Former Davidson Wildcat Stephen Curry is grabbing some more time in the spotlight this weekend as his team, the Golden State Warriors, heads into the NBA playoffs. Sports Illustrated writer Chris Ballard argued last week that Curry may be “one of the pure shooters of all time.” The Warriors have a chance to clinch a playoff spot Sunday – the first since Curry joined the team. Story in SPORTS»

Thomas Lurey, 8, holds an albino king snake while his grandfather, Charlie Wilkins, watches. More photos below. (David Boraks/DavidsonNews.net)

By DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net

Eight-year-old Thomas Lurey stood next to a table in the courtyard between two Davidson College science buildings Saturday with a white snake draped around his neck, its head in one hand and tail in the other.

“It’s an an albino king snake … It’s non-venomous,” he told a reporter, with the air of an expert.

Thomas and his grandfather, Charlie Wilkins, drove from Greensboro Saturday for the college’s annual Reptile Day, when Davidson College’s Herpetology Lab brings a horde of slithering, climbing and crawling creatures into the sunlight for a few hours. Read the full story

Students gathered in a darkened 900 Room Wednesday evening to learn about the campus’ new energy dashboard (Lincoln Davidson/DavidsonNews.net)

An online dashboard tracks savings in energy use during the Do It in the Dark competition.

By LINCOLN DAVIDSON
DavidsonNews.net

By turning off the lights, unplugging unused appliances and powering down computers, students living in 11 Davidson College residence halls are banding together to reduce energy consumption. It’s all part of Do It in the Dark, an annual competition to see which living  can reduce energy usage the most, is running from April 3 to 24, when a winner will be declared. Read the full story

Professor Mike Dorcas (right) and student assistants showed off a 14 1/2 foot python at Reptile Day in 2012. (Cristina Mourao/DavidsonNews.net)

Davidson College Herpetology Lab presents its annual Reptile Day on April 6, a day to see, touch and learn about reptiles and amphibians. It’s free and open to the public and a local favorite among kids and adults. The day runs from 10am to 1pm at the college’s Blanche Knox Parker Garden, between Watson and Dana Science buildings, off Concord Road.

Info on the events calendar on Davidson.edu. See also our stories and photos from previous Reptile Days, under the Reptile Day tag.

By LINCOLN DAVIDSON
DavidsonNews.net

Residents of Davidson College’s Eco-House will bring the community together on Saturday, April 6, from 2-4pm on Chambers Lawn for a “Really Really Free Market” . The gathering is designed as an alternative to traditional markets, where we’re all invited to freely give and receive goods and services while socializing with neighbors. Read the full story

Clockwise from left: The late Professor Emeritus of English Dick Cole, Professor Emeritus of Religion Sam Maloney, Professor Emeritus of Religion Max Polley, Professor Emeritus of Greek George Labban. (Davidson College photo)

“Life is a journey. Time is a river. The door is ajar.”
—Jim Butcher, Dead Beat

In a time when death has been moving prominently in my circles on campus and beyond, I found some strange, hard comfort in reporting and writing a 50th-anniversary story about the college’s Humanities Program, which for me felt so full of life and memory as I approached my own half-century marker.

“Humes” was born the same year I was, so the program and I were both 18 when I ventured unsuspectingly a Gilgamesh lecture in September 1981. Two very academic years later, I emerged with a deep sense of the broad sweep of my own Western culture in the world. It was a very personal and at the same time a very universal view of things as they are. A broad, deep view represents perhaps the essence of the liberal arts—the word “liberal” springing from the root word for “freedom” and the word “art” harking back to “fit together, join.” Thirty years on, I still subscribe to this very personal, very universal view of humanity through the humanities.

For the Humes program itself, I first thank Max Polley, professor of religion, now emeritus. Max “The Ax” was my freshman adviser and Humes professor then. One day he convinced me, of little faith and flagging in spirit after a disheartening first term, to stick with it. I did. Max lives at The Pines at Davidson now, where I recently visited him and other founding fathers of the Humes program: Sam Maloney (religion), George Labban (Greek) and Dick Cole (English).

With varying degrees of firmity, in age as in youth, all four men were in fine form when Bill Giduz and I went to take their picture and interview them in late February.
I had never formally met Cole before, but was immediately drawn to his quiet, sharp, humble, gentlemanly humor. He touched on a story in passing about his time as a World War II cryptographer. In passing, mind you, he touched on this grand adventure, just one out of a lifetime of them on his pages of the divine human comedy. What panache, I thought, what class and wealth of spirit still. Natty dresser, too.
A week later, Cole got a hard diagnosis. On March 23, he died.

“Gone on ahead,” is the best euphemism I’ve ever heard for dying, one I learned from President Emeritus Sam Spencer. “Gone on ahead” places everyone and everything in its proper context, which is to say in the fullness of time—and maybe even the fullness of culture if you squint just right for that very personal, very universal view of humanity through the humanities.

All this to say thanks. Thanks, Dick, for sharing your life, so well-lived, in such a meaningful way. Thanks, Max and Sam and George, for continuing to do so during the time we’re here together. George, down the hall in the health care wing — his door is ajar — watching very loud commercials of very pretty gals on a very large television…. Sam Maloney, in shoutin’ good form as he plans a solo cross-country auto trip for his 89th birthday…. Max, in customary dry, good-humored spirits as he cares for his beloved wife Jackie, companion for two camping trips across Europe with small children, and so much more.
So much more.

Life is a journey. Time is a river. The door is ajar.

John Syme is a senior writer at Davidson College, where he writes the Daybook blog. This article is reprinted from that blog with permission.

RELATED LINKS

Read The Davidson Journal story on Humes

March 24, 2013, DavidsonNews.net, Obituary: Dr. Richard Cargill Cole, 86.

Davidson College president Carol Quillen discussed the Davidson Trust with students over coffee at Summit Thursday evening. From left, Rodney Saunders, Jr., who wrote Trust: The Play for this year’s Dinner at Davidson, Meredith Didier, who works in the president’s office, Heidi Gruber, Emily Rapport, and President Quillen. (Lincoln Davidson/DavidsonNews.net)

Davidson College students and residents gathered at Summit Coffee Thursday night to support the Davidson Trust – the college’s loan-free financial aid fund. The night included a performance by the Delilahs, Davidson College’s female a cappella ensemble. Summit Coffee donated 10 percent of all proceeds from the evening to the Davidson Trust. Community members also shared a coffee with college president Carol Quillen, who stopped by to discuss the Davidson Trust. Read the full story

Firefighters investigated a number of smoke scares over the past two weeks, including one outside the Carnegie Guest House at Davidson College whose source was not determined and one case of burnt toast at The Pines. Engine 1 assisted Odell firefighters with an outside fire on Davidson Road, and a homeowner graciously extinguished an outside fire with a garden hose after emergency personnel advised that burning yard waste is illegal in Mecklenburg County. Firefighters also provided EMS coverage for the Leprechaun Loop 8K run and the Passion Pit concert at Davidson College. Those reports and more below, as well as a tally of recent medical calls. Read the full story