Since the public dedication in October 2002, the award-winning $24-million Goshen College Music Center has been humming with activity with regular concerts by world-class musicians, performances by Goshen College instrumental and vocal groups, as well as recitals from students enrolled in Community School of the Arts programs. But one piece of the ensemble, if you will, has been missing –– until now.
This New York based artist is renowned for large scale, rustic wooden sculptural forms. Her work is collected by many of the most prestigious national and international museums and galleries and is regularly reviewed in major art journals including the cover story for the July 2003 Sculpture magazine.
Born in Germany in 1942, von Rydingsvard spent her early childhood in Nazi labor camps and later in refugee camps until her parents and their seven children were able to immigrate to the United States in 1950. For von Rydingsvard, wood became the key to unlocking the autobiographical and ancestral content that she has since transformed into metaphor.
When listeners tune in to WGCS 91.1 FM on June 21, they will no longer hear the melodies of Mozart -- unless banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck arranges the tunes. General Manager Jason Samuel announced that the Goshen College radio station, 91.1 FM, will now be called "The Globe" and will feature full playlists of Americana and world music -- including the addition of public radio's most popular music program, "World Cafe," which isn't heard on any other station in the region.
Participating in an excavation in the Southwest, trekking through Amazon rainforests in South America and snorkeling through coral reefs in the Florida Keys are just a few of the ways Goshen College students spent their class time during May term.
If student energy could be converted to wattage for WGCS, the Goshen College radio station (91.1 FM), the broadcast signal might reach to every corner of the state of Indiana. That enthusiasm has resulted in statewide acknowledgment of two students for excellent efforts in broadcasting.
By next fall, the beginnings of a campus entrepreneurial venture will be fully brewing. In a unique partnership, Goshen College Student Life and Business departments are offering students the opportunity to manage a new coffee bar, the "central focus of the connector" between Yoder, Kratz and Miller residence halls which is currently under construction, according to Bill Born, vice president for student life.
Julio Ascencio Garcia was glad to welcome an interfaith group of Christian North Americans to his community, and relieved to be inside the cool walls of an old hacienda house while taking a break from his duties on the sunny patio where he and his colleagues rake coffee beans still in husks -- cafe oro -- into piles to dry. In greeting the interfaith delegation arranged by Equal Exchange, the largest fair trade coffee company in the United States, Garcia instinctively linked all Christians as children of God who should share as equals.
It's hard to put into words a career that spans 58 years, three continents and a wide range of musical styles. So, Mary Oyer, professor emerita of music at Goshen College, will also share music during her Goshen College Afternoon Sabbatical program, "Music in My Life: A Retrospect" on March 16 at 1 p.m. in the Music Center's Sauder Concert Hall.
It is time for the Goshen College Scientists/Scholars Advocating Precision (SAPs) to debunk the folklore that groundhogs and their shadows have anything to say about spring.
