Author: jal060

By Michelle Reed

Contributing Writer

Nestled in the hills of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, Monticello is more than just an architectural treasure—it’s a place that teaches visitors about America’s past.

On April 14, a bus full of University students made its way toward the hilltop home of former president Thomas Jefferson. The trip was one of the culminating events of the semester-long interdisciplinary series, “Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson: An American Origins Story,” sponsored by the Griot Institute for Africana Studies. The series hosted an array of visiting scholars and artists who aimed to closely examine the relationship between Jefferson and his slave, Sally Hemings. For those who participated, the visit to Monticello offered invaluable insight into Jefferson’s life.

With its idyllic mountain views, sweeping lawns and blooming tulips, Monticello is a springtime sight to behold. Before setting foot on the plantation, the tour group was guided through Monticello’s recently built museum. They learned about Jefferson’s initial architectural vision for Monticello and his eventual teardown and redesign of this home. The house now consists of three levels, adorned on top with its famous white dome. Jefferson once said of Monticello, “I am as happy nowhere else, and in no other society.” The visiting group of students and faculty were shown the inner chambers of the house, including Jefferson’s own bedroom, his study and the family dining room.

In addition to the tour of the house’s interior, University members explored many of the plantation’s other spaces: the kitchen, the gardens, the well-protected wine cellar and the incredibly tiny rooms where families of slaves lived. A highlight of the tour was Mulberry Row, an area of intense labor where Jefferson’s slaves farmed tobacco and other crops, worked in the blacksmith shop or nailery and crafted architectural woodwork and furniture in the joinery. Monticello tour guides discussed the large contradiction of Jefferson’s life: he wrote much about the tyranny of slavery, but owned slaves until his dying day.

To learn more about Monticello, visit www.monticello.org.

By Carolyn Williams

Senior Writer

Asghar Farhadi’s latest film “A Separation” elegantly deals with the delicate balance of a family in crisis, earning the movie plenty of well-deserved praise, including the coveted Academy Award for Best Foreign Picture.

We open on Simin (Leila Hatami) and Nader (Peyman Moadi) suing for divorce. An intrinsically honest film from the beginning, the couple faces the camera as they argue their case, making the audience their judge, whose verdict is an unsympathetic voiceover. Simin is reluctantly trying to leave Nader because, after all the work she went through to obtain visas so they can leave Iran in hopes of a better life for their 10-year-old daughter, Termeh (played by Sarina Farhadi, the director’s daughter), Nader refuses to leave. He chooses instead to care for his aging father who has been incapacitated by Alzheimer’s, but won’t give permission for Termeh to leave with her mother, and so Simin’s suit is dismissed. The pair argue, Simin exasperated and Nader unyielding, until they are told to leave, and Simin is informed that her problem is “small.”

So begins the couple’s separation, as Simin moves out of their upper-middle class home to return to her parents. Termeh remains with her father and grandfather, studious and shy, and clearly terrified that her family will collapse in on itself. In Simin’s absence, Nader is forced to hire a working-class woman, Razieh (Sareh Bayat), to look after his father during the day. Razieh, a devout and anxious woman, brings her young daughter with her to work. Her apparent incompetence as a caretaker creates friction with Nader, and this friction leads to the turning point of the film, bringing both families back to the same courtroom from the beginning scene, and allowing the audience to gain a deeper understanding of all the movie’s characters and overreaching implications.

The cast is excellent and their moving performances prove that each of their characters acts with valid motivation. No one in this film is a “bad guy;” honestly, no one is really so bad at all. The separation and the individuals it affects, becomes, under Farhadi’s expert direction, a microcosm for the social situation in Iran at large. The two families represent different socio-economic and religious groups, but they are all part of the same problem. Simin wants desperately to get out from under the shadow of Iran’s patriarchal society, to give her daughter a chance at a better life elsewhere, but is at the same time unwilling to leave her husband, whom she clearly still loves. Nader spends his days taking care of his senile father, an obvious metaphor for the same society Simin wants out from, and though he loves his daughter and puts much of his time into her comprehensive education, he is loath to give her a chance at a more equal life, struggling with the loss of his own power as a man within Iranian society.

