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3.1 edition of the Manitou MessengerTRANSCRIPT
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Tuition increase remains inevitableCollege cuts costs, students’ fees rise by nearly 3 percent Last week, in an email to the entire stu-dent body, President David Anderson ’74 announced a 2.69 percent increase in next year’s comprehensive fee. !is increase will be the smallest in 40 years. However, the national average increase for college tuition is 5.4 percent. Several forces drove this increase and the administration managed to keep the rising cost well below the national average of other private colleges. !e Obama Administration has crusaded for a"ordability in higher education by ex-panding grant aid and college tax credits. In President Obama’s most recent State of the Union address, he said that there is a “shared responsibility by federal govern-ment, states, colleges and universities to promote access and a"ordability in higher education by reining in college costs, provid-ing value and preparing students with a solid education.” Currently, the federal government awards about $178 billion in grants and other subsi-dies to open access to higher education. Provost and Dean of the College Marci Sortor said that the main driving forces be-hind the increase are in#ation, health care costs and energy. !e college maintains a strong commit-ment to those who support and teach in the St. Olaf community. !erefore, increasing health costs will increase the overall cost of tuition. !e cost of energy, cooling, heating and lighting of campus can spike. Additionally, licenses, subscriptions to journals and data-bases, technologies and the cost of o"-cam-pus study programs can rise above the over-
all in#ation rate. To keep costs low, the college employs a mix of strategies. Sortor explained, “We try
to increase revenues. In the academic area we apply for government and foundation grants, o"er summer school and camps and reach
out to donors who want to support students through scholarships or con-tributions to the academic program.” Each year, the college re-examines programs to see the correlation with current goals in providing a $rst-rate education. !is next year will approach the budget with the inclusion of cost-sav-ing measures in printing and food. Sortor explained three broad rea-sons for increasing tuition: external forces, student need and rising expec-tations. External forces include government regulations, reporting, compliance and other necessary measures that do not pertain to ful$lling St. Olaf ’s mis-sion. Student need pertains, in part, to academic necessities and can include new classes or increased resourc-es. High and rising expectations is straightforward: !e college is devot-ed to providing a world-class educa-tion to its students. New programs, such as the new Arabic and Italian alternate language courses, provide additional opportu-nities for students. College costs increase every year and are as certain as death and taxes. But St. Olaf works as hard as it can to give students the best return on their investment possible, as evidenced by the lower tuition increase relative to its peer colleges.
By Seth EllingsonContributing Writer
Sixty thousand pages of information make up the St. Olaf College website. !is vast number made the task of transform-ing the college’s webpage all the more daunting.!e process of renewing the site began
in April 2012 when Information Technol-ogy decided to switch the content man-agement system used to maintain and edit the school’s webpage. !e department had been operating with a Dreamweaver-based platform, but this was proving to be both overly complicated and expensive.!e licensing cost of Dreamweaver
so%ware is “projected to skyrocket in the coming years,” said Steve Blodgett, St. Olaf ’s director of marketing and commu-nications. !e necessary technical change pre-
sented an opportunity for a complete website faceli%. And the so%ware was not the only aspect of the website that was outdated.
“We’ve known for several years that the St. Olaf website was overdue for a design refresh,” Blodgett said, adding that the old setup was not “keeping up with new developments” in the college’s personality and public image.
Webpage designers faced the chal-lenge of maintaining the robust content that the site contains, while also increas-ing the ease of navigation. !e webpage is a source of important information for many groups of people who interact with St. Olaf College. Prospective students, current students, parents, faculty and alumni all require a variety of assistance from the school’s webpage.
According to Blodgett, the website is the “front door” to the school, and if it appears confusing or cluttered, a student could miss the intended message that the college is trying to convey. Before the content changes, the webpage was trying to be “all things to all people,” he said. !e homepage’s old format featured
links to pages geared toward speci$c groups’ needs. !e main page now contains links to
features such as interactive maps and all-over-campus webcams, as well as links for campus visits and applications. !e home page also makes more of an e"ort to high-light the principles of a St. Olaf education, such as a high educational standard, a strong residential community and a glob-al perspective. !ose responsible for the changes hope
that current students will eventually $nd the new website easier to navigate than the old system. In the meantime, familiar links like Moodle, the Student Informa-tion System and the Piper Center can be found just below the search bar, in the top right-hand corner under the title “current students.”
While these changes have increased ac-cessibility of the college for Internet users, there are always more ways to improve.
“!e website will continue to evolve as both WordPress and the new design are extended,” said Blodgett, hinting that stu-dents should look for more advancement in the future.
KATIE LAUER/MANITOU MESSENGER
By Dani LarsonContributing Writer
New website design aims to reach larger audience
MARIT AASENG/MANITOU MESSENGER
Health and Inequality: Social Determinants of Health
LEFT: On Saturday, Feb. 23, Dr. Tim Holz ’86 discussed the role of stigma in health care. ABOVE: Leaders for Social Change presented the results of their summer internships and communal living experiences. This year’s Social Science Conference focused on health and inequality and featured a series of panels and speakers from Feb. 19 to 23.
BECCA REMPEL/MANITOU MESSENGER
Editor’s Note: This article is a companion to the Feb. 22 article on the same subject by Sijia Wei ’14.
As I walked through the doors of Dittmann Dance Studio Number One, I nervously thought, “Oh God, what am I doing here?” This was quickly followed by, “Would anyone notice if I did a 180 and fled?” Before I even had time to consid-er these thoughts, it was too late; I was spotted by my acquain-tances. There was no going back. I kicked off my shoes at the door-step, mustered what courage I had and resolutely put one foot in front of the other to join the St. Olaf international students in their Gangnam Style flash mob practice. I could never imagine it then, but this action would be the beginning of an adventure that would irrevocably change me and my St. Olaf experience. On that particular day, how-ever, nothing too extraordinary happened. I made a fool of myself trying to dance to a song by some random, aging Korean rapper. I met a few international students whose names I could not hope to pronounce. I went back to my dorm laughing at my antics. Yet, with every rehearsal, I got to know my international acquain-tances a little better. I began to find myself returning to Larson with a pleasant smile on my face. Since those warm September days, many things have changed. The acquaintances I was blessed with meeting during my time in the flash mob have now become my good friends. My roommate from Vietnam, whom I hardly knew at the beginning of the year, has become an incredible friend and has taught me more about life than he could ever know. Now, I have danced in the Diwali festival, cooked Chinese meals with friends and taken advantage of incredible cultural opportunities on campus like International Food Night. Most significantly, I have been blessed with the opportunity to build
relationships with international stu-dents on a day-to-day basis. I am immea-surably thankful for these changes in my life. As I reflect back on these recent events, I see that I am a dif-ferent person than I was five months ago. My time among the international com-munity at St. Olaf has opened my eyes, so I now see what I once missed. Before this year, I was mere-ly aware that inter-national students existed on this cam-pus. They would do their thing; I would do mine. Now, I have been repeatedly hum-bled and inspired by my new friends from around the world. In truth, the international stu-dents I have met are some of the most genuine, courageous and kind people I know. Let it be clear that I do not wish to discount the countless won-derful people at this school who, like me, have grown up in the U.S. I’m not saying international students are better than those of us who have grown up in the U.S. But, for me, building relation-ships with international students has been a wake-up call to how big the world really is and how easy it is to overlook that fact. In the past, I often passed a peer from Japan, Costa Rica, Hungary or Madagascar and walked on without a second thought. I have, in many instances, dismissed the thought of befriending, or at least greeting, an international student simply because I felt like I could never relate to them. Outwardly, I became disinterested in them, and they, perhaps in similar fash-ion, became outwardly disinter-ested in me. This is a problem. I am firmly convinced that being unable to relate to a person’s past and cul-ture is not a reason for not build-ing a relationship with them. In
fact, it may be all the more of a reason to do so. Perhaps meeting someone from halfway across the world is awkward. It may seem difficult to find common ground on which to relate. Maybe you do finally talk and then feel slightly stupid as you ask them to repeat their name at least five times. And your feelings of ignorance in the face of their life experi-ences may occur quite often. But this is not a bad thing. Gradually, you learn. You realize that you too have something to contribute to the conversation. You have the incredible ability to welcome them to the U.S. and make this campus less of a study abroad experience and more of a home. Thus, getting to know inter-national students has helped me grow in many ways. Stereotypes I have held about specific coun-tries and regions of the world have been torn down. My previ-ous assumptions are shattered. I now know that an international student can be just as great a friend as an American student. My pride in my knowledge about the world has been stripped away. I do not want to just know the world, I want to experience it. Thankfully, I have had the incredible opportunity to do so this year across dorm rooms,
chairs in Fireside and across the entire campus. As Oles, we are not only often exposed to concepts and ideas from other nations in the class-room, but we are interested in them as well – and this is a great thing. Our cultural curi-osity must persist beyond the classroom walls. As students, we have the wonderful chance to interact with peers from all walks of life. Foreign students do not exclusively make up the diver-sity on this campus, but they are a large part. My experience getting to know students from around the world has been a truly wonderful one. Now, as I go on my own study abroad experience for the next seven months, I am even more thankful for the learn-ing opportunities I have gained here through my friends from around the world. I have learned, and will continue to learn, more about this wide, beautiful human world we exist in. I am thankful for this every day.
