NEWS The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 22, 2005 - 3A ON CAMPUS JetBlue plane lands safely despite wheel problem Chinese cities depicted in photo exhibition today The Institute for the Humanities has sponsored an exhibit that depicts the many layers of rapidly modern- izing Chinese cities. The exhibit can be viewed today and tomorrow from 12 to 8 p.m. at the Osterman Common Room, 0520 Rackham. Call (734)936- 3518 to make an appointment. Arts on the Hill presents figure drawing workshop Beginners are welcome at this open fig- ure drawing workshop with live models from 7:30 to 9 p.m. tonight at Alice Lloyd Residence Hall's art studio. Instruction and limited supplies available. Watch and learn salsa dancing at Pierpont Commons Watch the MSalsa group perform, and learn some salsa dancing of your own at this dance session in the Leon- ardo Room of Pierpont Commons. The dancing will go from 9 to 11 p.m. tonight. The charge is $3 per student and $4 for the general public. CRIME NOTES Female student victim of assault at football game A female University student report- ed to the Department of Public Safety on 'Ibesday that she was the victim of a non-aggravated assault during the Michigan football game at the Big House on Sept. 10. Another female subject punched her in the face and stated, "My threat still stands." The victim, who said she did know the suspect before the assault, did not require any medical attention. The suspect was escorted out by the event staff. Armed robbery victim hit with wrench The victim of an armed robbery had to be transported to the University Hos- pital Emergency Room after being hit on the head early yesterday morning with a wrench. The incident occurred between Ash- ley Street and Miller Street, where the victim and his friend were forced to empty their wallets. The Ann Arbor Police Department is handling the case. Large fight in Diag breaks up before officers arive A caller reported Monday that a large group was about to fight on 900 North University St. at about 4 p.m. By the time the Department of Pub- lic Safety arrived at the scene, none of the suspects were able to be located. THIS DAY In Daily History Two professors stopped by 'leftist' mob in Tokyo Sept. 22, 1956 - Professors Charles Gordy and Edward Page, both exchange professors from the University's 9 industrial engineering department, were stopped on their way to Waseda University in Tokyo. With concerns for their personal safety, the profes- sors were forced to wait until the mob's danger was gauged. Student "Leftists" and local unions yards as the plane came to a stop. Within minutes of landing, the plane's door opened and the 140 passengers walked down a stairway with their luggage and onto the tar- mac, where buses waited. "We all cheered. I was bawling. I cried so much," said Christine Lund, 25. Passengers said they had watched their own drama unfolding on the news on in-flight tele- visions until just before the landing. One described it as surreal to watch. Another said she would have been calmer without it. "At the end it was the worst because you didn't know if it was going to work, if we would catch fire. It was very scary. Grown men were crying," said Diane Hamilton, 32, a television graphics specialist. As the plane was about to touch the ground, Ham- ilton said, crew members ordered people to assume a crash position, putting their heads between their knees. "They would yell, "Brace! Brace! Brace!"' she said. "I thought this would be it." The plane landed on an auxiliary runway where fire trucks and emergency crews had massed as a precaution. No injuries were immediately reported among the passengers and six crew members, fire officials said. "It was a very, very smooth landing. The pilot did an outstanding job," said fire Battal- ion Chief Lou Roupoli. "There was a big hallelujah and a lot of clapping on that aircraft." The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident, NTSB spokes- man Paul Schlamm said. JetBlue flight 292 had left Bob Hope Air- port in Burbank at 3:17 p.m. for New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, said JetBlue spokesman Bryan Baldwin. The Airbus A320 first circled the Long Beach Airport, about 30 miles south of Bur- bank, then was cleared to land at Los Angeles International Airport. It stayed aloft to burn off fuel and lighten its weight, said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Donn Walker. Passenger Zachary Mascoon said he had tried at one point to call his family, but his cell phone call wouldn't go through. "I wanted to call my dad to tell him I'm alive so far," the 27-year-old musician said. Mascoon praised the flight crew's professional- ism and how calmly they handled the emergency. The plane landed at 6:19 p.m. Some passen- gers shook hands with emergency workers as they walked off the plane. Others talked on their cell phones and waved to cameras. One firefighter carrying a boy across the tarmac put his helmet on the child's head. JetBlue, based in Forest Hills, N.Y., is a five-year-old low-fare airline with 286 flights a day and