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(08/16/12 12:31am)
Looking for a fun and cheap study break on the town? Did you love the latest installment to 20th Century Fox’s “Ice Age” series? Then look no further than the Museum of Arts and Sciences on Forsyth Road, which will continue to host its “Life Through Time: Dinosaurs and Ice Age Mammals” exhibit until September 16.
The exhibit, which has been up and running since mid-May, features ten animatronic representations of animals that existed between the late Jurassic and late Pleistocene ages.
Familiar faces like the saber-toothed tiger and the wooly mammoth snarl and stamp in their exhibits alongside more obscure creatures, including the gigantic Paraceratherium—an ancestor of the rhinoceros—and the Maiasaura, whose name means “good mother lizard” in Greek.
In the lobby visitors can see the mechanics of the animatronic dinosaurs at work with a “skeleton” that they can control.
Supplementing the exhibit is a new planetarium show, “Dinosaur Prophecy,” included with the price of admission to the museum.
Additionally, visitors can view the museum’s collection of fossils and lithographic artwork depicting prehistoric scenes as visitors walk through the attraction.
Other new attractions at the museum include “Native American Prints and Points” and “The Story of Apollo.” “Prints and Points” displays Native American pottery, weaponry and other artifacts in addition to a collection of prints on loan from Beverly Fitzpatrick, who has loaned them out of the collection of her late husband, Duross Fitzpatrick.
“The Story of Apollo” recounts the history of manned space flights with visual aids provided by Rob Sumowski. Both exhibits are open through Sept. 30.
If dinosaurs, Native Americans and space travel aren’t enough to capture your attention, the museum also includes a live animal exhibit with Geoffrey’s tamarins, geckos, snakes, turtles, tropical birds and a variety of insects and arachnids.
A nature trail snakes through the woods just outside the building.
Those who love to watch the skies can attend the museum’s state-of-the-art Mark Smith Planetarium, which in addition to “Dinosaur Prophecy” plays presentations about constellations and astronomical phenomena.
For an additional $2 stargazers can attend the “Skies Over Macon” show at 8 p.m. on Friday nights. The program includes a regularly updated planetarium show and the opportunity to use the museum’s telescopes.
Admission for students is $7. For questions about museum hours or other attractions, visit the website at www.masmacon.org.
(08/16/12 12:30am)
Welcome to Mercer, new Mercerians! Hopefully you will come to love this university and this city—with all its ups and downs—as much as we do now after you’ve been here a few years. A word of advice: get to know this town. Macon has a tough reputation from the outside world, but it also has a rich tradition of history and music. Otis Redding, the Allman Brothers and the kazoo all started their musical journeys here, and the current residents continue that tradition with a wide array of musical and theatrical performances. Here’s a quick reference for all the ways you can stay entertained on campus and downtown.
Second Sunday – Every Sunday in Washington Park, just across from the library on Washington Avenue, the College Hill Alliance hosts a free concert at sunset. Downtown eateries set up booths for drinks and picnic food so that you can enjoy live music from local bands in one of Macon’s scenic historical parks. This month’s Second Sunday has already passed, but on September 9 The Vespers will be performing in the early afternoon (1:00-3:00). Get there early for a good seat!
Third Thursday – Another project through the College Hill Alliance, Third Thursday takes place every month in the Mercer Village. Live musicians come to play while patrons and poor college students enjoy discounts from Ingleside Village Pizza, Francar’s and other shops in the Village. For a few hours pedestrians can enjoy the run of Montpelier Avenue as the street is blocked off to accommodate the party.
The 567 – This downtown locale is a great venue space—just small enough to be considered intimate but not uncomfortably cramped—with a steady flow of affordable concerts on the calendar. For a $10 cover charge you can get a ticket to this week’s concert featuring Erra, Becoming the Archetype, Wanderer and All is Lost. The following day, Saturday, is the 567’s monthly concert in which artists tell the stories behind their music. Students with ID can get in for $5 to hear Megg Serrano, Baxter James and Lucas Woodgeard talk about what makes them sing.
Theatre performances – Because the Mercer Players can’t perform their excellent plays for us every week (though we wish they could), Macon has two local theatre venues: Theater Macon and The Macon Little Theatre. They may not be the Royal Shakespeare Company, but don’t count them out when you’re itching to see a theatrical performance between Mercer Players shows. The Macon Little Theatre opens with the farce “Boeing – Boeing” on August 24, and on September 7 Theatre Macon will begin their run of “Becky’s New Car”. A little pricier than the 567 but much less so than the Grand, and a classy choice for a date night.
Midnight Movie – This event will probably become one of your favorites. Because college students keep ungodly hours anyway, the AmStar on Zebulon Road hosts this event twice each semester. For $2, Mercer students with a student ID can see one of several recently released movies at a midnight showing. Keep an eye on the QuadWorks announcements for this semester’s Midnight Movie dates, and watch the lobby in Connell—if you buy your ticket early in the day at the table in the lobby you can avoid a long line that night. All that extra time could be spent figuring out what to smuggle into the movie from the Kroger next door to the theater.
The Hummingbird – There’s a minimal cover charge, but the Bird (as it is affectionately known) offers plenty of local music and flavor, in addition to the occasional nationally known band. Weekends always see some kind of music playing at the Bird, and Wednesday nights combine music and team trivia. They can be picky about an age limit of 21, but occasionally they offer shows for the not-quite-legal-yet population. Just ask.
The Grand Opera House – Located downtown on Mulberry Street, the Grand is the place to go if you want to break the bank for some quality entertainment. Hosting everything from live music to comedy routines to Broadway musicals, the Grand is worth what you spend when you can afford it. For a quick glimpse of the lovely historic theater, take a trip downtown on August 30 for the free classical strings concert the Grand is hosting for the community.
The Golden Bough - In addition to the occasional live music performance or poetry reading, The Golden Bough is a great place to go for used and discount books (much, much cheaper than Mercer’s Barnes & Noble). Browse around or just cuddle up in a chair and read, and talk to the staff—they’re very friendly and love to talk books.
Townsend School of Music – For those of you who enjoy chamber or classical music, look no further than the edge of campus. Mercer’s music school delivers fantastic performances on a weekly basis, and our school for strings attracts the best of the best from all across the country. And best of all, it’s free. Check the music school Web site for a calendar of events and keep an eye out for flyers on the kiosk outside Connell and on the bulletin boards in the campus post office.
(08/15/12 4:00pm)
When it comes to new music, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m the laziest connoisseur I know. Most of the time I absorb it through osmosis thanks to the radio or, more frequently, my musically inclined friends. I find their tastes to be nearly impeccable—that is, I’ve never really disliked anything they have exposed me to—so when my friend Kamie invited me to a concert with a band I’d never heard of before, I gave her the benefit of the doubt.
And I’m glad I did, because I’ve been playing the CD on repeat since the concert in Atlanta on July 21. Milo Greene’s self-titled first album blends haunting vocal harmonies with an almost otherworldly style to turn melancholy and raw emotion into some truly beautiful music. The band, made up of five people, came together through college friendships and music scene acquaintances and they have been playing live together since March of last year. In case you were wondering, Milo Greene is not the name of any member of the band; he’s actually the fictional booking agent contrived by band members Andrew Heringer and Robbie Arnett to help them book gigs early in their prior, independent careers. I took the chance to borrow Milo Greene for an interview before they became too famous to talk to me, and Arnett was gracious enough to take a break from the tour to call me from Denver, Co.
BH: How long have you been writing music?
RA: Probably since 2006, so about five or six years. I think I’ve always been interested in creating some kind of art. Growing up we would always go to the movies and the theater, and there was always music around in my family. We were avid music lovers. I was always kind of inspired by it, and when I got to college there were some guys in my dorm who played music. I started singing and taught myself to play guitar, so that’s where I got started.
BH: What were you studying at the time?
RA: Music and theatre.
BH: Oh, so then this was right in line with your passions.
RA: Yeah; I didn’t switch from being an economics major or anything like that.
BH: You guys definitely have a really unique sound. How would you describe your band’s style of music?
