The Mac Weekly: October 18, 2002 Headlines

Roundtable guests diverge on technology By DANIELLE MAESTRETTI and LIZZIE TANNEN Scholars came to Macalester for the ninth annual International Roundtable last weekend to present papers on the topic of "Prometheus's Bequest: Technology and Change." {more}


Multicultural recruiting recommendations released By DANIELLE LANGONE Among the many voices that have discussed the multiculturalism issue at Macalester, the now-defunct Council of Multicultural Affairs (CMA) would seem to be one of the most obvious and appropriate to make recommendations on the subject. Perhaps that is why President Michael McPherson charged the CMA last year with researching "ways that we can strengthen our recruiting efforts for U.S. students of color." {more}


Public policy program receives grant By ALAYNA PINE Macalester has been awarded a $414,952 grant from the United States Department of Education to institute a new program in Quantitative Methods in Public Policy. Directed by Professor David Bressoud, this program takes an interdisciplinary approach to quantitative reasoning in the realm of public policy. {more}

J-term course to explore civil rights By KRISTA GOFF In 1963, 250,000 people gathered for the March on Washington where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered "I Have a Dream," one of the most eloquent speeches in American history. This January, 40 years later, eight Macalester students will celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the Twin Cities as part of the culmination of their J-term course. "The Civil Rights Movement: History and Consequences," is the brainchild of Assistant Professor of African-American Studies and Political Science Duchess Harris. {more}


Task force reviews funding practices By PETER GARTRELL President McPherson initiated a new strategic planning process in 1999. In 2001, the Strategic Directions Committee released "Strategic Directions for Macalester." The committee's recommendations were based on "Core Values" discussions from the 1999-2000 school year. The document identified 10 strategic directions for advancing the college's tradition of excellence while ensuring the college's future. In the beginning of the 2002 school year, McPherson appointed faculty and staff members to six strategic direction implementation task forces. The general purpose of these task forces is to take Strategic Directions and make them a reality. The six task forces are: Admissions and Financial Aid, Institutional Identity, Academic Program Quality and Structure, Student Learning Experience and Resource Use: Budgeting, Staffing and Organization, and Facilities. This is the third report in a series of six. {more}

Cheerleading for internationalism By ANDRE CARRINGTON I was sitting in my Poli-Sci/CNAS class last Thursday, at 3:45, towards the end of a group of students' presentation, wondering why we had decided to leave early. It's an easy situation to misjudge. You'd think 20 some-odd students would be clamoring to get out of class early towards the end of the week, especially around midterms, especially when we've still got over 50 pages due this semester. You'd probably realize it made a whole lot of sense to leave early that day—the International Roundtable was starting. But you'd be surprised to find out that some of us were a little sorry to leave. {more}


Senior class gift? A hint from Bob Dylan may be in order By DAN MORING For the very few of you who missed out on the Campus Environmental Issues Committee meeting Tuesday, let me fill you in on the general idea: Macalester is not living up to it commitment under the Talloires Declaration to institute programs to mitigate harmful environmental impacts of our daily actions. There is one project, however, that could change that direction. Xcel Energy, our local utility, has offered to buy Macalester a small wind turbine to be installed in the area directly north of the football field. I believe the student body must emphatically support this option so that it can be realized as soon as possible. The proposed turbine would sit atop a 90 foot tower so that the highest point would be 105 feet in the air. This is roughly 20 feet above the existing light poles. The wind turbine would generate approximately 18,000 kilowatt-hours per year, about the annual consumption of a house in the area. {more}


Election discussion series looks at candidates and housing By PI SIGMA ALPHA WITH THE MAC DEMS, MAC GREENS, AND MAC GOP Every Thursday leading up to this Fall's election, Pi Sigma Alpha, in conjunction with the Mac Dems, Greens, and GOP, will be holding a dinner discussion about relevant political topics to the Macalester Community. Each week a speaker will present the various aspects of an election issue and participate in a discussion with the students in attendance. The goal of this dialogue is to facilitate debate on campus in order to encourage informed voting and more voter participation. {more}

