The ReUse Program at the University of Minnesota is working to reduce waste on campus by redistributing, reselling and recycling donated materials.

The program receives rolling donations, which they sort into categories for reselling or recycling, granting students and community members the unique opportunity to benefit the environment.

Todd Tanner, ReUse Program coordinator, said the ReUse Program tries to encourage people not to throw away things that could be usable.

“If you’ve got a broken stapler, you could certainly throw it away, but it’s made of metal, and it’s not going to get recycled if you throw it in the trash,” Tanner said. “If you send us your broken stapler, we can at least put it in a metal stream and get it recycled, even if it’s not saleable.”

Tanner added the ReUse Program also takes materials as large as cubicles. Though cubicles are more likely to be recycled than sold, if an office on campus is getting rid of their furniture, the ReUse Program can resell many of those office materials like tables, desks and chairs.

The ReUse Program sells a variety of materials, ranging from clothing items to medical equipment, according to the program’s Facebook page.

Tanner said the ReUse Program services a lot of students during both move-in and move-out. The program takes in a lot of furniture materials during move-out and sells many of those materials during move-in.

Fredonia Zeigle, a second-year University student, said she donates “every once and while” and likes to visit the ReUse Program occasionally to see what they are selling, though she rarely buys anything.

“They just sell the most random stuff,” Zeigle said. “I don’t know where they get it, but it’s a fun surprise whenever I come in.”

Despite this, community members make up the ReUse Program’s primary consumer base, Tanner said.

“They’re just looking for things for their home, and they don’t want to go and buy something new that’s going to be of high cost when they can come here and get it for a fraction of the price,” Tanner said.

University departments can also visit the ReUse Program and shop for materials and can get most materials free of charge, according to Tanner.

Tanner added this is merely a “drop in the bucket” of what the ReUse program does.

During fiscal year 2022, the ReUse Program redistributed 453.3 tons of material, just shy of a million pounds, according to Tanner.

Tanner said this material comes almost entirely from the Twin Cities campus and is advertised mostly through the program’s Facebook page. Though they do not sell through Facebook, they regularly post images and descriptions of various materials in order to draw attention.

Ethan Rubin, Undergraduate Student Government Environmental Accountability Committee director, said he appreciates the ReUse Program’s efficiency in dealing with waste.

“Waste is one of the biggest sustainability issues in the world and one of the best ways to approach it is through reuse,” Rubin said.

Tanner said the ReUse Program’s work is incredibly important, given the University is a sort of “city unto itself.”

“Like 50,000 plus people come to campus for the day,” Tanner said. “That’s a medium-sized city in America.”

Rubin said sustainability is a community-based effort, which the ReUse Program does a good job of promoting.

Because of the University’s size and scale, the ReUse Program has the opportunity to manage donated material in a way that an individual business or department cannot necessarily do, Tanner said.

Since the ReUse Program allows for the consolidation of donated material in a single location, there is a greater opportunity for people to shop at a discounted price and in a way that benefits the environment.

The ReUse Program is open to the general public on Thursdays from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., according to the program’s website.

This article has been updated.

Public space isn’t quite so public anymore, and hostile architecture is to blame.
Hostile architecture is an urban design strategy invoked during city planning stages to police who is allowed to be where.

This practice gained momentum during the era of prominent segregation, where exclusionary design could be seen in the implementation of dead-end roads, one-way streets and bollards to prevent citizens from moving between predominantly white neighborhoods and those of color.

An important example comes from New York City, where the construction of a bridge leading to a beach in Long Island intentionally barred the passage of buses, making the bridge only accessible to car owners who were often of a wealthier class, according to Chango Cummings, adjunct faculty member in the University of Minnesota’s College of Design.

Cummings defines the practice of hostile architecture as inherently anti-poor, anti-homeless and anti-Black, allowing the policing and restriction of movement by ripping away the very ground we walk on.

“It is a means of deterring poor homeless folks of color from being in public space. From just resting and existing in the public realm,” Cummings said.

Through hostile architecture, leisure is commercialized and held out of the reach of many, making the right to simply exist in public spaces only available to wealthy, white, housed people.

Now more than ever, anti-homeless structures are visible in cities across the United States. Metal spikes and bars divide benches to prevent homeless populations from sleeping there. Fences and walls surround “public” buildings to restrict who can access them.

Hostile architecture can be something as simple as a lack of seating in a public space, as even the absence of rest spaces can effectively communicate the city’s message to local populations: don’t make yourself at home.

In major metropolitan areas like Minneapolis, hostile architecture is accelerating at rapid speeds, leaving homeless populations without a place to stay during the winter months. Slanted benches at Metro stations across the state fail to give homeless Minnesotans a space to rest and escape the cold. Seat dividers prevent homeless people from sleeping on them.

Negligible heating in transit stations leaves them victims of the elements. On any given night, 7,940 Minnesotans struggle with homelessness, and the failure of these public spaces to remain public is the driving force behind the dangerous conditions they are subject to daily.

It is more important than ever for public spaces to remain public. As homelessness hits record highs in Minnesota, shelters are no longer able to house everyone who needs it. Hennepin County shelters are at capacity, forcing them to turn away 7,000 unhoused Minnesotans in 2022.

Further, encampments are increasingly being cleared out by city officials and crews, as they claim these settlements are prohibited by city statutes. The reality is becoming adamantly clear: homeless Minnesotans have nowhere to go.

“What we are seeing is the failing of a system due to economics, social and political factors designed to displace people,” Cummings said. “This is only one example of the city trying to battle the symptoms of a larger issue.”

Policies in Minneapolis are focused on treating homeless populations as an eyesore, rather than recognizing the cyclical, often inescapable nature of the crisis itself. Restricting public space through hostile architecture, especially at a time when current systems of help are already failing, does nothing but create a greater stigma around homelessness all while pushing the population into more danger.

While hostile architecture’s proliferation continues in Minnesota, advocacy against this problem has become all the more important.

