New Media students create mural for assault shelter

            Individuals and families trying to put their lives back together while staying at the Kalamazoo YWCA’s Domestic Assault Shelter have a cheerier living environment, thanks to more than 900 hours of efforts by seven KVCC students and instructor Karen Matson.

            Since last April, they have been drawing and painting a 2,500-square-foot mural at the shelter “to  provide a cheery visual respite from the long, windowless hallways,” Matson said, “and hopefully offer the moms and children staying in the shelter a break from the serious nature of their situation.”

            The fruits of their artistic volunteerism, which was supported by a $850 Good Neighbor Grant from the Kalamazoo Community Foundation, were scheduled to be celebrated on Friday (Dec. 8) at 11 a.m.  Part of the ceremony at the YWCA facility was to be the participating students signing the wall art.

            Matson, a design instructor based in the KVCC Center for New Media in downtown Kalamazoo, was approached in March by the YWCA about the project, which was intended to offer a warm, heartening and encouraging environment for families who can spend up to six weeks at the shelter.

            “This was not a class project,” Matson said.  “It was totally voluntary.  Three students, led by Elias Banschbach, quickly jumped in and did the bulk of the thumbnail sketches.  They then transferred those drawings to the wall. 

            “Around each door,” she said, “we’ve painted house facades so the residents can now stay in a log cabin, an English cobblestone cottage, a San Francisco row house, or some other unique style of a residence.”

            On the common walls surrounding the dining room and playroom, the students painted a vast landscape depicting Stonehenge, the Serengeti Plains in Africa, the pyramids, the Sphinx, and other famous locations around the world.

“The idea,” Matson said, “was to not only offer a homey scene, like the log cabin, but also to add places that the residents may never see in their lives.  Once the students got involved, they let their imaginations

go. 

“It was also a service-learning experience,” she said.  “It got students out of their comfort zone – mine, too, -- and offered the opportunity to give something back to the community.

            “Needless to say,” she said, “it took a marathon effort to finish the mural before the end of the fall semester.  We painted all day on Fridays, often during the week, and on some weekends.”

            After the students sign the wall, there are other illustrations remaining to be finished in a paint-by-the-number format for residents to ply their artistic talents to the mural in the coming days and weeks.

            The other students joining Banschbach in the project were Pam Hoyt, Leah Runchey, Kim Shephard, Patricia Moerman, Sara Rochholtz, and Jaime Blom.

 

Dec. 21 graduation at Miller

            The college’s 58th commencement ceremony is set for Thursday, Dec. 21,  at 7 p.m. in Miller Auditorium on the Western Michigan University campus.

The diploma-day celebration will also be telecast live on one of the five Community Access Center’s channels – 19, 20, 21, 22 or 99.

Scheduled to make remarks are: Chris Schauer, chairman of the KVCC Board of Trustees; communications instructor Bruce Punches; and psychology major Jamielah Jenkins of Kalamazoo, who will start work on her four-year degree at Western Michigan University in January

Serving as faculty marshals will be Jean Snow and Linda Rzoska, while performing those duties for the students will be Tom Keena and Nick Meier.

Adding to the evening’s celebration will be the KVCC Choir directed by Michelle Bauman and the KVCC Campus Band directed by Chris Garrett.

For those who like plenty of advance notice, be alert to the fact the graduation ceremony at the end of the 2007 winter semester will be staged on Sunday, April 29, at Miller Auditorium.  The Sunday date is the result of the auditorium being pledged to the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra

that will be preparing for the performance of an opera.

Dec 15 deadline for breakfast RSVP

            The annual breakfast hosted by the KVCC Board of Trustees to launch the winter semester is set for Friday, Jan. 5, at 8 a.m. in the A gym on the Texas Township Campus.

Reservations are required for the event that also pays tribute to employees for their years of service to the college.  The deadline to make a reservation is Friday (Dec. 15).

Eligible to attend are full-time faculty, full- and part-time support staff, part-time instructors, and administrators.  In an earlier version of last week’s Digest, it was incorrectly reported that part-time instructors were not eligible to take part in the event.  

For more information and to RSVP (seating is limited), go to this website: http://home.kvcc.edu/hrmain/StffDev/BoardBreakfastInvite.htm . Pat Pojeta at extension 4018 is also available for more information.

Here are the KVCC’ers who will be saluted:

♦ 35 YEARS: Tom Lentenbrink, Jean Snow and Jim Turcott.

♦ 30 YEARS: Verne Mills, Lou Pulka, Jim Taylor and Nancy Woods.

♦ 25 YEARS: Scott Eberstein, Terri Lester, Judy Esman, Daryl Irving and Brian Olson.

