I have watched the Diwali show at Wash U for more times than I can count on one hand, but it still manages to stun me in a MESMERIZING way year after year. Thank you guys for putting on a wonderful show and here are some highlight photos!!!  

SLU MEDLaunch has launched! Yesterday was MEDLaunch's first annual Demo Day, held at the SLU's newly renovated law school at Scott Hall. Five teams composed of a mix of undergraduate (there was even a high school team!), graduate, business, and medical students as well as faculty mentors  came together to tackle existing problems in science/medicine/society. Their innovative proposals aimed to address issues ranging from accurately keeping track of patient blood loss during surgical procedures to efficiently delivering clean water to developing countries. 

The turnout was phenomenal and the passion for entrepreneurship saturated the room. It was really humbling to see many of my dedicated and driven classmates share an aspect of their interest outside the classroom. Here's a huge shout-out to the SLU MEDLaunch exec team, led by the poise visionary, Andy Hayden. I can't wait to see how MEDLaunch will grow in the future!   

SLU ISA, or Saint Louis University Indian Student Association, held a Garba Raas Bhangra night on Oct 10th to celebrate the 9th (last night) of Navratri. Navratri, or "nine nights" in Sanskrit, is a festival dedicated to the worship of the nine forms of the Hindu deity, Divine Mother Durga. 

Hundreds of people from the St. Louis community came together and bonded while learning/performing three different Indian dances: (you guessed it) Garba, Raas, and Bhangra. The night was SO much fun!!! I need to find myself a traditional Indian costume and join in on the fun on the dance floor next year :) 

In the meanwhile, we can look forward to Diwali, another major festival (of lights) that begins 20 days after the 10th day of Navratri :)  

"One national championship.
One insane coach.
Seven crazier Aca-Moms.
And one daughter to rule them all.

Curtain Call: Aca-Moms Unleashed

Tears, sass, passion, Beyonce, fear, trash talk, anger, love, cereal, cheek-pinching, neglect, tacos, and most important of all, a singing competition that will have you begging for more!"


This was the event description for the spring 2014 Ghost Lights A Cappella Concert. Creative, huh!? This group impressively used the context of an a cappella competition to transition between the Broadway/movie/TV soundtrack songs they performed. I had never seen anything like it! Even more impressively, the vocal quality and overall presentation of the group improved tremendously since its founding in spring of 2010. Make sure to check them out in their concert next fall! :) 

Samba, flamenco, salsa, Latin jazz, zapateado, tango, West African, bachata, hip hop, cha cha, and belly dance... Can you tell which photos are from which dances?

Also, here is a brief history on the origin of the name, Carnaval/Carnival, that I found interesting:

"Where did the word “carnival” come from?

Hundred and hundreds of years ago, the followers of the Catholic religion in Italy started the tradition of holding a wild costume festival right before the first day of Lent. Because Catholics are not supposed to eat meat during Lent, they called their festival, carnevale — which means “to put away the meat.” As time passed, carnivals in Italy became quite famous; and in fact the practice spread to France, Spain, and all the Catholic countries in Europe. Then as the French, Spanish, and Portuguese began to take control of the Americas and other parts of the world, they brought with them their tradition of celebrating carnival."

http://www.allahwe.org/History.html