thebattalion A sound C ● tuesday,
Courtesy Photo
Student dies while returning to A&M
MSC Month of Giving encourages students to donate Katy Ralston The Battalion Students can start their holiday season off early with the giving spirit of the Memorial Student Center Month of Giving put on by the MSC Leadership Development and Service Programming Council. “As the semester winds down and we are preparing to head home for the break, we want to offer students an opportunity to impact local and international communities,” said Month of Giving coordinator Lara Speights. Open through Dec. 2, the MSC Month of Giving is a compilation of various types of donations benefitting different charities that have anywhere from a local to a global impact. Each of the nine different committees represented in the Leadership Development and Service Programming Council choose their own cause to support. “We hope that each student will be able to identify with a cause that is purposeful to them,” Speights said. Causes include Twin City Missions, the Dallas Children’s Hospital, Phoebe’s Home, Salvation Army, Austin State Hospital, American troops serving overseas, Goodwill, Guatemalan orphans and impoverished Mayan farmers. Items collected are blankets, clothing, toys and books, school supplies and backpacks, mp3 and CD players, toiletries, non-perishable snacks, magazines and hats. One of the special initiatives in the Month of Giving is Whoop for Troops, where students can write letters and send packages to armed forces serving overseas. See Giving on page 4
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Cantus lights up Rudder Theater
stage
Ann Littmann | The Battalion
antus will perform “All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914” concert Tuesday, Dec. 1, at 7:30 p.m. in Rudder Theatre. Cantus is a 9-member a cappella male ensemble including Chris Foss, Eric Hopkins Ellingsen, Aaron Humble, Adam Reinwald, Paul Rudoi, Gary Ruschman, Shahzore Shah, Timothy C. Takach and Matthew Tintes. The concert evokes the memories of World War I truce between Allied Forces and German soldiers. The concert opens with a scene from after the truce as a young German soldier enters no man’s land singing “Stille Nacht.” Cantus’ concert then unfolds into a night of music, friendship and peace told touchingly through actual letters written by soldiers and new arrangements of European carols and war songs. The Washington Post has labeled the group’s sound as having both “exalting finesse” and “expressive power.” However, Cantus’ General Manager Mary E. Lee sees Cantus as much more than just an a cappella group. “In my mind, music is one of life’s most interesting phenomenon’s. It has the ability to get into a corner of our soul and trip a switch, and suddenly we have a new understanding of an emotion we are feeling and we don’t feel quite so alone,” said Lee. “Cantus takes the responsibility of providing that musical illumination very seriously. We ION know it’s a privilege to have [people attending] our concerts. We also believe we have a gift that should be TTAL E BA H T — shared as broadly as possible, and that belief feeds our mission as well.” In addition to touring and performing concerts thum r o N y Jerem nation-wide, Cantus annually works with over 10,000 students in educational activities said Lee. “Our goal is to reinvigorate singers and provide useful, practical knowledge of how to make choral music a vital and engaging part of people’s lives.”
Melissa Appel The Battalion Lauren Baker, a junior international studies major, died in an automobile accident Sunday morning on her way back to Texas A&M University after the Thanksgiving holidays. Baker’s car swerved off the road and hit a tree as she was traveling northbound on Highway 6. The accident occurred about 9:40 a.m., Baker was ten miles south of Navasota. Baker was transported to Grimes County St. Joseph Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead. Baker was a member of Delta Zeta and a fish camp counselor. She will be remembered for her friendly and optimistic look on life. “She was a person who everyone looked to make everyone happy,” said sophomore general studies major Blake Ferguson, who served as Fish Camp counselor alongside Baker. “She stressed and struggled to make sure everyone was happy. She was one of the most kind and genuine people I know.” Delta Zeta held a memorial service for Baker Monday evening. The funeral service will
december 1, 2009
CANTUS, the ninemember a cappella male ensemble practices Monday in Rudder Theater for their performance.
Ticket Information To purchase tickets call 979-845-1234 or buy online at www.MSCOPAS.org.
