2.7.2014 Vol. 4 No. 19
rawr “how do we get to the other side?�
cover art by george wood | rawr
Hemingway fest
page 5
Chinese New Year
page 6
Friday friction
page 10
the argonaut
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your work in rawr illustration photography mixed media paintings sculptures short fiction poetry non-fiction rawr is an alternative weekly publication covering art, culture, campus life and entertainment. We are accepting all forms of art and creativity to be featured inside the publication, or on the cover. Email: arg-arts@uidaho.edu
horoscopes rhiannon rickard | rawr
Aquarius 1/20-2/18
You’ve worked your butt off recently — you deserve a fun night out. Call your friends and hit the town. Pisces 2/19-3/20
Cancer 6/22-7/22
Scorpio 10/23-11/21
You may be having more bad hair days than usual recently. Think of the silver lining — you have a reason to buy a new hat.
That recent test was a killer. Don’t sweat it though, you’ll rock the next one.
It’s evident you’ve been hitting the gym recently but it’s perfectly acceptable not to Instagram your workouts.
Aries 3/21-4/19 That Netflix series you’ve been obsessively watching will still be there after you’ve finished your homework, so get to it.
Taurus 4/20-5/20 You may be feeling a little under the weather. Nothing some soup and a hot cup of tea can’t help.
Gemini 5/21-6/21 Life may have just gotten a little bit harder, but it probably means you just leveled up.
Leo 7/23-8/22 You may not be one for these cold winter days, but buying a new sweater may just make you rethink your attitude about snow.
Virgo 8/23-9/22 You may have been having a few tough days, go ahead and treat yourself to your favorite coffee drink for a nice pick-me-up.
Libra 9/23-10/22
“Captain America: The Winter Soldier”/”Guardians of the Galaxy”
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“Transformers: Age of Extinction” Another year, another Transformers sequel. The difference? Shia LaBeouf has been swapped out for Mark Wahlberg. Optimus Prime and Bumblebee get upgrades and join the Dinobots to take on the Decepticons this summer.
The Marvel Universe continues with this double feature. First up, Captain America takes on a familiar face from World War II. In “Guardians,” a new team of superheroes — including Bradley Cooper as a talking raccoon — goes to space.
“Gone Girl” “Fight Club” director David Fincher adapts the best-selling novel with Ben Affleck in the lead. Why should you be excited? The author of the book wrote the screenplay for the film and changed the ending completely. Even for book fans this will be a surprise.
Sagittarius 11/22-12/21 Struggling with a bad hangover you need to get rid of? Banana milkshakes will help you out and provide you with some extra potassium.
Capricorn 12/22-1/19 That cutie you have your eye on is just waiting for you to strike up a conversation. Carpe diem.
Stop for a second and consider you can do anything you want. Do something today that your future self will thank you and say, “That was awesome.”
movie reel bradle y burgess
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“The Amazing Spider-Man 2” Andrew Garfield returns as Spider-Man, going up against Electro (Jamie Foxx), Rhino (Paul Giamatti) and the Green Goblin (Chris Cooper). Even without Mary Jane Watson, this sequel should be jam-packed.
“Fifty Shades of Gr—” Sorry, couldn’t even get through that.
“Interstellar” Christopher Nolan’s follow up to “The Dark Knight Rises” is so top secret, we have no idea what it’s about. All we know is that Anne Hathaway and Matthew McConaughey will go to space. If it’s any-
Most anticipated films of 2014 where near “Inception” quality, we’ll have a hit on our hands.
“Godzilla” True, the giant lizard has not fared well on film, but with a cast including “Breaking Bad” star Bryan Cranston and “Kick-Ass” star Aaron Taylor-Johnson this new version of the radioactive monster has more expectations.
“X-Men: Days of Future Past” One of the most famous “X-Men” stories of all time gets an upgrade in this new film teaming up the original movie X-Men with their younger counterparts.
“How to Train Your Dragon 2” The original film is on its way to becoming a classic so the sequel has a lot of expectations. With the entire original cast back and little to no detail on the story, this is easily one of the most high profile sequels of the year.
