Feature
www.belmontvision.com
Single Awareness Day?
The Belmont Vision’s in-house experts from both genders
shed light on how to be a responsible “man” on Valentine’s
Day and how to please your bombshell on a budget. Also, a
faculty couple proves that love knows no geographical
bounds.
p. 8-9
A&E
It’s Oscar season, baby!
As the Academy Awards approach, many film critics/nerds
across the country are blogging away on who they think the
favorites are to win, which films got overhyped and which
ones got the hose. Our staff weighs in on the heavyweights
and the snubs.
p. 15
Sports
The student newspaper of Belmont University
By Ameshia Cross
STAFF WRITER
The Belmont Student Government
Association Congress members spend every
other Monday night deciding how to best
serve Belmont through a process of bills,
proposals and reforms. One of the most difficult tasks the group faces each semester is
allotting money to on-campus organizations.
“In order to get funding, a student organization must go through the grant petition
process,” said Price Rainer, SGA treasurer
and junior political economy major. Grant
petitions are an option for any organization
that doesn’t receive university funding. “If
not Belmont-funded, by all means petition,”
Rainer said.
Money for grant petitions is built into the
SGA budget, but “before the last Congress
meeting, we had a lot of surplus funds,” said
Rainer.
Congress voted to take most of the $3500
grant petition surplus and divide it among the
following: Bruin Den Day, a women’s basketball flag, the Battle of the Boulevard
series and a comprehensive SGA Web site.
The previously funded Homecoming budget
was supplemented with an additional $600.
Bruin Den Day was allotted $500, in an
effort to give students more incentives and
reasons to come out for the community service effort, according to Rainer. In addition
to the men’s basketball game day flag, the
motion was passed to provide one for the
women’s team as well at a cost of $600.
The remaining SGA funds were allocated
to provide discounted student tickets for the
Battle of the Boulevard game at Lipscomb
and for a big-screen projection in Beaman of
that game.
A comprehensive SGA Web site would
One for the money ...
The next meeting of the President’s
Council, which aids in funding
campus organization, will be Feb.
19 from 5-7 p.m. in the 2nd
floor Multimedia Hall of the Lila
Bunch Library.
receive $1300 in SGA funds.
It will be “a Web site that
is good, professional and
credible,” Rainer said.
One of the recurring
themes of Belmont’s
grant petition process is
the lack of student organizations asking for money.
Rainer believes the new
SGA website would
change that with links to
grant petition meeting
dates, president’s council
meetings and information on when to pick
up a form and how to fill it out.
The process starts with an organization’s
representative attending a President’s
Council Meeting: a campus-wide gathering
of organizational presidents, presided over
by SGA President Will Cromer, which convenes the first Friday of every month. A benefit of President’s Council “is to have a central communication area to answer questions
that arise during the grant petitioning process and [it] is open
to representatives from each
organization,” said Rainer. It
is important to note that
without attending the
President’s Council
Meeting, an organization
is automatically denied
funding.
“I think many organizations will petition this year,”
Rainer said.
With $7400
budgeted to
give grant petitions, it is likely.
“I’d like to
give away every
dollar,” said
Rainer.
Petitions are due
Feb. 14.
Reverb Media
reinvents itself
Think trying to finish up your degree is hard
when you’re also starting for the basketball
team? Add a wife, baby and the financial worries of the real world to that mix and you have
entered the life of Belmont senior center
Andrew Preston.
p. 12
By Lance Conzett
STAFF WRITER
Music
The Urban Showcase
Online
February 14, 2007
It’s your money!
Family man
What was that loud noise coming from the Curb Feb. 10?
Why, the Urban Showcase, of course, where a glorious
display of R&B, hip-hop and neo-soul, shown in our photo
gallery, was performed by Belmont students for Belmont
students.
p. 5
Vol. 56, No. 10
PHOTO BY AMY KADISH
Taking center stage
With three senior theater productions running currently at
Belmont, there’s no shortage of talent on display. Among
those who are performing are Chris Scheele and Jennifer
Lewis, above, in “Death and the Maiden.” For additional
photo and story, see page 13.
After nearly three years running,
Reverbmedia, Belmont’s resident
campus record store, is closing its
doors in March – but only temporarily.
The store is being transformed
into what has been commonly
referred to as a “dorm store.” In its
new incarnation, it will continue to
offer new releases and albums by
local artists, but will expand its music
selection to include posters, T-shirts
and music supplies. Additionally, the
store will sell dorm room decorations
such as bedding, light furniture and
picture frames.
Beyond the new format, the store
formerly known as Reverbmedia is
also planning several promotions to
generate more interest including tournaments for Guitar Hero and Dance
Dance Revolution, CD release parties
and in-store concerts.
The presently unnamed dorm
store was created as a response to
diminishing sales at the record store.
The store’s new manager, Sally
Munns, and co-student manager Lexi
Nash, were instrumental in the
change. It was Munns’ pitch to Dr.
Jeff Cornwall, director of the Center
for Entrepreneurship, which resulted
in a new direction.
“It was kinda going downhill,”
said Munns of the store’s current format. Previous managers have recently
attempted to salvage the store’s failing sales by introducing DVD rentals
and guitar supplies, but these efforts
were met with lukewarm response.
The store will remain open as
Reverbmedia until around spring
break, when it will shift to the new
format. Until then, the store will continue selling both new releases and
local music, and bargain-priced used
CDs will be phased out over time.
“I don’t think the music tradition
is being downplayed at all,” Nash
said. “Our goal is to appeal to more
students by having a wider variety of
products. The store is large enough to
hold both music and home decor
items.”
But before it can open, the store
needs a new name. Students are
encouraged to submit suggestions for
the new store by filling out a form
found in Reverbmedia during store
hours (Mon.-Sat., 10 am-10 pm). The
student with the winning name will
be awarded a $50 gift certificate to
the store. The contest will run
through the end of February.
Reverbmedia, started in 2004 by
the Belmont University
Entrepreneurship Club, is south of
Curb Café on Belmont Boulevard.
Page 2
The Belmont Vision, February 14, 2007
‘Thompson Method’ still works
By Linda Johansson
STAFF WRITER
In 1931, when Herbert Hoover was running the country and milk was 50 cents a
gallon, John Bill Thompson was born.
Only 75 years, 12 presidents, five heart
surgeries and more than 30 Bahamas trips
later, Dr. Bill Thompson still stands strong
since then, changes Thompson has seen and
changes he has helped to bring about.
Thompson was born in Dallas where he
started his career teaching at a public school.
He moved to Denton ,Texas, where he lived
with his wife until he moved to Nashville.
During his time at Belmont, Thompson
has accomplished a great deal. He was the
chair of the health and fitness
department for 18 years. He is
the one who started offering
Getting Smart
“outdoor recreational” classes
such as hiking, canoeing, kayakBelmont professor Dr. Bill
ing, scuba diving, water skiing
Thompson and his wife will and sailing. He also started the
help teach “America’s
women’s tennis team as well as
offering Belmont’s first and
Boating Course”, an eightlongest-running foreign studies
hour safety seminar that
class.
starts at 8:30 am Feb. 24 at
According to the National
Bellevue United Methodist
Center for Health Statistics, less
than 17 percent of the American
Church. Five experienced
population who are 75 years or
teachers will teach the
older are engaged in regular
course for the U.S. Coast
physical activity. Thompson is
Guard Auxiliary. An eightcertainly in that minority. He
chapter textbook that costs has been an active athlete for
most of his lifetime, something
$25 is recommended for
he will not give up even at his
everyone who takes the
age.
course, but the classes are
“My heart problems restrict
me some, but I still keep on
free to the public. Those
working and doing things,”
who successfully complete
said.
the course and exam, which Thompson
In his high school and colcover boating laws, basics
lege years he was on the track
and problems, are awarded and cross country teams and
played in a church softball
certificates of completion
for Tennessee Boater Safety league.
“I was never an outstanding
Education, mandatory for
athlete but I liked to compete,”
anyone born after Jan. 1,
Thompson said.
Today, he teaches a health
1989. In addition, those
and fitness class and stays active
who pass the course may
by walking, lifting weights and
earn a discount on boat
playing badminton with stuinsurance from some
dents. He stays competitive by
challenging his students in badmarine insurance compaminton. Those eager to chalnies, Thompson said.
lenge him should not underestiFor registration and other
mate Thompson if they ever
information, contact
stand on the opposite side of a
court from him.
Thompson at either (615)
“Oh yeah, I can beat my stu834-1152 or in his office at
dents,” Thompson said. “I beat
460-6922.
more students than they beat
me.”
in the health department at Belmont
University, beating students 50 years his
junior in badminton.
Thompson came to what was then
Belmont College in 1968 when Belmont had
less than 1,000 students and separate physical education classes for men and women.
Many things have changed at the university
PHOTO BY SIERRA MITCHELL
Dr. Bill Thompson, longtime professor at Belmont,
particpates in a game of badminton with a student.
In 1979, at the age of 48, Thompson
underwent his first heart surgery. Since then,
he has had four more, including three openheart surgeries. Despite his heart problems,
Thompson did not hesitate going on his
“Sailboat Cruising in the Bahamas,” a study
abroad program he started for his students in
1975. During these trips, Thompson and his
crew stayed on a boat for a week while he
taught them how to navigate, anchor, sail
and read the charts.
Andy Rambo, a former Belmont student,
went on seven of these trips with Thompson
and said he would not hesitate going on
seven more with him.
“Dr. Thompson is my hero captain and I
would go anywhere with him,” Rambo said.
“He is a great sailor and a great guy and as
long as he is calm on the sea, I am calm as
well.”
Belmont alumnus John Starnes has also
gone on a trip to the Bahamas with
Thompson. He found Thompson to be a
very good teacher because he was more
interested in a student finding the solution to
a problem individually rather than learning
the “Dr. Thompson method.”
“Some teachers seem to be more interested in a student learning the teacher’s method
than acquiring the necessary skills to solve
the problem,” Starnes said. “But he wanted
each student to learn on his own.”
Some of Thompson’s friends believe it is
dangerous to go on overseas trips with a
weak heart, but Thompson is of another
opinion.
“If I would have had that philosophy that
I can’t go sailing because I am sick, then I
wouldn’t be doing anything since the age of
48,” Thompson said.
Starnes said that neither Thompson’s
heart surgeries nor age came up as factors
that limited his abilities.
“He outpaced us all,” Starnes said.
Thompson believes he has been able to
be this active mainly because he is a good
patient. He takes his medicine and listens to
the doctors. Being an obedient patient has
certainly been helpful, but the doctors are
still amazed by Thompson’s active life considering what he has gone through.
“Some doctors are still startled that I do
the things I do. However, they encourage
me to do it,” Thompson said.
He keeps his passion alive to this day,
having dreams for the future, sailing in the
Bahamas a few more times.
1900 Belmont Blvd., Nashville TN, 37212
Phone: (615) 460-6433
E-mail: vision@mail.belmont.edu
Editor:
Managing Editor:
Online Editor:
Photo Editor:
A&E Editor:
Sports Editor:
Advertising:
Faculty Adviser:
Online/Graphics Adviser:
Henry Nichols
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Angela Smith
Senior Staff: Adaeze Elechi, Chansin Bird, Chris
Speed, Eric Detweiler, Alexander Jones
Contributors: Lisa Johnston, Courtney Drake,
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Johansson, Bryce Leonard, Jessica Haines, Jessica
Walker, Matt Reynolds, Bethany Arthur, Meaghan
Mitchell, Ray Taylor, Sarah Mitchell, Jeanette Ceja
Bland Clark, Chase Misenheimer
The Belmont Vision, February 14, 2007
Page 3
BU remembers Emmy Scott,
Student loan rate cut
debate heads to Senate ‘06 honors grad in math
By Nathan T. Baker
By Chansin Bird
STAFF WRITER
SENIOR WRITER
Mary Margarette Scott was known around
campus as “Emmy.” She died Feb. 2 on her
way to a missions conference in Texas. The
Rev. Eric Falk, director of missions at
Emmy’s church, also died when their van
reportedly hit ice and crossed into oncoming
traffic near Little Rock, Ark. Emmy was 23.
She was an ‘06 honors graduate at
Belmont and was
pursuing a master’s
in mathematical sciences at MTSU.
“She loved her
family. She loved her
church. She loved
Belmont. Her ultimate goal was to
come back and teach
here,” said family
friend James Cook,
Emmy Scott
who worked with her
in the math department and knew her as a fellow member at Christ Church in Nashville.
Family and friends remember Emmy as
having a heart for people, as well as a heart
for missions and math. She clocked hundreds
of tutoring hours with the math department
and contributed undergraduate research to her
field, which took years of patience to see
through. In her church work, she traveled to
places as far and wide as Haiti and Israel.
