Carroll News

Hope for Haiti Fundraiser Dec. 5 at Staggering Ox

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:19:16 MST

On Saturday, December 5, the second-annual Hope for Haiti fund-raiser will occur at the Staggering Ox in Helena's Lundy Center from 6:30 to 9 p.m., with free admission and live music. This event will raise funds to allow a group of six Carroll students to travel over their Christmas break to Haiti, where they will serve as medical assistants to a team of professional dentists and oral surgeons volunteering with Montana Dental Outreach. Last spring, four Carroll juniors served on the first such Montana Dental Outreach mission to Haiti, which ended with professional dental care and lifesaving procedures provided to over 300 of the Western Hemisphere's poorest people. All proceeds from the December 5 event at the Staggering Ox go to help provide this much needed care in Haiti's impoverished rural region beyond the city of Jérémie.

Hope for Haiti will include a free concert featuring the musical talents of Jack Oberweiser from the Triple Cross band, accompanied by several Carroll student musicians. A Carroll math professor, Oberweiser is a veteran of last spring's Haiti service journey with Montana Dental Outreach. A silent auction will include paintings and pottery from local Montana artists and works produced by Carroll fine arts students. Photographs from the trip last spring will be on display to offer a preview of the work planned for this coming Christmas.

Carroll Dance Team "Go Hollywood" Fund-raiser Dec. 3

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:18:15 MST

On Thursday, December 3, the Carroll College Dance Team invites the public to support its performance season by attending "Go Hollywood," a dinner and dance performance extravaganza in the Carroll Campus Center. The event, starting at 6 p.m., will feature the college's Dance Team and members of the award-winning Big Sky Dance Works crews re-creating the most memorable dance routines from classics including "Grease," "Dirty Dancing," "Footloose" and "Flashdance." All routines will be performed by a cast in authentic costumes based on those seen in the original films.

The audience will enjoy a full course dinner and the opportunity to bid on a large array of silent auction items. Tickets are $20 and available by calling 439-2612. All proceeds benefit the Carroll College Dance Team, which performs regularly at Carroll athletic games and in the Helena community.

November 20, 2009 Alumni News

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:11:10 MST

Events

Carroll's Alumni Christmas Party is December 7, starting off with Mass at 4:30 p.m. in Borromeo Hall Chapel and then over to the Scola for more holiday cheer.

Seattle alumni are invited to gather for Carroll men's basketball game weekend, with the Saints at Seattle Pacific University on December 4 and 5. All games will be held at the Royal Brougham Pavilion at Seattle Pacific University, 3414 Third Avenue West. Here are details:

On Friday, December 4: Pre-game, no-host gathering at Mike's Chili Parlor, 1447 NW Ballard Way (less than 2 miles from Seattle Pacific). The Friday night game begins at 7 p.m. Reserved game tickets are $7.

On Saturday, December 5, tip-off is at 5 p.m. The post-game dinner buffet with the team will occur at Buca di Beppo, 701 9^th Avenue North. Tickets for game and dinner are $27.

Game tickets are in a reserved section directly behind our Saints team (so you'll be among friends). Tickets must be purchased in advance. Pre-purchased ticket(s) should be picked up at will call. Register online at www.carroll.edu/alumni, email Alumni Director Kathy Ramirez at alumni -is-at- carroll -dot- edu or call 406-447-5185 to get your reservations.

In the News

Buck MacMillan and Paige Furness MacMillan, both class of 1998, welcomed their second son, Asher Corpina MacMillan (left), on June 13, 2009. He joins 6-year-old Isaac Furness MacMillan in the family circle. They live in Seattle, where Buck is the finance director at Evans Glass, and Paige is a part-time nanny and full-time mom.

Quinn Erwin DDS, class of 2004, has returned to his Helena hometown as of last June and purchased a dental practice. He graduated from Creighton University Dental School in 2008, then spent a year completing an advanced education in general dentistry residency through Idaho State University in Boise.

As coordinator for the Girl Scouts' "uniquely ME!" program in Spokane, Wash., schools, Keely Eschenbacher (right), class of 2006, focuses her message on the impact of the media on teen girl self-image. A course on gender communication during her study of psychology at Carroll stirred her awareness of media messages and ads that make women and men feel bad about their appearance. Begun five years ago with a grant from Unilever and its Dove Self-Esteem Fund, the "uniquely ME!" program helps girls ages 8 to 17 embrace a wider definition of beauty than cultural messaging routinely offers. For more on Eschenbacher's work, read: http://www.spokesman.com/

Phil Kilbreath, class of 2006, reports that he works as a game warden for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

In Memoriam

Michael Grant Cahill (left), who attended Carroll during spring semester 1975, died as one of the 13 victims killed during the November 5, 2009, shootings at Fort Hood. He was the only civilian to lose his life in the attack and was treating patients at Fort Hood's Soldier Readiness Center when the gunman opened fire. He spent his career as a healthcare worker, with the last seven years at Fort Hood's health care clinics and Readiness Center.

For more on his life, read: http://www.dallasnews.com/

November 20, 2009 QuickNotes

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:26:18 MST

GETTING THE BIRD

This is your last edition of QNs before the Thanksgiving break, so feast your eyes, pilgrim!

MAKING THE PLAYOFFS PAY OFF

This Saturday, Nov. 21, NAIA postseason round-one pits the Fighting Saints against the Dickinson State (N.D.) Blue Hawks at noon, but there's more to it than just another world-class football game. Saturday is also your chance to do God's work by participating in the second-annual Make the Playoffs Pay Off for Helena Food Share drive at the game. Just bring a sack of nonperishable food to Nelson Stadium and drop it by the Food Share donation truck. With this economy, Food Share is seeing exponential growth in the numbers of working families with children who don't have enough to eat, and we can help stock their shelves before the holidays. Ideas for donations include holiday foods such as canned cranberry sauce, canned vegetables and boxes of jello and pudding mixes, plus everyday groceries like beans, pasta, spaghetti sauce, canned meat and fish, canned or dried fruit, nuts, peanut butter, dry cereal and granola bars.

Game-day gates open at 9:30 a.m., and Food Share will be accepting donations from then until the end of half-time.

SATELLITE CAMPUS

Saturday's playoff will be televised via satellite. Here's the satellite technical info if you want to tune in, though the game is always more fun if you're right there in Nelson Stadium with the other spirited Saints:

AMC9-K18V CH.A (9Mhz), H - 14346.5, V - 12046.5, Bit Rate: 7.7854 mbps, Symbol Rate: 5.628, FEC: 3 over 4

As always, the game will be broadcast by our friends at KBLL Cherry Creek Radio in Helena at 1240 AM.

