Monday, October 26, 2015

My Opinion on the UND Nickname (Part 3)

Part One: http://northdakotarunner.blogspot.com/2015/07/my-opinion-on-und-nickname.html
Part Two: http://northdakotarunner.blogspot.com/2015/07/my-opinion-on-und-nickname-part-2.html

Big news came out yesterday after the first round of voting for the final nickname that UND will adopt.
1.) The Fighting Hawks had the most votes, and in fact collected almost 1/3 of the total votes.
2.) Only about 27% of eligible voters actually voted.
3.) President Kelley allowed for the Nodaks nickname to continue to the final round of voting, reasoning that because it was only 100-and-some votes short of the second place finisher, Roughriders, it should be brought along. The North Stars and Sundogs were eliminated.

To begin, I was stunned to find out that Fighting Hawks had garnered the most votes. Off the top of my head I cannot name anybody who indicated to me that they would vote for this name, but rather I heard droves of people who would vote for Nodaks. It has been offered to me that many of these votes come from out-of-staters, and while I've noticed that now as well, there's no possible way for me to assert that without some evidence.

What stunned me more was the low turnout. For all the hullabaloo this issue has generated, the voting was frankly pathetic. I will reiterate what I say to people during political elections: if you don't vote, your opinion doesn't hold weight. I don't want to hear your opinion if you refuse to vote and actually contribute to the process. The only exception to this might be those who want to stay 'North Dakota' and refuse to vote out of protest, but even that is beating a dead horse. To those who don't vote because they want the Sioux nickname, believe that the process has been corrupted, and that the Sioux were silenced, I have more to say about that topic later*.

Why didn't people vote? It's sad. UND's spokesman said he was pleased with the turnout because it was the largest online survey response ever. That's one way to spin it, I guess. 27% is still small, no matter how you slice it, especially when the future of the university hangs in the shadows.

Some people are all up-in-arms about President Kelley's allowance of the Nodaks into the final round of voting. First of all, he was in a tough spot. If he keeps it out because that's what the rules said to do, he would take flack from those who would consider him unflexible and tight-fisted. If he allows it to move on, he takes flack from those who accuse him of circumventing the process and imposing his will on the voters. I personally found his decision to be a smart one, because it was so close to Roughriders. Second, who is surprised? We have precedent of Kelley suggesting change on the fly. Remember when the lists of names was being whittled down, and when 'North Dakota' was removed, he claimed that he would consider allowing it back in, even though the committee had already made a decision? Whatever you believe about his motives, this should not have surprised you.

Think back to the public nickname submission process. Remember the hundreds of cool names people came up with? I was excited to see all the creativity and ingenuity people had! As names were whittled down, I noticed that some names were much more bland than others. Unfortunately, my friends, we are close to assuming the blandest name that could have come from that list- The Fighting Hawks. Seriously? It's so generic and boring! But, people claim, I saw this cool Hawk logo on the internet- it kind of looks like the Chicago Blackhawks logo. Well, that's great. It still doesn't alleviate the real problem here- the fact that out of any cool name that we could uniquely label ourselves as, we choose some tasteless, run-of-the-mill nickname. What a waste of time and money.

[Now, I'm going to advocate for my choice of the three- Nodaks. First, we have been the Nodaks before. Second, it has nice flow to it. Last, but far most importantly, it's flexible and unique! I can't tell you how many times I've heard this: "Nodaks is dumb. What the heck is Nodak anyway?" WHO CARES. Nodaks doesn't have to be anything specific. That's something that we can come up with after the vote. We can define what it means to be a Nodak. We can define what a Nodak is. Nobody will mistake our university's nickname or its fan base, because we will have a unique nickname. It will stand out and give people something to talk about. Fighting Hawks is not special and will not draw attention- it's boring and dry. Nodaks is special, unique, flexible, and something we can be ultimately proud of. Vote Nodaks for UND's nickname.]

*As promised, here's a vent I've held in for a long time (there's some sharper tone in here, and I apologize if that bothers you). These past years I've heard so many people claim that they are concerned that the NCAA mistreated the various Sioux tribes, either by ignoring them, denying them autonomy, overstepping them, or generally not caring for their input in any way, shape, or form. Well, I'm touched that people seem to care about this supposed 'Silencing' of the Sioux. But since when do any of you give a rip about the Native Americans? I'll tell you when the Sioux were Silenced: they were silenced 150 years ago when many were killed by US military aggression (we call them 'wars' to justify it), drew up some 'treaties' (you know, like those treaties where one side suppresses the other and stuff), and over time shoved them onto reservations that we drew up for them.

