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Features

FEATURES

U-Fest entertains crowd with local favorites, sumo wrestling

Ben Landes
August 26, 2002

Two sumo wrestlers collided with monstrous force Friday, toppling each other into the unforgiving floor. The silence was broken when muffled laughter from under the excess baggage was liberated as the suit came off and the frail body within stepped out - victorious. The University Activities Board provided 14 free activities for students to lose themselves in at the 26th Annual U-Fest at the Union. The energetic students were allured by the bouncy boxing and sumo wrestling, that students found to be some of the most amusing and embarrassing activities. For the more artistic bunch, there was a craft area, caricatures, airbrush tattoos, wax hands and palm and tarot card readings.

FEATURES

Wharton brings big Broadway to U

Ben Landes
August 24, 2002

Broadway is making a little stop on the MSU campus this year to provide students with an amazing lineup of original and legendary shows.Wharton Center is celebrating its 20th anniversary season and will host six Broadway shows and musicals from September to April.“Basically, we’re bringing back the best of the best for our 20th anniversary - and then adding to it,” public relations manager Bob Hoffman said.

FEATURES

Gaming provides needed escape

Everyone remembers their first time. The fumbling fingers, the nervous sweat and the way you can barely blink as you watch every move that’s happening in front of you, trying to keep up and make a good showing.

FEATURES

Opening planned for mall

Kristofer Karol
August 24, 2002

Developers of the Lansing area’s newest mall, Eastwood Towne Center, will try to capture the interest of MSU students through a spirited campaign.Spartan spirit, that is.Eastwood Towne Center, a mall that has been 15 years in the making, will complete the trifecta of Lansing-area shopping malls starting Sept.

FEATURES

Local groups add to areas drama scene

Ben Landes
August 24, 2002

Though there are several attractions already on campus, Greater Lansing rounds out the theater selection. Lansing is home to three theaters and theater groups that continually produce a diversity of performances. BoarsHead Theater, 425 S.

FEATURES

A Ways Away balances music, academics

Jacquelyne Froeber
August 24, 2002

Even with hectic college schedules, student musicians still find the time to rock out, often starting bands with friends and playing the local party or club scene.A Ways Away was formed by MSU students when they began playing together two years ago and gave birth to a five-member indie rock band with its own passionate sound for fans of all ages.“We usually play for teens 15 and up,” singer, songwriter, guitarist and keyboard player Dan Kostrzewa said.

FEATURES

Gardens help U relax, learn

More than 12-and-a-half acres of gardens on campus provide MSU students and the community with a place to learn and enjoy plants.The Horticultural Demonstration Gardens and the W.J.

FEATURES

Big, small cinemas provide U options

Aaron M. Miller
August 24, 2002

For students worn out by studying, partying or working, movie theaters are a great place to unwind and catch the latest blockbuster. The Lansing area has several options for moviegoers. Celebration Cinema, 200 Edgewood Blvd.

FEATURES

Being an American at heart, foreigner on paper aint easy

Being yourself can be pretty tough these days. It’s hard when all you want is to just be - but certain things stop you from doing that.There’s nothing I want more than to lie my head down at night and know that in a year or so I won’t have to leave a place I love, am comfortable with and that’s a part of me.

FEATURES

Farming frontier

Tara May
August 24, 2002

The scenery changes south of campus.High-rise dormitories and herds of people give way to rolling green rows of crops and massive mooing cows.The senses are relieved from car exhaust fumes and pervaded with scents of fresh grass and cow manure.The tiny one-way turns of campus and traffic circles straighten out and turn into long stretches of rural roads that wind through MSU’s 5,000 acres of farmland.But the roads find their way back to central campus.The research conducted at the expansive farms south of central campus ekes its way back into classrooms, into computers, into the minds and departments of the people at MSU.Mark Collins manages one of the many farms at MSU - the Hancock Turfgrass Research Center, which grows, cultivates and researches thousands of types of grass.“We work to find the ones that fit Michigan best,” Collins said.“We work with grass to give athletes safer playing conditions - and make healthy grass for homeowners that’s more aesthetically pleasing.”The new grass in Spartan Stadium that now graces the footsteps of quarterback Jeff Smoker cost more than $2.5 million and took 18 months of work, Collins said.Workers plant the grass during the fall, since it thrives in cooler temperatures, but researchers work year-round.The turf management farm, with small greens and neatly mowed fields that require daily upkeep, doesn’t look like most of MSU’s farms.The dairy and sheep farms south of campus seem more like the farms students might be used to seeing.

FEATURES

A different sort of fore

Kristina Woiderski
August 24, 2002

The hole, a benign par 3 according to the much-graffitied sign, taunts mercilessly.The fairway - an 8-foot clearing before the trees start in earnest - curves slightly to the right before dropping off sharply, the red flag atop the basket barely visible from the tee.A distinctive “ching!” rings out from what constitutes the green as a disc lands hard in the metal basket.

FEATURES

U no longer provides phones

Tara May
August 24, 2002

The roaring ring from the once-familiar, university-issued manila phones won’t be echoing down dorm halls this fall.Instead, students will have to provide their own telecommunication device.Increased cell-phone use among students has led to a decrease in the use of university-provided long-distance services.