Actor/dental hygiene model Jerry O’Connell crosses my mind a lot. I think of him twice as much as any other young actor, usually because I mistake his name for Chris O’Donnell’s in conversations. Take “Tomcats,” starring Joe of “Joe’s Apartment.” It’s about a few plucky fellas who are scared of commitment and their comedic falls into it.
Love, jealousy and deceit - not to mention a woman dressed as an adolescent boy who then dresses as a woman - will come to the stage of the Auditorium’s Fairchild Theatre tonight in Mozart’s operatic comedy, “The Marriage of Figaro.” The opera will be performed in English by MSU students who have been rehearsing since January. Set in Seville, Spain, in the late 18th century, the opera revolves around the relationships between servants Susanna and Figaro, and the Count and Countess Almaviva, who they serve. “Susanna is quick and smart, and her goal in this opera is to get married to Figaro,” said music performance graduate student Lara Troyer, who plays Susanna.
After spending its first month of the season traveling on buses and planes to other teams’ diamonds, the MSU baseball team will finally get a chance to play on their home field today.
As the MSU basketball team prepares to play Arizona on Saturday in its third consecutive NCAA Final Four appearance, students should congratulate the team and themselves for a great season. With the memories of the March 27-28, 1999, riot after MSU’s loss to Duke still haunting the university, students should think about how circumstances have improved in the two years since. In the March 27-28, 1999, riot, 132 people were arrested, although only 71 were MSU students.
LOS ANGELES - Think you can survive “Big Brother 2?” CBS is looking for contestants to take part this summer in the second season of its reality television show, in which a group of strangers are confined to a house, surrounded by cameras and microphones. But this season of “Big Brother” will be different for a couple of reasons, the network said Tuesday. Instead of viewers deciding who leaves each week, the housemates will vote each other out, similar to the elimination process on CBS’ reality TV juggernaut, “Survivor.” When three players are left, the audience will choose which one walks out with the grand prize. The show also has a new producer.
The MSU men’s basketball and hockey teams are not the only groups on campus earning high honors these days. The MSU Peace Corps ranks in the top 25 among colleges and universities nationwide who have the highest number of volunteers currently serving overseas.
I would like to thank Brian Emerson Jones for recognizing the lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgendered community in his column “Pride Week celebrations are important to all” (SN 3/28). Pride Week is an important time not only to celebrate diverse sexual orientations and gender identities, but to push the acceptance wall back a little bit, and if at all possible, abolish some ignorance here and there. I, too, have endured harassing comments written on my residence hall door and various verbal harassment during the years simply because of the fact that I happen to be gay.
Threats to MSU’s state funding increases may have been previewed Wednesday, when the state House narrowly voted down an amendment that would have redistributed much of the university’s $22.5 million increase to other universities.The House passed the Higher Education Appropriation’s bill without changing the 7 percent increase slated for the university.
Thousands of Spartan fans came to say farewell to the men’s basketball team Wednesday - many carrying signs saying the squad is “Ready to repeat.” The team, prior to departing for the Final Four in Minneapolis, Minn., where it will take on Arizona on Saturday, emerged from the tunnel in the Breslin Student Events Center wearing matching green warm-ups. And head coach Tom Izzo and his players promised the crowd they’d do their best to bring home a win against the Wildcats.
Judy Shepard, the mother of a gay University of Wyoming student who was beaten to death more than two years ago, will visit campus Monday to discuss the effects of hate on America. Matthew Shepard died in October 1998 after being severely beaten and left to die tied to a fence near Laramie, Wyo.
Five recruits have signed letters of intent to join the Spartan field hockey team next fall.Jaqueline Ahinga, Christina Kirkaldy, Kelly Collier, Katie Minns and Michelle Carstens will start their collegiate careers suiting up for the Spartans.Ahinga and Collier will bolster the team’s backfield and have a chance to contribute defensively.Head coach Michele Madison said she expects the freshman defenders to have an immediate impact.“We look for the freshman to help us defensively from the start,” she said.“Kelly has a great attitude and desire to play for the Spartans.
Coach Izzo deserves congratulations for what is already another great season, but he deserves even more respect for how he and his team reached this point.
Longevity is the only requirement for becoming a dynasty. Three straight Final Four appearances and four consecutive Big Ten Championships can’t begin to tell the tale of today’s MSU hoop dream. Former MSU leaders like Mateen Cleaves and Morris Peterson are entrenched as legends, leaving head coach Tom Izzo - the prophet - to mastermind future championship teams.
Last weekend, I went back home to Kalamazoo. I was driving around with my friends trying to find a parking spot at Warehouse Records when all of a sudden, a black car with tinted windows pulled up alongside me.
“The Diary of Anne Frank” will explore the lives of seven people trapped in a small attic for two years, fighting stir-crazy tensions and discovery, while hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam during World War II and the Holocaust. MSU students have been rehearsing since February for the show, which debuts tonight in the Wharton Center’s Pasant Theatre. Megan Milota, a theater freshman, plays Anne. “The most important thing about Anne is her intelligence,” Milota said of Anne’s portrayal.
Even though the former Northern Michigan backcourt teammates have helped bring four conference titles and a national championship to East Lansing, both longtime friends will never forget the famous bus ride.
You wouldn’t think it.After all the honors and milestones Charlie Bell has helped MSU accomplish in his past four seasons, what’s excited the senior guard most lately has had nothing to do with banners or trophies.
MSU’s Jewish Studies Program will remember the deaths of more than 6 million Jews by holding its annual Commemoration of the Holocaust.The international memorial has been supported by MSU for the past eight years, Director of Jewish Studies, Steve Weiland said.The commemoration includes lectures, a workshop for teachers and a newly adapted version of “The Diary of Anne Frank” by the MSU Theatre Department.“It will help students learn about this particular time in history and the many dimensions of these events,” Weiland said.Today David Roskies will give the 2001 David and Sarah Rabin Memorial Lecture at the Union.
Speaking as an orange- and blue-blooded Fighting Illini fan, I want to wish the Spartans good luck against Arizona this weekend in the Final Four.
John Johnson, president of Shaw Hall Black caucus, said the Tomi-Terre Hollingshed Memorial Scholarship gives remembrance to a woman who touched many lives.“It really keeps Tomi’s spirit alive and it gives us time to reflect on her life and everything for Shaw Black Caucus,” the advertising junior said.The $1,000 scholarship, named for an MSU student who was murdered in Detroit in 1997, will be presented for the third year at 4 p.m.