AFTER THE PLAYOFFS, JUST PLAY

Now through December 9 (which is just around the corner after next week's Thanksgiving holiday), Carroll's annual Toys for Tots drive continues. Please remember a kid who might not have any Christmas cheer this year by dropping off a new, unwrapped gift in one of the campus donation boxes located in the Carroll PE Center, O'Connell Hall, the Corette Library, Simperman Hall, St. Albert's, and in residences Guadalupe, St. Charles and Trinity.

Our dorms have been assigned age groups to provide for as follows:

Guad Hall: ages 0-2 years; St. Charles: 3-5 years old; Trinity/Borromeo: ages 6-9

All other buildings may donate for a kid of any age. The building that donates the most toys will receive an ice cream social at the beginning of the spring semester. For more info, contact Civic Engagement Intern Megan Rennie at mrennie -is-at- carroll -dot- edu

EX LIBRIS

For some, the need isn't toys, but something even more basic: books. Carroll is now hosting a drive to supply books to our Invisible Children Program partner school in Gulu, Uganda. Any books are welcome (books in best condition are worth more). This drive ends mid-January, but the sooner you donate the books the better. Just bring your fiction, nonfiction and textbooks to the office of our Civic Engagement Intern Megan Rennie in the Student Activities Office downstairs in the Campus Center (she's in the office right next to Chad Gray's) or email her for a pickup at mrennie -is-at- carroll -dot- edu. You can also call for a pickup or for more info at 406-447-5196 or at 406-461-7498. For more information about the Invisible Children book drive, check out: http://s4s.invisiblechildren.com/

More Invisible Children fund-raising and awareness programs will continue this academic year. About 70 students watched the recent Invisible Children documentary on campus, and for spring 2010 Megan is putting together a fund-raiser dance and an awareness week where a video will be screened each night to tell the story of how Ugandan child soldiers were kidnapped into the rebel army and boldly escaped.

TICKET TO GUATEMALA

Seventeen Carroll students are preparing for a spring 2010 Headlights trip to the Diocese of Helena's mission in rural Guatemala-this will be the second such Headlights journey (the first one was in 2007). Fund-raising for the May 2010 trip is critical, and the Headlights student volunteers will be selling 50/50 tickets at this Saturday's NAIA football playoff game in Nelson Stadium. Please consider helping them cover their travel expenses to Guatemala by purchasing tickets from them this weekend.

More Headlights fundraising will occur during spring semester, including the annual Spaghetti Dinner on February 6 to raise money for the spring break service journey to Rochester, NY, and a Guatemala dinner and silent auction on April 17.

FROM GUATEMALA TO HAITI

Last Saturday's 5K Hope for Haiti fund-raiser fun run brought in some hearty harriers and bucks for the Christmas Break trip to Haiti, undertaken by six Carroll students and one professor, who will be assisting dentists and nurses as part of Montana Dental Outreach. This is the student group's second expedition providing oral care to rural Haitians (see the story about it in the Summer 2009 edition of Carroll Magazine). Another fund-raiser for these student dental volunteers will take place at the Staggering Ox (in the Lundy Center, near campus) on Saturday, December 5 and will feature live music and a silent auction. For more, read: http://www.helenair.com/news/local/article_d0124b5e-d1b2-11de-a306-001cc4c03286.html

NURSES GATHERING UNDER THE TREE

Carroll's Student Nurses Association (CCSNA) is again gathering Christmas gifts for children and adolescents at Helena's Shodair Hospital, a residential psychiatric treatment facility that also serves as a clinical site for Carroll's nursing students. Stop by the Christmas tree in the Fortin Science Center Scola to pick out a tag. Tags are also available at the O'Connell Hall front desk. You can also choose one of the items on the list below. Just take your new, unwrapped gifts to one of the three campus drop boxes located in the Scola, O'Connell Hall, or the Nursing Department office in 415 Simperman Hall. The deadline is December 15.

Shodair Wish List:

PJs, slippers, and socks for boys and girls, ages 5-17
T-shirts and hoodie sweatshirts for boys and girls, ages 5-17
Books for ages 5-17
Art and scrapbooking supplies, stationery
Legos, Lincoln Logs, K'NEX and other building toys
Beanie Babies, My Little Pony toys
Puzzles and board games
Nerf balls, footballs
Action figures and Transformers
Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars
DVDs (G and PG movies, nature and science movies)
Wii games (like Mario and Wii Fit)
MP3 players
Game Boys with games
Small hand-held games like Connect Four, 20 Questions, Bingo
Personal care items
Stocking stuffer snacks like mac and cheese, caffeine-free soda

STUDENT NEWS

Go Hollywood with the Carroll Dance Team as it joins Helena's hip hop connection, Big Sky Dance Works, to host an evening of fun and fundraising on December 3 in the Campus Center. Enjoy a full course dinner and bid in a silent auction, then get wowwed by authentic dance routines from famed flicks including "Grease," "Dirty Dancing," "Footloose" and "Flashdance" performed by the Carroll Dance Team and the BSDW Dance Crews. Come dressed in Hollywood attire if you like! Dinner begins upstairs in the Campus Center at 6 p.m. Buy your tickets from any Dance Team member for $20-and look for ticket sales at tables in the Campus Center soon.

Want to rock climb without freezing your fingers off? Go for the crux at Montana's premier indoor rock climbing facility on December 5 by joining the Carroll Adventure and Mountaineering Program (CAMP) road trip to Bozeman for a day at the deluxe Spire gym. Cost is $10 for transportation, climbing, and gear (bring food or money for grub). If interested, contact Kyle Perkins (kperkins -is-at- carroll -dot- edu). Register and pay with Patrick Harris in the ASCC offices in the lower level of the Campus Center.

Also on December 5, CAMP is offering a winter wilderness survival field clinic, starring renowned naturalist and survival expert David Cronenwett. Stay warm (and alive) in Montana's harshest conditions-learn the basics of splitting wood with no tools, building a warm shelter and a fire, and equipping yourself with the right clothing and gear to prevent disaster. It's free, but only 10 spots are open for this amazing opportunity. Reserve your coveted spot by contacting Conrad Addison (caddison -is-at- carroll -dot- edu).

