Education Blog

Hello everyone,

Look around at the trees. Today is the first day you can see some significant color changes in the leaves. This year should be beautiful if the weather stays dry, and I want to go up on the Blue Ridge Parkway soon. I haven’t traveled all over the world, but I’ve been to many places in the U.S. From experience, I can say that leaf changing season in the Appalachian Mountains is one of the grandest sights in nature.

Homecoming is this weekend. You can vote for the King and Queen today. There is a parade on Main Street in Sylva on Friday, and of course a home football game on Saturday. The GSA will be tailgating, so I hope you stop by.

I don’t have much time to “blog” today. A 10-15 page paper due on Friday takes precedence.

Everyone be safe.

Until next time,

Nathan Marshburn

Hello everyone,

Wells Gordon and Tiffany Lamb continue to do a great job playing jazz at Guadaloupe’s Cafe on Monday nights. The company and conversation are almost as good as the music. You guys should come out.

What are you doing for Halloween?

There is a destination a little off campus, set in the woods along the Tuckasegee River. The people who live there call it “The Blue House.” It’s a neat two story wooden home where college students reside. The atmosphere is terrific. If I were to film a movie about a Halloween party, this is the house I would choose as the setting. I am lucky in that I have been invited to attend a real costume Halloween party there.

Last night, as I stood on the porch of “The Blue House” looking out toward the river, I thought about where I was on Halloween last year. I stayed out late- past 11 pm- but I was working instead of having fun. I delivered mail and packages on my second route of the day, getting curious looks from “trick or treaters” and scowls from some irate customers. This was in Washington, DC, and delivering mail past 11 at night was not unusual for me or the station. I had to be back in at work at 7:30 the next morning, November 1. Days like those are what made me decide to come to graduate school. Life is just too short.

So, on Halloween I could be delivering mail in Washington, DC. I suppose if the draft were still in effect I might be in Iraq trying to dodge bullets and IEDs. But this Halloween weekend, I intend to be at “The Blue House,” in costume, and having a royal time. To paraphrase actor Morgan Freeman: When you are given the opportunity to have a happy and fun life, you have the moral obligation…to live it!

The party is this weekend, but on October 31 itself, there is a CD release party at the Fine and Performing Arts Center (FPAC) on campus by Matt Williams, a student here. The party will award prizes for the best costume, and it runs from 7:30-9:30. If the information told to me is correct, this is the first time a student at WCU is being allowed to use the main auditorium at the FPAC. It is important to have a good turnout so that future requests from students will be considered. So come on out. I plan to be there as well.

WCU is one of the great places on earth, isn’t it?

Until next time,

Nathan Marshburn

Hello all,

Hope this finds you well. I have been spending a good deal of time as of late taking in the breathtaking views that come with the changing of the leaves. Though I have spent the majority of my life in this region, I am still awed by the beauty of the area when fall arrives. For those of you who have just arrived at WCU this fall, I would suggest setting aside a day to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway if you get the chance. You won’t regret it. You may even see some elk! Or, Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge are very fun places, and the drive there is majestic as well. Just a few thoughts.

Our own David Earnhardt of the CSP Program has been organizing an executive speakers series. I attended last night’s lecture, in which Mr. Brad Bradshaw, a WCU graduate and former VP of Marketing for Nissan discussed his career in the business world. I found it fascinating, and would suggest attending one of the four remaining lectures between now and the end of the spring semester.

For those who didn’t make it to the intellectual discussion led by Dr. Chris Cooper and Dr. Gibbs Knotts, I found it quite interesting. Thanks to Mel for organizing this event, and should any such programs emerge in the future I would strongly urge your attendance.

Good luck with all that school throws upon you,

Jason M. Coggins

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

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