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HAMLINE UNIVERSITY | ST. PAUL, MN | 3.12.13 | VOL. 125 | NO. 19 | HAMLINEORACLE.COM

Many wonder whether peace will ever come to Israel and Palestine. The two factions, one recognized as a nation and the other only as occu-pied territory, have fought on and off for over 60 years. For many in the region, there is an ongoing bitterness that only serves to further divide the two groups. Everyone living in the region has been affected in some way, and many have lost family members or friends in the struggle.

Among the bereaved are Wajih Tmaiza of Hebron, Palestine and Roi Golan of Tel Aviv, Israel. Both have lost family members to the conflict, but rather than seeking revenge, they have partnered to give talks on reconciliation. The two visited Hamline on Tuesday, March 5 to deliver a message of pain and hope for their troubled region.

When Israeli soldiers killed his younger brother in 1981, reconcilia-tion and peace were the last things on Tmaiza’s mind.

“I found out [my brother] was killed [by Israeli soldiers]. He was killed and another two children were killed at the same time. The first thing that I thought about it: the revenge. Of course I became angry. It’s my brother. He was 15 years old and he didn’t know anything,” Tmaiza said.

However, Tmaiza soon realized the futility of seeking revenge, and re-solved to go on with his life.

“If you want revenge, you must dig two graves, one for you and the other for your enemy because the revenge is not stopped,” Tmaiza said. “At the same time, I feel that I haven’t power to do anything; I haven’t power to change anything. So I continue my life, and my business.”

It wasn’t until twenty years later that Tmaiza realized he needed to at least attempt to end the violence. The event that spurred him into action was the shooting of two more of his family members, his cousin and three-month-old nephew, again by Israelis.

“It was like a light switched on. I must do something. I must save my-self, I must save my family, I must save my community, and save all the life of the people in the world,” Tmaiza said.

Golan comes from the other side of the conflict as an Israeli, but shares the same pain of losing a family member to senseless violence. His brother was killed fighting in the Yom Kippur War of 1973.

“He was shot and killed on the spot, 19 years of age. A bit younger than you guys [Hamline students]. The impact was terrible on the fam-ily,” Golan said. “Being a teenager, you know, having to bear that kind of burden on you, it’s not so easy. You want to go back into normal life. You don’t want to be known or pointed out.”

Through many years of service in the Israeli military, Golan saw first-hand the conflicts that led to constant loss of life. All young Israelis are required to serve in the military during their lives, and Golan witnessed them being made to make life and death decisions in battle.

“It opened my eyes...seeing the difficult situations that young recruits found themselves in, having to take responsibility and make decisions about things that are almost impossible for anybody, let alone for kids, immature kids,” Golan said. “So I knew I wanted to do something, as Wajih said, to bring an end to that state.”

Tmaiza and Golan both joined an organization called Parents Circle — Families Forum (PCFF). The PCFF was formed in 1995 in Israel by sev-eral bereaved families, who wished to meet Palestinians who had also lost loved ones. They hoped to prevent future violence by establishing dialogue, tolerance, peace and reconciliation. The group has no politi-cal agenda, and feels that any solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict “must be based on free negotiations between the leadership of both sides to ensure basic human rights, the establishment of two states for two peoples, and the signing of a peace treaty,” according to their web-site. The group includes over 600 families and is led jointly, with head-quarters in both Israel and Palestine.

“We use our pain, both of us, and all of the members in our forum, to build a bridge over the blood valley that began many years ago for

PHOTO | MARISA GONZALEZ, ORACLERoi Golan of Tel Aviv, Israel looks on as Wajih Tmaiza of Hebron, Palestine speaks about striving for reconciliation between their homelands.

Ambassadors for peacePreston Dhols-Graf Editor in Chief

Israeli and Palestinian visit Minnesota to spread their message of an end to a decades-old conflict.

see PEACE page 2

Keynote addresses unjust U.S. incarceration

Amane Kawo Reporter

Iconic activist Dr. Angela Davis delivers speech at annual Gustavus confer-ence.

Students at Gustavus Adolphus College hosted the 18th annual Building Bridges conference on Saturday, March 9. Titled “Sen-tenced for Life: Confronting the Calamity of Mass Incarceration,” the conference was dedicated to address a critical social justice is-sue: the mass incarceration of peo-ple of color in the United States. The major objective behind the conference was to advocate for and educate the community on what actions and dialogues can be presented in order to confront the issue. A limited number of Ham-line students were able to attend the conference, facilitated by the Hedgeman Center.

The conference had two key-note speakers and various other intellectuals who presented work-shops throughout the day. Dr. An-gela Davis, a long-time social jus-tice activist, was the main keynote speaker. Davis was a professor of the history of consciousness and feminist studies at the University of California-Santa Cruz from 1991 to 2008. She has also published sev-eral books on social justice issues.

The event began with the intro-duction of co-chairs of the Building Bridges conference, Rebecca East-wood and Jasmine Porter. This was followed by a play performance from “I AM WE ARE,” a student-led organization at Gustavus cre-ated to raise awareness about a more just community by perform-ing about social justice issues. The play reflected the injustices and criminalization of young individu-als through imprisonment and the corruption of the justice system itself. The performance depicted the lives of those imprisoned, their families and the communities af-fected at large.

According to Davis, social in-justice and racism are seen as the building blocks of the systematic imprisonment that is continuously crippling the community. As the theme of the conference suggests, the prisons assure individuals that have once sat behind bars are im-prisoned for life, due to the lack of opportunities they face after being convicted as felons.

Davis’ keynote topic concen-trated on the prison-industrial complex and the need to imple-ment a social justice strategy of not only advocating against mass in-carceration, but also changing the

see DAVIS page 2

INCIDENT LOGEDITORIAL & PRODUCTIONEditor in ChiefPreston Dhols-Graf

Managing EditorHannah Porter

News Design EditorLaura Kaiser

Associate News EditorJordan Fritzke

Whimsy EditorJake Barnard

Opinion EditorSteven Rotchadl

Arts & Entertainment EditorAlyse Emanuel

Sports EditorJosh Epstein

Variety EditorLaura Kaiser

Copy ChiefJackie Bussjaeger

Copy EditorsEmily Klehr , Rock LaManna

Senior ReportersJena Felsheim, Gabby Landsverk

ReportersAustin Abramson, Breanna Berry, Amane Kawo, Brittany Rassett, Taylor Richter, Sarah Schneekloth, Sarah Sheven, Kristina Stuntebeck, Gino Terrell

ColumnistsDon Allen, Jake Barnard, Steve Merino, Cal Sargent

PhotographersMarisa Gonzalez, Rachel Johnson, Andrew Maas

IllustratorsBre Garcia, Anna Monin,Kristina Stuntebeck

Web Editor Sam Reimann

Ad ManagerDon Allen

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2 News The Oracle | TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2013

Safety and Security crime prevention tips

Protect your valuables. Do not prop doors open! If you see doors propped open, close them.

Record serial numbers of valuable items like laptops and iPods. This can aid in the recovering of lost or stolen goods.

Always have your keys ready when you approach your vehicle or front door.

Call x2100 for a safety escort 24 hours a day.

March 1, 3:50 a.m. Auto assisstanceO!cers assisted a student move his vehicle, which was stuck on the road near the Hamline Apartments.

March 1, 2:17 p.m. Suspicious personA sta" member from the School of Law bulding reported a suspicious intoxicated person wandering the buidling asking for legal advice. O!cers searched the building and the surrounding area but the individual in question had already left the scene.

March 3, 8:05 a.m. Broken propertyAn o!cer found a broken window in Hutton Arena. A work order was submitted to Facilities Services.

March 4, 11:40 a.m. Gra!tiFacilities Services was contacted to clean up gra!ti that was found on a bathroom mirror in Walker Fieldhouse.

March 4, 11:55 a.m. InjuryThe parent of a student reported that she had fallen twice in Lot B and may have sprained her wrist. An o!cer assisted the individual and took a report.

