Lifestyle

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LIFESTYLE 11/11/24 4:40pm

Elon University tunes into first-ever SUBFest with student performances

By Gaby Maldonado and Lauren McCowan

Elon University's Student Union Board hosted its first SUBFest on Nov. 8, an outdoor music festival featuring live performances, student-run businesses and giveaways. In partnership with Limitless, Limelight Records and WSOE, the event aimed to provide students with an afternoon of entertainment in Young Commons. Junior Caroline Reich, the graphic design chair of the Student Union Board, said the idea of SUBFest was inspired by her experience at a college music festival that she attended before coming to Elon.

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LIFESTYLE 10/31/24 9:13am

Original Hollywood Horror Show puts on film-quality sets

By Abigail Hobbs

Dean and Starr Jones were 7 years old when they had their first taste of special effects makeup when their parents pulled them out of school to watch the production of the 1968 movie “Killers Three.” After growing up watching horror movies and doing haunted houses for church and boy scouts, the duo went on to Hollywood and garnered a combined total of two Emmys, six Emmy nominations and 162 makeup credits for both movies and shows — most notably “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” and several of the Star Trek movies.

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LIFESTYLE 10/29/24 5:33pm

Elon’s production of ‘Legally Blonde’ brings audience members to their feet

By Ruby Burckle

As the cast of Elon University’s fall mainstage musical, “Legally Blonde,” came on stage to take their final bows, the audience rose out of their seats to give the actors a standing ovation. Morgan Brady was at the show to support her brother sophomore Kyle Brady, who plays Your Majesty and is the understudy for Kyle, the UPS man. Morgan said she was a fan of the movie and musical prior to attending this show and Elon’s production met all of her expectations.

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LIFESTYLE 10/27/24 3:27pm

Elon University joins community in hosting Pumpkin Festival

By Lauren McCowan

Tables with pumpkins, hot chocolate, and crafts filled the Elon community garden for the university’s annual Pumpkin Festival on Oct. 25. From the moment it began attendees from the university and local town were greeted with music and activities. Elon’s Sustainability office and other programs took part by setting tables up for people to learn about the importance of creating and maintaining a sustainable environment. Eco-Rep and junior Virginia Campbell represented the Office of Sustainability with a table for guests to make lanterns out of recyclable items.

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LIFESTYLE 10/25/24 1:18pm

Elon Watches: Young Frankenstein

By Rylan Ammerman

A ghoulish castle drenches a hill in shadow. Lightning illuminates the cobweb ridden staircases of its interior. Outside, horses whine as werewolves howl throughout the thick forest of the town below. If this sounds like the introduction to a horror film, that couldn’t be more incorrect. The backbone of the entire project is Gene Wilder. Best known for his role as the titular character in “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” Wilder is utterly valiant, delivering the strongest performance of his career here.

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LIFESTYLE 10/24/24 5:17pm

Computer canines take stage in ‘Legally Blonde’ at Elon University

By Katharyn MacDonald

Two robotic dogs are making their debut appearance during Elon University’s fall mainstage musical “Legally Blonde." As the production prepares for its opening Oct. 25, Elon engineering students are putting final touches on the robotic dogs, bringing the show’s beloved canine characters — Bruiser and Rufus — to life. Over the past five months, engineering students have done extensive research and work to build the dogs. Senior Zoë Scherpbier built shells of artificial fur and dog features to make the robots’ outsides as realistic as possible without falling into the uncanny valley.

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LIFESTYLE 10/23/24 12:07pm

Elon’s Chinese Club creates community

By Megan Walsh

The symbol of rising from the ashes applies to more at Elon University than the fire in 1923 and rebuilding that followed. Elon’s Chinese Club was born out of several failed attempts and a global pandemic. Now, the club hosts a variety of Chinese cultural events — positively impacting students and the Elon community. Featured events include the Mid-Autumn Festival, Lunar New Year, Dumplings Across Cultures event with the Italian club and Latinx-Hispanic Union, karaoke and game night events, calligraphy nights and study abroad information sessions about Chinese-speaking countries.

