The Valpo Core

The St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Student Center is sponsoring a four-night performance of the Gospel of Luke by Fr. James DiLuzio. “Luke Live!” is a dramatic presentation of the Gospel of Luke, attempting to recreate the experience of the early Church’s oral proclamation of the Good News.  Enjoy a “You Are There” experience of Luke’s Gospel as it is shared in stories, commentary, prayer, preaching, and song.  Through his powerful recitation, Fr. James DiLuzio brings alive all of the dramatic power and soaring promise of the original Gospel preaching and reveals the hidden urgency in Luke’s message of salvation.

The four performances will begin on Monday, December 1st, and run through Thursday, December 4th.   Different chapters are covered each night, and students, faculty, and staff are encouraged to come for any nights that fit their schedules.  Each night begins at St. Teresa’s at 7 pm and lasts until 8:30 pm.  There is no cost to attend.

St. Teresa’s is located at 1511 LaPorte Ave., across the street from Scheele and Lankenau Halls.

Colombian human rights worker Abilio Peña will speak on campus Thursday, 11/20, at 4 pm in the Christopher Center Community Room.

Abilio Peña is an important human rights defender and leader of the ecumenical Comision Interreclesial de Justicia y Paz (Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission). The Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission works in the Chocó department of Colombia to denounce the illegal acquisition of traditionally collective Afro-Colombian land by paramilitary groups.  He has extensive knowledge of the situation in  Colombia, potential effects of the pending US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement in his region, the increase in violence, and threats towards human rights workers and communities who speak out against impunity. Mr. Peña, a lay theologian, is a skilled public speaker who clearly and proficiently draws audiences into the reality of Colombia through his personal stories and experiences.  His visit is coming only months after he received death threats from the paramilitary group Aguilas Negras.

This event is cosponsored by SALT (Chapel of the Resurrection), the Spanish Department and Amnesty International.

When: Wednesday, November 19

Where: Brandt Hall Quiet Lounge

What Time: 8 pm to about 9:15 pm

What it is : The Agape Meal is a re-creation of how the early Church might have had fellowship and worship together. How did they pray? What did they eat? What were some of the songs they sang? What did they talk about? If you have never experienced this before, come and enjoy some really good, homemade food in a casual setting, while learning something new! It is free, and people of all backrounds and religions are welcome. We invite you to join in this way of sharing love, peace, and unity from ages past.

The Conversations Project will be hosting an event on the Valparaiso University Crusader mascot:

What’s in a Name? The VU Crusader Mascot

The event will take place on Monday, November 17th, from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Christopher Center Community Room.  Panelists will start a conversation exploring the appropriateness of the Crusader mascot given current controversies regarding the cultural legacy of the Crusades as well as the importance of maintaining VU’s traditions.  Audience members are encouraged to share their own views regarding how we should think of the right to vote.

The panel will include: Alan Holderread, a VU senior majoring in Civil Engineering; Professor Tim Tomasik, Assistant Professor of French in VU’s Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures; and Johnna Venuto, a VU sophomore majority in International Business.  Mark LaBarbera, VU’s Director of Athletics will serve as moderator.

Poster: VU Crusader Mascot Panel

Press Release: VU Crusader Mascot Press Release

A panel discussion open to the Valparaiso and VU campus community.

Thursday, November 13th, 8-9 pm, in Neils Science Center 224.

Come learn about homelessness in our area from a community leader working with the homeless in Porter County, and learn about what you personally can do to help. Also, the systemic causes of homelessness will be discussed from an economic perspective.

The Panel will feature Tom Isakson (Current Director of Men’s New Creation Center, former Director of Spring Valley Shelter) and Virginia Shingleton (VU Department of Economics Associate Professor and Chair).

A presentation by Charles Marcus

November 13, 2008, 7 pm, Urschel Hall, Room 202

Charles Marcus is a motivational speaker and best-selling author who works with different groups including student organizations and business corporations. His presentation “Success is Not a Spectator Sport” focuses on taking it upon oneself to be successful, both in life and business, by stepping out of our comfort zones to accomplish our goals.

Sponsors: College of Business Administration, Delta Sigma Pi, SIFE, Accounting Society, Delta Epsilon Chi

Marilyn Laszlo Lecture and Reception

Date:  Friday, Nov. 14, 2008
Christopher Center, Room 205
Lecture Time: 5:00 p.m.

