Spring 2010 Archived News

Theatre production of the comedy ‘Art’ set at UW-L Aug. 6-7

Students from the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse Theatre Arts Department will perform and direct a production of the Tony Award-winning comedy, “Art.” Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Aug. 6 and 7, in Frederick Theatre in Morris Hall, 16th and State streets.

The comedy by Yasmina Reza, which raises questions about art and friendship, concerns three long-time friends: Serge, Marc and Yvan. Serge, indulging his penchant for modern art, buys a large, expensive, completely white painting. Marc is horrified and their relationship suffers considerable strain as a result of their differing opinions about what constitutes “art.” Caught in the middle, Yvan is also trying to prepare for his wedding. The joyous event gets dragged into the fight as the conflict becomes much more personal. “Art” is less about debates over artistic values than it is about the psychological, emotional and power dynamics of friendship.

Tickets are available only at the door one hour prior to each performance. Tickets are $5 with the proceeds supporting UW-L theatre student scholarships.

If you go—
What: UW-La Crosse Theatre Arts Department student production of the comedy “Art”
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Aug. 6 and 7
Where: Frederick Theatre in UW-La Crosse’s Morris Hall, 16th and State streets
Admission: $5; Tickets only at the door one hour prior to each performance

Riverside Jazz Party is Sunday, July 25

Vocalist Janet Planet is featured performer

An afternoon and evening of jazz on the banks of the Mississippi River are planned at the Third Annual Riverside Jazz Party Sunday, July 25. The one-day free festival features vocalist Janet Planet and the Great River Big Band along with The Jim Piela Quartet, Al Townsend’s Wonderful World Jazz Band and The Janet Planet Quartet.

Guest Artist Janet Planet was hailed by Jazziz Magazine as a "Voice of the New Jazz Culture...amazingly powerful with seemingly limitless expression.” In her career, Planet has performed with legends such as Jackie and Roy, George Benson, and her mentor Nancy King. She has shared the stage with many other accomplished jazz artists including Ellis Marsalis, John Harmon, Gene Bertoncini and Marian McPartland. She has performed at arts centers, opera houses, colleges, universities, jazz festivals and jazz clubs across the US and internationally with appearances in Europe and Japan.

The Riverside Jazz Party takes place on the band shell in Riverside Park in downtown La Crosse. Admission is free. Bring a lawn chair and pack a picnic to enjoy a great day of music. In case of rain the event will be held in Valhalla in the UW-L Cartwright Center-Gunning Addition.

The schedule includes:

3 p.m. — The Jim Piela Quartet
4 p.m. — The Janet Planet Quartet
5 p.m. — Rev. Al Townsend and The Wonderful World Jazz Band
6 p.m. — The Janet Planet Quartet
7:30 p.m. — The Great River Big Band with Janet Planet

The Great River Big Band is directed by UW-L Music Department Chair Greg Balfany. For more information visit: www.greatriverbigband.com

If you go—
Who: The Great River Big Band with vocalist Janet Planet and others
What: Third Annual Riverside Jazz Party
When: Beginning at 3 p.m. Sunday, July 25.
Where: Riverside Park
Admission: Free

Providing a better history lesson: UW-La Crosse to host NEH Institute for teachers

Teachers from across the country are coming to UW-La Crosse to discover how to fine tune their history lessons. Twenty-five K-12 teachers chosen from more than 100 applicants will attend a three-week Summer Institute for Teachers, July 12-30, to explore how human cultures adapt to complex and ever-changing environments.

The teachers will focus on how Native American and Euro-American peoples have adapted to the rugged landscape, challenging climate, and rich resources of the Upper Mississippi River Valley over the past 13,000 years, and how those adaptations keep changing today. The participants will take the new teaching approaches back to their classrooms.

The institute will include classroom discussions, demonstrations and presentations, lab studies, cleaning and cataloguing of artifacts, fashioning an arrowhead and an arrow, and using a spear thrower. Field trips are set to a site excavation, local Amish farms and organic growers, Effigy Mounds National Monument, a cave with Native American rock art, and other areas.

The institute’s lead instructor is UW-L Professor Emeritus Jim Theler, who will draw on his four decades of archaeology experience to offer lively classroom discussions, demonstrations, field trips and readings. Participating teachers will also work on individual projects tailored to their own classroom teaching. Many of the projects will be posted online to make them available to teachers nationwide.

The institute’s co-directors are Kathy Stevenson, MVAC’s Projects Director, and Bonnie Jancik, MVAC’s Director of Public Education. All three instructors were part of a previous NEH Summer Institute MVAC offered in 2007. Jancik says, the 2007 participants were enthusiastic about the experience and said it gave them a wealth of information and ideas to take back to their teaching. “Those are the results we’re looking for,” Jancik explains. “We want this program to have the broadest possible benefit—not just for the participating teachers, but for their students and colleagues as well.”

The Summer Institute for Teachers is supported by a grant awarded to UW-L by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) through a highly competitive process. It is one of only 19 Summer Institutes for K-12 teachers funded for 2010. Hosted by the Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center (MVAC) at UW-L, the institute links archaeology to a variety of topics and teaching areas and offers teachers stipends to cover the costs of participating.

Heidi Morrison attends faculty development seminar in West Bank

Morrison: Intellectuals’ roles critical in providing humane, informed guidance

“Making sense of the inequality that exists in Jerusalem is impossible and could easily create hatred of Israelis by Palestinians,” says UW-L Assistant History Professor Heidi Morrison who attended a faculty development seminar in the West Bank at the end of May.

“This is where the role of academics and intellectuals becomes so critical,” she explains. “Society depends on them to provide humane and informed guidance. The Palestinian intellectuals I met living and working in Jerusalem did just that. They never talked about the inequality around them in terms of hating Israel. Instead, they talked about it in universal human rights terms. The scholars in Palestine and activists are working on resisting their oppressor by liberating themselves. There are numerous theater groups and music schools, for instance, that seek to bring inner peace into children.”

Morrison and nine other U.S. academics toured West Bank universities, towns and refugee camps in an inaugural Palestinian American Research Center’s (PARC) Faculty Development Seminar. They explored opportunities for cooperation and exchange with Palestinian artists, activists, students and academics.

Seminar participants were up at 8 a.m. and back at midnight almost every day. The group visited Palestinian universities in Hebron, Ramallah, Jenin, Nablus and Bethlehem; met with scholars at the Arab Thought Forum; and toured refugee camps. They also visited non-governmental organizations that work with children to overcome the psychological damage of living in a war zone.

An assistant professor of modern Middle East history, Morrison says that most of her research has been based in Egypt, where she lived for nearly three years during graduate school. Morrison currently is on a Faculty Research Grant in Egypt conducting research on the cultural conception of childhood in early 20th century.

Morrison plans to use the seminar experience to build the foundation to teach a course about Palestine, as well as to prepare for a new research project.

In spring 2011, she plans to teach “The History of Human Rights in the Middle East,” introducing students to the evolution in meanings of human rights in the Middle Eastern context, but also to the region’s key human rights issues of the 20th century.

“The experiences of the Palestinian people are at the forefront of these issues,” Morrison notes. “My experience in the PARC seminar and travel program to Palestine provided a space for me to explore how I can teach about Palestine through a lens of human rights, as opposed to the more commonly-used lens of land, religion and war.”

Morrison also hopes to follow through on three potential research projects:

- To work with researchers at the Ramallah-based Juzoor Foundation for Health and Social Development to assess the impact of children’s exposure to violence in the second intifadah on their mental health today as adults.

- To work with the Palestinian Association for Cultural Exchange in collecting the oral histories of parents whose children died during the first and/or second intifadas.

- To work with a professor of literature at Berzeit University to explore the evolution and change of children’s literature in Palestine over the last century.

Morrison also hopes to hold a series of film screenings on UW-L campus regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including guest speakers and discussion. She can also help students facilitate study abroad programs there or in any region in the Middle East.

To find out more about PARC, go to http://parc-us-pal.org/.

Retired UW-La Crosse prof Kent Koppelman writes second book on grief issues

Writing helped Kent Koppelman cope with losing his 19-year-old son in a car accident more than 20 years ago. And, it’s helped the retired UW-La Crosse teacher education professor deal with deaths of his parents, a sister and close friends since. Now, his words are helping others who have suffered loss of a loved one. Professor Emeritus Koppelman just completed his second book on loss, “Wrestling With the Angel: Literary Writings and Reflections on Death, Dying and Bereavement.”

“Ever since my son’s death in 1989, I have found that writing about grief has been enormously helpful for me to deal with grief,” explains Koppelman. “Sometimes the words come faster than others. The book about Jason’s death was written very quickly as the words rushed out on paper to define and confine the pain I was feeling. But it took me over three years to finally write the poem in the book about my mother’s death. I can’t explain why that is, but I don’t need to.”

The book includes essays, a one-act play, a short story, poetry and quotations. Along with helping those hurting from loss, the book aims to help scholars, hospice workers, funeral home directors, chaplains, ministers and others who work with bereavement. In a short few weeks on the shelf, the book has received praise from those who work in bereavement, including Rabbi Earl A. Grollman, who is highly respected in the field.

