Nice Ride
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The Lady Gaga Theory
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Bike lanes & more! 28 september – 11 october 2010
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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Editorial
Business
Editor-in-Chief Maggie Foucault
Business Manager Katie Kolberg
Managing Editor Sophie Frak
Advisory Board James DeLong, Kevin Dunn, Courtney Lewis, Eric Price, Morgan Mae Schultz, Gary Schwitzer, Kay Steiger, Mark Wisser
Section Editors Andrew Larkin, Zach McCormick
Production Production Manager Tarin Gessert Graphic Designers Tarin Gessert, Steph Mertes, Ryan Webert Photography Editor Matt Miranda
This Issue Illustrators Angie Frisk, Meher Khan, Rachel Mosey, Caleigh Souhan, Guy Wagner Contributing Writers Chez Femme, Alex Gaterud, Lee Janson, Eric Murphy
Sup bra?
Walking through campus, I am accosted by roller-bladers, coupon books, and freshmen complaining about having homework on the first day of class. Yes, school is back in full swing, and I am doing my best to not shout at everyone walking on the bike path through the west bank. The leaves are changing color, the old pieces of the 35W bridge have finally been removed from their home on the banks of the river, and The Wake is back with its first issue of the year!
After the tumultuous events of last year, many were convinced that The Wake would not be back this semester. Nothing could be further from the truth. The staff of The Wake is dedicated to keeping our magazine alive; we strive to be an alternative voice on campus that you can turn to when you’ve finished the crossword of the day.
Art Director Keit Osadchuk Now as we gear up for our ninth year of publication, The Wake needs you more than ever! We are always looking for talented writers, photographers, illustrators, and anything else you can think of! Come to one of our Monday night meetings to see what we’re about (see the back page of this magazine for a calendar), or check out past issues at www.wakemag.org!
Copy Editors Agnus Rzepecki
Maggie Foucault
10:1 ©2010 The Wake Student Magazine. All rights reserved. Established in 2002, The Wake is a fortnightly independent magazine and registered student organization produced by and for the students of the University of Minnesota.
Editor-in-Chief
The Wake Student Magazine 1313 5th St. SE #331 Minneapolis, MN 55414 (612) 379-5952 • www.wakemag.org The Wake was founded by Chris Ruen and James DeLong.
The Wake is published with support from Campus Progress/Center for American Progress (online at www.campusprogress.org).
disclaimer The purpose of The Wake is to provide a forum in which students can voice their opinions. Opinions expressed in the magazine are not representative of the publication or university as a whole. To join the conversation email ebrew@wakemag.org.
voices
Craigslist Won’t Be Bringing Sexy Back by maggie foucault As someone who has found multiple apartments, a car, and many hilarious personal ads through Craigslist, it was a shock to open up the Minneapolis portal to the infamous website on Sept. 3rd to find that the adult services section had been replaced with a bold-lettered decree of “censored”. This was the case for all users of the United States Craigslist, thanks to a letter sent the previous week signed by 17 attorney’s general from across the United States urging Craigslist to help stop the victimization of women and children by closing the adult services section. While these attorney’s general views that Craigslist is the Internet’s only source for illicit sexual encounters are misguided, their desire to rid the world of unwilling sex workers is not. The adult services section has always been one of my favorite parts of Craigslist; the idea that there is a place outside of the weird personal ads in the back of the City Pages where legitimate sex workers can support themselves in a safe(r) environment is impressive and smart. Giving sex workers a healthy place to promote their business is important for the physical and emotional health of both themselves and their clients, and can ultimately lead to a more sex-positive society. It is safe to say that much like abortion, the occupation of prostitution is as old as society itself, and that it would not be around today if there was not a demand for these types of services. However, while this is the ideal use of the adult services section on craigslist, it is not the only one. Reports of the trafficking of both women and children through the website are numerous, and by perusing the ads themselves, are obvious. Awkwardly-posed pictures of sad-looking women are common, and with the recent wave of Mexican and Central American immigrants, this trend has continued in an alarming way. It’s one thing to open an ad and find a mirror cell phone shot taken in a home bathroom, but it’s another to see someone that obviously does not want to be there. Casual encounters, another section of craigslist notorious for its facilitation of hook–ups, has been used for the same purpose. But these ads, unlike many of the ads found in the adult services section, are usually self-posted and always free. True, Craigslist does technically censor ads that are deemed to be “inappropriate,” but how many of these kind of ads slip by unnoticed, and what are the criteria by which they are so deemed? The idea that Craigslist is somehow not responsible for the ads that manage to be posted is preposterous. By providing this forum for open and honest talk about prostitution, Craigslist also has a responsibility to confirm that these ads are truly independent and legal, at least in accordance with age and willingness. Users are urged to “flag” ads that they find distasteful or against Craigslist policies, but there is no way to trust that users will always flag illegal or abusive ads. While Craigslist has for the most part cooperated with law enforcement, this too does not guarantee that the right people are getting busted. It has been reported that Craigslist employs attorneys to manually screen all of the adult services ads, rejecting over 700,000 a year. But what happens when these ads are rejected? Are these attorneys scouring these ads for evidence of sex trafficking or minors? No, they are scanning these ads to clear out the large number of ads posted by robots or other irrelevant postings. In recent months, Craigslist has been put on the defensive and the results are
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angie frisk
obvious. Adult services aside, the casual encounters section has also seen a drop off in the number of ads posted, an obvious reaction to increased scrutiny of the website. Craigslist’s own blog, in defending its screening policies, has pointed at LOQUO, a Spanish personals website acquired by eBay in 2005, as a much worse example of the kinds of exploitation that can occur when a website of this type is not manually screened. The blog includes links to two LOQUO ads depicting young women engaged in unprotected sex– acts, offering the same services to the highest bidder. Craigslist bloggers wag their fingers at eBay’s so-called “family friendly” moniker being used when the company owns such an overtly sexual website. To be fair, the example ads from LOQUO are far beyond most of the pictures seen in a recent adult services ad on Craigslist. However, before this past year, photos of this sort were all too common on both the adult services section and casual encounters section of the website. Craigslist touts itself as being ahead of its time and proactive, yet most of their recent adjustments can be attributed to some major news event that criticizes Craigslist. The truth is, the decision and turmoil behind the removal of the adult services listings of Craigslist has nothing to do with the suffering of women and children, and everything to do with money. Revenues from adult services postings accounted for roughly thirty percent of Craigslist’s total revenue. (The only other sections that cost money to post in were apartment rentals in large cities.) When looking at these numbers, how does Craigslist not come out looking like a pimp?