Professor Glenn Acree worked with
Emmy on her math research nearly every
week for more than three years. He remembers Emmy as a “natural teacher” in the context of showing a peer the next step in a math
problem, but also in life.
and Rachel Allen
STAFF WRITER
In 2007, it is estimated that at least 65
percent of college students will graduate
with student loans, many of which will be
greater than $15,000. To reduce the burden
of repaying these debts, the College
Student Relief Act of 2007 passed the
House of Representatives by a vote of
356-71.
This bill, if passed in the Senate and
signed by President Bush, will lower the
rates on need-based federal loans from 6.8
to 3.4 percent over five years.
“If you consolidate all your loans
together, that already decreases the amount
of loans you need to pay off,” sophomore
music business major Vanessa Stoerkle
said. ”That, plus the interest rate going
down, sounds awesome to me.”
Greg Batcheler, an English major,
agreed, saying, “I think it’s a really good
idea. I think students can use all the help
they can get.”
For subsidized loans, the government
pays the accumulated interest while students are in college. A grace period after
graduation allows students time to get
established in a job, but the loans must be
repaid – with interest – in no more than 10
years.
Chris Davis, a junior transfer student
majoring in music business, will have
close to $60,000 in student loans by the
end of this year.
“Obviously, if [the College Student
Relief Act] makes my loans cheaper, I’m
initially going to like it,” he said.
He was concerned, however, about
whether or not taxpayers would have to
shoulder the financial burden. In actuality,
banks and lenders will have to cover most
of the $6 billion cost.
In a press statement released by House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), she said,
“At a time when college tuition continues
to skyrocket, this crucial legislation will
help remove some of the barriers to a high-
“I think it’s definitely a
step in the right direction, but there is more
that could be done.”
Megan Waddell
freshman, Spanish
er education.”
Some people wonder if the money
would be better funneled elsewhere, for
example, toward grant money. They worry
that lowering interest will be an incentive
that will lead to students taking out even
more loans.
The proposal from President Bush
would increase the limits on Pell grants,
making the maximum grant $4,600 dollars,
an increase of $550, which is being heralded by many as a development much long
overdue.
Sophomore public relations major Jess
Reuter, however, likes the idea of interest
rates being lowered because she thinks it
helps students more than grants do.
“If you even open up 500 more grants,
then only 500 more students are going to
be helped by that,” she said. “The rest of
us will still have to take out student loans.
I think it will help the majority.”
Others have taken a somewhat more
reserved stance towards the bill, feeling
that while it is certainly a good beginning,
other changes need to take place as well.
“I think it’s definitely a step in the right
direction, but there is more that could be
done,” freshman Spanish major Megan
Waddell said.
According to collegeforTN.org, 56 percent of Belmont undergraduates have borrowed through loan programs, and the
average student debt upon graduation is
$18,007.
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“She did that for people, helped them get
through situations — taught them how to live
in a sense, which is a big deal,” Acree said.
She continued to teach, helping with a few
classes at MTSU, and learned from others.
In the Belmont Honors program, students
write a personal statement of beliefs in their
freshman and senior years. A central theme
in both of Emmy’s documents is her memory
of Davy Lovell, a peer who died of bone cancer during her senior year at Goodpasture
Christian School, Madison, Tenn.
“Memories of Davy are still in my mind
and the positive influence he left on our
school motivated me toward many personal
achievements. Overall, it ... taught me to
build positive characteristics in myself and
spurred me to look for those in others.”
“... I have lived under the belief that every
situation is a learning opportunity. This belief
was first instilled in me by my parents but
was not solidified as one of my beliefs until
the death of my friend...”
Emmy also wrote about a trip to Israel
that reminded her to draw strength from her
faith. She wrote about finishing her thesis
and how the experience taught her to “press
through difficult times and finish well.”
The ceremony celebrating Emmy’s life
was at Christ Church Feb. 6. More than a
thousand people attended.
“We concluded on a high note of worship
and praise and that’s what Emmy would have
wanted,” said Emmy’s mother.
Survivors are her parents, Tommy and
Becky Scott; brother, Ben Scott; maternal
grandparents, Calvin and Margarette Carter;
and paternal grandmother, Mary Martha
Scott.
Page 4
The Belmont Vision, February 14, 2007
Campbell urges campus to ‘do something!’
By Chansin Bird
SENIOR WRITER
Nationally-known civil rights activist Will
Campbell has been described as “an articulate and authentic witness to what is the best
of humanity,” and at 82, he’s still witnessing.
Campbell, ordained as a Baptist minister
at 17, became chaplain at the University of
Mississippi in 1954 but was forced to leave
after just two years because of his advocacy
for racial equality. When the schools in
Little Rock, Ark., were integrated in 1957,
Campbell was one of four people who
escorted the nine black students who were
taunted by bystanders. When the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference was founded that year to establish an inter-faith commitment to non-violent action in support of
civil rights, Campbell was the only white
person present among the black activists that
included Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph
Abernathy and Joseph Lowery.
Fifty years later, Campbell presses on for
civil rights, largely through his writing and
lectures such as the one he delivered Feb. 7
at Belmont as part of the university’s observance of Black History Month.
“I get impatient with the young people
who say, ‘We envy you because you were
around to do all those heroic things,”
Campbell said. “You didn’t save anything
for us to do.’”
But in anecdote after anecdote, Campbell
pointed out that the fight is far from over.
“While we are here there will be a thousand people, most of them people of dark
skin, who will die from starvation and lack
of water,” he said. “ ... [They] could be
saved by white hands. But we don’t have
“It was a privilege to
have been at least an
observer of one of the
most important times in
American culture when
people were answering
the question, ‘What’re we
gonna do.’ I also know
we’re living today in a
very perilous time.”
Will Campbell
writer, minister, civil rights activist
time. We’ve got a war! We’ve got to kill
some more people whose skin is darker than
ours.”
To the students and community members
who packed every seat in Massey Board
Room, who stood around the walls and sat
on the floor, Campbell said, “Don’t ask me
what you can do because I’ll by-God tell
you.”
Campbell himself was not born to a life
free of prejudice and misunderstanding. As a
boy in Mississippi where his father was a
sharecropper, he lived with the racial divide;
a divide he believes still exists today in the
South and in the nation. But it was there that
he also learned early that skin color was not
the measure of a man.
“The first race relation lesson I ever
learned was when I was five years old in
South Mississippi,” Campbell said. “We
were barefooted boys and would meet at
Grandpa Bunt’s. He chewed Prince Albert
Tobacco.”
“An elderly man was walking down this
country dirt road. We little boys were calling
him by what became an ugly name,”
Campbell recalled. “Grandpa Bunt called us
all around and sat on a stump chewing his
tobacco and said, ‘Hun – he called everyone
‘hun’ – men, women, kids – there is no such
thing as –‘ and he called the name. ‘He is a
colored man’ – which was the acceptable
designation. ‘He is a man.’
“I never forgot that.”
Campbell told a story from one of more
than 20 of the books he has written: An old,
overweight colonel owned a plantation in
Mississippi around the time of the Civil War.
He was not a mean man but part of an evil
system. When the war ended and the man
got a copy of the Emancipation
Proclamation, he called all the former slaves
together and read it to them. The people
knew that they were free. But free to what?
Freedom to wander, stray, go north? What’s
there? The man who had built the mansion in
which the colonel lived said when the
colonel finished, “What are we going to do?”
“I had the old colonel sitting there
because he couldn’t walk from the house to
the store,” Campbell said. “When the slave
asked that, the old colonel said, ‘I don’t
know. But we’ll do something.’”
Campbell has been doing “something” his
entire life.
“I was privileged to come along at a very
important time in American history. It was a
privilege to have been at least an observer of
one of the most important times in American
culture when people were answering the
question, ‘What’re we gonna do?’
“I also know we’re living today in an
equally perilous time.”
He said that in recent days the nation has
been turning other countries – mostly home
to people of darker skin than ours – against
America.
“What are we going to do? I don’t know,
but let’s do something.”
The Belmont Vision, February 14, 2007
Page 5
PHOTOS BY MELANIE BENGTSON
Sounds of the city
Performers in the 2007 Urban Showcase rocked the Curb Event Center on
Feb. 10. (From left) Mary Lawren Maples, Lanzanator, Future and the
night’s host, a DJ from 89.1, performed during the evening. The PearlCohn High School marching band kickstarted the show, which was followed by a party in the Curb Cafe. Applications for the Other Showcase
are due Feb. 16.
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Page 6
E
The Belmont Vision, February 14, 2007
ideas
How the
Grinch stole
Valentine’s Day
Every lover at Belmont (well, the girls at least) liked
Valentine’s Day a lot.
But the Grinch, who lived in a cubicle on the 2nd floor
of Gabhart, did not.
“I hate the Hallmark marketing and the expectation of
giving, I hate seeing the trumped-up happiness of everyone
but me living.”
I know what
you’re thinking:
HENRY NICHOLS
maybe his head
isn’t screwed on
quite right, maybe
his tie’s a little too
tight, maybe too
many girls have
realized he’s not
Mr. Right.
Or maybe after
all, rejection after
rejection, his heart
is two sizes too
small.
“Whatever,” the
Grinch said. “Pride
may go’eth before the fall, but I’m still going to ruin
Valentine’s Day for y’all.
“I’ll dress like Cupid, for my lost love I’ll pine, while I
kick down your doors and throw out your wine.
“I’ll burn your romantic comedies and trash your
desires; I’ll turn your greeting cards into funeral pyres.
“I’ll wolf down See’s Candies and slam acoustic guitars,
I won’t stop until everything is feathered and tarred.
“Then I’ll retreat to my high-rise and listen for your
wails…I’ll laugh in villainous gaiety if I’m not already in
jail.”
But even as the Grinch prevailed with all material things
gone, he slowly came to terms that love still goes on.
“How could it be so?” the Grinch asked. “It comes without Sweethearts or cupcake tins! It comes without new
CDs, earrings or even Boulevard wins!”
And then he cried for three hours till there was nothing
left to cry, and then he let something out that he had bottled
up inside.
“So then…maybe Valentine’s Day doesn’t completely
come from a store...perhaps Valentine’s Day means a little
bit more!”
So instead of wishing ruin, this Grinch wants to say he’s
taught the lessons he’s learned through a love distraught:
Forget all expectations, everything the media shoves,
and give your partner a day that accurately reflects your
love.
Give your love a special setting with no one else around;
The Cheesecake Factory is cramped with every couple in
town.
Give of yourself in your own goofy way; everything
doesn’t have to be perfect –it’s just another day.
Remember why you came together and let your heart
sing; love doesn’t care if it’s a movie or diamond ring.
If they reject your earnest gift and compare and contrast,
then maybe it’s time to accept that you both are the past.
But for the guys who really care, listen here: there is no
greater gift than paying love forward throughout the year.
The key to a girl’s heart, even if you have to nickel and
dime, is an unexpected gift at an unexpected time.
And maybe one day we‘ll say the greatest thing we’ve
learned is how to love and accept being loved in return.
Then again, if nothing else works and your head is full
of rocks, you can always cut a hole in the side of a giftwrapped box.
Henry Nichols, Vision editor, is a senior journalism
major. E-mail: henroid83@gmail.com
Let us know what you think. Send a signed letter, 400
words maximum, with your local telephone number, to
The Editor, Belmont Vision, 1900 Belmont Blvd., Nashville,
TN 37212. E-mail submissions are also accepted; send
them to vision@mail.belmont.edu.
The faces of feminism
As Harvard University named its
first female president, Dr. Drew Gilpin
Faust, this week, I found myself at a
loss. For the past week, the news cycle
has been dominated by women: an
astronaut, wife and mother of three
who went crazy, a “demanding” speaker of the house who requested a larger
plane to fly cross country and a former
Playmate of the Month who met an
unexpected death. Dr. Faust slipped in
almost undetected, save for those of us
who linger for hours on the New York
Times online and Google News.
But then, it really isn’t all that surprising, is it? As some women strive
continuously
to erase the
gender gap,
our media
“I am ... the
does one of
product of a
two things: (1)
generation
it focuses on
those women
plagued by
who perpetuate stereotypes mixed sigand make misnals and
takes (i.e. the
shifting
Spears-Hilton
camp) or (2)
stereotypes.”
makes such a
big deal about
a certain
newsmaker being a woman that their
actual accomplishments are drowned
out by their gender (i.e. the ClintonPelosi-Faust group).
The last thing I want to do is paint
myself as a radical feminist (believe
me, I’m not), incessantly complaining
about men and their supremacy-complex. Nor do I want you to think that I
am a submissive, bread-baking housewife-to-be. I am somewhere between
the two extremes, the product of a generation plagued by mixed signals and
shifting stereotypes. I don’t know who
I am supposed to be. What is a 21st-
century woman?
Look at Harvard, for example. Two
of the most recognized female names to
come out of that university this year:
Faust and Lena Chen, a sophomore at
Harvard who writes the award-nominated blog “Sex and the Ivy,” represent
the two antitheses in this debate.
