The city of Washington will celebrate the National Cherry Blossom Festival in its usual fashion, with lots of trees and tourists. They may also celebrate it with snow, which has been forecast for March 27.

The festival is Washington’s signature springtime event and is considered the beginning of tourist season. City officials hope the weather won’t be too bad, despite some predictions. Good weather always brings a sigh of relief to officials.

[032411_0414_AlexandriaC1.jpg] If you talk to most anyone around the Alexandria campus of Northern Virginia Community College, including students, faculty or staff, they would likely agree that the recycling program in place there isn’t working. As for why it isn’t working, there are many conflicting viewpoints and more than just a little confusion.

According to the head of the Green Committee for NOVA, Ray Bailey, for the last 18 months each campus of NOVA has had a recycling contract. The campuses in Fairfax County, including Annandale and Medical Education campuses, have a contract with the county to pick up recycling. Bailey stated, “All other campuses are covered by Con-Serv Industry (CSI).” Bailey also explained that all the contracts are for “single-stream” recycling, which means that paper, plastic bottles and glass can all go in the recycling bins.

On Friday, March 25 at 7 p.m., nine of NOVA’s top singing sensations will battle for the title of this year’s NOVA Idol. The college finalists are Erika Anderson, John Ashburn, Martina Green, Lyndsi Hicks, Kelley Kime, Elaine Lopez, Laura Manzer, Lauren McLeod and Edwin Thorpe. And from various high schools in the region, CJ Marble, Devyn Metz, Padideh Guodarzi Nejad and Joao Versos will be competing for a prize of $1,000.

Are you looking for something fun to do over spring break? Do you enjoy experiencing classical music in a live setting? Then come to the NOVA Community Chorus’ performance of Verdi’s Requiem, and experience the full range of emotion that a composer can put forth through the voices of a gifted chorus. If you’ve never heard Verdi’s Requiem, come prepared to be rocked by this masterpiece, as it can go from quite peaceful and subdued to at once intense and thrilling. According to the New York Times, George Bernard Shaw once said that Verdi’s Requiem would be more enduring than any of his own operas.

After losing to George Mason University on Jan. 21, it still looked like the Northern Virginia Community College ice hockey team had a chance to make the Blue Ridge Hockey Conference playoffs. But it appeared it would take wins over both the College of William and Mary and James Madison University over the Jan. 28 weekend to do so. Instead, it turned into a double debacle weekend.

So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
“’Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door –
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; –
This it is, and nothing more.”

(Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven)

The NOVA Annandale Gaming Coliseum (AN Game Room)
will host the 2011 Dance Off Contest to the
Nintendo Wii Game Michael Jackson: The Experience

The Northern Virginia Community College women’s basketball team defeated its VCCS rival, Southside Virginia Community College, at Annandale’s Ernst Gym on Jan. 29 to win its second game in a row, 76-66 in overtime.

This close game saw Southside take a slim 30-29 halftime lead. Kimberley Walton paced NOVA in the first half with 11 points, while Lauren Amonett added nine.