Those of you most avidly voicing your concerns for the Sioux and claiming that you have sympathy for the suppressed people, do you also voice concerns about reservation alcohol and drug abuse? What about their schools? Are you involved in assisting their communities in any way? Surely you must to speak so forcefully on their behalf. I do not claim to understand what any Sioux tribe went through when the NCAA told us to get rid of the nickname. I've never been to a sacred pipe ceremony. I have not spent significant time on any Sioux reservations.Quick question: if I approached you right now, could  you- without the help of technology- name the Sioux tribes involved? Could you identify their leaders that you occasionally bash? Do you regularly consult the people? My guess is you can't. Sure, there are some who can, but they won't be the majority.

My point is this: there are many people who need to admit the obvious- the main reason they are suddenly concerned about the voice of the Sioux people being silenced is entirely due to anger at the Sioux nickname being taken away and the tradition dying. These people are easy to spot. They say things like "Well now that we aren't the Sioux, I guess we don't need to give scholarships to Indians anymore" or "Indians shouldn't be getting any special spots in the med school anymore now because of this", as if this nickname was directly tied to problems of poor education and medical care on some reservations or something. To them, the Sioux people are a convenient addition to their argument, but this comes down to anger over the Sioux nickname. It needs to stop. People need to move on. This whole ordeal WILL go down as a stain in the university's history, and we need to learn from it. What have I learned from this?

1.) I'm never going into politics. What a mess.
2.) People really loved the Sioux nickname.
3.) Convincing people to share your idea in an emotional topic like this is almost impossible.
4.) Some people get angered too easily at things that don't matter.
5.) Social media can be an ugly, ugly place.
6.) The general American public doesn't care or know anything about UND.
7.) NDSU fans will still know us as the Sioux.
8.) We will endure.

So there you have it. We're almost done with this colossal mess. I pray that we can move on. Someday.

-Nate




Saturday, October 17, 2015

Reflections on Cross Country

Today may have been my last cross country race ever.

Next fall I'll be student teaching, and after that full-time teaching. I'll likely coach XC, so that would occupy almost every weekend in the fall. This thought dawned on me a few hours after the race today, so I figured I would reflect (because reflection is one of the best ways to learn, right?) It seems fitting that the weather today was, in the most pure way I can say this- perfect. The temperature hovered around 50 with a bright sun shining through the undisturbed, windless air. Time seemed to move slower today, and the leaves nonchalantly fell to the ground after the night's hard freeze. You could smell the fall everywhere.

Cross country is difficult to describe, at best. Many distance runners love getting on the track and grinding out hard workouts while feeling the heat rise from the track itself, but many more long for the grass races. Cross country is as close as we come in college to true foot-racing. One can think of cross country in the simplest of terms: pick any place ANYWHERE, point to a start line, point to a finish line, and say go. Hills, differing terrain, water, woods, prairie, turns, straightaways, heat, cold, snow, rain, sun, and wind can all be expected at any given place on any given day. The basic idea is that of a school playground- two kids ask a third to start them for a race from point A to point B. Whoever wins gets the bragging rights for the time being until a new challenger arises.

Even the start of a cross country race and the way it's executed is different. In track, people want to hit their splits and are generally afraid of going to the front and taking the lead. In cross country, people sprint to the front from the gun and hammer at each other until all but one have given up hope of winning. Times don't matter in cross country, because all courses are different: some are too long; some are too short; some have surfaces that are too soft; some have surfaces that are too hard; sometimes the weather is too hot, and sometimes it's too cold; the competition is different at every course. The natural unpredictability in cross country makes it all the more exciting.

Cross country can be equally exciting for the fan. Many first-timers learn the hard way that cross country is a dynamic spectator sport- there are no bleachers, no stands, no protection, and you have to move (any sport that is difficult for grandparents to watch has to be unique...right?) But this adds so much more to the race experience! When you're running and you see fans running through an open area trying to catch up to you and cheer for you, how great of a feeling is it to see someone sacrifice like that!

Cross country is also like appearing from a shell. Many people head home during summer months and use the time away from school to train hard and try to be better than the previous year, and once the academic year starts in the fall again, they re-emerge ready to do battle again. Cross country, then, symbolizes the beginning and not the end. Cross country is the first step on the long road to achieving goals for many people, and what a wonderful way to do it!

Cross country takes on an even more interesting role in North Dakota. Cross country season for me is calm morning runs at sunrise and running on grass in cool fall air. Cross country season is a time to enjoy the time of year that the weather is pretty much perfect here. As cross country season begins to fold, the cold and snow come, and the mental training kicks in for the next six months as we try to defeat the cold and wind. After that, it's not long before the mental training of defeating summer heat fires right back. After surviving those nine months of struggle, the golf courses open up to racing, the weather hit the right mark, and the real racing begins.