Kyle Obermann ’14 ([email protected]) is from Austin, Texas. He majors in political science and environmental studies with a con-centration in China studies.
O!"#"$#%page A2 March 1, 2013
Forging intercultural friendships enriches lifeBy Kyle Obermann
DANIEL BYNUM/MANITOU MESSENGER
MANITOU MESSENGER
Pro-choice advocates won a great victory in the Roe v. Wade case, but have lost every battle since. However, that may change soon. Currently, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is pushing his state to ease restrictions on late-term abortions. His legisla-tion would allow abortions in the last three months of preg-nancy if the woman’s health is in danger. This move will entice liberals across the state and also has a very practical side effect of lowering health care costs. But Cuomo’s proposal is a double-edged sword – abor-tion is more than a touchy sub-
ject. Everyone remembers the Republican candidates this past election who sank their own ships by talking about abortion. It seems that even bringing up the subject of abortion can be dangerous for politicians. Last week, St. Olaf’s pro-choice student group hosted a panel of experts to discuss the history and current state of the issue. The pro-choice movement has always had strong arguments in support of its position. For example, the panel explained that it is much more dangerous for a woman with complications to carry a baby to term than it is for her to get an abortion. However, pro-life support-ers exert much greater force in
terms of protesting – force that sometimes spirals out of control. In the U.S. alone, eight abortion providers have been killed in the last 20 years by pro-life extrem-ists. The most recent murder was in 2009 when Dr. George Tiller of Wichita, Kan. was shot dead while serving as an usher in a church service because he performed abortions. While abortion continues to be a highly contentious issue, Cuomo may be able to take the conversation in a produc-tive direction if he is careful. Cuomo’s new push keeps a campaign promise he made to improve women’s health. Now, his main job will be to frame the issue so that his initiative
maintains such an image. If he can keep the focus on broader women’s health instead of the abortion controversy, he stands a strong chance of benefitting from this new direction for state abortion laws. If he cannot, the threatened pro-life movement could derail his plans and stain his political legacy. His legacy as governor is espe-cially important if he hopes to consider a 2016 presidential run. Depending on how Cuomo allows this to play in media, tackling such a major issue could either make him a strong con-tender for the campaign trail or destroy any future hopes. Whatever the outcome of Cuomo’s legislation, one thing is certain: Opposition will be fierce from the hard-right side of the spectrum, including Catholics and other religious groups. If Cuomo really wants liberal sup-port, he must focus on women in this conversation, including them in all stages of the process. If Cuomo can take hold of the conversation early and frame the issue in terms of women’s rights, he has a chance of passing some-thing. The key to victory for Cuomo will be winning the rhetoric war that pro-choicers have been los-ing to the pro-life camp thus far.
Seth Ellingson ’15 ([email protected]) is from Powder Springs, Ga. He majors in political science and Russian.
Cuomo must frame new abortion law carefully
ANNA CARLSON/MANITOU MESSENGER
By Seth Ellingson
THEMANITOU
MESSENGEREstablished 1887
Olivia N. KoesterExecutive Editor
Ethan S. Hiedeman Managing Editor
MANAGING TEAM Business Manager
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A new game called “Half the Sky Movement” will be released March 4 on Facebook. This game is very unlike typical online social games like “FarmVille” and “Words with Friends”; “Half the Sky Movement” attempts to use the platform of social media gaming to promote aware-ness of female social justice issues and women’s empowerment. The New York Times has dubbed this type of game “social cause gaming.” The idea of gaming for good excels in creatively promoting awareness, but I am wary of how much a Facebook game can deal with the complexity of the issues and realistically impact them. Because of the tough ethical issues involved, I half-expected the art style of the game to be more gritty and less like “Cooking Mama.” However, the trailer left me wondering how they are going to tackle issues like child prostitution and female genital mutilation with doe-eyed cartoon charac-ters. This also made me curious about how lighthearted and entertaining this game might be. Understandably, the makers want this game to be played and enjoyed on some level; I honestly do not know anyone who would play a game that deeply depresses them. However, I am still con-cerned about the possibility that the game has slightly trivialized serious issues just so people are more comfortable. I do not know that I want to ever be comfortable with these issues though. The website for the game states that players can unlock giving oppor-tunities that will be matched by donors. In this way, “the game converts players to activists and participants in the movement.” I am very wary about calling players “activists” in this context, however. We can just continue on doing the stuff we like, such as wasting time on Facebook, without really getting into the meat of the issue or making any difficult decisions. Another worry I have is that some of these issues are not really as black and white as we make them out to be. Sometimes the answer to the ques-tion “Is it right or wrong?” is “yes.” For example, one of the issues the game has promised to touch upon, female genital mutilation, lumps all forms of female circumcision under a name that provokes negative con-notations. While some forms of the practice are very dangerous, female circumcision may also be considered a rite of passage for these women. I am not arguing that we should not form an opinion about any kind of circumcision for fear it might offend someone. I am arguing that we can-not simply say they are wrong and completely ignore the cultural context this practice exists in. One could argue we have our own version of this practice happening right here in the United States: male genital mutila-tion, or circumcision. We also mutilate our bodies in other ways through plastic surgery, “tummy tucks” and implants of all sorts. I’m fairly certain we wouldn’t like another country stepping in and telling us these prac-tices are wrong and that we should stop immediately. So then who are we to say what is right and wrong for another culture? I remember being stunned when a Cracked.com article, of all things, pointed out how even the plots of popular games like “Far Cry 3” are heavily influenced by ideas of colonialism. In other words, many games follow the archetype that white people need to intervene in other cultures in order to cure their societal ills. Is the unintended outcome of “Half the Sky Movement” going to be just a bunch of outraged Americans judging cultural views and practices out of context? At this point, I feel I need to admit something about the source mate-rial this game is based on: the book Half the Sky by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. I have attempted to read this book multiple times in the three years I have owned it. Each time I get to around the 40-page mark, I cannot handle any more of the unbelievably sad stories. Part of me does not think I am stepping on any cultural toes by saying that the prostitution of young peasant girls is not an inevitable fact of life and that it is obviously wrong. However, I also want to be a good Ole and recog-nize I do not have all the facts or the cultural context behind the issue. But how can a mere social media game possibly cover the complexity of such issues? I am curious to see if the game engages critical thinking and what boundaries, if any, it pushes. At this point, though, I am not getting my hopes too high. Overall, I am interested in the effectiveness of using often overlooked forms of media to educate and involve people, but I am not so convinced a Facebook game is the appropriate medium for these types of complex issues.
Alyssa Mueller ’13 ([email protected]) is from Rochester, Minn. She majors in environmental studies.
