Stories this week at WFU

WAKE FOREST, WSSU BUILD BRIDGES AND ‘PERFORM THE DREAM’
In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, students and faculty from Wake Forest and Winston-Salem State will present “Performing the Dream” at Wake Forest’s Wait Chapel Jan. 19 at 7 p.m. The free performance will feature a variety of group musical performances and readings. During the program, winners from the “MLK Essay/Art/Poetry Contest” for Forsyth County high school students will be recognized. The News Service will be closed on Jan. 19. Media interested in covering the performance should make arrangements prior to Monday, or ask to speak with Barbee Oakes, director of multicultural affairs, at the event.
Contact: Pam Barrett, barretpm@wfu.edu or 336-758-5237.

THE REMARKABLE PART OF MLK’S ‘I HAVE A DREAM’ SPEECH
What is remarkable about Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech is not the advance text, but the fact that King departed from the Kennedy administration-approved text and continued extemporaneously, says a Wake Forest associate professor of communication. “If you listen to the speech carefully, you hear him pause in mid-sentence and redirect the speech,” says Margaret Zulick, an expert in public discourse and rhetoric. “At that point, the speech is a sequence of riffs, some of which he had used very similarly elsewhere. But, these are precisely the parts of the speech everyone remembers now.” Zulick is available for interviews about the famous speech in connection with King’s birthday.
Contact: Sarah Mansell, manselss@wfu.edu or 336-758-4393.

NEWS SERVICE CLOSED JAN. 19, 22
The News Service, along with most administrative offices on campus, will be closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day Jan. 19. The News Service will also be closed Jan. 22 for a staff meeting. For immediate media concerns on either day, call 336-758-5237 and follow directions in the voice message.

WFU CELEBRATES CENTURIES-OLD TRADITION OF CHINESE NEW YEAR
Wake Forest will mark the end of the year of the sheep and the beginning of the year of the monkey at its annual Chinese New Year Festival Jan. 24 from 11:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. in Reynolds Gym, Room 201. The festival, which boasts more than 500 attendees, features participants dressed in historical Chinese costumes, martial arts demonstrations, calligraphy and paper folding. Performances of the traditional lion dance, shuttlecock kicking and a children’s dance will be held at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. The festival is free and open to the public. Media are invited to a dress rehearsal for the lion dancers and children performers Jan. 23 at 5:30 p.m. in Reynolds Gym.
Contact: Pam Barrett, barretpm@wfu.edu or 336-758-5237; day of event: Cristina Yu, 336-758-5675.

‘ANGELS IN AMERICA’ AUTHOR TO GIVE JAN. 27 LECTURE
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner will give a free, public lecture at 7 p.m. Jan. 27 in Wait Chapel. The event will be followed by a book signing at the College Book Store. Kushner, an openly gay, Jewish socialist, is the author of several critically acclaimed plays, including “A Bright Room Called Day,” “Slavs,” “Homebody/Kabul,” and the seven-hour, two-part epic “Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes.” Although the lecture is free and open to the public, Kushner will not do any interviews during his visit. The lecture cannot be recorded.
Contact: Jacob McConnico, mcconnjn@wfu.edu or 336-758-5237.

EXPERT AVAILABLE FOR ANALYSIS OF ‘STATE OF THE UNION’
What will President Bush focus on during his fourth State of the Union address Jan. 20? Allan Louden, an associate professor of communication, is available for comment and analysis of Bush’s speech. Louden has analyzed presidential speeches and debates for several years and was Senator Elizabeth Dole’s debate coach during the 2002 North Carolina senate race. He continues to serve as a consultant to various political figures throughout the country.
Contact: Sarah Mansell, manselss@wfu.edu or 336-758-4393.

THE HISTORY OF WAKE FOREST, ON A CD
Wake Forest Professor of History Ed Hendricks recently completed a two-year effort to produce an electronic version of the “History of Wake Forest College,” a four-book series that covers the university’s history from 1834 to 1967. Hendricks, who has taught a course on the history of Wake Forest since the 1970s, says he made the CD to ensure access to Wake Forest’s history, especially since the books are no longer readily available. The CD is now available at the College Bookstore.
Contact: News Service, 336-758-5237.

BABCOCK ENTREPRENEURSHIP TEAM NAMED SEMIFINALIST
A team from Wake Forest’s Babcock Graduate School of Management has been selected as one of eight semifinalists for the TechKnowledge Point Corp.’s 2004 Spirit of Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development collegiate business plan competition. The Wake Forest team, “Fuel Services Corp.,” is composed of Timothy Sheehan and Bill Watson. They will present their business plan Feb. 20-21 in Santa Barbara, Calif.
Contact: Dusty Donaldson, dusty.donaldson@mba.wfu.edu or 336-758-4454.