♦ 20 YEARS: Pat Cherpas, Karen Thorngate, Mary Lindsley, Maryalice Reck, Natalie Patchell, Ron Miazga, Jill Storm, Keith Kroll, Francis Granzotto, Tony Zacker, Theo Sypris, Bob Post and Paula Metzner.

♦ 15 YEARS: Carolyn Alford, Judd Mattimore and De Cochran.

♦ 10 YEARS:  Mary Bay, Robert Sutton, Ron Campbell, Susan Reynolds, Char Gibson, Ola Johnson, Valerie Jones, Makida Cunningham, Aaron Snead, Lois Brinson, Carol Mallinson, Rick Brill, Rose Crawford and Jackie Howlett.

            ♦ 5 YEARS: Candy Horton, Elizabeth Barker, Steve Doherty, Jenny Buysse, Dave Brock, Gail Fredericks, Rick Garthe, Barry Chapman, Lynn Berkey, Jennie Huff, Lesa Ward, Nicole Newman, Mark Saylor, Robyn Robinson, Bruce Punches, Brent Towers, Jim Lightcap, Rick Kraas, Johanna

Preston, Dona Rocha, and Bill Wangler.

Digital artwork in spotlight

The Center for New Media in downtown Kalamazoo is hosting KVCC’s ninth annual Electronic Art & Design Showcase through Jan. 19.

On display are the juried creations of students enrolled in KVCC’s Center for New Media courses.  The exhibit is divided into eight categories: fine art, graphic design for print, illustration, digital photography, 2-D (character) animation, 3-D animation, motion graphics, and web design.  Fifty pieces are displayed throughout the center while the Arcus Gallery is hosting the showing of animated shorts on its six large plasma-screen television sets.

The juror for the ninth annual showcase was Joe VanDerBos, who has worked with corporate, advertising and editorial clients for 15 years in the Austin, Chicago and San Francisco markets.  During that time, he provided clients around the world with illustrations, icons, logo development, custom typography, and specially designed typefaces.  He has served the technology, health-care, financial, travel and publishing industries.

VanDerBos, a graduate in graphic design from Western Michigan University, is currently employed as a designer for Kingscott Associates Inc. in Kalamazoo.

For more information, contact Valerie Eisenberg at extension 7883 or veisenberg@kvcc.edu.

Thanks for your time and friendly voices

            More than 60 people from across the college volunteered for KVCC's calling campaign Dec. 4-8 to contact enrolled students who had not yet paid for winter-semester classes.

In the counterpart effort for fall semester, nearly 5,000 enrolled students facing the prospects of losing their classes because of not yet meeting the payment deadline were contacted and nearly 4,100 took advantage of the friendly alert to meet that deadline. That’s an 82-percent payoff.

Similar results are expected because of the latest effort and, because of the number of volunteers who stepped forward, the load of calls for each person was less burdensome and more manageable.  That’s deeply

appreciated by all concerned.

This semester’s friendly voices and hardy fingertips belonged to:

Marylan Hightree, Lynne Morrison, Deb Bryant, Nancy Woods, Mike Collins, Sue Visser, Rita Fox, Robyn Robinson, Teresa Fornoff, Ron Campbell, Brooke Stokes, Verna McIntosh, Amy Louallen;

Connie Edlund, Sheila Eisenhauer, Arleigh Smyrnios, Ann Lindsay, Kristina Bazali, Jeff Swigart, Laura Stout, Jennifer Lafrance, Nancy Roberts, Bonnie Bowden;

Lauren Beresford, Denise Baker, Diane Kurtz, Char Gibson, Steve Doherty, Colleen Olson, Grace Gant, Sue Newington, Torie Getz, Peggy Cahue-Keipers;

Sommer Hayden, Kathy Anderson, Pat Tysen, Candy Horton, Ron Welch, Charlie Fuller, Janet Holstine, Patricia Pallett, Tammy Saucedo, Dick Shilts, Pat Conroy;

Lisa Gruber, Gerri Jacobs, Brenda VanderRoest, Pam Erbe, Tom Thinnes, Rudolph Heheeb, Cynthia Schauer, Nancy Vendeville, Tim Kane, Roger Miller;

Kim Campbell, Amy Winkel, Lisa Peet, Evelyn Musselman, Karen Visser, Jackie Zito, Mary Lindsley, Natasha Kaur, Amber Markley, Louise Wesseling, and Pat Pojeta.

Afghan neighboring nation in spotlight

            What is Tajikistan and where is it?

            You can find out in the next installment of the KVCC International Studies Program’s informal “travelogue” series on Monday (Dec. 11) when Zulaikho Usmanova talks about the mountainous and landlocked country in Central Asia at 3:45 p.m. in the Gallery (Room 1510).

            Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east.  Tajiks share the culture and history of Iranians.  Their language is closely related to Persian. During much of the 20th century, it was part of the Soviet Union.

After the Soviet breakup, Tajikistan endured a debilitating civil war from 1992 to 1997, a strife that rarely made news around the globe. Since the end of that war, newly established political stability and foreign aid have allowed the country's economy to grow. Such products as cotton and aluminum have contributed to this steady improvement, as well as its hydro-electric power.

The land that is now Tajikistan has been inhabited continuously since 4,000 BC. It has been under the rule of various empires throughout history, mostly the Persian Empire.  Arabs brought Islam in the 7th century. It also came under the partial control of the Mongols.

In the 19th century, the Russian Empire  began to spread into Central Asia and  took control of Tajikistan. After the overthrow of the Tsar in 1917, guerillas throughout Central Asia waged a war against Bolshevik armies in a futile attempt to maintain independence. The Bolsheviks prevailed after a four-year war, in which mosques and villages were burned and the population heavily suppressed. Soviet authorities imposed a draconian secularization campaign, practicing Muslims, Jews, and Christians were heavily persecuted, and mosques, churches, and synagogues were closed.

In 1924 the Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was created as a part of Uzbekistan, but in 1929 the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic was made a separate constituent republic. Moscow did little to develop Tajikistan and it remained relatively behind other Soviet republics in living conditions, education and industry.

 In the 1970s dissident Islamic underground parties began to form and by the late 1980s Tajik nationalists were calling for increased rights. Real disturbances did not occur within the republic until 1990. The following year, the Soviet Union collapsed, and Tajikistan declared its independence.

The nation almost immediately fell into a civil war that involved various factions fighting one another.  These factions were often distinguished by clan loyalties. The non-Muslim population, particularly Russians and Jews, fled the country because of persecution, increased poverty and better economic opportunities in the West.

Emomali Rahmonov came to power in 1992, and continues to rule to this day. He was accused of ethnic cleansing during the civil war. In 1997 a ceasefire was reached between Rahmonov and opposition parties.

Peaceful elections were held in 1999, but they were reported by the opposition as unfair.  Rahmonov was re-elected by almost unanimous vote. Russian troops were stationed in southern Tajikistan  to guard the

border with Afghanistan until the summer of 2005. Since the “9-11” attacks, American and French troops have also been stationed in the country.

Free concert in Lake Friday night

            Music and voices will fill Dale B. Lake Auditorium on Friday (Dec. 8) when the KVCC Campus Band and the KVCC choir blend talents for a holiday-season concert.

Free and open to the public, the concert begins at 7:30 p.m.

            The 34-member band, under the baton of Chris Garrett, will entertain its audience with these selections:

♫ “Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring”  by Johann Sebastian Bach.

♫ “Manhattan Beach March” by John Phillip Sousa.

♫” Mannin Veen” by Haydn Wood.

♫ “Toccata” by Girolamo Frescobaldi.

♫ “Colossus of Columbia” by Russell Alexander.

♫ and Garrett’s original arrangement of “Three Miniatures for Band.”

The ensemble is made up of KVCC, Western Michigan University and community musicians who rehearse twice a week in the Dale B Lake Auditorium.

Director Michelle Bauman’s Kalamazoo Valley Chamber Choir will have a six-composition program:  “Sing with Pleasure,” “In the Arms of Winter,” “Bidi Bom,” “Hashivenu,” “The Bells,” “Ding Dong Carol of the Bells,” and “Canon of Peace.”

The 2006-07 edition of the KVCC Campus Band includes:

Flute:  Crystal Cooper of Kalamazoo, Christine Griffith of Kalamazoo, and Katie Martinez of Allegan.

Clarinet:  Jenny Wagner of Kalamazoo, Kayla Armstrong of Climax, Matthew Bowers of Kalamazoo, Caitlin Brooks of Richland, Caitlin Chase of Portage, Sara Fall of Parchment, Dawn Garrett of Vicksburg,

Meagan George of Otsego, Steven Heimann of Comstock, and Carolyn Hiestand of Kalamazoo.

Bassoon:  Hans Engelke and Ruth Birman, both of Kalamazoo.

Saxophone:  Delia Baker of Portage, Hugh Lynch of Portage, Michael Lathrop of Parchment, Jared Selner of Kalamazoo, and Ward Vanderberg of Portage.

Trumpet: Valerie Glasscock of Kalamazoo and Merle McCoy of Portage,

Trombone/horn:  Aleks Copeland of Comstock, Matt Dodson of Vicksburg, Ben Hastings of Warren, and Frank Jess of Kalamazoo.

Euphonium:  John Griffith of Kalamazoo and Mark Schuitema of Portage.