RA: I think at the core it’s pop music, but we’ve definitely tried to decorate it with stuff that’s influenced us and inspired us—dreamier and ethereal sounds. I’ve always been interested in scoring and movies. We’d talked about working with filmmakers and scoring, but we formed a band. Since there are four vocalists we’re centered around vocalists…it’s all kind of placed in more dreamy tones and stuff. We try to make it as unconventional as possible.
BH: There’s a really definitive tone to the album, too. What can you tell me about that?
RA: We recorded all of the music all over the west coast primarily in winter and autumn months, so I’d say the tone was inspired by a somber, nostalgic atmosphere.
BH: I noticed during the concert that you guys switch instruments around a lot. How did you all come to be so versatile?
RA: I think initially we were just trying to figure out what each song needed. We made the record without playing the record, and when we had to play it we had to figure out how to recreate it. We all primarily play guitar, but we switched around to kind of fill up the songs. I learned how to play piano a bit for certain songs and Marlana takes up the bass for certain songs…We learn as we go. Andrew’s pretty classically trained and an all-around great musician, so he can pick it up pretty quick. Since I wasn’t classically trained it takes me a little more time, but if we need the sound then we’re all about figuring it out.
BH: What is your creative process like? It sounds like you fly by the seat of your pants a lot.
RA: It happens in all sorts of different ways. Since the four of us are the song writers we’ve all brought songs to the table. It’s a big collaborative union. The initial start of the whole thing was that song “Autumn Tree.” I’d sent Andrew the lyrics and he wrote a melody for the lyrics I sent him, but sometimes we’ll all be sitting in a room and I’ll start playing the piano and start singing some words, and Marlana will jump in and then Andrew will jump in and we’ll try to figure it out. There are all kinds of ways to do it; there’s not one set formula.
BH: You guys were on Letterman recently. How was that?
RA: It was very exciting. I think we were all really nervous. We came from DC the night before and came to Lettermen at three a.m. We were all kind of zombies. It was really cool. He keeps his studio at, like, 40 degrees, so it was freezing. But we’d all grown up with that program, and our parents were excited. It was an all-around wonderful experience for us, and we can’t be more thankful to be on that program.
BH: What did it mean for you as a band, as far as exposure goes?
RA: It’s hard to say. I think it’s a nice accolade to add to our career, that experience and exposure about being on television, but we just went up there and did the best Milo Greene performance that we could and hope people will respond to it. But yeah, it’s hard to say how much that helps in the big picture.
BH: What has been your favorite part of the tour so far?
RA: The television experience was wonderful, but we played Lollapalooza as our first festival, and that was really cool. It was cool to be part of the evacuation—they evacuated for the first time because there was a crazy storm coming in. But really traveling to different cities, and people meeting people have all been an amazing experience, kind of a dream come true. Milo Greene is a recent project, but some of us have been working for this for the better part of a decade.
BH: Let’s talk about “Moddison” for a minute.
RA: We thought about doing a project that would score films. We had a month before we started our tour, so we ended up writing a screen play for a short film that would encompass our entire record. I had a friend of mine come up to silver lake, a place where we’d recorded a lot of the music, and we recorded a film that went along with the record.
BH: The music videos for “Silent Way,” “Perfectly Aligned,” and “1957” are now out. What’s coming next?
RA: I think “Don’t Give Up on Me” is coming next. I think we’ll be releasing a few [videos] over the next month or so. I guess the biggest hint would be that the videos correspond to the track numbers on the record, so people can figure it out that way.
Arnett said that “Moddison” should be released in its entirety sometime this winter, so those who want to piece together the story as it goes will want to get a jump on it now. The music videos for “1957,” “Silent Way” and “Perfectly Aligned” can be found on the band’s Web site. The curious and enthused can buy the album at http://store.warnermusic.com/milo-greene.
(04/25/12 7:45pm)
Last year, I was very impressed with the Mercer Players’ rendition of I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. I came out of that theater wondering if they were going to be able to top the performance. I’m going to be honest: after a side-splitting, well-acted romp like that, I wasn’t sure they would.
To my delight and astonishment, they did it.
The Mercer Players just closed their successful season with a truly spectacular performance of Sondheim’s A Little Night Music. The incorporation of actors from the community and the venue of the Grand Opera House did much to strengthen the performance, but the hard work and exceptional talent of the Mercer cast and crew made the play a near-masterpiece for Mercer’s theatre department.
The acting was, as usual, a great pleasure to watch. Finding someone who can act as well as sing is always a challenge, because many people who take the stage excel at one or the other, but not both. Unlike last year, when the amateur singers could be praised for their valiant effort but were ultimately overshadowed by their more musically gifted co-actors, there was not a weak voice on this cast.
However, a few people really shone on both the acting and the singing fronts. Senior Kyle Shook was brilliant as the jealous and blustering dragoon, Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm. Most of Shook’s roles have fallen into the vein of the firm, serious lead who must remain steady and collected, and somewhat cool. While Shook always delivers satisfaction with his performances in these roles, one couldn’t help but feel that he was being boxed into the same character over and over. Shook blasted apart that box in A Little Night Music. As the Count, Shook flaunted his great range: flying off the handle, swaggering and being pompous to hilarious effect. And, what’s more, he can sing.
Senior music major Katie Trotter portrayed the Count’s wife, Charlotte. I had never seen Trotter perform before and I was blown away by her fantastic performance. Trotter’s character is as snide, witty, and sly as one of Oscar Wilde’s characters, and Trotter gave all of Charlotte’s lines a snippy little bite that was thrilling in its excellence. She’s a natural, and her ease onstage only endeared her more to the audience, which roared with laughter every time she got in a sardonic quip.
Detailing the skills of all the wonderfully talented cast members would take entirely too long, but it’s safe to say that the ensemble was, as a whole, spectacular. The group numbers were performed with a harmonious swell of voices that were thrilling to hear, and the chemistry of the cast was fairly spot-on. Monica Titus and Liam McDermott had an electric connection as the lovers Desiree Armfeldt and Fredrik Egerman, and Suzanne Stroup delivered a real show-stopper when she belted out the penultimate number, “The Miller’s Son.”
And can we talk about the set for just a second? The moving partitions, furniture and various other little touches were all painstakingly painted and selected to fit the period-specific feel of the play.
One might expect such an elaborate set to require lengthy and complicated scene changes, but the cast and crew were as efficient as a well-oiled machine. Aside from one difficult scene change that would have been avoided had they had more time to practice on the Grand’s stage, the scene changes all went off without a hitch. The benefits of the Grand’s technology definitely served the show well, incorporating birch trees that descended from the ceiling and a lighting system that could project a luminous moon or dappled sunlight onto the backdrop. Hands down, though, the most impressive part of the set was the house itself: the constructed outline of an English manor that could be dropped and raised at will. Those responsible for this set should be immensely proud.
As with any show, there were a few glitches, but almost every single mishap that occurred on the show’s opening night can be put down to one too few rehearsals on the Grand Opera House’s stage. A few microphones had technical difficulties throughout the night. Considering, though, that the cast is only able to rehearse three times on that stage before opening night, I’d say the show was a complete success despite the minor technical difficulties.
The Mercer Players should be proud. A Little Night Music was on the level of a professional performance. Scot Mann posted on his Facebook that the show was the most beautiful he had directed yet, and I’m going to have to agree. The seniors who are graduating should know that their final musical gift to the school was one gorgeous performance that is going to live in the audience’s memories for years to come. To the rest of the cast and crew: your performance in A Little Night Music has put you (or advanced you) on this viewer’s Must-Watch list for the rest of my time at Mercer. And to all of you: Bravo. Consider this review a standing ovation.
(04/25/12 7:17pm)
Eleven animal rescue groups gathered at the Tractor Supply Company in Warner Robins for the seventh annual Rescue Day. In addition to adoptions and publicity for the rescue groups, the event offered discount shots and a dog show with prizes awarded all around.
The event began seven years ago, when the Tractor Supply Company on Watson Boulevard first opened. Celia Tamker, knowing that her boss wanted to host events at the store, came up with the idea for the Rescue Day through her involvement with a group that rescues a specific breed of hunting dog called a pointer.
“I’d seen other communities do this kind of thing before, but I’d not seen it here,” Tamker said.