For all the latest on Student Activities and events coming up, check the Carroll Students webpage: http://www.carroll.edu/students/

ALUMNI NEWS

Events

Carroll's Alumni Christmas Party is December 7, starting off with Mass at 4:30 p.m. in Borromeo Hall Chapel and then over to the Scola for more holiday cheer.

On Friday, December 4: Pre-game, no-host gathering at Mike's Chili Parlor, 1447 NW Ballard Way (less than 2 miles from Seattle Pacific). The Friday night game begins at 7 p.m. Reserved game tickets are $7.

On Saturday, December 5, tip-off is at 5 p.m. The post-game dinner buffet with the team will occur at Buca di Beppo, 701 9^th Avenue North. Tickets for game and dinner are $27.

In the News

Phil Kilbreath, class of 2006, reports that he works as a game warden for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

In Memoriam

For more on his life, read: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-shootfuneral_16tex.ART.State.Edition1.4b6ce34.html

FACULTY AND STAFF NEWS

Dr. Barry Ferst's interfaith symposium during the first week of November got lots of media attention statewide that got picked up by sources afar. The distance record was recently set by the Iranian Quran News Agency, which reprinted a Billings Gazette story about the symposium. Read the IQNA version here: http://www.iqna.ir/en/news_detail.php?ProdID=487611

James J. Manion Endowed Chair of Biology Dr. Gerald Shields (right) presented a talk and slide show, "A Tanzanian Safari," at the Lewis and Clark Audubon Society lecture series last Monday, November 16, at St. Paul's Methodist Church in Helena.

Carroll congratulates Carolyn Erhardt, who has changed jobs from the assistant to our vice president for finance and administration and has moved into the part-time support position in the Department of Mathematics, Engineering and Computer Science, filling the vacant position since Jo Eschler's retirement.

ATHLETICS

In the News

Christina Smetana (right), senior middle blocker from Helena, was named the Frontier Conference's Volleyball Player of the Year, while her coach Maureen Boyle and Lewis-Clark State College's Jennifer Greeny shared the conferences' Coach of the Year honors.

Meanwhile, Saints soccer's Dave Thorvilson won Frontier Coach of the Year, with sophomore Meghan O'Connell (left) of Kalispell named Frontier Player of the Year.

Schedule

This Saturday, the Fighting Saints football team enters the NAIA playoffs against Dickinson State. November 21 is also the date for the cross country team's go at the NAIA National Championships in Vancouver, Wash. Women's basketball this weekend rocks the PE Center tonight versus Dickinson State at 6 and on Saturday versus Cal Baptist University, also at 6.

For everything purple and gold, check Carroll's Athletics website, where you'll find news, schedules and much more at: http://www.carroll.edu/athletics/

COMING EVENTS

Ongoing: This week, the Carroll Art Gallery opened the second in its centennial celebration exhibits in the "Carroll Connected" series. The new show gives us art from the collections of Carroll faculty and administrators. Running through December 10, this exhibit is free of charge in the Art Gallery in St. Charles Hall, open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays, closed weekends and college holidays.

Ongoing: As part of our History Department's ongoing campus commemoration of the Berlin Wall's fall 20 years ago, a model Berlin Wall is on display in the Corette Library. This installment will remain in the library through the semester's end. On the model wall are news clippings and photos dating from the wall's post-World War II early days to its destruction in November 1989.

Ongoing: The Corette Library now has on exhibit the centennial archive display of historic Carroll images and documents on the top floor, north wall.

Ongoing: The Myrna Loy Center continues its discounts for Carroll students, faculty and staff (with Carroll ID) during its popular Tightwad Tuesdays, with $2 film admission. On non-Tuesdays, tickets are just $4.50 for Carroll audience members. Discount tickets for top acts live on the Myrna stage are also available to the Carroll community, with students admitted for $7 and faculty/staff for $15. Find the Myrna on 15 N. Ewing Street, just off Broadway Avenue and across from the courthouse. Check out the Loy schedule at www.myrnaloycenter.com.

November 22: The Carroll College Choirs will provide music for the St. Cecilia Day Mass at St. Mary Catholic Community in Helena.

December 2: Alpha Seminar Conference, Simperman Hall, 6-9 p.m.

December 5: Carroll students embarking on the Christmas break Montana Dental Outreach trip to Haiti will hold a fundraiser at the Staggering Ox (in the Lundy Center, near campus), with live music and a silent auction.

December 10: "A Night of One Acts" by Carroll Performing Arts students, in the Merton Acting Studio downstairs in the Campus Center, 7 p.m.

December 12: Choreography recital by Carroll choreography students at 7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center, St. Charles Hall, Old North.

December 13: Carroll College Choirs Christmas concert, Cathedral of St. Helena, 4 p.m. Free. The program contains a cappella selections and carols for Christmas and features larger works by Giovanni Gabrieli and Daniel Pinkham for choir, brass quartet, and organ.

AND, COMING IN 2010!

January 14: Dr. Kelly Cline presents the next in his series of public astronomy lectures with "Discovering the Stars" at 7 p.m. in Simperman Hall's Wiegand Amphitheatre, room 101/202. Free.

January 18: Martin Luther King Day. Fr. Jerry Lowney is organizing events including an 11 a.m. Mass in honor of Dr. King in St. Joseph's Chapel, Borromeo Hall; outreach volunteer work by students, faculty and staff starting at noon to mark Community Service Day; and a 7:30 p.m. Martin Luther King Day Forum, with speakers to be announced.

February 9: IMPACT Business Campaign Kickoff Breakfast

February 5-7: Centennial Showcase performance of Shakespeare's (right) "Hamlet" at 7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center. With guest director Katie Wright, this Senior Showcase project for senior Bryan Ferriter will feature myriad talents of Carroll student thespians. This is an edited version, a revival of a 1994 version of Shakespeare's classic tale of revenge.

February 6: Headlights Spaghetti Dinner, St. Mary's Church, 5-8 p.m. Fund-raiser for the upcoming service abroad trip to Rochester, NY.

February 10-13: Carroll hosts the Rocky Mountain Theatre Association Youth Festival, a week of workshops, guest artists, and a variety of shows at theatres throughout Helena.

