Anyways, thanks for coming back, is what I’m trying to say.

The somewhat sketchy outside view of Altu's. Don't let it discourage you.

This month I decided to check out an Ethiopian place, Altu’s, that’s just off campus, west down Michigan Avenue. Ethiopian is really popular in D.C., and I tried it for the first time when I was there. I loved it, so this month I turned to my trusty Yelp! to try and find somewhere to get it in the East Lansing area. Only two options came up – Altu’s, and weirdly, a place in Ann Arbor (which had 3.5 starts to Altu’s 4, just another way East Lansing owns Ann Arbor), which means there can’t be too many Ethiopian restaurants around if the second closest place is an hour away.

On one hand, I’m glad I can help introduce people to a new kind of cuisine, and one the other WTF Michigan?? Ethiopian is super popular in the bigger cities, and I like to think of Michigan, and especially the college areas, as pretty cultured and diverse. Let’s step it up guys. There’s more than Tex-Mex out there.

Ethiopian food involves a lot of stew-like dishes, usually spicy (but you can almost always order them mild if you prefer), that are served with a spongy, sourdough-ish bread called injera. The injera is used to scoop up the meat and veggies, as Ethiopian food is intended to be eaten with your hands instead of silverware.

Don’t be lame and let this scare you away. Eating with your hands is fun, trendy (see a recent story in the New York Times: http://nyti.ms/xoMADN) and a cool way to try out an element of a traditional culture that you might not be that familiar with. Take a date there, and it will give you something interesting to talk about, or teasingly mock him/her about if they suck at it. Hopefully they won’t since it’s pretty easy, but who knows, maybe your date is motor-skill deficient. And if you’re really set against the eating-with-your-hands thing, you can always ask for silverware – the restaurant is bound to have some for super American Americans like you.

Back to Altu’s. I wasn’t expecting it to measure up to the Ethiopian I’d had in D.C., being nowhere near as popular in Michigan, but it totally did. You guys, it was so good. Which actually makes more sense now that I’ve done a little more research on the place. The owner, Altu Tadesse, was born and raised in Ethiopia, and opened the restaurant when her husband accepted a job at Michigan State. She doesn’t just own the place, she’s in charge of the cooking too, so you can be sure your food will be authentic.

If you want to check out your options before heading over, the menu (with prices – dinner ranges from about $8 to $12, slightly more if you get a bigger plate to share) is available on the restaurant’s website, eatataltus.com. I got a combo with spicy chicken stew and garlic lentils and OMG LOL as my dad would say (he doesn’t understand popular acronyms). First off, all the meals come with salad, cabbage and of course injera bread, in addition to the main dishes. If you like, you can have rice instead of the bread, or do half-rice, half-bread (which I did just so I could report back to you guys on the best choice).

The salad, although it was just a small amount, a basically just lettuce and tomato with a vinagrette dressing, was super fresh and very good. I wished I had had twice as much. As for the cabbage, usually I’m not fan, but I actually like what was served with my meal. It was buttery and flavorful, but not super cabbage-y if that makes sense. Still, it wasn’t my favorite part of the meal. My friend who came with me loved it though, and in her words, “I’m not a cabbage girl.” Put that on a bumper sticker.

On to the main dishes. My chicken was delicious – pretty much exactly what I had expected from my prior experiences

Salt and...berbere?

with Ethiopian food. It was tender and spicy (but not like Tabasco spicy, more like a slow-growing, lasts-for-an-hour-after-the-meal kind of spicy) and went really well with the slightly sour injera bread. There’s a spice mixture used in a lot of Ethiopian cooking called berbere that was used on the chicken and you’ll probably run into if you try Ethiopian food anywhere – it’s a combination of chili powder, garlic, pepper, dried basil and other, less-known spices like rue, korarima and fenugreek. It’s so ubiquitous, that instead of salt and pepper shakers on the table, there was one shaker filled with salt, and one filled with berbere.

My lentils were good, but not as flavorful as the chicken. I expected a strong garlic taste, but it was much more subtle, and almost hard to detect when combined with the injera, which has its own flavor. If you’re going for a vegetarian dish, I would suggest going with the half-rice, half-bread option. The blander rice allows you to taste the veggie dishes better, but the definitely try the bread – it’s traditional and interesting and like I said, fun to eat with.

Salad, cabbage, injera bread, spicy lentils, whole white peas and potatoes, spicy ground peas with greens and chickpea sauce.

My friend went for the vegetarian combo, which is a really nice option because you can choose any four of the veggie options, which gives you a chance to try a variety of things. She went with the spicy lentils, the whole white peas and potatoes, the spicy ground peas with greens and the chickpea sauce. She said the spice lentils and spicy ground peas with greens kind of ran together since they both were flavored with the berbere, and that her favorite was the white peas with potatoes which she said were slightly sweeter, with an almost squash-like texture and taste. The chickpea sauce, she said, was a little bland, but went the best with the injera. I tried all of her dishes (and ate the leftovers today) and my favorite was the spicy ground peas with greens, which were spicy and flavorful, with a little more texture than the white peas or chickpeas.

On Saturday nights at Altu’s they have live music, which was cool, but a little annoying when it got loud enough to make our conversation difficult. Also, we were slightly confused because the band was definitely bluegrass-y, when we would have expected something African or at least not so…American. But they were good, and obviously local, so it’s kind of cool that Altu’s is giving local musicians a place to play every week. But still. Weird.