March 6, 4:39 p.m.Plumbing assistanceSecurity o!cers were called to a room in the Hamline Apartments for a report of an overflowing toilet. The o!cers confirmed that the toilet was overflowing. A work order was submitted to Facilities Services.

The search for a new professor of poetry has begun for the Creative Writing Programs (CWP). Professor Deborah Keenan of the CWP is the chair for the committee taking on the responsibility to guide the process for hiring a new faculty mem-ber. The committee itself is comprised of English Professor David Hudson, CWP Assistant Professor John Brandon and CWP Associate Professor Julie Neraas. Faculty, staff, and students alike will play roles in helping evaluate and determine which of the current applicants will become the top choice as the new CWP poetry professor.

Keenan explained the difficulty of sorting through applications.

“After a nationwide ad campaign and search for prospects the total number of applications received does not get looked at due to sheer vol-ume,” she said.

However, Keenan said the search criteria for the applicants are very strict and require much experi-ence both academically and professionally.

“Applicants have to submit their Curriculum Vitaes, Philosophy of Teaching statement, last book published, and three or more references that can be called if they make it to the final selections. The committee has worked very hard to design this search in order to find exactly what we need,” Keenan said.

The search committee had the CWP professors filter through the numerous applications and limit the search to 10 quarter-finalists because all of this

effort on both the committee and CWP’s behalf is voluntary. The department search committee met on several occasions over the past weeks to reduce the number of applicants to five semi-finalists progressing into the next set of screenings. Two weeks ago the committee met to refine the search from five down to three applicants. Keenan personally conducted phone interviews with four of the applicants. The fifth applicant is a current faculty member who cannot be named but was interviewed by Hudson.

“Hudson graciously agreed to interview the inside candidate, which often is what happens in a national search, that you have someone already on your faculty that applies for the open position. And since I already knew the candidate Hudson conducted the interview in order to prevent a con-flict of interest,” Keenan said.

In mid-March the three final applicants will attend an interview process on campus which will consist of faculty, staff and student interactions. The final interview will consist of a 70-minute teaching session where students will bring two poems each for the applicants to review. Students will also have a Q&A session with the applicants who also undergo the workshop and craft teaching session.

“Our students are invited to the question and answer sessions in order to check them out in a more casual way. They are then given a chance to teach for 70 minutes where they have to teach craft and workshop in the field of poetry,” Keenan said.

After the sessions are taught and the visiting term is over, the committee will make their final decision on a top choice for the new professor. A secondary choice is made as a safety in the case that the top choice has been hired at another insti-tution during the deliberation process.

Search for poet begins

Austin Abramson Reporter

Creative Writing Programs starts the pro-cess for hiring a new professor of poetry.

FACULTY

this conflict,” Tmaiza said. “Maybe our children, and all the Israeli and Palestinian people…can cross this bridge to another life. We use our pain to change, not to go down the side to revenge. It is not easy. Never. We want to stop this blood.”

According to Golan, one of the most important ways of doing this is simply for the two sides to meet each other, to dispel stereotypes promoted by the local media and provide ways for them to relate rather than resent each other. This is a large part of what the PCFF does, by bringing young people from both sides to visit each other’s schools.

“It’s the first time they face a Palestinian as a human being. He talks to them, looks them in the eye, is willing to take any difficult question asked and answer it. He doesn’t back up. He shares and describes the same feelings as an Israeli guy,” Go-lan said.

Golan sees this as an especially important ex-perience for young Israelis to have before begin-ning their mandatory stint in the military.

“It could help to reduce tension and violent acts,” Golan said.

The two men agree that no change will come from political or military action. The only true change can come through personal reconcilia-tion. For outsiders interested in the conflict, they stressed the importance of reading and thinking critically, and not accepting media coverage as the only truth. Overall, they closed with words of hope.

“We believe that all the people have the big power,” Golan said. “Everyone can help in his way…we’re all human beings.”

(continued from front)

PEACE: “We’re all human beings.”

failings of the American justice system."It is not enough to simply acknowledge nor

comprehend the statistics, but rather to take an action about the issue," Davis said.

Davis noted that the system has now pro-claimed America a “prison nation” which is capturing the naturality of the prison-industrial complex and the assurance that the benefit of the economy is due to the statistical number of how many individuals enter or re-enter the pris-on system.

According to Davis, these numbers have a ba-sis in American history.

“There are more black men in prison today than there were slaves during slavery,” Davis said.

Throughout the event Davis addressed the ab-normality of the justice system by asserting that the economy is driven by racism and has roots in the history of slavery. Davis and the event or-ganizers greatly emphasized the need to under-stand what kind of bodies we imagine when we think about the prisoners behind bars and the notion of understanding the causes of imprison-ment from a non-racial perspective.

Davis’ keynote speech concluded with her ex-pressing the need for patience and the recogni-tion that the struggle has yet to be a victory until America as a society faces the ghosts of racial injustice and the consequences of slavery on the justice system of today.

DAVIS: “Take action about the issue.”(continued from front)

CHECK OUT

atHAMLINEORACLE.COMandISSUU.COM/THEORACLE1888

News 3The Oracle | TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2013

Professor aims to protect student renters

Jordan Fritzke Associate News Editor

Legal Studies professor informs community about laws and expec-tations of student renters.

LECTURE

Adjunct professor of Legal Studies and Director of Student Legal Services at the U of M Twin Cities Mark Karon presented a speech on off-campus living for college students at the Renters Rights Presenta-tion on Tuesday, March 5 in the Bush Student Center Lobby. The event was hosted by Dan Butler of the Center for Student Success and Transition (CSST) and informed the audience, mostly made up of undergradu-ate students, of impor-tant tips to remember when they are searching for living opportunities off campus.

There were roughly 25 to 30 attendees which, according to Butler, was a great turn-out for the event and the expectations of those involved with organiz-ing it.

“I’m quite satisfied with the turn-out of the presentation. It’s been wonderful to have Mark Karon as a as a legal resource for students on campus, especially in their decisions when considering where they want to live during their time in college,” Butler said.

Butler also said that Residential Life and the CSST are both working at accom-modating students’ decisions in housing

environments, whether it be on or off campus, although he had not seen any certain trends himself.

Karon explained everything from precautions that should be taken when searching for landlords online to the problem of bed bugs, which is significant to Minnesota residents as the Twin Cities is one of the worst places for bed bug infestations, according to Karon.

Karon also noted how tenant laws have changed since he was a college student.

“You no longer have the protections students once had. When I was in college the legal age to rent and buy housing was

21,” Karon said.Attorneys Alex Wain-

berg and Kevin Morrison also attended the event as additional resources for students looking at off-campus housing. Wainberg and Morrison had recently decided to set up a firm that could significantly help stu-dents at Hamline.

“This is our first time at an event like this at Hamline. We wanted to come to start talking to students and make ourselves known and that we are available to assist in their searches for housing,” Wainberg said.

Wainberg specializes in assisting clients with landlord and tenant

reviewing alongside Morrison’s specialty in removing incidents from criminal records. Their offices can be found on 627 Snelling Ave., Suite #205, near Plums Neighborhood Grill and Bar.

PHOTO | MARISA GONZALEZ, ORACLEProfessor Mark Karon presents on renter’s rights for college students living o! campus.

For many Hamline first-year students, living on cam-pus is part of the college experience. However, according to figures provided by Director of Residential Life Javier Gutierrez, last year the number of sophomores who lived on campus was less than half the number of the first-years. Why do so many students decide to move off campus after their first year?

According to the Center for Student Success and Transi-tion Coordinator Dan Butler, the most common reason students move off campus is cost.

"[Students have] heard from friends that there are some decent properties out there that are reasonably priced and comparatively could be cheaper," Butler said.

Gutierrez wrote in an email interview that according to surveys administered by Residential Life, students living on campus are most dissatisfied with sharing a room with a roommate.

