The Wake, Issue 8, Spring 2017

fortnightly student magazine

volume 16 — issue 8

merce cunningham: CO:MM:ON TI:ME

p. 7

Q&A: tabah

p. 16

planned parenthood protest

p. 8

amateur art club

p. 19

wanderers—short story

p. 21

women’s rugby stands together

p. 13

VOLUME 16, ISSUE 8 reaching for higher ground

p. 5

merce cunningham: CO:MM:ON TI:ME

p. 7

planned parenthood protest

p. 8

to block or not to block

p. 10

hashtag activist and proud

p. 12

women’s rugby stands together

p. 13

Q&A: tabah

p. 16

amateur art club

p. 19

wanderers—short story

p. 21

resistance, protest, and resilience

p. 22

3 reviews

p. 23

©2017 The Wake Student Magazine. All Rights Reserved.

Established in 2002, The Wake is a fortnightly independent magazine and registered student organization produced by and for students at the University of Minnesota.

The Wake was founded by Chrin Ruen & James DeLong.

Disclaimer: The purpose of The Wake is to provide a forum in which students can voice their opinions. Opinions expressed in the magazine are not representative of the publication or university as a whole. To join the conversation email avanabbema@wakemag.org.

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Just this week, LinkedIn gave me a cute little reminder that it was my “One-year anniversary at The Wake.” I couldn’t believe how much time had passed between my first meeting as a timid freshman, picking up my very first article ever, and now helping manage the magazine and looking forward to every Monday night.

The Wake isn’t just an arts, music, current events, and politics magazine; it’s a flourishing family of talented writers, creative artists, and spectacular PR people, all dedicated to giving our campus a voice.

At a time where our current administration wants to quiet us, wants to obliterate the media and demolish free speech, it’s more important than ever to share not only what’s happening around us but how we feel about it. The Wake gives anyone who shows up at our Monday night meetings a chance to share, pitch, and craft anything that matters to them and in a time where the written word is under fire, the opportunity to do so is ever so important.

So dig in to another collection of events, emotions, and euphemisms—we’ve worked hard and we invite you to join if you want to be heard, too.

Laura Beier Managing Editor

The Wake Student Magazine 126 Coffman Memorial Union 300 Washington Avenue SE Minneapolis, MN 55455

EDITORIAL:

www.wakemag.org

facebook.com/thewakemagazine

@the_wake

@thewakemagazine

PRODUCTION:

THIS ISSUE:

Editor-in-Chief

Alex Van Abbema

Executive Director

Lianna Matt

Photographers

Managing Editor

Laura Beier

Creative Director

Kate Doyle

Carter Blochwitz, Kate Drakulic, Laura Beier, Stephanie Moreande

Cities Editor

Erik Newland

Art Director

Taylor Daniels

Voices Editor

Emma Klingler

Designers

Andrew Tomten

Sound & Vision Editors

John Blocher

Kellen Renstrom

Shawnna Stennes

Olivia Novotny

Illustrators Cameron Smith, Jaye Ahn, Kate Doyle, Katie Heywood, Lindy Wirth, Nora Peterson, Stevie Lacher, Taylor Daniels Contributing Writers

Online editor

Carson Kaskel

Finance Manager

Chris Bernatz

Copy editor

Alex Wittenberg

Social Media

Holly Wilson

Erik Newland, Gillian Trudeau, Isabella Murray, Jacob Steinberg,

Avery Boehm

Web development

Laurel Tieman

John Blocher, Kari Bull, Karl Witkowiak, Kate Drakulic, Kayla Martin,

Faculty Advisor

Chelsea Reynolds

Editorial Interns Carter Blochwitz, Chris Shea, Gabby Granada, Isabella Murray, Jacob Steinberg, Kate Drakulic, Liv Martin, Max Robertson, Sammy Brown, Simon Batisch

Julia Holmes Production Interns Brooke Herbert, Darby Ottoson, Grace Steward, Olivia Rezac, Rakshit Kalra Art & Design Interns Cameron Smith, Katie Heywood, Mariah Crabb, Megan Smith, Sophie Stephens, Stevie Lacher, Xavier Wang

Benjamin Halom, Carter Blochwitz, Chris Shea, Cody Perakslis,

Laura Beier, Liv Riggins, Marcie Rasmussen, Max Roberts, Morgan Benth, Olivia Novotny, Sarah Overholt, Sam Batistich, Shawnna Stennes

WINK ! ONE-PAGE MAGAZINE

French Fries The Wake thought you would do well with a list of french fry prices near campus because sometimes it isn’t about quality at all, just money. Also, fries on us if you can give us a sharp argument on the difference between house-cut fries and hand-cut fries.

Blue Door Pub Hand Cut Fries—6.00 Annie’s Parlour “Home-style” French Fries (large order)—5.95 Tony’s Diner French Fries—2.75

Sporty’s Hand Cut French Fries—6.00 Wally’s Fries in a Pan—4.99

PE CI

CIPE RE

RECIP E

RE

You know you are a college student when you eat peanut butter every day.

Whether it’s for convenience or, like me, you really love that salty deliciousness, peanut butter is a staple in most of our diets. Do you want a new way to prepare that same flavor, and be able to pair it with more than just bread and jelly? This recipe is simple and adjustable to your taste!

RECIPE R EC IP

The Easiest Peanut Sauce

BY OLIVIA NOVOTNY

R

E

RE C

IPE RECI REC PE

IPE EC

E IP

werk werk werk werk—25%

Blarney’s Waffle Fries and Cheese—7.25

road trip!!—35%

Football Pizza French Fries—4.99

going somwhere warm, it’s a must—30%

sleeping lol—10%

McDonald’s Fries (regular order)—2.15

—One 13.5 oz can coconut milk —Half cup peanut butter (creamy or crunchy, you’re preference) —2 tablespoons red curry paste (I promise you can find it anywhere, even Aldi) Combine coconut milk, peanut butter, and red curry paste in a saucepan and cook over medium heat for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. That’s it! If you want, you can add a bit of brown sugar (a couple spoonfuls) for a sweeter taste. Add more curry paste if you’re feeling spicy. Use it over vegetables, rice, pasta, or grilled meat. Enjoy!

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ART BY KAT E D OY L E

SURVEY: SPRAANG BREAAAAK

Five Guys Regular Fries—4.19

T H E WA K E

CITIES

REACHING FOR HIGHER GROUND C A RTE R B LOCH WI TZ

New building in St. Paul offers “dignified” shelter and housing for homeless

BY CARTER BLOCHWITZ Located just blocks away from downtown St. Paul, Catholic Charities’ recently-opened Higher Ground shelter offers emergency-stay and permanent housing options for those struggling with homelessness, as well as a convenient location across from daytime medical and employment services. Higher Ground will replace the aging and overcrowded Dorothy Day Center, a building originally built for meal drop-ins in the early 80s, but which has served as a homeless shelter in St. Paul for nearly 18 years.

“Higher Ground really wants to meet the individual wherever they are financially,” said Gerry Lauer, senior program manager of Higher Ground and the Dorothy Day Center. “Some of our folks have huge barriers and others just need a helping hand.”

To meet the various needs of its residents, Higher Ground offers three levels of stay at its new shelter, which boasts 280 beds as well as permanent housing options for at least 193 more people. The first and most important of these are the emergency-stay beds, which give homeless a warm, safe place to sleep at night.

Along with the beds, a locker for each occupant, shower, and light meal are provided. The next level, which is pay-to-stay, guarantees homeless individuals a bed if the emergency beds are full and includes increased privacy as well as larger personal lockers for as little as $7 a day or $42 a week. The final level provides longterm permanent housing options for low-income adults and families struggling with chemical dependency, disabilities, mental illness, or other housing barriers.

“We always ask ourselves, ‘What is the extent of where this person can go? How can we help them reach that?’”

FE B 27–M A R 1 2

Lauer said. “We’ll see a lot of people for seven or nine days and then will never see them again. They’ll be able to find their way back into society.”

Lauer expressed confidence that Higher Ground St. Paul is now much more complete in its services for all of those facing homelessness. These include expanded shelter hours that overlap with day services, additional caseworkers for residents, and provisions for specific groups of homeless individuals such as women struggling with alcoholism or those seeking medical respite. Following its opening on Jan. 12, Higher Ground connected with United Hospital, Regions, and other St. Paul medical centers to provide private rooms for homeless individuals unable to pay the costs of hospital-stay following treatment. In addition to private rooms for those seeking medical help, on-staff nursing assistants provide discharged individuals with regular care.

