NEWS 1 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
TUESDAY, APRIL 7, 2015
VOL. 116, NO. 118 • SINCE 1908
‘Mad Men’ Season 7
AMC drama moves into ‘70s | Page 4
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All of the books discussed by the authors and guest speakers during the series are available for purchase at the Russell House Bookstore.
Series hosts brains behind books Lauren Shirley @SURELYLAUREN
The creative talent that has passed t h rough t he Er ne st F. Hol l i ng s Special Collections Library as a result of The Open Book series would rival even the most prestigious literar y conferences. Fr o m M a r t i n A m i s t o D a v id Mitchell, the series hosts both best selling recognized authors and lesserk now n up-and-comers in lect ure and discussion type sessions right on
USC’s Campus. The College of Arts and Sciences has eng ineered t heir Open Book Series as a chance for students, faculty and members of the community to interact with these celebrated authors. “We bring some of the most famous writers in the world to campus, and it’s a really great thing for students to see that literat ure is not just a dead t hing trapped in books, but something that’s being made now,” Elise Blackwell, the host of The Open Books series said.
Blackwell, the author of four novels herself and a member of the Master of Fine Arts in creative writing faculty at USC, offers her take on some of the books during the Monday night discussions. Other guest speakers cont r ibute to t he ser ies as wel l, including authors Nikky Finney and Peter Steinberg. The Wednesday sessions feature appearances by t he aut hors t he m s el ve s . Fol low i n g e ac h Wednesday appearance is a chance for students and other attendees to
get books signed by the authors. The series has been running since March 16 and will continue to run until April 22, and has been drawing a fair amount of students to the events. So far, George Saunders, author of “Tenth of December,” Mary Szybist, author of “Incarnadine” and Kate Christensen, author of “The Great Man,” have visited the campus. Saunders brought in the biggest group, drawing both undergraduate SEEOPENBOOKPAGE3
Carolina’s Promise seeks to raise $1 billion by June Lauren Shirley @SURELYLAUREN
The Carolina’s Promise campaign has been counting donations over the past eight years, because the clock is ticking down on their June 30 deadline to raise $1 billion. According to the Carolina’s Promise website, there’s $47.4 million left to go, less than onetwentieth of the total sum. The initiative, originally started in July of 2007, sought to bring in this large sum through contributions toward any area of USC. The idea didn’t belong to any one person, according to Jancy Houck, USC’s Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations, but was a collaborative effort from the universit y’s leadership. “If you think back eight years ago, it was a time when the economy was not so robust,” Houck said. The state funding decreased “precipitously,” and t hat was t he push t hat t he universit y needed to begin Carolina’s Promise, she said. The eight-year campaign, which ends June 30 of 2015, already has over 100,000 donors that have contributed to put this initiative where it needs to be, according to Houck. “We’re right on track to be successf ul,” Houck said. “But it’s campaign wisdom that the last gifts are the hardest ones to raise because you’ve already gone after all the easy ones.” The donation push applies to all of the USC campuses, not just Columbia, and Houck said the university is still pushing to close the gap on their goal. She was hopeful that people
Goal: $1 billion
Earned: $952.6 million would continue to support the campaign until it was over. The campaign aims to be “an investment in the future of the University of South Carolina that will allow us to improve the quality of life in our state and throughout the world,” according to the Carolina’s Promise website. “The promise of Carolina includes teaching our largest student population ever, launching SEEPROMISEPAGE3
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Guthrie gained fame through his release of a blues rock version of “Sexy and I Know It” by LMFAO on YouTube.
‘Glee’ star Noah Guthrie rocks Russell House Patio Lauren Galida @TDG_ARTS
You may know Noah Guthrie as the avid YouTuber behind the bluesy version of “Sex y and I Know It,” but you may not know him as Roderick on “Glee” or as the latest performer in Carolina Production’s “Meal Time Music Series.” In May 2012, the Greenville Count y native’s YouTube page exploded with more than eight million views from his unique, soulful cover of LMFAO’s jam “Sexy and I Know It.” “[‘Sexy and I Know It’] really has propelled my career in the last couple years, so really I’m just kind of thankful for it,” Guthrie said. “I’ll be playing it for a long time, and that’s fine with me. You know, the audience loves it. I don’t
know, that’s all I can really ask for.” You can add Guthrie to the list of artists discovered through Yo uTu b e a l o n g w it h Ju s t i n Bieber, Greyson Chance, Cody Simpson and Boyce Avenue. He began publishing cover versions of songs and found management t hat encouraged him to keep p o s t i n g o n Yo uTu b e . Fr o m there, his videos only increased in popularity until his LMFAO breakthrough. The A mericana singersongwriter artist said he doesn’t have a specific process when it comes to producing songs. It could take him an hour to be completely satisfied for one song and a week for another. His favorite band of all time is U2, and he specifically draws f rom several Nashv ille singer-song w riters including
the Dave Matthews Band, Mark Grizzard and The Civil Wars. “It’s just playing the song over and over, you know, so you’ll hear a certain part in your head and you’re like ‘oh, that can go there’ or ‘that might work,’ and a lot of times it doesn’t,” Guthrie said. “But once you find that right — like with ‘Sexy and I Know It’ it just happened... I didn’t really even think about it.” Guthrie hoped he would gain recognition for his voice, but never for his acting skills. He said that acting has never been on his radar, but he would definitely tackle anot her act ing project again. He ex pa nded on how “Glee” writes the characters close to the actor’s personality, so while it was difficult at first, he slowly got the SEEGUTHRIEPAGE4