Prevailing in the pursuit of soul food
You begin to look at life in a different way when you’re waiting in line for food stamps.
Use the fields below to perform an advanced search of The Daily Tar Heel's archives. This will return articles, images, and multimedia relevant to your query. You can also try a Basic search
15 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
You begin to look at life in a different way when you’re waiting in line for food stamps.
My summer living situation is what the literary world would call ironic.
As you navigate through the array of opportunities available this summer, never underestimate the importance of a challenging experience. While you could spend the next few months putting your feet up and basking in the warmth of the sun, not only will you increase your chance of skin cancer, but you will miss out on seriously beefing up your future.Summer is the prime time for skill building through research, service and internship programs. With these come connections with new friends and mentors who can be advocates for you down the road. Don’t be apprehensive. Yes, you should always consider the pros and cons of an opportunity, but don’t let hard work dissuade you. While protecting the sacred GPA seems important, right now employers and graduate schools weigh experience far above grades.The University offers such a large amount of opportunities that you might feel daunted from the outset, not knowing where to begin. First, consider your interests. Where would you like to see yourself in the future? For science majors, consider lab work. Utilize your program’s University website and really stalk those professors. Those who work with you will be important supporters later on, ready to promote you with recommendations and job references.But for other majors, participation in a trip abroad, especially with an internship or service program, builds a variety of skills and that highly valued “well-roundedness.”The University wants to help you get out of the U.S. so much there’s a entire program dedicated to it: UNC Global. Veiled in academia under the International and Area Studies department, UNC Global really just wants to give you the opportunity to travel and gain worldly experience. Their website includes one page with 31 different sources of travel funding for undergraduates. Multiple campus groups also work abroad during the summer, some through the Campus Y and APPLES Global Service-Learning Program.But there are plenty of national programs that offer internships and service work like Teach for America, AmeriCorps and City Year. These skill-building community development programs will help you network, build your resume and become a better leader.Don’t give up now. To think your summer is set in stone is to disregard the next two and a half months of possibilities. Last summer, in a last minute decision, I went on a Nourish International trip to the Moche Valley of Peru with 11 other UNC students. We performed public health development in this rural valley. It was a lot of work and one of the best experiences of my life. I met great friends and mentors and gained a variety of skills to show for it.At the end of this summer I embark on my next adventure, participating in City Year in San Antonio.Not only have I never been there, but I have never taught kids in any academic capacity. But to have it any other way is to sacrifice the adventure.
This article was published in the 2009 Year in Review issue of The Daily Tar Heel.
Inspiration comes in many forms. One of those is naked.
Correction (Nov. 5, 2009 12:10 a.m.): Due to a reporting error, an earlier version of this story misstated the time of the Anoop Desai concert. It begins at 7 p.m. Sunday. The story has been changed to reflect the correction. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.
Anoop Desai, former “American Idol” contestant and UNC Clef Hanger, will perform at 8 p.m. Nov. 8 at Memorial Hall as a second Homecoming act, organizers confirmed Wednesday.“I think this will be real cool,” Desai said.“I was planning on coming back anyway since the ‘Idol’ tour didn’t come through the Chapel Hill-Raleigh area.”Hip-hop artist Fabolous will perform Sunday as the first Homecoming concert.The concerts are sponsored and chosen by a committee from the Carolina Union Activities Board and Carolina Athletic Association.Desai approached UNC about performing, following his concert at the 2009 N.C. State Fair.Since his time on “American Idol,” Desai said he has been working on his musical career.“I’m shopping for a record deal right now, doing some writing, finding management,” he said. “Working to complete my dream of being a pop singer.”Homecoming Director Courtney Brown said she was satisfied with the decision to bring Desai.“We expect it will sell out. He’s so popular, and there was a high attendance rate for his performance at the State Fair,” she said.Memorial Hall is a familiar setting for Desai, who performed there twice a year with the UNC Clef Hangers.“Anoop is no stranger to Memorial Hall. He had a lot of big moments there as a Clef Hanger,” said current Clef Andrew Simpson.“It’s always extremely exciting to step up there on stage in front of 1,500 people.”This and the announcement of Fabolous’ performance came as an end to an exhaustive search for Homecoming performances.CUAB and CAA had a total budget of $65,000 for the concerts. The first artists they approached, Girl Talk and Kid Cudi, rejected the offers.“It’s unusual that two acts were pursued, with offers made, and both acts turned us down at the last minute,” said Don Luse, director of the Carolina Union, who helps execute contracts.“Collectively the two shows are significantly less than what was paid last year.”The 2008 Homecoming concert featured The Avett Brothers and Gym Class Heroes for $70,000.The contract containing specific costs for each performer was withheld due to confidentiality.Though artist confirmation came late this year, Luse said it was not for lack of effort.“You can have a great advertisement plan or communication with the DTH, but you can’t convince someone to buy tickets if they don’t know the act,” Luse said.“Students worked hard, beating the bushes for the acts we got this year.”Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.
