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Story by Ross Benes, NewsNetNebraska
Nebraska Organized Wrestling (N.O.W.) is a backyard wrestling organization in Lincoln. Members wrestle every Sunday, rain or shine, at a home on South 48th Street. You can follow N.O.W. through Youtube, Facebook and on LCC-TV (Channel 13 Time Warner Cable) on Fridays at 6:30 p.m.
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There needs to be more food grown in crop yields to support the ever increasing population, but there’s a catch — to grow more food with less water, Lenton said.
The main focus of his Monday lecture, “Water for Food: Think globally, act locally,” was to explain what the issue of water consumption means on a global level and a local level, and how the Water for Food Institute is working with others to find solutions to this task.
The institute is committed to helping the world efficiently use its limited freshwater resources, said Lenton, who became director Feb. 1 and has more than 40 years of international experience in water resources and sustainable development.
“We need to focus on innovation and connecting research with practice and policy,” Lenton said. The goal is to estimate the global crop yield gap and water productivity within four years.
But the institute can’t do it alone. National and global partnerships are being made with others, including the U.S. Agency for International Development, Delft University in Netherlands and Harvard.
Lenton’s lecture was part of the The Heuermann Lectures, which enable Nebraskans to participate in conversations with people all over the globe who are continually trying to solve food-related and energy problems on an international level.
One of those in attendance, Amy Burgin, a UNL associate professor of natural resources, said she was interested to see the direction that the Water for Food Institute was going since it is fairly young.
“This was more or less was has been coming out (about the institute),” Burgin said. “It was nice to see them take other focuses other than yields, the human aspect.”
Burgin’s comment was highlighted by a farmer in the audience who asked Lenton what else can be done besides increasing crop yield.
“We are not looking for short-term gains,” Lenton said. “That also means looking out for the other resources as well.”
Lenton said the institute shouldn’t only focus on capturing water but also must deal with human considerations. And any problem has to be handled at the local level, not just be discussed as a global issue.
The Heuermann Lectures at UNL enable Nebraskans to participate in conversations with people all over the globe who are continually trying to solve food-related and energy problems on an international level.
The next and final lecture in the Heuermann Lectures for the semester will be on May 8 at 2:30 p.m. Dr. Jay Keasling will discuss alternative energy.
Lincoln, Neb. — The Strivers Row, a group of spoken word artists, took to the stage last week at the Jackie Gaughan Multicultural Center. (Courtesy photo)
These are just some of the reactions you might have to a performance by The Strivers Row. The group doesn’t write the kind of poetry found in English 101 textbooks.
“A lot of their poems addressed things that anybody could relate to,” said Marissa Grooms, a sophomore agronomy major. “It was interesting because of the audience reactions and the way they spoke to everyone in the room.”
Senior psychology and pre-med major Katherine Vestakis (left) discusses her favorite poems from the performance with poet Alysia Harris (right)
At its most essential form, slam poetry is the marriage of spoken word and theatrical performance. Slam poets don’t just recite their work – they bring it to life with animated body language, large vocal inflections and, most importantly, feedback from the audience.
Whenever a poet says something that resonates with you, the point of a slam poetry performance is to express those feelings in an open, inviting environment. Whether it’s a foot stomp, a shriek, a clap or a combination of all of the above, the crowd plays an integral role in the experience of live poetry.
Although some in attendance had read or heard about The Strivers Row, few realized their performance would be so emotionally charged.
“It was a lot more intense than what I expected,” said Aaron Kloke, a first-year community and regional planning graduate student. “I’m definitely going to check them out more. I started following them on Twitter, so that’s a start.”
Bringing slam poetry to the Midwest
Last Friday, the University Program Council, in collaboration with the Jackie Gaughan Multicultural Center, sponsored “Spoken Soirée.” The poetry showcase featured The Strivers Row, an artist collective hailing from New York City that represents seven spoken word artists and one singer.
Five of those artists, Joshua Bennett, Alysia Harris, Miles Hodges, Zora Howard and Jasmine Mans, presented their performance poetry to a packed house at the Gaughan Center.
“Our expectations for the event were definitely exceeded,” said David Lopez, a senior business administration and psychology major and UPC member. “They’re big on the east coast, so we knew they had a good fan base, but we weren’t sure how they would be received in the Midwest. I think that it went extremely well to completely fill the room.”
UPC estimates 230 people were in attendance, with people standing along the walls of the Unity Room on the second floor of the Gaughan Center.
