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March 30, 2011
The Wichitan n 3
Greek.................................................................................................................................................continued from page 1 the museum as an annual fundraiser,” Spears said. She hopes the money raised will allow renovations at the museum to continue where they left off. Some of the projects already completed include repair and renovation of gallery space and improved lighting. Originally, Spears said she had hoped to raise as much as $10 million to finish interior renovations and fund a brand new façade for the WFMA. “We have scaled down the event due to the economy,” Spears said. Now, she hopes to raise enough money to relocate and redesign the museum entrance, improve parking, and make improvements to the restrooms, which are currently not ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) accessible. She said the space that formerly housed the planetarium will also become an auditorium-style classroom space. “It is my desire to incorporate the students. This museum belongs to them,” Spears said. She hopes to someday open a café at the museum that would hopefully draw students to the WFMA at lunchtime for sandwiches, soup and salads. Spears began preparing for the Fortnight by visiting Greece last summer to collect ideas and inspiration for the event. The Greek Fortnight will kick off Saturday at 7 p.m. with a black tie fundraiser called “Party at the Parthenon.” For $125 a ticket, guests can enjoy folk dancing performances, entertainment by “Zorba the Greek,” and a silent auction where attendees can bid on Greek-themed art and jewelry. Throughout the next two weeks, individuals can take Greekthemed art classes for all ages, learn how to prepare Greek cuisine, and sit in on lectures about the art and culture of ancient Greek society. Interested parties should contact the museum at 397-8900 to make reservations. Art and cooking classes cost between $20 and $46. The lectures, presented by MSU faculty members, cost between $20 and $25 for the public, and refreshments will be provided. MSU students can attend the lectures for free if they call and register ahead of time. Spears hopes students will take advantage of the opportunity to learn a little bit about ancient Greece. “We would love to see students participate in the lecture series,” Spears said. “It would be a shame for them to miss out.” She hopes the Fortnight will draw in the local community, as well, so that they can become aware of what the WFMA has to offer.
Schedule of Activities for Greek Fortnight: Monday, April 4 Mary Helen Maskill and Jane Spears Light Up Your Life the Greek Way: Ages 10 and up will create a glass mosaic votive, learn about Greek mosaics in the museums of Greece and sample some Greek goodies. $20 Dr. Lynn Hoggard NOT POSSIBLE! The First Epic Poet - a Feminist!: The Iliad and The Odyssey admires, respect, and even reveres women, without whom no man’s success is possible. $25 Tuesday, April 5 Mary Helen Maskill and Jane Spears Under-age Greek Fun: Ages 5 - 9 will explore how to mkae a Greek mosaic, write their names in Greek and understand the olive, which involves eating! $20 Wednesday, April 6 Dr. Stuart McClintock Greek I: Moussaka Madness and Greek Appetizers: Aristotle himself would be impressed with the Moussaka and Greek appetizers that Dr. Stuart McClintock will have you create. $45 Dr. Nathan Jun Philosophy and the Liberal Arts Ideal: For Greeks, philosophy was in many ways the heart and soul of paideia, stressing as it does the process of seeking rather than the act of finding. $20 Thursday, April 7 Jane Spears The Divine Spark Within:
Learn in this workshop how to overcome the limiting beliefs, fears, and guilt that inhibit the creative process. $40 Dr. Dick King The People of Ancient Greece: Writers, Politicians, Philosophers and Historians: The presentation will survey Greek society from the early Archaic Age (c. 800 B.C.) through the time of the Classical Age. $20 Friday, April 8 Dr. Ruth Morrow It’s Greek to Them, Too: Composers of the Renaissance and Baroque attempted to emulat the music of the ancient Greeks, though they actually knew very little about it. $20 Monday, April 11 Mary Helen Maskill and Jane Spears Gouaching Like the Greeks: Ages 14 and up will design and paint with gouache a 2 dimensional Greek vessel from educational material shown at the museum. $20 Tuesday, April 12 Dr. Stuart McClintock Greek II: Shrimp with Greek Appetizers: This second Greek culinary tour will have you tasting and creating Grecian shrimp dish and another group of Greek appetizers along with appropriate Greek wine. $45 Dr. Nancy Steele-Hamme A Most Peculiar Beauty - Greek Art from Archaic to Late Classical Periods: The canon of beauty the Greeks cre-
