North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 93, No. 18, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 19, 2009 Page: 3 of 8
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Thursday, February 19,2009
Page 3
o
Arts & Life
Brooke Cowl i shaw
Arts & Life Editor
arts@ntdaily.com
0 enton theater groups meet or moral support
By Carolyn Brown
Junior Staff Writer
Students in need of an occa-
sional dose of drama can get it
on Tuesday nights at Denton's
Campus Theatre with Play
Writers and Play Readers of
Denton.
Play Readers of Denton,
which formed in January 2006,
meets at 7 p.m. on Tuesdays to
read aloud plays chosen from
a master list, said Janet Poole,
a Denton resident and Play
Readers member.
So far, about two to 15 people
show up regularly, Poole said.
The group reads selections
from a variety of genres, with
past plays including Susan
Glaspell's "Trifles," Robert
Harling's "Steel Magnolias"
and Beth Henley's "Crimes
of the Heart." Members can
request specific parts, or the
group can vote on them when
necessary.
"It's all cold reading," Poole
said. "It's totally relaxed and
totally fun. Everyone gets into
their character however they
want."
Denton Community Theatre
will occasionally use the Play
Readers to help decide which
plays to produce, Poole said.
Most recently, the group
read Nilo Cruz's "Anna in the
Tropics" and John Patrick
Shanley's "Doubt," two of
Denton Community Theatre's
latest productions. Often, Poole
said, directors will listen to the
Play Readers to find actors for
upcoming roles, which is how
they cast the role of Cheché for
Anna in the Tropics.
Play Writers, which meets
at 7 p.m. on the third Tuesday
of each month in place of Play
Readers, began in May 2008
after members of Play Readers
decided to create a support
group to help one another
work on independent writing
projects, said Julie Brinker,
Denton Community Theatre's
outreach director.
Brinker is in charge of Play
Writers and opens the meet-
ings. She said the sessions
have no set agenda and gener-
ally last less than two hours,
during which time attendees
can ask for help and advice.
Brinker said four to eight
people attend Play Writers
meetings each month, with
25 ' 'hings dominates acebook
ByJillian Daniels
Senior Staff Writer
Last week, anthropology
sophomore Eamon Danzig
didn't know he had a godsister.
And then he read her "25
Things."
Facebook's "25 Things," -
a note exposing 25 quirks,
habits or random facts about
a person - has made national
headlines for the applica-
tion's explosion of growth
since its birth two months
ago. According to the Chicago
Tribune, Facebook users wrote
5 million of these notes in a
period of eight days from Jan.
26 to Feb. 2 - "far more than
any other application in social
networking history," Tribune
writer Joel Stein said in his
blog.
This trend is far larger
than Facebook itself, as an
Internet search of "Facebook's
25 Things" yields almost 30
million results and 600 news
results alone, with publica-
tions such as Time, ABC News
and CNN all writing as to how
and why it spread so rapidly.
"I would suspect that since
"25 Things" and all of the
buzz a lot of people have
finally said, 'I'm going to
get a Facebook page and see
what this is all about,'" said
Jaqueline Lambiase of the
journalism faculty, a social
media researcher. "I feel quite
certain of that."
According to compete.com,
a Web site that researches
online trends, there was
a 60-percent increase in
Facebook profiles created
in January rather than in
December.
After users complete their
list of "25 Things" they are
instructed to "tag" 25 friends
who are then supposed to
make their own list of 25.
Printmaking sophomore
Travis Oliver said that he
completed a list of his own
because it was different than
other trends.
"You just say 25 things about
yourself. That's easy," Oliver
said. "It was just a funny way
to find out stuff about people
- quirky, weird, little things
"Surprise."
Although hospitality
management freshman
Lauren Graham acknowledges
"everyone and their mother
has done it," she decided not
to partake in the craze.
"It would be too time-
consuming because I would
put the effort into it to make
sure it's actually 25 things to
write about myself," Graham
said. "It's not that I couldn't
Á
i
\
andom
about them. That's what I
like about it, and that's why
I did it."
