Page 9 - Reedley Exponent 12-7-17 E-edition

The Reedley Exponent BPanorama
Section | Thursday, December 7, 2017 www.reedleyexponent.com
Wonder Valley's Roy Oken speaks toReedley DramaClub
See B12
Reedley (Fresno County) CA 93654
KCUSD
keeps an
eye out
for cyber
criminals
By Felicia Cousart Matlosz
felicia@midvalleypublishing.com
In some ways, the vast world of the internet can be so local.
Take the dark world of com- puter hacking. Cyber criminals can hit school districts anywhere, from small school systems to monolithic ones, from within the United States to across the planet.
And they’ve been doing so at an increasing rate and demanding ransoms.
Technology officials in the Kings Canyon Unified School Dis- trict presented a report on the is- sue at the trustees’ Nov. 27 meeting. The report covered how the district views the threat and how it does its best to prevent cyber attacks.
The report also served as a good reminder to anyone who has a lap- top, smartphone or other devices to be alert and informed about pre-
See CYBER page B5
Musica Viva Christmas concert set for Dec. 10
Contributed
Musica Viva’s second concert for the 2017-18 season in Reedley will be a Christmas program on Sun- day, Dec. 10, at the First Mennonite Church.
The concert will begin at 7 p.m. in the sanctuary of the church, at 12th and L streets.
The event is free, and the com- munity is invited to attend.
This program is the second of the season for Musica Viva, which is celebrating its 15th season of local performances.
The Dec. 10 concert is titled “Meditations for the Season in Words and Music.”
It will feature readings and mu- sic for Advent and Christmas, per- formed by Susan Doering on violin and Dieter Wulfhorst on violoncello.
Christmas with heart
RMBC to present its annual Christmas celebration Dec. 8 and 9
By Felicia Cousart Matlosz
felicia@midvalleypublishing.com
There’s something about the joy and soaring harmonious sounds of a choir and orchestra that can take the listener to another place. And, when the voices of the Reedley Mennonite Brethren Church sing at Christmastime, well, it’s just heavenly.
RMBC has presented the an- nual free Christmas program for years as a gift to the community to help ring in the season. This year’s program is called “The Heart of Christmas” and will be presented on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 8 and 9, at the church, 1362 L Street.
“God created music for us to express our hear ts to him. Music moves people. And, this is the best kind of music to move people because it's got the great message to it.”
– Randy Janzen, pastor of Worship Ministries at RMBC
Both programs will begin at 7 p.m. After each one, refreshments will be served. And, child care is available both evenings.
Randy Janzen, pastor of Wor- ship Ministries at RMBC, also is music director and each year se- lects musical programs or songs for the Christmas celebration that showcases a choir and orchestra. This year’s program will feature about 60 singers and an orchestra of nearly 25 musicians.
The singers – who for weeks have been rehearsing with a pia- nist and on their own time – had their first full rehearsal with the musicians on Dec. 3 in the church’s Fellowship Hall. The Dec. 8 and 9 performances will be in the main sanctuary, which seats about 1,200 to 1,300 people.
Performing the songs with mu- sical accompaniment gave the vo- cals even more of a majestic, emo- tional dimension that lifts listeners’ spirits. After the rehearsal, Janzen said that can happen “especially with this kind of music.”
“God created music for us to express our hearts to him. Music moves people,” he said. “And, this is the best kind of music to move people because it’s got the great
message to it. People are dedicated it, to learning it. To tell the gospel story through music is an incredible thing.”
In addition to the music tell- ing the story of the birth of Jesus, the program will include Mary and Joseph being depicted in a stable, and several shepherds will be part of the scene. Malcolm Light, senior pastor of the Reedley Mennonite Brethren Church, will read the nar- ration.
But, mostly, the emphasis is on the music.
This year – instead of a struc- tured complete program such as last year’s “Almost There” musical – Janzen is combining songs from a choral collection called “We Sing Noel” with modern classics, such as
This is a recent rehearsal of the choir and orchestra for Reed- ley Men- nonite Brethren Church's annual Christmas program. "The Heart of Christ- mas"
will be presented Dec. 8 and 9.