O!"#"$#%March 1, 2013page A3
MANITOU MESSENGER
Games give superficial introduction to causes
By Alyssa Mueller
Olympic spirit survives changes Every four years, Americans come together to watch weeks of NBC programming. They join mil-lions of people around the world who feel a sudden upwelling of national pride. Of course, I’m talking about the summer Olympics. For those 17 days, we all suddenly care about a bunch of sports we will never follow again. Last summer, I spent a good deal of time watching Olympic fencing and the epic semifinal tennis match between that one British guy and the other one. I did not watch any wrestling, but then again, I figured that wrestling was not going anywhere. After all, the Olympics are all about tradition, and wrestling has been in the Olympics since the original games in Ancient Greece. The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) decision to cut wres-tling in favor of preserving the modern pentathlon has generated the most controversy for the pentath-lon since 1976, when it was discovered that Boris Onishchenko of the Soviet Union had modified his épée to contain a circuit breaker that enabled him to record a hit whenever he pressed a concealed button during the fencing portion of the competition. You are now probably thinking, “Huh?” Do not worry, very few people actually follow the sport, which is probably why the popularity of the competition has fluctuated more than the Fox Network’s weeknight programming. Over the past few Olympics, the pentathlon has gone from a five-day ordeal to a single five-hour competition that contains only four events. Basically, it looked like the pentathlon was doomed, or at least in need of a name-change. Now, however, many critics are speculating that this Cinderella story may have a dark side. Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. is a member of the International Modern Pentathlon Union, as well as an IOC board member. In his defense of the decision, Mr. Samaranch said, “Tradition is one of our strongest assets.” I think his statement provides an excellent opportu-nity to consider how the Olympics should balance tradition and the need to modernize within a chang-ing global arena. Tradition is at the heart of the Olympics. Those in charge should give it ample weight when making large decisions. At the same time, I love the inclu-sion of rugby sevens and kitesurfing in the 2016 Summer Games. Both sports bring new, exciting ele-ments into the mix; rugby was specifically included
to diversify the group of countries which compete in the team sports category. In that sense, rugby is both upholding the tradition of creating global goodwill and helping to modernize the games. I don’t think there is necessarily a right or wrong way for the IOC to go about such decisions, besides eliminating con-flicts of interests. One defense of wrestling is that it attracts over twice the viewership of the pentathlon. However, the Olympics cannot be strictly dictated by main-stream public interest. The Olympics represent a broad range of traditions and cultures that unite for a multi-week sporting event. That’s why we can’t simply write off the pentathlon, despite the fact that almost no one watches it. There are plenty of sports that I find boring in the Olympics. If it were up to me, I would probably axe any of the long-distance running events or at least a few of the swimming ones. Yet for those who follow these sports, the Olympics is an exciting time for them to share the prowess and strategies of their greatest athletes with the world. In the marathon, I just see a bunch of people running. I do not notice the highly complex combination of conditioned athletes gauging when to go and when to hold back based on where they are in relation to the rest of the competition and how much farther they have to go. If we allow the Olympics to become just about viewership, then we will quickly end up with a seventeen-day event that is as “varied” as the Billboard Top 40. Despite tradition, the Olympics are constantly changing. When the modern games were started, they were an entirely amateur affair. When the U.S. men’s hockey team upset the Soviet Union in 1980, they were the best our country had to offer outside of the pros. I’m sure the “Miracle on Ice” movie only captured half of the adrenaline that people felt as they watched that game around the world. Yet, I was on the edge of my seat in 2010 as I watched the U.S. men’s hockey team, this time containing pro-fessional hockey players, battle Canada for the gold. I’m not oblivious. For better and mostly worse, the Olympic Games are mired in politics. I think some politics shaped this vote. However, I have to believe that once the torch is officially lit, the politics end and the next days are about those lucky enough to wear their country’s colors on the world stage.
Opinions Editor Ben Taylor ’13 ([email protected]) is from Hoosick Falls, NY. He majors in environmen-tal studies and sociology/anthropology.
By Ben Taylor
KATIE LAUER/MANITOU MESSENGER
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Singer-songwriter extraor-dinaire Beck strives to rein-vent himself with every album he produces, so it should come as no surprise that his latest album, Song Reader, is in a league all its own. In an age of instant musical grati!ca-tion, his newest 20 songs exist solely in the form of sheet mu-sic; if anyone wants to hear his music, they are going to have to bring it to life on their own. But since we here at St. Olaf live, breathe and bleed music, our very own radio station, KSTO, sees this as the perfect opportunity to bring campus together to make some noise. Braden Larson ’13, Molly Raben ’13 and Matthew Ter-haar ’14 of KSTO are inviting campus bands and choristers alike to try their hand and voices at a bold artistic experi-ment unlike anything ever at-tempted in Christiansen Hall. KSTO will supply the sheet music, but they need the col-laboration of soloists and en-sembles, performance majors and enthusiastic amateurs to bring Beck’s vision to life. “We want bands to do re-ally whatever they want with this music – to go crazy, defy styles and genres, anything and everything,” Larson said. He explained that Beck’s vi-sion for Song Reader revolved around opening up music to its listeners and allowing them a di"erent accessibility than what is traditionally allowed by ordinary sheet music ar-rangements. While his new songs come with piano arrangements and guitar chords – not to mention the occasional brass part or ukulele tabs – Song Reader was constructed to be deconstruct-
ed. Since Beck chose not to prerecord a single song on the album, the sheet music begs to be pulled apart, reshaped and rearranged to suit each artist’s desires and moods. #e cul-mination of these creative en-deavors will be revealed later this spring when KSTO hosts a public performance of the album. #e chance to, in a sense, work with Beck by inhabiting his shoes and making his mu-sic their own has compelled quite a few of St. Olaf ’s most creative and daring musicians to try their hand at the Song Reader project. Among them, Allison Young ’14 expressed her enthusiasm for this once-in-a-lifetime ex-perience. “Beck is one of my favorite artists; everything he does is so wonderfully weird,” she said. “I just think it’s so cool that we’re all coming to-gether to play music that none of us have ever heard before. How o$en does that happen?” Not very o$en nowadays, in fact, which helps explain the intriguing appeal of Beck’s ambitious venture. Song Read-er was born when Beck hap-pened to hear one of his al-bums arranged for piano sheet music: It was awful! “All the weird e"ects and quirks of his music didn’t translate at all,” Larson said. Beck set out to bridge the supposed divide between the music we hear on the radio and the music we can create with our own hands by writ-ing sheet music that le$ wiggle room for creative interpreta-tion. #is hands-on approach to music harkens back to a time before iPods and YouTube when music solely depended on the e"orts of musicians – be they artists or amateurs – to
bring the community together for a listening experience. As Larson pointed out, the sheet music “brings you back to the good old days of the piano parlor, with everyone sitting around listening to and enjoy-ing music just for fun.” Beck’s new songs are not particularly di%cult. In fact, he purposely wrote the songs to replicate a sort of early-twentieth-century folk sound rarely heard today. #is sim-plicity, Beck notes in his pref-ace to Song Reader (recently printed in !e New Yorker), is meant to be an “exercise in nostalgia ... playing music that feels like it could belong to anybody.” Larson echoed this thought. “Working with popular music through sheet music !ts within that need to get back to basics, like making mix tapes or lis-tening to vinyl,” he said. Song Reader takes this one step fur-ther by paring down music to
its soundless black and white origins on paper. #e result is a fascinatingly intimate expe-rience with music that waits to be shaped in whichever way the musician feels best. #e question is, are you up to the challenge? If you are interested in taking part in KSTO’s Song Reader con-cert, it is not too late! Contact Braden Larson at [email protected] for more information, or head over to songreader.net to download one of the twenty tracks, “Old Shanghai,” and to check out the hundreds of renditions people across the country have posted in response to Beck’s incredible project. See why Song Reader promises to be music to the St. Olaf community’s ears.
