Redemption and restorative justice to be April 1 Skidmore topic

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Attorney Bryan Stevenson will give a talk titled “Mercy: Redemption and Restorative Justice for the Condemned” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 1, at Skidmore College. Free and open to the public, the talk is sponsored by Skidmore’s Speakers Bureau and the program In Our Name.

America has the largest prison population in the world – and the criminal justice system that puts the men, women, and children in these prisons is broken. Excessive punishment and abuse are widespread, and the collateral consequences are devastating lives and communities. Stevenson will talk about defending some of America’s most rejected and marginalized people. The stories he tells are heartbreaking yet inspiring and have been known to motivate audiences to make a change.

Stevenson is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative. His memoir, Just Mercy, is the story of a young lawyer fighting on the front lines of a country in thrall to extreme punishments and careless justice. It is an inspiring story of unbreakable humanity in the most desperate circumstances, and a powerful indictment of a broken justice system and the twisted values that allow it to continue.

Nobel Peace Laureate Desmond Tutu has called Stevenson “America’s young Nelson Mandela.” His work on individual cases has generated national attention and his efforts have reversed death penalties for dozens of condemned prisoners. Stevenson’s 20-minute TED Talk on the subject of injustice has been viewed 1.25 million times on the TED web site and another 150k times on YouTube; The New Yorker named it one of five essential TED talks.

After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1985, Stevenson moved to the South, a region on the verge of a crisis: the states were speeding up executions, but many of the condemned lacked anyone to represent them. On a shoestring budget he started the Equal Justice Initiative, a law practice dedicated to defending some of America’s most rejected and marginalized people. The cases he took on changed his life and transformed his understanding of justice and mercy.

Stevenson is the recipient of numerous awards, including a MacArthur Foundation “Genius” grant and the NAACP Image Award for Best Non-Fiction, and is a tenured law professor at New York University School of Law.

Skidmore to host March 29 program on cultural and cinematic representation of Italian Jews

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Italian Jews: An evening of cultural history and cinematic representation, is scheduled Sunday, March 29, in Gannett Auditorium of Palamountain Hall at Skidmore College.

Yale University scholar Risa Sodi will discuss “Pitigliano, the (Italian) Little Jerusalem” at 4 p.m. A reception will follow at 5 p.m. At 5:30 p.m., Ferzan Ozpetek’s 2004 film Facing Windows will be screened followed by a Q & A session with Professor Sodi.

Admission is free and open to the public. Skidmore’s departments of Foreign Languages and Literatures and History are sponsors of the program, with funding from the Jacob Perlow Fund.

Pitigliano, a small, rural Italian hill town just about halfway between Florence and Rome, was known for centuries as La piccola Gerusalemme, the Little Jerusalem, for its flourishing Jewish community, the learning of its inhabitants, and its unusually cordial interfaith relations. Sodi’s talk will investigate this unusual town and community, also renowned for its stunningly beautiful silhouette, and provide answers to some questions. What made Pitigliano unique? What was Jewish life like in rural Italy? How did the Jewish and Catholic communities interact? What does 1492 have to do with Pitigliano? How did the Jewish community fare during the Holocaust? What is Pitigliano like today?

Tying together the rural with the urban, attention will shift to Rome, the setting of Ferzan Ozpetek’s 2004 La finestra di fronte (Facing Windows). The personal becomes political in this film as Ozpetek — a Turkish director residing in Italy — explores themes of love, commitment, loyalty, and amnesia of several different sorts. Along the way, he gives a “window” into the acute dangers that stalked the wartime Roman Jewish community.

Risa Sodi holds a B.A. magna cum laude in history and Italian from Smith College, an M.A. in French and Italian from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and M.Phil. and a Ph.D. degrees in Italian language and literature from Yale. From 1995-2013, she served in the Yale Italian Department as the Senior Lector II and Language Program Director, where she taught undergraduate and graduate courses on Jewish Italy, opera, film, modern literature, and foreign language pedagogy. She also regularly taught courses abroad in Sardinia, Umbria and Tuscany in conjunction with Yale Summer Session.

In 1990, Sodi published A Dante of Our Time: Primo Levi and Auschwitz, the first monograph on Levi in English, which drew on her 1987 Partisan Review interview; the book was reprinted 2012. She is also the author of Narrative and Imperative: The First Fifty Years of Italian Holocaust Literature, 1943-1993 (2007) and, with Millicent Marcus, New Reflections on Primo Levi: Before and After Auschwitz (2011). Her most recent publication is a chapter in the Modern Language Association volume, Approaches to Teaching Primo Levi (2015).

Sodi has lectured in Canada, England, France, Italy, and the United States on the Jewish Italy and Italian Jewish authors, Holocaust in Italy, and Italian film. She has also published many articles on these topics.

Since 2013, Sodi has served as the inaugural director of academic advising for Yale College. In that role, she supports the work of the residential college deans, freshman and sophomore advisers, and directors of undergraduate study, and develops new academic advising programs. Since July 1, 2014, she has also held an appointment as associate director of the Yale Center for Teaching and Learning, where she develops and leads programs for faculty members, postdoctoral scholars, and graduate students.

