THE TWIG
Newapmper of the StndenU mt Hierediih College
VOL. LX, NO. 2 RALEIGH. NORTH CAROLINA 27611 SEPTEMBER 16. IWl
Musical farce in works
by Llndi Sellen
Dauntless. Queen
Aggravain. Lady Larkin.
Name sound unfamiliar?
These names and others are
characters in the musical
farce, “Once Upon A
Mattress”, to be presented by
Meredith on October 2, 3, and
9,10.
Rehearsals are now being
held in various parts of Jones
Auditorium each week night.
Mr. Bob Wharton of the
Meredith Drama Department
is in charge of the production.
“Once Upon A Mattress"
is a comedy based on the
"Princess and the Pea” story.
Participants in the productim
are Meredith students and
members of the Raleigh
community.
A peep at a rehearsal for
the musical farce provides
one with the feeling that she
has entered into a mass
profusion of activity. A major
part of the rehearsal is
devoted to blocking, a term
used to describe the spacing of
characters on the stage.
As the characters busily
jot notes (XI their scripts, Mr.
Wharton occasionally jumps
on the stage to act out a part
and direct the actions of the
characters.
In other secUmts of Jones,
rehearsals are being held for
the musical and dance
portions of the production. Ms.
Debwah Whelan is in charge
of the dance and Mrs. Tom
Lohr is handling the music.
Wendy Purvis, a
sc^homore voice major, is
portraying the role of Lady
Larkin.
"It is important to have a
definite character in your
mind to put across anything to
the audience,” she explained
about the rehearsal. She
listened intently as Mr.
Wharton explained something
to the rest of the actm.
This is Wendy’s first year
being involved in a Mer^ith
drama production. **I think
Meredith, a small private
women’s college, receives
donations from less than 33.6
percent of its graduated
alumni. The main reason for
this low percentage of
donations is that not many
pe^lecan afford to send lump
sums of money to an
institution and sending a
small sum of money would
seem meaningless. Although
everycme wants to perserve
the reputation of the college
they graduated from, most
pe^le do not feel they have
the means to do so. Because of
low donations, some small
private institutions are in
financial trouble and as the
economy tightens so will the
noose on the necks of private
institutions.
Meredith's Business Law
professor, John Skvarla, has
suggested a way to lessen or
even eliminate the financial
problems of private
institutions by each alumni
leaving $10,000 or more to the
institution. This would be
made possible through a
group-term life insurance
policy. The policy would work
like this; All incoming
freshmen would be required to
join the group and maintain
that status until graduation.
The price of the policy would
be approximately twelve
dollars and fifty cents a
semester and woiUd be added
to the semester charges. After
graduation, if one want^ to
stay with the group, Meredith
would bill each one for the
premium amount due every
six months. If one continued
the plan throughout their life,
one would be able to leave
Meredith as the beneficiary to
this policy. Alumni would also
be able to join this group and
students’ parents may even be
able to obtain reciprocal
coverage under this policy.
This insurance policy has
a tax advantage also. One
could be able to count this
policy as a charitable
donation on income taxes and
giet estate tax benefits. Since
this policy is a term policy, it
would be reviewed
periodically (about every 10
years) with minor rate
increases.
The regular patterns of
donations created by this
policy, would cultivate the
idea of giving, so that when
one graduates one would
continue to be a member of
the pdicy. If, however, one
should drop from the policy
after graduation, there would
be no disadvantage to the
member exc^t th6 loss of the
premiums paid while in
college.
If Meredith utilized this
plan, she would be a pioneer in
this type of donaUons and
would probably receive much
l)eneficial publicity, but the
biggest benefit would be the
incredibly large income
Meredith would be able to
^erate on. This income would
be many times larger than the
income Meredith operates on
today.
John Skvarla is a part-
time professor at Meredith.
He received his A.B. from
Manhattan College of New
York and his J.D. from the
University of North Carolina
at Chapel HiU. Skvarla is a
Senior partner in the law firm
SUtvarla, Boles, Wyridc and
From located in The Bernard
House on Hillsborough Street
here in Raleigh.
REMEMBER
Oak
Leaves
PORTRAITS
SEPT. 17, 18 &
21 - 25.
SITTING FEE |2.S0
the audience will respond well
to it,” she said.
Anyone intereested in
working with props, crew.
publicity, or other aspects of
Uie production of "Once XJpon
A Mattress” should contact
Mr. Wharton in 243 Jones.
Skvarla proposes nniqae
donation program
SGA focuses on awareness
by Shlrene Hritxko
Meredith’s Student
Government Association has a
variety of interests and
programs designed to
enhance our student body this
year. The main emphasis is on
awareness which will
encompass health, political,
spiritual, women, and
community aspects.
For community
awareness, Meredith students
will contact the Department of
Traffic and' Safety to raise a
petition to get a railroad
crossing sign on the tracks on
Royal Street.
For women’s awareness,
a representative from the
Rape Crisis Center wiU come
to Meredith to speak and
evaluate the campus for
unsafe areas at night. A crisis
group will also be organized
on campus in case of an
attempted rape.