February 16: IMPACT Friends and Parents Spring Phonothon begins

February 16: Lowney-Hunthausen Lecture by Ken Wooden, Ph.D., a sociologist and the celebrated author of "Weeping in the Playtime of Others: America's Incarcerated Children." Ken Wooden has appeared on ABC News "20/20," CBS "60 Minutes," and NBC News. As the founder of Child Lures, Ltd., a firm dedicated to developing strategies for protecting children from sexual exploitation and abduction, he has testified before Congress several times. Sponsored by Sociology Professor, Fr. Jerry Lowney.

February 19: Third annual Senior Etiquette Dinner, 6 p.m. in the lower level of the Campus Center. RSVP to: careers@carroll. Seating is limited.

March 9: IMPACT Business Campaign Wrap Up CHEERS Party.

March 18-21 & 25-28: Centennial mainstage play, "A Piece of My Heart," by Shirley Lauro, featuring guest director and Carroll performing arts alumnus Peter Ruzevich, class of 1993. This true drama brings us six women (five nurses and a country-western singer) who have returned from Vietnam and shows us each life affected by war, ending with a visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. This play's selection was inspired by the Carroll College Nursing Program and the college's connection with Captain Diane Carlson Evans, U.S. Army Nurse Corps, R.N., the founder of the Vietnam Women's Memorial Foundation, who received an honorary doctorate from Carroll last May. Curtain is 7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center, St. Charles Hall, Old North.

April 9-10: Astronomy Weekend, with April 9 keynote speaker, Dr. Darren Williams, associate professor of physics and astronomy and program chair at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, on his research expertise: extrasolar planets. The talk starts at 7 p.m. This guest speaker is brought to us thanks to a generous grant from the American Astronomical Society's Shapley Program. More on Dr. Williams is available here: http://physics.bd.psu.edu/faculty/williams/

April 16-17 & 24-25: Carroll Theatre for Children series presents "Charlotte's Web," based on the classic and beloved book by E.B. White, featuring direction by senior Kelly Clavin and design by junior Kailey Portsmouth. Curtain is 7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center, St. Charles Hall, Old North.

April 17: Campus Ministry Headlights Guatemala dinner and silent auction to raise money to help 17 students pay for their May 2010 journey to the Diocese of Helena's mission in Guatemala.

April 25: Carroll College Choirs spring concert, St. Mary's Catholic Church, 4 p.m.

April 26: Honors Convocation, 7 p.m., Campus Center.

May 6-7: Theatre Alumni Reunion and "Carroll Theatre History," a performing arts review of Carroll shows from 1913 to present in a multi-media production with archive photos and reenactments of selected plays and music from our past. Curtain is 7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center, St. Charles Hall, Old North.

May 8: Commencement and Centennial Gala with music of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, fine dining, and all kinds of fancy stuff. Once in a lifetime, baby-so save the date, all you Saints. More details later!

Many more Centennial events are listed on the Carroll website at: http://www.carroll.edu/forms/about/history/calendar.pdf

Thank you to the great Saints of Helena

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:23:44 MST

By Carroll College President Dr. Thomas Trebon

On behalf of Carroll’s Board of Trustees, faculty, staff, students and alumni, I extend our gratitude now at Thanksgiving, a great American holiday unique in setting aside time simply to express gratitude for our blessings, to the citizens of our capital city for their generosity.

That generosity arrives in myriad forms, from financial gifts to student scholarships through the annual IMPACT campaigns to support of Saints athletics and its postseason playoff bids to hiring our students as business interns and mentoring our students as they perform thousands of hours yearly in volunteer service work for local charities. Helena’s citizens provide in-kind gifts and volunteer their time and talents at the college. In more ways than these, Helena steps up to keep Carroll going strong and has done so for a century.

In addition to raising funds that allow Carroll to host our upcoming NAIA football playoffs, Helena has come forward with renewed vigor during the current leadership phase of Carroll’s annual IMPACT Business Campaign that is under way. In that campaign, local companies, most of whom are small business owners, are coming forward to support this college with their generous commitment of financial resources and volunteer hours.

If the past is any indication of our prospects, we will have much to celebrate in the year to come. During the 2008-09 fiscal year — even as the economy reeled in the global economic downturn — giving to Carroll totaled over $365,000, with approximately 20 percent of this raised through IMPACT and its St. Charles Borromeo Guild league of donors.

Simply put, Helena has risen to the occasion to assure that our students can get an outstanding college education and be ready to compete in our changing, challenging economy. In the toughest times, Helena has been there for Carroll College. You are all great Saints!

Meanwhile, the college’s Learn-Serve-Lead Centennial Campaign is progressing with Helena individuals and businesses participating in the campaign with their donations, pledges and volunteer time. This support has significantly enhanced our academic mission and programs, and for this we are deeply grateful.

For the past 100 years, Helena has welcomed Carroll College, fostered it, grown hand-in-hand with it and given freely of its bounty to keep the college and its generations of students flourishing. Helena needs no lessons in how to be a good neighbor or in how to open its purse to address Carroll’s needs. This fine city has proven how much it understands the importance of the college and of higher education generally. In fact, Helena and its residents could teach others a lesson in selflessness, hospitality and gratitude. Your immediate and generous involvement in and contributions to the annual food drive linked to our national championship competition is stunning.

Carroll College is grateful to have the home field advantage for its NAIA playoff games, including those in football that begin this weekend and in all of our other sports. We thank Helena for its past and current support in bringing these postseason contests to Nelson Stadium. We also thank you, Helena, for filling the stands, cheering us on, and providing scholarships that draw outstanding scholar-athletes to our college.

All of this has allowed Carroll’s teams to become national leaders in academics, sportsmanship and, of course, athletics. Without you, it would not have been possible, and we thank you, Helena, for your steadfast loyalty to your hometown heroes.

Carroll to host women's basketball tournament

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:10:40 MST

By The Independent Record

The Carroll College women’s basketball team will be hosting the Mountain West Bank Classic today and tomorrow in the Carroll P.E. Center.

The Saints (3-2) face Dickinson State (3-1) tonight at 8 p.m., following a matchup between Montana Tech (2-0) and Cal Baptist at 6 p.m.

Saturday, Carroll will face Cal Baptist (3-0) at 5 p.m.

The Saints are led by Elly Bruursema with 14.8 points per game while Cassie Scheffelmaier adds 11.6 points and 6.2 rebounds per game.

Dickinson State, of the NAIA Division II, is led by Kia Herbel’s 25 points and 12.5 rebounds per game.

Cal Baptist’s Kendra Morris averages 22 points to lead her squad.

