It’s a Small World After All
This weekend Centenary College hosts Ten Thousand Villages. A shopping event which brings together “over 100 artisans in more than 30 countries,” like Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
The twentieth and twenty-first centuries have witnessed an incredible shrinking of the world. Modern technology enables communication across the world in a matter of seconds. Cell phones, high speed jets, e-mail and the internet have made letter writing and horse and wagons a symbol of ancient history. In fact, most of the youth of America cannot remember a time when the internet did not exist.
Although Americans have so many tools to bring the world at large into their backyard it seems the people of the United States have self-inflicted tunnel vision. Americans live daily with no awareness of what is happening in other cultures, in other nations, on other continents, and even on our own continent. Today more than ever, people have the ability to identify with one another despite our diversity, and yet we choose to associate only with those who are familiar and safe in our lives. What is responsible for the nonchalant attitudes of Americans? Much of the world believes it to be arrogance, greed and selfishness.
The European Union is proof of a new world ideology. Europeans have been working diligently for over a half a century to bring the new EU together, unified by common goals and driven for peace and a chance to claim themselves as a rising world power. Much of the desire to become a superpower is the chance to usurp America at the top. The majority of Europeans and European governments today perceive America as a threat: a threat toward the peace of the world and a self-destructive bully willing to take anyone on in a fight. Although America is one of the wealthiest countries of the world the people of the United States are ignorant and nationalistic.
As Centenary students pass through Ten Thousand Villages, an ingrained culture may keep some American purses closed tightly. Although the world in 2007 is smaller than it ever has been before the distance across the Atlantic and the many waves in the Pacific oceans are farther and wider than ever before.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Monday, November 5, 2007
Rhapsody in View: The Centenary College Choir
Rhapsody in View: the Centenary College Choir
The 59th annual Rhapsody in View concert was presented by Centenary College of Louisiana’s renowned choir at the Shreveport Lions Club at the Riverview Theatre.
Rhapsody was an unexpected mixture of soulful ballads of homeland, God, love and folklore. Pieces like “How Do I Love Thee,” “Shenandoah,” “Things that Never Die,” and “Amazing Grace” were at once tender and compelling. Centenary’s choir director David A. Hobson introduced each song with a brief history of the time and the composer’s name. The choir was accompanied by talented pianists and at times other instrumentation; however, their confident voices carried the performance to perfection. Although extensive practice was evident, each song was fresh and dynamic, engaging the audience and proving that all honors and distinctions bestowed on the choir are well deserved.
The choir and specific soloists performed a medley of Les Miserables; Victor Hugo’s celebrated novel and the enormously popular Broadway musical. Although each song was a mere fragment of the original, the student soloists conveyed every emotion with feeling and solemnity. The Centenary choir elegantly told the story of Les Miserables in a few short moments; yet it was a harmonious expression of the powerful character of the novel and play, and a moving example of the beauty of voices united together.
The concert finished with a reunion of Centenary choir alumni led by former Director Emeritus Dr. Will K. Andress. Men and women emerged from the audience and each took their appropriate place among the current students. Sopranos, altos, tenors, basses: students and alumni joined together in strong unison Tenebrae Factae Sunt. The Centenary College choir’s performance of Rhapsody in View was an excellent representation of the talent and devotion of each choir member and its director, and well deserved the standing ovation it received.
The 59th annual Rhapsody in View concert was presented by Centenary College of Louisiana’s renowned choir at the Shreveport Lions Club at the Riverview Theatre.
Rhapsody was an unexpected mixture of soulful ballads of homeland, God, love and folklore. Pieces like “How Do I Love Thee,” “Shenandoah,” “Things that Never Die,” and “Amazing Grace” were at once tender and compelling. Centenary’s choir director David A. Hobson introduced each song with a brief history of the time and the composer’s name. The choir was accompanied by talented pianists and at times other instrumentation; however, their confident voices carried the performance to perfection. Although extensive practice was evident, each song was fresh and dynamic, engaging the audience and proving that all honors and distinctions bestowed on the choir are well deserved.
The choir and specific soloists performed a medley of Les Miserables; Victor Hugo’s celebrated novel and the enormously popular Broadway musical. Although each song was a mere fragment of the original, the student soloists conveyed every emotion with feeling and solemnity. The Centenary choir elegantly told the story of Les Miserables in a few short moments; yet it was a harmonious expression of the powerful character of the novel and play, and a moving example of the beauty of voices united together.
The concert finished with a reunion of Centenary choir alumni led by former Director Emeritus Dr. Will K. Andress. Men and women emerged from the audience and each took their appropriate place among the current students. Sopranos, altos, tenors, basses: students and alumni joined together in strong unison Tenebrae Factae Sunt. The Centenary College choir’s performance of Rhapsody in View was an excellent representation of the talent and devotion of each choir member and its director, and well deserved the standing ovation it received.
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