The American higher education system used to be for the elite upper class and students got into universities because their family members were alumni. That’s changed over the years, but Louis Menand, Ph.D., stated, in his lecture for the Distinguished Lecture Series here at Boise State, the education system still has its problems. Menand is a scholar of American studies and is said to be a front-runner in his field. Winning a Pulitzer Prize in 2002, as well as a Francis Parkman Prize for his book The Metaphysical Club (2001), he was carefully chosen to be a speaker for the Distinguished Lecture Series. He currently writes for The New Yorker and also takes part in writing for The New York Review of Books.  But, in coming to Boise State he focused on the topic of higher education and its history, along with its good and bad implications. Menand began by telling the audience how six percent of the American population is students, but pointed out the higher education system isn’t... ...

A swan floated across the open waters, it’s snowy feathers reflecting on the crystal stillness. It lifted its wings and stretched toward the sky with a glimmer of something gold atop its head catching the last hint of light as the sun went down. In the next instant, a beautiful young girl stood in its place, and beneath the light from the stars, the cursed princess was allowed to take her true form. Swan Lake is one of the most famous ballets of all time. With its tragic storyline and its musical score composed by Tchaikovsky, the story of the white swan is told by many according to Peter Anastos, Artistic Director of the upcoming performance of Swan Lake by Ballet Idaho. But, the version they’ll be portraying is also unique in its own way. “If someone wants to really engage Swan Lake you have to study the model (old Russian Imperial model), and see what it was like originally,” Anastos said. “Then what you do is you go in... ...

No one has seen the Macaws, not since the dam went up.  The stunning birds disappeared in the forests of Belize.  Their beautiful feathered figures have yet to be seen again. Bruce Barcott, the author of “The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw,” painted the story of the Macaws for his audience on March 5.  In one hour he covered six years of Sharon Matola’s plight to save the birds, and it all started with a phone call. “Writing a book where she’s the main character, it’s a challenge to try to capture her as a person in all her complexity, not just sort of a flat cardboard character who represents maybe one point of view on a certain issue,” Barcott said. “I really wanted this book to try to capture all of her humanity.  That was one of the challenges for me, was to capture those days when she runs up into the frustrations of trying to fight an environmental battle like this.” With one phone call from a... ...

There are over 7,000 languages in the world and according to linguists Gregory Anderson Ph.D. and David Harrison Ph.D., about one spoken language dies every two weeks. These two men traveled the world documenting languages before they disappear for good. A documentary was made about the men and some of their trips to visit the Chulym, Sora and Kallawaya people. The documentary tells the story of these linguists working to preserve the languages of these people. A screening of the documentary took place in the Student Union Building on Feb. 16 with Anderson and Harrison present to answer questions afterward. “There’s a huge interest in endangered languages and people want to know not only how can we study these languages, but what can we do to support language revitalization,” Harrison said. Wanting to preserve languages isn’t solely for linguists though. Students also show their concern and interest in the diversity of languages throughout the world. “It’s crucial when you think about literature and expanding literature to the idea of oral... ...