traditionalists sell out Duke Gardens pg. 6
COCOA CINNAMON part two opens this Fall on Hillsborough Road pg. 8
recess
R
MIPSO renegade
VOLUME 17, ISSUE 1
JUNE 15, 2015
Painting fragility Professor Beverly McIver, page 4
Walking Distance from East Campus! Cuts u Speciality Color u Blowout Bar Waxing u Smoothing Treatments
704 Ninth St., Durham • 919.416.9705
wavelengthsalon.biz
R
recess
2 | MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2015
recess editors
Where we are this summer ...
Georgia Parke.................... durm town Dillon Fernando................. at the pool Gary Hoffman......................... jazzland Amrith Ramkumar.......................301
More Online
Check out the Recess online page for more great reads!
There are so many reasons why I love the summer and most of them are cliches. I like how it’s slow and I like how it’s hot. I like how I feel like tearing through as many books as possible, a habit probably born out of middle school reading quotas. I like how coffee seems a little crazier to drink when you’re already hyper and burning up from the sun. I like how you feel things more, as though the humidity is extracting emotion out of your skin one drop at a time. The trees get really big. Berries. Bikes. Beaches. It all rolls in like a long-term houseguest who leaves fresh flowers on your bedside table. I also fixate on how the season exists on its own plane—how the routines and flings and sunhats aren’t forced to merge into the patterns of the fall. An Albert Camus quote, drawn from “Return to Tipasa” and cheerfully reproduced on various Urban Outfitters posters, sets summer aside as a separate, freeing thing: “Au milieu de l’hiver, j’apprenais enfin qu’il y avait en moi un été invincible.” “In the midst of winter I found there was within me an invincible summer.” Whether or not you have free time to waste, your life probably feels a little bit different right about now. It’s been moved into a different phase with infinitely better weather. As kids, this was the time when a new Harry Potter would be released and most of us would demolish it within hours and be left reeling with feelings for days after. This was the time that weird adventures in the woods could happen and we felt like maybe the animals were communicating with us (Just me? No? Probably.). This was
1317 W. Pettigrew St., Durham, NC 27705
The Chronicle
the time when fruit was everywhere and people showed movies outdoors. For these reasons and probably some other cosmic ones, I have found that the summer is when I react and I feel the most deeply, not only because the weather invites nostalgia but because there has often been time to do so. You can look into someone’s eyes a second longer than is comfortable or block out an hour after your haircut so that there is time to cry about it. You
editor’s note can walk the long way home since you’re not rushing through the cold. By Jove, you can read! Since the year has been broken up by my schools’ calendars (almost forever), it wasn’t just plain old “summer.” It was “summer break,” “summer vacation,” “time off.” As a rising senior—an apt designation, as though while waiting between years, I rise with the heat— these next few months have been pegged by myself and others to be my final summer “off.” But this has long since changed, for those of you my age, and even with a line drawn in the sand by finals week, the time isn’t really off, and it hasn’t been for a while. Not since we grew up a little bit and got jobs as ice cream scoopers and/or lab assistants. It stopped when work and summer classes began to feel satisfying and fulfilling, more so than popsicles and grass and birds. Though
I pride myself on my abilities to be content with inaction, the two weeks in May before I started various summer projects were filled with boredom and guilt for not producing anything. Those feelings, I am sure, exist for most of us during the school year as well. We let the fear of stillness be the thing that drives our daily motion. This is good. This is why the world works. This is why the world works after we do the getting older thing and don’t do the popsicle-grass-bird thing as much. Responsibilities aren’t dictators of seasons. Summer will still come around and take you to a different place. It can still be possible to go through the wardrobe of May and find your sweaty Narnia of June. And now, the reason we are here in this section we call Recess—art! Brushes and pens and pirouettes. All these things exist year round, of course, and sometimes even flourish far away from the sun. But art comes with a built-in adhesive to stick itself on the summer shelf, and this is how it can be useful regardless of age. Digest some stuff, watch some weird movies, memorize a terrible song. Put it all on this separate plane and let it come back to you in a year. This lets you reap a little more significance, a little more memory out of already-meaningful pieces of work—and I have some pretty serious feelings about the “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” to prove it. Ensconce yourself in the comfortable embrace of the humid air until you are dripping with profundity. Then in September, dry yourself off, do school and do life. Wait a few months, and then it will hit you. —Georgia Parke
STUDENTS FROM EVERY DISCIPLINE TAKE OUR COURSES IN PHOTOGRAPHY, VIDEO, AUDIO, WRITING, MULTIMEDIA, AND MORE. COME JOIN US. FIND YOUR VOICE. Fall 2015 Center for Documentary Studies Courses with Space Remaining: DOCST 105S Documentary Experience: A Video Approach (ALP, SS, R) DOCST 110S Introduction to Oral History (CZ, R) DOCST 115S Introduction to Black and White Photography (ALP) DOCST 135S Introduction to Audio Documentary (ALP, R) DOCST 215S Documentary Photography and the Southern Cultural Landscape (ALP, CCI) DOCST 316S Activating the Archive (ALP, EI, R) DOCST 360S Multimedia Documentary (ALP) Questions? Contact csims@duke.edu
documentarystudies.duke.edu
The Chronicle
recess
MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2015 | 3
Nasher renovations to invite more student engagement more involved in the exhibition unveiling process, running the opening event of an exhibition this spring for the first time, Schroth said. She also noted that the improved Wilson Pavilion can provide a contemplative space for campus denizens, acting as a spot to “sit down and be quiet and slow down from your hectic student life.” The major changes to the space come as the Nasher celebrates its 10th anniversary since opening in 2005, which Schroth said was “absolutely intentional.” The increased capacity of the pavilion and the 350-plus works to fill it will mark a new phase for the museum while acknowledging what it has accumulated in the past decade. “The 10th anniversary is a milestone for the institution,” Price said. “It’s an opportunity for us as a museum to look back and see what’s been accomplished and also to look ahead to the future. I think both of those will be manifested in the Wilson Pavilion collection.”
