India Night!

Sunday nights are infamous for their lack of fun, so when something comes along to spice up that pre-Monday feeling, it’s twice as sweet, (and in this case savory as well). Last night the Indian Student Association hosted India Night, the 5th annual installment of the cultural spectacular that draws hundreds of guests. The really amazing thing is that a student club can put on an event of this magnitude. The first year they had about a hundred people attend, and this year it was around five hundred! So cool! The emcees are quite possibly the funniest part of show. They of course play off each other in an awkward, humorous way, but it’s mostly hilarious because they mimic dumb award show-esque banter. They were great performers! All that on top of the fact that the grammar and inflection is a little off makes for a really great show. The acts consisted of many different types of dancing, musical performances, a skit, a video detailing the wonders of India, and, although it seemed a strange choice, a flag dance to Josh Grobin’s “You Raise Me Up.” That man has the voice of an angel. At the end of the night, anyone wearing Indian clothes was invited onstage for a mini fashion show! So beautiful!

Then of course the food! I can’t remember precisely the names of the dishes, but there were many; the butter chicken was a huge hit. The best part of the meal was a sweet drink called mango lasi, which resembled a smoothie, but just so much better. As an MSU student it is really an honor and privilege to attend these awesome cultural events. I get the feeling that many people, including current MSU students, think of MSU as a place void of diversity. It is events like this that proves that notion that MSU is simply a racially white environment completely wrong. Take advantage of events like this! Usually they are very cheap or even free. Go Cats!

(My apologies for the lack of pictures, Jake has my camera)

BUT! Check out the video documentation here!

Winter is Coming…

Well. It’s starting. Mark your calendars folks: October 3rd, first snow of the year. Now granted, it’s supposed to reach the upper sixties everyday next week, but even if that first snow doesn’t last more than 24 hours, its very presence is very important. In my years here at MSU, I have observed that the timing of the first snow always sets the tone for the fall semester. If the first snow comes in early fall (as is the case this year), then those who hate snow realize the reality of impending winter and find little solace in the fact that the first snow is already melting. On the flip side, the early snow gets snow enthusiasts jazzed for ski season. But after that initial celebration, they realize that Bridger doesn’t open for just under 2 months from now, and that first snow was nothing more than a big fat tease. No one wins in this situation. You are either saddened at the loss of your shorts-wearing abilities, or are devastated to realize that the snow will do you no good under it sticks and the mountains are open. What we all want is that perfectly timed, perhaps just before Thanksgiving weekend, first real snow of the year. It sticks, it accumulated, and the feeling of the impending holiday season sets in. Not this year folks. We will just have to hope for a White Chirstmas. (Unlike last year, when Christmas break was full of rain). Thank you global warming for strange unpredictable weather patterns.

Even though the snow put a bit of a damper on today for me, some awesome things did happen tonight. In my Sustained Dialogue meeting, we engaged in a conversation about the underlying principles of the recent tobacco ban on MSU’s campus. After that, the College Democrats sponsored a showing of the Presidential Debates from Denver at Culture, giving all who attended free frozen yogurt to snack on during the broadcast. Although the amount of accusations and finger pointing is deplorable, it was awesome to surround myself with a culture of active civil engagement, excitement, and free snacks!

Cowboy Up…and down

Spring is in the air, and so is the smell of cows. This means one thing in Bozeman, MSU Spring Rodeo. The rodeo is an all weekend event, with championship performances in the evenings and free slack in the mornings. People come from all over Montana to attend, and subsequently, every hotel parking lot, and every campus parking lot, is overrun by pickup trucks and trailers. It really is quite a sight to see. If you’ve never been to a rodeo before, here is the rundown:

The Crowd: A mix of young and old, plaid-clad and not, and a perpetual sea of cowboy hats and boots, both weather-worn and for-show-only. By the end of the night, the ends of the spectrum begin to nod off. In front of me on Saturday night around 10:00PM, four kids and an old man had fallen asleep.

