Maya Angelou inspires at Randolph College

Maya Angelou encouraged more than 1,000 listeners at Randolph College to discover poetry and see how “it has kept us alive.”

Angelou, a famous poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist, spent about an hour Tuesday night telling stories from her life and reciting poems that are meaningful to her. The audience laughed and cried as she shared stories of humor, despair, and hope.

“You need to know the poetry. You need to have it in your hands,” she said. “The poetry you read has been written for you—each of you.”

John E. Klein, president of Randolph College, gives Maya Angelou a copy of a book about the garden
of Anne Spencer, a well-known African American poet who lived not far from the College.

The College hosted Angelou Tuesday, January 29, so Randolph students and others from the community could learn from the experiences and wisdom she would share. Smith Memorial Hall was packed with Randolph students, faculty, and staff; students from area schools, and the greater Lynchburg community as well as visitors from outside of Lynchburg.

Angelou encouraged them to go to a library and find a book of poetry, particularly poetry by African Americans. She specifically recommended Paul Laurence Dunbar, and she recited his poem “Sympathy,” from whose lines she drew the titles for several books, including I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.

She told the humorous story behind her lighthearted poem “The Health Food Diner,” and she talked of her love for the works of William Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe. The audience cheered with delight and laughter as she demonstrated how Poe’s “The Raven” should be recited like a rap lyric.

Angelou reflected on the privilege of being able to give hope and knowledge to others through her writing. “When you know, you can teach. When you get, you can give,” Angelou said. “I used to think I’m a writer who can teach; I've found I’m a teacher who can write.”

Randolph students were delighted to see and hear Angelou. Cameron Hall ’13 was impressed with the friendliness and graciousness Angelou exhibited. “My favorite part was the general feeling that Maya Angelou was as happy and excited to see us as we were to see her,” he said.

Grace Gardiner ’15 enjoyed hearing Angelou recite poetry. “To hear her able to recall powerful words and images from memory, as well as boom out these words and images in a voice so deep and thoughtful as her own, was a true treat,” she said.

Katie West-Hazlewood ’13 appreciated how Angelou tailored her comments towards College students and other young members of the audience. “She recognized that we are going through struggles, but assured us that others have, too; therefore we would be able to get through it as well,” she said. “We are at such a transitional point in our lives and hearing that was very inspiring.”

"Flashes of War" author visits Randolph, will give public reading on Feb. 6

“What is it about a small college that feels like opportunity?” Katey Schultz wrote in a recent entry on her website. While teaching a creative writing course at Randolph College, she has found an environment that fosters her creativity as she pens a novel about the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Schultz has been writing fiction about the wars in the Middle East for a few years. Although she has never been to the Middle East and does not have family members or friends serving in those wars, she became keenly interested in the topic when she realized that terms related to those wars had become a part of the normal lexicon for students in the arts-centered high school where she taught.

“I was amazed how the language of the global war on terror had infiltrated the everyday speech of the average teenager,” she said. “They don’t have any memories of this country when we weren’t at war. They have grown up in such a different world, with a familiarity of warfare and violence and oppression and power.”

“My little cousins, in 5th or 6th grade, they know what a jihadist is,” she added. “I think that’s changing society.”

Visiting Writer Series

Public reading by Katey Schultz

Wednesday, Feb. 6, 8 p.m.
Alice Ashley Jack room,
Smith Memorial Hall

Schultz began reading first-person accounts of the wars, watching footage from YouTube and documentaries, and making lists of military words. That research grew into her first book of short stories, Flashes of War, which will be published in May. Each story explores a question, such as why someone enlists in the military during wartime, or what it is like to be fighting a war that many at home are not thinking about. Some of those stories inspire the novel she is writing now.

A couple of years ago, Schultz learned that she had lost a writing prize she had sought, but she noticed that the winner had been an Emerging Writer in Residence at Randolph College. That piqued her interest, and she contacted Randolph’s English department.

The Emerging Writer program is part of the College’s Visiting Writer Series. It brings young writers who have not yet published a full-length book to teach a course for several weeks and to present a public reading.

Schultz has enjoyed working closely with Randolph students and teaching them about the creative process of writing. “They are curious about what you can do with creative writing, and they want to do a great job,” she said. “Everyone here is trying to learn and wants to be here. When you share those two basic principles, a lot of things can happen.”

Schultz will present a public reading of stories from Flashes of War on Feb. 6 at 8 p.m., in the Alice Ashley Jack Room on the second floor of Smith Memorial Hall. She hopes that her audience will feel the passion behind her work and think about the implications of war. “My stories are really bearing witness to something that we’ve done a pretty good job not looking at,” she said. “I hope it invites people to look at these wars again.”

Student Center Renovation Update: January 29, 2013

The finishing touches are almost done. Check out the latest progress on Randolph's Student Center renovation project here: http://web.randolphcollege.edu/studentcenter/slideshow/jan29/index.html

For comprehensive coverage, please see: www.randolphcollege.edu/studentcenter

Student Center Renovation Update: January 28, 2013

Construction crews are hard at work putting the finishing touches on Randolph's new Student Center. Check out the latest progress here; http://web.randolphcollege.edu/studentcenter/slideshow/jan28/index.html

For comprehensive coverage, please see www.randolphcollege.edu/studentcenter.



A view of the new Michels Plaza.




This third floor conference room used to be hidden behind a wall.



Student Center Renovation Update: January 25, 2013

The countdown has begun! The $6 million Student Center renovation is fast approaching the finishing line. Check out the latest progress here: http://web.randolphcollege.edu/studentcenter/slideshow/jan25/index.html

For comprehensive coverage, see: www.randolphcollege.edu/studentcenter.

A view of the main level of the Student Center.

The Skeller is almost ready for business.

A view from the third floor.

This area, which used to be hidden behind a wall, will serve as a conference room.

Museum studies students work at Anne Spencer House and Garden Museum

Six Randolph students spent Thursday afternoon doing hands-on curatorial work in the former home of a famous poet.

Art professor Andrea Campbell took some of her museum studies students to the Anne Spencer House and Garden Museum, where they carefully measured, photographed, and squinted at artifacts through magnifying glasses. This semester, they will be researching the artifacts so they can be properly cataloged and displayed in the museum.

Anne Spencer was a Harlem Renaissance poet who lived just a few miles from the College. Her husband, Edward Spencer, was a postal carrier whose route included R-MWC, and many artifacts in the home came from the College.

The students’ work was covered by two news organizations. You can learn more about their work in this News & Advance article and this WDBJ-7 video.

You also can view more photos of the project in this Facebook photo album.

This project grew out of a partnership the College has established with the museum to provide opportunities for students and to help the museum preserve the history there.

Natural history collection work on display in Lipscomb Library

Back in the fall, we told you about students who have been working to expand and document the College’s natural history collection. Now you can see their work, including insect, bird, mammal, and plant specimens that have been preserved for study, in Lipscomb Library.

Emily Patton Smith ’12 and Will Guzman ’15 have installed a display outlining the history of the collection and illustrating the work being done to improve the collection. The display also includes information about Smith’s research on the source of Randolph’s natural history collection, including its connections with famous collectors and the Smithsonian.

Be sure to take a few minutes to stop by the display, in four cases on either side of the circulation desk on the fourth floor of Lipscomb Library, to learn more about the College’s expansive natural history collection.