My conclusions about this place:

-       OMG LOL it’s good

-       Great place for vegetarians, lots of the hearty and diverse choices

-       Eating with your hands is highly underrated

-       I love berbere

-       Ethiopian food + bluegrass music = odd, but overall not unpleasant

The Barnes and Noble located on the corner of Grand River  and Charles Street  here in East Lansing is closing its doors on December 31. Barnes and Noble had just recently celebrated their 10 year anniversary at that location in September.

“I think that this will be a big loss to the city. It is an ideal set up for East Lansing and I hate to see it go,” said R. Dale Wilson, professor of marketing at MSU.

“Barnes and Noble is a place to read, browse and socialize. It is a retail anchor in East Lansing. I will miss it,” said Patricia Huddleston, professor of retailing.

While the reason for the closure is unknown, the vice president of development at Barnes and Noble David Deason did release a statement saying, “The current lease is at its end of term and we will be closing the store at the end of this year.”

Photo Credit: Julia Grippe

The company is keeping pretty tight lipped about the reason for the closure. While Barnes and Noble employees were questioned, they declined to comment on the story. It is known, however that the company and the building owner were unable to agree on the cost of a new lease for the upcoming year, which played a role in the closing of the store.

Huddleston speculates that this Barnes and Noble was one of their less profitable stores to begin with and that parking is a big issue. “If you do not have campus parking, or are on foot, you have to pay for parking. This makes the location of the store less convenient.”

“Many citizens of East Lansing will be disappointed by the closure, and wish that the two could’ve came to an agreement on the leasing price,” said Wilson.

The reaction to the closure of the store will most likely vary from person to person depending on who you ask. Both elementary education freshman Caitlin Karram and Lyman Briggs Freshman Darren Donnelly were not aware of the closing, but were also not very upset that Barnes and Noble will be closing.

“I would rather buy books online, it is easier,” Donnelly said. This brings up the debate on whether online shopping and e-readers will end up putting traditional books stores out of business.

“We are in the transition mode from traditional to online retailers, consumer preference is hurting their business,” Wilson stated.

On the other hand, biochemistry freshman Alek Guettler and Lyman Briggs freshman Breanna Borg were shocked to hear the news.

“I am very upset and very surprised,” Borg said.

With the closing of Barnes and Noble in a prime retail space and one of the biggest buildings on Grand River,  it may make people wonder how long will it be until another business will take its’ place, and what that  business  will be. Jacobson’s Department store was located in that building before Barnes and Noble moved into it.

Photo Credit: Julia Grippe

“It will be hard to find one retailer to take over the space. It may have to be subdivide,” offered Wilson.

While agreeing with Wilson that a good option for the building would be to subdivide it, Huddleston suggested that, “It might be interesting to subdivide the building as an incubator for local entrepreneurs to start up a business and merchandise their stuff; this could be a creative way to use the space.”

Some of the students on campus also shared what they might like to see open up in the vacated building once Barnes and Noble is gone.

“I would love to see another book store open there. I think that location is great for books,” said Guettler.

“I want to see a nice sit down restaurant go into the building,” Karram said. Even with many different ideas on what will fill the newly vacated building once Barnes and Noble is gone, both Wilson and Huddleston agreed that it will be hard to say how long the building will stay unoccupied.

With the closing of Barnes and Noble creeping closer by the day, whether you are upset or indifferent about the closing it is becoming apparent that the citizens of East Lansing will need to find a new place where they can buy books and music while also spending a quiet afternoon wandering through the shelves, or  to study silently.

“We will lose a convenient place for students and faculty of Michigan State to buy non-school books,” Huddleston said. Schuler Books and Music will now be the closet major book store to campus. It is located in the Meridian Mall.

New Aladdin's Restaurant, located in Frandor

Welcome back to Tengo Hambre. At least, I hope you’ve come back. I hope you didn’t read my first column and realize the truth (that I’m extremely underqualified to review restaurants) (that I should buy a thesaurus) (that I’m mostly motivated by hunger instead of journalistic integrity).

Either way, if you’re here, thanks. I appreciate it.

In Round 2 of this great experiment, I tried to make it a little easier for you guys, and I split the distance between East Lansing and Lansing to go hang out in that monstrosity of a strip mall called Frandor.

If you’ve ever been to Frandor, you know that it must have been designed by some civil engineer who either barely graduated community college or who was really smart but had an evil streak. It’s like a series of interconnected parking lots with no real way to get from one to another so you just kinda have to make it up. A successful trip to Frandor depends as much on your knowledge of sign language (to communicate with the other poor souls who find themselves there) as it does your driving ability.

But if you can get past the potential for a few minor traffic accidents, there’s some pretty good things in Frandor. Michaels – for supplies to decorate your beer pong table. A Coney Island – a good alternative for Saturday/Sunday hangover breakfast that not as many students go to. A slightly sketchy Kroger – for groceries when you just can’t take going to Meijer one more time. And of course, my destination: New Aladdin’s Restaurant, for Middle Eastern food.

When my friends and I set off for Aladdin’s, we had high hopes. It had earned 4.5 starts on Yelp! (with the all-important lone dollar sign under the price section) and great reviews about both the food and the service. And for me, it pretty much fulfilled those expectations. For my friends – some yes, some no.

