Highlight of the Year: Spring Fling ’12

Being the editor-in-chief of The Mirror, our campus newspaper, definitely has its perks!

Last month, Erskine’s Entertainment Board announced that Corey Smith would be performing at Erskine for Spring Fling. I decided to hold a contest to get more readers out to The Mirror site and the winner and I got to interview Corey Smith before he went on stage.

This just goes to show you how involved students are in the activities on Erskine’s campus. EEB is run by students who try to bring in bands they know Erskine students are going to love. The Mirror steps in to get student’s questions answered by their favorite artists. Student photographers capture the moments along the way. It truly is a cool process when you just think about it. Yeh, we have faculty advisers but we really do get to make most of the important decisions for our organizations. It’s pretty neat and the product is one that is enjoyable for many students and faculty and staff on campus.

If any of you readers are Corey Smith fans, take time to read the following transcript from the interview.

Corey Smith Interview

Schadell Brooks and Jacob Blakely

S: Who would you consider your biggest musical influence?

My dad. It’s all encompassing. It’s impossible to say one. My dad sort of filtered what music I heard when I was a small kid.

S: Tell us about your educational background.

I went to Gainville College, transferred to West Georgia College and then I transferred to UGA. I was a social studies secondary education major.

S: How many years did you teach?

4 years. Mostly world history, some geography, philosophy, guitar.

J: What kind of musical background did you have? Did you take lessons or anything?

I sang for as long as I can remember. I sang in church choirs. My dad was in bands so they were always having band practice around the house. There were always guitars sitting around. He would show me a few little things here and there but I never took interest in guitar until I was about 15. Then I just picked up a bunch of books and sort of applied. You know its little things like how to hold the guitar, fretting the chord that can take you a while to learn but because I’d been around it a lot of that just sort of came to me pretty quick and I picked up a lot of these books like Bob Seger, George Strait, or Garth Brooks. And I could already sing so I would start out singing and playing the chord. I had a youth pastor at a church that I went to when I was in high school that played guitar and he showed me some stuff and when I went to college I took formal lessons for a year.

J: How do you actually write your music? Does your music dictate your lyrics or vice versa?

It varies. It happens both ways. Sometimes the lyrics and the melody hit at the same time. More often it’s the music first and the music sort of dictates the vibe. But there’s more than one way to skin a cat. I think it’s important to experiment with a lot of different approaches.

S: Who are some of your favorite mainstream artists right now?

I like Kings of Leon, John Mayer, Adele, that’s good. Those are just a few. You might notice the glaring absence of country artists.

J: Do you record most of the guitar parts on your CD’s or do you let someone else do it?

I play guitar on every CD, on every track. It varies from record to record. Certain records I play all the guitar, electric and acoustic on. I don’t have a session player that I just go to. Now I have a great guitar player on tour with me.

S: Tell us about touring with Florida-Georgia Line.

I’ve been doing shows with them for about 6 months. I met them through my agent and had them on a few shows. It was a good fit. Fans seemed to like them. They’re younger so it’s nice to have the youth and the energy out here.

S: Any advice for them?

Take it slow. Enjoy it but don’t be in a hurry.

S: For those who saw your tweets before you got here, tell us about going to your boys’ recital and their musical background.

They’ve only been taking piano lessons for maybe 6 months. I want them to come to enjoy it on their own. I’m trying to be careful about forcing it on them, pushing it on them but they have drum sets and guitars and stuff already. They don’t listen to me when it comes to instruction though.

S: You’ve come such a long way in your career. What has motivated that? What’s the driving force?

God. Some people would call it God. It’s my calling you know. It’s kinda like I’m believing that I’m doing things for a reason and then certain opportunities come up and I weigh the options. I had a friend of mine explain life like a fork. At some points its like things just make sense and you have these tuning fork moments where you’re like aw, this is what I’m supposed to do. You don’t have those a lot but as you get older and you look back it all starts making sense and you realize that’s kinda your path. I feel like music has been that way. There was a time that where it was purely just what I did for enjoyment. I would play for friends at a party. I started playing in bars for crowds of 50 people. I played for my students at school. It felt right. My goal was just to be able to make a living doing it so I expected to be touring about three hours from home and playing for a few hundred people every night and the next thing I knew I was playing for thousands of people and now I’m touring all over the country.

J: Do you have any classical musical influences?