The completed construction of Higher Ground by the end of the month will represent the first part of a $100 million joint private-public project that includes the shelter and the conversion of the Dorothy Day Center into the St. Paul Opportunity Center. A combination of state grants as well as private business and individual donations have fueled this project. The Opportunity Center will provide daytime services such as medical and mental health care, hot meals, laundry, and employment counseling. Upon completion, the campus will be the largest private-publicly funded social service project in Minnesota state history.

“Out of the 87 counties in Minnesota, Catholic Charities has provided shelter and services to individuals from

more than 55,” Lauer explained. “This is both a regional and statewide issue we’re seeking solutions to.”

He commended the financial committee chairs and many businesses throughout St. Paul and Minneapolis for their efforts in raising $35 million of its $40 million private-funding goal. Douglas M. Baker Jr, Mary Brainerd and Andy Cecere, heads of Twin Cities-based corporations Ecolab Inc., Health Partners and U.S. Bancorp, led this widely successful fundraising effort as chairs, who sought to engage the diverse array of St. Paul-Minneapolis businesses and philanthropists for support.

“Right now we’re in the process of securing final funding in the new legislative session,” Lauer explained.

“After that we hope both the Higher Ground and the Opportunity Center will be funded through a regular private-public relationship.”

This relationship would include city and county grants, tenant rent, and donations. Going beyond finances, Lauer expressed excitement over Higher Ground’s mission of involvement and collaboration between both the homeless community and the St. Paul-Minneapolis community at large.

“We want to support and build each other up,” he said, and also proposed involvement with volunteers from the arts community, the library and the University of Minnesota through events such as movie nights and community meetings.

“We want our facilities to be a pleasant place for our residents, and we want to invite the community to see what we have been able to accomplish.”

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THE WAKE

J AY E AH N

K ATI E H E Y WOOD

Fake News Eroding reader trust and the impact on media and corporations

BY MACIE RASMUSSEN “Fake News” has become a buzzword within the dialogue concerning media and public relations. On Feb. 8, the University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication hosted a discussion on the subject with Mike Schaffer, vice president of communications marketing firm Edelman, and Chris Ison, associate professor of journalism in the SJMC. The speakers focused on how publishers and corporations can navigate the current media landscape where fake news is becoming increasingly prevalent. Ison clarified that fake news is completely fabricated, “not when a reporter makes a mistake,” and “not something that someone disagrees with.”

Schaffer continued by describing the tendency to falsify information as “an ancient human habit,” which is “accelerated and on steroids” in this digital era where a quick, gripping story is profitable. Fake news is created to make money, the speakers said; it drives readers to websites, and those sites profit from advertisements. But more than just making profit, it harms legitimate sources of information.

According to Ison, readers are losing trust in news publications, partially because of more sponsored content, which he described as advertisements disguised as news stories. Ison later explained that, “There is much more burden on the public to choose their sources of news carefully, because it’s harder than ever to identify what is responsible journalism from among the many illegitimate sources of so-called news.”

While fake news clearly has an impact on news outlets, the speakers discussed how it creates a challenging environment for businesses as well. When a publisher of fake news can distribute false information about a company, it can dictate the actions of CEOs and executives. For example, when a non-partisan brand has to work with the government, they may worry about being portrayed as for or against the administration. Schaffer suggested flooding the market with a company’s side of the story, using employee testimonials and doing outreach to educate people on corporate values as strategies to combat fake news. While the future of journalism may look bleak, media professionals are hopeful that awareness of fake news is rising. According to Schaffer, “truth will win out in the end.”

P G. 6

SDS to mobilize in defense of sanctuary campuses

BY BENJAMIN HALOM Students for a Democratic Society held its first meeting of the semester Feb. 9 to introduce new members to the organization and to lay out plans for the new year.

Much of the group’s focus in the upcoming months, on both a campus and national level, will be mobilizing to demand sanctuary campuses and resistance to Trump’s immigration policies.

The meeting was crowded, with chairs arranged in a circle extending around the entire room in Ford hall. It began simply, with each person attending the meeting offering a short introduction and then the leadership describing SDS’s purpose of promoting progressive causes on campus. Then, for 15-minute periods, the meeting broke into small discussion groups, aimed at allowing members to get to know each other and to discuss social justice issues they had encountered at the University.

Discussions varied widely from group to group, including things like racial inequality, accessibility for differently-abled people, rape culture, and LGBT issues. The actions of the new Trump administration figured as a background for much of the more local campus issues.

Group discussion continued for the next 15 minutes, shifting focus to proposing solutions for the problems students face on campus. Many expressed the idea that the University administration needs to be held more accountable, and said accessibility and social justice programs are underfunded compared with athletics and STEM departments. Many members felt President Kaler should take stronger positions such as protecting the University as a sanctuary campus.

The meeting closed with a sharing of group discussions, and an explanation from the leaders as to the positions of the broader national SDS movement, which is currently focused on building the student resistance to Trump by resisting funding cuts and demanding sanctuary campuses. The President’s Day protest on Feb. 20 served for the most part to highlight immigration and diversity issues. SDS members planned to reach out to minority and immigrant activist groups at the University to build a broader base of support for this and other actions.

FEB 27–MAR 12

K ATE D RAK U L IC

T H E WA K E

CITIES

Merce Cunningham: CO:MM:ON TI:ME

Walker awes audience with rich tribute to renowned American dancer and choreographer.

BY KATE DRAKULIC Considered one of the most important choreographers of our time, the Walker Art Center celebrated Merce Cunningham Feb. 8 in a stunning opening exhibition of “Merce Cunningham: Common Time.” The exhibit was a step into another world complete with a variety of arts: paint, photo, film, textiles, and interactive installations.

Former Merce Cunningham Company dancers put on live performances, and solo dancers quietly blended into gallery spaces, catching visitors by surprise.

Visitors entering the first room of the exhibit had to carefully step around a pair of silver loafers worn by a Cunningham dancer sprawled out across the floor, surrounded by a variety of intricately designed apparel, photos, and film. Viewers slowly made the rounds, but became hypnotically fixated on the dancer, her shiny shoes reflecting in the white marble floor. She moved slowly and methodically and seemed to be completely unaware of her current surroundings. Her dancing gave the urge to move as carefully and quietly as possible.

Throughout his life, Cunningham explored the possibilities and depths of dance, music, and art, as well as the relationship between them. Born in Washington in 1919, he began his career in modern dance at just 20 years old and eventually went on to form the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.

“Common Time” is a tribute to Cunningham’s innovative and experimental performances. The exhibit, said to combine art, music, dance, film, and design, set expectations high for the Walker community, casual gallery goers, and artists alike.

The next space was much more lively than the first.

A small room with floating, silver, pillow-like balloons,

FE B 27–M A R 1 2

designed by Andy Warhol himself, was full of laughter and squeals from the children and adults interacting with them. “They’re from one of his performances,” a woman exclaimed to her family. “They were dancing around and passing them back and forth! It was beautiful.”

Along with Cunningham’s costumes and décor, Common Time featured pieces from other renowned artists, such as Andy Warhol, Frank Stella, and Fred Astaire, all of whom Cunningham collaborated with throughout his career. The original recording of Cunningham’s silver-balloon performance reeled in silent black and white film on the adjacent wall.

Another dancer, only identifiable by the silver shoes on her feet, occupied the hallway space. She was upright but moved in a similar slow and deliberate way.

People were gawking, halfway smiling, but unable to fully mask their utter mesmerization. This dancer too seemed to be mentally absent from the space, as if she was barely a person, just a dance and a pair of silver loafers.

Many of the works were interactive. A rectangular portal, accompanied by a floor sign that invited viewers to pass through, led to Bruce Nauman’s “Green Light Corridor.” The corridor was a tall two-piece installation, glowing brightly as an invitation to enter.

After prolonged exposure to bright green light and shimmying through what seemed like hundreds of feet, visitors emerged and saw the gallery space in pink.

Other interactive installations included a claustrophobic curved hallway that slowly became darker and

narrower and a maze of large screen projections featuring a variety of Cunningham’s pieces, including a film of an elderly Cunningham dancing and moving just as well as any 20-year-old.

The exhibit spanned all levels of the Walker. One level, lined with a wall of windows, contained a huge red carpet. Four dancers lay together in the center, moving extremely slowly and unnaturally. They drew semicircles with the toes of their shoes, leaving behind delicate patterns. Another level showcased a more active performance executed by dancers in bright colored unitards, accompanied by live music from Minneapolis musicians.

