MEMORIA: Commemorating the Armistice Through Words and Music
There have been many conflicts, large and small, in the century following the end of World War I, and today, battles still rage in different parts of the world. Yet the devastation that was the Great War remains unparalleled in history, and for students in the Penn State Concert Choir, its magnitude took on a new meaning yesterday with MEMORIA, a choral cantata performed for the centenary of the Armistice.
Christopher Kiver, director of choral activities, commissioned the piece from composer Scott Eggert, professor emeritus of music at Lebanon Valley College, who set his music—scored for 11 instruments in 11 sections—to poems written during and after the war, each one carefully chosen to reflect its length and breadth, from start to finish and beyond.
“The students have been touched in a very deep way by this,” says Kiver, who believes strongly that music should be taught, felt, and performed beyond the notes and the rhythm. In preparing MEMORIA, he says, choir students had many discussions on the war—why and how it began: They watched documentaries, discussed visual art and poetry, looked at how the media reported the war, and the role played by women.
For the Concert Choir, preparing and performing MEMORIA was a moving experience.
“The process of learning this piece was very different from pieces that I have performed in the past because we did so much outside research so that we understand the context of what we’re singing about,” says sophomore Ellie Farber, a history major. “Although WWI was 100 years ago, I have been able to understand the emotions of the various people involved in the war, from soldiers to families and friends, through the poetry and the music itself, and I have been able to use this new understanding to perform the piece to the best of my ability.”
For senior Alex Cooper—who, like many young people his age, did not know much about World War I—preparing and performing MEMORIA was a particularly moving experience, not least because “many of the young people who served were my age,” he says, “and were forced to endure unspeakable atrocities.”
Around 15 million people died in World War I, and many, many more were wounded. Soldiers from across Europe—many of them below the age of 18—fought, as did soldiers from countries under colonial rule such as India and Nigeria. The conflict claimed the lives of numerous Americans, including Penn Staters like Levi Lamb (the subject of our September/October cover story), a star athlete who was killed in July 1918, on the first day of the offensive stage of the Second Battle of the Marne.
Star athlete Levi Lamb was one of the many young soldiers who never came home from the Great War.
Although the guns were silenced on the western front on November 11, 1918, the effects of the Great War continued to impact the world for many years to come.
“Many societies had been mobilized to fight this war, they had been pushed to their limits not to lose the war,” says associate professor of history Sophie de Schaepdrivjer, a World War I specialist. “Economies were in tatters, there were huge casualty rates, there were refugees and displaced people everywhere, so the war cast a really long shadow, and the dislocations it created—economic, cultural, social, psychological—would last for a long time.”
Historians will discuss the aftermath of the Great War and its effects on society today and tomorrow at Pasquerilla Spiritual Center, during a colloquium entitled “Dislocation: November 1918 and the Unfinished Business of the First World War.” It is sponsored by the Rock Ethics Institute and the Institute for the Humanities.
MEMORIA was performed in the new recital hall of the School of Music, where audience members also got to browse a lobby exhibit of pictures and posters from World War I, supplied by the Palmer Museum of Art and the Eberly Family Special Collections Library. Keith Forrest ’69 EMS lent a uniform belonging to his maternal grandfather, Roy Clarke, a captain in the U.S. Army, who was stationed in France during World War I.
Savita Iyer, senior editor
Inside our November/December Issue
Our November/December issue reunites us with Nittany Lion legend Curt Warner ’83 and previews his forthcoming book—written with his wife, Ana—which shares their story of raising a family that includes twin sons diagnosed with severe autism. Their collaborator calls it a “blisteringly honest” look at the challenges they’ve faced, but also one that’s very much a love story. The Warner Boys: Our Family’s Story of Autism and Hope is due out December 1, but available for pre-order now; you can read our feature on the Warner family starting on p. 40.
We’ll also take you into the School of Music’s brand new recital hall, with a look at how the building, and the school, have evolved to offer opportunities in both music performance and pedagogy, and how its new director hopes to expand the curriculum. The music starts on p. 48. Plus, we asked for memories of your favorite classes, and gathered some of the best tales of life-changing—and in some cases energy-sapping—courses and professors. Those stories kick off our features, starting on p. 32.
You’ll also meet a Smeal senior who uses a 3D printer to create customized shoes (p. 16); get to know the alum in the viral photo running with the bulls in Pamplona in a Saquon Barkley jersey (p. 61); and meet the newlywed Nittany Lion couple already with multiple NCAA titles: women’s soccer captain Maddie Elliston and wrestler Jason Nolf (p. 28).
It’s all in our November/December issue, arriving in mailboxes soon.
—B.J. Reyes, associate editor
Inside our Sept./Oct. Issue
If you’ve been in Rec Hall, you’ve probably seen the plaque honoring the first Penn State athletes to die in combat in World War I—Levi Lamb ‘1915 and James “Red” Bebout ‘1914. Lamb, the first to fall, was killed in the French countryside in the second Battle of the Marne; he was further honored as the namesake of the annual fund that supports athletic scholarships at Penn State. For our September/October cover story, Ken Hickman ’98, director of the Penn State All-Sports Museum, takes you into Lamb’s life and how the talented athlete arrived at Penn State and became the school’s first three-sport letterman before fulfilling a sense of duty to fight on the front lines. Lamb’s story begins on p. 30.
Also in this issue, Schreyer Honors College Dean Peggy Johnson reflects on her first year on the job, the Scholar experience on campus, how the college competes with the Ivy League, and her plans for leading the college into the future. On the heels of the Honors College’s 20th anniversary, Johnson sits down for an up-close Q&A, which begins on p. 38. And former U.S. defense secretary William Perry ’57g is on a mission to educate millennials—and anyone else who will listen—on the perils of the nuclear threat. That story starts on p. 46.
