DECEMBER 2020 VOLUME 59 | ISSUE 4 2 Concordia Saves the Music Amidst Pandemic BY REBECCA BEASLEY 6 A COVID-Friendly Holiday Tour BY ALEXANDRIA GOSEN 10 Should Winter Sports Return? BY RENE ELIAS 13 Rene Elias: Concordia's Photographer BY ANNA FRITZE 18 "I AM" Poem Lawrence Finch BY DAVINA BELLINGER 20 Senior Spotlight: Noah Klemp BY REBECCA BEASLEY Photo Credit: Rene Elias *THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL CSP PUBLICATION AND DOES NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE ADMINISTRATION, FACULTY, OR STAFF. SPECIAL THANKS TO THE CONTRIBUTING SPONSORS. 1 THE SWORD NEWSPAPER DECEMBER 2020 VOLUME 59 | ISSUE 4 NEWS CONCORDIA ST. PAUL’S OFFICIAL STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1966 EDITOR IN CHIEF Anna Fritze Letter from the Editor Concordia Saves the Music Amidst ART DIRECTOR BY ANNA FRITZE Carli Bruckmueller Pandemic BY REBECCA BEASLEY NEWS EDITOR eason’s greetings! With the end of this Harry Lien horrible year finally in sight, I, like many others, hope for a more positive and progressive year his year has looked very different from years past due to the pandemic. SPORTS EDITOR S in 2021. However, I have to remind myself that just Although Concordia was able to have students return to campus in September, Jaid Perry because the year is changing a number, that does not T students are required to wear masks, stay six feet apart, and meet only in small ARTS & VARIETY EDITOR mean that everything magically is going to get better. groups. In the background, many more things are happening to keep students safe. Davina Bellinger Though we are all tired of doing our best to stay safe For Concordia’s music and theatre department, extra measures have been put in place. and do the right thing in order to make progress that Early into the pandemic, it was found that singing is more capable of transmitting OPINION EDITOR Abby Westling seems impossible, I encourage you all to keep pushing. the virus than simply talking. According to the cdc, singing increases the chances Lean on loved ones for support (metaphorically, of course), of the airborne spread of covid-19, due to the “concentration of suspended respiratory COPY EDITOR find what helps you stay positive, and treat the people droplets in the air space” and “Inadequate ventilation… that allowed a build-up of Alexandria Gosen around you with as much kindness as you can muster. suspended small respiratory droplets and particles.” To save the choirs and other music Good luck to my fellow students with your finals, groups, Concordia had to act. Any student involved in the Jubilate Choir or Christus PHOTO EDITOR Rene Elias and thank you to all of our professors for dealing with Chorus is familiar with the Concordia Covenant. At the beginning of the semester, this weird transition with us. Whatever you celebrate, every one of those students signed an agreement, or a covenant, promising to follow LAYOUT DESIGNER have a wonderful, safe, and relaxing holiday. social distancing rules and to do their part to prevent the spread of covid-19. By Jorge Vazquez Tejeda reducing these risks, Concordia will be able to stay open and still have choir and music groups. FACULTY ADVISOR Eric Dregni Other than the Concordia Covenant, the choirs at Concordia also have special singing masks that were commissioned from a local business, Thanh’s Tailor. The WRITERS masks allow for better diction while still keeping the choir members safe. An additional Rebecca Beasley step the choirs take is singing outside when weather permits. They break up into Mia Cahalan Oh deer Isabella D'Burke Christmas is nearly here! smaller groups to practice Kacie Duncan and move rooms every MaryKate Fenstermaker 30 minutes. These extra Rajeera Geleta measures can be exhausting Mackenzie Grubbs Concordia has navigated but have allowed Concordia Hamza Ismail to save the music, and the Ethan Langemo this new situation with Owen Liebert music department. Richard T. Mahle caution, attempting to keep Concordia has been Brittany McCarty unable to hold live and Ryan Skille music and the arts alive in-person concerts and Erika Soukop performances but has Kalyna Xiong and students healthy. improvised with video recordings and live streams. Theatre performances such as last spring’s Silent Sky and this fall’s Tintypes were shown virtually via live stream. The Hauntitorium tradition was filmed and streamed. The Fine and Performing Arts Christmas Concert for this year, Go Tell it on the Mountain, was professionally recorded ahead of time and put together for viewers. CaCARDSrlis On the other hand, the string ensemble was able to hold an in-person concert with limited attendance and socially distanced seating in mid-November. Overall, 2020 has been a long and difficult year, especially for the performing arts. Concordia has navigated this new situation with caution, attempting to keep music and Illustration by Carli Bruckmueller the arts alive and students healthy. Students can only hope that the next fall semester does not have to look the same thanks to these efforts. 