Along with the book about coping with his son’s death, “The Fall of a Sparrow: Of Death and Dreams and Healing,” Koppelman has increased his writing since retiring in 2007. He has revised his 2005 textbook, “Understanding Human Differences: Multicultural Education for a Diverse America,” and written an anthology on diversity issues, “Perspectives on Human Differences: Selected Readings on Diversity in America.” Currently, he’s putting finishing touches on a book with working title “The Diversity Debate: Conflicting Views on the Benefits of Diversity.” He also published a textbook on “Values in the Key of Life” in 2000.

To find out more about Koppelman’s books, visit www.baywood.com and www.pearsoned.co.uk/Bookshop and search by author.

Archaeological digs planned for Olmsted County

Staff from the Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse will look to unearth archaeological findings in Olmsted County this summer. The archaeologists will work with local residents to conduct surveys to look for new sites, assess the condition of already recorded sites, and prepare a detailed summary of the county’s archaeological sites. The information will aid local land use planners and offer the area’s residents a better understanding of how people have lived in the county for more than 12 millennia.

The survey is funded by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund of the Minnesota Legacy Amendment passed by voters in 2009. Olmsted County was selected because little is known about its archaeological sites, despite its rich history and its interesting location between the Mississippi River Valley and the Minnesota Lake district.

The summer fieldwork will focus on finding surface scatters of artifacts, with a few excavations of small holes in special circumstances. In the river valley bottomlands, where flooding and slumping may have buried archaeological sites, deep coring will be used to look for buried sites. MVAC staff members Constance Arzigian and Katherine Stevenson will lead the archaeological survey, assisted by Michael Kolb, an archaeologist and geologist with Strata Morph Geoexploration.

Arzigian and Stevenson invite artifact collectors or others who know of archaeological sites in Olmsted County to contact them directly to provide leads for recording new sites. Information on site locations will be released to individual landowners, but not to the general public. Arzigian and Stevenson can be contacted at arzigian.cons@uwlax.edu or stevenso.kath@uwlax.edu, or at 608.785.8452. They will be obtaining landowner permission before entering any privately owned lands.

MVAC, based at UW–La Crosse, has conducted archaeological research in southeastern Minnesota for nearly 30 years.

‘Dancing under the stars’ Jazz series continues in Riverside Park

The Gertrude Salzer Gordon Jazz in the Park Concert Series with the Great River Big Band continues Sunday, July 18, in Riverside Park. The 7 p.m. program features popular dance selections from the ’40s. Dancing is encouraged. Selections will feature Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Les Brown, Woody Herman, Xavier Cugat and other Big Band greats. The director of and instructors from The Moonlight Dance Studio in La Crosse will do demonstrations featuring the tango.

UW-La Crosse Music Department Chair Greg Belfany directs the band. The concert is free and open to the public. The rain site is the Forest Hills Club House. For more information visit www.greatriverbigband.com <http://www.greatriverbigband.com>

If you go—
Who: Great River Big Band
What: Jazz In The Park
When: 7 p.m. Sunday, July 18
Where: Riverside Park, La Crosse (Rain site is Forest Hills Club House)
Admission: Free

Jazz in the Park series continues June 20

The Gertrude Salzer Gordon Jazz in the Park Concert Series with the Great River Big Band continues at 7 p.m. Sunday, June 20, in Riverside Park in La Crosse. The second concert showcases Madison singer Gina Jorgenson who will perform several selections including Natalie Cole’s “The Very Thought of You” and “Almost Like Being In Love.”

The trombone section will be featured on Sy Zentner’s “On A Clear Day” while the whole band comes to the fore with Bob Florence’s “Flight of Fancy” and Les Brown’s version of “Slaughter on 10th Avenue. Swing era tune will include “Polka Dots and Moonbeams” and “Tuxedo Junction” from the Glenn Miller Orchestra. The Great River Big Band is directed by UW-La Crosse Music Department Chair Greg Balfany.

The series continues with a concert at 7 p.m. Sunday, July 18. The rain site for the concerts is Forest Hills Club House. Admission to each 90-minute concert is free. The series closes with the third annual Riverside Jazz Party from 3-10 p.m. Sunday, July 25, in Riverside Park. Admission is free. Guest artist will be Janet Planet and the Janet Planet Quartet. The rain site is Valhalla in the UW-L Cartwright Center-Gunning Addition.

For more information on all concerts and the Riverside Jazz Party visit: www.greatriverbigband.com.

If you go—
Who: Gertrude Salzer Gordon Jazz in the Park Concert Series
What: Sundays June 20 and July 18
When: 7 p.m.
Extra: Riverside Jazz Party, 3-10 p.m. Sunday, July 25
Where: Riverside Park, La Crosse (The rain site is Forest Hills Club House.)
Admission: Free

Prepare for today’s world...Learn Arabic!

New course for fall 2010:

First-year Arabic fulfilling General Education and College of Liberal Studies requirements for B. A. degree
Instruction by a native speaker from UW-Green Bay via interactive television with a native speaker facilitator in the UW-L classroom

Why Arabic?

Arabic is spoken in over 20 countries, from Morocco to Egypt to Saudi Arabia.
Arabic is an official language of the United Nations.
Arabic is the 5th most commonly spoken native language in the world.
There is a high-demand and low-supply of Arabic speakers in the Western world.

Register for MLG 101 Section 2 – M-H 2:05-3:00 p.m.

“For every language you speak, you’re worth another person… Each language gives you a new set of tools with which to solve life’s problems.”

Rosario Ferre

The House on the Lagoon

SummerStage production of 'Rent' opens July 1

The University of Wisconsin–La Crosse Department of Theatre Arts’ SummerStage production is Jonathan Larson’s Pulitzer Prize winning musical, “Rent.” Performances run at 7:30 p.m. July 1-3 and 8-10 and 2 p.m. Sunday, July 11. Performances are in Toland Theatre in the Center for the Arts, 16th and Vine streets.

Based loosely on Puccini’s opera “La Boheme,” “Rent” chronicles a year in the life of seven friends trying to survive in New York City’s East Village. Mimi, Roger, Angel and Collins struggle with the physical and emotional hardships of AIDS. Mark, an aspiring filmmaker, tries to capture reality for his personal documentary about life in New York City. Maureen uses performance art to cope with her infidelity, while her partner, Joanne, questions whether their relationship is worth the effort.

Director UW-L Associate Professor of Theatre Arts Mary Leonard joins forces with Musical Director Professor of Music Gary Walth and a cast and crew of students and community members to bring the musical to life.
Tickets are $9 for UW-L students; $14 for other students and senior citizens; and $16 for others. Tickets go on sale at 1 p.m. Monday, June 28, and can be purchased at the box office in the lobby of the Center for the Arts or at 608.785.8522.

If you go—
What: Jonathan Larson’s Pulitzer Prize winning musical “Rent”
Who: University of Wisconsin–La Crosse Department of Theatre Arts SummerStage
When: 7:30 p.m. July 1-3; 8-10 and 2 p.m. July 11
Where: Toland Theatre, UW-L Center for the Arts
Admission: $9 for UW-L students; $14 for other students and senior citizens; and $16 for others.

Student work explores changes faced in growth
Exhibit runs throughout May at Children’s Museum

A collection of individual works from 15 UW-La Crosse student artists who have explored changes faced in growth will highlight an exhibit at the Children’s Museum in La Crosse. “in the Midst...” features works by students enrolled in ART 399: Professional Practices and Problems. The show opens with a reception from 3-5 p.m. Saturday, May 1, in the museum. The exhibit runs through Sunday, May 30. Admission is $6; $3 if presented with an invitation. Infants (under 12 months) and museum members are free.

“Everyone is born into this world naked and unaware of what the future holds, ” explains Josie Ableman, one of the students exhibiting in the show. “We all grow; reaching the same points physically but the world we come from morphs us, changing our personalities, morals, doubts, insecurities, strengths, dreams, goals and memories.”

Student artists are working vigorously toward graduation and the reality of acquiring the title of “true adults,” notes Ableman. At the cusp between childhood and adulthood, the students’ works exemplify emotions and experiences that have tested and taught their artistic mind. As a result, a synergistic relationship between conflict, resolution, and expression has been forged, notes Ableman.

“Just as these 15 artists can relate to one another in this exhibition, hopefully viewers, too, can connect with the work displayed, and contemplate their own origin and progression through growth while still keeping a watchful eye on what is to come in their lives,” says Ableman.

Along with Ableman, the student artists include: Jason Charron, Kyle Dill, Seth Forecki, Nicole Geske, Jennie Lynn Hastings, Christina John, Annie Kreger, Andrew Meyer, Ann Peters, Peter Poppele, Olivia Radkey, Bethany Rahn, Emily Wilson and Arika Wussow.

If you go—
What: “in the Midst...” a collection of individual works from 15 UW-La Crosse student artists
When: Opening is 3-5 p.m. Saturday, May 1. The exhibit runs through Sunday, May 30.
Where: Gertrude Salzer Gordon Children's Museum, 207 Fifth Ave. S., La Crosse
Admission: $6; $3 if presented with an invitation. Infants (under 12 months) and museum members are free.

