EX-PLAYER BECOMES GOPHERS COACH PAGE 7
PARTLY CLOUDY HIGH 28° LOW 19°
U OF M
MINNEAPOLIS
ST PAUL
THURSDAY
FORMER HOCKEY PLAYER GRANT POTULNY IS NOW AN ASSISTANT.
DECEMBER 4, 2014
ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT MNDAILY.COM
HEALTH CARE
CRIME
Violence prompts proposal Drunken driver hits
Assaults against health care workers are on the rise, and a state lawmaker is taking action. BY LOGAN WROGE lwroge@mndaily.com
A patient turned violent against a nurse at the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview, in early September, choking her and leaving her uncertain about the profession she chose. “My life has turned completely upside down because of this,” said Kim, who asked
to go by her first name due to the nature of the incident. Kim’s stor y represents an increase in violence toward nurses and other health care professionals, a trend that’s prompting lawmakers to address the issue and further protect those who serve others. Rep. Joe Atkins, DFL-Inver Grove Heights, plans to introduce a bill, the Nurse Protection Act, in the spring legislative session that would increase fines and prison sentences for anyone who assaults nurses, doctors or other emergency personnel. “Why would you ever want to physically harm someone who is literally there to help
you?” said nursing senior Zack Stegeman. Nurses working for local and state government were at the highest risk for injury and illness compared to other industr y subsectors in Minnesota between 2010 and 2012, according to data published by the state’s Department of Labor and Industry. Kim, who has worked at the University’s hospital for 12 years, said she was assaulted four times by the patient. The patient left his room in confusion and wandered toward a freight elevator, Kim said. After attempting to bring him u See PLAN Page 3
NEIGHBORHOODS
City, U seeking federal help
2 students
A 26-year-old man is charged in an incident in which both victims sustained head injuries. BY MEGHAN HOLDEN mholden@mndaily.com
A drunken driver hit two University of Minnesota students near campus on Monday night, according to a complaint filed in the Hennepin County District Court. Ewan Henry Leask, 26, was charged on Wednesday with two counts of criminal vehicular operation while driving under the influence, the complaint said. Leask remained in the Hennepin County Jail on Wednesday evening. His bail is set at $75,000. Leask hit Lanxiao Song and Zifei Guan, both age 20, on University Avenue Southeast near highway I-35W late Monday night, according to the complaint. After the crash, he allegedly told witnesses, “Please don’t tell anybody what happened,” the court documents said. Leask told of ficers he didn’t see the women crossing the street, according to the complaint, and admitted to smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol before driving. Leask also allegedly had hash oil in possession, court documents said. He told police he smokes marijuana daily for his Asperger’s syndrome, the complaint read. Song, a statistics major, was thrown into the air after being hit by the car, according to the complaint, and Guan, a mathematics major, has a fractured skull. Song said she and Guan were “feeling better” on Wednesday evening, but she said they hadn’t attended any classes since the incident.
ENVIRONMENT
ELIZABETH BRUMLEY, DAILY
Psychology junior Colleen Enwesi tutors high school students at the Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center on Monday evening. The University is working with the UROC and the Promise Zone in north Minneapolis.
Officials are applying to receive a Promise Zone designation for north Minneapolis, which would help it get federal support. improve.
BY ETHAN NELSON enelson@mndaily.com
“A thing like this will take a generation,”
L
esa Clarkson started connecting Minne-
Clarkson said.
apolis’ middle and high school students
To help the area, University and city lead-
with University of Minnesota undergraduate
ers applied late last month to receive a Prom-
tutors last year.
ise Zone designation. If approved, the U.S. De-
As an associate director for the Univer-
partment of Housing and Urban Development
sity’s STEM Education Center, she oversees a
would make a section of north Minneapolis
group of undergraduate and graduate students
part of a program the president started last
who prepare students citywide for the ACT.
year to help create jobs and improve education
The program operates partly in north
in low-income areas.
Minneapolis, a historically low-income
The designation, which would last 10 years,
part of the city. The area has been subject
doesn’t provide any grants. But it would give
to much attention from both city officials
the proposed zone preference for some fed-
and University staff members, some of
eral programs, said Jay Stroebel, Minneapo-
whom say it needs lasting attention for it to
lis’ deputy city coordinator. Five AmeriCorps
White House names Mpls. as climate leader National leaders recognized the city’s goal of making major cuts to greenhouse gas emissions. BY ANNE MILLERBERND amillerbernd@mndaily.com
The White House recognized the city of Minneapolis on Wednesday for its recent environmentally friendly initiatives. The city was named one of the nation’s 16 “Climate Action Champions,” a distinction for which it will receive peer-to-peer learning and mentorship, federal support and help in moving its environmental initiatives forward. The White House recognized the city for its Climate Action Plan, which aims to reduce Minneapolis greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent incrementally by the year 2050, according to a press release. The release also highlighted the city’s partnership with Xcel Energy and CenterPoint Energy to improve air quality and reduced greenhouse gas emissions, known
u See PROMISE Page 4
u See GREEN Page 3
CAMPUS
New housing moves along The University’s gender-open spaces will open next fall in four residential buildings. BY ANNE MILLERBERND amillerbernd@mndaily.com
The University of Minnesota is making progress on a gender-based housing initiative it announced about a year ago. As part of the school’s initiative to make transgender students feel more comfortable living in University residences, 56 gender-open housing spaces will be available next fall in Comstock Hall, Middlebrook Hall, Yudof Hall and University Village apartments. The spaces available in Comstock Hall account for the Lavender House, which is a living-learning community for GLBTA students. Gender-open housing is distinct from
the co-ed housing arrangement some University residence halls already have. In coed residence halls, a room with males could be next to a room with females. In genderopen housing, rooms are not assigned based on gender. The initiative was called “gender-neutral” when the University announced it late last year, but it changed to “gender-open” because the former term discounts gender, said Susan Stubblefield, assistant director of housing and residential life. The rooms will only be available to sophomores through graduate students — a guideline some students say could be problematic. Co-chair of the Queer Student Cultural Center Mira McDonald said if on-campus gender-open housing had been available when she was a freshman, she would have taken it. Instead, McDonald ended up living u See GENDER Page 3
FALL 2015 GENDER-OPEN HOUSING OPTIONS
UN
IVE
RS
ITY
AVE N
UE
Comstock Hall WASHINGTON AVENUE SOUTHEAST 16 beds (Lavender House)
SO
UTH
EAS
T
University Village 8 beds
Yudof Hall 16 beds Middlebrook Hall 16 beds
SOURCE: SUSAN STUBBLEFIELD, ASSOCIATE DEPARTMENT DIRECTOR
VOLUME 116 ISSUE 54
2
Daily Review
Thursday, December 4, 2014
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
1991 Islamic militants in Lebanon release kidnapped American journalist Terry Anderson after 2,454 days in captivity. HISTORYCHANNEL.COM/TDIH
METRO Vol. 116 Thursday, December 4, 2014, No. 54
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Shipping manager Dave Ulmer stands in the business office at Little Dearborn Parts Inc. on Wednesday afternoon. Little Dearborn Parts has been selling antique Ford parts on University Avenue Southeast since 1972. The business may have to move because of renovation on the street, causing its employees to worry.
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Launch of new Orion spaceship has NASA flying on new high BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — With the imminent debut of its Orion spacecraft, NASA is on a high not felt since the space shuttle days. Shuttle veterans, in fact, are leading the charge in Thursday morning’s twoorbit, 4½-hour test flight, meant to shake out the capsule before astronauts climb aboard — eventually, perhaps, to visit Mars. “We haven’t had this feeling in a while, since the end of the shuttle program,” said Mike Sarafin, the lead flight director stationed at Mission Control in Houston. “Launching an American spacecraft from American soil and beginning something new, in this case exploring deep space.” Orion is set to fly farther than any human-rated spacecraft since the Apollo moon program, aiming for a distance of 3,600 miles, more than 14 times higher than
the International Space Station. That peak altitude will provide the necessar y momentum for a 20,000-mph, 4,000-degree entr y over the Pacific. Those 11 short minutes to splashdown is what NASA calls the “trial by fire,” arguably the most critical part of the entire test flight. The heat shield at Orion’s base, at 16.5 feet across, is the largest of its kind ever built. Navy ships were stationed near the recover y zone off the Mexican Baja coast. “It’s an exciting time,” Jef f Angermeier, ground support mission manager, said from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. “You can feel the buzz.” An estimated 26,000 guests were expected to jam Kennedy for the sunrise launch, as well as 650 journalists. (Actually, the unmanned rocket will blast off from the adjoining Cape Ca-
naveral Air Force Station.) The space center press site was packed Wednesday with out-of-town reporters not seen here since the last shuttle flight in 2011. NASA’s Orion program manager, Mark Geyer, puts the capsule’s inaugural run on a par with the formative steps of Apollo and the space shuttles. “In the sense that we are beginning a new mission, it is, I think, consistent with ... the beginning of shuttle, the beginning of Apollo,” Geyer said. “It’s a new mission for us, starting in the region of the moon and then beyond.” Noted NASA Administrator Charles Bolden Jr.: “For the first time in more than 40 years, this nation is going to launch a spacecraft intended to carry humans beyond low-Earth orbit. That’s a big deal.” Unlike the first space shuttle flight in 1981 — helmed by two pilots — Orion will not carry astronauts
before 2021. NASA wants to test the most critical par ts of the capsule on this $370 million shakedown cruise, including the heat shield, parachutes and all the sections jettisoned during ascent and entry. The capsule also will travel through the high-radiation Van Allen belts surrounding Earth; engineers want to gauge the effects on the on-board computers. A Delta IV rocket is hoisting Orion this time around. For Orion’s next flight, around 2018, the capsule will fly atop the megarocket still in development by NASA — SLS, short for Space Launch System. Only after that will humans climb aboard; NASA hopes to send an Orion crew to an asteroid corralled in lunar orbit in the 2020s and to Mars in the 2030s. Flying this one without humans on board took some of the edge off NASA’s firstflight jitters.
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Brown’s stepfather Obama unveils plan to help American Indians apologizes for angry comments BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
FERGUSON, Mo. — The stepfather of Michael Brown has apologized for angry comments he made after the grand jury decided not to indict the police officer who killed his stepson, but said his remarks had nothing to do with the arson and looting that ravaged Ferguson and the surrounding area. Louis Head said Wednesday in a statement that he was full of emotion on the night of Nov. 24, when he yelled “Burn this bitch down!” in a crowd of protesters. St. Louis County police said Tuesday they are investigating Head’s comments as part of a broader inquiry into the arson, vandalism and looting. Twelve commercial buildings were destroyed in the hours after the grand jury decision. Head does not have a listed phone number, and there was no answer when an Associated Press reporter knocked at his listed address Wednesday.. Brown, 18, was shot and killed by Ferguson officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9. Wilson, who is white, told the grand jury he fired because his life was in danger, but some witnesses said Brown, who was black and unarmed, was trying to surrender. Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden, was on top of a car on a Ferguson street in front of the police station, surrounded by protesters, when she heard the grand jury announcement. She began sobbing. Her husband jumped on top of the car and hugged her, then yelled out. The street was already noisy and grew louder as Head hugged his wife. He yelled without a microphone or any amplification. Some people who were close by couldn’t hear what he said.
BISMARCK, N.D. — President Barack Obama announced an initiative Wednesday aimed at improving conditions and opportunities for American Indian youth, more than a third of whom live in poverty. Obama’s Generation Indigenous initiative calls for programs focused on better preparing young American Indians for college and careers, and developing leadership skills through the Department of Education and the Aspen Institute’s Center for Native American Youth. Members of the president’s staff also plan to visit reservations next year. The White House did not provide a cost estimate for the initiative, but a spokeswoman said the administration plans to fund it with existing money and the help of nonprofit and philanthropic organizations. The announcement, made as part of the White House Tribal Nations Conference that Obama is hosting on Wednesday, comes five months after the president and his wife visited the impoverished Standing Rock Indian Reservation in the Dakotas. The 3,600-square-mile reser vation is home to about 8,500 people, many of whom live in run-down homes, and where the unemployment rate runs as high as 20 percent. The suicide rate for American Indians aged 15 to 24 is more than twice the national rate. Cecilia Munoz, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, said the president and first lady “were deeply moved” after listening to children’s stories about challenges they faced on the reservation, such as depression and alcohol abuse. Vice President Joe Biden said in a morning appearance before the conference that for Obama, helping Indian youth is “something that he came back from his June visit fired up about doing something about.”
EXTENDED WEATHER FORECAST FRIDAY HIGH 33° LOW 16° A.M. clouds
SATURDAY HIGH 28° LOW 19° Sunny
SUNDAY HIGH 33° LOW 26° P.M. snow
MONDAY HIGH 30° LOW 13° Snow showers
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Thursday, December 4, 2014
WBBA starts second year of cleanups
3
EAST BANK
After organizing its first area cleanup last spring, the WBBA enters year two of its quarterly sweeps in Cedar-Riverside. BY BARRY LY TTON blytton@mndaily.com
After Cedar-Riverside businesses complained for years that graffiti and street trash were deterring customers from the area, the West Bank Business Association banded together with other local organizations to clean up their neighborhood. The WBBA is now gearing up for a second year of seasonal community cleanups to rid the area of graffiti and litter, said its executive director, Jamie Schumacher. In 2015, the group plans to increase its quarterly efforts and sweep through the West Bank area on a monthly basis. D u r i n g c o l d w i n te r months, Schumacher said the organization will coordinate future cleanup efforts so they can roll out as soon the temperature hits 35 degrees. “In sunny optimism, you think, ‘Let’s start doing it in January,’ ” Schumacher said. “But January is very cold.” Each season, she said, a rotating team of community members spreads out across Cedar-Riverside. Some groups come to every cleanup, she said. Volunteers from local businesses led the WBBA’s first-ever cleanup last spring, and nonprofit workers took over the summer ef for t, she said. Schumacher said this fall’s work involved students, mostly from Augsburg College. The WBBA also launched a graf fiti-prevention campaign, hanging posters that read: “We live here. We work here. We learn here.” Because of Cedar-Riverside’s multilingual demographics, Schumacher said, the group decided to print the posters in a variety of languages, including Hmong, Somali and Spanish. Those ef for ts mirror common community approaches to improve neighborhood aesthetics, said Ed Goetz, a professor at the University of
Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Af fairs and director of the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs. “The cleanup of trash [and] graffiti is really important for maintaining an atmosphere that seems welcoming,” he said. Phill Kelly, interim director for the West Bank Community Coalition, was on hand at the recent fall cleanup. “This is both a response to [a] need that is not filled as well as a community-building activity,” he said. Kelly said he would like to see Cedar-Riverside be turned into a business improvement district — like that of downtown Minneapolis where a crew of ambassadors carries out tasks like pressure-washing streets, removing old gum from public spaces, patrolling sidewalks, and decorating the downtown blocks with baskets of flowers and twinkling winter lights. “[It’s] one of the things our neighborhood has looked for,” he said. “This is kind of the volunteer version of that.” But Kelly said that an of ficial Cedar-Riverside improvement district can’t take of f without approval from local area proper ty owners. He said suppor t has been lackluster because of funding concerns. While the West Bank as a community greatly benefits from volunteer cleanup work, he said, the area’s issues aren’t isolated. “It’s a pretty normal problem to have throughout the whole city,” Kelly said. “You see graf fiti ever ywhere, you see trash ever ywhere and you see people throwing trash on the ground everywhere.” Both Kelly and Schumacher said the cleanup effort has seen results just a year into its existence. “Each time we did it, we found less and less graffiti,” Schumacher said. “And each time we did it, we went a little bit further.”
