Meredith Tradition Turns into World Record Attempt
By Melyssa Allen and Kristen Scott, '05



On April 1, Meredith College celebrated its famous "memory lines assignment" and attempted to set a world record at the same time.

The world record attempted for the famous Guinness Book was for the most people reading aloud in the same location. The text used was from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, in honor of Meredith's longstanding memory lines assignment of reciting 18-20 lines of Chaucer's General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales in Middle English.

An estimated 300 Meredith College students, alumnae, faculty/staff and others came to McIver Amphitheater for the event. If there is a world record for long distance participation in a world record attempt, that might go to alumna Suzanne Pomerantz, '72, who called in from Jerusalem in order to read along.

This memory lines tradition, which is part of the English 201 - Major British Writers class, is one that has been in place for decades.

"As a product of Meredith, and, more specifically, the Meredith English department, the reading was a fun way to reconnect with Meredith and with current students," said participant Leslie Maxwell, '01.

The world record attempt adds an interesting new aspect to the tradition, said Christy Sadler, '03.

"The math and science departments got a new building, but the English department gets a world record," said Sadler, who was an English major and now works at Oxford University Press.

John Kincheloe, media specialist at Meredith, sparked the interest for this idea around a year ago. The convocation committee at Meredith chose to sponsor the attempt as a part of the yearlong campus focus on "Medieval Worlds."

"The 'Chaucer Memory Lines Assignment' has caused groans for generations of Meredith students," said Kincheloe. "With this event we can all have some grins with it. Meredith students get a chance to claim bragging rights for what they know."

The world record has not yet been verified. Guinness takes record setting very seriously and therefore much preparation went into making this bid. In order to set the world record, participants were required to recite Chaucer for five minutes. An official steward was assigned to every group of 10-15 people, making sure this requirement was fulfilled, and attendees had to sign a participation agreement. Also, video footage and endorsements by two respected members of the community are required along with the paperwork to receive the world record.

"To be able to set a world record is definitely a once in a lifetime experience that I didn't expect to have when I came to college," said student Crystal Robinson.

Students Spent Spring Break in the Tropics - Serving Others
By Erin Hege '04

While many students spent spring break on vacation at the beach, on a cruise or skiing in Colorado, some Meredith students, staff and alumnae dedicated their week to serving others.

The Office of Campus Ministries and Volunteer Services sponsored two spring break trips. Campus Minister Sam Carothers traveled with a group to St. Petersburg, Fla. to build with Habitat for Humanity. Volunteer Services Director Lynne Wheatley accompanied a group of students on a literacy-focused project to Belize.

Twelve students and three faculty and staff members traveled with 600 books to create the first library at St. Hilda's School in Belize.

Wheatley said, "After painting the very small room used for book storage we processed and shelved the books we had brought with an easy system so the children could easily access the books." The team also donated school supplies and sports equipment.

Students were able to interact with the school children on a one-on-one basis by tutoring, administering literacy tests, teaching them to read and by organizing recreational activities.

Two of the bigger projects the Meredith team took on at St. Hilda's was painting a mural on the library walls and laying the foundation for the school's cantina.

"We painted a mural on the library walls that is an illustration out of a children's book and we hung curtains making the library much more 'kid friendly'," Wheatley said.

Upon the completion of the cantina by other volunteer groups the school children will have a larger and better-equipped lunchtime facility.

Carothers and his group also did some heavy lifting over spring break. He, along with four students, two alumnae and three staff members, helped build three houses in St. Petersburg, Fla.

This was the 16th year Meredith has sent a group to Habitat over spring break and five of the participants went back for their second or third time.

Carothers said, "The Habitat program is a great program where we can have a fun and safe experience while helping a family find a safe and modern home of their very own."

The team jumped right in and got their hands dirty by installing sheet rock, painting, building a storage shed, installing hurricane clips and working the concrete slab. The houses the team worked on are three bedroom, two bathroom houses.