Georgia Parke The Chronicle The Nasher Museum of Art holds more than 11,000 pieces in its permanent collection, but few of these works are ever seen by students during their years at Duke. That will soon change at the end of this summer when the Nasher’s newly renovated Wilson Pavilion will start showcasing a significant portion of the collection just as students arrive back on campus. The exhibition, titled The New Galleries: A Collection Come to Light, opens Aug. 27 and runs until Feb. 12, 2016 with reinstallations spanning seven different time periods and cultures, each encased in its own gallery. The pavilion has been under construction since mid-May and will be able to showcase twice as many works as before the renovations. Nasher Director Sarah Schroth said one of her main initiatives since being named the museum’s director two years ago was to display more of the permanent collection so students and community members could understand the size and span of the Nasher’s properties. “We really just want to make the Nasher a welcoming place for students,” she said. “The point of [the exhibition] is for students to be proud of the pieces that are in their museum.” The renovated pavilion—set to be completed in August—will feature a new configuration divided into eight defined sections. The new sections will include art from North and South America, Europe and Africa, as well as historical divisions of ancient, medieval and modern. One section of the exhibition will
Special to The Chronicle The Wilson Pavilion at the Nasher Museum of Art will reopen in its new configuration Aug. 27 after several months of construction.
involve students directly in the curatorial process. A gallery named “The Incubator” will exclusively display art curated by undergraduates. Schroth noted that the student curators will usually be summer interns or those enrolled in the Nasher’s internship course, and potentially those in classes whose faculty make the curation process part of their curricula. The first show to fill The Incubator will be a selection of Ansel Adams photographs, curated by seniors Rosie Williams and
Annalise Johnson. “Hopefully for some, especially for art history majors, it will give some real world experience… a different type of educational experience from the classroom,” said Marshall Price, Nancy Hanks curator of modern and contemporary art. “It opens up a whole other world.” Other recent changes to the Nasher have similarly prioritized student experiences. The Museum Undergraduate Student Exec committee has become
Special to The Chronicle
AUDITIONS DUKE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Saturday, August 22 Information Meetings 2 or 3 pm (you choose) Viola, Cello, Bass Flute, Oboe Clarinet, Bassoon
Monday, August 24 6 - 9 pm
084 Biddle
Tuesday, August 25 5 - 10 pm
104 Biddle
Wednesday, August 26 Horn, Trumpet 6 - 9 pm Trombone, Tuba Violin
101 Biddle
Thursday, August 27 5 - 11 pm
019 Biddle
084 Biddle
The Duke Symphony Orchestra is open to all members of the Duke community by audition. The 2015-16 season features works by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Copland & others, as well as a celebration of the music of Tchaikovsky in the 175th anniversary year of his birth and our annual trip to Beaufort, South Carolina, to play a benefit concert for the Duke-affiliated Keyserling Cancer Center. Harry Davidson, music director 919-660-3324, hdavid@duke.edu
music.duke.edu/ensembles
4 | MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2015
recess
The Chronicle
Beverly McIver reflects on first semester at Duke Dillon Fernando The Chronicle Beverly McIver, Esbenshade Professor of the Practice in Studio Arts in Duke’s Art History and Visual Studies department, recently finished teaching her frist semester at Duke. She has gathered accolades including being named as one of the 2011’s “Top Ten in Painting” by Art in America and has had her work reviewed by the New York Times. She was featured in an HBO documentary entitled “Raising Renee,” which chronicles McIver’s experiences taking care of her older sister, who has a mental disability, as McIver’s art career grew. The Chronicle spoke with Professor McIver to discuss her artistic inspiration, her experience at Duke and her recent trip to Cuba. The Chronicle: Thank you so much for speaking with us! Could you start by telling us a little about your background? Beverly McIver: I grew up in Greensboro, N.C. in a housing project called Morningside Homes, me and my two sisters with my mom who was a single parent and we were poor. I mean, we were on welfare for a time and we lived in the projects, so the interesting thing was that I got bussed, because of desegregation in the South, to predominantly white schools K through 12. So I would leave the projects, get on the bus and go to these really nice white schools that had air conditioning and that had nice facilities. TC: What was it like to go to a nearly allwhite school, especially coming from your background? BM: I think for me it was the saving grace. I think that what it instilled in me was that college was very important after
you graduated because that’s what my middle class white friends were doing, and I think it gave me an opportunity to see that there’s something better—something more beyond the projects. It gave me hope that I could actually break that cycle of being in the projects. So for me it was a good idea, and it showed me a different kind of life. TC: What influences your inspiration for your art? BM: I paint people. The inspiration comes from people like family members such as my oldest sister, Renee, who is mentally disabled. She’s 55 and has the mindset of a third grader and also has epilepsy. Our mom died about 10 years ago so I’m now her legal guardian, which means I became a parent without having a baby. I painted Renee for many years at the beginning of my career. My mother was a domestic worker in the South and continued to work until she died 10 years ago. I’ve painted about that, about my mother raising white children for the people that she worked for. I like to paint about fragility currently. I had a cousin who had both of her legs amputated because of diabetes. I’ve painted about her first initially with one leg and then losing the other and being in the hospital and then getting around on an electric wheelchair. I don’t think we’re paying much attention to diabetes enough. TC: What is like essentially being the parent to your older sister? Is it a seamless transition? Was it difficult? BM: Renee is really fabulous. She’s thinks I’m the cat’s meow, but has been challenging because I am a single woman and I chose not to have children so that
Special to The Chronicle Award-winning painter Beverly McIver just finished teaching her first semester at Duke.
