Remembering George Linares

Never have we felt such a comforting embrace of friendship as the one with George and everyone we hung out with on fourth floor Schilling. We specifically remember going outside to smoke a cigarette and George, Cookie, Paul, Cam and Ben, who would always say “hello” even if they didn’t know our names. We have some fond memories that we would like to share from our all-too-short of a time knowing George.

Fourth floor Schilling was a relaxed atmosphere where everyone felt comfortable to visit and talk to anyone even without an invitation. Some memories we have of the Quad are endless nights and marathons of Family Guy. They were always down for playing hacky sack, even without much lighting.
You would always walk into their room and they would be blasting some sort of different music and playing ongoing tournaments of Tekken Tag, Shanobi and Amplitude. There are endless memories if you take a second to think. They were always happy ones.

George was always very happy to get out and meet people, especially “pale chicks.” He was always accepting of everyone he met. He was always the life of the party no matter where he went. Everyone loved and cared for him, and he cared about them back. The most important person in his life was his brother Jon, whom we were all happy to meet due to George’s praises.

We both regret not being able to spend every minute we could with him. The last time Jackie saw him was when she had no place to stay and she asked George if she could stay at his house. Being George, he was more than happy to help her out. We remember how happy he was and the hugs that he gave us and the way he always had same comfortable greeting. The last night that Suzanne hung out with him was the night of Dec. 5. We ate Wendy’s together and prepared for the party with a game of Amplitude. I remember that he told me I smelled like cabbage. I didn’t quite understand it, but it still made me laugh.

Dear George, we will miss and remember you forever. We wish your family peace and happiness through this tough time of sorrow.

With much love to you, George,

-Jackie Stefanson and Suzanne Chowen

For our George,

What can be said? Never anything bad, because there never was anything bad. George was ... the best. His smile, I swear to God, could cure cancer. One quote from him that jumps out at he that I will never forget. It was his 21st birthday when he said, “You guys, I’m so glad ... I’m just glad!” By saying that, he sums up his whole persona. God, I’m going to miss him. One thing that always made me laugh, and he did it all the time, was when he would try to sit down in a chair and he would either miss it or fall over. He never got mad, he just started laughing with the rest of us. I have evidence that it was hard for him to take a serious picture. He was always squinting with his crooked smile, mid-laugh. He loved to wrestle, and he had a thing for “pale girls.”

I won’t ever forget George. I’m going to miss him so much. R.I.P., my friend.

- Chelsea Holm

Querido Jorge,

Racionalizar lo que te ocurriŚ es imposible. Quiero pensar que hay una razŚn mćs grande por la que ya no estas aquÆ y que tu alma llenarć de luz cualquier espacio donde te encuentres. Mi corazŚn estć con tu familia y todos tus seres queridos, ojalć encuentren consuelo en el recuerdo de tu sonrisa.
No te olvidaremos,

-Marcela Sanchez

If the purpose of a liberal arts education is to foster habits of mind toward making critical and independent judgments, then our George Linares was becoming very educated. Already he was making his judgments independently - and he was well on his way to making them critically. He was catalytic in the classroom. He was beguiling in the salon. He was everyone’s best interlocutor. And friendly critic.

He had a look --- and a smile - that were bemused, quizzical, and both engaged and askance.
Sometimes I thought his smile was like that of the Buddha. I do think it was a philosopher’s smile. Indeed, it was a smile of an examined - and examining - life. And it was a cross-cultural smile. It came from an acute knowledge of Difference - of knowing that things could be utterly Other.

And it was beginning to be a trans-historical smile. Already George knew the histories of history well, but he was beginning to smile as do statues from ancient worlds. Or from the anthropological museums in
Chiapas and Ciudad, Mexico. His view of things was a very long view.

If we ever forget George, it won’t be any time soon. His generosity and spirit of inquiry meant that he illuminated and encouraged every aspect of our lives - as do only the most galvanic and incandescent of our fellow-travelers.

From his death, we should take increased devotion to George’s spirit of inquiry, to the examined life, to long views of things and to those cross-cultural, trans-historical perspectives which George so very much embodied.

And to the prescription of the final couplet of one of Shakespeare’s sonnets:

“This thou perceivist which makes thy love more strong:
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.”

- Russ Christensen

Continue reading this article...

Midway Magic: Lights gleam as local residents get into the holiday spirit

The lights are shining this holiday season as the Clark Griswolds of the area have begun to create elaborate lawn displays.

Plastic light-up Santas, candy canes, reindeer and this year’s hottest yard accessory č giant snowmen č are appearing in the front lawns of homes in the Hamline Midway neighborhood.