Students raise money for dental outreach program in Haiti

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 10:40:37 MST

By ANGELA BRANDT, Independent Record

When organizing a fun run to help raise funds for an outreach trip to Haiti, Carroll College student Jade Johnstone’s expectations were exceeded.

“We were hoping for 20 runners and we ended up with almost 50,” Johnstone said while keeping time during the 5K on Saturday morning.

The Race to Raise helped fund Johnstone’s and five other Carroll students’ trip as part of Hope for Haiti, which offers a dental outreach program.

“The way people have helped is awesome. It’s great to put fun in fundraising,” Johnstone said at the finish line at Nelson Stadium.

The six students will be in Haiti from Dec. 20 to Jan. 5 assisting dentists and nurses.

Carroll student Jesa Marsh decided to take advantage of the sunshine and at the same time help out her friends who will be traveling with the Hope for Haiti group.

“It’s been so beautiful out. I thought ‘why not?’” Marsh said.

It was fellow student Lindsey Ward’s first fun run, and she was pleased with her 13th place finish.

“I did a lot better than I thought I would,” Ward said.

Another fundraiser for the trip will be held at the Staggering Ox on Dec. 5 and will feature live music and a silent auction.

Reporter Angela Brandt: 447-4078 or angela.brandt -is-at- helenair -dot- com

November 12, 2009 QuickNotes

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:57:54 MST

SAINTS OF THE CARIBBEAN

Tonight through Sunday are your final boarding calls for Michael "Mokey" McNeilly's "Pirate Play," an original musical comedy in the Carroll Performing Arts Center (Old North, St. Charles Hall). Get ready to boo the blackguard Count Long Gone Madoff (Carroll alum Randy Fuhrman), a banker who built an empire on a pyramid scheme, and cheer the school of sultry sharks who swoop in like federal regulators to save the day. It's even got a swash-buckling finale! In addition to outstanding student actors, Carroll faculty have lent their talents to this run, with Nancy Harper creating costumes, Sallyann Mulcahy choreographing and Chuck Driscoll heading up set design.

Lori Carey plays the pirate captain, joined on stage by Carroll alumni Brian Browitt (class of 2008) and Garrett Armstrong (class of 2009) and Carroll students Kailey Portsmouth, Mary Holbrook, Nikki Baker, Michelle Metzger, Andrew Testerman and Caroline Schafer, plus young Caelan Cummings as the Billy "Cabin Boy" Bones.

Catch "Pirate Play" tonight through Saturday (Nov. 12-14) at 7 p.m., with a 3 p.m. Sunday matinee on November 15. Carroll students admitted free on Thursday (that means tonight!) and Sunday. Faculty and staff are free for all performances. For non-Carroll theater-goers, tickets are $11 general admission, $8 for seniors and students. Call 447-4304 and leave a message to reserve tickets.

READIN' THE HELL OUT OF IT

Literati, start your engines! This evening and all day tomorrow, November 12-13, enjoy the 7^th annual Carroll Literary Festival, themed "Readin' the Hell Out of It," offering two keynotes and a slate of student author readings of all genres. All Carroll Literary Festival events are free and open to the public.

It begins tonight with Helena's own Maile Meloy (right), the award-winning author of two novels and a duo of short story collections, reading from her latest, "Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It," at 7:30 p.m. in the lower level of the Campus Center. Meloy's past works include "Half in Love" and the novels "Liars and Saints" and "A Family Daughter."

The fest continues tomorrow with student-author readings starting at 10:30 a.m. in the Campus Center's lower level. At noon, Associate Professor of English and twice-published poet Loren Graham (left) will read from his forthcoming book, "Mirrow," in Trinity Hall lounge. Afterward, at 1:15, Carroll students and other authors will present more of their prose, poetry and literary criticism in the lower level of the Campus Center. A sampler includes sessions like "Don't Fear the Reaper: The Philosophy of Death in Literature" at 2:45, "Sympathy for the Devil: Vampires in Popular Culture" (critiquing the "Twilight" series) at 4:15, and "Slam Dunk da Funk," a poetry slam competition at 5:30. Festivities wrap up at around 6:30 p.m. For the Helena Independent Record feature on the fest, including the full schedule of sessions, see: http://www.helenair.com/news/local/article_d0669ff4-ce94-11de-8755-001cc4c002e0.html

WE CAN BEAT 'EM WITH HALF OUR MEMBERS TIED BEHIND OUR BACKS!

The Carroll Talking Saints forensics team, competing with only 10 of its 24 members, swept to victory at the Trapper Rendezvous forensics tournament at Northwest College in Powell, Wyo., on November 6-7. Led by senior Kirby Brooke of Bozeman, Mont., who took home five first place awards, the team won the first-place school sweepstakes.

Brooke and Amy McNulty of Helena, Mont., won their second tournament in three weeks by finishing first in open parliamentary debate. Brooke and McNulty also won the Colorado College tournament on Oct. 24 in Colorado Springs. Their success has earned them a bid to the Point Loma Round Robin in February 2010, a by-invitation-only event limited to the nation's top 16 debate teams among more than 500 ranked teams. The Talking Saints are now in hot pursuit of their 20^th-straight regional championship. For more on the recent win, read: http://www.carroll.edu/about/pressreleases.php?id=12702

WE'RE RUNNING FOR THEIR LIVES

This Saturday, November 14, our student effort to help the island nation of Haiti, poorest in the Western Hemisphere, continues with the inaugural Race to Raise Hope for Haiti 5K race/fun run. All proceeds benefit Montana Dental Outreach, which last spring break took a student group to Haiti to provide dental care to thousands of poor rural citizens and is planning a return trip this winter. Entry fee is $5 for students, $12 general in advance or $15 on race day. Registration begins at 10 a.m. at the Carroll PE Center (no credit cards day-of). The run begins at 11 a.m. at the Bill Roberts Municipal Golf Course (just across the railroad tracks from campus). Advance registration is now available (after fixing on online snafu) at www.active.com (just punch in the race name "Hope for Haiti")-you can register online today and tomorrow. Packets will be available on Saturday before the starting gun. Prizes and donated goodies will be doled out to participants. For more info, contact student organizers Jade Johnstone at (406) 788-4837 or jjohnstone -is-at- carroll -dot- edu or Louis Bartoletti at (406) 925-2306.

BEYOND INFINITY

Next Wednesday, November 18, start thinking big-REALLY BIG-as our resident astronomer-mathematics professor Kelly Cline presents "Infinity and Beyond: From Mathematics to the Big Bang and Black Holes," at 7 p.m. in Simperman Hall's Wiegand Amphitheatre, room 101-202. As always, his talk is free and open to the public.

