Superstar Hahn Mesmerizes with Violin

originally written for The Emory Wheel: Arts & Living(www.emorywheel.com)

I first heard about the world-class violinist Hilary Hahn a few months ago. My friend Katie, a proud member of the Emory University Symphony Orchestra, burst into my room, barely able to contain her excitement and yelling that Hilary Hahn was coming to campus. “She’s like a rock star to me, you don’t understand,” she said.

Hahn, 31, is truly treated like Hendrix in the concert orchestra community. Hahn has played with some of the most prestigious orchestras in the world, such as the New York Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra and the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 1996, at the age of 16, Hahn signed a contract with Sony Music for a record and is now a two-time Grammy winner. For Hahn, the fame is still something she’s getting used to. “Now I notice when I go to a music school or I’m visiting a class, I see the faces like I was when looking at my idols. And it feels so weird.” Hahn said in an interview with the Wheel. “I mean, I really appreciate it, but I remember being that student and just want to say, ‘I’m just like you.’”

Hahn is no stranger to the world of musical mentors. When she was 10, Hahn entered the coveted Curtis Institute of Music as the youngest student at the school. Hahn noted how collaborative the atmosphere at Curtis was compared to the competitiveness at other conservatories. “The older students watched out for me, and I was performing with professional artists at 13,” Hahn said. “I actually had a lot of support, and it was not uncomfortable at all. It was much more cushy than middle school would have been.”

For Hahn, performances have always been a part of her; she feels she never had the time to develop nerves. “I think everyone, hopefully, gets a rush of adrenaline when they perform,” Hahn said. ”I’ve always found that to be a good thing; performing is like giving a gift to the audience, and they say thank you with their applause. I’ve always felt like the audience isn’t judging me; they’re here because they want to enjoy this music.” She offered advice for those who do feel uneasy as they take the stage, explaining that practice makes perfect, no matter what the venue. “I just recommend perform[ing] a piece three or four times before moving on to the next performance,” Hahn said. “If you have a big performance one week, just schedule a bunch of little performances around then, even if it’s just going out on the street and busking.”

Hahn’s newest project is called “In 27 Pieces: The Hilary Hahn Encores.” It’s a collection of short pieces for violin and piano Hahn commissioned from various composers from all over the world. Hahn will be playing 13 this season and the remaining 14 next season. “This is a project I’ve been working on [in] the back of my mind for a while,” Hahn said. “It’s the first time I’ve done anything on this scale with new music.” Hahn performed the full program last Thursday at Emerson Concert Hall in the Donna and Marvin Schwartz Center for Performing Arts to a sold-out crowd.

A hush took over the crowd as Hahn and her piano-playing partner Valentina Lisitsa took the stage in beautiful red and black gowns, respectively. Hahn began with a casual hello to the audience before breaking into “BIFU (Breeze),” the first of the contemporary pieces, by Japanese composer Somei Satoh. From her first note to her final fiddle, Hahn enraptured the audience. Her perfect diction with the violin caused College senior Alex Baumgartner to say, after her final note, “That’s the definition of a virtuoso.”

“In 27 Pieces” blended together such a wide variety of styles for the violin. They were all played on the same instrument, but each had its own charisma and style injected into the music by the different composers telling their own distinct stories. “Memory Games,” composed by Avener Dorman, which was inspired by the classic video game Simon.

Concurrent with her common theme of embracing her mentors while aspiring to be inventive, Hahn interspersed classical composers alongside the contemporary ones. Hahn also included the classics in her performance. In addition to the short pieces, Hahn played Bach’s “Violin Sonata No. 1,” Beethoven’s “Violin Sonata No. 2” and Brahms’ “Sonatensatz.” Hahn’s showcase embraces the new, rather than confining listeners to just the classical. “When composers put ideas down on paper, the aural world takes on a greater dimension,” Hahn said. “My hope is that these particular contributions will showcase the range of music being written today, while bring enjoyment to listeners and performers alike.”

Irish Blood Bath Ensues in ‘Inishmore’

originally written for The Emory Wheel: Arts & Living(www.emorywheel.com)

Cat slaughter is not a common theme for comedy, but Theater Emory’s production of “The Lieutenant of Inishmore” turns feline massacre into a riotous, gory comedy that had the almost-packed Mary Gray Monroe theater audience laughing as they left their seats.

The play opens with young Davey, a character played impeccably by College sophomore Cody Read, discovering the corpse of Wee Thomas, a cat that had been killed on the side of the road.

