Thursday, September 25, 2008

Poet Jehanne Dubrow to Give Reading at Washington College

Chestertown, MD — Washington College's 2008-2009 Sophie Kerr Lecture Series continues with a reading by poet Jehanne Dubrow at the Rose O'Neill Literary House on Tuesday, October 7, at 4:30 p.m.

Dubrow is currently a Visiting Professor of English at Washington College. She earned her Ph.D. in English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln; she also has an M.F.A. in Creative Writing, Poetry, from the University of Maryland and a B.A. from St. John's College.

Dubrow's work has appeared in Poetry, The Hudson Review, The New England Review, Shenandoah, Barrow Street and Gulf Coast. She is the author of a chapbook, The Promised Bride (Finishing Line Press). Her full-length collection won the 2007 Three Candles Press First Book Prize and will be published in 2008.

The Sophie Kerr Lecture Series honors the legacy of the late Sophie Kerr, a writer from Denton, Md., whose generosity has enriched Washington College's literary culture. The 2008-2009 series includes poetry readings, fiction readings, lectures and, as its culmination in March 2009, a special appearance by two-time U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser.

Admission to Dubrow's reading is free and open to the public. For more information, call 410/778-7879.

September 25, 2008

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Sarbanes, Maryland's Longest-Serving U.S. Senator, to Visit Washington College

Chestertown, MD — Retired U.S. Senator Paul S. Sarbanes, the longest-serving senator in Maryland history, will discuss "The Importance of Ethics to Our Society" at Washington College's Casey Academic Center Forum on Tuesday, October 7, at 4:30 p.m.

The lecture is presented by the Richard Holstein '68 Ethics Program.

Among his other senatorial accomplishments, Sarbanes co-authored the bipartisan Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, enacted in response to major corporate and accounting scandals that cost investors billions of dollars. "The New York Times called the Sarbanes-Oxley Act 'the most far-reaching reforms of American business practices since the time of Franklin D. Roosevelt'," said Washington College President Baird Tipson. "As our nation embarks upon the largest corporate bailout in history, it is especially timely that the former ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee will visit our campus to speak with our students about the importance of ethics in our society."

Sarbanes, who for decades served as Maryland's Democratic senior senator, had the principles of fairness and opportunity instilled in him by his parents from a very early age. Born in Salisbury, Maryland, in 1933, he was the son of Greek immigrants who owned the Mayflower Restaurant on Salisbury's Main Street. Sarbanes' parents understood the importance of hard work and the value of education. They instilled these values in their children along with an appreciation of the benefits of living in a democratic society.

Sarbanes attended Princeton University on an academic and athletic scholarship. A Rhodes Scholarship then took him to Oxford University. He returned to the United States and graduated from Harvard Law School.

Sarbanes was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, then a three-term Congressman from the Third Congressional District. In 1977, he began his record-length career as United States Senator from Maryland.

Throughout his years of public service, Senator Sarbanes worked hard to provide the citizens of Maryland with dedicated, independent representation. When he retired in 2007, the Democratic National Committee declared, "Be it ... resolved, that the DNC offers Senator Sarbanes its best wishes as he leaves the Senate and its hopes that his retirement from the Senate will not mean his retirement from opportunities to continue his efforts in behalf of the great causes for which he has already labored long and hard."

The Richard Holstein '68 Ethics Program is named in honor of a Washington College graduate who, two years ago, launched a new program to bring about a deeper appreciation for the value of ethics in American life. In addition to sponsoring the Holstein Prize in Ethics, awarded annually to a graduating senior, the Holstein Program brings distinguished individuals of national significance to campus to lecture and meet with students in an informal setting for discussion. The Holstein Program also supports a summer stipend for a faculty member who adds significant ethical content to a course.

Admission to "The Importance of Ethics to Our Society" is free and open to the public.

September 24, 2008

From Rwanda to Abu Graib: Award-Winning Journalist Gourevitch Visits Washington College

Chestertown, MD — The Rose O'Neill Literary House's "Literature of the Fact"—a special series of lectures on the diverse varieties of the art of nonfiction—continues with dual presentations by celebrated journalist Philip Gourevitch on Thursday, October 2.

The event is co-sponsored by the Goldstein Program in Public Affairs.

Gourevitch's searing account of the Rwandan genocide, We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families, won the 1998 National Book Critics Circle award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the George K. Polk Award for Foreign Reporting.

A long-time staff writer for The New Yorker, and the editor of The Paris Review, Gourevitch is also the author of Standard Operating Procedure, with Erroll Morris, about the prisoner abuse at Abu Graib in Iraq.

