Arts & Entertainment

Michael Jackson (1958-2009) A musician’s perspective
Unlike other departed cultural icons (chiefly Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley and James Brown), Michael Jackson’s fame and career occurred largely on television and video. And so we have heard and seen his meteoric career, his unhappy childhood, his worldwide fame, his bizarre behavior, his abject loneliness and his death. What happened on June 25 reminded some people of Elvis Presley, another star whose tumultuous life ended under dubious circumstance. Jackson was a supremely talented and creative performer, dancer and singer. Between the videos for “Beat It,” “Thriller,” and his famous ‘moonwalk’ at the Motown 25th anniversary show...

BookRenter.com makes savings real
BookRenter.com, the first online textbook rental service, provides a more economical and convenient option for college students to acquire their textbooks. Thanks to textbook rentals available through BookRenter.com, the incoming class of 2013 is equipped to be one of the smartest graduating classes when it comes to saving money on textbooks. After several years of growth, including recent 12-fold year-to-year growth for the first quarter, BookRenter.com remains ready to save students up to 75 percent off the retail price of textbooks, which equals a savings of at least $500 each school year...

New ambitions at Haute Dish
Haute Dish is the art and literary magazine at Metropolitan State University. It is currently managed by Editor Kenny Bellew. Since every student at Metropolitan State pays a fee that goes to the student organizations, Bellew has begun a new directive to help encourage more diverse submissions. His hopes are that more students from different departments will submit their work, like the nursing and sciences departments. “There are a lot of creative people in those groups,” he notes. “Haute Dish is about displaying art to students,” says Bellew. They have accepted poetry, prose, artwork, photography, paintings and comic strips. Since Bellew has taken over as the managing editor...

Art Purchase Awards
Metropolitan State University’s Art Exhibition Committee selected two works for the 2009 Art Purchase Award acquisitions. One is an acrylic painting by student Christina Dickman-Loew of Chetek, Wisc., entitled Bird Wealth. The other is a color photograph by alum Terry Bebertz of St. Paul, entitled Replication. In an effort to encourage the growth and development of student and alumni studio artists, and to elevate the profile of the arts on campus, Metropolitan State’s Art Exhibition Committee orchestrated two $900 purchases on the basis of artistic merit. The placements of the works are yet to be established...

Third Floor Gallery exhibit a powerful reflection of the Hmong-American experience
Saib Kuv, which translates from Hmong to English as Watch me or See the Hmong in me, is the current exhibit in the Third Floor Gallery, Library and Information Center on the Saint Paul campus. The 27 pieces of the exhibit are digitally manipulated photographic portraits from 19 different artists. Each piece is coupled with poetry or prose written by the artist. The show was organized by the local nonprofit, In Progress, which provides opportunities for marginalized young people to develop their skills as storytellers, artists and leaders through the use of digital media. It is a profound visual and literary illustration of the Hmong-American experience and the human realities which are endured when two cultures converge...

A valley of variety
“Some people don’t want to work all week, then play golf and get beaten up by the course. When you walk off this course, you’ll know you’ve been challenged, but you won’t feel exhausted.” Bob Cotie should know. The 62-year-old head professional at St. Paul’s Como Golf Course says, “The first time I played it, I fell in love with it.” But it is not just better players like Cotie who appreciate the relatively short length and challenging greens. “It’s hard, but not frustrating,” says Kathy Zieman, a member of the Como Women’s Golf Club who has played here for six years. “At first I was intimidated and a little afraid...

Clay and claymation at the Walker
Parents (and grandparents) of pre-kindergarten age, this one’s for you: Walker Art Center in Minneapolis’s Kenwood neighborhood is hosting Arty Pants: Your Tuesday Playdate, a family-friendly set of events during July and August. The Arty Pants programs are designed to fire kids’ imaginations through a series of events involving clay, including a claymation film, story telling, and a gallery activity involving ceramics, and (best of all) hands-on projects. Children can play with clay (and boost their tactile senses and creativity) during four hands-on events hosted by Walker staff and a guest artist on four Tuesdays...

Juneteenth: A celebration of freedom
On Sunday, June 14, thousands of Twin Cities residents of many ages and ethnicities gathered together at Theodore Wirth Park in North Minneapolis for the 24th annual Juneteenth celebration. The commemoration dates back to 1865, when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to announce and enforce the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. It was then, two and a half years after the document was signed, that the last of slavery was finally extinguished in the United States...

Not-so Fine Arts Studio
Seen from I-94, Metropolitan State’s St. Paul Campus has an impressive and stylish look. The grounds most prominent building, New Main, gives a breathtaking first impression of what one can expect from the various classrooms and libraries the school has to offer. From the lofty professionalism of New Main to the massive campus library, the buildings display a strong commitment to Metropolitan State’s students learning. However, if you walk out of the library and head east, you will find yourself in front of a lesser known structure. It’s the not-so-often used and seldom talked- about building...