“Edge of Tomorrow” Tom Cruise plays a soldier who is fighting against aliens when he dies in the field of battle only to wake up in the same place and do it over and over again. Basically, it’s a video game player’s perspective on a sci-fi/war movie. Bradley Burgess can be reached at arg-arts@uidaho.edu
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RAWR REVIEWS
7 wonders These days it’s all about technology — sitting around the flat screen watching a TV show or movie, testing emil y vaartstra out the latest smartphone app, rawr playing video games on the PlayStation or laughing at the latest YouTube hit on a tablet. What ever happened to the days of gathering around the table to play Monopoly or Scrabble — the actual board games? There are still a few board and card games out there that are holding out strong like Settlers of Catan or Cards Against Humanity. 7 Wonders is a strategic board game that allows you to build up your own ancient city into a powerful, complex society. Though similar to the style of Settlers of Catan, this game takes out the trading phase and allows you more freedom and options when it comes to creating your wonders. The game allows for two to seven players and only takes 30 minutes to an hour to play — once you’ve got all the rules down. The object of the game is to be the player with the most victory points through the cards your wonder has accumulated throughout the game. In correspondence with the name, there are seven wonders — Halikarnassós, Rhódos, Babylon, Alexandria, Gizah, Olympía and Éphesos. Each wonder produces a specific resource and you continue to add resources and structures to your wonder throughout the game. There are three ages, or phases, to go through in the game and three decks of cards containing various raw materials, manufactured goods, civilian structures,
more information Want it reviewed? Have a review of your own? Send your suggestions and feedback to: arg-arts@uidaho.edu scientific structures, commercial structures, military structures and guilds. In addition to the stages of age cards, there are also three stages of your wonder that you build up throughout the game to earn more victory points. To play the game, each player randomly chooses a wonder, then one person deals all the cards of the first age evenly to the players and three coins to begin. Each round, a player picks one card in their hand to build up their wonder. Some cards are free to play, others require payment such as coins or certain resources. After the player chooses their card, all players flip their cards at the same time and add them to their wonder before passing the deck clockwise and repeating. Eventually, you will move up to ages two and three and then add up the total amount of victory points in each wonder to see who wins. This game is one of the most fun board games I have ever played. It requires strategy and keen observation skills in tracking your opponents’ progress on their own wonders. Plus, it’s just plain fun to build up your own little ancient wonder however you want it. 7 Wonders gets everyone away from their tech devices to socialize and interact on a more thought provoking level and you’ll be begging to play again as soon as it’s over. Emily Vaartstra can be reached at arg-arts@uidaho.edu
Macadamia nut white chocolate chip cookies emily vaartstra crumbs
emily vaartstra | crumbs
It’s not a secret that macadamia nuts can be pretty spendy — even if you buy them in bulk you are dropping a few extra dollar signs than planned. So if you are going to dish out the money to buy macadamias, put them to good use and make this delicious cookie recipe. It is totally worth it. Now fair warning, this delectable Hawaiian-popular nut, as yummy as it is, isn’t the best option if you are trying to lose a few pounds. In just one ounce of macadamia nuts there is about 200 calories (nutritiondata.self. com), so choose to eat just one or two cookies every three days or once every week to keep that scale down.
A Crumbs Recipe Card Macadamia nut white chocolate chip cookies Ingredients: 1 cup butter 2 1/2 cups flour 1 cup packed brown sugar 1/2 cup white sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 2 cups white chocolate chips 3 1/2 ounces macadamia nuts chopped
Directions: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a mixing bowl, beat butter until soft and fluffy then add about half of the flour, the brown sugar, white sugar, eggs, vanilla and baking soda until well combined. Beat in the remaining flour. Stir in the white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts with a rubber spatula until well combined. Roll the dough into balls and place them on a cookie sheet with enough space between each so they can flatten out while they bake. Bake for 8-10 minutes.