“A Separation” deals with complex domestic and social issues which seem simultaneously familiar and foreign, but, as with all society, the real decisions come down to the upcoming generation. And the watchful Termeh’s final word will be what really enacts change, both in her family, and, potentially, Iran at large.

By Rob O’Donnell
Columnist

This is a review I have been waiting to write for about two years. No stranger has had more profound an impact on my life than Bob Dylan, and no album has ever captured Dylan’s sound as honestly as “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.” As much as I love to pretend otherwise, this is not 1963, so this album is considered out of date by many of you. But this is the man who would later revolutionize the entire music industry, from pop to rock to blues to folk and others. With one song, “Like A Rolling Stone,” called the best song ever recorded by Rolling Stone Magazine, he completely changed the music scene until this very day. He is even considered the godfather of rap, with his song “Subterranean Homesick Blues.” These songs are from later albums, but you now understand that Dylan is not only relevant to modern music, he is essential. And it all started with his second album, “Freewheelin’.”

After Dylan’s first album, comprised mostly of traditional folk covers, failed in sales, many people dismissed him. But his next album changed the entire folk scene for years to come, and was a major part of the 1960s folk revival. The scene started becoming mainstream with people riding on his coattails until Dylan himself killed its momentum a few years later by going electric. But this album was before that “controversy,” and so it is not important (I believe he was right, by the way).

The first thing most listeners will say about Dylan is that he cannot sing. Whenever people tell me that, I ask them to listen to this album and then I walk away, never to speak to them again. Songs like “Girl From the North Country” and “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” completely disprove this claim. He has a very raw and untamed voice, but after you get over the shock of it, it’s hauntingly beautiful. 

The lyrics are obviously the album’s strongest feature. Songs like “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “Oxford Town,” and “Masters of War” are topical protest songs that had huge influences on the civil rights movement. He would later dismiss them as “finger-pointing songs,” but they are jaw-dropping. He has songs about broken hearts and nuclear war right next to each other, but they make sense together, since the lyrics can be applied to the human condition in general. Take “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” for example. It is a song that many think is about the atomic bomb, but it is about the poverty of the world and the cold-heartedness of the general public. It encompasses pretty much every topic in a sweeping, seven-minute long song. I can’t think of a more fitting song for the end of the semester than “Bob Dylan’s Dream,” the most heartbreaking song about nostalgia and old friendships coming to an end.

So if you need an album for that long car ride home or to just procrastinate studying for finals, you need this album. If you have any interest in history, you need this album. If you have any interest in music, you need this album. If you have any interest in literature or poetry, you need this album. Basically, if you’re a person and you like things, you need this album. 

By Sonali Basak
Senior Writer

The grand re-opening of the University Environmental Center’s sustainable backyard will take place today (Arbor Day) from 4 to 6 p.m.

The yard was built in 2004 and has grown significantly since then. Former Environmental Club president Becca Shopiro ’12 said they have taken a standard-size backyard and planted native species to make it a sustainable garden that can be recreated virtually anywhere.

“There are so many plants now that they are giving many of them away,” Shopiro said.

The growth seen in perennials planted when the project started shows how sustainable the garden truly is.

“I appreciate how they have so many native species. It doesn’t look like a typical garden. It looks natural,” Shopiro said. 

Cathy Curran Myers, interim executive director of the Environmental Center, will begin the event with a welcome message. Throughout the event there will be tours of the garden and all of its features: native plants, organic vegetable gardens, solar panels, rain barrels for storm water collection and a compost bin.

In the front yard, visitors can find information on woodland plantings and light refreshments. The new walkway reuses flagstones from one of the relocated fraternity buildings. The walkway provides storm water management by retaining rain and snow under the surface with a 16-inch gravel foundation.

The creation of the sustainable back yard was part of the larger Campus Greening Initiative. This initiative sees to create greater sustainable resources on campus and create a residential learning environment. Other parts of the initiative include storm water retention innovations, promoting a walking campus and creating energy efficient buildings.

Shopiro said one of the visions of the initiative is to have outdoor learning labs where students can have better opportunities to learn about storm water retention, civil and environmental learning and restoration of natural habitats.

“It’s a pretty magnificent place, though a lot of people don’t know about it,” said Melinda Thomas ’12, vice president of the Environmental Club.

