From Naima: So last weekend the campus was flooded with parents and younger siblings checking out the Bates scene. My parents couldn’t make the trip from Chicago this year, so Parents Weekend meant a few other things for me.

1) Big Tips. Working at the Ronj, Bates’ student-run coffee shop, is always dope, but the tips are generally sparse. When parents are in town, they tip well. Maybe it’s because they’re used to tipping in the real world, where one might discard their change into a tip cup. Or maybe it’s that the Ronj employees are wearing dirty clothes or no shoes and these lovely parents are trying to help us out during this economic crisis. Whatever the reason, the same tip cup that is usually home to spare dimes and nickels was overflowing with dollar bills.

2) A Cappella. Every Friday night of Parent’s Weekend, all of the a cappella groups on campus put on a massive show at Lewiston’s middle school. It’s literally steps from campus and holds over 500 people. This year, the Crosstones, the group I am in performed songs from Gnarles Barkley, Jackson 5, and Sufjan Stevens. Other groups performed songs from acts like Flight of the Concords and Ray Charles. Here’s a picture of my group on stage. *excuse the fuzziness*

3) Harvest Fest. This doesn’t always coincide with Parent’s Weekend, but it did this year. It’s basically a “hippie fest” of sorts. Think girls with hair dressed in flowers, flowing dresses, lots of food, hemp sweatshirts on sale, devil sticks, tie-dye, and a vast musical green and grassy knoll. Not so bad if the parents stayed home.

4) Free Meals. This is a perk of having your own parents come up as well, but generally, us “orphans” (as we are so affectionately called) end up tagging along to a meal. It’s also just a great opportunity to get to know some of your good friends’ parents. Sometimes it’s hard to really understand someone you’ve spent nearly every day with unless you have a good idea of where they’re coming from.

5) Sporting Events. Almost every sports team in season has a home game on Parent’s Weekend. So if you want to show off the athletic program to your parents, then you can head over to the turf, football field, soccer field, or rugby field and something is bound to be going on. This year, a bunch of my parent-less friends and I watched our field hockey team beat Conn College. It was fun, and it was a good opportunity to see a few good friends of ours play some hockey. Also, it was gorgeous out so it just nice to sit out in the Maine sun.

6) Catching Up On Work. I won’t tell whether I actually did this or not, but I definitely thought about it. Since my mid-terms are kind of spread between last week and the week after break, I thought I could dedicate some mind power to preparing for tests, essays, and take-home exams. Especially since many of my friends were busy with their parents off in Portland or just down the street, I planned on getting loads of work done. That said, I was up until the wee hours finishing papers this week. Oh well. Parents weekend without parents? Success.

Peace and then some,

Naima

Under the artistic direction of Marcy Plavin, who has taught dance at Bates for almost 30 years, an ensemble of approximately 20 student dancers will present a diverse series of pieces in a performance titled If You Dance, They Will Come. According to Plavin, “The show has a very eclectic feeling.”

The 12 works, some lighthearted and others considering more profound issues, include In Blind Sight, a silent celebration of communication with the hands, choreographed by Bates sophomore Carrie Noel of Denver, Colo., and Girl, inspired by the romantic misadventures of the friends of choreographer, senior Lyndsey Tangel of Clinton, N.Y. Also included in the show are a number of guest choreographer works, including Necklace of Breath, a circus of hip hop, modern breakdancing by the New-York based Doug Elkins, as well as piece set to Finnish music by Ram Island dancer Gwyneth Jones and a work about movement with percussion accompaniment by Kerry Updike, a member of the Bates class of 1997.

For more information, call the Schaeffer Theater Box Office at 207-786-6161.