For people like David Johnson, who resides at 1299 Seminary, the art of holiday house decoration is all about experience.

Continue reading this article...

Letter to the Editor: To protest discrimination, student body should vote to ban recruiters

We are writing in strong support of the “Resolution To Ban the United States Military from Recruiting on Campus,” authored by Graham Lampa and Manney Anderson. The military’s discriminatory policies against gay and lesbian people contradict the mission of our university, and the presence of military recruiters on campus detracts from the inclusiveness of our campus environment.

In September of 2001, the Indianhead Council of the Boy Scouts of America proposed a partnership with
Hamline University that would provide scholarships to students for participating in its mentorship program. After a campus-wide forum and a university-wide debate that included members of the administration, Hamline students voted to reject the offer because the Indianhead Council’s discriminatory policy against gays and lesbians contradicted the university’s diversity policy. Our administration č with an open apology to the campus for even considering the partnership č unanimously acted on students’ recommendations to turn down the Indianhead Council’s offer.

Continue reading this article...

Big Business is big letdown

With ex-members of Karp and the Murder City Devils, Big Business’ upcoming release Head for the Shallow left my head feeling pummeled.

Having little to no melodic vocal parts may have worked for the lead singer of the famed Washington-based Murder City Devils, but the effect is not the same when juxtaposed with the fierce drum beats of Big Business.

The CD opens with a duo whistling an enchanting melody that almost makes you feel as if your head is spinning, but after this brief appearance of melodic intonation, there will be none for the rest of the disc.

Continue reading this article...

Remembering Coach Donavon Larson

Knowing Coach Larson has meant so much to me that it’s difficult to put into words. I can honestly say that he was one of the greatest men I’ve ever met. The man cared so much about our school, its football team, and especially his players. When he recruited me in high school, he sent hand-written letters to me weekly and made frequent phone calls; it got to the point where there was no way to turn him down. I’m glad I didn’t.

I had a blast playing four years for Coach, but what I’ll remember him most for was what he did off the field. It was all of the little things that really made Coach endearing to the players. He knew every player’s family and all of their names; he even called my mom and sang “Happy Birthday” to her last year. When I took my medical school entrance exam this summer, Coach demanded that he be the first one after my parents to hear the scores. When I didn’t play well, he’d surely give me a kick in the butt, but he always apologized to me later and picked me back up. Little things like that made all the difference to his players.

Coach Larson was the epitome of what we call “Piper Pride.” He worked tirelessly and always represented the school and his team in a professional manner. I’m going to miss him terribly, but I know that I am a much better man for playing for Coach Larson.

- Mike Walsh #11

I am the grandmother of identical triplet grandsons. These boys have had a passion for playing football all their lives, and they thought sports ranked way above studying for good grades. In August of 2002, I talked with Coach Donavon Larson about the fact that these boys wanted to play football for Wayzata High School and had this idea that sports were a priority over good grades. Coach Larson asked for their home address and indicated that he wanted to write to them.

The letter from Coach Larson to my grandsons has had a profound and positive impact on these guys in terms of how they approached academics and sports. This letter has been posted on the family refrigerator since the day they received it in the mail from Coach Larson. They are seniors this year, and they proudly took their place as a part of the Wayzata football team, which went to the finals. Here is that letter:

“Dear Chris, Curt and Kyle:

I have been talking to your very proud grandmother, who indicated that you all want to play football for your high school. It is very important that you remember to balance your desire to play football with getting good academic grades. If you work hard on the academic side, you will be a better team player. I wish the three of you luck as you begin your sophomore year at Wayzata High School. Sincerely, Coach Larson “

Thank you, Coach Larson, for sharing your passion for the game of life with my grandsons. We will always remember you and forever be grateful to you. Chris, Curt, and Kyle were very saddened to hear about Coach Larson passing away. They never met him personally, but they felt that they knew him. They join me in extending our deepest sympathy to his family.

- Dixie Lindsley

I was a senior for the 2004 Piper football season. One of my best memories of Coach Larson was at the end of the season, when he asked all the seniors to come up to the front of the room for a formal goodbye. He then said to the team that he was going to retire, and the 2004 season was going to be the last time he would ever coach football. There were tears in his eyes, as well as the eyes of his players, and everyone could tell this was one of the hardest things he ever had to do. Coach Larson’s level of commitment to his players and coaches was something that I had never experienced before with any coach. He taught us so much more then just football; he taught us all how to be men.

- Mike Downs #35

I heard someone say that Coach Larson promised to be there next year for us cheering us on, but if you think about it, he’s still going to be there. He’s going to be there in all of us. He made such an impact on all of us. He touched us all in one way or another, whether it was just talking, getting after you because you’re not going to class, or helping with the struggles of college.

