EAAvesdropping

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Carter Town Hall time

As I freshman at Emory, I remember my first Carter Town Hall as an event I was forced to go to with my FAME (Freshmen Advising and Mentoring at Emory) group that I could have cared less about. C’mon, everyone gets a chance to ask questions of a former President all the time. No big deal.

Since then, I have had the opportunity to attend President Jimmy Carter’s Town Hall several times, and it is something I look forward to at the beginning of each school year. Last night I had the chance to attend with an Emory Alumni Board member, and it was as entertaining as ever.

The evening began with an introduction from Emory’s eternal spirit, Lord James W. Dooley. For some reason I get excited every time he’s around, which is something only Emory alum can truly understand. Believe me, I’ve tried to explain him to people who did not attend Emory and I sound like a creep describing a skeleton that runs around campus.

Emory President Jim Wagner introduced President Carter and thanked him for his dedication to the Carter Center and the University. President Carter began with some brief remarks, noting that at his first Town Hall he was told he was lucky to have achieved such wonderful things after his presidency, most notably being a distinguished professor at Emory.

Then it was time for the good stuff.

Here’s how it works – everyone is handed a piece of paper where you are asked to write down one question you would like to ask President Carter. All the questions are then put into a hopper and Campus Life Dean John Ford asks President Carter as many as time allows. And you can ask anything. Really. The one thing I do remember about my first Town Hall was that someone asked “Boxers or Briefs?”

Last night President Carter got some great questions, ranging from what he would do differently about his presidency, to his opinion on the Tea Party Movement, to the keys to being successful, to how it felt to be one of the most powerful men in the world.

In case you’re wondering: he would get re-elected, he thinks it is an extreme right wing movement that will have success in the midterm elections, the key to being successful is doing something you enjoy, and it felt good.

He advised Emory’s freshman class to get involved now and stay up to date on current events as a way to start making an impact on the world the way that he did. The best way to get your current events? By watching Jon Stewart, of course. President Carter’s admiration for Jon Stewart was further evidenced when he responded that in the movie of his life, he would have Stewart play himself.

Now that would be a movie I’d have to go see.

-- Kelley Quinn 08B, coordinator, Emory Alumni Board

Thank you Emory Wheel for the archive photo of President Carter!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Emory pays her 'Rent' (first in a series)

Photo by Daniel Weiss 11C

Read part 2 ...

It’s not often that you get to say you’re living a dream you’ve had since your summers at Jewish overnight camp. But thanks to Theater Emory, that’s exactly what I’m doing.

My name is Becky Herring 08C and I’m both an alumna of the Emory College of Arts and Sciences and a full-time staff member in the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts. When I heard that Theater Emory was doing RENT (In Concert), I immediately had flashbacks of doing “Take Me or Leave Me” at numerous Camp Louise talent shows before I even understood that the two women singing to each other were lovers … give me a break, I was 9.

Based on Puccini’s opera, La Bohème, the smash hit Broadway musical RENT follows a bohemian group of young New York artists and musicians struggling to survive during the height of the AIDS epidemic.

So I haven’t auditioned for a musical in seven years. You can be a confident stage performer but when it comes time to audition you’re reduced to your fourth-grade self delivering a report on a book you haven’t read, worried that, suddenly for no explainable reason, you’re going to burst into flames. Yes, it’s that bad. But the actual audition was a lot less stressful because everyone was so nice … and because it lasted all of five minutes.

I was cast as Joanne Jefferson, a gay Ivy-league educated lawyer. She spends the majority of the show struggling to stay connected to her girlfriend Maureen Johnson, a flirtatiously free-spirited performance artist who used to date another main character Mark Cohen (all of the characters are connected in some way throughout the show).

I had no idea what to expect from the rehearsal process, especially because this is a concert production meaning songs would be cut and there would be very little blocking.

The best thing I can say about what to expect from the performance now that I’ve been through a week of rehearsals is this:

Throw away your recording cuz this ain’t the Broadway show.