LIAM JAMES DOYLE, DAILY
Architecture grad student Tianye Zhou looks at renderings from 2012 and 2013 in the Northrop Gallery on Wednesday evening. The gallery walls are covered in 100 years of student-drawn renderings. Three panelists spoke at an event on Wednesday that celebrated the reopening of Northrop Hall and the Centennial of the School of Architecture. They discussed research, their experiences as students and the past century of architecture.
Patient violence prompts proposal Plan u from Page 1
back, she said, the patient swung his cane at her. Security officers brought the patient back to his room, but he shortly made his way to the public elevators, Kim said. When she confronted him again, he became verbally and physically abusive, she said, and assaulted her three more times before security responded. Atkins’ bill is meant to address situations like these, but it’s not a solo effort. The Minnesota Nurses Association, law enforcement officials and others are involved in a working group to make the bill as comprehensive as possible, Atkins said. “Rather than impose my judgment, I’d like to hear from people that are on the front lines doing it ever y day,” Atkins said. He said he expects the bill to get a hearing in the House’s public safety committee next session. Since about 4,000 bills are introduced in a typical session, Atkins said, getting a hearing is an indication of momentum.
INJURY AND ILLNESS FOR MINNESOTA INDUSTRIES PER 100 FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES 2010-12
16.0 13.7 11.1
10.0
9.3
NURSING AND NURSING AND PRIMARY METAL UTILITIES CROP RESIDENTIAL RESIDENTIAL MANUFACTURING (LOCAL GOV’T) PRODUCTION CARE (LOCAL CARE (STATE GOV’T) GOV’T) SOURCE: MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND INDUSTRY
Kathy Knight, vice president of behavioral and professional ser vices for the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fair view, said nurses at the hospital are trained to assess patients’ aggression levels and employ de-escalation strategies and intervention techniques. For example, potential risk factors are noted on patients’ charts, Knight said. If a patient has a history of violence, narcotics addiction or
other issues, restrictions are placed what types of equipment can be in the patient’s room and where the room can be located, Knight said. Nursing students gain knowledge about safety from classes and simulations and during clinical practice, said Connie White Delaney, dean of the University’s School of Nursing. Knight said she supports Atkins’ bill, but she wants to see stipulations related
to mental health in the proposed law. “When it comes to applying a law, you can’t broad brushstroke it,” Knight said. “You have to take into account the mental capacity of the person at the time they committed the violent act.” Body size can play an important role in an altercation between a patient and caregiver. Stegeman, the nursing senior, described himself as 6 feet 4 inches and about 200 pounds and said he isn’t too concerned about potential workplace violence. But in Kim’s case, size wasn’t in her favor. Standing at just under 5 feet tall, Kim said she was in no physical position to take on her aggressor, whom she described as over 6 feet tall and about 300 pounds. Nurses are also not legally permitted to hit patients, she said. Following the attack, Kim said Fair view denied her shor t-term disability claim, adding that she had to use personal vacation time for recovery. “Had I known that this was possible or that this could happen before I started this career, no, I wouldn’t have done this,” she said.
UN weather agency says 2014 is on track for hottest year to date BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LIMA, Per u — W ith temperature data showing 2014 currently tied for the hottest year on record, the U.N. weather agency on Wednesday rejected claims that global warming has paused. The World Meteorological Organization said the global average temperature
Gender u from Page 1
in an apartment for her first year of college. She said she thinks the new housing option should include prospective freshman residents, too. “By the time you’re a sophomore, junior or senior and you decide you’re not comfortable in a situation,” she said, “you’ve left the dorms already and gone to apartments with people [you] are comfortable with.” Stubblefield said the department has “heard students loud and clear” on the subject. She said it chose to exclude freshmen from the pilot program because it wants to test the housing option on students who already have experience with University housing and its application process. Stubblefield said the department plans to make the option available to first-year students once school leaders have a better understanding of how residents interact with the new environment. She said Housing and Residential Life is also
in Januar y-October was 0.57 Celsius (1.03 Fahrenheit) above average, the same as in record hot year 2010. The ocean temperature set a new record in the nine-month period, while land temperatures were the fourth or fifth highest since record-keeping began in the 19th century, the WMO said in a report released at
U.N. climate talks in Lima and at its headquarters in Geneva. “The provisional information for 2014 means that 14 of the 15 warmest years on record have all occurred in the 21st centur y,” WMO Secretar yGeneral Michel Jar raud said in a statement. “There is no standstill in global warming.”
Climate skeptics point to a perceived hiatus in the temperature rise since 1998, an exceptionally hot year, to support their claims that man-made warming is not a big problem. Most climate scientists reject that idea. Michael Oppenheimer of Princeton University said the long-ter m war ming trend is combined with natural variations that tend to
developing training strategies that would educate staff, like community advisers, about gender identity. Currently, the three options for identifying gender on the University housing application for prospective and current students are “male,” “female” and “contact me.” Stubblefield said when someone selects “contact me,” she works with that person to find the best housing option available — which typically involves roommate requests or single bedrooms. Next fall, the clusters of gender-open rooms will serve as a small community for students to gather and feel comfortable in their surroundings. The University’s number of such spaces is modest compared to Northwestern University, which planned on starting this academic year with 144 spaces. But the demand at Northwestern dropped off and the school had to reduce the number of available genderneutral spaces by more than half, said Mark D’Arienzo, the school’s senior associate director of University housing administration.
“Students can probably get what they want off campus for equal to or less money,” he said. D’Arienzo said the school focused too heavily on its current students while planning for the spaces. “If I were going to do this again, I wouldn’t be looking at my current student population; I would be looking at what the trends happen to be in like junior high and high school,” he said, “because that’s the population that’s going to be making use of this once they arrive at the university.” At the University of Minnesota, Stubblefield said the goal is not to compete with off-campus housing, but to provide on-campus options to all students who want or need it. She said since it created plans for the option, the University looked at other Big ten schools and best practices around the country related to gender-neutral types of housing. “I r eally appr eciate the process that we went through to better understand what we were doing and what our options were,” Stubblefield said.
White House recognizes Minneapolis Green u from Page 1
as the Clean Energy Par tnership. “We’re ver y excited,” said Stephanie Zawistowski, Mayor Betsy Hodges’ sustainability policy aide. “The fact that we’ve demonstrated this leadership on a national level is great for any city.” Many details of the initiative have yet to be announced, said Ward 2 Councilman Cam Gordon. The White House announced the competition, which was administered by the U.S. Department of Energy, earlier this fall. Minneapolis leaders thought their recent environmentally friendly plans made the city a good candidate, Zawistowski said. Gordon said the University of Minnesota, which uses a lot of energy, could serve as a potential partner in future grant applications — especially considering its recent willingness to cut back on coal burning.
be cyclical, with a period of lower-than-average warming followed by a period of rapid warming. “Whether such a period is about to begin, we cannot say but the warm 2014 is a reminder that the warming never stopped and the long term trend is up, up, up,” Oppenheimer said. Parts of the planet were cooler than average, includ-
ing large areas of the U.S., Canada and central Russia. But most of the world experienced temperatures above average, with heat waves in South Africa, Australia and Argentina in January and in large parts of South America in October, according to the WMO assessment were par ticularly high in the northern hemisphere from June to October.
15 OTHER COMMUNITIES WERE NAMED CLIMATE ACTION CHAMPIONS Seattle Portland San Francisco
Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians
Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe Sonoma County
Dubuque
Salt Lake City
Mid-America Regional Council (Kan. and Miss.)
Montpelier Boston Oberlin
Knoxville Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (D.C., Md., and Va.) Broward County
SOURCE: WHITE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE
“There might even be some expertise at the University,” he said. “So if we were ver y interested in creating some kind of innovative sustainable community … the University might be able to help with that.” Despite Wednesday’s announcement, Fossil Free Minnesota member and political science s o p h o m o r e N o a h S h avit-Lonstein said Min-
neapolis still has a long way to go. He cited the city’s dependence on fossil fuel as a fundamental issue. “Climate change is a huge issue,” he said. “I think it should be a top priority for our government at many dif ferent levels because it’s something that will have a huge ef fect on the futures of people in the city, especially the young people who live in the city.”
4
Thursday, December 4, 2014
City wants Promise Zone
MINNEAPOLIS PROMISE ZONE VS. MINNEAPOLIS (OVERALL) UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
Promise
9.5%
u from Page 1
VISTA members would work in the area, and a federal liaison would be assigned to the zone. The city applied for the first round of designations in 2013, but wasn’t on the list of accepted areas released early this year, Stroebel said. The Department of Housing and Urban Development will announce the second group of Promise Zones this spring, he said. Obama designated five Promise Zones this year, and he has pledged to create 20 in total by the end of 2016. The University is active in creating opportunities in north Minneapolis. For example, its Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center — which houses initiatives like Clarkson’s Prepare2Nspire program — is located within the proposed Promise Zone. UROC Executive Director Heidi Barajas said the federal designation would align the University’s work with the city’s to help identify problem areas, adding that the two could more closely collaborate if the Promise Zone designation is approved. “People are already doing remarkable work,” she said. “The way that one aligns is to take the work that you’re doing and look at where the overlap is, look at where the redundancy is, but also to look at where the gaps are.” Ward 4 City Councilwoman Barbara Johnson represents part of the proposed zone and expressed some concern with the proposal, saying the city is applying for the designation without looking at what kinds of initiatives have worked or not
22.3%
MINNEAPOLIS PROMISE ZONE
MINNEAPOLIS (OVERALL)
POVERTY RATE
21.2% 40.33%
ELIZABETH BRUMLEY, DAILY
Eleventh graders Joshua Patrick, left, and Azsareea Smith study at the Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center on Monday evening. The University is working with the UROC and the Promise Zone in north Minneapolis.
worked in the past. “I’ve been around long enough so that I’ve lived through an empowerment zone and an enterprise zone,” she said. “You just wonder sometimes when you don’t see a lot of change, are these efforts worth it?” Although community workers may not have fully met their goals, Barajas said, that doesn’t mean there’s no progress. “[Past initiatives] may not have moved the dial to where we want it, but I know there are things that have been impacted and families whose lives have been improved.” Gloria James, a University family social science junior and a tutor for the Prepare2Nspire program, said there are already enough programs in the area, but they’re missing the people power to make them run.
“People are already doing remarkable work. The way that one aligns is to take the work that you’re doing and look at where the overlap is, look at where the redundancy is, but also to look at where the gaps are.”
MINNEAPOLIS PROMISE ZONE
MINNEAPOLIS (OVERALL)
KINDERGARTEN-READY CHILDREN
25%
91%
HEIDI BARAJAS Executive director, Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center
“A lack of volunteers seems to be the issue,” she said. “We need people to volunteer.” James said programs like Prepare2Nspire do a good job of providing children with college role models, but they could do more to encourage professionals to volunteer. Although some people expect results to come instantly, true progress takes time, said Forster Ntow, a University STEM education research assistant, who works for Prepare2Nspire.
“People think it’s like a vaccine and that you’ll see results in a week,” he said. Stroebel said improving the outcome of education takes more than programs aimed at education. Public safety and housing should be top priorities, he said, followed by the educational achievement gap. “What works is not coming in and doing something to the community,” Clarkson said. “It’s working with the community.”
MINNEAPOLIS PROMISE ZONE
MINNEAPOLIS (OVERALL)
POPULATION WITHOUT HIGH SCHOOL DEGREE OR GED 12% 25%
MINNEAPOLIS PROMISE ZONE
MINNEAPOLIS (OVERALL) SOURCE: CITY OF MINNEAPOLIS
Efforts to boost midterm voter turnout ineffective This November, only half of eligible Minnesotans turned out to vote. BY JOHN THOMAS jthomas@mndaily.com
Minnesota had the lowest voter tur nout in 30 years during last month’s election, of ficials announced last week. While voters historically turn out in lower numbers for non-presidential elections, data from the secretar y of state’s office show that this year’s results are low even compar ed to past midter m elections. “You have a government as a whole tr ying to make it easier for people to cast ballots — why is it going
down?” said Larr y Jacobs, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for the Study of Politics and Governance. Both parties are striving to increase voter turnout amid an especially polarized political environment, Jacobs said. Those efforts come at the same time as initiatives like no-excuse absentee balloting, introduced in Minnesota for the first time this year. Jacobs said he’s concerned that the trend may be caused by apathy for the political process that stems from a misunderstanding of the impact of an individual vote. When it comes to college students and other young people, Jacobs said this year’s candidates failed to effectively express
PERCENTAGE OF ELIGIBLE VOTERS WHO VOTED 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 2008
2010
BY KELSEY CHRISTENSEN kchristensen@mndaily.com
It has long been a myster y as to why a small fraction of people exposed to HIV can stay healthy despite their contact with the vir us that can eventually lead to AIDS. “Most people exposed get infected, but a few do not,” said Reuben Harris, a biochemistr y, molecular biology and biophysics professor at the University of Minnesota. Har ris and a team of University r esear chers recently delved into that question and discovered why HIV does not af fect each person exposed to it. The results of their study were published late last month. HIV comes in two forms —HIV-1 and HIV-2 — according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information. HIV-1 patients are more likely to progress in their disease and develop AIDS, whereas the
virus’ second strain is characterized by lower transmissibility and likelihood of progression. When a person is infected with HIV, Harris said, the virus attacks their immune system cells, called T cells, and replicates itself until it has killed of f the bulk of those cells. “HIV does [this] quite effectively,” he said. But a small number of people naturally resist HIV infection because of a genetic variation in a cell sur face protein, which can prevent the virus from binding to and infecting human cells. That variant protein’s presence only explains less than 20 percent of natural immunity to HIV, Har ris said. So his team turned its focus to finding what other factor could explain some patients’ apparent immunity HIV. They found that the stable existence of a separate specific protein can, in certain cases, block HIV from replicating. That specific protein’s presence can range widely, Harris said. He said that many
2014
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE MINNESOTA SECRETARY OF STATE
the relevance of their policies to those voters. “Seniors realize that getting out to vote really matters for Social Security and
New study explores apparent immunity to the HIV virus Researchers at the U have looked at why some people do not get infected.
