Humans are pattern-makers. We seek connections in science and history to explain the way that both the universe and we ourselves function. We also make our own patterns. This is why we have stories and myths, which follow certain structures that we don’t have the power to impose on our own lives. As I reach the end of my senior year, I attempt to seek a pattern in the fabric of my college experience. I want to find meaning in random occurrences from four years ago; I want to see how they echo today, even without my knowing it. I…
Author: Helena Hunt
Hollywood is both an industry and a place. Though the iconic white sign might represent the place where movies—and dreams—are made, the industry can really be anywhere.Baylor film students have learned that firsthand over the last year as they worked with Sandra Lee, assistant professor of film and digital media, on a feature-length and a short film. The students shot both films up to Hollywood’s standards, with all the equipment and crew that would be at home on a Los Angeles backlot.Thirty students shot the feature film “River House Inheritance” for their feature film experience class last summer, and 25…
Waco artists will no longer have to wait for events like Art on Elm Avenue or the Cultural Arts Festival to show their work. The Waco Artist Market, which started at the April 2 Texas Food Truck Showdown, will allow local creators to showcase their work on a regular basis.The market will be installed from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday at Heritage Square in downtown Waco, and at the same time on intermittent Saturdays after that. Monica Shannon, one of the market’s founders, said the new venue will provide an opportunity for Waco Downtown Farmers Market shoppers to mosey downtown…
Rob Askins graduated with a degree in theater from Baylor in 2004, leaving Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Center and years of misbehavior behind him or New York City. Since then, he has joined the Ensemble Studio Theatre and written a series of irreverent plays there. many of which reference his Texas upbringing. The most successful of these was “Hand to God,” a darkly comic take on Christian puppetry in suburban Texas that received five Tony nominations. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Askins is also currently working on a show for HBO called “Brotherhood,” which follows the misadventures of a secret society…
On Green River Ordinance’s song “Where the West Wind Blows,” singer Josh Jenkins vows to “get lost with no direction, on 35 South for Texas.” On Sunday, the band will make good on its Texas promises, interrupting its nationwide tour to head south on Interstate 35 all the way to Baylor.The folk-inspired band, which originally hails from Fort Worth, is breaking up its tour in support of Delta Delta Delta’s inaugural Delta Night Live event at 5 p.m. Sunday on Fountain Mall. Tickets cost $15, and the proceeds for Delta Night Live will go to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital,…
When I got to college I had the idea that I would only have time to study and go to class, that even introductory courses would require a level of investment I never could have fathomed in high school. This impression might have come from my parents or several alarming orientation sessions, but in the way that mistaken impressions often do, it fulfilled itself. My freshman and sophomore years, I only made time to go to class and the back to my dorm room to complete my homework as soon as it was assigned. I made checklists of material, and…
They’re a regular Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, these four Honest Men. Though they may never go to the fiery furnace or lion’s den, the band is as serious about faith and, well, honesty as its spiritual forebears. Honest Men first performed a year ago at Student Union’s Battle of the Bands, where they played Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” and took first despite never having played together before. Now, a year later, Waco sophomore Seth Findley, the band’s frontman; guitarist Brooks Whitehurst, a Baylor graduate; drummer Zach Solomon, also a Baylor graduate; and Killeen sophomore Nathan Wallace, the bassist, are showing…
Food trucks could be rolling onto campus next semester to bring a few more dining options to hungry students. Student government and Student Activities are working together to bring the mobile meals to campus. Matt Burchett, director of Student Activities, said a food truck trial run will launch within the next several weeks to find which on-campus locations prove the most popular for student diners. The food trucks may pop up by Moody Memorial Library and several other spots at Baylor. Kaufman junior Stephen Gentzel, a co-chair on Student Senate’s Campus Improvements and Affairs Committee, said he would like to…
In 2003, Emanuel Lambert (who later, of course, adopted the name Da’ Truth) took a western civilization course as an undergraduate at Philadelphia Bible College. The class left him with a series of questions about God and faith which he continues to wrestle with today, after over a decade in the music industry and two Grammy nominations. On his upcoming album “It’s Complicated Vol. 1,” Da’ Truth takes on, well, the truth—of religion, hell, marriage and Jesus Christ.On your upcoming album, “It’s Complicated,” what are the questions and doubts about religion that you’re trying to answer?I think that one of…
Washing feet and Johann Sebastian Bach may not seem to have much in common. But this Maundy Thursday, the Chamber Singers are serving fellow students with Bach in the same spirit that Jesus served his disciples by washing their feet.The Chamber Singers, accompanied by a string ensemble and organist Jillian Gardner, will celebrate Maundy Thursday this week with a concert at noon Thursday in Armstrong Browning Library. The student ensemble, which usually performs Renaissance and Contemporary compositions, will be singing Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cantata No. 4, “Christ lag in Todes Banden,” or “”Christ Lay in Death’s Bonds.”Maundy Thursday, which falls…
Ellen Mote forges her jewelry career in the wilds of Waco
One afternoon when I was 6 years old, I asked my mom why I couldn’t paint my fingernails red. It was in the car on the way home from school, and the other girls’ little fingernails were flying through my mind like ladybugs looking for a way out. I curled my own bare ones into a fist, my palms keeping them safe from anyone who might see them and laugh. My mom asked me if I would jump off a bridge just because my friends did. I thought,“Well, maybe, if I had any friends,” but I said no. When I…