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the argonaut
Runway ready
A glimpse into the life of a high fashion model ariana tobe rawr Dressed head to toe in magnificent garments, it is a model’s job to showcase those pieces — no matter how demanding it may be. Kayla Okerse, University of Idaho student, began modeling at age 13 when she was living in Michigan. Okerse said she originally went to the agency in Michigan to support her friend and wasn’t actually planning on modeling herself. “There was a new agency there and my friend wanted to go, so I thought I would give it a try,” Okerse said. “I got signed with that agency and a year or two later, I signed with Ford Models in Chicago. After the year of modeling in Grand Rapids, Mich., I was based out of Chicago with Ford Models and I would go there on the weekends.” She said modeling is all about presentation. Originally, she never cared about how she looked or what she wore — she went to meetings in New York to try and model there, but discovered she was too timid. “You have to be an actor basically,” Okerse said. “With photo shoots and everything, it just takes a lot of practice and training.” Okerse said she took courses and classes to help her with her modeling techniques. Models have to think about their entire body when they are in front of the camera, she said. “It was always really
funny,” she said. “You just had to be as uncomfortable as possible. If it was a super uncomfortable pose, then you knew it was good. I always showed a lot of stress in my hands, because I would just be focusing on my face. The rest of me was just falling apart.” Okerse said she took part in fashion shows and photo shoots in Grand Rapids, Mich., and Chicago. She even had the opportunity to be the new face for Swarovski in New York. “My agent at Ford Models was really helpful through everything,” Okerse said. “She helped me come out of my shell and helped me actually do everything.” When Okerse went to New York, she had to decide if she wanted to keep modeling or if she wanted to go to college first. She said they wanted her to lose 10 pounds, so she decided to go to school instead. Okerse is currently on the UI cross country team and the track and field team. “I would probably get back into it if I needed the money or if I could be an athletic model for Nike or something,” she said. Okerse gave a few pointers to aspiring models. “It’s all on ‘America’s Next Top Model,’” she said. “Smeyes (smile with eyes), be fierce, heel toe — it depends on what kind of show it is. If it’s higher fashion, then you don’t do the hand on the hip thing. If it isn’t, you can stop at the end, do the hand on the hip. Look super bored. Look like you hate everyone in the audience.” Ariana Tobe can be reached at arg-arts@uidaho.edu
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Courtesy photo | Ford Models
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A festival of words
University of Idaho is holding its fifth annual Hemingway Festival this February jared jonas rawr
Ernest Hemingway is one of the most recognizable names in 20th century American literature and his love for the state of Idaho was the basis for the University of Idaho’s annual Hemingway Festival. The festival started five years ago when the idea was suggested by Brandon Schrand, a creative writing professor at UI. “The first year we did it people were kind of confused — now people are looking forward to it,” Schrand said. The festival starts on Feb. 10, and goes through Feb. 12, with different events held at various locations across Moscow. “We really wanted to be a community centered festival,” Schrand said. The first night of the festival ends with cocktails and a ticketed feast with part of the proceeds going to the UI’s Hemingway Fellowship. The fellowship is an award given yearly to the best graduate student fiction writer in the university’s MFA program, Schrand said. It has become a tradition that the editor of the Hemingway Review comes to give a talk during the festival. During the festival’s second day, editor elect Suzanne del Gizzo will be giving a talk about movie adaptations of Hemingway’s works. The Hemingway Review publishes full articles, short notes and books reviews that are usually related to Hemingway or his works. The last day of the event features a reading from 2013’s winner of the Hemingway
Foundation/PEN award, Kevin Powers. His book, “The Yellow Birds,” is a work of fiction about soldiers in Iraq and quickly became critically acclaimed following its release. After the reading, there will be a meet and greet with Powers. The Hemingway Festival is a celebration of the life of one of America’s most famous and beloved writers. “Writing is not just about expressing emotion, it’s about expressing emotion with discipline and awareness,” del Gizzo said. Jared Jonas can be reached at arg-arts@uidaho.edu
