Stanford Report, May 12, 2004

"THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT VENEZUELAN rhythms. You cannot help it, you have to move," pointed out LOURDES MENARES, president of the Venezuelan Association at Stanford, at a "Joyful Venezuelan Music" celebration last Friday night. And sure enough, the grove behind the Bechtel International Center was alive with movement, as students -- along with their friends, spouses, babies and guests -- danced and swayed to traditional live music performed by JACKELINE RAGO and the Venezuelan Music Project. Colmenares, a doctoral student in the Department of Geophysics, stayed busy unpacking boxes of imported Venezuelan chocolates and cookies, all part an effort to share the sounds and tastes of her home with the campus, she said. The event was organized as part of International Week, which culminated Saturday afternoon with a festival featuring music, dance, food and cultural displays presented by campus student groups.

WHEN THE DRUMS BEGAN TO SOUND ON Friday night for the first intertribal dance at the 33rd annual Stanford Powwow, ILA POTTER, 4, and IZAYA LEE, 6, moving across the grass in their regalia like small, bright birds, were among the first dancers in the arena. The pair from Oakland has been taking Native dance classes and the Stanford Powwow, the largest on the West Coast, also was the biggest powwow Ila had ever attended, said her mother, ERICA HOAGLAND. She thought that the size of the crowd might make Ila shy, but "once she hears the drums, she dances," Hoagland said. Ila danced the Fancy Shawl dance, a modern powwow dance she performed while exuberantly twirling an appliquéd pink shawl. Izaya wore a breastplate and yards of colored yarn fringe, signifying bundles of sweet grass, to perform the grass dance, one of the oldest surviving American Indian dances. Some traditions say it is the Grass Dancers' responsibility to be the first ones out in the arena to pack down the grass for the dancers who follow. The powwow continued through Sunday afternoon.

RICHARD W. LYMAN, UNIVERSITY president emeritus, will speak at the annual meeting of the Stanford Historical Society at 4:15 p.m. today in Bishop Auditorium at the Graduate School of Business. Lyman will appear in conversation with NANCY PACKER, former director of the Program in Creative Writing. Lyman was president from 1970 to 1980. More information is available online at http://histsoc.stanford.edu or from the Historical Society at 725-3332.

A SPECIAL SERVICE, "HONORING LIVES, Remembering Losses: An Interfaith Grief Memorial," will be held Wednesday, May 19, from 4 to 5 p.m. in the Round Room behind Memorial Church. The service, which is open to faculty, staff and students, is intended to honor all losses, whether recent or in the past. Names to be included in a memorial program must be sent to HEIDI WILLIAMS at the Office for Religious Life today. To send names, or for more information, e-mail Williams at heidiw@stanford.edu.

Write to Barbara Palmer at barbara.palmer@stanford.edu or mail code 2245 or call her at 724--6184.

Barbara Palmer