Tuba:  Bill Button of Kalamazoo, Jeffrey Dally of Portage, and Ray Zitek of Mattawan.

Percussion: Shelby Angeletti and Jennifer Pesch, both of Parchment, and Brandon Silverlight of Kalamazoo.

Including accompanist Anita Rummery, the choir members are:

Sopranos:  Stefanie Deneau and Sara Lord of Kalamazoo, Sharon Green of Portage, Heather Mickaels of Plainwell, Sara and Anna Rumsey of Marcellus, Jeanne Mosketti of Schoolcraft, and Melanie Vlietstra of Parchment.

Tenors: David Fisher of Oshtemo, Mathew Kloosterman of Kalamazoo, and Justin Loofboro of Plainwell.

Altos: Shantell Brown of Lawton, Trisha Helder of Holland, Brandi Maxam of Vicksburg, Jennifer Page and Brianna Dickmon of Kalamazoo, Danielle Burns of Gobles, Meagan Kohlmann-George of Otsego, and Marcia Stickels of South Haven.

Basses: Jonathan Cramer and Kyle Hartman of Plainwell.

For more information please contact Garrett at extension 4102 or cgarrett@kvcc.edu.

Friday last day to donate food

       Those canned goods and other nonperishable foodstuffs collecting dust in your larder can be donated to Loaves and Fishes to do over the holiday season what they were intended to do.

            The Student Commons staff is conducting a food drive for the Kalamazoo human-service agency that serves the homeless and needy through Friday (Dec. 15).

            Those who would like to help can bring their food items to Room 4220 in the Student Commons.

            The last pickup of edibles by Loaves and Fishes personnel is scheduled for Friday, (Dec. 15,) at 11 a.m.

A ?ramble? through eastern Mediterranean lands

            The Levant, the geographical term that refers to lands bordering the Mediterranean Sea’s eastern shore roughly from Greece to Egypt, will be explored in a presentation at KVCC on Tuesday (Dec. 12).

            Part of the college’s International Studies Program’s series, “A Short Ramble Through the Levant” is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. in the Gallery (Room 1510).  Guiding the tour will be biology instructor Jack Bley. 

The Chicago-born Bley is a 1969 graduate of Northern Illinois University.  After a stint in the Navy as a flight officer, he enrolled in the University of Illinois School of Veterinary Medicine and used that 1977 degree to work on dairy farms in northern Wisconsin.

Military service beckoned again, this time the Air Force where, as an officer in the veterinary corps, he was assigned to a medical-research laboratory in Florida.  For the next four years, he was responsible for the care of more than 700 monkeys used in research projects.

Bley eventually decided that he would try all of the U. S. armed forces and joined the Army’s veterinary corps as an officer.  Primarily involved with food inspections, the duty brought him to Michigan for the first time.

In addition to assignments at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, and the Naval Medical Research Command – all in Washington – he also spent a year in the Sinai Desert

with a multinational force.  Prior to his retirement in 1996, he took part in animal-lab programs in Kenya, Cairo, Indonesia, Peru, Haiti and Thailand.

He came to Kalamazoo to take a position with Pharmacia & Upjohn, a post he held for seven years until he enrolled at Western Michigan University to gain a teaching certificate.  Bley joined the KVCC biology faculty as a full-time instructor in the fall of 2006.

The French mandates of Syria and Lebanon from 1920 to 1946 were called the Levant states. The term became common in archaeology at that time when many important excavations were undertaken.  Since these sites could not be classified as Mesopotamian, North African, or Arabian, they came to be referred to as "Levantine."

Today "Levant" is most typically used by archaeologists and historians with reference to the prehistory and the ancient and medieval history of the region, as when discussing the Crusades.

But the term is still employed occasionally to refer to modern or contemporary events, peoples, states, or parts of states in the same region, namely Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian territories.

Hollar part of holiday-harmony fund-raiser

            The Mid-Lakes Chorus of Sweet Adelines will join forces with the Mall City Men's Barbershop Chorus for a 7 p.m. Christmas concert on Saturday (Dec. 9) at the Third Christian Reformed Church, located at 2400 Winchell Ave. in Kalamazoo.

According to math instructor Sue Hollar who sing baritone for the Adelines, there is no admission charge, but “the hat will be passed” to raise money for the Kalamazoo County Drop-in Child-Care Center, a nonprofit that offers free child care to those who have little or no income. 

“This service allows the parents the opportunity to go job hunting, take care of medical appointments, and do other important family tasks without having to stretch their already tight budgets,” Hollar said.

When the hat finished its rounds last holiday season, there was more $1,200 for the 2005 recipient, the Kalamazoo Gospel Mission, Hollar reports.