Event Schedule: Feb. 10 4 – 5 p.m. UI MFA Grad Student Openmic @One World Café 5 – 6 p.m. Hemingway Cocktail Hour @1912 Center 6 – 8:30 p.m. A Moveable Feast (Spanishinspired multi-course feast catered by Nectar) @1912 Center
Feb. 11 4 – 5 p.m. Suzanne Del Gizzo talk @BookPeople of Moscow 7:30 p.m. “To Have & Have Not” @Kenworthy
Feb. 12 7:30 p.m. Kevin Powers reading @Kenworthy 9 p.m. Public Receoption/author Meet & Greet @Gnosh
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Friday Factoids The northern fur seal, rather than using a layer of fat to keep it warm, depends on its thick fur with some 300,000 hairs per square inch. When scientists drilled through the ice of Antarctica’s Lake Vanda, they discovered that the water at the bottom of the lake was an amazingly warm 77 degrees Fahrenheit. Ice crystals actually heat the water by focusing on the bottom of the lake. funology.com
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Eat for a better you Food served for Chinese New Year has a significant symbol chin-lun hsu rawr Every year when it is close to the Lunar New Year, vendors will prepare more than enough fruits, meats, snacks and all kinds of cookies and candies. Chinese markets are crowded with people shopping for New Year’s foods. All the food prepared has significant meanings because of their pronunciation in Chinese or based on the food’s appearance.
Tangerine and oranges The most common fruits during Chinese New Year are tangerines and oranges. They symbolize good luck and wealth in Chinese, so people believe eating more tangerines and oranges will bring them good luck for the New Year. Other fruit such as jujube and pineapple have a similar function.
Dumplings Dumplings signified money in ancient China because of its shape. The tradition of eating dumplings during New Year started from the Han Dynasty. Having dumplings means making more money during the New Year. Other foods such as chicken also represent gaining money.
Fish Eating fish during the New Year means the person will have abundance year after year. Another symbol is that there is always money left at the end of the year, which means there will be extra deposits. The rule of thumb for serving the fish is that it should be a complete fish, head and all, in order to have
a perfect new year. The elders always say to not finish the whole fish because you would want some leftover money and deposits.
Radish cake and rice cake These two cakes are made from glutinous rice, but imply different meanings. Radish cake sounds like “good beginning” in Taiwanese, which is to wish people to have a brand new year. Rice cake means getting promoted in work or doing better in school. But fair warning, too much glutinous rice will make your stomach uncomfortable.
Mian-xian It is Chinese version of vermicelli. These long, thin and white noodles mean longevity. During the New Year’s celebration, most families will prepare mian-xian and expect to live longer and healthier by eating it. Some snacks, such as peanuts, serve the same meaning.
Candy Some families do not allow their children to eat candy with the exception of Lunar New Year. During New Year’s, candy is everywhere in every family. As a Taiwanese phrase says, “eat some sweets, have a sweet year,” eating candy gives people a good beginning of the year. Even though these foods play significant roles in the Lunar New Year and might have some influence on people’s upcoming fortune, eating too much will cause indigestion and definitely make your weight fluctuate out of control. So ignore the scale while you eat your share of good luck. Chin-Lun Hsu can be reached at arg-arts@uidaho.edu
illustration by aly soto | rawr
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‘Mambo Bado’
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Simba Tirima is a man with many passions claire whitely rawr