Anoop Desai, former American Idol contestant and UNC Clef Hanger, will perform on campus as a second Homecoming act, organizers confirmed today.
Ravi Shankar, deemed the “godfather of world music” by former Beatle George Harrison, will perform a sold-out show with his daughter tonight in Memorial Hall.Through collaborations with major musicians such as The Beatles and virtuoso violinist Yehudi Menuhin, Shankar is noted for bringing Indian music to contemporary global audiences.“He really brought Indian classical music to the world, but I think we can’t escape the fact that his presence alone is worth savoring,” said Emil Kang, director of Carolina Performing Arts.“This is beyond cultural experience. It’s a chance to witness one of the greatest world musicians.”Not only is Shankar an accomplished artist, but his daughters, Norah Jones and Anoushka Shankar, are also celebrated musicians.Anoushka Shankar, who rose to fame as a outstanding sitar player and composer, will join her father on stage for the performance.“There have been few performances where I’ve thought, this could be a moment you will remember for your lifetime,” Kang said. “The fact that we have father and daughter makes this one of those moments.”The performance, part of the CPA fall series, is also one of the shows of his extensive fall tour across North America. The Chapel Hill concert falls between stops in Los Angeles and Carnegie Hall.“He loves performing for younger audiences,” said Simran, Shankar’s tour manager, who would not give her last name.“He’s done it his whole life and really enjoys it.”While Shankar’s popularity has catapulted him into the international spotlight, he still finds time to organize his shows.“He decides what he’s going to play usually an hour or two before the show, sometimes during the sound check,” Simran said. “We just don’t know what he’ll do.”Shankar’s Indian influence has spread deep into the recesses of classic rock.He played at three of the most important concerts in rock history: the Monterey Pop Festival, the Concert for Bangladesh and the Woodstock Music and Art Fair.Shankar, 89, has documented his extensive life in his acclaimed autobiography, “Raga Mala.”Former student and member of The Beatles George Harrison edited and wrote the introduction for the work. Harrison’s association with Shankar was the catapult for Shankar’s Western fame and international appeal.“To stand the test of time, musicians must reinvent themselves and always seek new opportunities to expand their territories and horizons,” Kang said. “Ravi Shankar really blazed that trail 50 years ago.”Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.
As a paratrooper during the Vietnam War, a high school teacher, a night watchman and an honors English student at Oxford University, Tobias Wolff garnered a variety of life experiences that inspired him to write.Now, as the first of four distinguished visiting writers this fall, the acclaimed memoirist and short story author will sit down with the Living Writers creative writing class to talk with students who have been studying his work.Wolff will speak at 5:30 p.m. tonight in the University Room of Hyde Hall.“They’ve read seven or eight of his stories and some supplemental interviews,” said Pam Durban, an English and comparative literature professor who teaches the class.“The point of the writers’ visits is that there is no substitute for being able to read someone’s work and then ask them questions personally.”Wolff is currently a distinguished professor of English and creative writing at Stanford. His works, including the memoir “This Boy’s Life,” and recent short story collection “Our Story Begins: New and Selected Stories,” have received multiple awards.“He’s a great individual to inaugurate this program and curriculum,” said Evan Gurney, the teaching assistant for the class. “It seems appropriate that his reading coincides with the start of the literary festival.”The N.C. Literary Festival opens today and continues through the weekend. Although Wolff’s lecture is part of the Distinguished Visiting Writers series, the event is one of the first of the festival.The class closely examines the stylizing and sequencing of contemporary writers’ works.“I have them reading in a particular way,” Durban said. “They are reading like a writer, reading for how things get done on a page, looking at time, character development and usage of grammar. They will be writing their own material near the end of the semester based on what they’ve learned.”Gurney said that he finds the class’ alternative style of curriculum exciting.“Students read the writer’s work in the context of their own writing,” Gurney said. “It makes the whole craft of writing come alive.”Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.
Like Cher, Bono or Madonna, the Hanes Art Center visiting lecturer goes by only one name — Aldwyth. And she has just as much personality as they do.The 73-year-old South Carolinian artist’s work is on display now through Sunday at the Ackland Art Museum.“Aldwyth has archived reproductions of old works, and she collages them into a fresh personal language,” said Cary Levine, a contemporary art history professor who introduced the lecture.Her work ranges from small boxes depicting each letter of the alphabet to giant collages composed of encyclopedia illustrations arranged like the pattern of a quilt.She spoke Tuesday night to a packed house with people spilling into the aisles of Hanes Art Center auditorium.During her lecture, she covered the major events of her work’s history since 1953. Through colorful language and anecdotes, the artist’s strong personality came through.And that personality was prominent during her conversation with Levine and the audience after her prepared speech.“I bet someone wants to know the deal with the 123 eye balls, so who’s going to ask it? Who’s the asshole?” Aldwyth said of one of her large collage pieces, “Casablanca (classic version).”At the end of the speech, Levine asked questions about her inspiration and motivation, such as if she was trying to make feminist art through her pieces.“I never thought about that, except when I looked at my art history books. I don’t consider myself a feminist,” Aldwyth said. “It would be nice to have a wife.”Aldwyth did not give elaborate answers, but some said it helped viewers retain their personal interpretations of the works.“I could see why she wouldn’t want to explain something fully, just to leave it to your own imagination,” said Kelsey Zyvoloski, a recent UNC graduate. “It really helped me understand more of what she’s doing in her pieces and her thought process.”Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.
