The Waltonian

On Friday, April 10, the Eastern University Music Department will be holding their 12th Annual Music Gala at the Church of the Savior in Wayne. The concert will start at 7:30p.m. and feature Eastern’s piano quartet, the university choir, and both music faculty and student performances. The cost of the concert is $20 for patron seats, $30 for preferred seats, and $40 for premium seating. There will be a discount for the Eastern University community of $5 off any ticket.

The piano quartet consists of Ron Matthews, David Bryant, Erikson Rojas, and Jim Correnti, all of whom serve within Eastern’s music department.

The university choir is led by music department chair, Ron Matthews, and consists of students from across the majors offered at Eastern.

The Gala has a special guest appearance this year: Ying Fu is a violinist originally from Shanghai, China. Currently he is residing in Philadelphia as the Associate Concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra. In the Gala’s program, Mr. Fu’s biography states that he earned “his Bachelor’s of Music from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in China and earned his Master’s of Music in the Shepherd School of Music…at Rice University in the United States.” Mr. Fu has won multiple violin competitions, and it is an honor to have him join the music department in this year’s Gala.

This year, the Gala will also be presenting the 2015 Music Alumna of the Year award to Jean McIntire. McIntire graduated from Eastern College, as it was then known, in 1971 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education. She went on to earn “her Master’s Equivalency in Music Education and voice at Temple and West Chester Universities. She also earned a M. Ed. from Cabrini College.” Over the years, she has been teaching music in various public schools. The Eastern Music Department presents this award “to acknowledge with deep appreciation [her] Christian faith, service, and contribution in the field of music.”

The Music Gala first began in 2004 when it was held as a fundraiser for the university choir’s first European tour. The Gala went so well that the music department decided to keep the tradition going. Dr. Ron Matthews states that the Gala “supports music in ways operational development doesn’t.” Over the years, money raised from the Gala has helped to fund the choir’s international tour, the Steinway piano that you see on the stage of the auditorium in McInnis and other special projects such as these. A long-term goal for the music department would be to have a larger facility where students have more space to practice their skills. Matthews states “our goal right now is to keep the idea of a new facility present.” The restricted fund provided by the Music Gala supports this idea and keeps the music department in consideration of how best to spend money given to them through gifts or fundraisers such as the Gala.

This year Eastern’s literary magazine, Inklings, is making a few changes, including collaborating with the Eastern University art club and adding a new category for submissions. For the first time, the art club, Society of Art and Illustration, will be designing the magazine’s cover. Also, students will now be able to submit cartoons and illustrations to Inklings. Other than this new submission category, Inklings also accepts poetry, creative non-fiction, essays, short stories, and photography.

Inklings is eventually hoping to create an online version of the magazine as well, though this is more of a future goal and may not be incorporated with this year’s edition.

Submissions are open to anyone who is interested. You can be from any major and faculty is encouraged to submit work as well. Senior editor, Lindsay Robbins, states that submitting to Inklings is a “great opportunity if you are thinking about publishing in the future.” She also states that it is great for future resumes.

The magazine does not have a theme and there is no limit to the number of pieces that one can submit, though Robbins suggests a cutoff at about three or four pieces. Including Robbins, there are currently seven editors that make up the Inklings’ staff: Heather McBride, Blake Plimpton, Mary Anne Bonner, Asia Williams, Zach Nelson, and Felisha Kissel. Professor Kat Hayes is the advisor. These editors will read the work that is submitted and, through collaboration, choose the pieces that will be included in this year’s edition.

If you are interested in submitting your work, you can send it directly to Lindsay Robbins at lrobbins@eastern.edu. Submissions will close on April 12th, so make sure to get your work in by then. Also, be sure to check out Inklings on Facebook and support them by liking their page!

