Greek life is about being involved in the community, according to Ashley McCullough, Alpha Sigma Alpha president and senior communications major. Kappa Sigma President and junior history major Kyle Lococo says it’s about a bond that you form with your brothers in a fraternity.

“It’s more just like a choice that you make when you get here to join something more than just you in college and get away from the normal experience,” Lococo said.

McCullough said Alpha Sigma Alpha’s core values are generosity, growth, responsibility, enjoyment, relationships and learning balance and integrity.

“By keeping those in mind, it just really helps you to be an overall well rounded person and really caring of everybody else,” McCullough said.

There are 59 members in the sorority and McCullough said one of their goals right now is recruiting more girls. She said they are also focusing on encouraging members to get involved in more activities and keeping a strong sisterhood.

The sorority had its district convention in Kansas City this past weekend and some of the girls participated in the Polar Bear Plunge to support Special Olympics on Feb. 20. Alpha Sigma Alpha is also participating in the Lyon County Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society on April 23.

“(Relay for Life) is a fundraiser for the Cancer Society and we have a team called the ‘hard working hippies’ and we just raise money and then we walk from 5 p.m. until 6 in the morning, just to raise awareness and help support the cancer association,” McCullough said.

Freshman English major Katie Galliart said she joined Alpha Sigma Alpha even though she wasn’t sure about being involved in the Greek system. She said the girls were very welcoming and when she walked into the house “it felt like home.”

“I’d seen a lot of TV shows and movies and I was like I don’t know about sororities and stuff but I went over to the house and everybody just seemed really nice,” Galliart said.

Lococo said that Kappa Sigma’s core values center around serving the community. He said it’s important to help out because the fraternity wants to give back to those that help them.

“These are people that we actually spend time with that help us, that help out the community and make sure that this campus continues to run, so we want to give back to them and help them out as best as we can,” Lococo said.

The fraternity gave carnations to the elderly on Valentine’s Day and they are going to Village Elementary School on Monday to play dodge ball and hang out with the kids.

Lococo said the boys are also working to stop the Emporia School Board from making cuts to the music program.

“We’re having a showing at the hearing to try and to show them that even though it’s meant for the elementary schools that the kids of this campus aren’t going to stand for it,” Lococo said. “We feel like those kids need the right education. Even those of us who aren’t specifically in the music program feel that that’s a huge part of their education and they should be allowed to get that the right way.”

Lococo said athletics are important to Kappa Sigma. He said one of the fraternity’s goals is to win a sports championship yearly.

“We’re big into the sports, we compete in (Intrafraternity Council) sports and we usually win that every year,” said Jake Winkler, Kappa Sigma treasurer and sophomore pre-physical therapy major.

Lococo said some other goals they have are to improve their GPA and do more community service than is required.

Lococo said he got involved with Greek life because he came to Emporia not knowing many people. He said when he went to the house for the first time, he connected with everyone.

“Everyone had the same interests I did, did the same kind of stuff I did, and then just getting to know those guys just created a great bond,” Lococo said.

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You’ve done it. We all have. Type the name into the search bar. Hit enter. Bam. There’s the Facebook profile. Is he single? Check relationship status. Does he have any crazy ex-girlfriends? Check photos. Or wall posts.

Are you doing this for everyone you know? “Friending” every single person you’ve ever talked to? You may have a problem.

But if you’re just the occasional Facebook peruser, the following sites might just help you in looking up your date for this Valentine’s.

• The first stop on your Valentine stalk – er, search – is generally going to be Facebook. From there, you might be able to see if the person has listed any blogs that they write.
• The next stop on the love train is Google. Google can be a great, but sometimes daunting, resource. But you can be a smarter Googler by using the advanced search options or by file type.
• Some additional sites that search the deep web include www.pipl.com, www.123people.com, www.whostalkin.com, www.samepoint.com and www.icerocket.com. However, the biggest problem with these sites is the search options, as there are limited advanced searches beyond first and last name and state. If there are over 500 people with the same name, it could amount to some lengthy research.

Care to see if your sweetie has a criminal conviction?