I could focus solely on my art career. For my life to be interrupted in that way by having to take care of another human being, it’s challenging and difficult. But it’s rewarding. I wouldn’t change it because she’s given me more than I’ve lost. TC: You recently went on a trip to Cuba. What was that experience like? BM: Oh my God, it was fabulous. I’m still digesting. I went with a group of 18 artists and curators. A woman who I worked with at Arizona State University organized it. There were 18 of us that went and she arranged for us to go to different artists’ studios and speak to the artists in their studios, which was fantastic and lovely. We
went to an outdoor opera, which was also nice until it started raining on my head! We were on a tour bus together. Local people catch their buses—they stay out in the sun forever—and when they get on the bus then there’s no air conditioning, the windows are down and usually there are no seats. So when we would drive by with our tinted windows and air conditioning, that was really horrible. They’re standing and then we would drive by along with several other tour buses that looked just like ours. It was this clear division between the haves and the have nots. So that was a little hard. See McI ver on Page 12
A little bit of Madagascar right here at Duke! Immerse yourself in the largest collection of lemurs outside of Madagascar! • Daily tours available by appointment • Research opportunities for undergrads and graduate students • Volunteer and Work study positions available year-round
Discover, Engage, Protect
Contact us! 919-401-7240 lemur.duke.edu Twitter: @Dukelemurcenter Instagram: @Dukelemurcenter Facebook: facebook.com/dukelemurcenter
The Chronicle
recess
MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2015 | 5
Ernest Turner featured in weekly residency at The Shed Gary Hoffman The Chronicle Less than a year since it opened, The Shed has made a habit of hosting renowned musicians in its intimate downtown jazz venue. Opened approximately seven months ago by saxophonist Daniel Stark, The Shed focuses primarily on jazz but also hosts many rock, hip hop, indie and electronic artists. Most notably, the venue hosts jazz pianist Ernest Turner weekly on Monday nights, with the first half of the performance showcasing Turner and the rest of his trio and the second half opening up the stage for other local musicians to play. “There are so many musicians around that I felt like having a sort of intimate, laid-back listening Special to The Chronicle lounge space might be a cool addition to the night The Shed in Downtown Durham hosts renowned jazz pianist Ernest Turner, pictured above, weekly on Monday nights. life options in downtown Durham,” Stark said. Stark said that at times, jazz is used to cajole customers to eat and drink more at the cafe or lounge venue. However, at The Shed, Stark has maintained that music takes precedence. “People are coming and definitely intent on listening to you play, so I guess the music can take on more of an artistic vibe than a place where you are playing more ambiance,” Turner, a Durham native, said of The Shed’s atmosphere. Turner has been playing piano since age three. He started playing jazz in high school and then went to New Orleans for college, where he eventually joined • 55 acres of specialized gardens, with the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra. Since returning to miles of paths and shaded benches Durham, he has played in numerous locales around the city including the Sharp Nine Gallery, Beyú Café • The Doris Duke Center and other and the Pinhook. elegant indoor & outdoor event spaces Around the time of The Shed’s formation, Stark was talking with Turner about creating a listening • Adult and children’s discovery programs lounge made by musicians for people who truly • Guided tours wanted to come in and appreciate the music. Turner expressed interest in playing in such a club every • Student memberships week. “That for me was a real shot in the arm,” Stark • Volunteer opportunities said. “You have this amazing artist who’s willing to come in and help you out. When you have an artist of that caliber who’s willing to play every week, then other people are going to be calling you up and asking to play there.” In fact, after the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra finished their show in Durham earlier this year, they went right over to The Shed for an impromptu late night jam session. For Turner, that night was 420 Anderson St., Duke West Campus, 919-684-3698 memorable because he was able to see a lot of people gardens.duke.edu from his old band that he had been away from for ten years. Many other fans and local musicians were also able to play with the orchestra, that is made up of some of the best jazz musicians in the world. When discussing his playing style, Turner noted that while he is influenced by a few legends such as Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk, he is mostly a product of all the different things he has been exposed to, such as gospel and hip hop. “It can definitely morph into different things,” he continued, “It’s just a combination of different styles of Black American music.” Stark noted he plans to make The Shed more of an after hours act in the future to inspire jam sessions like the one with the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra. Groups playing at the Carolina Theater or the Durham Performing Arts Center may embrace it as a place to have more intimate shows for fans after the main event. “We’ve got some tricks up our sleeve and stuff we’ve been working on, but it’s a little too early to let the cat out of the bag on some of that stuff,” Stark noted. As it grows the club is also constantly thinking of new ideas to provide more recreation options for students. The Shed plans to host student groups from universities like Duke, as well as talking to composition teachers about hosting a series of original works from students. “Anything that gives something to do besides go to Shooters will be a good thing for Durham, in my opinion,” Stark said. Ernest Turner Sessions at The Shed are every Monday night from 9 to 11 p.m. The Shed is located near the last stop of the Bull City Connector Line at Golden Belt, 807 E Main St.