The top level and final gallery contained only one collection, named “Stillness.” The only light that cut through the heavy darkness came from six projections of Cunningham in his later years in a studio space, filmed seated. Each projection featured Cunningham from a different angle, very close up, very far away, from the right and left; him sitting still, only blinking or shifting slightly in his seat. From outside the room the sound of the projectors screeched down the hall.

Merce Cunningham once said, “If the dancer dances, everything is there… our ecstasy in dance comes from the possible gift of freedom, the exhilarating moment that this exposing of the bare energy can give us.”

Common Time, in its combination of choreography with other arts, intrigued and reflected both Cunningham’s deep passion for dance and his innovative approach to his life work.

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THE WAKE

CARTE R B LOCH WI TZ

Planned Parenthood supporters outnumbered protesters more than tenfold

BY ERIK NEWLAND Pro-life picketers outside Planned Parenthood clinics organized nationwide amid renewed calls to defund the program. In St. Paul, more than 200 people gathered up signs and loudspeakers to make their demands once more.

However, on Feb. 12 in St. Paul, they were met with a brigade of counter-protesters who formed a sea of pink signs, marching in a slow circle that expanded to fill the entire alleyway for a block. St. Paul police estimated the supporters numbered 5,000 to 6,000 people.

At 8 a.m., supporters poured out onto the light rail station blocks from the Vandalia Street Clinic. Already, a WCCO news helicopter hovered overhead to get a view of the event that had thousands interested on Facebook.

Already, the crowd was gathering.

Planned Parenthood volunteers handed out signs to anyone who didn’t have one and led chants of “When our rights are under attack, what do we do?” to which the crowd shouted, “Stand up like that!”

The support was “unprecedented,” said Emily Mickelson, a Planned Parenthood volunteer at the event. “It’s a grassroots movement.” The Women’s March last January was one of the largest marches in the U.S., and she said that momentum helped bring the oversized crowd to the clinic.

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Supporter Meredith Borne said, “I think this is a response” to increased opposition.

I L LU STR ATI O N BY STE V I E L AC H E R

PRO-LIFE PICKETERS CLASH WITH COUNTER-PROTESTERS IN ST. PAUL

By 9 a.m., both groups were at full force. The pro-life group blared bible verses through loudspeakers, and took up singing “You Are My Sunshine.” A 20-footwide no-man’s-land enforced by police and concrete barriers separated them from supporters.

The counter-protesters mostly ignored them.

While they were community organized, the clinic asked that supporters follow their non-engagement policy, donating private security and volunteers to keep it running smoothly. Counter-protests against the anti-abortion crowd are nothing new, said Connie Lewis, vice president of external affairs for Planned Parenthood Minnesota.

By 10 a.m., the pro-life crowd had begun to disperse.

Police reported that no one was arrested during the face-off.

Mickelson thinks that February’s rally of support was only the beginning. “I think it’s going to be a regular occurrence,” she said.

FEB 27–MAR 12

T H E WA K E

VOICES

Reasonably Self-Interested?

Considering the first lady’s role, her refusal to serve is unsurprising

Though Ladybird Johnson revolutionized the role by setting the precedent of the first lady promoting a pet cause, the duties of the role remain remarkably limited, especially considering the education and talents of recent first ladies. While the role is limited to specific and somewhat antiquated duties, such as being a host of official events and publicly supporting the president in his decisions, it is demanding within these narrow categories. According to Lauren A. Wright of the nonpartisan White House Transition Project, the total number of the first lady’s public remarks has exceeded that of the corresponding vice presidents’ remarks in the past three administrations. The first lady is simultaneously relegated to managing event details and judged stringently for her ability to execute them perfectly.

Despite this, she is not paid. Although the president makes enough for the both of them, with a salary of $400,000 a year, the first lady receives no salary and, by tradition, gives up her outside job. Though the expectation that the first lady not work outside the White House has been questioned in recent years, notably

by Laura Bush in a 2014 interview with C-Span, it still remains a powerful precedent. Additionally, the logistical barriers of both the time commitment required for the first lady to fulfill her traditional duties and the effort and expense involved with properly securing her workplace make it a difficult tradition to change.

Had Bill Clinton become the ‘first spouse,’ there would have been more of a chance to revise the role; Would Americans really expect Bill Clinton to spend his time declaiming on his suits, presiding over the home and garden, and choosing flowers for the state dinner, all while living off Hillary’s income? By the same token, though, it is as absurd for Michelle Obama—

FE B 27–M A R 1 2

a Princeton and Harvard graduate with a successful career in law, government, and executive administration—to leave her vice presidency at the University of Chicago hospitals for an unpaid position as an events planner.

Nonetheless, there’s nothing inherently wrong with the activities the first lady traditionally engages in; rather, it’s that she’s expected, regardless of her individual talents and inclinations, to take on these specific roles.

Though the president has a wide range of policies to pursue and can operate in whatever way he considers expedient, the first lady is drafted into her position merely because she is his wife. Some first ladies, comfortable with the presidential lifestyle but not the confines of the first lady’s role, have attempted to tailor the role to their abilities. In a relatively recent example, Hillary Clinton sought to take on a policyfocused role as first lady, but faced considerable political opposition and personal criticism from the public and media for having too much power. Other first ladies disinterested in the traditional role have tried an opposite approach, similar to Melania’s, of disengaging from the White House. Betty Truman reportedly spent most of her time in Missouri, and Jackie Kennedy frequently returned to Virginia.

Although Melania Trump’s refusal to serve seems self-interested, it is important to ask what kind of obligation Melania, or any first lady, has to public service and duty. Ideally, the president and first lady would have discussed and mutually agreed that the presidential lifestyle will work for them.

Ideally, the first lady would be as interested in serving through her more limited duties as the president is through his.

Considering President Trump’s general bluster and disregard for women’s choices, however, and Melania’s stated preference for her luxurious Manhattan lifestyle over the duties of a first lady, it seems unlikely that she is truly onboard with President Trump. Faced with an unpaid position she likely didn’t want and can’t quit except through death or divorce, it is hard to fault Melania for trying to hold on to her version of everyday life.

K ATIE HE YWOOD

Melania Trump’s seemingly disinterested attitude at public functions, combined with her initial refusal to move into the White House, has spawned the ‘Sad Melania’ meme and numerous articles questioning her decision to be an ‘absent’ first lady. The tone of these articles, and public discussion surrounding Melania, is overwhelmingly one of shock and disdain; Melania isn’t acting as a first lady should, and it’s yet another sign of the Trump family’s ineptitude. However, the real question created by this furor is not whether Melania will be able to take on the role, or whether the Trump administration will adapt to the norms of the oftdiscussed ‘establishment,’ it’s why any person acting out of rational self-interest would want to take on the role of first lady.

BY LIV RIGGINS

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VO IC ES

THE WAKE

To Block

Or Not to Block

Democrats ought to obstruct Trump’s Supreme Court Nominee

BY CODY PERAKSLIS Every political decision must balance agenda, precedence, and career. A politician who does not push an agenda serves no purpose. One who ignores precedence risks corrupting the foundations of government. And one who makes no attempt to maintain or further a career ceases to have one. The best balance for Democrats to reach would be to obstruct the appointment of Neil Gorsuch as the ninth Supreme Court Justice.

The appointment of Neil Gorsuch would work against precedence. The country has a gone a year without a ninth justice because Republicans refused to give even a hearing to the Obama-nominated Merrick Garland. Such a move is unheard of and unfounded, and to allow it to work by appointing a justice with major conservative leanings would encourage future deviations from precedence.

There is little short-term career damage and more long-term career benefit from obstructing the appointment of Neil Gorsuch. Democratic senators in Republican-held states that face re-election in 2018 are most vulnerable to career damage from the move. The hope for those Democrats would be for anti-Trump sentiment to continue to rise among conservatives.

The other Democrats in the Senate would ride on the respect that comes from holding firm.

When considering the position of Democrats, the shortterm benefits outweigh the short-term damages, and the long-term is greatly beneficial to obstructing the appointment of Gorsuch. Long-term consequences must be considered in this case due to how long justices serve. To obstruct, Democrats could band together and filibuster the appointment. The only recourse for Republicans would be to pick a more moderate nominee, or to vote away the possibility of filibustering a Supreme Court nominee, an act that would sway public opinion against Republicans. Either way, Democrats benefit.