What is infinity? Can anything real ever be infinite? According to Dr. Cline, the answer seems to be yes (anyone waiting to be served at a Helena restaurant can readily back him up on this). Infinity, the idea of an unlimited amount, is a bizarre and amazing thought, however the most amazing thing is that modern mathematics and science have begun to understand this idea. Mathematicians have discovered that there are different types of infinities and that some infinities are bigger than others. Meanwhile, astronomers have discovered that the mysteries of black holes and the big bang are wrapped up in the question of what infinity is and how it works. According to Einstein's equations, an infinity lurks at the center of every black hole, and infinity filled our universe at the instant of the big bang. By understanding this strange mathematical concept, we may be able to unlock the secrets of our universe.

IS THERE A FUTURE IN IT?

Next Thursday, November 19, as part of the Helena Education Foundation's Great Conversations program, Carroll will co-sponsor a panel discussion, "Future of News Media" at 7 p.m. in Trinity Hall lounge. Panelists will include University of Montana School of Journalism Dean Peggy Kuhr, Associated Press Western States Division Director Jim Clarke and Helena Independent Record Editor John Doran. Carroll President Tom Trebon will moderate. On the docket is how media will respond to public calls for more news in the evolving digital age stressing free access to information. Is the Internet the future of news, and if so, how will the media evolve to offer in-depth, investigative reporting and meet its financial needs to stay in business? Will media become more democratized in the hands of many, or will a few corporate emperors decide what's news? Sponsored by Carroll College and the Helena Independent Record, it is free and open to the pubic.

JUST TOYING WITH US

Now through December 9, Carroll's annual Toys for Tots drive welcomes donations of new, unwrapped gifts for all ages of children. Donation boxes have been set up in the Carroll PE Center, O'Connell Hall, the Corette Library, Simperman Hall, St. Albert's, and in residences Guadalupe, St. Charles and Trinity. Our dorms have been assigned age groups to provide for as follows: Guad Hall: ages 0-2 years; St. Charles: 3-5 years old; and Trinity/Borromeo: ages 6-9. All other buildings may donate for a kid of any age. The building that donates the most toys will receive an ice cream social at the beginning of the spring semester. For more info, contact Megan Rennie at mrennie -is-at- carroll -dot- edu

DESIGNED TO LAST

Gary Fischer, P.E., Carroll assistant professor of engineering, recently served his second annual stint as a judge for the Montana Engineering Excellence Awards, sponsored by the American Council of Engineering Companies. Last week, as a kick-off to the annual Joint Engineers Conference at the Red Lion Inn in Helena, he attended the honors banquet to present the awards, and he reports that he found Carroll College well-represented. First, the excellence award for the outstanding project involving studies, research and consulting services went to the firm of DOWL HKM for their work on the US Highway 93 Corridor Study, and accepting the award on the firm's behalf was Sarah Nicolai, a 2009 Carroll civil engineering graduate who played a key role in the study.

Second, Willis Wetstein (right), advisor to Carroll's student chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) and member of our Engineering Advisory Board, was inducted into the Montana Professional Engineers Hall of Fame, sponsored by the Montana Society of Engineers. A former president and CEO of Morrison-Maierle, Inc., Wetstein was recently featured in the most recent edition of the Morrison-Maierle newsletter "MMI Blueprint" for his participation in our fall break EWB return trip to a Mexican orphanage to begin planning the next stage of our students' water treatment project ongoing there. The new plans call for establishing a spice farm at the orphanage, where Carroll's EWB students have already engineered and constructed a sewage treatment facility, tilapia fish farm and adjacent irrigation system. For more on his professional life and recent honor, read: http://www.montana.edu/cpa/news/nwview.php?article=7708

Third, Professor Fischer was introduced to Jim Lynch, director of the Montana Department of Transportation, who immediately said that he has received direct feedback from his employees praising the quality of students from the Carroll civil engineering curriculum who are working as interns or full time for MDT.

As if all the kudos weren't enough, Carroll received a $10,000 endowment donation from the Montana section of the American Society of Civil Engineers at last week's conference.

DESIGN FLAW

As part of our History Department's ongoing campus commemoration of the Berlin Wall's fall 20 years ago, a model Berlin Wall is on display in the Corette Library's upstairs floor now through the semester's end. This installment had its initial showing in the Campus Center last week. On the model wall are news clippings and photos dating from the structure's post-World War II early days to its destruction in November 1989. If you've forgotten what an Iron Curtain looks like, this will remind you of the not-so-good-old days (in addition to proving that building big walls to separate people doesn't work).

STUDENT NEWS

In the News

Carroll College student-cheerleaders Angela McKeever and Sara Stromberg (arms upraised, left to right) were recently in the news for their outreach work coaching the West Mont Cheerleaders, who performed in last week's opening ceremony for the Special Olympics basketball games in Butte. Stromberg and McKeever said that when they found they had some free time this semester, they immediately searched for a way to get involved in the community. See the uplifting story in the Helena Independent Record here: http://www.helenair.com/lifestyles/article_d05c1bd8-cc28-11de-bba3-001cc4c002e0.html

Jobs

A Christian Ministry in the National Parks (www.acmnp.com) wants you to live at the base of Half Dome, hike the Tetons, splash in Blue Ridge waterfalls and experience God in a whole new way. ACMNP will be on campus for job applications next Thursday, November 19, in the Campus Center lobby from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. It's open to Christians who seek full-time summer jobs while leading worship activities and exploring our nation's national parks. You can apply now at www.acmnp.com or speak with a ACMNP representative on campus next week.

Study Abroad

Next Wednesday and Thursday, students interested in joining Carroll's India-Exiled Tibet Study Abroad trip scheduled for June 25-July 11, 2010, are invited to information meetings to learn all the details and requirements. The trip offers 3 academic credits, including global diversity and diversity field experience for education majors. On the itinerary are the Taj Mahal, the bazaars of Delhi, meeting Tibetan refugees, trekking the Himalayas, service project work with a Tibetan exile community, celebrating the Dalai Lama's birthday at his main temple in Dharamsala, visiting the Beatles-inspiring city of Rishikesh and yoga on the Ganges. Info meetings are in the upper level of the Campus Center's Hoff-Kavanagh room on November 18 from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. and November 19 from 7 to 8 p.m.

