Murphy Square

You can submit to the 2012 edition of Murphy Square through Friday, Feb. 3. Email murphysquare@augsburg.edu with your art or written work attached as a document. Your name should not be on the file. Put your name and the title of the work in the body of the email. Email olsoncar@augsburg.edu with questions.

Pictured here is the Murphy Square editorial staff.

Murphy Square has been a part of the Augsburg Community for over 35 years. This literary and art journal has provided hundreds of students the opportunity not only to share their writing and art, but also to experience work as editors. Many professional writers had their first editing experience and publication in a student magazine. Murphy Square is a fine example of the power of a liberal arts education!

Cary Waterman, Professor of English

Murphy Square is the greatest opportunity a writer or artist has to begin their career, because submitting to galleries, contests, newspapers, publishing companies and other literary journals is what a working writer or artist has to do in life. Why not start now?”

Brianna Olson-Carr, Theater and English, Senior

Writing helps the writer see their own thinking. This is what I love best about writing.”

Nou Yang, English, Senior

Art is so important to us as human beings. There is no better way to communicate emotion than through the reading of others’ writing and the expression of visual art, and Murphy Square brings our entire Augsburg community together to express and feel and share with each other.

Will Trembley, English, Senior

Art brings us entertainment, passion and clarity by imitating our lives. Murphy Square brings these snippets of our lives into a collection of what it means to be an Augsburg Student living in thriving city.

Josh Jones, Theatre, First-year

As college students, a lot of us are still unsure about where exactly life is going to take us. However, the opportunity to see our name in print on something that we are proud of can provide the motivation we need to push through the hardships and self-doubt and allow ourselves to be who we really are.

Laura Morales, Spanish and English, Senior

Murphy Square is not only a place where anyone can get his or her work published and read by the entire Augsburg community, but it is a highly valuable learning experience for students who want to learn the process of editing, putting together, and publishing a professional quality journal. Being on the editorial board of Murphy Square is like participating in a year-long publishing and editing course during which the board members gain leadership, management, and marketing skills that will be applicable to any future real world situation.

Dalia Teodonno, English, Sophomore

Writing is not just some hobby I enjoy doing in my spare time, it is something that is a part of me as an individual and “what I bring to the table.” It is something that allows any one of us to express what we are truly thinking and feeling at any given time and then gives us a chance to share those ideas and understandings with the rest of the world. Murphy Square is imperative to Augsburg because it is a collection of publications which tell a story of that year, years prior, and many years to come, and is the means for many students who want to leave their footprint for the rest of the years to come.

Bryan Rassat, English, Senior

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The journalist and UCC minister was working on a book and heard that Augsburg College was an antidote to the problem he’d been exploring. His question is it possible to offer experiences in the religious marketplace that genuinely shape the heart and character of others?

Recently MacDonald returned to Augsburg, published book in hand, to talk about his work. Thieves in the Temple: The Christian Church and the Selling of the American Soul was released in spring 2010.

“Augsburg was the antidote to the problem I was writing about,” MacDonald said in an address to the Augsburg community. He said that the market-driven religious experience is focused on providing comfort, even therapy and coddling. He wondered, “Is there anywhere where people choose paths of costly discipleship?”

Chapter six, “Signs of Hope in the New Religious Marketplace,” details the hope MacDonald found at Augsburg specifically in the curricular approach to exploring vocation as well as in the programs of the Center for Global Education.

While conducting research for his book, MacDonald met with faculty and students who had studied abroad through CGE. Instead of wanting to build a school or participate in service work, he said participants in CGE’s programs spent their time learning about the experience of people they met. “They said, ‘Let’s settle in, slow down, and get to know people before rushing in to solve their problems,'” MacDonald recalled.

What resulted, MacDonald said, is that students saw the pain and shame of others but also experienced their joy. “They saw and heard and smelled, and they said, ‘I want more of this.'” MacDonald was impressed that students were not only committed to returning to the countries they visited but also to engaging in service within their own communities in the states.