Perhaps I'm complicating this far more than need be. Then again, perhaps I am not. This was my 11th cross country season, and each one has been worth it more than I would have previously imagined. It started in 7th grade, when I would routinely finish in the bottom third of middle school races. It continued through 9th grade when I had a couple of top-20 finishes in JV races, but my only varsity 5k found me in the bottom 5 of the race. Cross country found me slowly working up to become all-conference and then all-state. Cross country found me going through injuries in college and fighting off sickness for conference meets twice. Cross country found me slowly moving my way up from the back half of D1 races to more in the middle. Cross country found me transition from always wearing under armour shirts and shorts underneath my jersey to just wearing my jersey top and bottom only. Cross country found me racing in snow one week, and 80s with humidity the next. Cross country brought me through North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Montana, and Arizona. Cross country allowed me to meet other people from other teams who shared a similar passion to mine. Cross country each and every year becomes not only a burning passion, but something that I can't seem to find myself ever giving up.

I can't help but think back to after the race today when I was stretching in the open on a perfect fall day. I reflected on after the finish, when I was talking with the only guy in the race to have beaten me. We had run almost the entire race together, and he was simply better than me at the end. Even though it was an incredibly tough race, I had so much joy during it. I exclaimed to him, "That was a lot of fun!"
He looked and me and chuckled. "That's one way to look at it."

Yes, yes it is.

Thanks again, cross country. I already miss you.

-Nate

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Stress Relief

I am a worrier, but usually not to the point where it affects me substantially. However, this past week I was faced with two separate instances that caused me significant stress- one feeling absolutely overwhelmed by life, and the other being treated egregiously by a math exam. In each case, my thoughts swelled to the negative and the sad. It's hard to not let things get us down sometimes in this roller coaster of life.

On Wednesday I was struggling to schedule out my life in such a manner that would give me some breathing room, but also let others in. I wish I could be more specific, but trust me I was stressed. I found myself daydreaming in class, trying to fix problems and salvage situations. I know I can't be alone in this thought process, because I am well aware of how stressful of an environment college life in general can be. Financials, academics, relationships, and personal self-worth can all drive us crazy in ways that not only can we not understand but we sometimes refuse to accept. As cliche as it sounds, it feels like a weight or burden on our shoulders and chest, making it harder to breathe and enjoy our surroundings. 

On Wednesday we had a workout at University Park. During the warmup my mind was still in other places, trying to separate out all the clutter. However, once the workout started my mind cleared. It wasn't that I refused to think about it, but rather that it disappeared from my head. The clouds opened up, my legs moved, my heart rate increased, and I found myself encouraging teammates instead of sulking around. The faster I ran, the better I felt. Only once I had returned to the Athletics Building (the legendary and far too old Hyslop Sports Center) did I recall my day. For the previous hour, I was de-stressed, and even when I returned I felt lighter. 

On Friday (yesterday) I had the great pleasure of finishing off my week of classes with what passes of as by far my worst math exam I've ever taken. As a math major and someone who has excelled in math class over the years, this was tough. About halfway through the exam I could feel the weight of time and the reality of struggle beginning to press down on me. When time ran out and I had to turn in my work, I was ashamed of what I had written. I imagined how the Professor would look with contempt upon what I had turned in. I could already feel judgement from classmates I barely knew and would have no vested interest in my scores. I sensed my GPA dropping, and the wind was sucked from my chest. I know this sounds too emotional, but it was a punch in the face. I staggered to the locker room for my workout, and similar to Wednesday, once I got out on the roads and started talking with teammates (S/O to Connor Danielson), my shoulders perked up and my mood lightened. The air was actually sweeter, which was good because about 45 minutes later I was sucking it in a lot harder than I anticipated! When I got back, I wasn't even worried anymore; the test was behind me, and I could only move upwards from here. 

I know that I'm not the only one to experience this. The paradox is that something physically demanding like running can actually lift our burdens and lessen our stress. This wouldn't normally make much sense, and the more I think about it and try to explain it, the less sense it makes. One thing that pops into my mind is what work is in our lives. When we have to be restless for long periods of time, do we not begin looking for things to do? It's not in our nature to be sedentary, but rather we find joy in our work. Sitting around is fun for a time, but eventually we stand up and find work to delight in. Running has become (and can become) that for many people. We shut off our minds to the troubles surrounding us and let the joy and delight of what we do overtake. For a moment, we are lifted. This reminds me of one of my favorite Bible verses: "A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil" -Ecclesiastes 2:24" 

This is true in so many ways. Find some kind of work that can help you when you are stressed. That way you won't drown in your sulking. 

It's probably worth mentioning that a little prayer can go a long ways too!

P.S. I'm not sure why when I copy and paste something, the background of the text turns white. I have no idea how to make it go away, so I guess it'll just have to look sloppy. I'm human I suppose.

-Nate