Focus on Nature at Sarah P. Duke Gardens Featuring...
the
dirt
Sign up to see what’s trending at Duke. dukechronicle.com/newsletter
recess
6 | MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2015
The Chronicle
Recess Interviews: Mipso Chapel Hill natives bring fresh Americana sound to Duke
Georgia Parke The Chronicle Mipso, a quartet of North Carolina natives that formed while its members were students at UNC-Chapel Hill, kicked off Duke’s Music in the Gardens series June 3 to a sold-out crowd. The group, which will release its second album this September with back-toback appearances at Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro, is known for its inventive take on bluegrass and Americana and their fine-tuned three-part harmonies. The Chronicle’s Georgia Parke talked to mandolin player Jacob Sharp and fiddle player Libby Rodenbough before their set at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens about where they’ve been, where they are this summer and where their sound is going. The Chronicle: One thing I wondered about is your mixture of modern and traditional music. When you’re in the South, in [your home state of] North Carolina, do you
feel like there’s an expectation that people want to hear more traditional stuff? Especially compared to the rest of the world? Libby Rodenbough: Generally, people are appreciative of the blending of traditional and modern elements, and it doesn’t seem to really offend very many people. But I also think that we might have more of an expectation from audiences about our traditional southerness from outside of the South because we represent something different to those people. I think people from the Triangle areas are really used to people blending tradition and contemporary style, because there’s so much of that going on here. A good portion of the local scene is like that, and we feel like we really fit in here... Usually, there’s not too much of a demand for us
to go more traditional or modern stuff. People like to hear your sound, and usually they’re pretty into it, the way that we blend things. Jacob Sharp: We are fortunate that the ingredients we use to make our music—a blend of string and Americana music—whatever you want to call it, a lot of people use it to make different things. It’s a pretty unique time to make your own statement with it. TC: I heard your new single and I love it, and I was so excited to see there’s something new. Do you feel like that was stepping away from what you’ve been doing, that you’re exploring something different? Is that a direction you want to be going? JS: That’s a cool question. That project was largely a fun one for us. We wanted to kind of explore, not push the boundaries of our sound, but try some new things and work with new people especially. Plus the first recording project we’ve done with Libby as a full member of the band, so it’s kind of important for us to learn a new dynamic collectively. As far as direction, Dark Hollow Pop is more of a string band rooted in bluegrass and this next one is going to be more old time than bluegrass, more in the style of Americana. I don’t really think it’s a departure, but we are See Mipso on Page 14
10 / u d e .
ke u d . r she
na
SAVE THE DATE: Nasher10 Party, Oct. 4
Special to The Chronicle Jacob Sharp, Wood Robinson, Joseph Terrell and Libby Rodenbough performed together as Mipso at Duke June 3.
work study student needed The Duke Dance Program is seeking an enthusiastic, reliable work-study student to work part-time during the AY 2015-2016, 6-10 hours a week. If you are eligible for federal work-study and interested in this position, please send your resume to Christina Harr, Business Manager, at christina.harr@duke.edu The Dance Program is located in 205 Bivins, 2 Brodie Gym Dr., Duke University. Phone: 919-660-3353
Odili Donald Odita, Desert Sun (detail), 2014. Acrylic on canvas. 72 x 90 inches. ©Odili Donald Odita. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
NASHER MUSEUM OF ART AT DUKE UNIVERSITY
2001 Campus Dr., Durham, NC 27705 I nasher.duke.edu I 919-684-5135
Skills required include: •General office skills •Computer skills, MS Word, Excel, etc. •Social media
The Chronicle
recess
MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2015 | 7
recess
8 | MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2015
The Chronicle Georgia Parke | The Chronicle
Inside the new
Cocoa Cinnamon Durham’s popular coffee shop takes spirit of collaboration to Hillsborough Road location in Fall Sarah Kerman The Chronicle
Cocoa Cinnamon on Geer Street in Durham is not a place you go to be alone. With its eclectic seating arrangements, amicable staff and lively atmosphere, an active disengagement is required to not interact with your surroundings. That quality of engagement will soon spread to a second location later this year, when Cocoa Cinnamon co-owners Leon and Areli Grodski de Barrera open their second location in late fall and continue their community-based approach to business. The owners are currently restructuring and refurbishing an empty restaurant building on the corner of Hillsborough Road and Trent Drive to become a second incarnation of the popular coffee locale on West Geer Street. Their business model strives for communication and collaboration among neighbors, which is embodied in the way they chose to raise funds for the second location and has informed their
decisions about the artistic vision of the space. “It’s business, but it’s not just a business,” Leon Grodski de Barrera said. “It’s this engagement.” The owners have already mapped out how every inch of their new location—now filled with only barren wooden beams and basic wiring—will contribute to a thriving and meaningful environment by this Fall. Grodski de Barrera’s artistic vision is to design a space for customers to take part in the “ritual of coffee” by providing reconfigurable spaces for interaction. The owners said the goal is to give the shop less of a living room feeling by dividing it into sections and creating these re-configurable settings. In the new store, this will include an outdoor seating area with a garage-style open front and an uncovered entryway to allow a tree to grow. Other plans include movable
Chronicle File Photo
small tables and stools inspired by Middle Eastern tea rooms, which could be arranged to allow for movie screenings in the store. The owners, both of Mexican heritage, plan to have an Aztec depiction of the sun and moon on the back wall, inspired by Mexican painter Frida Kahlo’s home. In addition, the second location will have a training space for employees and a second espresso machine if funding allows. The designs are ambitious because a coffee shop should be more than a business—it should be a place to facilitate community interaction and a way to communicate the history of the products served, Grodski de Barrera explained. “The history of coffee leads you back into Islam, and the history of cacao leads you back into Aztec and Mayan culture,” he said. “There are pretty extraordinary stories that come out of it, and our menu kind of plays off of that.” Small details of the new store in addition to the broad space designs will represent the origins of the products. For example, the owners and designers have collaborated on the form of the upper cabinet, which will store coffee cups above the counter. Artists Heather Gordon and Maryah Smith-Overman have used a digital mapping program to create tessellations that translate the coordinates of the locations where coffee originated onto the 25-foot curved wooden cabinet. The piece will represent Islamic geometry, which demonstrates the beauty in repetition, Grodski de Barrera said. “It’s really going to have a lot of visual movement,” said Smith-Overman, a woodworker. “We’ve come together to create something as a team that’s going to speak pretty loudly and be really fun to do.” Smith-Overman worked on the outdoor tables and benches at the first location and expressed enthusiasm about having the ability to transform the material she works with into a depiction of ingenuity with potential to foster creativity, “It’s certainly stretching everyone and I think that for me, that’s what this is about,” she said. “I love that I build a lot of cabinets and boxes that are really straight-forward, but this is the kind of stuff that gets me excited about the material and what it can do.” David Solow—who has worked with Grodski
The Chronicle
recess
MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2015 | 9
Georgia Parke / The Chronicle
de Barrera since 2001 and is helping to design the second location—acknowledged that implementing an artistic vision for the shop will not make the process of starting the business an easy one. The reward, though, will be representing the stories of the shop’s inhabitants within its own walls. “I’m a designer, but I’m more like a director in a film,” Solow said. “My job is to direct and to create something that is greater than what [Leon and Areli] would have produced working individually.” Solow acknowledged how difficult the artists’ task in creating the cabinet and the other works that hope to foster more spontaneous creativity is, but he also expressed confidence in their ability to create such a piece through collaborative work. “This is like making a painting into a sculpture right before your very eyes,” he said. Trying new strategies is a common theme for Cocoa Cinnamon. The second shop has been financed in part through a communitysourced capital campaign in which community members can become squareholders, lending funds in increments of $50 to Cocoa Cinnamon to be repaid later when the shop is complete. Groski de Barrera said that although the shop has greater access to bank lending this time around, he prefers this method because it gives community members a stake in the process.