The Importance of Play

By Brittany Dinger, '17

As we enter the season of tests, papers, presentations, and projects, it becomes all too easy to allow feelings of guilt to build during lapses between working or studying. As a result, we often couple fewer, poorer quality breaks with longer, less productive study sessions. This causes our work to suffer and our well-being to take a hit. However, there is a simple solution that many of us neglect: playing. Play is important for productivity, mental health, creativity, and overall well-being, yet few Skidmore students seem to do it.

Many of us consider it a good day when we’re able to exercise and finish our homework, but it’s unlikely that the cardio at the sports center really fits the criteria of playing. Although exercise is certainly a crucial component of a balanced life, slaving away at the gym alone is not a substitute for play. The members of Quidditch, Humans vs. Zombies, and any of our sports teams certainly have the right idea. One Skidmore senior on the varsity softball team, for example, values her sport as “the most fun part of [her] day” and admits that it “gets [her] energy up.” Although these are all great outlets, you do not have to be in a club or on a team to play. During the snow day, it was certainly a relief to see so many students leaving their books behind to lose themselves in the snow for a few hours by sledding, enlisting in snowball battles, building snow families, and constructing an igloo. As the icy conditions and negative temperatures hinder such activities, however, indoor options could include rock-climbing (such as Rocksport in town), dancing (anywhere, anytime), or gathering some friends for a dodge ball fight in the gym.

While spending a few hours each week in the toddler room of Greenberg Child Care Center for a psychology class, I find myself growing jealous of the incredible balance these two-year-olds have. They spend their days playing outside, reading books with student-helpers, and engaging in pretend-play by themselves or with others. Their seemingly endless energy and creativity during these bouts of play leads me to believe that, although few of us have the time to replicate the toddlers’ idyllic schedule, we could all certainly stand to take a page from their playbook.

Majora Carter to present Skidmore’s Harder Lecture on March 10

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.— Urban revitalization strategist Majora Carter will discuss “The Department of Home(town) Security” when she presents Skidmore’s F. William Harder Endowed Lecture on Tuesday, March 10. Free and open to the public, the talk begins at 5:30 p.m. in Gannett Auditorium, Palamountain Hall. A reception will follow the lecture.

Carter is also a real estate developer and Peabody Award-winning broadcaster.  She is responsible for the creation and successful implementation of numerous green-infrastructure projects and policies, and job training and placement systems.

After establishing Sustainable South Bronx and Green for All (among other organizations) to carry on that work, she built on this foundation with innovative ventures and insights into urban economic developments designed to help move Americans out of poverty.

Her long list of awards and honorary degrees includes accolades from groups as diverse as Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, John Podesta’s Center for American Progress, Goldman Sachs, and the MacArthur Foundation, which awarded her a “genius” fellowship in 2005. Her 2006 TED talk was one of the first six videos to launch its groundbreaking website. Carter is a board member of the U.S. Green Building Council and the Andrew Goodman Foundation.

She earned a B.A. degree at Wesleyan University and an M.F.A. degree at New York University.

Skidmore’s annual F. William Harder Lecture in Business Administration was inaugurated in 1985 through the generosity of F. William Harder, a Skidmore parent who served as trustee from 1968 to 1980. The lecture brings together students and faculty with industry leaders to explore the current business environment and upcoming challenges.

A Note from The National Residence Hall Honorary Program

Hi Everyone, 

    The National Residence Hall Honorary and The Office of Community Service Programs are hosting an event, SkidService Celebration, in the Spa on Thursday, March 5th to honor and recognize service and leadership on our campus. 

    Eleven service clubs or groups on campus are coming together to share information about themselves and their upcoming events. There will also be seven performance groups, free Esperanto's pizza, raffles for group memorabilia, and a raffle for a chipotle gift card. 

    ​So come join us in learning more about these amazing groups, while enjoying free food and good entertainment! 

If you would like to know more about the event, find us on Facebook here.

We look forward to seeing you there!  Gavin Berger and Kate Bridgham

Co-Presidents of NRHH 

American String Quartet returns to Skidmore for string festival; will participate in College’s Beethoven project March 7

 

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — The world-renowned American String Quartet (ASQ) returns to Skidmore College for the third time as artists-in-residence during the weekend of March 7-8 for the 11th annual Skidmore String Festival, which is part of the college’s ELM Chamber Music Residency. The ASQ will also participate in Skidmore’s continuing Beethoven project while on campus.

The festival features a performance by the ASQ at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 7, in Arthur Zankel Music Center. Tickets are on sale in advance. A second concert, the festival finale, features ASQ and Skidmore faculty joining the student performers. Scheduled for Sunday, March 8, at 2 p.m., also in Zankel, the festival finale is free. Saturday’s concert by the ASQ is will feature an all-Beethoven program as the concert is part of Skidmore’s ongoing Beethoven project in which six internationally renowned guest artist are presenting the full cycle of Beethoven’s 16 string quartets over the course of two years. The ASQ will perform the Quartet in G Major, Op. 18, No. 2; the Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 74; and the Quartet in C-sharp Minor, Op. 131. Tickets are $8 for adults, $5 for seniors and the Skidmore community, and free for students and children. For ticket information for the March 7 American String Quartet Concert, please visit the Skidmore College web site, http://www.skidmore.edu/zankel/

Festival activities include individual and group coaching with the dynamic quartet and Skidmore faculty. Michael Emery, senior artist-in-residence at Skidmore, invited established high school string quartets to join Skidmore students for a weekend of individual, non-competitive coaching with members of the ASQ and Skidmore faculty as well as a performance in the Arthur Zankel Music Center’s Helen Ladd Concert Hall.

