95th Forester's Ball (Image from facebook.com)

University of Montana President Royce Engstrom says changes must be made to the Foresters’ Ball if the nearly century-old tradition is to continue.

About 140 students were kicked out of the dance this month for being intoxicated and unruly.

In a Tuesday letter to College of Forestry and Conservation Dean James Burchfield, Engstrom laid out the changes he wants. They include making the event earlier, eliminating venues that encourage inappropriate behavior, having a more manageable attendance size and planning to keep drunk people from entering.

Engstrom also says the dance must be family friendly for at least part of the time and it must be designed to be educational as opposed to a party.

Engstrom set an April 15 deadline to submit a plan for a redesigned ball.

Image from youtube.com

Here’s Peter Christian with the latest Montana sports: MT Griz hosting Lumberjacks tomorrow, high school sports update, Grizzly Scholarship Association holding Fan Appreciation Tailgate Saturday.

Photo courtesy @dino/Flickr

Like most Americans, I start my day with a cup of coffee. I have a cup or two while I’m at work and then maybe a cup when I get home. Sometimes I wonder if it’s good for me to be drinking so much coffee. I’ve done a little research lately, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/31/coffee-healthbenefits_n_1064577.html#s440649&title=Coffee_Or_At, and found that it’s not so bad to drink so much coffee, in fact it can actually be good for you.

1-3 cups per day

Women have a 15 percent lower risk of depression. Men have a 30 percent less chance of getting prostate cancer. Coffee also helps lower the risk of getting Parkinson’s disease by as much as 25 percent.

3-5 cups per day

Women have a 20 percent lower risk of depression. Coffee helps to fight Alzheimer’s disease. It also lowers the chances of getting basal cell carcinoma (the most common cancer in the world) in women by 20%, and it lowers the chances of men getting carcinoma by 9 percent.

6 cups per day

Men have a 60 percent less chance of getting a dangerous form of prostate cancer.

It is important to note that decaf coffee does not have the same health benefits as caffeinated coffee does. Also, with all things, it is important to consume coffee in moderation.

If all these health benefits aren’t enough, it might be helpful to learn that for every extra cup of coffee you drink a day, it lowers your risk of getting type 2 diabetes by 7 percent.

Joy Larson is a mother of four, graduate of The University of Montana, animal lover and writer.

Photo courtesy of put that down/Flickr

If you watch ESPN on a semi-regular basis, you’ve probably seen the NCAA public service announcement that features several former Division I athletes rattling off statistics about student-athlete graduation rates.

At the end of the spot, a women’s basketball player peers into the camera and says, confidently and matter-of-factly, “Still think we’re just a bunch of dumb jocks?”

The facts and figures don’t lie. Despite the “dumb jock” stigma often associated with college athletes, they are ahead of the general student population in many areas.

At The University of Montana, the academic performance of student athletes is probably much more impressive than you would guess. For the past 13 consecutive semesters, Grizzly athletes have maintained an average cumulative GPA above 3.0, with UM’s 272 student-athletes turning in an average GPA of 3.06 for the fall 2011 semester.

That’s a full .15 points higher than the average GPA of 2.9 that was earned by the 10,000-plus undergraduates in UM’s general student population.

On top of that, athletes averaged more credits (13.29 versus 11.84) and earned more perfect 4.0 GPAs (7.7 percent versus 5.4 percent) than the general student population, despite time-consuming commitments like practice, travel and competitions.

Granted, the sports that often get the worst rap for academic performance — football and men’s basketball — didn’t make the list of UM teams with the top five GPAs. That group included women’s cross country (3.69), women’s track and field (3.45), volleyball (3.42), soccer (3.32) and men’s tennis (3.31).  But that just goes to show, you can’t judge a group of almost 300 athletes based on vague stereotypes.

Brooke is a 2010 graduate of The University of Montana, where she ran track and cross country for the Grizzlies. She is currently working as a writer and editor in Missoula.