Valentine’s Day is considered by many to be a day of love and romance, a day spent with that special someone in your life, an a$ernoon and evening !lled with chocolates, &owers and joyful memories. #ere are also those people that call Val-entine’s Day the “Hallmark Holiday.” #ey believe it is a day designed to make men feel obligated to buy their partner the per-fect gi$ or doom their relationships. #is year, Facebook and the people at Clearhart Digital decided to ring in Val-entine’s Day by launching new app called KillSwitch. KillSwitch is a 99 cent app that removes all records of ex-friends from your Facebook history, usually ex-boyfriends or ex-girlfriends. So all those happy pictures of the two of you and all those mushy statuses and private mes-sages saying how great your sweetheart is and how much you hope that you will be “Together 4 Ever” are gone from the cyber
world. Assuming that this app is designed to appeal to women, I asked 10 Ole women what they thought of KillSwitch. I was surprised by the variety of answers I re-ceived. Katelyn Regenscheid ’15 said that she realized the value of the app and believed that it was only a matter of time before a company would !nd a way to make mon-ey on the idea. “#e app is a great idea because I’m sure tons of post-relationship men and women will purchase it while they sit around with friends a$er the breakup and bash their exes,” Regenscheid said. “Psychologically, I’m not sure if it’s really necessary; !nan-cially, someone is going to get rich o" of raging teenage emotions.” Both Jessica Price ’14 and Kim Moren ’13 had more of a negative reaction to the KillSwitch app. “I’ve never been the type of person to want to erase a person from my life com-pletely,” Price said. “I still like to remind
myself of all the happy moments we had together.” “I wouldn’t say that KillSwitch is gen-erally a good idea because most of the time, trying to erase the past isn’t really healthy,” Moren said. Elisabeth Springer ’15 believed that we are who we are, bad relationships and all. “I just wouldn’t do it unless it was abso-lutely necessary,” Springer said. “Sure, the cheesy posts and pictures might be a bit embarrassing, but I feel that our collec-tion of past human experiences make us who we are today, and deleting a picture can’t delete the past or the fact that what happened, happened.” Ellie Mears ’15 saw both pros and cons to the KillSwitch app. She said a strong pro for the KillSwitch app is its use by people who have been in abusive relation-ships. “At !rst I thought this app was a bad idea. I would personally never want to erase any of my memories that I have with my ex, good or bad,” Mears said. “How-ever, I know a couple girls who would disagree. One was mentally abused by her ex-boyfriend and another was raped. Both these girls saw the boy who hurt them on Facebook all the time through pictures and old statuses, even though they had blocked the guy from their ac-counts. For these kinds of relationships, the app would actually be a huge help.” Abuse would be a solid reason to look into buying this app. In some cases, the girl or guy abused by their partner might be better, emotionally, by getting o" Face-book entirely for a few weeks a$er a rela-tionship has ended to truly start allowing themselves to heal. Outside of abuse, removing any record of your ex because things did not end on the best of terms will not erase the rela-tionship and the memories. And, who knows? When you are older, you may want to look back at old photos on Face-book to remember that college boyfriend from way-back-when. You could have a really good laugh at your youthful mis-takes and your previous terrible taste in men.
E'()*(+,'-)'(page A4 March 1, 2013MANITOU MESSENGER
Lack of Spontaneity Ask anyone who knows me, and they will tell you how much I love to make plans. They keep me on task, I like knowing what to expect and I love being prepared. But this lack of spontaneity does not mix well in the bedroom. Can you imagine the pressure to perform if sex was expected every time you saw your significant other? It sounds like a drag to me. Routine is boring. Our entire lives here at St. Olaf are based on it: school, homework, sleep, rinse and repeat. Let’s face it; it takes something special to get us excited for that 8 a.m. I am not saying planning ahead can’t be fun, but that too much of an expectation can be detrimental. Here is how to fix it: try spending some time together that is a touch more “PG.” This time allows the two of you to understand each other better, making the time you spend together more comfortable. Sex becomes a novelty that you look forward to rather than expect. The suspense and the anticipation makes it all a little bit more worth it.Lack of Practice Have you ever found that your partner isn’t doing anything wrong, but something isn’t quite right? Trying to work out these kinks in the heat of the moment can be very frustrating, so maybe you need a little prac-tice. It is important for you to know what works best for you and what doesn’t. The first step in getting what you want is know-ing what you want. Maybe it’s time to bring up the M-word, the taboo subject of going solo. Spend some time getting to know yourself a little bit better, and your time in bed will be much more fulfilling, but please, wait until your roommate is gone!Overstimulation On a similar note, what is too much? Too much self-stimulation can lower your sensitivity to sexual activities with a partner. Alas, absence makes the heart grow fonder, so to speak. In a sense, a person can get so used to a single source of pleasure that noth-ing else works as well. This is a fix easier said than done. Cut back. Try going for a run instead.Drinking Sure, drinking alcohol can stir up feel-ings of arousal, but that is about it when it comes to your sex life. Alcohol, a depres-sant, slows down all body functions (all body functions), and excessive consumption has many negative effects on your sex life. It makes people sluggish and tired, and, well, that just sounds sloppy. There is also the question of ability. In regards to alcohol, as Shakespeare says in Macbeth, “It increases the desire, but takes away the performance.” Drinking alcohol slows blood flow through-out the entire body. There are many vulgar names for this lack of capability in a man after a night of boozing, but drinking also affects women. It is much harder to climax after a night of drinking because “the big O” is heavily dependent on the increase in blood flow. So, maybe save the drinks for afterwards to celebrate a wonderful perfor-mance. Lack of Foreplay Slow and steady, at least at first, may actu-ally be best for sex. Rushing right into things is often exciting, but arousal is extreme-ly important. Foreplay is a great way to learn about each other’s wants and needs, which translate over to the main event. It also ensures full arousal, which is especially important for women because on average, it takes women five to twenty minutes longer to climax than men. Spending time focus-ing on different parts of the body heightens sensations and sensitivity to stimulation, leading to a larger release for both parties. So, take the time and savor one of the best things in life.
Beck fans collaborate for KSTO’s concert
To submit questions, comments or concerns to the sex columnist, e-mail
By Jocelyn SarvadyStaff Writer
By Samantha Jo BotzStaff Writer
How to erase an ex’s existence on Facebook
DANIEL BYNUM/MANITOU MESSENGER
ANNA CARLSON/MANITOU MESSENGER
For spring semester, the Cage has a brand new special sure to delight scores of Oles – three kinds of gourmet cupcakes served at 3 p.m., three days a week.
Every Tuesday, !ursday and Saturday, the Cage will be stocked with three dif-ferent varieties of cupcakes for students’ enjoyment. For a scant $2.25, you can pur-chase one of three varieties for an a"ernoon
sugar rush to hold you over until dinner. As to why the new special is planned out
the way it is, Vicki Smisek, retail manager for the Cage and Norway Valley said, “!e students here are all schedule-oriented, and we wanted to play into that,” citing that this was the reason the cupcakes are available at a set time in the a"ernoon. “It’s the same kind of strategy we use for the vegan cook-ies. Everyone knows the vegan cookies are available at 3 p.m. on Mondays, Wednes-days and Fridays. It’s the same thing with
the cupcakes. We just put them on Tues-days, !ursdays and Saturdays to o#set the vegan cookies.”
!e appearance of gourmet cupcakes in the Cage is one that mirrors the growing popularity of the baked good in bakeries across the country. More and more special-ty shops are opening up to cater to this new trend, including CakeWalk, a new business in North$eld, which sells not only cup-cakes, but also cakes and specialty desserts. !is new trend is delicious, but to some it is ba%ing, a sentiment shared by none other than the mastermind behind the cupcakes at the Cage.
“I love dessert, but I just don’t under-stand the appeal of cupcakes,” said Richard Hays, the pastry chef for Bon Appetit at St. Olaf. “We put out a lot of desserts every day at the Cage, and I didn’t want them to get lost in the shu%e, but I $nally just caved.”
Both Smisek and Hays agreed that the cupcakes are simply a fun new special to at-tract students. “!e Cage gets hit hard at 3 p.m. just for co#ee, and we asked ourselves, what can we do with that?” Hays said. “We’re just $lling a need.”
So how do the delicious &avors get de-cided each week? To answer this question, Hays pulled out a large black binder. “We based most of the cupcakes o# of popular &avors from Stav Hall,” he said. “I have a master list of 32 &avors for this semester, but there are more than 250 in this binder. We plan out the &avors the week before and discuss how they’re going to be decorated.”