We went on a Saturday night, and although it was far from full, there were enough people there to not make us nervous. We were the only students, which is pretty much standard, I’ve noticed, for places off Grand River.

The menu was pretty extensive, and pretty well priced. Pretty much anything you would want or expect from a Middle Eastern restaurant was available (with an optional side of fries – always a plus).

Three of us ordered entrees, (the ones we got were all around $8-$9, but the more expensive ones got up to about $15) and one ordered a sandwich (which was around $5). All of them came with a side (soup or salad) and the entrees included hummus and pita, which came out almost immediately after we ordered.

On the hummus front, we were divided. I thought it was pretty standard, good but nothing special, but others thought it was some of the best they’d had in a while and complimented it on being super fresh. There definitely was a lot of it, which was nice, because it lasted throughout my whole meal – which also arrived really quickly, by the way.

Clockwise from left: Fattoush salad, lentil soup, hummus, tabouli

We all ended up getting different sides (ideal for you readers out there just dying to know more about New Aladdin’s). I got the fattoush salad, with romaine, tomato, green pepper and toasted pita bits. It was hands down the best part of my meal. I could tell it was super fresh, and it had this light, lemony vinaigrette dressing that I wished I could have bought a gallon of because I would eat it on every salad for the rest of my life. Seriously.

My three friends got the tabouli salad (also super fresh, though a bit too onion-y for some of us, but perfect for others), a lentil soup (a little too lemon-y, my friend thought, but otherwise good) and one daring (aka hungover) soul went for the French fries. The one I tried was a little mushy, but I guess that’s what you get for ordering fries at a Middle Eastern place.

On to the main course. I had the yes, conservative, but ultimately good choice of chicken shwarma over rice. It was literally that – just chicken and rice – but it was really, really good. The rice was perfectly cooked, the chicken was well-spiced and delicious, and there was a lot of it. The leftovers are sitting in my fridge right now, calling to me, but I told myself I have to finish writing this before I eat them.

Chicken shwarma

My friends had varying experiences with their meals. One got the eggplant and falafel sandwich which she described as “dense” (whatever that means – I told her you guys need more varied descriptors than that but she wasn’t having it) but good. She added some turnip from another plate that she said broke it up well. The second got a vegetarian combo, which included grape leaves, falafel and mujadara (a rice, lentil, onion combination). This was not as much of a success. The falafel was deemed “nothing special – a little dry”, the mujadara “kind of flavorless” and finally – and I quote – the grape leaves were so lemony that eating them was “like sucking on a lemon-chamomile tea bag.” So. You might not want to order the grape leaves.

My last friend had kind of a terrible experience. I’m hesitant to write about it too much because I don’t think it’s typical of the restaurant but I don’t want to gloss over it, either. She ordered vegetarian cabbage rolls, which she thought tasted a little weird, but ate anyways. As we were paying, our waitress came over and apologized because – psych – the kitchen had messed up and given her the meat version. The waitress and the owner were super distraught and apologetic and rightfully didn’t make her pay, but my friend is a strict vegetarian, so it was a traumatic experience for her. I don’t think this should make you never go to Aladdin’s, because it’s the kind of mistake that I could see happening (a scribbled-down order or a too-quick glance at what was written could easily cause it), but still. Pretty big mistake.

My conclusions about this place:

-       Food was good, but order carefully – some things aren’t as great

-       They really like lemons

-       I want more fattoush salad

-       Frandor needs to install a full infrastructure of lanes, traffic lights and preferably some of those people who wave down planes at airports to direct confused drivers

-       Thank god I’m done writing this because now I can go eat my leftovers

The newest record store in East Lansing has upcoming plans to offer residents a unique experience through specialized inventory, online shopping and live music.

Residing in the previously abandoned basement at 213 1/2 E. Grand River Ave. sits East Grand Record Company, lined wall to wall with vinyl records and filled with eclectic music coming from the speakers.

Photo credit -- Dylan Sowle

Brothers Mark and Mike Voldeck opened the doors of East Grand Record Company at the end of July 2011 after buying and selling vinyl online for the past three years. When they had collected about 26,000 records in a basement, they decided they needed a place for them.

That place was East Grand, and co-owner Mike Voldeck said that East Lansing, with its variety of people and college town location, was the perfect place for it.

“The college crowd has been our bread and butter,” said Voldeck. “They are a perfect demographic.”

With a good market and location, the main concern is that several other record stores are already doing business in town.

Most notably is Flat, Black & Circular, or FBC, the famous shop that has been around since 1977.

Owner of FBC, Dave Bernath, has seen plenty of music stores open up since he’s been running his.

“There used to be 10 record stores around here,” said Bernath. “Things have come and gone. I don’t have any competition. We all just want people coming out to get music.”

Voldeck also stresses the fact that he doesn’t want to view his store as directly competing with others, but as having a positive relationship of bringing music to the community. He even directs customers to the other stores when they don’t find specific items at his store.

With other well-known and successful record shops such as FBC and the Record Lounge around, a new business has to do something to declare its individuality and provide a different service to the community.

One thing that sets East Grand apart is its inventory. Unlike the other stores in the area, this shop deals almost exclusively in vinyl and on top of that, mostly in used vinyl. The store currently carries about 6,000 records and with a large proportion of the used records priced at only $1, East Grand is doing something unique in the way they approach their business.

Selling exclusively vinyl can be a challenge however, especially with the growing reliance on downloading music. Bernath attested to this, discussing how FBC has had to change and improvise over the years in order to give customers what they want.