After the concert, light refreshments will be served.

Students-as-tutors deadline is Dec. 18

            By acting as peer tutors, students receive valuable lessons in volunteerism and provide support service for faculty members.

Natalie Patchell is asking full- and part-time faculty members to spread the word to students about the chance to be trained as a peer tutor for the 2007 winter semester and beyond.

The volunteer peer tutors will be enrolled in TRS 110 (Peer Tutor Training) for the winter semester and the college will pay for the one-credit course. The tutors will receive a grade after they have completed the training and tutored a minimum of 25 hours.

The training course will be conducted by Patchell.  The dates and times of the mandatory Friday sessions are:  Jan. 12 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Feb. 2 from noon to 2:30; March 2 from noon to 2:30; and April 6, from noon to 2:30.

The prime prospect for tutor training is the student who has demonstrated solid learning techniques in completing a class and has a firm understanding of course materials or subject matter.

Other likely prospects are students who are pursuing careers as teachers and those who enjoy volunteer work.

Each peer tutor will work directly with the instructor in a particular course and will agree to tutor students enrolled in that class two hours a week during the semester.  The tutoring process will begin after the first training session on Jan. 12, but the training will be ongoing throughout the semester.  Each instructor will determine when, where and how the tutoring will be accomplished.  Each volunteer will keep a tutoring log.

            Faculty members and students who are interested in taking part can contact Patchell at extension 4362 or npatchell@kvcc.edu.   An application form can be transmitted via e-mail and should be completed as soon as possible.  The deadline is Dec. 18. 

Once an instructor nominates a prospective tutor and that student makes contact with Patchell, she will handle the rest of the process.

                Among the faculty members who have taken part in the peer-tutoring initiative with students are Sherri Adams, Deb Bryant, Gordon Bielby, Kim Grubka, Ron Cipcic, Sue Hollar, Theresa Hollowell, Tim

Kane, Eunice Levy, Jean Snow, Tim Stebbins, Fred Toxopeus, Jan White , Lisa Winch, Nancy Beers and Patchell.

Students who complete the training and engage in tutoring will receive a certificate. 

Holiday concert nets $3,540 for agencies

            Despite Friday’s inclement weather, a Christmas-concert fund-raiser on Dec. 1 attracted a full house and raised $3,540 for the Senior Ecumenical Center and the New Direction Outreach Center.

It was coordinated by Robyn Robinson, a staff member for the college’s Focus and Brother2Brother programs.

            The first-ever event drew about 900 to the Lincoln International Studies School’s newly refurbished auditorium at 912 N. Burdick St.

            Admission was free, but a free-will offering was collected for the two human-service agencies. Door prizes were provided by Harding's Market, Felpausch Food Centers, and Kalamazoo 10 Theater.

The idea was the brainchild of Robinson and her husband, Howard, who co-host a Saturday-morning program of gospel music on 1560 AM "The Touch."  Initially, she said, the concept was generated by community residents who wanted to stage the event to show their appreciation for the Robinsons, but that morphed into shifting the show of gratitude to two organizations “that serve the community, but that struggle, especially at this time of year,”  Robinson said.

The Robinsons assembled a planning committee that organized the benefit and lined up the entertainment that will include:

♫ soprano Alfrelynn Roberts, who performed in the Detroit Opera’s production of “Porgy and Bess” and has sung with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra.

♫ Michigan Nightingales, a quintet of gospel singers started a generation ago by the fathers of the current members

♫ vocalist Tammy Lockett, a 2005 “State Theater Idol” and "Showtime at the

Apollo" winner.

♫ songwriter-musician Myron Cobbs and his teenage son, Darek.

♫  the Galilee Baptist Church Choir.

♫ dance performances by members of Faith Temple Church of God, First United Baptist Church and Mt. Zion Baptist Church.

             The Ecumenical Senior Center, located 702 N. Burdick, serves meals, offers a variety of classes, and provides  a host of other services to seniors, primarily from Kalamazoo’s Northside  neighborhood.

            The New Direction Outreach Center at 308 W. North St. is  an outreach of the Faith Temple Church of God.  It provides free breakfasts on Sunday mornings and runs a

computer center for the community in its basement.

“Donations are still coming in,” Robinson said, “and if people are interested in yet donating, they may send them directly to the respective agencies.”

                Helping the Robinsons stage the fund-raiser were the Northside Ministerial Alliance and  the Kalamazoo Jr. Girls.

   

Watch your stuff!

             With the holiday season now here, it is time to increase awareness about some precautionary measures regarding protecting one’s belongings, reports security coordinator Jeff Roseboom.

“Petty thefts always increase during this time of year because of the tendency to carry more money in purses or wallets,” he advised.  “This is generally accompanied by our desire to pay cash for a lot of Christmas gifts that are purchased. 