In order to come up with fun &avors, Hays pulled inspiration from his pastry chef friends across the country, his fam-ily and virtually everyone around him. !e white chocolate raspberry cupcakes
last week were inspired by Hays’ wife, who loves that particular combination. !e Ole, a chocolate mousse-$lled chocolate cup-cake topped with vanilla cream and a salted caramel drizzle, was appropriately inspired by Oles. “We asked 10 di#erent students what they wanted to see in a cupcake,” Hays said. “One said something sweet, one said something with chocolate and another said something a bit salty.” Hays &ipped through the binder’s many pages, pointing out in-teresting &avors he hopes to try. “I even have a few varieties in the binder that con-tain wine,” Hays said, laughing. “But I don’t think we’ll ever be able to sell those.”
Vegan cupcakes are set to make their de-but in the next two weeks, and a gluten-free option is coming soon, according to Hays. He encouraged students to write comment cards suggesting &avors they’d like to see turned into a cupcake. “We’ll try anything!” Hays said. “It breaks up the monotony of making the same things over and over.”
As for getting the word out about this new special, Smisek said, “We’ve been ad-vertising this new special on Facebook, on the TVs in the common areas of Buntrock and through signage in the Cage,” mention-ing that the response to the cupcakes had been slow but steady. Both Smisek and Hays agreed that they believe the cupcakes will soon gain the popularity of vegan cookies.
Since only three dozen of each variety of cupcakes are made each day, Hays encour-aged students to get to the Cage as close to 3 p.m. as possible. “Share a cupcake with your friends!” Hays said. “Come with a friend and get two, and then split them. !ey’re meant to be shared.”
E'()*(+,'-)'(page A5 March 1, 2013
Since the rise and fall of Lil B, there has been a particular breed of fame: the YouTube star. The term is thrown around, sometimes negatively, referring to musicians such as Lil B, Kreayshawn, Azealia Banks, Lana Del Rey and, most recently, Macklemore – all of whom leapt out of relative obscurity into fame on the strength of a YouTube video. Lil B proved to be too offensive for mainstream success, so he was never signed despite releasing hundreds of songs independently, including the mod-est hits “Wonton Soup” and “I Own Swag.” Kreayshawn arrived just as Lil B was taking off, releasing the song “Gucci Gucci” and, more importantly, the cor-responding video – which received hun-dreds of thousands of views in a single day. A tiny white girl from Oakland erased Lil B and was signed by Sony for one million dollars, but was in turn for-gotten with the arrival of Azealia Banks and others. Kreayshawn’s album came out a year later to little acclaim or notice. YouTube fame is often a mixed bless-ing. Before Macklemore’s wildly popular “Thrift Shop,” the Seattle rapper was featured in Hip-Hop Magazine XXL as one of the 2012 freshman class; mean-ing he was about to break big. “Thrift Shop” went viral and millions of new fans were joking: “Damn, she got the velcro,” and “Saw a broken keyboard, bought
a broken keyboard.” He had become a YouTube star as a comedian when he was about to make it as a rapper. While Macklemore’s bank account appreciates the YouTube royalties, he cannot miss how little attention “Thrift Shop” garners among his original audience: hip-hop fans. It will be difficult for Macklemore to prove his authenticity to these fans who see him as a comedian, despite other tracks with better beats and lyrics. So he is divided between his audience as a YouTube comedy star and as an almost-famous real-world rapper. Right now, Macklemore is bigger than rappers A$AP Rocky or Waka Flocka Flame, but I won-der when he, like the YouTube rappers before him, will be replaced. However, the YouTube medium can be beneficial. Lana Del Rey became famous on the back of her hit single “Video Games” and its low-budget music video that cuts between Del Rey posing with flowers in her hair while looking lush and pouty, 1990s-style skate-video foot-age and a clip of a drunk celebrity falling over. The song was good and nobody missed her sex-appeal, so the video went viral and her album was released soon after. Further videos came out periodically to keep the hype going. Lana inhabits a collage of characters, appearing like a 1950s or 1960s star who hails from a southern trailer park or New York City. She is willing to take on a char-acter, most obviously in her cover of
“Blue Velvet,” in which she becomes the lounge singer from David Lynch’s film of the same name. Even her voice changes from song to song. No one believes Del Rey is any of these characters, but it’s a blast to pretend the Lake Placid-born, parent-financed star is all of them. Her YouTube fame gives her the illusion of coming from nothing, which aligns with her image. She’s determined to become everything we want in an American rock star, so the inauthenticity of YouTube fame suits her: We know it is fake and are glad to pretend it is real. Del Rey under-stands that YouTube fame can mean five minutes of fame, but that it takes care to build a career on it.
By Katie SiegerContributing Writer
Cage follows pastry trend, introduces cupcakes to menu
By Nick MillerMusic Columnist
MANITOU MESSENGER
Ceramics students present: ‘Firing Across the Cannon’ St. Olaf ceramic students are $red up about crossing the Cannon River for collaboration with Carleton College. Students from both colleges were given the opportunity to enter their work in a juried show called “Firing Across the Cannon 2013: An Exploration in Collaboration.” !e exhibit is the conceptual collaboration between St. Olaf As-sociate Professor of Art Ron Gallas and St. Olaf ceramics technician Kate Fisher in conjunction with Carleton ce-ramics faculty. !e show has been on exhibit in the Virgin-ia and Jennifer C. Groot Gallery in St. Olaf ’s Dittman Cen-ter since Feb. 16, and runs through this Saturday. Selected works from the 2D interim art course taught by Assistant Professor of Art Michon Weeks are also on display. Fisher was quick to point out that the complexity of the exhibit lies in the cross-collaborative design of the entire show. “We get so insular up here on the Hill,” she said. “!is is a successful example of overcoming that in order to create something great.” Both Carleton and St. Olaf students have works on ex-hibit, and faculty from each college were instrumental in deciding which pieces would end up on display. Gallas and Fisher juried exhibits submitted by Carleton students,and Carleton faculty members Associate Professor of Art Kelly Cannole and Visiting Assistant Professor of Art Juliane
Shibata juried exhibits submitted by St. Olaf students. “We wanted to show a variety of styles and $ring techniques,” Cannole said. “Good cra" is important, as is the concept and use of materials.” From there, Fisher and Gallas began to create a cohesive gallery design. “We speci$cally looked for what is the best representation of all the pieces presented,” Fisher said. “We then worked o# the 2D exhibit in order to create the most visually-appealing, inviting space for the viewers.” !e conversation between the colleges’ ceramics depart-ments really took o# with the development of a wood-$re kiln at Carleton. St. Olaf does not have a wood-$re kiln, but does have a soda-$re kiln, which Carleton’s ceramic facilities lacks. Ceramics students at both colleges have ex-tensive opportunities to use both high-intensity kilns on a regular basis. “!e process of working with these kilns is so energized,” Gallas said. “It heightens the camaraderie of the experience.” Four years ago, in collaboration with art students eager to work at a deeper level with their counterparts across the Cannon River, Fisher and Shibata organized the $rst col-laborative show between the two ceramics departments. Another collaborative show opened last year at the Weitz Center at Carleton. !is year’s show is the third of what Fisher hopes will eventually become a biannual tradition of cross-collaborative ceramic exhibition.
“At any art center or studio outside of Olaf, you’ll see a similar collaborative process in ceramics,” Fisher said. “De-sign and $ring workshops bring di#erent people together for discussion and learning, which is something we’re try-ing to replicate here on campus.” !e show highlights the esteemed talent of many St. Olaf ceramic students, who utilize a di#erent sort of “cross-col-laboration” in their daily lives. “So many of our best ce-ramics students also have a focus in the sciences or maths,” Gallas said. “Last year, $ve of my best ceramics students went on to medical or dental school. St. Olaf is one of few places where it is really okay to cross disciplines. Engage-ment between the arts and the sciences is encouraged and supported here.” !e success of St. Olaf ceramics students may also be at-tributed to a collaborative and open studio space. Gallas and Fisher, along with student workers and apprentices, emphasize an extreme amount of trust within the depart-ment. “Compatibility comes $rst in the classroom,” Fisher said. “We hope that this show can project this compatible, collaborative atmosphere across North$eld, getting as many students as possible involved in a wonderful conver-sation.”
