"Will You Verb with Me?" Foxtrot Kicks off Snowvigate/Arion "Build a Poem--Build a House" Project a Week Early

Mel Blumenthal, a professional ballroom dancer from Arizona, led 30 Creative Writing students, faulty, staff, and guests through an hour of foxtrotting to Nat King Cole in Italian and lectures on syntax and rhythm today in Root Hall on the campus of Indiana State University, kicking off the Snowvigate/Arion "Build a Poem--Build a House" Project to raise money for Habitat for Humanity a week early.

After the performance, Arion--the ISU Student Creative Writing Association--hosted a bake sale to collect money for their annual publication, the Tonic. Eaters also wrote original lines of poetry and prose on an 8 ft. piece of wood to be used to build the Habitat house, with all donations from the signing going directly to the poem-house building project.

Later in the day, Ashley Hood, Lowell Torres--President of Arion--and Jessica Dyer--Vice President of Arion and an editor at Snowvigate--appeared on ISU TV to discuss the Tonic, Snowvigate, keeping warm during snow, and the donations to Habitat for Humanity.