• In Kansas, most court records and criminal information are open to the public. By utilizing these records, a person can easily check to see if the person they’re going out with has been convicted of any crimes.
• One Web site, www.criminalsearches.com, allows users to search by criminal history, neighborhood watch and sex offenders. Users can also sign up to receive criminal reports and can look up crime statistics.
• To take a more serious tone, one resource that must be checked is the National Sex Offender Registry, which can be viewed at www.nsopw.gov. The benefit of this site over regular state offender registries is that the national registry tracks offenders if they move from state to state.
• The violent offenders list for Emporia State can be found at the Police and Safety office. Under the Clery Act, the university must produce the list of offenders upon request. Other court information can be found at www.kansascourts.org and inmate lists for the state of Kansas can be seen at www.dc.state.ks.us.

But in all seriousness, the best way to use these resources is to find out what kind of information is available about yourself on the world wide web. By searching out yourself, you can find out how to better monitor your privacy on social networking sites and restrict what information is available.

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A model wearing clothes designed and made by Angelia Barbee walks the runway Saturday night at the Post Abandon Thrift Store at 427 Merchant St. The fashion show was held prior to a live concert to mark the opening of the venue as a new place for live music in Emporia. Kellen Jenkins/The Bulletin

Music thumped as the lights came up on a model dressed in a creation by designer Angelia Barbee at the Post Abandon Thrift Store’s “Black Lace” fashion show.

            “I like how nobody else in the world has (Angelia’s clothes),” said Jordan Peterson, junior dental hygiene major. “They are so individual, they are so edgy and they are so like pretty and gothic mixed together – they are so different.”

            The show on Jan. 10 at had a concert after featuring bands Coronado Left for Dead, Mariner, The Overseer and A Weekend in December.

            Angelia and her husband, Joshua Barbee, opened the thrift store three months ago. The couple moved to Emporia, where Joshua grew up, to take care of his terminally ill mother.

            Joshua said they opened the store to create something positive for the town. He hopes to have bimonthly live music performances in the back room of the shop, where the fashion show was held.

“We’re going to be doing music because there’s nowhere else for people to go except for the bars,” he said. “There’s not a place that’s really a positive environment not that those places are bad by any means.”

            Having played in four or five signed bands and with experience as a guitar technician for the band Yellowcard, Joshua said that he wants to create a venue where it’s all about the music.

            “A lot of the places end up doing a makeshift stage, a makeshift PA hook, and the experience kind of lessens if you’re just there for the music,” he said.
            Joshua said he also wants to create a venue that’s safe for all ages. He said some parents might be uncomfortable letting their children attend a show at a bar.

            “We’re just trying to give parents the peace of mind that this is a somewhat moral environment,” Joshua said. “I mean at any given time nobody’s going to come by and say that there’s anything bad going on other than people just enjoying themselves, having a good time and listening to music. And that’s the goal.”

            The thrift store not only offers used clothing, but Angelia’s fashions and Joshua’s screen printed t-shirts are sold there as well. Prices on Angelia’s designs range from $20 to $200. She also does custom designs.

            “Instead of driving an hour and a half to go to Kansas City, you can just drive down the street and get the same thing for probably cheaper,” Angelia said.

            Angelia said she began designing when Joshua bought her a sewing machine for Christmas a few years ago. For the show, she said some of the models influenced her designs. She said fashion designer Betsey Johnson also inspires her work.

            “My main goal is to make girls feel confident in what they wear,” she said.

            Over 200 people attended the event, including the models and band members. Joshua said that he was shocked that so many people came.

            “Hopefully if people really enjoy it and word of mouth spreads we can keep doing this because that’s really why we’re doing this is getting people there and giving people a little something extra to do and adding character to our community,” he said.

            After growing up in Emporia, Joshua said he wants to bring something new for young people in town to do. He said some places try to cater to the younger demographic but may not be as in touch with college students as they think.

            “We’re kind of hoping to create a niche for a lot of people that just don’t necessarily feel like they always fit in,” Joshua said.