The dehumanization of homeless populations through restricting their right to simply exist cannot be ignored. This issue only emphasizes the importance of our voices to make architecture more inclusive in Minneapolis, in hopes that public places remain public after all.

Winning in the Big Ten is not a feeling the Gophers men’s basketball team is used to, but the team still walked away on Wednesday with their first conference win of the season over Nebraska.

The Gophers faced a 15-point deficit at halftime and were outrebounded 20-11. With their leading scorer out due to an ankle injury, sophomore Braeden Carrington said the team had to rally.

“We had a lot of learning experiences, you know, to help us with this win tonight,” Carrington said.

The Gophers had just returned from a road game in Columbus, Ohio, where leading scorer Dawson Garcia’s 28-point second-half performance was not enough to return home with a win.

Head coach Ben Johnson said it took too long for his guys to “get settled” and, ultimately, their game against Ohio State got out of control too quickly.

“Good teams make you pay, especially in a league game on the road, and we got to really tighten that up,” Johnson said.

The Gophers are fielding a young team with three sophomores, three freshmen and two players who missed the last two seasons due to injury. Johnson knows his team is a “work in progress” and not used to the feeling of winning.

Redshirt senior Parker Fox played in an NCAA DII Central Region Tournament game with Northern State University, junior Elijah Hawkins played in the NCAA Tournament last season with Howard University and Garcia was a 2020 McDonald’s All-American.

Outside of those three athletes, the concept of winning intraconference games for the Gophers is nearly foreign.

Johnson said players like Garica and Hawkins have been stepping up to instill confidence in their teammates to develop a winner’s mindset.

“It’s a lot easier for those guys to say it because they’ve won or they’ve had success, there’s something to fall back on,” Johnson said.

Hawkins said he is striving to bring a winning mentality to the Minnesota program. Part of that comes with playing with a sense of urgency, something the Gophers routinely lack in the first half of their games.

At the end of the first half against Ohio State, the Gophers trailed by 14 and committed nine turnovers, which Ohio State converted into 11 points.

“The other team is — they’re basically trying to kill us out there,” Hawkins said. “We got to compete back and we just can’t, you know, take the back seats.”

Minnesota did not falter after Nebraska’s intensity early on. In the second half alone, the Gophers out-rebounded the Cornhuskers 21-12 and doubled them in scoring.

Johnson said the victory helped to instill a winner’s mindset because now, the team has a feeling to fall back on when adversity hits.

“This game was so big for so many reasons and was the biggest game in my two and a half years here,” Johnson said. “Every game moving forward, we can lean back on this right here.”

With a Big Ten win under their belt nine games into the season, the Gophers proved they can step up when adversity hits. Now, it is just a matter of harnessing the feeling of winning to push through the hardship.

Last season, the Gophers won their first Big Ten matchup on Jan. 12 on the road against Ohio State. Carrington said it felt great to get a conference win early in the season because it is proof of the potential the team has going forward.

“It was an even bigger win to know that Dawson knows now that we have players that can step up and really just keep the team going,” Carrington said.

Cedar-Riverside’s Dania Hall lot has opened for discussions about its future use and construction nearly 20 years after its destruction.

Dania Hall at 427 Cedar Ave. has been sitting empty since the accidental fire during its renovation in 2000. The building was a neighborhood staple since its construction in 1884 and served as a cultural center and performing arts space.

The community is holding an open house on Dec. 8 to hear and consider community feedback. The event is from 3-8 p.m. at the Brian Coyle Center. There is currently a community survey to address and gain feedback on the task force’s outline.

Decades after the fire, the West Bank Business Association created a task force and it partnered with the University of Minnesota’s College of Design and Assembly MN in 2021 to reimagine the Hall. Assembly MN is a commercial and real estate firm based in the Twin Cities that helps sell, lease and develop local buildings.

The task force outlined a plan to develop affordable housing spaces in the rear parking lot, reopen Fifth Street as a walking mall area and create a shopping center on the first floor of locally-owned small businesses. Floors two through four would be dedicated to office spaces for small businesses and local artists, while the fifth floor and rooftop would be made into a community space.

KJ Starr, executive director of WBBA and one of the hosts of the open house, said the goal of this event is to solidify what the community wants, share what their vision is and move forward together. Starr added the planning and development of Dania Hall will be an extensive process due to figuring out the expenses, how they will be covered, city approval and gaining developers.

“A really big priority for us is to figure out what the larger development goals are for the neighborhood that are responsive to community and not opposed to community,” Starr said.

Youth organizer Burhan Israefel said he believes this event can help preserve a sense of community in Cedar-Riverside. Israefel added it is important to consider all the different symbolic aspects of a community like businesses, culture and religion.

“I’m hoping that would open up that sort of discussion about what does it look like to maintain the history and the community altogether,” Israefel said.

President of the Cedar-Riverside Youth Council Mahad Ahmed, said as a resident of Cedar-Riverside, the open house is an opportunity to build trust in the community. Ahmed added it is important for the community to see a large project like Dania Hall succeed because of how many prior projects have been abandoned.

“It’s a really, really amazing opportunity, but there is trust to be built and to see if the work has been done because there have been a lot of projects that fell off,” Ahmed said.

This is an opportunity for the residents of Cedar-Riverside to be heard by the city council and ensure they are getting the support they are requesting, according to Ahmed. He added once the community is aware this open house is meant for them and what they need, change can finally begin.

“Once you did the outreach with as elderly and young adults it really gathered them that said, ‘Oh, we really want to do this and how can we invest in our own community,’” Ahmed said.

Israefel said he is excited for the open house to bring the community together and empower them to envision new possibilities for the neighborhood. According to Israefel, he wants to make sure the local youth is included in these conversations to empower their voices.

“It’s a discussion that goes back even when I was growing up as a teenager about the lack of space and just the overall lack of opportunities for [the youth,]” Israefel said.

Ahmed said it is important to ensure local youth voices and concerns are being heard with the Dania Hall project. According to Ahmed, having fun and safe public spaces for youth to hang out, do extracurricular activities or do school work can foster a connection with their community.

