ETHODIST
Fayetteville, NC
Vol. XXXVI, No. 2
Friday, October 2,1998
Methodist’s Longleaf Press
Showcases Poets
By Mary Dewey
StaffWriter
Methodist College’s Longleaf Press
showcased it’s 1998 poetry chapbook con
test award winner and runner-up in a po
etry reading that took place Saturday, Sep
tember 19, at 7:30 p.m. in the Bems Student
Center.
The poetry reading was included in the
schedule of events during the college’s re
cent Southern Writers’ Symposium.
Runner-up, Carole Boston Weather
ford, a native of Baltimore, currently lives
in High Point, NC. Literary titles to
Weatherford’s credit include her chapbook.
The Tan Chanteuse, and several children’s
books, such as Juneteenth Jamboree and
My Favorite Toy. Weatherford presented
high-energy poetry during the reading that
highlighted her love for jazz and family tra
dition.
1998 Longleaf Press Poetry Chapbook
Contest winner Barbara Presnell is a native
of Asheboro, NC and currently lives in Lex
ington. Presnell won the North Carolina
Poetry Society’s Zoe Kincaid award in 1994
with her first chapbook, Snakedreams.
Presnell received an undergraduate and
Master of Fine Arts Degree from the Uni
versity of North Carolina at Greensboro and
a Master of Arts from the University of
Kentucky. Presnell teaches literature and
creative writing at Catawba College in
Continued on page 4
IVIC Alumna First Runner-Up
in IVIiss America Pageant
By Jameil Boone
StaffWriter
Kelli Bradshaw, a graduate of Method
ist College and Miss North Carolina 1998.
took the title of First Runner-Up in the 1998
Miss America Pageant. Kelli also won a
preliminary award in the swimsuit compo-
Kelli Bradshaw
tition. Kelli has received S45.000 in schol
arships since 1996, when she first started
competing in pageants. Through this expe
rience, Kelli has won money to help her
achieve her goal, which is to attend gradu
ate school. Several of the local papers mis
takenly reported that Kelli is currently in
graduate school, but Kelli reports that she
is not in graduate school nor has she ap
plied for medical school yet. She will de
vote this year to travelling, but she plans to
continue her education after a year’s break.
She hopes to earn a Master’s degree in Mi
crobiology, and enter East Carolina Uni
versity School of Medicine.
As Miss North Carolina, Kelli would
like to add a statewide CPR course to the
high school health curriculum. Kelli’s vol
unteer service taught her the importance
of human life. During the interview por
tion of the pageant, Kelli expressed the
rewards of working in a field where she has
the opportunity to save lives.
In a telephone interview, Kelli, who still
thinks of herself as “a plain countty girl from
Spivey’s Comer” shared a bit of personal
history about the Spivey’s Comer Hollerin’
Contest. Although she did not compete, her
great uncle was the first champion. She
made the decision to compete in pageants
for scholarship money, and for “the chance
to speak about something I feel strongly
about.” When asked her opinion on the rel
evance of the swimsuit competition and the
tff
Poets Carole Weatherford (I) and Barbara Presnell.
belief by many women that the competi
tion is degrading to women, Kelli ex
pressed the opinion that it was not degrad
ing. She believes it shows that she is
“devoted to physical fitness,” and that she
is committed to taking care of herself. She
also added that none of the other contes
tants found it to be degrading.
When asked to give advice to students
at Methodist College, Kelli responded,
“Keep your mind on your goals—what you
want.” She also suggested that young
women consider participation in the Miss
America pageant which has given over 30
million dollars in scholarships.
In This Issue
Immature Behavior Slammed, Page 2
College Sucks.Com, Page 5
Tricky’s Trip-Hop, Page 8
Sports Highlights, Pages 10 & 11
What’s Up With That?, Page 12