Georgia Parke | The Chronicle
When starting the last shop, the owners used Kickstarter—more than 609 people contributed and more than 1,000 in total volunteered, contributed or trained in some way. Grodski de Barrera noted that the shop’s relationship with the community was significantly impacted through using this method of funding as opposed to traditional lending. “The truth is it changes things,” Grodski de Barrera said. “It seems to be about the money but it makes these inadvertent connections. It makes us get out of our shell...and all of a sudden your shop has a life before it exists.” The new Cocoa Cinnamon is Durham’s first community-sourced capital project, and it has broken the record for the most squareholders
on a project ever with more than 336 squareholders and more than $42,000 raised. Grodski de Barrera said he already knows of five other Durham small businesses that are going to use the same funding process, continuing the trend of a collaborative business environment. He also noted that many others are involved in the creation of the new location as well, including 10 to 12 artists and several more designers. “None of this could happen without anyone else,” Solow said. “This intensive collaboration, when it really works, makes that shop look how it looks.”
Georgia Parke | The Chronicle
recess
10 | MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2015
The Chronicle
What’s your next audition? This column is part of the Craftwork series, in which student artists answer the question: “What piece of art has made you more of the person you are?” If you are interested in submitting a column for consideration, please email gpp5@ duke.edu. In college, everyone experiences an audition of some kind. All of us applied to get in. Walk-on athletes have to try out for the team. Premed students have to interview before shadowing at Duke Med. Even professors face an “audition” when it comes time to evaluate courses. Some auditions are easier to ace, while others, the scarier ones, take a lot more preparation and have little chance of success. Whether or not you come from Harmony Zhang
a performance background, presenting yourself in an audition-like situation is often daunting and leads to a lot of self-questioning. Stressful questions like, “Why do I want this?” “Who am I doing this for?” or even “Am I being [insert impressive adjective here] enough?” can pop up at the most inopportune times and confuse our identities and our core beliefs about ourselves. Last summer, I attended the Duke in London: Theater program and wondered how I could extend learning about theater into my free time, as though the curriculum didn’t already include enough theater (we watched one play per night Monday through Friday for six weeks). I decided to pack a book that I had bought online, “Audition” by Michael Shurtleff. The book, described as “absolutely indispensable to any aspiring or even mildly ambitious actor,” caught my attention, because I loved not only acting but also the butterflies that accompanied me to every audition.
COME SING!
OPEN REHEARSALS & AUDITIONS
Chapel Choir
Duke Chorale
Sing Handel’s Messiah and Verdi’s Requiem
Spring break concert tour to Florida and Verdi’s Requiem
chapel.duke.edu/worship/music/choirs
music.duke.edu/ensembles/chorale
Call 684-3898 for information on joining the choirs. Graduate and Undergraduate students welcome!
Hone your acting and movement skills for opera & musical theater in
Opera Workshop (Mus 213-1)
Info Meeting Wednesday, August 26 4:40 - 6:00 pm, 075 Biddle No experience needed! All are welcome!
Interested in voice lessons? We offer Beginner and Advanced Beginner classes as well as private lessons.
Auditions (075 Biddle Music Bldg.) Tuesday, Aug. 25 1:30 - 4 pm
Wednesday, Aug. 26 10:30 am - 12:30 pm & 1:30 - 4:30 pm Be prepared to sing scales & a piece of your choice. (Bring music for the provided accompanist.)