2012
non-Caucasians, especially those of African descent, do have stable forms of the protein that are better at fending of f HIV infection. However, it’s unstable in many Minnesotans because of their European ancestry, he said. He said researchers plan to test couples in which one par tner is HIV-1 positive and the other is not. “All research is built on backs of previous research,” he said. Har ris also said it’s pressing for researchers to explore methods like drug therapies for strengthening human proteins that play a role in the likelihood of contracting HIV. Eric Refsland, who worked on Harris’ HIV research team over the last two years of his doctoral studies, said there is still plenty unknown about the virus that affects more than 1.2 million Americans. “The next steps are about how to manipulate a treatment,” he said. “The lab is going in the direction on how to find the global percentage of exposed HIV patients that are infected and not infected.”
Medicare — things that they really care about,” Jacobs said. “What’s the equivalent of Social Security for young people? … It
worries me that candidates seem to str uggle with that.” Drew Coveyou, communications director for the Minnesota Student Association, said he thinks most students don’t realize that their vote could affect issues like the allocation of University funding and financial aid. While MSA saw a record number of just over 400 students registered through its annual Voterpalooza event, Coveyou said he’s not completely satisfied with that figure. “It’s dishear tening to see not as many students involved in the political process,” he said. “We’re always tr ying to get more students engaged.” Jacobs said political scientists typically consider
rallies like Voterpalooza useful for energizing attendees, but not par ticularly effective for inspiring long-term voters. Canvassing and other forms of direct education are much more conducive to teaching the importance of voting, he said. State Rep. Alice Hausman, DFL-St. Paul, who represents par ts of the campus ar ea, said she thinks the University itself needs to do a better job of communicating to students that voting is not just a right, but a responsibility. “Being a responsible voter is something an educated person should understand,” she said. “You can encourage people to vote without telling them who to vote for.”
Chicano, Latino dept. still struggles Department heads say that they are disappointed with CLA’s solutions. BY TAYLOR NACHTIGAL tnachtigal@mndaily.com
Amid complaints that the Chicano and Latino Studies department is suffering from a lack of funds and resources, University of Minnesota leaders are reaching out to find solutions. But department leaders are still skeptical any real change is coming. Faculty members met with College of Liberal Arts Dean John Coleman on Monday afternoon to discuss the issues within the depar tment that they say stem from a shor tage of full-time instructors. Department leaders said they left the meeting disappointed, still searching for concrete solutions. “I thought it would be something substantive,” said Eden Tor res, the depar tment’s chair, “but it was just the same conversation.” She said the program is stretched thin, with only one full-time faculty member and a reliance on contingent faculty
members to teach its courses. But CLA didn’t approve the department’s request to include a new hire in the college’s budget this year. Coleman, who is in his first year as CLA dean, recently announced the college’s “road map” for the future. He said in an email that the department’s future, like all others in CLA, will be dependent on what the road map planning teams deem important to pursue in the coming years. “I look forward to working closely with Chicano and Latino Studies and all academic units as CLA’s future takes shape,” he said in an email. Torres said that Coleman gave the depar tment permission at the meeting to request a new hire this spring as CLA’s budget meetings for next year begin. The department wants to fill a position after a full-time tenured professor left last year, she said. David Melendez is a graduate student taking a seminar course in the Chicano and Latino Studies depar tment and has been involved in the recent discussions. He said even if CLA approves the request to hire another faculty member this spring, an immediate
solution to the department’s problems isn’t near. He said there would be an extensive search process for filling the position, which likely wouldn’t conclude until 2016. While the program’s low enrollment numbers are cited as a reason for the depar tment’s current state, Melendez said, the problem is self-perpetuating. If the University doesn’t increase its investments in the department, he said, the program will struggle to increase enrollment. And that problem makes it difficult to attract top faculty to lead the department. “How can we recr uit someone who’s ready to take over the department without any promise of growth or increased resources?” Torres said. At the meeting, Torres said Coleman suggested solutions like reaching out to Latino faculty members across the University to integrate Chicano and Latino studies into their courses. Despite the proposed solutions, Torres said she isn’t confident the University will invest in the depar tment anytime soon. “It was pretty much the same conversation I’ve had before,” she said. “I guess all I can do is keep trying.”
Editorials & Opinions
Thursday, December 4, 2014
BUSINESS
Holiday season shouldn’t be manipulated Retailers taking advantage of the frantic holiday season should reconsider strategies.
T
hese winter months have become some of our favorite days that many of us have come to call “the holidays.” We begin blasting our favorite holiday music, preparing our stomachs for a few feasts and remembering to give thanks for those we love. However, over the past 50 years, a tradition has emerged and grown more popular: Black Friday. Since it began in the 1960s, it has developed into a day when stores sell the best brands at an af fordable price, a day when we venture out to buy our friends and family the gifts they deser ve. Black Friday has its benefits, and it cer tainly pays of f for those who wait in mile-long lines at 4 a.m. However, there are obvious (and dangerous) drawbacks to this doomsday of shopping. The Philadelphia Police Depar tment coined the day after Thanksgiving as Black Friday because shopping caused so much traffic congestion, many accidents and, on occasion, violence. To this day, Black Friday lives up to its name. There have been seven deaths and
KEELIA MOELLER columnist
98 injuries on Black Fridays since 2006. Just last year, there was a crowd of 2,000 outside Wal-Mar t chanting in unison, “Push the doors in.” The workers began getting ner vous and formed a human chain to slow down the shoppers. Their attempt failed, and Jdimytai Damour was killed by this uncontrollable stampede of shoppers. Despite incidents such as these, retailers don’t appreciate the negative connotations associated with Black Friday. Instead, they continually hype up their customers with earlier openings, bigger sales and longer lines. Companies know the psychology of their customers — and they use this knowledge to maximize their sales. “Get it before it’s gone.” Sound familiar? Retailers design phrases such as these to create a sense of scarcity among their customer bases. People are scared to miss out on an item that’s becoming a rarity — and when people deem an item
rare, its overall psychological value goes up. Retailers also play up their shoppers’ anticipation. Before Black Friday comes, constant adver tisements and ar ticles inform us of all of the great deals that will be available only for one day. This creates a buildup effect, which in turn leads to a cathar tic release come shopping time. The concept of competition is also a psychological factor that retailers keep in mind. After Black Friday, I often hear people comparing their own purchases to those of others and debating who saved the most money. Couponing, when paired with door-buster sales, maximizes our chances of saving more money than others. It’s human nature to want to outdo other people. We need to tone down Black Friday. Retailers are creating overexcited mobs of competitors who are ready to fight to get the best deal. This isn’t safe and isn’t what the season should be about. Holiday shopping can be a positive thing, but manipulating the psychology of shoppers isn’t the right way to advertise. Keelia Moeller welcomes comments at kmoeller@mndaily.com.
DAILY DISCUSSION
Comments on ‘Students seek bathroom equality’
Transgender individuals know all too well that being caught in the “wrong” bathroom can result in physical violence or worse. The ignorance and hostility of other comments on this article serves to underline that point, not contradict it, and thus underlines the needs presented in the article.
A Gopher via MNDaily.com
It’s actually really easy to convert bathrooms to gender-neutral bathrooms, so I don’t get why everyone thinks it’s going to cost a lot of money. Also, it’s not just transgender people who want to be men or women that want neutral bathrooms, but also people who identify with either of the genders or both of the genders, or some non-binary gender. I highly suggest looking up some nonbinary people on Google and seeing their stories. These are all valid as well. It’s sad to see that so many people are against helping people who may be having trouble feeling comfortable in a bathroom. Transgender students just want to feel comfortable, and I feel like that it is not much to ask for. umnstudent16 via MNDaily.com CONTACT THE EDITOR Martin Jaakola mjaakola@mndaily.com @mjaakola1
As we benefit from the lowest gas prices in five years, we would do well to recall how we got here. Gas prices in the Mankato area have been around $2.65 to $2.70 a gallon, and experts say gas prices are the lowest nationally in five years, about 50 cents a gallon lower than a year ago. The low gas prices didn’t just happen, although that seems to sometimes be the best explanation. Gas prices and crude oil prices are ultimately driven by supply and demand. And consumers can at the ver y least control demand. That has been the case since 2008 when the Great Recession took hold. Consumers stopped driving as much; they bought lower-mileage cars and cut back on buying airline tickets for family vacations. As a result, businesses used
More data needed to help homeless
A
Minnesota Daily article on Wednesday showed that colleges and universities across the state are largely ill-equipped to deal with the growing issue of student homelessness. It’s a problem that often sits in the shadows, but the Minnesota Office of Higher Education has estimated that between 3 and 5 percent of college students grapple with what is known as episodic homelessness. The causes var y as to what leaves college students without a home. For some, it’s the loss of income or financial aid. For others, it’s a more complicated set of circumstances. Regardless of the causes, the problem of homelessness is increasing across the board in Minnesota. The state as a whole is making broad steps toward lessening and ending homelessness in Minnesota, including $33 million in legislative funding to boost programs that prevent homelessness and build affordable housing. But to address homeless college students, there are few specific plans. The main hindrance to positive change is a lack of data. Without an idea of how many students are without a stable home, post-secondary institutions are either left guessing at the scope of the problem or being unaware of it altogether. Preventing and ending homelessness is, of course, a massive undertaking that will take time and resources. But the first step in addressing this problem on college campuses is collecting data that isn’t currently available. We believe that public colleges and universities should asking students about their recent and current housing situations so they can measure and properly address the issue of student homelessness.
T Helen Teague welcomes comments at hteague@mndaily.com.
BUSINESS
Why the Holidazzle is relevant Fitting in with Minneapolis’ new 2025 city plan, the event boosts culture and business.
A
“Holidazzle” might sound like a sugary holiday drink, but most Minnesotans know it as the annual holiday parade in downtown Minneapolis. Not this year. Instead, the parade is revamping itself as the “Holidazzle Village featuring the Minneapolis Holiday Market,” a monthlong outdoor market selling festive crafts and snacks. If it’s a success, the Holidazzle market could set a precedent for a more community-driven, pedestrian-centered and hospitable city. Have you ever walked through Nicollet Mall? Even in daytime hours, it’s a pretty empty place. You might spot a few people, but most are sequestered inside, traveling from building to building through skyways that separate them from the outside world. Holidazzle planners believe the event’s attractions will be enough to draw out Minnesotans from the skyways and into the streets. The structure of the Holidazzle market encourages pedestrian density, uses existing urban space in creative ways, and makes for
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR What’s right about low gas prices?
EDITORIALS
MSHSL must pass trans policy
MinnJRJ via MNDaily.com
It’s a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. No one has been violently attacked in a bathroom on this campus, so why would we start making a third bathroom that someone could easily infiltrate and attack someone in anyway? Or are you saying there would be a keycard access point on each of these genderneutral bathrooms that you would have to register with the University of Minnesota in order to have access? Then, what’s to stop these “attackers” from also registering and entering the “safe” bathroom and attacking you in there?
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less fuel as well. At the same time, the U.S. expanded its own domestic production of crude oil. Crude oil production in the U.S. is now running at 8.6 million barrels per day, a 60 percent increase from just four years ago, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. More gains are expected in 2015. Par t of the production increase came from an increase in drilling and more efficient drilling, as well as new oil fields such as the Bakken fields of Nor th Dakota. But we’ve put in place some conser vation measures on the demand side as well. The Obama administration set new higher fuel mileage standards for new vehicles a few years ago. While a worldwide economic slowdown cer tainly can cur tail use of crude oil and refined products, businesses have lear ned a new energy reality over the
THE EDITORIALS AND OPINIONS DEPARTMENT IS INDEPENDENT OF THE NEWSROOM
CAMILLE GALLES columnist
bustling street life. These objectives are all part of Minneapolis’ new 2025 city plan. Twin Cities residents will only see benefits if city-planning efforts can get more people on the streets. A bustling street fosters community and trust within the cities, and it makes the Twin Cities an attractive place to live. A city that appears active and vibrant attracts new residents who bring jobs, diversity and new ideas. The Holidazzle marketplace isn’t just another place to shop. It has the potential to strengthen Minnesota’s economy. I’m hoping the Holidazzle gamble will pay off. The weather may be cold, but Minnesotan personalities are far from it. Our downtown area should reflect that. Camille Galles welcomes comments at cgalles@mndaily.com.
Gas prices and crude oil prices are ultimately driven by supply and demand. And consumers can at the very least control demand. last few years. They’ve learned how to conduct business without using as much fuel. Whole new industries that advise businesses about how to save energy are popping up. The demand for lower energy costs has become a growth industry. OPEC can’t even seem to get together on production quotas anymore. Consumers have been key to getting lower gas prices, and we’ll be key to keeping them low. Let’s not forget we are in the driver’s seat.
he Minnesota State High School League will vote Thursday on a policy proposal intended to provide a set of recommendations on how to treat transgender students’ eligibility to participate in sports in line with their gender identities. With increased acceptance and understanding of gender identity, the policy has garnered large amounts of support during discussions preceding the vote. Proponents claim that the policy allows greater inclusion for transgender students who often feel that they do not belong and allows for high schools to make “reasonable and appropriate restroom and locker room” accommodations. Essentially, the policy would make transgender students included on prep sports teams of the gender with which they identify. Not everyone agrees. Opponents such as the Minnesota Child Protection League, which has run two anti-transgender advertisements in the Star Tribune before votes on the proposal, questions the safety of allowing shared locker rooms with transgender students. Other groups such as the Minnesota Family Council, a Christian organization, argue that religious schools should get an exemption, as they do not recognize gender identity issues as legitimate. Though some may not understand the problems transgender students encounter in high school, this should not be an excuse to exclude them from activities like sports. We feel that the proposed policy is longoverdue and urge the MSHSL to pass it. Everyone deserves the right to be treated fairly and have the opportunity to compete in high school sports without the fear of discrimination. EDITORIALS & OPINIONS DEPARTMENT Editorials represent the voice of the Minnesota Daily as an institution and are prepared by the editorial board.
SHARE YOUR VIEWS The Minnesota Daily welcomes letters and guest columns from readers. All letters must include the writer’s name, address and phone number for verification. The Daily reserves the right to edit all letters for style, space, libel and grammar. Letters to the editor should be no more than 500 words in length. Guest columns should be approximately 350 words. The Daily reserves the right to print any submission as a letter or guest column. Submission does not guarantee publication.