“Basically, I am a bum who plays music,” Simba Tirima said. Tirima, born in Kenya, has been described as one of the most interesting people to talk to. He is a musician, a scientist and a philanthropist, all at once. He said he has lived an interesting life, even if it has not been a perfect one. Tirima came to the University of Idaho through a travelling Pacific Northwest choir. This choir went around the world learning the music of the countries it visited. While the choir was in Kenya, Tirima wanted to help set up the events and programs. As luck would have it, his parents ended up hosting a UI dance professor, Diane Walker. Walker gave Tirima some brochures and materials from UI, and he was struck by three things. “The first was the snow,” Tirmia said, “I saw that and thought ‘uh-oh.’ The second thing is white water rafting. I thought ‘I want to do that.’ The other thing is I saw the jazz festival.” He said when he came to Idaho he was impressed that the pictures he had seen in the brochure were true. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in environmental science and is now working on his doctorate degree. Tirima’s passions include music, but he also has a passion for the world and children’s environmental health. For the last four years, Tirima has been in and out of a remote area in Nigeria. He had been in Kenya prior to this, and he received a call from an old friend saying that there was a huge mess up in one of the
Simba Tirima performs at the MLK Breakfast that took place on Jan. 18 at Moscow Middle School villages. Several kids had died of lead poisoning. Tirima said that the methods for mining gold were releasing large amounts of lead into the water, and construction work was creating clouds of dust — which were also very high in lead. In less than six months, over 400 children died of lead poisoning. Most of those children were less than 5 years old. It was something people had not seen anywhere else in the world, Tirima said. “I don’t care where you go to, if there are kids around you will know,” Tirima said. “They
giggle, they laugh, they play, they shout. It’s just this wonderful sound you hear. When I got to those villages, it was clear there was no laughter. Kids were traumatized because of what they had seen.” Tirima is now writing his senior thesis on this research case. Tirima is also a musician. He did not play much music in the last few years with his work in Nigeria. Tirima said he refused to play live music for a long time, because he was worried people would not like his music. Tirima does have a recording studio in his basement, however,
and often records jazz festival musicians and demos for many aspiring Moscow artists. The first song Tirima wrote while in Moscow was called “Mambo Bado” which means things have not yet happened. Tirima said the song came to him as he was playing with two Americans who had never heard African music before. “We just started playing,” Tirima said. “I’m like wow, these guys have figured this stuff out.” The song is still played by Tirima and his band while they play their shows. Tirima said that his current band plays
jessica greene | rawr
“Mambo Bado” like they own it and it has become their song. “You’ve just seen the tip of the iceberg,” Tirima said. “There are so many possibilities.” Simba’s 11-member band, composed of two horn players, two guitarists, a saxophonist, a flautist, a drummer, a bassist, a mandolin and harmonica player, a percussionist and Simba, plays gigs at Bucer’s in downtown Moscow as well as at events hosted by UI. Claire Whitley can be reached at arg-arts@uidaho.edu
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2.7.14
Learn to Olympic fever be witty emily vaartstra rawr
It has been a long four years but the Sochi Winter Olympics are finally here. Answer these questions to test your Olympic knowledge.
alexia neal rawr An average college student turns into a retail worker, a doctor or a farmer in a split second. The method behind magic — improvisation. Isla (Gus) Rose-Witt, codirector of the University of Idaho White Tie Improv group, said characterization is a key aspect when it comes to improvisation. She said the group did a lot of work with leads and voices to learn how to develop a character that is more than just a funny voice or face. “Although you only use the character for a few minutes, you have to be able to make this character something memorable,” Rose-Witt said. “You have to give this character a life that’s more than just a few minutes.” Rose-Witt said the group’s rehearsals are very high-energy, but also very intimate. The group first goes through a series of warm-up exercises to get everyone energetic and focused. After the warm-ups, they play games to practice different strategies and approaches. One game played at both rehearsals and shows has two cast members be given a secret or quality by the audience that the other cast member doesn’t know about. The purpose of the game isn’t to find out the secret, but to let the scene be driven by the traits they embodied. “Our games bring a lot of energy, but when we do our exercises, we have to know each other enough to receive critiques and not take them
