I had the pleasure of seeing the last performance of McLennan Community College Theater’s production of “Hairspray” on Sunday afternoon in the Ball Performing Arts Center on the MCC campus.

The play was directed by MCC theater director and choreographer Jerry MacLauchlin.

It is no secret that this play is probably one of the most well known since Adam Shankman remade the film, which came out in 2007. “Hairspray,” set in 1962 Baltimore, Md., is about a plump girl (Tracy Turnblad) who makes it on to a local dance show and becomes an instant celebrity. She soon makes it her mission to integrate the show and win the show’s pageant contest. The musical is a social commentary on race relations during the height of the Civil Rights Movement.

With spring break right around the corner, many students are scrambling to make plans for that one precious week without school. This year, a unique alternative from the usual cruises, lake houses and festivals has presented itself in MTV and United Way’s Spring Fix.

MTV, the music television channel, has partnered with United Way and mtvU, the 24-hour college channel, to organize an alternative spring break for students who wish to spend their break in a philanthropic way.

On Diadeloso in 1996, Baylor hosted its first on-campus dance, forever lifting a ban on dancing at the largest Baptist university in the world.

Now nearly 17 years later, students dance to the beat of their own drum by the hundreds in banana suits, sombreros, Speedos and other costumes.

Nothing consumes and defines Baylor life in the spring semester so much as All-University Sing, a marathon of Broadway-style shows put on by Sing Alliance, Baylor Chamber of Commerce and various Greek organizations every year in front of family and alumni from all over the country as part of a 61-year tradition.

When the curtain rises, all the audience sees is the glare of stage lights against dramatic make-up, flashy costumes and newly painted props. This year, 18 acts are performing, including paired acts and Sing Alliance, which consists of students who are not involved in Greek organizations but still want to participate.

I’ve seen a lot of Sing acts — 6 or 7 years’ worth of them to be precise. I have a very strong idea about what makes a “good” Sing act. I look at song choice, creativity, story, execution and, to an extent, cleverness. I appreciate novelty and new-ness, as well as risk-taking. I’m going to try to reward acts when they are good, but I’m not going to hesitate to criticize them when they miss opportunities (or notes during a solo). This year, we will be working on a 5-point-scale. A 5 is near perfection and a 1 is barely showing up. Since Chamber is actually competing this year, no zeroes will be given.

When all you see are red roses, candy hearts and pink plush animals, you know it’s Valentine’s Day.

But for many busy students, Valentine’s Day this year will lack the chocolates and fancy dinner that make Valentine’s Day famously romantic.

Arlington sophomore Shelby Blue and Tyler junior Matthew Baldwin will spend Valentine’s Day performing at opening night for All-University Sing, leaving little room for celebrating the holiday. They have been dating for seven months.

A Baylor alumnus wants to redefine college dating.

Noah Mortel, who graduated from Baylor in 2008 with a degree in economics, marketing and international business, has created an online dating website called CollegeBoo geared specifically toward college students.

The Baylor theater is bringing a timeless theme to the stage with “Born Yesterday,” a play by Garson Kanin.

Opening at 7:30 p.m. tonight in the Mabee Theater of the Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Center, “Born Yesterday” will be the theatre department’s first production of the spring.

Two men dressed like Bruiser and Bevo, the mascot of the University of Texas, jumped into a pool.

It wasn’t the start of a Big 12 brawl. It was the Polar Plunge for Special Olympics.

Twenty-eight people jumped into a pool  at 11 a.m. Saturday at Hawaiian Falls Water Park in support of Special Olympics Texas.  Hawaiian Falls Water Park is located at 900 Lake Shore Drive.

When thinking of Mardi Gras, colorful artwork and jazz music, Waco is not usually the first place that comes to mind.

A Mardi Gras Celebration of Art will host its Super Friday Event art show from 6:30 to 11:30 p.m. Today at the Legacy Café on Austin Avenue. The event allows students to show their creative works while raising money for the Heart of Texas Autism Network.

The time for interfaith and multicultural worship has come for those attending Gospel Fest this Saturday.

Gospel Fest 2013, hosted by Baylor’s Heavenly Voices gospel choir, will be held at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in Waco Hall.

This year’s theme is “Still Standing.” The acts include gospel choirs from all over Waco and the Central Texas area, such as Acts Church, the University of North Texas gospel choir, the Waco Community Choir, The Levites from Austin and many more.

Looking for a reason to spend more time on Facebook? CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his crew of social-software gurus are convinced their new Graph Search function is just what you need.

Zuckerberg has touted Graph Search as a “third pillar” of the popular social networking service as important to the Facebook experience as Timeline or News Feed. For many Facebook users, however, the new feature will take some getting used to.

This weekend art will be created, and the canvas of choice for many Wacoans will be their own bodies.

The Immersed In Ink Tattoo & Arts Festival will take place Friday through Sunday at the Waco Convention Center.