More info:
opera@duke.edu or visit music.duke.edu/ensembles
One Sunday afternoon, I remember sitting in a hair salon in Chinatown, London, getting my hair permed for the first time. I pulled out my book and learned three invaluable lessons about auditioning. The first of these is: don’t be someone you’re not. According to Shurtleff, “Most people go into acting to get out of themselves, to get away from their everyday humdrum selves and become someone else who is glamorous, romantic, unusual, different. And what does acting turn out to be? Using your own self.” I used to believe that acting was the craft of completely inhabiting the life of someone else, almost as if I wasn’t myself anymore while acting. Instead, it should be using my own self to react to different contexts presented to me. I think this point can be applied to what many of us believe success to be. Perhaps we think success is a particular job title, set of traits or a certain salary that we have not yet attained. Even once we do attain it, another tier of success soon materializes, determining the next definition of success in each of our lives. Instead, what if we viewed success as an inherent part of each of us? Then, we need only to use ourselves fully and imagine the possibilities with a willingness to take risks. That said, my first point can be revised as: Don’t be someone you’re not, because you don’t need to be. “Audition” also underlined the importance of prioritizing real relationships. Instead of treating auditions like scary evaluations, it would be a lot easier to treat them as opportunities to engage with real people. “Better to take the chance of communicating to the person sitting on the other side of that desk. Treat him like a prospective friend instead of a hangman. It might work.” What I love about acting is the ultimate goal to create human relationships onstage. We shouldn’t be delivering rehearsed lines at each other; we should be focused on actively engaging with each other. What could help even more to prioritize relationships is to realize that the interviewers are people too. “It’s a lot harder to interview people than it is to be interviewed,” Shurleff says. With that in mind, we can relax a little more and be helpful to the interviewer by opening up. “Try a little empathy. Put yourself in the interviewer’s shoes.” The third big takeaway from “Audition” is to not take rejection personally. There is really no way of knowing for sure why you get rejected. In acting, people can actually be rejected because they’re too short, or too similar in appearance to the director’s ex-wife: “What good will it do for you to find out you’re too short for the leading lady or too tall for the leading man? The solution would be to go home and cut your leg off or put on a pair of stilts; neither will help you.” The best solution is to shake it off and be thankful for the opportunity to have auditioned at all. Instead of judging your own performance on what you think your auditioners wanted, it is much more grounded to evaluate yourself on how true you were to your identity. What’s your next audition? You got this. Give it your best shot. You’ve got nothing to lose. Harmony Zhang is a Trinity senior.
The Chronicle
recess
MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2015 | 11
Find a Part to with
PLAY TheaTer STudieS at Duke! Creativity. Collaboration. Communication. Community. Don’t miss these fall courses - seats still available! First Year Seminar: 89S.01 PERFORMANCE IN ARGUMENT
First Year Seminar: 89S.02 BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
THEATRST 190S-1 SECRET LIVES OF DRAMATIC TEXTS
THEATRST 115 THEATER TODAY
THEATRST 290S-2 AUDITION TECHNIQUE
Duke Players Orientation Show
Learn more about Duke Players, our student theater group, at a rollicking night of theater…
Sex, Politics, Religion, and Did We Mention Sex? A Night of Student-Written One Acts
Brody Theater, Branson Building, East Campus August 21 & 22 at midnight August 28 & 29 at 8 pm* *free pre-show pizza on the Brody porch at 7 pm!
Mainstage Auditions
Monday, August 24 from 5:30 to 7:00 pm Sheafer Theater in the Bryan Center, West Campus
All Duke undergrads are invited to audition for our fall and spring Mainstage plays: Tuesday, August 25th Wednesday, August 26th callbacks Thursday, August 27 Bryan Center, West Campus You can get course credit for being a part of a play! Play titles, directors, and audition and sign-up details will be revealed in July on our website: theaterstudies.duke.edu
Sign up now for our listserv so you don’t miss upcoming events! Email theater@duke.edu and put “listserv” in the subject line.
Open House
Featuring everything and everybody you need to know, plus GREAT ENTERTAINMENT & FREE FOOD & T-SHIRTS! Duke Theater Studies
@Duke Theater
duketheater
recess
12 | MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2015
The Chronicle
MCIVER from page 4 TC: Do you think you’ve gleaned any insight or new perspective that will influence your art from your trip? BM: You know, I think Cuba’s going to be the biggest impact on me because you know I have been poor. Not as poor as Cubans are but you know I grew up in a housing project, so that divide where I was actually on the air conditioned bus or eating in the nice restaurant is definitely going to impact my work. I think the landscape, the color, the vibrancy of the water, the buildings and the people I’m sure are going to have a huge impact on my work. I just don’t know how it’s going to manifest itself. TC: In your first year at Duke, what is
Special to The Chronicle
your impression of the students? BM: I think that they are eager to learn, and it’s been fun. It’s very different from when I worked at North Carolina Central University because at Central, you’re talking about first generation going to
Duke Dance Program
open house
Monday, Aug. 24, 2015 5:00 p.m. The Ark Dance Studio, Basement, East Campus Come and meet the dance faculty and then join us in an open African Dance class or Kundalini yoga at 6:30 pm. Refreshments served!
auditions Wednesday, Aug. 26 4:40 pm - Ballet Repertory with Tyler Walters @ The Ark 7:45 pm African Dance Repertory with Ava Vinesett @ The Ark
Thursday, Aug. 27 11:45 am - Flamenco Repertory with Carlota Santana @ The Ark 7:45 pm - Modern Repertory with Andrea E. Woods @ The Ark
danceprogram.duke.edu
college. They want to be artists majoring in art, perfecting their crafts and creating a portfolio. At Duke, not a lot of students are majoring in art. They are minoring in art or are taking arts because they love and they’ve seen a lot of it around the world in their travels. But the students could be pre-med or engineers—a variety of majors. There is a difference in how to teach somebody who’s not going to put together a portfolio and pursue their life as an artist, but instead be someone who invests in art in the future as a collector, a curator, or donate back to the art department at Duke. It’s important but a different belief. TC: What is your relationship with the students you’ve had this year? BM: I think they love me (laughs). I think I’m different from what most of them are used to. I come from a very different background and lifestyle than most of them, and I think they find me refreshing. They are curious, and they want to learn and see the value of what I bring to the table—which is very different than what others bring to the table. I had 12 students, and four of them made it a point to bring their parents by my studio to meet me. I think that’s pretty significant. My students, I believe, appreciated the
experience because I sure did. It’s a twoway street, and I was learning things from my students about places they had traveled and their experiences. That always keeps it interesting, when education works both ways. TC: Many of your paintings bring light to race and class issues. Especially in light recent events on campus this past year such as the noose incident, what are your thoughts in the way administration is opening up discussion about race? BM: It’s a big discussion, and I think that as long as Duke is looking to continue it, and not just doing it because there’s a noose hanging in the Bryan Center, then it’s a really good start. My feeling is the administrators at Duke are not going to be tolerant of any form of discrimination. I like that. My colleagues are nice, considerate and aware. I have not faced discrimination thus far [here at Duke], and that’s not true for every university where I’ve worked. TC: What are your hopes for incoming and current students at Duke? BM: I hope that more students will take painting. The comments that I heard in my class from people majoring in like psychology or pre-med were ,”Oh my God, I love this class! This doesn’t even feel like work.” I had a couple of PhD students, one in philosophy and he said, “Thank you, this is the best class I’ve taken.” And they were good paintings! I hope more students will be more open to the idea. At Duke, many students are afraid to take risks, failing, going outside of the lines, but those are all the skills you need to be a good painter. I feel like I’ve accomplished with many of them that it’s okay if you mess up. Just do it again. It’s oil paint. Just scrape it off. Just getting over that hurdle was a huge accomplishment for both me and the students.