campus briefs n tuesday: 10th Annual Speak Up Speak Out! Conference: Clark Student Center from 7:30 am. to 5 p.m. ated was very peculiar, much more peculiar than later admirers realized. $20 Wednesday, April 13 Rachel Liles Gods and Mortals: Spend a relaxed evening painting our live models dressed in costume while enjoying Greek wine and hors d’oeuvres. $45 each/$80 a couple. Thursday, April 14 Professor James Hoggard Why Greek Tragedies Make Me Happy: Reflections on the most popular art form of classical Greece. $20 Jane Spears Painting...Myth, Muse or Metaphor: Continuing with the process of creative unblocking, this workshop will explore different art mediums while learning how to get in touch with your own creativity. $40 Friday, April 15 Dr. Ron Fiscli The Idea of Tragedy: Then and Now: The presentation will explore the idea of tragedy as it emerged through the playwriting of Aeschylus, Sophocls and Euripides, and the philosophy of Aristotle. $20
USLAN..........................................................................................................................................................................................................continued from page 1 Batman, was orphaned as a youngster when his parents were gunned down in front of him. “And on this concrete altar of blood, over the bodies of his parents, Bruce Wayne sacrificed his childhood and made a commitment: that some way, somehow, he was going to get the guy who did this. He was going to get all the bad guys, even if it meant he had to go through hell in order to do it,” Uslan said. And when he saw Adam West’s and ABC’s ridiculous portrayal of Batman that night, Uslan made a Batman-like commitment. “I swore that somehow, some way, I would remove those three little words from the consciousness of the world culture: ‘Pow!’ ‘Zap!’ and ‘Wham!’” he said. Uslan knew that he needed to transport Batman from the comics to the cinema – and this time it needed to be done right. But he faced three huge obstacles: he didn’t live in Hollywood, he didn’t know anyone who lived in Hollywood, and he was relatively poor. Fast forward to 1971 at Indiana University, where Uslan was pursuing an undergraduate degree in history. The university had just launched an ‘Experimental Curriculum’ department, where graduate students were invited to pitch ideas for new classes. “It was a time of great experimentation on college campuses – that’s all I’m allowed to say,” he joked. If a panel of deans and professors
liked a student’s pitch, he would be given the opportunity to teach his own ‘experimental’ class. Uslan’s idea was to create a class dedicated to teaching the mythology of comic books. “I couldn’t resist,” he said. “I saw an opportunity here and I devised the world’s first college-accredited course on comic books.” Uslan told the audience that he argued the sociological and mythological tenants of comic books to the faculty panel, desperately trying to convince them of the potential course’s merits. “After all, comic books are a legitimate American art form,” he said. “Comic books, sociologically, have been a mirror of our society since 1934. For better or worse, they reflect out morals, our slang, our fads, and unfortunately, our biases and our prejudices.” He said he also argued that comic books are “contemporary American folklore.” “They are our modern-day mythology. The gods of Greece, Rome and Egypt still exist today – except they wear spandex and capes.” The Greeks called him Hermes. The Romans, Mercury. Comic book readers: The Flash. The Greeks called him Poseidon. The Romans, Neptune. Comic book readers: Aquaman. He said appearing before the panel to argue a case for his new class was like “walking into the secret sanctum of the Justice League of America.” When the panel seemed unconvinced that there was any correlation between
