Hilltop Views S t .
E d w a r d ’ s
U n i v e r s i t y
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Volume 28 | Issue 10
8 Entertainment: Fun Fun Fun Fest
A pack 13 Features: of food trailers
showcases Austin’s weirder side
invade Austin to serve unique cuisines
Martin to debut in ballet Kristina Schenck
hilltopviewsonline.com
Two 14 Viewpoints: students offer differing views on Austin’s bicycle culture
SGA president resists recall
kschenc@stedwards.edu
The president of St. Edward’s University will be cross-dressing for this year’s employee Christmas celebration. George E. Martin will make his ballet debut as Mother Ginger in Ballet Austin’s production of The Nutcracker. The performance and Christmas party will take place on Dec. 4 at the Long Center. “It was suggested that I play Mother Ginger, and in a weak moment, I said yes,” Martin said. Martin added that his role is in conjunction with the university’s continuous 125th anniversary celebration. “The folks who plan the annual Christmas party were trying to think of some way to make it different, special, for the 125th anniversary,” Martin said. “They also wanted to link it up to a community organization, and so it evolved into the idea that, well, maybe we can work with Ballet Austin to create an event that would be a little different than what we have annually that would be enjoyed by the employees of the university.” Ballet Austin invites a different local celebrity to play the role of Mother Ginger in each performance of The Nutcracker every year. Martin will dance in the footsteps of previous Mother Gingers, including Paul , founder of RunTex; Bill Powers, president of the University of
Ari Auber aauber@stedwards.edu
Courtesy of Ballet Austin
Little gingerbread children dance around Mother Ginger in The Nutcracker.
Texas at Austin, Texas Tribune CEO and Editor-inChief Evan Smith; Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell and other local celebrities. There will be no rehearsal or practice before the performance for Martin. “I think that’s how they kind of get you to agree to do it; they don’t entirely disclose to you what you have to do,” Martin said. However, Martin does have an idea of what his role entails because he has attended Ballet Austin’s performance of The Nutcracker in the past.
“They locate you atop a large rolling platform, and it’s dressed like a large woman with a very wide skirt, and under that skirt are children. As Mother Ginger comes out, she opens her skirt and the children run out,” Martin said. Mother Ginger makes an appearance in the second act of the ballet. She dances as part of the Sugar Plum Fairy’s court in the Candy Castle. Mother Ginger is a large gingerbread house who has little gingerbread children dance around her. After the dance is over, Mother Ginger and the
little gingerbread children leave the stage. Martin added, though, that seeing the play and being in it are two different things. “I really don’t know what to anticipate. My intention is to have some fun with the audience,” Martin said. Other notable people playing Mother Ginger in this December’s production of the Nutcracker include Marques Harper, fashion writer for the Austin American-Statesman; Rhoda Mae Kerr, Austin’s fire chief, and Mike Barnes, sports director at KVUE-TV.
An attempted recall almost unseated the president of the St. Edward’s University Student Government Association the day after she was sworn in. On Oct. 29, Leigh Anne Winger, a freshman who is not a member of SGA, raised the constitutionality of Krista Heiden’s succession to the position of SGA president. The recall effort would have required an equivalent of 35 percent of the people who voted for Heiden and then-presidential candidate Blanca Garcia in last spring’s election. The ticket of Garcia and Heiden received 488 votes, meaning that a minimum of 171 students would have to sign a petition to remove Heiden. If the effort had been successful, SGA would have immediately removed Heiden from office. Winger, a candidate for freshman senator in the Sept. 22-29 elections, was concerned that Heiden had not served enough consecutive semesters in SGA to be president. The SGA constitution requires a student to have served four consecutive semesters in SGA in order to run for president. Because Heiden has served five non-consecutive semesters,
having taken a break from SGA during the first semester of her junior year, Winger said she saw a conflict between constitutional code and Heiden’s succession as president. But SGA read the rules differently than Winger, Heiden said.
If the effort had been successful, SGA would have immediately removed Heiden from office.”
“The of the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee (Celso Baez) interpreted the constitution to mean that the four semesters has to do with running for the presidency, not assuming it, as I did,” Heiden said. Garcia appointed Baez to the committee chairmanship. Baez had previously served as the campaign SGA | 2