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This editorial was originally printed in the Mankato Free Press on Wednesday.
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Thursday, December 4, 2014
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Sports
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@MNDAILYSPORTS
HOCKEY
Potulny continues his winning tradition The assistant coach was a three-time captain during his playing days. BY DAVID NELSON dnelson@mndaily.com
Grant Potulny wasn’t Minnesota’s strongest skater. He wasn’t its best scorer. And he wasn’t its craftiest stickhandler. But with an inexhaustible work ethic and uncanny leadership skills, Potulny helped rebuild a oncegr eat Gophers hockey program in the early 2000s. Now he’s attempting to do the same as an assistant coach. In the 2002 national title game, Potulny scored Minnesota’s game-winning goal against Maine. He still remembers the moment vividly. “Jordan [Leopold] had an opportunity to try to get the puck to the net,” Potulny said. “He had [gotten] a pass from Jeff Taffe and … on the way to the net [the shot] was going wide and it happened to hit Johnny Pohl. [The puck] popped right onto my stick, and I just swung at it.” Bedlam erupted inside the Xcel Energy Center as the shot slid past Maine’s goaltender, lifting Minnesota to its first national title in more than 20 years. “Without fail, and you’d hear this from any guy who was in that locker room with him, he’s the best leader that we’ve ever had,” former defenseman and teammate Judd Stevens said. “He never did it with pretty plays … but he had an awesome career and scored a ton of huge goals [because] of his determination and his will and his character.” While outside obser vers might call that goal Potulny’s memorable accomplishment, the former player said he’s more honored by the three years he spent serving as one of the Gophers’ captains. “You talk about scoring the goal and that’s a wonder ful moment,” Potulny said. “But the tr ust and respect you get from your team … that was special.” Just more than a decade after his college graduation, Potulny finds himself
Assistant coach Grant Potulny helps run hockey practice on Tuesday at Ridder Arena. Potulny is a former Gophers hockey player.
in a much different leadership position as an assistant coach for No. 6 Minnesota. “Even though he was young [when we hired him], he was mature,” head coach Don Lucia said. “All he’s done is absorb, learn — he wants to be a coach. You see that passion in him.” When Potulny became a full-time coach for Lucia at the star t of the 2009-2010 season, the Gophers had just concluded a year in which they ranked tied for eighth in power-play percentage nationally and 13th in team offense. But after Potulny has worked with Minnesota’s for wards for the past five seasons, the Gophers now have the nation’s 10th-best offense and third-best power play percentage.
at Colorado College and the University of AlaskaFairbanks. When a gritty for ward from Nor th Dakota became one of Lucia’s targets in the 2000 recr uiting class, Potulny said he helped start a new trend at Minnesota. “They had been an allMinnesota team for the tenure of Doug Woog,” Potulny said. “When coach Lucia came in ... [he said] we’re going to open the borders up to good players and guys who fit in our role.” But unlike some of his peers who he joined on campus, Potulny wasn’t exactly a superstar in the making. “I was probably a little dif ferent than what they had in the past,” Potulny said. “I was more of a suppor ting player than a guy who would carr y a line.” Despite whatever limitations he had as an
Leading the Gophers Lucia arrived as the Gophers’ new head coach in 1999 after ser ving stints
athlete, Potulny made up for it as a leader on the ice. “There were guys on the team that got there on skill … and you maybe needed a kick in the rear to develop the work ethic,” former teammate Stevens said. “And Grant got there on the opposite … his work ethic was beyond measure.” Following the Gophers’ n a t i on a l c h a mpi on s h i p season of 2001-02, Minnesota faced plenty of adversity during its title defense the next year. “His junior year, Grant broke his ankle earlier in the year, which forced him to miss a good chunk of the season,” Stevens said. “As Grant was injured, we struggled.” But the hardships brought the best out of the Gophers’ captain. “One day, we had gone through a tough sketch … he gathered the troops and came with the slogan
that, ‘We’re gonna shock the world this year, boys,’” Stevens said. “Upon his return … we went on just a hot streak.” Minnesota, of course, went on to win its second consecutive championship that season, dominating New Hampshire 5-1 in the 2003 title game.
The road to coaching Potulny concluded his time with the Gophers as a three-time captain and a two-time national champion. He spent six years playing in the American Hockey League until another ankle injur y derailed Potulny’s professional career. But that led him back to Minnesota for a job as a volunteer assistant with the Gophers. After one year, Lucia took of f the volunteer assistant label following the depar ture of Mike Hastings.
JULIET FARMER, DAILY
“Being an alum, being around the program, being a guy who played for Don … he kind of breached the idea of me becoming a fulltime coach,” Potulny said. “I thought, ‘Wow, what a wonderful opportunity.’” Ever since, Potulny has become a big reason for Minnesota’s consistent success. “If we’re not playing well or we’re not working hard, he’ll be the first on to call us out on it,” sophomore for ward Justin Kloos said. “But he’s definitely a little bit quicker to say, ‘Good job.’” While Potulny didn’t rule out the possibility of a head coaching job in the future, he said he’s content with his place right now. “I know there’s some people that that’s the most impor tant thing to them,” Potulny said. “Right now, I think [my family and I] are all in a good place.”
MEN’S HOCKEY
Gophers set for second year of Big Ten play Minnesota will begin its conference schedule against Michigan State. BY BEN GOTZ bgotz@mndaily.com
The Gophers had to travel to new arenas across the Midwest last year as part of their new normal: playing hockey in the Big Ten. They will make their first repeat trip this weekend, opening up conference play against Michigan State in East Lansing, Mich. Even though the team isn’t heading into completely dif ferent territor y, the Gophers are still, in some ways, adjusting to the new conference. Head coach Don Lucia said it’s different beginning conference play in December after years of playing WCHA matchups much earlier in the year. “It seems weird, still, to be in conference play so late,” Lucia said. “You’re used to previous years where you’re getting into conference play … in October.” The late start to conference play didn’t seem to
MEN’S HOCKEY PREVIEW
@ MICHIGAN STATE 5-8-0, 1-1 BIG TEN
NO. 6 MINNESOTA 8-4-0 WHEN: 6 p.m. Friday and 4 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: East Lansing, Mich. SOURCE: GOPHERSPORTS.COM
hurt the Gophers last year, though, as they went 14-33 in the first year of the Big Ten and won the conference’s first regular-season title. Minnesota is favored to bring home the regularseason conference title again this year. Confer ence coaches picked the Gophers to finish first in a preseason poll, and Minnesota is the only Big Ten team that is currently listed in the USCHO.com college hockey rankings. The Big Ten’s overall play hasn’t been as strong as expected this season. Three teams were featured in the USCHO’s preseason top 10, but now only Minnesota remains in the top 20. Michigan, which was ranked No. 8 before the
season, is just a game above .500 at 7-6-0. Wisconsin started the year at No. 10, but it didn’t pick up its first victory of the year until last weekend. Penn State is the only other team in the Big Ten besides Minnesota that is above .500 overall, but it has played only one ranked team so far. The conference’s current standing could make the path to winning another regular-season title clearer for the Gophers. Senior defenseman Ben Marshall said the team is ready to defend its title. “It’s exciting to maybe repeat that,” Marshall said. “That might put a little bit more weight on our shoulders, but we like that. We like that target, and I think that
JULIET FARMER, DAILY FILE PHOTO
Minnesota’s Ben Marshall plays against Minnesota-Duluth at Mariucci Arena on Nov. 14.
it’s good for us.” If the Gophers want to defend their title, they’ll need to improve on the road. The Gophers have struggled with away games so far this season, compiling a 1-3 record. And that’s a problem, Lucia said, the Gophers have
to correct fast because the team’s first four conference games, including two this weekend, are on the road. “Probably the one disappointing thing for me is we’re 1-3 on the road right now,” Lucia said. “Last year, we were 3-1.” Lucia said the ways to
avoid a loss this weekend are by creating more consistent pressure in 5-on-5 situations and limiting turnovers. “We’re trying not to beat ourselves,” sophomore forward Vinni Lettieri said. “It’ll get a lot more competitive now that we’re playing for the Big Ten title.”
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Thursday, December 4, 2014
WOMEN’S HOCKEY
Confidence, skill help Cameranesi excel Dani Cameranesi is second in the country in goals scored this season. BY GRANT DONALD gdonald@mndaily.com
After being named National Rookie of the Year for her per formance last season, sophomore forward Dani Cameranesi probably didn’t need another confidence boost. Regardless, Cameranesi received one when the U.S. national team selected her to compete in November’s Four Nations Cup. She has been terrorizing opposing defenses since then, racking up nine points in the past month. “As you look up and down our lineup, she is probably our most consistent player night in and night out,” head coach Brad Frost. “Whether she scores or not, you notice her each and every shift.” Cameranesi has been scoring, though. She currently sits second in the nation in goals and is tied for fifth in the country in points. With more than half of the season left, Cameranesi only needs four more goals to match the 19 goals she scored in her freshman campaign. “Coming in freshman year, I think I kind of lost my confidence a little,” Cameranesi said. “This year, I just became more confident in my role on the team, and … having Hannah Brandt on my line helps a lot.”
WOMEN’S HOCKEY PREVIEW
VS NO. 2 MINNESOTA 14-1-2
ST. CLOUD STATE 5-11-1
WHEN: 7:07 p.m. Friday and 4:07 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: Ridder Arena
SOURCE: GOPHERSPORTS.COM
The Gophers’ top line has featured Cameranesi and juniors Brandt and Mar yanne Menefee for a majority of the season. While the Gophers have benefited from secondar y scoring threats that have emerged recently, it was that top line that carried Minnesota at the beginning of the season. “They really, aside from maybe one weekend, have been the line that has carried us offensively,” Frost said. “They have great chemistry. They are all different players, and they complement each other very well.” The sophomore surge that Cameranesi is experiencing didn’t come without putting in the hours throughout the offseason. “I really focused on my shot. I thought that was an area I could definitely improve on,” Cameranesi said. “I also worked on my strength. Not a lot of my goals are ver y pretty ones — just kind of battling in front of the net.” But Frost said the biggest difference this year for Cameranesi is the added confidence that playing for
the U.S. national team has brought her. “When you play with and against the best players and hold your own and score some goals, it only builds confidence in a player,” Frost said. Cameranesi has also benefited from having a year of college hockey under her belt — something her fellow teammate, Meghan Lorence, also experienced during her sophomore year. “Going into freshman year, you get kind of scared,” Lorence said. “You don’t really know much about the systems or the players. Just having one year under your belt is very helpful, and it has shown to be helpful to Dani this year.” The sophomore forward has used last season’s experience to help her this year. “You look back on the first half of the season and you use it as a guide,” Cameranesi said. “I just need to keep working hard and getting my teammates involved, and I think that will help us reach our end goal of a national championship.”
ALEX TUTHILL-PREUS, DAILY FILE PHOTO
Gophers forward Dani Cameranesi plays against St. Cloud State at Braemar Arena on Nov. 24.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Gophers show defensive growth under Pitino Minnesota’s ball pressure has been a bright spot for the team this season. BY JACK SATZINGER jsatzinger@mndaily.com
Carlos Morris looked like an octopus playing Wake Forest on Tuesday night, stretching his long arms to pick off passes left and right as the Gophers won 84-69. When the junior college transfer’s 31 minutes on the court were up, he had collected eight steals — just one shy of the program’s singlegame record. Head coach Richard Pitino’s team is far from a finished product and has struggled against good competition this year, like Louisville and St. John’s. But seven games into Pitino’s second season at Minnesota, his players have shown a capacity to do one thing at a high level: play pressure defense. “Defense wins games, and that’s what [Pitino] preaches ever y practice,” Morris said. “Just rotate, be together as a defense.” The defensive intensity hasn’t just come from Morris. It’s been the hallmark of Minnesota’s perimeter players. After their season-opening loss to Louisville in Puerto Rico, the Gophers sat down and pored over game film. The biggest takeaway: The Cardinals, coached by Pitino’s father, Rick, were playing with the defensive intensity Minnesota wanted. “I think it was a revelation kind of when we played Louisville, and we broke down the film and we kind of saw how they were guarding things,” senior guard Andre Hollins said. “Then we looked at us to see if we were really pressuring the ball like we thought we were.” They weren’t. Minnesota recorded a season-low six steals against Louisville, with senior point guard DeAndre Mathieu flummoxed by foul trouble. The Gophers’ coaching staff talked to Mathieu after the game and told him he needs to be like a “gnat” if he wants to play professionally. Since then, he’s been a pest on the defensive end, often picking up opposing guards full court and making simple tasks like bringing the ball up the floor a chore.
Gophers outlast North Carolina State on the road Amanda Zahui B. and Rachel Banham led the team with 21 points apiece.
BY MATT GREENSTEIN mgreenstein@mndaily.com
BRIDGET BENNETT, DAILY FILE PHOTO
Gophers senior guard DeAndre Mathieu competes against Western Kentucky on Nov. 18.
“If you can pick up a guy 74 feet, they’ll give you a contract somewhere,” Mathieu said after recording five steals in a win against Western Kentucky last month. “I kind of took that in my mind and tried to make my defense better.” With both Hollins and Mathieu locked in defensively, Minnesota’s defense as a whole has started to follow suit, with big men like Joey King and Mo Walker playing more passing lanes. “When we bring it, it’s pretty dif ficult for other teams to get their offense going,” King said. Mathieu and Hollins are responsible for setting the tone. “Ever ybody’s watching [those] two guys to see if they’re going to speed up the ball, if they’re going to get deflections,” Pitino said. “Those two guys are crucial defensively starting all that stuff.” While the Gophers have str uggled to find depth at small for ward this season, there’s no shortage of ball-hawking guards. Even
MEN’S BASKETBALL PREVIEW
VS MINNESOTA 5-2
WESTERN CAROLINA 3-4
WHEN: 6 p.m. Friday
WHERE: Williams Arena
when Mathieu or Hollins head to the bench, there’s not a decrease in defensive pressure. In fact, there might be an increase. Nate Mason is already adept at taking opposing guards out of their comfort zones with full-court pressure. “When we press, we want to speed up the ball. You’ve got to have a great defender speeding up the ball, and Nate is that,” Pitino said. Though Minnesota’s improved defensive pressure up top is obvious to the naked eye, it’s also shown on the team’s stat sheet. After Tuesday’s game, the Gophers
ranked fourth in the country with more than 11 steals per game. Last season, Minnesota finished 45th nationally at 7.42 thefts per contest. Regardless of the small sample size, it’s clear that Minnesota is a handful for opposing offenses to face. Ball pressure has become the Gophers’ calling card and, even though they’re far from perfect, that’s enough to make them a tough out against just about anybody. “We’re not afraid to pressure the ball,” Hollins said. “That’s just what we do, and I think we’re getting more comfortable doing it.”
