Oftnhftr 10. 199d
Features
The Lance
Review
Billy Howard’s work impressive and sensitive
Howard captures another vivid
by Donna Sammand^r
“If it were in book form, I’d buy
it ” says student Kristen Kennedy about
the Paralympiad photography exhibition
that was recently held in Belk Main
lounge during St. Andrews Centennial
celebration. Photography by Billy
Howard, text by Maggie Holzberg, the
show consists of portraits of people who
are physically disabled, some of whom
competed in this summer’s Paralympiad.
As said in the introductory text, the por
traits are about the “cultural context in
which the disability occurs” and shows
the subjects in their work and home en
vironments. The photographs do not fo
cus on a person with his/her wheelchair.
Gazing from one portrait and text to an
other, the viewer gets the feeling of the
family or school life each subject was
raised in and how those around him/her
reacted to his/her physical disability.
The first of the portraits was of
artist David Sampson, his face and fig
ure highlighted in the darkened studio.
His eyes seem to be elsewhere, gazing
at a higher vision, while his hands,
twisted with cerebral palsy, hold paint
brush and palette. This is the portrait of
an artist in his studio, and his cerebral
palsy is almost an afterthought.
By calling the disability an after
thought does not mean that the photog
rapher has ignored it or tried to obscure
it from sight. Billy Howard as photog
rapher captures living moments in each
of these vibrant people’s lives. He has
portrayed their disabilities as a fact of
their lives, not as what describes them.
A beautifully portrayed example
of this is the photograph of Paralympian
Al Mead who stretches his body paral
lel to a wall, his white clad body point
ing in four directions. His supporting
leg just happens to be his amputated on^
which, as a child, he thought “God would
grow back.”
moment of someone’s life in his portrait
of Lauren Me Devitt, a paralympic
equestrian, who is silhouetted nose to
nose with her horse against the stables.
Also in dark silhouette is the wheelchair
she sits in.
What struck me about these pho
tos was their natural setting and natural
stance. But they did not appear to be
spontaneously taken. When mentioned
to Billy Howard, he burst out with,
“Ahaaah. Important point!” Howard
explained that the setting and modelling
of his portraits were definitely not by
chance. He controlled the light and dark
of the setting, and the modelling of the
subject. However, Howard added, his
subject’s posture was not completely
contrived. In order to help them forget
about the camera and also , to observe
the flux of their thoughts and expres
sions, Howard spent time chatting with
them. Then, he’d snap them in a char
acteristic moment in order to produce
portraits full of depth and story.
Bakefest: Bad weather, good food
by Celeste Day
Friday, Oct. 4th, Mecklenburg Hall put on
“Bake Fest,” an annual oyster bake for the St. An
drews community. Those who attended certainly
didn’t go hungry; there were oysters, hot dogs, and
baked potatoes on sale, with soda and potato chips
for free.
The party was fairly well attended, consider
ing the weather, which was very cold and windy.
Because of the weather, many students stayed home
or went to smaller parties inside the dorm. This dis
appointed Mecklenburg residents, since “Bake fest”
is one of Mecklenburg’s biggest fund raisers. But
the men of Meek perservered and those who came
to the party had a great time.
As one student put it, “even though it was
cold and wet, Meek’s men still got the job done.”
Most of the students who attended stayed
near the bonfire or the grill, although those who
stayed close to each other had a great time on the
dance floor.
The official party began at nine, although
very few people came until about ten thirty. “Bake
fest” ended at one, but the parties in the halls of
Mecklenburg continued for most of the night.
Music therapy session sends message about relationships and change
As the song says,
“There’s a danger in loving
somebody too much,” but
“sometimes love just ain’t
enough.” In fact, popular mu
sic often tells more truths than
we realize about our relation
ships, which was the point of a
“music therapy” session con
ducted recently by Dean of Stu
dents Marcia Nance for mem
bers of PATHWAYS.
A dozen students and
staff gathered in Pate Hall to
hear Carole King, Don Henley,
Patty Smith, Crosby, Stills and
Nash and other artists sing
about the ups and downs of
love. Dean Nance purposefully
selected music that would take
the group through the relation
ship cycle, from the first
“whoosh” of attraction, to the
break-up period and beyond.
“Every other problem
that comes in the door (at Stu
dent Life) is about relationships,
about communicating,” Nance
said. “That’s because the per
son you met today is not the
same person tomorrow. We
change,” she said, and because
of that, so do our relationships.
“How many times have you
heard, ‘Why can’t itjust stay the
same?’ ”
It can’t, Nance added,
because “relationships are a se
quence — a cycle, a pattern, a
movement. Not a snapshot, but
a movie, and we have to under
stand where we are in the move
ment. One of the reasons stu
dents have so many relation
ships at this time in their lives
is because they’re changing so
much.” With change, an un
equal love may develop, and
that, too, can end the relation
ship, she said.
While listening to the
seven songs Nance selected,
members of the group were
asked to trace the path of their
feelings on a piece of paper
filled with various shapes.
Some of the shapes were
smooth, almost round, and con
nected at the ends. Others had
sharp, jagged points with gaps
between the ends.
“Music is a universal lan
guage. We all understand mu
sic, even though we don’t un
derstand ourselves,” Nance
said, explaining how the vari
ous songs conveyed the path of
a relationship from beginning
to end. The lyrics told the
story:
“Give it all you can give
it when love comes around.”
“I keep thinking
something’s gonna change.”
“Are there things that
you wanted to say?”
“I’m learning to live
without you now, but I miss
you sometimes.”
“Now and forever you are
a part of me, and the memory cuts
like a knife.”
“That’s what love is for... to
help you through it.”
“The memory of love will
bring you home.”
Nance’s message was that
we can improve our relationships,
make them better and stronger,
but we need to do it consciously.
Her advice; “Feel all your feel
ings, tell the microscopic truth,
and keep your agreements. When
we decide that we are the builder,
the chooser, our relationships
change. We are here to change,
and we have to learn to live with
and work with it.”