voices
by sophie frank Prostitution may be illegal in the good old United States, but as any of us who live in the city (or watch late night reruns of Law & Order SVU) know, it’s still a very real part of American society. Now Craigslist has been bullied into joining the national charade that sweeps sex under the rug as a “societal favor.” The same political figures that legislate prostitutes into the darkest alleys of the city now push them to the corners of the internet and, by doing so, renounce the surveillance and regulation that the centralized forum of the Craigslist adult services section offered. In May 2009 Craiglist’s erotic services section was re-commissioned as adult services. This followed a commotion of bad press when a 24-year-old medical student made headlines as the “Craigslist Killer,” after binding and robbing two women and killing a female masseuse, all women with whom he made initial contact via the erotic services forum. New regulations were implemented along with the change in semantics, including employee regulation of postings (in addition to flagging by Craigslist users) and a charge of $10 per post. On Aug. 24, 2010, seventeen attorney generals (of which Minnesota was not one) signed a letter requesting that Craigslist shut down their adult services section in an effort to fight sex trafficking (particularly sex trafficking of minors) that took place through the forum. As of Sept. 3, 2010, the adult services section is defunct, taking away $44 million a year in Craigslist’s revenue and, more importantly, forcing the would-be posters to other areas of Craigslist, and other areas of the Internet. Craigslist, founded by Craig Newmark in 1995, and spreading to become an international effort in 2003, has become a staple in metropolitan living. You can find an apartment, find the furniture to furnish it, find a car, find a job, shout out to that cute boy you saw at the bus stop last night, and find a sexual partner all on one convenient website. Craigslist functions generally unmediated by employees, relying instead on a simple “flagging” policy, in which users flag offensive posts for deletion with the click of a button, though the adult services section went through an additional screening process by employees before postings made it to the site. Under the Communications Decency Act, Craigslist is granted Federal protection against liability for postings. Because Craigslist does not publish the content but simply provides a virtual space for it, postings remain akin to those on Facebook or Tumblr—generally unmediated and the responsibility of the initial posters. Apart from all this business protection jargon, when it comes to prostitution and sexual trafficking, Craigslist acts not as the pimp, but as the bridge on Eighth under which prostitutes congregate and meet customers. Just as knowing which bridge to look under allows cops a certain extent of observation and regulation, the public nature of Craigslist simplifies and centralizes the law enforcement’s monitoring of illicit sexual activities. Arrests have been made that include charges of sexual trafficking over Craigslist, but the transparency and regulation of Craigslist lends itself to legal cases in a way that trafficking and prostitution diffused throughout the Internet does not. This diffusion of sexual advertising occurred within days of the death of adult services, moving to other sections of Craiglist, designated for other types of interaction, and to other areas of the Internet. It may be time to take a step back from all the illegal and abusive activities that occurred in the Adult Services forum, lest it sound like a prostitution hotbed in blatant disregard of federal law. The section’s purpose, and indeed most of the ads posted therein (for masseuses and exotic dancers), were entirely aboveboard, if not necessarily appropriate for all audiences. Getting rid of a forum meant for such uses, even doing it under the name of fighting sexual victimization, furthers the stigma against such sexual pursuits, and widens the rift between appearance and reality of sex in American culture. The Internet is a veritable Oregon Trail, and pushing things to the farthest frontiers does not make them wink out of existence; it only makes them harder to track down. This relegation of adult services content to the further fringes of the internet not only adds greater stigma to legal, legitimate postings (a sexual stigma ingrained in American society that allows for sub–par sex education in our public schools even as sex is being flaunted and publicized in pop culture), but makes it harder for victims of sexual trafficking to receive help. In their open letter to Craiglist, seventeen Attorney’s General urge that Craigslist “take immediate action to end the misery for the women and children who may be exploited and victimized by these ads,” yet pushing these ads to less regulated forums seems only to push victims further away from any form of tangible help. Prostitution isn’t going away, folks. It’s a cultural staple that’s here to stay until there isn’t a market for it. And when has sex not been marketable? While the effort to help victims of sexual trafficking and other sexual exploitation is a noble effort, and a very real need, shutting down the adult services section of Craigslist does not seem like the best way to go about things. Rather than an “immediate” fix for sexual trafficking victims, as the Attorney’s General seem to feel the censorship of Craiglist will provide, the people behind sexual trafficking have been driven underground. Let’s go after the real people behind sexual victimization, rather than Craigslist, and let’s help sexual victims rather than censoring the voices of adult services posters.
www.wakemag.org
05
cities
Well now where do we eat lunch? Jimmy John’s workers fight for Union
supplying a tip jar. In addition the company has no minimum shift length and workers complain of standard shifts of 2 to 4 hours and a company policy that discourages mangers from scheduling staff for more than 20 hours a week. Rikki Olsen is a union member and employee at the Block E store: “I have been working at Jimmy Johns for over two years and they still pay me minimum wage and schedule me one-hour shifts,” she said in a union press release, “I’m working my way through school and can barely make ends meet. I’d get another job, but things are just as bad across the service industry. Companies like Jimmy John’s are profitable and growing, they need to provide quality jobs for the community.” The Minneapolis franchise of Jimmy John’s is owned and operated by Miklin Enterprises Inc., a local family-run operation headed by Rob and Mike Mulligan who could not be reached for comment on this article. Miklin has allegedly told the employees that they “offer competitive wages and take issue with the union,” according to several union members.
by Zach McCormick
Caleigh Souhan
Entry–level work in the food service industry has never been the most glamorous of jobs, even back in 1933 at the height of the French hotel industry’s almost militaristic kitchen regimen George Orwell wrote of sweltering, suffocating dungeons staffed by even filthier cooks. The workers of Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches, however, have decided to go one step further than most disgruntled employees would do: they went Union.