University Art Gallery season set
Sound art, artist books highlight 2009-10 season

Artist books, a unique sound art show, and works by faculty and students will be featured in the 2009-10 UW-La Crosse University Art Gallery exhibition season. The schedule includes:

• Sept. 18-Oct. 10, 2009 — “Books of Note: Artists Books collected by Jody Williams”
Reception: 5-7 p.m. Sept. 18
• Oct. 23-Nov. 14, 2009 — “Drumming with Thoreau: Kinetic Sound Art of Dan Senn”
Opening Reception: 5-7 p.m. Oct. 23
• Dec. 4-16, 2009 — “Senior Exhibition: Graduating UW-L Seniors”
Featuring the works by seniors: Patricia Bindley, Zoe Browne, Chelsie Heidke, Vong Lao, Allison Mader, Tiffany Pedersen, Jessica Shively, Cedarose Siemon and Amanda Willison.
Opening Reception: 5-7 p.m. Dec. 4
• Feb. 5-27, 2010 — “Faculty Exhibition: UW-L Department of Art”
Featuring the works of: Justyna Badach, Cam Choy, Joel Elgin, Linda Levinson, Brad Nichols, John Ready, Binod Shrestha, Karen Terpstra, Jennifer Williams Terpstra, Marcia Thompson and Stella Vognar.
Opening Reception: 5-7 p.m. Feb. 8
• March 26-April 10, 2010 — “All-Student Juried Exhibition: Juried Exhibition of Work from UW-L Students”
Opening Reception and Awards: 5-7 p.m. March 26; Awards Presentation at 5:30
• April 23-May 7, 2010 — “Senior Exhibition: Graduating UW-L Seniors”
Opening Reception: 5-7 p.m. April 23

All exhibitions and opening receptions are free and open to the public. The University Art Gallery is located on the first floor on the Center for the Arts, 16th and Vine streets. Regular gallery hours are Noon-8 p.m. Mondays-Thursday, Noon-5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and during events in Toland Theatre. Find out more at:http://www.uwlax.edu/art/gallery.

UW-L Concert Choir dedicates Spring Concert to Haitian boy choir

UW-L's Concert Choir will dedicate its Spring Concert to collect donations for the Haitian Boy choir, Les Petits Chanteurs, whose school was devastated during the Jan. 12 earthquake in Port au Prince. Retired UW-L music professor Robert Wessler is on the boy choir’s summer camp staff and has been the contact for the UW-L choir, says Gary Walth, Music.

The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 4, in Annett Recital Hall, Center for the Arts. Donations for the boy choir will be collected at the end of the concert. The concert features traditional choral settings including F. Melius Christiansen’s edition of “Praise To The Lord” and Walth’s setting of the text “Adoramus Te” written for the choir seven years ago.

Repertoire for the concert will also include La Crosse native and Aquinas High School graduate Robert Kreutz’s composition “Spring Grass,” based on the poetry of the same title by Carl Sandburg. This complex and energetic piece is one of several by the composer, who is also known for his liturgical music and hymns, including the well-known hymn “Gift of Finest Wheat.”

The choir will also perform young Norwegian composer Ola Gjielo’s “Sanctus.” The choir will conclude its year-long commitment to the performance of the music of 20th century American composers with music of Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein.

Additionally, five small vocal ensembles from the Concert Choir that participated in the recent Choraljam concert in March will perform.

Seating is limited. For more information, contact Walth at 785.8414.

UW-L seniors to share artwork before graduating

UW-La Crosse graduating seniors will share their work on campus one last time during the upcoming Senior Exhibition. The show, “Out of the Office,” is the capstone event for the art majors graduating in May. The exhibit opens with a reception from 5-7 p.m. Friday, April 23, in the University Art Gallery in the Center for Fine Arts. The exhibit runs through Friday, May 7. The reception and exhibit are free.

Students exhibiting include: Debbie Braun, Amber Burns, Jason Charron, Mallory Heesch, Heather Johnson, Nels Johnson, Sarah Johnson, Allison L. Mader, Briana Meuer, Jessica Olson, Zac Rockefeller, Cedarose Seimon, Vanessa Smith, Mai Ia Vue and Arika Wussow.

The exhibit is not only a celebration of the release from the “workload” of acquiring a degree, but also a recognition of the non-traditional lifestyles that many of these artists will pursue. It also acknowledges their attainment of the title “artist” after years of being a “student.” The students will show the work that has become their signature pieces. The mediums presented include: sculpture, metalsmithing, ceramics, graphic arts, painting, printmaking, photography and drawing.

Regular gallery hours are noon-8 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays, noon-5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and during Toland Theatre events. The gallery opens for appointments by calling the UW-L Art Department 608.785.8230.

If you go—
What: “Out of the Office”
Who: UW-La Crosse graduating seniors
When: Opening reception and awards ceremony from 5-7 p.m. Friday, April 23.
Exhibit runs through Friday, May 7.
Where: University Art Gallery, UW-La Crosse Center for the Arts
Admission: Free

‘Eurydice’ offers a modern twist on ancient myth in UW-L’s Toland Theatre

Sarah Ruhl’s modern adaptation of the ancient Orpheus myth, “Eurydice,” will conclude the 2009-10 UW-La Crosse Department of Theatre Arts season. Performances run at 7:30 p.m. April 23-24, 29-30 and May 1. Two o’clock matinees are set Sundays, April 25 and May 2. Performances run in Toland Theatre in UW-L’s Center for the Arts.

With contemporary characters, ingenious plot twists, and breathtaking visual effects, the play is a fresh look at a timeless love story. In a classic story of love lost, found and lost again, the bridge-groom Orpheus journeys to the underworld to beg for his wife following her death on their wedding day. After charming the guards, demons and Hades with his beautiful music, Orpheus is granted his request. He returns to the land of the living with Eurydice, his wife, only for her to disappear back to the underworld. Dejected and alone, Orpheus is forced to wait out his remaining days on earth before being reunited with his wife in death.

But, it’s not Orpheus that takes center stage in Ruhl’s imaginative adaptation. Rather, the story centers on Eurydice’s struggle having to choose between a return to the mortal world with her new husband, or an afterlife with her father with whom she has been reunited.

Tickets go on sale at 1 p.m. Monday, April 19. Tickets are $4 for UW-L students; $10 for other students, senior citizens and children; and $12 for others. For reservations call the box office at 608.785.8522.

If you go:
Who: University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Department of Theatre Arts
What: “Eurydice” by Sarah Ruhl
When: 7:30 p.m. April 23-24, 29-30 and May 1; 2 p.m. April 25 and May 2 at 2:00 p.m.
Where: Toland Theatre, UW-La Crosse Center for the Arts, 16th and Vine streets
Admission: $4 for UW-L students; $10 for other students, senior citizens and children; and $12 for others

Auditions set for UW-L’s Summerstage performance of ‘Rent’

Auditions are planned for the UW-La Crosse Department of Theatre Arts’ Summerstage performance of “Rent.” Auditions are set for 6 p.m. Monday, April 26, and Wednesday, April 28, in Toland Theatre in the UW-L Center for the Arts. Those trying out must have 16 bars of a Broadway musical prepared. A dance number will be taught on site. Those auditioning must attend both nights. Auditions are open to all.

Jonathan Larson’s Pulitzer-prize winning Broadway musical is based loosely on Puccini’s opera La Bohème. It follows a year in the lives of seven friends living the disappearing Bohemian lifestyle in New York’s East Village. AIDS with its physical and emotional complications pervade the lives of Roger, Mimi, Tom, and Angel. Maureen deals with her chronic infidelity through performance art; her partner, Joanne, wonders if their relationship is worth the trouble; Benjamin has sold out his Bohemian ideals in exchange for a hefty income and is on the outs with his former friends; and Mark, an aspiring filmmaker, feels like an outsider to life in general, always behind the camera recording the events but never playing a part.

“Rent” will run at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, July 1-3 and 8-10, and 2 p.m. Sunday, July 11, in Toland Theatre. Tickets are $9 for UW-L students, $14 for other students and senior citizens, and $16 for others. Tickets go on sale at 1 p.m. Monday, June 28.

If you go:
What: Auditions for “Rent”
Who: University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Department of Theatre Arts
When: 6 p.m. Monday, April 26, and Wednesday, April 28
Where: Toland Theatre, UW-La Crosse Center for the Arts, 16th and Vine streets
How to prepare: Have 16 bars of a Broadway musical prepared. A dance number will be taught on site. Those auditioning must attend both nights. Auditions open to all.

Theatre Students Find Sucssess in Professional Jobs

Current students and recent graduates of the UW-La Crosse Theatre Arts Department have found success in the professional world of theatre. Three current students have landed internships at professional theatres and two alums have been cast in their first professional roles onstage.

Sound designer and senior theatre major Justin Schmitz landed an internship at the well-known Utah Shakespeare Festival Company in Cedar City, Utah. He will be an audio technician for the company’s season of professional productions at one of the major festival companies in the U.S. and Canada. Schmitz will take to Utah his experience in sound design and technology gained in the UW-L productions of “Into the Woods,” “The Diary of Anne Frank,” “Escape from Happiness” and the upcoming production of “Eurydice.” He hopes to pursue a graduate degree and career in sound design.

Nick Mompier, a sophomore theatre major, has been hired by the Des Moines Metro Opera company as a stage electrician. Mompier has worked backstage on all UW-L productions in recent years and aspires to become a lighting designer.

David Hartig, who plans to graduate in May, has been chosen for an internship in stage management at the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre. He completed an internship last fall with Peninsula Players Theatre in Fish Creek, Wis. Hartig, who hopes to become a professional stage manager, recently finished stage managing the musical “Into the Woods” at UW-L.