“[We] want to see the kids do more and have more art and more space for kids to go,” Ahmed said. “Having all those accessible places and having Dania Hall be that space, the kids really love it.”

Israefel added besides youth involvement, local business voices are equally important for the open house. Re-envisioning ownership opportunities for small businesses that currently run out of their homes is a top priority for the project, according to Israefel.

“We’re trying to give businesses that sort of vision for what this could look like for them too,” Israefel said. “They can have a lot more power and control over these spaces.”

The task force outlined the different payment options to cover the future costs of building a new Dania Hall. Options include community land trusts, community investment trusts, cooperative ownership and nonprofit ownership. Ultimately, the City of Minneapolis owns Dania Hall and will decide who it is sold to and other requirements included in the development.

According to Starr, a large aspect of revising Dania Hall is to ensure affordable live-work spaces for tenants who currently run their businesses from their homes.

“In this model that we have put forward, there are ownership opportunities for residents too. That was something that we had not originally included and that was basically demanded from the conversations we had in the community,” Starr said.

Israefel said this open house event is an opportunity for the community to have better control of these new resources and where they are distributed. Israefel added the Dania Hall open house is not just about creating a new space for the community but creating a more united community.

“This is a way for you not to only survive but to thrive,” Israefel said.

The University of Minnesota prides itself on inclusion, though it is still a predominantly white institution. According to Data USA, the student population is 59.6% white and only 6.13% Black or African American.

The fact that Minnesota is a predominantly white institution means that many people of color feel the need to find a smaller community — one where they can connect with people more similar to themselves. The Black Student Athlete Association (BSAA) is one smaller community prioritizing Black-identifying student-athletes. 

Peyton Owens III is the senior associate athletics director, a position focusing on leadership and inclusion at the University. The BSAA falls under his department. 

According to Owens, 10-12% of student-athletes at the University of Minnesota are Black. Owens has worked alongside students to create a space for athletes of color to connect and get additional support.

Owens makes an effort to connect students in BSAA with staff members who are also people of color. There are approximately 20 staff members in the athletics department who identify as Black, and Owens prioritizes those connections. These staff members include coaches, nutritionists, psychologists and others.

There are five additional student-run affinity groups in the athletics department, including Athletes Supporting Advocacy and Prevention, Gopher Advocates and Allies, Gopher International, the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and Women Invested in Leadership and Learning.

“We have a strong commitment to champion diversity and inclusion,” Owens said. “We want to provide a respectful and inclusive environment for our student-athletes, coaches and staff.”

The BSAA is a newer organization, so many members have been there since the beginning, including one of the co-presidents, Jaydon Antoine. The current co-presidents of the BSAA are two Gophers track and field athletes, Antoine and Dalayni Etienne, while Taylor Landfair, a volleyball player, focuses on graphic design, social media and other promotional materials. Landfair is also on the board of the Black Student Union as a general officer.

“Those three [student-athletes] really stand out and have done a wonderful job of actively engaging and shaping the space,” Owens said. “Those three have really been intentional with shaping and crafting the space and getting information out to all of our Black-identifying young scholars.”

Both co-presidents joined the organization to find community. Etienne is an out-of-state student from Miami, Florida, and Antoine is an international student from Trinidad and Tobago. 

“When I came here, [my coaches] made me feel included as an international student,” Antoine said. “That comfort that I feel, I believe everyone deserves to feel. I took it upon myself with the help of the Executive Board to try and create that space where all students feel included and welcome.”

The BSAA fosters community and encourages belonging by sustaining endeavors to broaden initiatives, engage in collaborative efforts with other organizations and further enhance inclusivity, and will persist in nurturing a sense of belonging for every student at the University.

Some of the events the organization puts on include movie nights, dinners or meetings to discuss important events like the passing of the Crown Act. However, Antoine acknowledges there is progress to be made within the University.

“I do believe that there are more things to be done,” Antoine said. “I think we are taking our step in that direction with this group.”

The executive board also has opportunities to take field trips to Selma, Montgomery and various business conferences with Black professionals. The BSAA is also making an effort to collaborate with other student organizations on campus, particularly the Black Student Union (BSU). 

“This year, we are trying to create events to make BIPOC students feel welcome and create a space where they feel compelled to show up,” Antoine said. “We understand that doing that will give us more opportunities to expand, connect and reach more student-athletes at the U.” 

Landfair was one of the athletes chosen to take a trip to Selma and Montgomery, Alabama last year. The trip included walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma as well as visiting museums and learning about the history of this country.

“It was really cool to be able to come back to the University and share my experience,” Landfair said. “For people that aren’t Black, they don’t really understand it because they don’t really get the opportunity to see that kind of thing.”

This trip was in collaboration with the BSU, so Landfair specifically brought back what she learned to share with other student-athletes in the organization. 

“Being one of those athletes who can come back and share my experience with other athletes and other students and other people in general who aren’t Black was really important to me,” Landfair said. “I found that very empowering, and it gave me a whole other look on life.”

The acknowledgment of ongoing progress within the University and the recognition that more can be done to enhance diversity and inclusion is a positive sign. The student leaders’ enthusiasm for the organization’s growth and their commitment to standing for inclusivity and support bodes well for the future.

“It’s just a matter of how we deal with it and get through it, so it’s just about finding your community and finding your sense of belonging,” Etienne said. “Even though you might not be surrounded by people who look like you or people who have been through the same experiences as you in your classes, having that space that you can go to where you can find that is really important.”

In the future, Antoine, Etienne and Landfair said they are excited to see the organization grow.

“I just really want everyone to know who we are, know what we stand for and know that we are here for them,” Etienne said.

The Minnesota Daily sat down with University of Minnesota Interim President Jeff Ettinger on Wednesday for an end-of-semester interview.

Among the topics discussed were the University’s response to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, 2024 state legislative session budget requests and the future of the University’s partnerships with Fairview Health and CentraCare.