She called a few rescue groups to invite them to the event. The response, she said, was “overwhelming.” Over the past seven years the event has added more rescue groups and more ways for the community to get involved. For instance, this was the second year for the Children’s Dog Show. A dog trainer comes for obedience school demonstrations, and Peach Veterinary Care offered low-cost shots, micro-chipping and nail-trimming.
“It’s a lot of fun every year,” Tamker said. “It gets kind of crazy but we all enjoy it.”
During Tamker’s interview in the aisle of the Tractor Supply Company, a couple with children walked in holding a dappled gray hound puppy. A smile broke across Tamker’s face as the family passed on their way to the leash and collar aisle for their new dog.
“I enjoy seeing the groups get exposure and their dogs get adopted,” Tamker said after the family had disappeared. “That’s rewarding.”
Several easily recognized names were among the groups at Rescue Day, including Save a Pet, Inc., and Therapy Dogs Inc., the group that comes for the TheraPups event during Mercer’s finals week. Other groups, however, use the event to gain publicity for their more specialized and lesser-known groups. Among this number are Greyhounds Galore, a mission that rescues racing greyhounds, and the Georgia Equine Rescue League, which is devoted to taking in abused horses and ponies.
Eddy O’Hern, the vice president of GERL, said that the group came down for its second year at the Rescue Day in order to drum up support in the Middle Georgia region. The group, which operates out of Bethlehem, Ga., is better known up north, but O’Hern said that their reputation is spreading.
“A lot of people when we were down here last year didn’t know who we were, that we even existed,” O’Hern said. Thanks to events like Rescue Day, that is changing.
Each rescue group had a designated area in which to set up shop, and they filled their spaces with items for sale—T-shirts, bakes goods, stuffed animals, homemade crafts like picture frames and decorative tiles, baby rattles and much more—and animals, animals, animals. Dogs and cats alike reclined and prowled and played in their pens as potential new owners browsed among the animals, picking up their favorites or taking them for walks.
“The most [adoptions] we’ve had has been about twenty,” Tamker said. “I’ve heard of about five this time today.”
Though sometimes people choose not to adopt at Rescue Day, Tamker said that the connections people make with the rescue groups sometimes encourages them to visit the groups after the event.
“They might not get the adoption today, but they’ll have people come back later,” Tamker said.
In addition to adopting out some of their animals, the groups come for publicity and for support. They accept donations and many of them, notably Warner Robins Animal Control, asked specifically for volunteers to come clean, walk and play with their animals.
“They are all compassionate, and passionate about what they do,” Tamker said of the rescue groups. “And they all have good hearts.”
For more information contact the Tractor Supply Co. at 478-953-3344
(04/11/12 8:16pm)
When it came out in 1997, Titanic ran away with the box office. Fifteen years later it has returned for the centennial anniversary of the actual event, and audiences can return to see it with new eyes: that is, through 3D glasses.
It’s the same familiar story and the same familiar movie with a slight visual enhancement. Cameron changed only one thing about the film before its re-release, a change so miniscule and obscure that you probably would never have noticed it: the constellations that Rose sees as she lies freezing on the floating plank, minutes before she realizes that Jack has died. The Telegraph reported on April 1 that astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson sent Cameron a “snarky” e-mail criticizing the inaccuracy of the night sky. Cameron had Tyson send in a chart of the correct star field and the scene was changed accordingly. That, however, is the only different aspect of the re-release, besides the 3D enhancement itself.
The new 3D can be a blessing and a curse at different moments in the film—as in any 3D movie, of course. The movie was not originally made for 3D, so adapting it to the new technology goes less smoothly in some places than others. Instances in which things come at the audience—bubbles, the necklace Rose drops into the ocean, among other things—become blurry and over-the-top. Still figures against moving backgrounds become as sharp and flat as cardboard cutouts. In some cases this is probably due to the green-screen technology of the ‘90s, but the modern 3D unfortunately makes it painfully obvious. However, the 3D aspect enriches other scenes. Faces and crowds receive great depth. One of the best, I think, is the scene in which the lone rescue boat returns for the passengers stranded in the frozen water and finds itself in a floating cemetery. With the 3D magnification, the colors and texture of that scene are vibrantly creepy.
Overall, though, I found that the 3D did very little to enhance the experience. Perhaps it made the viewing the movie a little prettier, but the story demands much more of one’s attention than the aesthetics do.
Question: does anyone else find that the 3D craze is getting a little old? I’ve been thinking this for months. Although I did attend (and thoroughly enjoyed) the 3D re-release of Beauty and the Beast, I’ve long been of the opinion that, once again, the emperor is naked and most of us are just kind of rolling with it. Titanic is just the latest of this trend theaters have come up with to pull money out of people who could just as easily watch that same movie on DVD at home.
But I digress; I’m not here to rant about the film industry or the worth of 3D movies. I’m here to talk about the re-release of Titanic.
Saturday, April 14, marks the 100-year anniversary of the sinking of the real Titanic. I’d like to think that our attraction to this movie—to this story—doesn’t have everything to do with the fictional romance between Jack and Rose. Not that it’s a bad story; I think the whirlwind romance that ends up giving Rose her life back is a great thing to watch, much healthier than the relationship between Romeo and Juliet. Is it our hubris that we like to revisit? Somehow I doubt that, although maybe it should be. Maybe it’s the survival aspect. One of the movie’s greatest strengths is the way it depicts ordinary people suddenly confronted with inevitable disaster, where their own survival almost directly leads to someone else’s death. The movie shows the worst side of hysteria, panic, selfishness, and despair—but it also shows the best side. Resilience. Courage. Empathy. It asks us: if this were actually life and death, if I actually had freezing water lapping at my feet, would I be able to go back to find survivors, to help someone else through, or would I be too afraid to do anything but fight for my own life?
It’s a hard question. One that we need to ask ourselves constantly.
Think what you will about Titanic. Think what you will about 3D technology and whether or not it’s worth it. But the fact remains that this story, for one reason or another, draws us. Even if you don’t go see it in theaters, this weekend’s centennial anniversary might be a fitting time to visit that story again.
(04/11/12 8:04pm)
Bestselling author Bret Lott is this year’s writer-in-residence for the Ferrol A. Sams, Jr., Distinguished Chair of English program. This semester he will be holding classes with Mercer’s creative writing students, helping them hone their craft along their own writing journeys.
A professor at the College of Charleston, Lott often likes to say that he never intended to be a writer. Originally, he wanted to be a park ranger.
After an indecisive period at school — he changed his major four times — Lott dropped out and picked up a job as an RC Cola salesman. A few years later he decided to return to school, and in order to get used to working under a deadline again he enrolled in a course at the local community college. The class was, by “pure chance,” a creative writing course.
Lott went back to school and graduated with an English major, having switched to that major in his last year of college. From there he went on to earn a Masters of Fine Arts degree from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. It was not until his third year of graduate school that he began to publish short stories in literary journals such as the Yale Review and The Iowa Review. Lott advised, “Publishing your writing starts in the journals.”
Lott has published nine novels during his writing career. His fourth novel Jewel, which was published in 1991, became a New York Times bestseller when Oprah picked it up in 1999 for her Book Club. Jewel stayed on the bestseller list for three months and was made into a TV-movie in 2001.
“You don’t make any money, being a writer,” Lott joked. “Until Oprah calls you. I was incredibly blessed that that happened.”
Currently Lott is working on a book of creative nonfiction, but he also has a novel in the works. Eventually, he said, he would like to write a biography about musician Vince Guaraldi, the jazz pianist who wrote and performed all of the music from the Charlie Brown cartoons.
For Lott, the most important aspect of writing is the art of precision. Additionally, Lott feels that it is vitally important for a writer to find his or her “chair”: the perspective and angle from which they write.
“I’m trying to get them to write about their own hearts, out of their own experiences, in their own words,” Lott said of his creative writing students. “All the great writers, that’s what they wrote about.”
When speaking of authors writing from the heart and of their own experiences, Lott does not mean that the best writing comes exclusively from autobiographies and memoirs. Lott used fantasy writer J.R.R. Tolkien as an example.
“You have this guy’s heart that’s in the story. That’s why it works. You can write anything you want if it springs from your heart.”
Lott writes stories that are close to his own heart, and though he may not set about it consciously his stories are connected by a common thread.