At 4:30 p.m. on Oct 2, Gourevitch will be at the Rose O'Neill Literary House to offer an in-depth look at The Paris Review and working in publishing and the literary field (open to members of the Washington College community). At 7:30 p.m., he will give a reading from his works (open to the public).

The Louis L. Goldstein Program in Public Affairs was established in 1990 to encourage students to enter public service by introducing them to exemplary leaders, both in and out of government. The Goldstein Program has hosted journalists, political activists, foreign policy analysts, diplomats, military commanders and government officials of both national and international stature.

The Goldstein Program sponsors lectures, symposia, visiting fellows, student participation in models and conferences, and other projects that bring students and faculty together with leaders experienced in developing public policy.

The Rose O'Neill Literary House, which underwent an extensive restoration and renovation last spring, is known far and wide as the hub of Washington College's writing community. For nearly 25 years it has served as the venue for co-curricular activities that bring together students and faculty with visiting writers, scholars, editors and other literary artists; theWashington Post dubbed it "the Carnegie Hall of literary readings."

"Literature of the Fact" continues throughout the fall, presenting "Food Lit with Amanda Hesser" on November 14, and "Rock Lit with Dan Kennedy" on November 20. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, call 410/778-7899 or visitlithouse.washcoll.edu.

September 24, 2008

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Illuminating 'Openings': Harvard Art Historian Visits Washington College

Chestertown, MD — A Harvard University art historian who is one of the nation's leading authorities on medieval religious art in general and illuminated manuscripts in particular is to make a special appearance at Washington College. Jeffrey Hamburger, the Kuno Francke Professor of German Art and Culture at Harvard University, will present "Openings" at Washington College's Casey Academic Center Forum on Monday, October 6, at 7:30 p.m.

In an age of mechanical, and now virtual, reproduction, we have perhaps lost sight of the basic visual unit that structures our experience of the medieval book: the opening. From the origins of codex as a medium in late antiquity, and in contrast to the scrolls used in the ancient world, the confrontation of the verso and recto pages provided the visual field within which scribes and illuminators operated. Openings also made possible the visible elaboration of the word with figurated initials, frames and full-page miniatures.

Professor Hamburger, who in his talk will explore the intricacies and evolution of this book-based artistic medium, holds a Ph.D. in art history from Yale University, has held teaching positions at Oberlin College and the University of Toronto, and has been a guest professor at the Universities of Zurich, Paris and Oxford. His teaching and research focus on the art of the high and later Middle Ages.

Among his areas of special interest are medieval manuscript illumination, text-image issues, the history of attitudes toward imagery and visual experience, and German vernacular religious writing of the Middle Ages, particularly in the context of mysticism.

Beginning with his dissertation on the Rothschild Canticles (Yale, 1987), much of Hamburger's scholarship has focused on the art of female monasticism. His current research includes a project that seeks to integrate digital technology into the study and presentation of liturgical manuscripts, and a study of narrative imagery in late medieval German prayer books.

Hamburger has been published widely in the relevant scholarly journals and is the author of numerous books as well, including The Mind's Eye: Art and Theological Argument in the Medieval West, co-edited with Anne-Marie Bouché (Princeton University Press, 2005); The Visual and the Visionary: Art and Female Spirituality in Late Medieval Germany (Zone Books, 1998); Nuns as Artists: The Visual Culture of a Medieval Convent (University of California Press, 1996); and The Rothschild Canticles: Art and Mysticism in Flanders and the Rhineland circa 1300 (Yale University Press, 1990).

Hamburger's October 6 lecture at Washington College is presented by the Department of Art and Art History, the Gender Studies Program and the German Studies Program. Admission to "Openings" is free and open to the public.

September 23, 2008

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Priestly Problems Explored in 'Doubt,' Staged at Washington College

Chestertown, MD — The Washington College Department of Drama will present John Patrick Shanley's "Doubt" at the Norman James Theatre on Friday and Saturday, September 26 and 27, at 8 p.m.

Winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Drama Desk Award and the Tony Award for Best Play, "Doubt" takes place at a Bronx Catholic school in 1964. A nun wrestles with her suspicions about a popular priest who may or may not be guilty of inappropriate behavior with a student. Armed with little more than a resolute belief in her gut instincts and some minor circumstantial evidence, she launches a campaign to oust the priest. As the plot continues to shift, audience members are forced to wonder whether they (like the nun) are justified in their conclusions.

