FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For more information:

Myra Saturen, 610-332-6547

The life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. will be commemorated through music, dance, drama, and art at “Vote the Dream,” this year’s annual tribute at Northampton Community College (NCC), on Saturday, January 26, 2007 at 6:00 p.m. at Lipkin Theatre, Kopecek Hall, Main Campus, 3835 Green Pond Road, Bethlehem Township.

The struggle for voting rights by African Americans, women and other groups as well as the importance of participating in today’s democratic process will be the evening’s major themes.

Michelle Drame, director of corporate and community relations at East Stroudsburg University, will give the keynote address. Drame worked for eighteen years in the entertainment industry in the roles of producer, writer, director, production supervisor, and researcher of motion pictures legal services. Her employers have included NBC and ABC television networks, Paramount Pictures, and Mark Goodson Productions.

Drame, who grew up on the New Jersey shore, earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Montclair State University and a master’s degree in education with a concentration in history from East Stroudsburg University. She also attended Oxford University, lived in England and France and visited West Africa.

In addition to the keynote speech, the evening will include:

• The national anthem and other songs performed by the Holmes Family.
• Readings by NCC student winners of a prose and poetry contest
• Exhibit of posters by NCC communications/design students
• Dance performed by the Monarch Dance Company of Allentown
• Dramatizations by NCC students of election media coverage during different historical eras

Additional events in honor of Dr. King will be held at Northampton Community College during the week of January 21. They include two debates on the topic “Does Democracy Exist Without Voting?” This issue will be debated by NCC students on Tuesday, January 22 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Laub Lounge, College Center, Main Campus and again by state representatives and NCC alumnus and director of the Bethlehem Water Authority Steve Repasch on Thursday, January 24 at 12:30 p.m. in the Laub Lounge. There will also be an exhibit of photographs by three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Carol Guzy (January 23 – February 21) and a display of art work by students from Whitehall High School (January 18 – February 22).

All programs will be open to the public and free of charge. Donations for student scholarships are welcome.

Seating is limited. Call the student activities office, 610-861-5324 for reservations.