“What always appears is that I write about family,” Lott said. “I write about those relationships. It’s not really anything I set out to do; it’s just where I live.”
Also uniting Lott’s stories is a spiritual presence that comes from Lott’s Christian belief. Although Lott does not consider himself a “Christian writer”—in his opinion, “‘Christian’ was never a modifier”—his faith comes out in his books as he strives to write from his own experience.
“I’m not writing thematically,” Lott said. “I’m not writing to proselytize, I don’t write to evangelize. But I write about sin and forgiveness, sacrifice and redemption. I don’t know what else you’d write about.”
Lott will be remaining as the writer-in-residence for the remainder of the semester. The most important aspect of the Ferrol Sams, Jr., Distinguished Chair program for Lott is that it introduces students to other voices in the writing community, bringing in new points of view regarding the writing process.
“Writing is very idiosyncratic,” Lott said. “The more voices you hear about how to write, the more you have to pull from as you’re deciding how you write.”
(04/11/12 8:01pm)
In honor of the 100-year anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, director Jim Crisp has brought the musical of the same name to the Theatre Macon stage. Crisp’s rendition of Maury Yeston’s Tony-winning musical Titanic opened to a packed house on Friday, April 6.
The opening of the show coincides with James Cameron’s re-release of the 1997 blockbuster hit, but people who come to the musical expecting to see Jack and Rose onstage are in for a surprise. There are no characters in the musical who were not actual people on the ship in 1912, and while the writers did take certain liberties—particularly in the cases of the third-class passengers, for whom there are fewer records than passengers in first and second class—they strove to cleave as closely to historical documentation and eyewitness accounts as possible.
“I think it gives a more accurate account than the movie does,” actor Bryson Holloway said. “I think a lot of people aren’t going to expect what they see.”
Holloway plays Thomas Andrews, the architect and builder of Titanic. This will be his ninth production, and he says that the role of Andrews is the hardest role he’s ever had.
“There’s so much emotional involvement,” Holloway said. “Not just my character, but everyone’s, because we’re playing real people, people who really lived through this. You have to have this personal connection.”
Former Mercer professor Bob Hargrove, who appeared in the Backdoor Theatre’s production of Fiddler on the Roof a few years ago, found the historical aspect of the show to be one of the most interesting. Hargrove was able to rattle off several historical facts about his character, millionaire George Widener, and even mentioned that he had been able to look up a picture of Widener’s house.
“I’d never done character research like this before,” Hargrove said, grinning. “To me, it was just neat.”
The show gives a cross-section of the ship, revealing action and characters from every class and every position on board, from the boiler room to the bridge, the cabins to the telegraph room. As director Jim Crisp put it, Titanic (the ship, not the musical) was a “microcosm” of society in 1912 and, in a way, is still a microcosm of the world we live in today. And to pull off such a wide representation of the ship’s passengers, Titanic (the musical, not the ship) employs a huge cast: there are 54 actors. For an intimate space like Theatre Macon, that’s huge.
“Keeping track of everyone can be a challenge,” Crisp admitted (although, during his interview, he bid goodnight to every cast and crew member who passed by name). Crisp said that one of the challenges he faces is trying to keep everyone involved and enthused, to keep them all “in the same boat, rowing together.”
“This is an exceptional cast,” Crisp said. “There’s a tremendous amount of talent in this cast.”
Rick Hutto, who portrays millionaire John Jacob Astor, also said that the cast is “wonderful.”
“Nobody has a small part,” he added. “It’s really unusual to have this much of an ensemble piece.”
The immense cast packs out the small stage, but the little theater somehow manages to convey the feel of a crowded deck. The set employs simple but effective backdrops, making scene changes quick and fluid. Crisp said that the power of the set—and of the show as a whole—lies in what it doesn’t portray rather than what it does, as it invites the audience to create the ship with their imagination, seeing what the characters see. The costumes are lovely, created by Shelley Kuhen who also does the costumes for the Mercer Players performances. Singing together, the cast sounds wonderful. Theatre Macon allowed a small audience to watch Titanic’s penultimate dress rehearsal, and during the ship’s actual sinking, there was audible weeping and sniffing in the audience.
For Crisp, the show represents the “endurance and durability” of the human spirit. This will be his third time directing the show, and he says that it is his favorite of all the shows he has directed.
“There’s something special about this one,” Crisp said. “I think it’s one of the best American musicals, period.”
Show times and ticket prices for Titanic can be viewed on the Theatre Macon Web site. For tickets, call the box office at 478-746-9485.
(04/11/12 7:17pm)
As finals approach and the stress mounts, students looking for a fun and inexpensive study break might want to keep Macon’s Museum of Arts and Sciences in mind. Whether your interests lie in stargazing, art appreciation, natural sciences or up-close encounters with strange and fascinating animals, the Museum of Arts and Sciences has something to offer for everyone. This month the museum will be wrapping up its wildlife exhibit Where the Wild Things Live, which will be kept open to the public until May 13 when it will be replaced by a new dinosaur exhibit.
The ‘Wild Things’ exhibit features the different habitats and wildlife of the Southeastern United States, specifically in Georgia. Using recreations of different habitats and preserved specimens of Georgia wildlife, the exhibit also endeavors to encourage respect for the environment and to make viewers aware of human encroachment upon natural habitats and the consequences incurred upon the animals.
The staff put the exhibit together in mid-January. Most of the preserved specimens used in Where the Wild Things Live come from the museum’s permanent collection.
“This is one of the few times we’ve featured them in an exhibit,” Melanie Byas, the museum’s Public Relations Director, said.
Additionally, sections of Where the Wild Things Live come equipped with special bar codes that can be “zapped” with a Smartphone. Doing so will grant the holder access to further information about the exhibit, such as connecting the Smartphone to a webpage specifically relevant to the subject of the exhibit.
After May 13, the Where the Wild Things exhibit will be converted into an exhibit featuring dinosaurs, and as December gets closer the exhibit will focus on Mayan history and culture in honor of the approaching last day of the Mayan calendar, Dec. 21 of this year.
However, for those whose animal attraction can’t be satisfied by Where the Wild Things Live or for those who miss the exhibit, the museum has a Mini-Zoo with over 70 live specimens. Visitors can come to the Mini-Zoo to observe the museum’s alligators, turtles, bugs, ferrets, a chinchilla and six tamarin monkeys, among other animals.
If that isn’t enough, museum-goers can attend the live animal show that takes place every weekday at 3:00 p.m. and every Saturday at 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. During the show visitors can make the acquaintance of Georgia the cockatoo, a Colombian boa constrictor named Tómas and several playful ferrets. Especially bold members of the audience can volunteer to come to the stage to hold one of the museum’s large Madagascar hissing cockroaches (which, as the animal handlers will tell you, are even cleaner than humans. Who knew?).
Perhaps, though, you aren’t an animal lover. Not to worry: the museum offers several other attractions including art exhibits and a state-of-the-art planetarium.
The Mark Smith Planetarium is the only planetarium in Georgia to use the cutting-edge Konica Minolta Super MediaGlobe-II projection technology, which only two other planetariums in the Western hemisphere use today. If you’re looking for a cute, cheap date or if you’re just an astronomy buff, the museum offers free stargazing on clear Friday nights and the Skies over Macon planetarium show for only $2.
Located on Forsyth Road beside the Macon Little Theatre, the museum is within easy driving distance of Mercer University, making it an ideal study break locale.
“It’s a really valuable resource,” Byas said. “Everyone is missing out on a valuable experience if they don’t come visit the Museum of Arts and Sciences.”
(03/28/12 8:24pm)
Suzanne Collins’ bestselling smash The Hunger Games is brought superbly to life in the film by the same name. Director Gary Ross teams up with Billy Ray and Suzanne Collins herself for the challenging task of adapting a first-person novel to a third-person movie, and they pull if off with fantastic effect to thrill the dedicated followers of the books and those who are attending the Hunger Games for the first time.