The New York Times hailed "Doubt" as "an inspired study in moral uncertainty with the compellingly certain structure of an old-fashioned detective story."

In addition to his prodigious output as a playwright, John Patrick Shanley has written extensively for TV and film; he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the 1987 box-office hit "Moonstruck." As the latest example of Shanley's Broadway-Hollywood overlap, his big-screen adaptation of "Doubt," starring Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman, is slated for a December 2008 release.

The upcoming Washington College production of "Doubt," directed by Senior Mary Lide, features James Maguire, Lauren Davenport, Kelsy Long and Allison Valliant.

Admission to "Doubt" is free, but reservations are required; call 410/778-7835 or e-mail drama_tickets@washcoll.edu.

September 18, 2008

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Latin American Scholar Discusses 'Public Policy, Poverty And Inequality' at Washington College

Chestertown, MD — Brazil is home to one of the most thriving, dynamic cultures in Latin America, but also to serious poverty issues as well. Professor Lucas González of the Universidad Católica Argentina will explore this subject when he presents "Public Policy, Poverty and Inequality" at Washington College's Litrenta Lecture Hall on Wednesday, September 24, at 7:30 p.m. The lecture is presented by the Goldstein Program in Public Affairs.

González, a Ph.D. candidate in political science at the University of Notre Dame, is currently working on his dissertation on federalism and fiscal relations between the central government and subnational units in Argentina and Brazil. He holds an MSc in Latin American Studies from the University of Oxford and an M.A. in public policy from Georgetown University-UNSAM.

González received a Fulbright Scholarship in 2003-05 and a Chevening-British Council Scholarship in 2002-03, as well as the "Presidency of the Nation" Award for the best student in political science and international relations in Argentina (1998).

The former assistant editor of the newsletter of the American Political Science Association Organized Section in Comparative Politics, González has taught at various universities in Argentina, including the Universidad Católica Argentina, Escuela Nacional de Gobierno and Católica de Córdoba.

González has served on the staff of the Office of the President of Argentina, working as a researcher for the federal Institute of Public Administration and the Secretary for Strategic Planning. He has coauthored two books and written numerous articles in edited volumes and peer-reviewed journals.

The Louis L. Goldstein Program in Public Affairs was established in 1990 to encourage students to enter public service by introducing them to exemplary leaders, both in and out of government. The Goldstein Program has hosted journalists, political activists, foreign policy analysts, diplomats, military commanders and government officials of both national and international stature.

The Goldstein Program sponsors lectures, symposia, visiting fellows, student participation in models and conferences, and other projects that bring students and faculty together with leaders experienced in developing public policy.

Litrenta Lecture Hall is located in the John S. Toll Science Center. Admission to "Public Policy, Poverty and Inequality" is free and open to the public.

September 9, 2008

Monday, September 8, 2008

Get Ready For The Regatta: Build Your Own Cardboard Boat

Chestertown, MD — Organizers for the Cardboard Boat Regatta are taking entries for this year's event to be held along the Chester River at Wilmer Park on September 27, 2008 at 4:00 PM. Entries are limited to the first 30 boats registered.

A cardboard boat regatta challenges participants to build a human-powered boat made of corrugated cardboard (and a few other approved materials) that is capable of navigating a 300-meter course. The goal is to be creative in designing, building and decorating the rafts—and to have fun on the river. Points are garnered by wearing costumes appropriate for the theme of the vessel. Every boat must have a captain, and there can be up to six people on a team.

John Seidel, Director of the Center for Environment & Society says, "We're expecting a great turnout for this year's regatta." Last year the competition was open only to Washington College students, faculty, staff and alumni. This year's regatta includes the greater Chestertown community (residents must be at least 12 years old). “We hope to have a good mix of competitors from local schools, civic organizations, downtown businesses—you name it,” says Seidel.

Every boat will be an original work of art. Awards recognize creative use of cardboard and brave mariners will be competing for $1,125 worth of prizes in the following categories:

  • Cape Horn Award — 1st around the course — $300
  • Captain Cook Award — 2nd best circumnavigator — $150
  • Robert Peary Award — 3rd across the finish line — $75
  • Horatio Nelson Award — best overall design, name, costumes — $300
  • Cutty Sark Award — best design & construction — $100 gift card to Imperial Hotel
  • Kon-Tiki Award — best theme & costumes — $100 gift card to Fish Whistle
  • Linda Greenlaw Award — most team spirit — $50 gift card to Feast of Reason
  • Titanic Award — spectacular sinking — $50 gift card to Play It Again Sam

According to John Wagner, Director of Waterfront Programs at Washington College, "It's always a surprise to see what people come up with, and even more fun to see which boats stay afloat out on the river." Wagner suggests checking out boatbuilding tips on the college's website or Google "cardboard boat" if your team is looking for design ideas. Hopefully people will find something that stirs their imaginations.