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Alum Kayla Erickson, Mike Tuttle and Emporia resident Taumi Feil look at the detailed work on a sculpture by Grant Charpentier during the opening of his senior show, “Under My Skin,” Friday night in the Gilson Gallery in King Hall. The show will be on display until Jan. 27. Kellen Jenkins/ The Bulletin

The hairy, spiny forms that make up Grant Charpentier’s senior show “Under My Skin” are what he calls “scary, but original.” The Gilson Gallery in King Hall will be full of these animal-inspired figures until Jan. 27.

“This is something that I’ve never seen before, something I can call my own,” said Charpentier, senior glass forming major. “I was thinking about doing a sea theme but there are hundreds of artists out there who can do a sea theme and do it two times better than I could. This is something I’m willing to bet isn’t out there.”

Charpentier took inspiration from animal forms.

“I first came across this form looking at different skeletal forms in various reptiles,” he said. “I wanted to use glass in a minimalist way to embrace the form instead of dominating it.”

While some of the pieces are hard and uninviting, they didn’t start out that way.

“They started off pretty fluffy and nice,” Charpentier said. “Centipedeish – and then as time went on, the process got really monotonous and my emotions began to come out, even though they may have been negative. They started becoming more aggressive and agitated so my emotions started to transcribe through the work.”

Many people attended the opening of “Under My Skin” last Friday, including Charpentier’s girlfriend’s parents, who drove 7 hours to be there.

“Grant is like a sponge,” said Tracy Webber, Newman, Colo., resident and mother of Charpentier’s girlfriend. “He collects everything and sees everything from different sides.”

Charpentier wanted the viewers of his show to feel some of the angry emotions he put into each piece.

“I wanted to create a push/pull relationship with the viewer,” he said. “I wanted the viewer to be interested in them but at the same time be pushed away because they’re dangerous.”

And they really are dangerous. The spines sticking out of the pieces are chunks of pointed glass that Charpentier referred to as “teeth” and bent pieces of thick metal.

“What I like about the art is how alive they look and ferocious in manner,” said Collin Haire, junior art major. “They just pop out at you. They’re almost moving.”

Haire understood the message Charpentier was trying to get across.

“In his artist statement, he mentioned that he used the skeletal structure of snakes,” Haire said. “I definitely see that. They are like mutant centipedes.”

Charpentier did not want to just show glass pieces.

“I feel different about them all,” Charpentier said when trying to describe his favorite. “I’m a glass major but I wanted to do something different. I wanted to stray away from just showing glass and showing other types of medias.”

For Charpentier, the work of putting together one piece was painstaking and took several hours.

“I don’t consider myself and OCD artist,” he said. “But this is really repetitious with little variation.”

The use of metal in his pieces is what Charpentier thought was original about them.

“Obviously there is a lot of metal work in here,” Charpentier said. “What I like about metal work is that it goes hand in hand with glass. It’s hard work. It’s about problem solving. Things don’t always work out like you want to but you work through it and you come  out on top sometimes and sometimes you don’t.”

Even after spending a lot of time working on the pieces, Charpentier was not sure what to call his collection.

“I was telling my friend about how these were driving me nuts and she said why don’t you just name it under your skin,” Charpentier said.

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Luke Ball, senior art education major, and Meghan Gunther, senior education major, improve before comedians Mike Phirman and Chris Hardwick perform Tuesday night in the Memorial Union Ballroom. Phirman and Hardwick were hosted by UAC. Jonathan Elliott/The Bulletin

The musical comedies of Mike Phirman and Chris Hardwick were filled with stories of nerds, sex, parenting and food as the duo performed to about 50 students and faculty on Tuesday in the Ballroom of the Memorial Union.

“Normally we bring just comedians,” said Hilary Moe, senior communications major and chair or variety entertainment for Union Activities Council. “I think Hard and Phirm was different because they incorporate music and they were different from what we normally bring to campus.”

Zoiks!, Emporia State’s improvisational comedy troupe, opened the performance with some of their favorite games.

Hard and Phirm’s members, hailing from Los Angeles, have been featured on the E! show “Chelsea Lately” and Comedy Central Presents. Hardwick is also featured on G4tv’s “Attack of the Show.”

Each comedian performed their own stand up routine and then combined forces to present their own version of what they call “comedy music.”

