the country. Wisconsin went 0-for-4 on the power play this weekend.
STUDENT LIFE
Student Life Editor / Maeggie Licht / licht096@d.umn.edu
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013
B3
Riding out the storm
Charlie Goudreault and Stephen Nelson, UMD juniors, pose for a picture on their fat bikes in the middle of their ride on Park Point during last April’s big snow storm. They use their fat bikes on uneven or unstable terrain like snow and sand. The increased tire size gives stability. CHARLES GOUDREAULT/SUBMITTED
Students take to the roads on two wheels
BY ALOYSIA POWER Outdoors Reporter
While many students are grabbing their bus passes or car keys on the way out the door to transport themselves during this week’s snow storm, a handful are continuing to hop on their bicycles and pedal through the white wash. One such biker is UMD junior Charlie Goudreault. Last winter he biked a fair amount, but said this time he’s “going all out” and plans on commuting to school via two wheels every day — no matter the weather. “If you bike to school every day, it’s an easy way to stay active,” Goudreault said. “I mean, that could be your exercise for the day, biking a mile and a half up a hill.” On the roads, he rides what he calls a “crappy” mountain bike in order to spare his more precious 907 fat bike with four-inch wide tires from corrosive road elements.
“It’s good to ride crappy bikes in the winter because the salt on the street kind of wrecks your chain and your components and stuff on your bike,” he said. “It gets rusty super quick unless you wipe it down every time — but that kind of gets annoying to wipe it down every time.” For him, the road salt is a doubleedged sword: On one hand, it keeps the roads clear of ice so he can bike through the winter. But on the other, it keeps him from taking his fat bike, a bike with oversized tires designed for unstable terrain, to school. Because of this, he leaves his fat bike for the snow-packed trails — or anywhere off-road for that matter. Fat tracks “It’s a beast,” Goudreault said about his fat bike. “You can ride on snow. You can ride on sand. You can ride on anything you could ever imagine.” When he first got the bike last Thanksgiving, it took a little break-in
Bulldog Q&A by Maeggie Licht
:
period to get used to its feel. “It feels like you’re on a motorcycle almost,” he said. “It hums a little bit because the tires are so big.” During this break-in period, he slipped and fell a bit, but discovered riding the bike — even on the snow and ice — is very similar riding any other time of year. “You can go around corners as fast as you would in the summertime and be completely fine,” he said. “I mean, it’s still kind of weird. But falling doesn’t hurt as much either because there’s snow.” When the trails get too slick for comfort, Goudreault’s trick is to lower the tire pressures in order to increase their surface areas on the ice, in turn creating more friction and grip. He said this prevents him from sliding out just as effectively as a studded tire would. Skinny tracks On the other side of the winter bike
continuum is UMD junior Stephen Nelson and his single-speed road bike with skinny tires. He also has a fat bike, but keeps it off roads for the same reason as Goudreault. His reason for staying skinny all winter: “It’s a little more difficult biking, maybe, with a single-speed. But, it’s easier to maintain. A lot easier to wipe down.” Multi-speed bikes have a complex set of gears that can collect dirt and salt between each sprocket, making them difficult to clean. A single-speed has only one gear ratio that makes for simple care taking. If the snow ends up being too much for his road bike, however, he said he’d find a more worthy one to continue biking. But by no means does he plan on quitting. It’s just too much fun. “Probably my favorite part of the day is biking up the hill or biking back home,” he said. “It’s just relaxing for me, I guess.”
How has the first snow affected your driving?
“I already got stuck. Also, I slid through that stop sign by the Oakland apartments — almost hit a person, and he didn’t even notice. Pedestrians should be extra alert nowadays, too. People always walk across that intersection without even looking up.”—Betsy Madole, junior biology major.
“Being from Utah, I’m no stranger to driving in the snow. I am, however, new to belowfreezing temperatures which, in the first snowfall this year, turned a neighborhood street into an ice rink and sent my car in a free fall down a hill, and landed it in the middle of a 15-car pileup. I’m still trying to find where the Duluth PD had my baby towed. You win this round, Duluth.”—Jayson Speters, senior musical theater B.F.A.