By Jessica MoesCopy Editor
BEKAH ENGSTRAND/MANITOU MESSENGER
PHOTO COURTESY OF THECOMEUPSHOW VIA FLICKR.COM
MANITOU MESSENGER
page A6 March 1, 2013
ANNA CARLSON/MANITOU MESSENGER
Take a second and rewind several months back to the summer sports spectacle that was the recent Olympics. All of America’s attention was on the women’s gymnastics competition. The U.S. gymnasts were good, as expected, but the pre-Olympics favorite Jordyn Wieber struggled in the preliminaries and was beat out by her own teammates, fail-ing to move on to the all-around competition. Wieber appeared to be heartbroken, and her coach, Martha Karolyi, when asked after-ward about what happened, said, “You try to find words because it’s almost like someone passed away.” Now if you are thinking that compar-ing a gymnastics competition to the death of a loved one might be taking things a little too far, you are not alone: A local radio sports talk show host has turned pointing out these ridiculous utterances into an art form and is currently conducting his fifth-annual “Preposterous Statement Tournament,” which recognizes those who are adept at putting their feet in their mouths. Radio personality Dan Cole, more widely known as “The Common Man,” is the host of the “The Common Man” program on KFAN, the Twin Cities sports talk station. Throughout his many years on the air, Cole has found his niche in his tongue-in-cheek analysis of the sports world, often making fun of those who live by a “sports, sports, sports, my whole life is just sports” mantra – to use his own words. Although sports are important in many peoples’ lives (including my own) and pro-vide fulfilling careers to many lucky people, it is easy for some to get carried away and forget that at the end of the day sports are still just a form of entertainment. “The Common Man” encourages his listeners to take a step back and consider the ridiculousness of a sports-centered society. Five years ago, in this same sarcastic vein, the “Preposterous Statement Tournament” was born, as Cole began to collect the most absurd and silly comments made by sports personalities – pitting them against each other to see which made the least sense. It has since exploded into a massive undertaking for “The Common Man”and has earned a cult follow-ing. Throughout the year, listeners to the pro-gram send in hundreds of nominations until February when the show reveals its March Madness-style bracket of 64 of the most pre-posterous statements of the past year. Taking a look at those lucky enough to crack the tournament, local sports pundits often dominate the selections. Vikings play-by-play announcer and shameless homer Paul Allen is often a powerful force in the tourna-ment, making a deep run last year when he claimed that “Aaron Rodgers is the ninth-best quarterback in the NFL.” This years’ favorite might be Fox Sports North’s Kevin Gorg, who claimed that horses in the Kentucky Derby lose “hundreds of pounds” during the course of the race (the actual weight loss is around 10 pounds). However, national sports and political personalities are not safe either, as former Vice President Al Gore finds him-self a two-seed after claiming it was the alti-tude in Denver that caused Obama to struggle in the first presidential debate. The tournament is currently in the opening rounds, and one can follow its progress by visiting “The Common Man’s” page on www.kfan.com or by listening to his show at 1:30 p.m. every weekday. While the “Preposterous Statement Tournament” is undoubtedly one of the funniest bits on the radio year in and year out and has an incredible amount of entertain-ment value, it also stands to remind us, just as “The Common Man” tries to do himself, that if you try and take anything in life (sports included) far too seriously, it is easy to end up looking like an idiot. Or a champion of the “Preposterous Statement Tournament.”
Radio show pokes fun at the absurdBy Brent HollerudContributing Writer
Team Opponent/Tournament
Result Date
Men’s Hockey Gustavus Adolphus L 2-3 2/22
Women’s Hockey
College of St. Catherine
L 2-6,L 2-3
2/22-2/23
Men’s Tennis St. Cloud State University W 6-3 2/23
Women’s Tennis
Winona State University L 2-7 2/22
NAME: Billy Brebrick ’16SPORT: SwimmingHOMETOWN: Wausau, Wis.HIGH SCHOOL: Wausau EastMAJOR: UndecidedWHY I CHOSE ST. OLAF: Good people, good foodSWIMMING HISTORY: I’ve swam since I was 7 years old. My brother swims at the University of Minnesota. PRE-RACE RITUAL: Stay loose and relaxedFAVORITE PUMP-UP SONG: “Gimme Shelter” by The Rolling StonesFAVORITE SPORTS MOVIE: “Warrior”FAVORITE TV SHOW: “Breaking Bad”FAVORITE RESTAURANT: Erbert and Gerbert’sFAVORITE SPORT OTHER THAN
SWIMMING: FootballFAVORITE PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE:
Nathan AdrianRANDOM FACT: I have a twin sister who attends UW-Madison.FAVORITE BOOK: “The Last American Man” by Elizabeth GilbertBIGGEST DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE SPORTS: The level of inten-sity and commitmentMOST MEMORABLE MOMENT AS AN OLE ATHLETE: Training with the teamPLANS AFTER OLAF: Live
in my parents’ basement for a couple years. BEST ADVICE I’VE RECEIVED: Never set limits for yourself.
- Alana Patrick
Billy Brebrick: ‘Never set limits for yourself’
The St. Olaf men’s and women’s track and field teams hosted the Ole Qualifier at Tostrud Center on Feb. 22. Individuals from around the conference competed for entry into the MIAC indoor track and field championships, which take place Feb. 28-March 2 at Tostrud Center. The meet was the Oles’ first home meet since Jan. 25 and second of the indoor season. “Running at home is awesome,” said Moriah Novacinski ’14, wom-en’s team captain. “It is so nice to run on a track we are comfortable on and get to practice on every day. Plus to have Ole fans cheering for us makes everyone perform better than ever.” Several Oles performed commendably, placing in their individual events. Reggie Woods ’13 sprinted the 60-meter dash in 6.97 seconds, earning first place by a margin of 0.18 seconds. Aaron Dunphy ’15 finished second in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.71 seconds. Ole men also dominated longer distances: Snatching places first through fourth in the mile run were Tim Lillehaugen ’13 (4:20.53), Paul Escher ’16 (4:21.72), Calvin Lehn ’16 (4:22.48) and John Christian ’14 (4:22.79). In the field, shot-putter Ethan Lunning ’16 threw 15.43 meters, earning second place. On the women’s side, Sophie Pietrick ’13 finished first in the 3,000 meter run with a time of 10:39.68. Meanwhile, Emily Stets ’15, Shaina Rud ’14, Dani Larson ’15 and Novacinski raced to a 4:06.33, second-place finish in the 4x400-meter relay. “Placing second in the 4x400-meter relay really lit a fire under us,” Rud said. “It definitely lets us know where we stand against other MIAC teams before Conference next weekend. Moving forward, that race will motivate us to cut even more time.” Several Oles will compete at the MIAC indoor championships. Athletes’ performances at this meet will determine admittance to the NCAA D-III indoor championships, which take place in Naperville, Ill. on March 8-9. “I think we proved we are ready,” Novacinski said. “We have been competing well, and if everyone performs, we will be great. I can’t wait to see how we do.”
The St. Olaf men’s hockey team fell 2-3 to
Gustavus Adolphus in an MIAC playoff game in St. Peter, Minn. on Feb. 22. Despite recov-ery from an early 3-0 deficit, the fifth-seeded Oles were unable to top the fourth-seeded Gusties. Shots in the first period were lopsided: Gustavus peppered St. Olaf goaltender Henrik Wood ’14 with 25, while St. Olaf managed a meager three. Gusties Tyler Lapic and Andrew Peterson capitalized on chances, each scoring late period goals to give their team a 2-0 advantage at the end of the first. The score quickly became 3-0 when Gustie Zach May scored slightly over a minute into the second period. The Oles began to recover a few minutes later when Joel Lundstrom ’13 netted his second goal of the season on
an assist from David Rath ’16. Later in the period, Dan Cecka ’14 closed the scoreboard gap to one with his ninth goal of the season. Despite outshooting Gustavus 10-8 in the final period, St. Olaf was unable to tie the game. The playoff loss marked the Oles’ sixth loss in a row to end their season. The Gusties defeated top-seeded University of St. Thomas in a 1-0 upset on Feb. 23. Last year’s MIAC playoff champions, Gustavus will attempt to defend their title against St. John’s University on March 2.
