Sibs Weekend!

Well this past weekend was very busy for the WC campus. It was Sibs Weekend! This year’s theme was peace, love and sibs; many students had brothers, sisters, cousins or others come up to spend the weekend. Organized by Ken Lydy, activities included late night bowling, a kick-off campfire (the s’mores were excellent) and a glow-in-the-dark pajama dance off party at the TOP. Saturday also brought a softball game, tennis match, an inflatable castle and a caricature artist. This weekend also brought Earth Day, for which the campus celebrated an “Hour in the Dark” with activities such as “Dinner in the Dark” and glow-in-the-dark ultimate frisbee. There were also sporadic basketball games and a 4th floor squirt-gun war right here in the dorms! All in all i was a pretty fun weekend; those who left campus missed out! Oh, by the way, have a good Easter everyone!

“Pieces of War”

Tonight was the year’s final Issues & Artists seminar. The speaker was Kenny Carnes, with a one man show entitled “Pieces of War”. A former member of the military, he wrote the play to help troops deal with the realities of war as they returned from Iraq. He played many different characters, including a veteran, a drill sergeant, a PFC, an observer of 9/1, a “revolutionary” and a company CEO. There was a reoccurring Bear theme, representing the universal hero, as well as a powerful monologue in which a man lost his girlfriend Innocence in the fall of the towers, how he dealt with the loss by enlisting to protect America, and how he hoped part of his recovery would involve his girlfriend’s sister Grace. When asked how a military man become a man of the stage, he said that he believed theatre was the perfect forum in which to express democracy and invoke reactions. A very powerful piece, and a brilliant speaker, his presentation was a perfect ending to an excellent seminar series.

SUNSHINE!!!!

Welcome back from Spring Break everybody! It’s been quite a hectic week. Coming back from break brings an abrupt return to papers and reading and end of the year deadlines. But, on the bright side, the SUNSHINE came out this week! The weather has been awesome! & we can finally start to put away our winter coats! You can see the effects of the sunshine all over campus. Suddenly there are students reading and studying outside under the trees. There have also been a lot of people taking advantage of the Arboretum for peaceful walks. Tuesday afternoon, on my way back from class, I saw a group of girls sitting out on the sidewalks. They had a guitar and they were goofing around & singing. Also, an on-the-spot kickball tournament has come together on the lawn in front of Bailey for the last two nights. Everyone is looking forward to the emergence of Spring!

It’s Wednesday!

I know you probably think it’s weird, but Wednesday is one of my favorite days of the week! It’s because of the cool activities. As college students, we get free passes to the local Y, which is actually located on campus, right across the street from the freshmen dorm. On Wednesday at the Y, 6:30 is a belly dancing class and 7:30 is a yoga class. Both are tons of fun. I always go with a group of friends and it makes for a pretty laid back evening. Often, after yoga, we walk to Joe’s Java, the local coffee shop I told you about at the beginning of the year. Drinks are $2 and the guy behind the counter is very friendly. They’re open from 7-11. We usually arrive between 8:30 & 9 and end up staying until 11 just talking and telling stories. Sometimes we also take homework-I got all my pol/soc reading done last week-the atmosphere is very relaxing. They also had another concert Saturday night-Kevin Dean & Jared Mahone. They were very impressive and we’re hoping they come back for a concert on campus soon. 

“The Dining Room”

This weekend is the WC production’s of “The Dining Room.” Like the title suggests, the whole play is set in a dining room. It depicts many scenarios that can happen in a dining room, including a maid polishing silver & babysitting, an old man making his funeral arrangements, a children’s birthday party, family fights, Thanksgiving with a mother who suffers from Alzheimer’s and an couple caught in an affair to name only a few. There were 18 scenes in all, over 50 characters, the roles played by a cast of 10. Though snow on Friday took kept some from attending, the cast members still did a great job-kudos to all!

Christ on Campus

There are 2 Christian groups on campus, Chi Alpha and Cru (Campus Crusade for Christ). Both meet on Thursday nights. Chi Alpha meets at 6:30 and has more of a worship focus. After praise songs, Ken or Tara teaches a short lesson. They also have a game night on Wednesday evenings in the Underground and a lunch Bible study at the TOP on Tuesdays. This week, 5 members of Chi Alpha were baptized in the YMCA’s pool Thursday! Followed by a reception, it was a special time for everybody :)

Cru is a more recent addition to WC. It is a Bible Study held @ 9:00 on Thursday nights.  The semester started with the viewing of some short films and discussions about how they all related to our lives & Christ’s love for us. We have now started a study of the Book of Galations. It’s very fascinating and I’m learning a lot, as well as meeting some cool new friends, like Josh, the study leader from Cincinnati. Actually, I’m about to head there now-catch you guys later! :)

SNOW DAY!!!!!