The Minnesota Daily: The University is going to be making a lot of requests for the 2024 state legislative session. Do you think you could break some of those down for us?

Jeff Ettinger: “Absolutely. So first of all, there will be a supplemental budget request. So last year, we requested that [the legislature] do budgeting using two-year increments, and we requested a $45 million supplement for year one and year two.

One of our goals will be to seek that same $45 million [for year two]. It’s really important to be able to offset potential tuition increases, to help our staff in terms of compensation and benefits and to make sure programs are remaining intact.

Good news today: I opened up the Star Tribune and saw that there is indeed still a budget surplus being forecast. It’s not the final forecast, but it’s $2 billion. When we were appearing before the Higher Education Committee, back about a month ago, Chair [Gene] Pelowski was very careful to point out there’s no new money unless they have a surplus to deal with, so this is at least an encouraging development toward that.

This is also a capital budget year, and we’ve really focused our request on an award called HEAPR, which is kind of maintaining your existing buildings all over the [University] system, so not just in the Twin Cities. We’ve been touring legislators around the various facilities and are hopeful that that will receive a high level of support.”

Daily: How did the University and Fairview Health come to the decision not to renew their shared contract for the next 10 years?

Ettinger: “Let me see if I could start with [what’s been] going on this weekend. A lot of it will become visible here this week. There is a task force meeting today, and our team will be presenting our vision and plan that we see as kind of a long-range ability.

We both knew that this deadline and year 27 of the current agreement was coming up at the end of December. Fairview made the decision to kind of issue their notice first, if you will.

At this week’s Regents meeting, we will be recommending to the regents that we kind of do the same thing to have it be clear that the old deal is not what’s going to proceed.

We are in conversations with Fairview. They’ve actually been stepping up here lately, and we’re optimistic as to where we’re heading to that.”

Daily: How are the University representatives on Gov. Tim Walz’s task force adjusting their recommendations to the governor as these new healthcare decisions are being made?

Ettinger: “I think they’ll be able to do that. They certainly have been briefed on the expansion of CentraCare that we’re hoping will also get approved at the Regents meeting this week.

In the long run, we hope that we’re going to be able to also expand the current Duluth [healthcare] program from being a two-year program to a four-year program. That will free up spots in the Twin Cities as well. 

The recommendations of the task force are due to the governor on Jan. 15. This next month will be telling, and so today is kind of a pretty key presentation.”

Daily: In regards to the shooting that occurred in Dinkytown over the weekend, what will the University and University of Minnesota Police Department be doing in the future to make sure that they can be on-call for events like this, or to prevent events like this from happening again?

Ettinger: “It’s been a key effort of Chief [Matt] Clark’s to enhance the collaboration efforts with the City of Minneapolis Police that have primary jurisdiction in Dinkytown and non-campus areas.

I think they do a pretty good job in general. Even in this incident, I believe our force was there first. I mean, they really are on top of it.

Prevention of incidents is obviously the most important thing. We just need to collaborate and figure out what are some good ways to kind of minimize this type of thing from happening.

You know, the second question then becomes, if something does happen, the timeliness of notice. How can we make the sort-of parallel off-campus information be as prompt and robust so that people can react to it? So we are looking at that in terms of ways to have that be more effective.”

Daily: Does the University have an updated stance on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict?

Ettinger: “We did issue a statement early on, condemning the early terrorist acts and horrible events that happened in terms of Hamas crossing into Israel. We’ve tried to focus our attention since then on talking with members of the community on providing support.

One area in particular that’s drawn a lot of attention from some of the letters and from even legislators when I was at the Hill [in St. Paul] testifying was the notion of statements by departments or groups. And gee, are those being confused with the University statements.

We certainly have taken steps to clarify the existing policy: you need to be very clear in a statement that it’s coming from wherever you’re saying it is, and it’s not the University’s statement.

The sort-of general topic of if we should be even doing these statements and if so, under what rules, is clearly an area for consultative governance. Faculty are right in the middle of it. For example, the academic freedom committee of the faculty senate is looking at this very issue right now.”

Daily: What resources can you recommend on campus for both Palestinian and Israeli students who are seeking help or any kind of support during this time?

Ettinger: “These are terrible, troubling incidents that are obviously causing understandable concern on campus among students, staff, you name it. I have had the opportunity to have conversations and listening sessions with students, faculty and alums from groups representing both sides of the equation.

Clearly, one of the common themes I hear is safety on campus. Can I walk wearing whatever I want to wear? Can I not be accosted in terms of what my beliefs are or what my background is? That’s very important.

Resources clearly were strongly encouraging use of the Bias program. We have seen a step up [in its uses]. Last I looked, it had tripled from the same timeframe from a year ago, and the majority of them have unfortunately related to this.

Clearly any mental health challenges. We need to be on top of that. I know that the students have kind of one way to do it and the faculty and staff have a different way on that. So those are important. as well.

I know in talking with Provost [Rachel T.A.] Croson that we are actively seeking and making accommodations for students that, I’ve met some, that literally their families are from Gaza. They’re saying how can I focus on my school at this time when I don’t even know if my family is safe? And it’s certainly understandable that that would be the case. And so we need to be supportive in that regard.”

Resources for students affected by the Palestinian-Israeli conflict can be found here.

This interview has been edited for clarity, grammar and length.

This year the Arts & Entertainment desk compiled 10 of our favorite albums, not ranked in any order of quality (mostly because so much good music came out this year). If you haven’t heard some of these albums and songs, you’re missing out.

From Travis Scott to Caroline Polachek, these are the top albums of 2023 according to the Daily.

“Utopia” — Travis Scott:

Ethan Lambert: In a year where the rap genre’s long-standing grip on the mainstream has started to slip, Travis Scott’s impeccable artistry has not faltered in the slightest. Scott’s fourth studio album “Utopia” is his most vital work since his 2015 magnum opus “Rodeo.” With no signs of falling off creatively, Scott has solidified his legacy as one of the most revolutionary hip-hop performers with another masterpiece of an LP.