Sustainability: good to the last drop BY ROSY BRAY Volunteer Writer
Many students visit the Northern Shores Coffee Shop for that extra little kick of a coffee treat to get them through the busy school day. Though students might not realize it, they’re not just helping themselves and their study habits; they’re helping the environment as well. UMD’s coffee shop and catering both sell 100 percent fair trade certified coffee. Soon, it will also be brewed in the Kirby Student Lounge. “We know it is the thing to do and also what the students want,” said Claudia Engelmeier, buyer and supervisor of
UMD Food/Vending Services. “UMD has been highlighted for being on the bandwagon with fair trade.” The coffee shop has been selling Peace Coffee ever since it opened about eight years ago. Peace Coffee is 100 percent fair trade, which means the farmers behind the scenes are working in legitimate conditions, getting paid fair wages and grow the coffee in a sustainable way. Peace Coffee was founded in Minneapolis, Minn., in 1996. The company’s mission is built on quality, community, sustainability, transparency and individuality. UMD came across the business while
researching sustainable coffee companies to sell at the shop, and decided Peace Coffee would be a good fit. The coffee is delivered to campus once a week, guaranteeing freshness. “Peace Coffee is a great partner to work with,” Engelmeier said. “They are very supportive and give us all of the information we need about fair trade.” So what is the importance of sustainable coffee, anyway? On Thursday, Nov. 21, director general of Unidad Academica Campesina-Carmen Pampa (UAC-CP), Dr. Hugh Smeltekop, came to campus from a rural college in Bolivia to speak about the importance
of sustainable coffee. Smeltekop has a Ph.D. in agronomy and a M.S. in soil science. He’s been involved with UAC-CP for eleven years. The non-profit college was founded 20 years ago with a mission to educate underprivileged families with research, production and community service projects. “The mission of the college is to get bright men and women the skills they need to give back to their community instead of going back to the farm after high school,” Smeltekop said. “Our college emphasizes on sustainable and organic productions, using coffee as a tool for people to lift
themselves out of poverty.” Coffee is not an easy crop to grow. The only part UMD students have to struggle through is waiting in line and letting their hot beverages cool off to a drinkable temperature. Farmers have to work through weeding the coffee plants, maintaining and cutting the shade trees to allow the proper amount of sunlight, and fertilizing. On top of that, they must go through the harvest and production process. “May through October, you are in the field every day doing something,” Smeltekop said. “If you are lucky, you will have enough harvest to ask for see ORGANIC COFFEE, B4
Student Life Editor / Maeggie Licht / licht096@d.umn.edu
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013
B4
WRITTEN BY MAEGGIE LICHT ILLUSTRATION BY JADE GOLEN
Harbor City Roller Dames skate into season BY GRAHAM HAKALA Staff Reporter
Katie Lassi spends her days as a lab coordinator for the Department of Biology at UMD, setting up labs and helping teachers with their curriculums. But on certain nights of the week, Lassi laces up a pair of roller skates, tosses on a helmet and some pads, and goes to battle against other women in flat track roller derby. Lassi is part of the Twin Ports roller derby league, Harbor City Roller Dames (HCRD), which is currently getting ready for an upcoming bout at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center on Dec. 7. For every bout, HCRD selects a charity organization to benefit. The upcoming bout will be supporting Animal Allies, an organization that strives to get pets into safe and caring homes. People who would like to attend the bout will be able to bring toys or treats to be donated to the pets at Animal Allies. “(Animal Allies) is my favorite,” Lassi said. “They’re a great adoption agency, and they always need more support.” The HCRD is the only league like it in the Twin Ports and northern Minnesota areas. The league started back in 2007, and became skater
The Harbor City Roller Dames face off with the opposing team. APRIL ELLINGSEN/SUBMITTED
owned in 2009. The HCRD has recently been accepted into the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association, putting them on the same level as the national leagues. According the league’s website, “HCRD provides an opportunity for all women ages 19 (and older) to learn and play the sport of flat track roller derby and participate in the skater-run business aspects of the organization. HCRD strives to maintain a presence of athletic entertainment in the Duluth and Superior area, while using the efforts of the league to give back to the local community.”