Okay, enough is enough.  I need to start walking, or taking the bus, or carpooling.  What do you think?  And will you cut back spending on other items to pay for the more expensive gas?  What will you cut back on?

Tha's the Brussells Griffon on the right. Photo courtesy pugfeak/flickr

A friend of mine lives up Sweeney Creek just south of Florence. There’s a sizeable flock of turkeys that frequent the area and his yard. They are bold enough to come up on his deck and eat the cat food. His dog “Wheeza” a miniature Brussells Griffon (fighting weight of 15 #) thinks it’s her assigned duty to keep them off the porch until a couple gang up on her. Then it’s time for a fast retreat to the house.

It was late May and love was in bloom….look at all the names on the birthday list for today; Arlee Weisenberg, 70-from  Angie and the family, Travel Goddess Anita England, Thomas Wheatley, Joanne Ailport, Ruth Bittner, Bear Bjornstad, Heather Robb, DeDe Portlock, Jon Larsen (one heck-of-a-bowler!!), Robin Ogden, and Jared White.

DoctorWho, Flickr

After Hurricane Katrina devastated the Atlantic Coast in 2005, New Orleans, and the region as a whole, gained more prominence in the national and international news, and rightly so.

Check out a list of Missoula Mardi Gras parties here

Although the folks living there have been through a great deal recently, their spirit still shines through. Nowhere is that more evident than in the riotous party known as Mardi Gras.

The origins of Mardi Gras stretch way back into time, thousands of year before the advent of Christianity. It was a wild festival in honor of fertility and the arrival of spring. As Christian emperors began to rule in Rome, the celebrations were integrated into the new faith. ‘Carnival’ became one last crazy party before the austerities of Lent, when people had to give up some, if not all, of the vices they so cherished.

The French were the first European settlers of New Orleans. They brought with them the tradition of carnival, and held Mardi Gras on the North American continent as early as 1699. When the Spanish took over the region later, they promptly outlawed the parties. The festivities were only reinstated after Louisiana was acquired by the United States in 1812.

Many of the costumes and ideas of Mardi Gras come from traditional Catholic carnivals celebrated all over the world, plus a few innovations unique to New Orleans. The krewes, or organizations that host balls and parades as part of the celebrations, were first created in the American South — Southern culture at its finest. The music, marching bands, beads, King Cake and colorful floats evolved over time, making Mardi Gras the grand party that it is today.

[History]

Source: TheFW.com

Photo courtesy of Maria Keays/Flickr

When it comes to technology, Montana has a reputation for being behind the curve. (Remember when we finally got the iPhone? It was pandemonium rivaled only by the announcement that Elton John would perform in Missoula in 2007.)

After seeing this story in the Missoulian, however, I am convinced that Montana is rapidly outgrowing its label as a technologically deficient state.

The article explains the concept of three-dimensional “printing” — a process in which a computerized 3-D design can be instantly recreated as a tangible object through the use of a 3-D “printer.”

It sounds like science fiction, and, for me, conjures up images of a futuristic world in which people don’t shop for manufactured items like household appliances, clothes or shoes; instead, they simply pick a model and “print” whatever they need.

But after looking into this whole 3-D printing thing a little deeper, I’ve realized that the world — and yes, even Montana — might not be that far away from this vision of the future.

The media arts program at the University of Montana has already acquired a 3-D printer, which students use to “give life” to their digital designs. Its name — the MakerBot Thing-O-Matic — might sound like a make-believe invention from a cartoon, but it’s very real. According to the Missoulian article, one student even used the machine to craft a replacement button for his car’s emergency brake, which ended up saving him $140.

At a price of somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,200, it might be awhile before this technology makes the jump from “cutting-edge” to “common household.” But apparently, it’s becoming more and more widespread.

The website www.thingiverse.com provides a catalog of free designs for simple gadgets, candy molds and decorative accessories. In fact, fashion designers have already begun using the online database as a way to promote their work.

