March 28, 2018
In This Issue: News Meredith Solidarity Walkout Arts & Humanities Spring 2018 Theme
A&E Review: Love, Simon How Much is Too Much?: Netflix Consumption Review: NYT Podcasts Cartoon
Editorials March For Our Lives: My Experience NC Abortion Laws: Thoughts Post-Women’s Rally Spring into Lobbying: My Experience
Crook Hunt: One of Meredith’s Most Time-Honored Traditions Ashley Ricks, Staff Writer
There is one week in March when juniors frantically look for a shepherd’s crook, while seniors watch from the sidelines, hoping the junior class cannot find their hiding spot. That week is known as Crook Hunt. This year, Crook Hunt started on March 21, and juniors only have until March 28 to find the crook. The Crook Hunt is one of the longeststanding traditions at Meredith and has a rich history, including the interesting tales of some of Meredith’s oldest graduating classes. The hunt started in 1906 when drama professor Caroline Bury Phelps introduced the idea to students. Phelps had previously worked at Adrian College, where a similar tradition took place, and she wanted to get it started at Meredith. Phelps originally gave the senior class the crook
with instructions to hide it from the junior class. This year, the Crook Hunt is celebrating its 112th anniversary, but this tradition has not always been the way it is now practiced today. Originally, the crook was hid by the seniors at the beginning of fall semester and the juniors could not look for it until March, then the juniors had an entire month to to look for the crook. Meredith decided to change the rules in 1982, making the month-long search only a week. Even though the crook hunt is still a popular tradition at Meredith, it has been through some rough patches in its history. In early 1913, the hunt was banned due to dangerous hiding places. Before the ban, one student had to hang out of a window in order to retrieve the crook. Sixteen years
after the hunt’s ban in 1913, the tradition was reestablished in 1929. Although the crook never experienced a ban later, it was stopped in 1948 due to lack of interest, but it quickly resumed when the class of 1950 hid the crook from the juniors on the roof of BDH. More often than not, the seniors have been successful in their attempts to hide the crook from the juniors. In the past, the seniors have picked odd spots to hide the crook, such as behind a bulletin board, taped to the bottom of a bridge at the lake, and sewn into a faculty member’s mattress. In the past two years, neither junior class has been able to find the crook, which shows that the odds may not be in favor of the class of 2019 as they conclude their crook hunt on March 28.
Faculty Spotlight: Alan Buck Mimi Mays, Staff Writer
Two years ago, as of this summer, Professor Alan Buck taught his first course at Meredith College. This became his fourth professorship at a higher-ed institution (following William Peace University, Campbell University, and the University of NC at Chapel Hill), and ultimately his second full-time teaching position. As many professors do, Buck has a master’s degree—his in Interactive Media from Elon University—but twenty years ago he began his career in broadcasting without so much as a bachelor’s degree. A younger Alan Buck first worked as a teleprompter operator part time at a local news station in Georgia, WRDW-TV, and was soon promoted into the news department. He was thrust into the
field, shooting and editing footage for broadcasts, a responsibility he continued to welcome when he moved on to stations like FOX Carolina and WLFL-TV in Raleigh, among others. After moving to Greensboro, NC, he became the general manager of Spartan Television while attending UNC-G full-time to complete his hardearned bachelor’s degree in Media Studies, graduating in 2010. This propelled him into academia, and he started teaching courses in subjects like Media Management, Video Production, Journalism, and Mass Communications. While teaching at William Peace University, Professor Buck met Dr. Theresa Holder, who was the Assistant Dean at Peace at the time, and is now the head
of Meredith’s Communication department. Five years later, Dr. Holder recalled his skills and passions, and knowing what Meredith’s communication department was looking for, hired Buck, first as an adjunct, and then as a full-time professor. Buck specializes in digital media, not only in the classes he teaches but in other ways he’s working to build and grow the department. Currently in the works is his vision to establish an entity for a variety of student media productions, a project we can expect to see as soon as this fall semester. Professor Buck reports to love his fellow faculty, his students, and Meredith college, so hopefully we won’t see the last of him anytime soon.
world a better place one artistic stroke at a time.” Romley and May “engage[d] with students and discuss[ed] climate/environmental policies with them... [the judges’] presence spawned some really valuable conversations” said Owens. May also brought an art piece of her own. Aimee Wilmoth from WRAL-TV served as a special guest judge. She interacted with attendants and selected an entry for the special guest judge pick award.
Fan Favorite: Kristen Viera’s “Lookin Like a Snack” Special Guest Judge Pick (Aimee Wilmoth): Victoria Mulcahy’s chalk pastel. Owens mentioned an entry that, though it did not win an award, she “really liked.” Zahhria Wilson’s unnamed canvas, as Owens described it, “was painted black with white outlining the structure of a beehive, and sewn into the canvas were the words ‘where are the bees’ and a few hexagons connected by golden thread hanging off the bottom, along with a needle.” The exhibition was well attended. Owens was satisfied with the exhibition and participation. She said “I am not sure if I will host
a similar event in the future, but I would certainly like to. I’d like to continue inspiring political conversations through art, so if I do another one, I will likely focus on a different issue.”
Clime-Art Exhibition Sarah Kiser, Co-Editor-in-Chief Angels for the Environment’s Clime-Art competition, an art contest around the theme of environmental and climate issues, had its interactive exhibition on March 16 in the Weems Art Gallery. During the exhibition, guests viewed each of the 11 entries and voted for their fan favorite. Attendants also could have a conversation with special guests and congressional candidates Ken Romley and Wendy Ella May. Cro Owens, ’19, organized the art competition. She said that the goal was “to inspire students and the larger community to speak to their legislators about environmental and climate issues they care about and to make the
The winners were as follows: 1st: Kristen Viera’s “Lookin Like a Snack” 2nd: Evelyn Cupil-Garcia’s “Waste” 3rd: Nico Wild’s “Fun Facts”
Kristen Viera”s “Lookin’ Like a Snack”: Raising Awareness on the Importance of Recycling. Medium: 3D Piece and Poster.