Wiley Cash’s “A Land More Kind Than Home” has received rave reviews from notable publications such as the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Daily Beast and Entertainment Weekly, just to name a few. With all those big names buzzing, one has to wonder what all the hype is about. Cash has a way of slowly reeling in readers into the small town of Marshall, N.C., then offering up a string of surprises, and holding their attention page after page. He has no real trick to his writing methods. His language is clear and straightforward. He is direct with his personification but also indirect when he needs to be. The premise of the story is not as much relatable as it is understandable, for none of the events which occur in the novel could be considered “normal.” The story is centered around the local church, but specifically a death that occurs as a result of a healing ceremony and Cash narrates from three very different perspectives. The first narrator is... ...

The Student Involvement and Leadership center brings Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained to the Boise State Special Events Center this Thursday, April 25 as a part of their Thursday Blockbuster Series. While the film has earned numerous awards in the states, it has been met with an onslaught of criticism overseas, even receiving rigid cuts for audiences in China. Arbiter staffers Paige Eaglestone and Ryan Hoffman weigh in on the good and the bad of the film.   ...

Senior Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) students have come together to create an art exhibition of a miscellaneous nature, which includes media and subjects ranging from performance art and technology to breasts and body adornment. The opening reception for the “Varia: BFA Exhibition” took place on Friday, April 12 in Gallery 1 of the Liberal Arts building and Gallery 2 in the Hemingway Western Studies Center. The Bachelor of Fine Arts program showcased the final pieces of art from seventeen senior artists. Preparation for the event has been in effect since January, with scores of collaboration and creativity mustering about. Stephanie North, senior visual arts major with an emphasis in photography, said, “It’s our senior exit course. So we each pick a project and we have a committee of faculty members and we work with them throughout the semester.” The title for the exhibition, “Varia,” refers to a miscellany, or a collection of works. In this collection there are many elements all rooted in the physicality of the basic human... ...

The Boise State Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (MFA) reading series welcomed Wiley Cash, a critically acclaimed writer and professor in a low-residency MFA program at Southern New Hampshire University, on Thursday, April 11. Cash’s novel, the New York Times bestseller, “A Land More Kind Than Home,” shares the perspectives of three different characters who live in a small town in North Carolina and observe how religion, power and influence in the form of the occult can impact people in their everyday lives. While reading excerpts from his novel, he also gave the audience insight into crafting and developing their stories. Arbiter staffer Paige Eaglestone caught up with Cash to talk about his novel and career as a writer. Q: How did you come up with the title “A Land More Kind Than Home”? A: It comes from the closing lines from a novel by Thomas Wolfe. He’s from North Carolina. And it just kind of hints at deliverance. The novel is kind of a novel about this... ...

The Boise State Recreation Center shut down their Basketball courts after 2pm on Friday, April 5th for the highly awaited, highly promoted, first annual Boise State Dance Marathon. The Event, beginning at 3pm and lasting for the duration of 17 hours, eventually wrapped up at 8am, Saturday, April 6. Stephanie Pyles, a junior special education and elementary education major with a minor in leadership, and a facilitator for the fundraiser, said, “We picked 17 because its for the millions of kids Children’s Miracle Network helps each year, is 17 million. So its 17 hours.” The tagline, dance for those who can’t, referred to the nine children sponsored by Saint Luke’s Children’s Hospital through the Children’s Miracle Network. Participants were encouraged to donate to the charity but also to keep moving, with one of the rules being, no sitting down. Breaks were given and sustenance provided, including flavored water and snacks, but surprisingly, many students were without any stimulants. Sydney Schaub, a junior marketing major, said, “I have no technique and... ...

One more reason to hang out with your friends who live on campus: Bingo. Members of Get Involved hosted “Not your Grandma’s Bingo” on Monday, April 1 in the Boise River Café. Rather than the typical elderly ladies waiting for their number to be called, this Bingo game consisted of groups of students eating their cafeteria dinners and using their dabo ink. Miss Connie as grandma, with her big white hair and bunny ears, sat in front of the hungry residents, spinning the wheel and calling out numbers. Amidst the comings and goings, students were actively involved in the game, some playing solo and others in large groups. Mark Bleuze, a senior environmental and occupational health major, said of the game, “When I was a freshman, we didn’t have anything like this. I like this a lot, its a lot of fun.” Students are encouraged to play from the time they walk into the entrance of the BRC since members of Get Involved are readily handing out paper Bingo sheets... ...

On Tuesday, March 12 at 6 p.m. in the Student Union Building, Simplot Ballroom A-D, Dan Philippon, an associate professor of English at the University of Minnesota, will lecture on The Nature of Slow Food. This lecture is second, after John Elder’s Robert Frost and the Forests of Vermont, in The Idea of Nature public lecture series taking place this Spring 2013. This lecture will feature the “slow food” movement, which began in Europe, particularly in Italy and France, and made its way toward America. The slow food movement, perceived as contrary to the fast food movement, redefines society’s view of nature as “other.”  Philippon will focus on the understanding of nature, and how sustainability and scale factor into this international cultural shift. The Nature of Slow Food and The Idea of Nature are a part of Interdisciplinary Explorations. “My goal in creating the series is to expose students, professors, members of the community with a dialogue across disciplinary boundaries,” Samantha Harvey, Ph.D., an associate professor of English said. “Really... ...

The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (MFA) reading series welcomed Tom Raworth on Feb. 22 in the Student Union Building in the Farnsworth Room evading the rambunctious high school students congregating down the hall and the dreary weather outside. Professor Martin Corless-Smith noted this was the first on-campus meeting for the series this spring and the small rectangular room with its 35 chairs and max capacity of 49 persons seemed to house onlookers accordingly. Raworth, an English poet and visual artist, has produced quite the expansive resume. At the ripe age of 75, he has published over 40 works of poetry and prose and founded two printing press companies. Although his repertoire may be enough to draw in audience members, his rich vocal tones and fluctuation in pacing are definitely enough to sustain their attention. Chris Caruso, a second year MFA student with a poetry emphasis, said of the reading, “It was amazing, the way he presents things, the rhythm in his voice just the speed of this... ...

Anna Marie Boles, a professor of art at the College of Western Idaho, studio artist and a self-proclaimed ‘jack of all trades’ said she has always enjoyed the view from the airplane window. Judging from her exhibition, “Circumnavigations,” currently on display in the Visual Arts Center Gallery Two located in the Hemingway Western Studies Center, her outlook has greater graphics and more detail than any typical window could possibly provide. “I had this extraordinary light. I had the clouds but not totally covering the landscape,” Boles said in reference to her “Airbus” piece. In this piece she utilizes pictures from her personal camera and display from a monitor directly in front of her seat, on a plane to England. It was this distinct landscape imagery which inspired her to begin a collection centering on mapping and grid work. But “Circumnavigations” is more than just collective sequential photographs and scaled charts. Boles includes industrial pieces with elements such as copper, dyed rope and wires. Her mediums greatly range from organic apple wood and... ...