He brings the body to Donny, the person he presumes to be the owner of the cat, but learns that the cat in fact belongs to Padraic, a member of the Irish National Liberation Army, which he joins after being kicked out of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) for being “too violent.”

Donny and Davey then scramble to cover up the feline fatality before Padraic’s return.

“It was so violent,” College junior Jenny Fernandes said. “Just so Irish.”

Not only was the cast armed with precise Irish accents, but in true Irish style, the play was bloody and brutal when it came to violence.

Whether it was chopping up corpses or rolling cat heads across the floor of the stage, director Donald McManus wasn’t afraid to go gory It’s a necessity when dealing with Irish drama.

“It’s funny ’cause people were willing to get up and argue about the stupidest things,” College junior Timothy Harland said. Harland played Joey, a supporting character in the play. “Killing a cat or shooting someone in the eyes wasn’t a big deal at all compared to the ‘more important things’ like honor.”

Even though the play was a bloodbath, it was entirely a comedy. Like the Irish have done for years, the actors used humor as a cure for the carnage. Tim McDonough had the audience rolling in their seats from his opening “feck”-filled warning up until his last few lines.

Professional actor Mark Cabus, College junior Jake Krakovsky and Harland also amused the audience by showing them what the IRA would have been like if it had let in the Three Stooges.

Bobby Jones Scholar Jonathan Durie played the maniacal Padraic comically, torturing drug dealers with ease, yet reaching near tears when he hears that his cat doing “poorly.”

Don’t be too quick to dismiss the deeper meaning of play because of the light tone the cast and crew take.

“I want the audience to walk out wondering, was it okay for us to laugh at that? Maybe?” Harland said.

Though the language stays casual, the lines are filled with allusions to Irish history and Irish nationalist ideals. There are many metaphoric lines that an attentive audience member can catch.

“The Lieutenant of Inishmore” will be playing from Oct. 5 to Oct. 8 in the Mary Gray Monroe Theater, so make sure you catch some of the bloodshed before it’s gone.

An Inside Look at Cafe Unity

originally written for The Emory Wheel: Arts & Living(www.emorywheel.com)

The first poem I ever performed in public, I performed at Café Unity. I was dragged by an upperclassman friend during the fall of my sophomore year. He offered to accompany me on the harmonica as I read. It was too close to Dylan-ness for me to refuse.

We arrived that Thursday evening, and like any first-time performer, I was nervous. But as the evening began, I got my first glimpse of our campus’ creative collective. Alum Anirudh “Eka” Dhullipalla wowed me with his wordplay. Now junior, then freshman Daniel Weingarten taught me about the power of “Virgin Swag” through his poem of the same name. Current senior and Café Unity President Ariel Wolpe strummed softly on her guitar, playing sweet melodies that were stuck in my head all week.

They were casual, comfortable. It wasn’t so much a performance with any of them, but a conversation, a sharing of who they were and what they really think about the world. Everyone was genuine. So by the time I stepped to the mic in front of those dozen or so people to read, I wasn’t nervous anymore. It felt like sharing with friends; I’d gotten to know so much about them as the evening progressed.

Two years later, the friends have turned into family. For the creative-conscious on this campus, Café Unity isn’t just about performing their work, it’s about monthly family reunions.
Your people get busy. The performers get bogged down by academics. There’s the EMT class, the labs, the midterms, the meetings. It’s often hard to reconnect with everyone’s artistic side. That’s why when we ask fellow regulars if they’ll be at Café Unity, it’s not so much said as an event, but as a Sunday dinner, a time for the family to reconnect.

For me, Café Unity was where I found this family. Before my first performance, I had barely begun to explore the artistic outlets on this campus (there was no Chalk Girl). Café Unity showed me the creative consciousness that exists on our campus, and though it’s not always the most visible piece of Emory, it’s such an inspiring collection of people that have truly changed who I am.

When I first walked into Common Grounds for Café Unity, this collection was relatively small. Fifteen to 20 people sat in the couches and pulled up a few chairs from the tables. This year as I walked up to read that same poem I did my first night, I saw so many more faces waiting for me to start. About 30 people now fill Common Grounds for Café Unity, with chairs lined up to the back wall. It’s growing, and I say that not with egotistical ambitions, but in the way parents look with pride at teenagers, excited about how they’ve evolved. It’s also always expanding. There were 15 scheduled performers last Thursday; some were the regulars, but most of them were first-timers. The family is always open to newcomers.

Jordan Explores Ethics and Art

originally written for The Emory Wheel: Arts & Living(www.emorywheel.com)

Growing up in a communist regime, junior Mariangela Jordan learned about the revolutionary value in art and its ability to change the course of human events.

Today, she continues to fuel the power of art as co-president of the Ethics and Art Society at Emory, a student arts organization whose mission is to explore the intersection between creativity and ethics, and the role art plays in inspiring positive social change.

Jordan grew up living in Soviet-occupied Romania.

“Living under communism in a family which defied the regime was a rather traumatic experience,” Jordan said. “However, under my father’s guidance, I quickly learned to escape the bleakness of our immediate existence by employing my imagination.”

Imagination opened the door for Jordan’s artistic inclinations, despite the war-torn nation she lived in.

She learned quickly that “books are worth their weight in gold.”
For Jordan and her family, art was essential.

“Poetry was a cathartic form of political resistance and freedom,” she explained.

Today, as a well-established member of the Emory community, Jordan continues to catalyze change through creativity as one of the founding members of the Ethics and Arts Society.

The Society began as part of Carlton Mackey’s Ethics and the Arts Initiative, a program in the ethics center with a variety of partners: the Atlanta Opera, High Museum of Art, Alternate ROOTS, The Alliance Theater Company, WonderRoot, the Atlanta Music Project and others.

“As the first president of the Society, together with the society’s first artist members, alums Anirudh Dhullipalla [(’11C)] and Shreyas Sreenath [(’11C)] and senior Ian McCall, who is my current co-president, I was entrusted by Mr. Mackey with the opportunity of envisioning, articulating and setting in motion the Society’s vision,” Jordan said.

Jordan is constantly developing relationships with local artists and organizations for events such as the Society’s Best in Show Performance this year. The Society collaborated with activist music group Voices in the Treetops, headed by long-time “artivists” Paula Larke and Kim Nimoy.

As the year continues, the Society is working on developing a music program that offers young Burmese refugees in Atlanta an opportunity to learn music, as a platform for cathartic expression.

“We are also hoping to connect Emory music students with this program, in order to expand the number of music teachers as well as the number of youth participating in the program,” Jordan said.

The Society also organizes art events on campus throughout the year. For this fall, the Society is hosting the Ethics and Arts Café, a collaborative arts symposium organized by the center for Ethics and WonderRoot Atlanta. The event is about “bringing artists from eclectic backgrounds ... [in] varied art forms together under the umbrella of ethics,” Jordan said. “The event offers an opportunity to spark challenging conversations about various ethical issues.”

In addition to organizing on-campus art venues, Jordan is also constantly looking for a way for art to make an impact off campus.

She recently began teaching English as a Secondary Language (ESL) course to members of the refugee community in Atlanta.

Rather than sticking to previous ESL curricula offered by the resettlement agencies, Jordan plans to build her own curriculum for the course in collaboration with a local musician.

“[It’s a] primarily kinetic, culturally-sensitive technique of teaching English that integrates the use of photography, instructional songs, music and movement, and the awareness of rhythm and cadence of the English language,” Jordan said.

Jordan explained she plans to return to Romania in the future.

She hopes to one day become an ethnographic filmmaker. In an effort to integrate her interests in film and human rights, she is currently developing a non-governmental organization (NGO) to promote human rights in Eastern Europe.

“Unfortunately, even after the collapse of communism, corruption remains prevalent in Romanian journalism,” Jordan said. “The mission of my NGO is to recruit local ethical journalists, photographers and documentary filmmakers who will offer people who do not have a voice, as I once didn’t, a platform of expression and a way of stepping out of their invisible cloaks.”

Psychedelic Artist to Visit Atlanta for Live Painting

originally written for The Emory Wheel: Arts & Living(www.emorywheel.com)

Ever wonder what an anatomically correct drawing of the soul would look like? Enter Alex Grey who, with his wife Allyson, has been pioneering the fields of Visionary and Spiritual art for the last few decades. On October 14 and 15, Atlanta art lovers will get a taste of this Vajrayāna Buddhist’s artwork at Area 51 Presents: Alex & Allyson Grey.

The Area 51 event will take place throughout the course of two days. There will be a lecture and book signing party on Friday, Oct. 14 from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. at Matilda’s in Alpharetta, Ga. The second day will be an indoor and outdoor event, an Art Bazaar by day that will turn into a Visionary Art Party as the sun goes down at The Blue Tower Gallery in Atlanta beginning at noon. The Greys, along with other visionary artists, will be creating original artwork in front of live audiences. Area 51 has also lined up bands, DJs and circus performers for the entire event.

Alex Grey nurtured his artistic talents from a young age. His father was a graphic designer who encouraged Grey’s imaginative inclinations. Grey attempted the art school track, attending Columbus College of Art and Design in Ohio, but he dropped out and painted billboards across Ohio for a year instead.

Alex met Allyson at the Boston Museum School, and the two began to collaborate on works. It was during this period that Grey spent five years working at Harvard Medical School, preparing cadavers for dissection in the anatomy department. This experience with anatomy served his art well, as Grey’s works always contain stunningly accurate depictions of the human form.

One of the most breathtaking collections in Grey’s arsenal is Sacred Mirrors. It features 21 life-sized paintings that took 10 years for the artists to complete. The paintings feature seemingly mundane human behavior, such as praying, meditation, kissing, copulating, pregnancy, birth, nursing and dying. Yet, each piece examines in detail the physical and spiritual body. There are detailed representations of the skeleton, the nervous system and the cardiovascular system intertwined with the arteries of the spiritual system, including auras, chakras and other religious symbols.

Grey’s more recent works include his attempts at drawing “universal beings.” The beings in the portraits have bodies made of fire, surrounded by infinite galactic swirls. Alex and Allyson Grey have collaborated on multiple works of art in a diverse variety of mediums. A large installation called Heart Net was displayed at Baltimore’s American Visionary Art Museum. The two now teach courses in Visionary Art in New York City. Grey has also worked as an album artist, illustrating many classic covers for Tool, The Beastie Boys and Nirvana. Newsweek magazine and the Discovery Channel have also featured much of Grey’s work.

Rathskellar Scares Audience with Dangerous Mouse-Trap Minefield Stunt

originally written for The Emory Wheel: Arts & Living (www.emorywheel.com)

Rathskellar’s Senior Show last Monday opened to an almost-packed White Hall with a tantalizing teaser of the grand finale. The troupe unveiled 100 mousetraps promising the audience that by the end of the evening, Goizueta Business School senior and Emperor of Rathskellar Joshua Izaak and College senior and High Priest Geoff Schorkopf would be standing in a mousetrap minefield, barefoot and blindfolded.

As “Mission Impossible” theme music played, the group moved the table of traps to the side of the stage, but they were still visible to remind Izaak and Schorkopf constantly of what was in store for them.

Many classic Rathskellar games were played, and graduating seniors took center stage in some of their favorites.

College senior Sarah Wallace and Schorkopf performed Oscar-worthy monologues as they purchased a robot son in the improv game “Oscar Monologues.”

College senior David Micley visited a Disney-themed graduation party as a “priest yielding a sledge hammer” whom he later dubbed “Sonic the Sledgehand.”

Also at this party was College junior Alexandra Kayhart’s rendition of Helen Keller and College senior Sophia Edwards’ portrayal of fellow-Rathskellar member Wallace.

Another crowd favorite was “Confessions,” in which audience members wrote down “startling confessions” outside before the show.

The sheets of paper were scattered across the stage, and Rathskellar members introduced these confessions into an improvised scene.

Usually, Izaak censors the more scandalous confessions, but, this being his last Rathskellar show, he read many of the raunchier ones.

“I’m gonna say it cause it’s Senior Show!” explained Izaak.

Intermission rolled in with a slide show of Rathskellar photos from the last four years in honor of the graduating seniors.

The audience “aww”ed as adorably nostalgic photos passed across the screen, ending with the highlights of the 2010-2011 Rathskellar year.

After the break, the seniors impressed the audience with the past four years of improv experience they have gleamed.

Schorkopf and Izaak teamed up as cops interrogating their suspect, Wallace, who was completely unaware of the crime she’d committed.

Through the course of Izaak and Schorkopf’s comedically cliché cross-examination, Wallace learned the details of her arrest and admitted to the crime — stealing a golden baseball from Cox Hall with accomplice College sophomore Preston Hogue, who was dressed as a pirate.

College senior Ari Blinder, Micley and Edwards played “The Bucket Game,” for which Izaak enthusiastically exclaimed, “They could all die!”

The three were placed on stage with a bucket full of water and asked to complete a scene with one performer’s head always submerged in the water bucket.

Three wet sweaters later, it was finally time for the finale. Rathskellar members laid the mousetraps across the stage as Izaak and Schorkopf nervously took off their shoes and socks and donned blindfolds.

In addition to risking their appendages, the two were also asked to play “The Alphabet Game,” creating scene dialogue in alphabetical order while walking through the mine of mouse traps.

Taking a quick glance around the room before they began, crowd-member and College sophomore Jefferson Sporn whispered, “The entire audience is so nervous right now.”

The pair began, stepping slowly to avoid snapping their toes off. The audience remained on the edge of their seats, screaming each time either student attempted to take a step. In the midst of all of this, Izaak and Schorkopf continued to play the game, doubling back over the alphabet and forgetting what letter they were on multiple times.

By the end of the scene, the two found themselves in a mountain of mousetraps, most of which had been placed by Wallace, with multiple traps stuck on their toes and clothes.

After the show concluded, Izaak took to the mic to thank the audience for coming. He was interrupted by Schorkopf who presented Izaak with a basketball, signed by every Rathskellar member. Schorkopf explained the significance of the basketball saying that Izaak used to say if he was athletic, Rathskellar would be his team. An emotional Izaak then announced, in true Rathskellar style through a pie-in-the-face, that College sophomore Natalya Zmudzin was the new Emperor of Rathskellar.

She successively pied College sophomores Jake Krakovsky and Hogue upon the announcement that they are to be her High Priests, ending the Senior Show with an exciting look at what’s in store for Emory come fall.

Art. Music. Ethics. 3rd Annual Free Speech Art Cafe

People shuffled in slowly; Children of Nebula set the atmosphere with their artistic beats as audience members admired the artwork displayed across the walls of the room. Carlton Mackey and baby were the DJs for the night.

The pieces were as diverse as the contenders who submitted them for the contest, using a variety of materials. Whether it was thumbtacks, fabrics, or good ol’ fashioned paint, artists had worked on whatever canvas their art desired. The usual suspects were all in attendance, but there were also fresh faces, filled with excitement for a night of performances.

Mariangela Jordan turned in into MC MJ, tapping into her funny bone as she taught the audience the right way to react to the acts she was about to introduce. After we were all educated in the art of applause, Daniel Weingarten opened the show. He closed his set with “Virgin Swag” reminding all of us in the crowd to embrace our quirkiness, so we can walk proud of our virgin swag.

Another frequent presence in Emory’s artistic community, Ariel Wolpe, performed two original songs. Listen Daughters, inspired by Wolpe’s interest in women studies, and Waters of Zion.

The next artist, Anirudh ‘Eka’ Dhullipalla, was introduced by Skyy Walker as one of the “humblest peacocks around”. A theme he reflected in his spoken-word piece, “Graffiti Artist”. He captured the humility behind the anonymity of a graffiti artist, admiring their ability to separate creation from gratification. He asked of the poets in the audience, “would you write your poems the same way if you had to perform them anonymously in front of a mute crowd.” Explaining that, “this is what graffiti artists do naturally, they turn walls into sacrificial altars, leaving passion on concrete canvases without ever wanting the praise of a crowd.”

Like every open mic night at Emory, the night featured a fair-share of cultural performances. Senior Shreyas Sreenath blasted his harmonica for his last performance as an undergraduate at Emory as part of what MC MJ affectionately dubbed “the Indian ensemble”. There were Bollywood songs and Tibetan prayers, reflecting the diverse assortment of art that exists on this campus. Another standout artist was singer Iman Folayan, who spit some sick rhymes over beats that had the audience on their feet.

Children of Nebula closed the show, showcasing the fantastic music that had been the soundtrack for the night. The traditional spontaneous cypher tradition that ends every Ethics Café continued as the Ajibade twins,Joshua Watkins,
and Children of Nebula began to rap over the bands’ banging beats. The cypher also featured Carlton Mackey who used his time on the mic to introduce the winner of the Visual Arts Competition. Grace Chin won for her piece “Vases”.

The third annual Free Speech Ethics and Arts Café showed that the artistic pulse at Emory is as strong as ever. Even as volunteers packed up tables performers and audience member continued to play their instruments, inspiring multiple jam sessions during cleanup. The night was a success; giving the growing artistic community a venue to express themselves openly, showcasing who they are through their art.
Reported by Simran Khosla.
Photos by Munir Meghjani

Study Abroad At Emory

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originally written for Advanced Newswriting and Reporting then republished in The Emory Wheel: Features Section (www.emorywheel.com)

For Emory College senior Shreyas Sreenath, study abroad wasn’t about if he would do it, it was more a question of when. His opportunity came last fall when Sreenath travelled to Kampala, Uganda through one of Emory’s many study abroad programs. While there, Sreenath took classes in a Ugandan university and lived with the people of the Luweero District, researching agrarian development. After three years of studying development in the Emory economics department, Sreenath was finally able to see the real impact of the theories he’d learned in books. He returned from the program fulfilled, having successfully completed his research, with a head full of once-in-a-lifetime memories.

Sreenath’s journey, rewarding as it was, had bitter beginnings. To finance his foreign study, Sreenath applied for the 2009 grant from the Institute for Developing Nations, a merit-based scholarship that required him to write a proposal for research in a developing country. When the results were announced, he received only $2500, half of what he expected.

“They say they cut the funding because it was too much for an undergraduate to get to do research,” Sreenath said, “but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that it happened right after the recession hit.”

Sreenath is one of the lucky ones. As Emory students and their family members struggle to deal with national economic issues, fewer students are able to partake in international programs.

This year marks the lowest study abroad enrollment since 2003 and with the Center for International Programs Abroad’s funding for programs being based entirely on student enrollment, University funding for individual programs has decreased. According to Kristi Hubbard, Director of CIPA, funding sources for CIPA’s travel grants and external funding into CIPA has been steadily decreasing since the recession. Hubbard also notes that when students withdraw from CIPA programs, finances are the most common reason. There has also been an increase in the number of students who qualify for financial aid. “In previous years maybe 25 percent of the students were on financial aid and last year it was 32 percent,” Hubbard said.

As the value of the dollar falls abroad, exchange rates have begun to effect international study programs. Hubbard explained, “You’re looking at the euro, you’re looking at the pound so, depending on the exchange rates, things are maybe less possible than they were in the previous years.” The dollars that Emory students have saved to study abroad are no longer worth as much, making it more expensive for students to travel to foreign countries.

These increased costs have led more students to study abroad during the semester rather than the summer. Since students who are doing foreign study programs during the semester would have paid Emory tuition anyway, shifting locations to abroad costs only slightly more. During the summer, however, students have to explain to parents why they’re spending an extra half-semester worth of tuition. “Summer is more of an add-on type thing. If you’re going abroad over the semester you were going to be at Emory anyways but summer is something special,” Hubbard said. It seems that fewer students have been able to convince their parents that summer programs are special enough, with student enrollment these programs dropping 8 percent this year.

Decreased enrollment for summer programs forces CIPA to make budget cuts. One faculty member who has had to make changes to his summer program due to lower student enrollment is Emory political science professor David Davis. For the past five years Davis has run the European Politics summer program. For its first three years, the program based itself in Paris, with 23-25 students. In 2008, the program moved to Berlin and, last year, had only 16 students enrolled.

Fewer students in the European Politics program gives Davis a smaller budget to work with, forcing many changes to the program. Davis said the majority of these have been related to living costs. When the program was in Paris, the dorms for students were doubles and singles. With the move to Berlin, students lived in triples and quads, lowering the price per a student.

Davis has also been forced to shorten the length of his program. In Paris, the program was six weeks and, last year, Davis reduced it to five weeks. “That turned out to be a little bit overwhelming. We’re still trying to squeeze in the same number of class sessions and site visits,” Davis said.

Davis has also had to make adjustments to the travelling portion of the program. The European Politics program features many visits to neighboring nations. When the program was in Paris, Davis had four different site visits: Geneva, Strasbourg, The Hague and Brussels. This year, Davis omitted the Geneva visit.

“It turns out to be more expensive because there’s no cheap airline that flies from Geneva to Berlin, whereas in Paris we could have just taken trains,” Davis explained.

While staying in Berlin may lower costs for the program, Davis worries about the negative impact as students are getting less exposure to different cultures when travelling abroad.

In addition to making financial changes, Davis has been working hard to recruit more students to increase funding into the program. “I’ve been to more classes, handed out flyers, and been reaching out to other universities to see if they can list our program,” Davis said.

As program directors struggle to fill their programs to avoid more budget cuts, CIPA has been working to make these programs affordable for the entire Emory student body.

“The great thing about how we structure study abroad at Emory is that students are, during the semester, able to take their Financial Aid with them,” Hubbard said, “For a semester students pay Emory tuition here which enables them to keep financial aid and other costs are paid directly abroad”.

Emory’s Financial Aid Office also has many other programs that help students bankroll their international excursions. Students who have been taking advantage of work-study opportunities at Emory are qualified to get an average of their pay for two semesters up to a certain cap. The office also works with students to help increase their eligibility for student loans.

CIPA also has Kenya Casey, a study abroad advisor who helps students manage financial issues. One of her suggestions when students come to her with price problems is to change their location. “Let’s say they really want to go to the U.K., but the U.K. is so expensive,” explains Casey. “My recommendation would be, think about going to a non-traditional location such as Africa, Asia, or something in South or Central America where the cost of living is significantly lower. It may cost you more to go there, but once you’re there it’s not going to cost as much.”

Emory junior Andres Arevalo followed this advice last spring. Arevalo travelled to Freiberg, Germany for his study abroad. Since his scholarship to Emory transferred to pay his study abroad tuition, all Arevalo paid in Germany was room and board and miscellaneous expenses.

“I understand how a lot of people would be like ‘you’re spending a lot of money to go to Europe,’ but my parents understood that it was actually going to be cheaper,” Arevalo said. “So, even in the recession, it was better.”

This strategy worked out so well financially for Arevalo that he plans to study abroad again in Fall 2011 in Rio de Janeiro.

Hubbard maintains that even with the effects of the recession, the study abroad program at Emory will continue to be an essential part of the university’s academic programming. Between 40 to 50 percent of Emory undergraduates do something abroad before they graduate either through semester programs, summer programs, or another international experience, she said.

“Here everybody believes in Study Abroad, faculty, everybody. Everybody weaves it into the academic experience,” Hubbard said, “So it’s not this extra-curricular thing, it’s something that is an integral part.”

Even students like Sreenath, whose experiences with study abroad remained slightly tarnished by financial woes, continue to believe in the transcendental power of travel. After his trip to Uganda, Sreenath turned his research from Luweero into a paper that will be published later this year in a development journal. After graduation, Shreyas plans to continue his international odyssey. He hopes to be travelling to Bangladesh to as a candidate for the Fulbright scholarship.

Micley Documentary Compares Religions

originally written for The Emory Wheel: Arts & Living(www.emorywheel.com)

Last Thursday, College senior David Micley screened his documentary, “Cousins of Faith,” which depicts the lives of a devout Muslim, Ehab Jaleel, and a devout Jewish man, Kivi Bernhard, both living in Atlanta. Micley gave a brief introduction to an almost packed audience in White Hall 208 before premiering his 30-minute documentary. The screening of the film, which was Micley’s senior project for his Interdisciplinary Studies (IDS) major in society and culture, was followed by a discussion panel between Micley and the two subjects of his film.

Bernhard is a self-employed diamond merchant while Jaleel is the executive director of a charter school in Atlanta. Both men make religion a strong priority in their daily lives. Jaleel discusses the serenity he finds by taking five minutes out of his workday for daily prayer in his office. He also mentions how he hurries from administrative meetings to Friday prayer at his mosque.

Bernhard remains constantly aware of his faith, humorously describing the link between diamonds and divinity in a scene set in his office. “God makes the diamond, we provide the service,” he said.

Micley divided the film into sections, sharing how Jaleel and Bernhard use their religion in their daily lives. Micley focuses mostly on how religion affects the atmosphere in the characters’ homes, and how they share their religious values with their families. The documentary illustrates the way religion permeates all aspects of life. Religion doesn’t exist solely in the Torah or in the Quran; it shapes how a family functions and feels, which is apparent throughout the film.

“I always thought of religion as something that encompasses everything — family, faith and life. Religion is everywhere,” said Micley.

One of the most powerful parts of the documentary is Micley’s juxtaposition of the different prayer practices of the two religions. He provides visuals of both men: Bernhard dons a tallit and tefillin, while Jaleel touches his forehead to the ground.

The scene displays the emphasis on the physicality present in both religions. Bernhard discussed this theme later saying, “It was good for people to see that point of similarity, of [prayer] being a tactile experience”.

Micley balances the more serious subjects in the film with more humorous ones. Whether it was Jaleel’s 9-year-old daughter breaking into giggles in the family prayer room or Bernhard frantically searching the floor of his office after dropping a $70,000 diamond, Micley added moments that made audience members laugh while learning about the lives of the two men. These moments, combined with the plethora of personal familial interaction Micley captures on camera, gives the audience an intimate glimpse of Jaleel and Berhard’s lives.

According to Micley, the process of creating the film was very much improvisational.

“As much as I wanted to tell a story, the story kind of told itself,” said Micley. “It was sort of a negotiation between my vision of the film and what I had to work with.”

The importance of the film being set in an American context is discussed throughout the documentary. Jaleel compares maintaining religion in America to religion in the Muslim countries he’s visited. “It’s a conscious, deliberate act here, and there it’s mostly passive and part of the culture,” he said. “I mean, it’s entering a mosque in Roswell, Ga.”

Bernhard praised the freedom of self-expression present in American society but noted how it can also hinder religious expression. “America offers both sides of the sword,” he said. “It gives you the freedom to [practice your own religion] but all the antagonizing forces too”.

When the documentary concluded, Barbara Patterson of the Department of Religion moderated a discussion panel between Micley, Bernhard and Jaleel.

She asked Bernhard and Jaleel about the experience of being the subjects of a documentary. Bernhard noted how much Micley’s demure disposition influenced the process. “Part of it is David’s personality,” he said. “He’s not a formal person which really helps in this.” This comfort level is clear during the documentary, as both Bernhard and Jaleel seem completely at easy with a camera invading their intimate lives.

Patterson questioned Micley as to why he chose to use film as a medium rather than to write traditional thesis paper. Micley said he found the visual aspect of film appealing: “When you’re looking at someone in real life, you don’t know how long you can look. In film you’re in a dark space and you can just observe,” he said.

Jaleel ended the discussion by emphasizing the core theme of the film. “It’s beneficial for us all to get to know each other better.” he said. “Whatever our faith.”

Ono Baffles with Many 'Bottoms'

originally written for The Emory Wheel: Arts & Living(www.emorywheel.com)

Like most Beatles fans, I find Yoko Ono to be a touchy subject. On the one hand, Yoko’s relationship with John Lennon inspired some of his most memorable pieces, moving him away from traditional pop to the more experimental style that defined the later sounds of the Beatles and his solo work. On the other hand, there’s Revolution 9. Even the most accepting artists will admit that Ono often seems more interested in art for art’s sake, leaving Beatles fans like me craving the days of subtle simplicity.

Even with this interesting dichotomy, fans of the band are quick to pass judgment, frequently faulting Ono for the Beatles break-up. Whatever a Beatles aficionado’s feelings toward her may be, it cannot be denied that Ono was an artist in her own right long before landing a Beatle as a boyfriend.

Film connoisseur Andy Ditzler seems to understand this idea, curating Yoko Ono’s Reality Dreams, a series of screenings of Ono’s films that culminated this weekend in a screening of “Bottoms” in White Hall on Friday.

The film, arguably her most notorious work, left some audience members inspired and others just bored due to its bizarre choice in subject matter.

Yoko Ono’s “Bottoms” is literally just that: 365 professional actors’ and celebrities’ bottoms. Each derrière, filmed while the actor is walking and constantly in motion, is displayed for 15 seconds over the course an 80-minute reel.

This assortment of arses is accompanied by a cheeky soundtrack filled with quotations from the wide-variety of people involved in the project. It features interviews with Yoko Ono, director and then-husband Anthony Cox, the cast who bared their behinds as well as those who rejected the project, deeming it too vulgar or pornographic.

Only Ono could choose the most giggle-inducing part of the human body and turn it into an object on display that loses all of its hilarity, literally turning our butts into serious business.

While in the beginning, the first few displayed derrières caused the audience to giggle, after 60 minutes of watching Bottoms, you no longer see butts.

After a while, the only thing that remains in your mind is the differences between them. The fact that no person filmed walks in the same way and how no two pairs of posteriors are the same. Maybe that’s the message Ono is trying to send, through the interesting medium of our rear ends.

At the same time, 80 minutes is a little bit extreme. Boredom sets in very quickly after the initial message is understood. The film, according to Ditzler, was originally a five-minute, silent short film.

Maybe Ono should have kept it that way, given that after a few minutes the message of “Bottoms” seems to come through. This should be another lesson for Ono, just like Revolution 9, that sometimes the original tends to be more powerful.