"They would like more affordable singles, bigger rooms [and] newer buildings," Gutierrez wrote.

In response to student requests for more singles, sev-eral double rooms in Manor Hall will be converted to single rooms next year.

Gutierrez wrote that many non-first-years indicated that they move off campus because they want their own room.

"I have been asked to see what I can do to increase the retention of returning students on campus. They want singles so we are trying to do that," Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez said it is a struggle to accommodate return-

ing student desires for single rooms with a growing influx of first-year students. Last year, single rooms had to be con-verted to doubles to house a growing student population.

Junior Ellen Doering, who is an RA in Osborn Hall, said it is often particularly difficult for first-year students to ac-climate to living with a roommate. However, she feels that after they learn how to share a space with another person, having roommates becomes easier.

According to Gutierrez, students report that they are dis-satisfied with the dorm buildings. Residential Life has tried to make the buildings more desirable through putting more comfortable furniture in the lounges and providing means of entertainment such as TVs and Playstations.

Such community amenities are intended bring students together in their dorm buildings. Sophomore Eleanna Ma-thioudis, an RA in Sorin Hall, said that she feels the dorms lack community spaces where students can hold social gatherings.

However, she said many of her residents enjoy living on campus because it makes them feel more connected to the Hamline community as a whole. She said she tries to create community among her residents through organizing events.

"We have tea Tuesdays, and my residents really like craft nights," Mathioudis said.

As a student, Mathioudis says she likes living on campus because of the convenience. She especially enjoys being close to the Anderson Center and the library.

Doering agreed that proximity to campus is one of the biggest perks to on-campus living.

"You can wake up 15 minutes before class, and still get there on time," Doering said.

Butler, who works with commuter students, advises students who are considering moving off campus to think about how being farther away from campus facilities will affect them.

"You're not as close as you were before to go to the An-

derson Center, to go get meals. You know you have to clean up after yourself more than before," Butler said.

Butler said that Hamline wants students to know they support their decision to live either on or off campus.

Recently Butler collaborated with Residential Life to organize a presentation on renters rights to help guide students who are considering moving off campus. In this presentation, Hamline adjunct Professor Mark Karon in-formed students of their legal rights as renters, and things to be wary of before signing a lease.

Butler said they held this presentation an hour before Hamline apartment selection so students could start think-ing about finding alternative housing in if they were not selected to get an apartment.

Butler advises students who are thinking about living off campus to understand a lease before signing it.

"Have family members look it over, or if you have access to an attorney, that's always a good thing," Butler said. "You never want to just sign on the dotted line and assume everything is going to work out."

He also recommended visiting the house or apartment at night before deciding if it is a good fit. Students should make sure the street is well lit, and that the house or apart-ment has enough outside lighting.

Butler said that students should know that when they tour a house or apartment, they have permission to check over everything to assure it is in good condition.

"When you go to check out an apartment, you can go twiddle with whatever you want; you can open and close doors, you can turn the faucet on, you can check the water pressure on the shower head," Butler said.

Butler said that he encourages commuter students to talk other commuter students about what sorts of things are important to look for in an apartment or house. Ac-cording to Butler, a student can never be too careful when inspecting a potential house or apartment, and when read-ing a lease.

Res Life takes on dorm dissatisfactionSarah Sheven Reporter

Low retention rates in on-campus living inspire changes to residence halls.

CAMPUS LIFE

“This is our first time at an event like this at Hamline. We wanted to come to start talking to students and make ourselves known and that we are available to assist in their searches for housing.”Alex Wainberg

Attorney

The Oracle | TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 20134 News

HAMLINE EVENTS

TUESDAY, MARCH 12Violence and the Future of Mental Health LawSchool of Law, 10511:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Pipers Going PlacesANDC 30411:20 a.m. - 12:40 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13The Harlem Shake as Black-face: A Critical Look at Cul-tural AppropriationANDC 1124 - 6 p.m.

HUSC Meet & GreetBush Center HUB7 - 9 p.m.

THURSDAY, MARCH 14 Students of Color Career Dinner ANDC 111/1125:30 -7:30 p.m.

FRIDAY, MARCH 15International Roundtable Series — “Ecologicalization: Commodity Chain of Fiji Water Bottles”GLC 1S11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Healing Solutions for Our Tribal Communities CLEMoot Court Room 2:30 - 5:45 p.m.

MFA Creative Writing Pro-grams Grad ReadingsANDC 1117 - 8 p.m.

The Sublime and The Beauti-ful: The Spirit of the Veena with Nirmala RajasekarSundin Music Hall7:15 - 10 p.m.

SATURDAY, MARCH 16Casino Night Kay Fredericks Ballroom8 - 10 p.m.

SUNDAY, MARCH 17No events scheduled

MONDAY, MARCH 18Multifaith Alliance: Movie NightBush Center Chapel5 - 6 p.m.

To have your event featured in the events box, e-mail us at editor@hamlineoracle.com

STAFF PICK EVENTJoin President Hanson in Sundin Music Hall on Tuesday, March 12 from 11:45 a.m. - 12:45 p.m. as she delivers her annual Conver-sation with the President. This is a chance to learn more about key initiatives the university is undertaking this academic year.

Donating bras for a cause

PHOTOS | Courtesy of Free The Girls A woman inspects bras donated through Free The Girls.

“By emptying out the back of our drawers, we’re helping out a lot of people.”Katie Jernigan

First-year and WRC employee

Kristina Stuntebeck Reporter

WRC

WRC takes action to aid women sold into sex trafficking.

Hamline’s Women’s Resource Center is preparing to launch a bra dona-tion project, one of the WRC’s many Women’s History Month events that will be happening throughout March. The goal of this project is to collect donations of new or gently used bras and ship them to the organization Free The Girls to help free women from sex trafficking.

According to the Free The Girls website, the Indiana-based organiza-tion partners with safe houses and after-care facilities to help rehabilitate women rescued from sex trafficking in countries such as Mozambique, Uganda and El Salvador, among others. The website said they provide women with a starting inventory of bras that they can sell to earn a living while still going to school and caring for their families. These women can then buy more bras through the organization to supplement their supply and maintain a competitive edge on the marketplace, according to the website.

First-year Katie Jernigan, the team leader of the project, said Free The Girls sorts through bra donations before sending them to women in need. She said the bras provide a good income for the women and help them become self sustaining.

“New bras in the countries that these women live in are hard to find and expensive,” Jernigan said. “It’s a win-win situation.”

She explained that this win-win situation worked because it not only helps the women selling the bras by providing an income, but it also gives the women in those underdeveloped countries a place to buy bras.

Kristin Mapel Bloomberg, the Faculty Director of the WRC, said the project can also help women gain social status in their countries by pro-viding them with a source of income.

“It’s like a micro lending or microeconomic system,” Mapel Bloom-berg said. “We know that when women are economically independent, they’re more likely to be socially equal and have access to programs such as health care.”

Jernigan said bras are a great item to donate because many women have at least one bra that they don’t wear lying around that they could give to the cause.

“One cool element of the bra donation is that I know a lot of people have unused bras stuck in the back of their drawers. I know I do,” Jernigan said. “By emptying out the back of our drawers, we’re helping out a lot of people.”

She said the type, brand or size of the bra doesn’t matter, all are accept-able donations.

Mapel Bloomberg encouraged women to think outside of the box when it comes to the bras they would consider donating.

“It’s all bras and colors. Athletic bras and camisoles, not just what peo-ple would traditionally think of as a bra,” Mapel Bloomberg said.

Jernigan said boxes for donations will be set out on Wednesday, March 13 and last until the end of March.

“We’re going to be setting up several donation box locations,” Jernigan said. “The best place to bring bras would be the WRC.”

She said that a few specific members of the WRC volunteered to deco-rate their own boxes and put them outside their doors, but those boxes won’t be as publicized. A larger box will be stationed outside of the WRC’s office, which is located in room 118-A of Drew Science Center, during their normal weekday operating hours of 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Mapel Bloomberg said she has high hopes for the program and hopes they have a good turnout.