At New York’s Fashion Week, designer Asher Levine created a buzz when the models in his runway show donned sunglasses that can be “printed” from a design available on Thingiverse.

It could be the next big thing in the art world — and believe it or not, Montana is already ahead of the curve.

Brooke is a 2010 graduate of The University of Montana, where she ran track and cross country for the Grizzlies. She is currently working as a writer and editor in Missoula.

Photo courtesy of Marit & Toomas Hinnosaar/Flickr

It’s that time of year again — the time when little girls all over the country find their inner shrewd salesperson as they hit the streets to hock their wares.

For most people, any mention of Girl Scout cookies conjures up images of delicious treats with names like Samoas and Tagalongs. For me, Girl Scout cookie season always brings up memories of childhood anxiety and failure. Why? Because I was pretty much the worst cookie salesgirl in the history of Do-Si-Dos.

Sure, I was capable of ringing doorbells and politely asking door openers if they were interested in purchasing a box of cookies. But I had no finesse. No pizzazz. No I-won’t-take-no-for-an-answer attitude. Consequently, I came in last place for cookie sales out of everyone in my entire Brownie troop.

As a result, I have grown up to be a total sucker for kids who sell superfluous products door-to-door. I buy popcorn. I buy bookmarks. I buy candy. And you better believe that I buy Girl Scout cookies.

I’ve always thought of the annual cookie sales-drive as a means of fundraising and teaching young girls the value of hard work. But apparently, the cookie program was recently revamped to put more emphasis on financial literacy and the business principles behind selling cookies. According to a girlscouts.org blog article, troop members learn about customer relations, research and development, marketing, business plans and sales analysis — all by selling boxes of Thin Mints!

Selling cookies seemed complicated and difficult back when I was a Girl Scout; I can’t imagine what it must be like in today’s complex business market. Luckily, these days I find myself on the customer end of the sales transaction. And even though eating cookies won’t earn me any badges, I find it infinitely more enjoyable.

Brooke is a 2010 graduate of The University of Montana, where she ran track and cross country for the Grizzlies. She is currently working as a writer and editor in Missoula.

Kareem recorded the first “triple double” in over 30 years of Grizzly basketball on Saturday night in the big win over Hawaii. 21 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists!!!!!! And what a week this is for Grizzly basketball with Northern Arizona Thursday and Montana State Saturday, leading up to what could be a monster showdown against Weber State next Tuesday the 28th. Keep up the awesome work, fellas. We are mighty proud of you. DB

Photo courtesy of The Humane Society of Western Montana

Lora O’Conner the director of the Humane Society of Western Montana shared this story with me.

This is Missy. She has been at the shelter for over a year now. She has her own Facebook page (Let’s Get Missy Adopted).

The staff at the Humane Society even wear shirts each Friday with a picture of Missy on them.

All in an effort to find her a home.

Missy is a medium hair black female and is five years old. She is spayed, elegant confident and playful.

She is looking for a home where her independence will be appreciated and she prefers a home without other pets. Call the Humane Society of Western Montana at (406) 549-3934 or click here for more information on Missy.

Photo courtesy of katie!@flickr.com

University of Montana officials sent out an e-mail on Friday afternoon to all students and faculty that two sexual assaults were committed against UM students on February 10th. The University has been aggressively looking into sexual assaults for the last few months, even bringing in former Montana Supreme Court Justice Diane Barz to lead the investigation. That e-mail is attached.

TIMELY NOTIFICATION BULLETIN

Possible Threat to the Community

“Your Right to Know”

February 17, 2011

In compliance with the “Timely Notice” provisions of the federal Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act of 1998 the University is giving notice of recently reported disturbing acts of sexual violence reported to have occurred on or near campus.

