Congratulations, graduates! As the countdown clock on MTU’s website says, you are 16 (15 when this is printed) days away from commencement! This article will outline what you can expect at this year’s commencement ceremony. 

The Midyear Commencement will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 18 in the Varsity Gymnasium of the Student Development Complex. Graduates should arrive no later than 9:30 a.m. Parking is on a first come, first served basis for both graduates and guests. 

The Commencement Ceremony will last approximately two hours. A ticket is required for guest entry, though guests may also opt to watch the ceremony online. Graduating students may be eligible for up to four guest tickets, free of charge. All graduates and their guests will have their belongings searched prior to the event. For more information, visit mtu.edu/commencement 

This week, Isaac Fortier presented to the body about the Leadershape organization and the upcoming four day leadership retreat, Institute. Students are encouraged to apply. The retreat costs $100 per person, though this sum should not deter students from applying — many RSO’s have historically helped students in need obtain the funding necessary to attend the event.

USG voted to welcome Emily Ruf as a Residential Representative. Ethan Gerds was elected by the body as Vice President Elect, set to replace Sydney Dankert as Vice President after her resignation. 

The Fourth Year Representative, Davi Sprague, addressed the body and brought up concerns raised by numerous students over the effectiveness of the MySSP App. These concerns will be further addressed after Sprague and the Secretary of USG meet with the interim chair of the Student Mental Health and Wellness program. 

USG would like to again ask undergraduate students to vote on the updates to their constitution. 345 votes are needed to approve the updates. Students can read the revisions and rationale and vote on them from their email inbox with the subject line, “USG needs your vote for Constitution revisions!”

USG would like to remind students to drive safely over the holiday break. Vehicular accidents are one of the leading causes of death among college-age Americans. Check your tire pressure, pull over if you’re tired, and drive slow on ice and snow. 

If you have any questions or concerns for USG please email USG President Zachary Olsen at usg-president@mtu.edu or fill out the form on their website.

This week, USG members discussed implementing a mask mandate on the Thanksgiving break bus. They voted 8-6 to require masks on the break bus with six abstentions. Tickets for the break bus are currently sold out and emails will be sent to ticket holders with final reminders on Monday, Nov. 15, 2021. 

USG Vice President Sydney Dankert, who also acts as the USG liaison for the newly re-established organization Student Commission, discussed the organizations’ first meeting of the semester. Ms. Dankert expressed her enthusiasm about the re-establishment, saying that she is “so happy that this tradition has been reinstated.” Ms. Dankert discussed student concerns over lighting issues, primarily on the crosswalk between Wadsworth Hall and the Walker Building as well as the road which leads from the SDC to Wadsworth. Ms. Dankert reports that facilities management is aware of this issue and is working with the City Commission to improve lighting in these areas. 

USG VP Sydney Dankert will be resigning in December. USG wishes her the best in her future endeavors and is grateful for her exemplary service as Vice President. USG will be working on filling vacancies in their body.

Friends of the Library is looking for student feedback on how to improve the library. Suggestions should be dropped off at the USG suggestion box located in the MUB. 

If you have any questions or concerns for USG please email USG President Zachary Olson at usg-president@mtu.edu or fill out the form on their website.

With the increase in COVID-19 cases, some students are wondering where they can get tested. There are multiple testing facilities available for students and non-students. This information was taken directly from the sites for these locations regarding their testing procedures.

On campus – Datolite Room of the MUB 

Students don’t need appointments at this facility. They must bring their student ID. No proof of insurance is required. COVID-19 testing is available on-demand Tuesdays and Thursday until Dec. 17. This facility will not be open Nov. 22–26, the week of Thanksgiving break.

Walgreens – 1007 Memorial Road, Houghton, MI, 49931 

Appointments are required here. Call 906-231-8007 to make an appointment. Testing available for limited patients. Patients cannot enter the building, so students can drive up and be tested from the comfort of their car. They may also buy goods through the window when going to your appointment. 

UPHS Express Care – 921 W Sharon Ave, Houghton, MI, 49931

No appointments are necessary here. Individuals must bring proof of insurance as well as ID. Benefits of this facility are that students can drive up and be tested from the comfort of their car; there is no need to enter the building. 

Western Upper Peninsula Health Department – 821 Water Street, Hancock, MI, 49931 

No appointment necessary here. This is a free COVID-19 testing facility open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursdays. No proof of insurance required. 

UGL/UPHS – 500 Campus Drive, Hancock, MI, 49930

Testing available for all patients, but they must first acquire a referral and schedule an appointment. Students can call 906-483-1000 to make an appointment. 

This week, USG members met with representatives from the MTU Women’s Ultimate Frisbee Team to discuss funding for sending the team to Nationals. The Women’s Ultimate Team won their last competition and qualified for the National Championship, their first time since the founding of the club in 2017. USG agreed to use a portion of their Opportunity Fund to support this trip. 

A first-year student spoke at the meeting about their concerns over the lack of COVID precautions on campus. For more information on COVID precautions on campus, visit MTU’s Flex Portal. To share your concerns, email mtuflex@mtu.edu.

USG would also like to remind interested students that the Thanksgiving Break Bus will be running this year, offering students a ride from campus to various locations downstate. To purchase tickets, please visit the USG ticketing portal. Please fill out the form on USG’s website or reach out with any questions or concerns. 

USG will also be opening public channels on their Discord server for students to direct comments to the appropriate representatives.

Picture this: you’re a little, old grandma, doing your little, old grandma thing. Maybe you just got done playing bridge or bingo with all your friends down at the senior center and you’re regaling your house-bound husband with tales of that mean old cow, Cheryl, who stole your place in the last cakewalk or something. You scroll through Facebook, catching up with friends and family, liking a picture of your grandchild on the beach. They’ve captioned it, “#coronacation.” 

