All riled up
story by Ian Neligh
photos by Joshua Lawton

Photo by - Joshua Lawton Metro freshmen Vince Mowry, center, and Phylicia Orland get a greeting from Rowdy, the Metro mascot, at Braun’s after attending the homecoming basketball games Feb. 13. The post-game party was presented by the Student Government Assembly as a part of the weeklong homecoming activities.

You think it smells faintly of body odor from a short distance away.  Your suspicions are immediately confirmed when you see the still-wet sweat rings on the suit’s brown, inner padding. 

But what keeps drawing your attention is the giant cartoon head staring up at you from the floor, its big glossy eyes daring you to pick it up and put it on.  You know you probably shouldn’t; people sweat in that mask, they sweat a lot. The mask’s eyes are cracked and scuffed, clear signs of its turbulent history.

Someone gives you permission to put it on, and against your better judgment you pick it up by its large yellow beak, briefly running your fingers across the top of the fuzzy head.  Without giving it too much more thought you put it on, eliminating most of the light coming from the small gymnasium, and cutting off the sound of a nearby aerobics class. 

It’s dark, heavy on your neck, and, yes, wet.  Your own breath blows back into your face as you squint out of the plastic mesh, which serves as a small window to the outside world in the giant bird’s mouth.   You think you hear someone laugh at you, and in response you quickly move to disengage the giant mask from your head, thankful to be breathing fresh air again. 

Though it’s certainly commendable, you can’t believe someone would actually want to wear this bird suit and head for hours in a sweltering gym, surrounded by hundreds of screaming people while being attacked by unruly fans and armies of overzealous children.  But that’s what you do when you are Metro’s school mascot…Rowdy.

“Still it stinks,” said the women who, like her male counterpart, cannot be named because of the secrecy that comes with being the school’s mascot.  “I mean, you get used to it.   This year, I am finally getting used to his smell, but it used to be just me that reeked.”

Rowdy who is part of the cheerleading team, is the mascot for both the men's and women’s basketball teams, both called The Roadrunners.  There is a male and female who play Rowdy, and they take turns covering the different campus events and basketball games.  Most of the time, however, it’s impossible to tell who is in the costume at any given game.

“Rowdy is out there trying to promote the school, and make the kids happy,” said Brianna Newland, head coach of Metro’s cheerleading squad.  “Because we are a commuter school, having a mascot makes (students) realize that we… have a sports team somewhere.  I think just having him on campus helps with relations.”

Photo by - Joshua Lawton Rowdy looks down on the home team's bench during the second half of the homecoming game against Regis University Feb. 13.

“I’ve always had a lot of energy,” said the male who plays Rowdy.  “I figure when I think of the name, Rowdy, I think of a guy who is rambunctious and full of energy.  I just try to exemplify that.  I like to be out in front of crowds, and if I can’t do it in a sports atmosphere, this is about as close as I can get to it.”

A school mascot may be able to warm up a crowd and promote school public relations, but there is definitely something about Rowdy that causes strange behavior from fans.  As you watch him walk through a crowd, you can t help but notice that children are either terrified by the giant bird, or feel a competitive aggression toward the helpless mascot. At the pep rally the day before homecoming, a fan got carried away and hit Rowdy on top of the head.

“This guy hit me…so I went after him,” the girl who played Rowdy at the time said.  “He thought that I was joking.  He was like, ‘oh man I’m sorry.’ So I broke the rule and talked in the costume. I said, ‘yeah you shouldn’t hit me ‘cause I’ll hit you back’ and he was like, ‘oh it’s a girl.  I’d never hit a female, never hit a women in my life.’ It just really irritates me.  They don’t know that it hurts so much. I have had tons of people come up and try to whoop on me.  If it’s someone I don’t know wailing on me, oh man, I’m going to go after you.  I’m sorry, but there’s a person in there who (doesn’t) like getting beat on.” female Rowdy said.

“I don’t know if (fans) think there is a helmet in his head, or it’s okay to beat him up.  I know a lot of them are kids just playing,” Newland said.  “A couple of them are unruly fans (but) for the most part I don’t think they really try to hurt him.  I know his tail is broken because little kids like to swing on it.  But I don’t think he’s had any serious injuries.”