“Let’s see a lot of bras donated!” Mapel Bloomberg said.For more information on the Free The Girls organization and how they

help women who have been rescued from sex trafficking visit their web-site, www.freethegirls.org.

INFORMATION | freethegirls.org

Free The Girls Facts

1 Women in the pilot program made up to 5 times the minimum wage of where they were living. $$$$$

2 Second-hand clothing is a $1 billion a year industry.

4 Free the Girls accepts bras of all shapes, sizes, and colors — including athletic

bras, camisoles and nursing bras.

3 Selling bras provides a flexible schedule for women who want to return to school.

Whimsy 5 The Oracle | TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2013

Puzzles by Jake BarnardAcross1. One legged whale hunter5. Garment for 5 downs9. Little crown11. Boast12. Cheese food mak-er15. Dharmic syllable16. To blend together17. Life amongst blight18. Weren’t in Iraq20. Realization excla-mation21. Slightly open22. Christmases23. Oh, and one more thing24. Lady Gino25. Pay attention28. A romantic move30. Water prefix32. Stomach muscles35. Atmospheric con-tents37. Famous boxer38. Satisfy thirst40. Small incision42. Common French preposition43. Spooky44. Swiss/German painter

45. Tetanus vaccine 47. To quarry48. Location

Down1. In the beginning2. Successful songs3. Sobriety society4. Petty appreciations5. Mammary organ6. Itchy blotch7. Horrifically shocked8. A toast to health10. Don’t mix it with bleach11. Toilet activity, abr13. Indian king14. Now!19. School leaders24. Twisted26. Visible from Russia27. Shrill scream29. Discount period31. Affirmative com-rade33. A place to drink34. Winter footgear36. Ailments38. Ninth month, abbr.39. Snake fish41. Football position, offensive hybrid abbr.46. Robot smarts

That jumbled word game

SCRAMBLE!

Haiku CornerBy Emily Klehr and Jake Barnard

orange steel and glassexpensive ediface looms

our student center

movement starts in Marchfor women are at the brink

to breach the diverge

sleeping peacefullyalarm comes an hour too soon

daylight savings time

Bring out your dead! Can you unscrambe these medieval themed words? Rearrange the grey box letters to solve the riddle.

Where do shoppers and prisoners exchange fruits and vegetables?

At the...

ILLUSTRATION | BRE GARCIA, ORACLE

We want to hear from you. Letters must be 450 words or less, include submitter’s full name and graduation year (when applicable), be submitted electronically at least three days be-fore publication and must also include contact information. The Oracle reserves the right to edit or withhold publication of let-ters. The content of the Opinion section does not necessarily reflect the views of the sta!.

E-mail submissions to:hamlineoracle@gmail.comWith questions, contact: Drew Science 106 or x2268

Staff Editorial

How to rent the right way

Think back to a fantasized nightmare house tour: you knew there was trouble when you first walked into the prospective rental house with your five other friends. The

gapped-tooth landlord dodged your question about bedbugs, the upstairs shower was molded with a musty orange tint and the lease had four lines for six tenants.

You might think those are all jokes, but this stuff can happen. This is the reality of renting in a metropolitan area. On one hand, you’ll run into great, accommodating landlords willing to help shovel the walk free of snow and fix the faucets at a moment’s call; and then you’ll also run into potbellied scumbags with bedbugs crawling in their hair.

As a first-year trying to find off-campus housing, this can all be scary and foreboding. On top of that, for some of you, it might be very necessary. Off-campus living is the only way to escape the nosy RAs on patrol and the weird kids huffing glue and laughing until four in the morning every night.

So, in the spirit of student housing solidarity, we at The Oracle have assembled a list of helpful tips to aid in your search for off-campus sanity:

dollars to eradicate them from a house, and you could potentially be obligated to pay for it.

how long it takes for hot water to come out. This shower is going to be your wake-up buddy for a full year, you want it hot.

are legally obligated to tell you.

pay your garbage bill. Also, make sure to find out from your landlord what day your street does recycling.

you have to shovel your own snow and mow your own lawn or

-ants and landlords about proper notice for entering the home.

notice” before entering a property. This ambiguity leaves a lot of uncertainty, so make sure you know how much time you have to hide the evidence from last night’s party before your landlord shows up.

previous tenants about potential problems. They’ll be the most knowledgeable — and honest — about renting there.

will claim an e-signature as a binding agreement.

search the landlord’s name, just in case something bad comes up.

pictures of the property! Otherwise, your landlord can claim all sorts of damage when you move out, leaving a serious dent in your security deposit. The burden of proof is on you for this one.

aren’t a party person, but this is still important to know, because

evict you.”-

ing. Living independently will teach you a lot of things about life which the classrooms and the dormitories will never be able to fulfill. Oh, and you better learn how to cook something besides

to make you burgers anymore.

Student proposes MPIRG solution to student loan problem.

Across the United States, the cost of higher education continues to rise year by year. As states face continuing budget difficulties, they are being forced to cut funding for higher education, such as the state grant program.

highest amount of student loan debt in the United States—about $29,700 per student. The ever increas-ing rates of student loan debt pose many problems for students, employers, and state and local governments. Students are more likely to drop out of school early if they feel that they can’t afford to complete their higher education, and some students are discouraged from going to institutions of higher education altogether. This

--

tive across the country and the world. This depresses local economies, and the entire state suffers as a result.

This bill would help students pay off their loans quickly by providing a tax credit for the amount of state and federal loans that each student takes out. The way that

--

versity, that student will get a check for the amount of student loans they’ve paid after taxes have been filed. This will help make sure that students aren’t crippled by their debt after graduation, and it also encourages

a hearing with the Senate Higher Ed Committee, and -

or are interested in other work that we do, come to the

your voice be heard!

Alex Herr

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

“I would like to see a foosball table.”

“Air hockey.” “Ping pong.”“Virtual jump rope.”

SPEAKOUT What do you want included in the new Sorin game room?

Emma SnyderFirst-Year

Laura WagnerFirst-Year

Bahieh HartshornFirst-Year

Cambrell TurnerFirst-Year

6 Opinion The Oracle | TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2013

PHOTOS | RACHEL JOHNSON, ORACLE

We want to hear from you!

Send to hamlineoracle@gmail.com

Have your voice heard by Hamline’s undergrads, graduate students, faculty, staff and alumni readership!

Comments, concerns, praise — a letter to the editor can be about anything!

Guidelines:

year (if applicable)

Opinion 7The Oracle | TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2013

What once started as good-natured internet obscenity at

a frenzy of interest, capturing the attention of everyone from partygoers and parents to the easily-offended and hardly-aware, and most importantly, to me. Hamline is hosting an

Critical Look at Cultural Appropriation.” To those supporting this event: your intentions are honorable, but you are con-fronting the wrong problems. There are bigger fish to fry. Any educational progress which you successfully pander will stay cloistered within your own politically correct community.

-

boring things like staring at computers, reading books or talking on their phones. Then, as the song begins with a vocal

dancing obscenely, usually with some amount of air-humping involved. Nobody seems to notice this first dancer, but sud-denly, with a quick splice of video, everyone previously being boring is in colorful costumes, dancing mob-like, breaking free from their previous monotony to dance, seemingly with-out rhyme or reason. Easy to make, easy to edit and easy to upload. That’s the new-fangled Harlem Shake.

However, it’s not just a dance anymore. The viral video con-cept has spread across the state, the country and the globe.

important game of the season (which they lost). Suspended

that this supposed appropriation deserves the heavy hand

mockery of African-American culture.

How about the real issues facing African-Americans: How about our corrupt justice system (highest incarceration rate

-New

York Times. Or how about our segregated public education -

whites; almost half of the nation’s African-American stu-dents attend schools where graduation is not the norm,

in these educational disparities

the high schools with the high-est minority enrollments received

-ing per student from government aid (source: Alliance for Excellent Education).