Internationally recognized as one of the world’s foremost quartets, the ASQ is celebrating its 39^th season this year. Quartet members are Peter Winograd (violin), Laurie Carney (violin), Daniel Avshalomov (viola), and Wolfram Koessel (cello). Over nearly four decades of touring the quartet has performed in all 50 states and appeared in the world’s most important concert halls. The group’s presentations of the complete quartets of Beethoven, Schubert, Bartók, and Mozart have won widespread critical acclaim, and its MusicMasters Complete Mozart String Quartets, performed on a matched set of instruments by Stradivarius, are widely considered to have set the standard for this repertoire.

In addition to quartets by European masters, the ASQ performs works by American composers and also champions contemporary music. The quartet has commissioned and premiered works by distinguished American composers Richard Danielpour, Tobias Picker, and George Tsontakis, among others.

Journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates to Speak at Skidmore Next Week

 

By Tara Lerman '15

Ta-Nehisi Coates, a celebrated American journalist, will deliver the Student Government Association (SGA) keynote speech on Thursday, March 5 at 8p.m. in Gannett Auditorium. Coates is a national correspondent and blogger for The Atlantic, where he covers significant social and political issues such as poverty, drug abuse, and racial discrimination. In 2008, Coates published his memoir The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood, a moving story about inner-city adolescence and the power of family. Coates served as the Martin Luther King visiting associate professor at MIT for the 2012-2013 academic year and held the position of Journalist-in-Residence at CUNY Graduate School of Journalism this past fall.

But before Coates was a nationally renowned author, educator, and journalist, he was just a student who loved to read and write. After high school, he matriculated at Howard University but later dropped out to pursue a career in journalism. He began working as an intern at the Washington City Paper under the mentorship of David Carr, the editor-in-chief at the time. Coates eventually went on to work for The Village Voice and TIME, and has contributed to The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, and O, The Oprah Magazine. Coates' recent articles include "King David," a piece commemorating David Carr and "The Broad, Inclusive Canvas of Comics," an investigation of the lack of diversity in Hollywood adaptations of comic book characters.

The SGA Speaker’s Bureau has worked hard to provide funding and logistical support for this event. “The piece that brought Mr. Coates to my attention was ‘The Good, Racist People,’ written after Forest Whitaker was accused of shoplifting in a deli near his NYC apartment in 2013, about the impact of well-meaning white people. He’s been on my radar since, and I always thought he’d be an incredible voice to hear on campus,” said Hope Spector, the elected Chair of Speaker’s Bureau (who is also an Op-Ed Editor for The Skidmore News).

Coates was awarded the Hillman Prize for Opinion and Analysis Journalism in 2012 and the 2014 George Polk Award in Commentary for his in-depth study of institutionalized racism in housing and development, "The Case for Reparations." Coates is also well respected for his investigative skills and innovative prose throughout the sphere of professional journalism. In an article featured in The New York Observer, Jordan Michael Smith writes, "Mr. Coates is the single best writer on the subject of race in the United States." Hendrik Hertzberg, political commentator for The New Yorker, calls Coates "one of the most elegant and sharp observers of race in America." And Rachel Maddow of MSNBC has admitted that she "doesn't know if, in U.S. commentary, there is a more beautiful writer than Ta-Nehisi Coates."

At the lecture, Coates will discuss how race is lived in the United States. This event is free of charge and open to the public.

Comfest Reactions: Gentlemen Party and Baby Wants Candy

 

By Janine Kritschgau '18, Features Editor

My experience at the 26th Annual Comfest was pretty good. I attended the very last show, on Sunday Feb. 15, in which professional groups Gentlemen Party and Baby Wants Candy performed. Gentleman Party, a Chicago-based troupe made up of six males and a female, opened the event. The group performed a handful of prepared sketches. One of the most popular-- based on the audience's reaction-- was their very first. The skit was a playful take on mind-trickery in which the audience is convinced a man is addressing his children as “little mangoes,” but the mangoes are actually fruit. The hilarious skit closed with the words “you’re crazy!” projected on the set. The audience went wild.

Crowd members seemed more divided during other sketches. For example, one sketch, where a pastor is attempting to baptize a child but becomes feverishly concerned about some rancid room-temperature shrimp he had just consumed, was so repetitive and feverish that some audience members were not left laughing.

Baby Wants Candy, however, delivered a strong performance from start to finish. By inviting a random volunteer to the stage and conducting a short interview about their life, the cast improvised a series of scenes that satirically replicated the volunteer’s life story. This seemed impressive enough, but ultimately was just a warm-up for the lengthy, completely improvised musical the group went on to perform.

Audience suggestions for the title of the musical were plentiful. The group led an audience cheer contest to decide between two options: “The True Meaning of the Color Blue” (which was an audience suggestion used in a recent Ad-Lib performance at JKB), and “Downton Rabbi.” The latter won.