The opening track “Hyaena,” which opens with a commanding other-worldly ‘60s sample paired with loud industrial drums, is, without a doubt, the best song of the year and among the best rap tracks of the 2020s thus far. Songs “Fe!n,” “Modern Jam,” “Meltdown” and “Looove” remain stand-outs on the stacked track-listing, beaming with well-curated features from Playboi Carti, Teezo Touchdown, Drake and Kid Cudi respectively. “Utopia” is simply the most outstanding album of the year, defined by boundary-pushing production that will motivate Scott’s hip-hop contemporaries to rise to his level.

“Let’s Start Here.” — Lil Yachty:

Max Mueller and Cole Bursch: Lil Yachty switches it up with a new sound inspired heavily by psychedelic rock. After collaborating with Tame Impala in 2021, Yachty follows in his footsteps with many songs being driven by effect-heavy guitars. The entire album is an ambitious venture blending delay-heavy beats mixed with influence from his traditional type of trap music.

Yachty made some of the best songs of his career, with tracks like “drive ME crazy!” and “sAy sOMETHINg” elevating his credibility both as an artist and a producer. The entire album showcases his unique ability to create songs that mix alternative rock production melodies and hip-hop bars. Whatever your preconceived opinions about Lil Yachty’s music are, listen to “Let’s Start Here.” and then check back in.

“Wallsocket” — Underscores:

Ethan Lambert: April Harper Grey also known as Underscores’s latest concept album, with lyrics depicting multiple points of view in a fictional suburban town in Michigan called Wallsocket, might just be the greatest hyperpop album to date. The album’s tracklist and overarching narrative flow together charmingly, and while the album has its dark moments, what sticks in your head are the insanely well-crafted choruses.

“Old Money Bitch” is among the catchiest songs released in 2023, especially with the looping refrain, “You wouldn’t know it by her disposition/’Cause she comes back around, she comes back around.” The song proves to be especially audacious as Grey revealed in an interview she wrote the song on a banjo. “Locals (Girls Like Us)” is the distillation of what makes this album great by starting as an electronic track before morphing into a rockier direction with the high-octane chorus where Grey screams, “Stop me if you’ve heard this one before/Girls like us are rotten to the core.” Masterful in its production and its pop hooks within a sea of experimentation, Grey has the potential to be the most impactful artist to come out of the hyper-pop scene.

“Gag Order” — Kesha :

Ethan Lambert: Likely the most overlooked album of the year is Kesha’s experimental opus “Gag Order.” Your average music listener may not know she released a new album this year, which is a shame as this is one of the most ambitious albums of the year and Kesha’s most inventive yet. With esteemed producer Rick Rubin as a collaborator on the record, Kesha’s fifth studio album is sonically cohesive and deeply emotional as she continues to flesh out her impeccable talents as a singer and a songwriter.

“Eat the Acid” is haunting and cathartic, and probably the best song she has ever made. The track’s ominous, uncanny organ chords sound like nothing else in contemporary music, they pack such an emotional punch that you can feel all of Kesha’s pain and introspection from the first few seconds of the song. Likewise, Kesha’s vulnerable vocal performance at the track’s beginning is just as impactful. As the song hits its climax a few minutes in, the track becomes transcendental as a heavenly mellotron chord progression comes in, which is later paired with Kesha’s vocals, which are methodically modified with a vocoder — it is a perfect culmination of all the emotion displayed on the track, it is quite literally musical production at its very best.

Over a decade after her commercial peak, the risks Kesha is taking are panning out perfectly. As she continues to break new ground musically, she has proved to be one of the greatest talents of her generation.

“Hypochondriac” — Brakence:

Max Mueller: In his major-label debut, the hyperpop artist creates an extremely unique blend of glitch, rock, and electronic sounds. Technically released in December 2022, this is a release that I kept returning to this year and ended up being my most played of the year. Songs like “intellectual greed” and “deepfake” create an overblown Midwest emo sound that shows off his guitar-playing skills in a way that would be perfect for a mosh pit. On “teeth” you can really hear his talent as a producer bringing together a combination of melodic synths to create an atmospheric sonic palette. His emotionally charged singing is featured prominently on slower, more somber cuts such as “introvert” and the title track, “hypochondriac.” The songs are a lot of fun, and with brakence’s knack for crafting a catchy hook, there is not a chorus on this album that did not get stuck in my head.

“Honey” — Samia

Cole Bursch: Samia showcased her songwriting dominance on her debut album “The Baby” in 2020. Following up such a masterpiece with a stripped-down collection of brutally honest songs, “Honey” tapped into a deeper realm of storytelling than Samia’s previous music. Filled with soaring ballads and melodic jams, “Honey” has a little something for everyone. On the opening track, “Kill Her Freak Out,” Samia channels a righteous rage while recalling a seemingly toxic ex-partner. The song burns bright and deep with elongated melodies and intense lyricism. Samia follows up this daunting opener with my favorite track off the album, “Charm You.” The song bounces with a lovely vocal melody intertwined with guitar and conveys the remorse of past actions. If you only listen to one song though, listen to the title track, “Honey.” A song about going out with your friends when you’re sad, “Honey” is the perfect bittersweet anthem.

“Desire, I want to Turn Into You” — Caroline Polachek

Cole Bursch: Caroline Polachek writes epic pop ballads. On her second full-length solo album “Desire, I want to Turn Into You” Polachek embraces her unique voice with a sprawling array of songs. Highlighted by bangers like “Sunset” and “Welcome to My Island,” the album plays like a modern dance experiment. Each song varies in style while focusing on the vocal delivery and vocal distortion the artist has become known for. It is one of the most interesting and entertaining albums of the year by far.

“Faith Is A Rock” — MIKE, Wiki & The Alchemist

Cole Bursch: New York City underground hip-hop staples Wiki and MIKE come together on this album to deliver one of the more compelling rap albums of the last couple of years. Featuring The Alchemist’s signature production style and interconnected audio clips, “Faith Is A Rock” stands high above the lyrical rap competition with its unique blend of Wiki and MIKE’s flows. Check out songs like “Thug Anthem” and “Scribble Jam” where the rappers showcase their unique flows and storytelling abilities with expertise.