-

black mother surviving off food stamps” cares much more about holding a steady job than about some young rich white kids pro-ducing cultural trivialities.

As Tom R. Kovach of Nevis, Star Tribune on

the topic of political correctness,

someone. Yet we overlook real problems, like unemploy-

bigger problems: remember, flying robots with the potential to kill citizens still hover overhead across the continental states (and the government is now legally allowed to kill

-The Atlantic

while median household income in America hit a record low.

* * * * *

that’s what makes it so smart. That’s why it’s popular and why you’re...well...not.

to say and what’s it actually saying can be two very differ-ent things.

stifle free speech. The participants start in normal clothes, but once the bass drops and the video splice comes in, their outfits all morph to a poignant collective message. One man

-

dons a red-white-and-blue jacket. Another famous Harlem Shake incident in Egypt came when citizens danced in col-orful costume outside the presidential palace in Cairo, the

Harlem Shaker, explained on You-

Students in Tunisia did just that with their own Harlem Shakes, broad-

censorship. As a result, they’ve received death threats from religious conservatives and one Shaker got his

social revolution. Communications technology always holds the answers to social change. Lenin overthrew the Russian aristocracy with the newly-

which is often featured in Harlem shake videos, uses the corporate technique of branding, the diffusal of blame common to bureaucracy and their self-taught computer expertise to broadcast the flaws of our modern political system. The Harlem Shake, like Anony-

which old people bore you with in the classroom.Appropriation like the Harlem Shake is the aesthetic

future that modern technology is steering us towards. -

Nightly News.

wrote to the Star Tribune

Will HU rise to the occasion for its student veterans?

Veterans and higher learning have become a valued piece of business for some colleges and universities. A 2009 survey done by the American Council on Education (ACE) was designed to measure college campus readiness to serve student veterans and military students.

-cation Symposium held last year in Las Vegas. The survey assesses the current availability of specialized programs and services for these students at responding institutions and mea-sures the progress made over the past three years according to ACE.

Responding institutions have improved in meeting the needs of veteran and military stu-dents in a number of ways, including:

-grams and services for military and veteran students have a dedicated office serving those

-vices for veteran and military students provide counseling to assist with post-traumatic stress

services for veteran and military students have staff trained to assist with physical disabilities,

have staff trained to assist specifically with

can say the university is veteran-friendly. That’s

the Star Tribune

The Star Tribunelaunching what it sees as a unique initiative to recruit and support veterans for its master

-selling itself as military friendly with the mar-keting slogan ‘Change your stripes.’”

There were talks between Hamline vet-erans with representatives from Hamline’s

program, about getting some outreach done -

student veterans organized the Hamline Uni-versity Veterans Affairs Organization. The stu-dent veterans group’s mission was to duplicate local successful veterans models like the ones

the organization Student Veterans of America (SVA). Student veterans felt it was important to solidify a veterans organization at Hamline

after discovering there was no visible active undergraduate veterans group on campus, according to HUVAO president Lora Nichols

University Veterans Affairs Organization have

military and understand the needs of most veterans.”

Another important item to veterans attend-ing Hamline is getting credits for military

-cational path most relevant to their experience.

students with families, mortgages and full-time jobs. A shorter stay at Hamline, depending on the degree makes all the sense in the world.

This has been a hurdle not easily over-come by veterans on campus. Currently, HU directs veterans to the American Council on Education (ACE) to have military experience processed and evaluated, then returned for an evaluation on the number of credits each

veterans at Hamline that while ACE does a great job, Hamline University could probably handle processing veteran credits without an outside evaluator. Hamline must now decide how they will handle veterans and credit for military experience. Chasen Crowsen, Voc-

up to [Hamline] how they want to issue and handle credits for veterans based on their mili-

Affairs has nothing to do with it.”Unfortunately, courting veterans and reten-

tion might be a little harder, and easier to put

active duty Army personnel who currently attend or plan on attending college were dealt a serious blow when the Army announced the suspension of military benefits. The military news authority, Stars and Stripes announced that the Army is suspending its tuition assis-tance program for soldiers newly enrolling in classes due to sequestration and other budget-ary pressures. Army spokespersons say that the Army administrators understand the impacts of this action and will re-evaluate should the budgetary situation improve.

Supporting veterans in college and active

-cation seems to be an honorable thing to do. Some of them have been permanently injured, disfigured, maimed (mentally and physically) and many who served will never see a college campus, or their families.

uphold the honor of a country that seeks to correct inequalities in other countries. Unfor-tunately, the country, which we serve, does not seem willing to correct the inequalities here at home.

You should do the Harlem Shake

STEVEN ROTCHADL

DON ALLEN

Everything we say now is offensive to someone. Yet we overlook real problems, like unemployment, terrorism, climate change, etc. etc.

Tom R. Kovach

Nevis, Minn., letter to Star Tribune

T T F S S MW

A hand-picked selection of the best Twin Cities music concerts and events

19 20 21 22 23 24 25

12 13 14 15 16 17 18

NightosaurTurf Club

BoyCedar Cultural Center

Cinema LoungeBryant Lake Bowl

Mikel Wright and the WrongsCabooze

April Verch BandCedar Cultural Center

Black Blondie

G. Love and Special SauceFirst Avenue

Sexy DeliciousDakota Jazz Club

UMAMIKitty Cat Klub

Blue Ruin

Drumming Dancing and Duos Stop Drop

Inuit Films: Sharing Our Stories

FemRock Anderson Center 112

8 A&E The Oracle | TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2013

Local theater group inspires new perspectives on women-related issues through live performances.

THEATER

Brittany Rassett Reporter

Women’s stories are unbound on stage

According to Womenarts.org, roles for male actors out-number roles for women actors two to one.

Aware of the lack of women’s roles in theater, Theatre Unbound was created to bring more women’s stories and roles to the stage.

According to Theatre Unbound Artistic Director Stacey Poirier, the group decided to name their theater company “Unbound” to refer to a corset unbinding to free a woman’s voice.

“Seven female theater artists came together and decided it was time to change the gender landscape of the Twin Cit-ies stages,” Poirier wrote in an email.

Poirier explained that although Theatre Unbound is a women’s theater group, they still try to cast men for the roles of male characters.

“We often have a difficult time attracting male actors, so I do lean toward scripts with all women. The stories we tell are about women and I think maybe the men don’t like playing the supporting roles,” Poirier wrote.

Poirier explained that while it is important to have a larger female cast, it is also important to have more young women supporting these artists and women’s organizations.

“Sometimes we don’t see inequality around us because we are so used to it or because we don’t want to believe it exists,” Poirier wrote. “You can start by just paying attention to the entertainment you already take in. Who wrote it? How many women are represented versus how many men?”

According to Poirier, Theatre Unbound has received five

awards between 2010-2012. These include two “Favorite Theater Company” awards and a “Changemaker” award by Minnesota Women’s Press readers, an Ivey Award for “Inven-tive Reinterpretation” of the all-female production of “Julius Caesar,” and Poirier was voted “Favorite Minnesota Role Model for Women in the Arts” by Minnesota Women’s Press readers.

Starting April 13, Theatre Unbound will be showing their newest play, “girl group.”

“‘girl group’ is about success and failure. It’s about defin-ing those terms and defining yourself in a world that has already done both for you. And it’s about how fearless you have to be to succeed and how brave you have to be to fail,” Poirier wrote.

Carol Critchley is a local playwright whose writing and directing of “The Boy From Popular” has been nominated for an Emmy, according to Poirier.

“Carol’s script ‘Simply Gerta’ was the first one I produced as Artistic Director for Theatre Unbound. She is a hilarious writer. Subtle, but hilarious,” Poirier wrote.

According to Poirier, in addition to reaching out to wom-en, they encourage attendance of everyone by offering pay-what-you-can nights as an option to assist those with lower income, such as students, artists and the unemployed.

