Omegas nurture different kind of music idol
BY T KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE
A half-century before
"American Idol," Omega Psi
Phi Fraternity begun looking
for young, untapped talent in
small towns and cities through
out the country.
Sunday the Psi Phi and Mu
Epsilon chapters of the frater
0 nity held their annual Talent
Hunt at the Anderson Center,
providing eight teenagers a
stage on which to shine and an
audience to entertain.
"We want to give those stu
dents with musical talent a
chance to expose that," said
Emory Jones, chairman of the
Talent Hunt Committee. "A lot
of times they do not get a
venue to show their talents."
The Omegas' Talent Hunt
competition began in the mid
1940s in the North and South
Carolina districts of the frater
nity. These days. Omega rules
mandate that every chapter
hold a Talent Hunt competi
tion. Local winners, compete at
the state level and then have an
chance to compete nationally.
The Talent Hunt competi
tion requires contestants to per
form classical music or Broad
way standards. Jones says the
fraternity sees the requirement
as a way to push that kind of
music in a society obsessed
with hip-hop. He also says
young people who have such
talent rarely get a chance to
showcase it.
"There aroa lot of talent
shows, but where else do they
get a a chance to do that classi- ?
cal and semi-classiqal?" he
said.
Most of the eight contest
ants gave vocal performances,
singing everything from
Gershwin's "Summertime," to
"My Favorite Things," the
Rodgers and Hammerstein
classic from "The Sound of
Music." The other contestant,
Meredith Roberts, a senior at
Kerwin Baptist Christian
School, performed a dramatic
piano solo.
They performed under the
watchful eye of a panel of three
judges, all of whom are profes
sors in the department of music
at Winston-Salem State Uni
versity. Two of the judges com
peted in the Talent Hunt com
petition as teenagers.
Judge Rochelle Joyner. a
Winner Meredith Roberts talks to Emory
Jones after^winning the Talent Hunt.
Second-place winner Cherri Culcleasure talks
with her father after the competition.
piano instructor, said that judg
ing the competition brought
back memories of the day she
played piano in the competi
tion.
"It brought back memories
of when I was up there." she
said. "So I tried
not to be too critical. In my
comments I just let them know
what they need to work on."
The judges favored
Roberts' piano performance
over the vocalists to the delight
of Roberts' family: (Her par
ents, little sister, youth pastor
and both sets of her grandpar
ents were on hand to cheer her
on.)
"I was not nervous that she
would come in first place, but
just nervous that she would do
her best," said Lisa Roberts,
Meredith's mom, who moved
close to the stage during her
daughter's performance to cap
ture it with a camcorder.
Meredith Roberts' talent
has shined in the competition
before. Two years ago she
came in second place. Last
year, she won the Talent Hunt
and went on to Raleigh to com
pete for the state title. She fell
a little short in Raleigh, com
ing in second place. Roberts
will head back to Raleigh in
the spring, but she says win
ning is not foremost in her
mind.
"It was a lot of fun last
year, and I met a lot of really
cool people," she said. "It is
very enriching regardless of
how you do."
The first runner-up this
year was North Forsyth High
School senior Cherri Culclea
sure, who performed "My
Favorite Things." The second
runner-up was Shantel Nor
man. a senior at Lexington
High School. She performed
"Impossible," the Rodgers and
Hammerstein tune from the
musical "Cinderella."
Mendez
from page A1
Cathedral of St. John the Divine
in New York City; and Ron
Daniels, executive director of
the Center for Constitutional
Rights.
The ministers' petition also
urges Hussein and his govern
ment to comply with United
Nations Resolution 1441 to
avoid any "pre text for a pre
-emptive strike that will take the
precious lives of Iraqi men,
women and children."
"President Saddam Hussein
and the Iraqi leadership are now
apparently the only persons
who can act to spare people of
every race, creed and color on
this planet the scourge of a war
that, in the words of Albert Ein
stein. 'will send humankind
back to the stone ages of our
existence."' reads a portion of
the peace petition.
Although the group was
unable to meet with the Ifaqi
president or any of his govern
mental officials, a copy of the
petition was forwarded to them.