Photo by - Joshua Lawton The undefeated volleyball team from 1978-79 poses for a photograph during halftime of the men’s homecoming basketball game. The team was inducted into the Metro Hall of Fame Feb. 14.

A man sitting with his family in the bleachers during the homecoming game tried to attract Rowdy’s attention so that his son could meet the giant roadrunner.  After a few unsuccessful tries, he swore to his family that he was going to punch the mascot if he didn’t come over and talk to his son.  Thankfully, through the use of a mascot sixth sense, Rowdy did notice and came over to introduce himself to the fearful child.

According to the male who plays Rowdy, being the school mascot is about being spontaneous, friendly to people, especially children.  He said that the job often consists of being chased and beaten by the children who attend the game.

“A kid, he was just horsing around, and he started punching me, and he punched the beak really good, and he hit the eye. He thought he was like Sugar Ray Leonard, or something,” the male who plays Rowdy said.   “He was just whaling on me.  So he cracked the eye a little bit— that was a while ago — that was the worst by far.”

“I think (the students playing the mascot) need to be a unique character,” said Newland.  “Their job lets them be free, and I think they are crazy, both of them.  They are wonderful people.”
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Tossing and turning, cheerfully
by Travis Combs
The Metropolitan

Photo by - Joshua Buck Metro’s cheerleaders pump up the crowd during the Homecoming Pep Rally Feb. 12 in the Lawrence Street Mall.

April L. Cooper calls the move where she is tossed over ten feet in the air then safely caught in the waiting arms of her teammates a back-tuck basket, but the half-time crowd at last weeks double header basketball game calls it amazing. “I try not to think about it,” said Cooper. “I just try to focus on what I’m doing. If I focus on what going on around me, I’ll think about that.”

Cooper, a member of Metro’s cheerleading squad, is often tossed into the air because of her small and flexible body. This doesn’t seem to bother Cooper, who considers it a source of pride and self esteem.

“It’s a lot of work, but we go out and show them what we’ve got,” said Cooper. “It’s a real self-esteem builder.”

Callie Hansen echoes Cooper, by saying that the confidence she gains from cheerleading is the main reason for her joining the squad.

“It’s a lot a work and a lot of commitment, and if you show some improvement it builds your self-esteem so high,” said Hansen.

With slogans of encouragement shouted from megaphones and the performance of impressive athletic feats, the Cheerleading Squad has been dancing, tumbling and injecting enthusiastic pride for nearly ten years at Metro.

“The team(s) really don’t have a big fan pool, so if we’re not out there yelling, the team doesn’t have a lot of support” said Brianna Newland, Head Coach of the Metro Cheerleading Squad. “So our job is to let the crowd know we’re here.”

Though the general public may not know it, cheerleading can prove to be an intense sport, often requiring long hours of getting the choreography down to letter-perfect precision and mastering the athletic feats the squad is known for, according to squad member Amber Curtwright. 

Some of the athletic feats (called stunts) include the back tuck basket and the chair- to stand (in which female members first sit and then stand all while being held up by their male counterpart)”It’s not just rooting for the team,” said Curtwright. “We do a lot of physical things that are very demanding and should be respected. We’re not just sitting on the sidelines.”

“Girls have to learn how to stay tight and guys have to learn technique,” said Newland. “Strength has less to do with (the stunts) than technique.”

Though practice time can be long and grueling work, the love of the sport itself is what keeps many of the squad members motivated and enthusiastic about maintaining such a disciplined schedule, according to Nicole Pacheco, Captain of the Cheerleading squad.

“It’s no joke,” said Pacheco, “We go home every night stiff and tired and then get up the next morning and do it again. We love to tumble and we love to dance. If we didn’t love it, we wouldn’t be here. We want to get better.”

Injuries are often seen as a necessary hazard of the sport, according to Pacheco, who has her fair share of occupational bumps and bruises.

“We’ve had everything from broken legs to strained backs,” said Pacheco.

Newland plays down injuries the squad members sometimes receive by emphasizing that training and practice minimizes the risk.

“It’s a dangerous sport and a lot of people don’t realize what goes into it, but we really don’t get hurt a lot, considering what we do,” said Newland. “(The squad members are very safe and they know how to be careful.”

Building the crowd’s enthusiasm at games is the most challenging and rewarding aspect of cheerleading, according to many squad members.