Detractors have raised complaints that the union is causing an uproar over wages during a time of national financial crisis. When profit margins are universally down, a sudden demand for costly health benefits and a wage hike could certainly do lasting damage to the franchise’s coffers. Others have drawn attention to the relatively young age of many of the union members as a sign of the union’s naiveté. The Jimmy John’s Worker’s Union is far from an angry mob however. The group is currently working under the umbrella of IWW or the Industrial Workers of The World, a national union based out of Chicago with a storied history dating back to its formation in 1905. The IWW recently regained national prominence when it helped a group of Starbucks employees in New York City successfully unionize and start a campaign to gain living wages for the company’s baristas.
While Jimmy John’s store employees complain of poor working conditions and alleged sexual harassment from managers, the worst fate may befall the store’s bicycle delivery drivers, a symbol of the store’s “freaky fast” campaign. While drivers are allowed to be tipped by the company, they receive no hazard pay despite being expected to do deliveries during rain and snow and frequently being forced to tangle with the worst of city traffic. Drivers are expected to pay for their own uniforms (as are shop workers, effectively causing workers to start their employment in debt to the company) and furnish their own bicycles. According to driver Todd Cole, many of his coworkers have been involved in accidents on the job only to realize that they would be expected to pay for their own hospital bills and repairs to their delivery vehicle. Workman’s compensation is notoriously slow, Olsen had to wait four months for her check after slicing her hand open on the company’s kitchen equipment. The real kicker is that even after such an injury the employee will be expected to show up to work the next time they’re scheduled, as the company strongly discourages sick days. A driver involved in a serious accident at work may be effectively bankrupted by his company if he counts on Jimmy John’s $7.25 as his only source of income. The union plans to continue their picketing, and while members are careful to avoid the word “strike,” it’s certainly not out of the question. The picketers assembled again recently to disrupt their company’s marketing campaign of dollar sub day, encouraging customers to set up tip jars within the stores and use them. With no negotiations with the franchise owners in sight, the Jimmy John’s Worker’s Union has filed for a union election, and remain resolute in a statement on its webpage: “[we] will continue to build pressure until the owners Mike and Rob Mulligan cede to [our] demands, and until fast food and service workers everywhere get the respect and dignity they deserve.”
On Sept. 2, 2010 a group of more than 100 kitchen workers, drivers, staff and allies declared their official status as a union before walking off the kitchen floor to picket in front of the Block E Jimmy John’s location in downtown Minneapolis. Displaying banners and signs with slogans like “wages so low you’ll freak” and “we deserve respect and dignity,” the mass of protesters effectively blocked entrance to the store and extend their picket-march all the way to Hennepin. With chants of “these poverty wages have got to go” the assemblage of staff handed out fliers and spoke with passersby to raise awareness about their issues with the company. Eventually, the police appeared and ordered the crowd to disperse, which it did begrudgingly with a roar of “we’ll be back.” Even though the franchise’s regional managers refused to meet with the union, a clear message had been sent: gone was the era of grumbling over smoke breaks, the company would now have a spirited, organized, dissatisfied group of workers to deal with. The union’s demands center around wages, health benefits and workplace conditions that they claim lack “basic respect and dignity.” Currently, Minneapolis Jimmy John’s workers not in a management position are paid minimum wage of $7.25 an hour without benefits. Drivers (the company’s term for deliverypersons, most of whom are bike couriers) are allowed tips but the company bars its shop employees from Matt Miranda
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cities
Cities Guide: Bike Lanes by maggie foucault
Minneapolis is well known for its bike culture – we recently surpassed Portland as the most bikeable city! In that vein, we present a citywide guide to bike routes to, from, and around the U.
Matt Miranda
k North
k Southeast
k West Bank
Biking in North means biking around a lot of industrial areas, not usually a heavy-breathing biker’s favorite activity. Fremont Avenue will soon be a main route, with a planned bike lane being installed on the road. For those who wish to avoid foul–smelling industrial scenery, Theodore Wirth Parkway has a nice, bike–path alternative to on-street biking.
With University Avenue full of traffic and 4th Street SE missing a dedicated bike lane, 5 th Street is the best route through the southeast neighborhood: it even has a pedestrian bridge over 35W. East River Road haas a nice bike path to take through the Prospect Park neighborhood, and Como Avenue now boasts its own dedicated bike lane that runs all the way to the St. Paul campus.