“It’s definitely still a viable market,” said Voldeck. “We wouldn’t have gotten into it if it wasn’t. In 2010, vinyl record sales were the highest they’ve been since 1991.”

East Grand recognizes the demand for vinyl but also the need to evolve and keep up with modern technology. This understanding has prompted them to build an online store that will allow every single record that they carry to be purchased online, a completely new business technique for record stores in the area.

Photo credit -- Dylan Sowle

Hairong Li, a professor of advertising at Michigan State University highly recommends this type of online presence, especially for small businesses.

“You are selling something unique and not everyone in East Lansing will buy it,” said Li. “By putting yourself online, you will have a wider audience, so more people will buy your product.”

Heather Frarey, owner of the Record Lounge, agreed with this, especially with regard to businesses in a college town such as East Lansing.

“You need some sort of online presence in East Lansing because business simply dies out here during the summer when the college kids go home,” Frarey said.

These reasons are what prompted the owners of East Grand to set up this online store, which is currently in the final stages of cataloguing and should be up very soon. This method will allow customers to have the records shipped to them, or allow them to pick their purchases up in the store.

“Even though you’re selling records, you have to keep up with modern technology,” Voldeck noted. “Not everyone makes it down to East Lansing to buy records, but just about 99 percent of people have access to a computer.”

In addition to being present online, East Grand is working on an increased musical presence in their store. They have already had several big name local and touring bands play in the store and have live jazz every Monday and Friday.

“Eventually we want to have it so that someone is playing in our store on a daily basis,” said Voldeck.

Nathan Fedorchak, an MSU student and customer of local record stores acknowledged the value of this idea.

“Having live music in a record store would be a very different experience,” said Fedorchak. “It would be great exposure for local artists.”

East Grand Record Company has been working the past three months on trying to establish themselves and building their presence and the future holds even greater plans.

“We’re still getting our feet wet and learning about the area and the customers,” Voldeck said. “But business is great and East Lansing is a perfect place to be.”

Photo credit: Jenna Chabot

I had a gross violation of my rights a few weeks ago on a Friday night. My friends and I had gone to the bar and after waiting in line for half an hour we got up to the front. There were three friends of mine who were female that walked straight in and I was following close behind. I suddenly realized that someone had grabbed a hold of me. “There is a five dollar cover tonight,” a girl by the door told me as she clung to my jacket. “My friends just got in without paying,” I replied. She explained that tonight was lady’s night. By this time I was growing sick of having the girl pull me down from behind and I tried to pull my coat free, not with any great force. That action made the bouncer decided I was being a menace and told me I had to leave.

I usually do not have a problem paying a cover. In most places the idea of cover has very specific things it is supposed to do. Cover is what pays for the bands, it reduces overcrowding, and the most important job of a cover is to bolster the female to male ratio. Allowing women to enter the bar free gives men the feeling that there is going to be lots of women inside, even if there are not. By saying there is a ladies night bars are trying to use women to attract men to the bar, who will not only pay cover but, traditionally, buy more drinks than a woman would.

As much as the bars in East Lansing are a great place for relaxation, dancing, and meeting new friends they seem to take advantage of students more than in other cities. In many other college towns, bars and clubs do not charge cover because there is fierce competition between them to
attract students. Typically if a bar has cover students know to steer clear. But in East Lansing the scale between students and bars is so drastically tipped towards the student’s end that bars can charge whatever they like and there will still be a long line out the door. This is caused by a number of factors: firstly, the East Lansing Council is hesitant to give out too many liquor licenses, secondly, MSU has one of the largest student bodies in the country. I am not great at economics but I think it can be drawn on a supply and demand chart quite nicely. Too much demand, too little supply.

Americans seem to go along with the idea of a “cover charge,” of course there is an occasional grumble about the extra five or ten dollars. There are some countries that are upset about cover for completely different reasons, even having cases where patrons sue bars for charging unequal cover under anti-discrimination laws. In both the United Kingdom and Canada, there have been successful lawsuits banning the unequal charging of “cover”. People in the United Kingdom sued the bars and night clubs using their Sex Discrimination Act of 1974. The wording of the Sex Discrimination Act, in Britain, is not that different from equal protection laws in the United States. This gives some hope that a similar lawsuit in the United States could succeed.

A U.S. citizen may have the right to take action and sue under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This Act established that it is unlawful to use “racial, ethnic, or gender criteria in an attempt to bring social justice and social benefits.” More precisely, Title II of that Act outlaws “discrimination in hotels, motels, restaurants, theaters, and all other public accommodations.” Imagine the public disgust if a hotel listed different prices depending on if a person was male or female, black or white. Why then, is the price to enter a bar held to a different standard?

The whole act of charging cover seems under the table. Most of the time the money is stuffed into a drawer with no visible recording of how many people enter the bar, there is never a receipt issued. By law if there is a charge for entertainment they are required to pay tax on the cost of admission. It is speculation, but most bars are probably not paying all the taxes on cover they should, if any at all. Perhaps, the Michigan government should start to enforce this tax policy and help ease the budget deficit.

It is not a question of it is right or wrong to charge unequal cover but if the issue is popular enough to cause public disgust, because it is obviously wrong. However, it is not the responsibility of the government to regulate every wrong in society. It often takes a popular movement by a country’s citizens to bring about social change.

