Cougars & Mustangs 

The schedule is heating up as we head into the last leg of winter. While the newish year may still have you bogged down with work or various resolutions, you should still make time for a social life. Read on to learn about the good times to be had on the Cal Poly campus.

Are you a night owl? Love to stay up way past your bedtime? Why not stay up and raise money for a worthy cause? On Feb. 21 at the Chumash Auditorium, join students from Cal Poly as they gather for a letter-writing event aimed at helping St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.

The ’80s-themed event, titled “Up ’til Dawn,” will be held from 6 to 11 p.m. and will feature live entertainment, free food, shirts, games, and prizes. Envelopes, stamps, and pre-written donation letters will be provided; students will bring addresses and send letters to family and friends to help raise money for the children of St. Jude’s Hospital.

Fraternities, sororities, Cal Poly housing groups, sports clubs, local businesses, and many other clubs and organizations have already committed to this event.

Take a break and head down to Avila Beach for some learnin’. Cal Poly students will be on hand to show children various sea creatures at the Avila Beach Sea Life Center from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Feb. 25.

Cal Poly students enrolled in Communicating Ocean Sciences to Informal Audiences have developed hands-on presentations that are appropriate for all ages. Children will be able to see, touch, and learn about hermit crabs, sea stars, sea urchins, clams, sea snails, and more. If you’re not an old movie or theater fan, you’ve probably always wondered why there was such a significance placed on shouting the name “Stella!” Come down to the Spanos Theatre and let Cal Poly’s Theatre and Dance Department’s version of A Streetcar Named Desire fill you in on the pop culture reference.

Long considered a classic of the American stage, the show follows the gradual unraveling of Blanche DuBois, a Southern belle of days gone by. Blanche’s arrival on the doorstep of her younger sister, Stella, and Stella’s brutish husband, Stanley, marks a collision of worlds: the ideals of the Old South with the pulsing sensuality of 1940s New Orleans.

Premiering in 1946, Streetcar earned Williams a New York Critics’ Circle Award and a Pulitzer Prize. The Cal Poly production embraces the play’s prominence in American culture, acknowledging the iconic performances of Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh in the 1951 film, as well as the popularity of parodies such as those featured on The Simpsons and Modern Family.

Well, if that’s not enough action for you, I guess you should consider getting into a street gang. Have fun, get out, and learn. ∆

Intern Jason Keedy compiled this week’s Cougars and Mustangs. Send your collegiate news to [email protected].