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BY CHRIS SHEA Democrats have vowed to go to war over President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch. It is unlikely that the conservative judge will get even a single vote from any of the Senate Democrats.

This brings up the debate of whether or not the Democrats will block the nomination with a filibuster, which requires 60 votes to break. The Republicans hold a 52-48 majority in the Senate. A filibuster could cost Democrats dearly if Republicans decide to use their “nuclear option,” which would get rid of the filibuster entirely for Supreme Court nominees, making it so that the confirmation would require only a simple majority, much like with cabinet appointments.

It would be smarter for the Democrats to save their political clout for when any of the court’s three eldest justices—Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Anthony Kennedy, and Stephen Breyer—might retire. If any of those justices were to leave, that would change the balance of power on the court for decades to come. Gorsuch is only replacing a conservative judge and bringing the power of the court to what it was before Justice Scalia’s death.

The level of toxicity and anger among establishment Democrats is at an all-time high.

We have seen many cabinet nominees who seemed very easy to confirm have large numbers of Democratic senators peel back with each vote. If establishment Democrats, like Sen. Chuck Schumer, flip from their willingness to confirm other qualified Trump appointees, this can empower more liberal Democrats to primary against the establishment, much like how the Tea Party changed the landscape of the Republican party by sticking more to their partisan identities.

ART BY N O R A P E T E R S O N

The appointment of Neil Gorsuch would work against the Democratic agenda. Gorsuch is a conservative originalist in line with the late Antonin Scalia. With a deadlocked Supreme Court, the appointment of Gorsuch would lean the judiciary conservative. Such a result would give Republicans complete control of all three major branches of government, annihilating any possibility of Democrats pushing their agenda for this election cycle.

Democrats should not obstruct Gorsuch

The decision to block Gorsuch would also hurt the Democrats’ chances of retaking the majority in the 2018 midterm elections. Democrats have to defend 25 seats, while the Republicans only have to defend eight. Ten of the states that the Democrats will have to defend are states that Trump won in 2016.

This puts the Democrats in a very rough spot, by the time the midterms roll around, the Democrats could end up losing more seats, making it so they have even less power in the Senate.

Blocking Gorush only hurts the Democrats in the long run. All obstruction does is thwart their chances to retake the majority in 2018 and use their political clout when the power of the Supreme Court might shift.

FEB 27–MAR 12

T H E WA K E

VOICES

Despots, Autocrats, and Tyrants It’s no secret that Donald Trump isn’t the most popular president. With a disapproval rating hovering around 50 percent, it’s not hyperbole to say he has the country divided. For many, Trump is the first commander in chief who strikes fear into the hearts of voters young and old. Trump’s actions are anything but insignificant.

However, his antics are almost petty compared to the tyranny of his peers in the heads of state community.

Trump has praised Vladimir Putin as a strong leader, and it’s easy to see why. The ex-KGB Russian president has complete control over the country’s government and a stranglehold on its media. Putin has no qualms about killing critics, journalists, and political opponents alike. Sometimes Putin gets theatrical with his assassinations, such as when a critic of his just so happened to drink tea laced with polonium, a deadly radioactive poison.

ART BY TAY LO R DAN I I E L S

Despot Rating: 4 radioactive cups of tea / 5 Trump’s multiple wives and braggadocios remarks about sexual assault have been sources of criticism and scorn. But Trump pales in comparison to South African President Jacob Zuma. Zuma, a polygamist who has been married six times, is estimated to have around 20 children. In 2005, Zuma was charged with raping a woman with HIV, though he was never convicted. At least he disclosed his assets after South Africans called for it.

BY JACOB STEINBERG

Despot Rating: 2 estranged children / 5 During his campaign, Trump branded himself as the “law and order candidate.” Luckily, Trump is a far cry from President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte, whose idea of justice is a little more extreme. Duterte was branded “The Punisher” by TIME due in part to his unorthodox drug policy, which includes urging Filipino citizens to go out and kill drug addicts in the streets.

Despot Rating: 5 vigilante death squads / 5 From Zimbabwe to North Korea and Syria to Sudan, there are leaders that trump The Donald in just about every category of vileness. Trump may not be the figurehead of a tyrannical autocratic state with a laundry list of human rights violations, but he does have dominion over the largest military and economy in the entire world.

That, in and of itself, is terrifying. Our government was designed to protect against tyranny, but only if we chose to keep it out.

Carry On A small guide to getting through it (feat. self-love) March is rough. We no longer get excited about snow.

The weather seems colder than ever (except for the weird climate change quips). Midterms are abundant.

That said, here is a trusty guide to help you persevere.

BY KARI BULL

1. Start with gratitude, the rest comes easy. Be gracious for anything in your life that works, however small or large. The basics are what matter. From hot, running water, to puppies on the internet, to dank memes, to the people you love—be gracious that these things exist. It’s a helpful place to start when things feel empty.

2. Do something you’ve been wanting to try. If you’ve been wanting to try something new, do it! Putting a new activity into your routine, even if it’s just once this whole month, can be hugely invigorating. Take a walk on a Wednesday night. Listen to a new song. Go to sleep a little earlier.

3. Treat yourself—WELL. Practice self-love. Reflect on the things you are doing well in your life instead of focusing on what feels like it’s going wrong. Try to catch yourself when you’re down-talking yourself and replace it with a positive affirmation: “You’re doing great.”

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4. Take a break from social media. If your phone is your pastime, consider downloading a crossword puzzle app. It’s a nice break, but it won’t be as inflammatory.

5. Tell someone you love them. Start with yourself. Be gentle with yourself. Love all the parts that are hard to love; it helps them heal. Then, call your best friend, your grandma, your mom or dad.

6. Set yourself in motion. Get coffee with that person you sit next to in class. Apply for the internship you think you might not get. You never know what could come of it.

Between midterms, the political climate, and the weather, find one thing that will make you feel better (or at least differently) and do it.

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THE WAKE

Hashtag Activist and Proud

BY SARAH OVERHOLT

media has become a phenomenon that branches far beyond angsty teens or bizarre gamer threads.

Online platforms hold limitless potential to be used for gauging public opinion or illuminating minority issues.

With a national population of 324 million people, town hall meetings and community forums are meeting a hasty death. Even rallies and marches cannot accommodate the quantity of citizens who want to engage. Twitter may not have the quaint charm of a packed gymnasium, but that doesn’t mean the people who occupy it are any less passionate. As the nation becomes increasingly digital, it’s time to plug in and #protest.

TAYLO R DA N I E L S

Examining activism in the digital age

The word “activism” often conjures up images of Birkenstock-clad, tree hugging hippies with cans of red paint aiming for launch. There’s an unspoken notion that to wear the term activist, one must be so dedicated to a cause that they’d fling themselves in front of a bulldozer to defend it. While this breed of relentlessly dedicated activists still exists, a more casual brand of social protest is gaining momentum. These newfangled “hashtag” activists often take to social media platforms to voice their discontent, shedding the iconic poster boards and permanent markers in favor of Huffington Post articles or infographics.

This form of online civic engagement has proven more suitable for busy students or working parents—those who see and acknowledge global injustice, but simply lack the time or means to rally a movement. Instead, they contribute their opinions in a more accessible and convenient manner. Despite the popularity of this type of expression, internet activism is often ridiculed and condemned. The public views political speech online as inherently less genuine than face-to-face debate—a claim that seems hypocritical in a society that trusts the internet to diagnose their medical ailments or locate their future spouse.

At a pivotal moment in America’s social and political history, all forms of engagement should be encouraged. The United States is facing unprecedented discontent and ideological divide. If there’s any hope for unity or agreement, the voices of the public must be heard. Older generations cannot wag patronizing fingers at a “disengaged” or “lazy” youth, while simultaneously discrediting their attempts to participate. Social

L I N DY WIRTH

Trump Tweets v. Journalism What happens when the tweets of one man

BY MORGAN BENTH form the news of the majority “Trump’s tweets are ruining journalism!”

“Why is the news full of Trump’s tweets?”

You have probably heard both of these statements, and although they may be paradoxical, they are also both incredibly real in the eyes of civilians right now. Most people’s confusions and questions have stemmed from a double standard that exists: While Trump’s tweets are taking away from traditional news and reporting, they are also creating the news and breathing new life into it. As the president, journalists cannot simply ignore his social media postings, no matter if they are true or false, obscene, or simply a personal rant; holding the highest position in office comes with a high amount of monitoring by media, which includes his tweets. In this

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way, he easily drives the news. But this may not be as negative as it sounds; it gives media a chance to fact check his tweets and discuss them on a larger platform in order to truly inform the public on the difference between true and false, relevant and outlandish, amid his 140 character submissions.