Also, UW-L actors have seen success. Recent alum Carrie Cavadini will star as Donna Anna in “Don Giovanni” at the Sieur Du Luth Opera in Duluth, Minn. It is her first lead in professional opera.

Jillian Kuhl, who graduates in May, has landed her first professional role with the Hampstead Stage Company, a children’s theatre company based in Hampstead, Md. She will be touring with “A Christmas Carol” and the “Prince and the Pauper” from October through December.

“The Department of Theatre Arts is very proud of these accomplishments by our alumni and students,” says Beth Cherne, chair of the department. “We wish them the very best of luck.”

UW-L students receive awards for artwork in campus exhibit

Ten UW-La Crosse students have received awards for their work in the university’s “All-Student Juried Art Exhibition.”

The student artists with work selected for awards include:

Ray Sherin Art Award: Kyle Dill, “A Bright Idea,” Cast Bronze

Louise Drumm Art Award: David Sikorski, “Infestation,” Silver gelatin print/photogram

Marion Biehn Art Award: Bethany Rahn, “One Day,” Hand made book, linocut, letterpress

Carol Hutchins Winther Art Award: Olivia Radke, “My Environment,” Digital photograph

Catherine Crail Art Award: Chelsie Heidke, “    Symbiosis,” Copper, bronze and intaglio

James Quillin Art Award: Jessica Olson, “Toxic Space,” Digital photograph

Richard Koehler Art Award: Chelsie Heidke, “Bycatch: King Jelly,” Intaglio print

Anita Malin Award in Painting: Elizabeth Rose Bowman, “It’s only after you've eaten everything that you can really begin to rest, “ Oil on Canvas

La Crosse Society of Arts and Crafts Award: Tylor Fischer, “    Blessing,” Digital ink jet photograph

RuthAnn Knapp Award. for Jewelry/Metals:    Arika Wussow, “Ginkophyta,” Brooch: Forged copper, with patina and fresh water pearls

All Student Art Show: Sarah Higley, “    You can’t stop the birds from flying overhead but you can keep them from nesting in your hair,” Triptych: Intaglio prints

The awards are funded by endowments to the UW-La Crosse Foundation, the La Crosse Society of Arts and Crafts and individual donors. Judges for this year’s juried show were Priscilla Briggs and Lois Peterson, professors in the Art Department at Gustavus Adolphus College.

The exhibit includes paintings, sculpture, metalwork, ceramics, prints, drawings, photographs and mixed media pieces created by 31 UW-L students. The show runs through Saturday, April 10, in the University Art Gallery, located on the first floor of the UW-L Center for the Arts. The exhibit is free.

Regular gallery hours are noon-8 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays, noon-5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and during Toland Theatre events. The gallery will be closed Saturday, April 3. The gallery opens for appointments by calling the UW-L Art Department 608.785.8230. All events are free and open to the public.


Elizabeth Rose Bowman — Anita Malin Award in Painting “It’s only after you've eaten everything that you can really begin to rest.” Oil on Canvas	Chelsie Heidke — Richard Koehler Art Award “Bycatch: King Jelly” Intaglio print	Jessica Olson — James Quillin Award “Toxic Space” Digital photograph

UW-L students to show their work in upcoming campus exhibit

A variety of works created by 31 UW-La Crosse students have been selected for the “All-Student Juried Art Exhibition.”

The show opens with a reception and awards ceremony from 5-7 p.m. Friday, March 26, in the University Art Gallery, located on the first floor of the UW-L Center for the Arts. The exhibit runs through Saturday, April 10.

The reception and exhibit are free.

“In this brave new economy…” earthenware and underglaze by Candice Pierce, is one of the works selected for the UW-La Crosse All-Student Juried Art Exhibition March 26-April 10.

Student artists in the exhibition are:

Paula Anschutz	Terri Beal	Elizabeth Rose Bowman
Deborah Braun	Chelsea Clark	Ellen Danforth
Kyle Dill	Brittney Dix	Tylor Fischer
Jennifer Hastings	Chelsie Heidke	Sarah Higley
Tina Howard	Nels Johnson	Shelly Joyce
Abigail Kelly	Derek Kockler	Annie Kreger
Bethany LaDue	Shawn Olichwier	Jessica Olson
Candice Pierce	Olivia Radke	Bethany Rahn
Lars Roeder	Erica Rowan	Jessica Shively
Cedarose Siemon	David Sikorski	Brittany Vogt
Arika Wussow

This year’s judges Priscilla Briggs and Lois Peterson, both professors in the Art Department at Gustavus Adolphus College, selected 39 works from 192 entries by 82 student artists for the exhibit. Works chosen include paintings, sculpture, metalwork, ceramics, prints, drawings, photographs and mixed media pieces. The judges also selected 11 works for awards that indicate particular merit and achievement. They will be announced at 5:30 p.m. during the opening reception.

The exhibit is funded by the UW-La Crosse Student Association. Awards are funded by endowments to the UW-La Crosse Foundation, the La Crosse Society of Arts and Crafts and individual donors.

If you go—
What: All-Student Juried Art Exhibition
Who: UW-L students
When: Opening reception and awards ceremony from 5-7 p.m. Friday, March 26; exhibit runs through Saturday, April 10. (Closed Saturday, April 3)
Where: University Art Gallery, UW-La Crosse Center for the Arts.
Admission: Free

CLS “Celebration of Research, Scholarship and Creative Endeavors”
09-10 Friday Brown Bag Lunch Presentations
12:00-1:00 p.m.

Friday, October 2, 2009 – Port O’Call, Cartwright Center – Shelley Sinclair (History) - Presentation on Sabbatical Research – “The Public and Private Trials of Lizzie Borden”

Friday, November 6, 2009 – Ward Room, Cartwright Center - Joe Tiffany (Sociology/Archaeology/MVAC) – Presentation on Sabbatical Research – “New Perspectives on Pre-historic Ceramics from the Glenwood culture of the Loess Hills of Southwest Iowa”

Friday, February 5, 2010 – Ward Room, Cartwright Center – Betty De Boer (Psychology) – Presentation on Sabbatical Research – “Managing the Behavior of Children with Attachment Issues”

Friday, April 23, 2010 – Ward Room, Cartwright Center – Jodi Vandenberg-Dave (Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies) – Presentation on Sabbatical Research – “Good Mothers: History of an American Ideal”

UW-La Crosse to celebrate student research, creativity

University of Wisconsin-La Crosse students will share results of their projects during the past year at the 13th annual UW-L Celebration of Student Research and Creativity Friday, April 9, at Cartwright Center.

Undergraduate and graduate students will present their findings on research projects related to their field of study in the form of oral, poster and artistic exhibits. A few examples of their research include: “The Economic Impact of a Recession on Nuclear Medicine Diagnostic Procedures,” “Does Happy at Home Mean Happy at Work? Life Satisfaction and Sales Performance” and “The French Response to the United States’ Financial Crisis: An Economic and Social Perspective.”

Events during the day include:

• 8:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m. student presentations, various rooms, Cartwright Center
• 12:45-1:15p.m. reception and live music, various rooms, Cartwright Center
•1:15-1:30 p.m. recognition and awards ceremony, Valhalla

The celebration provides a forum for student researchers to share with faculty, staff, fellow students and others the result of their scholarly efforts. “This capstone event recognizes and applauds the globally responsive research conducted on the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse campus,” notes Associate Vice Chancellor VJ Agarwal.

This event is open to all; admission is free.

If you go—
Who: UW-L undergraduate and graduate students
What: 13th annual UW-L Celebration of Student Research and Creativity
When: 8:30-1:30 p.m. Friday, April 9
Where: Cartwright Center, UW-La Crosse
Admission: Free

Click here for Booklet of presentations

UW-L jazz ensembles set spring concert

The UW-La Crosse jazz ensembles will perform their spring concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 18, in Valhalla, Cartwright Center-Gunning Addition.

Jazz Ensemble II will perform a variety of selections ranging from Duke Ellington’s “Old King Dooji” to the music of Astor Piazzolla’s “Michelangelo.” The band will feature several soloists including Michael Buerger, trumpet; Bryan Zannotti, drums; Connor Steck, tenor saxophone; and Connor Reisdorf, trombone.

The UW-L Vocal Jazz Ensemble will perform a variety of vocal jazz ensemble styles with rhythm section and a cappella. Selections include the New York Voices’ Latin-flavored arrangement of Paul Simon’s “Me and Julio Down By The Schoolyard,” Oliver Nelson’s “Stolen Moments” and the Real Group’s “Acappella In Acapulco.”

Jazz Ensemble I’s performance will include the Village Vanguard Orchestra’s “ Off the Cuff” featuring pianist Dan Collins and saxophonist James Piela. The ensemble will also perform Count Basie’s “I Can’t Stop Loving You” featuring trombonist David Hundseder and the Hispanic Musicians Association’s “Floreando” featuring saxophonist Chris Rodey and percussionist Joe Fendt.

The concert is free and open to the public.

If you go—
Who: UW-L Vocal Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Ensemble I & II
What: Spring concert
When: 3 p.m. Sunday, April 18
Where: Valhalla, UW-L Cartwright Center-Gunning Addition
Admission: Free.