The Events: We’ve got saddle bronc riding, bareback riding, bull riding, tie down roping, steer wrestling, team roping, barrel racing, breakaway roping, and goat tying. On top of all that, you get a banter loving rodeo announcer, talented pickup men, and an annoying but well intentioned rodeo clown complete with Nerf football and suspenders! What’s not to love?

My one complaint about rodeo is the fact that all the participants wear cowboy hats. Now I know it’s part of the outfit, but I feel that it’s hard to form an emotional connection to an athlete of any kind if I can’t see their face. It’s just like football; everyone is dressed the same, and are distinguishable only by name and number. Rodeo team members get even less. They are all wearing the same things and have neither a name on their vest, nor a number. The best you can do is flip through the program all night and try to identity who exactly is in the arena before they leave. Okay, I’m done.

Also, congratulations to our MSU lady bobcats who brought home the national title!!!

All in all, the MSU Spring Rodeo is pretty rad. Something you should definitely not miss!

Tunnel of Oppression

It always feels good to see a project through start to finish. After weeks of sending executive board members to planning meetings and designing visuals and concepts, Sustained Dialogue’s involvement in Tunnel of Oppression is finally a reality! Sustained Dialogue is the student organization that takes up most of my time and love. Our aim is to promote and educate people about the importance of inclusive communities, and how these can be constructed and sustained through dialogue.

A little background on Tunnel of Oppression (with permission from Ms. Phenocia Bauerle): Tunnel of Oppression is an interactive event that highlights contemporary issues of oppression. It is designed to introduce participants to the concepts of oppression, privilege, and power. Participants are guided through a series of scenes or exhibits that aim to educate and challenge them to think more deeply about issues of oppression. At the end of the tour, participants are provided with the opportunity to discuss their experiences with each other. Facilitators help participants reflect on their experiences and put their newfound knowledge to use in their everyday lives.

Sustained Dialogue’s room is a representation of the oppression surrounding identity. Along with advertisement and information about our semi-annual De-Stereotype Me Day (happening this week as well), we have created an environment that allows people to understand the ways in which they judge other people’s identities and the ways that others judge theirs. On the walls are photos of random MSU students and questions such as “What do you think this student is majoring in?” “Do you think this student is a first-generation college student?” “Do you think this student comes from a wealthy background?” etc. Paper covers a table in the middle of the room with markers with which people can write down their initial reactions based on the images. On another wall are images of the memes that have littered facebook, twitter and Pinterest this semester. They show generalizations and cultural perceptions for groups like ‘writers,’ ‘science students,’ ‘yogis,’ ‘vegetarians,’ ‘Republicans,’ and ‘Mexicans.’ Mirrors are propped up around the entire display to remind participants how they see themselves and how others see them.

Other groups involved include American Indian Council, Baha’i Campus Club, Counseling and Psychological Services, Diversity Awareness Office, Family and Graduate Housing, Interhall RHA., NECO, Queer-Straight Alliance, Residence Life – Diversity and Social Justice Committee, Students Against Sexual Assault, Students for Choice, Students for Life, Students in spring Sculpture classes, The VOICE Center, and The Women’s Center.

Take the tour! Come to Tunnel of Oppression!

Nerds Have to Eat Too

The past 7 days have certainly been a week of extreme business geeky-ness. In my financial accounting class, we have been assigned a semester long accounting cycle project to complete. It’s fairly in depth and allows you to be the bookkeeper of a small business that rents and sells bicycles. You have a million documents, invoices, bills, checks, credit memos, deposit slips, etc, to deal with, and you have to journalize, record, and post them all in the correct chronological order. Megan and I decided to partner up for this project, and so far we’ve been kicking its butt. Aside for the hour or so of class time we get to work on the project during the week, we have now met twice outside of class to work on it. This is unnecessary, and we fancy ourselves true academic overachievers because of it. You know you’re in the right major when calculations and tiny row of numbers that correspond to paperwork gets your heart rate going.

