Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama will hold a rally on the James Madison University campus on Tuesday, October 28 in the Convocation Center. Doors will open at 3:15 p.m. and the program begins at 5:15 p.m.
Be sure to check out the latest details on traffic and parking information!
A class assignment gained national attention for JMU student Brittany Keenan. Communications studies professor Kenisha Burke encourages her students to particate in “This I Believe,” an international project engaging people in writing, sharing, and discussing the core values that guide their daily lives. Keenan’s essay “I believe in chaos,” was chosen to appear on the project’s Web site. Keenan says, “There is an underlying sense of ecstasy I feel at the end of the day, knowing that I took advantage of every minute.”
Read her essay and share her joy.
Madison world changer Marcy Honnold Morrison (‘91) sent me a link for the International Passion Awareness Day movie, and, yes, it does inspire passion. Her recommendation? Follow your passion, express your unique gifts, don’t deny yourself and the world the delight of your special gifts!
JMU President Linwood Rose writes that the importance of sustainability efforts makes it imperative that we go beyond superficial responses if we intend to contribute to a better future. That is why in appointing the Commission on Environmental Sustainability he emphasized that sustainability must be sustained. JMU intends to take a “long-term and thorough approach” to sustainability efforts and their implications on campus and beyond.
The commission recommended the establishment of our new Institute for Stewardship of the Natural World as the first step in living and operating sustainably.
In case you had to miss the Parade of Champions competition this past weekend, you can catch up on how the four local schools fared in “Rocktown Weekly’s” “Thousands Enjoy ‘Banding’ Together.”
Parade of Champions is the annual marching band competition hosted by the Marching Royal Dukes and James Madison University. It is a competition open to all levels of high school marching bands. Bands are adjudicated in music execution, music general effect, marching execution, marching general effect, overall general effect, percussion, and auxiliary. Highlights of the awards ceremony includes performances by the JMU Marching Royal Dukes.
And, don’t forget, the Marching Royal Dukes will be performing at the 2008 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Nov. 27, 2008!
Anne Dreyfuss, a JMU junior media arts and design major, voiced her opinion in the Breeze article “No Drive Day Should Live On.” This devoted cyclist biked across country several years ago and continues her advocacy of the sport. Dreyfuss sees cycling as a way of life beyond recreation. “Life surprises us like a single flower blooming in a desert. But to see it, you’ve got to get out there.” Biking to work, to school and around town are great ways to help the environment and see the beauty in everyday wonders according to Dreyfuss … and what a great way to “Be the Change!”
One of the newer members of the Be the Change cohort, Dr. Richard Roberds, says that he considers his 10 years of service at JMU (he was the director of the department of integrated science and technology) among the most memorable and enjoyable of his career. “There is a sincere concern for the students at JMU,” he says. Roberds is a Silver Star Medal recipient–read more in his Be the Change profile!
“Don’t drive!” — JMU Clean Energy Coalition is urging students, faculty and staff to take alternative transportation to campus on Wednesday, Oct. 15. Last year’s effort saved five tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.
Be the change–make a greener world, one step at a time.
Interested in ballet? Plan to attend one of the performances on Oct. 10 and 11 of “Backstage with Margot Fonteyn and the Bumptious Colonial” at the JMU Dance Studio Theatre. Robin Haig, a former Royal Ballet dancer and faculty member at JMU, returns to campus to present her memories from both her own career as a professional ballerina and that of her idol Margot Fonteyn, the greatest British ballerina of the 20th century. Haig now heads the ballet program at the University of Colorado.
Tickets are available at the door.
“Inspirational” hardly does justice to today’s ceremony in JMU’s East Campus Library dedicating a statue of Gandhi. The statue is a gift of the government of India to JMU in recognition of the work of the Mahatma Gandhi Center for Global Nonviolence.
Sunlight streaming through the trees in the garden outside the library, the lyrical melodies of Indian musicians, urns of flower petals for adorning the statue…it was a perfect setting to mark a fitting event for October 2, the International Day of Non-Violence and the birthday of Gandhi.
During the ceremony Ronen Sen, India’s ambassador to the United States, pointed to the importance of Gandhi’s work and ideals in today’s society. Ideals such as the oneness of humanity, respect instead of tolerance, promoting cultures that value non-violence as an ethic, becoming world-centric, all can contribute to a better world.
Sen called on the audience to look for illumination, and upon finding it, to share it with others.
The statue pictures Gandhi in motion, striding with purpose, a fitting symbol of his call to “be the change you wish to see in the world.”