“To avoid the unnecessary loss of Christmas money, a couple of simple practices should be followed,” he suggested. “Never leave your articles unattended.  If you leave the office, always lock them away out of sight in a desk along with securing the area when you leave. 

“A little extra time and awareness will make the holiday season more

enjoyable,” Roseboom said.

Because of the age of technology and constant communications, a growing favorite target for thieves is a cell phone.“

People tell me that they just put it down a moment ago and when they looked back, it was gone,” Roseboom said.  “That’s because it takes less than a moment to steal it.”

Winter-semester printing needs

            With fall semester winding down, KVCC's Printing Services is asking that end-of-semester printing requests be submitted as soon as possible

According to Terry Coburn, media services manager, there will only be seven working days between the end of the fall semester and the start of the winter term.

"In order to have any chance at all to get the winter-semester work ready for you, we need you to input your printing request soon," he said.  "Don't make delays for yourself.  Get your printing in now"." 

Coburn can be reached at extension 4215.

Those who wait until after the holiday break?  Well, one can almost hear both the moaning and the gnashing of teeth.

McCauslin on KIA board

            Helen McCauslin, former vice president for academic services for KVCC and now director of the Carnegie Center for the Arts in Three Rivers, has been appointed to the governing board of the Kalamazoo Institute for Arts.

            Other new members include Pam Kingery of the Kalamazoo Communities in Schools Foundation, Steve East of the CSM Group, Stephen MacMillan of Stryker Corp., David Mackay of the Kellogg Co., and Nancy Springgate of the SLD Learning Center.

?Abraham, Frederick and John?

            “Has anybody hear seen my old friend Abraham?”

Well, you can see him, along with John, as in John Wilkes Booth, and Frederick, as in Frederick Douglass – but no Martin – at upcoming performances of KVCC language instructor Rick Bridges’ play on the Texas Township Campus.

What would Abraham Lincoln, Booth and Douglass have to say to each other if they crossed paths in an ethereal setting? The imagined dialogue is the focal point of “Abraham, Frederick and John” that Bridges’ Rockhill Free Theatre Players will perform.

Co-directed by Anna Barnhart, the play centers on Lincoln and his assassin both trapped as souls in Purgatory.  Shacked together on opposite ends of a long chain, they have no idea why they are in such a situation and what they should do about it.  Enter the legendary abolitionist activist Douglass to offer them insights and to “set them free.”

The performances, free and open to the public, are booked for the weekends of Dec. 8-9, Dec. 15-16, Jan. 12-13, and Jan. 19-20. in the Student Commons Theater.  All start at 7:30 p.m.

Cast in the roles of Douglass, Lincoln and Booth, respectively, are Bryce Watson, Brent Seifferlein and Jesse Rios.

Other cast members include Benjamin Frank, Bridges, Cecilia Mayberry, Barnhart, and J’Nail Garrett.

?Toys for Tots? wraps up collection Dec. 15

            KVCC folks can express their holiday spirit by making this year's "Toys for Tots" initiative an even greater success.They can take new, unwrapped toys to collection boxes in Room 4220 in the Student Commons, the faculty-reception office, the Texas Township Campus Library, the gymnasium, the M-TEC, Anna Whitten Hall, the Center for New Media, and in the counseling offices on the Texas Township Campus. Members of the U. S. Marine Corps Reserves, which orchestrates this annual effort, will pick up the donations and distribute them.  The deadline to donate playthings appropriate for

young people from infancy to age 17 is Friday (Dec. 15).  There is no price range.  Nothing is too small or too large.According to the organization, “Toys for Tots” especially needs toys for children ages 1 to 3 and 12 to 16. Monetary donations can be made online at www.toysfortots.org.

                The college’s Phi Theta Kappa chapter and its members are also seeking volunteers to take part in the sorting process alongside the Marines. 

The next session is set for Saturday (Dec. 9) from 2 to 5 p.m. in the unit’s Battle Creek location.  

Volunteers can either drive to the corps’ warehouse in Fort Custer or assemble at KVCC around 1 p.m.

Contact chapter adviser Lynne Morrison at extension 4164 or the chapter at ptk@kvcc.edu to volunteer and for directions to reach the Marine location.

Last Saturday, Morrison’s KVCC contingent of 10 met five Marines at the Meijer Inc. store on South Westnedge Avenue where they spent $5,000 of the corporation’s money on toys. 

They took these purchases and donated toys back to the Fort Custer warehouse and sorted them for gender- and age-appropriate groups.

 Morrison reports that some 300 3 and 4 years olds enrolled in the Kalamazoo County Head Start Program have already been targeted for some holiday happiness.