The West Bank is by far the easiest and most utilized area for bikes, with demarcated bike lanes running through campus and over the Washington Avenue bridge to the East Bank. the Northern Pacific #9 bridge is a less-used alternative to Washington Avenue, with a nice connection between the West and East banks. Riverside Avenue now boasts its own demarcated bike lane, though many cars forget that the road is now one lane for cars.
k Northeast University Avenue is an obvious main thoroughfare, but large amounts of traffic make this route unpleasant. Marshall Avenue is a parallel route, and runs past Psycho Suzie’s, making a quick bar run very easy. St. Anthony Parkway is another bike–path alternative to street biking, running perpendicular to University and running almost to the suburbs.
k South South Minneapolis, like Uptown, is bike central. Bloomington Avenue is a great alternative to Cedar Avenue, with less traffic and potholes. Both Park and Portland Avenues boast dedicated bike lanes in addition to three lanes for car traffic. 11th Avenue is another dedicated bike route that can be used as a great alternative to Chicago Avenue and crosses 94.
k Uptown The Greenway, in addition to its other routes, is the easiest way to get to Uptown. Below the road on a dedicated bike path, the Greenway goes past Midtown Market, Nicollet Avenue, through Uptown and all the way to the burbs. Although the Greenway is easily utilized during the day, reports of robberies and assaults plague the route after dark. Hennepin Avenue and Blaisdell Avenue both are equipped with dedicated bike lanes and are easily the most useful routes in Uptown. Bryant Avenue is an unofficial bike route that acts as the exit point from the Greenway to Uptown. Cars are few and bikes are many.
k St. Paul campus
k Downtown Nicollet Mall is now open to bikes all day, as opposed to the previous mandate of only between the hours of 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. While the huge busses can be scary, luckily they only move at 10 miles an hour. Loring Park’s bike path is a nice respite from the exhaust fumes of Hennepin Avenue, and make a nice connection between Uptown and Downtown. The 3 rd Avenue bridge is a nice connection to northeast and southeast, turning into Central Avenue on the other side of the river. The shoulder is much wider than the parallel Hennepin/1st Avenue bridge and the cars are fewer.
The aforementioned Como Avenue runs all the way from 15 th Avenue SE to the St. Paul campus and goes through the adorable Como neighborhood of St. Paul. The transitway follows the campus connector bus route, but why wouldn’t you just throw your bike on the Campus Connector then?
www.wakemag.org
07
feature
Introduction By Sophie Frank Despite their goofy aesthetic, I’ve gotten used to seeing those chunky bright green Nice Rides making their way through Minneapolis streets. After winning “most bike-friendly city” over Portland, OR (If you’ve ever been there you know this is a huge deal. Those guys love their bikes), despite our subzero winters, it seemed about time we stepped things up. This sentiment, this need to improve upon our miles of greenway and year-round bike community, has become apparent in newly marked bike lanes throughout Seward and West Bank, and the seemingly thriving Nice Ride program. As the largest city-wide bike-share system in the United States, it’s received a fair amount of attention. The non profit that runs the system seems willing to work with the community toward improving access and functionality, and address specific concerns that users have. Already the initial $250 hold placed on one-day user’s credit cards has been reduced to $50, and the payment interface has been improved for clarity. The group has big dreams, hoping to expand kiosk areas to service a much wider portion of Minneapolis and talking about a possible upgrade on their slow, sometimes clunky gears. At $60 per year for a membership, plus per-ride fees if you’re biking for longer than 30 minutes, Nice Ride boasts an afford-
able alternative to the public transportation system for the eco-conscious and carless alike. At $5 for a 24-hour membership, it serves as an excellent resource for out-of-towners who want to get a feel for the city or people who just need a bike quick. Bikers are saved the hassle of finding a place to lock their bike and keeping up with maintenance. It’s not for everyone, however. Nice Ride bicycles are uniform machines, built for maximum utility—usable for everyone but not quite a perfect fit for anyone. There are no helmets provided, and it is assumed that most riders know the rules for biking alongside cars, a task that the recent influx of suburban freshman has reinforced is not to be taken for granted. These problems are pretty inevitable for any large scale bike share program, and public education is something that Nice Ride has been trying to include in their large-scale project. While Nice Ride is still in its hatchling stage, it has succeeded in becoming a tangible presence in Minneapolis. Ultimately it does not draw members from the pool of hardcore bikers, who prefer their own bicycles to have and to hold, but pulls from a pool of newer bikers or strictly commuter bikers. Nice Ride’s major goal is getting more people out of their cars and on their bikes, a task that it is succeeding at, and in so doing making Minneapolis an even more bike-friendly place.
Review #1 By Maggie Foucault I do not consider myself a hard core biker. I own a bike (that I built), and ride when the weather is alright or when I am going to the bars. While I have a small knowledge of building and fixing bikes, I would never consider myself an expert by any means. However, riding the Nice Ride bikes made me feel as if I were. After reaching the Nice Ride station at Franklin Avenue and 21st Street and figuring out the payment system, which requires a credit card with at least $50 dollars available as a deposit, I yanked my bike out of its futuristic parking contraption and examined it. The only part of the bike that needed to be adjusted was the seat, which was easily moved to the desired position. Strapping my bag into the strange semi-basket on the front was an ordeal, as there was only one long circular bungee cord. Had I brought my computer with me, I don’t think I would have been able to strap it in there, as I had to bend all of my notebooks in order to secure them. As a bike rental system designed for commuters, this seems like a very obvious oversight. Dorky can only begin to describe how I felt when first using my Nice Ride bike. Riding said bike requires sitting up as straight as possible, something I hadn’t done on a bike in years (I’m that cool). Braking was easily done, aided by how insanely heavy the bike itself is. The thick tires were great for
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going over potholes, something I am overly fearful of with my skinny tires, and the pedal-powered light was also a favorite feature. Nevertheless, once the bike got to an incline of any sort, all momentum was lost and biking became difficult. Three speeds were just not enough, even to get up the ramp onto the Washington Avenue bridge. However, my dorkiness was dampened by the fact that helmets are not provided at Nice Ride stations. This too seemed like an obvious oversight, attributed to numerous vague reasons such as “health concerns,” which I take to mean “lice/bedbugs.” While the bedbug concern is growing in most cities, I know technology has come far enough to make helmets out of materials that organisms cannot survive on, specifically lice. As I took my bike through campus, I passed by many Nice Ride stations. This was helpful because the fees for having the same bike out for more than a half hour were exponential, and the bike was not equipped with any sort of lock. This seemed to be a deliberate choice, used to keep the bikes out for only short amounts of time, but what if I needed to grab a coffee on my commute? Reaching my destination, the Southeast library, within the specified half hour, I returned my bike and left feeling disappointed. Maybe if I had never ridden a bike before, it would have been enjoyable.