UW-La Crosse men’s, women’s choral ensembles to perform

The UW-La Crosse Women’s Chorus and UW-La Crosse Männerchor will give a spring concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 25, in Annett Recital Hall, Center for the Arts. The UW-L Women’s Chorus, directed by Paul Rusterholz, will sing madrigals, folk songs, and love songs including the Hawaiian song “Ahe Lau Makani” accompanied by Dirck Nagy on guitar. The chorus will also sing music of Bela Bartok and Josef Rheinberger, Leonard Bernstein, and “Defying Gravity” from “Wicked.” Louise Temte will accompany on the piano.

The Männerchor’s portion of the concert will open with “The Corps,” the official hymn of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point followed by two barbershop pieces and two spiritual arranged exclusively for male chorus. Greg Gilpin’s setting of a text attributed to St. Francis of Assisi will feature pianist Anthony Rasmussen and violinist Nick Bailey. Guest soloist, sophomore, Sarah Shervey will then perform “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly” from “My Fair Lady” with the male chorus. Männerchor will end with two pieces from “Frostiana,” a choral setting of Robert Frost’s poetry composed by Randall Thompson. Combined the choirs will perform “Choose Something Like a Star” by Randall Thompson.

If you go—
Who: UW-La Crosse Women’s Chorus and UW-La Crosse Männerchor
What: Spring Concert
When: 3 p.m. Sunday, April 25
Where: Annett Recital Hall, UW-L Center for the Arts
Admission: Free

‘Miss Nelson is Missing’ at UW-La Crosse

A favorite children’s story about a teacher who goes missing from a misbehaving class will be retold on the stage at UW–La Crosse. The musical adaptation of Harry Allard children’s classic “Miss Nelson is Missing” runs at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday, April 10, at Frederick Theatre in Morris Hall, 16th and State streets.

The students of classroom 207 have a reputation for misbehaving. Their wacky antics and blatant rule-breaking torments their kind, caring teacher, Miss Nelson, until the day that she goes missing. Certain that they have succeeded in driving Miss Nelson away, the celebration is cut short when a strict and scary substitute, Viola Swamp, arrives.

Bringing an iron fist to the classroom, Miss Swamp bombards students with homework and enforces military style discipline. It isn’t long before the students realize the error of their ways and begin longing for the “good old days” of Miss Nelson. Will their lovable teacher return? Or, will Miss Swamp’s reign of terror continue?

The production is best suited for audience members ages 3 and up. Tickets are $4 and only available at the door one hour before each performance. For more information, contact Theatre Arts Department at 608.785.6701.

If you go—
Who: University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Department of Theatre Arts
What: “Miss Nelson is Missing”
When: 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday, April 10
Where: Frederick Theatre, UW-La Crosse Morris Hall, 16th and State streets
Admission: $4 per person. Tickets on sale one hour before each performance. For more information, call (608) 785-6701.

Freddy Cole, brother of Nat King Cole, at UW-La Crosse

The younger brother of jazz legend Nat King Cole will perform at UW-La Crosse. Freddy Cole takes the stage at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 6, in Valhalla, Cartwright Center-Gunning Addition.

Cole is a top jazz performer. His brother’s fame brought regular visitors such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Lionel Hampton and Bill Eckstein to his childhood home. He combines 70 years on the piano, personal experiences with the jazz legends, and a voice that the New York Times calls, “The most maturely expressive of his generation.”

Tickets and are $2 for UW-L students, $7 for UW-L employees, and $10 for others. For tickets or more information, contact the Cartwright Center Information Counter at 608.785.8898 or visit www.uwlax.edu/cab.

If you go─
What: Jazz Performer Freddy Cole
When: 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 6
Where: Valhalla, UW-La Crosse Cartwright Center-Gunning Addition
Admission: $2 for UW-L students, $7 for UW-L employees, and $10 others.

Art student to share Zen painting, meditation

A UW-La Crosse student who recently completed research of Zen painting will share her results at an upcoming siemon workshop. Cedarose Siemon, who received an undergraduate research grant last fall to study at a Zen Center, will share information about her meditation and painting experience at a workshop at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April7, in 207 Center for the Arts at UW-La Crosse.

Siemon will give a brief overview Zen, which has an aim of achieving sudden enlightenment through meditation in a seated posture, usually under the guidance of a teacher. She will teach techniques she has learned in Zen painting. Art supplies will be provided.

Siemon plans to graduate this spring. She will exhibit her work in the upcoming Senior show, which runs April 23-May 7 in the University Art Gallery. The workshop is free and open to all. Donations will be accepted for those using art supplies during the workshop.

If you go—
Who: Cedarose Siemon, UW-L student
What: Zen painting workshop
When: 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 7
Where: Room 207, UW-La Crosse Center for the Arts
Admission: Free, but donations accepted for art supplies.

Music Students selected to perform at Honors Recital

Seven students studying music at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse have been selected to perform in the Music Department’s annual Honors Recital. The students will perform at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 10, in Annett Recital Hall in the UW-L Center for the Arts. The performance is free and open to the public. A reception for students, parents and teachers will follow.

The music department’s faculty selected students for the recital based on their outstanding performances at auditions held earlier this year. Those selected include:

Nick Bailey, tenor, West Bend, Wis.
Lauren Bannon, soprano, Port Washington, Wis.
Suzanne Clum, cello, Racine, Wis.
Anna Erickson, piano, Belle Plaine, Minn.
Alden Hedges, double bass, Madison, Wis.
Branden Steinmetz, marimba, Tomah, Wis.
Shaylae Szotkowski, soprano, Conrath, Wis.

For more information, contact the Music Department at 608.785.8409.

If you go—
What: UW-L Music Department Honors Recital
Who: Seven UW-La Crosse students
When: 2 p.m. Saturday, April 10
Where: Annett Recital Hall, UW-La Crosse Center for the Arts
Admission: Free

Colorblindness as

Passing Fancy:

Race and Blindness in

American Film

A work in progress presented by
Susan Crutchfield
Assoc. Prof. of English

Friday, April 2, 2:30-3:30 p.m.
207 Wimberly Hall

*All are welcome to attend*

Brought to you by
The UW-L English Department’s
2009-10 William J. And Yvonne Hyde Colloquium

INTERESTED IN MED SCHOOL?

Dr. Dawn Bragg

Assistant Dean for Diversity Medical College of Wisconsin

will speak about

Programs and Opportunities at the Medical College of Wisconsin

April 1 3:30

Ward Room, Cartwright

Presented by the Institute for Ethnic and Racial Studies

Co-sponsored by: Dean’s Office, College of Science and Health; Dean’s Office, College of Liberal Studies; Dean’s Office, College of Business Administration; PreMed Club; McNair Scholars; Departments of Biology; Psychology; Sociology/Archaeology; Political Science/Public Administration; Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Exercise and Sport Science; Modern Languages; Psi Chi; Office of Multicultural Student Services

The Importance of Diversity in Medical Education

Dr. Dawn Bragg

Assistant Dean for Diversity

Medical College of Wisconsin

April 1 7:30pm

Refreshments at 6:45

Ward Room, Cartwright

Presented by the Institute for Ethnic and Racial Studies

Kinesis dance group to perform at UW-La Crosse

The UW-La Crosse student dance group Kinesis will give its main stage premiere. The group, under the direction of choreographer Kathy Gorman, takes the stage at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, March 25 and 26, in the Toland Theatre in the Center for the Arts, 16th and Vine streets.

After debuting at the Shelter Repertory Dance Theatre’s performance a year ago, Kinesis will return to Toland Theatre for its first individual main stage production. The production will include music and dance numbers ranging from tender instrumentals to upbeat, toe-tapping jazz. The choreography features the artistic vision of choreographer Kathy Gorman, as well as members of the company.

Members of Kinesis include: Kim Brown, Erin Christensen, Abby Eimermann, Rachel Fuchs, Krista Hagman, David Hartig, Caley Hatchell, Courtney Hetzel, Kelly Jahn, Megan Kublank, Kate Peak, Emily Pearse and Heidi Tabbert.

Admission is $4 for UW-L students, $10 for other students and senior citizens, and $12 for others. Tickets are general admission and available at the door one hour before each performance. Refer questions to the Department of Theatre Arts at 608.785.6701.

If you go—
Who: Kinesis
What: Dance Theatre
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, March 25 and 26
Where: Toland Theatre, UW-L Center for the Arts, 16th and Vine streets.
Admission: $4 for UW-L students, $10 for other students and senior citizens, and $12 for others.

‘Innovation in history’ is topic of this year’s National History Day at UW-La Crosse

More than 300 middle school and high school students from 10 school districts in western Wisconsin will present results of their historical research projects relating to the theme “Innovation in History: Impact and Change” at the annual regional program at UW-La Crosse Wednesday, March 24.

National History Day engages students in historical research through a variety of contexts. The event begins at 8 a.m. in Valhalla, Cartwright Center-Gunning Addition. Student research will be presented through historical papers, Web sites, media documentaries, exhibits and performances. Qualifiers for the state competition will be announced at 3:30.

The public is invited to attend events free of charge. Performances are in Valhalla throughout the morning. Media documentaries are open for public viewing throughout the day. Exhibits in Port O’ Call and 339 Cartwright Center are open from noon-1 p.m.