The University has recently become aware of two possible sexual assaults that took place on Friday, February 10, 2012, on or near campus.  Information received by the University indicates the possible assaults were made by the same male perpetrator. The victims involved are both female; both women report being an acquaintance of the perpetrator and accepting a ride from the perpetrator to their on-campus housing.  In both separate instances, the perpetrator reportedly forced the women to drink alcohol and to possibly ingest illegal drugs and drove the women to a residence near campus and attempted to or did sexually assault them.

Both cases are being investigated by The University of Montana Dean of Students.

It can be assumed that conditions continue to exist that may pose a threat to members and guests of the community. It is the duty of the institution to warn of possible “dangerous conditions” on or near its campus, and at affiliate organizations off campus; an “affirmative duty” exists to warn persons associated with this university of possible peril at the hands of some third party or parties. The University of Montana urges all students to be alert to the possible dangers of accepting rides from acquaintances and strangers and to take steps to protect themselves.

Please forward this notice to your colleagues and post it on appropriate bulletin boards in your area. If you have any information that might be helpful in this investigation or if you witness suspicious behavior on campus, immediately contact the Office of Public Safety at 406-243- 6132.

The investigation is being conducted by the UM Dean of Students Office.

Compare this to the sounds our sister station in Amarillo was able to record, as well as the hundreds of reports from all over the globe.

Can anyone explain what we are possibly hearing? The nearby train tracks? The airport? Aliens?

(UPDATE 2/19: Many people have questions. In my follow up article I take you through the incident and attempt to solve the mystery.)

Photo courtesy of Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The union that represents the state’s snowplow drivers has come to a tentative agreement for the next two years. I spoke with Secretary Treasurer of Teamsters Union Local 2 Dan Doogan on Friday afternoon about the new contract. That interview is attached.

Doogan says the drivers will not get a raise in pay, but will work four ten-hour shifts instead of five eight-hour shifts in order to allow for three day weekends during the summer.

Photo courtesy of Mario Tama/Getty Images

For this, of course, there could be no precedent. A college basketball team forced to move 400 miles from its home campus after one of the nation’s most deadly and costly natural disasters. Going to classes in unfamiliar buildings filled with unfamiliar faces, practicing in any available time slot in any available gym in a city that wasn’t theirs. Living in off-campus apartments, the student-athlete lifestyle of classwork and practice familiar but now turned totally upside down. The New Orleans women’s basketball team arrived in Montana in December 2005 ready for a break from a routine that was in no way routine. The disastrous effects of Hurricane Katrina, which killed over 1,800 people and produced more than $81 billion in damages to the Privateers’ home city, state and region, had forced the relocation of the UNO women’s basketball team to Tyler, Texas.

Since Labor Day they had endured and persevered, writing the textbook on a subject for which there were only blank pages. In December the team bused from Tyler to Dallas, flew to Spokane and bused to Missoula. The demands of school were put on hold during the Christmas break, and all the feelings they associated with Tyler, Texas, were not allowed in their travel bags.

The team was looking forward to some relief and a chance — for the first time that season — to feel like college students on a basketball road trip. What they weren’t expecting — but what they found, according to then women’s basketball coach Amy Champion — was “love. That’s the best way to describe it. We felt really loved.

“To this day, for any of those student-athletes who made that trip, it still brings tears to their eyes.”

Hurricane Katrina started as a tropical depression near the Bahamas in late August 2005. It would be six days before the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history powered its way northwest through the Gulf of Mexico and slammed into the Gulf States, centering on southern Louisiana and New Orleans. Champion was entering her second season at UNO that year and at the time doing everything she could to promote the Privateers. That meant attending functions like charity bowling events, which is where Champion and her team were less than two days before Katrina made landfall.

Like everybody at the bowling alley, they had one eye on the pins and one on the television news reports.

“We were all watching the storm very, very closely. Everybody on campus had already been notified that we may have to evacuate,” Champion, now New Orleans’ director of athletics, recalled this week.

