FYSEM takes learning abroad to England, Germany

Cancun. The Bahamas. Mazatlan. If you were planning a vacation during January to escape the cold of Minnesota winters, these would probably be close to the top of your list of places you would like to go. Germany or England? Maybe not so much. Two groups of first-years and their professors did brave the less-than-tropic temperatures of Europe this past January as follow-up trips to their fall FYSEM courses.
Professor Susie Steinbach took her class, “America, Europe, and Africa:╩ The Slavery Connection,” to many different places in England, including London, Bristol, Liverpool, York, and Hull. Student Tatiana Mercy feels that this trip abroad was possibly “the best thing [she] could have done [her] freshman year at Hamline.”

Mayor signs global warming pact

On Feb. 1, St. Paul mayor Chris Coleman joined over 200 mayors nationwide when he signed a global warming pact to bring levels of greenhouse gas emissions back down to 1990 levels by 2012 in St. Paul.

Coleman, motivated by melting ice sculptures and a too-warm winter carnival, used his first news conference to assert that “we no longer can pretend that [global warming] is not a serious issue or one that we need to address.”

Halos and pitchforks, Hamline Style

NAY to HEAT for refusing to choose a band. They instead cop out and option for a DJ to play music for EYOP, as the Oracle reported on Feb. 7. They want a DJ from B96 or KDWB. These two stations are focused on new music, with B96 focusing on more rap/hip-hop, while KDWB proclaims that it is “#1 for today’s hit music.” Seemingly, this is limiting the choice of music that will be played. Instead of putting heads together, taking a survey or soliciting opinions from movers and shakers around campus, we’re going to listen to compressed digital music. A live band brings more energy to EOYP. We understand a band requires a fair amount of funds, but according to the HEAT budget, which is posted on www.hamline.edu/husc/budgets, HEAT has $35,121.05 allotted for the EOYP. We think you can find an acceptable band.

Transamerica brings more GLBT-themed films to Twin Cities

Playing this week at the Uptown Theatre in Minneapolis is Transamerica, a delightful, thought provoking film from director and writer Duncan Tucker. The film does not reinvent family values but rather subtly reiterates them and lives up to its tag line that “Life is more than the sum of its parts.”
Felicity Huffman (“Desperate Housewives,” Magnolia) turns in a breathtakingly beautiful performance as Bree, a pre-operative male-to-female transsexual who suddenly learns she has a son from one awkward sexual encounter in college seventeen years prior.

Working as a waitress in Los Angeles and also as a telemarketer, Bree receives a phone call from a juvenile detention center in New York concerning her son.

Teams and staff show solidarity, celebrate women in sports

The bleachers on the west side of Hutton Arena were packed Monday night with Hamline’s womens teams and younger lady athletes. Together they cheered the Piper womens basketball team to victory. Following the win, in between the womens and mens doubleheader, was a presentation to honor all of these women by celebrating the Women in Sports event.

Hamline picked Monday night’s doubleheader to celebrate National Girls & Women in Sports Day (NGWSD), which was actually on Feb. 1. This year marked the 20th annual celebration of this day, which began in 1987 as a day to honor Flo Hyman, an Olympic volleyball player. Hyman is remembered for her achievements as an athlete and a proponent for equality for women in sports. The day, celebrated in all fifty states, is jointly organized by National Girls and Women in Sports Coalition. Over the years, this day has come to celebrate the past and present accomplishments of female athletes and to encourage participation in womens sports.

Under the covers

with audition #2

Dear Under the Covers,

I’ve been with my man for over two years. When things get heated, he tells me to touch myself. I don’t feel comfortable doing so. How can I pleasure myself in front of him without feeling weird?

Sincerely,
Afraid to Touch