Organic coffee
Continued from B3
neighbors or friends to help.” Coffee is one of the most traded goods in the world and generates a lot of money. According to Smeltekop, coffee is produced in more than 60 countries and there are about 100 million people involved in the process of getting it from the field to the cup. Most coffee farmers live in poor conditions and don’t get a fair price for their coffee. The coffee market fluctuates often, and farmers only sometimes break even.
The sport consists of two teams of women on a flat track. A skater known as “the jammer” tries to gain points by passing the members of the opposing team. The opposing team tries to block the jammer from skating by them, using their hips and shoulders. “It’s the most challenging sport I’ve ever played, and it’s really fun,” Lassi said. “It’s brutal, but so fun.” While the HCRD wants to see more people in the seats at the events, they also want to encourage anyone who might be interested in getting involved to get in touch with the organization. Men are also
invited to be part of the organization, either as referees or non-skating staff. “We want to welcome people from the UMD community to come try roller derby, and to not be scared of it,” Lassi said. “It’s such a welcoming place. Everyone is so supportive, and happy to see new faces. I was really welcomed into the group, and kind of was kicking myself for not joining sooner.” Like many before her, Lassi was hesitant to get involved in the sport. About a year ago, she tagged along with a friend who wanted to join. It didn’t take her long after that to get into the swing of things.
In fair trade, the farmer gets a 10 to 20 percent bonus above market price, and 20 cents of every coffee bag goes to a coffee cooperative that the farmer is associated with. This money can be spent on schools, coffee processing plants, roads and community health. To get certified, farmers have to show that they perform basic sustainable agricultural practices. According to Fair Trade USA, between 2011 and 2012, the North American Fair Trade coffee imports had a record 18 percent increase, with the U.S. and Canada receiving 163 million pounds of coffee. Students can be an active part of fair trade, and the UMD campus is already on board. “I commend UMD for doing such a great job mov-
“You can feel your body adjust,” Lassi said. “Your body just starts to grow and get stronger. (In the beginning) you’re really working on precision and skill and things like that. But every single day you can see the difference in how much you’ve improved. It’s constantly challenging, but its constantly rewarding.” Meagan Aliff is a grad student at UMD, who also does derby. “I like that it’s a competitive sport,” Aliff said. “I like that I get to get physically active. I like the team playing aspect, as well. “ In support of the Animal Allies, Harbor City Roller Dames will be holding a giftwrapping event at the Harley Davidson Sports Center on Saturday, Dec. 14 and Saturday, Dec. 21. They will be there from 9 a.m.– 5 p.m. Donations for Animal Allies will be taken, and the Harley Davidson store will match any donations received at the event. Animal Allies will be at the event with adoptable animals from 11 a.m.–2 p.m. on both Saturdays. Tickets for the Dec. 7 bout at the DECC are $10 for adults and $5 for students with ID. The doors open at 5 p.m., and the first bout starts at 5:30 p.m.
ing toward sustainability, on an institutional level and to the people who make the purchases to support this,” Smeltekop said. Education is a big part of the process. To educate UMD students about fair trade, Peace Coffee provides the campus with informational posters to hang in the hallways. When the freshmen come in the fall, they are educated with seminars about sustainability. Every cup of coffee purchased from the Northern Shores Coffee Shop gives back to the farmers that grew the coffee beans and to the environment that produced them. Some might say that’s good to the last drop.