“Voir Dire” — Earl Sweatshirt & The Alchemist

Cole Bursch: My favorite album of the year, Earl Sweatshirt returns to rap excellence with some help from the legendary producer The Alchemist. After a period of more experimental releases, Sweatshirt lays down some of the best bars of his career over impeccably arranged beats by The Alchemist. Standouts like “27 Braids” showcase the rapper’s artistic growth. Sweatshirt uses his insane lyrical powers to tell stories from his most difficult experiences, all while sounding relaxed and focused. For the last couple albums, Sweatshirt reflected deeply on the pain of his youth, but now he has a little more confidence on songs like “Mac Deuce.” Check it out if you haven’t yet.

“Something To Give Each Other” — Troye Sivan

Cole Bursch: Troye Sivan’s first album in five years, “Something To Give Each Other,” acts as a triumphant expression of the singer’s pop songwriting ability. Filled with hits such as “Got Me Started” and “One Of Your Girls,” Sivan basks in the spotlight with ease. Sivan also adds to the allure of his new music with a couple of spicy music videos for the singles, the “Got Me Started” video even got a hilarious shoutout on SNL earlier this fall. Sivan enters a new realm of pop stardom with “Something To Give Each Other” without sacrificing any artistic integrity and the songs are elegant.

Students and staff at P.E.A.S.E. Academy in Dinkytown are working to prepare and support students’ sobriety as they deal with challenges the holiday season can pose to addiction recovery. 

P.E.A.S.E. Academy, which stands for Peers Enjoying A Sober Education, opened its doors in 1989 as a Minnesota Transitions Charter School. Sharing a building with the University Lutheran Church of Hope, P.E.A.S.E. welcomes high school students from around the country to continue their education in a community of sober peers and supportive staff members.

One of those staff members is Michael Durchslag, who has been with P.E.A.S.E. since 1995, worked as a social studies teacher for 11 years and then served two stints as an interim director before becoming director in 2006. 

Durchslag said the ultimate role P.E.A.S.E. plays in students’ recovery is two-fold: to provide “a safe, sober education” and “an opportunity for students to stay engaged in the recovery.”

For some families, Durchslag said, P.E.A.S.E. is simply what keeps their child with them.

“We just had a parent who was just like, ‘Mike, the academics are really important, but we just want our daughter to be alive,’ and that might sound extreme, but for a lot of our families, it is that,” Durchslag said. “It’s that place where students are able to stay alive and thrive.” 

The Minnesota Daily spoke to two P.E.A.S.E. students and will only use their first names to protect the students’ privacy.

Ruby, a senior at P.E.A.S.E., started using drugs at 11 years old, when she tried OxyContin for the first time. After years of hiding her addiction from friends and family, at 15, Ruby began moving sporadically between treatment facilities and group homes. 

In March, Ruby said, it was two overdoses after taking Percocet pills laced with xylazine — a horse tranquilizer drug often fatal when combined with opioids — that sent Ruby to Hazelden Betty Ford, a treatment center in Plymouth, Minnesota and ultimately brought her to P.E.A.S.E. in May of this year. 

“During the SSATs, there’s two sections but you have a 15-minute break in between, so during the 15-minute break, I did more of the heroin,” Ruby said. “All I remember is I went to sit back down at the table to do the SSATs and the next thing I remember the paramedics were over me again.”

Lucy, another senior at P.E.A.S.E., tried marijuana for the first time at 11 years old, wanting to be like her older sister who was also using. She started using more heavily in middle school, encouraged by finding others her age also interested in using. 

By her sophomore year of high school, Lucy was addicted to alcohol and OxyContin. She said a mental health crisis in October of last year is what pushed her to ask for help.

“Last October, I just lost it. I knew I was getting to the point again where I really wanted to take my own life and I kind of was at that point of desperation where I was like, there is nothing, I feel like I’m done,” Lucy said. “Drugs have taken away everything from me, they’re honestly the only friend I have.”

Before attending P.E.A.S.E. and after going to the Hazelden treatment center, Lucy tried to return to her former high school, but she said the familiar environment posed a challenge to her sobriety and inhibited her understanding of her sober self.

“When you’re sober, going back to all those places that you used to use at, seeing all the people you used to use with … and no one really wanted to hang out with me because they only saw my using self,” Lucy said. “They thought I was that person because I hadn’t really been a sober, nice person since I was in middle school, so I didn’t even really know who I was either.”

Initially resistant to being at P.E.A.S.E., Ruby said the school’s community and stabilizing environment are essential to her staying sober.

“P.E.A.S.E. and Hazelden, they’re really the only reason why I’ve been able to have consistent sobriety,” Ruby said. “You want to be sober when you’re around people your age in recovery who also want to be sober.”

Lucy said what differentiated P.E.A.S.E. from any other school or treatment center she had been to was the openness of dialogue and student-to-teacher relationships.

“The first thing that jumped out to me at P.E.A.S.E., like I’d never been to a school that honestly was just so transparent,” Lucy said. “Building those types of connections with teachers, like actual relationships instead of them being your teachers, was a whole new world for me.”

Rufus Brown, the licensed alcohol and drug counselor at P.E.A.S.E., is the students’ point person for dealing with cravings, old using connections, urges to use and their overall emotional well-being. Brown said forming a trusted, transparent relationship between himself and students starts with a rapport.

“In [simple] kinds of conversations about their favorite shows, movies they’ve seen recently or these new little techy apps and stuff they’re trying to teach me,” Brown said. “When we have a connection and rapport, it makes it easier for them to come down [to me] with big-ticket items.”

Despite the supportive and productive environment, P.E.A.S.E. provides students, the holiday season can still pose a challenge to their sobriety. 