What followed was an impressive forty-five minute performance. The actors were surprisingly good singers, who artfully created spontaneous songs including choruses sung in unison and various verses. An equally impressive improv band accompanied the actors during each song. Horse impersonations and proclamations of love for a ‘Lady Mary’ played by troupe member Rachel Wenisky highlighted the performance. The crowd was consistently entertained throughout the musical, and left the theater with the satisfaction of a night well spent.

Michael Bérubé Comes to Skidmore, Talks Value of Humanities

By Allison Trunkey '18

Michael Bérubé is a leading scholar of American literature and disability studies, Professor of Literature and Director of the Institute for the Arts and Humanities at Penn State, author of soon-to-be eight books, including Life As We Know It: A Father, A Family, and an Exceptional Child. He is altogether an esteemed member of the academic community, and “one of academia’s most wanted,” as Professor Barbara Black terms him in her welcoming monologue at Bérubé’s lecture on campus on February 12.

The atmosphere in the crowded Filene Hall grew anticipatory as Professor Bérubé walked to the podium and smiled affably. He began with a casual anecdote about a graduate professor with a hamartia for square white ties, garnering several laughs from the audience, and promptly dove into the presentation: The Value—And the Values—of the Humanities.

Bérubé made clear throughout his lecture that he is a strong supporter of the humanities and the creative discourse that is so essential to a liberal arts education. He teasingly referred to himself as “a humanist with an asterisk and a twenty-page annotation.”

Perhaps the most interesting and speculative portion of his lecture concerns what he calls, “the Universal,” meaning universal values, which we typically understand to transcend societal boundaries. Bérubé claims that on the contrary, the concept of the Universal, with roots in the Enlightenment, has imposed perimeters on values and on what we consider human, and that this ultimately degrades our collective society.

Bérubé suggests that our current understanding of universalism is not quite universal enough. Debating the “value of values,” in a sense, has been the missing component in the development of the concept. While many Western civilizations might admit we need expanded human rights, such a pursuit becomes murkier when we have to consider what constitutes a ‘right.’ What makes something universal? Bérubé notes that for centuries, the Divine Right of Kings might have been considered universal, and yet today, few in the West would acknowledge the legitimacy of that ideology. Rather, we debate women’s rights, gay rights, disability rights, and animal rights, to name a few.

This kind of discussion has rallied people for centuries: we might consider war an extreme manifestation of humanity’s inability to reconcile opinions over values, or the debate over welfare in our country a tragic one. Who decides which values are substantial enough to warrant the term ‘universal?’ We will likely never know, or else we will find it somewhere around a “children’s theme park at the border of Israel and Palestine,” as Bérubé notes sardonically.

And yet, he concludes, the only platform on which we can openly discuss such ideas as universalism, the only way we can criticize it effectively and with purpose, is in the context of universalism itself. We are condemned to forever debate the system of values that govern our societies, but in the end, perhaps we are better for it.

Potatoes Over South Park

 

By Rhe Civitello

This past Saturday, Feb. 14, the snow banks of Skidmore’s South Park were pelted by an onslaught of Irish potatoes. Armed with sleek launchers made of PVC pipes, members of the Skidmore Space Cadets and Skid Builds met to observe the wonders of physics in action. “This is no huge science experiment, as much as it is a fun activity involving thermodynamics and classical mechanics,” explained Porter Hall ’16. The base of each apparatus was filled with hairspray, which—with the help of a barbecue sparker—caused combustion upon firing. One by one, students took careful aim at the frigid wasteland that is South Park. With a bang, the starchy missiles were sent hurtling through the air, covering an extraordinary distance at a startling speed. Hall attributes this powerful result to a chain of events involving the transfer of heat, mechanical work, and kinetic energy, working together “to create quite a boom.” Although cut short by an encounter with Campus Safety, the launch was an exciting event for all who attended.

Still in its beginning stages as a club, Skid Builds is currently under review by the Student Government Association. By forming the group, the founders of Skid Builds are seeking to cater to all those interested in exploring invention—science majors or not. So far, the club has organized a number of daring projects, including the construction of hovercraft. With SGA approval, Skid Builds hopes to take an active role in the Skidmore Community and beyond, possibly inviting local high schoolers to engage in their future projects.

Update 2/19/15: Skid Builds has been denied a charter by the SGA

Skidmore to present 2 honorary degrees at Commencement 2015

Sallie W. (Penny) Chisholm, 1969 Skidmore grad, and Julian Bond, civil rights activist, to speak at May 16 ceremony By the Office of Communication

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Two distinguished guests will participate in Commencement 2015: Sallie W. (Penny) Chisholm ’69, the Lee and Geraldine Martin Professor of Environmental Studies at MIT, and Julian Bond, a longtime activist in the civil rights, economic justice, and peace movements who is on the faculty of American University.

Both will address the approximately 640 members of the Class of 2015 at Skidmore’s 104th Commencement on May 16, and each will receive an honorary degree at the ceremony, which starts at 10:40 at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

Chisholm, who is also an MIT professor of biology, majored in biology at Skidmore, but was not planning to pursue a career in the field until her academic advisor encouraged her to apply to graduate school and earn a Ph.D. degree. Her decision to follow that advice would be life-changing for her and game-changing for the scientific world. A pre-eminent biological oceanographer, she has long studied the dominant photosynthetic organisms in the sea. Her findings have revolutionized scientists' understanding of life in the world’s oceans. Those studies have taken her to MIT and to the White House, where she was presented with a National Medal of Science by President Barack Obama in 2013.