UW-L Educational Studies Professor Gregory Wegner is the Western Wisconsin Regional Coordinator for National History Day. Refer questions to him at wegner.greg@uwlax.edu

If you go—
Who: More than 300 area middle school and high school students
What: National History Day with the theme, “Innovation in History: Impact and Change”
When: 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday, March 24
Where: UW-La Crosse Cartwright Center
Admission: Free

Students: Submit your artwork
Upcoming juried art show open to all students

The UW-L University Art Gallery seeks artwork from students of all majors for its annual All-Students Juried Art Exhibition. Entries are due in the gallery, first floor of the Center for the Arts, from noon-8 p.m. Monday, March 8. Works selected will be eligible for a dozen cash awards. The exhibition runs in the gallery from March 26- April 10.

Guidelines to enter works:

• All entries must be submitted to the University Art Gallery, 100 Center for the Arts, from noon-8 p.m. Monday, March 8.
• All entries must use appropriate entry forms, with appropriate identification tags attached to each entry. Forms are available in Art Department Studios, University Gallery and the Art Department Office.
• Each student may submit a total of three entries. Collaborative entries will be accepted, total entries may not exceed three.
• Entries may not have been shown in a previous UW-L All Students Juried Art Exhibition. Works may not be more than two years old.
• All entries must be submitted to the gallery in a professional manner. Two-dimensional work (prints, drawings, photographs, etc.) should be matted, with image surface protected with acetate or slip sheet. Alternative format work should clearly indicate installation requirements.
• Framing prior to judging is encouraged. Work accepted into the exhibition must be framed, if appropriate, by March 22. Accepted works being framed may be removed from the gallery March 11. Framed work must be returned to the gallery Monday, March 22. Work not returned by March 22 will not be included in the exhibit.
•Refer questions to Art Department faculty.

Works accepted for the exhibit will be announced at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, March 11, via a listing on the gallery door. The judges will make a brief statement addressing submitted work after 3:30 p.m. in the gallery. Works not selected for the exhibit must be picked up between 4-6 p.m. Thursday, March 11, or noon-8 p.m. Friday, March 12. The gallery will not be responsible for unselected works after March 12.

Judges for the 2010 show are Priscilla Briggs and Karl Unnasch.

Art faculty featured in University Gallery exhibit

University of Wisconsin-La Crosse art department faculty will show their recent research and creative endeavors in the upcoming Art Faculty Exhibition.

The show features the work of Justyna Badach, Cam Choy, Joel Elgin, Linda Levinson, Brad Nichols, John Ready, Binod Shrestha, Karen Terpstra, Jennifer Williams Terpstra, Marcia Thompson and Stella Vognar.
Works on display include photography, sculpture, prints, installation, ceramics, painting, drawing and video.
Faculty in the department are currently engaged in a range of research that includes exploring landscape, through painting and photography; identity issues through portraiture, Ancient Irish Cultures through its mysteries and truths; and time as an integral element in the visual dialogue.

The exhibition opens with a reception from 5-7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 5, in the gallery on the first floor of the UW-L Center for the Arts, 16th and Vine streets. The reception will have hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar. The show runs through Saturday, Feb. 27. Admission is free.

In conjunction with the exhibition, there will be a faculty colloquium series. Faculty will discuss their respective fields of research and creative endeavors at 5:30 p.m. Wednesdays, Feb. 10, 17 and 24, in 116 Center for the Arts. Admission is free.
Regular gallery hours are noon-8 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays, noon-5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and during Toland Theatre events. The gallery opens for appointments by calling the UW-L Art Department 608.785.8230.

If you go—
What: UW-L Faculty Art Exhibition
Who: UW-L Art Department Faculty
When: Opening reception from 5-8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 5; exhibit runs through Saturday, Feb. 27.
Where: University Art Gallery, UW-La Crosse Center for the Arts.
Admission: Free


“Jar,” stoneware by Karen Terpstra


“Flexible Flyer Rope, Red,” monotype by Marcia Thompson	“Ball,” found and constructed objects by John Ready

Award-winning author John McNally, will read from his new novel, After the Workshop, Wednesday, March 10, 7 p.m., 337 Cleary Center

“AFTER THE WORKSHOP is a rollicking, hilarious lampooning of the book business...John McNally is a master of satire and wit, but what makes this novel most satisfying is that he is also a superb storyteller and the story of Jack Hercules Sheahan, a classic underdog with whom the reader feels an immediate kinship, is one not to be missed."—Jill McCorkle, author of Going Away Shoes

“A swift, wicked, and very funny book about what writers do when they’re not writing. They’re gossiping, scheming, pining, teaching, going on book tours, and—in the case of McNally’s blocked and shopworn hero, Jack—babysitting more famous writers on tour and trying to think of a reason to live. The pace is brisk, the prose is buoyant, the vision clear and sharp, and the outcome unexpectedly moving. A fine novel.” —Kevin Canty, author of Where the Money Went

“McNally, an Iowa graduate and former media escort, clearly knows the world he admires yet takes down. His wacky literary archetypes, naked humor and sharp observations offer up an entertaining look at the writing life and the people who prop it up."--Publishers Weekly

McNally is the author of three novels (The Book of Ralph, America’s Report Card, and After the Workshop) and two story collections: Troublemakers (winner of the John Simmons Short Fiction Award and the Nebraska Book Award) and Ghosts of Chicago (a Chicagoland Indie Bestseller and voted one of the top twenty fiction books of 2008 by The Believer’s readers). He has also edited six fiction and creative nonfiction anthologies, on subjects as diverse as superheroes and adultery. John’s work has appeared in over a hundred publications, including the Washington Post, The Sun, and Open City, and he is a contributing editor to Virginia Quarterly Review, where his fiction and essays frequently appear. His fiction and essays have also appeared in numerous anthologies and textbooks, including Winding Roads (Pearson/Longman), Behind the Short Story (Pearson/Longman), Don't You Forget about Me: Contemporary Writers on the Films of John Hughes (Simon & Schuster), Long Story Short (North Carolina), New Sudden Fiction (Norton), and others. He has been a finalist for the National Magazine Award and the recipient of fellowships from Paramount Pictures (Chesterfield Writer’s Film Project), the University of Iowa (James Michener Award), George Washington University (Jenny McKean Moore Fellowship), and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellowship). His screenplay Big Man, which he co-wrote with Owen King, is in development with the producers of Milk and Sideways. A native of Chicago, he is presently an associate professor of English at Wake Forest University in North Carolina.

This event is sponsored by the UW-L English Department and Murphy Library. For more information, contact Matt Cashion, 785-8297; cashion.matt@uwlax.edu

Artifact show to feature local history
MVAC to hold annual Valley View Mall event Saturday, March 13

Valley View Mall is usually home to great bargains and enticing sales. But Saturday, March 13, it will feature something not found in a store—authentic artifacts. The Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center (MVAC) will hold its annual artifact show, which typically attracts up to 3,000 visitors. The show runs from 10 a.m.–4 p.m., with a special stone tool making demonstration from 11 a.m.-noon. Admission is free.

“We have been offering the show for more than 20 years,” says Jean Dowiasch, Educational Coordinator and Graphics Specialist at MVAC. Artifacts in the show were recovered from local excavations and feature prehistoric pieces such as arrowheads, pottery and items from “early Native American cultures,” says Dowiasch. MVAC and local collectors will display items, but novice archaeologists are encouraged to bring in their artifacts for identification. “It’s just a good way for local people to see the history of the past,” notes Dowiasch.

MVAC, founded in 1982, has worked to provide education about the archaeology of the Upper Mississippi Valley, as well as conduct research and promote regional understanding of past inhabitants. For more about the center, visit: www.uwlax.edu/mvac

If you go—
What: Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center Annual Artifact Show
When: 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Saturday, March 13
Where: Valley View Mall, Center Court
Admission: Free


Phase III excavations at the historic cistern site in Prairie du Chien.	“The Face” from the Lower Sand Lake site in La Crosse County.	Projectile points made of stone from the Black River Falls area.

THE WORK OF HOWARD ZINN

The UW-L Department of History presents a program in memory of the historian and social justice activist Howard Zinn, author of *A People’s History of the United States* and dozens of other works. UW-L faculty and students will offer brief presentations on Zinn’s work, including personal reflections on Zinn and the meaning of history in the 21st century US. The event is free and open to the campus and to the public.

For more information, contact Don LaCoss at lacoss.dona@uwlax.edu

If you go—
What: The Work of Howard Zinn: Faculty and Student Presentations
Who: UW-L Faculty and Students
When: Wednesday March 3
Where: Wimberly Hall #122; 3:15 PM-4:45 PM
Admission: Free

UW-L’s International LGBTQ (Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) Film Festival and Conversations with Parvez Sharma, UW-L’s Visiting Artist of Color

Events sponsored by: Visiting Artist of Color Grant by the Provost’s Office, Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Pride Center, Rainbow Unity, Women’s Studies Students Association, History, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology/Archaeology, Modern Languages, English and the 7 Rivers LGBT Resource Center.