The Center for Environment & Society is offering a free Cardboard Boat Building Workshop on September 20 from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM on the Custom House lawn. Construction materials will be provided.

On September 27, 2008 - the day of the Cardboard Boat Regatta - spectators are welcome to enjoy the bluegrass music of Chester River Runoff and engage in Waterfront Festival activities in Wilmer Park from 12:00-5:00 PM. In case of foul weather, water-based activities will be cancelled but Chester River Runoff will perform under Lelia Hynson Pavilion from 1:00-4:00 PM.

Register for the Cardboard Boat Regatta at http://ces.washcoll.edu "oar" contactjfairchild2@washcoll.edu or 410-778-7295 for more information.

Lacrosse Magazine Hails Roy Kirby, Jr. Stadium as One of Ten Best Venues for Collegiate Lax

CHESTERTOWN, MD - According to Lacrosse Magazine, Washington College's Kibler Field at Roy Kirby, Jr. Stadium is one of the top ten venues for collegiate lacrosse in the nation. The magazine, a publication of US Lacrosse, highlights its top ten venues in its September issue and Kibler Field at Roy Kirby, Jr. Stadium checks in at No. 7, the only Division III venue on the list.

The list, on page 16 of the issue, includes the following comments:

"Traditionalists may still call it Kibler Field. It was one of the coziest places to see a game. The school modernized the facility, building an impressive grandstand that includes an indoor dining/viewing level above the bleachers."

The present Kibler Field at Roy Kirby, Jr. Stadium was completed in 2006. The Field Turf surface and stadium - complete with team rooms, appealing architecture, and an impressive skybox level - replaced the previous Kibler Field grass surface and metal bleachers.

Historic House Becomes Washington College's Patrick Henry Fellows' Residence

Public Tours Announced

Chestertown, MD — It is one of the oldest houses in an 18th-century riverfront town filled with old houses. A witness to nearly three centuries of history, the venerable house is now a witness to the writing of history—as a residence for visiting scholars to Washington College.

When award-winning historian Henry Wiencek arrived in Chestertown this month to begin his year-long residency as the college's first-ever Patrick Henry Fellow, the circa-1735 Buck-Chambers House, newly restored and refurnished, began a new chapter of its life, as the Patrick Henry Fellows' Residence. The newly inaugurated Patrick Henry Fellowship, overseen by the College's C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, offers a highly competitive yearlong residency to authors doing innovative work on America's founding era and its legacy.

Henry Wiencek is perhaps best known for An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America, published in 2003 to superlative reviews and named Best Book of that year by the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic. His previous book, The Hairstons: An American Family in Black and White (St. Martin's, 1999)—the epic story of two extended southern families who share a surname and a legacy, though one is black and the other white—was a selection of the Book of the Month Club and the History Book Club.

Wiencek will use his year's residence in the Patrick Henry Fellows' Residence to complete a forthcoming book about Thomas Jefferson and his slaves. He also will teach a class at the College and be involved in many of its programs. He will have an office at the Starr Center, just down the street from the Fellows' Residence in the 18th-century Custom House.

The refurnishing of the Buck-Chambers House was truly a community effort. Donations of furniture, housewares, books, and artwork poured in from local residents eager to help make the house an inviting home for those writing new stories of our nation's past, and their families. The outpouring of generosity that furnished the house has made the Fellows' Residence one of Chestertown's special places, a tangible expression of the community's commitment to understanding and appreciating the past. Future generations of Patrick Henry Fellows will produce new works of history deeply shaped by their time inside its walls.

The public will have the opportunity to become acquainted (or reacquainted) with the life story of this noteworthy Chestertown landmark when Adam Goodheart, Hodson Trust-Griswold Director of the C.V. Starr Center, presents "The Buck-Chambers House: A Doorway Into Chestertown's Past" at Washington College's Litrenta Lecture Hall on Wednesday, October 1, at 7:30 p.m. Goodheart will explore the story of Chestertown through the story of the house, its occupants, and artifacts that have come to light during the restoration process. Litrenta Lecture Hall is located in the John S. Toll Science Center. Admission is free.