SOURCE: GOPHERSPORTS.COM
Before Wednesday’s 6055 victory over North Carolina State, Gophers head coach Marlene Stollings said senior for ward Shae Kelley’s aggressiveness had been helping spark the team. K e l l e y, M i n n e s o t a ’ s leader in scoring, steals and rebounds, was held to only eight points in the game, and she looked out of rhythm early. So did her team. The Gophers began the game with double-digit turnovers within the first 10 minutes. Stollings said the turnovers were due to the team’s lack of focus at the beginning of the game. “Some of those were just us being loose. [It was] uncharacteristic of us,” Stollings said. A tough NC State defense challenged the Gophers offensively. Minnesota str uggled with shooting in the first half, making 11 of 31 field goals. Stollings said the team was getting the open looks it wanted, but it just wasn’t able to convert on the chances. NC State’s defensive pressure minimized Minnesota’s up-tempo offense, but senior guard Rachel Banham kept Minnesota close in the first half with 10 points and five rebounds. Banham said the allaround first half she played gave the team momentum for the remainder of the game. “I have to be able to lead the team to show them if I can do it, anyone can do it as well,” Banham said. The Gophers brought a different strategy to the second half, as redshirt sophomore Amanda Zahui B. gave Minnesota a more solidified inside presence. The Gophers had a distinct height advantage with the 6-foot-5-inch Zahui B.,
MINNESOTA 60, NORTH CAROLINA STATE 55 Minnesota North Carolina State
27 33 — 60 26 29 — 55
MINNESOTA Player Zahui B. Bailey Banham Kelley Mullaney Wagner Hirt Hedstrom Total
Min 35 36 36 36 37 12 5 4 200
FG FT Reb M-A M-A O-T Ast 5-12 11-14 3-12 2 2-7 0-0 1-3 2 8-19 2-2 2-9 3 4-10 0-4 2-6 1 0-1 0-0 1-4 2 2-6 0-0 1-1 0 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 21-56 13-20 11-41 10
PF 3 2 2 1 4 2 0 0 14
Pts 21 5 21 8 0 5 0 0 60
FT Reb M-A O-T Ast PF 2-3 2-7 2 2 1-1 0-3 5 1 0-0 0-2 2 1 1-2 1-4 1 3 2-2 2-4 0 0 0-0 3-8 0 5 0-0 1-3 4 1 2-2 0-3 0 3 8-10 12-40 14 16
Pts 15 12 7 7 4 2 4 4 55
NORTH CAROLINA STATE FG Player Min M-A Wilson 28 5-15 Brown 37 5-12 Spencer 29 3-6 Mathurin 28 3-7 Barrett 27 1-6 Schuhmacher 21 1-8 Eli 19 2-4 Nelson 11 1-4 Total 200 21-62
“I have to be able to lead the team to show them if I can do it, anyone can do it as well.” RACHEL BANHAM Senior guard
and Banham said she wanted to just keep feeding her the ball inside. “They couldn’t guard her. She’s just too big. That’s something we need to continue to do when we play undersized teams,” Banham said. Zahui B. not only fueled the Gophers of fensively, finishing with 21 points, but she also helped Minnesota rebound the ball — an area of focus for the team recently. The Gophers finished the game with 41 rebounds, and Zahui B. said it helped that the team became more aggressive. “Rebounding has been something we’ve been talking about a lot. We talk a lot about not just … rebounding, but going out there and doing it,” she said. The team’s aggressiveness was evident in its defense in the second half. Stollings said her team’s ability to overcome adversity was huge in a close game. “I’m ver y proud of the way we battled and fought. I’m most proud of our kids’ fight, poise and [ability] to come out with a victor y,” Stollings said.
Thursday, December 4, 2014
9
WRESTLING
Gophers to face Big Ten foes at invite Minnesota will be competing in a 39team field at the Cliff Keen Invite. BY DANNY CHEN dchen@mndaily.com
Coming of f a victor y against top-10 Oklahoma State, the wrestling team will look to continue its momentum as it heads to the Cliff Keen Invitational. Among the 39 teams competing alongside Minnesota in the two-day event are Big Ten foes Indiana, Michigan, Ohio State and Nebraska. Head assistant coach Brandon Eggum said his team knows all of the Big Ten schools very well, but it also expects to see different lineups at the invitational. “There will be some new faces in their lineups, so we will have some new matchups,” Eggum said. “It’s really nice to have an opportunity to wrestle all of these [Big Ten] teams early in the season. You can make some adjustments and learn from those matches, and then go from there.” Due to the tournament’s large size, the Gophers will travel to Las Vegas this weekend with 15 wrestlers. Other than some new faces, many well-established wrestlers will also be competing at the invitational for Big Ten rival schools. Those wrestlers include Adam Coon of Michigan and Logan Stieber from Ohio State. Last year as a true freshman for Michigan, Coon won his first 23 college matches as a heavyweight and was ranked No. 1 for the majority of the season. Gophers redshirt sophomore Michael Kroells, Minnesota’s heavyweight, wrestled against Coon several times in high school. “Last time I wrestled him was my senior year in high school in Fargo,” Kroells said. “He ended up beating me in a close match. [But] he has always been a tough competitor, and we have always been around the same weight, battling back and forth. He’s a tough guy for sure.” Depending on the seed
LIAM JAMES DOYLE, DAILY FILE PHOTO
Gophers senior Nick Dardanes wrestles against his Michigan State opponent at the Sports Pavilion on Nov. 21.
meeting before the invitational, which will take place Thursday, Kroells might have a chance to wrestle Coon again. Ohio State’s Stieber has won the NCAA championship for the past three years, and Minnesota redshirt senior Nick Dardanes had the chance to wrestle him during the of fseason last year.
In the Las Vegas/ASICS U.S. Open, Dardanes and Stieber were tied 6-6 before Stieber eventually won the match. Dardanes said he has faced Stieber four times now, and each time the margin between them gets smaller. Like Kroells, Dardanes doesn’t know yet whether he’ll face Stieber in the
invitational. But he’s prepared either way. “I’m for sure going to watch some film,” Dardanes said. “I know what he does. He is really good on top, and you know, he is a three-time national champ. But I have improved, and facing Stieber would set the tone for the rest of the season.”
WRESTLING PREVIEW
@
CLIFF KEEN INVITATONAL
NO. 1 MINNESOTA WHEN: All day Friday and Saturday
WHERE: Las Vegas SOURCE: GOPHERSPORTS.COM
SWIMMING & DIVING
Minnesota to honor legendary coach over weekend SWIMMING & DIVING PREVIEW
MINNESOTA WHEN: All day Friday and Saturday
@
JEAN FREEMAN INVITE WHERE: Aquatic Center SOURCE: GOPHERSPORTS.COM
Sophomore Daryl Turner propels himself forward during the men’s 100-yard butterfly on Nov. 20.
The Aquatic Center will be renamed the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center. BY DANNY CHEN dchen@mndaily.com
After racking up 25 firstplace finishes at the Jean Freeman Invite last year, the Gophers are looking for a repeat per formance
this weekend. The invite has been an annual event at the University Aquatic Center since 2012, in honor of legendary Gophers women’s swimming and diving coach Jean Freeman. Freeman died at the age of 60 in 2010 after an ongoing fight with cancer. She spent 31 years as the Gophers’ head women’s swimming and diving coach before retiring during the
2003-04 season. In Freeman’s tenure as coach, the women’s team won back-to-back Big Ten championships in 1999 and 2000, and she won Big Ten Coach of the Year four times. The University of Minnesota’s College of Education and Human Development will rename the Aquatic Center after her on Saturday. “I think the main thing about this event is being able to honor Jean,” assistant
LIAM JAMES DOYLE, DAILY FILE PHOTO
coach Steve Miller said. “We are excited to honor her in such a way, to host so many great teams here [at the Aquatic Center].” Last year, the men’s team won 14 out of a possible 20 events at the Jean Freeman Invite, while the women’s team won 11. Current Gophers that stood out at the event were sophomore Dar yl Turner, senior Blake Zeiger and junior Manny Pollard.
Turner won the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard backstroke in the individual events, and he helped the team win four relays. Zeiger took first in the 50-yard freestyle and participated in three relay events. She said last year’s event was fun, and she hopes that this year is the same. “The [Jean Freeman Invite] is a great opportunity to do some in-season racing,” Zeiger said. “I’m
excited to participate again this year.” Pollard took first in the 1-meter diving competition, while teammates Nick Rodriguez and Erik Larsen took second and third, respectively, to sweep the competition. “We have a great team,” Pollard said. “[Sweeping] the competition gives ever yone [on the team] the confidence that we need going into the championships. This year, we have the potential to do really well again. If we have the confidence going in, and train with that confidence, it’ll be great.” Head men’s and women’s diving coach Wenbo Chen said he told his athletes the competition isn’t something to cause worry. “The major thing is to compete with yourself. The [Jean Freeman Invite] is a great training opportunity. It is [also] a good opportunity to bring ever yone back after the [Thanksgiving] holidays,” Chen said.
10
Thursday, December 4, 2014
PUPPETS
Personalizing puppets Whether it’s on the streets or streaming online, the Ridiculous Puppet Company makes puppets personal. BY JACKIE RENZETTI jrenzetti@mndaily.com
T
he Ridiculous Puppet Company helps people get up close and personal with puppets. Jef f Neppl and Megan Culverhouse founded the company in 2012 with the goal of taking puppetr y beyond the theater realm. Neppl ser ves as the company’s creative director and lead puppeteer, and Culverhouse specializes in building the puppets. “I’m not a per former, so that’s why I like working with Jef f — he makes [good suggestions for] these crazy creations that I bring to life,” Culverhouse said. “It’s a really good partnership.” Aside fr om of fering kids’ shows and puppeteering workshops, they also give customers a “conversation booth” or video work. The pair’s weekly video blog, “Felton’s Vlog,” presents original characters — Felton and his butler Chives.
Puppets to the people As an award-winning p u p p e t e e r, N e p p l h a s worked for “Transylvania Television” and “The Choo Choo Bob Show.” While per forming for the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, he ran a booth labeled “conversation” where people could visit with Felton and spin a wheel for various conversation topics, including politics and philosophical debate. “It’s just a purely interactive, improvisational conversation,” Neppl said. When Neppl and Culverhouse decided to star t the Ridiculous Puppet Company, they included the booth’s concept in its traditional form and other variations. They of fer it during booked events. A spookier version of the conversation booth uses the character Miss For tune. Neppl created a deck of cards with random topics for visitors to draw. As Miss Fortune, he improvises bad for tunes based on the random combination of cards. Fit for corporate events or trade shows, Neppl uses the character Skip Toomylou, who takes after a stereotypical ’70s game show host. The conversation
LIAM JAMES DOYLE, DAILY
Megan Culverhouse, founder of the Ridiculous Puppet Company, changes the costume of Elfis. The Ridiculous Puppet Company films and publishes a new video weekly as a part of its puppet video blog.
booth uses a trivia wheel with questions on the participating business’s assets or causes. The puppet company also offers to work with the businesses to make videos, like instructional ones for employee orientations. The company’s founders made promotional videos for an attorney and a fashion designer in the past, and they also helped with a music video for the local Irish punk band the Langer’s Ball. Neppl said that in contrast to conventional orientation or promotional videos, puppets drive the message home. “Puppets ar e memorable,” Neppl said. “And they at least usually make people laugh, or at least smile.”
Puppet presentations Neppl and Culverhouse work with writer Chad David and recur ring guest puppeteer John Jennings to produce hilarious, roughly five-minute-long segments for “Felton’s Vlog.”
“Tuesday nights are the best night of the week,” David said. “We just show up, we laugh for three hours, and hopefully the camera was turned on.” The antics of Felton and Chives include first-date mishaps. In their recent Thanksgiving episode, Chives constantly interrupts Felton’s monologue to sell zany products. “I really adore the one [segment] where [Chives] had a spirit animal that was a pink dolphin because he had food poisoning, because it was so weird,” David said. “When Jeff added the dolphin noises, I was so beside myself laughing.” Jennings, whose credits include puppeteering for Disneyland and Disney World, plays the par t of Chives. “I think it’s really cool because it’s not something you’ll see anywhere else,” Jennings said. ”When I lived out in LA, there wasn’t a group of people who got together and filmed something like this.”
LIAM JAMES DOYLE, DAILY
Jeff Neppl, left, puppeteer and owner of the Ridiculous Puppet Company, improvises scenes with puppeteer John Jennings during a rehearsal on Tuesday evening.
By providing one-onone conversations at its booth, customizing shows for par ties, hosting puppeteering workshops and producing a video blog, the Ridiculous Puppet Company creates a personal
MUSIC
experience for people all over Minnesota and the Internet. “We want to connect people with the puppets because we think they’re great characters,” Culverhouse said. “There’s a very
strong, warm place in our hear ts for these kinds of puppets, and we’re ver y excited to tap into that and bring some cool entertainment to people in a way that they wouldn’t necessarily expect.”
MUSIC
Doomtree’s final Blowout Fest Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
The local rap crew is celebrating a decade of sold-out shows with a new album, “All Hands,” in January.
Rupert Angeleyes trades in lo-fi for hi-fi on his new album, “Young Sunset.”
BY JARED HEMMING jhemming@mndaily.com
W
hen Minneapolis indie hip-hop collective Doomtree started their Blowout concert series in 2004, rapper P.O.S. said the crew didn’t know what to expect. “The original Blowout was just to see what our actual draw was as the only [group] on the bill,” said P.O.S., who is also known as Stef Alexander. Since that first headlining spot a decade ago, Doomtree’s Dessa, Mike Mictlan, Cecil Otter, Lazerbeak, Paper Tiger, Sims and Alexander have cultivated the crew — u See DOOMTREE Page 12
A&E EDITOR
BY GRANT TILLERY gtillery@mndaily.com
K PHOTO COURTESY OF KELLY LOVERUD
Twin Cities hip-hop collective Doomtree — Papertiger, Sims, Cecil Otter, P.O.S., Lazerbeak, Mike Mictlan and Dessa, from left — announced its new album, “All Hands.”