Thomas interns at the Environmental Center and has seen the cleanup of the garden, the new pathways formed and the many potted plants available for giveaways.

The Environmental Center is located on One Dent Drive across from the Observatory. Today’s event is free and open to the public. The native plant giveaway is first come, first served.

By Sonali Basak

Senior Writer

The Rooke Chapel Choir will embark on its annual tour in Europe on May 21, the day after Commencement. The choir will travel until May 30.

Current seniors are also attending. “I am thrilled to be attending this year as well,” Nicole Lake ’12 said. “It is a perfect way to cap off my Bucknell experience with some of my closest friends sharing beautiful music around the world.”

First-year choir members are equally excited for the tour. Katie Long ’15 said she has already seen photos of the trip and the locations are “absolutely beautiful.” The group is led by professor of music Dr. William Payn, whom the group “loves and adores,” Lake said.

This year, the group will tour Italy, Slovenia and Croatia through the company Encore Tours. Last year, the group toured Poland and the Czech Republic. Two years ago, the group toured the U.K. and Greece.

Lake said there are concerts scheduled, but the group also does a lot of improvisational singing.

“When we were in Greece two years ago, we spontaneously sang in one of the ancient amphitheaters and of course for people who were just curious as to what we sounded like,”  she said.

Becca Nelson ’12 and Matt Micco ’12 were the tour coordinators this year. According to Nelson, the tour was set last March and the group had a choice between going to just Slovenia, or Slovenia, Italy and Croatia.

“We couldn’t imagine passing up the opportunity to perform in Venice,” Nelson said. “I’m most excited to sing in really old venues. Since most of these buildings were built before sound systems were invented, the rooms are designed to have phenomenal acoustics.”

The group will get time to explore each city and sing to different audiences. Their itinerary first brings them to Venice, Italy where they will sing in Chiessa San Rocco, then they will head to Ljubljana, Slovenia and discover Slovenian caves and perform at St. James’ Church. Of all the venues the choir will perform in, Nelson is most excited to sing in these caves.

Next, the group will travel to Dubrovnik, Croatia where they will explore Split, a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site, and sing at St. Ignatius Church.

“Chapel Choir is so special because we all are capable of creating such beautiful music together and I am really looking forward to being able to do this in an equally beautiful venue. As a first-year, I feel incredibly privileged to have been given this opportunity, and I cannot wait for tour,” Long said.

The choir plans to sing a range of songs it has sung throughout the year. This tour is one of many accomplishments for the choir, which is most well-known for its Christmas Candlelight Service each winter, aired on PBS. The choir sings at Rooke Chapel Protestant Service about three times each month and occasionally at churches in the Lewisburg area. The Chapel Choir Spring Concert will be at 7:30 p.m. this Sunday in Rooke Chapel, when the group will sing what they have prepared for the tour.

“I adore the music that we make together and think that we are one of Bucknell’s hidden gems and that we are so privileged to be able to share this music with the world,” Lake said.

By Heather Hennigan
Contributing Writer

Even on a small campus, it seems students can do anything that they want to.

Earlier this semester, The Bucknell University Fly Fishers, abbreviated BUFF, was formed. The club is open to students, both graduate and undergraduate, as well as faculty and staff members.

Club members don’t just grab a pole and run to the river to fish; members practice new fishing techniques, refine their casting and fly-tying abilities, share stream reports and learn about the most successful fishing patterns and times.

Throughout the semester, the club has met twice a month at the Environmental Center and even offered open fly-tying sessions for those interested in learning how to tie their own flies.

BUFF also explored rod building, knots and leader construction. The club embarked on various fishing trips, listened to guest speakers, took field trips to fish hatcheries and visited stream restoration and habitat improvement sites, all while learning about aquatic ecology.

Members gathered at local places such as Penns Creek, White Deer Creek, Spring Creek and Fishing Creek to fish, and participated in a stream cleanup along with other service projects.

Doing all these projects has already gained BUFF a respectable reputation on campus. Seemingly off the beaten path, this club offers students yet another outlet to do what they love or explore something they have never tried.

For more information about this club, visit www.eg.bucknell.edu/sri/flyfishingclub or follow the fishers on Twitter @ BUFlyFishing.