In conjunction with Goodheart's talk, the house will be open to the public for the first time since the completion of its restoration. In appreciation of community support for the house's rebirth as a home for writers, public tours of the Patrick Henry Fellows' Residence will be offered on Saturday, October 4, from 1 to 6 p.m. The tours are being presented in association with the Historical Society of Kent County's annual Chestertown house tour; those attending Goodheart's October 1 lecture will receive the requisite ticket granting access to the October 4 walk-through.

Located on Queen Street in the heart of the historic district, the Buck-Chambers House is, in addition to being one of the oldest buildings in Chestertown, perhaps the only one to preserve its 18th-century interior substantially intact.

The house has fascinating ties with American history, and with the history of Washington College, stretching back into the 18th century. An early owner, General Benjamin Chambers, was a Revolutionary War soldier who became the College's first treasurer in 1782, and later served as president of its Board of Visitors and Governors.

In recent decades, the house was the home of legendary English professor Norman James, and afterwards of Ted Widmer, the Starr Center's founding director, and his family.

Washington College bought the house in January 2007 with a $1.05 million gift from the Barksdale-Dabney-Patrick Henry Family Fund, established by the Nuttle family of Talbot County, direct descendants of the patriot Patrick Henry. The gift also made possible the house's restoration and furnishing, and will endow its longterm maintenance.

As the Patrick Henry Fellows' Residence, the house had its official unveiling with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on September 18.

For more information on the Buck-Chambers House lecture and tours, call 410/810-7161.

September 08, 2008

Friday, September 5, 2008

'The Great Horse Race': Expert Panel to Discuss Presidential Campaign


Chestertown, MD — With the most exciting Presidential election in recent memory just weeks away, three legendary figures from the arena of presidential politics are ducking out of the fray for a rare public appearance here in Chestertown.
On Tuesday, Sept. 23, Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and author Richard Ben Cramer will host "The Great Horse-Race: Talking Presidential Politics" with campaign gurus Mike Murphy and Joe Trippi, at the historic Prince Theatre in downtown Chestertown. The event, which begins at 5 p.m., is sponsored by Washington College's C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience.
Cramer is the author of What It Takes: The Way to the White House, widely considered one of the best books on American presidential politics ever written. A 1,000-page Homeric tale of the 1988 political race (it took Cramer six years to research and write it), What It Takesrenders unforgettable six candidates—Bob Dole, Joe Biden, Michael Dukakis, Dick Gephardt, Gary Hart and the senior George Bush—and their epic quests (which began, in this telling, the moment they were born) for the Presidency.
A prominent Republican analyst in the current presidential race (you can see him almost every day on MSNBC), Mike Murphy was Bob Dole's advisor in 1988. But Murphy has also been the architect of more than 26 successful gubernatorial and senatorial contests, including the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor of California. He has worked for Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, Tommy Thompson and Lamar Alexander, and was chief strategist for John McCain's 2000 presidential campaign. The Boston Globe once described him as "an uproarious character [who] calls politics 'a weird kind of show business.'"
Murphy writes frequently for The Weekly Standard and National Public Radio, has been a Harvard fellow and is a founding partner at the Washington-based public policy management firm DC Navigators. He lives in Los Angeles, where he also works as a writer and producer in another "weird kind of show business"—the Hollywood entertainment industry.
CBS News Consultant Joe Trippi was a senior advisor to John Edwards before Edwards dropped out of the race last year, and he was Dick Gephardt's strategist in 1988. But Trippi is best known for his extraordinary work on Howard Dean's 2004 campaign, when The New Republic touted him on its cover as "The Man Who Reinvented Campaigning." His book The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Democracy, the Internet and the Overthrow of Everythingdetails his groundbreaking use of the Internet, not just to raise record amounts of money and disseminate his candidate's message, but to actually foment and organize a national grassroots political movement. He has worked on the presidential campaigns of Edward M. Kennedy, Walter Mondale and Gary Hart. Another former Harvard fellow, he is a prolific blogger and heads the Washington, D.C., political consulting firm, Trippi & Associates. He lives in Easton, Md.
"In my experience, Mike Murphy and Joe Trippi are the two most brilliant political operatives working today, distinguished for their lucidity and candor," says Cramer. "Also, they happen to be very funny."