destinations in 13 states and the Caribbean. It operates a fleet of 81 A320s. Passengers deplane on the tarmac at LAX after the Jet Blue flight landed safely. LOS ANGELES (AP) - A JetBlue airliner with faulty landing gear touched down safely yesterday at Los Angeles International Air- port after circling the region for three hours with its front wheels turned sideways, unable to be retracted into the plane. The pilot landed on the back wheels, then eased onto the awry front tires, which shot flames along the runway before they tore off. The metal landing gear scraped for the final Midnight Madness brings together rhythms, culture By C.C. Song Daily Staff Reporter With blue and gold canes in their hands, their feet stepping in unison on the floor to create rhythms, the sisters of the Sigma Gamma Rho sorority sing out their sorority his- tory and their pride for their orga- nization. They swiftly clap their hands, tapping their shoulders, their hips, their arms and their feet. They call out each other's names. Combining their own songs and traditional stepping, a form of Afri- can dance, the sisters from Sigma Gamma Rho, along with seven other ing the 40s and 50s as a way to distinguish them from other Greek organizations. Key elements of the dance are portions in which performers sing the same part of the song at different times, creating layers of melody. Performers line up and create rhythms by stepping on the floor emphatically and clapping their hands at the same time; there are no instruments involved in the dance. Their movements follow the beats; they stretch out their arms, point toward different directions and step simultaneously. They start the song with a single high-pitched call by one of the per- fraternities and everyone to come out to Midnight Madness at the Diag at midnight tonight. The National Pan-Hellenic Council, which oversees the University's his- torically black fraternities and sororities, started Mid- night Madness nine years ago as a way to wel- come returning students and to let new students find out about their groups, said Danielle Robinson, an LSA senior and president of the Sigma Gamma Rho sorority. sororities, invite formers, then "Stepping is part of our history. We feel unique from the rest of the Greeks. The rhythm, the stepping, the coordination, and the call- and-response are all parts of African culture." - Kreston Martin National Pan-Hellenic Council President everyone joins in as the song progress- es. As they sing, the performers slow- ly and uniformly move to one direc- tion then back to where they began. They step hard on the floor, keep- ing everyone on beat. Each perfor- mance varies in size and length, Rob- inson said. Sigma Gamma Rho has an act composed of nine people, but other fraternities and sororities have up to 15 dancers. Three of the nine performers from Sigma Gamma Rho are from Eastern Michigan Univer- sity, partly because a Gamma Rho chap- PETER SCHOTTENFELS/Daily LSA Senior Natalie Vanderbilt practices with Sigma Gamma Rho in Angell Hall for tonight's Midnight Madness performance. The dance is an annual one put on by different multicultural sororities and fraternities to attract new members. Midnight Madness has been a good way to advertise the multi- cultural fraternities and sororities, said Kreston Martin, a Kinesiology senior and president of the National Pan-Hellenic Council at the Univer- sity. "We've had pretty good atten- dance in the past - roughly 400 people attended each year," Martin said. The goal of using stepping is to incorporate the uniqueness of the multicultural fraternities and soror- ities into songs, lyrics and rhythms. "Stepping is part of our history. We feel unique from the rest of the Greeks. The rhythm, the stepping, the coordination and the call-and- response are all parts of African culture," said Natalie Vanderbilt, an LSA senior and a Sigma Gamma Rho sister. Stepping was adopted by black members of the Greek system dur- the first Sigm ter started on the EMU campus and because as Martin, the Pan-Hellenic Council intends to invite everyone. "People start preparing in March and April, before school even ends," Martin said. The long planning is a good way to let them get to know one another better and become more united as an organization, he added. "It's something that I think I can definitely do. I think it's an accom- plishment. It's a chance to be with people who you love, while you practice every night," Vanderbilt said. Deena Marshal, an LSA junior and a member of Sigma Gamma Rho, said stepping gives her a sense of pride. "It's fun. I love it because you get to show your attitude and present your organization at the same time. We're the best, and you can quote that," Marshall said. .. f.n CH:f,.C. ..}iv(v/ :.wiw:/i /t':SC/:i''Y:'G;:/ P 'S S:".}C...v.r:: < ..:: . .. ...... ,:?f4' ' Y i iS'C Cr:/ C:C:C. r:I .r.f'/.. v.C;,vvp : ::.1. .:::// v.v. l,( $; .?:"S'i~~l:{Y:}:{,C a:8 t r.//l"x(C } r C C ::i.:Cwro}: (}:: }: ~ , :.:..S;:Cxs''%y;}2'::C5::%: :K":/Cr.'::':iaC i i ..:r'.'a:(5oft:: ::. 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