Phirman started the show with short punch lines about marijuana, global positioning systems and his family.

“We were in a comedy club in college,” Phirman said. “I was doing dumb guitar stuff and (Chris) was doing stand up. We just started performing together.”

Hardwick choose to tell stories and converse with individuals in the crowd while he talked about his love of Cracker Barrel and his home state, Kentucky, during his set.

“We just pick out a type of song that we want to make fun of and we just go with it,” Hardwick said.

The music comedy began with Phirman on the guitar and Hardwick on vocals. The duo sang about success, the math concepts of infinity and pi and the heart.

The audience members enjoyed the performance and the crowd interaction.

“It seemed like something entertaining and I’ve seen (Chris) on G4,” said Kalen Blackburn, freshman computer science major. “I liked the singing but I kind of enjoyed (the whole performance).”

Hardwick and Phirman were a part of the comedy club at University of California, Los Angeles. Hardwick was enthusiastic about Zoiks!.

“I think it’s great that these guys have an improv troupe here because not every school has a comedy group,” Hardwick said. “If you don’t have that group, I just think it doesn’t occur to people that they can do (comedy) as a profession.”

UAC’s last event of the semester will be a performance by the Evasons, a mentalist duo, at 9 p.m. on Dec. 14 in the Memorial Union Webb Lecture Hall. All UAC performances are free.

“A lot of people say that there is nothing to do in Emporia and depending on the week we have at least one event,” Moe said. “There is always something to do here. If they weren’t free then I don’t think people would come.”

Ashley Peaches/The Bulletin

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“Emily’s Castle” by Derek Wilinson. Photo by Jonathan ELLIOTT/the Bulletin

The opening of the Faculty Art Show on Nov. 10 will “bring the museum to the students,” says Art Department Chair Cynthia Patton.

“We’re in a relatively small place so we don’t have access to a lot of museums easily,” Patton said. “The big faculty and student shows are a way of celebrating all the richness of the work that’s happening here.”

The opening is from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Norman R. Eppink Gallery and Gilson Room in the Bruder Theater lobby of King Hall until finals week.

Roberta Eichenberg, assistant professor of sculpture and gallery director, said the galleries will be open from about 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The exhibit will feature art by current and Emeritus faculty members. Eichenberg said the show is a great opportunity to see artwork by local faculty who are also professional artists.

“It’s one time a year and you get to see work done by our faculty, some of which are also nationally known artists,” Eichenberg said.

Artwork of all mediums like photography, engraving, graphic design, glass work, ceramics, painting, fiber work and drawing will be represented in the show. Patton said there will be about 10-12 artists in the show, giving students the opportunity to see many different kinds of work.

Photography Professor Larry Schwarm will have three landscape photographs in the show, including two photos of the prairie fires that happen every spring in the flint hills.

Schwarm said people have an interesting relationship with fire because it is beautiful, but at the same time it is dangerous.

“I realized there’s an underlying kind of collective conscious that everybody is connected to fire because that’s part of our civilization,” Schwarm said. “It heats our homes but it also can destroy our homes. It cooks our food but it could kill us.”

Some of Eichenberg’s work is in the show, including a piece entitled “Hog Heaven” which features a glass pig sculpture on  two plaster pillows.

“It’s kind of a reflection of American society today a little bit,” Eichenberg said, “over-fattened and a little piggish when you compare it to other cultures.”

Graphic Art Instructor Pamela Harlan, Professor of Life Drawing and Printmaking Dan Kirchhefer and Assistant Professor of Engraving James Ehlers are also among the artists participating in the show.

Schwarm said the show is a good opportunity for students and other faculty to see what the faculty are doing throughout the year. He said it’s a way to watch people grow artistically.

“It’s a chance for students to see what their teachers are doing and to see that, in fact, their teachers or instructors are active artists and they are as passionate about the work that they say they are,” Schwarm said.

Lauren Walbridge/The Bulletin

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Sunday afternoon at the Red Rock home of William Allen White, John Brownlee shares poetry at the Poetry. Poetry on the Porch was part of the Sunday on the Porch series provided by the William Allen White Society. Jennifer Baldwin/The Bulletin.