Although news platforms give journalists a chance to analyze Trump’s tweets, it takes away from the regular reporting agenda that presents salient issues in a more credible way. The breakdowns of our president’s tweets are fairly important to understand, but they should not take over our news space nor should they be the factor from which our news stems from.

Now for more bad news. Citizens who are not interested in watching the news, reading newspapers or magazines, engaging in political conversation, or attempting to extend their political knowledge past what they already know are the ones who do not care about the evidence that other outlets provide.

Some constituents may only follow Trump or his cabinet members on Twitter, which is completely fine unless that is the only place they receive their political information. In turn, people often end up getting stuck in an blatant echo chamber in which they hear not only just one side of the conversation, but only one man’s perception of it. This is the danger in Trump’s tweets, not simply the fact that they take over the news.

FEB 27–MAR 12

T H E WA K E

FEATUR E

Y B G U R S ʼ N E M O W

R E H T E G O T STANDS ce, these women n le u rb tu l a ic lit o p id Am ff the field find comfort on and o

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F E AT URE

THE WAKE

BY ISABELLA MURRAY While the president of the University of Minnesota Women’s Rugby team, Anna Jacobsen, was fundraising with her team at a local fun-run last year, she expected to work concessions to lessen team dues and bond with her team, not encounter aspiring female fans.

Yet as a third-grade girl showed up at the team’s concession stand in her rugby jersey and a ball to sign, Jacobsen was prepared to be a representative for women’s rugby and overall female empowerment. “[The girl’s] mom was saying that she had just joined a touch league team where she was one of three girls, and none of the boys would pass to her,” Jacobsen said. “We passed around with her. Tackling is something you always see boys do, but girls never do. It’s really empowering to play a physical sport, because we are 100 percent capable of it.”

The Women’s Rugby team is coming off of a successful fall season. Ranked 18th of the top 20 in the nation this past fall, they were one game shy of the national championship match, losing their spot to Air Force.

The team was nationally ranked for the first time in its existence at the University, according to Jacobsen. They’ve proved themselves to be successful on the field, but have also been advocating for a larger program within the University to heighten female empowerment and include anyone on campus who feels marginalized.

“There are so many different positions on the field, and every body type can play. From tiny, 5-foot and thin, to 200-pound women,” sophomore player Ashlee Beauchamp said.

“Everyone is welcome. Everyone is from a different ethnicity or sexual orientation. It really was a safe space, and we all feel like a family in this team atmosphere.”

While playing rugby is central to the team’s involvement with one another, it isn’t the only thing that brings the women together. This past year, the women have been supporting each other in light of the political climate. In attending Black Lives Matter rallies and the Women’s March together, they have strengthened the familial bonds on their team.

“Because we’re so diverse, this election has definitely rocked us.

We put our battle armor on and fought together,” Beauchamp said.

“I have no idea what the struggles are of being an African American in this political atmosphere, but I can support people that do, to make sure they have that safe space to fall on no matter what circumstances you come from.”

Beauchamp recalls her first instance with the team. “Literally from practice one I felt welcome. Especially with the political atmosphere right now, if you felt scared or anything, you had this family to fall back on. That’s U of M rugby to me.”

The team is a club sport at the University of Minnesota, meaning it is a student-run program that competes nationally as a Division I program. While there are no cuts or try-outs, the team’s members pride themselves on their inclusive attitude toward anyone who would like to attempt the sport.

While a club team, the women represent the school and receive some funding, although not enough to pay for all of their expenses. The women have to fundraise regularly in order to travel and compete with fellow Midwestern teams.

Beauchamp said. “Next spring we are planning a spring break trip to Wales. We are fundraising currently so that we can go to a country where rugby is very prevalent.”

Little awareness of the sport is part of the reason the team is so passionate about its exposure efforts. The team rents out University practice fields and turf, but would like more recognition within the school to expand their program, especially because scholarships are not offered.

There were more than 2 million women and girls playing the sport in 2016, a 17 percent increase since 2014. Women’s rugby also continues to experience record growth in popularity, attendance and media exposure driven by the success of Women’s Rugby World Cup and Olympic Games inclusion, according to World Rugby’s website.

Within the sport here, growth has been substantial. “My freshman year we had 17 players, and there are 15 on the field. The next year we had 23, and this past year we had about 30,” Jacobsen said.

The team recruits from high schools around the area and promote themselves on campus.

Various teams across the nation are varsity and offer scholarship.

While being club allows the team to accept all who attempt the sport, players have to put in much more effort to achieve means to travel and to experience certain sport traditions together.

“We can only fundraise through the U of M, which is really restricting.

We don’t get recognition through the U to get proper funding,”

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T H E WA K E

FEATUR E

"EMPOWERED" Jacobsen credits the inclusivity of her team to the sport of rugby itself. After every game, the women host the visiting team, and all the players have a meal after the game. It’s expected of the opposing team too when they’re hosting.

“Rugby is much more of a community than any other sport I've played, which is really something special,” she said.

P H OTO S BY ST E P H AN I E M O R E AN D E

As a contact sport played with no padding or a mouth guard, the women know it may seem daunting. The girls are taught how to hit correctly, though, and it even strengthens confidence off the field.

“It’s a really cool feeling, as a woman, to actually feel strong. To be able to walk down the street and feel like I could protect myself, it’s really empowering,” Beauchamp said. “Yes there’s some blood and bruises, but at the end of the day, you feel empowered and strong as a woman and a human being.”

“YES THEREʼS SOME BLOOD AND BRUISES, BUT AT THE END OF THE DAY, YOU FEEL EMPOWERED AND STRONG AS A WOMAN AND A HUMAN BEING.”

The coaches extensively train the girls to approach contact in a safe way, though.

Jacobsen credits the coaches as being the driving force behind the team.

“Good teams have the mentality that they are willing to sacrifice their own bodies for their teammate next to them.

Much like a family,” head coach Rebecca Radtke said, “We make our practices physically and mentally taxing on the women. They bond over the pain they endure together knowing it is making them better players as well as people.”

The team hopes that with the success they’ve had, they will win a championship within the next few years and continue to expand the program.

“They’re the most inclusive group of women I’ve ever been apart of. I think Rugby is the reason I’ve been able to find a home at the University of Minnesota,” Jacobsen said.

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THE WAKE

Q &A

Q&A WITH TABAH

BY SHAWNNA STENNES

Local indie rock group releases debut album “Symmetry Somewhere” while seeking community amongst the endless rhythm of perseverance and destruction As the five members of Tabah and I sat together eating afternoon waffles and talking about the present moment and the value of collaboration, the number of days till their album release hovered above us. The timeline they have followed with reverence for the past year is now reaching its destination–the album release– only to be immediately transformed into a new timeline.

This endless pursuit of creation, a state of simultaneous endings and beginnings, is central to the Tabah project.

The name Tabah means perseverance in Malaysia and destruction in Hindi-Urdu, which is the group’s yin and yang creed that pushes and unites them, while also being a moniker vague enough to capture their genre hybridity.

With the careful consideration the group seems to give to each step Tabah takes or expression Tabah makes, my conversation with them felt refreshingly personal. Beyond the group’s inward pull, however, it is outward that Tabah is truly pursuing. As Jeff (guitar), Cecelia (vocals/guitar), Murphy (drums), Andrew (keys), Charlie (bass), and I drank coffee and melted down the reality that we were strangers, they expressed their hopes of making Tabah a community. They expressed their dream to expand and make creative connections across state lines and across artistic mediums. The following are some highlights from our conversation.

“The Twin Cities have given us a big chance in terms of playing and supporting us, and we want other people to be involved in that too. Whether they’re drawing or creating clothes, or also creating music or whatever. It’s just like.. let’s do it together, ya know?”

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The Wake: So March 4th at the Turf Club you guys are having a co-album release show with J.E. Sunde. Can we expect any collaborations with him live or on your new album?

Cecelia Erholtz: We like J.E. We’re different, but we’re all kind of pursuing branching out into a larger audience in the Midwest–so let’s help each other. I don’t know about collaborations, but I think what we’re excited about collaborating on is getting our crossover of audiences, meeting each other, maybe engaging and embracing a wider music scene. : What have your experiences been in the local music scenes so far?