About the C.V. Starr Center

The C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience explores our nation's history—and particularly the legacy of its Founding era—in innovative ways. Through educational programs, scholarship, and public outreach, and especially by supporting and fostering the art of written history, the Starr Center seeks to bridge the divide between past and present, and between the academic world and the public at large. From its base in the circa-1746 Custom House along Chestertown's colonial waterfront, the Center also serves as a portal onto a world of opportunities for Washington College students. Its guiding principle is that now more than ever, a wider understanding of our shared past is fundamental to the continuing success of America's democratic experiment. For more information on the Center and on the Patrick Henry Fellowship, visit http://starrcenter.washcoll.edu.
September 5, 2008

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

CES and Friends Host Full Moon Paddle at Eastern Neck Island


Chestertown, MD — The Center for Environment & Society (CES) at Washington College and the Friends of Eastern Neck, Inc., are sponsoring a Full Moon Kayaking event at Eastern Neck Island on Tuesday, September 16, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Rendezvous at Bogles Wharf at 5:30 p.m.
The event is free and open to the public. Bring your own kayak, PFD, and paddle. Or pre-register by September 12 to reserve Washington College equipment. To register, and for more information, call 410/778-7295 or contact mwiest2@washcoll.edu.
Center Director John Seidel and Project Coordinator Mark Wiest will lead the ecology trip, giving a brief overview of recent oyster restoration efforts at Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge. The Center for Environment & Society works to instill a conservation ethic by connecting people to the land and water. It supports interdisciplinary research and education, exemplary stewardship of natural and cultural resources, and the integration of ecological and social values. For more information, visit ces.washcoll.edu or call 410-810-7161.
The Friends of Eastern Neck, Inc. is a non-profit organization that supports the missions of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Eastern Neck NWR through financial, advocacy, and volunteer support. To learn more about volunteer opportunities through the Friends of Eastern Neck, Inc. visit www.fws.gov/northeast/easternneck/ or call (410) 639-7056.
September 3, 2008

Chestertown Observes International Day of Peace


Chestertown, MD — The Chestertown Peace Alliance, the Kent County Arts Council, the Community Mediation Center, and the Center for Environment & Society (CES) at Washington College are observing Peace Day at Chestertown's Fountain Park on Saturday, September 20, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. The celebration includes live music, educational exhibits, the lighting of a Unity Candle, and welcoming remarks by Mayor Margo Bailey, Dr. J. David Newell, and Dr. Kevin Brien. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call 410/778-7295 or contact jfairchild2@washcoll.edu.
The International Day of Peace ("Peace Day") is a global holiday when individuals, communities, nations, and governments highlight efforts to end conflict and promote peace. Established by a United Nations resolution, the first Peace Day was celebrated in September 1982. In 2002 the General Assembly officially declared September 21 as the permanent date for the celebration.
By creating the International Day of Peace, the UN devoted itself to worldwide peace and encouraged all of mankind to work in cooperation for this goal. During the discussion of the UN Resolution that established the International Day of Peace, it was suggested that:
"Peace Day should be devoted to commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples...This day will serve as a reminder to all peoples that our organization, with all its limitations, is a living instrument in the service of peace and should serve all of us here within the organization as a constantly pealing bell reminding us that our permanent commitment, above all interests or differences of any kind, is to peace. May peace prevail on Earth."
Since its inception, Peace Day has marked our personal and planetary progress toward peace. It has grown to include millions of people in all parts of the world, and each year events are organized to commemorate and celebrate this day. Events range in scale from private gatherings to public concerts and forums where hundreds of thousands of people participate.
Anyone, anywhere can celebrate Peace Day. It can be as simple as lighting a candle at noon, or just sitting in silent meditation. Or it can involve getting your co-workers, organization, community or government engaged in a large event. The impact if millions of people in all parts of the world, coming together for one day of peace, is immense.
International Day of Peace is also a Day of Ceasefire—personal or political. Take this opportunity to make peace in your own relationships as well as impact the larger conflicts of our time. Imagine what a whole Day of Ceasefire would mean to humankind.
September 3, 2008

Author/Wall Street Journal Staffer Discusses 'Sports Lit' at Washington College


Chestertown, MD — The Rose O'Neill Literary House's "Literature of the Fact"—a special series of lectures on the diverse varieties of the art of nonfiction—will offer a presentation by one of America's leading writers on the business and culture of sports. "Sports Lit with Stefan Fatsis" comes to the Literary House on Tuesday, September 16, at 7:30 p.m.
A staff writer for the Wall Street Journal and a regular commentator to National Public Radio's "All Things Considered," Stefan Fatsis is the author of three books. Wild and Outside: How a Renegade Minor League Revived the Spirit of Baseball in America's Heartland followed a troupe of anti-establishment baseball entrepreneurs. Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players chronicled the obsessive subculture of the iconic board game. And Fatsis's most recent work, A Few Seconds of Panic: A 5-foot-8, 170-pound, 43-year-old Sportswriter Plays in the NFL is the Plimptonian story of his summer as a training-camp placekicker for the Denver Broncos.
The Rose O'Neill Literary House, which underwent an extensive restoration and renovation last spring, is known far and wide as the hub of Washington College's writing community. For nearly 25 years it has served as the venue for co-curricular activities that bring together students and faculty with visiting writers, scholars, editors and other literary artists; the Washington Post dubbed it "the Carnegie Hall of literary readings."
"Literature of the Fact" continues throughout the fall, presenting "War Lit with Philip Gourevitch" on October 2, "Food Lit with Amanda Hesser" on November 14, and "Rock Lit with Dan Kennedy" on November 20. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, call 410/778-7899 or visit lithouse.washcoll.edu.
September 3, 2008