Now to some people this can be difficult because they grew up with the 1996 recording--myself included. But it is so much clearer to me now that what we’re creating is unique.

Doing a concert production means we’re not telling the story to each other, we’re telling it directly to the audience and bringing them into the story with us. Over the next three weeks of rehearsal, we’re going to spend every minute communicating why that is going to make it so much more powerful.

And I'll be communicating my experiences with you here on EAAvesdropping.

Until then, if you’re wondering why your local Publix is out of honey and tea bags … you’ll know why.

-- Becky Herring 08C, events coordinator, Schwartz Center for Performing Arts

Monday, September 13, 2010

How long 'til my soul gets it right ?

Galileo" is my favorite Indigo Girls song.

(I'm actually listening to it right now on my iPod ... it helps with writing, although I hope Gloria Grevas across the hall doesn't mind my desktop percussion. She hasn't said anything yet.)

"Galileo" also was the opener the first (and so far only) time I've seen Indigo Girls in concert. That was back in November 2000, when the Grammy-winning duo of Emory alumnae-Emily Saliers 85C and Amy Ray 86C--played a free show for the Emory community at the Woodruff PE Center.

Dwarfed by a massive backdrop promoting Emory's Year of Reconciliation, they performed a rousing 45-minute acoustic set, then stuck around another 45 minutes to answer audience questions. Although nearly 10 years have passed, I still remember the evening--well, not like it was yesterday, but maybe a week and a half ago.

When they launched into the guitar riff that opened Galileo, I did this little jump-up-and-down in my seat. At the time, I'd been working at Emory for less than a year ... I didn't want to show too much emotion. It was a free event, but the duo certainly didn't take the night off. They brought their A-game.

As I'm sure our alumni readers know, the PE Center is hardly an intimate venue, but Saliers and Ray turned the cold, cavernous gym into a living room with space for 4,000 friends. This was most evident during the Q&A when, seated on stools, the duo casually, personably, and with great appreciation discussed their charity work, experiences as students, and much more.

The next time Indigo Girls play a free show at Emory will be Saturday, September 25, when they rock McDonough Field for Emory Homecoming Weekend. There won't be Q&A afterward (although if you're going to the Class of 1985's 25-year reunion, Saliers will be there and you can probably ask her anything you want), but it should still be memorable.

One thing's for sure, when they play "Galileo," I'm jumping up and down for real.

-- Eric Rangus, director, communications, EAA

Friday, September 10, 2010

Opening today in Woodruff Library ...

If you've browsed Emory Magazine or visited any of Emory's thousands upon thousands of webpages over the past few years, you've seen Bryan Meltz's work.

Meltz is a staff photographer with University Photography; before she came to Emory, she had quite a successful freelance career (which she didn't give up when she joined the University's staff), and she continues to produce exciting work both inside and outside Emory.

Some of Meltz's most affecting images are on display right now in Woodruff Library.

“After: Images from Haiti,” an exhibition of work Meltz created during visits to the devastated Caribbean nation in the aftermath of the January 2010 earthquake, opens today and will run through September 2011 in the ECIT Gallery on Level 2 of the library. It is free and open to the public during regular library hours.

Meltz first visited Haiti in March of this year on assignment for the Rollins School of Public Health's alumni magazine. Several of her photos ran in the publication, but they represented just a sliver of her work there. Meltz sought a venue to tell a deeper story, and that's how "After: Images from Haiti" came to be.

Images will rotate every three months, so multiple visits would be worthwhile. A good first trip would be Tuesday, October 5, at 6:00 p.m. Meltz will be in Woodruff Library's Jones Room discussing her experiences.

You can read the full press release here.

-- Eric Rangus, director, communications, EAA

Thursday, September 9, 2010

An officer, a gentleman, and a guest at Emory

Just in case you haven't been scrolling through Emory's news releases lately, check out this one related to The Visit 2010, the return of His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama 98H to Emory in October.