Chen’s blog, a popular and muchtalked-about glimpse into the erotic
adventures of an oversexed college student – in my prudish opinion – does
nothing but demean my gender and
undermine Harvard’s credibility. Chen
has every right to write whatever she
wants – and I have every right not to
like it – but this young woman, who is
receiving arguably the best education
she could receive, is making a name for
herself not with her brain, but with her
body.
Then Faust, who worked her way
up through academia before landing as
the dean of the Radcliffe Institute for
Advanced Study at Harvard, is heralded for becoming the first woman president of Harvard – because she is a
woman. See Speaker Nancy Pelosi for
further reference. Justice Sandra Day
O’Connor, anyone?
I am proud to be a woman (or at
least, I’m proud to be on my way to
becoming one). But I’m not really sure
what that means anymore. I am told by
many members of society that I should
be looking for a husband and learning
to cook, preparing to settle down and
raise a family. I want that. But I am
also told that society has moved past
that era and that I, as a woman, can do
anything that a man can and because I
can, I should. I want that too.
So what do I do and to whom do I
look for an example? If someone has
an answer, I would surely appreciate
the advice. Perhaps I am doing nothing
more than perpetuating a female stereotype by writing these words: My inde-
MELANIE BENGTSON
cisive heart is worrying too much. But
this is what society has made me and
what every young woman of my generation will face. The strides that women
like Drew Gilpin Faust make are overwhelmed by the fact that Britney
Spears forgot to wear her panties.
“Woman” is an ever-evolving
notion, subject to both history and current events as it seeks a permanent definition. Men are men; they have a concrete role in society that has seen very
little change since the Garden of Eden.
The role of a woman – and subsequently our very ideas about this transparent
gender- has yet to be permanently
defined. In the 19th century, women
built amazing lives around their families and households; few ventured outside that realm. In the 20th century,
women rebelled and made incredible
lives outside the home, creating opportunities and breaking barriers that confined their predecessors. Perhaps my
generation will bridge the gap between
the two and be able to satisfy the dueling desires in our hearts: to have a successful career and to nurture a family.
Melanie Bengtson, managing editor
of the Vision, is a sophomore developmental politics major.
E-mail: bengtsonm@mail.belmont.edu
Reader challenges Vision’s objectivity
To the editor:
As a former journalism major and
Vision writer who never got his stuff in
on time, I feel an obligation to remind
the editors and writers of the Vision of
your job as a journalist.
You are not a member of a party.
You are not a conservative, liberal, libertarian, socialist, communist, anarchist,
centrist, or scientist. You do not have an
opinion. You are a channel of information. I don’t want your “professional”
opinion and neither does anyone else.
You also can’t treat anything in a
story as “assumed.” You can’t take the
public’s often uninformed opinion as
“fact.”.And most importantly, writing
attacking stories, whether intentional or
not, is not objective behavior.
For instance, in Chansin Bird’s
story, “Minimum wage hike would help
students” she writes her own convictions
and fails to write an objective piece. I
saw no quotes from an employer of stu-
Letter to the Editor
dents, and no quotes from an economics
professor, probably because both would
denounce a minimum wage hike. By
the word “help” what does Bird mean?
Does “help” only mean more money in
a paycheck? Or does “help” mean an
increase in government spending of
work study money which results in a
necessary increase in government intake
through taxes, ultimately coming from
the same students. Does “help” mean
forcing small employers to hire less people in order to pay them, later casting
them out and making these major corporations that liberals like Bird love to hate
the only source of commerce in the
country?
Or when Ameshia Cross writes about
the troop surge in Iraq. I cannot argue
objectively on this, as I am a member of
the College Republicans and was inter-
viewed for this story. However, Mitchell
Hastings, a friend of mine and president
of the College Democrats, was quoted
three times in the article, and Roxanne
Hajjafar, another member of the Dems,
quoted twice. Hastings alone out-quoted
Cross’ military sources, which consisted
of two quotes from Sgt. Lee Krabel. She
wrote her entire article on the opinions
of political science students with little
input from American servicemen. I
would also believe the Soldier Seminar
about the troop surge held the same
week this article was released would
have served as an amazing point of discussion for Cross’ article. However, I
saw no mention of it.
My point is, as journalists you are
obligated to be objective. It has been no
secret about the biases of the Vision, but
for the sake of your own education, try
to consider for a second that you might
be wrong.
Rob Martin
The Belmont Vision, February 14, 2007
Page 7
Love is in the air, and so’s caution
My undergraduate days are ticking away.
For some of us, this is the final semester.
Soon we’ll have to come face-to-face with
our student loans, find a stable job that’ll
allow us to pay them off, and try not to compromise too many of our ideals along the
way. We’ll get our degrees, a hearty handshake, and a firm push into the arms of life
after college. And at the same time that
many of my peers will be receiving bachelor’s degrees, they’ll be searching for the
quickest way to escape bachelorhood. The
flurry of engagements has already begun,
and a veritable marriage blizzard can’t be far
behind. Yet as I’m regaled ever more frequently with speeches about the pending joy
of marriage, feverish discussions about love
and caterers, and myriad retellings of proposal stories, there’s a solemn voice in the
back of my head that refuses to let me take it
all in peacefully: my peers are starting to get
married, which means it’ll only be a few
years before my peers start getting divorced.
Even though I wish it was otherwise, I
realize I’ve just set myself up for rampant
charges of cynicism. Certainly I’d never
walk up to one of my engaged friends and
tell them point blank that statistics indicate
there’s a greater probability of their marriage
ending in divorce than lasting through sickness, health, wealth, poverty and all the
ERIC DETWEILER
other trials and blessings of life. It’s much
easier to throw divorce statistics around as
abstract reflections of American culture than
as indicators of the staying power of a particular marriage. The unfortunate reality
remains, however: if I assumed that onequarter of my friends’ marriages are not
going to endure, I would be erring on the
side of optimism.
Granted I’m not pulling for the continuation of divorce trends. I would like to
believe that our generation has figured love
out. I’d be ecstatic if the marriages of the
children of the late 20th century proved
miraculously tenacious. There would be no
shortage of celebration on my part if the
tribulations of emotional differences, financial setbacks, and personal imperfections
began to strengthen marriages instead of
destroying them. But as far as I can tell,
there are too many romantic comedies out
there for those to be realistic expectations.
Not having a date for Valentine’s Day isn’t
half as frustrating as enduring constant references to “Singles Awareness Day,” whether
they’re made with an air of eye-bulging anxiety or excruciating smugness. Most people
respond to singleness in the same way a
child responds when their favorite toy is
taken away: “I-own’t even care, I din’t
wanna play with it anyway, you’re stupid!”
Then we try to restore our faith in the power
of love by watching Meg Ryan movies,
which of course only serve to steal another
piece of our self-esteem and drive home the
notion that the pursuit of a romantic relationship is the only way to overcome the
bustling desperation of modern America.
Love stinks until it clicks, and then it’s a
montage of bliss until the credits.
And so although most people are willing
to admit that marriage is not the commitment it once was, that the media has probably done a serious number on our perception
of what love is, and are often manically
obsessed with letting people know how
comfortable they are with their own singleness, a great cross-section of the population
seems unwilling to seriously question their
own judgment once the heart starts a-pounding. We’re jaded and hopeful, and the collision of youthful idealism and the creeping
fear of becoming a typical middle-aged
American taxpayer drives us to love, that
great metaphysical force that can lift us
beyond the mundane. And what better way
to find love than through matrimony? And
then if marriage turns out to be as common
as a cubicle, we shudder and separate; go on
our way and wait for next time.
Nobody’s obligated to take this seriously,
of course. Give me cocky compliments for
realizing love is a fallacy and marriage is an
empty social convention, or hold that hand a
little tighter and write me off as a sad little
man who just hasn’t met the right girl. Go
on, do it. I’m not buying it either way,
because here’s the thing:I don’t believe that
love is a lie. I think it’s out there. But I’m
just not sure that love always wears a wedding dress.
Senior writer Eric Detweiler is a senior
English major. E-mail: detweilere@pop.belmont.edu
College ‘theme’ parties cross racial lines
By Ameshia Cross
“A Change Gone Come” by Sam Cooke is my all-time
favorite song. I have always been a fan of classic songs that
seemed to echo messages of social injustice. Music became
an outlet for blacks to speak freely about their oppression and
the world soon took notice. Growing up as a poor black kid
in the South, I heard the stories of the brave civil rights leaders from my grandparents and listened eagerly. While attending schools in Mississippi, the topic was glossed over by my
teachers who’d much rather focus on the things that came out
of the Civil Rights Movement than the things that sparked it
in the first place. It’s easy for people to forget the pain and
suffering endured by African-Americans and to believe that
Dr. King’s dream has come true, but news stories tell me otherwise. The Clemson University gangsta party is a prime
example of just how far we have to go.
The Clemson gangsta party rocked the news media for all
of two days (not surprising by any means); they had bigger
fish to fry like which celebrity would be admitted to rehab
next. The party coincided with the Martin Luther King weekend. White students adorned themselves with black paint
from head to toe, wore pillows to accentuate their backsides,
wrapped gold chains around their necks, drank malt liquor
and put gold teeth in their mouths, all in an effort to assume
the so-called “gangsta lifestyle.” The students also drew
Commentary
quote balloons from the mouth of Dr. King in which they
inserted obscene phrases.
The scene mocked the worst racial stereotypes and was a
blatant disgrace to black culture. The only words of solace
from the Clemson University president John Barker were, “I
am angry and offended, but these students didn’t know their
actions were racist.” Members of the black community
became outraged. The NAACP quickly acted to create a
forum for discussion of the party and its implications.
Recently, a group of 15 Clemson students publicly apologized in front of over 200 faculty, staff and black students for
their involvement in the gangsta party. University officials
are applauding them for the courage they exemplified. This
seems puzzling to me considering the acts of blatant racism
that none of the students seemed to claim as motives behind
their actions. One student even said, “I never thought it was
offensive.” These partygoers are being honored for their
“courageous” acts. On what grounds? They apologized in
front of the people that they don’t feel they’ve hurt and
expect a thank you.
The most shocking part of this story to me is that
Clemson is not alone in its disrespect for black culture and
history. White students at Tarleton University in Texas hold a
party in which they dress in gang gear and drink malt liquor
from brown paper bags. In January, students at Minnesota’s
Macalester College hosted a “politically incorrect” party and,
according to the Associated Press, one student was costumed
as a Ku Klux Klan member and another wore blackface with
a noose around his neck. Even large Eastern establishment
schools partake; a fraternity at Johns Hopkins has encouraged
white partygoers to wear ‘bling-bling” grills or shiny metal
caps on their teeth.
University officials and NAACP representatives condemn
these parties as insulting and inexcusable under any circumstances.
Black History Month, is a time to acknowledge the pain,
struggle and suffering African-Americans endured for hundreds of years just to be able to enjoy some of the constitutional rights given to all of us, whatever the color of our skin.
Lynchings, mass murders, bombings and KKK terrorism are
all parts of the past that blacks would rather not relive. But
with the mindsets of white students like those at Clemson,
Tarleton and Johns Hopkins, is the point really getting
across?
Ameshia Cross is a sophomore political science major. Email: cross@pop.belmont.edu
Kennedy thefts remind students to be safe
By Jeannette Ceja
STAFF WRITER
A homeless man suspected of
recent thefts in Kennedy Hall has
been arrested on unrelated charges,
but Belmont Campus Security
believes he’s responsible for the
campus break-ins.
“The person we have been
looking for has been captured by
Vanderbilt Police Department in
conjunction with Metro Police. He
is in jail at this time,” said Terry
White, director of Belmont
Campus Security. The problem,
White said, is that law enforcement
officers have not been able to tie
Alexander Leslie Baxter, 47,
directly to the Belmont incidents,
which took place in January.
Baxter has an arrest record dating
to 1983. He was charged on Jan. 26
and Jan. 30 with trespassing, theft,
Helping out
Belmont Campus Security asks students , faculty and staff to
report suspicious incidents so officers may try to determine if
there’s a crime or other risk to the university community. To
report, call 460-6911.
attempted burglary, possession of
drug paraphernalia and evading
arrest in connection with incidents
at Vanderbilt.
White said the suspect in the
Belmont thefts, whom be believes
to be Baxter, waited outside the
Kennedy entrance until a student
came out, then entered the building
without having to use Belmont’s
Access Control System, which
allows entrance by scanning a stu-
dent ID card. White said the suspect went into several rooms, taking items from empty rooms and
claiming he was in the wrong room
when he encountered an occupant.
One victim, however, music
business freshman Adam Edelstein,
was in his room when the suspect
entered and stole his wallet.
Edelstein, who grew up in St.
Louis, said, “I’m helpless and more
than a little confused by this.”
White said students in many
communities face similar incidents,
and it’s important to keep lines of
communication open.
“Our challenge can be getting
this information to freshman students when they first get here, even
before they come to Belmont,”
White said, “so they will come
into our environment here, into this
community with this knowledge
and can start immediately helping
us keep them safe from those who
would come on campus to take
advantage of the situation.”
