HEADLINES

Help available to file tax returns
Students undaunted by stormy seas
Celebration honors MLK's dream
Poet to give Bothe Lecture
Michael Dirda course explores love's mysteries
Video phone launch and demonstration
Winter sports warming up for CC championships
McDaniel staff recognized for service
Hill Happenings

It's been nearly 15 tax seasons since Susan Milstein first had the idea to help students assist people with low-to-moderate incomes file their federal and state tax returns. A new season of free help begins Feb. 8.

The McDaniel College Professor of Business Administration wanted to help the community. She wanted to give back. That was goal number one.

Since that first year when Milstein, a CPA, started to check into training and materials, the program has grown. She quickly discovered that the IRS already had a program called Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA)—and that the agency would give her books and backup. TaxCut donated disks for those who wanted to file with computer help. Now, the TaxWise program, supported by the IRS, allows VITA to file electronically.

Full Story and Schedule

If all goes according to original plan, Meghan Ambra will celebrate her twenty-first birthday off the coast of Madagascar.

That's barring any other changes in the itinerary of the MV Explorer carrying nearly 700 college students – McDaniel students Andrea Bock '06 and Meghan Ambra '07 among them – for a semester at sea.

The ship made an unscheduled stop in Hawaii for repairs after being caught in a storm near Alaska that saw 50-foot waves crashing over the ship and 100-mile-per-hour winds lashing the portals. The ship dodged several storms before being caught in this one. How and where the students' trip continues hinges on the extent of necessary repairs.

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The communities of Carroll County and McDaniel College, among others, honored Martin Luther King's work and dream Jan. 31 during an event that showcased a painting by Baltimore artist Larry "Poncho" Brown commissioned by Baltimore business leader Edward Fox and announced next year's artist, Jessica Watson, who is currently a senior at McDaniel. Also during the event, winners of an essay contest were announced.

The evening's speaker was Rev. Jamal-Harrison Bryant, the founder and pastor of the fastest growing AME Church in the nation. The Empowerment Temple in Baltimore, Md., in just its first 14 months has grown to a membership from 43 to over 5,000. The Men of Vision choir brought the audience of 400 to their feet with their rendition of "This Little Light of Mine."

The painting, titled "Indivisible," was donated to the McDaniel College Office of Multicultural Services by Fox. The Baltimore entrepreneur's gift to the College will commission a new painting each of the next four years. The paintings, each done by a different artist, will focus on different people of color, according to Zephia Bryant, director of multicultural services. Next year's artist, Jessica Watson, will work with Larry "Poncho" Brown to produce a painting which has a Latino focus.

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Poet and university professor Ann Townsend will deliver the 19th annual B. Christopher Bothe Lecture at 8 p.m. March 8 in McDaniel Lounge on campus at McDaniel College .

The lecture is free and open to the public.

Ann Townsend is the author of two collections of poetry: “Dime Store Erotics” (Silverfish Review Press, 1998), winner of the Gerald Cable Prize, and “The Coronary Garden” (Sarabande Books, 2005). Her poetry, fiction and criticism appear in such magazines as Agni, Poetry, The Paris Review, Ploughshares, Five Points, The Nation, The Georgia Review, The Kenyon Review, The Southern Review, North American Review, Witness, and many others.

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Never mind Valentine's Day. Ten Honors Program students and their Pulitzer Prize-winning professor Michael Dirda are devoting the entire semester to love.

From Plato's "Symposium" and Dante's "Vita Nuova," to the Renaissance poetry of Shakespeare and Donne, to Tolstoy's "The Kreutzer Sonata," Ford Maddox Ford's "The Good Soldier" and Nabokov's "Lolita," the class explores masterworks of Western culture that focus on matters of the heart.

Besides literature, the syllabus also includes the painter Bronzino's "Allegory of Passion," the operas "Nozze di Figaro" by Mozart and "Tristan" by Wagner, and modern ballads by Patsy Cline.

Despite the difficulty of the texts, students are smitten by the "Love's Mysteries" course. The subject matter is irresistible.

"Love is everyone's favorite emotion. It's the essential problem of our lives, especially the first half of our lives," says Dirda, a columnist for The Washington Post's Book World whose vivid writing earned him the Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Criticism in 1993. He conceived the course, as well as another on literary journalism, for his debut as visiting scholar at McDaniel. "These are books and works of art that everyone should know."

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McDaniel College and Sorenson Media in California will launch the new on-campus video relay system at 12:30 p.m. Feb. 10 in the Commons at Hoover Library. John Edington, Outreach Installer Manager from Sorenson will give a demonstration of the video phone which enables students who are deaf to communicate on the phone with people who are hearing.

The grand opening is free and open to the public.

Learn more about the Video Relay System

As the winter sports season winds down and the championships loom around the corner, every match-up counts. Every bucket on the court, every length of the pool, every shoulder on the mat, every lap of the track—there is no room for error.

McDaniel wrestling's Feb. 3 victory over Centennial rival Gettysburg was a good example of getting the job done. Eight Green Terror wrestlers, including Drew Reinecker '04 (left), came out on top of the podium.

Can't make it to the game? Certain McDaniel Green Terror contests will be Webcast on www.teamline.cc. Type in "McDaniel Green Terror" on the teamline home page to see the upcoming schedule.

More information on McDaniel winter athletics

McDaniel College recognized 30 employees Jan. 20 for their many years of dedicated service during a special seniority recognition luncheon in the College's McDaniel Lounge.

The distinguished group of employees, each with at least 10 years of service, represents 525 years of working on the Hill.

The service awards program was hosted by President Joan Develin Coley.

Each of the employees was presented with an engraved gift featuring their name, department, and respective years of service.

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• "Gleanings, Meanings: Etchings and Woodcuts" by Trudi Y. Ludwig, who teaches at the Maryland Institute College of Art, runs through March 4 in the Esther Prangley Rice Gallery in Peterson Hall on the McDaniel College campus. For gallery hours, call 410-857-2595. The exhibit is free and open to the public.
  
  
• The students of David Kreider, senior lecturer of music, present a piano recital at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 25 in Levine Recital Hall. Free and open to the public.
  
  
• "Something's Afoot" on the Hill when McDaniel College Theatre performs the murder mystery spoof at 8 p.m. March 2-5 on the WMC Alumni Hall Mainstage. Call 410-857-2448 for tickets and information.