One of the T-shirts for sale in the new Mainstream Boutique says “All I need is coffee and mascara.” Chelsea Parker must have had her fill of both when she went from studying for finals to owning the clothing store in less than a year.Parker, who graduated from Baylor in May, opened her new store at 600 Franklin Ave. on Saturday after several months of franchise agreements, construction, training and choosing the clothing and jewelry she would sell.”It’s been a whirlwind. I always knew I wanted to have my own business, but I thought I would have a fun job…
Nearly a year of planning, rehearsals and sleepless nights came to an end Saturday night when this year’s All-University Sing winners were announced. Pi Beta Phi took first with its act “Meet Me in Ze Alps,” with Kappa Omega Tau’s “Setting Sail” and Chi Omega’s “Lunch Lady Land” placing second and third, respectively.The Sing chairs and performers got the news after the last of six performances in Waco Hall. Tears flowed and hugs were traded as the members of the winning acts got their prizes.”I think the five of us were completely in shock,” said Austin junior Mary Ferguson, a…
To become a Cultural District, a city needs artists, creators and independent business owners, people with new ideas and a passion for the place they live. Waco already has Magnolia Market, Wildland Supply Company, Dichotomy and other small businesses downtown, which are all owned and operated locally. Creative Waco, which is spearheading Waco’s application for Cultural District status, wants to help other entrepreneurs find footing in the city. Today, the nonprofit is hosting, along with the Waco Convention and Visitor Bureau and the Waco Hippodrome, an Arts Funding and Leadership Development Day to help potential business owners find ways to…
All the Hippodrome will be a stage at 6:15 p.m. tomorrow when the Waco Shakespeare Film Society premieres its first feature, Joss Whedon’s “Much Ado About Nothing.”The group, started by Matthew Anderson, will show a series of Shakespeare adaptations that take the Bard out of England and into a Santa Monica home or present-day Africa.Baylor’s Honors College is helping to being “Much Ado” to the Hippodrome for free. Director of film and digital media Christopher Hansen will introduce the movie, which was directed in 2012 by Joss Whedon and moves Shakespeare’s screwball love story from 16th century Messina to modern-day…
Next month, students will have the opportunity to use their own work to remember and reflect upon the horrific death of Jesse Washington 100 years ago. The religion department is seeking submissions for its memorial service for Washington, to be held 3 p.m. March 19 in Elliston Chapel. Essays, musical compositions, videos, poems, performances, prayers and other reflective pieces may be emailed to Natalie_Carnes@baylor.edu for the ecumenical service. On May 15, 1916, 17-year-old Washington, a black field hand, was lynched by a mob of Waco citizens after confessing to the murder of his employer’s wife, Lucy Fryer. He was dragged…
When I was 7, I read in one of the “Little House on the Prairie” books that Laura Ingalls and her sisters were expected to be completely silent when company came to call. They weren’t to speak or move and could only listen patiently to those with greater knowledge and experience than they had. My memory is vague on the particulars, but that passage left an impression that still lingers with me more than a decade later (Especially since, in many ways, I still see myself as a child in the company of adults). My voice will contribute nothing valuable…
Terry and Jo’s Food for Thought, home of fresh and organic dining options just blocks from campus, will be expanding its restaurant to offer a selection of grocery items in the coming weeks.While Food for Thought already sells popcorn and cereal in addition to its menu of burritos, nachos and smoothies, the local restaurant will soon add organic produce, farm fresh eggs, milk and other groceries to its stock.The grocery section will be added to the restaurant’s front room, on the other side of the half-wall that greets customers as they enter the restaurant. “I really expect that it’s going…
The stage is set for a political convention. The candidates prepare their final campaign speeches before they go before the crowd. A pragmatist and an idealist are going head to head, and the people must decide which to choose as their leader.The stage this week isn’t in Iowa or New Hampshire, however. It’s in Baylor’s own Mabee Theatre, where Elizabeth Tudor and Mary Stuart will face off again as political rivals in a hotly contested political race.”Mary Stuart,” originally written by Friedrich Schiller and performed in 1800, shows the legendary standoff between Queen Elizabeth of England and her cousin Mary…
Baylor Ballroom Dance Society picks up its feet with the first dances of the semester
The Baylor Symphony Orchestra has been named the American Prize winner in the college/university orchestra division for the second year in a row. Meanwhile, the Baylor Wind Ensemble took second among college and university wind ensembles. The American Prize is a competition series that awards musicians in several categories, including conducting, voice and opera. The nonprofit organization awards cash prizes to its finalists along with its prestigious title. Baylor Symphony Orchestra placed above the acclaimed Peabody Symphony Orchestra and Western Michigan University Orchestra programs in the competition. “It’s kind of like winning the national championship for orchestra,” said Stephen Heyde,…
Fuzzy’s Taco franchise comes downtown
Waco applies to make downtown area Cultural District
Lomelda, Tapajenga and Evan and the Condors come back to Common Grounds
Teacher turned musician Quinn Erwin plays Common Grounds
A Baylor grad’s big-time film comes to Waco first
Leslie Medlin finds the balance between business and design right here in downtown Waco.
Baylor faculty engage in work that goes far beyond what their students witness in the classroom. Research, visiting lectures and writing all form a significant part of the professor’s working life. For professors in the department of art, their work extends into the creative realm as well. They don’t just teach; they do. At the Department of Art Faculty Biennial Exhibition, which opened Thursday in the Martin Museum of Art, students and faculty have the opportunity to see a collection of what their professors and colleagues work on outside the classroom. The exhibit, which used to run annually alongside student…
Wild West, Waco’s hotspot for country music and two-step dancing, hosted its last guests this January. The downtown bar and nightclub closed after a gradual decline in revenue and traffic.”We were fortunate to be part of Waco nightlife for eight years,” said Mark Easterling, Wild West’s director of marketing and promotions.Easterling said part of the club’s decline can be attributed to its relatively recent opening in 2007. However, he said that he and others can only speculate about other reasons for Wild West’s closure. Wild West still holds the lease to the building on Mary Avenue, and the owners have…