Great Smoky Mountain Toy Run

Wow, things are winding down fast. I'm completely done with the work required for one of my classes, and I'm counting down to the last couple of things I have to turn in for my other two.

Thanksgiving was nice as I ate a lot of food and visited with cousins, aunts and uncles. I hope it was pleasant for everyone else as well.

The Christmas tree in the lobby of Madison dormitory where I live is beautiful. I look forward to Christmas, but a break over a month long is probably a little too much for me.

This Saturday, December 1st, is the Great Smoky Mountain Toy Run. It should be a fun event. I'll have to show up late as the LSAT is that morning, but get in touch with Melissa or one of the other officers for details. We plan to go to Asheville for dinner afterwards.

Until next time,

Nathan Marshburn

The Talent Around Us

In case you haven't noticed, there is quite a bit of talent on this campus. I wish I could have written this blog before Lucky Stiff went on stage, but unfortunately the show only ran from November 8th through the 11th. It was a delightful musical comedy about a man who gets shot in Atlantic City. The all-student cast did a superb job. I recognized many of them from around campus.

You might not expect that Greg Kennedy, a sophomore I've seen in Dodson cafeteria and in the audience at a couple of music recitals, would have such a booming singing voice and be able to fake dying in such a hilarious manner.

Benny Enfinger, a senior who judged floats with me during the homecoming parade in Sylva delivered great one-line insults on stage with such smoothness, in addition to being very light on his feet for dance routines.

Rachel All, a senior education major who studies quietly in a corner of the library many nights, transformed on stage into a sexy Monte Carlo show girl with a great French accent. Her roulette wheel outfit was truly dazzling. If you saw her in The Nerd, then you may not have even recognized her in Lucky Stiff. Her portrayal of such different characters was very impressive.

And Mark Hudson, a junior whom I have not met but seen many times walking on campus, sang so well and moved seamlessly between the straight man and comedic requirements of his part. The song and dance he performed with the "dead man" in a wheelchair was a feat of athleticism and coordination.

The others in the play such as Christy Waymouth, Dayna Damron, Patrick Detloff , Bethany Rowe, Cord Scott and Bryan Nicholls were also superbly cast. I just haven't met them or seen them on campus. Perhaps their costumes and makeup were so good that I have not recognized them.

It is a shame that the play did not run longer. I would have gone to see it again.

So don't underestimate whom you might be eating with in the cafeteria or sitting beside in the computer lab. Some of the people on this campus are real stars.

Until next time,

Nathan Marshburn

The Burrows Aren't Safe

Hello everyone,

The library is more crowded now than it has been all semester, but I enjoy studying around a lot of people.

A few weeks ago I discovered by accident a field of chipmunk burrows. On several occasions, I've noted chipmunks darting in and out of the holes in the ground. I haven't told anyone the location, as they could easily be disturbed.

Unfortunately, the chipmunk field has been discovered, though not by word of mouth. The past few nights that I've left the library around midnight or 1 am and walked past the field, a small, black and white cat crouches under an oak tree, carefully watching the ground full of holes.

It locks eyes with me as I go by. The cat looks soft and friendly, and I have tried unsuccessfully to pet it. I have seen this cat a few times on campus- always late at night. Once was in a flower bed by Coulter, another was on the steps of the One Stop. And it surprised me one night by popping its head out of a ditch as I walked by.

"What are you doing in there?" I asked. But it only watched my eyes.

If my dad knew this cat, he would have already named it. He is the best person I know for coming up with great animal names. The cat is yet another character- another friend even- that I have met at Cullowhee. It helps make the place special. I do not wish it luck, however, in its quest for a midnight snack on the field of chipmunk burrows.

Until next time,

Nathan Marshburn

Crunch Time is Flying

Hello everyone,

I hope your Halloween festivities were as enjoyable as mine.

The days are flying by, are they not? Now is crunch time, with the first drafts of my term papers coming due around the middle of this month, and no let up in the other course work.

In a month and a half, the semester will be over. It seems like yesterday that it was August 17, hot weather, and I was arriving on campus for the first time in years to meet all sorts of new people. I try to take it all in, but things move so quickly that it is hard- and scary. The older I get, the faster time moves. Even if I live to be 200 years old, that is still the immediate future.

Undergrads probably have no idea what I am talking about. It started to speed up for me when I was 23- and that's where my age is frozen. If I did not know how old I was, I'd say I was 23. Some of the happiest moments of my life are right now, and it would be so nice to be able to freeze them. Instead, all I can do is enjoy it as much as possible while it lasts.

All of this may sound strange, and I grant you it is poorly explained. For artists who have put it better than I ever could, watch Thornton Wilder's play, Our Town or Alan Ball's movie, American Beauty.

Until next time, study hard and stay safe.

Nathan Marshburn