This fall Carolina Performing Arts offers a new experimental series that breaks down the formality between artist and audience. The Loading Dock Series will have the audience enter through the back of Memorial Hall from the loading dock, sit on the stage with the artist and have a discussion after the performance. “We’ll hang a red light over the loading dock door and you’ll feel like you’re coming into a club off an alley,” said Emil Kang, CPA director. “There will be a completely different vibe. You’ll see a shop. You’ll see a saw. You’ll see a piano hanging out in the corner. You’ll see chairs in stacks. That whole feel is there.”The backstage area in Memorial Hall will be the lobby for these performances. Audience members will either sit facing the artist or in a circle surrounding the artist.Yas, a popular Iranian hip-hop artist, who was scheduled to open the series with a performance Sept. 17., canceled last week due to family conflicts.While the cancellation of an artist might be seen as an economic problem for some programs, Kang said it actually will save money.He explained that even in a sold-out house, ticket prices never cover all the expenses for a show. Additional donations and funding from the University make up the difference.The Loading Dock series will bring in foreign and thought-provoking artists, as the CPA full-stage schedule promises.For the first show in the series, Rha Goddess, a hip-hop performer and playwright, will present her piece, Low. The act chronicles a woman’s journey through the mental health system.A similar series, PlayMakers Repertory Company’s PRC2, also offers some well-known performances in an informal setting.“The plays are meant to try our experimental acts, which can be controversial,” said Stephen Akin, box office manager for PlayMakers. “Every show has a post discussion with panelists from different areas of the University.”The first performance of the fall series is The Last Cargo Cult by Mike Daisey, opening Sept. 16.All the PRC2 artists have some national fame, but usually only in a certain niche, he said.“For example, Mike Daisey is a famous national performer; he is big in New York City but not a lot of people know about him here,” Akin said.These performances are presented in the Kenan Theatre, a smaller space than PlayMakers’ usual venue, and run for one week.Both series offer audiences a chance to see high-quality performances with a different setting.“We are looking at trying to do more and more performances outside the traditional setting. These are most likely artists you’ve never seen before,” Kang said.“Many students come to Carolina and this becomes their window, their springboard to everything else. If something that you’ve experienced on this campus gets you to do that extra bit of research, homework, exploration, then we’ve done our job.”Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.
Walking into the Chapel Hill Museum, the cylindrical arrangement of various images printed on the 14-foot high strands of receipt paper seem a little daunting.
Navigating the variety of theater groups at UNC is not easy.There are groups for students, groups run by students and also a professional group.To help announce auditions and celebrate the new year, the Department of Dramatic Art is having a kickoff from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Friday in Kenan Theatre.“It’s an informational session for majors and returning majors and also just students interested in dramatic arts,” said Jeff Cornell, associate chairman of the department. “We would love for them to get involved.” Student theaterThe student-led groups, including Pauper Players, Company Carolina and Lab! Theatre, make up most of the dramatic arts troupes on campus.Each group taps different styles and genres of dramatic arts.Pauper Players focuses on student musical theater, and has one production every fall, spring and a Broadway musical review.Company Carolina does many well-known plays during the year, performing at UNC and in the community.The oldest dramatic arts student organization on campus, Lab! Theatre, formed to produce more experimental theater.“Lab! was created in the ’80s by a group of students who felt the department wasn’t serving their experimental needs,” said Erin Hanehan, department of dramatic arts student representative.While Lab! retains their purpose as an experimental theater, they still use resources from the department.“The Lab! Theatre is part of the department production model,” Cornell said.“The students get money from Student Congress for student- directed, produced, acted and built shows that are free to the whole campus,” he said.Lab! is not a requirement, but members said it is a good way to gain full production experience.“The biggest benefit of working with Lab! is that you’re working with your peers,” Hanehan said, “but also with a number of peers who are trained in the same department.”The group’s first auditions, for the shows “Anatomy of Gray” and “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” will be held on Monday and Tuesday.Professional theaterThe PlayMakers Repertory Company is the professional theater at UNC. The group works on campus and employs graduate students and professors from the department of dramatic art.“We are a professional acting company,” said Andrea Akin, associate director of marketing for PlayMakers. “We hold contracts with the Actor’s Equity Association —the actor’s union.”The department utilizes the company as a way to display their highly trained skills.“This is one of our main professional outlets and a wonderful laboratory for us to show to our students what we aspire to and encourage them to do,” Cornell said.Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.
Two famed Tar Heels will be teaching a new first-year seminar, which will offer students the chance to see 18 musical performances this fall.