MSU has over 36,000 undergraduate students, it is located East Lansing, Mich. and it is public and secular.

Tulane University has about 5,500 undergraduate students, it is located in New Orleans, La. and it is private and secular.

Brigham Young University has about 30,000 undergrads, it is located in Provo, Utah, and it is private and religious, owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

What would it be like to go to one of these schools? And in comparison, what does it mean to be a Spartan?

Tulane University

Marisa Muniak is a 20-year-old junior at Tulane University who is studying cellular biology. She calls New Orleans “the greatest college town ever” and says she absolutely loves her school, but she isn’t from the city, or from Louisiana, or even from the South – in fact, she was born and raised in Michigan. She attended Boyne City High School, where she graduated in 2007. So why Tulane?

“I had visited New Orleans before and loved the city,” Muniak said. “I grew up in a small little boring city, so actually seeing a huge city with lots of life, it was amazing. And they also had the program I wanted…it was meant to be.”

Tulane is a private school with about 1,500 incoming freshman each year. With about 5,500 undergraduates total, the student to faculty ratio is eight to one, and the average class size is 22 students. There are about 75 majors available and on-campus students live in one of eight residence halls. Tuition along with mandatory fees, such as for the student health and recreation centers, comes to about $42,000 for an academic year.

In her third year now, Muniak lives off-campus after spending her two required years in the dorms. Unlike many students here at MSU who live in housing that is essentially exclusive to students, Muniak and her roommate live in an area where they are the only Tulane students, although their neighbors are Tulane professors. She added that the rest of the people living around them are non-student New Orleans residents.

“But we’re like a five, seven minute walk from campus,” Muniak said. “I’m sure if you were just like one or two blocks off campus there would be a lot more students.”

A five or seven minute walk? To a Tulane student, that might be a long way away, but to an MSU student, it’s probably shorter than a walk between buildings on campus. Five to seven minutes would get you from some of the closest East Lansing apartments to about the Union. So what’s it like going to such a small school?

“I can walk around campus and even though I may not know somebody’s name, or even what year they are or major or anything, it’s still a familiar face,” Muniak said. “And all the workers on campus, they’re all so sweet.”

Muniak said that attitude is part of the southern culture.

“What they say about southern hospitality, it totally exists,” she said. “It’s so different, we make jokes all the time on campus because a lot of us are from the Midwest or the East, we’re always joking about like, ‘Oh, in the North people don’t hold doors open for us.’”

Going to a college that was built in a pre-existing city instead of one that essentially created its own city like MSU has also had an effect on Muniak’s experience. She said she loves the fact that when she’s in New Orleans, not everybody is a student – in fact, most people aren’t. She frequents jazz clubs and other venues for local music, loves southern cooking (red beans and rice is her favorite dish) and has adjusted to a whole new way of life.

“We’re all on New Orleans time down here – things will happen when they happen, and it doesn’t, no worries,” Muniak said. “It’s definitely become something I love.”

She added that college culture is a lot different than at a big state school – freshman usually only go to one or two football games at Tulane before they give up on the team. “Anything [athletic] we do, we’re horrible,” Muniak said. But there are some things that are somewhat universal.

“There’s definitely plenty of partying,” she said. “There’s huge Greek life here. One side of campus – there’s plenty of houses along there and a lot people go to those.”

From nightlife to housing, Muniak’s experience gives an idea of what it’s like to live and study at a relatively small private school located in a big city.

“It’s been a lot of hard work as far as academics, but the environment that I’m in has really made it worth it,” Muniak said. “Knowing I’m going to have a hard exam on Friday but then Saturday I can go and listen to this world-renowned jazz musician – something to look forward to at the end of the road – has been great.”

Brigham Young University

Sabrina Smith is one of the very few African American students on her campus in Provo, Utah. In the fall of 2009, BYU had 29,587 undergraduates. Smith, an elementary music education sophomore and Florida native was one of only 165 African Americans – that’s about 0.5 percent. In comparison, about eight percent of MSU undergraduates in fall of 2009 were African American.

“Utah itself isn’t as diverse as where I’m from,” Smith said. “It’s primarily Caucasian people here…I wish that there was more diversity, but I think that every year it gets a little bit better.”

Smith may be a minority in racial terms, but in another way she is part of the most significant majority population on campus. Like 98.7 percent of students at BYU, Smith is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, also known as the Mormon church.

BYU was founded by Brigham Young himself in 1875, when Young was the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. According to BYU’s website, Young told the principal of the school at the time, “Brother Maeser, I want you to remember that you ought not to teach even the alphabet or the multiplication tables without the Spirit of God.”

BYU takes that instruction to heart. Religion is incorporated into every aspect of student life, from academics to housing to behavioral guidelines. Fourteen religion credits are required to graduate, which Smith says means students are taking a religion class almost every semester. In addition, religion is a common theme throughout other classes as well.

“Every class is supposed to incorporate the gospel as far as the curriculum allows it to,” Smith said. “So in pretty much any class they can bring up a scripture and associate it with whatever we’re talking about, and in most syllabi you get there will be at least one quote from the scriptures.”

Smith was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (she calls herself LDS), so she said the environment at BYU wasn’t a big change for her. One of the 439 non-LDS students enrolled in the fall of 2009 might have found it hard to adjust to not being able to drink coffee, tea or alcohol or conforming to strict dress and grooming standards. All behavioral standards are explained in BYU’s Honor Code, which requires students to “seek to demonstrate in daily living on and off campus those moral virtues encompassed in the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

This means no alcohol, no sex, no profanity, no beards for the men and no sleeveless shirts for the women, among other things.