Nice
feature
Ride
Review #2 By Andrew Larkin Riding my green tank-bike through the Seward neighborhood on a rainy day, I see a sign declaring, “On a bike, the top is always down.” This being the Seward neighborhood, the sign is probably intended to evoke the convertible-esque liberty of biking. I, however, am very wet and not too enthused. Now, to be fair, the Nice Ride bike I’m on has very sturdy fenders covering its tank-tires, which is a nice change. For the past two years every time I’ve ridden a bike in the rain, I’ve spent the duration of the trip getting sprayed with tire mud. But considering that every other time I’ve ridden a bike, I’ve been able to go faster than ten miles per hour, I suspect the fenders are a mixed blessing. With only three speeds, the bike never feels hard to pedal. It moves smoothly, effortlessly, and always, always slowly. Now let’s examine this a little bit: if you don’t bike very often and hop on a Nice Ride, you might notice how much faster it is than walking, how little energy expenditure it actually requires, and how frequently you come across docking stations. But if you actually rely on a bike to get around, you already know that sturdy, thick-tired mountain-bike-types are terribly impractical for actual commutes.
The impossibly heavy green bikes probably need to be as sturdy as they are. They need thick tires so that people riding them wantonly over potholes don’t pop them five times a day. Similarly, they need their slick green exteriors to cover all the unaesthetic bike components—the gears, the brakes, the chain—not to give the bike that homogenous and already iconic coloring, but so that people don’t fuck them up. Quite simply and obviously, these bikes aren’t aimed at bikers. They’re aimed at exposing drivers to bikes. Of course, this doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with them necessarily. But like those immaculately white windmills which now constitute the skyline of Iowa, they’re something liberal people seem to feel obligated to support for what they’re trying to do, in spite of the fact that their homogeneity, their omnipresence, their mediocre performance and implied conformity, are kind of creepy. Ultimately, if the bikes are reducing traffic congestion, encouraging alternative methods of transportation, encouraging people to try something new, I have to say I support them. But in spite of myself I wonder– does that mean I have to like them?
Review #3 by Zach McCormick As The Wake’s resident insufferable fixed–gear riding bike– jerk, I’m probably the least likely of our staff to actually utilize the Nice Ride services in my day to day life. I love the Twin Cities bike scene and end up biking most places I go because of my lack of an automobile. This summer I managed to adhere to a 16–mile round–trip commute to work and last winter I was one of those winter bikers you shook your head at in January. I decided to test the bike on a route that would be fairly standard for students of our fair University, a ride from the West Bank mall Nice Ride station to the Quarry shopping center just north of Como. Renting a Nice Ride bike is simple; it’s a quick swipe of a credit card and you’re basically on your way. An unfortunate side effect of the service involves a $50 hold your bank account incurs, something not all college students can afford. The first thing I noticed about this bike was its extreme weight. This is no carbon-fiber road racer, hell, I wouldn’t even want to carry it up a flight of stairs. Because of its odd shape the Nice Ride feels a bit unwieldy at first but becomes surprisingly comfortable once you’ve dialed in the seat height (the extendable seat-tube had more than enough room for my 6’3” frame). The bike has a simple but effective three-speed
internally geared rear hub (like a high-tech version of the one on your old three-speed coaster) that shifts smoothly and quickly. The gears themselves are on the low side for any serious biker—I found myself ignoring first gear completely since it had my legs spinning like a cartoon character and topping out pretty early on third gear. During my ride up to the Quarry I attempted to catch a road bike rider who had been next to me at a stop sign to no avail—I was left eating dust while frantically pumping my legs in third. Big, bulky, with a green high-visibility paint job and that goofy frame, this is definitely not a bike you’re going to be taken seriously on. I found myself far less confident making aggressive traffic maneuvers like taking a lane on the Nice Ride machine. This goofiness might come as a blessing in disguise however— I notice that this bike definitely engendered far less rage from motorists than my normal whip. The test confirmed my suspicions that Nice Ride wasn’t really meant for riders like myself. Even in the case of freak mechanical failure I think most cyclists would rather pay the $2.25 for bus fare home than the $16.50 I paid for an hour and a half’s worth of use. This doesn’t mean I think the bikes are useless however, they’re very well suited for the casual rider who needs a comfortable bike for short errands and doesn’t want to bother with the maintenance and upkeep of owning a bike.
www.wakemag.org
09
sound & vision
Grinderman 2 By Alex GATERUd It takes strength for an artist to cast aside what made him or her famous. The pull of attempting to repeat old successes must be nearly irresistible; it’s why hearing one Tom Petty record is pretty much the same as hearing any other, with a few variations. Nick Cave, though, is militantly anti-pigeonholing, and his 30-year career is a testament to an artistic vision that takes no prisoners and, thankfully, repeats no patterns. Grinderman 2, the appropriately-titled second record from his “side project,” is at once an affirmation and rebuke of middle age, of growing old, of performing for crowds 30 years his junior, and of seeing his contemporaries fade into obscurity, or worse, mediocrity. It’s a complex series of thoughts that somehow masquerade as a horny outpouring of wants: “I stick my fingers in your biscuit jar and crush all your gingerbread men ‘cause I want you,” Cave sings on “Kitchenette.”