Joe Kellen jkellen@mndaily.com
ASSISTANT A&E EDITOR Grant Tillery gtillery@mndaily.com
RADIO K TOP 7
yle Sobczak is a basement dweller. “I love hanging out in a basement, in my own little studio, and playing all the different instruments,” he said. “From a functional, pragmatic purpose, usually the basement is a spot where no one is occupying it. I’ve also come to identify with being in a basement because it’s like going into a cave — no windows or anything. You just go into this dark, semi-cold place and crank something out.” Sobczak is the lead singer and instrumentalist of the
1. Allo Darlin’, Romance and Adventure 2. Panda Bear, Mr. Noah 3. Sam Amidon, Pat Do This, Pat Do That
Rupert Angeleyes Where Triple Rock Social Club, 629 S. Cedar Ave., Minneapolis When 9 p.m. Saturday Cost $8 Age 18+
one-man band Rupert Angeleyes. The project began in 2008, and he’s released three albums under the moniker. The Milwaukee native is celebrating the release of his new album, “Young Sunset,” with a Saturday show at the Triple Rock featuring his Forged Artifacts labelmates. Rupert Angeleyes’ sound is a lo-fi haze thick as the Los Angeles smog. Sobczak’s high tenor voice evokes elements of long-forgotten ’70s u See RUPERT Page 11
4. Ariel Pink, Dayzed Inn Daydreams 5. Clark, Winter Linn 6. Flake Music, Deluca 7. Tiny Deaths, Ocean
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Rupert
FOOD
College Kitchen: Mushrooms Take me to Fungi town. BY CECILIA MAZUMDAR STANGER cmazumdar stanger@mndaily.com
M
ushrooms, the bane of picky eaters at pizza parties, pack a savory, secret weapon: umami. Umami is the rich, “meaty” flavor that comes about when glutamates are in food. Though Dr. Kikunae Ikeda of the University of Tokyo studied and named “umami” more than a century ago, it only recently joined the ranks of the basic tastes: sweet, sour, bitter and salty. It’s difficult to translate a Western meat-and-potatoes plate into a vegetarian meal with enough protein. Meat’s indispensable savory quality is even more sought-after than its protein, hence the popularity of the “portabella burger.” Fortunately, the umami flavor is not exclusive to flesh. The compound is present in soy sauce, seaweeds, cheeses, fungi and several vegetables, including tomatoes and potatoes.
Mushroom Gravy
A good mushroom gravy boasts a dark, rich quality
without the fattiness of a meat-based sauce. This recipe uses umami-rich shiitake mushrooms (the enoki variety is also delicious) and is light enough to enjoy as a soup. For a quicker preparation, leave out the onions. Briefly fry the mushrooms and replace the water with a cup of vegetable broth. 1 tablespoon oil 1 cup chopped onion 1/8 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup sliced shiitake mushrooms 1 cup sliced button or crimini mushrooms 1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic 1 tablespoon vinegar 2 teaspoons soy sauce 1 cup water 1 teaspoon cornstarch 1. Cook the onions with oil and salt until they begin to caramelize (approximately 30 minutes on low heat). Add the mushrooms to the skillet about 20 minutes into the cooking process. The mushrooms and onion should be fragrant and golden-brown. 2. Combine the garlic, ginger and vinegar with 1/2 cup water — use this mixture to deglaze the pan.
JULIET FARMER, DAILY
Top your omelets with mushrooms or add them to gravy to switch things up this winter.
3. Bring the sauce to a simmer, and add soy sauce. 4. Combine the cornstarch with 1/2 cup cold water, and add that mixture to the sauce. Simmer until the gravy thickens to the desired consistency. Add more soy sauce for saltier, darker gravy and additional cor nstarch to thicken it further.
of childhood tastings. This preparation makes a crisp, savory topping for omelets and sandwiches.
Garlicky Mushrooms
1. Melt one tablespoon of butter in a skillet, and add cleaned, sliced mushrooms.
Pan fr y mushrooms to avoid the slimy memories
1 1/2 tablespoons butter 8-ounce mushroom package 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 tablespoon white wine (optional)
2. Cook on medium heat until the mushrooms begin to shrink and crisp around the edges. Do not let the butter burn. 3. Add the rest of the butter and the minced garlic to the pan. Gently cook until the garlic is soft and fragrant. 4. Deglaze the pan with white wine or water. 5. Salt the mushrooms to taste, and ser ve when most of the liquid has evaporated.
LITERATURE
MUSIC
The animal in our imagination
DJ Dillon Francis to play Skyway
BY ROBB LARSON rlarson@mndaily.com
F
or millions of years, humans have evolved alongside animals, hunting them, domesticating them and driving them to extinction. Their flesh has fed us, their presence has inspired us and their diversity has mystified us. Alison Hawthorne Deming, a poet and essayist who teaches creative writing at the University of Arizona, makes a compelling case for the importance of animals in our spiritual and emotional lives in her book “Zoologies.” “We are animals,” Deming said. “We’re very smart animals, but we’re so powerful and so successful in shaping our environment that we have been somewhat oblivious to the degree to which our shaping of the environment is harmful to other creatures.” Deming’s feeling of connection to the animal world came about when she was a child, when she suffered a traumatic attack by a pack of dogs. “My face was all ripped up, and I was taken to the hospital. Because of that experience, I felt that I was deeply part of the animal world,” Deming said. “I had an experience that other creatures have, of being attacked and ripped up. Since then, I’ve had a very deep identification with the animals — not of fear but that I’m of their world.” To explore the role of animals in the human imagination, Deming began by consulting a variety of disciplines, including art history. “There are various ways of knowing the animal world, including science, art and mythology. I started by looking at the very early art from 30,000 years ago. They’re all animal images,” Deming said. “I started looking at that and thinking about how art and the human interest in the
animal have been tied together for a long time.” Deming believes art can bring the conversation surrounding animals out of science and into the domain of emotion and spirituality. “There are many wonderful books that give us the science and the natural history,” Deming said. “My book is an attempt to bring the feelings side into our consideration of our relationships with animals, and also how animals have had meaning in our spiritual traditions.” Deming’s book uses studies of animal behavior to investigate the human condition. In one chapter, she draws parallels between predation behavior in hyenas and genocide in humans. “Hyenas have been obser ved under extreme weather engaging in what’s called ‘surplus killing.’ They kill many more gazelles than they could possibly eat; it’s like a binge,” Deming said. “There’s a part of human beings that enjoys killing in certain circumstances, and we can go on these killing binges. It doesn’t mean we have to do that; it means we have to be aware that that is a human tendency.” Deming hopes that by discussing the many connections between animals and humans, her book will promote positive discussion about the fate of animals. “We’re now in a struggle between our technological brilliance as a species and our capacity to care and be community builders,” Hawthorne said. “Animals mean a lot to us once we think about it. We owe them our care and our intelligence.”
“Zoologies” book talk Where The Minnesota State Zoo, 13000 Zoo Blvd., Apple Valley When 4:30 p.m. Saturday Cost Free with RSVP
CULTURE COMPASS /
The LA producer/ DJ is a pioneer of moombahton, a dubstep-esque electronic subgenre. BY JARED HEMMING jhemming@mndaily.com
T
hough EDM producer/DJ Dillon Francis named his debut album “Money Sucks, Friends Rule,” he said listeners shouldn’t get confused by the title’s austere sentiment. “I’m definitely materialistic,” Francis said. The self-admitted “normal hipster dude from LA” found his way to music from photography and fashion when bands like Nine Inch Nails and the Prodigy inspired him to delve deeper into the underbelly of the electronic music world. With the October release of “Money Sucks,” Francis brings his pioneered moombahton sound to the Skyway Theatre in Minneapolis — far away from his scene-kid LA roots. “Back then, I was always trying to go to, like, the newest club, or drink the newest vodka — I don’t know if that would be the hipster move,” Francis said. “Actually, the hipster move would be to go to Budweiser, or drink PBR.” Before befriending his Mad Decent Records labelmates, Diplo and DJ Snake, Francis said a stint working for men’s fashion designer J. Lindeberg fed his materialism. “I was obsessed with trying to dress really well all the time,” Francis said. “I would always wear a suit, no matter what.” This trend-hunting habit helped Francis discover moombahton — a mash-up of two-step EDM and dubstep created by DJ Dave Nada — just as the genre was taking off. “I think I hit at the right time by making moombahton and putting it out,” Francis said. “I was right in the beginning when it first
11
PHOTO COURTESY OF SHANE MCCAULEY
DJ and producer Dillon Francis is a pioneer of moombahton, a surging electronic subgenre.
started on the Internet.” While Francis has brought moombahton to a wider audience, with “Money Sucks,” he dabbles in other electronic subgenres, including trap and the straightforward electropop of the single “When We Were Young.” “I think the diversity of the album has helped,” Francis said. “Not only can I make moombahton, but I can make all these other genres, and I feel like I haven’t compromised my integrity.” Despite his tendency to linger on cool, Francis said he spent a year in his bedroom experimenting with electronic music technology and crafting his debut, and he lost friends in the process. “You have to keep your friends that have been with you, that understand that you’ve sacrificed a lot of stuff to get to where [you are] now,” Francis said. “All those friends I keep very close to me.” While holed up in his bedroom, Francis created an album of overstimulating
pop gr ooves fr om his computer. “It’s weird to meet people that have been in the music industry for so long that are established pianists or guitarists,” Francis said. “I mess around with MIDI on my computer until I get that exact thing I want in my mind.” While Francis downplays his strategic, pop-centered song crafting, his approach to music reflects in his Internet presence. With nearly 423,000 Twitter followers, Francis said he finds validation in Internet culture. “I started making all those videos and writing jokes on Twitter because it was a way for me to express myself and relieve stress,” Francis said. “I’ve always been the class clown. If I make people laugh, that’s one of the goals that makes me extremely happy.”
Dillon Francis Where Skyway Theatre, 711 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis When 8 p.m. Saturday Cost $30 (SOLD OUT) Age 18+
u from Page 10
AM pop acts, but with more panache and an easygoing lilt. “Young Sunset” takes the band’s trademark sound and makes it sleeker. Sobczak traded in his lo-fi fuzz for hifi polish, and he rented out string players from the Minnesota Orchestra to create a fuller musical effect. The album opens with “Jealousy,” a dead ringer for Neon Indian’s 2009 hit “Deadbeat Summer,” but with an injection of smooth ’70s R&B vibes. It’s followed up by a number of brash, textured psych pop ditties that have a catchy jangle. Working with musicians from the orchestra proved one of the most meaningful parts of making the album for Sobczak. He had long wanted to write a string score, and he made his dream come true thanks to his friend Elliott Kozel of Tickle Torture, who works as a stage operator at a production studio. “They just come into the studio, plop the sheet down and are like, ‘All right,’ ” Sobczak said of the orchestra musicians. The brevity of Ruper t Angeleyes’ tunes resembles that of Guided By Voices. The Dayton, Ohio, based rock band is known for its brash 90-second ditties, and Sobczak received a copy of their album “Alien Lanes” from a friend’s brother when he was 17. “ ‘Alien Lanes,’ I used to always love that one,” Sobczak said. “It’s weird: If you take the aesthetic of the lo-fi recordings and just have them perform live, they suddenly become like a classic rocksounding band. I like those albums because the 27 tracks and 90-second songs seem very casual and pure at the same time.” Synthesizers also play a large part in Sobczak’s life — he owns about a half-dozen of them. It’s no surprise that he’s a fan of synth-pop pioneers the Cars, and he holds their debut album dear to his heart. “One of the first albums that I listened to that I still listen to all the time is the Cars’ [self-titled] first album,” Sobczak said. “At the end of that record, there’s some spacey synthesizer stuff, but also I can see it connected to rockabilly and more traditional rock ‘n’ roll. A lot of those songs are three chords and remind me of Roy Orbison.” By nature, Sobczak is nomadic. He currently lives in the closet of a house full of musicians, and he has lived out of his conversion van in the Seward neighborhood over the past year. “[I lived in the van] in the summer and as far as I [could] in the winter; it’s also my bedroom,” Sobczak said. “I was living in there for a year or two. There’s a PlayStation 2 in the back.” Sobczak envisions taking Rupert Angeleyes on the road for most of the year. Sobczak is planning a West Coast tour and is moving to Oakland, Calif., for a couple of months early next year. His lifestyle creates minimal worry and maximal freedom. “It’s wonderfully simple because you only have to worry about getting to the next point and eating food,” Sobczak said. “In a perfect world, you’d get to the club around 6 and have three hours to kill, and then I could write a song in the van and then play a show.” In the meantime, Sobczak is taking things easy. His upcoming plans include banging out an album in a two-week period and drinking inexpensive libations. “I like all the shitty types of booze,” Sobczak said. “Peppermint schnapps, I’m into that right now. I also like shitty beer with any type of juice in it. It’s like playing a joke on yourself; it’s funny that way.”
By Jackie Renzetti
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
College
Wells Fargo Winter Skate
Start the weekend early with dance-floor ready beats by College (real name David Grellier). The French electronic music composer gained attention when director Nicolas Winding Refn used his song “A Real Hero” (featuring Electric Youth) in his film “Drive.” Grellier also runs his own international artist network, the Valerie Collective. He’ll be bringing his mesmerizing tunes to town this weekend.
Outdoor ice rinks are a major plus of living in the North. Wells Fargo’s winter skate in Rice Park reopened for the season last weekend, which means you can see its enchanting lights and cheap skate rental rates in all their glory now. Whether you’re the next Michelle Kwan or you still need a little more time to hang on to the railing, this outdoor rink promises wintery joy.
Beaverdance: A Marxist Holiday Fur Trade Musical
Where 7th Street Entry, 701 N. First Ave., Minneapolis Hours 8 p.m. Cost $12-15
Where The Landmark Plaza, 75 Fifth St., St. Paul Hours 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Cost $4 for skates, free admission
If you’re keen on your history, you may recall the importance of beaver furs for the North American economy in the 1800s. “Beaverdance” presents the story of beavers plighted by trappers and the time-traveling Karl Marx that comes to save them disguised as Santa. In other words, Marxist Santa comes in to destroy capitalism by saving all the beavers.
Where Bedlam Lowertown, 213 E. Fourth St., St. Paul Hours 7 p.m. Saturday Cost $18-35
12
Thursday, December 4, 2014
CULTURE to CONSUME /
By Jackie Renzetti
Marvel at this:
Give this:
Listen to this:
Holidazzle Village
Hugs
Paolo Nutini
Though the Holidazzle Parade came to an end last year, the Holidazzle Village will take its place. The winter market includes holiday characters from the parade, stor ytelling, glass blowing, dog sledding, ice skating and a carousel. When you’re not engaging in Minnesotan merriness, you can shop at the holiday market that showcases work from more than 30 artisans. The village takes place at Peavey Plaza in Minneapolis.
With finals coming up, we all need as many of these as possible. Psychotherapist Virginia Satir famously claimed that we need four hugs a day for survival. Hugs release the hormone oxytocin, which helps protect the immune system, lower blood pressure and relieve stress. Also, they’re fun. Granted, it’s not recommended that you hug random strangers — in fact, some research suggests that the strongest benefits only come from hugs with those you know.