No other surveys gave
Oliver the chance to express
his "quirky, weird, little" fear
of staircases or that he puts on
Chap stick when he's nervous
or in an awkward situation.
The list can be even more
revealing than this, as Danzig
discovered that one should
not underestimate the secrets
hidden in a list of 25 things.
"My godsister did one,
and that's how I found out
that she was my godsister
- I always just thought she
was just a really close friend
of the family," Danzig said.
think of 25 things about
myself, but because it'd be
too hard to narrow it down
to 25."
Psychology graduate
student Chris Heath said
that Graham's concern is not
irrational, as the writer has
to decide what they want to
project about themselves in
"25 Things."
"Those things run through
a lot of filters. You only see the
end result - the end 25 - but
the process by which people
select those 25 is probably an
in-depth process depending
on the individual," Heath said.
"Some people are going to
put more time into it than
others."
Photography junior
Ignacio Torres put three days
worth of thought into his -
covering insights into his life,
including how he wanted to
be a vampire as a child - but
said his struggle was not in
narrowing but in finding 25
to share.
"It was very hard; I got
to No. 15 and couldn't do
it anymore," Torres said. "I
just made up the last three,
saying that I found Jesus in
my food."
For Danzig, the list was less
stressful.
"I don't think it's the whole,
lay your life out on the page,"
Danzig said. "It's just fun to
look at different things about
yourself. I didn't try and
define my entire life in 25
points - my life is way more
expansive than 25 things."
For some, however, the
trend is not appealing.
"I hate them," marketing
sophomore Matt Duerr said. "I
get really excited about noti-
fications and I'm like, 'Dang,
it's another note.' It gets me
excited about nothing."
Not the type to simply hate
the hype, Duerr said that most
of the notes he read were just
"thoroughly disappointing."
"Someone talked about
their favorite pizza topping
in four of them," Duerr said,
"is that really necessary?"
Necessity maybe one thing,
but even the most resolute
can't seem to remain unwav-
ering in their resolve to nix
"25 Things."
"I'm not going to do it,"
Duerr said, "I say this now,
but I'll probably end up doing
it."
Online tutoring aims for convenience
By Stacey Smith
Contributing Writer
With today's hectic
schedules, many are finding
it harder and harder to find
time to manage responsi-
bilities and maintain good
grades.
To help with these obsta-
cles, NT provides an online
tutoring service to its
students in more than 20
subjects.
Whether a student is
an early bird or a night
owl, tutoring is available
at various times during
the week, said Roxanne
Saucer, the coordinator
for NT's Learning Success
Programs.
"On average, students
participate in 3,000 sessions
a semester, and it is mainly
used at night and on week-
ends," Saucer said.
NT contracts with smar-
thinking.com to provide
online tutoring to students.
The service is covered by
a $l-per-student fee each
semester. Students must
initially log on to the Web
site with a user name and
password that can be found
on the NT Learning Center
Web site. Then, students
create their own user name
and password, which helps
track student use for the
university.
Blake Windham, a
biology freshman, turns
to the service for late-night
calculus tutoring.
"I use smarthinking.
com about once a week
just to make sure I fully
understand the subject,"
Windham said. "I also
noticed that they will edit
your paper for free and
send it back to you within
one day; you can't beat
that."
The sessions are inter-
active with a live tutor,
and students can schedule
personal sessions.
"More than 90 percent of
the tutors have a master's or
Ph.D in their discipline and
average over nine years of
teaching experience," said
Kristin O'Bannon, director
of strategic marketing for
Smarthinking Inc.
J.J. Mawazeb, a manu-
facturing engineering
freshman, used the service
when he had no one to review
a paper at the last minute.
"I turned in the essay
online, they marked it, and
it really helped," Mawazeb
said.