Felicia Cousart Matlosz / The Exponent
“Mary Did You Know.” There also is a stirring selection from last year’s program called “Emmanuel/Gloria.”
“It’s really a fun, exciting way to end the evening,” Janzen said.
Songs such as “How Far” and “Noel” were written by popular con- temporary Christian music compos- ers Matt Redman and Chris Tomlin, respectively. They also are sing- ers and worship leaders, and their songs are heard widely on Christian music radio.
Contemporary Christian com- posers also integrate familiar, clas- sic carols with new approaches. For example, “Adore” by Graham Kend- rick and Martin Chalk includes the familiar strains of “O Come Let Us
See RMBC page B11
ABOVE: From left, Kristi Schmidt, Toni Ensz, Karen Reimer ad Laurel Jackson are part of the choir for Reedley Mennonite Brethren Church's "The Heart of Christmas" set for Dec. 8 and 9 at the church. RIGHT: Randy Janzen, RMBC's pastor of Worship Ministries and music director, goes over a passage regarding one of the songs with Bill Braun, a member of the RMBC congregation. He plays the French horn.
Photos by Felicia Cousart Matlosz / The Exponent
Every year I vow to read more books – how did I do?
The View From Here
My tradition of sharing what I read in the past year comes a bit early – I’m writ- ing about my 2017 books now in the hopes of that you might consider giving books as gifts to family and friends this holiday season.
Felicia Cousart Matlosz
me. I’ve gone off on tangents from my intended list. I'd see a concert and want to know more. Or, I’d spot a book in an airport that I’d always wanted to read and buy it for the long flight.
I’ll start with a book that I was in the midst of reading when I wrote last year’s column – “So We Read On: How ‘The Great Gatsby’ Came to Be and Why It Endures” by Maureen Corrigan (2014). I called it her “excel- lent ode (and, really, a love letter)” to what many consider the best Ameri- can novel ever written.
If you’ve read “The Great Gats- by” by F. Scott Fitzgerald (or more than once as some of us have), you’ll enjoy her exploration of how Fitzger- ald came to write the story of the fat- ed Gatsby. (At the time of the book’s release, Corrigan – whose positions include book critic for NPR’s “Fresh Air” program – had read it more than 50 times and taught it to many col- lege students.)
She explores its many themes, such as the meaning of the American dream. She puts it in the context of acclaim for Fitzgerald’s work before “Gatsby” and his life with his strik- ing wife, the exuberant but troubled Zelda.
Corrigan also writes about the book being a flop when it was pub- lished in 1925 and its emergence and reconsideration as a masterwork
long after Fitzgerald died a failure in Hollywood, only 44 years old in 1940. A novel I very much enjoyed was “All the Light We Cannot See” by An- thony Doerr (2014). I had given it as a gift in a previous year to my best friend, who also loves to read. It is a tale of World War II that begins in Paris and leads to Saint-Malo on the
coast of Brittany.
It centers on a blind girl named
Marie-Laure and a boy named Wer- ner and what happens as they grow up in a time of war. There is a cursed gem and flashes of horrendous evil. But this also is a story of love, loy- alty and bravery. And Doerr paints every page with detail, not only be- cause Marie-Laure loses her sight but because the story is filled with unforgettable characters who all de- serve their due.
Back to nonfiction: my husband and I were fortunate to visit London and Vienna this summer. I always bring a book for the long plane ride. (And, no, I still won’t read books from an e-reader. I want to touch each page, write notes in the margins, and slide a bookmark in the place where I left off.)
In a store at the San Francisco In- ternational Airport, my eyes landed on “The Devil in the White City” by
See COLUMN page B11
This is my fourth annual column about my New Year’s resolution to read more (which I never achieve) and what I hope to read in the next 12 months. As always, I confess that too much of my attention is drawn to my laptop and iPhone apps to read break- ing news stories or other articles. It’s a poor excuse, I know, but there you have it.
I have to say that 2017 was an eclectic year of book selections for
Felicia Cousart Matlosz / The Exponent
Here's a look at how far I've gotten with my annual goal to read more books in this era of social media, staying up with news notifications, and browsing the internet. I freely admit that I can do better.