The last Grinderman record came out in 2007 and was a violent, teeth-bared and balls-out 35 minutes of schoolboy rhyme with a few flashes of Cave’s brilliance. He credits it with revi-
talizing 2008 Bad Seed’s record Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!, which was called a simultaneous return to form and “growth record.” Now Cave seems to have found a medium between the two that occupies its own fully-realized artistic space: Grinderman 2 features a few epic-length songs next to brief bursts; a few slower, brooding pieces next to slash-and-burn cock-rock; and a few meditative interludes next to wolf-howling madness. It’s an affirmation of Cave’s limitless vision. In addition, it appears to have been a growth point for the other Grindermen: Warren Ellis’ electric bouzouki playing seems to have been filtered through his and Cave’s collaborative score for longtime friend John Hillcoat’s The Road, while Jim Sclavunos reined in the spastic, violent drumming of the first record for something close to pure power. “Worm Tamer” is a brilliant portrait of a band at its peak, from the swelling harmonic textures to the crushing blues rhythm, capped by a mantra that only a music veteran like Cave can deliver: “Yeah, I guess I’ve loved you far too long.”
Jaspar Lepak : Send Me Home by Zach McCormick
A Minneapolis expat now living in Durban, South Africa, Jaspar Lepak has seen a great deal of the world in her short 29 years, and although her music isn’t necessarily reflective of her travels, there’s a weariness in her voice and lyrics that speaks of miles on the road. Playing a bright, chipper take on modern country-folk, Lepak sounds like Carter Family Lucy Michelle, with an extra layer of polish that comes with age. Standout tracks on the record include the clever little toe-tapper “Clouds,” about how the social inequities of shitty food service jobs (synchronicity!) really stand out on beautiful summer days. Send Me Home is full of smart, slick folk balladry like the title track, but therein may lay the record’s weak point. While Lepak’s singing and playing is strong, this album lacks the kind of grit that would make for a truly moving end product. Even in songs about broken homes and failed
marriages, Send Me Home feels relatively toothless; Lepak’s delivery is just too sunny to make us ever worry for her. Send Me Home is a solid, well-crafted record that never manages to feel quite dangerous enough.
This CD was pulled straight from the mailbox of Wake HQ. If you’re a local artist and you’d like to see your album reviewed here, send it to The Wake Student Magazine, 1313 5th St SE #331, Mailbox 92, Minneapolis, MN 55414 or email us the tracks at essandvee@wakemag.org
Modern Family by eric murphy There’s no doubt Modern Family is on a roll. The recent winner of three Emmys and the highest-rated new comedy of last season, Modern Family is the rare creative network show that has the ratings to stick around. The show follows three related households through the suburbs in mockumentary format. The mother of a typical nuclear family, Claire Dunphy, has a father who has remarried; he lives with a new, significantly younger, Hispanic wife and her adolescent son. The third household consists of Claire’s homosexual brother who has adopted a Vietnamese child with his partner. The premise sounds a little unlikely (though less so than that of, say, any vampire drama), but the wealth of great acting and sharp writing makes the family relationships, even all the odd half- and in-law ones, feel real. The only established TV star on the cast list is Ed O’Neill (aka Al Bundy), but everyone stands out, and gets help from complexly imagined and devel-
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oped characters. Instead of treating their characters as people to be mocked with one-note jokes (as most sitcoms do), it is clear that the writers care for these people and want you to care too. This is especially true of the gay couple on the show. They aren’t stereotypical representations and aren’t cynically crammed into the show as CBS did to some of its fall lineup after pressure from gay advocacy groups. Rather than being window-dressing to make the show seem “progressive” (or “modern”), the couple is an important pillar of the show, and of the family. The dysfunctional-family dynamic reminds one of Arrested Development, but so does the subtle writing and acting. There is no laugh track, and it doesn’t beat you over the head with its humor or sentiment. At its core, Modern Family respects its characters, respects the viewer, and, most importantly, is downright hilarious.
sound & vision
EVENTS CALENDAR Thursday, September 30 89.3 The Current presents DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS
First Ave Mainroom / 7:30 pm / 18+ with THE SEA AND CAKE
$20.00 adv | $22.00 door
First Ave Mainroom / 6:00 pm / 18+
Radio K presents
with THE HENRY CLAY PEOPLE
KING KHAN AND THE SHRINES
$20.00 adv | $22.00 door PIERCED ARROWS
7th Street Entry / 8:00 pm / 18+ $9.00 adv | $9.00 door THE THERMALS
Triple Rock / 8:00pm / 18+ with PRIVATE DANCER
$13.00 adv | $15.00 door
Tuesday, October 5
Triple Rock Social Club / 8:00 pm / 18+
Fifth Element presents
with CYMBALS EAT GUITARS
The Waken Baken Tour with WIZ KHALIFA
$12.00 adv | $14.00 door THE ACORN
Turf Club / 8:00 pm / 21+ with ANDERS PONDERS
Mainroom / 8:00 pm / 18+ with YELAWOLF
$17.00 adv | $17.00 door
$10.00 adv | $10.00 door
Thursday, October 7
89.3 The Current and MFR present
89.3 The Current presents
LOCAL NATIVES
TEENAGE FANCLUB
First Ave Mainroom / 8:00 pm / 18+ with THE LOVE LANGUAGE and UNION LINE
$15.00 adv | $15.00 door
Mainroom / 6:00 pm / 18+ with RADAR BROTHERS
$15.00 adv | $15.00 door Radio K presents
Saturday, October 2 89.3 The Current presents
MARK MALLMAN MARATHON 3 (Day One)
Turf Club / 8:00 pm / 21+ $7.00 adv | $7.00 door
ROMA DI LUNA and DARK DARK DARK Dual CD Release Show
89.3 The Current presents
First Ave Mainroom / 6:00 pm / 18+
Varsity Theater / 8:00 pm / 18+
with CAROLINE SMITH & THE GOODNIGHT SLEEPS and DJ ANATOMY
with CHIKITA VIOLENTA and WE BARBARIANS
RA RA RIOT
$15.00 adv | $15.00 door
$10.00 adv | $10.00 door BETTIE SERVEERT
7th Street Entry / 8:00 pm / 18+ with BUFFALO MOON and MEAN CREEK
Friday, October 8 89.3 The Current and Vita.MN present
$12.00 adv | $12.00 door
A BENEFIT FOR BRAD KERN
VALIENT THORR
with SEMISONIC, MASON JENNINGS, JEREMY MESSERSMITH, TWILIGHT HOURS, THE HANG UPS, TWO HARBORS and SPECIAL GUESTS