B5
UMD student kicks asthma
Student Life Editor / Maeggie Licht / licht096@d.umn.edu
BY ALOYSIA POWER Outdoors Reporter
Perhaps the only clear memory of Thanksgiving Day for some is the part before the two platefuls of gravy-consumed potatoes and glazed turkey slabs. And, for many people, this part of the day was spent running their hometown’s turkeythemed foot race. Besides this brief moment of consciousness, the rest of the day is all but a turkey-induced dream. For UMD senior Annie Prassas, however, the dream part of the day wasn’t the postconsumption nap, but the race. For a long time, her hometown five-mile Turkey Trot in Lacrosse, Wis., was comparable to swimming across the Atlantic because of her exercise-inhibiting asthma. Now, what was once unimaginable is a dream come true. This Thanksgiving marked her third time running the race, and her fastest completion thus far at 35 minutes and 14 seconds. “This year I was nervous that I wouldn’t be as fast as last year (36 minutes), but I kept a steady fast pace and ended up passing a lot of people the last two miles,” she said in a text. Since she first ran the race two years ago, she’s moved on to conquering half-marathons, then full marathons and is now training for a 50-miler this summer. The journey’s beginning Despite the recent victories over her asthma, Prassas said her health improvement has been a long and strenuous fight. When she was first diagnosed with the
disease at 10 years old, the paralyzing attacks would keep her from finishing her gymnastics and baton routines. “I would just die at the end — always had to take my inhaler,” she said. “I’d think I was going to die because it’s like the black is closing in.” In the face of asthmatic fear and pain, she continued to tumble and twirl. “It was something I loved,” she said. “It was never an option to just quit. I’m not a quitter at all.” Because of her persistence in the sport, she earned the role as feature twirler for the UMD marching band and has been showing off her high-flip frontwalkover twirling maneuver before UMD football crowds for the past three seasons. She also teaches youth gymnastics at the Duluth YMCA. From gymnastics to running Although passion has played a major role in her success as a gymnast, it wasn’t an initial force in her development as a runner. She has her asthma to thank for that. The disease is her motivation to improve her lung capacity and general health. “I would really like to not be dependent on inhalers — which I feel like I’m getting there,” she said. “I’m almost there.” As a gymnast, she never foresaw longdistance running in her future. In fact, her first encounter with the sport was by accident. During her freshman year at St. Thomas University, her previous school, she joined the crew team and was forced to run as
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013
Empowered by her passion for gymnastics and baton, senior Annie Prassas has been fighting her asthma since a young age to continue the mixed sport. Due to her success, she has been the UMD marching band’s feature twirler for the past three years. LAUREN BUDGE/SUBMITTED
part of the training. “I hated it,” Prassas said. “I made myself go out for runs. It took about a year until I liked running.” From there, she literally took off running. “I could see it was making me feel better,” she said. “My lungs — I was able to breathe when talking for a long time. When I would give speeches before, I’d run out of breath.” While she’s proud of her transformation into an experienced longdistance runner, she doesn’t consider this her biggest accomplishment. Of course, this feat has taken a lot of work, but she said the length of the run isn’t the hardest
part. It’s the speed that gets her. “The faster I run, the more asthma I’ll have,” she said. Because of this, her proudest achievement is her ability to perform anaerobic exercises, which are limitedoxygen workouts. As a group fitness cycling instructor at the YMCA and personal trainer, she has to be able to do these exercises and talk at the same time. “I’m able to talk and run for like long periods of time — it’s ridiculous,” she said. “That’s so weird to me.” Her inspiration Friends said her success is because of her determination and self-
discipline. “I think a lot of it has to do with just her commitment to it,” said boyfriend and UMD senior Dave Clark. “She will always find time for running. If that means waking up ridiculously early, she will.” “She lives what she says,” said friend and UMD senior Paul Yager. “You know, a lot of people say, ‘Oh, if you have asthma I bet running or swimming would help because it would increase your lung capacity’ … Instead of just like saying it, she goes out and does it.” For the most part, Prassas said her friends are right, and her selfmotivation to be a
healthy person is the reason she has improved so much. But, she said without the help of her Catholic faith and St. Jude — the patron saint of hopeless cases — she’d never have been able to persevere and stay focused on this goal. “I prayed so hard that I would be able to run, and I was finally able to,” she said. Tips for asthmatic athletes In her efforts to continue her sports, Prassas has developed certain techniques for preventing asthma attacks, as well as dealing with them in the middle of a workout. She said prevention requires a slow and gentle buildup. Her training started with 10-minute runs. “Tiny steps will make a giant difference,” she said. “If you try doing too much at once, you’re going to end up failing.” Along with the slow buildup, she recommends doing pre-exercise practices, including the use of a 12-hour inhaler and meditation that focuses on breathing. In the case of an asthma attack, she has a step-by-step process. First, if the attack is allergy-induced, get away from the source. Next, slow the pace and focus on breathing, especially exhaling. “Even though I can’t get a lot in, I’m going to exhale it all out,” she said. “That’s the most important part.” Lastly, she said to think positively and proactively, pulling from her gymnastics’ roots: “Gymnastics is, ‘What I think is what I do.’ So, you’ve got to think you can do it in order to do it.”
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