Eugene Hall, a resident faculty member in the Master of Professional Studies in Addictions Counseling programs at the University of Minnesota, said returning to triggering family systems is a major challenge recovering addicts face during the holiday season. 

“What happens is with the holidays, we’re spending all this time side by side, and for people, they just can’t catch a breath,” Hall said. “Knowing that for people who are working on their sobriety, needing the space and feeling okay doing so and taking a breath when need be.”

This idea rings true for both Ruby and Lucy. Ruby said last year, Thanksgiving was particularly traumatizing, so going home this year brought a lot of those memories flooding back.

“I got home and it was just so overwhelming. I was so triggered, everything was a trigger to me,” Ruby said. “I couldn’t sleep in my room. I literally had to tell my mom, ‘If you let me out of your sights, I don’t know what will happen.’”

Being able to express her concerns for her well-being to her mom is evidence of the growth she’s made in her sobriety and with P.E.A.S.E., Ruby said.

“Something that sobriety gave me is the ability to be honest and be like, ‘Hey mom, I’m struggling a lot right now, I need you to hold me accountable,’” Ruby said. “Being able to say that to my mother is something that I never thought I’d be able to.”

Lucy also said the holidays are difficult because the celebrations mean being surrounded by substance use, specifically alcohol. Lucy said to prepare for the holidays, she is focusing on setting boundaries to protect her sobriety.

“This is my second Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year’s sober,” Lucy said. “It’s hard because I can’t control what other people do, but it’s my responsibility to control myself and control my responses and reactions.”

According to Durchslag, P.E.A.S.E. works with students before and during the holidays to create an individual plan for maintaining sobriety confidently. 

“Before we go into winter break, they’ll work with their peer support teams, which is kind of our homeroom and they will be intentional over those two weeks with a calendar, here’s different events, here are different meetings and really be intentional what they’re gonna do every single day that engages them in their recovery,” Durchslag said.

Brown says the keys to setting students up to best handle their holiday break is by addressing potential issues directly and creating a plan to navigate overwhelming situations.

“What do I need to be prepared for? What should I anticipate? And then what are going to be my coping skills? Do I have a loving and caring aunt who’s also in recovery that I could kind of shift to and will go for a walk,” Brown said. “If you can talk about it ahead of time, just openly acknowledge this could be a little bit uncomfortable, but I can handle it.”

Come what may of the holidays, students know they can return to the stable and supportive community at P.E.A.S.E. 

Lucy said even through the frustration, anger and adversities of maintaining sobriety, she is confident that she and her fellow students at P.E.A.S.E. will take care of each other in the end.

“No matter what happens in the long run, you only wanna help [another student],” Lucy said. “If someone lashes out at me or isn’t respecting my boundaries I’ll be like, ‘Hey, stop,’ but then I’ll go to our counselor and be like, ‘I think this person needs help,’ and honestly I think anyone would do that for me too.”

Giving students the tools and community they need to productively engage in their sobriety is what P.E.A.S.E. aims to do during school, but especially over holiday breaks when students are confronted with situations that may test their sobriety, according to Durchslag. 

Brown said this encompassing support is the hallmark of the P.E.A.S.E. environment, setting it apart from other schools.

“What’s really different for us from other schools is we are in the life-saving business,” Brown said.

Can men and women be friends?

This question has circulated in the media for years, offering a debatable discourse with many who hold strong opinions on what they believe is true.

While the majority may keep their stances on the subject tucked away in the corners of their minds, some prefer to express their viewpoints for all the world to digest. One of those people is the infamous media personality Andrew Tate.

The former kickboxer and reality TV star sparked controversy not too long ago when multiple clips from a podcast he had been a guest on went viral over TikTok.

Most of the clips featured Tate, as well as podcast host Myron Gaines, explaining very brazenly why friendships between men and women should not exist. This provoked viewers to post their own perspectives, resurfacing the incessant debate, this time in a digital landscape.

I decided to ask a few University of Minnesota students for their opinions regarding the statements made on the “FreshandFit” podcast.

Tate is called on to support claims made by Gaines on the “exploitation” of men by women in cross-sex friendships: “What women do is essentially exploit men into being friends with them, and men stay in this relationship waiting around for something to happen,” Tate said.

“I’m not trying to exploit anybody, I just want a friend,” said Harper Deasy, a first-year student at the University. “It’s not my fault if they wanted something else in the beginning.”

If one party in the friendship has deeper feelings and the other knows this to use to their advantage, this could ultimately lead to the exploitative relationship Tate mentions.

There is a difference between a genuine friendship and an exploitative one. Genuine friends offer authentic support that should be reciprocated within the friendship. When you begin to feel the support you offer is taken for granted or not reciprocated, it can also become exploitative. However, this can happen to anybody and does not solely apply to one gender, contrasting what Tate argued.

“I don’t think women expect anything else from their male friends. I think it’s normal, like what they’d expect from their female friends,” said Brendan Culhane, manager at the Coffman Union Starbucks.

Nevertheless, Gaines claims that men can be just as exploitative, stating that “99%” of men who are friends with women have deceiving intentions.

“I think a small percentage, but I wouldn’t say 99%. If you have a good friendship with them, they should know their boundaries,” said Teni Adekunle-Awomuti, a third-year student at the University.

Studies show when a man and woman begin a friendship together, each assumes the feelings they hold are mutual. If one solely sees the other as a friend, they expect the other to feel the same way. Yet if one is attracted to the other, they assume the other also feels this way towards them.

As a result, if one party expects more and no feelings are being communicated, the friendship is bound to become solely platonic on one side with the other left to expect the possibility of something much more intimate the longer they hang around each other. Once they see a clearer shot of that possibility, they may take it.

This buys into Tate’s idea of deceptive intentions, but not to the same extreme as his stated percentage.

There is no specific gender at fault for exploitation or deception in a cross-sex friendship, but there is still some sort of truth blanketed by their absurd claims. So how does one avoid this in a friendship with the opposite sex?