The Strivers Row poets gather with UPC members and representatives from the Gaughan Center for a group photo.
Spoken word rooted in intellectualism and swag
Despite their many accolades – Bennett, for instance, is a University of Pennsylvania graduate turned Marshall Scholar who is now pursuing a doctorate at Princeton University – and a reputation as some of the top slam poets in the world, the group evokes a sense of down-to-earthness that, perhaps, makes their poetry that much more meaningful.
“I started a small drug cartel in Brooklyn when I was about nine and all of that fell through,” Bennett joked when asked why he chose poetry as an outlet of self-expression.
In reality, Bennett attended a Hurricane Katrina relief benefit when he was 17. There, he was exposed to spoken word for the first time.
“I was blown away,” Bennett said. “I heard this amazing spoken word show that was two straight hours of just fire. After that, I wrote my first poem and I never turned back.”
Bennett received a standing ovation from President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama when he performed his poem “Tamara’s Opus” at the White House in 2009.
Outside the poet’s arena
“I love short fiction, I love music, but for me, there’s just something about the experience of both writing and performing an original piece of work that speaks to my soul in a particular way,” Bennett said. “I think education is pivotal and not just formal education necessarily, but also the ways in which you learn from the world.”
Harris, also a Penn graduate currently working toward her doctorate at Yale University, reinforced the idea of a global perspective being critical to understanding poetry’s relevance in the 21st century.
“In Egypt, for instance, poetry is still really relevant but also revered,” Harris said. “People quote poetry and people write poetry. I think that in America, we don’t want to work for things. We want things that are easily hand-delivered and very transparent – poetry is not like that.”
Instead, Harris explained, poetry is a sequence of recognitions – first with the self and, ultimately, with all of humanity.
“Poetry is common to all people,” Harris said. “It’s sort of the feeling you get when you’re in awe or in reverence of something. When people recognize that, and recognize that poetry is just simply recognizing the truth of all human experiences, people would realize how relevant it actually is.”
While a bill that allows the state to restrict alcohol sales in certain areas may not be a cure-all, it is a step in the right direction for communities that grapple with alcohol problems, several people testified Monday.
Sen. Leroy Louden of Ellsworth said he introduced LB829 as a way of helping communities deal with alcohol abuse in problem areas. Under the bill, local governments could petition the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission to declare areas as alcohol impact zones and restrict the hours of alcohol sale and types and amounts of alcohol sold, Louden said.
“This isn’t a silver bullet that will cure alcoholism,” Louden told the General Affairs Committee, which is considering the bill. “But it’s a step toward progress in helping to fix some of the (alcohol) problems people in my district have had.”
Louden’s District 49 includes Whiteclay, Neb., which borders the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and has attracted negative publicity for selling alcohol to reservation residents.
Since alcohol is illegal on the reservation, many Native Americans cross the border to nearby Whiteclay to purchase liquor. The Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota filed a $500 million lawsuit on Feb. 9 that alleges brewers, retailers and distributors in Whiteclay are responsible for the massive amounts of alcohol consumed and the collateral damages caused to Pine Ridge. The suit alleges Whiteclay businesses sell 5 million cans of beer annually.
But Whiteclay wasn’t the only trouble spot Louden had in mind when he introduced the bill. He said he’s received support from leaders in Omaha as well as support from tribal leaders outside of Pine Ridge.
Judi M. gaiashkibos, executive director of the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs, spoke in support of the measure.
“I hope the committee can pass this bill,” she said. “Though it won’t solve the problem, it will be progress. Though there are laws in Whiteclay, they haven’t been enforced. We need to enforce our laws in our state.”
If Whiteclay were declared an alcohol impact zone, Louden believes the situation would improve simply by preventing beer from being sold in the morning.
“I’ve talked to people in my district and they thought it would help if they didn’t start selling beer until noon,” Louden said in an interview. “Perhaps there wouldn’t be people laying around drunk quite so long then, and the rest of the town could get more business done.”
However, Sen. Dave Bloomfield of Hoskins disagreed.
“If you can’t buy [alcohol] in Whiteclay until noon, people will buy beer in Gordon at 8 a.m.,” he said.
Others opposed to the bill included the Nebraska Licensed Beverage Association, Nebraska Grocery Industry Association and Nebraska Retail Federation.
“If they create an impact zone, there is no preventing the liquor commission from revoking an existing license at the same time, with the way the bill is currently written,” said Jim Moylan of the Nebraska Licensed Beverage Association.