With Katrina gaining strength, the evacuation notice came at 5 p.m. Saturday. Champion and her staff had a window of time measurable in not days but only hours to get her players off campus and out of New Orleans and harm’s way to a spot of safety inland. “Most of our kids were from the Southeast region, so I immediately sent a number of them home in their own cars. We put some on buses and took three to the airport and put them on planes.

“And then I actually had three that went home with me to Jackson, Miss.,” she says.

Katrina made landfall Monday morning. Champion, her staff and her players did what everybody in the region who had taken precautions did. They hunkered down wherever they had landed and watched the horror play out on television.

The early warnings had been grave, but no one could have predicted the damage that ensued, particularly to the city of New Orleans. The trusted levee system failed, and 80 percent of the city flooded.

The Privateers, scattered across the region and without the ability to communicate, were left without a city to which they could safely return.

“No one ever imagined when we left that it would be weeks before we got back to the city. I didn’t return to my home until November,” Champion says.

“It was just true devastation and pretty overwhelming in general. The storm wiped out communication in the region, so we lost touch with our kids and the entire department for six or seven days.

“Basketball was the last thing on our minds at that point.”

But still, soon after Katrina had bullied her way north and finally run out of steam near the Great Lakes, the questions had to be asked by somebody. Would there even be athletics at New Orleans that year? Should there be? Could there be? And how?

Looking back four years to 9/11 and the healing that was speeded up by a return of sports to the national scene, the director of athletics and the UNO chancellor made the decision that the school’s seasons needed to go on.

Amid the region’s destruction, maybe something as simple as the sound of a ball bouncing on a hardwood floor could generate a feeling of normalcy and provide a small diversion from the monumental effort everyone was facing of returning the UNO campus and New Orleans to what they had been just days before.

Without a functioning campus to return to, the New Orleans men’s and women’s basketball teams were relocated to Tyler, where they were immediately enrolled in classes at UT-Tyler and set up in off-campus apartments.

The campus was welcoming, but the Privateers were still interlopers. They tried to move forward with their season as best they could.

“We practiced anywhere we could that fall,” Champion says. “Volleyball was in season and UT-Tyler had its basketball teams that needed to practice, so we were fourth and fifth down the line to get practice times.

“We practiced anywhere from 5 a.m. to 10 o’clock at night, and used every facility in town, even church gyms.”

The Privateers became a team without a home. A game against Nicholls State was played at UTT’s Herrington Patriot Center. That would be as close to a home game as New Orleans would enjoy leading up to its trip to Montana for the Holiday Classic.

After 10 games and nine losses, after a semester of trying to balance classes at UTT with some newly formed online classes at UNO, after doing the best it could under the circumstances for which it had no control and no guide, the team packed its bags and headed to Montana.

“It was a trip we were really looking forward to, even before Katrina. A number of our student-athletes had never been out of the South. We thought it was going to be a fantastic trip,” Champion says.

Because of Katrina and the relocation and all the challenges of the previous four months, the trip took on new meaning. It would only last a few days, but the trip would finally simplify their lives to 1) the team and 2) basketball, with a heavy emphasis on the former.

“It was a trip we thought could provide a little relief, a little fun and some bonding,” Champion says.

“Having gone through everything leading up to that, it was a trip we thought we could go on and take a deep breath and really enjoy.”

They arrived in Missoula feeling forgotten. They were a small band of staff and players that had been both hardened and worn out by the fall’s events. They arrived with an us-against-the-world mentality, and in Missoula they received something they were least expecting. They found a sense of family.

The history books will remember the 26th Lady Griz Holiday Classic as being Montana’s 23rd tournament championship. There was a semifinal victory over New Orleans and a championship game win over UNC Asheville. North Dakota State was also in the field.

Montana sophomore Dana Conway earned MVP honors. Freshman Mandy Morales was named to the all-tournament team. New Orleans went 0-2 at the tournament to drop to 1-11 for the season.