If you haven’t at least heard the basics of the story (Seriously, where have you been?), here’s a brief exposition. North America as we know it has fallen, and in its place has risen Panem, divided into districts specialized by trade and governed by the Capitol set in the Rockies. Long ago a great war broke out in this civilization, and the 13 districts rebelled against the the Capitol. The brutal war ended when the Capitol obliterated District 13. As a reminder and a warning to the rest of the districts, the Capitol requires each district to send two “tributes,” a boy and a girl between the ages of 12 and 18, to fight to the death in an annual, nationally televised event called The Hunger Games. For the Seventy-Fourth Hunger Games, a little girl named Prim Everdeen is called to compete. Before she can take the stage, her older sister—16-year-old Katniss, the heroine of the series—steps forth to take her place as a tribute. Katniss and fellow tribute Peeta Mellark, a boy of Katniss’ age who has apparently been in love with her for some time, are swept off to the Capitol to train for the final battle, and then the plot really kicks off.
A compelling (if not especially original) plot drives this lengthy film with a brilliant pace, and the good writing combined with excellent acting keeps the audience fully enraptured. Jennifer Lawrence is a brilliant Katniss, bringing perhaps a little more warmth to a character who, while brave and resourceful, is fully aware that she is not entirely likable. Josh Hutcherson as Peeta is charismatic, warm, and vulnerable, and although he may not get enough screen time Hutcherson plays the role to near-perfection. The two main actors are supported by a fantastic entourage that is too lengthy to adequately cover, but big names like Stanley Tucci as Ceasar Flickerman, the host of the games, and Woody Harrelson as the jaded but dedicated Haymitch do not fail to deliver the quality expected of them.
The real brilliance of this movie comes in Ross’ use of contrasts to manipulate the audience’s emotions. From the very beginning there is a taut tension between the glib enthusiasm of the Capitol and the grim reality of the tributes in their attitudes toward the Hunger Games, amping up the outrage one is meant to feel for a system that deliberately pits its citizens against each other by requiring their children to fight each other. In the scene where Peeta and Katniss are escorted from the glaring, gritty reality of District 12 onto the train headed for the Capitol, the scene takes on an ethereal, numbing quality as the camera takes in the pristine cleanliness and over-the-top decoration of luxurious Capitol life. The garish decorations of the Capitol (almost like a Dr. Seuss book gone awry) heighten this contrast as well. The horror of The Hunger Games is made more horrible by the way the Capitol has normalized it into a sporting event, and the way Ross visualizes it can leave room for nothing but disgust for the system the Capitol has put in place.
Several critics have busted The Hunger Games for playing down the gruesomeness of children killing children, but in my opinion Ross uses the “less is more” approach to beautiful effect. The movie is bloody and brutal, but not in a way that puts it over the top. Watching children kill each other is a wrenching experience in and of itself, so Ross’ avoidance of handling the bloodshed like a battle scene out of Gladiator or Braveheart takes all the glory out of the fight. I cite the death of the boy from District 4—a tiny, freckled, twelve-year-old—as my example: the child breaks his cover and is overtaken by the brutal warrior from District 2. You see, from the back, a knife flash, a spurt of blood, and the child fall to the ground; a moment later you get a shot of his body crumpled lifelessly on the ground. The effect is shattering. Likewise, Ross handles the death of a major character in a beautifully tragic way, more gently than Collins does in the book but equally as heartbreaking.
The script cleaves closely to the book, which should console purists who want to see the novel they love portrayed faithfully on the screen. Even in the scenes that were not in the book, however, hold to the overall spirit of Collins’ story and perhaps even strengthen it. A revolt scene in District 11 is strongly reminiscent of a race riot, bringing cultural context to Collins’ commentary, and a monologue by the District 2 tribute, Cato, emphasizes the helplessness of Panem’s citizens and the atrocities of the Capitol while inspiring pathos for a very un-empathetic character. And the additional scenes of the gaming room—where the Gamemakers bring the arena to life—give a brilliant behind-the-scenes look that Collins’ first-person account simply cannot.
Of course, some aspects of the book had to be sacrificed in order to keep the film from spanning five to six hours of reel. Katniss’ difficulties in the arena that don’t involve the other tributes are not given as much time as in the book. Neither, disappointingly, is the conflicted relationship between Katniss and Peeta. This is, of course, a difficult thing to convey in a movie when most of the conflict, in the book, is taken from Katniss’ inner monologue. A major point in the relationship is barely brushed at in the last scene, but the movie is so wide open for the sequel that this point will no doubt be addressed early in the next film.
I honestly don’t have room to talk about how good a movie The Hunger Games actually is. All I can say is that it is one of the best book-turned-movie films that I have ever seen, faithfully adapting a pulse-pounding read into a cinematic achievement that can stand well on its own. I can’t wait for the next installment.
(03/28/12 8:06pm)
Regional recruiters from the government-sponsored programs Teach for America and the Peace Corps visited Mercer’s campus last week to encourage students to apply. Both programs offer adventurous opportunities to students just out of college, but those interested are encouraged to begin the application process at the end of their junior year of school.
Recruitment manager Crystal Daniels led the Teach for America meeting on March 14 in the Connell Student Center.
Daniels explained how her own background influenced her decision to join Teach for America.
Growing up as a black female in a low-income neighborhood, whose father was in prison until she reached the tenth grade, Daniels said that she seemed an unlikely candidate for college.
When she did begin attending college Daniels realized that because of the education she had received in her low-income neighborhood, she had to study twice as hard to keep up with the other students in her year. After having graduated and spent a few years in the professional work force, Daniels joined the Hawaii corps of Teach for America to make a difference that she felt she could not achieve with her corporate job.
Daniels informed students of the application process, which involves the application itself, an interview over the phone, and a final interview including a five-minute lesson plan presentation and a group discussion of a pre-assigned text.
The selection process is highly competitive, with a success rate of 11 percent. Applicants are expected to have a GPA of at least 2.5, organizational skills and leadership experience that has had tangible results, among other requirements.
“It’s not like you’re in competition with each other,” Daniels said. “You’re in competition with yourself.”
Mercer senior Kyle Shook, a familiar figure from the Backdoor Theatre, is one of several Mercer students who have been accepted into the Teach for America program.
Shook will leave in mid-June for New York, where he will be assigned to a low-income school for the next two years.
Shook is the son of two teachers and said that he felt he was always headed toward a career in education. Teach for America appealed to him because it combines educational experience and social justice.
“I really think the Teach for America goal to close the achievement gap is really brilliant, and I support it 100 percent,” Shook said.
Former Teach for America member Scott Dennis, who currently attends Mercer’s law school, also spoke at the meeting.
“I really believe that education is the new Civil Rights movement,” Dennis said. “If people don’t have access to good education, then the only thing left of the American Dream is luck.”
A week after the Teach for America meeting, Peace Corps regional recruiter Becky Ament hosted a session to inform students about opportunities for serving abroad after graduation.
As a former Corps member who served for two years in Malawi, Ament explained to prospective applicants that, like Teach for America, the Peace Corps is a competitive program and a huge commitment but also an adventurous and meaningful option for students just graduating college.
Though some consideration will be given to an applicant’s preferred project and location, those who are accepted into the Peace Corps will be assigned to a country based on their skill set, their college major, and their volunteer experience.
Additionally, the Peace Corps offers its participants a few financial benefits including the main traveling expenses to and from the assigned country and a readjustment allowance for when the Corps member’s term of service has ended. Participants also receive one year of noncompetitive eligibility status for federal agencies.
Students who are interested in either of these programs are encouraged to see Stephen Brown in Career Services. Those who are serious about the option should keep in mind that the lengthy application processes are best begun in the spring of their junior year or before.
(03/28/12 8:04pm)
Macon Animal Control and Central Georgia C.A.R.E.S. honored Animal Control Officer Van VanDeWalker for his outstanding work last fall as the Macon Animal Control interim director.
During his period as interim director, VanDeWalker was approached by Shane Smith with the idea for a “Pardon Week,” seven days in which the “kill shelter” would go without a single euthanasia. Smith, the organizer of the Paws for Hope and Faith concert in Atlanta last February, has been actively involved in rescue efforts for Macon animals for several years.
VanDeWalker agreed to Smith’s idea, and during one week in November the Macon Animal Control shelter became the first shelter in the nation to host an official Pardon Week. The event, thanks to the promotions through social media like Facebook and Twitter and the widespread cooperation between animal rescue groups, was a great success.