Murphy Janssen: The Twin Cities is pretty open and willing to give small, small bands–or really just anybody–a chance to play. You can meet people through the Nomad or Acadia, the little stages there.

Then that’s how we get to all meet each other, by playing tiny shows of just small stages and bars and cafes, giving people a chance to just do whatever. We can meet each other and build those bigger projects like Tabah. : You guys recorded a few songs on your EP and all the songs on your upcoming album in Nashville. How did you end up working with a studio in Nashville?

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T H E WA K E

Charlie Bruber: A friend of ours was interning at another studio in Nashville called Blackbird, and Blackbird is owned by Martina McBride and her husband. Really cool. We got to go down there for our EP and record some tracks, and he was like ‘Ya know, when you guys are doing a full album you should definitely check out this place called Welcome to 1979’– which is all old equipment. So we went down there for two weeks.

MJ: I think Nashville was a pretty awesome setting for us. We went down there in 2014 and really liked it– found a couple watering holes. Nashville is just...

CE: It’s a good hang, we like them.

CB: We stayed at a ranch like 20 miles out of Nashville– with long-horned cattle and acres of land and huge rain storms in the middle of the night.

behind and let it create itself. Whenever I hear band names, let’s call it Football Pizza, there are things that come to my mind before I’ve ever heard your band.

Words bring images to mind, so I wanted something more anonymous, more vague. So, we named our band Tabah Yames, cut the Yames out after a while.

Then we started to get these Facebook messages from people that are just sending us Tabah, the word.

MJ: Or they were like, named Tabah…

CE: Or they were all from…

CB: Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan.

CE: So we looked into it and we found that, in Malaysia, Tabah means perseverance. And we also found that in Hindi and Urdu it means to be ruined or destroyed, destruction. And it really got to me.

Andrew Seitz: Which are incidentally really relevant themes in our whole journey. : I feel that the present moment is a significant theme in your music, which is like right snug in what Tabah represents, existing between the past and

P H OTO S BY C ART E R B LO C H WI T Z

CE: A big gazebo looking at the pastures… So, I guess to bring it full circle, we had this nice two-week experience and then–what do we do with it? We had a timeline all up till now, the release, and it has taken us every ounce of that time. And it’s just the beginning,

Q & A

make sure that we all understood what we were about to represent and say. And try to be, all together, in these tunes. And I really hear that, I really see that. The EP was a lot of beautiful hodgepodge.

Jeff Ley: As far as what we want this record to do for us, is just expand our listening base to a level where we can just travel around and play our music for different people. Hopefully, it will allow us to do that.

MJ: I think our goal is just to connect with as many people as we can through music and just on a personto-person level. Hopefully, we can meet them as we travel the country and just talk about this stuff.

“We spent more time together on this project where we’d sit in chairs at night for hours, a lot of hours, and just talking about it. Talking about what is this song? I’d read them the lyrics, and we’d openly discuss them and make sure that we all understood what we were about to represent and say. And try to be, all together, in these tunes.”

: Anything else you’d like to tell readers?

JL: We’re gonna have specific local artists that made one of a kind artwork on the vinyl covers for us.

MJ: On our website, you can buy these pre-sale copies which are all custom-made record jackets from ten artists around the Twin Cities that we’ve kind of teamed up with, and we’re just getting them today and they look amazing.

CE: We also met a clothing designer at the U randomly, at some tapestry warehouse, and we started talking and she’s gonna make us a whole set of clothes!

that’s what I keep forgetting. You know, we’re passionate people that like to write music together and share this experience and embrace each other’s weaknesses and bring each other’s strengths and just push it through. We found out Tabah kind of means something like that. : I wanted to ask you about that. I was reading on your website and it seemed that Tabah is a word that already exists, did you know that initially?

CE: No. I have a dear friend Tim, and I was living in Prescott with him and some friends–Tom, Bobby, and Jamie. One day, I was sitting on the porch talking about my roommates to myself just going: tah…bah…ah.

Tabah was something that I could, as an artist, just push

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the future.

CE: Yeah, you’re not quite here on the spectrum of dark, and you’re not in the light, you’re in the middle spectrum of space. I think that’s where it’s good to exist. : I read that your previous release, the Time Will Come EP, was intended to illustrate the experience of your first years of development as a band. Is there a vision or experience you’re hoping to illustrate on Symmetry Somewhere?

CE: We spent more time together on this project where we’d sit in chairs at night for hours, a lot of hours, and just talking about it. Talking about what is this song? I’d read them the lyrics, and we’d openly discuss them and

MJ: The Twin Cities have given us a big chance in terms of playing and supporting us, and we want other people to be involved in that too. Whether they’re drawing or creating clothes, or also creating music or whatever. It’s just like… let’s do it together, ya know?

CE: Light shows… whatever you got!

MJ: So you guys are really just a d.i.y. paper in which you do everything–it’s not a class, right?

Nope, it’s totally student run.

MJ: That’s really cool. I’m glad that we were able to be a part of this too because it just ties into everything that we’re trying to do–just people doing it on their own and making it work. I mean that’s what we want to do

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S O UND & V I S I O N

THE WAKE

The Basilica of Saint Mary’s

MOVIES FOR MENTAL HEALTH The parish offers social events for those dealing with mental health struggles

The Basilica of Saint Mary’s Fifth Annual Mental Health Film Festival is held each Tuesday of February as a social opportunity for those involved in their mental health ministry. In this year’s theme of Mental Illness and Addiction: The Dual Diagnosis; the films focused on the intersection between the topics.

This year’s films included “The Lost Weekend,” “A Hatful of Rain,” “Days of Wine and Roses,” and “Pleasure Unwoven.” Snacks are provided, as well as support from a strong community of people who are dealing with similar struggles. The movies evoked emotion as the event was largely attended by those involved in the ministry, those who work in the mental illness field, those who have loved ones with mental illnesses, and several people who have mental illnesses. After the films, discussion is encouraged. Following the February 14 showing of “A Hatful of Rain,” discussion was directed toward the comfort people felt in the movie, while the film was typically viewed as emotionally unsettling.

“Even though they might be difficult to watch, they resonate with people,” Janet Grove, Basilica ministry coordinator said about the movies. “What struck me about these films was that each talked about addiction being a mental illness or a disease. It’s taken us this

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long to really understand that.”

The Basilica’s mental health ministry has been around for about 12 years, and it is active source of aid within the parish community. Originally created because parishioners sought education on mental health to better serve friends and family, the program has shifted now into a full year’s curriculum of activities. The need for an event like this came from the committee’s request for a more social event to compliment educational meetings.

“You would think that mental illness would go hand in hand with religion, as people should feel comfortable going to their pastor, or priest, or rabbi, where there would be no judgement–but it’s amazing how few programs there really are,” Grove said.

C AM E R O N S M I T H

BY ISABELLA MURRAY

Beyond the month of February, educational and social occasions from the mental health ministry will continue to be held to support those close to mental illnesses. The Basilica’s website is updated with all future events.

FEB 27–MAR 12

T H E WA K E

S OUND & VIS ION

The Birth of a New Student Group:

AMATEUR ART CLUB An executive board member’s perspective on creating an art activity space for the non-artistic

ART BY KAT I E H E Y WO O D

BY GILLIAN TRUDEAU The University of Minnesota’s Amateur Art Club is a new student group created for students who enjoy art for various reasons, such as stress relief, practicing creative thinking, or simply for fun. There are no requirements— members don’t need to be art prodigies. The group is available for everyone, even if a member has never touched a paintbrush to a canvas.

Our principal reason for forming this club was to give students a place where they can relieve stress and relax while creating something beautiful.

how many people would be interested in joining. Through her post, she met Avi Shaver who then created an AAC Facebook page, resulting in new members. The executive board plans to continue spreading the word about AAC through social media.

The members of the executive board decided not to have set titles, such as president or vice president. “A lot of the time titles create a sense of hierarchy, and we didn’t want that,” said Garrett.

The club does not have complete structure and order; it’s a free space to let people join and feel comfortable with one another.

When I asked Shaver what benefits he thinks he will gain from joining the Amateur Art Club, he said, “less stress, more friends who enjoy doing likeminded things, as well as having something fun to do after school.”

“Relieving stress through art is productive because students can let out their worries in a piece and finish creating with a sense of accomplishment.”

AAC hopes to create a group that includes 100 percent amateurs who have free reign to work on any kind of art while in good company. The executive board wants its members to not have to worry about being critiqued or judged—we are all in the same boat.