Mendez said that Fauntroy
stayed an additional day after
the rest of the delegation
returned to the United States
with the hopes of meeting with
a member of Hussein's cabinet.
Six people were killed in
Southern Iraq from U.S. bomb
raids over the weekend and sev
eral people informed Mendez
that this is an everyday occur
rence. Sirens, alerting citizens
of raids, can be heard on a daily
basis, so often that people have
become desensitized to the
sound and carry on. rarely stop
ping their tasks.
"Iraq is on the brink of dis
aster. I'm talking about eco
nomically. socially and even
politically. It is a country that
has not recuperated from the
first (Gulf) war from what I
saw. The (U.S. imposed) sanc
tions are worse than the dog
gone bombing that is still going
on. The war never really
stopped," Mendez said.
Over the course of the three
day trip, the ministers, who
were received very hospitably,
visited hospitals, elementary
schools, mosques, shelters and
churches across Baghdad, Kar
bala and what was ancient
Babylon. The sentiment.
Mendez said, was universal
everywhere they visited: peace.'
Mendez says that after visit
ing the war torn region, he is
convinced now more than ever,
that the U.S. government is pri
marily concerned with control
ling Iraq's oil source than with
establishing a democracy in the
country. He considers any
attack on Iraq to be "immoral."
"What (the United States
wants) are the resources, and
that I am much more clear on
than 1 was even before I left.
Why we are after Iraq right
now, I think it's three things
involved: one is oil, two is
Israel and three (the United
States wants) to dominate that
part of the world....It's getting
to be a maddening situation."
Mendez said.
Mendez was stunned to see
how many youngsters were suf
fering fiom leukemia, pneumo
nia, cancer and various kinds of
infections. Many of the doctors
have been exposed to toxins in
the atmosphere and have diffi
culty treating their patients with
little medical supplies they
have.
"The bombs the (United
States has) dropped on Iraq
contained depleted uranium that
gets in the soil and will remain
there for years....People that
live around it, are exposed to it
and develop these cancers...and
worse the (U.S.-imposed) sane
lions will not allow medicine to
come into the country." Mendez
said. v
Mendez brought back
countless pictures of hospital
patients, many of them young.
One in particular showed a pre
mature baby in a nine-year-old
incubator who was unable to
produce sound when he cried.
Many patients. Mendez said,
were sharing oxygen tanks
because not enough were avail
able to go around to each indi
vidual.
"It's a disastrous situation
and people are just trying to
survive from day to day. When
you look at those conditions
you say this is what's a threat to
us?" Mendez said. "Americans
really need to be concerned
about the (Iraqi) children and
women and the future of that
(country)."
UNICEF in Iraq provided
Mendez with some statistics
that revealed that in the last
decade, the infant mortality rate
has more than doubled to 107
deaths per 1.000 live births.
Along with malnutrition, dis
ease is the most immediate
cause of mortality and physical
underdevelopment of Iraqi chil
dren. Most of the children in
Iraq are suffering from prevent
able illnesses like acute respira
tory illness, diarrhea and dehy
dration - all which account for
70 percent of child deaths.
"We encouraged the (Iraqi
people) by telling them that all
of the Americans are not for this
war and that we will protest
throughout the world, and they
said to us that they don't want
war either " Mendez said.
While many Iraqi people
did not even utter Saddam Hus
sein's name when discussing
the current situation in their
homeland. Mendez says it was
evident that they "want Saddam
to go. and a lot of them are tired
of him."
"I want to have a mock
funeral before people are killed
as a symbol (of what may hap
pen)." Mendez said. "There's
no question that this war is not
about Saddam Hussein....You
can't export democracy: it's got
to come from the people them
selves."
After President George
Bush's address to the nation last
week, many Iraqi citizens were
expecting war to ensue last
weekend, Mendez said. Mendez
and the other ministers were
asked to leave the country earli
er than they planned for fear of
their safety.
Photo courtesy of John Mende/
From left: Rev. John Mendez/ Dr. Faiz Khan, Shaker Elsayed, Abdul Sabib, Rev. Herbert
Daughtry, Rev. James Fitzgerald, Traci INest and Edgar White are pictured at a mosque in
Karbala, Iraq last week.
Host Homes would like to say
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