“Shane promised he would get every dog out of here, and he kept his promise,” VanDeWalker said.
Once the week was over, VanDeWalker was curious to see how long the shelter could keep up the no-euthanasia streak. Together with Shane Smith, he extended the Pardon Week from seven days to seven full weeks. Helped by generous donations that began to roll in around Christmas, VanDeWalker and Smith’s efforts saved the lives of close to 70 animals from the shelter.
“It was like an automobile,” VanDeWalker said. “Shane Smith was the engineer who dreamed up the model and put the blueprint together. All I did was turn the ignition key.”
“What was so great about it was that it just kept going,” VanDeWalker added.
VanDeWalker received a commendation from Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle and Ga. State Senator Miriam Paris earlier in March as a recognition of his efforts and achievement. However, VanDeWalker remains humble and insists that his role in the movement was a small one.
“It’s all about the community; it’s all about hundreds of people,” VanDeWalker said. “They had a ceremony for me up in Atlanta, and there should have been a hundred names on that plaque with me.”
In other significant news for the animal shelter, Macon.com reports that Dr. Christopher Grice from Northside Weslyan Animal Hospital will be officially brought on board to assist the Macon Animal Control shelter for the next three months, until it is brought under the control of Bibb County.
VanDeWalker said that he looks forward to Grice joining the staff. “He’s a great guy. We all respect him and like him a lot,” said VanDeWalker.
There are many benefits to having a veterinarian like Grice on staff. Macon Animal Control will be able to conduct spaying and neutering operations on-site, as well as undesirable but necessary euthanasias. Having Grice will mean that the shelter will have ready access to the medicines the animals might need. Additionally, the animal control officers will be able to carry pain drugs to animals that need them upon pick-up, such as dogs and cats that are rescued after being hit by cars on the highway and need something to dull the pain.
(03/14/12 8:21pm)
It’s always a bad moment when you get to Midnight Movie and realize that not only is there nothing you particularly want to see, but also that none of the available films did particularly well on Rotten Tomatoes. After a democratic vote between The Woman in Black and Chronicle, we went for Chronicle with the justification that it wouldn’t transform the girls in the group (myself included) into basket cases before going to bed that night. Chronicle is about kids who get superpowers. Nothing too nerve-wracking about that, right?
Wrong, actually. Chronicle, with an 84 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes (which is a much better review than it had when we attended, actually), is riveting and the action scenes are edge-of-your-seat harrowing.
Chronicle takes off when three wildly different high school boys—social outcast Andrew, self-labeled philosopher Andrew, and popular class president Steve—stumble upon a mysterious cavern containing something (it is never clear what) that somehow grants the trio supernatural powers. This is a movie out of the “found-footage” tradition, and the title is taken from one of Andrew’s peculiar habits: he feels the need to carry a camera around with him and record everything that happens. And some very interesting things start to happen.
Discovering that their new-found power functions as a “muscle,” the boys begin to develop it, achieving bigger and bigger feats of telekinetic strength including the ability to move cars with their minds and—more excitingly—to fly. But as Spider-Man pointed out, “with great power comes great responsibility,” and as their powers grow Andrew finds his dark side emerging.
Telling you that is by no means spoiling the plot, because honestly the plot is somewhat predictable. Andrew appears in the movie as a ready-made victim: coming from a broken home with an abusive father and an invalid mother, given the cold shoulder and bullied at school. You know pretty early on that Andrew is going to be the one to snap. Watching the descent, though, is utterly fascinating. One can almost feel the gap between this internal, tormented individual and the friends who are doing their best to reach out to him. More than just reacting out of pain, Andrew begins to rationalize his malice, turning from victim into what he calls a “predator.” The actor who portrays him is very talented, able to inspire pathos in one scene with a goofy and insecure smile before turning around to strike fear and horror into the audience with the cold indifference out of which he begins to act.
The character of Andrew, while too predictable a victim, is the strongest of the trio. Steve, the class president, is kind and friendly almost to a fault and struck me as being somewhat flat. Matt, Andrew’s cousin, was considerably less believable as a wannabe beatnik philosopher attempting to work his way into the popular crowd.
The addition of superpowers definitely adds to the tradition of having a cameraman as a character. Andrew, who is the most adept at using his powers, is able to suspend the camera in midair and let it float around the characters as they talk. The later addition of security cameras and iPhone footage bring new eyes and vantage points to the unfolding action with dramatic effect. However, this strength comes with an inherent weakness. As a found-footage film, the movie obviously leaves many holes in its narrative that will go unanswered simply because of the narrow, first-person scope.
Chronicle has its holes, but I do not regret my choice for Midnight Movie, and the more I think about it the more I would recommend it to someone else. Compelling, thrilling, and emotionally engaging, Chronicle brings the questions of responsibility, the temptation of power, and the importance of relationships right to the forefront with little to impede the viewer from focusing on the intense internal dilemma the characters undergo. The superhero tradition has always taken the human condition and amplified it to demonstrate the immense importance of ones actions and choices, and Chronicle—although arguably not about heroes—joins this tradition with strength and innova
(02/08/12 9:49pm)
Rumors that the Macon-Bibb county animal shelter conducted a mass euthanasia this week are unfounded, Macon.com reports. While it was rumored that the shelter would euthanized 16 to 18 dogs this week, in reality only five or six were put down due to the poor condition of the animals’ health.
The Macon-Bibb shelter is a true “last stop” shelter for animals found on the streets. After an animal is brought in, owners have a week to claim it before it can either be adopted out, sent to another shelter, or—in the worst cases—put down. The shelter is required by the state to keep animals moving through the shelter, which means that when it reaches full capacity, some animals must be put down simply to make available space.
However, since the shelter started receiving donations from members of the community, more animals that would have been facing euthanasia have been going home to happy families for free.
Animal control officer Ginger Gamble has been working at the shelter for about four months, and she has seen a significant change since the donations started coming in.
“Since we’ve had the free adoptions, we get a few [adoptions] a week. Without it, about four or five a month. With the donations they’ve almost doubled,” Gamble said.
The shelter has received four substantial donations, three of which have contributed $750 toward adoptions.
The first of the donors, local real estate agent Mallory Jones, put his donation of $750 through just after Christmas.
Jones said, “I’ve always been a big animal lover and I know they’ve got deplorable conditions as far as the facilities go, and they have to put down so many animals.”
He said that he wanted to “bring attention to the center, bring attention to the animals, so we could save some lives.”
Jones made his donation to local animal rescue group Central Georgia Cares, who in turn sent it to Northside Wesleyan Animal Hospital. Local vets Dr. Christopher Grice and Edsel Davis used the money to pay for operations to spay and neuter the animals and to give them their rabies shots. This way, people could adopt animals from the shelter without having to pay the mandatory veterinary fees. They could take their new pets home for free.
Jones’s donation paid for the free adoptions of 10 animals. Not long after word got around about Jones’s donation, three more donors stepped up in succession to offer contributions to the shelter.
“We’re just so pleased about it,” said Animal Control Officer Van Vanderwalker. “Nobody understands what it’s like—unless they do it—to put an animal down. This has been a godsend.”
Jones said he was surprised and delighted by the other donations. He said, “The snowball effect has been wonderful because we’ve saved 44 animals who could have been euthanized.”
The shelter has made great improvements since this time last year. Rescue groups such as Macon Purrs N Paws, ARC Humane Society and Have a Heart, Save a Life have been coming in to take dogs and cats and send them to other shelters or available foster or permanent homes. Vanderwalker said that thanks to the rescue groups, euthanasia rates have decreased from 300 to around 40.
Whether or not the “snowball effect” continues, big changes are in store for the animal shelter. Thanks to the SPLOST Act that passed in November, $3 million have been allotted to create a new shelter for the animals with a larger holding capacity. The current shelter can only hold 80 dogs and 20 cats, and it is located near the town dump.
“No one wants to come down here. It’s the absolute worst location,” Vanderwalker said. “It’s an old eyesore. We’re so looking forward to the new facilities. And it will be so much better for the animals.”
The county will hold a meeting at 7:00 p.m. Thurs., Feb. 9 to discuss the design of the new shelter. It is expected to be well-attended by animal rights groups, according to Macon.com.
In the meantime, Vanderwalker hopes that the donations will continue to come through so that many animals can be adopted.