“It’s so much just to see people’s faces when we do stuff,” said Hansen. “We motivate each other to get it on and show them how it’s done.”

When asked about any technique used to raise the fan’s enthusiasm levels, Cooper said that leading by example generates the most response.

“If we get crazy ourselves (the crowd will) feel less embarrassed,” said Cooper. “If they think we’re making fools of ourselves by being loud and rowdy then they’ll want to yell as well.”

Receiving relatively small funding from the school, the pom-poms, megaphones, uniforms and other equipment, as well as financing opportunities to compete in the national cheerleading competition are paid for through fund-raising.

The squad, Comprised of eighteen members (twelve men and ten women), tends to attract extroverted and energetic personalities with high levels of motivation, according to Newland.

“I think the motivation comes from within,” said Newland. “In order to cheer, you do have to be (a) more peppy, outgoing personality.”

‘If we get crazy ourselves, (the crowd will) feel less embarrassed.’

- April L. Cooper, Metro cheerleader

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Fliers seeking nude models cause stir
by Shannon Hasty
The Metropolitan

Amid the variety of announcements and advertisements decorating our campus’s hallways, a simple sheet of white paper displays an image of a woman, her feather-thin arms cradling one leg, concealing her nudity.  Printed next to the image, in bold black letters reads, “Models Wanted; Fine Art Photography.”

Mary Robertson, a member of the Metro Feminist Alliance, opposes the solicitations. 

“I have struggled quite a bit with this guy’s fliers. Like all of us [in the Feminist Alliance] I find them offensive and misleading,” she said.  “Although this guy has a right to pursue his “career,” and be a jackass, I think we have the right to make our own statement.”

Although the fliers are creating a stir on campus, photographer Robert McCall continues to post them.     

“Women throughout history have been pressed into service and have volunteered for practically every duty, task or role imaginable, and because of that it is a lot easier to be symbolic or to represent abstract things with the female form,” McCall said.  He attributes this ideal to the “beauty and universality of the [female] form.”

Entre nous, French for “between us”, is the fitting title of McCall’s portrait studio, located in his home in the Capitol Hill area. The studio walls are covered in photographs: some familiar, nostalgic faces and several female bodies posed like porcelain dolls still on the production line, brand new and naked.

Yes, naked. McCall photographs women and his genre is expressly nude. Many of McCall’s models have been Metro students.  

The controversial fliers posted on campus have raised eyebrows, but not always in a negative sense.

McCall, said he is used to the controversy associated with his photos, and said he has found them in trash cans on campus, or with words such as “porn” and “bondage” written across them.

The photographs are displayed on the Internet, in virtual galleries arranged by the year of the photo.  McCall has named most of the photos, and original prose, or a caption describing the work often accompanies them.

One photograph, a woman with evident scars from her neck to her stomach is titled “Divided,” and McCall’s poetry describes the vision:

“She wins the battle against her troublesome heart, she wears her surgical scars as a badge of honor.  Her ribs often spread wide; she has emerged each time from the rift to face a new world, repeated baptisms at the hands of holy men in sterile gloves.”                 

The arena in which McCall chooses to display his work causes alarm in some students and faculty at Metro. 

“On account that the web-site is littered with porn ads— predominantly white, young, skinny females in sexual positions— I think that this is just erotica under the guise of fine art,” said Metro student, Zoe Williams, a member of the Feminist Alliance.

Greg Watts, chair of the Metro Art department, said the presence of the fliers on campus could indicate that Metro is associated in some way with the photographer. 

Watts said, last semester the art department consulted with Metro’s attorney, Lee Combs, regarding the flier's presence on campus. The outcome was a request for Auraria Higher Education Center to remove the fliers as they went up. According to Watts, soliciting for models in this way could imply an association with Metro, UCD and/or CCD photography programs, because the location is in proximity to our photographic facilities. “Speaking for Metro, our academic mission does not align with this type of work.  Of course, critically speaking, it is the context of any photographic image that defines it,” said Watts.

However, McCall continues to search the Metro campus for women who might be interested in posing for him.  He said he doesn’t believe that his photos are anything more than the artistic representations he strives to capture. 

Growing up in south Louisiana, McCall, 35, said he has always taken photography very seriously.  “I can remember as a child, pouring over old Life magazines and Look magazines from the golden age of photojournalism. When I picked up a camera, I just had and inherent sense of what made a good photograph,” McCall said.