To the delight of college students everywhere, classes were cancelled yesterday! Campus was buried under at least a foot of fluffy white snow. Some friends and I took full advantage of our snow day, and made three HUGE snowmen right in the middle of campus. Of course, snowball fights were a part of the process ;) along with tackling and even soccer! They were impressive snowmen, bigger than both me and my friend susan (at 5’9 and 5’10 we’re the tallest in our group). We dug some sticks out for arms and after a few hours, went to Pyle for hot chocolate and coffee. Unfortunately, while we were warming up, a group of guys decided our snowmen would make a good fort, so they dismantled them. When we came out to walk back to the dorms, we were very offended that our creations hadn’t even lasted an hour! Needless to say, we decided our snowmen must be avenged. This decision resulted in four freshman girls body slamming said fort full of upperclassmen guys in the middle of a snow war...very entertaining :D

“Chitram: A Portrait of India”

Tuesday night I attended the latest installment of the Issues and Artists Series. It was entitled “Chitram: A Portrait of India.” Though the presentation wasn’t the best, the dancing was very impressive. Most of the performers were actually from the Cincinnati area. They performed 3 dances: the garba, a folk dance, the bartanican and the catec, a more modern form of dance. The first dance was a group dance, with many circular patterns, bright colored dresses and drumsticks. The second & third featured solo dancers. The second was focused on facial expressions and very straight lines. The catec revolved around spins and turns. All the dancers wore bells on their ankles-very cool. We also learned about the Indio-Celtic genre, created in India in the late 1700s. Neither Indian, nor Keltic, it is a unique combination that was created during the colonial invasion of India that has become very popular with children. There was also a yoga presentation. Since I started college I’ve been taking yoga classes from my friend Matt, so I was very excited to recognize so many positions such as the tree, cobra, crane, candlestick, cosmic dancer, warrior and eagle. These were only a few parts of the presentation; it was a great opportunity to learn more about India’s culture and history. 

Scholarship Day

Today was the first of two scholarship competition days for high school seniors who have been accepted to Wilmington College. This competition includes several group activities, two essay writings and a group interview session. As WC Scholars, I and a few friends were invited to help with scholarship day. We reported bright and early at 8:30 on Saturday morning to meet and greet the competitors. We received a yummy breakfast of pastries and coffee and orange juice, mingling with future students discussing hometowns, expectations and reassuring them that no one would bite ;) We returned for lunch, a delicious meal of salad, chicken, mashed potatoes and breadsticks. I was at a table with possible future Political Science majors. I was joined by the fabulous Professor Mary Ellen Batiuk of the Poly Sci Department. Luckily for me, my group was not quiet, so I had an excellent discussion about all the great opportunities here at WC. Hopefully I’ll see some of them next year!

MLK Day

One week into the new semester and we’ve got a three day weekend! The Profs made up for it though; I had a lot of reading to get done! But it was still fun :) It ended Monday night with a Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration on campus in Boyd. It was an excellent presentation. Performers included the Bible Missionary Baptist Church Choir as well as our very own Wilmington College Chorale and WC Voices of Praise. Speakers included President Dan, senior David Diaby, physics Professor Esmail Hejazifar and keynote speaker Valarie Willis. All gave a different view in their reflections on Dr. King, Willis reminding us of three r’s-”renew, re-imagine, rejoice.” She also said the world is waiting for the next MLK, someone new to step up and lead the fight for equality. Perhaps this new leader will emerge on our campus in little, old Wilmington :) I’d like to end with a quote from DR. King himself: “Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. It is a weapon unique in history which cuts without wounding. It is a sword that heals.”

We’re Back!

Welcome Back Everybody!

I hope you all had wonderful holidays! Mine was great. We had plenty of snow for Christmas and I was able to catch up with some old friends back home. I also got to spend a lot of time with my family. My Mom and Dad gave me the game “Apples to Apples” for Christmas and I brought it back to school; I can’t wait to get everyone back together to play a game :) I also got together with some of the friends I made here at college to see the new movie “Avatar.” It was excellent; I’d definitely recommend it. The dorms were hopping all night with so many people moving back in at once & there was a lot of laughter. New classes started Monday. I’m very excited about my schedule this semester; my earliest class isn’t until 10:00! I’ll miss my Global Issues class with Snarr but I have a Foundations of Social & Political Thought class with Mary Ellen that promises to be incredibly interesting. Well I’m off to Marketing; it’s so good to be back!