Triple Rock / 9:00pm / 18+ With JUNIUS and HOWL
$10.00 adv | $12.00 door
Sunday, October 3 89.3 The Current, SMA and First Avenue present
First Ave Mainroom / 6:30 pm / 18+
$22.50 adv | $24.00 door Radio K and Vita.MN present JAMIE LIDELL
The Cedar / 7:00 pm / ALL AGES with ZEUS
$15.00 adv | $16.00 door
EELS
Mainroom / 7:00 pm / 18+ with JESCA HOOP
Sunday, October 10
$25.00 adv | $25.00 door FILM SCHOOL
Monday, October 4 89.3 The Current presents
7th Street Entry / 8:00 pm / 18+ with THE DEPRECIATION GUILD
$10.00 adv | $12.00 door
BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE
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sound & vision
The Mixtape & the Album in the Internet Age BY Eric Murphy
Back in the day (this particular day being so far back that I do not remember it, nor indeed was I even alive during it), mixtapes used to be actual, physical tapes of shows, before rap or hip–hop records were sold to mainstream music consumers. Most would have a variety of artists, and selling tapes could earn a living. But as the Internet has emerged as a significant music distributor, the distinction between “mixtapes” and straight up albums has blurred, if not broken down entirely. Albums tend to be dominated by one artist or band, recorded professionally in the studio rather than live, distributed commercially, and (sometimes) cohesive in style or content. Mixtapes have evolved toward the album side of things in all of these areas.
GUY WAGNER
Killing The Messenger BY Lee Janson
The men and women of winter melt between the scenes meant to choreograph the events of a particular Minnesota winter weekend. While we, the people of Minneapolis who become a population of invalids during Super Bowl weekend, where the plot consists of inflicting commercialism and football upon us, there are those independent few who enjoy taking part in a parody of the weekend. On a brisk Saturday night I was fortunate enough to be intoxicated by a culture to which I had beencompletely ignorant. Viewing at the Ritz screened the StuporBowl documentary Killing The Messenger. The film is not to be admired for its directing or visual editing or categorizing shots or progression. Around 45 minutes long, the documentary exhibited the work of those involved as students of the film industry rather than teachers. Despite the distinctions between amateur and professional film creation, the insight I dare say could not be reproduced better when discussing the natural flavor displayed on scene. The StuporBowl, going on its 13th year in Minneapolis, is
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Take for example Lil Wayne’s 2007 mixtape Da Drought 3, which is similar in form to most modern mixtapes. That the tape bears his name and face on the cover, along with the title, is enough to start encroaching on album territory. There are guests on the album, but most of the work is done by Lil Wayne himself. The way it was distributed complicates things a bit: it was released for free download via the Internet. This nudges it slightly out from under the umbrella of an album, since most official “albums” are distributed through mainstream channels and sold rather than given away; the goal is to make a profit for the record company. But distributing files on the Internet (instead of tapes on the street) also distances Da Drought 3 from the traditional tape form as well: any random person with an Internet connection can Google and download the tape within a few minutes, making
mainstream penetration far more likely—not necessarily a bad thing, but decidedly not underground. Da Drought 3 was, like many other contemporary mixtapes, so close to being an album that the distinction hardly mattered to listeners or critics: it appeared on multiple “Best Album” lists in 2007 and later. Even the “concept album,” usually a grandiose gesture reserved for the album format in which there’s some kind of unifying lyrical theme or concept, has representatives in the mixtape world. The best example is probably Wale’s Mixtape About Nothing, which frequently samples clips from Seinfeld and refers to characters and jokes from the series throughout. Though the boundaries from a listener’s point of view between albums and mixtapes are basically non-existent now, the mixtape form still has some value. Rappers have less pressure to perform and make radio-ready hits, are free to be creative, sample more extensively, and take risks (or talk about other rappers) without being limited or censored. And rappers and labels both know mixtapes boost the sales of an artist’s official label releases. In the era of Internet distribution of music, mixtapes are now essentially free studio albums from a single artist. Physical album sales slowly diminish, and maybe that’s not a bad thing—for listeners, for rappers, and even for labels.
chalked up as two annual races. The first race, a colony of sober individuals, compete unimpaired and fully conscious toward the finish line in hopes of being StuporBowl’s first champion of the weekend. Though valued by all and competitive among those participating in the activity, the second race is where excitement reigns supreme. Males and females whose licenses announce their legitimacy to drink dismount their bikes at the bottom of a steep hill, located across from “The Bench,” the traditional meeting spot where the festivity begins. A flood of soon to be RUIs (riders under the influence) stampede, tumble, and crash down the hill in attempt to ride and drink themselves to victory. These knights of cotton and wool armor must ride their mechanical stallions to twelve different business checkpoints throughout the metro area, all happy to accommodate those looking to consume a tasty judgment-impairing beverage. Upon arrival, the rider must dismount his bicycle, enter the establishment, down a bottle of his or her choosing and receive a stamp of recognition before returning to his or her travels. The first to reach the final bar with the most stamps collected claims the title of champion, coupled with the less appreciated award, a massive hangover. The StuporBowl, though discriminating against the youth, is a revered event among the biking population. Regardless of the cruelty lady weather can inflict upon the weekend, she has no remedy to cure the drunken man’s conviction to ride during what to the sober might consider inhabitable times in Minneapolis.