It was five years ago that McCall began to focus his work on the nude female figure.  “It was just an epiphany kind of situation,” he said, “It became real. It wasn’t one of those, oh gosh, those people out there do this kind of work.”

McCall began recruiting models for his work at that point, and shortly after moved to Denver where he continued the process of scouting women for his photos.

Former Metro student, Paige Doughty modeled for McCall, who called her experience, “invigorating and fun.” 

“Though I had no experience with modeling of any sort, Robert created a professional and tactful environment in which to work.  He made me feel comfortable and I was never put in any sort of compromising position during our work experiences together,” she said.  “All of Robert’s work is very tactful, expressive, creative and beautiful.”

 Not all students agree. 

“Personally, as a female artist, I think the fliers are a con, and they are disturbing…a perfect setup for something bad to happen,” said Zoe Williams.

 McCall said he considers his photographs an artistic depiction of the female form, and believes “…pornography is defined by the user.”

“How many guys out there can get off on the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, or even the underwear ads in the Sunday paper. If somebody applies an image to their own sexual gratification, then I think that they, on an individual level, are defining that photograph, painting, story or whatever, as being pornographic,” said McCall.

Jessica Oleksy, 25, is a student at Metro who recently modeled for McCall.  She said there is nothing unprofessional about her experience with the photographer.

“This was my third time modeling. I actually think that it was one of the best experiences I have had modeling,” she said.  “It was life changing; I felt complete, as a model I mean.”

McCall said he accepts the fact that there will be opposition to his photos, but the search for models will continue.
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Celebration of diversity and culture
by Travis Combs
The Metropolitan

Armed with a 35mm camera, Farhad Vakilitabar journeyed to China in the spirit of celebration to capture the rich diversity of life.     Having been approved to adopt four-year-old Lea Fang Fang from China’s Children’s Adoption Agency, Vakilitabar and his family set out for China earlier than scheduled so they could see the monuments and sights.

“We started a year prior to going to China to get our daughter,” said Vakilitabar. “We decided to go a little earlier so we could get to Beijing because we heard there were a lot of important places in Beijing, like the Great Wall, The Forbidden Palace, (and) Tiananmen Square, and we wanted to see these places before we had to get our daughter.”

The images Vakilitabar took with his camera often depict scenes of Chinese life, or natural settings in the topography, onto which he would then superimpose another image. 

“For me, these images have to create a better image than each one by themselves,” said Vakilitabar. “The reason I do that is that I don’t just see a pond or a lake, I may see flowers too. To me, two images present the feeling of what I felt.”

Vakilitabar who was born in Iran, and moved to Colorado twenty years ago, sees his work as the celebration of life’s diversity. With a French wife and a son born here in America, along with the adoption of Lea Fang Fang, his life mirrors the diversity in his work.

“I do this to celebrate diversity and cultural differences,” said Vakilitabar, who works in technical services for the Auraria Media Center. “But I (also) did this to celebrate my daughter.”

Embracing life’s diversity in his photography and in his own home, Vakilitabar quenched his desire for an international family with the adoption of Lea Fang Fang.

“The reason we have her is because we want to have an international family,” said Vakilitabar. “It has helped us understand that it is okay. Our second child does not have to be French or Iranian or even American.”

The fruits of Vakilitabar’s labors are being shown in the Auraria Campus Library throughout the month of February, and contain calligraphies of Chinese characters on the photographs with messages such as, “friendship”, “joy”, and “long life”.

 “It is the era of multi-culturalism and here at the University we are ready to celebrate that, and I’m happy to contribute,” said Vakilitabar. “I hope this small group of images expands our horizons in order for us to see the diverse beauty of our world and strengthens our will for friendship, peace, and harmony with each other.”

Photo by - Will Moore Heather Gallagher, a senior at UCD, views photographs taken by Farhad Vakilitabar at the Auraria Library Gallery.

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SGA encourages inactive students to participate in order to take back power
by Lindsay Sandham
The Metropolitan

The Student Government Assembly, (SGA), is the only democratically elected organization chosen by Metro’s student body. 