“All lot of it has to do with dressing, grooming, which is like how you’re obviously dressing your body and also your hair,” Smith said. “Boys have to keep their hairstyle pretty short, it has to be above their ears and no one, girl or boy can have any kind of drastic hair color or style, and dress is supposed to be modest. On-campus and off-campus you’re not supposed to be using profanity, you’re not supposed to be watching anything that is in appropriate. Basically you’re just saying with the Honor Code that you’re going to uphold the gospel of the church.”

All off-campus housing must be approved by the university as meeting certain living standards and visiting hours are from 9 a.m. to 12 a.m.. No members of the opposite sex are allowed in bedrooms, and no members of the opposite sex are allowed to use bathroom facilities “unless emergency or civility dictates otherwise,” according to the Honor Code. All students must be in good Honor Code standing in order to receive a diploma.

The Honor Code may seem restricting to an outsider, but Smith said following it isn’t that different from simply following the rules of the LDS religion in daily life.

“It’s supposed to be what you’re living your life as anyways if you’re LDS,” Smith said. “And the people I know who aren’t LDS that go to BYU say that it isn’t really that big of an adjustment, because before they came to the school they knew what they were getting into.”

Even with strict behavioral guidelines, Smith said there is a lot that BYU students can do to have fun. Popular activities include going to the dollar theater, the bowling alley or attending one of the frequent university-organized activities.

“There is a lot of partying at BYU, but it’s different,” Smith said. “There isn’t any alcohol, but there isn’t any smoking, so in that respect it’s different. But there are a lot of dance parties and that kind of thing in Provo. There’s a lot of dancing.”

In addition, many male and female students actually do live together –  because they are married. Smith said it is very common for undergraduate students to marry at a young age, something she found very odd when she moved from Florida to Utah.

“Most students I know of get married by the time they graduate BYU, and that’s pretty standard,” Smith said. “There are lots of people in my classes who are engaged or married and I’m only a sophomore, so they’re about my same age, about 19 or 20.”

In spite of the cultural adjustment, Smith said she has enjoyed her time at BYU so far.

“I’m in the music program, so I really like the music aspect,” Smith said. “There are so many classes on music you can take, and they’re all very interesting. I also like that in any class you can have a gospel-centered discussion and that’s open. In some universities you can’t really bring up religion that much, and at BYU it’s very open.”

Michigan State University

We all know the basics about MSU. Over 47,000 students, non-religious, public. Great athletic programs, hundreds of possible majors and even more student organizations. The majority of us are from Michigan, so we grew up cheering on the Spartans in football and basketball, maybe even visiting friends or siblings on campus. We know what life is like here – what to expect from our classes, what clubs and organizations are most popular, what students tend to do on the weekends. But what does MSU look like to someone who didn’t grow up around this environment?

Rosie Williamson, a 20-year-old arts and humanities sophomore from New Jersey said she toured over 20 colleges, including Ohio State University, Indiana, Illinois and Pennsylvania State University before deciding on MSU. She chose MSU for several reasons, including the respected Spartan Marching Band in which she plays the trumpet, the location and the campus itself.

“It’s just one of the prettiest campuses I’ve ever visited,” Williamson said. “It’s so lush green, and the fact that we get all the seasons – I know everyone hates the snow, but I love the snow.”

The East Coast-native said that moving to the Midwest was definitely an adjustment.

“New Jersey and New York are very fast-paced and really loud and kind of have jagged edges everywhere, and the Midwest doesn’t,” Williamson said. “Even the major cities like Chicago, it’s got the charm of New York City, but it’s slower and nicer and cleaner.”

Gabe Santi, director of communications in the MSU Office of Admissions, and a graduate from the MSU School of Journalism, also emphasized the attitude of MSU students, faculty and staff as one of the best things about the university.

“One hundred and fifty years ago to go to college you had to be rich, you had to be white, you had to be male,” Santi said. “And Michigan State being the nation’s pioneer land-grant institution kind of changed that a little…Down-to-earth, hardworking, real, authentic, tangible – those are the words that come to mind when people talk about Michigan State and there’s a reason for that and it’s certainly because of the history of this place, but it’s also a testament to the current student body – people get that Spartan tradition. We use the word Spartan family a lot. It’s a large institution, but when you get right down to it, it’s a pretty close-knit place.”

Williamson agreed that in spite of MSU’s large size, the university has a small-town feel to it, which was another of the factors that attracted her to the university, in addition to the fact that MSU is a Big Ten school.

“I absolutely love the athletics at this school,” Williamson said. “I love the spirit that this school has for all the athletics, whether or not people attend. At least people are watching it and talking about it – I think that’s really great.”

Santi added that it is the Spartan spirit that tends to bond people together, whether it is current students, professors or alumni.

“Once you’re on campus and you interact this place a little, you start to bleed green,” Santi said. “It’s going to be with you for the rest of your life. You’re going to see people throughout the country, throughout the world and you’re going to have that instant bond…I think there is something a little indescribable that’s part of this place, that’s kind of just woven into the fabric of its founding.”