Coach Larson, in a way, was a grandfather to me. He pushed me; he pushed all of us to be the best that we could be. I remember Jermaine talk about why he called us MEN, because that’s what we were. We were no longer boys playing the game; we were men having a passion for the game, and no one had a bigger passion for the game of football than Coach Larson.

He loved football so much. He would talk about his glory days at Hamline, or his other coaching jobs, and you knew his heart was always in it. Andy Gagnon put it best: Even with our records, 3-7, 2-8, whatever it was, it didn’t matter to Coach. He always had the fire in his eye to come back the next year and work harder to get better.

Some coaches would have gradually lost that fire to compete, but not Coach. He always had that fire burning. Coach Larson made us feel like a family, and that’s what this team is, one big family. I felt that he wanted every one of the recruits to be part of this great family.

He made you feel welcome, and he would always be there for you. If it wasn’t for that day I was called into my high school office to speak to Coach, I probably wouldn’t have even considered Hamline as a choice of colleges.

But whether you liked it or not, he stuck with the phone calls, the letter-writing, and the long drives to visit you and let you know that you were welcome to be part of this family. I don’t know how he did it, but he managed to know almost everything there is to know about you. He knew your parents and would talk to you about them and ask how they were, just because that was the kind of guy Coach was.

The world has lost a great husband, father, grandfather, coach, friend, and just a great person in general.
Rest in peace, Coach. Thank you.

- Andrew Seymour #16

One of the many things I will remember about Coach Larson is his smile. And, in the words of Coach Larson, “Once a Piper, always a Piper.” You will be missed, Coach.
- Amanda Gage

Coach Larson meant a ton to me and to every player who ever donned the pads under him. He will always have a special place in my heart, and there is no doubting that. Simply put, he never, ever gave up on me, or on anyone who has ever walked through his office door. He knew exactly how to motivate you, no matter if it was a swift kick in the butt, or sitting you down and having a long talk.

Coach Larson was not an ordinary person at all. He cared very deeply about everyone on the team. He didn’t care if you where the starting quarterback or the backup punter, he cared right down the line about everyone. You could walk into his office at any point in the day and shoot the breeze with him and I am kicking myself for not taking that opportunity more often. You could mention a player’s name to him and he could tell you everything you would want to know about them: their jersey number, hometown, high school, high school coach, position in high school, parents names, intended major. It simply amazed me to hear him ramble some of the things off, because I had no idea how he was able to do it. That right there is the proof that Larson was no ordinary person. He was a person who had room in his heart for everyone.

The world lost a great person on Sunday, Dec. 5. There are millions of people who will never know about him, as a person or the mark that he left behind on the world. It is truly their loss, to not be able to spend five minutes with this man, so full of life, now taken away from this world, well before his time.

- Josh Heasley #62

Like many of the football players, I am going to remember Coach Larson as the man of the football field, especially Thursday afternoon specialty periods.

Now, one thing people have to realize is that Coach Larson had relaxed throughout the four years I played football for him, but he always got the blood rushing to his head during these two periods. These are basically the last two periods of the week for us, so some people are not concentrating as much as they possibly could. It always seemed as though either the long snapper would snap it over the punter for the scout punt team, someone would not block the correct guy on the punt team, or in my case I may not yell peter loud enough on a bad punt and it would hit one of our players. At this point is where you get all of Coach Larson’s acronyms. Others times, he would just call someone a dumbhead, or tell a player to get their head checked out because something is wrong with you.

- Mike Van Loh #2

The memory of Coach Larson that I would like to share is his occasional creativity (some might say exaggerating and others flat-out lying), but all of which were done with good intentions. Larson was always partial to the Piperline Move-In Crew program, volunteering all of the football first-years to help out. Rather than simply flat-out telling the first-year class that they had to do it, which he easily could have done, he tried to put a smiling face on the four hours of grueling work with a few ludicrous claims regarding the great potential that each football player would have in scouting the incoming girls on campus.

“Just go up to them with your hair all slicked back and offer to carry their heaviest thing. Their parents will also be right there, so you might get the introduction out of the way, too!” he would say.

I think I heard that exact description at least three separate times leading up to Move-In Day. Larson always had a way to put such a good forecast on things, a trait always greatly appreciated in a world of so much complaining and groaning.

In addition to the pep talk, he backed it up with some facts by then proceeding to evoke the memory of Brody Anderson meeting his current girlfriend during the Move-In Day the previous year. Wow, that almost made even me want to volunteer myself for the Move-In program again, but, in fact, Brody didn’t meet his girlfriend at the Move-In program.