“Sometimes people are embarrassed that they can only pay a couple dollars or the change in their pocket, but we let them know it’s okay, that’s why we do it,” Poirier said.

Poirier explained that pay-what-you-can night is fairly standard for most small theater companies. It’s usually on a Monday night (the night union actors are required to have off) to allow artists to get a chance to see it.

“It is sometimes referred to as ‘Industry Night,’ but over the years different theaters picked different nights,” Poirier wrote.

For more information on Theatre Unbound visit www.the-atreunbound.com.

PHOTOS | COURTESY OF THEATRE UNBOUNDTop

BottomNoe Tallen

Asian music series begins with India

A&E 9The Oracle | TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2013

This year, the Symposium on the Humanities will feature NDSU Professor Kristi A. Groberg’s research on two different topics in art history: “Shamanism in the work of the Russian artist Kandinsky” and “Necrotecture and Sacred Space.”

The symposium is an annual event organized and funded through the Hamline University Endowed Chair in the Humanities, Professor Kristen Mapel Bloomberg, who is in charge of planning the event and choosing the presenter. Mapel Bloomberg said the role was created by an anony-mous donor and was intended to help raise visibility of the humanities on campus. In the past, the symposium has featured presentations on a variety of subjects, including many on feminism, a topic which Mapel Bloomberg said is underrepresented in other events on campus.

“We’re probably one of the few major programming arms of the university that does focus on those kinds of things,” Mapel Bloomberg said. “I think we help provide a balance.”

The symposium is also co-sponsored by various aca-demic departments at Hamline depending on the topic, Mapel Bloomberg said; this year, the history and art history departments are co-hosting the event. Chair of the history

department John Mazis explained that one of the presenta-tions is being hosted through a collaborative art history/his-tory course he is teaching with Chair of the art history de-partment Aida Audeh. Both the symposium and his course with Audeh, Mazis said, provide an important liberal-arts emphasis on learning across disciplines.

“This is, after all, a liberal arts college and we come here to teach or to be taught with the idea that we are going to have a taste of disciplines and ideas that are far away from where our own interests are,” Mazis said.

Mazis said that one of the benefits of this is the oppor-tunity even for professors to learn new things outside their expertise.

“What I like about [the class with Audeh] is that I’m also learning,” Mazis said. “I sit with the students and I become informed about art history and artistic movements and I understand them better. It’s just a delight.”

Mapel Bloomberg expressed a similar enthusiasm for the chance to gain a new understanding from the symposium.

“I know nothing about this, and I think it sounds terribly interesting and it’s going to provide a nice opportunity to learn something new,” Mapel Bloomberg said.

Mazis also added that he hopes the symposium will be a good opportunity for students to approach interdisciplinary research, as it is open to Hamline community members of all disciplines.

“My hope is that students will realize that art is not for artists alone,” Mazis said. “We can appreciate and we can understand it without being experts in the field, and I think that’s important for everybody.”

Mazis also expressed optimism that the symposium will inspire students to pursue other avenues of artistic studies, including local museums; he recommended the Minneapo-lis Institute of Arts, a free museum with an extensive collec-tion of art from many styles and periods.

“It’s a great resource in the area,” Mazis said. “You should take advantage of it!”

Mapel Bloomberg said that the symposium is also in-tended to build community at Hamline.

“That will provide some opportunities for Hamline com-munity to get together where it’s not a committee meeting or just business,” Mapel Bloomberg said.

For this reason, the symposium always offers a free lunch to students, faculty and staff who RSVP. Although the dead-line is past, it’s not too late to start planning for next year. Mapel Bloomberg certainly has, explaining that the large amounts of work that go into the symposium usually start a year in advance, as does contacting potential present-ers. Possible featured scholars might be suggested by other faculty members, as Grosberg was this year, since the chair makes a special effort to choose speakers whom students might not otherwise have the chance to hear.

“We like to feature people whose work is developing, and who are just as interesting as expensive, famous speakers,” Mapel Bloomberg said.

As for who, or what, next year’s symposium might bring to campus, Mapel Bloomberg refused to reveal even a hint.

“That’s a secret!” Mapel Bloomberg said.

Be prepared. On Friday, March 15 at Sundin Music Hall, Asian music will invade Hamline.

The South Indian concert on Friday is the first of a series of three concerts at Sundin called The Sub-lime and the Beautiful Music Se-ries. All three concerts will feature Asian music, but the concert on March 15 will specifically focus on South Indian music traditions.

At this concert, renowned vee-na player Nirmala Rajasekar is per-forming with three drummers. Ra-jasekar has played at venues such as Carnegie Hall and the United Nations, and is considered one of the world’s best veena players.

The veena is a very large plucked-string instrument. Ra-jasekar explained that it is the national instrument of India, and that she plays a specific type called the Saraswati veena. She also ex-plained that Indian music is very unique because it is all about sus-taining sound.

“You have the freedom to take a melody and go on and on…it’s complex and beautiful,” Rajasekar said.

She added that in her genre, musicians express “the journey between two notes. The flowing emotion is the most important el-ement.”

Rajasekar acknowledged that many Indian concerts last as long

as two to three hours. However, she expects that her “Spirit of the Veena” concert will last about an hour and a half to give the audi-ence a taste of the music and not overwhelm them.

When asked if she had any spe-cific pieces of music in mind for the concert, Rajasekar said that she and her fellow performers don’t have anything set in stone, but that of course they have an idea of what they’ll be playing.

“That is the beauty of live per-formance; it’s spontaneous. You never know what’ll happen,” Ra-jasekar said.

She went on to say that music is by definition creative, and playing live really emphasizes that idea.

“I would say that 80 percent of the music is created onstage,” Ra-jasekar estimated, saying that even playing the same piece of music is different each time it’s played.

Rajasekar expressed excitement at the idea of playing at Sundin.

“Playing in a small space like that is a very intimate experience,” she said. “It’s a different kind of rapport with the audience.”

Rajasekar said she is excited to share her music with the Ham-line community. In addition to the concert itself, she will conduct a free workshop on March 14 for those who are interested in Indian music.

After the Friday, March 15 con-cert, the next concert in The Sub-lime and the Beautiful series will occur on Friday, April 26 and fea-tures Indonesian music. The last concert focuses on Chinese music and is set to happen on Friday, Oct. 11.

The Sublime and the Beautiful, a series of three Sundinperfomances featuring di!erent styles of traditional Asian music, begins this Friday with an Indian music performance.

MUSIC

Annual symposium bridges disciplines

Jody Peters Reporter

Gabby Landsverk Senior Reporter

PHOTO | COURTESY OF ARTIST

Where: Sundin Music HallWhen: Workshop- March 14 at 1 p.m.Pre-concert talk- March 15 at 7:15 p.m.Concert- March 15 at 8 p.m.Cost: $5 for Hamline students and sta!, $8 for non-Hamline students and $12 for adults. Tickets are now available by phone through Sundin Music Hall Box O"ce: 651-523-2459

Art history and history departments will be brought together in an interdisciplinary presentation.

ART HISTORY

Determination. That’s the mindset Shamara Duwearatchi has for every match, every game, every point and every ball.

As a sophomore, it has earned her a top spot on the Hamline women’s tennis team, playing double duty with a singles and dou-bles game each meet. Duwearatchi is aware of her constant determination and uses it to the best of her ability.

“I always go for every ball no matter where it is,” Duwearatchi said.

Her doubles partner, junior Lee Manthe, agreed.

“Shamara is the definition of someone who hustles and works for every point. She rarely, if ever, gives up,” Manthe said.

After a tough season last year, Duwearatchi and her team are ready for the fresh start this year. Duwearatchi and Manthe both agreed that improvement on the court needs to be day in and day out.

“We want to work on improving every single practice and every single match,” Manthe said.

Duwearatchi, a former Bloomington Kennedy Eagle, said she is working care-fully on her serve, hoping more spin will earn her more aces.