“Communication goes a long way,” Adekunle-Awomuti said. “There’s no line that can be crossed if you know who your friends are.”

Having boundaries and communication is always an essential part of any relationship. Communication is the most important principle to follow to sustain a healthy connection with somebody.

“It’s a general rule, if you have healthy boundaries and communication, there’s no using the other person,” said Ellie Growe, a third-year student at the University. “If a man is in a friendship with a woman and does have feelings for her, he owes it to himself to say something about it.”

Friendships between a man and woman of course contain differences compared to same-sex friendships.

“Friendship is sharing each other’s feelings, having someone to lean on. I don’t quite get that same energy from male friends,” Deasy said. “I feel like they’ve got more of a wall built up.”

Nonetheless, they can also be just as fulfilling when considering those differences.

“I think my male friends offer a different perspective on life,” Growe said.

Having friends of the opposite sex can spark fresh conversations as well as give you greater insight into things you may never have considered before.

So, contrary to Tate and Gaines, cross-sex friendships are possible to have, but it’s a matter of allowing for direct communication between each other, especially at the start.

As the semester draws to a close, Undergraduate Student Government (USG) President Shashank Murali and Vice President Sara Davis sat down with the Minnesota Daily to discuss their work in the past months.

Fourth-year Murali and third-year Davis, reflected on the semester’s accomplishments and shortcomings while looking toward future plans.

Minnesota Daily: What were your primary goals for USG this semester? How do you feel you’ve made progress on those goals?

Shashank Murali: “As soon as we were elected, figuring out what our thing for the year would be was such a challenge. It felt like we were sort of drifting on the legacy of the Universal Transit Pass and the Fight for 15 campaign and just so many amazing things that happened a couple of years before. At that time, President [Joan] Gabel had resigned. So we understood right away that our big thing was ensuring that the University got a student-focused president in the role, and that’s where our initial advocacy started at the beginning of the year with the Presidential Search Committee letter.”

Sara Davis: “I really felt like we had a good win on the Presidential Search Committee letter because, looking back at the system collaboration that we were able to do, everybody was really cool. Our collaboration with the system campuses and even between USG, the Council of Graduate Students and the Professional Student Government happened in a way that it really hasn’t before.”

Murali: “I think it’s definitely a beautiful moment when you have students across the University of Minnesota system come together for one advocacy initiative. It shows how much students really care about this one very important thing, and I think that’s definitely something to acknowledge. Once that settled down, our main objectives for the year were to tackle food insecurity and work on increasing the student government budget so we have the capacity to do more advocacy than we already do. We’ve made some considerable progress in regards to that. We’ve already selected our co-chairs for both the Food Insecurity Ad-Hoc committee and also the Student Services Fees (SSF) Ad-Hoc committee. SSF in this regard is in reference to the USG budget. Those are in the process of getting approved by our executive board. We’re also hoping to get a couple of referendum questions put onto the all campus elections ballot in March. The SSF committee is tasked with figuring out exactly what those referendum questions will be. We’ve crossed that first threshold that is required, and now things are gonna get a lot more complicated and a lot more intensive as we get that work started.”

Daily: Is there anything you feel you could have improved upon?

Davis: “Bylaws. It’s just one of those things that, because it’s so difficult to do, the second you do it, there’s a sticking point. And so I’m proud of the tenacity we’ve had. We keep bringing this up and we keep having these questions and those conversations, but it’s a lot of repetition every time there’s something new because as you’re reforming it, everybody’s getting their changes in. I’m glad that everybody’s gotten their voices out about that, and that people are feeling their concerns are heard in the bylaws, but I think we wanted to have those a little bit earlier because some of the changes that we were planning on making for this semester were connected to some bylaw changes. We figured we’d give ourselves a couple of months’ window and won’t set those changes right away. We’ll really work on it next semester. Because in case something goes wrong, we’ll still have that wiggle room.”

Murali: “One very comforting thing to know is that there are enough people out there that care to want to delay this longer so we can get it right. So it’s not always a negative but also a positive in a way that people are getting involved and they want to make sure that these bylaws affect the organization positively for the years to come. We’ve had our ups and downs this year, as any organization or any issue administration has. But one thing I think we’ve really been able to do with the help of our amazing chief of staff team is to be able to navigate all of those challenges successfully, and to ensure that even though we have these internal challenges sometimes that we’re not neglecting our actual purpose and our external work.”

Daily: What are your main goals for next semester?

Murali: “Spring semester is really when those Ad-Hoc committees dive into the core of their work. That includes all the student outreach, events and advocacy — a lot of internal work in consultation with student groups, with regular constituents and administration, and in some capacities, local, state and federal government when it comes to food security. So there’s a lot of steps and a lot of layers to this, like a cake, and we’re sort of going layer by layer, and that will really start when spring semester hits. Getting those two big referendums [ballot questions] passed is one of our biggest priorities for the year.”

Davis: “Every presidential team that comes before us says fall semester is the setup. So we’re really plugged into a lot of planning and spring semester is when we trust how incredible our staff is. One thing I definitely want to mention is stuff with the Identity [Dinkytown apartment complex]. We wanted to fix some of the damage that we’d seen from that and the housing insecurity that students faced. There’s some cool stuff that has come out of advocacy to the city council. There’s some city ordinances that have gone through committee and are being voted on soon, which would allow students to break their lease if their apartment isn’t fully constructed by that date, which is really exciting. Then we’re working on pushing for similar things at the state level. We’re hearing a lot of good feedback from the state already that they’re really open to that.”

Murali: “One final note in terms of accomplishing things for the spring semester, is obviously the SSF issues with student groups and the processes they go through. We’re hoping to have multiple meetings with leaders of the SSF distribution process. We hope to continuously have that feedback loop where we have a meeting, take feedback back to them, get new concerns, document things, and bring it back again in hopes that this creates a better environment of conversation and dialogue so that these issues don’t happen again in the future.”

Davis: “And we’re still gonna keep an eye on the presidential search.”

This interview has been edited for clarity, grammar and length.