Chuck Norris fact #489: Chuck can teach students about voting

By: Melissa Dilley

Posted: 9/17/08

Students who attend "We the People Fest," which runs Sept. 26 through Sept. 28, can meet television star Chuck Norris and learn about the voting process.

WE THE PEOPLE FEST
The three-day festival will feature directors and film showings including:
&bull Lulu Fries'dat, director and executive producer of "Holler Back - (not) Voting in an American Town"
&bull Laura Paglin, director and producer of "No Umbrella: Election Day In The City"
&bull Christopher Sprinkle, producer and director, and Erikka Yancy, associate producer of "This Brave Nation Series - Episodes 1 & 2"
&bull Peter Lawson Jones
&bull Joshua Michael Stern, director and writer of "Swing Vote"
&bull Jason Pollock, director and producer of "The Youngest Candidate"
&bull Kelly Nyks, director and producer of "SPLIT: A Divided America"
&bull Jason Zone Fisher, director and producer of "Swing State"
&bull Matthew Kraus, director and producer of "How Ohio Pulled It Off"

The festival, which will be primarily held at Oscar Ritchie Hall, is meant to educate people about politics and voting through movies and speakers.

Traci Williams, organizer for the event and instructor in Pan-African Studies and Journalism and Mass Communications, said Kent State planned the festival because it is a great opportunity for all who are involved.

"A lot of people don't know political processes, and the movies that are being shown are ones that are not normally found in theaters," Williams said.

In addition to Chuck Norris, who will be speaking at 3 p.m. Sept. 28 in Cartwright Hall, directors, producers and politicians are set to speak.

Williams said the band Highland Heights will also be performing - not Kanye West, who has been rumored to appear.

All movies will be shown in Oscar Ritchie Hall with the exception of "Swing Vote," which will be shown Sept. 27 at 7:30 p.m. at University Plaza Theatre in Kent. Students can attend speakers for free, while tickets to all movies are $5 for students and $7 for non-students. Tickets to see Chuck Norris speak are $8 for students and $10 for non-students. Passes that will allow admission to all programs over the weekend can be purchased for $50.

Tickets and showtimes are available at www.wethepeoplefest.com.

Contact on-campus entertainment reporter Melissa Dilley at mdilley2@kent.edu.