Scottish alternative songwriter Paolo Nutini is perhaps best known for his poppy 2006 single “New Shoes.” After a five-year break, he released his latest album “Caustic Love” in 2014. The album exudes soul and R&B, demonstrating a clear expansion on the similar grooves in his former albums. “Caustic Love” provides the per fect mix of low-key listening and jamming out.
Doomtree
I had intellectually. Like, ‘Hey man, you’re a guest here in someone else’s culture. ... It’s not OK to make fun of it.’ ” With their diverse racial backgrounds, Lazerbeak said Doomtree’s success stems in par t from their lack of homogeneity. “I think that’s a huge part of our success — we don’t look the same,” Mader said. “We look weird when we’re at the mall together.” Now in their early 30s, most in the crew have known each other since they were 17. “I cer tainly never thought I’d be 32 and still rapping, or tr ying to do it for a job. It’s awesome,” Sims said. “It baf fles us all the time,” Mader said. “I do not recommend it to anyone.” While the group admitted that this year’s Blowout is its last, Alexander said the band insists they are not breaking up. “Any time you have a bunch of ver y strong personalities that have been hanging out at least weekly for a couple of years, there’s going to be tension,” Alexander said. “But we’ve managed to get through all the hard stuff together.” Doomtree’s members join forces on most of their solo releases, and “All Hands” is their third of ficial album. With 2011’s “No Kings,” Doomtree solidified their union with an ultracollaborative album, a trend that continues on the new record. “It took all of us to make it,” Mader said. This brings the band full circle from its early days, when Sims and Mader said Doomtree would pool the sales of their solo albums together to fund additional solo releases for the other members of the group. “It can be incredibly rewarding when you’re a seven-person, unified monster,” Mader said.
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which began as a label for each individual rapper and producer — into one of the Twin Cities’ biggest-selling independent music acts. Though the group is ending the Blowout series this month, they show no signs of slowing down. Doomtree announced on Tuesday that the band’s new album, “All Hands,” is coming out in January. Alexander and Sims (real name Andrew Sims) attributed Doomtree’s longevity to the strengths each member brings to making the group’s music. “I think the collective stays strong because the individuals keep making leaps in creativity and keep on tr ying to make better new music,” Alexander said. “There’s never been serious ego clashes.” Sims likened Doomtree to an ar tistic cooperative, as the group originally connected to uphold one another’s music with Doomtree Records, their independently run label. “We never really wanted to become a rap group,” Sims said. “We wanted to be a working co-op of support. The business is only here to facilitate the art, not the other way around.” Lazerbeak, aka Aaron Mader, echoed Sims and Alexander, saying that the group is not a typical rap crew. “We’re all solo artists,” Mader said. “When we come together to make these crew albums that happen ever y three to four years, they’re big occasions.” As Doomtree’s success has grown, its members have found certain roles to fill in generating the band’s notoriety. For Lazerbeak, who started out as the main producer, this meant becoming the collective’s de facto leader. Still, he says
that wasn’t a typical 9-to-5 gig. While Alexander star ted rapping with his high school friends Mader and Sims as a side project from his punk rock aspirations, Doomtree collected its other rappers and producers in their late teens. Alexander and Sims said rap was a retreat from their other artistic endeavors. Alexander, for instance, went on his first punk tour in middle school. “It was two minivans following each other filled with 14- through 16-yearolds,” Alexander said. “I knew that I wanted to be a touring musician as soon as I realized that was a job. Fourth or fifth grade, I was like, ‘Well, I’ve got to get a van.’” Sims left high school wanting to become a writer, and he attended college at the University of Iowa to study fiction before leaving for Doomtree. “In high school, I wanted to write the great American novel,” Sims said. After Sims returned to Minnesota and Doomtree had gained more traction in the local music scene, Sims and Alexander said the band’s Midwestern roots made legitimate rap cred elusive on a national scale. “I am definitely a Minnesotan,” Alexander said. “Being from the Midwest was difficult.” Sims said his respect for hip-hop made him consider his role as a white rapper. “It’s a black ar t form,” Sims said. “So if you’re going to be a white participant in a black ar t form, you should have to go under a little bit of scrutiny.” As Doomtree progr essed, Sims said he avoided creating critiqueproof joke-rap as a means of achieving popularity. “There are some white artists that do rap parody stuff,” Sims said. “It’s fine to be lighthearted, but that was always a problem that
ART
All’s fair in love and cotton Cotton weaves the artistic expressions of seven artists together in the Artaversaries’ second annual exhibit, “The Common Thread.” BY ROBB LARSON rlarson@mndaily.com
T
he Ar taversaries celebrate the union of seven ar tists brought together through a gallery’s fortuitous matchmaking. The marriage of their diverse artistic backgrounds culminates once a year in an exhibit based on the traditional materials of wedding anniversary gifts. “The Common Thread,” which opens Friday, is the group’s second showing together. Wedding anniversary tradition calls for second anniversary gifts to be made of cotton. In keeping with that theme, ever y piece in the show involves cotton in some way, whether as a material or as a concept. A solo exhibition program at the Altered Esthetics gallery in Minneapolis brought together the members of the group. In addition to showing the artists’ work, Altered Esthetics also taught the artists the business skills they needed to succeed in the art world. Kate Renee was interning at Altered Esthetics when some of the artists she mentored invited her to be part of a group that would continue working together. Their exhibits correspond with the traditional gifts given on wedding anniversaries. “It’s a way to have a commonality and create a show together,” Renee said. “We thought that we could show together to really push ourselves and support each other as artists.” Ar taversaries member Katie Parr created a sculpture out of cotton muslin to bring the mundane objects often glanced over in everyday life into the light.
“I was thinking of what I do on a day-to-day basis,” Parr said. “Most people don’t even think about or realize the domestic activities that we all take part in on a daily basis.” Parr’s sculpture is almost omnipresent in the gallery space, forcing viewers to interact with it in the same way they’re forced to interact with everyday duties. “It will be attached to the wall of the gallery and onto the floor,” Parr said. “You’ll be forced to physically interact with it with your body in space.” Renee’s piece is also interactive, but it invites voluntary participation instead of imposing a sculptural obstacle. “I’m trying to create a dialogue about secrets,” Renee said. “I’m embroidering secrets on underwear, so I use the underwear as the most intimate part of yourself, but the secrets are the most intimate part inside of you.” The installation invites viewers to contribute by anonymously sharing their own secrets on cotton cloth squares, PostSecret-style. “I’m hoping for people to really jump on board with the piece and lay it all out there,” Renee said. Ar taversaries member Mark Elton explores similarly evocative themes. He depicts the paradoxical isolation he feels around the holiday season through digitally created images printed on cotton Tshirts. “The images I’ve created explore feeling secluded despite being surrounded by family, smiling yet feeling dead inside,” Elton said. “A lot of people feel the holidays are the happiest time of the year, but that’s not the case for everyone.”
Elton’s images are named after the titles of holiday songs, but they depict a much darker subject matter in order to communicate the malaise that some feel during the holidays. For example, his piece called “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” is a picture of a skull donning a festive holiday top hat. Elton also incorporates online-only images that correspond with each piece to represent the happy façade that people with depression often hide behind. “The images speak for themselves in a way by tying in the darker aspect of the holidays,” Elton said. “The theme of each piece is encoded to replicate the guarded form of communication that we have learned to utilize for the benefit of others or for our own privacy.” Elton’s images and their online counterparts reflect the decoding that must take place for one to discover what’s really going on when they ask someone, “How’s it going?” Like all brilliant ideas, the Artaversaries has a simple premise upon which a creative edifice is built. Tradition calls for the anniversary gift of a 90-year marriage to be made of granite. Should the Artaversaries reach that degree of maturity, their spirit of collaboration will surely be as timeless as their masonry.
The Common Thread Where The Franklin Arts Center, 1001 Kingwood St., Brainerd When 5 p.m. Friday Cost Free
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Classifieds
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HOUSING
HOUSING
EMPLOYMENT
CLASSIC CITY APARTMENTS New York loft style 5 bedroom apartments located at 800-812 4th St SE
Dinkytown Rentals has just the place for you! Check out all our campus housing for 2015, it will be quite a year. Ready, set, rent! www.dinkytownrentals.com. Where location and price matter. Since 1987.
Deja Vu is hiring entertainers! Make your own schedule, full or part time hours available. Great for students who want flexibility and cash daily. Must be 18+, apply in person @ 315 Washington Ave N (612) 333-8130
Available for Fall 2015! Rent ranges from $2750-2950 and we pay all utilities including internet. Please call 612-623-1888 or e-mail info@classiccityapartments.com for more information or to set up a showing. New 3&2 BR Apts avail 1/1 & Fall ‘15. cpt, A/C, lndry, secure. 612-237-6941 www.uofmhousing.com
Events
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UPCOMING EVENTS WHAT: Fast-a-Thon WHO: Al-Madinah Cultural Center and Muslim Students Association WHEN: 4 p.m. Thursday WHERE: Great Hall, Coffman Union PRICE: Free Description: Join AMCC and MSA in our ninth annual Fast-a-Thon to support innocent children left homeless in war-stricken regions. For every pledge to fast that we receive, our sponsors will donate $2 toward funding meals for orphans through the Zakat Foundation. We offer you dinner so that you can share our tradition of breaking our fasts with a community. For every person who attends the dinner after fasting, our sponsors will donate an additional $3. Visit us in Coffman 236 to fill out a pledge form.
WHAT: “Uncle Walt,” a dark comedy by Andrew Rosdail WHO: Brazen Theatre Company WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Thursday–Saturday WHERE: Third floor, People’s Center Theater, 425 20th Ave. S., Minneapolis PRICE: $10 student; $20 general Able and Cain had nothing on Clint and Ron in this modern-day allegory about two brothers at war. When Clint is fired from his job as a Disney animator, he kidnaps Walt’s frozen head to hold it for ransom. He takes the head home in a styrofoam cooler to the shabby townhouse where he lives with his slacker younger brother. However, Clint does not count on Walt’s head coming to life with an agenda of his own: obtaining a new body. Walt’s plan? Talk one of the brothers into killing the other.
WHAT: Rarely performed chamber works, featuring guitar WHO: The Musical Offering WHEN: 3 p.m. Sunday WHERE: Sundin Music Hall, Hamline University, 1531 Hewitt Ave., St. Paul PRICE: $10 student; $25 general Our Dec. 7 concert features classical guitarist Christopher Kachian. This concert focuses on rarely heard combinations of works in chamber music, combining guitar with winds, strings and piano.
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14
Thursday, December 4, 2014
BACKTALK
horoscopes
sudoku
Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit 1 to 9. For strategies on how to solve sudoku, visit sudoku.org.uk.
12/4/2014
Yesterday’s solution © 2013 Michael Mepham. Distributed by Tribune Media Services. All rights reserved.
This is a paid advertisement.
Today’s Birthday (12/4): Mars enters Aquarius today, launching a year of community action and spontaneous romance. A turning point in self-confidence and personal power arises after 12/23 (until 12/19/17).
To get the advantage, check the day’s rating: 10 is the easiest day, 0 the most challenging. Written by Nancy Black
Aries (3/21 - 4/19): Today is an 8 — There’s more work coming in. Help your team score over the next six weeks with Mars in Aquarius. Aim for long-range targets.
Libra (9/23 - 10/22): Today is an 8 — Intensify personal efforts. Give family your full attention. Your actions speak louder than words for about six weeks.
Taurus (4/20 - 5/20): Today is an 8 — Others look to you for your common sense. Advance in your career for about six weeks with Mars in Aquarius. Move forward boldly.
Scorpio (10/23 - 11/21): Today is a 9 — Creative talents come to the fore. Present your ideas. Over the next six weeks with Mars in Aquarius, improve your living conditions.
Gemini (5/21 - 6/21): Today is a 7 — Keep up with homework. Don’t take big risks. Avoid overindulging. Over the next six weeks, travel is likely.
Sagittarius (11/22 - 12/21): Today is a 9 — Learn difficult material quickly for about six weeks with Mars in Aquarius. You’re intent on getting the whole story, spurred to action.
Cancer (6/22 - 7/22): Today is an 8 — Collaboration gets you farther than lone ranger solitude. Rely on someone who sees from a different view.
Capricorn (12/22 - 1/19): Today is an 8 — A positive attitude leads to increased prosperity and affection. Go for a raise or prize without worrying about competition.
Leo (7/23 - 8/22): Today is an 8 — Push the creativity envelope. It could get surprisingly fun. Work as a team and get farther over the next six weeks with Mars in Aquarius.
Aquarius (1/20 - 2/18): Today is an 8 — Think big. Provide excellent service. Consider an option previously rejected. You solve problems quickly over the next six weeks.
Virgo (8/23 - 9/22): Today is a 9 — Focus your energy on work over the next six weeks with Mars in Aquarius. There’s a profitable opportunity available.
Pisces (2/19 - 3/20): Today is an 8 — You’re very creative now. It’s easier to throw things away for about six weeks with Mars in Aquarius. Clean closets, garages and attics.