She has said that Skidmore was where she discovered a passion for science. After earning a Ph.D. in biology at the University at Albany, State University of New York, she pursued postdoctoral research at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She joined MIT’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in 1976 and in 1978 began to also work at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute as a visiting scientist.

In 1988, while serving as the MIT director of the MIT/Woods Hole Joint Program in Oceanography, she and a team of scientists discovered Prochlorococcus, the world’s smallest, yet most abundant photosynthetic organism. In the years since, she has studied these tiny bacteria on every possible level. They play a critical role in keeping ocean ecosystems healthy and the earth habitable. They exist in astonishing numbers and serve as the base of the ocean food chain. Through photosynthesis they produce as much as 20 percent of the oxygen replenishing the atmosphere each year.

Although much of her work is shared with the academic and scientific communities through her teaching and research, Chisholm also shares her passion for science and knowledge of the earth’s ecology with younger students. She is a collaborator (with illustrator/author Molly Bang) on three children’s books. The first, Living Sunlight: How Plans Bring the Earth to Life (Scholastic, 2009), was named the 2010 Best Children’s Science Picture Book by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Chisholm’s honors are numerous. She is the recipient of a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Alexander Agassiz Medal for original contribution in the science of oceanography, the Huntsman Award for Excellence in Marine Science, and the Rosenstiel Award in Oceanographic Research. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Teacher, author, and activist Julian Bond has been a civil rights leader for more than 50 years, involved in such issues as voting rights and engaged with groups such as the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Born in 1940 in Nashville, Tenn., Bond enrolled in Morehouse College in 1957. There his interests included varsity swimming, an internship at Time magazine and the campus literary magazine, The Pegasus, which he helped to found. He also founded the Committee on Appeal for Human Rights, the Atlanta University Center student civil rights organization that directed three years of nonviolent anti-segregation protests that won integration of the city’s movie theaters, lunch counters, and parks.

On Easter weekend 1960, Bond and several hundred students from across the South founded the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and he became its communications director. Bond left Morehouse one semester prior to graduation to join the staff of a new protest newspaper, The Atlanta Inquirer, which he later served as managing editor. He returned to Morehouse in 1971 to complete his degree, a B.A. in English.

In 1965 Bond started his career in politics with election to a one-year term in the Georgia House of Representatives. He won two subsequent elections over the next year but was barred by the Georgia House from being seated because of his outspoken opposition to the Vietnam War. A 1966 unanimous ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court found that the Georgia House had violated Bond’s civil rights by refusing him the seat to which he was elected. Bond eventually served four terms in Georgia’s House and six in its Senate. During this time he sponsored or cosponsored more than 60 bills that became law.

Bond served as president of the Atlanta branch of the NAACP for 11 years, and from 1998 to 2010 chaired the NAACP national board. He was the first president of the Southern Poverty Law Center and has been an advisory board member with other organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Federation for Neighborhood Diversity, the Harvard Business School Initiative on Social Enterprise, and the Nicaragua/Honduras Education Project.

He hosted America’s Black Forum, the oldest black-owned show in TV syndication, and has narrated numerous documentaries, including the acclaimed PBS series Eyes on the Prize. He has written a nationally syndicated newspaper column titled “Viewpoint,” and is the author of A Time to Speak, a Time to Heal, a collection of essays. His poems and articles also have been published in The Nation, Life, and The New York Times.

Bond’s recognitions are numerous and include the 2002 National Freedom Award and being named a “Living Legend” in 2008 by the Library of Congress. He holds 25 honorary degrees and currently teaches in American University’s Department of Government.

Bond has recently been speaking about the Oscar-nominated movie Selma, which depicts the struggle for voting rights and has been criticized for its depiction of the role of President Lyndon B. Johnson. In a recent interview (KVUE, Feb. 8, 2015), Bond asserted, “LBJ is treated as an enemy of the Civil Rights movement, and LBJ was the best Civil Rights president America has ever had.” Bond also believes the film is unfair in its characterization of student organizers. Nevertheless, “With those exceptions it’s a movie that every American should see,” he said.

Skidmore ProArts Channels Talents into active Love: Creating a New Mural Where an Old One had been Destroyed

By Jessica Kong '16, News Co-Editor

Saratoga Center for the Family is an agency that serves children who are victims of domestic violence, neglect, and other forms of abuse. On May 5, 2013, the Family Center was engulfed by a fire that destroyed the basement which houses its Child Advocacy Center- which provides counseling and medical services, among other forms of support, to children who have experienced abuse. After the entire staff temporarily relocated to the Nolan House, a Presbyterian Church on Circular Street, they came back to their original location in September 2013 with the help of funds raised by local restaurants. Although the walls were repainted with bright colors, they were blank.