Before October, I’d never had an interest in ghosts. I joked around about Northern Michigan’s Dogman and hid behind walls to scare my sister sometimes. I dressed up in sheets for Halloween and may or may not have gone to a corn maze when I was younger. But I certainly didn’t believe in them and made fun of people who claimed to have had paranormal experiences.

All of that changed when my ghost first talked to me.

I’d just showered, and I was brushing my hair. “Hi,” I heard in my ear, and I whipped around. Nobody was there. I was home alone. I yelled obscenities and called my roommate, Brie, in hysterics. From there we were suspicious and started thinking there might be a ghost in our house. At that point, I’d like to thank my friends and family for assuming there was a ghost in my house and not that I was crazy.

Maverick, our cat, doesn't like the ghost. He sometimes chases things that don't exist, and hisses at strange events. (photo credit: Emily Lawler)

People heard noises, my cat did some weird stuff, but nothing happened for a while. My friends insisted on holding a seance… We picked the creepiest place and found a child’s old-fashioned coat in my attic. We’d all been drinking and nobody could keep a straight enough face for spirit-summoning. The night ended with my friend’s mom on speakerphone reading us Wikipedia spirit-summoning instructions and everybody agreed that talking about the ghost while in our house was too scary- we agreed to refer to it as our G.

In mid-November, Brie was sitting on the couch with Maverick, our cat. They were doing homework and sleeping, respectively, while I slept in my room. According to Brie, her door beads parted into curtains and slammed together, seemingly by themselves. Maverick ran to her doorway and hissed before cowering in a corner all night.

They say animals are better at sensing things, but Maverick’s just a friendly cat of less-than-average intelligence. I’ve never seen him hiss- not when a stray cat ran into my house and tried to fight him, not when I dressed him as a reindeer, not when we played catch with “Mavball”, held his eyes so he was a “Siamese cat,” or stood on couches and held him up like baby Simba from The Lion King. So when he hissed that night, it was a big deal.

Next were the slippers. Brie went into the shower and put her slippers and robe in the bathroom where she could slip into them when she was done. When she got out of the shower, only her robe was there. The door was still closed, I was in my room with Maverick, and we couldn’t figure it out. I helped her look around the house, under her covers, under my bed… They weren’t anywhere. So she left for a friend’s house and politely petitioned the ghost to return them. When she got back from dinner and a movie, they were placed in the middle of her bed.

I have a hard time being nice to the ghost- it would be different if he paid rent or gave fair warning when he was planning on visiting. It’s not like I think he wants to eat my firstborn child or possess me, he’s just an asshole.

So when my time with the G came, shit went down. I was in the shower, and the door was shut. Suddenly I felt a draft of cold air, and suspected I was not alone. A peek outside the curtain confirmed by suspicions: Maverick stared at me for a second and then tried to fight with me through the curtain.

I kicked the bugger out, and assumed he’d gotten the door open despite his stupidity (he’s not exactly the land-on-all-fours type). But when I was going toward my room, I happened to look at Brie’s beads. One strand looked as if it were being pulled out, held for a minute, and let go. Pulled out, held for a minute, and let go.

“God damnit, G!” I yelled, “Can’t you do something useful? Like the dishes?”

I got dressed and watched the single strand move inexplicably. Maverick and I went to bed.

At 1 a.m. I woke up to a crash and looked in the living room to find our Christmas tree had fallen over. It had been up for over a month, and, outside of when Maverick had climbed to the top and tipped it over, it was pretty stable. I couldn’t find an explanation as to why it would have fallen and, like all the unexplained happenings around our house lately, I blamed it on the G. I took it as a sign I should no longer demand housework of him.

And then, earlier this week, I was in my room and kept hearing footsteps while I was doing my homework. Intermittently, back and forth, the squeaky spot on the living room floor squeaking. Annoying. Scary.

Brie came home and was sitting in her room while I was in mine. She said something, and I got up and caught a shadow out of the corner of my eye. She’d thought it was me walking across our dark living room in shadow. I’d like to know who it really was, but they’re dead and hard to track.

That night we had weird dreams, which I attribute to nerves as much as paranormal phenomenon. The next day I went to city hall and requested the records of everybody that had leased my house. The records only went back until 1993, and I could only find the companies, not occupants.

I then walked into the police office, and asked the officer on duty how to know if anybody had ever died at my house. I gave him the address, and he ran it by a few of his cop friends. Nobody remembered anybody dying, and he’d been working in East Lansing for 23 years. I’m sure they thought I was crazy.

My friend Alisha, editor in chief at Spartanedge, remembered publishing a story on an MSU student that did paranormal investigations. I contacted the student they interviewed, and she’s agreed to come over sometime next week. My parents also insisted I contact my mom’s cousin, a Catholic priest. I’m supposed to meet with him about a blessing.

I’m not really looking for answers, just solutions. I want to be able to come home at night and study, no noises, no objects moving, no shadows and no worries. Please. I’m open to whatever. I don’t know anything about ghosts, demons, Native American smudging ceremonies, house blessings or exorcisms. In the meantime, I’m going to be doing my homework at friend’s houses, and hoping people come visit me every weekend so I’m never alone.

I can only hope the G will take a vacation too.

Update 5/3: The G appears to be G-G-Gone! My mom’s cousin the Priest (Father Joe Krupp) blessed my house — we said some prayers together and he gave me a candle blessed by the bishop. Since that time, there has been absolutely no ghostly activity. So many thanks to Fr. Krupp and the Catholic Church.

