GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Valentine’s Day Love Soirée is Almost Here!

“Anything but the ’Nineties” is the theme of this year’s Strong College Valentine’s Day Dance and Love Soirée. It will take place Wednesday, February 12th, from 8:00 p.m.–12:00 midnight in the JCR. Don’t miss it, and if you want to help with the plans just visit the next College Council meeting on Tuesday night in the Committee Room.

Host a Visiting High School Student on Black Student Visitation Days!

Every February the UNCG Admissions Office sponsors Black Student Visitation Days for black students from North Carolina high schools who are thinking about coming to UNCG in the Fall. They need your help to host some of these students overnight on Friday, February 21st! All you have to do is meet your guest at 4:00 p.m. on Friday and show him or her around for the evening and then provide sleeping space on your floor. We are hoping to have an informal get-together for the guests and their hosts in the JCR at 5:30 on Friday (if you’d like to help out just ask Dr. O’Hara or Dr. White). There is a sign-up sheet on the bulletin board outside the College Office if you’d like to be a host, or just call Lorenzo Baber in the UNCG Admissions Office directly (x5243). Thank you!

Strong College Birds of 1996

Dr. O’Hara kept a list of all the species birds seen on or from the Strong College grounds during 1996, and this is it: Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Canada Goose, Mallard, Turkey Vulture, Cooper’s Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Ring-billed Gull, Rock Dove, Mourning Dove, Common Nighthawk, Chimney Swift, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Blue Jay, American Crow, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Carolina Wren, Swainson’s Thrush, American Robin, Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, Cedar Waxwing, European Starling, Red-eyed Vireo, Magnolia Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler, Scarlet Tanager, Northern Cardinal, Rufous-sided Towhee, Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, House Finch, American Goldfinch. This list was the result of very casual observation, and could be easily expanded. See if you can find any new species for the College list for 1997.

Ad Astra

Our very own Durenda Johnson has just been appointed Vice President of the UNCG Student Government Association! Today the SGA, tomorrow the world. Congratulations to Durenda!

The next Borders Bookstore Breakaway (hosted by Pam Bulgin and Adam Cox) will be this Sunday, February 2nd. Meet in the JCR at 1:00 p.m. to ride out to the best bookstore in town.

Anita Todd has left some information about the AmeriCorps volunteer program in the College Office for interested Strong College people to browse. AmeriCorps is a national volunteer program that allows people to do public service around the United States and at the same time save money for College or repay student loans.

This coming Monday is Fellows’ Night in the Blue Lemur Coffee Bar from 9:00 p.m.–12:00 midnight.

Poem-of-the-Week

The Strong College Poem-of-the-Week is posted on the bulletin board outside the College Office and is usually reprinted here. This week’s poem is a slightly abridged version of Richard Eberhart’s “The Groundhog” (1936), in honor of February 2nd:

In June, amid the golden fields,
I saw a groundhog lying dead.
Dead lay he; my senses shook,
And mind outshot our naked frailty.
There lowly in the vigorous summer
His form began its senseless change,
And made my senses waver dim
Seeing nature ferocious in him.
. . .
And so I left; and I returned
In Autumn strict of eye, to see
The sap gone out of the groundhog.
But the bony sodden hulk remained.
But the year had lost its meaning,
And in intellectual chains
I lost both love and loathing,
Mured up in the wall of wisdom.
Another summer took the fields again
Massive and burning, full of life,
But when I chanced upon the spot
There was only a little hair left,
And bones bleaching in the sunlight
Beautiful as architecture;
I watched them like a geometer,
And cut a walking stick from a birch.
It has been three years, now.
There is no sign of the groundhog.
I stood there in the whirling summer,
My hand capped a withered heart,
And thought of China and of Greece,
Of Alexander in his tent;
Of Montaigne in his tower,
Of Saint Theresa in her wild lament.

STRONG COLLEGE CALENDAR

1 February (Saturday), 7:00–8:00 p.m., Star Chamber — All intelligent life forms are invited to join us for Star Trek: Voyager! (Bob O’Hara)

2 February (Sunday), 1:00 p.m., Junior Common Room — Borders Bookstore Breakaway! Meet in the JCR for the short ride out. We will spend a couple hours at the bookstore and then return. (Pam Bulgin and Adam Cox)

3 February (Monday), 8:00–10:00 p.m., Star Chamber — WCW Monday Nitro now appearing at this time in the Star Chamber every Monday night. Come witness the future of television. (Scott Thomason)

3 February (Monday), 9:00 p.m.–late, Committee Room — The spectacular Blue Lemur Coffee Bar opens for the semester. Join Tim Owens and Sherrill Hayes for free coffee, music, and conversation. It’s the place to be on Monday nights!

4 February (Tuesday), 4:30–5:30 p.m., Junior Common Room — the College Tea! Join all your friends for cookies and conversation. (Laurie White)

4 February (Tuesday), 10:00–11:00 p.m., Committee Room — College Council meeting! All Strong College members are invited to help plan all sorts of events and activities. (Kelly Woodfin)

5 February (Wednesday), 9:00 p.m.–late, Committee Room — Poker Night! (Scott Thomason and Chris Beaver)

6 February (Thursday), 4:00–5:00 p.m., Senior Common Room — Strong College Literary Hour! We sit around and read favorite pieces of prose and verse. Everyone is welcome, so please join us! (Laurie White)

6 February (Thursday), 10:00–11:00 p.m., Star Chamber — Medical excitement with ER! (Eric Harrington)

7 February (Friday), 12:00 noon, Strong College dining area in the Caf — Lunch for Strong College Fellows. Students are always welcome to join us; just pull up a chair.

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