Friday, March 12, 2010
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Poetry slam champion connects with students By MEGAN ALLEN staff writer
Students gathered in the Taggart Student Center Ballroom Wednesday to listen to Mike McGee, an internationally known slam poet and comedian. “Feel free to dance and twirl around during the show,” McGee said. “I might laugh at you, but go ahead. I won’t make you feel uncomfortable.” McGee said his overall goal was to make sure everyone there had an “effing good time.” McGee was raised in San Jose, Calif., and started performing there in 1998. He started doing standup comedy and then a friend convinced him to try slam poetry. He did well at his first open-mic night and left the comedy world. In 2006, McGee was crowned the Individual World Poetry Slam Champion. Getting to that point was tough, he said. “It takes knowing you’re good, but that you don’t need to win,” he said. “It’s OK to want it, but it’s dangerous to need it. “I don’t want to just say words that sound good. With a mic, I can move men and mountains. Microphones are what made me Mighty Mike McGee.” One of McGee’s first poems was called “An Open Letter to Neil Armstrong.” He wrote it for a girl he realized he was in love with after knowing her for eight years. “I didn’t want to write your average ‘I think you’re awesome’ poem,” McGee said. The poem compares his love for her to Neil Armstrong’s experience of walking the moon.
“I believe it doesn’t take rockets to get you where you belong,” he said. McGee’s next poem was about a different sort of love. He performed his “Ode to Pudding.” The image of McGee swimming around in a kiddie pool filled with chocolate pudding was clearly described in this poem about his love of pudding and the despair that he could no longer indulge in this passion due to his diabetes. In between poems, McGee just talked and told jokes. “I love the fact that I can get up here for an hour and talk and try to connect to this many people,” he said. The next poem McGee performed was “In Search of Midnight.” “This one is for anyone who can’t sleep,” McGee said. From Boise to Hollywood to Denver, people are dealing with their lives, he said. “In Seattle, someone hears a poem that may keep them alive for one more week,” McGee said. People are exactly who they should be at midnight. “Whatever it is, you’re reaching out to yourself to find perfection,” he said. McGee followed up with his poem “Like.”
“I like you like pirates and frat boys like booty. Like how homeless people and breakdancers like cardboard. Like the way gay, lesbian, transgender, Irish and Mexican people like to hold parades,” he said. “I like you a whole bunch of a lot and a little bit more.” “To me, silliness helps lubricate the really rough parts of life,” he said. McGee said people are his inspi-
- See MCGEE, page 2
CODY GOCHNOUR photo
More parking changes possible By STEPHANIE BLATCHFORD staff writer
Students who are used to parking near the TSC may find themselves hiking across campus if Dave Cowly, vice president of finance, approves the Parking Advisory Committee’s proposal that passed by a vote of 6-4 at its last meeting. The Parking Advisory Committee passed a proposal to make the B Premium parking lot, adjacent to the University Inn, faculty parking. The lot directly north of the Caine Wanless Russell Performance Hall would be made a blue student parking lot. Chief Steve Mecham of
USU Police said the number of cars that enter and exit the B Premium and Big Blue Terrace Parking lots as well as the number of pedestrians who cross these areas creates a potential risk, which will be reduced with this proposal. “The Blue Premium lot is a high-turn around lot. Every class break there are a lot of cars. Moving that lot further to the east and making that an untimed lot should reduce the number of vehicles in the area during class breaks,” he said. Assistant director for parking and transportation James Nye said there will be 15 more parking spaces in the Orange lot that would be changed to Blue student parking. Almost 1,000 vehicles a day pass in and out of
the Blue Premium lot near the TSC, and the terrace each day, sometimes it takes students 20 minutes to get out of the lot. Nye said, “Can you imagine being a guest at the University Inn or TSC and trying to get there, who would want to stay there?” ASUSU Student Advocate Tyler Haws, part of the Parking Advisory Committee, said the purpose of the committee is to advise and suggest ways to fix parking problems at USU. Haws conducted an online survey to see how students felt about the parking proposal in order to represent the student body with his vote. Students already felt like there was inadequate parking on the west side of campus, Haws said. In a week and a half,
309 students responded, and 283 students out of 309 felt these proposals would negatively impact the usage of the TSC, Fieldhouse and HPER. “I understand where parking was coming from with their proposals, but as a student advocate, I represent the students, and the vast majority of studens didn’t want either proposal to pass,” he said. The two-hour parking is one of the main factors contributing to the congestion on the west side of campus, and faculty and staff usually come in to work all day. Changing this parking to a faculty lot will relieve the congestion in the center of campus, and students can take alternative routes to the other lot that will save them time, Nye said. He said, “I think most people will realize that once orange becomes blue, the traffic patterns will change.” ASUSU Executive Vice President Spencer Lee said he voted against the proposal during the committee meeting. There have been many negative phone calls and reactions from students, Lee said, and he thinks the proposal is about money, not student safety. “I do not feel that the Parking Advisory Committee acted with the students best interest in mind,” Lee said. “I feel that the bills being proposed were looking only at a budget.” The second proposal referred to by Haws and Lee would have made the Big Blue Terrace 24hour paid parking. The proposal was voted down 5-4. – steph.blatchford@aggiemail. usu.edu
STUDENT PARKING adjustments will create less parking on the West side of campus. The majority of students polled about the change reacted negatively to it, saying it would affect how many students went into the TSC, Fieldhouse and HPER buildings. TYLER LARSON photo
Inside This Issue
03/12/10 Merlin Olsen, Aggie football legend, passed away Thursday morning of cancer at 69 years old. Page 8
Budget cuts passed by Utah Legislature By CHELSEY GENSEL staff writer
. USU will face a 5 percent budget cut for the 2010-’11 school year, down from a possible 22 percent in total cuts. Two fiscal years ago, USU’s budget was cut 17 percent. Federal stimulus money was used to backfill 8 percent of this, so last year only 9 percent of the budget cuts were felt by USU students, faculty and staff. In the final day of the Utah Legislature’s 2010 general session, Thursday, March 11, legislators passed that 3 of the 8 percent will come from higher education funds, so USU will only have to address an additional 5 percent cut on top of the 9 percent taken last year. Michael Kennedy, special assistant to USU’s president for federal and state relations, said the new base budget will be 14 percent below the budget from fiscal year 2009, which was before the 17 percent cut took effect. It is still a cut, but the 8 percent was reduced to 5 by Thursday’s bill and no additional cuts were made. The fiscal year 2011 begins in July. Kennedy said that although the cuts will still impact the university, the news is good compared to the potential cuts that had previously been discussed during legislative sessions. “It’s an opportunity to try to soften the blow and in some ways maybe reinvest back into the university,” Kennedy said. ASUSU Executive Vice President Spencer Lee said he spoke to several legislators who appreciated the handwritten letters mailed to senators and representatives last week as part of his Write-a-Thon. Students wrote 170 letters telling about their experiences at and value of USU to impress upon legislators the importance of minimizing budget cuts. Lee said Rep. Fred Hunsaker, R-Logan, and Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, in particular passed along thanks to students who wrote the roughly 15 letters delivered to each of their homes. Lee said that although they were already on board with the university’s interests, letters such as those help them make their case to other committee members, representatives and senators. The budget cuts tie into potential upcoming tuition increases because a portion of the proposed Tier II tuition increase is intended to help alleviate some of the cuts. Tier II tuition differs from Tier I tuition in that it is
- See CUTS, page 4 Cache Valley offers many activities for students staying in Logan for Spring Break. Page 5
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