But history books are limited. They can’t record emotions, and their narrow focus on the black and white misses the beautiful memories that reside in the gray areas in between.

More than six years later, Champion, in a recent email to UM Director of Athletics Jim O’Day, can still recall in emotional and vivid detail her team’s trip to Missoula.

-Reflecting back on that time in my life, my student-athletes’ lives and my staff’s lives brings back some very moving moments, and being a participant in the tournament that year will be a memory we will never forget.

To this day I will never forget the warm welcome from you and your staff the moment we arrived on campus.

The day the tournament began, you pulled me aside at our shoot-around and said, “Tonight we are placing collection buckets at each entrance to our facility for our fans to donate money to your program.”

I fought hard to hold back the tears, knowing you were averaging over 4,000 fans per game. All I could do was hug you and thank you for this wonderful gesture and gift.

When the first game began, I watched in amazement as the fans piled in. Then halftime came and the announcement was made for our team to come to half court. The public address announcer told our story of loss and grief, of our challenges and struggles. I glanced around at my staff and players, and there was not a dry face among them, including my own.

When the announcer finished, your fans rose to their feet, and their support through their applause for our university, our department, our kids and our city was amazing.

That was the loudest applause any of us had ever heard, and to this day I still hear it. I will never forget it. What an incredible experience for us at that time in our lives.

I still get emotional retelling the story, and when you ask the players from that team today about their experience at the University of Montana, they too shed tears. It was a true display of love and support for us just being there and having survived.

We traveled that entire year, but for some reason that trip brought us closer together. And it was because of the support that Missoula showed for us. It will forever be in our minds and hearts. Go Griz!!!

—–

UNO would finish that season 3-25, and if she could go back and be the one to make the decision with the hindsight she now enjoys, Champion would not have played that season.

The challenges of relocating to a new city and a new school were difficult enough. Those were compounded by trying to force a basketball season into a tableau that could hardly support it.

But the Privateers persevered. The season had a dozen lows for each single high, but that’s what made the few highs so memorable.

“It was really difficult for our student-athletes to have any sense of normalcy whatsoever during that time,” Champion says. “There was not a normal day in their lives for seven or eight months.

“But there were some positives that came out of it. The tournament in Missoula was definitely one of them.”

Larry Busacca, Getty Images

After Chris Brown was given the stage for not one but two Grammy performances this year, Miranda Lambert has had no problem stepping up to let her fans know how she feels about the hip-hop artist and his past as an abuser. Not only did she tweet several times with her feelings on the matter, but Lambert finally took her anger to the stage at a show this week, as seen in the below video Taste of Country received from a fan.

Walking to the front of the stage, Lambert picked up a giant green poster from an audience member in the front row. Holding the poster up, she asserted into the mic, “Nothing else needs to be said tonight, ladies and gentlemen,” revealing the neon sign that reads: “Take note Chris Brown.” What the country star would like Brown to note are the lyrics to her female-empowered song ‘Gunpowder and Lead,’ which tells the story of a woman getting back at her abusive husband once and for all.

In the clip, Lambert can be seen encouraging her fans to get a good picture of her holding the sign, and she even takes some time to carefully display it as she calls out Brown by name and adds, “Beatin’ up on a woman is never OK, so that’s why my daddy taught me early on in life how to use a shotgun.” From there, she launches into the song about revenge, getting fans excited by its new connotation.

Earlier this week, Lambert tweeted her surprise about Brown’s Grammy appearance, saying, “Not cool that we act like that didn’t happen. He needs to listen to Gunpowder and lead and be put back in his place. Not at the Grammys.” Brown later responded, not directly to Lambert, but to the media in general, saying “DEAR MEDIA.. Ur plan is not working.. I’m not going anywhere so get used to me.” Perhaps the media will have to get used to Brown’s public appearances, but there’s one blond country power princess who’s not letting him off that easily.

Watch Miranda Lambert Speak Against Chris Brown in Concert

Source: TasteofCountry.com