Of the 18,170 enrolled at Metro in the spring of 2002, only 392 students voted in last year’s SGA elections, Assistant Dean of Student Life, Joanna Duenas said. Elections are held in April, and the SGA’s term runs from May through April of the following year.

SGA President, Brotha Seku said inactivity of the student body has caused a decrease in the amount of power students actually have when it comes to making decisions about the allocation of funds from the student fees budget.

“The inactivity of students has allowed (the administration) to take our power, and the previous SGA administrations are to blame for not properly training future leaders,” Seku said.

Seku said the SGA’s primary purpose is to act on behalf of the majority of Metro student’s interests, as well as getting students involved in activities outside of the classroom.

“When students actively participate in out-of-classroom events, they view themselves as shareholders in the intellectual enterprise, and are able to claim ownership in their educational development inside of the classroom,” Seku said.

The SGA is funded with student fees, which are handled by the student activities board.  However, it has virtually no voting power in regard to administrative decision-making policies.

Seku said one of SGA’s goals is to change the way financial resources are distributed to student groups.  Another goal is to create more fund-raising and manpower recruitment efforts for Metro student clubs and organizations.

Yosief Abraha, vice president of Student Organizations, said that one of his personal goals and reasons for joining the SGA is to make more events happen on campus, to create a greater sense of community and active participation. 

“Being a somewhat international student, I felt there was a need for people like me to get involved and feel like part of a community,” Abraha said.

Seku said that the SGA is the vibrant voice of students that communicates to the administration. “SGA is a rainbow coalition of the entire human family that is of various ethnic cultures, spiritual and religious groups, ages spanning from 19 to 50 years old, gender equality of both men and women, and sexual orientation that includes heterosexuals, gays, lesbians, and those that just say ‘No,’” Seku said.

Seku, who is 50 years old and attended Metro in the 70s, said that one of the reasons he returned to Metro is to train students to be leaders and eliminate the apathy and alienation that has resulted in a lack of interest in SGA affairs.  He said that our independence has been threatened by the abundance of faculty participating in student affairs.

SGA Student Trustee, Harris Singer said he came into the position hoping to set a standard of how the job should be done.

Singer said he served as student trustee at McDaniel College in Maryland for three years, so he has experience dealing with a board of trustees, understanding how they interact, their dynamics, and the interaction they have with the student body.

“I knew that coming into this role, I have enough experience to come in here and set this role up in such a way, and set the bar really high so that whoever comes into this role after me will have to live up to some kind of standard for providing accurate feedback of the cross-cultural spectrum of the college campus,” Singer said.

There are currently 13 part-time salaried positions in the SGA: President (Brotha Seku), VP of Administration and Finance (Chris Chandler), VP of Student Fees (Inayet Hadi), VP for Academic Affairs (Mark Ross), VP of Diversity (Joy Walker), VP of Student Organizations (Yosief Abraha), VP of Communications (Julius Muhammad), VP for Student Services (LaShanta Smith), Student Trustee (Harris Singer), two SACAB representatives (Robert Haight and Lydia Morton), Attorney General (Gi Gi Glynn) and Chief Justice (Felicia Woodson).

Seku said he would like to expand the SGA by adding 13 more part-time salaried positions.  He also proposed a 50 percent salary increase for existing SGA positions.

Seku said the SGA is dedicated to all Metro students and the office is open for night students. 
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The Metro Pep Rally
by Kristi Starns
The Metropolitan

It was a beautiful day for a pep rally last Wednesday afternoon as people gathered at the flagpole to enjoy free food, games and get in the Roadrunner spirit for the upcoming games against cross-town rival Regis University.

The men and women’s basketball teams cheered people on as they attempted to dunk three-point shots. The teams later tried to inspire passers-by to come and watch them play.

Men’s basketball Coach, Mike Dunlap even tried a bribe, saying there would be a Mercedes Benz at half court that the players would play around, and if they scored more than two points, the first person at the game would win the car.

“If you come to our game, you’ll find out if we tell the truth or not,” said Coach Dunlap.

Cheerleaders and fans chanted, “MSCD, Go Metro!” The games promised to be exciting as the crowd learned that the two-time National Champion Men’s Basketball was ranked ninth in the country as of last week.  The pep rally wrapped with Larry Worster, the head of Metro’s music department, introducing Metro’s new fight song.
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Destinations into sculpture
by Kristi Starns
The Metropolitan

Thanks to RTD, a new sculpture can be found next to the administration building at the Auraria West Campus Light Rail Station.