There is one area from last season the team wouldn’t mind repeating. Last year, the Hamline wom-

en’s tennis team was named to the Interna-tional Tennis Association All-Academic team for the third year in a row. The team achieved the requirements of a combined 3.2 GPA or higher.

As a first-year, Duwearatchi gained indi-vidual recognition as well, clinching a spot on the ITA Scholar Athlete team which requires a GPA of 3.5 or higher.

Unfortunately, the women haven’t started the season out as they’d hoped. Besides a solid win over Bethany Lutheran on Feb. 23, the season has stayed in the loss column.

Junior Carissa Wallerich and sophomore Rachael Barnes also took on double duty, winning at doubles and singles in the 8-1 win over Bethany Lutheran, but it was Duwearat-chi who earned the recognition as Hamline’s woman Athlete of the Week. She was excited to hear the news.

“It means that not only I know I'm working hard, but [other] people are also noticing,” Duwearatchi said.

One person that notices every day is her doubles partner, Manthe. Although their styles differ, they use it to their advantage by keep-ing Duwearatchi near her comfort zone on the baseline while Manthe charges the net and tries to finish the point.

“Our styles work well together because we feed off of each other’s energy,” Duwearatchi said.

Both agreed that they are a good pairing.“I think we play extremely well together,”

Duwearatchi said.The partnership is still young, and

therefore, a lot of work still has to be done. Although Duwearatchi mentioned their excel-lent communication, the duo has only played six matches together.

When they get the chance in practice, they work on what is known as the “10-foot rope,” meaning when one player moves to get the ball, their partner stays within 10 feet of them.

“No matter where she or I go, the other fol-lows within 10 feet. It's crucial in doubles to stay and move together with your partner and to know where they are on the court,” Manthe said.

The pair will be looking for a win this week-end as the Hamline women’s tennis team trav-els to Winona to take on Saint Mary’s.

Duwearatchi has drive to succeedSophomore’s resolve has made her one of the top players on the women’s tennis team.

Sarah Schneekloth Reporter

TENNIS

10 Sports The Oracle | TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2013

“Shamara is the definition of someone who hustles and works for every point. She rarely, if ever, gives up.”Lee Manthe

Junior

The men’s and women’s track and field took their talent to Naperville, Ill., last week for the NCAA D-III Indoor Championships and will have a long break until their next meet at the Hamline Invitational on April 6.

Sophomore Derrick Mora said that preparing for nationals is about staying focused and working hard through practice. His goal as a competitor is to one day finish first in the long jump.

“I would love to get first in long jump one of these years. I think next year there’s a really good chance as long as I stay healthy,” he said.

Prior to nationals, Mora competed at the regionals and earned third place in the long jump.

“It was good and at the same time kind of frustrat-ing,” Mora said.

He said he felt they didn’t finish as strong as they were capable of finishing.

“There were definitely a few things that we could have [done] better, maybe doing some stuff in train-ing that we didn’t do as much this year as we did last year,” he said.

However, Mora did acknowledge that the team has accomplished some great things at the regionals.

“Overall, I feel good about our performance,” he said

Last week at nationals, the women’s track and field team put on a show. Both sophomore Shawny Kramer and senior Becky Culp earned All-American honors, with their impressive performance at the meet.

Kramer threw her career best at the weight throw with a 57-9, which is the seventh best throw by any athlete in Division-III this year, and earned fifth place in the weight throw at nationals.

Culp received her third All-American honor after recording a 46-0.50 in the shot put, which placed fifth at the nationals. That was Culp’s second personal best behind her 47’3.5 effort that she did prior to this meet at the MIAC Indoor Championships.

Both performances were crucial to the Pipers at the NCAA D-III Indoor Championships, as they tied for 23rd place at the meet.

The men’s and women’s track and field teams don’t have another meet until next month. However, their season is a long way from over, and they will continue to train to prepare for the next part of their schedule.

“It’s mainly about staying focused. Even after you do conference, you still need to do the little things because those little things are going to help you. Every day in practice you got to work hard,” Mora said.

The next meet for the men’s and women’s track and field will be the Hamline Invitational on April 6. Last year at Klas Field, the Pipers had some success. The Pipers won a total of five events. The men’s won three as the women’s won two along with several other strong finishes.

Culp and Kramer shine at championshipsBoth throwers earn All-American honors at D-III championships. Teams prepare move to outdoor season.

Gino Terrell Reporter

TRACK AND FIELD

PHOTOS | ORACLE ARCHIVESophomore Shawny Kramer (left) and senior Becky Culp (right) led the way for the Pipers. Both earned All-American honors for their performance at the NCAA D-III championships last week in Naperville, Ill.

Duwearatchi

MIAC Overall Carleton 3-0 7-1Gustavus 3-0 8-3Saint John’s 2-0 2-2St. Thomas 2-0 4-0St. Olaf 2-1 3-2Bethel 0-2 0-3Concordia 0-2 2-7Hamline 0-2 2-4Saint Mary’s 0-2 8-3Macalester 0-3 2-5

MIAC MEN’S TENNIS

EDITOR’S DESK

I was actually excited for the World Base-ball Classic this year. Seriously.

Unfortunately, the event is once again dull and hardly the international cel-ebration of baseball that MLB so des-perately wants it to be. The games are mostly boring; so far, the most exciting moment of the tournament has been a bench-clearing brawl between Canada and Mexico that inexplicably erupted over a sacrifice bunt attempt.

The tournament is a great premise that is executed horribly. The idea of di!er-ent nations competing with each other is exciting, but it only works if everyone takes it seriously and plays as if national pride is on the line, like in the Olympics.

That kind of thing does not happen in the WBC. The United States team is mostly comprised of players who were begrudgingly willing to take the time out of spring training to play. The pitchers are on strict pitch counts to avoid injuries, so starters only go for a small number of innings, another way in which the event does not resemble actual baseball.

Then there’s the goofiness of some of the other rosters. Due to a rules loop-hole designed to add MLB players to international teams, Nick Punto and Drew Butera are randomly represent-ing team Italy.

Things like this add up to destroy the legitimacy of the event. The WBC still functions as an amusing baseball exhi-bition, but it could be so much more if there were any real stakes.

When NHL players participate in the Winter Olympics, they take a break from their season and all the players who are healthy participate. The nature of the MLB schedule makes that extremely di"cult, which leads to the awkward timing in spring training when most players are still rounding back into form.

WBC is additional baseball, so I can’t complain too much. But finding a way to maneuver it into the middle of the regular season would make it infinitely better. So would adding some sort of compensation or incentive to ensure that the best players are there and free of pitch counts and other limits that detract from the game.

Unfortunately, these changes seem unlikely. In four years, more columns like this will surely be written.

WBC: good idea, bad execution

—JOSH EPSTEIN, ORACLE

Sports 11The Oracle | TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2013

While the general public tends to love sports movies, I’m often indifferent to them. Too often, Hollywood magic in the form of cliched inspirational storylines and manufac-tured drama is used as a substitute for actual knowledge of sports, in order to make the film appeal to the widest audience possible.

However, some movies are able to break the mold, and are a reminder of how power-ful sports can be. A lot of the time, these are documentaries — the natural drama of sports is often far more exciting and engrossing than the stuff that screenwriters can come up with. These are some movies available on Netflix streaming that I think are worth your time.

Hoop Dreams

When people walk up to me on the street and ask me what the best sports movie of all time is (which they do, frequently), my answer is always “Hoop Dreams.” The 1994 documentary, directed by Steve James, fol-lows the lives of two Chicago high school bas-ketball stars, Arthur Agee and William Gates, as they try to make it to the NBA.

While initially intended as a short film, the movie ended up becoming a three-hour epic, as James and his team followed the athletes for five years with an incredible amount of access. Along the way, the film studies the effect basketball has on class, poverty, race, competition, and seemingly a million other themes. The movie also has plot twists and memorable characters that no writer could ever come up with.