Men’s hockey suffers season-ending loss
By Alana PatrickSports Editor
EBRU YAYLA/MANITOU MESSENGER
St. Olaf sprinter Reggie Woods ’13 runs to a first-place finish in the Ole Qualifier 60-meter dash at Tostrud Center on Feb. 22. Woods will compete at the upcoming MIAC championships.
Brebrick ’16
Track teams host Ole Qualifier meetOles compete for berths to upcoming MIAC championships
S!"#$%
ST. OLAF SCOREBOARD
Men’s and Women’s Alpine SkiingSun Valley USCSA NationalChampionships @ Sun Valley, Idaho on3/5-3/10 Baseballvs. North Central University @ Minneapolis, Minn. on 3/7
Men’s and Women’s Nordic SkiingUSCSA National Championships @ Sun Valley, Idaho on 3/2-3/6
Women’s Tennisvs. Hamline University @ Owatonna, Minn. on 3/2
ST. OLAF SCHEDULE
By Alana PatrickSports Editor
EBRU YAYLA/MANITOU MESSENGER
St. Olaf’s Zoe Hansen ’16 and Ann Govig ’16 compete in the 60-meter hurdles at the Ole Qualifier at Tostrud Center on Feb. 22. Hansen and Govig finished 14th (10.21 sec-onds) and 15th (10.31 seconds) respectively out of 25 MIAC com-petitors in the event. Hansen also participat-ed in the triple jump, while Govig ran the 200-meter dash and recorded 4.70 meters in the long jump. The next Ole home meet is this weekend.
N&'(March 1, 2013
MANITOU MESSENGERpage A7
On Wednesday, Feb. 20, St. Olaf sopho-mores, juniors and seniors traveled to the Minneapolis Convention Center for the Min-nesota Private Colleges Job and Internship Fair. According to the fair’s website, approxi-mately 1,800 students attended from the 17 Minnesota private colleges that co-host the event each year. !e event has proved to be increasingly popular with a growth in both the number of students and employers participating, ac-cording to Branden Grimmett, director of the Piper Center for Vocation and Career. Janine Knutson, associate director for ca-reer education and coaching at the Piper Cen-ter, noted that 198 employers were registered with the number continually rising each day. !ese employers were not all for-pro$t and business-based; according to Knutson, about 20 percent of the industries were non-pro$t and government-related. With such a variety of employers, the fair allowed students to tar-get multiple organizations and businesses of interest in one go. Dana Dass ’13, a biology major, made con-
nections with the four science-based sta)ng agencies she visited, but said, “I wished there were more science companies represented.” Due to the large scale of the fair and the varying popularity of employers, some stu-dents spent a lot of time standing and wait-ing in line for their turn to talk to company representatives. Knutson estimated that the range of representatives students conversed with varied from 4 to 20. While it depended on the organization, most representatives had limited time to speak with students. !is variability showed through Oles’ ex-periences at the fair. Katie Ca"rey ’13 visited 14 employer booths and said, “We were told that there would be long lines and that we may only get to around eight booths; however, most people had made it to every booth they were interested in by noon.” Other students found the crunch for time to be a source of pressure. “It was di)cult to make connections be-cause you only had, at most, $ve minutes to talk to the employers. You just have to hope you made a good impression in the $rst 30 seconds,” Hawera Butta ’15 said. Before the fair, the Piper Center o"ered a number of both mandatory and optional pre-
paratory sessions for students to attend. Knut-son highlighted an alumni panel that took place the Monday prior to the fair in which students were able to get advice on how to stand out to recruiters. Some students received individual coun-sel to help them best impress representatives from interest-speci$c companies. Matt Alveshere ’13 had three on-site inter-views and concluded that the fair was success-ful largely due to the e"orts made by Piper Center sta". “It would not have been successful if we had not been so well-prepared,” he said. “I had a chance to meet up with many high school friends who go to our peer institutions, and none of them had nearly as $rm of a grasp on how to navigate through the fair as we did.” Eden Ehm ’13, who also snagged a few in-terviews, started her preparation at the end of the fall semester when the fair was announced. “I researched positions that interested me at each company and made a note of which things on my resume to highlight when speak-ing with each individual company,” she said. Ca"rey felt that Oles were very well-pre-pared for the fair, but said she was frustrated by the repeated request by employers to apply
online before she would be seriously consid-ered. “I think the Piper Center needs to put more emphasis on the importance of applying on-line before coming to the fair,” she said. Butta said he went to the fair mainly to gain exposure to job fairs, but did not prepare be-forehand. “I wished I had prepared because employ-ers expected you to know about them and ask questions,” he said. “You can’t just go to them and ask what they are about.” Knutson said that the immediate goal of the fair was not that students walk away with a job o"er. Instead, the fair was the $rst step for em-ployers and students alike to learn about and connect with each other. “!e fair is a great day, but not the only day to interact with organizations,” Knutson said. Students plan to continue fostering the profes-sional connections made beyond the fair. “Regardless of how the job fair conversa-tions went, what is important is following up, reiterating interest and formally applying,” Ehm said.
Job and Internship Fair helps students connectBy Alyssa MuellerStaff Writer
Palestinian Awareness Week highlights conflict abroad
With countless on-campus groups advo-cating for a wide range of issues, there are many opportunities for students to speak out about their own concerns in order to educate and inform the St. Olaf community.
Oles for Justice in Palestine (OJP) is one such group. Most St. Olaf students have heard of the Israeli-Palestine con#ict and have expressed interest in raising awareness on the issue. As the siege on Gaza remains in place and Samer Issawi’s hunger strike continues, OJP has heightened the volume of its activism in hopes of sharing its per-spective with other students.
Since its formation in 2008, OJP has worked to promote awareness on campus about the Israeli-Palestinian con#ict. Its mission is to promote human rights, justice, democracy and independence in Palestine.
A%er hosting several successful educa-tional events $rst semester, OJP is continu-ing to plan activities for raising awareness.
Recently, members covered the hallway leading to the library with information about the Israeli-Palestinian con#ict, illus-trating the story of the struggle and dispute through words and images.
A few days ago, however, the Palestin-ian #ags were stolen from the hallway and, according to an email from Vice President Greg Kneser and Dean of Students Rosalyn Eaton-Neab ’87, “someone wrote ‘Death to Gaza’ on a poster in the display.”
Asil Abuassba ’15, president of OJP, ex-pressed her disappointment at this: “I think it would be great if people could show up to the events and ask us [about our beliefs], instead of resulting to immature and child-ish behavior, such as taking away the #ags.”!is past weekend, the organization host-
ed a movie night featuring the documenta-ry “Con#ict 101.” Members of OJP hope to show students a perspective on the con#ict that is not o%en illuminated in western me-dia.
With this goal in mind, on Sunday, March 3, OJP will team up with the Wendell Berry House to host an event educating attendees
about the struggles of farmers and $sher-men in Gaza. !e event aims to be an eve-ning $lled with interesting information and delicious food and will hopefully bring to light an issue many Oles may not even be aware of.
Members of OJP desire not only to edu-cate Oles about the con#ict, but also to help them understand the violations of human rights that have arisen and continue to oc-cur today.
In April, OJP will host a hands-on activ-ity in Buntrock, simulating what it is like to go through a checkpoint. As students enter the building, they will have the opportunity to role-play di"erent people involved in the con#ict and to compare their varying expe-riences with others.
OJP hopes this will give St. Olaf students a glimpse into the everyday life for Palestin-ians. Also in April, OJP will feature a dis-play to illuminate the issue of apartheid in Palestine.
“We feel the Palestinian narrative is not represented in Western media, especially in the U.S., and we want to let people know what is going on,” Abuassba said.
Many similar organizations have sprout-ed up in colleges across the nation, aiming to educate students about the situation in Palestine.
OJP members understand the sensitiv-ity of the issue and asks St. Olaf students to think about the issue from all sides.
“!is is a controversial topic,” Abuassba said. “Ask us and challenge us, because through discussion we come to a point where we get to learn.”
Members of OJP meet on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. in Buntrock 144. Interested students can also check out the information in the hallway leading to the library and take part in the many upcoming events and activities.
“Our goal is to promote justice,” Abuass-ba said. “!is isn’t about who is winning. It’s not about whose side to be on. It is about ending human rights violations and im-proving lives.”