Schedule:

Thursday, Feb. 25 Parvez Sharma Lecture, “Islam and Diversity,” 4 pm, Cleary Center

Does the 1429 year old religion of Islam have principles that are relevant in the 21st century? What is the sexual psyche of those young men who take on weapons in order to defend Islam and are ready to die for the promised seventy virgins in heaven? What does “jihad” mean in the context of Parvez Sharma’s film? Does Islam’s birth, some fourteen centuries ago herald a sexual revolution that was unprecedented for the monotheistic religions that preceded it? Don’t Muslims have a lot of sex, given the high rates of procreation in their communities worldwide? And what was the Prophet Muhammad’s attitude to matters of sex and sexuality? Was it perverted over time as male power brokers sought to define Islamic morality? In an engaging and incisive talk and discussion based on extensive research and personal experience, Sharma takes on these questions and many more.

More on Sharma:

Parvez Sharma is the director and producer of A Jihad for Love (www.ajihadforlove.com), which is the world’s first feature documentary to explore the complex global intersections between Islam and homosexuality. Crucially, this film speaks with a Muslim voice, unlike other documentaries about sexual politics in Islam made by Western directors. In the hope of opening a dialogue that has been mostly non-existent in Islam’s recent history and defining jihad as a “struggle” rather than a “war,” the film presents the struggle for love.

A Jihad for Love has been screened at more than 70 other international film festivals and is the winner of several international awards. In addition, Sharma was the Assistant Director of “Dance of the Wind (1998)” and Associate Producer of “Tying the Knot (2004)”. In 2004, Sharma also was a producer of “Democracy Now!” with award-winning host, Amy Goodman. From 1997-2000, Sharma served as the News Correspondent, Producer and Editor of Star News Channel, New Delhi Television, India. Sharma’s academic work includes serving as an Adjunct Professor in the Dept. of Anthropology from 2001-2002 and as an Adjunct Professor in the School of Communication from 2002-2003 at American University in Washington D.C. Sharma’s work has been cited in several academic works on media, documentary film and Islamic research. Parvez Sharma has spoken at more than 200 live events across the world including: The Second UN Conference on Racism (“Durban 2”), Geneva, 2009, The Global Forum on the Freedom of Expression, Oslo, 2009, World Outgames, Copenhagen, 2009 and Amnesty International/Movies that Matter (Holland, 8-city tour), 2009. Sharma has been the featured/keynote speaker at more than 30 educational institutions across the United States. As a commentator on Islam and homosexuality and in the context of reporting on the post-2009 election in Iran, Parvez has been interviewed on prominent television networks including: CBC, CNN, BBC, PBS, FOX and MSNBC.

Friday, Feb. 26 7 pm. Film Screening of “A Jihad for Love’ followed by a Conversation with Director Parvez Sharma, 339 Cartwright Center.

A Jihad for Love
Middle East/South Asia
Running time: 81 minutes

Fourteen centuries after the revelation of the holy Qur’an to the Prophet Muhammad, Islam today is the world’s second largest and fastest growing religion. Muslim gay filmmaker Parvez Sharma travels the many worlds of this dynamic faith, discovering the stories of its most unlikely storytellers: lesbian and gay Muslims.

Produced by Sandi DuBowski (Trembling Before G-d) and Sharma, A Jihad for Love was filmed in 12 countries and 9 languages and comes from the heart of Islam. Looking beyond a hostile and war-torn present, it reclaims the Islamic concept of a greater Jihad, whose true meaning is akin to ‘an inner struggle’ or ‘to strive in the path of God’ - allowing its remarkable subjects to move beyond the narrow concept of Jihad as holy war.

SATURDAY, Feb. 27: 12pm - 10 pm, International LBGT Film Festival continues in 339 Cartwright Center

12pm: The Baby Formula
Canada
RUNNING TIME: 81 minutes
In the beginning... sperm came from men
Two adventurous women in love are desperate to have their own biological child. They take a chance on an experimental scientific process and make sperm from their own stem cells. Pregnant with humor and unexpected twists, their journey tailspins out of control when their families discover there is no father.

2pm: Diagnosing Difference
USA
Run time: 60 minutes
How does it feel to have your gender identity included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders? Diagnosing Difference is a full-length length documentary featuring interviews with 13 diverse scholars, activists, and artists who identify on the trans spectrum (transgender, transsexual, genderqueer, and gender variant) about the impact and implications of the Gender Identity Disorder (GID) on their lives and communities.

3:30pm: Dangerous Living: Coming Out in the Developing World
Egypt, Honduras, Kenya, Thailand
Running Time: 60 minutes
Dangerous Living: Coming Out in the Developing World is the first documentary to deeply explore the lives of gay and lesbian people in non-western cultures. Traveling to five different continents, we hear the heartbreaking and triumphant stories of gays and lesbians from Egypt, Honduras, Kenya, Thailand and elsewhere, where most occurrences of oppression receive no media coverage at all. By sharing the personal stories coming out of developing nations, Dangerous Living sheds light on an emerging global movement striving to end discrimination and violence against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people.

5:00pm: XXY
Argentina | Spanish w/ English subtitles
Running Time: 91 Minutes
For just about everybody, adolescence means having to confront a number of choices and life decisions, but rarely any as monumental as the one facing 15 year-old Alex (Ines Efron,) who was born an intersex child. As Alex begins to explore her sexuality, her mother invites friends from Buenos Aires to come for a visit at their house on the gorgeous Uruguayan shore, along with their 16-year-old son Álvaro (Martin Piroyanski.) Alex is immediately attracted to the young man, which adds yet another level of complexity to her personal search for identity, and forces both families to face their worst fears.

7pm: Patrik, Age 1,5
Sweden
Göran always wanted to become a father. He is married to his partner, Sven, and they have been cleared for adoption by the Swedish authorities. The problem is that no country seems to be willing to give a child to a homosexual couple. Göran refuses to give up his dream of having what so many others take for granted; a real family.

Olivier Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time

In 1940, Olivier Messiaen (1908-92) was interned in a German prison camp, where he discovered among his fellow prisoners a clarinettist, a violinist and a violoncellist. The success of a short trio which he wrote for them led him to add seven more movements to this Interlude, and a piano to the ensemble, to create the Quartet for the End of Time. Messiaen and his friends first performed it for their 5000 fellow prisoners on January 15, 1941.

Faculty from UW-Eau Claire will perform this work and Dr. Namji Kim will give a brief lecture prior to the performance.

Contact Information:
Sponsor (i.e. Department/Program): Department of Music
Contact Person: Mary Tollefson
E-mail: tollefso.mary@uwlax.edu
Phone: 785-8418

If you go-
What: Olivier Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time Friday, February 12, 2010
Who: Faculty from UW-Eau Claire
When:Friday, February 12, 2010 at 7:30 PM
Where: Annett Recital Hall, Center for the Arts, the corner of 16th and Vine
Admission: Free

The UWL TESOL and ESL programs proudly welcome...

Sunny Dooley, Diné / Navajo Storyteller
Thursday, February 11, 2010
7-8:15 P.M., Valhalla, CC, UWL

Sunny Dooley is a UW-L Visiting Artist of Color brought to campus through a program funded by the Office of the Provost.

Additional events:

International students & Sunny share life experiences. Join us for hot cocoa and rice crispy bars.

Friday, February 12, 4 - 5:15 p.m., 332 CC, UWL

Saturday, February 13, 10:30 - 11:45 a.m., 151 Cowley, UWL

Sunny Dooley is a native speaker of Diné (Navajo) who teaches the language, traditions and stories to people living in the Navajo Nation. She also performs throughout the United States. From her perspective as a Diné storyteller, Ms. Dooley explains the cultural and historical contexts for the traditional stories from her matrilineal clan, the Saltwater People. In an interview following her 2008 performance at the National Museum of the American Indian (Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.), Ms. Dooley discussed perspectives on her role as a storyteller:

Navajo stories are long, usually taking days to tell, a challenge to interpret for short performances. New stories are created in what Dooley calls the "professional sphere." She says her own contributions "are personal stories of growing up in a bicultural world," adding, "I think that people...who are indigenous to their countries can relate to "the European conquest story." Indigenous cultures survived colonization. Dooley says that colonial legacies "are political systems that have...eroded our cultural integrity. And I think stories are reclaiming that integrity."

Terhune, Lea. (2009, February 6). Teaching the Art of Being Human: Ancient Indigenous Storytelling Thrives. America.gov: eJournal USA. Retrieved May 20, 2009, from http://www.america.gov/st/peopleplace-english/2009/February/20090213170012mlenuhret0.6132471.html

Ms. Dooley also holds the 1982-83 Miss Navajo title, judges Miss Navajo contests, and serves on the Miss Navajo Council Board. Her poetry and reflections on the contest are featured in the 2007 PBS documentary "Miss Navajo." For more information about the film, see http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/missnavajo/or http://missnavajomovie.com/index.html .

For information about the culture, traditions, and beliefs of the Diné (Navajo people), see http://navajopeople.org .

UW-La Crosse Choral Union sets spring performance
University-community ensemble is open to area singers

The UW-La Crosse Choral Union will perform the entire choral-orchestral repertoire of “Ein Deutsches Requiem” (A German Requiem) by Johannes Brahms for its upcoming spring concert in May.

Area singers have an opportunity to sing with the Choral Union. Auditions will be held by appointment scheduled with Paul Rusterholz, director of the ensemble, at 608.784.4497 or pbrust@centurytel.net.

The UW-L Choral Union includes 100 UW-L students, faculty, staff and adult singers from the greater La Crosse area. The ensemble rehearses from 7-9:15 p.m. Mondays in 58 Center for the Arts. (UW-L students may register for Music 167 for one credit, and may repeat the class for credit.)