Freshman Isabel Perez, a music
business major, says she was surprised to hear about the Kennedy
break-ins. “I have always locked
my doors because I can’t afford to
lose my guitar or my other things,”
Perez said. “But I always feel very
safe.”
The effect of this break-in has
spread as far as to Belmont students starting a facebook group of
the alleged suspect, called “I’m
ready for you, Alexander Leslie
Baxter.” The group currently has
83 members. The creator of the
group, freshman Frances Anderson,
worked at the front desk at Hail
Hall. She said she started the group
out of something humorous, but on
a more serious note, Anderson said
she has become more careful to
lock her doors.
White said Campus Security
officers try to keep the campus
safe, but they also need cooperation
from students.”by helping us keep
the Access Control System working properly, to lock their residence
hall or apartment doors. Report any
suspicious people they may see on
campus, and let us check it out.”
The Belmont Vision, February 14, 2007
Page 8
Love spans continents at Be
By Chansin Bird
SENIOR WRITER
They both worked in the Wheeler Humanities Building,
but they didn’t know each other. It took a trip to Charleston,
S.C., for their paths to cross.
The 1993 February day was cold and dismal. Trevor
Hutchins came out of a session at the teaching conference
he was attending. He walked down a corridor and saw a
woman sitting, reading a mystery novel and wearing a
Belmont nametag.
“Hi. You’re from Belmont. So am I,” Hutchins said in
his Australian accent.
Sandy Smith heard his accent and looked at his nametag.
“No, you’re not,” she said.
At that point, she remembered there was an Australian
exchange professor on campus that semester.
He sat down to talk with her and eventually asked if she
had already had dinner. They decided to go to a jazz restaurant and together they ran through the rain.
The rest is history.
Dr. Trevor Hutchins and Dr. Sandy Hutchins currently
work at Belmont. He is the associate dean of the school of
education, and she’s an English professor. They’ve worked
eight consecutive years at Belmont since moving back from
Australia, but Sandy worked six years here prior to the marriage. Trevor had spent one semester at Belmont in the
exchange program. That’s when they met.
“In those days to follow, we walked around Charleston
and he told me so many things about his travels in his life
and his projects in restoring houses,” Sandy said. “I could
tell he was a really interesting guy.”
Trevor stayed in the United States another four months.
Before he left for Australia, though, he proposed. The couple had a long-distance relationship for eight months.
“We bought out the card stores,” Sandy said. “We sent a
card everyday. There’s got to be no more love and romance
cards left. We talked on the phone, too.”
Trevor said the relationship was expensive on phone
bills. They got to see each other once when he took a few
weeks off of work to visit her on her birthday.
Finally, Sandy got her visa and followed him to
Australia. Within several weeks of her arrival, they had a
small wedding under the trees.
“I was so happy and excited that I remember shaking
matters to
“It mak
we suppor
this is not
believe in
that both o
They’re
other much
“We ca
a different
said.
Sandy
much as o
“Every
for lunch,”
come hom
Someti
walks dow
“When
heart still l
he’d make
Sandy said
When t
phony, eat
towns in T
enjoy trave
Today
brating by
PHOTO BY JESSICA WALTRIP They’ve g
Sandy and Trevor Hutchins share a moment of togetherness at Belmont, where they both teach. Their first Valentine’
of Sandy’s
meeting, however, was in Charleston, S.C., where each spotted the other’s Belmont nametag.
food, the d
dancing.
“Belmont is the only place we’d come back for,” Trevor
from the time I got up ‘til I went to bed,” Sandy said.
“Trevo
said. “Sandy loves it so much. I enjoyed it when I worked
Because of Long Service Leave, a system in Australia
dancer. I a
here. Both of us had excellent jobs in Australia, but she
meant to encourage people to stay at the same company for
“But anyti
wanted to come home.”
a long time, Trevor was able to take three months off work
him to dan
Now at Belmont, the couple sees themselves as part of
for his honeymoon with Sandy. She didn’t have a job in
that’s grea
the same vision for the University.
Australia yet so the newlyweds spent two months in
my favorit
“I think the most important thing about it is how much
America – some in Nashville and some in Florida with
memory w
we believe in this place - how we are committed to it,”
Sandy’s daughter – and then traveled to London, Paris and
with the sn
Sandy said. “We have always been excited about Belmont Bangkok for a week in each city.
down outs
the quality of the faculty, how committed people are and
The couple both taught at universities in Australia for
was so lov
just to be a part of all the betterment coming to fruition.”
four and a half years before Sandy’s homesickness and an
When something matters to one of them, it’s likely it
associate dean job offer to Trevor brought them back .
Being a man on Valentine’s Da
By Nathan T. Baker
STAFF WRITER
And now for a scientific analysis of Valentine’s Day. Let’s call this section of
the paper The Vision’s Scientific Journal of Luuuuv. I’m your credible expert. All
my friends in the scientific community can vouch for my [in]credibility.
My complete works cited page is available online at wikipedia.org. Just search
for the topic that needs clarification.
In this document, I will first deconstruct the question “What is man?” Then, I
will address the construct of “Valentine’s Day” and the proper man response.
Lastly, I will offer suggestions for future research.
Warning: gender stereotypes abound after this point. All the views expressed in
this text are absolutely false, if you are my girlfriend.
Section 1: “What is Man?”
The man. Can I just type that again? The man. Yeah, he is awesome, but
besides that, he is a very complex creature. Let’s open the hood of this very nicely
waxed car and have a peek inside.
Welcome inside. From here, let me show you how it all works using another
apt analogy.
Man understands the world as a video game. If man finds food, man has energy to walk and find more food. If man finds love, man smiles. If man kicks enemy
ninjas in face with incredible accuracy, or some other skill of equal value, man is
validated.
The game may look simple, but the more you press those little buttons with
your fingers, and stare into the screen, and increase your hand-eye coordination,
[reference works cited page for more benefits of video games], the more you
notice. For instance, let’s look at the bar at the top of the screen that indicates
energy.
A man’s energy bar has two components, types of energy he can draw from to
perform actions. These two sources are based on testosterone and estrogen.
(Sorry about the image that leapt into your head of a high school wellness
teacher pointing to projected body parts with a large ruler. I promise it will be less
awkward soon.)
If all a man does is eat steak and cuss at puppies, he may have too much man
energy. For instance if his gerbil dies, it may be hard for him to cry and express
remorse.
The solution to this is to eat more éclairs, ask people about feelings, and/or
watch appropriate levels of approved TV: Project Runway, You’ve Got Mail, Top
Chef, Cinderella... [See works cited for more programming based on gender
stereotypes.]
A man can also have too much lady energy. In this case, do manly things such
as sweat, practice your strut in front of a large mirror or scale large rock masses
without ropes.
Being self aware of your limits is key. For instance, if you feel like you are
too buff and lifting incredible quantities of weight in the gym like it was a pastime, you may want to work out in pink tights to counteract your man energy.
By the same token, don’t wear your pink tights to poker night if it is designated
man time. Only you will know what is the best balance for you.
Balance, balance, balance. Ying that. Yang that.
dar. Therefore, it is important
pared to “ying it and yang it”
lier.
But here’s the catch: Ladie
more lady energy than men, w
confusing. I would not sugges
Valentine’s Day by beating yo
roar!”
There is a time and place f
Here is the proper response
Treat that special someone
have a responsibility to treat a
Surprise people with little
tell her you love her. Give in
Hug with your whole body. E
three songs. Watch a sappy ch
I am the expert and I say it
“semi-dark” chocolate. Write
tiful or how she has been ther
Section 2: “A proper response to Valentine’s Day”
So we’ve learned the importance of balance. Now, what do you do when a holiday is naturally weighted to one energy source? Do not be alarmed, I am an
expert and have solutions. Did I also mention that I am also good at rotating 3-D
objects in my head?
Yeah.
It’s so true.
So the traditional Valentine’s Day consists of loving people, slow dancing, surprising people with flowers and telling people sweet nothings.
This is one of the highest concentrations of lady energy present on the calen-
Section 3: “Conclusion”
After spreading the love, if
the guys.
And ladies, let him cook th
Laugh when someone says
that place where she captivate
better.
Suggestions for future rese
wikipedia.org.
Page 9
elmont
the other one as well.
kes a difference in our marriage and the way
rt each other in our commitment because
just a job,” Sandy said. “It’s something we
and we can feel we’re being a part of. The fact
of us can feel it - I think that’s even better.”
e a part of it together, but they don’t see each
h while they’re on campus.
an go days and never see each other here. She’s in
t department and her hours are different,” Trevor
agreed the two of them don’t see each other as
ne would think.
y once in a while he’ll call and ask if I want to go
” she said. “That’s actually exciting. Then he’ll
me and say, ‘I had lunch with a beautiful woman.’”
imes, before going home at the end of a day, he
wn her hall to say goodbye.
n he comes in my classroom and waves, my
leaps like when we were first dating and
e excuses to walk up the corridor,”
d.
they’re not at school, they like to go to the symt at Waffle House on Sundays and explore small
Tennessee. And as their honeymoon testifies, they
eling.
is Valentine’s Day, and this couple will be celegoing to a dinner dance at Trevor’s golf club.
gone for the past several years, and last year’s
’s Day was one
s favorite – the
decorations and the
or is an excellent
am not,” she said.
ime I can get
nce with me,
at. I would say
te Valentine’s
was a slow dance
now coming
side last year. It
vely.”
y
to be preas discussed ear-
es naturally have
which makes them
st counteracting
our chest and screaming, “I am man! Hear me
for mimicking Tarzan, but the ladies deserve better.
e:
e right. If you don’t have a special someone, then you
all your friends right. Spread the love.
packages tied up with string. Call your mother and
to the gush. Blow kisses with your hand. It is OK.
Embrace pink. Slow dance. Slow dance for two or
hick flick.
t is OK. Go all out. Buy “special dark” instead of
a note. It’s OK. Make a list of the ways she is beaure for you. It’s OK.
f you need to, take a day off and cook a burger with
he burger.
s “balls.” That’s OK too. But remember to return to
es you. Return often, and even burger time will be
earch are included in my works cited page, online at
The Belmont Vision, February 14, 2007
Jewelry, roses, chocolate
or ramen spaghetti?
By Victoria Harris
STAFF WRITER
For those of you macho men out there who
have the unfortunate circumstance of not being
able to celebrate this year’s national Single
Awareness Day, you need to come up with something, and fast. The clock’s ticking, the restaurants are booked, and well, you go to Belmont, so
cash isn’t entirely expendable. Below is a list of
ideas that will make this year’s Valentine’s Day
affordable and memorable.
For the sweet tooth
Roses are expensive and chocolate is a
Valentine necessity: kill two birds with one stone
and make her a candy bouquet. Personally, I’d just
jack a flowerpot from the Beaman and skewer
some Milkways® and BabyRuths®. Bonus points
if you can come up with some clever phrases for
the card; such as, “you’re so kissable®” or “you
make me snicker®”
For the hopeless romantic
Valentine’s Days consistently incite images of
candle-lit dinners at four-star restaurants, but why
go out and spend that precious Spring Break cash
when Circle K has all you need?
Kick your roommate out and
make her some ramen spaghetti. Use some of that
candy bouquet to double as dessert and highlight
your poverty with flashlights instead of candles.
Just get her out by 11 so you don’t get written up.
For the music lover
The one gift that can actually make you money
is the gushy love song. As much as I hate to admit
it, the female gender still swoons when you write
a song about her, so pick up that guitar, piano or
kazoo and tell her how you feel. Worst case scenario is in your Grammy speech you can say,
“Yea, the best part was when she started vomiting
that spaghetti ramen during the bridge.”
If you really love her you’ll copyright it in her
name.
For the nagger
Let’s face it, women are always complaining
about you, which means there is always something
you can change about yourself. So for once, burn
the tight pants, give her back the eyeliner, wear
blue and take out that awkward eyebrow piercing
for just one night.
Lastly, don’t forget to take photos of the
evening for Facebook. How else can we prove that
you really do look nice when you brush your hair?
Crazy in Love?
Yes, it's far too late to have roses delivered no
matter how friendly your favorite florist. But if
you stop by Beaman today, you can choose
your colors – red, yellow, pink – for $2.50 for
a single rose, $14 for a half-dozen and
$28 for a dozen. They don't come with
a guarantee that your love will bloom,
but, hey, it's a start!
Page 10
The Belmont Vision, February 14, 2007
sports
The women of Magdalene House, an award-winning
addiction recovery program, and their children will
attend Belmont’s home finale against Campbell at 4
p.m. Feb. 17. Donation boxes will aid the families, so
give what you can. For info: www.thistlefarms.org.
