Endada 2012 left no one disappointed on Saturday. The music and arts festival coincided nicely with alumni weekend, so some alums got to experience the eclectic display on campus.

Making a comparison to his own time on The Hill in the 90′s, one alum at Endada commented that the boys seem to be into more “cool stuff” these days. That may be the case…because these kids are in fact into some dang cool stuff:  writing/directing one-act plays, playing lead guitar in rock bands, making short films, digital photography, Irish dancing, et cetera.

But it may also be that boys on The Hill have always had these talents. There’s just never been a good venue for showcasing this “cool stuff” all in one power-packed day until now. Endada has filled that void nicely for the last two years. If you missed the display on Saturday, mark your calendar for Endada 2013 right now.

Are you wondering just how to spend your Saturday,  a Saturday that promises to be 75° and sunny? Wonder no longer, because I have your day planned for you:

10:30 am Arrive at MBA in anticipation of the 11am start of the Endada 2012 festivities.

10:30-10:45am Ogle at the array activities being set up for your entertainment/edification.

10:45am Cajole the proprietor of the Grilled Cheeserie into opening a little early for a late morning snack.

10:50am Witness the gathering of other cool people (of which you are one) who have come to campus for Endada.

11am Endada 2012 is now officially underway, and you make a beeline for the balloon artist (you love balloon animals, remember?).

11:15am Wearing your new balloon panda hat, you make your way to one of the stages where a local band already has whipped the crowd into a frenzy.

11:45am You spend a solid 15 minutes agonizing over the lunch choices before you.

Noon You finally decide to try a little bit of everything: Mas Tacos, The Hot Spot, Hoss Burgers

12:45 Having made your delicious rounds to each food truck, you now venture inside for an improv workshop.

1:15 You make your way back outside and try out a few improv tricks in sparkling conversations with the local artists who have their work on display.

1:45 Another band (and its name: Diarrhea Planet) is gathering some attention at one of the outdoor stages. Your curiosity gets the best of you.

2pm Gordon Chenery politely denies your fervent desire to try out his chainsaw, which is on hand for his display of power-sculpting.

2:15 It’s time for dessert. You grab some kettle corn, a snow cone, some ice cream, and something from The Bang Candy Company

3:00 Back inside for more theatrical culture in a workshop led by Kameron Tarlowe

3:30 The headliners are now rocking the quad to finish a fine day at Endada 2012.

4pm Endada 2012 comes to a close. Instead of driving home in your car, you stow yourself away in the Grilled Cheeserie truck as it leaves campus.

Here’s another post on Endada, in case you want to tweak your itinerary a bit. You can also check it out on Facebook right here. See you on Saturday.

Short Version: Be on campus for Endada on Saturday, April 28 from 11 to 4. It’s free.

Long Version: Endada is an epic confluence of music, art, film, theatre, food trucks, and the food within said trucks. Last year Endada burst onto the scene in a major way. Its overwhelming success was the topic of conversation for weeks and weeks after the event. Now the hardworking committee, ably led by Ms. Catharine Hollifield and a creative group of students, has unveiled a 2012 Endada lineupwhich should make last year’s festival look no more impressive than a macaroni duck.

Music: If Endada took place in a house, it would totally rock it. This year Endada will feature no less than twelve bands, including:

D. Watusi
King Arthur
Honey Locust
What Up, English
Orbit Funeral
Boy Named Banjo
Trippin’ Snails
Stripes
The Moderates
Badlands
The Love Drums
The Bellet Family Band

Art: More than 30 artists will be on campus. Some will be sculpting/painting/chainsawing right out in the open, revealing the secrets of their craft. A woefully incomplete listing of the featured artists:

Myles Maillie
Mick Biesel
Austin Peay Goldsmith press
Danielle McDaniel and the Clay Lady Co-Op
Origami Club Nashville
Larry Rogers
Vicki Sawyer
Elizabeth Foster
and 30+ more professional and student artists…