 

Surplus winter apparel due Wednesday

            Clean, “gently used” winter wear for men, women and children is being collected by the Focus and Brother2Brother programs through Wednesday (Dec. 13).

            Donated coats, sweaters, sweatshirts, scarves, gloves and “new” hats will be distributed to residents at three locations:♥ the YWCA’s Domestic Assault Shelter.♥ The Rickman House.♥ and Ministry with Community.Items can be dropped off in the Focus Program office in Room 1364 on the Texas Township Campus or in the front office of Anna Whitten Hall on the Arcadia Commons Campus.  For more information, contact Ezra Bell, coordinator of the Brother2Brother Program, at extension 4045 or Kenlana Burton, a graduate assistant for the Focus Program, at extension 4058.

Keaton, Indian classic next in film series

            Buster Keaton’s last independently produced silent comedy and one of India’s greatest motion pictures are the upcoming billings in the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s movie series.

Booked for 3 p.m. Sunday (Dec. 10) in the Mary Jane Stryker Theater is Keaton’s 1928 production of “Steamboat Bill Jr.” while on the horizon for a 7:30 p.m. showing on Thursday (Dec. 14) is the globally recognized Indian film, “A Peck on the Cheek.”

Closing out the museum’s movie schedule for 2006 are:

● Dec. 16:  “The Muppet Christmas Carol” – This is the 1992, Muppet-version retelling of the classic Dickens tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, miser extraordinaire, who is held accountable for his dastardly ways during night-time visitations by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and future.

● Dec. 16-17:  “Vertigo” (1958).

 “Steamboat Bill Jr.” is the last of the “Great Stone Face’s” nine independent feature films and one of the last silent comedies. The film was co-written, co-produced, and co-directed by Keaton.   

It’s known for two amazing sequences:

(1) Keaton's dare-devil, death-defying stunt when a three-story building facade crashes on top of him, saving him because the third-floor window opening clears his head;

And (2) the destructive cyclone sequence.

The farce was probably Keaton's funniest film.  He followed it with two final silent comedies at MGM:

Later in life, Keaton admitted that the decision to give up his own independent studio and sign a contract to move to MGM was the worst move of his career.  He lost artistic control.  While two of his MGM efforts, “The Cameraman” in 1928. and “Spite Marriage” in 1929, provided excellent showcases for his unique comic talent, Keaton’s movie fame and personal life were on a downward spiral that would be marked by alcoholism and humiliation.

“Steamboat Bill Jr.” is a father-son tale of an educated, effeminate, accident-prone, college-educated but simple-minded son.  This archetypal underdog American hero is ultimately transformed and triumphs when he assists and impresses his burly, red-necked, hard-working, Mississippi River-captain father in combating the threatening efforts of a rival tycoon to take over the steamboat business in the South.  He also wins over the business rival's daughter.

The 2002, 136-minute “A Peck on the Cheek” that was directed by Mani Ratnam won awards at the Jerusalem, Los Angeles, Toronto, San Francisco and Indian film festivals.

It’s the story of a young girl’s search for her biological mother who abandoned her as a new-born amidst 20 years of civil unrest in Sri Lanka.  As she grows up in an adoptive home in India with the couple’s two sons, she is unaware of her true parentage until she is told the truth on her ninth birthday.

After overcoming the shock of disbelief, she seeks to locate the woman who abandoned her.  With the assistance of her adoptive parents, the search takes them back to strife-torn Sri Lanka and reality. 

The movie is about the adopted refugee child, her angst, her quest, her understanding and, lastly, her hope.  With bloody encounters being waged around them, the three gain a sense of why the mother decided to do what she could to liberate her baby from that kind of death and senseless destruction.

While there are many dramatic elements, the film also contains comedic elements.  The cinematography is superb.

“Vertigo” is Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 thriller about a detective who is drawn into a complex plot that is indirectly involved with his fear

of heights. 

Starring in one of Hitchcock’s most discussed films is James Stewart, who plays the acrophobic detective hired by an old friend to watch his spouse.  The lead female role went to Kim Novak.

Stewart’s character falls in love with the mysterious woman, who is preoccupied with the life of a 19th-century beauty. 

This proved to be an unusual role for Stewart, whose humble, good-guy image was at odds with the character in “Vertigo.”  In this role, his character is obsessed, guilt-ridden and driven to extreme actions.

Through the end of the calendar year and during winter, the museum is showing classic motion pictures, epics from the silent-film era, movies targeted for children, and five-star, independent productions from the international scene.

They are being shown on weekends and Thursday evenings in the Stryker Theater.  Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for students.  However, tickets are $3 only for the Saturday-afternoon matinees targeted for families.