On Sunday, Poetry on the Porch had its final run for the year on the porch of William Allen White’s house, located at 10^th and Exchange streets.

“The William Allen White house was opened in May 2005, and Poetry on the Porch got started that same fall,” said Roger Heinken, member of the William Allen White Community Partnership Program. “I had asked Kevin Rabas to announce the event to his classes and to encourage his students to attend.”

The event began with Kevin Rabas, associate professor of creative writing, playing a cajón drum from South America.

“I use the cajón drum because it has a nice sound and it helps to set the mood for the poetry,” Rabas said.

Shortly after this musical introduction, Heineken gave an opening speech before turning the stage over to Rabas again to begin the readings.

“This is the third year we have done Poetry on the Porch, and approximately the 29th program that has been hosted here on the porch,” Heineken said.

Rabas read a few poems and then opened the floor for student and community members to have the opportunity to read their poems or works they found inspiring.

Though it was cold, Heineken thought there was a large crowd in attendance.

“I always count the attendees at every event we host, and today we saw about 24,” Heineken said. “We count every person who participates in some way, even if they are only here to take photographs.”

Cheryl Unruh, Emporia resident, Kelli Kuhlman and John Brownlee were among those who read poetry at the event. Stephanie Russell, a student poet published in this year’s edition of Quivira, read a poem of hers titled “The Way.”

Rabas also sent around a small notepad for a writing game called “Consequences,” sometimes better known as “Exquisite Corpse.” As the notepad was passed around, each person wrote a line or two without looking at the line before. Once everyone had a chance to write a little on the paper, it was read aloud so that everyone could hear the end result.

Sunday’s “Consequences” read like this:

Alone, on a withered bough / a crow perches / long after dark / in silence and stillness / the symphony of autumn / leaves bursts forward / with a cymbal splash / and fall a silent crush / with only a crow / to witness its passing / and the world goes to sleep / from me not a peep / dreaming of autumn colors / red, yellow, brown, / and a few green stragglers / the crisp smell overwhelming, / crunching leaves / a dog barking, a / train whistle screaming, / I must be home again.

Venice Russell, Emporia resident, was also in attendance on Sunday.

“This is my first time coming to this event,” he said. “I mainly have become interested in poetry because I enjoyed my sister-in-law’s knack for poetry, and my daughter’s, too.”

Rabas and Heineken both commented on the increase in the crowd size since the last Poetry on the Porch event.

“At the Poetry on the Porch event this summer, we counted about 37 in attendance.” Heineken said.

Rabas said he was also excited about the number of attendees.

“A few years ago, there were only about half as many people coming to this event as there are now,” Rabas said. “Enthusiasm for poetry has been building.”

Sunday afternoon was the last Poetry on the Porch event for the year, but both Heineken, Rabas and Venice Russell anticipate the future afternoons for poetry.

“I will definitely come again next year,” Russell said.

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The Emporia Arts Council, currently located at 618 Mechanic St., will move to the 800 block of Commercial Street just north of the Granada Theatre. Over the past two years, they have raised $2.8 million for construction of a new center in downtown Emporia. Giri Nam/The Bulletin.

The Emporia Arts Council has raised $2.8 million in gifts and pledges over the last two years for a new building that will be located between 811 and 815 Merchant St., just north of the Granada Theatre.

“We’ve met our fundraising goals to start construction,” said Melissa Windsor, executive director of the EAC. “We’ll plan on starting construction in the next 30 days and it will be about a year long project.”

The fundraising campaign has drawn support from the entire community and surrounding areas with over 340 donors, Windsor said.

“It was beyond our hopes,” said Mel Storm, professor of English and former president of the EAC board. “People contributed. People came back and increased their pledges. People contributed multiple times. We’ve had donors come forward that had not contributed before.”

Two major donors helped meet the final budget requirements for the project.

“The Jones Trust issued a challenge matching grant back in last October,” Windsor said.

The Jones Trust matched what the EAC could raise up to $245,000. An anonymous donor helped with an additional $75,000.