1. Where was the first Winter Olympic games held?
personally so we can grow,” Rose-Witt said. “You learn a lot about a person when you do weird stuff with them.” Rose-Witt said improvisation is an important skill to have because it helps with confidence and public speaking. She said it’s a humbling learning experience taking critiques from peers and using the advice to grow. “Improv keeps you sharp,” she said. “You practice a few hours a week learning how to react to weird situations and people. It helps you keep up with everything.” White Tie started five years ago when a graduate student, Quinn Hatch, started attending UI. He had done improv as an undergraduate, and wanted to start a group at UI. Rose-Witt has been involved with the group for over three years, since her freshman year. White Tie has an improv show once or twice a month, but they are hoping to make it more often — once a week if they can find enough gigs in the area. There is a lot of audience and cast interaction during the shows, Rose-Witt said. Most weeks, there is a core group of five to eight people at rehearsals and those are the people that perform in the shows. White Tie meets 5–7 p.m. every Monday and Friday in the Arena Theatre of Shoup Hall to practice improvisation strategies. Rose-Witt said the group is always looking for more actors and support. Rehearsal and show dates can be found on the White Tie Improv Facebook group. Alexia Neal can be reached at arg-arts@uidaho.edu
a. Olympia, Greece b. Chamonix, France c. Omsk, Russia d. Salt Lake City, Utah
2. Which was the first U.S. city to host the Winter Olympics? a. Lake Placid b. Buffalo c. Bismark d. Salt Lake City
3. Which hockey team won the gold medal in the 2010 Winter Olympics? a. U.S.A. b. Russia c. Sweden d. Canada
4. What American speed skater has won a total of eight Olympic medals (two gold, two silver, four bronze)? a. Shaun White b. Steven Bradbury c. Apolo Ohno d. Brad Pitt
5. What colors make up the Olympic rings? a. black, yellow, blue, red, orange b. black, yellow, green, red, orange c. yellow, green, blue, red, orange d. black, yellow, green, blue, red
6. What do the Olympic rings symbolize? a. peace, unity, competition, teamwork, sportsmanship b. North and South America, Asia, Europe, Australia, Africa c. athletes around the world coming together d. nothing, they are just a cool logo
7. Which one of these is NOT a Winter Olympic event? a. ice hockey b. bobsledding c. trampoline d. cross-country skiing
8. Which country has won the most gold medals in the Winter Olympics since it began? a. Norway b. Canada c. U.S.A. d. Russia
Bonus Question: Who scored the game-winning goal in overtime at the 2010 Winter Olympics? Answers: b, a, d, c, d, b, c, a, Sidney Crosby
The UI White Tie Improv group teaches more than just improv skills
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Snacking on Super Bowl Sunday The Super Bowl doesn’t have to be an excuse to eat unhealthy nurainy darono rawr There are healthier alternatives to eating chicken wings or pizza on Super Bowl Sunday. The University of Idaho campus dietitian Marissa Rudley featured barbecue chicken pita pizza as a healthier option in the Vandalizing the Kitchen cooking class on Jan. 29. Rudley always focuses on healthier recipes that are dormfriendly for UI students, during the class. In the most recent cooking class, the theme was Super Bowl munchies, she made homemade chili, do-it-yourself ranch dip and barbecue chicken pita pizza. “We want to do something like kind of a spin on buffalo chicken wings, which everyone always has,” she said. “We are going to make it with whole wheat pita as the pizza crust. We’re going to have barbeque sauce on top of that and we’re going to have a little bit of cheese and some chicken.” Rudley said some students may get intimidated by cooking raw foods — an easy option is to use rotisserie chicken instead of making homemade grilled chicken. “So, that’s an easy way to make that meal in 10 minutes or 15 minutes,” she said. “I think rotisserie chicken is great, because you can take that leftover meats to make soup with it. Another thing, it’s basically faster than ordering your own pizza — it’s healthier.” Rudley tried to make the recipes adjustable to all students. She said the recipes are great healthy choices for Super Bowl Sunday dinner, substituting pizza and chicken wings. These recipes are also good for any other dinners. “(It is) easy, quick, tasty food that you can do for Super Bowls,
but also you can do them anytime, which is really the idea,” she said. “I don’t want to do (this) for football, specifically.” An intern for Vandal Health Education, Sarah Clark helped with the class and will help Rudley in her cooking class for the rest of the semester. Clark, a senior majoring in exercise science and health, said she liked helping Rudley because the hands-on experience will benefit her in the future. She also recommended that students should come to at least one of the cooking classes. “She goes step-by-step on how to do everything and then it just shows you that it’s not hard to eat healthy or expensive to eat healthy and you can pretty much customize everything,” Clark said. “There’s something out there for everybody that you can cook at home.” Super Bowl food fun facts: According to the American Institute of Food Distribution, the Super Bowl is ranked as the No. 2 food consumption event of the year, second only to Thanksgiving. National Chicken Council predicted 1.25 billion chicken wings were consumed during the Super Bowl. According to Nielsen, beer stayed steady as the No. 1 preferred drink, followed by soda or carbonated water. Domino’s Pizza expected a huge payday last Sunday — more than 11 million pans of pizza were sold for the ravenous fans. According to the Hass Avocado Board, over Super Bowl weekend, approximately 100 million pounds of guacamole was eaten and 14,500 tons of chips consumed. Nurainy Darono can be reached at arg-arts@uidaho.edu
nurainy darono | crumbs
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2.7.14
Friday Fiction
Beneath the Surface – Part 1 kelly p. vickers rawr The key to his room wasn’t working. He slipped the thin card into the slot on the door handle and removed it rapidly. The red light flashed at him almost menacingly. Sighing in defeat, he started to pick up his bags to go all the way down twelve levels to the lobby for a new key.