The walls stayed that way until they caught the attention of Rene Alpert ’15, who visited the Family Center for the first time in January 2014. She knew that a mural created by Skidmore students had existed in the Child Advocacy Center before the fire and was eager to put up another one just as beautiful in its place. Alpert took the initiative to reach out to Skidmore Pro Arts, an on-campus club dedicated to the fine arts.

In January, Alpert contacted Lily Reinhold ’15—a studio art major and member of the Skidmore Pro Arts club–asking for her assistance in planning out ideas for the mural. With the help of other Skidmore artists, they started to blueprint the images during club meetings while keeping in mind the suggestions of a cityscape theme from the kids at the Child Advocacy Center.

“We wanted to create an image that was calming and comforting for children when they came in, one that reflected a community and all the possible interests that a child might have,” Reinhold said.

Pro Arts members Camilla Busby ’15, astudio art major and creative writing minor, and Elizabeth Stone ’15,a studio art major, art history and religion double minor, sketched the scenes on the walls. The next day, Reinhold and a dozen other  Skidmore Pro Arts club members completed the mural.

Painted with hues that conjure up the nostalgia of classic carnival games, the mural stands warm and welcoming in the Child Advocacy Center waiting room. In the mural, a pink and white striped sweet shop cheerfully resides next to a bookstore, over which a painted parchment sign is inscribed as  “The Book of Wonders.” A smiling unicorn stands beside the bookstore entrance, the floor of which is plaid pink and leads into the book sanctuary . Next door, a grinning green dinosaur serves a swirl of ice cream to a tiny clown out of a mint green ice cream stand spotted with plum purple. Adjacent is the pet shop, where another dinosaur, a bunny, a dog, a cat, a bird, and a fish await their next owners. A bright yellow flower shop looks over a beautiful pasture of hilly green, where butterflies roam and sunflowers grow tall. Finally, rows of brand new toys can be seen through the window of a bright blue toy store.

Child Advocacy Center Coordinator Jennifer Wormley was very pleased with the students’ efforts. “The mural is what brings everything together. We bring the kids over to the mural and it instantly makes them feel comfortable,” Wormley said.

The walls at the Child Advocacy Center are soon to be filled with more Skidmore art. Busby and Stone expressed excitement about a new mural they are planning to put up this spring semester.

Club Profile: Line

By Janine Kritschgau '18, Features Editor

Line is an art publication focusing on art from Skidmore and downtown Saratoga Springs. Articles published in the magazine examine exhibits at the Tang and Shick Art—as well as dance and the occasional music performances. A typical Line piece is a well-crafted student response to an art exhibit, focusing on the emotions inspired in the viewer.

Club co-presidents Allison Gretchko and Daniel Kapp, both members of the class of 2017, are currently working to improve the magazine. “It’s great because you can have someone who just loves to write join the club, or someone who just likes art join the club,” Gretchko says. Line is currently looking to involve more members in all aspects of the process of the magazine, including writing articles and designing the print edition. Anyone is encouraged to join, especially those who enjoy writing or have experience with InDesign.

“Our club members [are] passionate, quirky, intellectual, silly, and dedicated,” Kapp says. The dynamic group has been successfully transitioning the publication into a “more sleek [and] professional” form, the co-president elaborates.

At the moment, Line’s 2015 edition is still coming together. The magazine will be completed about mid-March and presented at a launch party on April 9 in the Tang Teaching Museum. The catered event will showcase spoken-word poetry as well as performances by campus bands and a cappella groups.

The club plays a vital role in the art scene on campus by encouraging and facilitating conversations about art. “I think if more people understood the Tang, then more people would appreciate it,” Kapp explains. “Our goal is to reach out to as many people as possible…to make it easy to join something cool.” To read Line Archives or to learn more about the publication, click here.

The club meets in Tisch most Thursdays from 7-8 p.m. and every other Monday from 7-8 p.m. To keep up to date about specific meeting times and location, email Gretchko or Kapp (agretchk@skidmore.edu or dkapp@skidmore.edu).

Why Does The World Exist? An Existential Detective Story

By Erin Silgardo '18

Why Does the World Exist is considered one of the best books of the year according to New York Times Book Review, New York Magazine, Slate, Discover Magazine, and Christian Century. Author Jim Holt is a long time contributor to The New Yorker, a frequent contributor to the New York Times, and has written another book called Stop Me If You’ve Heard This.

In Why Does The World Exist, Holt tries to tackle the “darkest question in all of philosophy”: Why is there something rather than nothing? Through a series of interviews with modern philosophers, scientists, and writers, he gathers theories and tests them against each other. A wide variety of perspectives are taken into consideration, including those of the religious, atheists, and agnostics. He analyzes and explains these theories, using examples that even a philosophical novice could understand. His writing is almost entirely unprejudiced, which allows readers to come to their own conclusions about the theories he presents.

It is a wonderful, albeit frustrating, read because Holt provides no concrete answer for this burning question. Prominent British non-fiction author Sarah Bakewell might have been right when she said, “I can imagine few more enjoyable ways of thinking than to read this book.” However, in the end, this piece of literature helps one to understand his or her place in the seemingly huge and uncertain world, and is a worthwhile read.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Remembering Anne Palamountain

 

By Janine Kritschgau '18, Features Editor

Anne Palamountain, a prominent individual for the College during the past fifty years of her life, passed away on Jan. 24. She indirectly touched the lives of every student through her development of Financial Aid programs at Skidmore, namely organizing the annual Palamountain Scholarship Benefit each summer. She also formed close relationships with various members of the faculty.

