Jeff Backlin
Entertainment Editor

NIACC will present the ninth annual Jazz Festival at the North Iowa Area Community Auditorium on Saturday, January 22, at 7:30 p.m. as part of the 2004-2005 NIACC Performing Arts Series. Tickets are on sale now and cost $15 dollars in advance and $20 dollars at the door.

The NIACC Jazz Festival is an annual event where students from all over the North Iowa area get the privilege to learn from talented jazz professors and performers.

Roughly over 300 students will participate in this year's festival featuring numerous jazz pieces.

The three-day clinic portion of the festival will lead up to a concert that will feature the talents of Jonathan Mele, Chris Merz and the 12-piece jazz ensemble the X-tet.

"This festival differs from a jazz competition in that the festival takes out the stress of a competition but still provides the critique and educational aspect inherent of a competition," John Klemas, the NIACC band director, said.

In addition to the performance, both Mele and Merz will be the clinicians of the festival this year.

Mele, a New York based drummer, has performed with Carla Bley, the Steve Swallow Big Band, Equalateral and Shelia Jordan. Mele is also a sponsor of Sabian cymbals and composes as well as performs.

Merz, the director of Jazz Studies at UNI, has toured extensively throughout Europe and composes as well as directs. Additionally, Merz will lead the 12-piece jazz ensemble X-tet at the concert.

The NIACC Jazz Festival will give students an hour's time to perform and receive feedback from the clinicians.

"This festival appeals to a wide range of students and includes performers from the North Iowa area, as well as Cedar Rapids and Des Moines," Klemas said.

Klemas stressed that this is an important educational festival for jazz musicians. "There is no trophy, no competition, just an educational experience," Klemas said.

Bethany Condon
Staff Reporter

From sketching a mural of the characters from the Andy Griffith Show in high school to learning teaching skills at NIACC, Brian Haggen, a NIACC student, is taking on a new role as an artist.

Haggen, a sophomore from Elkader, Iowa, has decided his choice of trade for the following two years. He had always enjoyed art, but he had found teaching to be a stable career.

"It was something I wanted to do as far as painting and helping younger people appreciate the same things," Haggen said about a career in art education.

However, the challenges of being an art teacher do add up, from classroom management, keeping the children active and always learning something.

However, Haggen said he believes the biggest challenge is in the beginning and setting the tone and gaining respect from the students. "They're here for a purpose - to learn," Haggen said.

Haggen said his personal favorite choices of art range from shading to paint to oils; as well as his favorite styles like abstract and cubism.

When asked what good qualities are for an art teacher, Haggen cited a good teacher should be flexible, relate to the student, make them want to learn, to be open minded and creative, and have an ability to communicate.

"He has the qualities for a good art teacher: creative, enthusiastic, organized, motivates students and has a gentle personality," Peggy Bang, his Drawing/Painting instructor at NIACC, said.

Jeff Backlin
Entertainment Editor

I have to say that Christmas has to be the best time of the year and along with Christmas are the family traditions and social customs we have come to recognize as norms.

The Christmas season now starts the day after Thanksgiving when all of the super sales begin. We get sales, TV commercials and the frenzy of the season all in one nice little package. I see people getting stressed around this time of year and I have a simple solution to their stress - watch Christmas specials. That's right, Christmas specials.

Not only can you mute the commercials that blast onto your screen, giving you a sense of power, but you can recollect the day when you had time to watch such shows as Scrouged, The Grinch, A Charlies Brown Christmas, and A Garfield Christmas.

These shows have a special place in my mind when I think of the holiday season. Just imagine what Christmas would be like without these programs.

They instill good values, the meaning of the season and a happy-go-lucky feeling.

I remember the first Christmas special I ever saw, A Garfield Christmas. Of course the cable went out as we were watching and I missed a good 20-minute segment, but I still remember wishing I had Odie's scratching post.

Other Christmas specials such as Scrouged take a more humorous approach to peace on earth and good will towards men.

Even if you are not a fan of Bill Murray, I highly recommend you watch Scrouged if you are feeling the season's stress.

Still other specials such as The Grinch are highly recognizable by their unique rhyme and story line.

In all honesty, Dr. Suess is awesome and The Grinch is a great Christmas classic that should be seen every Christmas holiday.

The bottom line is, Christmas only comes around once a year. Despite how the season is beginning to get more and more frenzied, something as simple as a Christmas special can take you back to your roots and remind you of the sentimental feeling that Christmas brings.