News from the Spartanburg Downtown Association

Spartanburg's After Work Street Concert
Every Thursday, April thru August
Denny's Plaza
6pm to 9pm
NO COOLERS - NO PETS

June 18th - Calm & Collective (reggae)
June 25 - Golden (rock/pop)
July 2 - The Dynamic Breakers (beach)

Photo - 100 E. Main (Palmetto)

USC Upstate Keeps Tuition Increase To 3.6 Percent
Indications Point To Strong Fall Enrollment

The University of South Carolina's Board of Trustees gave preliminary approval to a 2009-2010 operating budget on June 11 that results in a very modest 3.6 percent increase in tuition rates at USC Upstate. This increase translates into a $145 increase for a full-time student (12 to 16 credit hours) and brings tuition costs up to $4,176 per semester.

"We are pleased to keep the increase to an absolute minimum in spite of the financial pressure that the University faces in wake of historic state budget cuts," said Dr. John Stockwell, chancellor of USC Upstate. "We are very mindful of the financial burdens that our
students and their families are facing and want to keep the possibility of an education at USC Upstate within reach."

According to Stockwell, even with the current economic climate and tuition increase, early indications for fall enrollment are very favorable, despite the fact that the University's first Freshman Orientation session isn't until June 15.

The University will open its second freshman housing facility in August and already the Palmetto and Magnolia Houses are at 75 percent capacity. Palmetto House accommodates 346 students and Magnolia House accommodates 352 students. The numbers for returning students are equally impressive. The Villas, an apartment-style housing complex reserved for upperclassman, is also at 75 percent capacity.

USC Upstate currently enrolls 5,000 students from 38 states and 71 nations. The fall semester begins on August 20.

For more details, visit www.uscupstate.edu or call (864) 503-5000.

Photo - 100 E. Main (Palmetto)

Please join us for our first event,
"An Introduction to Low Impact Development,"
on Thursday, June 25th from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.

Don Alexander and Trevor Gauron of the local design and engineering firm Woolpert, Inc. will be offering an overview of a variety of LID topics for stormwater management. There is no cost to attend this event. Coffee and muffins will be provided. Professional Development Credit will be available for engineers and surveyors. Check-in will begin at 7:30 a.m. Seating is limited, so please RSVP early. To RSVP for this event or for more information, please contact Mary Hays Huguley at mhuguley@upstateforever.org or (864) 250-0500 x16.

Future topics in the LID Speaker Series will include: Bio-retention Techniques and Solutions, Dealing with Drought: Rain Harvesting and Native Landscaping, and Reducing Cost by Reducing Pavement.

Stay tuned for updates on July's event! Please forward this invitation on to anyone you know who may be interested in attending!

Photo - 100 E. Main (Palmetto)

Student collaborates with Wofford, Hub City, Alzheimer's Association to create 'Living Words' program for Alzheimer's patients and caregivers

Wofford's Living Word Logo

Writing creatively can have a therapeutic effect on Alzheimer's patients and their caregivers, according to memory studies. These studies suggest that trying new forms of mental activity in general, and the telling - or writing - of stories in particular, can help both the patients and those who care for them.

Wofford College student Lauren Holland is collaborating this summer with Dr. Kara Bopp, a psychology professor, and Jeremy Jones, a writing instructor, to make the "Living Words" program come alive around the country through the June 15 launch of the Living Words" Web site (www.LivingWordsProgram.com) and through a 10-week program designed to assist Alzheimer's patients and caregivers in using this technique.

The project is a collaboration of Wofford's department of psychology, the South Carolina Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association and the Hub City Writers Project in Spartanburg.

Individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia and a friend or family member are invited to participate in the workshops, to be held at 10 a.m. every Thursday beginning June 25. Each workshop will last an hour and will be conducted by local writers. They will be held in the Success Initiative Room of the Snyder House on Wofford's campus. Participants will be provided with everything they need - pencil, paper and even breakfast.

Dates are: June 25, July 2, July 9, July 16, July 23, July 30, Aug. 6, Aug. 13, Aug. 20 and Aug. 27.

