From: WGIL (Galesburg, IL)
The president of Knox College says there’s a pretty big challenge in the way for hers and other institutions of higher learning: getting students to come here. Teresa Amott just finished her first year on the job, and says what she calls the market of 18-year old college students is shrinking, particularly in the Midwest region… “That means we need to look outside the Midwest for more students. So I would say the big directions for us are to ask what do we need to do to be competitive in that competitive landscape and what do we need to do to be affordable to families.”… Read more…
From: The Hindu (Bangalore, India)
In some ways, Vir Das thinks it’s unlucky that his first-ever comedy show, Brown Men Can’t Hump, was a roaring success. The show was created as a thesis performance for his theatre course in Knox College, Illinois. The now-established comedian did it because he was sick of the “serious” theatre: he’d had an overdose of Bertolt Brecht, Arthur Miller and Anton Chekov. Vir booked a theatre, and wrote a 90-minute programme… The audience – comprised of 800 friends of his, he says – loved the show, and Vir left stage feeling like “hot stuff”. Six months later, he was in Chicago working as a dishwasher, getting booed off successive amateur stand-up comedy nights…
In the nine years since Vir returned to India, he’s done television shows and several live shows, and has begun stepping into films (such as Delhi Belly). There are eight other films on the way, he said. He’s also seen audiences grow used to his style of comedy. While earlier his shock value was too high, he says, “now, half the audience is coming in expecting edgy material; the other half is used to it.” Read more…
From: The Register Mail (Galesburg, IL)
Knox College graduate BJ Hollars has first-hand experience of what it’s like to be in Barack Obama’s shoes. Like the current president, BJ had to follow a speech by former President Bill Clinton. Hollars was the student speaker when Clinton delivered the 2007 Knox College commencement address. Following Clinton’s keynote address at Wednesday night’s Democratic National Convention, [Register-Mail blogger Jay Redfern] asked BJ what he remembered about June 2, 2007.
[Hollars told the Register-Mail]:] “On graduation day, I remember staying so close to my 10-minute, carefully written speech, while President Clinton seemed to go up there and extemporize for half an hour without missing a beat,” said BJ. “Love him or hate him, it was a lesson in public speaking.” Now an assistant professor of creative writing at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, BJ received degrees in English literature and educational studies and the Outstanding Senior Award for 2007… Read more…
From: The Register Mail (Galesburg, IL)
A senior member of the Knox College football team has been recognized by the Midwest Conference for a record-setting performance against Eureka College. Mike Schroeder, a running back and kick/punt returner, was named on the MWC Special Teams Performer of the Week. Schroeder piled up 225 kick return yards, including a 79-yard return for a touchdown late in the first half in the inaugural Abraham Lincoln Bowl… Read more…
From: New York Times (New York, NY)
Laura Mills, an activist with the women’s anti-war group Code Pink, interrupted Representative Paul D. Ryan’s speech on Wednesday at the Republican National Convention…
A recent graduate from Knox College in Illinois, Ms. Mills said she was more interested in CodePink’s less ostentatious effort to organize an antidrone movement. But she hopes her action will give another girl “the courage to stand up for herself – maybe not in the middle of a possible vice president’s speech – but maybe in her own personal life.”… Read more…