When I was in college I took pick style classical so that was the training there.  It’s only recently that I started listening to classical music. I think classical music influences everybody whether they realize it or not cause it’s such a part of popular culture underneath the surface. Now, I listen to a lot of Gershwin and Eric Copeland.  But that’s just kinda stuff to relax to. The Gershwin stuff though is really helpful as a writer cause he’s really hooky and has great melodies.

S: How do you deal with people who have negative things to say about your music?

I try to ignore it but sometimes it’s hard to. I just quit going to the places where I know I’m going to find that stuff. I think there a lot of negative people out there who just use [the internet] as an outlet. I don’t mind criticism especially when it’s fair. I think all different types of people are guilty of it. I have a hard time fitting in anywhere. I don’t fit in well in country because I’m too progressive or too untraditional. I don’t fit in well with rock because when they hear me all they here is country. So I just get in my own little group.

Corey Smith & I before the interview

Jacob Blakely, the contest winner, with Corey Smith

Katie Putnam, Photography Editor, with Corey Smith

Taylor Wolfe, EEB Chair, with Corey Smith

Last Weekend in Pictures

My night at the SGA Ball…

My beautiful roommate Lisa, myself, and my beautiful friend Morgan.

Me with Victoria, a fellow scholar.

 

My great friend Taylor and I.

 

Victoria, an old friend who came back to Erskine to visit, myself, and one of my best friends, Erin.

Choices

It came down to studying while watching Hulu or going out to dinner with my friends. I decided to go out to dinner with my friends at Firehouse. It was delicious! And the time with my friends was well worth it.

Firehouse

When it gets down to the last few days of school you begin to realize that sometimes spending time with friends is just more important than work. Yes, we are to be studious but if you’re being studious and studying ahead of time then you should have time to enjoy all those spontaneous moments with friends that may arise.

I’m so thankful for the great friends I’ve made since I’ve been here. I’m beginning to realize that soon another group of students, some who have become very near and dear to my heart, are graduating. So I’ve resolved to spend as much time as possible (while still studying of course) with my wonderful friends.

The Misconception of Due West

One of the first things people realize when they enter Due West is the fact that it is small. This is an obvious feature of our town so we might as well address it openly and quickly. Therefore, one of the first things people assume is that there is nothing to do here. WRONG! I find that I actually rarely have a spare minute on campus. Yes, I have done some of this to myself by joining too many clubs and volunteering for too many activities, but nonetheless, Erskine is a busy place. Somehow, one has to find time for academics, physical health, a little fun, and oh yeah…some sleep!

Academics are the most obvious things to make time for because they are mandatory. (Hello, that’s why we came here!) However, unlike many colleges where classes involve lectures in auditoriums filled with hundreds of students, Erskine is much more interactive. Especially once students have begun taking their major classes, they find that class sizes are small and allow for much more hands-on activities. For example, I am an education major and most of my classes range from six to ten people. This past week, in my Social Studies for Teachers class, we were able to make a model of the South Carolina regions, demonstrating activities we could do with our elementary aged students. Through this, we learned the struggles they will encounter as well as techniques and questions to add to our repertoire of teaching methodologies. In addition, our class traveled together this weekend to Columbia to attend a Geography Workshop where we met with other pre-service and in-service teachers to learn exciting new lessons and innovations for the classroom. Even better, I won some free maps!

Tonight, my physical health and fun were able to come together as I participated in my first ever intramural game! Our basketball team attempted to work some magic, but came up a few points shy. After trying to catch my breath for an hour in order to write this, I realized I did have a great deal of fun. However, other fun an exciting events that have occurred lately have involved my first round of tree golf as well as a “masquerade” (a semi-rave with masks) hosted by one of the societies. I will pretty much use any excuse to dress up hideously in too much neon.

Sadly, sleep hasn’t happen too much lately, but I am happier than ever. As a junior with many friends who are seniors, I am beginning to realize that not much of my college time is left. I fear I may have wasted a few semesters, so I am determined to enjoy this one to its fullest, especially since I will be student teaching next year. See, there are things to do in Due West. The challenge is…to try and find a day without something to do!

Cooking Adventures

One of my favorite ways to spend time with friends at Erskine is making a meal.  Although going out to get food is also enjoyable, there is just nothing like spending a couple of hours in a dorm kitchen making dinner, or even just something sweet for an evening snack.  This weekend I did this twice, first with dessert and then dinner.