Angie Frisk
humanities
The Lady Gaga Theory By Lee Janson
Part I: The Poetic Mind I quietly rape Originality against the masochistic walls of solitude. Fucking her between the symmetry of Mother Nature’s tears and until the existentialism in anatomy catapults the coursing veins behind the eyelids to melt away the color of virginity. She is not beautiful, but the effeminate male I paint the vicarious puzzle pieces of myself using the acrylics of broken dreams. My wrist began to spill and blood becomes the ejaculated manifestation of a masturbating mouth. So together we looked at the disfigured replicas of our naked bodies in the ripples of the non-reflecting puddles we had created. And afterwards she became ugly… and I hated her.
Part II: The Mathematics of Originality The individual proliferates the idea that it is independent of the human nucleus, both innately and experimentally. It mistakes the separation from populousness to singularity as uniqueness and thus creates the tangible philosophical theory of originality. It predicates the notion that by simply existing under the false pretenses of perception it develops a singular identity, and later on distributes the affirmation of such in the form of an argument centralizing on genetic make-up during procreation and self-experience which produces non-manufacture able idiosyncrasies; therefore, proceeding to adopt by definition, originality upon itself. Perception however, is innate, and therefore attempting to logically minimalize this fact to conform to the literary structural form of an essay on what perception as a whole truly is, is preposterous. Generalizing to the point where one categorizes perception fundamentally as hearing, seeing, touching, and tasting is obvious, but detrimental to a healthy state of mind. Perception plays off the psychology of an individual being and unless the practice of psychoanalysis ceases to be dependent on the consciously stable male or female and becomes the viable law to assess the mental capacity of the humane state as a whole, unjustifiable inferiority manifests, i.e. slavery. Leaving the former immeasurably equivocal and therefore perpetuating inexhaustible arguments that elope the morbidly obese with the bantering petty minutia on the subject microcosmically. Furthermore, by definition: used or produced at the creation or earliest stage of something; originality evaporates post-metaphysical, present Omni-perceptual. It is to be understood then that the following arguments between civil social classes are nothing more than adolescently banal versed politics tolerated by those resembling either egotistical fascists or coffee-shop revolutionists who confuse anarchy for organized radicalism. The ignorant few culturally classified as “indie” contest unoriginal blossoms and wither in the shadows of capitalist imperialism. The concept that a commodity can be sold commercially in excessively large quantities at an ideally low price, oppressing the market of that which does not have the capital to fund the resources to compete with monopolized industries. Those to be considered as conforming to the economical selection of a government system dispute such a charge by proposing the economically viable candidates fashion marketing schemes that theoretically project originality two fold. Being that not only the distribution of the palpable or ethically expectable item is selective but also the way in which he or she decides to profit from it is equally original. Both remain nematic, ignorant nirvana that provokes the logically bulimic to reject synthesis and digest the credulously irrational views of the delusional. Regarding the first argument, nothing is manufactured on the premise of being, “indie,” everything is assembled to satisfy the complete market number for which it was intended. Secondly, there are things that are not marketable on a large scale. This does not dispute the latter of the two arguments but that popularity and originality are much often misrepresented and forced to pose as replacements for one another. In addressing the two arguments as a whole, they defy outright the very concrete definition of originality by the context in which they lobbying for the subject. What must be acknowledge is the fact that originality is nymphetic, a premature entity elusive to the state of growth. Such is the case; the definition constitutes that by default, humanity alone is not self-sufficient in creating originality by the process of reproduction. In a natural environment the human falls victim to colonization, (eliminating the, “indie” theory). It is indisputable the mannequin qualities we are nakedly parallel to under an unbiased critique. Furthermore, contradictory to popular fallacy, males or females do not innately harbor originality. As people, we are not born with mental complexity, understanding not such an idea or for that matter, individualism. Both are contemporary teaching mechanisms used to falsely knot originality and genetics together. Eliminating the potential validity that we, humanity, are naturally anything aside from being equilibrium of positive and negative charges.
Rachel Mosey
In conclusion, originality denounces the possibility of manifesting itself in the conceptual version of reality. We are taught, not born with any concept that demands a more than substantial level of conscious thinking, including originality. Perception is an enigma, latent from clarity. Thus, through such realization that originality, but also creativity, artistic expression, etc. blossoms only in the mind, rendering latter arguments arbitrary, the only innocent attempt at achieving all of the above is practicing the art of ascetic musing without the temptation to explain physically.
www.wakemag.org
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humanities
2 Bike Haikus by Chez Femme
CALENDAR I
Submit to alarkin@wakemag.org
DUE DATES:
old bike wheels
October 6*
some will be a fence
A love poem or a short story about love that ends tragically.
the others return to spinning
October 20
alongside one other
Anything November 3*
II
An Elizabethan sonnet college
November 17 Anything
like shredded denim
December 1*
caught in a bicycle gear
Something about a woman named Cecelia and her 43 dead lovers.
life can be tricky
*Writing Contest! 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prizes
Meher Khan
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28 september – 11 october
qwdjkhvbfov;iuhaervfnpboertgouyebdsf lkvdfp9erfgnyqv3rf nsldkvuasrtn,kefbv pd908fgeqhrgoaie;b egodenfklgiutmhljo hfustqwcsaeacasgxy tebfdifortmgph0ykj fpdf9ejhtogt8rjdpd0ejur98t8rhndsgw894jurt0t06k6p.d hvc.94ieper8erv9rv 9t4h[vmw90euyg4nr[rh5676t546r]rth908 egh4egh58ht84ie90r www.wakemag.org
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THE WAKE NEEDS YOU! WRITERS, CONTRIBUTORS, & IDEAS WANTED
8:30 PM @ 1313 5TH ST SE #331 MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55414 8:30 PM • SEPT 27 • OCT 11 • OCT 25 • NOV 8 • NOV 29 •