Internationally known humanitarian and award-winning actor Richard Gere will join Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker for "The Creative Journey: Artists in Conversation with the Dalai Lama on Spirituality and Creativity" at Emory on October 19. The event is part of the Dalai Lama’s return visit to the Emory campus October 17-19 in his capacity as Presidential Distinguished Professor.

The "Creative Journey" takes place Tuesday, October 19 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. in the Woodruff P.E. Center on the Emory campus. Tickets are available for purchase at dalailama.emory.edu.

"We are pleased and honored to have an actor and artist of Richard Gere’s stature join this creativity conversation with the Dalai Lama to explore the interplay between spirituality and the arts, areas of focus and distinction at Emory," said Rosemary Magee 82PhD, vice president and secretary of the university, and leader of Emory’s "Creativity: Arts and Innovation" strategic initiative.

"The Visit 2010" marks the first return of the Dalai Lama to Emory since 2007. His visit this year is part of the continued outgrowth of the Emory-Tibet Partnership, which was founded in 1998 to bring together the best of Western and Tibetan Buddhist intellectual traditions. Full details can be found at dalailama.emory.edu.

As Presidential Distinguished Professor, the Dalai Lama provides private teaching sessions with students and faculty during Emory study-abroad programs in Dharamsala, India, as well as opportunities for university community members to attend his annual teachings. He makes periodic visits to Emory to participate in programs, most recently in 2007 when he delivered his inaugural lecture as Emory’s Presidential Distinguished Professor.

Thank you for the photo Richard Gere Official Facebook Page!

-- Eric Rangus, director, communications, EAA

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Surviving isn't enough

It’s all about thriving!

On Friday, August 27, the Emory Alumni Consulting Group sponsored its first professional development event, “How to Thrive During Turbulent Times.” Featuring a powerhouse panel of consultants and other experts (many of them alumni), the speakers delved into the skills that create value in challenging, and in good, times.

• Focus on the relationship with the client, not just on a project; personal relationships drive business.

• Have a flexible skill set that will allow you to transition to other industries if your own industry is impacted by a downturn.

• The closer you are to the revenue stream, the likelier you are to survive a downturn.

• Keep up with the latest trends to help “weatherproof” yourself.

• Network, and invest in your network to reap its benefits.

Panelists, pictured above, left-to-right, included Joe Durbin 97C, McKing Consulting; Gary Cruze, Emory Center for Lifelong Learning; Mike Van Den Eynde 92MBA, Deloitte Consulting; and Reatha Clark, PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Aditya Rao 08MBA, Deloitte Consulting, moderated the panel.

Visit the EAA's Facebook fan page for more photos.

-- Carolyn Bregman 82L, director, alumni career services, EAA

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Start your engines...

...and head over to the Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, GA this Labor Day weekend!

Labor Day marks the second time this 500-mile night race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, now called the "Emory Healthcare 500," is held earlier in the year. Previously, the race was the last of the season and has had plenty of different sponsors over the years.

Yesterday, the team's pace car--a 2010 Camaro--made an appearance on campus in front of Emory Hospital to promote the weekend's events. (New to the NASCAR world? Me too. A "pace car" is the car that sets the pace for the other drivers before the flag is waved.)

But the Georgia racing world has more ties to Emory than you'd think. Asa Candler 1899C, an Atlanta business tycoon who funded Emory's move from Oxford to Atlanta, also built the first race track in Atlanta. The track, called Candler Field, was located at the present day site of the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

To add to the fun facts, Emory Hospital's 500th heart transplant patient, Terry "Mr. 500" Green, is the grand marshal of the Emory Healthcare 500. (That's the guy who says, "Gentlemen, start your engines.")

And the race's honorary starter is Wayne Reese, a racing fan and a prostate cancer survivor who was treated at Emory Hospital. This weekend, he'll wave the green flag to mark the start the race.

If you're really into fun facts, there's 498 more of them on Emory Healthcare's website.

--Lindsey Bomnin 12C, EAA communications assistant