Strategic Directions needs student input By CATE McDONOUGH You may have heard two phrases rather frequently around campus recently: "department restructuring" and "strategic directions." Your best friend may have heard a rumor that her major is being cut. Your professors might be discussing how best to exercise their "political capital" in order to save their departments. Or maybe you haven't heard anything at all about the Strategic Directions report on Academic Quality and Structure—so why should you care? And if you already care, what can you do? First, the facts. {more}

Cut waste, use a mug By CHRISTINA JONES Did you know you could save money and the environment at the same time? Here’s how it works: get out your mug that is hiding under your bed or in you closet (if you don’t have one the library might have extras) and take it with you whenever you go out to for coffee, tea, hot chocolate or a smoothie. Tell your server that you brought your own cup at any of the following coffee shops in the neighborhood, and they will give you a discount for using a reusable mug. {more}

Hamline snaps Scots' streak, 29–13

By EMILY ANDERSON

The Macalester Scots and the Hamline Pipers met for the 103rd time this Saturday, Oct. 12. The Pipers were able to retain the Paint Bucket, the trophy that the two teams have battled over for decades, as the Scots fell 29–13. {more}

Sports Round-Up

By JORDAN BECKER

Defense leads men's soccer
Women's soccer hangs in title race
Volleyball's playoff hopes set back {more}

The Poetry Page By HANNAH BROOKS-MOTL, KRITIN SHAW, and JOSH NISSENBOM Three poems: Verno Beach, Florida To Julia de Burgos Mason City, Texas {more}

Is anything better than sex advice from Chastity and Richard?

By CHASTITY and RICHARD

Chastity and Richard tackle subjects such as anal plugs, random sex, and pedophiles {more}

A fatally irritating Attraction By DANIEL BURGESS I can hardly imagine the tortured existence that today's teen TV star must lead. Having to act pure and moral season after season, preaching hollow messages about abstinence and the war on drugs … It must be just terrible for them. If I had to spend five years acting nice, I'd probably jump at the chance to play somebody loathsome, too. {more}


Nine Mac students, eighteen scenes: An excellent job By BEN SACHS Launching Macalester's 2002-2003 theater season both boldly and playfully, last weekend's A Show of Hands set the bar at a great height for subsequent performance arts events. Although minimally advertised and unfairly referred to in passing as a drama "workshop" (and not a genuine performance piece), Hands challenged the conventions of its medium in surprising ways, resulting in one of the most provocative theatrical experiences I've had in ages. {more}

Paul Muldoon's latest: A master poet writ(h)es again By BILL RAGALIE Paul Muldoon is a 51-year old Belfast native, teacher at Princeton and also the Professor of Poetry at Oxford (a position once held by his mentor, Seamus Heaney). He also carries the unofficial title of "the most significant English-language poet born since the Second World War" (Times Literary Supplement) through his unique combination of honesty, complexity, and an amazing ear for the spoken word. In his ninth collection of poems, Moy Sand and Gravel (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 105 pp., $22), Muldoon shows that he is still quite capable of giving his readership what a critic once called "linguistic euphoria" {more}

Damien Jurado: Master of lyric driven space-folk: Seattle musician finds time to teach pre-school and kick out seriously quality music jams

By ROB van ALSTYNE

After releasing the infuriatingly eccentric Ghost of David in 2000, Damien Jurado almost had me doubting his status as one of my favorite songwriters. 1999's Rehearsals for Departure had been a fantastic outing, pairing rocking hootenanny rave-ups ("Honey Baby") with downbeat acoustic musings ("Ohio") and Jurado's classic storytelling lyrical style. Ghost of David provided a messy follow-up, half an album's worth of quality songs and a lot of "noble" experiments, meaning, ‘hey, cool idea Damien, maybe next time you'll write a song instead of that dirty abstract noise collage thingy.' {more}

Paul Wellstone 1944-2002

The Mac Weekly is shocked and saddened by the death of Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone, his wife Sheila, and daughter Marcia in a plane crash Friday morning.
For more information click here
Photo:Minneapolis Star-Tribune

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