He waited until her door clicked shut then proceeded to make his way into the room. Cold. She hadn’t even returned a name. “Do you need help with that?” She had a distinct European accent, not quite French, but close to it. She had a very natural beauty about her. Her eyes were a fierce copper shade, which was striking on her tanned face. Her Nike hooded jacket was a size too big, and her hiking backpack was almost as long as she was. She wore no makeup and her dark brown hair was pulled back in a loose pony tail with stray wisps tickling her face. “Uh, ya I think they didn’t activate my key or something.” He shrugged and she held out her hand. He paused because he wasn’t sure if she was trying to shake his hand, but when she glanced at the card and nudged her arm forward he hesitantly placed it in her palm. She flipped the card
around and inserted it into the slot, removing it with a practiced precision. The green light flickered as she pushed down on the handle and propped the door open for him. With a sheepish grin on his face, he stuck his foot between the door and the frame, then took the key back from her with his ebony hand. “Well, thank you. Name’s Brok, by the way.” “No problem, Brok.” She took out her own key and repeated the process for the room next door. She flashed a courtesy grin at him before stepping inside. He waited until her door clicked shut then proceeded to make his way into the room. Cold. She hadn’t even returned a name. He threw his bags on the queen size bed, which was covered in a beige duvet matching the earthy tones of the walls and carpet. The room smelled of sweet vanilla and cinnamon with a hint of glass cleaner. He ambled over to the window, pulled the curtains apart and opened the window to a breathtaking view of Pamplona illuminated by the setting sun. People were meandering along the streets. A mother with four chiquitos clinging to her legs was bartering with a vendor over the cost of a bag of fresh produce. A couple stopped to admire an artist painting the surrounding landscape. Street lamps started to flicker on and store signs began to light up as the sun continued to slip down the horizon line, splashing the clear sky with soft oranges, vivid pinks, and various shades of violet. He closed his eyes and smiled at the thought that this was all his for the next three weeks. The perfect gift to himself for finishing his master’s program in architecture at Cornell. The perfect escape from a world he wasn’t ready
illustration by shane wellner | rawr
to confront. Soon he would be starting his position at Owings and Merrill in Chicago under his father, but for now he was relishing the last few weeks of his life as a non-working bachelor in the captivating city of Pamplona, Spain. He and his father weren’t on the best of terms—partly his reason for retreating. Mostly the reason. The first anniversary of his older brother’s death held a heavy weight on both of them. His father’s drinking had gotten worse, the arguments never ceased, and eventually the strain of Carlton’s absence left few words between Brok and his father. Brok needed to get away from it all. Feeling lazy after a long trip, he picked up the phone resting on the nightstand then proceeded to dial room service, ordering different varities of authentic Spanish empanadas. The rest of the night he relaxed and dreamt of the twenty-one days of guilt-free paradise he was about to experience. The next few days were