Harmonic
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history
ttending Christmas themed productions is a standard element of many people’s holiday season. What makes “All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914” unique is the true story of a Christmas Day and the people who experienced the violence and social climate of World War I, through their own words. “It’s a combination of music and dramatic readings of actual letters written by soldiers and communiqués by the Armed Forces,” said tenor Gary Ruschman. The music of the production, while artistic, represents the reality of the soldiers’ experience. “What we sing is directly related to what they sang in the trenches and heard,” said tenor Paul Rudoi. Hearing Christmas songs in enemy trenches made the other soldiers seem human, said Rudoi. That seems to be a theme the show adopted in telling the story of the Truce. On Christmas Day in 1914, according to the show’s writer Peter Rothstein, soldiers from both sides left the trenches and met in No Man’s Land to exchange gifts, sing songs, play games and bury each other’s dead, just
for that day. “All Is Calm” tells the story of that day through period songs and readings of letters, addresses and diary entries written by real people. Actor David Roberts said the play has been broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio, Public Radio International and BBC Radio. The live version of the show involves simple staging, set and dress. “Peter’s theory is that he often wants to tell the story with the tools the people in the story would have,” said actor David Roberts. “So it [‘All Is Calm’] was conceived as a radio play because that’s the tool those people would have had.” “All Is Calm” was developed in workshops through the collaboration of Rothstein, three actors and the nine members of Cantus, a male a cappella group. The show includes songs and texts from the countries involved in WWI, so the actors, who each play several characters, have to use a variety of accents, said Roberts. Collaboration is something the members of Cantus are all too familiar with. The group has no director, so the members work together to arrange
Jill Beathard
Through the words of real people and period music, show powerfully evokes the Christmas spirit harmonies. “Our process is collaborative,” Ruschman said. “So we take that collaborative model and try to extend that with other organizations.” Rudoi said some pieces in “All Is Calm” were arranged by a composer, but for other pieces, the group started with a melody and worked together to figure out what sounded good for the harmony. “I think the organic process is why we have such a connection as musicians, … and as a whole,” Rudoi said. In rehearsal, the members of Cantus listen and watch each other, helping them stay in tune and tempo. It’s easy to see how this group works together to produce good, unique music. And with a little more imagination, one can see how soldiers in the trenches of World War I might have sang together and connected in the same way.
Silver Taps to pay tribute to fallen Aggies Jan. 22, 1987 — Oct. 16, 2009 Patrick Noel Jernigan II
File Photo — THE BATTALION
Silver Taps Silver Taps will honor the fallen Aggies at 10:30 p.m. tonight at the Academic Paza.
Jan. 28, 1988 — Nov. 8, 2009 Adam Segura
Laura Sanchez
Matt Woolbright
The Battalion 22-year old, Patrick Noel Jernigan II, was a father and senior industrial distribution major. He died on Oct. 16 after 2 a.m. after a train accident in College Station. Jernigan was born on Jan. 22, 1987 and was the father of 4-year-old daughter Olivia who family say was one of the most important things in his life. “He was outgoing, fun loving and full of life,” said JERNIGAN his sister Alex Jernigan. “We were extremely close; we were like best friends.” Jernigan had received several interviews for jobs in industrial distribution, but it was important to him to stay close to Olivia, Alex said. Jernigan received a full scholarship to attend Texas A&M University after graduating in the top three percent of his class from Caney Creek High School in Conroe, Texas.
The Battalion At the age of 19, Adam Segura was the youngest Hispanic to be certified to judge Boer goats in the United States, ever. “Every weekend we’d travel to look at his goats, that was his passion,” said Imelda Segura, Adam’s mother. “He’d tell us it was only an hour away; then we’d get on the road, and it would be like five; he loved SEGURA his goats.” The senior biology major was born on Jan. 28, 1988, and died in a car crash west of campus on Nov. 8, 2009. In high school, Segura was involved in a wide array of activities, including band, the National Honor Society, the Knights of Columbus at his Catholic Church and Future Farmers of America, but his passion was for goats. “He was a quiet but loving person, he loved to be outside and he was a very, very passionate person,” his mother said.
See Jernigan on page 4
See Segura on page 4
11/30/09 11:04 PM