Kids really do say the darndest things.  

Flash-forward a week, your grandchild has stopped by to visit. You’ve made their favorite dinner and they spend a happy evening waxing poetic over the beautiful, exotic locale they’ve spent the past couple of days in. They scroll through pictures on their phone, which they graciously hand over to you so that you can hold it at a comfortable length to see the screen. At the end of the night, you and your husband see them off, sending them away with plenty of leftovers and hugs. 

Flash-forward two more weeks. Your grandchild came down with some sort of flu and was a bit under the weather for a few days. Their parents, your children, keep calling to make sure you and your husband haven’t caught whatever bug they had, but you shrug off their concern. You lived through a war, you know. A war, a recession, and more than your fair share of ailments. This is no different from the last big flu that came around, the one with the pigs, and you’ll get through it just as you got through that one. 

Your husband coughs, from the other room. A spring cold, that’s all. Still, you worry.

Flash-forward two more weeks. Your husband is dead. You’re in the hospital. Things are not looking good. 

While this seems like an extreme scenario, it is all too possible in today’s world. Practicing safe social distancing is incredibly important right now, and while it may seem like a good idea to take advantage of the current low cost of traveling, one must consider the possible repercussions. While many people our age may not be severely affected by COVID-19, we are prime candidates for spreading the virus. Traveling under these conditions can have drastic and devastating consequences. We all ought to take a moment to consider the far-reaching potential effects of the choices we make in these crazy times. 

I have not always enjoyed wine. My Spanish ancestors are rolling in their graves at the thought, but it’s true. It’s too bitter, too dry. I once heard a man describe the taste a strong red can leave you with as “the oaky afterbirth.” I had another friend who, upon meeting his significant other’s family for the first time and realizing they were all “wine people,” went so far as to make up a lie on the spot about how he was allergic to tannins.

They’re married now. He’s still keeping up with that whopper, as far as I know.

My point is, wine is something most people have to really work to develop a palate for. We could speculate as to why—perhaps the prevalence of super sugary beverages that we’ve spent most of our childhood consuming has ruined our ability to detect nuances in flavor the same way generations before us could. Or maybe it’s simply that, seeing as your taste buds die as you age, wine really is just not very good and the only reason your grandparents love it is because they can’t tell what they’re drinking anymore. This argument could go on forever though and would make the article way too long to hold your attention. Plus, we’re not concerned so much with the “why” as we are with figuring out how to, after establishing that we all actually hate wine, convincingly pretend to appreciate it in order to appear classier.

Look, wine is just fancy, vinegar-inspired garbage water. It’s rotten juice, and we all should just start being honest with ourselves about that. However, in the absence of honesty, I support the desire to feign knowledge and/or enthusiasm. Maybe you want to impress a date, maybe you just want to relate to that cool, wine-loving aunt over Thanksgiving, who knows, I’m not here to judge. Here is a short and simple list of words to throw around to help you fake it ‘till you make it:

Chewy—a heady, rich wine, sometimes used in relation to tannins (when you almost want to chew away the dryness after drinking).

Complex—the flavor changes in your mouth, there’s not just one singular note.

Corky or Corked—the cork was contaminated or loose, making the wine smell musty and taste sour.

Dry—not sweet.

Foxy—as opposed to floral; more of a musky scent.

Good legs—has a high Alcohol By Volume (ABV).

Mouthfeel—literally exactly what you’d think.

Oaked—when there are things other than fruits (think butter, vanilla, spices) added to the wine for flavor.

Silky—a smooth wine, almost creamy.

Tannins—bitter tasting, more prevalent in red wines than in white, which can really dry out your mouth.

So, next time you see Aunt Cheryl laughing a little too loudly over a glass of red, you can feel comfortable sliding on over and commenting on the chewy tannins or some other made-up nonsense. And who knows? Maybe someday you’ll actually know what you’re talking about.

It is hard to live up here. There is no way around that. The summers are incredible, beautiful beyond compare and autumn draws color tourists from across the country. The two weeks we see of spring are lovely, perfect and mild, where the air tastes like clean, melting snow and freshly blooming flowers. We start to see the sun on a regular basis again and everyone’s spirits are lifted. But the winters are hard.

Winter up here will slowly wear away at your will to live until you are left to just doggedly plug along, forcing your pale, frozen limbs to get you through each day. We shuffle between class, work and home, just another uniform mass of winter clothing huddled against the wind. We laugh at memes related to the frigidity of the air, identifying with living somewhere it gets so cold it hurts.

We dread the short walks between classes, becoming indistinguishable blobs of fabric, stumbling across campus wrapped in as many layers as possible. Who among us hasn’t had a judgemental thought when confronted with the sight of someone obviously forsaking comfort for fashion? I don’t care how warm you say you are, please put on your damn gloves.

As the days get darker, so do our hearts and minds.

Sure, for the avid skier, snowboarder or other such winter sports enthusiast, maybe these cold, dark months aren’t so bleak.

Good for them.

For the rest of us, this is at least six straight months of a sunless, painful existence.

Winter Carnival is the saving grace of these dark times. It teaches even the most stubborn to appreciate the beauty of the season. It allows people to experiment with the potentially “enjoyable” pastimes others have developed in order to get through this time of year. It changes the dynamic.

These are an incredibly fun couple of days—the inescapable feeling of joy and excitement that permeates campus allows students to see a different perspective. The enthusiasm and eagerness that builds among students as we count down to the minute Carnival officially begins are infectious, affecting far more than just our school—the entire town swells in anticipation of the influx of parents, friends and alumni.

Without Winter Carnival, the time between winter and spring break would be a horrific expanse of darkness and despair. Winter Carnival not only allows us a brief respite from the monotony of our daily lives but also neatly showcases the few good parts of a difficult season.