“You have to remember—none of these animals deserve to be put down. None of them,” Vanderwalker said. “And we’re forced to do it. I don’t ever want to do it again, but I know I have to.”
At the very least, Jones intends to keep the ball rolling.
“It’s going to continue as far as I’m concerned,” Jones said. “I hope to do it again next year around Thanksgiving, for 12 dogs instead of 10.”
(02/08/12 6:08am)
A school bus crashed on Gray Highway on Jan. 23, 2012 after a tractor trailer ran a red light and hit the bus’s passenger side. No serious injuries were sustained, but 20 people were rushed to the hospital as a “preventative” measure, according to Director of Transportation Todd Harris. The bus was traveling back from a leadership conference at Macon State College, carrying students from Northeast High School and Hutchings Career Center. The tractor trailer was approaching from the other direction. It had been a rainy day and the road was slick. Harris said that the collision occurred at approximately 1:45 p.m., as the school bus was turning left onto Old Clinton Road. The truck struck a car before it collided with the bus.There were no major injuries at the scene, but emergency vehicles were called to take 16 students and the bus driver to the Medical Center of Central Georgia to be treated for minor injuries, according to news network 13WMAZ. Harris said that the driver of the car that was hit was unharmed.The news network also said that, according to the police, the driver of the eighteen-wheeler was charged with “Failure to Maintain Lane, Driving Too Fast for Conditions and Failure to Obey a Traffic Control Device.”Harris said that the situation was handled as well as possible.“In this particular incident, I think all procedures were followed,” Harris said. “I don’t think there’s anything the bus driver could have done.”Harris said that, for the safety of the students, the school board department of transportation tries to prevent accidents by planning bus routes around areas of concern where vehicle collisions are more likely to occur. In this case, however, Harris said that the area is not enough of a concern to warrant changing the bus route, especially since it would take the bus far out of the way of where it needed to go.“We’ll just amp up the awareness,” Harris said.For some, school bus collisions are a particular cause for concern, because they may have children who ride the buses regularly. To abate those fears, Harris had this to say:“Think about it like this: that tractor trailer was pulling 80,000 pounds of sand, and nobody was seriously injured. There’s really not a safer vehicle on the road.”“You’re in good shape on a school bus,” he added.
(01/25/12 9:25pm)
The Mercer Service Scholars spent their annual retreat in Americus, Ga., over the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend. They spent the weekend furthering the organization’s relationship with the Fuller Center for Housing through service projects in Americus and at Koinonia Farms. On Sunday, the group attended a church service with former president Jimmy Carter.
Anuj Patel, a Service Scholar in his junior year, planned the event with significant input from the program’s director, Dr. Chris Grant.
“Since we do a lot of stuff with the Fuller Center, we decided to do a retreat that centered solely around the Fuller Center,” Patel said.
The Mercer Service Scholars spent their annual retreat in Americus, Ga., over the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend. They spent the weekend furthering the organization’s relationship with the Fuller Center for Housing through service projects in Americus and at Koinonia Farms. On Sunday, the group attended a church service with former president Jimmy Carter.
Anuj Patel, a Service Scholar in his junior year, planned the event with significant input from the program’s director, Dr. Chris Grant.
“Since we do a lot of stuff with the Fuller Center, we decided to do a retreat that centered solely around the Fuller Center,” Patel said.
Armed with brushes and scaffolding, the Service Scholars spent that Saturday helping the Fuller Center repaint the exterior of a local home. They also took it upon themselves to help renovate the backyard shed.
“I actually think we got to do a lot more service this year,” Bailee Kitchens, a sophomore Service Scholar, said. “Working with the Fuller Center was really exciting; it made the work more relevant to what we are doing as a group.”
The students spent Sunday in Plains, Ga., where the first thing on their itinerary was a visit to Maranatha Baptist Church. After a security check that involved bag searches, metal detectors and a bomb-sniffing dog, the group sat down with other guests to a Sunday school lesson delivered by former president Jimmy Carter.
Carter had just returned from a visit to Egypt with his own non-profit organization, the Carter Center. He had been observing Egypt’s first parliamentary elections as part of the Carter Center’s goal to support democracy across the globe. Before beginning his Sunday school lesson, Carter gave his audience a recap of his visit.
“I enjoyed the brief current events lesson he gave before the Sunday school lesson started, talking about the free elections in Egypt and what the Carter Center is doing there,” Kitchens said.
After church the scholars spent some time visiting historical sites in Plains, Ga., the headquarters of Carter’s presidential campaign and his hometown. Carter, who is thus far the only president to come from Georgia, took office in 1977 as the thirty-ninth president of the United States. Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, have worked with the Fuller family since 1984, assisting in builds and work days.
Additionally during their retreat, the Service Scholars spent a few hours at the birthplace of Habitat for Humanity and the Fuller Center, the Christian commune Koinonia Farms. The founder of both organizations, Millard Fuller, lived at Koinonia for several years with his family under the guidance of his mentor, Clarence Jordan.
(01/25/12 5:40am)
The Macon City Council recently tabled a discussion regarding changing the name of Rosa Parks Square to the Macon Civic Plaza.
On Mon., Jan. 9, the Macon City Council held a meeting at which they accepted a $10,000 gift from State Bank for the renovation and expansion of Rosa Parks Square outside City Hall.
According to Macon.com, Internal Affairs Director Keith Moffett made the suggestion on behalf of the mayor to change the current name of the park. Moffett made clear that the name change was not connected or necessary for the donation. The suggestion left many at council up in arms.
“We were in no way against accepting the grant, but we were very against changing the name,” said Councilman Rick Hutto.
The council has agreed to return to the question another day, but Hutto said that he thought it likely that the name would remain the same or at least that Parks’ name would be kept on it.
“I would like to see her name kept on it. I would like to see it stay Rosa Parks Square,” said Hutto, who is also the chairman of the public properties committee.
The mayor’s office emphasized that it meant no disrespect by suggesting the name change. In fact, part of the plan for the park includes the intent to commemorate specific sections of the space to various important public figures throughout history. This would include Rosa Parks.
Nevertheless, keeping the name for the park is a priority for some of the council members.
“While there was no attempt to be offensive, I am offended,” Councilman Henry Ficklin said to Macon.com.
Hutto expressed that it would not be prudent to rename the park after all that had been done to give it that name.
When the park was christened, Mrs. Parks’ goddaughter, Doris Crenshaw, was present for the renaming ceremony. She brought with her a letter from Parks’ executor granting permission to name the square after the civil rights icon.
“Since it had been done officially, we did not think it appropriate to take her name off the park,” Hutto said.
The grant from State Bank is going to be used to take out certain downtown parking spaces to make room for an expansion of the park. The $10,000 donation is a small step toward the realization of a much larger plan.
According to Macon.com, “An existing concept plan shows possible additions including a waterfall and small amphitheater.” Moffett also told Macon.com that the proposed plan is expected to cost somewhere in the area of $1 million.
Hutto expressed the hope that even with all the additions and renovations, the park will keep its name.
“I met Mrs. Parks when I was serving in the Carter White House,” Hutto said. “And I think it’s very appropriate to keep her name on the park.”
(11/17/11 12:27am)
Most of the time my columns are written in a burst of cheerful productivity after I’ve just come back from an exciting adventure. My posts are fairly happy. This is my normal disposition: I like to keep things positive. The writings I’ve sent you have probably conveyed a sense that every day in England is a joyous adventure, and even the bad days are so much better than bad days at home. This, fellow travelers, is misleading. Not that I’ve been intentionally steering you wrong. It’s just that, when I have a bad day, it goes in my private journal rather than in my column or on my blog.
The truth is, you have bad days anywhere—even in places as amazing as Oxford. And they suck just as badly as they do when you’re at home or at Mercer.
Sometimes worse, because you’re cut off from your support group. I’m lucky enough to have several friends here who have been helping me through a rough time, but not everyone is so lucky to have someone familiar on whom they can rely when they can’t get home.
Because you do get homesick. As November begins to pick up speed in its race to the holidays, we Mercerians over here are all starting to think wistfully of Christmas and of seeing our families again.