I don’t consider myself an artistic person, but I enjoy photography, painting, and drawing. That’s one of the reasons why I am a part of the AAC’s executive board which consists of Avi Shaver, Lindsey Rederer, Sophie Wolf, and Krista Garrett.Garrett had the idea of creating the club.

From my experience as a first-year student, stress is an everyday occurrence. The strategies I’ve tried to relieve stress are mostly effective—ignoring everything and taking a nap—but these approaches are not particularly productive. Relieving stress through art is productive because students can let out their worries in a piece and finish creating with a sense of accomplishment. In AAC, I can do this all while meeting new people with the same interests.

She pursued her idea of creating an art club by posting on the University’s Class of 2020 Facebook page to see

Members of the executive board are freshmen at the University of Minnesota. Together, we make a wide

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array of majors, but we all enjoy the act of art. The majors of the executive board members range from Journalism and Communications to Child Psychology to History and Jewish Studies.

The members of the executive board have art projects of our own that we each enjoy. Avi Shaver takes photos; Lindsey Rederer doodles, makes jewelry and collages; Krista draws to relieve her stress; and I appreciate the art of photography and painting, among other things.

The first few meetings will consist of meeting at a space between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays and having the free time to do any art project we desire. If that’s too much freedom, then we will create a theme for each meeting. Themes would be decided weekly before each meeting but an example would be a holiday theme or a color theme.

As of now we will have members bring their own tools to work with at our meetings. By being an official club, we receive money to purchase tools, but there isn’t a way to predict what kind of art projects members want to do, so for now, members will bring their own supplies.

The details will be smoothed out in the next week and the following week we will begin our hang outs.

The executive board is still arranging a room to hold its meetings. Students and amateur artists can stay updated on the club by following our Facebook page, UMN Amateur Art Club.

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THE WAKE

REFUGENIUS ON THE ROAD: Minnesota’s most prolific Lao artist travels the state to unpack her people’s past

BY JOHN BLOCHER Saymoukda Vongsay first generated buzz with her poem “When Everything Was Everything” in 2010. After taking a break from poetry to pursue playwriting, Vongsay has shifted her focus back to spoken word in 2017. She sat down with The Wake to discuss her newest project, which recently received funding from Intermedia Arts’ VERVE grant, and the Loft Literary Center’s Spoken Word Immersion Fellowship.

The Wake: What do you plan to do with the money you’ve received from the VERVE grant?

You said recently that you turned to playwriting for a bit because poetry didn’t want you.

SV: Yeah. Fuckin’ poetry. Poetry is picky, man, it has standards. Poetry was my first art form. It’s the most accessible form of literary arts for me, mostly because I only write in free form. And when you write in free form, there’s freedom, right? I did poetry up until 2011.

I was submitting things for publication and nothing was getting published, like, barely. I asked for grants to complete this manuscript… nothing. And then a friend of mine asked me to join her playwriting collective for playwrights of color. I had never written a play before, and they told me to join anyways, and that they would help me learn about playwriting. And I’m like, I love that.

You mentioned that when writing Kung Fu Zombies vs. Cannibals you listened to Wu-Tang Clan. What about them inspires you, and what do you think about their sampling of corny old kung fu movies?

SV: I like hip hop culture, but I don’t know all the nitty grittys. But I know enough to get by. If you gave me a midterm right now, I could get like, a C. You know what I’m saying? I think I listened to Wu-Tang because it had the kung fu stuff. I love the sound effects. That

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In your poem “Not Out Loud,” you mention that Simba awakened you sexually.

Would you mind expanding on that?

SV: I was definitely going through puberty at that time.

Definitely. And then for some reason I was like yo, Simba, yo! Holla at you real quick. Not young Simba, but old Simba.

ART BY C AM E R O N S M I T H

Vongsay: So basically the project is, I would be travelling the state of Minnesota, and I’m going to interview ethnic Lao survivors of the Vietnam War. Get their stories, learn about their life back in Laos, and then learn about their escape and resettlement story; create poems out of those stories, and then work with a speech coach, create video poems, and have them on my website so that they’re accessible. At first I thought about having a book. But I don’t think books are that accessible for my elders. They’d rather watch me than read, because written language is not always as accessible.

And for that same project I also got the Loft Literary Center Spoken Word Immersion Fellowship. So that means doubling my efforts, and being able to pay the interviewees more than what I initially was going to, so that’s good.

was helping me picture the fight scenes and all that stuff. I’d probably say Ghostface is my favorite of the group. He talks about food a lot. And my play actually mentions food, like, a lot of times.

If you looked at my script you’d see a lot of similarities.

I had baby Simba in mind. That had me fucked up.

SV: [Simba] and Jin from Tekken. You know the game Tekken? There’s a character named Jin and I was like, yeah, Jin, yeah.

Do you ever worry that the more successful you become, the more you’ll lose touch with your identity as a refugee?

SV: No! I’ve only gotten more successful because I keep referencing my “refugenius.” I feel like Lao people are really shy about talking about their stories. There’s this emphasis on, “Oh, I’m no one, don’t interview me, go interview General So-and-So.” I don’t know if they’re humble or if they’ve been conditioned to fear speaking.

The U.S. bombed my country. We had nothing to do with the Vietnam War. We’re the most bombed country per capita, and they’re not doing very much to go clean it up. To this day the bombs are killing people. I know a lot of people feel grateful coming to this country, you know, having political asylum, but that doesn’t erase the fact that we’re here in the first place because this happened.

You don’t want to clean up these bombs? Give me money to write a poem.

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T H E WA K E

S OUND & VIS ION

Wanderers A Short Story

ART BY TAY LO R DAN I E L S

BY MAX ROBERTS The sun hung over plains of emerald grass and swaying flowers, extending until the horizon fell away.

Through the endless ocean cut a train of wagons, each packed full with beds, ovens, bureaus, clothes, firewood, guns, and ammunition, but most important, apple pie. Along each wagon walked hollow men and women, boys and girls; their heads hung in exhaustion.

Only those blessed with space to spare rode with their belongings. The wanderer’s only consolation was that they faced the setting sun and that they had not yet strayed their course, for the greatest of many fears was to be caught on the open plains when winter came.

There was a hill, distinguishable only by its infringement into the sky, and the travelers watched it roll by, as a large as a wave is to a ship, moving through the grass sea. If one stood at the top of that hill they would watch the train come for a day and the next fade, as just another blade of grass in the sun, leaving only a trail like a scar on the land.

They stopped walking and the man squatted, looking at the boy with swollen eyes. His voice lowered to keep the world from hearing, "I wish there was a spot, I wish there was room for you, my hand to the Lord I do, but I need you to be a man now, boy, and sometimes being a man means hurtin’ so others don't have'ta. Can you do that? Can you do that for Mama and Ellie?"

"Yes, sir." said the boy, lowering his head in defeat.

There's Papa, Mama, Ellie, and I. Mama isn't my real mama. My mama died. Then Papa met my new mama and sister and we moved out here. It was nice for the first few months. Then it got cold. We were hungry and scared, and Papa would hit and growl and yell. When we had hidden ourselves away for the night, he would sleep with his head on the table.

I pitied her, her own husband not wanting the child they, together, had created. Why does a man do the things he does? He tries to love one moment, and in the next, push away all those who love him? I think Papa was made of glass. When he felt dull and stained he retreated to Mama to polish him up and make him new again. Once renewed he would push her at arm's length out of fear that he might be shattered if he was rubbed too clean.

The boy sat in the tall grass looking up to the sky and cried. He cried from the open blisters on his feet and because Ellie was allowed to ride in the wagon and he was not and because he had been forced to leave his friends, his steamboats, and his home. He wanted to rip the birds from the sky, chase the buffalo from their herds, and raise the earth so that the torture of walking across its sea would not last what seemed a lifetime.

He curled his fingers around two bundles of grass and yanked them free of the earth, yelling and throwing them at one of the wagons as the train passed. No one turned an eye to where the dirt came from.

Exhaustion and heat smothered their curiosity. The boy dropped back to the ground. Invisible, arms spread eagled, he stared into the candy blue gulf, and it didn't matter where they were going, or where they'd been. All that mattered now was that he kept walking.

In the spring Mama and Papa told us a little baby was to be born, that it was growing right there in Mama's belly. Which is interesting cause’ it don't look like there's enough room in Mama's belly for a baby. Ellie and I would press our eyes to her bellybutton to see if it was true, but Mama said she wouldn't show us the baby 'til it's born. After asking if we could check again, she started swattin’ at us like those black flies that bite at your ankles. She said, "This little baby thinks you’re dirty and smelly and so do I. Now go wash up for supper."