Celebrated European Author's First-Ever U.S. Book Tour Comes to Washington College


Chestertown, MD — Washington College's 2008-2009 Sophie Kerr Lecture Series continues with a reading by Greek novelist Alexis Stamatis, touring the United States to celebrate the first U.S. publication of his work, at the Casey Academic Center Forum on Wednesday, September 17, at 4:30 p.m.
Stamatis is the author of 14 books—eight novels and novellas as well as six collections of poetry. He has represented Greece in various book festivals and seminars all over the world. He currently works as columnist for the Ethnos daily newspaper. He has worked as chief editor of foreign literature for the Metaixmio Publishing House in Greece, and as a journalist, literary critic and architect. In addition to the rest of his prodigious output, he has written the libretti for two musical pieces by the composer Theo Abazis.
In 2004 Stamatis participated in the world-famous International Writing Program of the University of Iowa through a Greek Fulbright Artists & Art-Scholars Award. In 2007 the American publishing house Etruscan Press won the First International Literary Award by the National Endowment of the Arts to publish Stamatis's novel American Fugue—his debut book release on this side of the Atlantic.
Stamatis's September 17 American Fugue reading at Washington College is part of a nationwide campus itinerary that also includes Harvard, Columbia, Cornell and other leading institutions.
The Sophie Kerr Lecture Series honors the legacy of the late Sophie Kerr, a writer from Denton, Md., whose generosity has enriched Washington College's literary culture. The 2008-2009 series includes poetry readings, fiction readings, lectures and, as its culmination in March 2009, a special appearance by two-time U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser.
Admission to Stamatis's reading is free and open to the public. For more information, call 410/778-7879.
September 3, 2008

Groundbreaking Journalism, Award-Winning Poetry and More: Washington College's 2008-2009 Literary Line-Up Announced


Chestertown, MD — From Shakespeare to sports to a Pulitzer Prize-winner and a U.S. Poet Laureate, a rich and varied literary line-up graces Washington College's events calendar in 2008-2009.
The College's writing-related traditions run deep; between the annual Sophie Kerr Lecture Series and a full slate of offerings from the Rose O'Neill Literary House, the historic Chestertown campus welcomes a bounteous array of literary events with the advent of the school year.
The Sophie Kerr Lecture Series honors the legacy of the late Sophie Kerr, a writer from Denton, Md., whose generosity has enriched Washington College's literary culture. When she died in 1965, Kerr left the bulk of her estate to Washington College, specifying that one half of the income from her bequest be awarded every year to the senior showing the most "ability and promise for future fulfillment in the field of literary endeavor"—the famed Sophie Kerr Prize—and the other half be used to bring visiting writers to campus, to fund scholarships and to help defray the costs of student publications.
The Rose O'Neill Literary House, which underwent an extensive restoration and renovation last spring, is known far and wide as the hub of Washington College's writing community. For nearly 25 years it has served as the venue for co-curricular activities that bring together students and faculty with visiting writers, scholars, editors and other literary artists; theWashington Post dubbed it "the Carnegie Hall of literary readings."
The 2008-2009 Washington College itinerary of literary events will feature:

Historical Lit with Henry Wiencek "'A Paradox to Posterity': Jefferson and Slavery at Monticello"

Casey Academic Center Forum, Monday, September 8, 4:30 p.m.

Henry Wiencek, a leading American historian, is the author of The Hairsons: An American Family in Black and White (winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award) and An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America, (winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Award for history). In 2008-2009, Wiencek is the debut Patrick Henry Fellow at Washington College. The Patrick Henry Fellowship, co-sponsored by the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience and the Rose O'Neill Literary House, brings a top historical writer to Chestertown for a year of writing, reflection and engagement with students and faculty. Wiencek will address the topic of his forthcoming book, a study of Jefferson and his slaves.
Wiencek's lecture is the opening event in the Rose O'Neill Literary House's "Literature of the Fact: Masters of Topical Non-Fiction" Series.