Theatre: You know it’s serious when the “e” comes at the end. In case the perfect weather outside is too much to endure, you can always retreat to Paschall Theater for these offerings:

Kameron Tarlowe
Sebastian Jones & Youth Speaks Poets
Fresh Amish Produce (local improv group)
Mazelprov (student improv group)
The Academy

Food Trucks: Yes, this was strategically placed at the bottom to force you to read everything before it. This aspect of Endada needs no fancy preface. It’s food, it’s good, and it rolls right up to you:

Grilled Cheeserie
Mas Tacos
Moovers & Shakers
The Hot Spot
Hoss Burgers
Lisa Preston’s West End Events
Moosehead Kettle Corn

Family: In addition to an overwhelming selection of fine musicians and artists, this year’s festival has added a number of activities for kids: face painting, caricatures, acting workshops, the Nashville Symphony Instrument Petting Zoo, and the fabulous balloon artist Scott Tripp.

Join the Facebook event for Endada by clicking here.

Stephen Bess ’95 left a baseball legacy on The Hill. He was a standout hitter and pitcher for the Big Red’s state championship team in 1993 and the state runner-up team in 1995 (which lost to the #1 team in the nation). Arguably one of the best high school hitters never to step up to the plate in college, Bess focused exclusively on pitching during his collegiate career at Rice. Needless to say, he was a darn good pitcher. He even pitched in the College World Series. As impressive a player as he was, he has  recently created another legacy to rival his feats on the playing field.

A few years ago Bess established a yearly contest in honor of the MBA English Department and his former teacher, Headmaster Douglas Paschall. The contest pits three seniors against each other in a literary cage match which unfolds in front of the entire school, a scowling panel of judges, and Mr. Bess (via a streaming broadcast). Hoping for a positive reaction (or at least mercy) from the bloodthirsty crowd, each senior is armed only with his college admission essay, which he must read aloud.

This year’s contest, which took place earlier today, featured Preston Palm, Robert Hoover, and Daniel Bellet—all fearsome competitors. The deftly crafted essays made use of epic metaphors, touching family stories, and humor. Emerging unscathed from the swirling smoke of the literary battle, Daniel Bellet stood alone, victorious. In addition to the prize of survival, Daniel also earned $500—an award underwritten by a generous donation from Mr. Bess, who has underwritten the contest in perpetuity.

 

Today, The Waffle Iron is reading so you don’t have to.

The Hill, MBA’s biannual magazine, is hitting mailboxes as we write/read (since we’re not really speaking). Below is a grossly simplified version of each part of the magazine.

Cover: an amazingly glossy photo of the even more amazing new Mary Helen Lowry Hall

Inside Cover: Reunion!

Editor’s Note: It’s a tribute to an ode in honor of  Mrs. Bowen (did you follow that?), which originally appeared here.

From the Headmaster: A focus on the mission of the school

Spaghetti Supper:  People and Pasta

Carnival: It should be mandatory for all kids between the ages of 3 and 12 to attend this event…it’s that much fun.

Long Mountain: I’m pretty sure that the observatory is evil. Check out the pictures of it.

Louis Zamperini: He’s a hero. Those who say otherwise are probably just joking.

AP Scholars: There were lots of them.

National Merit Scholars: There were a few of those, too.

Music: The Hill is alive with the sound of it.

Veterans Day: Two MBA mothers of soldiers helped us honor our veterans.

Theater: Pajamas, roaring mice, and a beagle.

Totomoi: Not to be confused with its brother society, Donutoi.

Chess: Don’t say “horse” or “castle” around these guys.

Debate: The customary slew of amazing achievements

Sports: Football, XC & Golf recaps with an SI-worthy pic

Accreditation: Check

Service Club: Kids doing good things

Race for the Cure: Kids doing a good thing really, really well

A Wealth of Knowledge:  Wisdom from eight teachers with a combined 251 years of experience at MBA

Abroad: MBA sent more boys all over the globe last year than ever.

Ring Ceremony: Kempton Presley ’99 gives the boys a great example to follow.

Lowry Hall Dedication: The building is worthy of about 384 dedications…you have to see it.

College Alumni Lunch: 100 dudes came back to campus for some comfort food.

Fathers of Alumni Breakfast: Legendary receiver Raymond Berry told us what is wrong with the NFL today.

Environmental Conservation: MBA adopts a new school color: green.

Old School, New Media: You’re reading this, so you already know everything.

Receiving through Giving: MBA Trustee John Rochford shares his personal feelings about MBA

Class News: People are doing things.

In Memoriam: Among those remembered, Dr. Alice Springer

Inside Back Cover: Instead of a rusty can of SPAM, you can now see your reflection in Kingfisher Creek.

Back Cover: Apparently the force of gravity suddenly shifted 90 degrees at a pep rally

The preceding in no way does justice to the magazine in the fullness of its glossy hard copy glory, so check your mailbox.

Nashville has a new foodie duo, and one half of that duo hails from MBA.

Vivek Surti ’03 and his sister Zarna have recently begun writing for a new blog about Nashville eateries: www.2dinefornashville.com.  Both Vivek and his sister have had their own individual blogs for a while now. Having seen evidence of their culinary expertise on those personal blogs, the 2 Dine For franchise approached Vivek and Zarna about joining forces to create a blog for Nashville.

Now covering Boston, Houston, and Nashville, the 2 Dine For blog provides a “he said/she said” format for its unbiased reviews. Unlike other restaurant reviewers, Vivek and Zarna visit each restaurant unannounced, remain anonymous throughout the meal, and then pay for their own food—they’re sneaky.  They tackle high end steak houses like Kayne Prime and local food trucks like The Grilled Cheeserie.

If you look closely, you can see the influence of Vivek’s years of writing practice on The Hill paying off handsomely in his reviews. Check them out here.

Will we be ready? Or will we have to call in a futuristic, Austrian cyborg to quell the rise of the machines?

Mobile. Mobile. Mobile. Everything is going mobile these days. Websites that fail to welcome the growing number of smart phone users are already dying. Smart phones are terminating those sites. Fortunately, a few intrepid techies on The Hill have begun fighting the mobile battle.

If you pull up the MBA homepage on your smartphone, you’ll see that there is a mobile version of the website. You can quickly access the school calendar, news, athletic updates, media gallery, and even the library. You can even take a peek at it on a regular computer (montgomerybell.edu/mobile). Admittedly, it’s not the most beautiful thing to look at (right now), but it gets the job done.

The mobile library site is particularly well equipped to appease the mobile revolutionaries. Librarians, who are a tenacious and inventive group, have been fighting in the analog vs. digital battle for over a decade now, so they’re no strangers to change. As more resources go online (as opposed to on the shelf), the librarians have deftly positioned the website (and now it’s mobile counterpart) to answer all student needs. They’ve even peppered the web with QR codes to entice smart phone wielding students to visit the mobile site.

 

Readers, this post is a note to our alums, but others of you can stick around if you want to eavesdrop a little…

How has MBA lasted for so long? What’s the source of its staying power? (Hint: It’s not a magical, glowing amulet of endurance buried under the bell tower.)

Alums, you are a big part of that answer. Of course it’s good to have successful alums with whom the school can claim some sort of relationship. But how much better is it to have those same alums directly involved in sustaining the mission of MBA?

You know what it takes to make it on The Hill. You’ve been here. As inspiring as the campus itself has become (and continues to become), you know that it would be nothing without the camaraderie and the dedicated mentors in the form of teachers and coaches. That camaraderie, as you know, crosses generational boundaries.

Wade Cowan ’74 graduated more than 35 years ago, but he still has active ties to MBA. He has led the MBA Mock Trial program for over a decade. This past weekend Wade’s Warriors (as they are known, starting now) brought home the city championship. Not only that, but the “B Team” also came in fourth place overall, beating many other schools’ “A Teams” (B.A. Baracus was not a participant).

As advisor to the Mock Trial Team, Wade marries his professional expertise with selfless service to the school. He’s only one example (one who has conveniently won a championship just in time for this blog post) among many alums who dedicate themselves to the continued pursuit of MBA’s mission.

Do you want to be part of that pursuit?

Below is a list of “just add alum” opportunities and respective contacts (you’ll even see some alums listed among the contacts). If nothing on the list suits your talents or interests, suggest something else in the comments. It’s only a matter of time before we have a Rugby Club; we just need the right person to start it. We already do have a Cricket Club…that alone should give you an idea of the endless possibilities.

• Career Day (April 2): Alex Dean ’93
• Summer/Winter Camps:  Mike Anderson ’93
• Evening Classes:  Lee Webb
• Coaching:  Scott O’Neal ’84
• Theater Productions:  Cal Fuller
• Tutoring:  Rick Seay ’84
• Guest Blogging: Elijah Reynolds ’99

With the Grammys behind us, now we can focus on the real music and arts event of the year: Endada Arts Festival. Last year Endada came roaring into existence under the leadership of Ms. Hollifield and a visionary student committee. So what exactly is it?

Music:  Sure, Bonnaroo may have a bigger lineup, but Endada is a lot easier to get to, it’s free, and you won’t get covered with mud. Last year Endada featured Fox Fun, Big Surr, Stan vs. Wild, Boy Named Banjo, Trippin’ Snails, Abigail Rose, and other local bands.

Visual Arts: Renowned Nashville artists will be on hand to spin some pottery wheels, splatter some paint, and generally impress everyone in attendance with their creative genius.

Theater: Local actor Eric Pasto-Crosby put on a sword-fighting display last year. I could say more about the other theatrical events at Endada, but do I really need to?

Film: Come see entries into the annual Full Moon Film Festival from high school students all over the city. I’m told there are some pretty mean Lego animations.

Food: Did Endada start the whole food truck craze? Probably. After last year’s tasty lineup consisting of The Grilled Cheeserie, Bang Candy Company, Firefly Grille, Fleur de Lis Flavors, Mountain Jim’s Ice Cream, and others; the taste buds in 2012 will be expecting even more.

Now that you know you’re coming, you just need to know when to show up. This year Endada will be held on Saturday, April 28. Don’t worry about that wedding you thought you were going to that day…you don’t even know the groom that well.

Give your two cents: What are your suggestions for local acts, artists, or vendors who might like to be a part of Endada?

Magid Noori visited assembly on Monday. Mr. Noori, more commonly known as “Magic,” runs the athletic dining facility at Vanderbilt. He has been recognized nationally as one of the top “food coaches” in the sports world. Both Sports Illustrated and CBS News highlighted Magic’s expertise in recent feature stories. He’s just recently published a book as well: Eating to Win with America’s #1 Food Coach. What did he have to share with the boys?

One thing in particular stood out about Magic’s talk: the idea of balance. He has come up with an acronym aimed at maintaining that healthy balance:

• F–food and fluids
• R–rest
• E–exercise
• E–education

Magic’s argument was that no athlete could be the “ultimate athlete” without following FREE. Losing sight of one aspect could undo all the hard work completed in another area.

As mentioned earlier this week on The Waffle Iron, MBA’s Ideal calls for a similar balance. Yes, the order of the elements, Gentleman, Scholar, Athlete, implies some sort of hierarchy among them, but it’s not as overt as listing them like this:

#1 Gentleman #2 Scholar #3 Athlete

There is that hierarchy, but there’s also an equality, a balance among them. Forgetting any one of those elements is not (or should not be) an option. They each complement the other two. Just as with Magic’s FREE, the MBA Ideal is a guide, a reminder.

How’s your balance?