“I’m really glad I chose the way I did.  I got to celebrate with all the people that I wanted to and in a way that I could remember everything,” Frey said.

Frey spent the evening of her birthday having dinner with her family.  She had one glass of wine at dinner and went for a couple of drinks with her best friend later that night.  After that she spent the next two days without alcohol having game nights with friends in East Lansing and her hometown.

“I really wanted to spend quality time with all my friends, and most of my friends are under 21,” Frey said.

Finally, on the fourth day of celebrations, Frey had a picnic with her extended family and also her boyfriend’s family.  Again, she didn’t drink, deciding that she had plenty of time to go out to the bars later.

“I really believe that life can be just as rich and wonderful and fun and adventurous and crazy without alcohol,” Frey said.  “Drinking can be fun, but if you let it consume your life, you miss out.”

Andrew Rutherford, who turned 21 during finals week in December, cited safety as an important element to remember.  Rutherford said that his mother, who works at Sparrow Hospital, sees people being brought in to have their stomach pumped all the time.

“I think a lot of people just think that people go out with their friends, and they’ll go to the furthest extreme they can get,” Rutherford said.

Rutherford decided to take a break from finals and celebrate his birthday with friends at a local restaurant.  He had a few drinks throughout the night and paced himself.

Rutherford said that he had too much going for him to mess it up by getting into a risky situation.

“I think people on their 21^st birthday, it’s like they made it and they just don’t care for a night, and that can be really dangerous,” he said.

While some individual students are shying away from the stereotype of overindulging on their 21^st birthday, managers of East Lansing bars are also encouraging celebrating carefully.

Paul Stewart, manager of Crunchy’s, said that he wants customers to enjoy themselves while celebrating responsibly.

“Being able to go to the bars is part of college life, but it shouldn’t have ill-effects against your college life,” Stewart said.

In order to achieve safety for customers, Crunchy’s and many other East Lansing bars are members of the Responsible Hospitality Council (RHC).

According to the RHC webpage, “The purpose of the RHC is to adopt practices that promote responsible advertising, safe on-site management, community stewardship, compliance with state and local liquor laws and responsible alcohol consumption by our patrons.”

Stewart, who is an executive board member of the RHC, explained that the RHC has specific rules for patrons celebrating their 21^st birthday.  According to a Best Practices document, a few of the rules include:  the celebrant and designated driver are identified, the table may only have one server, no one is allowed to order directly from the bar and service will be refused to the table if it needs to be stopped to any member of the table.

According to the website, there are currently 17 establishments that are members of the RHC.

Francisco Delatorre, manager of Harper’s Restaurant & Brew Pub, said that Harper’s tries to avoid hosting 21^st birthday parties.  He also said that patrons are not allowed to become very intoxicated because his employees are trained to recognize the signs of too much to drink.  He advised that students not drink too much on their 21^st birthday and to definitely not drive after drinking.  According to the RHC webpage, Harper’s is a member of the RHC.

Chelsea Grantham is another MSU student that chose to not drink too much on her 21^st birthday.  Grantham said that she drank less on her 21^st birthday than she had on previous birthdays because she wanted to have fun and remember it, too.  Grantham also said that she didn’t want to adhere to the stereotype of getting too drunk.

Grantham said that students might feel pressured to drink more on their 21^st birthday because strangers will buy them drinks, and people are encouraged to do “more shots than average.”

It is possible to not have to be carried home after turning 21.  Some MSU students are not always overindulging, and bars are encouraging that.  Either way, students should be careful while celebrating.  After all, being able to remember the experience and the stories that go with it is half the fun.

Dec. 6, 1-4 p.m. at Ann Street Plaza, Parking Lot 1 and the East Lansing Marriott at University Place

Take a break from the cold December weather and head under the heated tent to place your vote for the best soup and chili recipes in East Lansing. Served up by local restaurants, the competitors will be contending for first, second and third place in the People’s and Judge’s Choice Awards. There will be lots of other winter activities too, including a reindeer petting zoo, roaming carolers, photos with Santa, ice carving, roasted chestnuts, hot chocolate and horse and carriage rides.

Preservation Hall Jazz Band: A Creole Christmas

Dec. 4 and 5, Pasant Theatre

Sick of the same old Christmas songs? This New Orleans band is sure to revitalize your favorite classics with their famous jazz and ragtime style. You’ll be ready for the holidays after this gumbo of carols, spiced up with just the right hint of Creole rhythm and blues.

Men’s Basketball vs. Oakland

Dec. 10, 7 p.m. at the Breslin Center

Take a break from studying to cheer on the Spartans as they take on the Oakland University Golden Grizzlies. Make a sign or break out some dance moves to get your five seconds of fame on the JumboTron.

Jerry Seinfeld

Dec. 17, 7 p.m. at the Wharton Center

Hit up this event for some stand-up comedy before you head home for break. Seinfeld is even better in person than the reruns of his sitcom you’ll have on while you’re studying some last minute flashcards before finals.

Meijer Holiday Hoops Invitational

Dec. 26, 11:00 a.m. at the Breslin Center

You might not be ready for a game of hoops after Christmas dinner, but be sure to check out some local basketball teams at the Meijer Holiday Hoops Invitational. All proceeds are donated to the Sparrow Foundation, which has earned $75,000 to date from the event. Tip-offs for the six games are scattered throughout the day and one ticket is good for all admissions.