Author Archives: Holly Lavecchia

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About Holly Lavecchia

Holly is a senior at MSUM, just months away from a dual degree in English and mass communications. She has been writing for the student newspaper, The Advocate, for two years. Along the way Holly has unearthed a passion for reporting and picked up some practice copy editing. While she really enjoys combing the work of others until it is AP-erfect, the jolt she gets upon seeing her byline is something she could spend years enjoying.

Mini Marathon sparsely but enthusiastically attended

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A fledgling runner’s commentary

Minutes after the 10K runners had left the starting line by the Civic Center

Saturday was the second annual FM Mini Marathon and 1,600 runners participated in the three different races. Carried out on a much smaller scale, the day ended up being a rewarding alternative to the Fargo Marathon.

Though my favorite part of any run is the end, I think most tend to judge their experience by the substance of the run. I have taken part in two races now, the Fargo Marathon’s 10K last spring and after this weekend, the Mini Marathon 10K. Not to be confused with 10,000 miles, a 10K is about one fourth of a marathon at 6.2 miles.

Comparing them, my more recent run was drastically different, and not for the better.

A first race fondly recalled

I am not naturally athletic and have shunned most physical activity until early this year when I realized it takes little coordination to run in a straight line.

On May 22, the Fargo Marathon’s 10K was three times the furthest distance I had ever run without stopping. And I still managed to make it through in one hour and 13 minutes. The time was nothing to brag about but I was so proud of having finished without any serious crying fits or other hysteria.

The first time I finished running 10 kilometers I was elated. And I was so surprised; I had the feeling that I could accomplish a multitude of other things I had never thought possible.

I assumed with some light jogging upkeep over the summer that this second run would go much the same, but there were some factors that made a huge, negative difference. The main variables were the weather, the route and the number of runners.

Sun versus rain

In pictures from the Mini Marathon’s website, many of the 2009 participants wear hats and jackets to keep warm. Those who ran on Saturday encountered a beautifully atypical October morning. It was bright and warm with a breeze. Most people were finished before the sun could become at all stifling.

Last May runners were rained on for the entirety of the day, which was preferable in my opinion. It kept us cool and the gray sky masked the sun’s rising. Because there was no sun, it was more difficult to judge how long one had been on the course. During the Mini Marathon the increasing sunshine only made me more aware of time.

A scenic path versus a residential route

Last weekend’s course took 10K runners from the Fargo Civic Center over the bridge into Moorhead, through Gooseberry Park, along the Lindenwood Park trail by the river and then back under the bridge to the Civic center. It was pretty but not conducive to people coming out to watch and cheer.

I had the feeling as we ran through Moorhead neighborhoods that citizens were oblivious of the race. There were some people sitting on their front steps cheering us on and a crew of bagpipers down by the river, serenading our efforts, but I found that the run was largely solitary. I was elated to find that the organizers managed to find us the only hills in Fargo-Moorhead, which were tacked onto the last push of the course.

In May there were hundreds more people lining streets, calling encouragement out to runners. Probably because there were 20,000 runners. The crowd’s energy reinvigorated me over and over again. When you feel like people are watching you, it’s just easier to keep pushing through the discomfort.

Running happens mostly in one’s head

I don’t know much about the fine points of running, but I do know that any number of small things can affect performance. For me the reason why this run was so much more difficult and disappointing was that there were four times fewer people running along with me. There were 640 as opposed to 2,665 last May.

I was preoccupied with sticking to a pace that I hoped would be sustainable the whole way. My running partner and I were at the very back of the throng from the beginning.

Because much of running is mental, a positive attitude is vital. Something that helps me cultivate a positive attitude is passing slow pokes, and because there were fewer runners in general, there were fewer people to pass. I felt as if we were falling more and more behind and I spent most of the race trying not to panic. We finished 10 minutes slower than our first 10K.

I think that perhaps plenty of the people who signed up for the Fargo Mini Marathon were competitive runners, the types who want to run outside in October, even though our weather that day was quite idyllic. I know when I run the race next year I will be more prepared. I think if I had been this time, the weather, the picturesque course and the more competitive nature of the bunch would have been as enjoyable as finally seeing the finish line was.

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Global festival makes foreign films Fargo-friendly

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This weekend two hours and $10 will buy you an international cinema experience.

The Fargo Theatre is participating in the Manhattan Short Film Festival. When it wraps on Sunday, the festival will have been responsible for 100,000 people viewing 10 short films from as many countries. Screenings will have taken place in over 250 cities on six continents.

“It’s really kind of cool to think that all across the globe, for these few days, there are audiences sitting and watching the same things we are here in Fargo, I think that’s a really cool opportunity,” said Emily Beck, film programmer of the Fargo Theatre.

Each person who attends, casts a vote for his or her favorite film.  The voting is an aspect that sets this festival apart, giving power to the viewer. The final tally will be announced Sunday night.

Screenings happen worldwide for a week, from last Sunday to this Sunday and here in town there are seven opportunities to partake.

Today: 5 p.m., 7:45 p.m.
Friday: 5 p.m., 7:15 p.m.
Saturday: 1 p.m., 5 p.m. and 7:15 p.m.

Festival illuminates another dark corner

What was, in 1998, a short film festival in Manhattan with celebrity judges, has since grown steadily and often dramatically so.

In 2009 the goal was to have screenings in all 50 states, the year marked the Fargo Theatre’s first inclusion in the event.

In 2010 the organizers promised to bring the Manhattan Short to one more continent and succeeded with three screenings in Africa, two in South Africa and one in Morocco. Founding Director, Nicholas Mason, said that the Manhattan Short is not only one of the fastest growing film festivals in the world, but one of the fastest growing events. The tagline is, “One world. One week. One festival.”