Discover the Terrace Shop
For the finest garden-related merchandise.
On your next visit to the Duke Gardens, stop by the Terrace Shop. We’re located in the Doris Duke Center for the Sarah Duke Gardens off Anderson Street. We offer some of the finest garden-related merchandise found in the triangle area. Clothing | Books | Children’s Items | Educational Items Jewelry | Ceramic Pots | Vases | Bird Feeders and more! Doris Duke Center • Sarah P. Duke Gardens • Phone: 919.684.9037 Store Hours: Monday - Saturday: 9am - 5pm • Sunday: 12noon - 5pm
www.dukestores.duke.edu/retail/terraceshop Department of Duke University Stores®
OPERATION: Terrace Shop PUBLICATION: Chronicle
MCIVER from page 4
The Chronicle
got jazz?
recess
Wanna PLAY jazz? Wanna LEARN about jazz? The Duke Jazz Program wants YOU!
Get into the groove! with these courses:
Intro to Jazz (MUS/AAAS 140) Jazz Ensemble (MUS 210-4) Jazz Improvisation (MUS 171, 172) Small Jazz Ensemble (MUS 210-5) Private lessons are also available!
For info on courses and auditions check us out at dukejazz.org or contact Professor John V. Brown, Director jbrown@duke.edu 919-660-3385
MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2015 | 13
recess
14 | MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2015
MIPSO from page 6 just naturally becoming more of our own with what we are involved with. TC: I’d love to hear what you are in the middle of right now. You said the next couple of weeks you are pretty busy. Is that part of a bigger tour? JS: So this is kind of planning this year for you. We’ve already planned 31 dates. We were out for the first 10 weeks of the year, on two separate tours that were kind of strung together. Since then, we’ve been doing the week out or out for the weekend, which is what these couple of weeks are. We are gone most of July, we’re going down to Virginia, New Orleans and then Illinois and back, then Colorado for eight days. There are some pauses in it but it feels pretty consistent. And then we have a new album coming out the first week of September. TC: Your new album that’s coming out—have you recorded everything? LR: Yeah, it’s all finished. This part now, it’s hard in its
The Chronicle
own way. We are trying to figure out what to call it, how to package it and how to get it out to people. It’s a lot of business and marketing decisions now. TC: Is there stuff that you learned from last time that is affecting these decisions? JS: The last project largely was us learning for the first time how to do any of it. Not that we made any rookie mistakes per se, we just didn’t have a lot of knowledge. Now we have knowledge of two years of watching people, and we built relationships with people who we really respect and trust…. But that was definitely our freshman album. LR: We are also doing a bunch of stuff in Raleigh, so we’ll be around the Triangle a fair bit. We are trying to kind of with the new album basically go to all the places we’ve performed before, refreshing people’s memories. TC: [Libby], you came on more recently, so what’s been the process of joining? LR: I’ve been in the process of joining Mipso since Mipso started. When the guys formed the band I was just friends with them, and I was in Chicago and they made their first EP in a friend’s living room, and I recorded the violin part for the
Come Play with Us!
first EP. So literally since the inception of Mipso as a real live band, I’ve kind of been [a part of it] but I was always kind of an auxiliary, like an extra of the band, and that was just an arrangement that we maintained for a really long time even though I played with them a lot. I think it was a little bit scary for me to think about joining the band full time, but they graduated a year before me, and when I was approaching graduation and hearing how much fun they were having, and realizing how much I was enjoying playing with them on my weekends off, I just kind of realized that it was too good an opportunity to pass up. Now I can’t imagine having done something different. It’s pretty fun. It was pretty incredible that something like this just fell onto my plate. It’s hard work too, but it’s a lot of just good fortune that we’re able to do it full time and make a living off of it. And it has a lot to do with the Triangle being a good place to start out as a band. TC: I know that you guys were at Chapel Hill together. How did you originally find each other? JS: We just met in like any friend groups in school. I met [guitarist Joseph Terrell] right before school—we were visiting Carolina... And we kind of just met in different ways, and all played instruments. One of the first things we ever did was recording some videos on Duke’s Campus for Small Town Records. You could find them online. They’re terrible. We were really young.... We kind of had no idea what we were doing, but it was pretty awesome…. Duke Coffeehouse was one of our first shows outside of Chapel Hill that had good attendance. It was one of the first guaranteed payments we had where we were like, maybe you could make music to make a living.