Rehearsals begin Monday, Jan. 25. There will be no rehearsal Monday, March 15, due to spring break. Extra rehearsals are set from 7-9:30 p.m. Thursday, May 6, and noon-3 p.m. Saturday, May 8. The concert performance is at 4 p.m. Sunday, May 9, at English Lutheran Church, La Crosse. Those who will miss more than two rehearsals are discouraged from singing.

The title “Requiem” usually refers to the Requiem Mass (Mass for the Dead) of the Catholic church, and composers like Verdi have written wonderful and spectacular music to illustrate the splendor and terror of the Day of Judgment. Rusterholz says Brahms takes a much different approach, opening with the words of Jesus “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Rather than prayers for the souls of the dead, Brahms’ Requiem is a powerful and beautiful message of comfort and hope to those who have lost a loved one, notes Rusterholz.

UW-La Crosse Jazz Festival set for Jan. 23
New York pianist, quartet featured along with regional high school groups

New York-based pianist Michael Weiss and his quartet will join the UW-L Jazz Ensemble I, and the tri-state’s top high school groups at the UW-La Crosse Jazz Festival. They’ll perform in concert at 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 23, in Valhalla, Cartwright Center-Gunning Addition. Tickets are $10 for students and $15 for others and may be purchased at the door.

Weiss has established a formidable reputation working with a host of jazz luminaries such as Johnny Griffin, Art Farmer, Jimmy Heath, Frank Wess, Benny Golson, Lou Donaldson, Slide Hampton, George Coleman, Charles McPherson, the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra and Wynton Marsalis. In addition to his demand as a sideman, Weiss’ role as bandleader, recording artist, composer, arranger and educator has earned him accolades from both audiences and critics:
"... focuses the intensity of a tune as well as any pianist in mainstream jazz” - New York Times
" ...writes with thought-provoking originality” - Jazz Times
"A particularly stunning improviser.... intuitive ease and technical brilliance..." - Victoria Times

Joining Weiss in his ensemble at UW-L will be Steve Wilson, alto and soprano saxophone, Ugonna Okegwo, bass, and George Fludas, drums.

Wilson has more than 100 recordings led by wide-ranging artists as Chick Corea, Michael Brecker, Dave Holland, Maria Schneider, Joe Henderson and Bill Stewart among many others. Wilson has seven recordings under his own name, leading and collaborating with such stellar musicians as Lewis Nash, Carl Allen, Steve Nelson, Cyrus Chestnut, Greg Hutchinson, Dennis Irwin, James Genus, Larry Grenadier, Ray Drummond, Ben Riley, and Nicholas Payton.

Okegwo is one of the most distinctive and sought-after jazz bassists in the world. Critics across the globe have praised him for his rich tone, swing, range and inventiveness. These qualities have earned him a place on the bandstand with jazz legends as diverse as Clark Terry, Benny Golson, Pharoah Sanders and Joseph Jarman. And, they have established him as one of the leading lights of a younger generation redefining jazz for the new century.

Fludas has performed and recorded with Monty Alexander, Johnny Griffin, Cedar Walton, Hank Jones, Tommy Flanagan, Frank Wess, Bobby Hutcherson, Eric Alexander, Diana Krall and Ray Brown.

In addition to the evening concert, middle school and high school Jazz Ensembles and Combos will perform from 8 a.m.–3 p.m. The ensembles will perform for a panel of clinicians and have an on stage critique following their performances. All daytime activities are in Cartwright Center and open to the public. For a schedule of performing groups log on to www.uwlax.edu/jazzstudies/Festival.

If you go—
Who: UW-La Crosse Jazz Festival
What: Great jazz
When: 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 23
Where: Valhalla, UW-La Crosse Cartwright Center-Gunning Addition
Admission: $10 for students and $15 for others. May be purchased at the door.

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UW-La Crosse professor creates maplike guide to ID arrowheads
More than 70 from the Upper Mississippi River Valley detailed

University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Archaeology Professor Joe Tiffany has compiled the new guide to help identify arrowheads found in Upper Mississippi River Valley. The guides are $9.95 and available at the UW-L Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center or from the University of Iowa Press.

Those who have unearthed arrowheads can now turn to a handy guide to help identify historical information about the artifacts. The newly produced laminated guide folds up to the size of an ordinary road map. It includes images and details about more than 70 of the most common point forms found throughout the Upper Mississippi River Valley. The point images — in color and full size — allow seekers to lay their find directly on an image similar to what they have found. Each point lists its probable age, chert type it was made with, where the specimen is typically found and other archaeological information. The guides are geared for archaeologists and archaeologist-wannabes in the field, labs or classrooms.

UW-La Crosse Archaeology Professor Joe Tiffany compiled the new guide —“A Guide to Projectile Points of Iowa.”Along with teaching at one of the few comprehensive undergraduate archaeology degree programs in the country and the only one in the Midwest, Tiffany is also director of UW-La Crosse’s Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center. He says there is always interest in archaeological findings.

“Just about every day we get an e-mail or someone dropping in with a question about a point or artifacts they have found,” Tiffany says. “They want the object identified and the story that goes with it — what were the people like who made the point, when did they live, what did they eat, and so on. The guide will provide answers to many of these common questions.”

The guides are $9.95 and available at the Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center on campus or from the University of Iowa Press http://uipress.uiowa.edu/search/index.cfm.

History Department celebrates Marti Lybeck’s Yale and SUNY recognition

Marti Lybeck, UW-L History professor, is “continually amazed” at her recent Yale and State University of New York (SUNY) recognition. Yale University faculty invited Lybeck to speak about women’s sexuality in early 20th century Germany at a featured Oct. 22 presentation. Lybeck also earned the SUNY best dissertation of the year in Queer Studies. SUNY Press chose her dissertation in its annual manuscript competition and awarded her a book contract. “It is a very prestigious award,” says Charles Lee, History Department chair. “There is only one document per year in her field of study that gets this award.”

Lybeck believes Yale noticed her work from an award she received for best dissertation from the German Historical Institute in 2007. “I got an e-mail out of the blue asking if I could speak at Yale this coming semester,” says Lybeck. “The other speaker is a well known scholar in the field, so I was extremely flattered, humbled, and honored.” The SUNY distinction was also unexpected. One of Lybeck’s dissertation advisors from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor suggested she submit her dissertation for this award. She ended up winning the award on Oct. 1.

From 2002 to 2003, Lybeck lived in Berlin, Germany to research historical perspectives on female homosexuality for her dissertation. She completed her study in 2007. The work contains four case studies, or “micro histories,” that illustrate the personal thoughts and attitudes of women, some who considered themselves homosexuals, during the era. Her research focuses on female homosexuality from 1890 until the time of the Nazis. Research methods include historical ethnographies and literary analysis.

After speaking at Yale, she plans to present her research at an international conference during March 2010 in Antwerp, Belgium. Lybeck recently earned an International development fund grant to assist with travel and other expenses.

Lybeck joined the UW-L History Department Fall 2008 and teaches courses in Modern European, German and World History. She also teaches courses for the Women’s Studies Department. Lybeck earned her Bachelor of Arts degree at Augsburg College in Minneapolis and later graduated with a Master’s degree in Library Science at the University of Minnesota. After several years as a librarian, Lybeck earned master’s and doctoral degrees in History at University of Arizona-Tucson in 1999 and University of Michigan-Ann Arbor in 2007.

UW-L instructor’s book has poems on hungry, homeless
Book is No. 4 on Amazon’s hot release list

UW-La Crosse Instructor Patrick T. Randolph and his wife, Gamze, have published a book that’s getting recognition by Amazon.com. Randolph, who teaches in the UW-L English as a Second Language Institute, and his wife have published a unique anthology of poetry: “Empty Shoes: Poems on the Hungry and the Homeless.” On Oct. 19, it hit No. 4 on Amazon’s new hot releases.

The idea behind the project came when Randolph asked his wife how a poet could make a small difference. She mused, why not use a craft to have fun, raise social awareness, showcase poets and help people in need? Randolph’s answer was an anthology. The book includes 80 poets, 151 poems and 30 photographs. It’s the first of its kind with such depth and participation of poets, says Randolph. For the past two years Randolph has worked one-on-one with 79 poets from three foreign countries and 28 states. Three local writers are also featured in the anthology: Dave Dolle, Andy Davis and David Hart.

The poets also include notables such as: Ellen Kort, who served as Wisconsin’s first Poet Laureate; Linda Aschbrenner, publisher of the first 100 issues of Free Verse magazine; Pushcart prize nominees Sharmagne Leland-St. John and Ellaraine Lockie; Jeri McCormick, past president of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets (WFOP); and emptyshoes current WFOP president Lester Smith.

This is Randolph’s fourth book and his second book of poems. His first book of poetry, “Father’s Philosophy,” was a collection of his original poems written from 1999-2006. It has been a bestseller for Popcorn Press. “Father’s Philosophy” will soon be released in its second edition. “Empty Shoes: Poems on the Hungry and the Homeless” is available on Popcorn Press’s Web site, http://www.popcornpress.com, and Amazon.com. All profits from the book will go to nationwide programs devoted to helping the hungry and homeless.

Randolph hopes local stores will soon carry the book. Since its release in late September, the it has consistently been on the top 10 of Amazon’s list for Hot Releases.