Monday, April 26, 2010

Did Not I Dance with You in AB3 Once?

Today@Sam reports that the dance program will pay tribute to the many years spent dancing and performing in Academic Building III during its final Dance Spectrum concert in the building Wednesday, April 28 through Saturday, May 1 before the program moves to the Performing Arts Center.

To learn more about the Dance Spectrum concert please visit the Department of Dance's website, where you can also learn some of the history of the Dance program at SHSU:
  • Prior to 1945, all dance courses were taught in the Department of Physical Education for Women, which amounted to a few folk dance classes.  (We wager the classes were taught in the old Women's Gym.)
  • In 1945, Dr. Mary Ella Montague was hired to teach dance. Three classes in modern dance were “bootlegged,” and as the years passed, the program grew as subsequent course additions were made.
  • By 1950, there were enough dance courses listed officially to create a “load” for a full-time teacher. Dr. Montague began to add theory courses as dance electives.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

University Mainstage Theatre Named for Starr

From Today@Sam:
The University Theatre Center’s Mainstage Theatre has been named in honor of the late SHSU theatre major, Erica Starr Czerwinski (1979-1999), who was killed by a drunk driver during Spring Break. Her parents, Mike and Nancy Czerwinskis, who have been supporting theatre students through an endowment and scholarship in their daughter’s name, established the Erica Starr Live Your Dream Memorial Theatre Endowment in October through a pledged contribution to the Share the Vision capital campaign. For their generosity, the SHSU Department of Theatre and Dance has renamed its Mainstage Theatre as the Erica Starr Theatre, after Czerwinski's stage name.

Monday, April 12, 2010

A (belated) Good-bye to Garner

We’re going to turn our attention, albeit briefly, to that silly-sounding city to the north – the one that Jim “Goat Boy” Breuer reconstituted as “nah-kawda-caucus” when he visited campus on September 19, 1998 (or so says my ticket stub).

SFASU announced last year that the Garner Apartment complex would be demolished at the end of the 2009. Built in 1969 and named after William Garner, the first head of SFA's History and Political Science department, the residence was 14-stories and was comprised of 132 rooms for up-and-coming Lumberjacks. For one less-than-memorable school year I lived in a hole on the 13th floor of this architectural wonder – touted as the tallest structure in Nacogdoches – and can attest to taking the stairs from the ground floor to the near-top on more than one occasion.


When the four ton wrecking ball met up with the towering brick structure on February 6 there was a slight problem: Garner didn’t want to go:
The ball slowly swung back, then swung forward - and then lightly tapped the roof. A groan of disappointment could be heard echoing through the crowd. The crane swung out again and brought the wrecking ball against the side again, this time a little harder.
And then there was the matter of the wrecking ball falling 14-stories:


You can read more about recollections about Garner as well as the demolition festivities at the ironic Exquisitely Bored in Nacogdoches blog.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

New Dining Hall Construction Irks Students with Inconvenient Situation

From the pages of the Houstonian:
For residents of King, Elliot and Belvin Hall, parking has been an issue in the past three weeks, as parking officials have taken away yet another parking lot.

The lot located behind Belvin Hall has been shut down due to further construction on the new dining hall.

David Kapalko, the Assistant Director of Parking and Transportation officer, said the parking lot was taken for materials due to contractual agreements with the construction company.

As of press time no work has started on the area.

According to Kapalko, replacement parking will be added. In fact, Bowers Stadium will be expanded by 150 spots near Bearkat Blvd.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Writing on the Wall #6

Once there was this kid who walked into this building to listen to some music. And when he finally came in, he tripped and knocked over the piano. He said that he was sorry for making a flat major. Mmm.... Well, that story might be considered apocryphal (or nonsense), but we do have another letter in our memorizing seek-and-go-find hunt of letters hidden around campus. Our snapshot snippets aren't really hidden, yet can you identify the building or location where we took the photo? Here's the letter and yet another haiklu:


In colored glass
Enough room for principal
one-room crown jewel