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LIFESTYLE 10/22/24 9:40am

Elon English faculty host discussion on ‘Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder’

By Julia Donaghy

In honor of the annual awareness campaign Banned Books Week, promoted by the American Library Association, English professors Dan Burns and Dinidu Karunanayake decided to co-lead a reading and discussion of Salman Rushdie’s memoir “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder.” While not technically a banned book, “Knife” describes the aftermath of the assassination attempt on the controversial author in 2022. Burns hosted the second meeting covering the memoir on Oct. 21 in Carlton 224. The third and final meeting will be held from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Nov. 18 in Carlton 224.

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LIFESTYLE 10/21/24 10:34pm

Gala Latina empowers Latinx, Hispanic communities at Elon University

By Lauren McCowan

To end Hispanic Heritage Month, Elon University’s El Centro hosted its eighth annual gala to support and empower students, faculty and staff who identify as Latinx/Hispanic. With laughter, music and cultural food, there was a community atmosphere in LaRose Student Commons throughout the night of Oct. 18. Vice President for Inclusive Excellence Randy Williams said while these events are open to all, they are crucial for the campus’ Latinx and Hispanic communities to celebrate their heritage and feel a sense of belonging.  

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LIFESTYLE 10/21/24 6:28pm

Pop-up bookstore promotes sustainable, affordable reading in Alamance County

By Sarah T. Moore

Paper Trail Books, isn’t a typical brick and mortar bookstore. Paper Trail has no physical storefront. Instead, the duo vends at different pop-up markets and events in Mebane and the wider Alamance County area, such as Filament Coffee + Tea’s “Gilmore Girls” night. Pop-ups, co-owner Callie Oldham said, help Paper Trail engage more directly with the Mebane community.  Other co-owner Stephanie Batten said she wanted the business to contribute toward sustainable reading habits. Paper Trail Books’ next event is during downtown Mebane’s holiday reveal event Nov. 2.

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LIFESTYLE 10/7/24 8:38pm

Elon University displays works by Israeli artists 1 year after Hamas attacks

By Julia Donaghy

In remembrance of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, Elon’s Jewish Life team organized an art exhibit to provide a meaningful way to mark the war’s one-year anniversary, according to Director of Jewish Life Betsy Polk. Hebrew professor and Jewish educator Boaz Avraham-Katz, along with his colleagues, wanted to offer Elon students a different perspective into life in Israel during a time of war through the showcased art. The capsule exhibition, “October Seventh,” included paintings, drawings, photographs and music. Artwork will be displayed until 8 p.m. Oct. 8 in the McBride Gathering Space in the Numen Lumen Pavilion.

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LIFESTYLE 10/6/24 5:23pm

A cappella makes note-able mark on Elon culture

By Katharyn MacDonald

The sounds of singing and beatboxing echoed through Spence Pavilion. As students of different grade levels and majors filed into the room, they smiled and jumped right into the song that had begun. Rehearsal didn’t start for another 10 minutes, but everyone already wanted to start singing. At ROCKapella, a concert featuring all Elon a cappella groups over Family Weekend, the groups could be seen jumping and clapping for each other’s performances, their signature colors blending together into a crowd of musicians cheering on other musicians.

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LIFESTYLE 10/5/24 5:41pm

Graham Cinema to show Halloween classics throughout October

By Emma Citro

“The Shining” is one of five Halloween classics Graham Cinemas will show throughout October. About a 15-minute drive from campus, Graham Cinemas will be hosting a Halloween Classics lineup from Oct. 4 to Oct. 31. Tickets are $4 each and can be purchased upon arrival at the theater. Freshman and production major Ethan Brothers said “The Shining” is his favorite horror movie. The lineup of movies was carefully curated by manager Scott Matthews, who said the cinema has been hosting its Halloween Classics series every year since 2016.

