The Link 1999 4 Vol.pdf - DRC Home - Wilmington College

ief
Community
Enlightened and
Entertained by
Spring Programs
Public programs hosted by the College
during the spring 1999 semester took audiences
on journeys: to 19th century slavery in
America and the tragic legacy of Cambodian
genocide; into the brilliant minds of
Anton Chekhov and Henrik Ibsen; in tribute
to the diversity of our world and campus
community; and through centuries of music
by such artists as Mozart, Brahms and the
Beatles.
This semester's Issues & Artists Series
included a one - woman show in which actress
Kathryn Woods depicted Sojourner
Truth, the slave turned abolitionist and
women's rights activist.
"When I was a slave, I hated white
Seniors Karie Shelton and Ivan
Mihajlovich perform a scene in WC
Theatre's production of Henrik Ibsen's
classic play A Doll's House.
Actress Kathryn Woods
portrayed 19th century abolitionist/
women's rights activist Sojourner Truth
in a dramatic Issues & Artists Series
presentation at the College.
people," Woods said as she started her performance.
Her bitterness toward those of
European descent was tempered when
Quakers aided in her escape of slavery.
Also, her faith in God ultimately allowed
her to judge each person on the content of
their character.
Also featured in the series, Cambodian -
American Loung Ung gave a multimedia
presentation titled "Wars End, Landmines
Don't." In her native Cambodia, the Khmer
Rouge murdered an estimated 1.7 million of
her countrymen, including her parents, two
siblings and 25 other relatives. A legacy of
the Cambodian "killing fields" includes
some six million landmines buried throughout
the countryside.
She said there are 50 million landmines
in 30 countries. An international ban on
landmines was signed by 133 nations, one
of which was not the United States, which
claims it requires them to fortify the border
between North and South Korea.
"Pol Pot guarded the borders with these
sentinels of death," she said. "The mines
don't care if the foot that steps on it are
soldier, farmer or child—in 70 countries,
you don't know if the next step you take will
be your last."
This year's multi - faceted Black History
Month celebration opened with the College's
annual tribute to the memory of Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. in which the Rev. Damon
Lynch Jr., of New Jerusalem Baptist Church
in Cincinnati, said African - American people
need to recapture the sense of community
that helped propel them to great victories in
the Civil Rights Movement.
"As black folk, we've lost something,"
he said. "We've lost a sense of togetherness,
a sense of rallying around one another, a
sense of community.
"I remember once upon a time when we
were colored," he said in calling upon black
people to rediscover their past and build
for their future. "We did more when we
were colored than when we were Negro,
black, Afro - American and African - American.
Then we did more with less and now we
seem to be doing less with more!"
Another highlight of the program was
the music provided by Tamara Rollins '77,
along with the College Chorale and Bible
Missionary Baptist Church Gospel Choir.
On the theater front, graduating seniors
Karie Shelton and Damon Hatten, both of
whom have been principal actors during
their days at WC, contributed swan song
performances in the production of Ibsen's
A Doll's House, which was under the