spent sleeping in, touring the city, and relaxing in his hotel bedroom. His favorite part of the day was walking up and down the city streets as the sun set and people began to close up for the day. His dad would say just because the sun goes down doesn’t mean it’s time to stop working hard. Carlton would probably mutter something out of his father’s hearing range about working hard at night meant banging the hottest chick you could find. Brok would laugh at his brother, but he would never consider something like that himself. As soon as the sun passed over the horizon line, that’s when the night life started in Pamplona. A couple nights before, he went to a club and had one too many drinks, leaving his head pounding the next morning. Not once had he run into the girl next door since the key incident. He had considered knocking on her door just to see if she was still there, but he couldn’t
Stay tuned Next week for Beneath the Surface – Part 2 come up with a good enough reason to do it. Carlton would say her boobs were a good enough reason. On the fourth morning, he woke up early to take advantage of the workout facility on the third floor. He ran on the treadmill for an hour before heading back up to his room to shower. Dripping in sweat and exhausted from the run, he unlocked his door just as the one next to him opened up. She wore a navy blue knit top with jeans that accented her slim yet muscular figure, and her hair was down in loose curls. “Going out?” he asked. Tune in next week for part 2 Kelly Vickers can be reached at arg-arts@uidaho.edu
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Events calendar 5 p.m. – Hemingway cocktail hour and silent auction presented by the UI Hemingway Festival at the 1912 Center 6 p.m. – A Moveable Feast presented by the UI Hemingway Festival at the 1912 Center 7 p.m. – Chinese Movie Night at the Kenworthy
Tuesday, Feb. 11 Friday, Feb. 7 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. – “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” hosted by Vandal Entertainment in the SUB Borah Theater 7:30 p.m. – UI Theatre presents “Gruesome Playground Injuries” by Rajiv Joseph at the Hartung Theater 7 p.m. – The Vagina Monologues at the Kenworthy
Saturday, Feb. 8 7 p.m. – The Vagina Monologues at the Kenworthy 7:30 p.m. – UI Theatre presents “Gruesome Playground Injuries” by Rajiv Joseph at the Hartung Theater 8 p.m. - “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” hosted by Vandal Entertainment in the SUB Borah Theater
Sunday, Feb. 9 illustration by jesse keener | rawr
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“Churlish” Rude in a mean-spirited, surly way. “It was churlish of my professor to give a pop quiz the day after the Super Bowl.”
2 p.m. - UI Theatre presents “Gruesome Playground Injuries” by Rajiv Joseph at the Hartung Theater 3 p.m. - “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” hosted by Vandal Entertainment in the SUB Borah Theater
Monday, Feb. 10 4 p.m. – MFA student open mic presented by the UI Hemingway Festival at One World Café
4 p.m. – Talk by Suzanne Del Gizzo presented by the UI Hemingway Festival at BookPeople 5 p.m. - Nerd Tuesday at Safari Pearl Comics on 3rd Street 7:30 p.m. - Ferenc Cseszko on the violin and Roger McVey on the piano at the Haddock Performance Hall 7:30 p.m. – “To Have & Have Not” presented by the UI Hemingway Festival at the Kenworthy 7:30 p.m. – Sexy Bingo hosted by Vandal Health Ed in LLC 132
Wednesday, Feb. 12 12 p.m. – Daytime Distractions in the Food Court of the Idaho Commons 7:30 p.m. – Kevin Powers reading presented by the UI Hemingway Festival at the Kenworthy 7:30 p.m. – Sex Talk and Blow Pops at the Wallace Residence Center 9 p.m. - Women’s climbing night at the Student Recreation Center 9 p.m. – UI Hemingway Festival Reception at Gnosh
Thursday, Feb. 13 12:30 p.m.- Lavender Lunch in TLC 229 5:30 p.m. – Got Sex? Sexual Health Education Series at the UI Women’s Center 8 p.m. – “Muscle Shoals” at the Kenworthy
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Here’s to 10 years of Facebook study breaks in the Commons and SUB!
Happy Anniversary FB! Idaho Commons: 885 . 2667 info@uidaho.edu
Student Union: 885 . 4636 www.sub.uidaho.edu