The festival will host tattoo artists from across the United States and provide live entertainment.

Love will certainly be in the air for Armstrong Browning Library’s Fifth Annual Valentine’s Day Extravaganza.

From 2 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, the library will host its yearly Valentine’s Day Extravaganza in the McLean Foyer of Meditation of Armstrong Browning Library. The event will feature romantic duets performed by professional artists Dave Tanner and Linda Wilcox along with a dessert reception, coffee bar and door prizes.

The day of love is almost here, and the Martin Museum of Art is helping students get ready for it.

Today marks the second time the Martin Museum of Art will host the Print-A-Valentine event in cooperation with the Baylor Art department.

Few lips in 2013 have been as scrutinized as Beyonce Knowles’. On Sunday evening during the Super Bowl halftime show, while the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers were recovering from an hour of head-bashing action, Knowles’ lips and the ringing, pitch-perfect voice behind them were the focus of a national drama that had unfolded in the weeks prior.

In the United States, we celebrate the new year for one day and then move on. However, in China, the New Year lasts for much longer than that.

Chinese New Year, or “Spring Festival” as it’s called in China, is a 15-day celebration that starts with the new moon on the first day of the new year and ends with the full moon 15 days later.

This lunar new year the Asian Students Association (ASA) is bringing the Chinese New Year and its traditions to Baylor.

At 7 p.m. Monday in the Barfield Drawing Room in the Bill Daniel Student Center, students will have the chance to celebrate the year of the snake with free food from Panda Express, entertainment and games. The event is free and open to the public.

Running through Waco will change lives on Sunday, as the Be The Match marrow donor program hosts its 10th annual Miracle Match Marathon. All the proceeds of the marathon go to Be The Match Registry to help those needing lifesaving bone marrow transplants.

America’s Got Talent television program will hold auditions Saturday and Sunday in San Antonio at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention…

Several Baylor students will have their clothes cut off at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

The event, in Jones Theatre in the Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Center, will recreate Yoko Ono’s iconic performance entitled “Cut Piece.” Interviews, audience reactions and a reception will follow.

Ono, famous for her marriage to John Lennon of The Beatles and for her social activism, first performed the piece in Japan in 1964. Ono remained still and silent while audience members, who were hesitant at first, came up and cut increasingly larger pieces of her clothing off.

Television star John Stamos will join The Beach Boys on Friday at the Heart O’ Texas Fair.

Stamos has appeared on a variety of televsion shows such as “General Hospital” and the popular ABC series “Full House” and has displayed his musical talents on stage touring with The Beach Boys over the past 20 years.

He has been making appearances with The Beach Boys since 1985 and appeared in the group’s video for chart-topper “Kokomo.”

The State Fair of Texas opens today in Dallas with food, festivities and football as part of the 126th annual expo.

Organizers have chosen “Big and Bright” as this year’s theme. A Chinese Lantern Festival is part of the activities through Oct. 21 at Fair Park.

Big names in music are coming to the Baylor campus.

At 7:30 p.m. Friday, Common Grounds welcomes back Sondre Lerche, a Norwegian singer-songwriter whose talents range from a “jazz band leader, a punk howler, a would-be Springsteen [and] a transatlantic teen idol.”

“To say I’m formally trained is giving me more credit,” Lerche said in a biography available via his official website. “I still to this day cannot read music.”

“I first heard her at an open-mic at Common Grounds, but when I first saw her I was like, ‘This girl is a creative genius.’ I have to meet her and play music with her,” said Andrew Hulett, member of Waco-based band Lomelda.

“Art connects people together,” festival producer Doreen Ravencroft said. “I hope at the festival we can be creative together.”

The ninth annual Waco Cultural Arts Festival will be held Friday through Sunday at Indian Spring Park as a celebration of artists, musicians and dancers coming together.

How much does Brian Dwyer love pizza?

Let us count the ways: He holds the Guinness World Record for largest collection of pizza memorabilia; he has a caricature of himself, eating pizza, tattooed on his back with the phrase “Totally saucesome!”; and he is the driving force behind Pizza Brain, which he describes as the nation’s first pizza museum.

Dance for a cause this Friday night at the Phi Kappa Chi Stoplight Party, as the Christian fraternity raises money for the fraternity’s philanthropy Iloveorphans.com.

Does it really take two to tango?

The Pablo Ziegler Trio, this year’s first performer in the Baylor School of Music’s Distinguished Artist Series might prove otherwise.

The trio consists of Pablo Ziegler on piano, Héctor Del Curto on bandoneón and Claudio Ragazzi

Photographs taken by Keith Carter are nowhere near the typical cliché of bright colors and happy faces, but that is what distinguishes Carter from some modern photographers.

“I loved the 19th century photographs, and a lot of times they [the human subjects] had what I call ‘the look’. The exposures were long, they’d never been photographed and they just sort of stared, and I love that look,” Carter said at a gallery exhibit Thursday.