Plus, get a few tips on learning a new language, meet State College’s pinball hobbyist (don’t call him a collector), and find out how junior running back Miles Sanders is ready to become the new focal point of the Nittany Lion ground game—and filling some very big shoes.
It’s all in out Sept./Oct. issue, arriving in mailboxes soon.
—B.J. Reyes, associate editor
A Community of Film Makers
It started out in 2009 as a class in community-based film making, but close to a decade later, associate professor Kevin Boon’s Mont Alto Project has three movies under its belt. The first two, Two Days Back and Ghosting, each won awards, and the third, a crime thriller entitled A Host of Sparrows, will premiere on July 7 at the Capitol Theatre in Chambersburg, Pa. It is Boon’s biggest project to date, he says, but like his other films, what’s most important about A Host of Sparrows is the “glory of the community feel” that is at its heart, and the way in which it has brought a dedicated group of people together.
“Everyone made huge sacrifices to come back and work on the film,” says Boon, an associate professor at Penn State Mont Alto who teaches creative writing and film making, among others.
Kevin Boon’s Mont Alto project has resulted in three feature films. A Host of Sparrows premieres on July 7.
Those involved include alums Edwin Koester ’09 Com (cinematographer), Gillian Colley ’17 LAS MtAlt (producer) and crew member Allen Cramm ’15 Com. “Many people who were involved in the first film have graduated and moved on,” Boon says, “but they came back to work on A Host of Sparrows. We filmed in many counties in Pennsylvania, Maryland, where people let us use their property—they are a part of this, too.”
When Boon first offered the Mont Alto Project as a four-semester course in 2009, 15 students signed up. The 11 remaining at the end learned every aspect of film making, from pre- to post-production—and became hooked to the craft.
“My original vision was that we should make a movie the way movies are actually made,” Boon says, “and that meant keeping only the strong ideas, getting rid of the weaker ones. It meant putting people in roles where they had the greatest strength. But even though these movies are made on the kind of budget that most films spend on doughnuts, the important thing is that everyone gets a say, everyone has an input, and everyone is important.”
Among others, Two Days Back won the Best Feature award at the 2011 Bare Bones International Film Festival, which showcases movies made with budgets of less than $1 million, while Ghosting won for Best Feature at the 2015 Philadelphia Independent Film Festival, and bagged the Best Director award at the 2015 World Music & Independent Film Festival in Washington, D.C. The movie was also nominated for Best Horror Feature at the 2015 I Filmmaker International Film Festival in Marbella, Spain, and was shown at the Golden Door Film Festival in New Jersey, which is run by the Sorvino family.
A Host of Sparrows is currently in post-production and Boon will soon put it on the festival circuit. But what’s most important to him is the unique nature of the Mont Alto Project, and the effect it has had on those who participate in the film making process.
“I remember one moment during a screening of our first film when a mother and grandmother came up to me and said the project had turned their son and grandson around,” he says. “He is now working now as an associate producer in Hollywood. I love seeing people who were shy at first in class come out of their shell, people who by the end, are dancing and having a great time. I really love that part.” —Savita Iyer
Inside Our July/August Issue
With summer upon us, our July/August issue might have just the thing to cool you down: ice, snow, and lots of penguins. (More on that later.)
But before you come to that, get to know the woman behind the icy stare that greets you on our cover. Rebecca Maine is a Golden Gloves state champ and Olympic boxing hopeful. She’s also an all-conference cross country runner at Penn State DuBois, not to mention a dean’s-list student. But she’s also a recovering addict who recently celebrated five years of sobriety. Read how she overcame addiction and landed at Penn State. Her story, “A Fighter’s Chance,” starts on p. 28.
Then venture with us to Antarctica. Editor Tina Hay ’83 led an expedition of Penn State Alumni to the polar ice cap, and captured most of the images you’ll find here. Learn about chinstrap and gentoo penguins and what it’s like to be surrounded by all that ice. “An Expedition to Antarctica” begins on p. 36. And find out how two of Penn State’s longest-serving deans have adapted to the evolving word of academia, what they’ve learned about themselves, their profession, and what lessons they’ll take with them into retirement. “Deans in Conversation” starts on p. 46.
Plus, read of one Penn College professor’s goal of making the perfect croissant (p. 16), take a look at how the first We Are Weekend alumni reunion events unfolded (p. 61), and see how two alums have kept alive an amazing streak of getting in a round of golf every month for going on five years now (p. 24).
It’s all in our July/August issue, arriving in mailboxes next week.
—B.J. Reyes, associate editor
Call for Stories: Your Most Memorable Penn State Classes
Last week, my son attended New Student Orientation at University Park. He spent the night in a dorm and came home super excited about the plethora of incredible classes he can choose from over the course of his four years at Penn State.
Here at The Penn Stater magazine, we are collecting stories from alumni about their most memorable classes, and we’d love to hear from you.
Was there an elective that changed your life and set you off on a completely different career path from the one you thought you’d be on? Were you inspired—or the opposite—by a particular professor? Or, maybe you met your future spouse in one of your classes. We want to know!
Please send your stories to: heypennstater@psu.edu or mail them to: The Penn Stater magazine, Hintz Family Alumni Center, University Park, PA 16802.
Deadline: July 1. No more than 250 words, please. We’ll publish the best tales in an upcoming issue.
We’re looking forward to hearing from you!