Thursday, December 4, 2014
crossword
from the archive
Thursday, December 1, 2005
FOR RELEASE DECEMBER 4, 2014 9B
BACKTALK
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
DAILY CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 "Quo __?" 6 Lays down the lawn 10 Speedy letters1 14 Face the day 5 15 Entice 16 Chanel's nickname 9 17 Boston fish 14 offering 18 Coll. course 15 19 Make muddy 20 Start of Evan 16 Esar's definition of an optimist 17 23 Doe in ''Bambi'' 24 Director Ang20 25 Shortened wd. 28 Journalist 21 Hentoff 22 31 Siberian plain 36 Squeezing snake 23 37 Card for a reader 39 Of acreage 24 40 Part 2 of 25 definition 43 Willow used for basketry 44 Chesterfields26 and davenports 29 45 Corded fabric 46 Repeat aloud 48 Deli hero 33 49 Unit of force 34 50 PC key 52 Compass pt. 54 End of 35 definition 63 Uttered 64 Stringed instrument 65 Hawk's home36 66 Kind of bean 37 67 Organic compound 68 Tex-Mex order 69 Org. 70 Trawlers' equipment 71 Had a powerful stench
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis
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From Wilde a hockey limerick! concern Network, I used to be a big fan, but after you put DunCartoon still geons and Dragons (the first pen and paper Role-PlayThere once was a man called the Don Studious-looking ing Game) into the category of board games, I almost Whose contract extension was on 4 Atom with a vomited in disgust. What happened to you, Network? dwarf His hair was just right variable You used to be cool. Net: It saddens us to lose a To other teams a fright Strikes out nucleus reader, but we trust you will spend the time wisely Cause his Gophers were the NUTTing bomb 5 Family car Educational by building up your mana points and slaying evil dun6 Passel stage geon trolls. 7 Sound of pain P.S. Learn lots at camp and hurry home girls! 8 Slobber Part of a Latin trio 9 Intuits From WordisGospel Subatomic From The Gobbeldy Gooker 10 Farmland unit While I appreciate BIRD’s fair warning that all the so 11 In a short time In response to BIRD, since when did Hot Girl Camp particle 12 Etcher's called “good looking ladies” will be leaving for the turn into the Skank-Face Olympics? I’d like to make Colleague medium of next few months, I’d like the opportunity to communisomething clear, BIRD... you’re a slut. USDA Grade-A 13 D.C.and bigwigs Sonia cate my own concerns. Net: We know … how will Whore Meat. Net: Mmmm … whore meat. Marinade 21 Grannies By Jeffrey Wechsler 12/4/14 Clarence tanning salons stay in business? You’re a ho. I thank in teriyaki sauce, skewer with onions and peppers, 22 Flower parts 25 Detest dir. you for spending countless hours pondering the grill to medium-well, and voila … slut-kabobs! BitchMusical DOWN Wednesday’s Puzzle Solved 26 Capital of physics governing your strapless bra and the biologies like you are the reason studs like me can’t get any Feature Idaho shared 1 Rescue acronym cal ramifications of your Chlamydia, but please, don’t action. I’m sorry I’m not a popped-collar poser; drunk27 the Fundamental by women 2 Roman apologize for your absence. The University is a better en half-wit with a monosyllabic vocabulary. Now, if 29 BA word vocalists place without you, and, although frat-boy bed vacancy you’ll excuse me, Net, I’m going to finish my Mac ’N’ 30 Commotions statesman 56 Edible tubers 42 Tag 32 Block of time may increase, Net: That’s what the buddy system is Cheese. Net: Is it the “Rugrats” shaped kind? 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From Name TwEaK
initely. Also, to all the other girls out there, just because the first snow fell, don’t think that you can just bundle up and get fat. Keep it tight, keep it right.
down and talk to him, or just wish really hard that it happens organically at night (which it hasn’t since the initial night)? Thanks,
Dear Doctor,
Oh help me, please, doctor, I’m damaged There’s a pain where there once was a heart It’s sleepin, it’s a beatin’ Can’t ya please tear it out, and preserve it — Ready to Shake hands Right there in that jar? Oh help me, please mama, I’m sick’ning Dear Ready to Shake hands, It’s today that’s the day of the plunge Depending on who you are, two months Oh the gal I’m to marry without some sheet karate is a bit shocking. I Is a bow-legged sow know one fella who can’t wait two hours, anothI’ve been soakin’ up drink like a sponge er gal who needs three dates and one dude who “Don’t ya worry, get dressed,” cried my refuses to have sex if he’s drinking whiskey that night … then again, that might be for an unrelat- mother As she plied me with bourbon so sour ed reason. Pull your socks up, put your suit on We all have our rituals, and perhaps for you Comb your long hair down, ballers, that means weeks, months, years … For you will be wed in the hour Probably not the news you wanted to hear, so So help me, please doctor, I’m damaged here’s the good stuff — he’s probably not trying I went home over There’swith a pain my wheregirlfriend there once was a heart to “shake hands,” as you so euphemistically put I’m sleepin, it’s and a beatin’ it, because you put a halt to any advances that the holiday weekend, it was one of Can’t ya please take it out, and preserve it first night, saying you wanted to get to know the worst experiences of jar? my life. Right there in that each other better. Ohis help me, please doctor, I’m damaged Perhaps he thinks you’re still stuck in thatfamily Her extremely conservative, There’s a pain where there once was a heart spot where you don’t want to (tr)uck because felt soIt’sout of place. They dragged sleepin, it’s a beatin’ you “don’t know each other thatand well Iyet.” Can’t ya please tear it out, and preserve Frankly, when you’re getting down bed, mein to multiple church services, madeit Right there in that jar? when it’s starting to get hot and sticky, it’s not remarks about I was tremblin’, as I put my on mypolitical jacket that tough for one thing to lead to unsettling another, as had creases as sharp as a knife they say. views and ItIconstantly monitored my put the ring in my pocket Worse comes to worst, and you’re really But there was awith note my girlfriend. yearning for some burning, just sayphysical those five interactions And my heart it jumped into my mouth magic words: “Do you have a condom?” No way did we sleep in the same bed. It read, “Darlin’, I’m sorry to hurt you. There is no combination of words in the EngBut I have no courage to speak to your face. they didn’t mean to set me lish language that more blatantly puts outIonknow the But I’m down in Virginia with your cousin table the fact that you want to get down. off, and they Lou attempted to make me feel — Dr. Date There no wedding today.” I felt so P.S. “Let’s go (tr)uck,” you say? Nah, could welcome, but atbeseveral points So help me, please doctor, I’m damaged too easily be interpreted as you being facetious. awkward started to heart question You Ican put back my in its hole my If either person asks about a condom, though, that Oh mama, cryin’ it’s like shooting off a flare gun on relationship a deserted with myI’mgirlfriend. I already Tears of relief beach with the word sex spelled out in seashells. talked to her Andabout my pulsehow is now the under weekend control
dr. date
Dr. Date,
Dear Dr. Date,
made me feel, and she seemed to un-
Thanks, So, I’ve got a problem. I met this guy in one derstand but didn’t offer a —feelings Mick of my classes and we really hit it off. We talked a my few times and then he started to get kind of solution. Dear Mick, creepy. It’sbya deal-breaker ifyou you don’t likeCan’t What the hell are worried about? He calls me six or seven times a day, stops some fine family, Brazilian model 30 years my dorm, and leaves me weird messages on significant my you just grab your other’s right? your junior? door. Sometimes I see him across the mall just We’ve beenIf not, dating about months heed my advice, six as sung by the Young staring at me. I think I might have acquired a stalker. He Rascals (and maybe better by the Grateful now, and this was the first time I spent seems pretty nice otherwise, and I don’t want to Dead). “Yeah, yeah, yeah, (Yeah, amount of yeah, timeyeah, with heryeah, get the cops involved, so what can an I say extended to this yeah, yeah, yeah)Yes, indeed, all you really crazy guy to get him off my back? family. I acted polite and nice, but don’tgood need … (Is good lovin’) Gimme thatI good, — honeybee lovin have … (Good lovin’) All I need is lovin’ (Good think I could made it another day Good lovin’, baby.” Dear honeybee, with them.lovin’) What — Dr.are Dateyour thoughts? You want to get rid of the creeps? Get your-
—Too Traditional Thanksgiving
Need relationship advice? E-mail Dr. Date at drdate@mndaily.com.
Conservative Parents,
Liking your significant other’s family makes the relationship a lot easier. That said, it’s not a deal breaker if your relationship has a strong footing. And from the way you describe your girlfriend, she’s unlike her family — and from your perspective, that’s a positive thing. Have a talk with her about finding a solution for tolerating her family. If she’s unwilling to help devise one, then consider breaking up with her.
—Dr. Date
Dr. Date,
At our Thanksgiving dinner, my family kept joking about my love life, or lack thereof, and it made me really selfconscious. (This wasn’t the first time they’ve made passive aggressive comments about my lifestyle as an extremely single person.) I’ve never had a serious relationship even though I’m in my late20s. Some of my younger cousins have started bringing their girlfriends or boyfriends home for the holidays, and it’s just making for a weird social environment for me. It’s not like I’m not looking for love or am against any type of commitment; I just haven’t found anyone. (To be honest, I don’t really date or make finding a boyfriend a priority.) But now with my family’s pressure, I’m starting to wonder if I need to focus on finding a stable relationship. They’re making me feel like I’m too old to be this single. I’ve already talked to my family about their comments and how I feel about them, but that doesn’t stop me from thinking about their intentions. What are your thoughts?
—Party of One
Mom Might Not Know Best,
There’s no reason for you to succumb to your family’s pressures. If you’re not seeking a long-term relationship right now, you shouldn’t look for one. It’s as simple as that. What concerns me is your family’s lack of respect for your decision to remain single. It’s not your family’s place to interfere in your life when you’ve told them not to. You’ll bring someone home when the time is right. —Dr. Date
Need relationship advice? Email Dr. Date at drdate@mndaily.com.
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Thursday, December 4, 2014
U center to uproot invasive species The Terrestrial Invasive Species Research Center will soon connect scholars and state agencies, among others. BY PARKER LEMKE plemke@mndaily.com
An upcoming University of Minnesota research center formed to combat land-based invasive species — like emerald ash borers — is making final preparations before it begins work next year. Researchers expect the Terrestrial Invasive Species Research Center to be a collaborative forum for agencies across the state, said Brian Buhr, dean of the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences. Par ticipating researchers will investigate methods for mitigating the effects of invasive species and preventing them from spreading, Buhr said. By improving multidisciplinar y teamwork, the center will be able to better study a wide variety of terrestrial invasive species, said forest entomology associate professor Brian Aukema. “It provides a focal point for funding and sustained research,” said Aukema, who studies both native and invasive insect pests. The center plans to use about $10 million in state funding over eight years, Buhr said, and it received the first $4.8 million from the Legislatur e in the
spring. TISRC is currently seeking $5 million, and Buhr said he expects it to be fully funded by 2016. To train more graduate students in invasive species control and to attract industry funding, Buhr said, the center will assemble faculty from agronomy, entomology, forestr y, plant pathology, animal sciences and applied economics. CFANS has alr eady wrapped up interviewing faculty candidates for the center’s director position, which will be announced in the coming weeks, Aukema said. Buhr said the TISRC director will have to be comfortable working with experts and interest groups from across multiple fields like forestr y, agriculture and wildlife management. The center’s first priority when it launches in 2015 will be to assess the risk of invasive species in Minnesota and rank them based on their manageability, economic and environmental impacts, Buhr said. “What’s the spread of the invasive? How well is it established? Is it pervasive? Is it just coming in?” Buhr said. “All of those factor into how we are going to prioritize and do the research.” Although the center will avoid focusing solely on iconic species, he said, “usual suspects” like the
emerald ash borer, buckthorn and oak wilt will likely be identified as priority threats. Invasive species can threaten the state’s biodiversity and native ecosystems, said Laura Van Riper, a terrestrial invasive species coordinator at the state’s Department of Natural Resources. “Buckthor n can be so thick and abundant in the understor y, they can shade out other tree seedlings,” said Van Riper, who is also helping CFANS select the upcoming center’s leadership. Efforts to control terrestrial invasive species can be expensive, she said. For example, she said, the forest industr y incurs additional costs the when buckthorn impedes its efforts to plant oak trees. Van Riper said the University has a long histor y of collaborating with the DNR and organizing multiple sources of knowledge into one center will aid her agency’s efforts. “Sometimes when we’re tr ying to analyze an invasive species … there’s a lack of basic information about the species,” Van Riper said. “We don’t [necessarily] know how widespread it is in the state, or we don’t know how cold tolerant it is.”
Study: Full-day preschool better prepares children Children attending full-day preschool scored higher than part-day attendees in areas like language, math and health. BY JESSIE BEKKER jbekker@mndaily.com
Full-day preschool better prepares children for higher-level schooling than half-day programs do, according to a University of Minnesota study released late last month. Researchers said the finding could be the next step toward making fullday preschool available for more families. The research, conducted by child development and public af fairs professor Ar thur Reynolds, showed that children who attended full-day preschool scored higher in measures of socioemotional development, language, math and physical health than their part-day counterparts. Researchers found no significant difference between the two groups in literacy and cognitive development scores. Early childhood education advocates are pointing to the research as evidence that policymakers should expand access to full-day pre-kindergarten. Leaders from organizations like Generation Next, a Twin Cities community par tnership that aims to close the educational achievement gap, say the study reiterates the need for a standard method for delivering full-day preschool education to 3- and 4-year-olds, which would
benefit students. Jonathan May, director of data and research at Generation Next, said that while the organization hasn’t yet collected its own data on the pros and cons of full-time preschool, classroom observation shows that longer exposure to an early learning experience is generally more beneficial for a child’s education. “If you wer e to ask people involved in the kindergar ten network, they would tell you that, anecdotally, dosage matters,” May said. But getting a high dosage comes at a sometimeslofty price. Not all families with young children can afford full-day or half-day preschool, May said, so lawmakers should make an ef for t to increase funding to those students and their parents. Par t of the battle, too, is educating parents about why pre-kindergarten programs are worth the cost, he said. “First, we just need to get families to understand that preschool, in general, is impor tant,” May said, “and then we can push for more preschool.” The state Legislature has granted funding to early childhood education in the past, he said, but it should consider allocating more.
“If you were to ask people involved in the kindergarten network, they would tell you that, anecdotally, dosage matters.” JONATHAN MAY Director of data and research at Generation Next
Studies like the University’s recent one, he said, demonstrate to lawmakers that investing in early childhood education has its paybacks — like keeping kids on track for learning, reading and graduating from high school on time. The research examined high-quality pre-kindergarten programs, increasing the study’s validity, said Megan Gunnar, professor and director of the Institute of Child Development. She said the study may force policymakers to reevaluate how they can continue to work toward closing the achievement gap. “I think it’s making a ver y big splash,” Gunnar said. But even though it is a breakthrough for educational research, the study isn’t going to result in significant changes on its own, she said. “It’s another piece of the puzzle,” she said. “No one study will ever change ever ybody’s mind. We’re just getting there.”
Alleged Minnesota ISIS teen detained BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota teenager who was temporarily freed after he was accused of trying to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State group was taken back into custody Wednesday after a federal judge ruled that he posed a flight risk and a danger to the community but held out the possibility of freeing him later. Abdullahi Yusuf, 18, of the St. Paul suburb of Inver Grove Heights, was arrested last week, six months after FBI agents stopped him at the Minneapolis airport as he prepared to leave the United States for Turkey. He was charged with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. A co-defendant, Abdi Nur, 20, of Minneapolis, was also charged but is believed to be outside the U.S. Authorities say a handful of Minnesota residents have traveled to Syria, which borders Turkey, to fight with militants within the last year. Both Yusuf and Nur are members of Minnesota’s Somali community, the largest in the U.S. A magistrate judge last week released Yusuf to his parents after his attorney pointed out he didn’t flee during the six months while he knew he was being investigated. But federal prosecutors argued again Wednesday that Yusuf deceived his parents before and could do it again. Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Davis agreed with the prosecutors. “The court finds that releasing this defendant to his parents does not reasonably assure his appearance or the safety of the community,” he said. Davis said Yusuf’s electronic monitoring device was “not infallible” and could be cut off. He said Yusuf could slip out of the country even though he has surrendered his U.S. passport. But he also gave the defense an opening. “If there is a plan that can be put in place that can have the Somali community and others assist the court in the super vision of this young man, I will look at releasing him,” Davis said before marshals led Yusuf away.