For all the latest on Student Activities and events coming up, check the Carroll Students webpage: http://www.carroll.edu/students/

ALUMNI NEWS

In the News

Tonbridge Power Inc. recently announced its unanimous election of John Etchart (left), class of 1968 and former Carroll board of trustees member from 1987 to 2002, to the position of chairman of the board of directors. A Helena resident, Etchart has been a member of Tonbridge Power's board of directors since the company's inception in 2005. As an experienced executive and advisor to various levels of government and business in Montana and the Northwestern US, he served for nearly 10 years in a variety of senior roles as an executive officer with Burlington Northern and was appointed to two terms on the Northwest Power Council by Montana Governor Marc Racicot. Etchart was three times elected chairman of the Power Council and for the past several years has been a partner with Gallatin Public Affairs, a leading regional strategic communications firm. Presently, he serves as a director of The Mergenthaler Companies and the advisory board of the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum. For more, read: http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Tonbridge-Power-Inc-TSX-VENTURE-TBZ-1068140.html

Tony Nelson, nursing class of 2006, and his wife Dana announce the birth of their daughter Sophia Louise Nelson, on Oct. 3, 2009. Tony has also accepted a new position within the Minneapolis VA medical center as an emergency department nurse. Tony, Dana, daughter Isabella (16 months) and the new baby live in Owatonna, Minn.

Carroll has hired TJ Lehman, class of 2007, to be the college's new events manager/fitness center director in our PE Center.

Matthew David Waldenberg (right), class of 2007, married Teryn Lee Hauf on Aug. 1, 2009. The groom works as a property manager for D&D Investments and retail manager for Central Heating & Cooling of Kalispell, Mont.

Bryson Pelc, class of 2008, and Rachel Gilfillan (left), class of 2007, were married July 25, 2009, at the Kleffner Ranch outside Helena. Bryson and Rachel met while attending Carroll. After graduation, Bryson earned his master of business administration degree at the University of Montana, and he is completing his CPA credentials while currently employed as an accountant at Galusha, Higgins, Galusha. Rachel is completing her master's degree in nutrition through the University of Alabama and is employed at St. Peter's Hospital. They enjoyed a honeymoon cruise in Mexico and live in Helena.

Garret Garrels, class of 2009, reports that his venture Pink Gloves Boxing has debuted at Carroll College. Stand by for more news in the coming weeks about further Pink Gloves opportunities on campus, but until then, check the online video of our Saints women who pack a pink punch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qv1DbB44FE

In Memoriam

A patron saint of Carroll athletics, Mary McCarthy (right), died on November 4, 2009, in Helena. Mary was widely known for her regular attendance at all Carroll sporting events. She was also the mother of two of our alumni, Dr. Mike McCarthy, class of 1968, and Maureen Oelkers, class of 1980. After raising her children, Grandma Mary worked for the Diocese of St. Helena (1975-1985). For more on her life, read: http://www.helenair.com/news/local/obituaries/article_2dfacaca-cc27-11de-b15e-001cc4c03286.html

FACULTY AND STAFF NEWS

Today (Thursday, Nov. 12), Fine Arts Professor Ralph Esposito will be the guest speaker for our November Faculty Colloquium as he presents "Cultural Immersion: Greece and Bulgaria, a Fulbright Experience" at 4:30 p.m. in the Rogers Board Room, located in the top floor of the Campus Center.

Please join the Business Office in welcoming Maria Rogne to Carroll College as our new accountant in the Business Office, where she will be handling student accounts, accounts payable and cashiering. Maria was previously employed by RY Timber in Townsend and has a strong background in accounting and customer service.

ATHLETICS

Carroll volleyball shares the Frontier Conference title with Lewis-Clark State College and enters post-season play with conference championships this weekend in Lewiston, Idaho. Saints Soccer, also conference champs, suffered a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to the University of Mobile (Alabama) in the semifinal round of the unaffiliated NAIA Tournament in Dallas, Texas, yesterday. Our other Frontier Conference victors, the Fighting Saints football team, wrapped up a charmed regular season and will play its NAIA first-round playoff opponent on November 21 at noon. Stay tuned for details!

November 21 is also the date for the cross country team's go at the NAIA National Championships in Vancouver, Wash. Last weekend, sophomore Jamie Greene (left) finished fifth at the Frontier Conference Cross Country Championships, earning her all-conference honors. Also at the Salt Lake City championship run, Racing Saint sophomore Hannah Bauthues and junior Tommy Sullivan were named 2009 Carroll Cross Country Champion of Character Award winners.

This weekend, men's and women's basketball play away.

For everything purple and gold, check Carroll's Athletics website, where you'll find news, schedules and much more at: http://www.carroll.edu/athletics/

COMING EVENTS

Ongoing: The Corette Library now has on exhibit the centennial archive display of historic Carroll images and documents on the top floor, north wall.

November 12: Red Cross Blood Drive in the Siena Ross Room, lower level of the Campus Center, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

November 12: Screening of "Invisible Children" at 7 p.m. in O'Connell Hall room 107. With free admission, this documentary exposes the ugly realities of child soldiers enslaved in Uganda. Question and answer period follows the film.

November 15: Carroll Choirs sing at the college fair event at Crowne Plaza in Billings, hosted by Carroll Admissions Office.

November 16: Carroll Choirs give concerts at Billings Central Catholic High School and Skyview High (Billings).

November 17: Carroll Choirs give concerts at Billings West High School and the St. Labre Indian School in Ashland, Mont.

November 16-17: Carroll students will have a chance to learn more about summer internships with the Federal Highway Administration, which will have reps on campus on November 16 and 17. Contact Career Services at careers -is-at- carroll -dot- edu to schedule an interview.

November 22: The Carroll College Choirs will provide music for the St. Cecilia Day Mass at St. Mary Catholic Community in Helena.

December 2: Alpha Seminar Conference, Simperman Hall, 6-9 p.m.

December 10: "A Night of One Acts" by Carroll Performing Arts students, in the Merton Acting Studio downstairs in the Campus Center, 7 p.m.

December 12: Choreography recital by Carroll choreography students at 7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center, St. Charles Hall, Old North.

December 13: Carroll College Choirs Christmas concert, Cathedral of St. Helena, 4 p.m. Free. The program contains a cappella selections and carols for Christmas and features larger works by Giovanni Gabrieli and Daniel Pinkham for choir, brass quartet, and organ.

AND, COMING IN 2010!

February 9: IMPACT Business Campaign Kickoff Breakfast

February 5-7: Centennial Showcase performance of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" at 7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center. With guest director Katie Wright, this Senior Showcase project for senior Bryan Ferriter will feature myriad talents of Carroll student thespians. This is an edited version, a revival of a 1994 version of Shakespeare's classic tale of revenge.

February 6: Headlights Spaghetti Dinner, St. Mary's Church, 5-8 p.m. Fund-raiser for the upcoming service abroad trip to the Guatemala Mission.

February 10-13: Carroll hosts the Rocky Mountain Theatre Association Youth Festival, a week of workshops, guest artists, and a variety of shows at theatres throughout Helena.

February 16: IMPACT Friends and Parents Spring Phonothon begins

February 19: Third annual Senior Etiquette Dinner, 6 p.m. in the lower level of the Campus Center. RSVP to: careers@carroll. Seating is limited.

March 9: IMPACT Business Campaign Wrap Up CHEERS Party.

March 18-21 & 25-28: Centennial mainstage play, "A Piece of My Heart," by Shirley Lauro, featuring guest director and Carroll performing arts alumnus Peter Ruzevich, class of 1993. This true drama brings us six women (five nurses and a country-western singer) who have returned from Vietnam and shows us each life affected by war, ending with a visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. This play's selection was inspired by the Carroll College Nursing Program and the college's connection with Captain Diane Carlson Evans (left), U.S. Army Nurse Corps, R.N., the founder of the Vietnam Women's Memorial Foundation, who received an honorary doctorate from Carroll last May. Curtain is 7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center, St. Charles Hall, Old North.

April 16-17 & 24-25: Carroll Theatre for Children series presents "Charlotte's Web," based on the classic and beloved book by E.B. White, featuring direction by senior Kelly Clavin and design by junior Kailey Portsmouth. Curtain is 7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center, St. Charles Hall, Old North.

April 25: Carroll College Choirs spring concert, St. Mary's Catholic Church, 4 p.m.

April 26: Honors Convocation, 7 p.m., Campus Center.

May 6-7: Theatre Alumni Reunion and "Carroll Theatre History," a performing arts review of Carroll shows from 1913 to present in a multi-media production with archive photos and reenactments of selected plays and music from our past. Curtain is 7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center, St. Charles Hall, Old North.

Many more Centennial events are listed on the Carroll website at: http://www.carroll.edu/forms/about/history/calendar.pdf

November 12, 2009 Alumni News

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:21:25 MST

In the News

Carroll has hired TJ Lehman, class of 2007, to be the college's new events manager/fitness center director in our PE Center.

In Memoriam

Meloy spurns common advice to writers

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:23:40 MST

By MARGA LINCOLN Independent Record

When Maile Meloy was growing up in Helena there were few outward hints of her future as a critically acclaimed author - she didn't lug pen and pad with her through childhood.

But there were other signs.

"She was an incredibly observant and bright young person," recalls her aunt Kay Satre, a Carroll College professor of English. "And she had a memory that was just remarkable."

Meloy is the keynote speaker at 7:30 p.m. tonight in Carroll College's Campus Center for the college's 7th Annual Literary Festival.

Meloy didn't try fiction writing until she was a senior at Harvard University, she said earlier this week in an e-mail interview from her home in Los Angeles. She took a beginning fiction class with Richard Ford and loved it.

"After I graduated, I had a nearly unpaid job working for my uncle Mark at the BLM as a river ranger in Utah," she said.

She'd work nine days on the river and then have five days off, staying with Mark and his wife Ellen, a writer, in Kenilworth. While there, Meloy was writing stories, which she kept to herself.

"Ellen, who died in 2004, was really inspiring - she was such a funny and thoughtful writer. ... She made it seem possible to make writing a career."

In the meantime, Meloy had a lot of other jobs - working on a ballot issue in Montana, teaching English in Costa Rica, cashiering at the Real Food Store and then heading to California, where she was a development assistant in animation at Disney Studio in L.A.

She would finish her stories as a graduate student in the MFA program at the University of California, Irvine. They became her first book, "Half in Love."

"That's where I started taking writing seriously, and admitting to myself and occasionally to other people, that it was what I wanted to do."

Early influences on her writing career were Helena High teachers David Cooper and De Winterburn and Carroll's Satre, whose writing class Meloy took as a Helena High senior.

"I also think that taking acting classes at Grandstreet and at Carroll helped - I think you learn a lot from studying acting about what happens in dialogue to make a scene interesting."

Critics have praised Meloy's lean writing, which captures in a few words a gesture, a character, a life.

"Meloy is fearless in the sweep of her attentions, commanding the manners, idioms and fundaments of a range of cultures, regions and classes," writes author Geoffrey Wolff. "Trust this audacious new writer. She is a wonder."

While Meloy's portraits of Montana characters resonate, so do her stories of such people as a soldier who is being shipped to France during World War II.

In an interview with the L.A. Times in August, she said, "To know someone, you don't look at clothes or carriage, but at the purpose of the life.

"The question of what they're living for is the central one for me. Even if they aren't really sure - then that dilemma is the central one. If what's really important to people is on the line, then I think you have a good story."

Meloy quickly discarded the advice often given to young writers: Write only what you know.

"I think you have to find some emotional connection to whatever you're writing, in order to make it feel like it matters. But at this point, if I wrote only what I know, it would be about someone who sits in a corner of the room at a funny-looking desk ... staring at a screen. It would be insanely boring."

Meloy's own story rarely appears. She's the daughter of Claudia Montagne and Mike Meloy and grew up in Helena.

Her brother, Colin, also took to writing - in a much different Baroque style - and is singer/ songwriter, and founding member of the folk-rock group the Decemberists.

Her grandfather Pete was a potter, who joined Archie Bray in launching the Archie Bray Foundation. Pete's brother, Hank, was a painter who taught art at Columbia University in New York.

So it's no surprise that Meloy's family appreciated and nurtured art.

However, they weren't sure it was something to choose as a career, she said in the L.A. Times interview. "I think it made them anxious as a profession. There was a while when my dad was like, ‘Will one of my children please get a job?'"

The best writing advice she ever received came in graduate school from writer Aimee Bender.

"She wrote for two hours, first thing in the morning, six days a week," recalled Meloy. At that time Meloy had "college habits" and wrote when she had deadlines, but otherwise had "all these stories started, and none of them were due."

Meloy took Bender's advice to heart, finding "it really worked."