Not (Hily will SGA be
encouraging Meredith
students to become aware of
surrounding events, but also
put students into action to
better themselves as
individuals.
Throughout this fall and
next spring, members of the
Board of Trustees will be
explaining some of Meredith’s
unquestioned school rules and
policies.
Cindy Sellers, president of
SGA, is enthusiastic about this
year and encourages the
student body to get interested
and involved.
Campus Dialect chronicled
at IJNC-Greensboro
by Shelby Bateman
Airhead, dork, all-nighter,
brewski, wired, snaking,
break bad, space cadet.
If these terms sound
strange, chances are you’ve
not been around many college
students lately. They are
examples of what
anthropologist Dr. William L.
Coleman calls campus
dialect, a vocabulary common
to the social and cultural
settings of college life.
For example: If this rap is
a mainstay, don’t get freaked
out or pull an all-ni^ter
cramming. Mellow out and
you may begin to catch the
drift of this off the wall rap.
Translation; If the
conversatim is a problem,
don’t panic or stay up all night
studying it. Relax and you
may begin to understand
these sb*ange words.
"It’s not slang or jargon;
it’s a dialect,” said Dr.
Coleman, an assistant
professor at the University of
North Carolina at Greensboro.
"We generally think of a
dialect as being ge(^raphical,
tx)t there are sociocultural
dialects. You’ll find the
campus dialect here similar to
that spoken at other schools.”
As part of a course on the
interaction of language and
culture. Dr. Coleman earlier
had his students compile a list
of almost 500 examples of
campus dialect. The following
terms and definitions are a
part of that list:
-i-Airhead: Someone with no
common sense.
-t-All-nighter: Staying up all
night to study or write a
paper.
-i-Bama; A person behind in
the styles.
+Space cadet: Absent-
minded or lacking in common
sense.
+Blow chow; Throw up.
-1-Break bad; To act tough.
+Brewski; Beer or brew.
+Catch my drift: To
understand what I am saying.
-hCrash: Go to bed.
-i-Dip or Dork: A stupid,
unattractive person,
-(-Double-parked in the
Twilight Zone; A spacey
person with no common sense.
-t-Coolout: Lay back, relax,
take it easy.
Jammin’; Sounding
great.
-I-Eat someone's face: To
kiss.
-(•Grubbing in public:
Kissing in public.
-f-HDR: "Heavy, deep and
real,” a heart-t(^heart talk.
-(-Invest in someone: To
take time to really get to know
someone.
-fJuicer; A person who
drinks a great deal of t>eer.
-I-Mainstay: A problem, as
in "What’s your mainstay?”
-(-Off the Wall; A weird
person; something that
doesn’t malce sense.
+PDA: Public display of
affection.
-(•Party hearty:
Exclamation meaning to have
a wonderful time.
-(-The Pits: A very low
emotional state; a boring
event.
-f-Snaking or Scoping:
Looking at members of the
oppositve sex.
-(-Spend the night with
Jack; To spend late hours
studying at UNC-G’s Jackson
Library.
-(•Wired: To be zombie-like;
under the influence of drugs.
•fZ-out: To fall asleep.
“One of the primary
purposes of that courae is to
look at the interaction of
language and culture,” said
Dr. Coleman, who has made a
study of sociolinguistics.
"The campus constitutes
a community where students
interact on different levels-
shared values, ideas,
especially attitudes and, in
particular, language
patterns,” he said. "Social
class tends to disappear in
campus dialects because the
main commonality is that
they’re all college students
sharing similar experiences,”
As painful as this campus
dialect may be to some
people's ears, Dr. Coleman
says it can’t be stopped and
it’s only one of many such
dialects in every society.
“There are even
professional dialects. In the
medical field, for instance,
there’s a dialect of its own.
And I’d say part of becoming a
medical professional is
learning to use the lan^age
pattern in that particular
social setting,” he added.
"There’s nothing wrong
with that. Language is not
static; it’s dynamic.
Everything about life is
dynamic. So it’s goii^ to
change and no one’s going to
stop it, not even Edwin
Newman (journalist and
author of popular books on
language).”
As people become adults
and grow older, they tend to
resist the ccmtinuous changing
of the language around them,
Dr. Coleman said.
"The change is always
picked up in the younger
generation. So, you find
grandmothers and
grandfathers talki^ to their
grandchildren, saying, i don’t
understand what they’re
saying.’ But neither do the
grandchildren know what
their grandparents are
saying. They have different
language patterns,” he added.
The campus dialect
vocabulary list will change
from year to year as some
words drop out and others are
added. Dr. Coleman admits
that many of the words on the
list he had never heard before.
College faculty members,
iMwever, tend to understand
more of the words than the
general public simply tiecause
they’re around the students
more often.
Included in the almost 500
words that his students
compiled. Dr. Coleman found
quite a few nicknames for
faculty members.
“I didn’t divulge any
faculty memers’ names,” he
said with a laugh. "But I’ve
got them on cards.”