The silent films are shown at the museum on Sundays at 3 p.m.  The Hollywood classics are booked for Saturdays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m.  The matinees for families are set for 1 p.m. on Saturdays, while the foreign and U. S. independents are booked for 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays.

Project management is workshop topic at M-TEC

             Effectively managing projects to a successful completion will be the learning objective for a two-part workshop in January at the KVCC M-TEC.

            “Managing Projects” will be presented on successive Tuesdays – Jan. 23 and Jan. 30 – from 8 to 11 a.m. in the M-TEC headquarters in The Groves, KVCC’s business-education-technology park along U. S. 131.  The fee is $225.

“Managing Projects” will provide participants with a working knowledge of the fundamental concepts of effective project planning and management.  Unlike programs that primarily emphasize methods for managing project tasks or project teams, this seminar integrates both approaches by showing how to simultaneously coordinate managing the people with  planning and managing the work.

More information about the seminar and the presenter is available by calling the M-TEC at extension 1253 or by visiting the center’s website at www.mteckvicc.com.  Participants can also register via the web.

 

Commons assists kids-in-hospital initiative

            Making a child’s stay in the hospital a little more enjoyable, especially on birthdays and over the holidays, is the mission of a KVCC project being orchestrated by the Student Commons staff.

The staff is coordinating the donation of a wide variety of items, ranging from toys to craft supplies to educational materials, that will find their way to young patients admitted to The Children’s Hospital at Bronson.

The complete “wish list” is posted on tack strips throughout the Texas Township Campus and it covers just about anything that a child would use or play with at home.  The donated items can be delivered wrapped or unwrapped to Room 4220 in the Student Commons.

On the verboten list are latex items, stuffed animals that have seen better days, the same with toys although used

playthings in excellent condition will be accepted, and wares that make a religious, cultural or political point.

According to the Bronson Child Life Department, gifts of toys, supplies, time “and more can go a long way toward brightening a hospital stay” for pediatric patients.  Donated items will be distributed to individual children on daily rounds, on birthdays, on end-of-treatment observances, and on holidays.  They can also be used in the department’s play-and-crafts room.

For more information about the project, call the Bronson department at 341-7742.

Those old computers

            Are you wondering what to do with that old computer gathering dust in the back room?

            Consider contacting a Goodwill Industries outlet.

            Goodwill has launched the second phase of its statewide computer-recycling program that began last October.

            In partnership with Dell Inc., Goodwill locations, including the one in Kalamazoo, are providing computer recovery, reuse and recycling to Michigan residents and companies.  Goodwill workers are now involved in the initial “de-manufacturing” of computers deemed to be at the end of their road.

            They disassemble and sort such components as hard drives,

memory chips, fans, cables and plastic screws.  Newer units are separated for refurbishing and sale.

            Since the initiative began, “RECONNECT Michigan” has collected more than 1.5 million pounds – some 70,000 units -- of unwanted electronics across the state.  Funds raised through the resale of computers and components are applied to Goodwill workers’ wages.

            Businesses with large donations can arrange for a pickup by Goodwill personnel.  Goodwill officials stress that all information needs to be removed from the hard drive before a computer should be donated.

            The Kalamazoo-area Goodwill Industries is now located at 420 E. Alcott in the former Stryker Corp. headquarters.  Its telephone number is 382-0490.

And finally. . .             Here is a wonderful Christmas present for those family and friends addicted by golf.          The “First Truly Useful Golf Book” includes chapters covering these topics:1. How to properly line up your fourth putt.2. How to hit a Nike from the rough when you hit a Titleist off the tee.3. How to avoid the water when you are playing your eighth shot out of a bunker.4. How to get more distance off the shank.5. Using your shadow on the greens to maximize earnings.6. Crying and how to handle it.

7. Proper excuses for drinking beer before 10 a.m.8. How to rationalize a six-hour round.9. How to find that ball that everyone else saw go in the water.10. Why your wife doesn't care that you birdied the 5th.11. How to let a foursome play through your twosome without gettingembarrassed.          12. How to relax when you are hitting 3 off the tee.13. When to suggest major swing corrections to your opponent.14. God and the meaning of the birdie-to-bogey 3 putt.15. Re-gripping your ball retriever.Time for a Christmas bonus. . .      This just in:According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, male and female reindeer both grow antlers in the summer.The males drop their antlers at the beginning of winter, usually late November to mid-December.Female reindeer retain antlers until after they give birth in the spring.Therefore, according to every historical rendition depicting Santa's reindeer, each in the sleigh harness, from Rudolph to Blitzen, had to be female.And it makes sense.Only women would be able to drag a fat man in a red velvet suit all around the world in one night, and not get lost.  And did you know that Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses!