Baker College juniors Weikei Yu (left) and Johnny Li take it to the floor to show off their dance moves for Rice Dance Marathon's "So You Think You Can Dance?" fundraiser, which raised more than $1,300 for Texas Children's Hospital last Saturday.
The technical difficulties faced by Rice University's first green colleges gave Duncan College and McMurtry College a rough start last fall. However, students and staff agree that the problems are now decreasing in both frequency and magnitude. According to Student Maintenance Representatives at both colleges, students issued multiple complaints about the living situation during the fall semester. Work orders last semester ranged from the absence of hot water to a lack of light switches, but both Matt Fritze, the SMR for Duncan and Baker College, and Michael Rog, a co-SMR for McMurtry and Will Rice College, said the problems are now minor and more contained.
If last month's New Year's celebration is too hazy to recall, don't worry: You can celebrate all over again at this week's Lunar New Year festival. Vibrant choreography and diverse performances almost make up for so-so dancing in Rice's annual Lunar New Year show, which celebrates the Chinese New Year and features performances by all of the East Asian clubs on campus. The show offers a diversity of cultures represented - Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese and Tibetan routines are featured - and acts offered, as the program is composed of both traditional and contemporary dances, martial arts, a cappella singing, a fashion show, a magic show and, of course, lion and dragon dances.The show's opening act is a traditional Chinese fan dance, in which performers use large, beautiful pink and green fans adorned with sequins to emulate the fluttering of butterflies as "Serenity," a contemplative traditional piece, plays. The variety of movements and formations of the four dancers keep the routine interesting, and the performers execute fanned motions with strong arms while showcasing some nice leaps, but awkward turns and obvious blunders in arm and leg placement are impossible to ignore in such a small group of performers.
The Raymond and Susan Brochstein Pavilion has added yet another award to its already crowded trophy case. Last month, the building received the Institute Honor Award for Architecture from the American Institute of Architects, which is given to recognize excellence in architecture and increase public awareness of the architecture practice.This year, the institute reviewed about 700 candidates before selecting the final 14 winners from around the world, from Yale University in New Haven, Conn. to Stuttgart, Germany. Buildings could be of any size, style or budget as long as they were constructed or renovated after 2003.
In a ceremony last Thursday in the Kyle Morrow Reading Room of Fondren Library, South Korean Consul General of the city of Houston Yun-soo Cho presented the library with a set of Korean dictionaries and encyclopedias that will soon be available to students as part of the reference section.Howard R. Hughes Provost Eugene Levy, Vice Provost and University Librarian Sara Lowman and Director of the Chao Center for Asian Studies Tani Barlow accepted the gift. These dictionaries will fill a gap in the library's collection, Cho said about his first visit to Houston and the Fondren Library, because Fondren has few South Korean-published reference books.
I have a love-hate relationship with the METRORail. On one hand, I can't live without it. I don't have a car, and when the hospitality of other drivers runs dry, I rely on the METRORail to get around. With a simple tap of my METRO Q Fare Card, the rail rapidly ferries me to my destinations of choice: My beloved Tacos A Go-Go, the Angelika, the museum district and several other prominent Houston locations are just a few stops along the track. The METRORail is relatively quick and easy, and best of all, free for Rice students.
Though Cinco de Mayo is still a few months away, we took our palates south of the border this week and indulged our appetites with some comida mexicana at El Tiempo Cantina. With its luscious food, delectable drinks and festive atmosphere, we are confident that El Tiempo Cantina will satisfy most Tex-Mex cravings.Ambiance
Diane (Berry) Caves (Baker '00), a Rice alumna who went missing shortly after the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti, was found dead last week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Caves, a program analyst for the CDC's Atlanta headquarters, departed for Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Jan. 6, only six days before a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck the country.Authorities identified her body in the rubble of Hotel Montana, a popular hotel for Americans visiting Haiti, where she had been staying while on a three-week assignment to work on the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief in Haiti. The hotel collapsed during the earthquake. Two other employees of the CDC who were in Haiti at the time of the disaster have since been found and are safe.
During a joint show with The Philharmonics last Friday in Lovett College's basement, Spontaneous Combustion entertained the audience with improv skits, quick-witted humor and general tomfoolery.
The combination of Nicholas Sparks' (A Walk to Remember) writing and Channing Tatum's (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra) good looks should make Dear John the perfect Valentines Day crowd pleaser. However, the movie may not be for everyone - thoughit should placate the Jersey Shore crowd.After 2004's The Notebook became the romantic movie for Gen Y, Sparks has proven his books have enormous potential at the box office. Of course, any new film with Sparks' name attached also causes numerous T-shirt Web sites to begin conceptualizing their next kitschy "Ladies, I cried during The Notebook" design.
While the university may be following the nationwide pattern of fiscal restraint, Rice's funds have avoided the negative national trend in philanthropic giving. Vice President for Resource Development Darrow Zeidenstein said that participation in alumni giving at Rice has gone up 1 percent over the past year, reaching 35 percent and an all-time high in cash donations.
After passing the milestone of choosing its first masters, Duncan College is now on the search for resident associates and a head resident fellow. Duncan's RA and HRF search committees are composed of both Duncan freshmen and transfers and are facilitated by Duncan's current HRFs and future masters, Luis Duno-Gottberg and Marnie Hylton. Students who were interested in being part of the search committee turned in applications, from which Duno-Gottberg selected the final committee members. While there is one committee for both the RA and the HRF search, each part is headed by a different student.
Lovett College senior Chelsea Smith listens as Baker College senior Julia Lukomnik performs "My Vag was my Village" from The Vagina Monologues during the Women's Resource Center's Take Back the Night candelight vigil last Thursday.
The following were noted at the most recent meeting of the Student Association Feb. 8.SA President Patrick McAnaney reported that President David Leebron has formed a Committee on Investor Responsibility. This committee will advise the Rice Management Team to promote responsible and ethical actions.
New Orleans is a special place. It's hard for a city to maintain a unique culture when technology makes it effortless for Americans across the country to conform to a single identity. But New Orleans always had its own spirit, and those of us who call it home have always had pride in this fact. As you may remember, a small storm by the name of Katrina threatened to wash all that away four years ago - and as you may know, we did not take kindly to it.
With spring break only two weeks away, students involved with the Alternative Spring Break program are pushing their last fundraising projects forward in a final effort to balance their budgets. This year, volunteers are spread out between 11 different trips that address issues such as education, healthcare and the environment. The Community Involvement Center assists in guiding and supporting the students, but the students themselves are primarily responsible for planning and fundraising.
Consistency is one of the main goals of any athletic team. For the women's basketball team, it has been one of the toughest to reach. The Owls (11-11, 5-4 C-USA) have suffered humiliating losses against teams that should have been easy victories, but have simultaneously managed to rally to defeat some of the elite teams of Conference USA.