“As promised we would unite all continents by 2010,” Mason said. “We are leaving Antarctica and the penguins alone. For now.”

Foreign does not equal extraterrestrial

As the first global film festival in the world, the Manhattan Short’s philosophy seems to be that though not everyone can relate to stories of crossing illegally into the U.S., living in a war-tattered place, or even tales about animated dogs ending relationships, the filmmakers strive to evoke an emotion from all.

Though 10 different flags are represented by the festival, almost all films acted in another language will have English subtitles, but that shouldn’t keep potential viewers away.

“If they haven’t been exposed to them, I think people have an aversion to subtitled movies,” Beck said. “But I think that if you go in with an open mind, you’ll find that you can fall into the flow really easily and find that film is really a universal language.”

Creating a film half as short is twice as difficult

Not only is the appreciation for cinema without national borders, so is the art of creating it.

“They’re examples of people who know how to tell a really good or interesting or powerful story in a short amount of time, and that’s really hard to do,” said Beck of the films. “And so if you love movies, you’ll just kind of come and marvel at the technique that some of these filmmakers use.”

The short film is often thought of as a gateway into feature films but Helene Florent, director of Canadian finalist, “Little Inconvenience,” argued for imagining the short film in its own arena of artistry.

“It’s quite challenging to have an idea and present it clearly in a short period of time,” Florent said, “but if people continue to think about your film afterwards, you can consider it a success. I think it’s much harder to tell a story in five minutes than in two hours. Some people believe that a short film is just a practice before a feature, but I think a short film is an art form all on its own.”

Often winners go on to receive Academy Award nominations.

For interviews with all of the directors.

F-M plugged into the rest of the globe

A multicultural opportunity to feel united with the rest of the world is one that doesn’t surface regularly, no matter where you live.

“I think it’s really neat to feel connected to all of those different audiences,” Beck said, “especially because sometimes I think we feel a little out of the loop here in Fargo N.D.”

Beck said that she was on a plane recently and was annoyed to overhear someone say, “there’s nothing to do in Fargo.”

“Sure there is,” she said. “You just have to look for it.”

Local news didn’t seem interested in furthering or featuring the festival. Beck said she was disappointed that none of the publications in town wanted the free press passes being offered to pre-screen the movies and write a review.

Last year less than 100 people attended the screening during the Fargo Theatre’s first participation in the Manhattan Short. The coordinator seemed to think that for a first time, that number was a great start for any venue.

“Hopefully word of mouth will help it continually grow,” Beck said.

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Museum showcases a new gift to the Plains

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Usually a name synonymous with all things outdoor activities, the Scheel family has recently donated something unexpected to the Red River Valley.

The Plains Art Museum is located at 704 First Ave. N

Gallery embraces local notable

The family has donated 266 photographs from Frederick B. Scheel’s collection to the Plains Art Museum. The exhibit is called A New Gift to the Plains, Part One, and it opened officially last night with a lecture by Christian Peterson, curator of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Of the photographs, 166 were taken by Scheel himself. The others were by some of the artistic greats of the century.

The exhibit will run until Aug. 12, 2011 and in March new photos will replace the ones hanging now.

Dynasty in the works

In 1902, Frederick A. Scheel, a German immigrant, opened a small hardware store in Sabin, Minn. He put a down payment on the store with the $300 he made on his first (and only) crop of potatoes.

Fifty years and a few stores later, grandson Frederick B. Scheel got home from WWII with an interest in photography.

Branching out and focusing in

Scheel immersed himself in the art, he attended classes, traveled widely and met many prominent artists. He made and accumulated the photography of others for 40 years.

“Photography was dad’s passion and obsession beyond the business of retail,” said son, Steve Scheel. “He studied tirelessly to learn to see what the great photographers saw and to capture what he saw on film.”

Plains Art Museum director and curator of the exhibit, Colleen Sheehy said that the opening reception had a good turnout and that local significance of the name likely helped pull people to the event.

“I’m sure the name recognition is with sports and hardware much moreso than art, but that’s often the case,” Peterson said. “You have business men who collect seriously because they have the wherewithal.”

Four museum members peruse the gallery

Scheel’s friends: famous and influential

“It’s always really nice to know that an exceptional artist has grown up in our community,” Sheehy said, “and that he worked with some of the most famous photographers in the world, that set the standards and forged the paths in photography as an art form.”

Scheel’s silver gelatin prints hang among those he collected, and the similarities between his work and that of the work he admired is evident.

“There’s a direct lineage,” Peterson said, “you can see influences in certain pictures of certain photographers, I don’t think Fred Scheel is ever going to have the same recognition in the history of photography as Ansel Adams or Edward Weston, but he was extremely serious at it and accomplished in the realm of what he was attempting.”

“If you look at the show, you’ll see that he really loves seeing a strong composition in whatever it is that he’s photographing,” Sheehy said. “Whether it’s a building or a plant, it’s beautifully composed, to look for the lines and the shapes and how they fit together.”

A collection worth sharing

What made his compilation of photographs so strong is that it is graced with the presence of his peers.

Of those donated to the Plains Art Museum were photos by Ansel Adams, Berenice Abbott, Brett Weston, Walker Evans, Ruth Bernhard, André Kertész, Barbara Crane and Mary Ellen Mark.

In 2007 the Scheel family donated 600 photos to the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

“Fred collected in depth, so he had enough work to give away to more than one institution,” Peterson said.

“It’s hard for a collector to let go of things, so it was only when he was getting older,” Peterson said. “He wanted a good home for them, where he knew they’d be cared for and studied and exhibited, which both of our museums have been doing and will continue to do.”

To see Scheel’s photography from the Minneapolis Institute of Art

Plains Art Museum’s exhibit information

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