The last weeks in October seemed to get all of us down in one way or another, whether we were just homesick or, in some cases, actually sick and wishing we had the comforts of home to make us feel better. You can always call or Skype home, but something of the homesickness remains no matter how often you talk to your mom or your friends.
Recently a very bad thing happened in my family. Early in October, my dog at home developed a strange lump on her leg. As the month went on we discovered it was bone cancer, and it was aggressive. We had to put her down on Halloween, and I wasn’t there to say goodbye.
Sometimes I forget that studying abroad isn’t just an opportunity: it’s an exchange. Those months you spend Elsewhere are months you miss at home—and when you aren’t there, things change. Your social circles expand, contract or sometimes completely dissipate, and you have to learn how to navigate them. Your little brother learns how to drive. People change. And sometimes bad things happen, and you can’t get back home when you most desperately want to be there. The home you left in August is not the home you’ll be returning to in December.
Most of us know this because college has taught it to us. Many of us are studying from far out of state, and getting home is hard even though we’re still in the same country.
However, it is different from actually being an ocean away. And you have to go into studying abroad knowing what you might be giving up.
Which isn’t to say that you shouldn’t study abroad for fear of what might happen at home. You’re cheating yourself if you do that, unless you have a really good or really urgent reason for staying even if you want to go. Honestly, a study abroad course is good preparation for the future. Many of our lives are following trajectories that are going to take us—for a while, at least—far from home. And at some point we have to learn to cope with the fact that we can’t get back to our friends and families every few weeks, or even every few months. And I don’t know about you guys, but the enormity of that reality is only starting to sink in for me.
I’m grateful for Oxford in that it’s teaching me how to handle that, and I wouldn’t trade this experience for the world.
I miss my dog, though. I’m going to miss her all the worse when I get home and her bark isn’t the first thing that greets me, the way it usually is. It’s going to be a rough adjustment, but everyone who comes back from a trip like this finds that they have to adapt to homes that aren’t quite the same. That’s just the way it goes. Sometimes bad comes with the good... but that doesn’t mean that the good isn’t worth pursuing.
(11/02/11 10:08pm)
For the most part, my columns thus far have been vague about the place in which I’m living. I’ve written to you from Ireland, from Stratford and from a bus going to London, but I haven’t written to you from Oxford. I’ve written about backpacking, hero worship and the fleetness of time, but I haven’t told you what it’s like to live here and to be a part—a small, transient part, but a part nonetheless—of this city. And really, if you’re reading this column to get a sense of whether studying at Oxford is for you, that’s really the kind of reading that would serve you best.
But where to start? The culture, the academic structure, the atmosphere of the city itself? There’s really no way to cover all of it within the space of a column, at least not thoroughly.
Every place, though, has one area that serves as a microcosmic representation of the whole. At Mercer, this place is the Caf: we talk, we study, we sit with our respective social groups. You can get a fairly good idea of Mercer’s demographic and social dynamics if you sit in the Caf for awhile and people-watch. For Oxford—at least, from my experience of Oxford—that place is Cornmarket Street.
Cornmarket is far from being Oxford’s prettiest street: we’ve actually heard one of our tutors say that he finds it quite ugly compared to the more elegant and antiquated architecture of some of the other city lanes. As the name suggests, it was once the city’s market street. Now it is set aside for pedestrian foot traffic and a shopping district like any outdoor mall in the U.S. Which isn’t to say that it doesn’t have its history, or any aesthetics whatsoever. The Saxon Tower, Oxford’s oldest surviving building, stands right at the top of the street, and just beyond it is the Ship Street house, which looks like it hasn’t changed since Shakespeare’s day aside from beginning to lean a little. Shakespeare himself used to stay in the inn right across from the Golden Cross shopping center; his room has actually been preserved, and you can still see the original wallpaper. Most of the history is hidden behind the facades of stores.
It may not be the prettiest, but Cornmarket is always the most vibrant place in Oxford. The five-minute walk down the street is an absolute feast for your senses. A dozen different good smells are drifting from the little restaurants (especially the Cornish pasty stand). Street performers are everywhere. I’ve never been on Cornmarket without hearing the notes of a live performer, whether he or she is playing the guitar, a harmonica, a mandolin, or—I kid you not—a violin or a French horn. And that’s just the ever-present music. There’s a man who likes to dance (pretty well, too) to Michael Jackson music on the corner, and he always draws a crowd. Once there was a 13-year-old little gymnast, who had brought her equipment out and was doing tricks upside-down. The other day, walking back from the Covered Market where I’d been doing grocery shopping, I saw a human statue: a woman in Victorian dress who had painted herself entirely silver, and only moved when you dropped a coin into her cup.
I walk down Cornmarket almost every day, whether I’m walking to catch the bus for a tutorial or I’m running to the Covered Market for dinner supplies, or if I’m just going for a walk. This is the street on which I run into any Oxonians with whom I’ve become acquainted, because the university crowd is thick on Cornmarket Street. (Although, to be fair, the university crowd is thick on any street in Oxford.) On a clear fall day, with the music and the smells and the people, just walking down the street can be one of the most exhilarating parts of your day. And to top it all off, towering at the end of the street are the spires and bright blue dome of Christchurch Cathedral, glinting in the sunlight. Recently, the city has added additional decoration by putting out all the Christmas lights. When they turn them on, the four-way intersection at the end of Cornmarket is going to be the prettiest place in Oxford, because you’ll be able to see all four streets lit up at the same time.
This, for me, is Oxford. Bustling, musical, eclectic and vibrant. And familiar. It’s all become familiar now, and that only makes me love it all the more.
(10/19/11 11:24pm)
Yesterday, after my tutorial, I hopped a bus to London in order to attend a concert with a friend in the city. It was early in the unseasonably sunny afternoon, and I had just turned in my first tutorial paper, and the two combined to create a lovely feeling of contentment as I snuggled down into my bus seat for the ride.
The bus began to roll out of the station through Oxford, and as I looked out the window at Matthew Arnold’s “city of dreaming spires,” a thought occurred to me with quiet, beautiful clarity: I love it here. Right on its heels, though, came a much less welcome thought: It’s already halfway over.
I tried to shut that thought out to return to my happy mood, but the damage had been done. I realized it had been a month, to the day, since Sean and I had concluded our tour of Ireland and returned to England. That doesn’t seem possible; so much has happened in the interim that surely I’ve been here longer than a month—but then, why does it still feel so short?
A lot, it seems, can happen in a month. We’ve been able to explore Oxford and the surrounding towns, on our own and through our program’s excursions. We’ve made it through our first essays and our first tutorial sessions with varying degrees of stress. (I had a minor nervous breakdown and ended up throwing an apple at the neighborhood cat in an effort to make it stop yowling—but don’t worry, I didn’t hit it.) We’ve experienced a level of academia we’d never encountered before, and we’re starting to make friends with the people who live here.
Before the concert last night, my friend and I were talking about how we don’t feel like tourists anymore. A month might not be a very long time, but it’s long enough for us to feel like we belong here too. It’s becoming another home.
For guarded people like me, the problem with a study abroad trip is that we are the temporary factor. We are here now, but soon we are going to leave the friends we meet, the place we love and the home we’ve made for ourselves. And that is a painful experience. My friends who came to Oxford for the last semester couldn’t refrain from telling me, upon their return to the States, how much they missed it here. I’m trying not to think about how, in two months, I’m going to discover just how right they were.
Because the thing is, on a trip like this, you can’t just refuse to strike roots for the sake of protecting yourself when it comes time to leave. Not only does that diminish your experience while you’re here, but it’s entirely too tempting to let those roots grow. You could choose to isolate yourself from the culture, but where’s the fun in that? If you’ve made the decision to go abroad at all it’s because you feel the itch to be Elsewhere, and once you’re there, it’s unlikely that your itch would be satisfied without the true experience of the people and place. And it might be that the place just appeals to you immediately. The affection for Oxford hit us almost instantaneously; to try to stave that off would be like actively trying not to fall in love.
I’m resigned to the fact that I am going to miss Oxford awfully when I leave it, but this is the last time I’m going to think about that until I actually board the plane back. In the meantime, I’m going to keep doing what I’ve been doing: letting my roots grow deeper. That way, if I ever get the chance to return, I’ll have a home to come back to.