Dr. Terry Alford’s upcoming biography, Fortune’s Fools is about the life of John Wilkes Booth, the famous actor and infamous assassin of the 16th president of the United States of America, Abraham Lincoln.

The Lincoln scholar has already written two books published by Oxford Press, made numerous television appearances, worked as a consultant for the 2007 film hit National Treasure 2, and helped found the NOVA Honors Program. He was recently awarded the 2010 Outstanding Faculty Award by the Commonwealth of Virginia. He is the only community college professor to ever receive the accolade.

“Everything seemed to be going my way,” Regina Spiegel recently told the large audience at the theater at the NOVA Woodbridge campus. The Polish winter was her biggest complaint in life. The topic turned serious as the guest speaker talked of her experience as a survivor of the death camps of Treblinka and Auschwitz on April 8.

She remembered the exact date that the German army attacked her village in Radom, Poland: Sept. 1, 1939. The building shook with the force of the army. Spiegel ran from her home, where her mother, Brandla, was preparing a traditional Shabbat dinner, to see what was happening.

Canadian author Denise Chong spoke about her most recent book Egg on Mao at the Annandale campus on the afternoon of April 8.
Her book follows the life of one of three persons, who during the Tiananmen Square student sit-in in Beijing, China in 1989, threw eggs filled with paint at the giant portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong in the Square. They were subsequently arrested, termed vandals and counter-revolutionary reactionaries, and sentenced to various terms in prison, from 16 years to life.

At the Annandale campus, the Korean Student Association is currently providing tutoring sessions for students taking a Korean course or those with an interest in learning the language.

On Mondays and Tuesdays from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. in CF 230, officers of the association and some fluent speakers are teaching a few students ways to speak and write in Korean. The majority of the participants have been non-Korean but they said that they welcome those who were born in America and have Korean roots within their families. This gives them the opportunity to learn their own language.

“Relay never stops because cancer never stops” is the slogan and theme of the Relay for Life, the flagship fundraiser of the American CancerSociety. The event, which started at NOVA in 2002, allows students to channel the passion of those words and continue to make an impact in the war against cancer. For two nights, on April 17 and 18, over 170 registered students making up 26 teams will honor the lives of those with cancer through joining in the planned activities.

NOVA plays host to a wide variety of students and faculty. All manners of talents are displayed on campus, from musicians to football players, and from computer wizards to fashion divas. Annandale campus boasts a very special inhabitant; however, Gerald Boyd, Dean of Languages and Literature, has a talent which makes him very popular in the office. He is a professional cook.

Students are frequently in a situation between classes where they are hungry but do not have enough time to go to a restaurant off campus. Although the chips and chocolate in the vending machines look tempting, there has to be a better solution.

On the Annandale campus, food options are limited. The main location to buy food is in the school cafeteria. But is choosing to eat there really the best choice?

If one needed encouragement to counter balance the negative daily news regarding the employment and the economic downturn, the Ernst Cultural Center Theater on the Annandale campus was the place to be on Wednesday, Feb. 24. Author, entrepreneur and public speaker Jonathan Sprinkles was the special guest speaker on that afternoon.

What’s better than playing video games at home, with all the lights off, just you and 5 million other people all connected by headsets? Playing with friends at school, that’s what. Video games have become more of a social past time than ever.
With such a drastic leap toward social gaming, why are some gamers still insisting on sitting alone in front of their consoles day after day, playing against opponents they don’t even know?

Photos from the Black Light Winter Dance at the Annandale campus. The dance was sponsored by the Annandale Student Government Association to welcome students back to the Spring semester on Jan. 29.