Professor Rotheim, of the English department, described Anne’s commitment by explaining that “she threw herself into anything and all things Skidmore with tireless energy and enthusiasm.” She will be remembered for her spirit and dynamic vision. Professor Rotheim added, “Anne was one of those persons who aged with grace, integrity, and good humor.”

Many of the same sentiments were echoed by Classics Professor Michael Arnush. Since the time he first came to campus, in the late 80s, he explained that he “would see her around and [at that time] already held her in high esteem.” Professor Arnush shared fond memories with Palamountain from a two week alumni trip to Greece in 1989, which she attended. Despite her being 74 years of age at the time of the trip, she climbed the acropolis, swam in the hotel pools and the Mediterranean Sea. “She was phenomenal,” Professor Arnush reflected.

Each year, Anne Palamountain participated in fundraising efforts to raise between 100,000 and 200,000 dollars for student scholarships. “She was a remarkable friend to Skidmore,” Professor Arnush stated. “She obviously fell in love with the college, and we fell in love with her.”

Romance and Microbes: The Science Behind Shared Bacteria

 

By Brittany Dingler

While the approaching of Valentine’s Day usually marks ubiquitous exchanges of chocolates, roses, and “punny" cards, most of us do not realize the other “something special” we are giving our significant others: bacteria. These invisible microbial guests outnumber our own cells ten-fold, as they enjoy a life of free meals, nice homes, and protection.

In our mouths alone, we harbor up to 200 species of bacteria, adding up to a whopping 1,000 to 100,000 microbes (Stevens & Desrocher, 1997). The bacterial cocktail within our mouths is usually unique to us and largely depends on our oral hygiene habits, diet, genetics, and overall health. However, a study carried out by Kort et al. (2014) found that a few distinct species can enjoy shared custody between individuals in a relationship. Here, the researchers discovered that hours after consuming a probiotic yogurt, those who engaged in “intimate kissing” shared Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium bacteria. Perhaps less romantic is their finding that, on average, a 10-second kiss facilitated the transfer of 80 million bacteria.

Though this might seem gross enough to make you temporarily swear off intimacy and keep your chocolate box to yourself, it is worth considering the evolutionary benefits to why this particular act of intimacy is important to us as humans. Kort et al. (2014) have evidence that, although we are not the only animals who kiss, our particular form of saliva-swapping smooching may have enabled our ancestors to do a quick, necessary profile of the dietary and metabolic fitness of our potential mates via implicit “chemical cues.” This is not entirely unlike our innate propensity to favor those with symmetrical faces and silky, shiny hair - qualities that also speak to the health of the individual. Additionally, the famous “cuddle hormone,” oxytocin, spikes during a kiss, which facilitates feelings of attachment, a key component of a species’ survival.

On a more appreciable level, humans’ naturally residing bacteria help to fight off of pathogenic (disease-causing) bacteria that could make us sick or create infection by outcompeting the ill-meaning microbes for space and nutrients. As a result, our immune systems may be benefiting from our intimate exchanges, while taking “what’s mine is yours” to a whole new level.

A Letter from The Center for Sex & Gender Relations

Dear Skidmore Community, Hello! Just in case you haven’t heard of us, we wanted to introduce ourselves! The Center for Sex & Gender Relations is an awesome (well we think it’s awesome!) resource on campus for all of your sex and gender concerns and questions. Did you know that the Center is open every afternoon? During office hours, you can purchase condoms (10 for $1), dental dams (free!) and lube, check out our awesome library, or talk to a Peer Advocate (PA). Students come to talk to us (always confidentially) about a variety of topics ranging from safer sex to sexual and gender identity to relationship issues and more. Students should also know that we are a peer to peer anonymous resource on campus and can offer support and resources to students who may have experienced sexual or gender-based misconduct. Though we have to report statistics, your identity is kept anonymous you can learn about both the resources and options available to you as you begin your healing process.

An exciting new direction for The Center is a focus on Prevention and Educational Programming. While programming has always been important, we are really diving in this semester and hope to offer multiple programs every month throughout the semester. In order to make this happen, we are excited to be partnering with one of our favorite off-campus resources, Wellspring. Wellspring, formerly Domestic Violence and Rape Crisis Services of Saratoga County, provides victim services in legal advocacy, crisis intervention, medical advocacy and much more. Additionally, Wellspring offers a 24/7 hotline. The advocates who answer the hotline receive very specialized training including an intensive 40 hour required training before ever answering a call. Wellspring hotline advocates are required to continue their training and education throughout their tenure at the agency.   Given the availability and expertise that Wellspring brings to campus, The Center has decided to terminate our weekend hotline and invite students to use the Wellspring hotline anytime they have a question or experience that they need help with. This decision will allow The Center to concentrate our efforts on Prevention and Educational programming and will give students greater access to hotline services. Additionally, we hope this partnership will allow us the opportunity to welcome advocates from Wellspring on campus to provide victim advocacy services as well as outreach services in the future. We are truly excited to welcome Wellspring to our community and know that their presence at Skidmore will assist us in our ultimate goal of creating an informed, safer and healthier Skidmore!