BU limping,
but not dead
By defeating Belmont at the Curb and in Allen Arena,
Lipscomb has completed the “season” sweep in the Battle of
the Boulevard. However, the word “season” is important
because the winner of the season series very likely has not
been written in stone yet. The rivals are on a bee-line to face
each other again in the conference tournament. Assuming
Belmont and Lipscomb secure the #2 and #3 seeds and win
their opening round games in the A-Sun Tournament, the
two teams will meet one more time to decide the winner of
the “War of the Boulevard.” When Belmont and Lipscomb
meet again, the first two games will be deemed irrelevant
because the winner of this Battle of the Boulevard wins the
war and keeps their dreams of dancing in March alive.
Even after the getting swept by Lipscomb, Belmont (169, 10-4 A-Sun) remains in second place in the conference,
above Lipscomb (15-10, 9-5 A-Sun). After losing the second
battle, Coach Byrd reminded his team of where they are
compared to Lipscomb.
“We’ve played the same number of games against the
same number of opponents Lipscomb has, and right now we
are in second
place.”
JORDAN DRAKE
Yet, the sentiment around most
Belmont and
Lipscomb fans is
that the latter has
the former’s number this year. After
all, the Bisons were
no doubt the
tougher, physically
and mentally, of the
two in both games.
In fact, the scoreboard at the end of
the game didn’t do
justice to how lopsided the game was in the second halves.
In the first battle, Lipscomb led 51-40 with little over a
minute remaining before only winning by 5, 55-50. In the
second battle, Lipscomb took a commanding 60-42 lead with
just over three minutes to go, before only winning by 10, 7060. Byrd admits that Lipscomb matches up favorably against
his Bruins, adding, “They are a hard team to beat. They are a
hard team for us to beat.”
Losing to a rival twice in one season is tough for any
team, but it’s what you do in March that people will remember. Byrd adds, “We all feel pretty bad right now. And you
know what, by the time we go to Johnson City [the A-Sun
Tournament] in March, the way we feel right now is going
to be gone. We’re going to walk in there [Johnson City] with
a new lease on life and a chance to win the tournament. And
if you lose sight of that by letting your guys lose sight of that
and start feeling sorry for themselves, then you won’t get
much done.”
Now, the Belmont nation needs to step back from the
emotion and realize that it has just as good as shot as anyone
to advance to the NCAA Tournament. The Bruins have beaten everybody in the league, including league-leading ETSU,
except for Lipscomb and Campbell who the Bruins seemed
poised to defeat at home on Thursday, Feb.17 (4 p.m. at the
Curb Event Center.)
It is a testament to Belmont that they have not shot the
ball nearly as well as in past years and still are in second
place. Byrd agreed, “We don’t have a lot of guys shooting it
good right now…and at some point we’ve got to all look in
the mirror and decide we’re going to rise to the occasion and
make big plays.”
So, if the shots start falling for this team, then look out.
The Bruins may very well be invited to the Big Dance at
Lipscomb’s expense once again.
Jordan Drake is a sophomore entrepreneurship major. Email: drake.jordan@gmail.com
PHOTO BY AMANDA HILL
Belmont senior center Andrew Preston, right, prepares to box out Lipscomb forward Thomas Pfaff while BU
guard Josh Goodwin, left, waits in the background. Pfaff and the Bisons used dominating second halves to
win both regular season Battles of the Boulevard, the latest a 70-60 decision in Lipscomb’s Allen Arena.
Bruins wilt, Bisons win
Lipscomb sweeps ‘06-’07 boulevard series
By Jordan Drake
SPORTS EDITOR
After winning the first two games of
a three-game road stretch, Belmont fell
to rival Lipscomb 70-60 Feb. 9 in front
of a Division 1 Battle of the Boulevard
record crowd of 5,289 at Allen Arena.
The Bruins (16-9, 10-4 A-Sun)
seemed poised to avenge their Jan. 12
loss as they raced out to a 26-16 lead 14
minutes into the game. However, a late
first half run by Lipscomb (15-10, 9-5
A-Sun) sliced the lead to two at the
half. Lipscomb then froze Belmont in a
blizzard by ripping off a 25-3 run in the
second half to take a commanding 6042 lead en route to a 10-point win.
Head Coach Rick Byrd thought his
team played better this time around
when he said, “I’m disappointed
because I really think, overall, that we
played better than we did at our place.
Our quality of shots was much better.”
Sophomore guard Andy Wicke started the game off with a bang for the
Bruins, as he converted a Matthew
Dotson dish into two points. A Dotson
tip-in combined with four points from
Boomer Herndon and a trey from
Wicke gave Belmont an 11-2 lead six
and a half minutes in. Stifling defense,
early on, forced Lipsomb to only hit on
one field goal in the first eight minutes.
A couple baskets by the Bisons
sliced the lead to six, 16-10, before consecutive triples from Wicke and Henry
Harris pushed the lead back out to double digits, 22-12. Lipscomb recovered,
but a Herndon lay-up and Dotson tip-in
gave the Bruins a 26-16 lead with six
minutes remaining.
Up 28-19, the Bruins’ poor ball handling combined with sharp Bison shooting, led to a 12-0 Lipscomb run in the
next four minutes to give the Bisons a
31-28 lead with one minute left. A
jumper by Harris and a three pointer
from Andy Wicke as time expired
pushed Belmont back on top at half, 3331. Wicke led all scorers at intermission
with 11 points off of 3-4 three point
shooting.
Early on in the second half, the
Bruins stretched their lead to four, 3935, off of another Wicke trey with
13:16 remaining. The four-point lead,
however, evaporated into an 18-point
deficit after a 25-3 Lipscomb run in the
next nine minutes. Belmont trailed 6042 with four and a half minutes remaining. Byrd said, “I don’t really know
where it [Lipscomb’s 25-3 run] came
from in a game that was played pretty
close up to that point.”
The Bruins responded with a 12-1
run, capped by the fifth and final trey
from Wicke, to pull within seven, 6154, with 1:24 left. However, the push
proved to come a little too late, as
Lipscomb connected on 8-of-10 free
throws down the stretch run to ice the
game, 70-60.
After shooting a blistering 50 percent (12-24) in the first half, Belmont
went frigid in the second by shooting
only 25 percent (9-36). The Bruins
missed 23 of their first 25 shots in the
second half as well.
Getting There
Belmont begins a two-game
home stand against GardnerWebb (8-17, 6-8 A-Sun) Feb.
15, 7 p.m., followed by a Feb.
17 match with Campbell (1113, 6-8 A-Sun), 4 p.m..
Belmont concludes the regular
season with a two-game road
stretch in the state of Florida.
The Bruins play Jacksonville
(12-11, 8-5 A-Sun) Feb. 22 at 6
p.m. followed by a Feb. 24
match against North Florida
(2-22, 0-13 A-Sun), 3 p.m.
Belmont’s leading scorer Justin Hare
did not score until 1:34 remaining in the
game. The reason, according to Byrd,
was Lipscomb guard Brian Fisk. “They
[Lipscomb] put the best defender in the
league [Fisk] on him [Hare].” Wicke
led all scorers with 17 points.
The Bruins still are second in the ASun, behind ETSU and a game in front
of Lipscomb after the loss.
In the two previous road games,
Belmont outlasted Stetson Feb. 1 62-58,
and logged another victory Feb. 3 with
an 84-77 win at Mercer, giving the
Bruins seven straight wins over the
Bears.
The Belmont Vision, February 14, 2007
Page 11
With Clark out, 10-game streak snaps
By Jordan Drake
SPORTS EDITOR
The Bruins (18-5, 12-1 A-Sun) without
star forward Alysha Clark were tripped up by
conference cellar-dweller Mercer (3-19, 2-9
A-Sun), 69-65, Feb. 8 in Macon, Ga. effectively ending Belmont’s 10-game winning
streak. Clark sustained an ankle injury in
practice leading up to the game. In addition
to losing their leading scorer, the Bruins
were without the services of freshman guard
Shaunda Strayhorn and junior guard Laura
Cowley. The guard tandem are the Bruins’
3rd and 4th leading scorers, respectively.
Before the loss, the Bruins wrapped up
the A-Sun regular season championship by
completing the season sweep of second-place
ETSU, 69-66, Feb. 1 in the Curb Event
Center. Belmont then made short work of
visiting Kennesaw State, capturing an 86-75
win Feb. 3.
Redshirt freshman guard Amber
Rockwell kept Belmont in the game against
Mercer with a game and career-high 20
points. A trifecta by Rockwell late in the second half gave the Bruins a 34-31 halftime
lead.
Thanks to continued red-hot shooting
from Rockwell, Belmont expanded its lead to
10, 54-44, with nine minutes remaining.
Mercer responded by going on a 19-9 run in
the next eight minutes to tie the game up at
63. Rockwell broke the tie with a pair of free
throws to put the Bruins ahead 65-63 with 44
seconds remaining. On the ensuing possession, Mercer nailed a triple to take the lead
66-65 and never relinquished the lead as the
Bruins fell 69-65.
On Feb. 10, the Bruins responded to their
first conference loss with a 72-56 win over
Stetson (4-19, 4-8 A-Sun). Belmont, again
without Clark and Strayhorn, took an early
17-10 lead behind the sharp shooting of
senior post player Destri Bockey, who paced
the Bruins with a career-high 21 points.
The Bruins pushed the lead to 10, 30-20,
but Stetson closed the gap back to six, 36-30,
with one possession remaining in the first
half. Freshman guard Tereva Moore, then
took a pass and nailed a fall-away trey as
time expired to give Belmont a 39-30 lead at
halftime.
The Bruins maintained a high shooting
percentage en route to defeating Stetson 72-
Baseball seeks return to
conference tournament
By Jordan Drake
SPORTS EDITOR
With eight of nine starters
returning, Belmont’s baseball team
has its eye on a tournament slot.
“Our primary goal is to play our
way into the Atlantic Sun
Conference Tournament,” said
Belmont head coach Dave Jarvis,
but the goal is achievable only if
his Bruins finish in the top six of
the conference.
The Bruins, however, have
good reason to believe in their
goal, despite their seventh-place
finish last season, because eight of
nine regular starters return.
Belmont doesn’t lack any experi-
his teammates look toward in times
of adversity.”
Fellow senior Wilson Tucker is
a key offensive cog as well. The
outfielder is a preseason AllAtlantic Sun First Team selection
by coaches and media. A strong
junior campaign earned Tucker a
spot on the postseason All-Atlantic
Sun First Team in 2006. He led the
Bruins in average (.388), slugging
(.652) and on-base percentage
(.430). He ranks first all-time in
Belmont history with 88 hits in a
season and second all-time in doubles in a season with 20.
Belmont’s baseball season
begins at noon Feb. 17 at Greer
Stadium with a doubleheader
against Bradley.
ence on the mound either as the
current roster’s pitchers account for
over 460 of 480 innings pitched
last season.
Jarvis recognizes that the
Bruins are blessed to have good
experience. “We’ve got good
senior leadership. Our experience
is very valuable to us – in the lineup and on the mound.”
It all starts with outfielder/
catcher Ben Petsch. The senior was
bestowed the honor of team captain this off-season by his teammates. Petsch had a record-breaking junior season as he set
Belmont’s single-season mark for
doubles with 21. He finished with
the sixth-best hits mark in school
history at 71, which was also good
for second on the team, while scoring 44 runs, which paced the
Bruins. Coach Jarvis said,
“[Petsch] brings a lot of versatility
to the plate. He also is the person
Another reason for hope of
postseason play is a strong sophomore class. Infielder Derek Wiley
and closer Chris Manning were
chosen to SEBaseball.com’s AllAtlantic Sun First Team. Outfielder
Carlo Testa was pegged on the second team. Both Testa and Wiley
earned conference all-freshman
team honors last season while the
latter also was named to Collegiate
Baseball’s Freshman All-American
team. Manning earned recognition
due to his 10 saves last season,
which ranks second in Belmont
history.
Even though the Bruins were
chosen to finish seventh by way of
the Preseason Coaches Poll, expect
them, at the very least, to move up
a notch to sixth, which would
secure a ticket to the conference
tournament.
AD Strickland
talks baseball
In anticipation of the Feb. 17 opener,
Vision editor Henry Nichols sat down with
athletic director Mike Strickland for his
thoughts on the strength of the baseball program, its future and status in the community.
On the state of the program
“In all fairness, baseball has probably the
toughest job of any sport we have. Baseball is
so good in our league because you have all
these schools down in Florida that have great
facilities. So year in and year out, our baseball
team has the toughest challenge. I think if you
look at their record over the past five years,
they have competed very well. They made the
[A-Sun] Tournament three years ago and we
expect them to be in the mix this coming year.
Last year, we had a terrible amount of injuries
and that really affected the outcome of the
season, but that will level out.
On Vandy’s rise as top-10 program
“[Vanderbilt’s rise in baseball] has helped to
elevate baseball in the eyes of the community.
This is a really good basketball town, a really
good golf town, and while there are places
that you might say are better baseball environments than Nashville, that kind of success in
the SEC and on the national level benefits all
the colleges with baseball teams in the community. The more we can make baseball
important in the community means there are
more people paying attention to it, and all of
those things lead into athletes picking your
school and being involved with you, so that
exposure helps you.”