The service offers an array
of subjects, including mathe-
matics, science, Spanish and
writing courses. Students
communicate with tutors
through an interactive
whiteboard that works like
an instant messenger. The
whiteboard is also used to
write problems, such as math-
ematical equations.
"The program is a way
for us to provide tutoring
when labs aren't open and
students can't get a tutor,"
Saucer said.
She tells students that
they've already paid for
the service and should take
advantage of it, but she also
advises them that success
also depends on class atten-
dance. The e-tutors won't do
the work for the student or
rewrite papers, but they will
give suggestions for improve-
ment, she said.
Saucer also said the
Learning Center has tried
hard to get the word out to
students at dorms and during
orientation, but students are
often inundated with infor-
mation. Students may not
remember or understand
what a valuable resource
smarthinking.com can be,
she said.
Subjects offered
on smarthinking.com
Basic Math
Algebra
Geometry
Trigonometry
Calculus
Writing
Chemistry
Physics
Accounting
Statistics
Bi-lingual Math
Economics
Human A&P
Biology
Spanish
Organic Chemistry
Finance
Statistics
about six regular members.
Although the group has had
a few NT students drop in, it
does not have many regulars,
she said.
"We're always interested in
hearing new voices. Anyone
with a free Tuesday night can
come," Brinker said.
The Play Writers' relaxed
format is intended to help
authors who feel nervous
about sharing their work with
others, Poole said.
"It's for absolutely every
kind of writer from novice to
professional, including people
exploring the idea of perhaps
beginning to write," said Lynn
Job, a Denton resident and Play
Writers member.
Job said the group's open
format has helped her work
on screenplays.
"It has been extraordinarily
helpful to articulate these
ideas to a support group that
could give me feedback," she
said.
More information about the
two groups can be found at
the Campus Theatre at 214
W. Hickory St. or by calling
940-382-7014.
Photo Courtesy of Elisabeth Warren
Photo discovery
evokes memories
By Augusta Liddic
Contributing Writer
When Sharon Miller,
a dorm coordinator, was
cleaning out some cabinets
recently in Crumley Hall,
she probably didn't expect
to find a trove of old photo
slides.
Elisabeth Warren, the
director of housing, works
in the same office and had
a lot of memories return
when she saw the slides.
The more than 100 slides
are from the '70s and '80s
and depict a university
most students today would
not even recognize.
In 1981 Warren, who is in
several of the photographs,
became the assistant
director of housing until
1984, when she became the
director.
"It was just a simpler
time," Warren said about
NT in the '80s. "There were
only 15 to 17,000 students,
fewer vice presidents, fewer
deans and fewer residence
halls."
Warren said she has
seen many changes occur
in residence life since she
first started working for
housing.
Kendall Hall was once
an all-male dorm affec-
tionately nicknamed "The
Sweatbox" by its residents
because of its lack of air
conditioning, Warren
said.
Some of the biggest
changes in the dorms,
though, have concerned the
prevalence of drinking and
smoking, Warren said.
When Warren first arrived
in 1981, the drinking age
was 18. Resident assistants
would have programs in the
dorms with alcohol because
drinking was a part of
campus life, Warren said.
In the '80s, dorms had
designated smoking wings
so students didn't have to
walk very far from their
dorm room to light up a
cigarette, said Warren.
While Warren's memories
of NT have provided valu-
able context for the photo-
graphs, she has not been the
only person to help recall
information. Others, such
as 1998 alumnus Matthew
McGarity, have also shared
NT memories.
Neither Warren nor
Miller have been able to
identify the photographer
nor many of the residents
pictured.
"What surprised me most
was how little some things
have changed," Miller said
about the photographs.
"The clothes and deco-
rations are different but
the rooms still look the
same."
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Where Fun Comes in Fruitful Flavors
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233 W Hictay street, Denton 940-591-6061
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North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 93, No. 18, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 19, 2009, newspaper, February 19, 2009; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth145662/m1/3/?q=%22Education+-+Colleges+and+Universities+-+Faculty+and+Staff%22: accessed July 9, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.