“In the end of the August we were issued a second challenge gift from an anonymous donor that to help us finish out the campaign,” Windsor said. “They would give us $75,000 if we could raise the last $62,000 in 30 days. As of last Friday, we were successful and announced that we were able to meet that challenge in three weeks.”

However, the anonymous donor would like to stay anonymous.

“At the donor’s request we are not announcing who the donor was,” Windsor said. “They’ve chosen to remain anonymous and believe in the community.”

One of the main objectives of the new EAC building is to be more present in the community.

“We’re hoping to increase our presence in downtown Emporia and to enhance the arts and entertainment district in downtown Emporia,” Windsor said. “We know a number of businesses are starting to come to Emporia. It’s starting to grow.”

New features of the building will include a larger gallery, a larger art store with unique gifts and three art studios.

“It will provide a very good companion facility to the Granada Theatre,” Storm said. “It will provide opportunities for students

A clay studio, a small theater, a full kitchen, an art library and upgraded offices and equipment.

“We can host small performances,” Windsor said. “We can also host small groups, group meeting, as well as recitals.”

The EAC hosts a performing arts series that brings a variety of entertainers to several venues in Emporia including the Granada Theatre and Albert Taylor Hall, located in Plumb Hall.

“Every thing that the Arts Council brings to the community, will also have an educational component to it,” Windsor said. “We do free activities to area schools, free performances for area school children.”

Storm was impressed with the efforts of all of those involved in the project.

“We’re a relatively small city, which I think characterizes Emporia,” Storm said. “We’ve been able to fund a multi-million dollar arts complex. It says a great deal about the community.”

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The newly remodeled Granada Theatre will offer classic movie nights every first and third Thursday of the month including their presentation of “Guys and Dolls” tonight at 7 p.m.

“Everybody loves coming here,” said Jessica Buchholz, director of the Granada Theatre. “It’s so nice to come in here. People around you are laughing and having a good time. It’s a lot of fun.”

Tickets are $4 and can be purchased at the door, at the Sweet Granada or Granada Coffee Company.

“It’s a great type of entertainment for people of all ages in the community,” Buchholz said. “It’s something fun to do during the week day that’s really low cost. We also offer really inexpensive concessions.”

The classic movies that the Granada plays are movies that originally had opening debuts in the Granada years ago.

“The Granada used to be a movie theater,” Buchholz said. “That is what people remember about growing up or going to school here, going to see movies. We thought it would be a great idea to offer those movies again.”

Marge Trayor, emporia resident, grew up in Cottonwood Falls but still remembers coming to the Granada to watch movies.

“I did go there many years ago, a few times,” she said.

The Granada will always take suggestions.

“We look at what were the great classics,” Buchholz said. “But we always take suggestions from our patrons and people in the community. If it’s a movie that we get a lot of questions about or requests for, we research it to see if there it is a title that we are able to show.”

Some of the movies bring back memories for the attendees.

“I suggested two of the ones they’ve chosen because they had special memories for me,” Trayor said. “And besides that, they were good.”

The Granada can seat over 800 people and usually is about half-full for the classic movie nights.

“It’s an elegant, beautiful theater and I love it,” Trayor said. “I really enjoy attending the wonderful different events there.”

The demand for movie night was so high that The Granada decided to have the showings twice per month instead of one time.

“We had so many people request to have it more than just one time per month that we moved to two,” Buchholz said.

The Granada also offers encore movie nights the fourth Wednesday of each month.

“The encore movies are movies from the ‘80s and ‘90s,” Buchholz said. “We wanted to put a different spin on it and get some of the younger people from the community in the theater.”

The encore movie for this month will be “Top Gun” showing on Wednesday.

“We want to be a real driving force in the arts and entertainment district of Emporia,” Buchholz said. “We want to be able to offer different types of entertainment for the Emporia community. There is something new to do here in town.”

Ashley Peaches/The Bulletin

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Jennifer Baldwin/ The Bulletin.

The Beatles tribute band 1964 performed last Thursday night in Albert Taylor Hall to a combined audience of students and community members.