On baseball players going pro
“Blake [Owen] was a great addition and a
great hit for us. It didn’t work out for him at
Vanderbilt, so he comes over here and he’s
great for us. He becomes our top relief pitcher
and he’s drafted [in the sixth round of the
2005 MLB Draft].. That’s another great stamp
on our program to have people drafted in the
pros. Coach Jarvis has had six to eight people
drafted since we’ve been here. That certainly
helps you in recruiting because you can say,
‘Hey, whether you play at Belmont or
Vanderbilt, you can play at either school and
get to the pros.’”
- Henry Nichols
56. Moore chipped in with a career-high 13
points in the winning effort.
Clark should be back in action against
Lipscomb (8-14, 6-6 A-Sun) Feb. 17 in the
Curb Event Center. Game time is set for 7
p.m. Comcast will be televising the game in
the Southeast.
Correction
In an article in the Jan. 31 Vision,
“Bruins shaky after Boulevard loss,” it
was incorrectly reported that the top two
seeds in the men’s Atlantic Sun
Conference Tournament receive firstround byes. No team receives a firstround bye, as each seed must win three
games to win the tournament.
Page 12
The Belmont Vision, February 14, 2007
A balancing act
Preston juggles family, basketball and school
get through each day, they try not to
make things that pull marriages apart
become an issue. They respect their
own personal goals and help each other
as much as possible.
“Andrew is an amazing man,”
Kimb said. “He is a supportive husband
and father.”
When asked how he finds reason
behind all that has happened in the past
year, Preston says he puts his trust and
faith in God. He lets God play his steps
and takes his challenges one at a time.
Preston acknowledges that it was God
who allowed him to move smoothly
into the role of being a father.
“God’s grace is part of His love,”
Preston said. “If you do not understand
God’s grace and love, you will not
understand the situation.”
By Erin Mullen
STAFF WRITER
Imagine you have two tests tomorrow,
you’re trying to graduate on time, you
have basketball practice and weights in
the afternoon and on your way home you
have to pick up diapers and formula.
Trying to balance school, athletics and
being a college student is difficult
enough, right? Well, try adding another
responsibility into the mix: a baby boy.
This is the life of senior basketball player
Andrew Preston.
Caleb Isaac Preston was born the
afternoon of June 30, 2006, but before his
arrival, Preston and Kimb Ulloa – now
Kimb Preston – had some decisions to
make.
“I prepared myself mentally for it,”
Preston said. “I was on a road trip with
the basketball team when Kimb told me
The Future
she was pregnant.”
Initially, feelings of fear and uncertainty set in with Kimb, a Belmont graduFinancially, because of money saved
ate.
from previous jobs and earned from
“At first we were surprised,” Kimb
Kimb’s employment at Baptist
said. “Once everything settled down, the
Hospital, the young family has been
excitement set in and we were overPHOTO BY SIERRA MITCHELL somewhat comfortable in their new livwhelmed with joy.”
ing situation. Preston believes worrying
Senior post Andrew Preston spends some family time with wife, Kimb, and their son,
Preston and Kimb considered their
about finances can hurt a marriage.
Caleb Isaac.
options and chose to have the baby and
Fortunately, Kimb not only has a job, but
raise it together. “It is a different story when you are personit is one with good healthcare benefits that cover most of the
wrong idea about the group.
ally involved in a life-changing situation,” Preston said.
medical expenses attached to a birth and subsequent pediatric
Now that Caleb has become part of his life, Preston says
“Kimb and I did not want to make any mistakes.”
care.
he is more focused. Not only is Belmont’s starting center
The day after Preston got the call from Kimb, he called
Last summer, Preston established key connections with
responsible for meeting deadlines for school projects and
his parents in Lexington and broke the news of the pregnanhis paid internship in the accounting department for
studying for tests, he also needs to practice basketball and
cy. “My mom had a hard time because I am the baby of the
help take care of Caleb. The family man now realizes he is in Community Health Systems in Tennessee, one of the largest
family,” Preston said. “My family has been very supportive
healthcare providers in the nation that helps fund hospitals in
the next phase of his life.
of the situation.”
rural areas.
One year ago, Preston’s goal was to embrace the freedom
Shortly after, rumors started to circulate throughout
Preston is set to graduate in May 2007 with an accounting
of enjoying life and college as much as he could. Continuing
Belmont. The first person Preston told was Belmont men’s
degree. He plans to get another internship in the tax departto do well in school, he strives to be the best basketball playbasketball head coach Rick Byrd.
ment with Health Care America. Preston will implement the
er he can be. Instead of going out with friends as most col“Coach assured me that I had his and the team’s full supvaluable knowledge earned from his experience with
lege students do, Preston stays home with his wife and son.
port,” Preston said. “He continues to work with me on what- Since Caleb’s birth, Andrew’s responsibilities and goals have Community Health Systems in his upcoming pursuits.
ever issues arise. He even held Caleb and brought him
He is thinking about getting his master’s degree but is
changed.
around the sports department to show him off.”
unsure what the future holds for Caleb and Kimb.
“I still want to excel academically and be successful on
Preston looks forward to every day and keeps a bright
the basketball court,” Preston said. “In addition, I want Caleb
outlook
on the future. He loves coming home to his wife and
and
Kimb
to
have
the
best
lives
they
can.”
Sacrifices and Responsibility
holding his son. As Preston tries to puts his family and what
is best for them first, he remains focused.
Preston had to make many sacrifices, including his deciFinding Reason in Relationships
“I wouldn’t trade any of it for anything,” Preston said. “I
sion to leave the leadership team of the Fellowship of
have grown spiritually and now understand responsibility.”
Christian Athletes. He left FCA because it would be time
The Prestons say their marriage is going strong and that
consuming and he did not want the new members to get the
Caleb has brought the relationship to a new, closer level. To
Sports Notebook
Junior guard Justin Hare was named to the
CoSida Academic All-District Men’s basketball
team for the second consecutive season. The
Cleveland native carries a 3.85 GPA in his chosen major of exercise science and health promotion.
Williams earns A-Sun Weekly Track award
Junior Lauren Williams was named the
Atlantic Sun Conference Co-Track Athlete of the
Week. The David Lipscomb High School graduate won the mile run at the Indiana Relays by
posting a school record time of 4:56:92. The
time is also the best so far this season in the ASun. A total of six Bruin women runners placed
among the top 10.
Brigham captures first in 3000-meter title
Redshirt sophomore John Brigham, who
transferred from Mississippi State, won the
3000 meter title with a time of 8:41:23.
Overall, a total of six Belmont men runners had
top 10 finishes in the Indiana Relays.
Clark grabs 5th A-Sun P.O.W. Award this season
Sophomore center Alysha Clark continued her
domination of the A-Sun by earning her fifth ASun Player of the Week award. She becomes
only the 3rd player in conference history to win
the award 10 times. Clark tallied 49 points and
44 rebounds against Kennesaw State and
ETSU. She is currently 3rd in the nation in
rebounding.
Women’s tennis earn first two wins of season
After falling to Evansville, 5-1, in the season
opener Jan. 27, Belmont rallied by winning
their next two matches to push their record to
2-1. On Feb. 2 the Bruins defeated
Chattanooga for the first time since the program
moved to Division 1 in 1998 with a score of 43 at the Wildwood Tennis Club in Brentwood.
Senior No. 3 seed Elizabeth Conyer, junior No.
5 seed Katie Rhodes and junior No. 6 seed
Kelly Pence all won their respective matches in
singles play. On Feb. 10, Belmont defeated
Austin Peay for the ninth straight time, winning
7-0.
Men’s tennis 1-2 after first three matches
After getting swept in their first two matches
of the season, the Bruins responded Feb. 10
with 6-1 win against St. Louis at a neutral site
in Little Rock, Ark. Belmont won all three doubles matches to capture the doubles point. In
singles play, the Bruins won in straight sets in
five of the six positions to earn their first match
win. In the season opener against ETSU on
Feb. 3 and in the Feb. 9 match at UALR,
Belmont was swept 7-0. The Bruins are set for
their home opener against conference foe North
Florida Feb. 17. Gametime is set for 11 a.m. at
the Davis Tennis Complex.
– Jordan Drake
The Belmont Vision, February 14, 2007
Page 13
a&e
Billboard’s Pop 100
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
“Say It Right” - Nelly Furtado
“Irreplaceable” - Beyonce
“It’s Not Over” - Daughtry
“This Ain’t a Scene...” - Fall Out Boy
“The Sweet Escape” - Gwen Stefani feat. Akon
Theater seniors mount three shows
By Andrew Cole
A&E EDITOR
As if it were not enough to worry about
applying to professional jobs or graduate
schools and finishing up those last stray
credits before leaving Belmont, the senior
theater majors have had a few other things to
keep them busy these days: three shows at
once.
The ambitious showcase opened this past
weekend and will continue for the next two,
featuring the plays “Death and the Maiden,”
“Eleemosynary” and “The Maids.”
“Especially since we are doing three
shows in rep it is challenging in making sure
[everyone has] time to do dress rehearsals,
time on stage and things like that,” said Leah
Jensen-Rader, senior theater major and production manager of this year’s showcase.
Jensen-Rader explained that, in the past,
the capstone of the senior theater experience
came in the form of several one-person
shows. However, the current crop of 11
seniors made that avenue virtually impossible. A solution was formulated that would
allow the upcoming graduates to collaborate
on three different shows with the entire
department.
“It is something people have been thinking about for a long time in terms of what
they want to do,” said Jensen-Rader. “The
three shows are very different in style.”
The selection process for the plays was
similar to the method normally used to determine what stories will hit the stage of the
Belmont Little Theatre, but a specific focus
was placed specifically on what would allow
the seniors to shine.
“We read every play we could get our
PHOTO BY AMY KADISH
Senior theater majors Andrea Ridge and Jessika Malone tackle Jean Genet’s absurdist drama “The Maids.” The other
senior appearing in this production is Olivia Hart.
hands on, figure out what fits best where and
if we have enough time to do it,” explained
Brittany McManus, junior theater major and
chair of the play selection committee, a voluntary group of students that determines each
season’s lineup. “It was a little different this
time around in that the seniors had a lot of
input. ... With this, it’s a little different
because we knew who the cast would be.”
Indeed, all of the actors appearing in this
set of productions are seniors except for two
underclassmen and an outside actor selected
for “Death and the Maiden”. Because the
seniors have known for so long what they
would be doing, they have had ample time to
focus on their specific roles and truly make
them their own.
See SENIOR THEATER, page 15
Showcase caters to Valentine’s crowd
By Adaeze Elechi
SENIOR WRITER
On Valentine’s Day, prepare for an
evening of dimmed lights, roses and smooth
R&B, neo-soul and urban music at the Curb
Café. All of it provides the atmosphere for
the second “Pink and White Showcase.”
This showcase, created by Belmont students Kia Jarmon and Kenneth Brown, is not
quite like the other Belmont showcases.
First, it’s on Valentine’s Day, maintaining
the theme of the day in gifts and décor.
Second, it is not a competition.
“It’s just going to be a romantic, funfilled evening,” Jarmon said.
“We’d like to set the mood [with] low
lights and give the ladies roses at the door,”
Brown said. “It’s generally going to be laid
back.” There will also be gift bags for the
first 50 guests.
Brown is no stranger to organizing shows
and events. The music business and
entrepreneurship senior, currently taking a
year off school to focus on his entertainment
agency, BrownWave Entertainment, began
when he was 13 years old.
Brown’s cousin worked as a DJ on a local
hip-hop radio station and all the parties that
his cousin went to or announced were 18 and
up, so Brown was shut out.
But he was not about to sit around until
he turned 18 so he began his first promotional business – Dirty South Entertainment – for
teen clubs and parties.
“I noticed that there was a void in the
market for teen parties and events in the city
Getting there
The Pink and White Showcase, an
evening of entertainment, begins at
7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 14, in Curb
Café. Belmont grad Raffeal Sears will
headline the show. He will be
accompanied by another Belmont
grad, Mia Jones, and Crystal Dove,
Brandi Sellers and Jonathan Jackson.
You can expect to hear jazz, R&B
and neo-soul. There will be gift bags
for the first 50 guests. Admission is
free.
so I decided to capitalize on where others
had fallen short,” Brown said.
He maintained D$E until he was in high
school when one of the artists in his company was about to land a record deal with Sony
Records. The deal fell through and Brown
decided, when he graduated from high
school, to take a route that would educate
him in the business that had captured his
attention since his youth. He came to
Belmont to learn the ropes of the music
industry.
“[Before Belmont] I had the drive and
determination, but not an understanding of
the business,” Brown said. “Belmont was a
really big help.”
