Iconic American writer Maya Angelou will be on campus Oct. 4 as part of SIUE’s annual Arts & Issues series, along with seven other performers and speakers throughout the year.
Arts & Issues Director Grant Andree said planning for the series, funded by both the university and a number of sponsors such as the SIUE Foundation, the SIUE Graduate School and the SIUE Credit Union, begins more than a year in advance, gathering ideas and coordinating dates with potential presenters.
“Some of the ideas I collect over the course of the year when at booking conferences,” Andree said.
Juggling availability and selecting from a wide range of talent keeps him busy, Andree said, as he hunts for new and different artists and speakers to bring to campus.
“I like to bring in all these new things rather than repeat because there are just so many great artists out there,” Andree said.
Andree said Dean of Graduate Studies Steve Hansen was one person who suggested bringing Angelou to campus.
“She’s an important literary figure in American society, and for that reason alone she’s interesting to have in our Arts & Issues program,” Hansen said.
Angelou is best known for her series of autobiographies, including “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” as well as her poem “On the Pulse of the Morning,” written for President Clinton’s 1993 inauguration.
Source: http://www.thealestlelive.com. Read more here.
For me, this is nothing short of the best news I’ve heard in the last thirty days.
Today I went out in a t-shirt, the first time in weeks, only because the forecast at www.weather.com said it would not get colder than 24degrees centigrade, and I felt I could handle it. It was a good thing that I went with my hooded cardigan, for security, which turned out to be a good decision. Just a few hours after I started heading back home from my Wednesday teaching class, I felt that I was beginning to freeze. There was no way this could be 24degrees. And this time, unlike the many other times, I found that I was the only person feeling so cold. My friend from my Linguistics class, Chris, was sweating as we both walked back to my apartment from school. Horror.