My tasty final product - Tarta de Santiago.

Friday evening, after our dinners had settled, I made a Spanish cake with some friends.  La tarta de Santiago originated in the northwest of Spain, in the province of Galicia.  The capital of this province is Santiago de Compostela, location of tomb of St. James and also named for him, and one of the first cities that I visited while living in Spain.  While we explored the streets, there were tons of pastelerías selling, among other things, these tasty cakes.  They are sweet almond cakes topped with confectioners sugar, traditionally sprinkled around a cut-out of the St. James Cross.

The cake turned out very well, despite being unable to find pre-ground almonds in the store, and grinding them all ourselves!  Unfortunately, our next project on Saturday night did not turn out so well, leading to lots of adventures.

Last night we attempted to make a tortilla de patata, a delicious egg, potato, and vegetable dish commonly used in picnics in Spain.  I was excited for another delicious Spanish dish, and everything went well at the beginning: peeling, dicing, and partially cooking the vegetables, whipping the eggs. . . until we got to cooking the entire thing.  After combining the vegetables and eggs, we put it all in a skillet, and started frying.  Shortly, we knew something was going wrong.

Although the eggs were setting properly, there was a mysterious steam coming from the bottom of the pan, but since it didn’t smell like anything was burning we let it continue and hoped for the best.  Bad idea.  Turns out the oil did not do its job, and the eggs on the bottom were sticking (and starting to burn) to the bottom of the pan, so when we went to flip over the tortilla a bunch of the vegetables on top came off onto the pan and the eggs stayed!

Long story short, it turned out to be a mess of eggs, potatoes, onion, and tomato that was more like an omelet than my beloved Spanish dish.  After several minutes of fiasco trying to save the dish, several students and our resident director coming in to make sure we hadn’t started a fire, we ate the misshapen dish, finishing the meal off with some of the leftover cake from the day before (at least the dessert turned out well!).  Despite the small calamity, it was a fun two evenings of cooking and fellowship, and it sure makes a good story.

Summer has just begun…

Summer has just started and I’ve already been to Europe and Florida. I’ve spent time with wonderful friends and my precious family. I’ve sang in some of the most beautiful churches on the earth, gotten the chance to minister to people through music, built lifelong friendships, and learned to appreciate my family so much in the past two weeks.

And the best part is…

this is only the beginning.

My summer hasn’t even gone into full swing yet. I’m hoping to work a couple of summer jobs: a couple of clothing stores, some babysitting here and there, and maybe even a new job as a barista for Starbucks?! The possibilities for summer work are all around me, so it’s time to just stop being lazy and get out there and work. Lord knows I need to make back a good chunk of the money I spent on my vacations and make some money for some future trips and events I’d like to participate in soon.

A road trip to visit my cousin while she’s in summer school is in the horizon, as well a possible trip to Australia in August to visit my best friend who’s studying abroad there for 5 months. Who knows?! Either way, I’ll be sure to keep you all posted on my whereabouts and interesting things that happen this summer.

I’m planning on making some unforgettable memories, in fact I’d say I’m already halfway there, so how are you going to make the most of your summer?

Athenian Formal

I know the whole Disney princess thing is cliche, but I really did feel like Cinderella the weekend of the Athenian formal.

I went from this:

to this:

all because of my wonderful fairy godmother for the night: Hannah Collins.

I was locked up in my dorm room, not because of my evil stepmother and stepsisters, but because of homework and the fact that I didn’t like anything in my closet. So to the rescue, comes my wonderful soul sista (we sing together…think Mariah and Whitney. haha), Hannah Collins, to help me pick out an outfit. She searched through my closet and said, “Seriously Schadell, do you not own anything of color?” Sadly, most of my closet is black, white, and gray. ha. She waved her magic wand and this fabulous blue strapless dress appeared…Ok, so more like she kept looking through  my closet until she discovered the dress on my roommate’s side of the closet. lol. She proceeded to fix up my hair and get me all coordinated with accessories and then I was off to the ball in a horse driven carriage…Ok, so more like I was off to a formal at this beautiful old house in a 15 passenger van.

The point is I had a great time getting ready and a great time at the formal as well. Dancing the night away with friends was a great way to stop thinking about school and just focus on having some fun with friends.

Athenian Formal