Dr. Jeffery Cornwall, chair of the Center
for entrepreneurship, was one of Brown’s
inspirations., and soon Brown was ready to
try once more at
With a combination of the drive and
determination that he brought with him from
his youth, the understanding of the business
that he picked up at college and the inspiration that he received from his professors,
Brown was ready to try entertainment promotions once more. In 2001, he established
BrownWave Entertainment, an urban/hiphop agency.
Belmont was also helpful to Jarmon, a
music business major with an emphasis on
business. She graduated in May 2006 and
now owns a public relations agency.
“[The professors] taught me how to
network with people,” Jarmon said. “They
gave me a lot of information, let me meet a
lot of people… [and] got me to attend helpful seminars. They want me to be able to
take risks.”
Belmont still helps them today. When
Jarmon and Brown let the university know
about this year’s Pink and White Showcase,
Belmont provided the Curb Café.
Using what they learned in the classroom
and their outside experience, Brown and
Jarmon combined their common desire to
diversify Belmont’s music scene. They
knew it would take some risks.
While the Other Showcase was supposed
to cater to the kind of music they were looking to introduce to Belmont, they did not feel
that it did the genre justice.
So in February 2004, Brown and Jarmon
decided to compete. While the Other
Showcase was in progress, they had their
first Pink and White showcase in the Curb
Café.”
“We had a packed house,” Jarmon said.
“That café only takes about 200 people. We
had about 400 show up.”
After that night, the showcase council
granted Belmont an Urban Showcase to display the talents of students who performed
neo-soul, R&B, hip hop and jazz.
“We formed [the showcase] because of
the student demand for neo-soul and spoken
poetry,” Jarmon said.
Even though there is an Urban Showcase,
Brown and Jarmon have no intention of ending the event from which it emerged because
they still see a gap in what students want and
what the showcases provide.
They also want student audiences to have
an appreciation for the artists they see.
“These are our peers. These are people
that you have English class with,” Brown
said. “They may not have been music majors
but they are talented people.”
Brown Wave Entertainment and Miss
Ellaneous Public Relations, Jarmon’s company, finance the showcase.
“We’re definitely going all out,”
Jarmon said. “It’s our own investment and
we’re paying for this out of our own pockets.”
Any proceeds from donations will go
towards the Boys and Girls Club and Big
Brothers. Brown is involved in the latter.
Page 14
The Belmont Vision, February 14, 2007
Wacholtz shares
thoughts on music
industry, faith
Fall Out Boy - Infinity On High
To those of you who have never heard of Fall Out Boy, I have to ask where have you been? Joining the ranks of other overly commercialized bands such as My Chemical Romance, Switchfoot and The Fray,
the guys of Fall Out Boy have successfully infiltrated their “catchy”
tunes in every musical outlet in America possible. Considering that
last year was slow for record sales, the executives at Island Records
are looking for a huge turnaround in 2007, hence the newest release
from Fall Out Boy, Infinity On High. Unfortunately in the industry
today, soaring album sales typically do not reflect quality music and
that trend has not changed here. Perhaps I should step back and
acknowledge that there are some solid tracks on this album, notably
“Thriller,” “The Take Over, The Break Over” and “Hum Hallelujah.” In fact, everything “Fall
Out Boy” is present here - tense harmonies, choppy guitar/drum rhythms and that pop/punk
sound that everyone’s 13-year-old sister is sure to get into. But in its entirety, Infinity On
High falls low as another inconsistent album from the puppet figureheads of Fall Out Boy.
Taylor Swift - Taylor Swift
So what can one expect when a debut album is released from a
young, commercial-friendly girl from the north? The same caliber of
melodramatic music that one would suspect from a sixteen-year old
girl. Swift, whose debut single “Tim McGraw” has no doubt gotten
infinite airtime from every Nashville country station, has fully personified the new direction in which country music seems to be
steering these days - younger artists for a younger audience. Indeed
the gap between such country greats as Johnny Cash, Hank
Williams and even Garth Brooks seems to be further widened by the
emerging country artists on the scene. The objection behind Swift’s
debut becomes obvious three tracks into the excruciating album,
another attempt by a country music label to maximize profit at the expense of putting out
a tasteless, yet profitable release. If the pursuit of music and its outcomes should always
be considered art, perhaps Taylor Swift should pursue another non-musical hobby that she
enjoys (at least for the next five years) and give the rest of our ears a deserved break.
Bloc Party - A Weekend in the City
Driving guitars, brilliant lyrics and a sound that just gives off a great
amount of energy: that’s what many people remember 2005’s Silent
Alarm for. So how does Bloc Party’s second album stack up? From
the moment the sly, soft sound of the first song, “Song For Clay,”
starts, you know you’re in for a great album. Not soon after, the guitar sounds we’ve come to know and love begin. Bloc Party’s second
album is no less than a statement of growth as musicians and songwriters. The heart of the album (and the band) is in the songs, “I
Still Remember” and “Waiting For the 7.18”. This is the typical
sound that we have come to expect from the band. Swirling guitars
and a great beat with Okerere’s vocals pushing the song forward as
he reflects about life and love in London. Another song, “Hunting for Witches,” starts out
like a programmed DJ live mix and then quickly reverts to a sound more reminiscent of
Silent Alarm’s “Banquet”. For all its triumphs it’s suprising that there is little to find fault
with in this album. “Uniform” is a decent song, but something about it doesn’t seem to
click. The song almost seems like it’s a strenuous chore in describing and chastising
young people. There may also be a bit too much simple drama and sap in the second half
of the album, not that it takes away from the songs too much. But overall, this is still a
great album.Definitely a must have in your music collection.
- Bland Clark
Kick off 2007 with a
Winning Career at Vanderbilt!
2007
Vanderbilt Medical Center Student Career Room
Thursday, February 22nd, 3:30pm - 6:30pm
LP Field (Titans Stadium)
www.vanderbiltcareerevents.com
Attend our Job Fair on Thursday, Feb. 22nd at LP Field, home of the Tennessee Titans. We are hosting a
specially dedicated RN Student Career Room just for you!
The RN Student Career Room will be open from 3:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m., giving you the exclusive opportunity
to meet and network with Staff Nurses and representatives from our various Units and Residency Programs.
Interview appointments will be scheduled on-site for employment opportunities.
To pre-register your attendance in the RN Student Career Room on February 22nd, please visit
www.vanderbiltcareerevents.com or call 615-322-2116 or 800-288-6622. Please bring your resume and
references. Parking is free.
We look forward to meeting you and sharing why Vanderbilt Medical Center is a premiere
employer for Nurses!
2007 Vanderbilt University is committed to the principles of equal opportunity and affirmative action.
By Matthew Reynolds
STAFF WRITER
As an instructor for Mike Curb College
of Entertainment and Music Business, it is
Professor Larry Wacholtz’s job to have his
finger on the pulse of the music industry.
He cites his spiritual focus as the primary
reason for teaching at Belmont. But what
might surprise you about the experienced
veteran is his fondness for artists like
Eminem.
Vision: Tell me a little bit about how
you got involved in the industry.
Wacholtz: I started off wanting to be a
producer/audio engineer type guy. On the
college level, I ran a recording studio in a
college which helped me realize that God
kind of missed me when it came to musical abilities and so I decided that I really
enjoyed the business behind it. The second
thing I’ve always been passionate about is
why does entertainment communicate and
work so well with people. Why do we as
human beings use it to help ourselves
understand who we are and celebrate who
we are?
What is it about Belmont that you
really like and what keeps you teaching
here?
Honestly it’s my Christian principles.
[. . .] God has facilitated through me and
some of the other instructors here information that will help people go out and get
involved in the industry in very positive
ways. So what I like about Belmont is that
it’s a very cool place—it’s the best of
quite honestly what you would find in a
very private school, a religious school and
a public school combined in this very special program.
Something stressed in the industry is
networking. How would you describe
effective networking?
Effective networking to me is having
an understanding for what you have a passion for and then meeting people in that
side of the industry. It gives you a realistic
reason to go out and meet these people
because you want to do what they are currently doing. You want to think about
what can you contribute to make the
industry better to help those people that
are currently there. Networking is scratch-
For Rent
1515 Ashwood Avenue
4bdrm 2 1/2 bath house
Walking distance
to Belmont.
Completely
remodeled/ brand
new.
ing the surface of something to see what it
smells like. If you go out as an intern or
start networking, just be honest. These
people in the industry are very bright and
know that you are kind of a sponge soaking up all this knowledge, information and
connections. You usually get your first
“breaks” in this business by networking.
What is the best advice to give to
freshmen in the music business program?
I think that God has put many of them
here to find out if this is their thing or not
their thing. They’re not walking alone—
ever. They’re here with other young people who are very bright. Many of our students don’t fit in at a typical school, but
here they fit in perfectly with the other
students who are here trying to get into the
business. It’s a perfect match. If you have
Christ in your life, I believe that as you go
through this experience in college and
then out into your life, you will live a
wonderful life. The music business is a
career but your life is so much more than
what you do for a career.
If you could be one artist for a day,
who would it be?
One would be Bono in U2 because I
think he’s doing great things with his
fame. I think he’s sincere about trying to
change poverty on the planet. [. . .] I think
Toby Keith is another one that I admire
because he brings in a “tongue-in-cheek”
when it comes to the cutting edge to some
of the philosophical aspects of being country. He’s a good-ole-boy to the max. I’d
like to spend a day with Paul McCartney.
Instead of me being them, I’d like to talk
to these guys because I want to know
what’s in their heart and mind—what
made them successful and what made
them have the ability to write such great
lyrics. I kind of like Eminem because he’s
more complex than he comes off.
How do you think mega corporations play a part in the creative side of
the industry?
The reality is the traditional model in
the music industry tied to these mega
entertainment umbrella corporations is
where creativity had an opportunity to
actually exist because they would fund it,
distribute it and sell it. That’s all
going away. Today the consumer
is going to be able to select so
much more of what they specifically want easily. The world of
music is headed toward the
iPhone. Steve Jobs right now is
the 4th largest seller of music.
Wal-mart, Target and Best Buy
are ahead of him. Steve Jobs is
making billions of dollars selling
iPods and is now going towards
the iPhone where everything is
connected to one device. So the
music industry is really just in its
infancy. It’s a little baby as to
where its headed with digital
entertainment, and that’s pretty
exciting. It’ll be about a year and
a half before most people can
really afford it, but when it comes
down the networks are going to
be in trouble. Everything is about
to change, and it’s really going to
be exciting for our students. You
guys are on the leading edge and
are going to be the first out there
to be hired in this totally new digital entertainment industry.
For Rental Information please
call: Brad Dozier 615-584-7885
jfdozier@comcast.net
The Belmont Vision, February 14, 2007
Page 15
Queen to reign on Oscar night...
By Andrew Cole
A&E EDITOR
Dreamgirls
As a firm believer in the artistic integrity
of the modern book musical, I held my
breath until the release of Dreamgirls.
However, when I learned Dreamgirls would
have a screenplay penned by Bill Condon
(who did wonders with the best movie musical of the past ten years, Chicago), I breathed
a sigh of relief. Oscar has perhaps justifiably
overlooked this delightful ode to Motown
fame and corruption for the Best Picture
prize, but the film has received notice where
it is most deserved – Jennifer Hudson’s surprisingly layered portrayal of ousted diva
Effie White. Personally, I felt a bit awkward
as I sat in the theater and had her yell at me
that she wasn’t going anywhere (for the
definitive version of that moment, head over
to YouTube and track down Jennifer
Holliday’s 1982 Tony performance). But the
rest of Hudson’s embodiment of the tragically downtrodden Effie should be enough to
seal her claim on the best supporting actress
trophy. After all, shouldn’t upstaging
Beyonce at least be worthy of an Academy
Award?
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen
It is truly unfortunate that last year’s indie
hit is getting the kind of Oscar buzz it is
because in the end it will amount to nothing.
Yes, it is a quirky, irreverent jaunt across
America with a dysfunctional family who
could put the Griswolds to shame. But is it
the best picture of 2006? No. And Abigail
Breslin probably had to have a couple nasty
bar fights with Dakota Fanning to secure the
crown of the nation’s most beloved pre-teen
girl. But did she give the best supporting
actress performance of the year? Nope. And
then there’s Alan Arkin who gave a sidesplitting take on a cantankerous grandpa who
ends up… eh… detained by the movie’s end.
But will he really walk away with that little
gold statue? Unfortunately not. I am thrilled
the Academy decided to recognize a deserving work that had so much popular acclaim,
but the categories it finds itself in almost set
the movie up for failure. The one glimmer of
hope comes for Michael Arndt’s nod for Best
Original Screenplay which Sunshine could
conceivably claim. But with stiff competition
from Pan’s Labyrinth and The Queen, don’t
be surprised if Sunshine faces a fate similar
to that of Olive at her beauty pageant.
Speaking of The Queen, Stephen Frears’
marvelous picture spearheaded by Helen
Mirren’s spot-on portrayal of Queen
Elizabeth II is the film I am counting on to
have the most royal of triumphs come Feb.