A creative writing piece

I should have known, I should have expected it, with the way the fog curled across the winding, dirt road, illuminated only in my headlights and the trees, crooked and spindling, curving their rough trunks and skinny branches up until they brushed the black sky – black like his eyes, I should have known when I ran from him, I should have known when I saw all those dark, glass bottles lined up across the kitchen table, filling the refrigerator, broken on the matted, stained carpet of the living room floor, and I should have known by his pale, sweat glistening face and his wild, bloodshot eyes, by the way he stumbled and screamed, sending the thin walls of the trailer shuddering at his rage, and I should have known that the car wouldn’t get very far, I should have known because it never had before, it sputtered and shook if you drove it faster than 45 miles per hour, because the fuel injector, among other parts, had gone bad, but we’d never had the time or money to replace it, and it was amazing that it even started when I shoved the key into the ignition, shouting at it, on the verge of hysteria at the thought of death, but it wanted me to survive, and yet it just couldn’t quite make it the 20 miles to the nearest police station, losing its momentum, unknowingly, in the worst possible place, on that winding back road, miles from civilization, haunted by the fog and the far off sound of an owl sitting high in a tree, whooing a warning to me as I stumbled from the old, broken down Buick, me who didn’t know, blinded by the thought that maybe I’d gotten away until I heard the crunch of truck tires and found myself in the glare of his headlights and I heard the creak of his door and the soft, grinding sound of his booted feet on the ground, and then I knew, when I heard the sound of metal on cold metal, the soft click of the bolt, pushing the bullet, meant for me, into place, I knew, though I couldn’t see him or his rifle, I knew, and maybe, maybe I knew all along, maybe that was why I had agreed to take it when my mother pressed a handgun into my purse, and maybe, because I knew, I had reached under the tattered passenger’s seat of the Buick and wrapped my fingers around the weapon before I climbed from the car, and maybe it was he who should have known.

For years, students have enjoyed living in Eastern’s off-campus apartments, the Village. However, the Village apartments are now being reserved for Eastern’s graduate students. Dr. Bettie Ann Brigham says that this has been the plan since the Village was purchased from the Valley Forge Military Academy. Therefore, undergraduate students will have to stay on campus in future years.

Eastern is, and always has been, a residential campus. This means that if the students are full-time, they must live in the dorms. Of course, there are exceptions to this. According to “Campus Housing” on the Eastern website, if students live with their parents, serve in the military, or are 23 years or older, they have the option to live off-campus. Part-time students are permitted to live off-campus as well, but they do have the choice to reside on campus.

Though students are permitted to apply for off-campus housing when the dormitories are full. Brigham cautions them, “We have had a number of students ask for commuter status and then find that they can’t afford the extra costs.” Many times, students do not consider costs such as internet, food, and television, to name a few and then struggle to pay their bills. Also, students should not complete a lease agreement unless they have been granted permission to live off campus. Otherwise, they could be looking at two very large bills: one for their lease and one for residency at Eastern. At this time, however, the housing department is not accepting applications for students wishing to live off-campus.

Eastern decided to become a residential campus due to research that shows that students are better prepared for adult responsibilities when they spend time within the community of a college dormitory. According to Brigham, Eastern invests in being a residential campus due to the growth that “students go through when living in intentional community with guidance.” This growth can be both spiritual and philosophical. The environment within the dorms encourages students to get to know one another, and can also cultivate the spiritual aspects of their lives.

When a student becomes a resident, they must have a meal plan. Not only does this encourage health, it also encourages community within the student body. There are three different meal plans, but they cost the same amount of money so that students are able to choose the option that suits them the best, without worrying over the cost. First-year students are required to have the unlimited meal plan, but this is in place to help their transfer, from home to college, go more smoothly.

Being a residential campus also helps the students financially. “If we didn’t require residency, the grants that students receive would not be as high.” Brigham says. Brigham also claims that “we don’t try to make money on the dorms, but we try to meet all of our costs, so we need to be full.” Therefore, Eastern strives to fill the dorms each year.

In the future, Eastern hopes to renovate all of the residence buildings. For now, however, the focus is on Doane Hall, and depending on financial circumstances, the housing department hopes to be able to renovate all of the floors in Doane.