Verve Blogs
The art in film history: A passion for the classics
When I was a junior in high school there was a class offered called American Film History. In my mind, that meant an entire hour every day dedicated to watching movies, which was a lot better than an hour of Chemistry. But what I didn’t know when I signed up for this class was that […]
Cooking without class: A vegetarian experiment
Every time I tell someone I occasionally dive into the art of vegan cooking, I get some peculiar looks. In the Midwest, there is a lot of pressure to eat meat, dairy and eggs. For the most part, eating a plant-based diet is unusual around here, but I can’t resist an adventure into the land of […]
The Little Pour on the Prairie: Art students participate in iron pour
Timing is everything. Shortly after being accepted into the Master of Fine Arts graduate program at the University of South Dakota, I had the opportunity to participate in a grant project overseen by Jordan Eaton, a Bachelor of Fine Arts graduate. Eaton wrote and received the grant in 2012 and has spent the past few years […]
Don’t shrug off Midwest hospitality, embrace the one-of-a-kind trait
As the Boeing 747 touched down in Minneapolis-St. Paul, returning me — and nearly all of my worldly possessions, stuffed haphazardly into three separate suitcases — onto American soil for the first time in over 12 months, I was unsure what to expect. Fanfare? A welcoming committee? Simon and Garfunkel singing either “America” or “Homeward Bound?” Was […]
‘Noah’ digs deeper into biblical story
Lots of people know the story of Noah’s Ark. Or do we? The latest adaptation starring Russell Crowe digs deeper into the story. For starters, this film is directed by Darren Aronofsky of “Black Swan” fame, so this is going to get complicated. Noah, as depicted in the film, was a man who would put […]
Trends to avoid this spring
Some rules are simply meant to be broken. There are so many “what’s hot” and “what’s not” articles out there, but it may be difficult to decide, as a college student, what to actually listen to. There are also those unwritten rules everyone should follow. When someone fails to obey these, the “offender” can get […]
Don’t bet on a South Dakota spring
“South Dakota? You know it gets cold there, right?” This is what more than a few people back home said to me when they heard I was coming to school here. At the time, I thought it was pretty stupid. The only difference between the weather here and in Illinois was that Illinois got it […]
Initial excitement leads to roadtrip
All through my college career I’ve dreamed of car ownership. The thrill of not having to bum a ride off my roommate to go to Walmart was my equivalent of the American dream. Two-and-a-half years of purgatory and my dream became a reality. I was inheriting my dad’s car after my folks bought electric cars […]
Staying single isn’t radical, it should be embraced
Once upon a time, I wrote a column on this exact same subject matter. It’s been over three years now. I’ve become a very different person since then. I think it would do me well to revisit this idea, given the circumstances I find myself in now. The issue at hand is the radical notion […]