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comic books and common themes in world folklore, he asked the head dean to describe the story of Moses from The Bible. Then he asked him to describe the story of Superman. Minutes later, Uslan had a new class to teach. Word of his course spread fast – people all across the country were very interested about the connection between comic books and society. “I was invited on every radio show you could think of. I never taught one class where we didn’t have television cameras in the room,” he said. Uslan recalled one class where reporters from four different magazines lined the front row. They represented Parade, Family Weekly, Playboy and Penthouse. “This course appealed to everybody,” he said. He was even congratulated for teaching the course by Stan Lee, legendary co-creator of The X-Men, Spider-Man and The Hulk, among others. Soon after, he was offered a job by an exec at DC Comics. It wasn’t long before he was asked to write a storyline for a comic about superhero The Shadow. “It’s all about getting your foot in the door any way you can do it,” Uslan said. After writing his first successful comic book storyline, higher-ups at DC gave Uslan a chance to write a Batman storyline. Dream number one: achieved. “I go back to school at Indiana and all my friends are going back to their dorms to study. I’m writing Batman,” he
said. “I was in heaven.” He then turned to his second dream, to transform the 1960s Batman from an American laughingstock to a mature, brooding character. “I am going to show the world the dark, serious Batman,” he told himself. Bringing this dream to fruition, however, would take much more time, energy and perseverance than he had ever imagined. “That became a trip that would turn into a mammoth, lifetime human endurance contest,” he recollected. Uslan said he got into the movie business by obtaining a law degree from Indiana University. He sold 20,000, twothirds, of his comic books to pay his way through law school. With the degree, he provided legal advice on the set of the first two Rocky films, Apocalypse Now, and Raging Bull. “What great training that was,” he said. “It gave me credibility.” In 1979, Uslan bought the rights to Batman from DC Comics, even though many people advised him it was a waste of money. “Little did I know I would be rejected by every single studio in Hollywood,” he said. After years of having doors slammed in his face, Uslan said he felt tired and dejected. But there was a light at the end of the tunnel. In 1989 he was approached by now-legendary director Tim Burton, who wanted to direct the first Batman movie. Once Jack Nicholson was on board as The Joker, Uslan
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was off to the races. “I was on top of the world,” he said. The movie has a hit, winning an Oscar for production design and receiving worldwide acclaim. In 2008, Uslan said he was also honored by having Christopher Nolan direct The Dark Knight, the most recent edition in the Batman movie series. “What he has done is raise the bar for all comic book-genre films,” he said. “When you walk out of Dark Knight, you no longer have to say, ‘That was a great comic book movie.’ You can say, ‘That was a great film.’” He promised audience members that doors would slam shut in their faces – just like they did for him. He said that you have to persevere to be successful in the “real” world. “When that happens to you, you only have two choices: you can go home and cry about it or you can pick yourself up and knock or those doors again and again,” he said. “You wanna talk about luck – that’s how you make luck. You wanna talk about timing – that’s how you make great timing. Those serious Batman movies came about on my bleeding knuckles. Pure and simple.” Uslan finished his discussion with a stanza from Robert Frost’s ‘The Road Not Taken:’ “I would be telling this with a sigh/ Somewhere ages and ages hence/ Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–/ I took the one less traveled by/ And that has made all the difference.”
OPERA..............................continued from page 1 after is the music itself,” Maxwell said. “The beauty of the voice is what I’m after. That’s what sells it. If it’s sung well, the human voice creates the emotion.” Maxwell said he selected the music after he knew which students he would be working with. Many of the class attendees are working to obtain degrees in music education. “I’ve got beginners, those who have never sang opera on stage before, all the way up to advanced students,” he said. “I’ve got a good bunch of kids and I expect it to be a good performance.” He said he expects every student to get something different out of the course, based on his or her experience and participa-
tion. “They’re all going to learn something different, and I can’t dictate that,” he said. Throughout the years, Maxwell has directed the performance with orchestras and actors. This semester, however, only opera singers will be on stage. Most of the pieces are vocal ensembles and they all will be accompanied by piano. “The students love it,” he said. “The students feel like they are making beautiful music together.” Maxwell said he is also excited about the Opera Breve Vocal Intensive in July, presented by MSU alumnus Lenora Eve.