Faculty Distinguished Lecture Examines "The Many Faces of Jesus"
By Melyssa Allen

On Monday, March 22, Dr. Allen Page followed in the footsteps of more than 40 Meredith College faculty members by delivering the Faculty Distinguished Lecture.

Through the lecture titled "The Many Faces of Jesus," Page said he aimed to summarize "what has happened in Jesus research" during his academic career. Page has been on the Meredith faculty since 1973.

Page also said that he had learned a lot in dialogue with his students, and told his students in the audience "much of what you hear tonight will be familiar, at least I hope so."

Page opened with a slide presentation of numerous images of Jesus, taken from paintings, movies and other artistic renderings. The presentation was accompanied by Johnny Cash's rendition of Depeche Mode's Personal Jesus and other music. Page then discussed the results of varied research into the historical Jesus.

Quoting Albert Schweitzer's The Quest of the Historical Jesus, Page said, "Each scholar went to the well of scholarship and saw his own reflection." Page noted that Rudolf Bultmann is one of the most influential scholars who did not think it possible to write a biography of Jesus thus he quickly bracketed the question of history to focus on the meaning of the Jesus story.

The focus of Page's scholarly work through his many years of teaching has been New Testament studies, with special emphasis on the literary development and cultural context of the Gospels in first century Palestine. His scholarly interests have been shared in a number of college courses, most recently a new course called "Jesus at the Movies."

Through this course, Page asks students to examine "how Hollywood has dealt with Jesus."

"From silent films to The Passion of the Christ, what we see is everyone portrays Jesus as a reflection of the director," Page said. "It is always the gospel according to someone - Matthew, Mark, Schweitzer, DeMille or Gibson."

"All put a different face on Jesus, in an attempt to grasp the illusive essence of who Jesus was," Page said. "All theological language is symbolic, it points beyond itself to a greater reality."

Page called the 1980s a "renaissance of Jesus research." He discussed one modern Jesus scholar, Marcus Borg, who wrote Jesus: A New Vision.

"Borg makes a clear distinction between the Jesus of history, what Borg calls pre-Easter Jesus, and the Christ of faith, or post-Easter Jesus," Page said, adding that these two "never become concentric circles."

Page also called Jesus a "teacher by way of transformation" who through "parables and 'one liners' invited people to see things they might otherwise not see."

Page holds an A.A. degree from Mars Hill College, a B.A. degree from Wake Forest University, an M.Div. degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York and a Ph.D. degree from Duke University. He has taught courses in the Department of Religion and Philosophy ranging from New Testament, to Church History, to American Christianity and World Religions.

The first Faculty Distinguished Lecture was presented by Dr. Norma Rose, in December 1964. The lecture series was designed to "represent a significant achievement of research by a faculty member." (Faculty Distinguished Lectures 1964-1981)

Former Associate Campus Minister to Be Baccalaureate Speaker
By Melyssa Allen

Reverend Anna Kate Ellerman will deliver the baccalaureate address at Meredith College on Saturday, May 8 at 11 a.m. The baccalaureate service will be held in the campus courtyard.

Ellerman serves as minister to students at the First Baptist Church of Winchester, Va. She served as associate campus minister at Meredith College from 1999-2001. Ellerman holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of William and Mary, and a Master's of Divinity degree from the Divinity School of Duke University.

A native of Radford, Va., Ellerman has served in ministerial roles at Radford Community Hospital, Passport Youth Camp, University Baptist Church in Chapel Hill, N.C., and as a chaplain resident at Duke University Medical Center, where she received the P. Wesley Aitken Pastoral Care Award in May 2002.

The baccalaureate service is a traditional part of Meredith College's commencement weekend. The weekend also includes a Class Day celebration, to be held May 8 at 4 p.m., and commencement exercises on Sunday, May 9 at 10 a.m. North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall will deliver the commencement address.

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