“The most fulfilling part of my job is that people are still coming out to see this,” said Mark Benson, who performs as John Lennon for 1964. “We see friends of ours that weren’t married when we started doing this, and now they’re bringing 19 and 20 year old kids to see our shows. It’s gone that long, and it trickles down into the next generation, and there are so few things anymore that both kids and parents can do together and they both enjoy it.”

The Emporia Arts Council, along with Lyon County State Bank and Emporia State were responsible for bringing the tribute band to ESU. Student admission was free to the performance.

“They came highly recommended from the University of Missouri, and I met their agent at a trade show,” said Melissa Windsor, executive director of the Emporia Arts Council. “Rolling Stone says they’re the number one Beatles tribute band on earth, so I am thinking that they were a great choice.”

Students attending found the tribute to the “Fab Four” to be an entertaining experience.

“I thought it was surprisingly good,” said Lorenzo Marquez, sophomore mathematics major. “I’ve been a Beatles fan since I was six, and these guys were comparable to them. Nobody can beat the Beatles, but these guys were close.”

Most of the songs from the set were from the Beatles first albums, and the exclusion of specific Beatles classics disappointed some students.

“I think they did a good job, but I expected more classics,” said Leon Dupuis, junior business administration major. “In particular I would have liked to hear ‘Yellow Submarine.’ It was really good for two hours spent free.”

The performance consisted of nearly two hours of Beatles songs combined with audience participation, Liverpool accents and costumes to immerse the audience.

“The way I look at it is that we’re playing the part of The Beatles, and the audience is playing the crowd,” Benson said. “It’s good, clean fun for everyone.”

The band’s performance included an encore at the end of the show featuring the song “Long Tall Sally.”

Those willing to wait around after the show could meet the band, take pictures with them and share stories.

For more information on the band and future performance dates visit www.1964thetribute.com.

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What do a woman sawing off the legs of a chair she is sitting in and a pig standing on a bed have in common?

Both are pieces of art from two Kansas University graduate art students, Minerva Ortiz and Jody Wood, who visited Emporia State’s Art Forum yesterday to speak to a crowd that nearly filled Science Hall 72.

“It’s really great to see people coming out of a program that we could very easily be going into,” said Winston Walker, senior art major. “I think it was interesting that they were both dealing with things that were very close to them. … They were both dealing with stuff that was not foreign to them so it was very real and had a lot to do with things that happen to them every day or they would think about every day.”

Ortiz is a painter who works with oil paints and Wood is a performance artist. Ortiz received her bachelor’s degree from the University of California Santa Cruz.

“I had a lot of questions and (art) allowed me to make these questions tangible,” Ortiz said. “I could make something that I can show for these abstract thoughts that I had or was considering. It didn’t have to be so absolute. … It’s strange, because it’s not like, ‘oh, I have this answer in my head,’ it’s like a feeling.”

Wood attended Seattle Pacific University, where she graduated with a degree in English. She says that her style of performance art is to take the art out of the gallery and into the public’s eye.

“The performance art I’m really interested in right now always requires some kind of interaction with the public and that really sustains me because it puts my art into a real world context,” Wood said. “The idea is to develop by just interacting with other people, bouncing ideas off of them and seeing how they are reacting to the situation. It’s very sustaining to constantly be in contact with other people. It’s challenging, but it’s sustaining.”

Ortiz said she first started with family portraits, trying to honor both the flaws and the virtues of her subjects. An example is a painting of her grandmother who she described as kind, but also controlling. In the painting, her grandmother looks out at the viewer while a German Shepherd dog is standing next to her. She holds the dog’s head dominantly and tightly to her body while clutching its red collar.

“In a sense of it, (paint) lets you create anything,” Ortiz said. “It’s like the universal matter. It’s so pliable and you can create anything. I could paint an instrument, people. It’s like substance, raw creation.”

An example of Wood’s work was a booth in a gallery where visitors put on headphones and listened to interviews with various women about what makes them feel comfortable while, at the same time, watching a video of Wood physically fighting other women in a public setting.

“Usually, it stems from something that’s difficult for me reconcile,” Wood said. “Making art about it allows me to search for answers and experiment. Usually, in my work, I can break social rules I wouldn’t normally be able to break living daily life.”

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