What could Mama do? With no one around for miles, who else could she turn to? And so she took him into her arms time and time again with the same results. When I first met her, the day she married Papa, I remember she shone bright like the Northern Star. Over the years, she

began to fade. Only a little at first, her laugh tired, her goodnight kisses hardened and became infrequent. I thought she might return to herself once the baby was born.

Mama's belly is round now, like a tomato so filled with juices that its skin burst at the seams, that's how round.

She stays in bed most days, not moving much except side to side and every so often, calling Ellie or I to bring water.

Papa said she was real healthy, which is good because then, Little Joe is healthy. Ellie said she thinks the baby is a little boy, so she started calling him Little Joe, which seems weird to me cause it looks like Little Joe ain't gonna be so little.

Fireflies came out every night. Ellie and I would catch them and watch the light flicker between our fingers, singin,’ “This Little Light of Mine.” One night, when Little Joe was close to being born, Mama sat in the grass holding her belly. Ellie and I chased each other between the tall evergreens. Mama called out to us. We looked at each other, we thought maybe it was Mama's time.

Papa told us what to do, one of us would hold her hand and tell her to breath, while the other would get Papa.

So we ran, parting the prairie grass until we found her. I think she heard us coming cause when we got there she was smiling with her finger to her lips. Fireflies flickered on her belly. She took our hands while we sat down beside her, and I was happy she was my mama.

"Papa, I'm tired. I don't wanna walk no more."

"Well you gotta walk, boy. I can't carry you, and Mama and Ellie have'ta be sitting in the wagon."

"Isn't there any room for me to ride? I can't feel my legs, Papa."

"I'm sorry, boy, there ain't no room. You know it and asking more ain't gonna change it.”

FE B 27–M A R 1 2

P G. 21

S O UND & V I S I O N

THE WAKE

LAU RA BE IE R

The Minneapolis Institute of Art inspires controversial conversations with their powerful new photography exhibit

BY LAURA BEIER Walking into the photography section of Minneapolis’ ginormous and miraculously free art museum, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, I was transported to another world. Photos of screaming faces and hands holding signs surrounded me from all sides, each labeled with small cards explaining the images. These descriptions were almost unnecessary, as the photos perfectly captured the emotions and injustice of each situation. The exhibition covered everything from mercury poisoning in Japan to the Holocaust, and even though these horrific events happened decades before I was born, I felt like I was there.

One blank red wall, with a single photo of a black man from the civil rights movement, displayed a quote which read, “Since its emergence in the early 1800s, photography has been integral to documenting human lives and achievements, as well as the conflicts and oppressions that societies create.” I couldn’t agree more as I walked through the exhibit, taking in the impelling images from the Iranian revolution in Tabriz and anti-Vietnam War protests in Beijing.

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“Without photography, we wouldn’t have had firsthand accounts of these powerful events that occurred around the world...”

Without photography, we wouldn’t have had firsthand accounts of these powerful events that occurred around the world—the expressions on people’s faces, the signs they held, all dedicated to a cause—we would have little to no understanding of these moments in history.

Protests that happened right here at home, such as the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco, or the countless demonstrations that occurred during the Civil Rights Movement, can be experienced years later.

In addition to a room with a projector screening more stimulating images, the MIA featured photos from Vancouver to Algeria, emphasizing the universal power of protest. My favorite part of the exhibition was a small depiction of the current events regarding President Trump banning the National Park Service from Twitter.

Possibly in an act of protest, the National Park Service then created another Twitter account, and continues to tweet about the reality of climate change and its effects on the environment. Not only did the MIA represent the struggles of societies over the years, they also tied it back to today, and the struggles we still face.

FEB 27–MAR 12

S OUND & VIS ION

“I Am Not Your Negro” A moving illustration of an extraordinary American intellectual

BY SAM BATISTICH “The story of the negro in America is the story of America. It is not a pretty story.” Raoul Peck’s documentary “I Am Not Your Negro” surveys the complex narrative of a living black experience in America illuminated by the lucid words of James Baldwin, one of the 20th century’s greatest intellectuals.

Throughout the film Baldwin delivers a simple yet profound proclamation: black lives matter. The extensive story of these lives are intrinsically tied to contemporary America—to Ferguson, to mass incarceration, and to the silencing of Elizabeth Warren’s echo of Coretta Scott King on the Senate floor. This concept of an interwoven storyline is demonstrated by displaying images of the Black Lives Matter movement beside those of the Civil Rights Movement.

Throughout the film Baldwin refers to the representation of African Americans in the media, where they have been dehumanized and desexualized. John Wayne, Baldwin recalls, was his childhood hero. Only once he was older did Baldwin learn that Wayne represented the racist notion of manifest destiny and a justification of America’s dissolute history.

Baldwin understood America’s social past and future like few others in history. This is why viewing “I Am Not Your Negro,” a film articulated entirely by him, is so important. In these unjust days, it is necessary to recall the primary vision of Baldwin and those who marched beside him: of a time when Americans will see all people as inherently equal and human; when the violence will end; and the dream of equality will be realized.

FE B 27–M A R 1 2

Kehlani’s “SweetSexy Savage” A Mantra For All Women

BY KAYLA MARTIN Sweet. Sexy. Savage. If you know anything about R&B powerhouse Kehlani, this title is nothing but fitting for her ability to mix up the genre by merging classic ‘80s and ‘90s sounds with modern R&B pop melodies. The album’s track list is packed with lush, experimental, and moody vibes.

The blending of sounds from track to track makes for an easy listen. Kehlani creates a sense of sonic cohesiveness using electronic undertones and diverse harmonies. “Keep On” and “CRZY” are powerful tracks that reflect Kehlani’s distinct sound. “SweetSexySavage” proves that she is a talented vocalist who can morph the R&B genre into her own.

Sporting an oversized sweatshirt paired with stilettos, Kehlani lit up the stage at Lollapalooza this summer. Not only does she create music that speaks to her fans, but she has a way with the crowd. Kehlani knows how to perform with her powerhouse vocals and dance moves.

The phrase to describe “SweetSexySavage” is female empowerment. In her spoken word intro, Kehlani simply declares, “The truth is… I’m a superwoman.”

Fueled by this declaration, she proves that she is a force to be reckoned with, and that people’s opinions do not affect her. Kehlani separates herself from R&B female artist stereotypes by showing that she is a fighter who can do anything by herself. “SweetSexySavage” manages to be emotional and soulful, while showcasing that Kehlani is a strong and independent woman with a unique swagger.

ST E V I E LAC H E R

TAYLO R DA N I E LS

ST E V I E LAC H E R

T HRE E RE VIE W S

Cloud Nothings’ “Life Without Sound” The frontrunner for alternative rock in 2017

BY KARL WITKOWIAK Cloud Nothings have gone from a one-man band to a full four-person group, and with the release of their fourth studio album, “Life Without Sound,” their sound is at its most polished.

Lead singer Dylan Baldi’s sound is clean and crisp, but he can also produce heavy growls, like on the album closer “Realize My Fate.” Baldi’s performance is at its A-game as he creates catchy vocal melodies on songs like “Internal World” and “Modern Act.” The drumming in the tracks is fast-paced and powerful.

It is the most evident during the opening of “Up to the Surface,” where the drums build to a manic ending.

“Life Without Sound” has themes of introspection and emptiness, and given the name of the record itself, these themes make sense and ring strongly among listeners. The song “Darkened Rings” shows Baldi choosing not to live his life by following lines, while “Enter Entirely” explores him trying to find purpose in his life.

The album ends on a bit of a dour note with “Realize My Fate,” where Baldi struggles to find answers in his life, as the song repeats the lyrics “I find it hard to realize my fate,” a statement of unknowing complacency and nihilism.

Some of the songs on the album can be rather repetitive, like “Internal World” and “Darkened Rings,” but this repetition helps to emphasize the most compelling lyrics of the songs.

Introspective and catchy, “Life Without Sound” proves to be a short but potent and powerful indie rock album to open up 2017.

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Nonstop to Germany.

From MSP.

Flights start May 1, 2017 from Terminal 2.

Fly nonstop from your Minneapolis/St. Paul airport with Condor Airlines to Germany and beyond.

Discover everything Europe has to offer. Book your summer 2017 getaway now.

Born to fly.

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11/29/16 10:48 AM