“This is a Whiteclay bill,” he said. “Whiteclay has been rung through the washing machine and ringer for over 20 years now.”
“But they shouldn’t apply this to the whole state,” Moylan said, noting that he could support a measure if it applied only to counties with less than 1,000 people.
The ring of gospel music from the Afrikan People’s Union Gospel Choir echoed through the halls of the Jackie Gaughan Multicultural Center on Friday Feb. 3 in honor of Black History Month. The choir belted out the lyrics, “sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us. Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us,” in front of about 60 people in attendance of “Dream, Believe, Work and Achieve,” a dinner held to celebrate the achievement of black Americans. Click here to listen.
James Meeks, pre-optometry sophomore at UNL said that while he thinks it’s great African American’s are being celebrated this month, he wishes it wasn’t just one month out of the year.“People care more about African American’s this month which really is cool,” Meeks said. “But I believe the achievements made throughout history should be recognized all the time.”
Race still an issue at UNL
Three percent of students at UNL are African American according to CollegeProwler.com. This statistic isn’t easily looked over by UNL sophomore, Jasmine Kitchen. Coming from Central High School in Omaha, Neb., Kitchen was used to a diverse school setting. She cried every day during her first weeks at UNL.“I hated this school at first,” Kitchen said. “But I learned to adjust and realized this is part of the stages of life. We need to expand our comfort zones.”
Kitchen believes learning about different cultures will help bridge the gap between races. She said attending other Black History Month events and asking questions is the first step to learning about the similarities and differences between races.
Gospel music and soul food
Soul food like cornbread, fried chicken, and sweet potatoes were catered into the event.
APU members Johnterry Whitner and Camille Scott, welcomed guests to the event. The gospel choir performed a song and then a prayer was recited. Fried chicken, collard greens, cornbread and macaroni and cheese, known as soul food, followed.
Kitchen described soul food as something for families to bond over. Soul food “isn’t just a meal made by one person,” Kitchen said.
Bianca Harley, a coordinator for the event, said that soul food got this name from the 1960s, when “soul” was being associated with African Americans. “Soul embodies the spirit and essence of culture,” Harley said. “Just like this food does.”
After dinner, Michael Combs, professor of political science, Kwakiutl Dreher, associate professor of English, and John Wesley Marshbanks III, senior architecture major, were all honored for their work done at UNL.
Students dine together and enjoy the relaxed atmosphere in the Multicultural Center.
Harley ended the dinner with information about upcoming Black History Month celebration events like Chris Rock’s comedic documentary, ‘Good Hair vs. Bad Hair’ which will play in room 212 of the Multicultural Center on Friday Feb. 10.
Click here to see all upcoming events during this month.
Baseball is known as America’s pastime, a pastime that Andrew Robeson reveled in and knew very well.
That was until three car accidents and two surgeries forced him to end a baseball career before it had a chance to take off.
Andrew Robeson outside Andersen Hall.
The injury to his shoulder kept him from throwing. But worse was the injury caused to his heart.
“ Learning to live your life not playing the game you love, it’s not hard — it’s nearly impossible,” he said.
It was only natural that Robeson would aspire to be in the Big Leagues after growing up in Miami and following his favorite team — the Miami Marlins. It was his love of sports that brought him across the country to Nebraska where he finds the Midwestern folks share his passion and then some.
“I’ve never met more passionate fans until I came to Nebraska,” he said. “It’s like a cult.”
Robeson will now channel his passion into a career. He plans to attend law school in the fall of 2012 in either Miami or New York City. He plans to use his desire to get into the “Big Leagues” of law.
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After taking a year off from college, Nicole Konen is back at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
She took the year off to work full time at Lincoln’s Commonwealth Electric. Why? An injury forced her father, who had helped pay for Nicole’s college, to take early retirement.
While supporting herself, Konen learned what it’s like to support herself. “I think everyone should live on their own at some point in their lives,” said Konen.
The Grand Island senior couldn’t decided on a college major right away. “I’m interested in everything,” she said. Journalism has given Konen a unique opportunity. “I get to learn about everything.”
When she’s able to get away from journalism, Konen enjoys music. She used to be a big fan of punk rock music. Now, she listens more to hip-hop, especially Kanye West. “I don’t usually buy CDs but I bought his.”
One day, Konen hopes to find herself working for National Geographic. “I like the outdoors and respect the magazine, said Konen. Until that happens she can be found spending time with friends.