"Our mission is simple: provide free creative writing classes and enrich lives," Holland says. "The purpose of the Web site is to provide others with the tools to implement the same Living Words program in their own facility or support group that we will provide in the workshops." She, Bopp and Jones will update the blog on the Web site five times a week as well as run the 10-week writing program, where Bopp also will gather preliminary research on the therapeutic gains of creative writing.

For information, contact Lauren Holland at livingwordsprogram@wofford.edu or 864-597-4375.
Come hear Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt and Parks at Wofford College in Chautauqua: America in Crisis (June 20-23)

Come hear Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt and Parks at Wofford College in Chautauqua: America in Crisis (June 20-23)

Wofford's Chautauqua Logo

History will come alive at Wofford during four evenings of Chautauqua performances featuring George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and Rosa Parks.

Chautauqua: America in Crisis will take place June 20-23 in Leonard Auditorium of Main Building. The event is free and open to the public. All members of the Wofford community are invited to attend with their families, friends and neighbors.

Each performance will begin at 6:30 p.m. with live period-style music in the auditorium.

Participants are encouraged to bring a picnic dinner to enjoy on the lawn of Main Building prior to the presentations.

Saturday, June 20
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Popular World War II-era songs

Sunday, June 21
George Washington
Music from the Colonial period

Monday, June 22
Abraham Lincoln
Antebellum and Civil War tunes

Tuesday, June 23
Rosa Parks
African-American spirituals

Chautauqua (pronounced sha-TAW-kwa) is an improvisational theatrical program in which costumed scholar-actors portray historical figures. Each performance is broken into three acts. In the first act, the performer represents a historical figure in the first person. In the second, the performer invites audience questions and answers them in character. In the final act, the performer steps out of character to answer questions that the historical figure could not (or would not!) have been able to answer.

For more information, view the Chautauqua Web site (http://www.wofford.edu/alumni/Wofford_Chautauqua.aspx) or
contact Charlie Gray, Director of External Relations/Continuing Education at Wofford College (864-597-4186).

Photo - 100 E. Main (Palmetto)

Share your love of the Upstate through writing and photography!

The Hub City Writers Project is seeking submissions of both personal essays/memoir-type pieces (first-person, descriptive, reflective) and original photography for a forthcoming book on the natural world of the Upstate.

Co-edited by Michel Stone and Lydia Dishman, editor of the Emrys Journal, the publication will be released in 2010. All
works need to reference the landscape of Upstate South Carolina in some way.

Each literary submission must be typed with letter-quality printing in a standard 12-point typeface and should include a cover page with the author's name, address, phone number, and email address. Suggested topics include, but are not limited to, birding, biking (mountain and road), climbing, fishing, hiking, camping, horseback riding, hunting, and paddling. Authors whose work is selected will receive both a hardback and paperback edition of the book.

Previously published work will be considered as long as the author holds the copyright. They are seeking both long (12-20 pages) and short (3-8 pages) submissions.

Photo submissions should be sent in jpeg format and no larger than 1MB, although if selected, the image may need to be a higher resolution for printing.

The deadline for entries is September 1, 2009. Please email your submissions to editor Michel Stone at michelstone@hotmail.com. Please type "Hub City Book" in the subject line of your email. Visit Hub City Writers Project and the Emrys Foundation on the web at www.hubcity.org and www.emrys.org.

DATED - Hub Bub Flyer

Each year, HUB-BUB invites three visual artists and one creative writer to "live free and create" in downtown Spartanburg for 11 months. Claudia Dishon, Gregory Bae, Esteban del Valle, and Jameelah Lang were chosen as the 2009/10 HUB-BUB Artists-in-Residence. They moved to Spartanburg in early June and will spend the upcoming months making art/writing, helping out with HUB-BUB events, and getting involved in community based art projects.

Please join us on Friday, June 26th, 2009 from 7 to 9 pm at the Showroom, 149 S. Daniel Morgan Ave., Suite 2 in downtown Spartanburg, as we welcome our new residents to Spartanburg and to see the work that they applied to the program with. Writer-in-Residence Jameelah Lang will present a reading at 8pm.