Furthermore, she was never at the Move-In program, because she doesn’t go to Hamline and was Brody’s high-school sweetheart. Some might say that Larson was confused. I think him to be smarter than that, because all of the first-years did show up to Move-In Day and provided a great service to the incoming students - and did so with their hair slicked back.

- Mike Pesko #83

As an athletic trainer for Coach Larson, he would always make me laugh, especially the day he said, “What is that thing on your head? Because if it is a hat, it should really be a potholder! We need to get that potholder off your head and get you some Piper gear!” There won’t be a day I wear that hat without thinking of him.

- Rachel Wyman

When I started to think about my memories of Coach Larson, I realized there are a whole bunch of them. The thing I will remember most about Coach Larson is his speeches and the way he would just tear into you when you did something wrong, and then he would calm down and put his arm around ya and talk you through the right way to do things.

The memory that sticks out the most was when we watching film from our red-gray scrimmage. Coach was our defensive line coach at the time, and the defensive line was not doing things right. He was getting mad, calling me and Jake [Bjerke] names for making stupid mistakes.

The next play came on the film, and the defensive line made another stupid mistake, and he went off on us, saying, “We will see the dark side, men, if we don’t start picking it up, and we won’t like the dark side.”

At the time we were all scared, but then after a few days we thought about how funny that speech was, and how it really motivated us.

Coach Larson was and still is one of the MIAC’s finest. He is the whole package when it comes to being a Piper. Like Coach Larson always said, “Once a Piper, always a Piper.”

It’s a sad day to be a Piper, but I know he would want us to move on and put it behind us and start working on improving for the next season. I will sorely miss you, Coach, and I love ya.

- Tom Schadegg #55

Coach Larson holds a very special place in the hearts of the HU cheerleaders. He was always so willing to help out with getting us anything we needed He opened the weight room for us at 6:30 am, two days a week, always with a big smile and a “You girls look great this morning.” He always made the effort to make us feel like members of the athletic department, from the football banquets, to picnics before games, or at any time he saw us.

His love for life and his family was obvious. I think each one of us has heard stories of how he met his wife, Cindy. He loved telling those stories. Coach was always cheerful, positive, and loving. We will always remember him as classy, confident and loving.

Coach, we love you for making us part of the Hamline football family. You will be greatly missed.

- The HU Cheerleaders

You were always kind to me and my staff. I didn’t know you really well, but you always made me feel you cared and encouraged me. I want you to know, wherever you are, that you made a difference in the lives that you touched. You were important. Many people will miss you, including those in food service. May the fish bite long and hard.

- That one Sorin girl (Cynthia)

I remember dragging myself to those last few days of high school, sighing the whole way, saying, “What’s the point?” But nearly every day after being accepted by Hamline, I came home to a cardinal red and gray postcard, marked on the back in flowing red ink. On it were words of the future, words of inspiration. More importantly, the postcards often had questions about my family, only touching on football and my life to come at Hamline. The bottom of every postcard was signed by Coach Larson.

Those postcards always put a smile on my face and confidence in my heart. I remember those last few days of that summer before I started football camp. All my friends from high school had confused looks of joy and anxious fear on their faces. Thanks to old Lars I already felt home at Hamline. He had that way about him; you only had to meet him once, and you could call him a friend. He remembered every face, and more importantly, he remembered every story.

Coach Larson always had hope. I came to Hamline football as an offensive lineman, weighing in at 185 pounds; in offensive-line terms, I was a runt. But he never gave up the runt lineman from Henry Sibley
High; he pushed me so far on the field that I remember leaving practice in anger. But once we had all showered up, and I saw him outside the locker room, always with his smile and coffee-stained cup in hand, he would thank me for my hard work. When I decided not to play football this year, I expected him to hold some sort of grudge, but old Lars proved me wrong. Every time I saw him on campus he would ask me the same questions about family and school, and would listen to my stories.

Coach Larson will never be forgotten. He touched far too many people’s lives. If I ever have any boys that decide to play football, I’ll tell him the story of Coach Larson. I’ll tell him the story of the man that made Hamline home far before I even set foot on campus.
- Sean Bailey

Continue reading this article...

Under the covers... with Molly Kirwan

Dear Molly:

Is there a difference between having sex and making love?

Last Romantic

The difference you speak of, LR, is entirely a personal perception of the act of intercourse.

But there are many people out there who do believe that the two are completely separate and others who see them as two very different forms of the same act.

I think that the most common opinion is that sex is kind of cheap and unsentimental (but still fun), like an HBO movie featuring Tori Spelling.

Continue reading this article...