Also remember that Skidmore offers an after-hours on-call counselor from the Counseling Center as well as an after-hours on-call nurse practitioner from Health Services while school is in session. These resources are well-utilized by students and we continue to be grateful for the level of commitment both Health Services and the Counseling Center bring to our community. We encourage students to continue to use these resources for any type of emergency that pertains to sex, gender, and more.

We are looking forward to an amazing semester! We are excited to continue providing you with the information and products you need to have safe, healthy and consensual relationships and look forward to an exciting partnership with Wellspring. We are located on the 3^rd floor of Case and would love for you to come by and say hi! Watch out for our programs and Racy Readers! If you have questions, please contact us at sgrcenter@skidmore.edu.

Thanks for your continued support!

The Center

Skidmore’s 26th Annual Comfest

By Janine Kritschgau '18, Features Editor

College loves comedy, but comedy loves Skidmore. This is a great time for comedy across America, let alone on college campuses. But at Skidmore, it’s been the golden age of comedy since 1989. That is the year that David Miner—a former member of the Ad-Liberal Artists, now producing Parks and Recreation—put on a comedy festival showcasing not only Skidmore’s talents, but also the talents of groups from neighboring colleges and up-and-coming professionals.

“It reminds me of a Folklore. It gets passed down from student to student,” explained Senior co-Producer Rebecca Baruc. Baruc, along with co-producer Adam Fisher-Cox, began forming the 2015 show last spring by drafting a list of candidates for the professional act. Ron Funches, Kyle Dunnigan, Pete Holmes, and Aparna Nancherla all topped the list. But there was one comic who stood above the rest; 43-year-old Tig Notaro was the number one pick. “I guess I could take it to that one set, Live,” Baruc says, “[it is] a very unique set…unlike everything I’ve heard.” Live was promoted on Louis C.K.'s website just two years ago. Live, arguably Notaro’s most well known performance, exemplifies a skill she has mastered: the art of mixing tragedy and wisdom, while simultaneously being entertaining.

Neither Baruc nor Fisher-Cox foresees a career in comedy, despite possessing what seems to be an incredible feel for high quality, enchanting performances. Shortly after Notaro confirmed her performance at Comfest in August, she signed a book deal, was awarded an HBO show, and piqued the interest of several prominent news outlets. “She said she’ll do whatever she thinks is funny,” says Fisher-Cox.

Sixteen college comedy groups will perform alongside Notaro, her opening act Chris Thayer, musical improv group Baby Wants Candy, and professional sketch comedy group Gentlemen Party. Thirty-six other groups applied to be in the show by submitting 15-minute video recordings of their group. The producing team got to work, analyzing the stage presence and group dynamic of the applicants. Some groups, namely comedy clubs from Brown, Yale, and NYU were automatically granted an invitation to Comfest based on consistently positive past performances.

Producer Fisher-Cox says that despite the stresses of organizing and putting on a show of this magnitude, “it is very satisfying—I’m so excited to be introducing it to people.”

Tickets will go on sale on Feb. 9 at 10 a.m. Students should go to the second floor of Case to line up and receive a code used for online ticket purchase. The event has never taken more than two days to sell out, so get your ticket fast before sales open to the general public on Feb. 10.

Ensemble ACJW to Come to Skidmore

Ensemble ACJW returns to Skidmore College in February for its spring-semester residency and concert. Scheduled at 8 p.m. Feb. 13 in the Arthur Zankel Music Center, the concert will feature selections by Roussel (Trio for Flute, Viola and Cello, Op. 40), Ravel (Piano Trio in A Minor), and the world premiere of “Backlight” by Meredith Monk. At 7 p.m. Monk will present the pre-concert talk. For tickets, visit http://www.skidmore.edu/zankel/ Ensemble ACJW is a program of Carnegie Hall, the Juilliard School and the Weill Music Institute in partnership with the NYC Department of Education. The ensemble’s spring residency is made possible with generous support from the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation.

Chowderfest 2015

 

By Caitria O'Shaughnessy

No doubt you heard last Saturday, Saratoga Springs hosted its annual Chowderfest, a tradition that has lasted 17 years. This event has become a staple for the town and surrounding communities during the dark and cold winter months. People come from all over to traipse through downtown in the cold and snow, moving from stand to stand and restaurant to restaurant all in search of “buck-a-cup” chowder.

This year, Chowderfest boasted 88 participants, including restaurants from in-town, out-of-town, and dog chowder contest participants. This year, Druther’s won multiple awards, including The People’s Choice, Best On Broadway, and Most Chowder Served. The full list of winners from this year, as well as past years, can be found here.

While braving thirteen-degree weather for several hours on a quest to taste the best chowder seems unrealistic to anyone who doesn’t reside in New England, the turnout for the fest tells a different story.  Some chowder lines stretched as far a block long while other people crammed into restaurants all over town leaving little room to breathe, let alone slurp their chowder in peace. The streets were also packed. In fact, the town looked about as crowded as it does on a good weekend in racing season, only with three extra layers of clothing. Several streets were blocked off and despite the blustery weather, everyone was having fun walking around, talking, laughing, and trying to find another cup of chowder to stay warm.