But wait. There’s more. The MSU Accounting Club had its first meeting of the year last Wednesday. Please note that I skipped the first hour of an excellent dinner party to attend this event. The meeting was actually pretty great and relevant. The club put together a panel of accounting seniors, grad students, and employed graduates. They talked about their academic experiences, the application process for both internships and jobs, taking the CPA exam, failing the CPA exam, and how it is possible to hate audit in the classroom with the passion of a thousand fiery suns, and then end up doing it in the real world and loving it a million red M&M’s. (If you missed either of those references, please watch 10 Things I Hate About You and What a Girl Wants, respectively.)

In more relatable news, I went out to breakfast with some girlfriends this morning at the Cat Eye Café. Their signature item is banana bread French toast. If this sounds good to you, you will find out that it is indeed BETTER. It’s like having cake for breakfast; it is to die for. Order the Cowgirl for a piece of banana bread French toast, potatoes, and bacon for $7.95 and you can’t go wrong. If you wear your cat eye glasses you get 50 cents off your meal, and if you where a cowboy hat, they take off another 50 cents.

Get Cultured

Do you ever have those days when you desperately want to shed that sleep-deprived, pizza-eating, study-intensive lifestyle of a stressed college student? Engage in something decidedly non-college student. Although Bozeman, MT is by no one’s standards a bustling urban metropolis, it does have some of the perks of big city living, among them, a excellent and expanding symphony program.  I had never really considered the Bozeman Symphony something I could add to my weekend repertoire, but this fall my roommate auditioned for a spot in the orchestra, and on Halloweekend I went to the Symphony’s concert, “Rhapsody.” This weekend, the Symphony is putting on a pops concert titled “Back to the 50′s.” However, I will not being attending, on account of the fact that it is a benefit concert and tickets are $100 a pop. Luckily, they had a dress rehearsal this morning, which I DID go to, on account of it being free.

But don’t worry, student tickets to regular concerts are $5 for students with your ID. The Bozeman Symphony tables in the SUB on the Friday before a concert weekend in the afternoons.

So get your culture on, and immerse yourself in classically trained excellence. To read more about the concert schedule, click here!

 

 

 

Maya Angelou Brings Down Brick Breeden!

This last Tuesday night marked the highly anticipated rescheduling of Maya Angelou’s MSU debut! Dr. Angelou, author, playwright, and civil rights activist, was originally scheduled to speak last spring, but health reasons kept her from making the long trip out West. I was especially excited to hear her after having read her novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings last spring as part of my Texts and Critics seminar. If you haven’t ever had the opportunity to read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, or any of Dr. Angelou’s works for that matter, I highly recommend it! And if you’re a busy bee like I am, you will be happy to know that Dr. Angelou is also a very accomplished poet, if shorter literary entertainment is more your style.

Dr. Angelou’s oration was preceded by a musical performance by local singer, Jeni Fleming. Check her out on Facebook!

Fleming and her jazzy band kicked off what seemed to be the theme of the lecture…drum roll please…rainbows! Yes rainbows! Dr. Angelou credited “the rainbows in her clouds” (people who encouraged her and loved her during her rough patches) as the best thing a person can have. They are her “heroes and ‘sheroes’ ,” a phrase I found super witty and one I will definitely be quoting this year.

Dr. Angelou ended with three poems, which she, in no uncertain terms, told MSU better end up on their website! Check them out here. It’s funny, even though the lecture was only two nights ago, I have already seen 2 or 3 bumper stickers with Dr. Angelou’s words on them. It’s like when someone tells you the actual definition of a word that you’ve heard forever but never knew the meaning of. And then you start seeing it everywhere! Thank you Maya Angelou! You are one of the best lectures I’ve seen brought to campus.

Are there any speakers you would love to see at MSU?