2 THE SWORD NEWSPAPER DECEMBER 2020 VOLUME 59 | ISSUE 4 NEWS CSP 2020-2021 Tuition Amazon Pharmacy: November 15 SpaceX Announced Prescription Drugs Launch BY ETHAN LANGEMO Online BY OWEN LIEBERT BY DAVINA BELLINGER n october 13th, the Concordia University, t 7:27 p.m. est, on Sunday, November 15, 2020, St. Paul Board of Regents announced that it mazon is one of the biggest online shopping the Crew 1 Dragon spacecraft lifted off from O approved the tuition for the 2020-2021 companies making billions of dollars each year. A nasa’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After academic school year at $23,900. This new price A One new online shopping option accessible to a highly successful launch, the crew underwent an raises the previous tuition by a slight 2.09%, or $500. Amazon prime members is Amazon Pharmacy. The eight and a half hour flight to reach their destination The housing and board for the school year was also company will receive discounts from 50,000 different on the International Space Station. On board were four approved, increasing it by 3.03% to $9,900. The overall physical pharmacies around the country, some of astronauts: Commander Michael Hopkins, Pilot Victor price will be $33,800 for traditional undergraduates which include Costco, cvs, Walgreens, and Walmart. Glover, who will be the first black man to take part in living on campus. All students will still be paying a few Prescription drugs sales through Amazon Pharmacy an extended mission aboard the iss, Mission Specialist thousand dollars less than they would have had to will reach $360 billion this year, according to the Shannon Walker, and Veteran Astronaut, Soichi Noguchi, before the historic 2013 tuition reset. An article from the Centers of Medicare & Medicaid services. With the who is a part of jaxa, the Japanese National Aerospace StarTribune revealed that even though students are pandemic still on the rise, Amazon Pharmacy hopes Agency. The crew will be joiningnasa astronaut Kate paying less and taking on less debt, the school has to take advantage of the interest in shopping at home Rubins and Russian astronauts Sergey Ryzhikov and managed to increase its revenue by a whopping 66%. for its Prime members. Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, who are already on board the This means that more money is able to go towards For now, Amazon Pharmacy is making itself accessible space station. They arrived aboard a Russian Soyuz financial aid, campus management, and resources to all customers, except for the following states: spacecraft last month. The crew is set to spend the next for education. Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, and Minnesota. The company six months aboard the station before returning in the Concordia’s competitive low price combined with said that it will keep customer sensitive medical same craft they arrived on. several opportunities for financial support continue to information secure. Amazon will also not sell any This launch marks a new era for nasa. SpaceX make it the most affordable private college in Minnesota. Schedule II controlled medications such as opioids. launched nasa astronauts from America on May 30th All the while, it still maintains the same quality of Amazon is building off PillPacks mail-order of this year. But before that mission, they had not education a student would get at any overpriced school. prescription-drug business to help customers with launched astronauts to the International Space Station csp Provost and coo Dr. Eric LaMott has stated that multiple daily medications for those with chronic from American soil for nearly ten years. Before now, the cost of attendance is one of the most important conditions. The various other drugs that they also nasa had been depending on Russian spacecraft to factors that students look for when searching for colleges. provide for their customers are refrigerated insulin. provide transportation to the space station. This launch This especially applies to students just graduating high The company has also added the feature so that its is also significant because It was the first time a privately school who are hoping to avoid the incredible amounts customers can have their doctors send the prescriptions engineered spacecraft launched human beings into of student loans like their peers who decide to go to to Amazon Pharmacy. orbit, as well as SpaceX’s first crewed mission. Ultimately, other popular private mn colleges, such as Concordia Economists have looked into the reasons as to why the May 30th launch was considered a test mission. Moorhead, St. Thomas, or St. Olaf. These are a couple Amazon may become an attraction to customers when The November 15th mission was the first fully operational of the great qualities that have helped spurn the surges they are filling up prescriptions.