March 12, 2009 Issue
The World In Boone’s Back Yard: ASU’s Diversity Celebration April 7
ASU’s 8th annual Diversity Celebration is coming up on Tuesday, April 7, in Plemmons Student Union on the university campus.
Since 2002, this event has hosted local performers, presenters from across the Southeast and other participants with rich customs and artistic traditions from all over the world. The music, dance and storytelling performances, multicultural food spread and hands-on crafts allow ASU students, faculty and employees, as well as community members, to discover the world in Boone’s backyard.
The community-wide event includes “artisans, dancers, singers, exhibits and food and involves [countless] geographical areas, languages and types of art,” said Susan King of ASU’s Office of Equity, Diversity and Compliance.
The lineup of performances includes Red Herring Puppets, Orville Hicks, Turbo Pro Project, T.V. Barnett and the Roan Mountain Moonshiners, Queer Folk with Crys Matthews, Pop Ferguson, Meade Richter, Dry Creek Medicine Drum, Mexico Mariachi 2000, Sunday’s Well, the Mystic Mountain Belly Dancers and Indian sitarist Sridhar.
King said there are still some spaces for people who would like to contribute rather than just attend. While “all performing slots are filled, there are still tables and volunteer jobs available,” she said.
The day incorporates the 13th annual Unity Festival, the family-friendly hub of the diversity celebration. This event features hands-on activities, such as spinning, weaving, origami and Mehandi painting in a World Bazaar; Hispanic, Welsh and Aboriginal folktales in the World Stories Room; and Filipino, African, Brazilian and Celtic song and dance in the World Dance and Music Workshop.
Click to www.celebration.appstate.edu for the performance schedule, campus maps and parking directions.
For more information, call 828-262-6252 or 828-262-2144.
People of the Planet Soccer Tournament
The third annual People of the Planet Soccer Tournament literally kicks off ASU’s Diversity Celebration on Sunday, April 5, in Kidd-Brewer Stadium.
“This is just huge,” said Susan King of ASU’s Office of Equity, Diversity and Compliance. “It’s a community-wide event with students from four after-school programs, and between 2,500 and 3,000 people attending. It’s wonderful.”
The first of four adult matches during the day start with the first kickoff at 9:00 a.m. Adult teams come from faculty, staff, students, alumni and community members representing many foreign countries.
Children’s games begin at noon. Youth teams are the under sixes, the under eights, the under tens and the under twelves. Girls’ and boys’ teams come from the Watauga Parks and Recreation and High Country soccer teams.
Elementary and middle school students can play on one of the youth teams, carry flags of the participating nations and walk with the players to the field. School students in the event will receive gifts, including a “passport” they can have players from the various countries sign.
Registration and details about the tournament is online at www.cs.appstate.edu/soccer/.
The registration deadline is March 20.
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