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LIFESTYLE 10/1/24 5:18pm

Elon University to perform ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead’

By Julia Donaghy

In preparation for the fall play, costume designer and junior Brooke Gustafson has been pulling pieces from Elon’s costume shop, Amazon and thrift stores. Elon’s performance of “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” draws inspiration from the play’s themes of absurdism by featuring costumes with both Elizabethan and contemporary styles. Showings will run from Oct. 4, 5, 7 and 8 at 7:30 p.m., as well as two matinees on Oct. 5 and 6 at 2 p.m. in Scott Studios. Tickets are available for $15 or free with an Elon ID.

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LIFESTYLE 9/29/24 5:59pm

Elon University challenges students’ perspectives with unconventional map

By Ruby Burckle

The world map in Lindner 106 within Elon University’s Academic Village depicts the world with accurate land proportions using the Galls-Peters projection. The Mercator projection is the most commonly used world map; however, it distorts the size of land masses farther away from the Equator, making them disproportionately large. For example, Greenland appears to be larger than Australia. In reality, Australia is over three times larger than Greenland. Also unlike traditional world maps, the one in Lindner is south side up, oriented with Antarctica reaching the ceiling and the Arctic Circle pointed toward the floor.

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LIFESTYLE 9/28/24 12:40pm

Elon music theatre students perform annual “Collage” showcase

By Sarah T. Moore

With both performances sold out, Elon music theatre students performed “Collage” — an annual showcase hosted by the performing arts department. Yeager Recital Hall — with its 125 seats — was filled with students, faculty and staff, and families visiting for the weekend. The hour-long performance was directed, arranged, choreographed and music directed entirely by students, according to one of the event’s advisers and professor of performing arts Chris Rayis. Instant Laughter, a student improv group, will have performances at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 28 in Center for the Arts’ Yeager Recital Hall.

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LIFESTYLE 9/27/24 8:31am

The Main Line: where community meets artisan’s craft

By Lilly Molina

With the slam of her car door, Amy Wilkinson decided to go for a drive after quitting her job. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she drove aimlessly. She said to herself, ‘What did I do?’ She eventually found herself in Graham — North Main Street — to be exact. Amid her tears and blurry vision, she made out a sign that said “For Rent.” That beacon became The Main Line, an artisan good’s store that Wilkinson opened in 2014 on 134 N Main St. Now, every square inch of The Main Line is decked out in artisan goods.

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LIFESTYLE 9/23/24 3:22pm

Elon University ranks 9th in Playbill’s most represented universities on Broadway

By Katharyn MacDonald

Hannah Kevitt ’23 was wrapping up her senior year at Elon University when she found out where she would be going directly after graduation: to Broadway. After flying back and forth between North Carolina and New York City for auditions and callbacks since August of the previous year, Kevitt had booked an ensemble role in “Back to the Future.” Kevitt is one of 24 alumni who performed in Broadway shows from April 28, 2023 to April 25, 2024, leading Elon University to be named one of Playbill’s Big 10 Most Represented Colleges on Broadway.

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LIFESTYLE 9/22/24 10:04pm

Fourth annual Esperanza, Hispanic Heritage Month festival celebrates cultural heritage

By Audrey Geib

Latin music, laughter and local community members filled the streets of downtown Graham on Sept. 22 during Esperanza, the fourth annual Hispanic Heritage Month festival. The Esperanza festival included live music, cultural performances and vendors — including food, crafts, local businesses and community resources. At the end of the rows of vendors and tables was a stage, where a DJ played Latin music, and chairs for event goers to watch the various cultural performances and dance routines. To the right of the stage, a man painted a vibrant photo of two flamenco dancers on a canvas.

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LIFESTYLE 9/22/24 5:37pm

Shirley Tempos take center stage for first ‘Tiny Shelf Concert’

By Gaby Maldonado

Elon University’s Belk Library became a small concert venue Sept. 20 as it hosted its first-ever “Tiny Shelf Concert,” inspired by NPR’s famous Tiny Desk Concert series. The event featured a performance by the Shirley Tempos, an all-female a cappella group, who performed among the library's shelves — making it a unique place for live music. Shirley Tempos is set to perform again at Rockapella on Sept. 28 during Elon’s Family Weekend and at Acapocalypse, a benefit concert in Whitley Auditorium on Oct. 5 with proceeds going to Elon Academy.

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