the last bell... Whether you are a music major or not... Be part of an amazing artistic and social experience. Continue your love for music in college! Play diverse and exciting concert music Make new friends and have a great time Perform with living composers and guest soloists Perform in Baldwin Auditorium
Tuesday / Thursday Rehearsals 7:30pm - 9:30pm
A month may have passed since school has been out for the summer, but the summer is still very much alive and young. Need a new tune for that summer internship grind? The perfect pump-up song before those raging summer fiestas? Maybe a melody to beautifully accompany a warm summer night with friends around a campfire--maybe a little too cliché? We think so. Regardless, Recess is here to give you our must-listen-to songs for Summer 2015 that you might not find on the radio. 1. “Cherokee” by Kamasi Washington This song is warm, bright, and funky—everything your summer should be. 2. “Crystals” by Of Monsters and Men OMAM dropped their new album Beneath the Skin on June 9, and this single is bright, shiny, beautiful gold. It sounds sincere and emotional but doesn’t lack an eager intensity. 3. “I Need Your Love” by Shaggy If there is one thing that every summer needs, it’s a little bit of a tropical flair. Shaggy is back from the dead in his new bright and sunny Jamaican vibes meshed with a kiss of seductive guitar strumming and a booming drum beat that cajoles you into dance. Close your eyes and let the music take control with this one. 4. “Annie” by Neon Indian Neon Indian has a pretty weird history and really good music to show for it. “Annie” is a preview of their third LP—and their first release in four years— sounding peppy and tropical without sliding into kitsch. Alan Palomo’s vocals are roundly satisfying on this decidedly summer song. 5. “Sweet Life” by Frank Ocean, Channel Orange What better way to celebrate Frank’s new album than to listen to the best song from his last one?
Ensemble information meetings:
Saturday, August 22, 2015 Students interested in Music Dept. vocal and instrumental groups may attend any ONE of the two sessions 2-2:50pm OR 3-3:50pm Mary Biddle Music Building, Room 101, East Campus.
2015-2016 Highlights
Conductor
Verena Mösenbichler-Bryant verena.m@duke.edu
President
• Family Weekend concert Tommy Jenkins • 2-3 concerts per semester in Baldwin Auditorium thomas.l.jenkins@duke.edu • Possible fall tour • Host the annual Viennese Ball • Broadway in Baldwin in the spring • Featuring guest soloist and composers (world premiere of Duke’s own Ben Daniels)
6. “Another You” by Armin van Buuren The best part of this song is its pop-y vibrancy. This EDM track is less melancholy than Zedd and more care-free than Calvin Harris. It just makes you feel damn on the good inside. 7. “The Night is Still Young” by Nicki Minaj No one makes a better summer track time and time again than Nicki Minaj. Taking a more mellow approach than hits like “Starships” or “Anaconda,” this single plays with tempos and quick beats that will make you crave that in-the-moment euphoria of a memorable summer night. 8. “Cheerleader” by Omi This track is so stupid that it’s great. The lyrics are so simple, but the bumpy rhythm and carrying trumpet will transport you to beach where maybe, you too will find your cheerleader.
Find the full Spotify playlist at DukeChronicle.com!
The Chronicle
recess
MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2015 | 15
Near Duke
Ship to DUKE
w/the UPS Stores near Duke
Moving to Duke University
Delivery Dates -- ANY DAY, no extra charge
®
®
®
These 5 steps will easily get your stuff to Campus
1
Sign Up Online www.DormShipping.com
2
Pack, then print your labels
Registration is only $25.95 which includes a free supply kit shipped right to your address via UPS Ground and arrives 4-6 business days after you SIGN UP.
4
Receive and Store
811 Ninth Street (next to One World Market)
919.286.3322
West Campus 2608 Erwin Road (next to Chipotle & Dunkin’ Donuts)
919.383.1400
www.DormShipping.com www.CSSshipping.com
Free Pickup On your scheduled pickup date, UPS will come to your address and pickup all your labeled items. Extra items may also be added. You may also drop off your boxes at any UPS Location -- UPS Stores, Service Centers, Office Depots, and any other Authorized UPS Shipper, at no additional charge.
Once you are packed, send us your packing list. Labels will be created and emailed to you. Just print them out, apply to your boxes, suitcases and other items you’re shipping to campus.
Your shipped items arrive at one of our UPS Stores [one adjacent to East Campus for Freshmen, one opposite West Campus]. Once there we receive and temporarily store your packages until the final delivery date to campus. You may also pickup your packages at either of our UPS Stores at any time [no charge, of course.].
East Campus
3
5
We Deliver On your scheduled delivery date, we deliver all your items to your room or apratment!
The UPS Store
®
recess
16 | MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2015
The Chronicle
D UKE PER FO R MAN C ES
2 015 / 20 1 6 S E A S O N | M U S I C , T H E AT E R , D A N C E & M O R E . I N D U R H A M , AT D U K E , A R T M A D E B O L D LY.
RENNIE HARRIS PUREMOVEMENT | FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23 & SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24 | REYNOLDS INDUSTRIES THEATER
A BRA HAM.IN.MO TIO N A NA TIJO U X BET T YE LAVETTE BLITZ THE A MBASSADOR BUENA VIS TA S OCIAL CLUB C HUCHO VAL DÉS & IR AKERE 40 DANISH S T RING QUARTET
THE FAIRFIELD FOUR & THE M C CRARY SISTERS
M U R R AY P E R AHI A , P I AN O
G RE G ORY P ORTE R
PAT T Y G R IF F I N , SAR A WAT K IN S & ANAÏ S M I TC HE L L
H IS S G OLDE N MESSENGER HU RRAY FOR THE RIFF RA FF IM A NI WIND S & FISK JUBILEE SINGERS THE KIN G ’ S S IN G E RS
P E T E R ROWAN B LU E G R AS S B AN D R H IAN N O N G ID D E N S
M A H MOU D A H ME D
RO SAN N E CAS H T HE T R I P L E T S O F B E L L E VIL L E
PLU S D OZE NS MORE SHOWS . $ 1 0 D U K E S T U D E N T T I C K E T S O N S A L E T U E S D AY, AU G U S T 25 ! G E T T I C K E T S : W W W. D U K E P E R F O R M A N C E S .O R G | 91 9- 6 84 - 4444