By Amy MihelichContributing Writer
Correction
!e Feb. 22 article “Campus to go tobacco free?” did not clearly attri-bute Dean’s statement that the Well-ness Center, Health Services, Cancer Connections, GLOW!, Environmen-tal Coalition and the St. Olaf Nursing Department supported her original proposal for a smoke-free campus. At the Senate meeting, Dean said that the Wellness Center, Health Ser-vices, Cancer Connections, GLOW!, Environmental Coalition and the St. Olaf Nursing Department support-ed her proposal, but she has since stated that she was merely in com-munication with the above organiza-tions and that the Wellness Center, GLOW! and Environmental Coali-tion have declined to take a position. !e Wellness Center supports cul-tivating a dialogue surrounding the issue, but wants to remain impartial regarding the proposal. GLOW! is not taking a stance on the issue, nor is Environmental Coalition.
By Nina Hagen Contributing Writer
“A good compost pile should get hot enough to poach an egg, but not so hot it would cook a lobster.” -Anonymous“
Saturday, March 2Fresh Faces ’167 p.m., Lion’s Pause
Singing, dancing, theater; the annual Fresh Faces cabaret has it all. Come see all the
as they perform a variety of selections, in-cluding music from “Legally Blonde.” Get a sneak peak with the promo video on
the event’s Facebook page.
Sunday, March 3Viennese Waltz Workshop
12 p.m., Lion’s PauseIt’s the Pause, it’s dancing ... but this event is guaranteed to be nothing like a typical Pause dance. If you’d rather glide around to a stately waltz than get down to rap music, come learn from the best. St. Olaf alumni Nate and Rachel Martin (’01, ’02) of the Arthur Murray Dance Studio will
be teaching.
Monday, March 4St. Olaf Handbell Choir Concert
8:15 p.m., Urness Recital HallRing in March with the St. Olaf Handbell Choir! The group will be presenting mu-sic from their winter tour through Min-
nesota, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Tuesday, March 5Student Juried Art Show Recep-
tion4 p.m., Dittmann Center
Come support your artsy peers at the opening reception for the student juried art show. All Oles in studio art classes can submit work to the event, and the ac-cepted art is exhibited in Dittmann Cen-ter’s Groot Gallery. At the reception you can visit with the student artists and the
judges and enjoy refreshments.
Tuesday, March 5SOY Presentation 7 p.m., Viking Theater
Shades of Yellow (SOY) will present about issues facing the LGBTQ population in Hmong communities. The Minneapolis-
in the world addressing these issues.
Tuesday, March 5Debate: Smoking Referendum
7 p.m., Viking TheaterDo you think smoking should be banned on campus? Do you want to stand up for smokers’ rights? Come to the debate and talk about the tobacco-free referendum
on the SGA Spring Elections ballot.
www.manitoumessenger.com
Apart from the incoming students, St. Olaf ’s !rst–year dorms welcomed another new addition this past fall. Composting bins now occupy every !rst–year corridor and dorm room. "is change was the initiative of alumnus Taryn Arbeiter ’12, who began composting while living in an honor house. Enthusias-tic about her results and eager to turn com-posting into a campus-wide endeavor, Ar-beiter met with representatives of St. Olaf ’s Environmental Coalition (EC) to discuss her idea. "e EC reps – Lauren Kramer ’13, Rachel Pain ’13, Roz Anderson ’13 and Andrew Kaul ’13 – were inspired by Arbeiter to cre-ate Oles Composting, an EC subcommittee focused on implementing the process of composting into daily campus life. Seeing an opportunity to establish good habits early in students’ careers at St. Olaf, the subcommittee chose the !rst–year dorms as the locations for the composters and began the process of implementing the Green Cone composting system. “Green Cones, which are partially in-serted into the ground, use solar energy to decompose pre-consumer and post-consumer food waste,” Kramer said. “"is [waste] includes produce, prepared foods, meats and dairy products.” Although every #oor has a large compost receptacle, each dorm room is also allot-ted its own Caf-supplied yogurt container in which students are meant to throw all of their compostable waste. Once full, the yogurt containers are emptied !rst into the #oor receptacle and subsequently into a Green Cone where the solar-powered com-posting process occurs. "e subcommittee’s hard work has brought in a total of $3,150 in funding for this project, with $500 coming from a (temporary) Social Innovation Grant and $2,650 from SGA Senate funding. Oles Composting used the funds to buy several Green Cones, planted outside of the dorms, and a number of indoor composting re-ceptacles. Notably, the Green Cones would never have been planted without support from the St. Olaf community. “Residence life has been very supportive throughout this process,” Kramer said. EC is understandably enthusiastic about the numerous bene!ts incurred through composting, namely the ability to turn food waste into soil rather than allowing it to pile up exponentially in land!lls. By in-
tegrating this process into campus life, EC hopes to help develop a more environmen-tally–conscious student body. "is brings us to the challenge faced by EC (as well as SustainAbilities, a group working on educating students about com-posting): the sheer amount of food waste on campus from both Stav Hall and the res-idence halls. In order to reach the eventual goal of placing composting bins and Green Cones all around campus, the amount of food waste must begin to decrease to a workable amount; speci!cally, Oles Com-posting would like to see a 30 percent re-duction in food waste. Due to the large amount of food waste coming from the cafeteria, the campus’ main composting bins are exceeding their maximum capacity and are therefore un-able to process additional food coming from the dorms. "is is due in part to im-proper use of the dorm composting recep-tacles – another issue EC hopes to address with their campaign. Lacey Etzkorn ’15 is leading an initia-tive to help with food waste reduction. "e Clean Plate Campaign, a program Etzkorn hopes to implement this semester with the help of Real Food St. Olaf and EC, hopes to reduce food waste in the cafeteria. "e campaign will begin by alerting students to the waste created by uneaten food. “We are going to have students sign clean plate pledges and provide a number of in-centives for keeping their food waste down,” said Etzkorn. “We would like the students to simply be aware of how much they waste and realize that wasting all of this food is resulting in spending cuts in the cafeteria. Students are wasting their own money.” Etzkorn also hopes that students will be open-minded about possible solutions such as going trayless. “If we can signi!cantly reduce the food waste on campus, dorms will be able to compost again. If we fail to do this, com-posting will be a lost cause,” Etzkorn said. Annie Stewart ’15, a junior counselor in Ellingson Hall, echoed EC’s cautious opti-mism about the endeavor. “"ere are people who are really into it, and then there are people who just don’t care. "ere’s really no gray area,” Stewart said. “At the beginning of the year, we told people what should go into [the bins], but a lot of people throw in whole pieces of food like sandwiches and uneaten fruit … when they’re not meant for that.”
However, Stewart hopes that with proper training and increased awareness among the student body, composting can have a successful and lasting role on the campus. In addition to educating students about the proper use of composting bins, Sustain-Abilities representatives have personally emptied the large compost receptacles into the Green Cones and hope to train new workers to take on this responsibility. “"e SustainAbilities representatives have played an invaluable role in making the program a success and will continue to provide guidance and feedback to the com-post student workers throughout the year,” Kramer said. “I believe the SustainAbilities representatives [also] plan to focus on food waste education this spring in conjunction with EC’s Clean Plate Campaign.” Next year, EC hopes to change the cur-rent composting system in order to match what they have found to be the needs of the campus. “We’re going to dig up the cones and move them to the honor houses,” Kramer said. “Green Cones are really meant for the use of a single house, not a residence hall.”
"e group has realized that purchasing industrial composters could be crucial in order to accommodate dorm and Stav Hall food waste. However, if Etzkorn’s cam-paign is a success, students should become more aware of what they are eating and how much they throw away. In theory, this would make such large composters unnec-essary. With some students, the composting campaign has already made an impact. “People would go on breaks and say that it’s weird not to be able to compost,” Ander-son said. When it comes down to it, the driving force behind the composting campaign is its ability to make St. Olaf community members more aware of their actions.
Calendar of Events: March 1-7
HANNAH RECTOR/MANITOU MESSENGERSerina Robinson ’15 empties a compost bucket into the Green Cone outside of Ellingson Hall.
Putting Waste to WORK
F$%&'($)March 1, 2013
MANITOU MESSENGER
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