By Jen Lassen
Arts & Life Editor

Jazz is greatly appreciated at our University. Through efforts like the Jazz at Bucknell series and the Janet Weis Cabaret Jazz series, this genre of music is highly celebrated and valued on campus.

Last Friday, April 20 in the Weis Center for the Performing Arts, the Bucknell Jazz Band performed its spring concert featuring guest artist Chris Vadala. Vadala, a soprano saxophonist from Poughkeepsie, N.Y., is the director of jazz studies and saxophone professor at the University of Maryland, where he is also a Distinguished Scholar-Teacher.

The Bucknell Jazz Band consists of 22 members; five of the current members will graduate this May.

The band is comprised of a saxophone section, a trombone section, a trumpet section and a rhythm section that includes piano, vibes, bass, drums and a vocalist.

In Friday’s concert, the band and Vadala performed 10 selections. The show began with “Manteca,” an upbeat, precise piece that showcased the band’s brass section.

“I’ve been to many of Bucknell’s student concerts and the Jazz Band is always my favorite! They play really fun music,” Chris Jarvis ’15 said.

An uncommon element of the concert included featuring combination soloist performances. Twin brothers Zach Berliner ’15, a saxophonist, and Josh Berliner ’15, a trombonist, performed a collaborative solo during the second song.

“Students this semester performed lots of different combos together; it was a great thing we did,” band director Barry Long said.

After the band performed their set alone, guest artist Vadala joined the stage and finished out the last five songs with the group.

Another part of the concert included the world premiere of “Birdie’s Day.” This piece, a rendition of the popular jazz song “Bye Bye Blackbird” directed by Rick Hirsch, was commissioned by the Bucknell Jazz Band during Vadala’s performance.

“I really enjoy the program. It’s a great way for us to have a ton of fun working on and performing some great jazz charts, improving our chops playing with fellow Bucknellians and getting a break from our other classes. Most of us in the ensemble are engineers, so this is a great change of pace from our daily classwork,” pianist Doug Bogan ’13 said.

“The concert was definitely one of our best, which is all you can hope for as a graduating senior. Having some professionals in the band definitely kept us really positive and high-energy,” Alexandre Apfel ’12 said.

By Carolyn Williams
Senior Writer

This weekend, Ali Keller ’12 is directing Paula Vogel’s groundbreaking play “How I Learned to Drive” in Tustin Studio Theatre. The play, which rocked the theatre world with its honesty, humor and shock value, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998, telling the story of a young girl’s sexual initiation by her uncle at the age of 11 via her remembrances of the driving lessons he gave her.

Our narrator, Li’l Bit (we only ever learn her family’s nickname for her), played by Emily Hooper ’14, is an intelligent but naïve girl whose family and friends acknowledge her only for her prematurely large breasts. Surrounded by a negative and ignorant family unit (her mother had Li’l Bit in her teens, her grandmother is a religious zealot and her grandfather an unapologetic sexist), she turns to her Uncle Peck (Banner White ’14), a traumatized veteran, recovering alcoholic and the only member of her family who is kind to her.

Peck supports Li’l Bit’s plan to go to college, despite the unenthusiastic response of the rest of the family. He hopes that when she comes legally of age, she will allow him to finally have sex with her after years of molestation, but Li’l Bit, finally able to speak up for herself, has other ideas.

Told in fluid bursts of anachronistic plot intermixed with chapter-like headings out of a driving manual, “How I Learned to Drive” tells a story which is all too real, a love story no one wants to hear. The romantic moments in the play are uncomfortable and taboo, but there is real emotion behind them. Li’l Bit is too desperate for affection of any kind to be able to let go of Peck without feeling the loss of his devotion as well. We have a sympathetic portrait of a molester, a confusion inversion of the stereotypical “bad guy,” and a victim who is unsure of the extent of her victimization, an even more confused–and distinctly less calculating–Lolita.

“All I can really ask of people is that they think the show is entertaining and they feel like they’ve had a conversation and a personal connection with the show by the time its over,” Keller said.

The supporting cast includes Eliza Macdonald ’14, Gwenn Gideon ’15 and C.J. Fujimura ’13. Performances are in Tustin Studio Theatre on April 28 at 2 p.m., April 29 and 30 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $5.