The sculpture, “Destinations,” by California artist, Donna Billick from California, represents a portal that transports students from education to the world.

Shaped like an arch, the sculpture stands 24 feet high. It features two columns (which represent the woven baskets made by Native Americans) on each side of the sidewalk that students pass under on the their way to and from class.

“The idea is that when somebody comes to refine themselves or get an education and learns new things, gets experience on a college campus, to me the destination for all of that schooling or all that education is to take it out into the world,” said Billick. “So, the thought is that when one gets educated, passes through this portal, takes the train… and moves out in to their lives with renewed experience or insights…about what one might do, who am I and what am I going to make happen in my lifetime.”

It looks like the sculpture resembles a string of bead-like rocks, and the rocks, (called “Rock of Ages,”) which each contain elements from Colorado and Auraria in their design of each one.

The columns represent woven baskets made by Native Americans.  There are columbines, aspens, pine trees, bears, and other animals and plants on the rest of the rocks. One rock, in the shape of a house, has multi-religious temples and the Denver Mint on it, which symbolizes the joining of church and state, said Billick. Two rocks, shaped like a football and basketball, show Billick’s personal involvement in the sculpture. The rock in the middle of the sculpture, a gold angst, symbolizes “Auraria and the gold rush, and the things that really blossomed the Denver area and brought a lot of people here,” said Billick.

There are columbines, aspens, pine trees, bears, and other animals and plants on the remaining rocks.

The “Rock of Ages” is made from rock- art mediums that date back to the time of the cave painters, according to Billick, who also designed the sculptures at the Colfax at Auraria Light Rail Station, calls herself “a twentieth century cave painter.”

 At the dedication ceremony, Dean Wolfe, who spoke on behalf of Auraria, said, “Education without art is woefully lacking,” adding that, “art stimulates conversation then stimulates thought, which is what education is all about.” Billick also designed the sculptures at the Colfax at Auraria Light Rail Station.
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Future Auraria theater events
by Jonelle Wilkinson Seitz
The Metropolitan

Auraria students can look forward to the productions of two important and fascinating plays this spring: Under the Gaslight, written by Augustin Daly, and Look Back in Anger, by John Osborne.

Under the Gaslight, which will be produced by MSCD Theatre in March, is a melodrama that deals with society’s treatment of social status.  In the play, Laura, a young socialite who is engaged to a rich young man, is revealed as having been poor and taken in as a child by a wealthier family.  Laura’s true background appalls most of the people in her social circle, and her malicious birth parents try to reclaim her. 

The play opened in New York City in 1867, when nearly half of the city’s residents were first generation immigrants.  Some of the people were rich, most were poor and few belonged to a middle class.  Thus, the conflict between the classes, as well as the criticism of both the rich and poor, was especially resonant to the 19th century audience.

Under the Gaslight continues to be recognized for its treatment of women’s rights: Laura is a strong, decisive and calm woman who unbinds Snorkey, a kind war veteran, from the railroad tracks in the light of an oncoming train.  After he is rescued, Snorkey comments on the injustice that the woman who has just saved him does not even have the right to vote!  Though Daly was not a prolific playwright, in what he did write he sought to illuminate, in his own words, “the unobjectionable.”  Daly’s motive gives even more force to what the play says itself.

UCD Theatre will produce John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger, also in March.  When it opened in 1956 in London, its brash language and intensity caused a stir among the British Theatre scene.  Osborne’s semi-autobiographical main character, Jimmy, became a model for the “angry young men” of British writers of the 1950’s.     

The action of the play takes place entirely in one room.  Here, we see the intimate conflicts of the relationships between Jimmy, his wife, their roommate and Jimmy’s lover.  Tormented by his past and present, Jimmy is unable to maintain a relationship with either woman.  His abrasiveness can only be tolerated by his roommate, Cliff, who strangely likes to be in the middle of people’s dysfunctional relationships.  However, the three-person repartee that results is gripping.  Look Back in Anger illuminates the messiness of relationships, and the more psyches involved, the more wonderful the mess.   

Both Under the Gaslight and Look Back in Anger will be performed at the King Center March 12-22.
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