Centenary College of Louisiana - Yoncopin Yearbook (Shreveport, LA)

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Members listed as director Will Andress gives details of the Mickel Hall fire which destroyed the choir loft on the first day of school. So How Was China? The Centenary Choir is one of the most active collegiate groups in the country. In all, the choir gives 75 concerts a year, includ- ing at least one tour in a foreign country. In 1980, the group traveled as singing ambassadors of good will on a concert tour of Russia and Poland. In 1982 the choir traveled to Europe with a command performance for the President of Switzerland during which officials representing all of NATO were present. The 1983 tour was a successful visit to China. While in China, members .... dressed up a bit! Choir members pose at the Great Wall while touring China this summer. 10 • Opening

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Magale Library is the academic heart of the campus. V Mrs. Barbara Regan is a professor of Business. Mr. Jim Reburn, accounting professor, has been at Centenary for two years. A Magale Library has about 145,000 volumes and about 800 current maga- zines, as well as local, area, and na- tional newspapers. The collection is housed on two floors according to the Dewey Decimal System. Current magazines, the microform room, the reference section, and music listening rooms are on the first floor. On the second floor there is a lounge area and group study rooms. There is one main card catalogue with authors, titles, and subjects in alphabetical order ac- cording to subject. The last five draw- ers of the catalogue, following Z ' s contain cards for the record collec- tion. Most books may be checked out for a period of two weeks. The due date is always on a Thursday and can be renewed by the telephone. The fine is 10 cents per day for overdue books. Your Centenary I.D. is also your library card, so it is helpful to have it with you at all times. Books for which there is a heavy demand are kept on reserve behind the circula- tion desk. Most of these books must be used in the library. Others circulated from 1-7 days and are nonrenewable. The library provides a copy machine for student use at 10 cents per copy. Ask for the key to the copy machine at the circulation desk. Any of the library staff will be glad to help you if you need help. Don ' t be shy about asking.

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For those who ask How was China? and really vant to know how China was, my answer is this: I experienced my first and only moment of fear n China when our plane began its descent for anding in Beijing (formerly Peking). Below us the ields lay in neat squares around the commune uildings. The thought I ' m entering a Communist ountry and a host of associated words — red hreat, Cold War, Communist plot, invasion — rilled into me since birth raced through my mind. wondered if we would be welcome. Any fear for our safety or anxiety concerning ur welcome in China proved to be groundless. It eems that China ' s population is one billion warm, enerous, smiling people. Everywhere we went the hinese appeared as curious about and eager to »arn about us as we were them. When verbal com- lunication was impossible due to the language arrier, as it was in most instances, the citizens of ur host country employed waves, bows, and — lways — big smiles to express their sentiments award Westerners. I received a demonstration of the Chinese peo- le ' s kindness and friendliness one afternoon in ian. Needing a battery for my camera, I took dvantage of an hour of free-time before dinner to xplore the area round the hotel and to search for a amera shop. In each of the four Chinese cities we visited, the hoir drew crowds of Orientals anxious to observe )ccidentals; however, Sian evidently saw even swer Westerners than the other three cities, and a ill, fair-skinned red-headed female found herself unrounded every time she stopped by groups of wenty or more Chinese eager to look upon such a trange visage and to listen to such strange sounds those of English). After discovering through a isplay of my camera and its battery that the first hop I ventured into did not sell the necessary :em, I made my way through the crowd of onlook- rs and stood on the sidewalk looking for another hop. As I was about to cross the street, a man in his tid-thirties who had witnessed my demonstration i the shop approached me at the same time that a irl of twenty or so pulled up next to me on her icycle. The two conversed a moment, and then be girl smiled at me and said in rather good Eng- ish, Weil help you find a battery. During the late afternoon it had begun to drizzle ain. While most people were making their way ome after the day ' s work, these two led me from shop to shop. If a likely-looking shop had already closed, the man and girl would knock on a side door and the three of us would go behind the shop to the living quarters where they would explain what we were searching for. After half an hour, I explained that I was late for dinner and thanked them both for their help. The girl walked be back to the hotel, all the while practicing for an upcoming American history exam. George Washington was your first presi- dent, yes? And Martin Luther King was a very great man? Yes, and there are the Appalachian Mountains in the United States, yes? The exper- ience was such a warm one that I didn ' t care about not having found a battery. Throughout China, members of our group were approached by language students, such as the girl in Sian, desirous of testing their English. He ex- plained that both language teachers and language learning materials are in short supply in China. He was disappointed because he had begun to learn French (a popular foreign language after English), but could not continue his studies because he no longer had a teacher. So desperate for English teachers are the Chinese that no more is required of a native speaker of English who wishes to teach than a high school diploma. The favorite English teacher of one of our guides had been a store clerk in Texas before teaching in China. One of everyone ' s favorite experiences while in China was the visit to a kindergarten in Shanghai. The children, aged four to six, were doing arts and crafts in some rooms, dancing (in which we were invited to participate) in others, and playing on playground equipment and in a sandbox outside. After a tour, we were treated to a program in which the students sang, danced, recited comedy dia- logue, and played musical instruments. Everyone was awed by their skill, talent, and memory. I was surprised to find that, almost without ex- ception, the kindergarteners were quite outgoing and uninhibited in their interaction with foreign adults. Perhaps this is due to the fact that most Chinese children are now growing up as only chil- dren. In order to slow the rate of the country ' s population growth, the government is encouraging marrying late and having only one child. Two children are permitted, but one is much preferred. Being an only child and thus receiving all the attention of both parents and much of that of the grandparents may have such positive effects as those witnessed at the pre-school. However, one guide expressed the fear that these circumstances might lead to spoiled children. The relationship between Chinese parent and child made a deep impression on me. Whether riding a child in the bicycle basket, holding his hand walking down a crowded sidewalk, or sitting with him on a street corner idly watching people come and go, the parent treated the child with apparently infinite patience and caring. It was es- pecially refreshing to see that fathers gave their children the attention and tenderness usually giv- en only by mothers in our culture. Pride in their progeny was obvious, especially when an Ameri- can asked permission to take a picture. The parent would become very enthusiastic, pushing the child in front of him and encouraging him to wave and smile. These people would not spank their children in Safeway. I left China feeling that I had been visiting an- other world, yet, ironically, being more impressed with those things we held in common than those in which we differed. Incredible. That ' s how China was. -Carole Powell Sk vBt t 4J V mm ■ttjn ■ B ' V ' St | U. The fire in Mickel Hall destroyed the loft and taking with it years of the choir ' s history, in- forms of scrapbooks, photos, and gifts for from group ' s tours. The Centenary Choir sings at Convocations and various other campus events. Opening • 11