Reception to Follow

Marilyn Laszlo was born in Valparaiso, Indiana, as the eldest of four daughters of Martin and Lois Laszlo. Marilyn grew up on a small farm. As a young girl, while plowing the fields of her parent’s farm, she made a commitment to be a missionary. She graduated from Bryan College, Tennessee, which also recently awarded her a Doctorate of Letters (May 2003). Marilyn studied linguistics at the University of Oklahoma and then kept her commitment to God by serving with Wycliffe Bible Translators.

She traveled to Papua New Guinea, with a translation partner, to Hauna Village, home of the Sepik Iwam people. Marilyn, her sister Shirley, and their language helpers took an unwritten language and created an alphabet and reading books, and taught the people to read and write. Marilyn and Shirley did medical work, and trained local people to operate a school, store, and clinic. Now, a boat staffed by Sepik Iwam Christians shares the Gospel and offers medical work along the river. Marilyn’s video “Return to Hauna” won the Angel Award in 1999.

Flyer: Laszlo Flyer

The VU Pre-Medical, Nursing, and Engineering Clubs are hosting the Central American Dinner on Tuesday, Nov. 11 from 5:30 P.M. to 7:30 P.M. This event is a fundraiser and informational session about the annual mission trip to Central America during Spring Break. Come and celebrate the experiences Valparaiso students have shared in Central America!

Where:  Huegli Hall, Lumina Room

Tickets:  $7 for students, $10 for faculty

Tickets are available at the Union front desk and at Jester’s from 5-7 pm Nov. 5-10, and at the door prior to dinner.

Flyer: Central American Dinner Flyer

Tuesday, Nov 11th
7:00 pm
Brauer Museum

Book signing to follow.  Refreshments served.  Free and open to the public.

Literary citizens,

Get a taste, a preview, a trailer of the poetry to come, right here, right now:

IT’S THE FIRST THING

They teach you in lifeguard courses:
a person will take you down, though you
are trying to help, a person will hurt you,
he will drown you, despite himself.
This is what panic will do, even to the most
sane, its sharp strings under every last
fingernail and pulled taut by circumstance,
say, a sandbar you didn’t know would drop
out or a wave from nowhere, panic will yank
its cords, will make you dance its terrible jig
and when someone, even a strapping someone,
comes to help, panic begins its buoyant song,
gumming your reason, and even if you
have been the gentlest soul, swerving to miss
raccoons on the road and bending
to kiss the paraplegic women in a home,
you will scratch and latch and grasp
that someone with a fervor you could almost taste,
tangy and succinct, like a fine mustard, firm
with the gut of its tiny seed, golden as the sun’s gut,
ferment of a season you anticipate, one
you have yet to know, one you must
and have yet to know.

That’s a taste for you of the poetic stylings of Susanna Childress, a first year Lilly Fellow at Valparaiso University and our next Wordfest reader. She was awarded the 2005 Brittingham Prize in Poetry for her book, Jagged with Love, chosen by former U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins.

Mark your calendars for next week. You won’t want to miss it.

Get your literature live.

These events are sponsored by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, as part of a campus mission week on racial reconciliation:

NOVEMBER 4TH (TUESDAY), NEILS 136, 7:00PM: Brother Warfield from Chicago will be speaking on God and racial wounds. He has a powerful testimony of how racial hurts can hinder someone from engaging with people from other ethnic backgrounds, and how essential it is for us to seek healing in these areas so that we may enjoy this gift of racial diversity in our world. Afterwards will be Q & A time for people to discuss what’s on their minds.

NOVEMBER 6TH (THURSDAY), BRANDT LOUNGE, 6:00PM: “Building Bridges: Dinner and Dialogue with International Students”: The purpose of this event is to invite International students & Non-International students to come together and have dinner and open the door for discussion of people’s cultures and upbringing. We hope people will find common ground and/or learn and appreciate those things that are different from them. There will be printed out questions given to small groups to help people engage in conversation.

NOVEMBER 7TH (FRIDAY) UNION SQUIRE ROOM, 7:00PM: This will be InterVarsity’s last event of the week on Racial Reconciliation. Reverend Gregory Jones will be speaking this evening relaying the importance of the week’s events, and connecting them all together. He will address questions such as: What is the Gospel? What does Racial Reconciliation have to do with the gospel? And what does it mean to follow Jesus? Afterwards there will be time for participants to talk with a member of the InterVarsity leadership team or the speaker about the event and any questions they may have.