The independent press of Virginia Commonwealth University
A-10 EXCLUSIVE SPORTS SECTION
NEWS FOIA laws • 2
March 13, 2017 • Vol. 58, No. 22
SPORTS A10 tourney • 5-6
SPECTRUM Sam’s Take • 8
OPINION Ode to Self Care • 10
BITTER-SWEET RAMS LOSE A-10 FINAL, LAND NCAA 10-SEED
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We’re tough to kill. We fought back, just couldn’t get over the hump. It’s on to the big show now. Let’s make some noise.”
PHOTO BY ERIN EDGERTON
Will Wade Head Coach
Spectrum
Spectrum
‘Ambassador of the Arts’ James Ragan views poetry as activism In 1985, James Ragan and three other poets from Western countries were invited to perform before 10,000 Russians at the first International Poetry Festival in Moscow. “I still remember how I’m thinking the audience is looking at the stage and they’re saying ‘Oh, my God, there’s Bob Dylan. Oh, my God, that’s Seamus Heaney, Robert Bly … Who the hell is that?’ That was me — the ‘who the hell is that?’” Ragan said. Ragan managed to make himself stand out by speaking Russian. He told the audience in their native tongue that his parents were born in Czechoslovakia and that his translator, who was born in Siberia, was “my brother.” “The place went crazy. ‘The American is speaking Russian to us!’” Ragan said. “I could have whispered my poem after that.” Ragan is back on center stage in a new documentary, ““Flowers and Roots, James Ragan, An Ambassador of the Arts.” The film, which explores how Ragan’s poetry and writing provided
an outlet for his social activism, was featured on Sunday, the last day of the weeklong Richmond International Film Festival. When the documentary producers first approached Ragan in 2014, he had no idea why they wanted to make a movie about him. After all, he is not a household name, even though Ragan has read his poetry for seven heads of state, published nine books and had several internationally produced plays. “It was amazing how they were looking in at me, and seeing this as all being spectacular, whereas I was looking out and saying, ‘We were supposed to be doing this back in the ’60s and ’70s — we didn’t see it as spectacular,’” Ragan said. “And they immediately liked that response.” The movie navigates the Cold War era through Ragan’s own life. Born into a Czechoslovakian immigrant family in Philadelphia as one of 13 children, Ragan said that growing up speaking Slovakian got him into a lot of physical fights. “As I learned English, I learned to fight less,” Ragan said. “I had a huge respect for the language, and a huge respect for the arts. I just loved that you could win fights with words and not fists.”
COURTESY OF VCU CINEMA
AMELIA HEYMANN Contributing Writer
“Mercy Street,” “TURN” cancelled, VCU film students concerned about finding local work
—continued on page 9 Senior VCU Cinema student Monica Woolsey (right) works on a film set.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY AMERLIA HEYMANN
MAURA MAZUROWSKI News Editor
The documentary on Ragan’s work was shown at the Richmond International Film Festival.
Two locally-produced television shows announced their final seasons, and filmmakers and students alike are concerned about job prospects in the area moving forward. PBS recently canceled “Mercy Street,” a television show that has provided hundreds of jobs for Richmonders. The Civil War-era production was first filmed in 2015 in various parts of Central Virginia. It originally aired in 2016 and starred Josh Radnor and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Producers cited the “complicated nature of aligning production timelines and funding commitments,” as the reason for the cancellation. The second season’s finale — now the series finale — aired last Sunday. “We sought to bring a time and place to life that is so important to understanding American history, and in a way that was meaningful, authentic and entertaining,” said executive producer David Zucker in a statement. According to fellow producer David Zabel, “Mercy Street” was a project five years in the
making before airing on PBS. “Together, we delivered 12 hours of compelling and worthwhile storytelling which we all take pride in,” Zabel said. “TURN: Washington’s Spies,” another television show shot in and around Richmond, announced this season — it’s fourth — would be its last. Not only will the cancellation of both shows result in a loss of jobs for Virginia filmmakers, but many VCU students have lost opportunities to work and learn on professional sets. “With the talk recently about, you know, funding to public access programs and PBS being cut, I think that seeing a show like Mercy Street fall immediately after that is really kind of saddening and disappointing,” said VCUarts student Nick Atanasio. Atanasio, a junior in the Cinema program, said he was hoping to land a job on “Mercy Street” post-graduation. “That’s a lot of stability gone from their lives with both ‘TURN’ and ‘Mercy Street’ canceled,” —continued on page 9