That is precisely the kind of the costly discipleship MacDonald found students openly embracing at Augsburg College.

“At Augsburg, people are discovering why they should choose suffering. They are taking the step to know the pain and suffering of others, and therefore bringing compassion into their own lives.”

Read more about G. Jeffrey MacDonald and Thieves in the Temple on the author’s .

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This semester, students in SBS 100: Environmental Connections have studied how food fits into both our socio-economic and ecological systems. This Wednesday, they will put that knowledge into action as the class members will serve a meal that they helped the A’viands staff prepare. The entire Augsburg community is invited to share this “grub” with the class. The menu was chosen based on how the food was produced and transported.

Some of the ingredients were grown on campus. Almost all of the items were produced locally. Special consideration was placed on supporting suppliers that use environmentally friendly practices and pay employees a fair wage.

The meal–which is part of the final exam for the students–is meant to inform members of the Augsburg community about the environmental and social impact of the food we eat.

The course syllabus spells out rather simply the goals of the class: This year our focus is on food–what we eat, where it comes from, and the effects of food production and consumption on bodily, community, and planetary health.

To reach that point, students in Environmental Connections, the introductory course to Augsburg’s new environmental studies major, have learned about the history, economics, sociology, math, and science behind food and food production. They planted seeds in Augsburg’s greenhouse and are harvesting the fruits of their labors on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning prior to the lunch. The class also visited local farmers markets and co-ops.

Richmond Appleton, a senior environmental studies major and Peter Klink [pictured left], a first-year studying marketing and environmental studies, said the class has been enlightening. “Most of the food we eat has a huge impact on the environment, like just one cup of coffee,” Appleton said. The class visited the Peace Coffee Company in Minneapolis to learn about the impact of coffee and the company’s efforts to promote sustainability and fair/free trade. Peace Coffee delivers all coffee within 20 miles of its South Minneapolis location by bike and delivers the remainder in a van powered by biodiesel. All employees receive a fair wage and are able to travel to the countries where their coffee is grown and produced in order to learn firsthand about its production.

Appleton and Klink also said the class was surprised to learn that more than 60 percent of the carbon found in our hair comes from corn. This is due to the preponderance of corn additives, particularly the ubiquitous high fructose corn syrup, found in our food. (http://asap.sustainability.uiuc.edu/)

The class, which is being co-taught by Michael Lansing (history) and Joe Underhill (political science), has featured guest lectures from professors across campus. For example, John Zobitz, an assistant professor of mathematics, talked about the carbon cost of food. “Determining ‘how far’ food travels from farm to plate is a challenge to quantify because of the many different ways food can be transported and processed,” Zobitz said.

Prior to Zobitz’ lecture, students analyzed their diet for a week and determined what proportion came from particular food groups. They then calculated the average distance their food traveled based on a recent published study. Students also determined the carbon footprint (or total emissions) for their food choices and discussed how different diet choices affect the emissions output of food and how to quantify a local diet.

The course also focused on food justice issues such as “food deserts” and out-of-balance food environments. In neighborhoods without grocery stores where most readily available food comes from fast food restaurants and convenience stores, residents are unable to make healthy choices. One study conducted by the Mari Galagher Research & Consulting Group in Chicago found that in these areas residents are more likely to die prematurely and at greater rates from diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular diseases and to suffer from obesity and hypertension.

Students have also spent a lot of time in class talking about changing habits. “Changing what you eat is hard when you are a student,” Klink said. “We’ve struggled with how to do that,” Klink said, “because making one change hurts others. For example, if we all quit eating meat, people in the meat industry lose jobs.”

Wednesday’s menu (some items subject to change)

• Radish soup
• Mesclun salad with local greens & spinach
• Free range chicken
• Walleye chowder
• Shepherd’s pie with winter vegetables (kale, beets, chard, winter squash)
• Pumpkin ice cream from Izzy’s and Kemps
• Caramel apple crumble pie
• Apple cider (hot and cold) from Nesbitt’s Orchard

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