The running time is a pretty big invest-ment, but it’s worth it: “Hoop Dreams” is a thought-provoking documentary that remains the gold standard for sports films.

Ballplayer: Pelotero

A small documentary project that was qui-etly released last year, “Ballplayer: Pelotero” is sort of baseball’s answer to “Hoop Dreams.” It follows two 16-year-old Dominican pros-pects, Miguel Angel Sano and Jean Carlos Batista, as they look to bank a big contract with an MLB team that is their ticket out of poverty.

“Ballplayer: Pelotero” shines a light on the often unsavory practices that take place in the Dominican Republic, as scouts and agents maneuver to try to find ways to sign the play-ers for as cheaply as possible. The age of both players also comes into question when the league investigates both to make sure they are actually 16, the minimum signing age that also leads to the biggest contracts.

Miguel Angel Sano’s name may be familiar to some Twins fans: he is currently one of the top prospects for Minnesota. That makes this worthwhile viewing for Minnesota fans, but also really to any baseball fan.

June 17, 1994

ESPN’s “30 for 30” series had several great documentaries, but “June 17, 1994” is my favorite. Like the title suggests, the film is simply the events of June 17, 1994, told in an experiential style that eschews the usual talk-ing head segments in favor of actual media footage from the day as it unfolded.

The day is memorable first and foremost because of OJ Simpson’s infamous white Bronco chase, which hangs over the other day’s proceedings, including the World Cup, the New York Rangers’ championship parade, game five of the NBA finals and Arnold Palmer playing his last round in a U.S. Open. The filmmaker, Brett Morgen, weaves together all of these events with media clips and other footage, letting most of what hap-pens on screen speak for itself.

“June 17, 1994” ends up being something of a takedown of the 24/7 news cycle, but

it also perfectly captures what it must have been like for a sports fan channel-surfing during that day. Sports is often about those memorable moments as you see them, and this film understands that perfectly.

The Two Escobars

Another “30 for 30” entry, “The Two Esco-bars” tells the story of Colombian soccer player Andres Escobar and drug lord Pablo Escobar, a pair whose lives intertwine in the lead-up to the 1994 World Cup. Colombia’s drug cartels (including Pablo’s) helped turn the nation’s soccer program, led by team captain Andres, into a powerhouse. But even-tually, it ended in tragedy for both men. “The Two Escobars” tells a story that I was not too familiar with, and it does it in an engaging way, with many interviews and even-handed portrayals of both men.

No Crossover: the Trial of Allen Iverson

In yet another “30 for 30” entry, “Hoop Dreams” director Steve James returned to his hometown of Hampton, Va. to look back at a 1993 scandal that rocked the town. High school (and future NBA) superstar Allen Iverson was accused of throwing a chair in a bowling alley riot that allegedly was sparked by racism. That becomes the predominant issue in the ensuing trial and media cover-age, and James does a good job covering both sides of the issue, as well as bringing in his own experiences along with his mother’s.

Iverson was not interviewed for the docu-mentary, but that actually helps make it more about the town and its reactions than just about the superstar himself. The film also does not tell you what to think and allows the viewer to draw their own conclusions on the incident, similar to how all the people of Hampton decided to think what they wanted about it. “No Crossover” is a balanced docu-mentary that tells a good story from a unique perspective.

Great sports documentariesNetflix has dozens of sports films available for streaming. Here are some that are worth seeing.

Josh Epstein Sports Editor

MOVIES

GYMNASTICS

PHOTOS | ORACLE ARCHIVEJunior Courtney Benson (pictured) continued another strong season last week at the WIAC championships in Oshkosh, WI. She finished second in the vault and fourth in the all-around and qualified for nationals for the second consecutive season. As a team, the Pipers finished seventh out of eight teams. UW-Whitewater won the meet.

Lavvu Coffeehouse, a few blocks away from Dinkytown, isn’t just a place to get a great cup of coffee or one of the shop’s signature waffles. It’s a unique cultural experience. Lavvu is named for the traditional dwellings of the Sami people that call northern Scandinavia their home, and the coffeehouse is the only Sami-themed coffee shop in Minnesota.

The coffeehouse was previously located in the Northtown Mall, but owner Chris Pesklo decided to relocate his shop to the Din-kytown area because business at the mall was in decline. The Lavvu Coffeehouse opened the doors of its new location in February of this year.

“Swedes have the American Swedish Institute, the Norwe-gians have the Sons of Norway, the Finns have many other organizations for themselves, but the Sami really haven’t had their own cultural center or other type of gathering area. So this is what I was hoping this place to envi-sion,” Pesklo said.

The indig-enous Sami live in the Sapmi, which spans across Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. They are renowned as fish-ers and reindeer herders. Like the indigenous population of North America, the Sami have long strug-gled because of a governmental desire to push assimilation. Pesklo, who is Sami himself, wasn’t aware of his heritage until he began look-ing into his genealogy. Pesklo’s situation isn’t uncommon.

“Now we have a lot of people who came here [to the United States] under Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian or even Russian pass-ports. They’re finding out now that we were actually Sami over there [in Sapmi],” Pesklo said. “There was a lot of hidden identity and a lot of people are discovering their Sami heritage right now.”

It wasn’t until the 1980s that Norway finally stopped all assimi-lation processes after plans to build a dam in the midst of a Sami town was met with great protest and pushback from the Sami com-munity. In the 1990s, His Majesty King Harald V of Norway made a public apology to the Sami people and the Norwegian government began funding Sami schools.

“Since I opened up here we’ve had massive support from the

American Swedish Institute. We’ve had a number of Scandi-navian clubs approach the coffee shop and the response has been overwhelming. It’s been ecstatic. I haven’t had a single negative com-plaint or anything derogatory,” Pesklo said.

True to its Sami theme, the Lavvu Coffeehouse takes its name from a Sami staple: the Lavvu.

“It looks like a tipi but it’s actu-ally very, very different,” Pesklo said.

The Lavvu are ideal for the Sami people because the light-weight design is easy to carry and to set up quickly, offering refuge from the cold winters of the Sapmi that put even our bitter Minneso-tan winters to shame.

Lavvu Coffee-house clearly prizes its namesake. The corner of the shop is occupied by a spacious Lavvu – stuffed with cozy cushions and a fake fire – which is open for customers to sit in and enjoy a cup of coffee. Pesklo has been making and selling Lavvu since 1995.

“I’ve been selling Lavvus through my website and over the years I’ve always been asked, ’Do you have a showroom or something like that?’ and I never had,” Pesklo said. “So the coffee shop also suf-fices as a showroom for the Lavvu that

people are interested in.”While the Sami-inspired cof-

feehouse is unique in that regard, Lavvu Coffeehouse is also a rare treat because of its specialized drinks and menu, which ranges from Snickers-flavored coffee to Swedish jams. In the future, Pesklo plans to offer traditional Sami coffee, which is made through a multistep process that involves swinging a kettle over an open fire.

“My insurance isn’t thrilled about having an open fire in the store,” Pesklo said with a laugh.

Because of its proximity to the University of Minnesota, the shop has quickly become a popular place for students to grab a cup of coffee or a snack while studying. Lavvu Coffeehouse even offers special hours around midterms and finals for weary students. Within both the Sami community and the larger St. Paul community, the shop has made an impact.

“[There has been a] very, very positive response from a number of different communities,” Pesklo said.

Even though the coffeehouse has only been open for about a month, it’s well on its way to being a popular local hangout.

12 Variety The Oracle | TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2013

“The Sami really haven’t had their own cultural center or other type of gathering area. So this is what I was hoping this place to envision.”Chris Pesklo

Owner of Lavvu Coffeehouse

Jena Felsheim Senior Reporter

LOCAL

Heritage in a coffeehouseA newly-located cafe is the only Sami-themed shop in Minnesota.

PHOTOS | MARISA GONZALEZ, ORACLEAbove: A peek from within the Lavvu in the co!ehouse. Below: Specialized drinks being made.