25. The aforementioned screenplay by Peter
Morgan is the true masterwork that allows
the countless other talents evident in this project to shine through. Instead of constructing
a typical biopic that painstakingly rehashes
every event of the monarch’s life, Morgan
honed in on one of her most recent sagas, her
reaction to the death of Lady Diana Spencer.
With the way the story unfolds, you end up
understanding why she came off as such a
stuffy old curmudgeon and begin to resent
the masses of people that refused to consider
her otherwise.
Mirren’s work is the only performance
recognized in a piece that could have easily
secured several other acting nods (specifically Michael Sheen’s Tony Blair), but it is so
widely praised for good reason. Her intuitive
reading of Morgan’s script is both compelling and refreshing. Unless Babel repeats
its Golden Globe win, all will hail The Queen
on Oscar night.
Betcha didn’t know ...
- Superman Returns (Best Achievement
in Visual Effects)
- An Inconvenient Truth (Best
Documentary)
- Happy Feet (Best Animated Film)
- Click (Best Achievement in Makeup)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s
Chest (Best Achievement in Art
Direction)
- Marie Antoinette (Best Achievement in
Costume Design)
A few forgotten gems ...
- Tom Hanks in The Da Vinci Code
(Special Achievement in Hair Design)
- Julianna Margulies in Snakes on a
Plane (Best Actress)
- Robin Williams in RV (Best Actor)
- Stick It and John Tucker Must Die (tie)
(Best Picture)
- The Lake House (Best Original
Screenplay)
- High School Musical (Defense for creating
a Best TV Movie category)
...but does Pan deserve a crown?
By Lance Conzett
STAFF WRITER
Babel
Babel is the third film in Mexican director
Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “death trilogy,” a series of movies which uses the same
tired method of ten random lives intersecting
in odd ways. It was nominated for seven
Academy Awards, including Best Picture,
and is quite awful. Sure, it starts out OK. We
get images of a couple with a shaky marriage, a deaf-mute Japanese girl looking for
affection and a Mexican maid taking care of
the first pair’s children. But after a while,
things take a turn and Murphy’s Law is
applied to the point of absurdity. The film
also fills the background with out-of-place
political commentary about American policies on immigration and diplomacy. Maybe
this would be alright if the film had even
bothered to try to address the central point of
communication breaking down, but probably
not. And yet, somehow, the movie is still
better than its offensively bad distant cousin,
Crash, which won last year’s big prize.
Children of Men
Pan’s Labyrinth
The Prestige
While Hollywood is honoring overrated
and generally bland films like Babel, it’s
passing over some of the most daring and
fascinating films to be released in years.
Children of Men tells the story of a bleak,
post-apocalyptic future where humanity has
lost the ability to procreate. But hope returns
in the form of a mysteriously pregnant girl
who hooks up with a former rebel named
Theo to deliver her and the baby to safety.
Director Alfonso Cuarón tells his story with
an intense understanding of detail and
through some of the most engaging action
sequences put to film. It’s terrifying because
the battered ruins of England take cues from
modern events and famous photographs,
bringing out a disturbing reality about human
nature while still keeping the viewer in a
rollercoaster of intense action. The film was
rightfully nominated for best cinematography, if not just for the use of cinéma vérité. It
keeps the viewer in the film, dodging gunfire
in an impromptu war zone holding on for
dear life, all in one uninterrupted shot.
Ever since the Lord of the Rings movies
made enough money to start a small country,
studios have been scrambling to recreate the
magic. Unfortunately, moviegoers wind up
with a lot of garbage like Eragon. This also
seems to be why Pan’s Labyrinth, often
described as a fairy tale for adults, seems to
have been lost in the shuffle. Granted, Pan’s
managed to garner a few award nominations,
including best foreign film representing
Mexico, but it’s nowhere in sight of the more
prominent awards. The film tells the story of
Ofelia, a girl who escapes from her cruel
stepfather during the fallout of the Spanish
Civil War. She meets a faun who tells her
that she is the princess of an underground
kingdom and must perform three tasks to
prove her heritage. Meanwhile her stepfather
rules his grotesquely violent reality with an
iron fist and does what he can to destroy a
group of rebels hidden in the forest. The film
has a certain dark Wizard of Oz charm to it,
making it one of the most imaginative realistic fantasies made in a long time.
Christopher Nolan has never steered me
wrong. Memento was nothing short of brilliant and his follow-up films proved entertaining and memorable. He even managed to
pull the Batman franchise out of the dank pit
of despair. But his 2006 film The Prestige is
something special. I dare say that it had “Aha!” moments that were on par with the final
revealation in The Usual Suspects and featured David Bowie as a very convincing
Nikola Tesla. More important than Bowie’s
best role since Labyrinth is the fact that the
movie makes the viewer an active part of the
experience by packing on layers for the
viewer to peel away and decipher. This film
is another instance where two stories unfold
for the viewer but its clear theme means the
significance isn’t lost like it is in Babel.
Despite incredible acting from Hugh
Jackman and Christian Bale, this film had
the misfortune of going up against the similar yet more mediocre The Illusionist, which
may have turned people off of the plot of
stage magicians turned bitter enemies.
SENIOR THEATER from page 13
“What’s great about the senior
showcase is that they didn’t have to
please the college or the students,”
said Jensen-Rader. “These are parts
they’re interested in doing.”
Even though mental preparation
time has been plenteous for these
shows, the process of producing
them simultaneously in a dorm
basement has not been the easiest
of endeavors.
“It is hard and easy at the same
time,” said Jensen-Rader. “It all
[came together] in a very short
period of time. Rehearsals started
in January which in the professional world wouldn’t matter but these
people are still students.”
“It is complicated because we
have three directors, three sets of
actors and three stage managers
who we need to keep in contact
with,” said McManus. “It is not at
all like doing one show because for
the set we had to have one basic
[concept] that worked for three
plays. ... None of the directors get
their [complete] vision.”
Which is not to say the shows
compromise any amount of artistic
sensibility, McManus said.
Indeed, the efficient base set
designed by senior Mitch Massaro
puts emphasis upon the stories
being told while still allowing for a
great degree of individuality from
show to show.
“I really had the easiest deal
because the show itself is supposed
to be done with an open space and
platforms,” said Bill Feehely, professor in the department of theatre
and dance and director of
“Eleemosynary.”
“When I saw the preliminary
idea, I had some suggestions but it
pretty much worked,” he said.
The minimalist approach works
to the benefit of three shows that
are thematically very different.
“All plays surprisingly work
together well,” said Paul Gatrell,
chair of the department of theatre
and dance. “They have different
storylines and are different genres
but overall they are very successful
together.”
“‘Death’ is a very realistic,
meat-and-potatoes type of show,”
said Feehely. “‘The Maids’ leans a
little more toward stylized drama
on the cusp of the absurdist movement. ‘Eleemosynary’ is very old
but very modern in the way it
flows. It is seamless but not linear.”
With rich material to work with,
the seniors have the opportunity to
leave an artistic mark and set a
precedent for the underclassmen to
follow.
“One of the things I really liked
about the process [is that] I talked
about the seniors leaving their
stamp,” said Feehely. “This is the
culmination of four years of education. In some, we have seen things
we’ve never seen before. They
have dug down [. . .] into roles they
might not have originally considered.”
“I think overall we’ve seen a lot
of growth in all of the seniors,”
said Gatrell. “Everyone was up for
the challenge and they met it successfully.”
The department is currently
looking forward to a landmark season in the next academic year when
their new space opens near
Belmont Heights. The schedule
will include “Much Ado About
Nothing” (a collaboration with
Actor’s Bridge), the Nashville
Children’s Theatre October production, Lee Blessing’s “Two Rooms,”
“Hamlet” (the Nashville
Shakespeare Festival’s winter production), “Pride and Prejudice,”
further work with the Nashville
Ballet and Nora Ephron’s
“Imaginary Friends.”
Until then, they will have plenty
to keep them busy with Ariel
Dorfman’s “Death and the
Maiden” (Fri., Feb. 16 at 7:30 pm,
Sun., Feb. 18 at 7:30 pm, and Sat.,
Feb. 24 at 2 pm), Lee Blessing’s
“Eleemosynary” (Sat., Feb. 17 at 2
pm, Wed., Feb. 21 at 7:30 pm, and
Sun., Feb. 25 at 2 pm) and Jean
Genet’s “The Maids” (Wed., Feb.
14 at 7:30 pm, Sun., Feb. 18 at 2
pm, Fri., Feb. 23 at 7:30 pm, and
Sun., Feb. 25 at 7:30 pm).
Page 16
The Belmont Vision, February 14, 2007
stage
Hanging Mary
People’s Branch Theatre
Mar. 8-17
www.peoplesbranch.org
The 25th Annual Putnam County
Spelling Bee
Tennessee Performing Arts Center
Mar. 6-11
www.tpac.org
Speed-the-Plow
Tennessee Repertory Theatre
Feb. 1-17
www.tnrep.org
Einstein Is a Dummy
Nashville Children’s Theatre
Jan. 30 - Feb. 18
www.nct-dragonsite.org
Ordinary Heroes
Actor’s Bridge Ensemble
Feb. 2-25
www.actorsbridge.org
song
Classical to Contemporary: Haydn
to Glass
Nashville Symphony
Feb. 15-17
www.nashvillesymphony.org
Mexico and Modern Printmaking
Frist Center for the Visual Arts
Continues through April 15
www.fristcenter.org
Take 6 and Jubilant Sykes
Nashville Symphony
Feb. 22-24
www.nashvillesymphony.org
Contemporary Cultures: Prints by
Antioch High School Students
Frist Center for the Visual Arts
Continues through May 6
www.fristcenter.org
Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra
Concert
Frist Center for the Visual Arts
Feb. 25
www.fristcenter.org
The Killers
Ryman Auditorium
April 23
www.ryman.com
Billy Joel
Gaylord Entertainment Center
Feb. 21
www.gaylordentertainmentcenter.com
Justin Timberlake
Gaylord Enerainment Center
March 16
www.gaylordentertainmentcenter.com
The Will Rogers Follies
Boiler Room Theatre
Jan. 26 - Feb. 24
www.boilerroomtheatre.com
The Red Badge of Courage
Roxy Regional Theatre
Feb. 9-24
www.roxyregionaltheatre.org
the
stuff
Bluebird Cafe at the Ballet II
Nashville Ballet
Feb. 16-18
www.nashvilleballet.com
Griffin House with Leigh Nash
Exit/In
Feb. 16
www.exitin.com
Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast
Belcourt Theatre
Feb. 17-24
www.belcourt.org
Ingmar Bergman’s Wild
Strawberries
Belcourt Theatre
Feb. 19-21
www.belcourt.org
Letters from Iwo Jima
Regal Green Hills 16
Currently Playing
www.fandango.com
The Queen
Regal Green Hills 16
Currently Playing
www.fandango.com
Cool Hand Luke
Grimey’s
Feb. 19
www.grimeys.com
feb. 16
Minton Sparks and Friends
Tennessee Performing Arts Center
Feb. 24
www.tpac.org
feb. 23
Jamie Foxx
Tennessee Performing Arts Center
March 16
www.tpac.org
grimey’s top 20
Be Your Own Pet
The Rutledge
Feb. 23
www.therutledgelmv.com
screen
1. The Shins/Wincing the Night Away
2. Oh Montreal/Hissing Fauna...
3. Deerhoof/Friend Opportunity
4. The Good, The Bad & The Queen/
The Good, The Bad...
5. Menomena/Friend & Foe
6. The Bird & The Bee/The Bird &
The Bee
7. Annuals/Be He Me
8. Clinic/Visitations
Ghost Rider
Bridge to Terabithia
Music and Lyrics
Tyler Perry’s Daddy’s Little Girls
Breach
The Number 23
The Abandoned
Reno! 911: Miami
9. The Decembrists/The Crane Wife
10. The Dears/Gang of Losers
11. John Mayer/The Village Sessions
12. Amy Winehouse/Back to Back
13. Mew/Frengers
14. Cat Power/The Greatest
15. Moe/Conch
16. Lee Hazlewood/Cake or Death
17. The Autumn Defense/The Autumn
Defense
18. Fujiya & Miyagi/Fujiya & Miyagi
19. The Privates/Barricades
20. How I Became the Bomb/Let’s Go
album drops...
feb. 20
feb. 13
Lucinda Williams/West (Lost Highway)
Van Morrison/Van Morrison at the Movies (Manhattan)
Blue Oyster Cult/Spectres (Sony)
Ashley Tisdale/He Said She Said (Wea International)
Music & Lyrics/Original Soundtrack (Atlantic/Wea)
TobyMac/Portable Sounds (Forefront)
JJ Grey & Mofro/Country Ghetto (Alligator)
The Ataris/Welcome the Night (Sanctuary)
Everlife/Everlife (Buena Vista)
Cities/Anberlin (Tooth and Nail)
Explosions in the Sky/All of a Sudden... (Temporary Residence)
Company/2006 Broadway Revival Cast (Nonesuch)