Helen Cooper Lecture: "Shakespeare and the Canterbury Tales: The Case ofA Midsummer Night's Dream"

Casey Academic Center Forum, Tuesday, September 9, 4:30 p.m.

Helen Cooper is Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English at the University of Cambridge, and fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge. She is the author of numerous works of scholarship including The English Romance in Time: Transforming Motifs from Geoffrey of Monmouth to the Death of Shakespeare, Pastoral: Mediaeval into Renaissance,and The Structure of the Canterbury Tales. Her Washington College presentation opens this year's Sophie Kerr Lecture Series.

Sports Lit with Stefan Fatsis

Rose O'Neill Literary House, Tuesday, September 16, 7:30 p.m.

The Rose O'Neill Literary House's "Literature of the Fact" series continues with a presentation by one of America's leading writers on the business and culture of sports. A staff writer for theWall Street Journal and a regular commentator to National Public Radio's "All Things Considered," Stefan Fatsis is the author of three books. Wild and Outside: How a Renegade Minor League Revived the Spirit of Baseball in America's Heartland followed a troupe of antiestablishment baseball entrepreneurs. Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players chronicled the obsessive subculture of the iconic board game. And Fatsis's most recent work, A Few Seconds of Panic: A 5-foot-8, 170-pound, 43-year-old Sportswriter Plays in the NFL is the Plimptonian story of his summer as a training-camp placekicker for the Denver Broncos.

Fiction Reading with Alexis Stamatis

Casey Academic Center Forum, Wednesday, September 17, 4:30 p.m.

The Sophie Kerr Lecture Series continues with a reading by Alexis Stamatis, author of 14 books: eight novels and novellas as well as six collections of poetry. His work appears in many leading Greek magazines and newspapers. He has worked as Chief Editor for foreign literature for the Metaixmio Publishing House in Greece, and as a journalist, literary critic and architect. American Fugue, from which he will be reading at Washington College, is his first book published in the United States.

The Paris Review and War Lit with Philip Gourevitch

Rose O'Neill Literary House, Thursday, October 2, 4:30 and 7:30 p.m.

The Goldstein Program in Public Affairs joins the Rose O'Neill Literary House in presenting the third offering of the "Literature of the Fact" series—a two-part appearance by celebrated journalist Philip Gourevitch. His searing account of the Rwandan genocide, We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families, won the 1998 National Book Critics Circle award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the George K. Polk Award for Foreign Reporting.
A long-time staff writer for The New Yorker, and the editor of The Paris Review, Gourevitch is also the author of Standard Operating Procedure, with Erroll Morris, about the prisoner abuse at Abu Graib in Iraq.
At 4:30 p.m. on Oct 2, Gourevitch will offer an in-depth look at The Paris Review and working in publishing and the literary field (open to members of the Washington College community.) At 7:30 pm, he will give a reading from his works (open to the public).

Poetry Reading with Jehanne Dubrow

Rose O'Neill Literary House, Tuesday, October 7, 4:30 p.m.

The Sophie Kerr Series' October offering features Jehanne Dubrow, a Visiting Professor of English at Washington College. Dubrow's work has appeared in Poetry, The Hudson Review, The New England Review, Shenandoah, Barrow Street and Gulf Coast. She is the author of a chapbook, The Promised Bride (Finishing Line Press). Her full-length collection won the 2007 Three Candles Press First Book Prize and will be published in 2008.

"Navigate Your MFA" and a Poetry Reading by Deborah Landau

Rose O'Neill Literary House, Monday, October 27, 4:30 and 7:30 p.m.

The Rose O'Neill Literary House, the Sophie Kerr Committee and the Office of Career Development come together to present an appearance by award-winning poet Deborah Landau. Her 2004 collection, Orchidelirium, was a National Poetry Series finalist. Director of the Creative Writing Program at NYU, she is a two-time winner of the Los Angeles Poetry in the Windows Contest and was twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
At 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 27, Landau will provide tips and information about choosing and pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree (the event is open to members of the Washington College community). At 7:30 p.m. she will give a poetry reading (open to the public).

Food Lit with Amanda Hesser

Rose O'Neill Literary House, Friday, November 14, 4 p.m.

"Literature of the Fact" explores the art of culinary prose with Amanda Hesser, former food editor of The New York Times. She is the author of the award-winning The Cook and the Gardener, Cooking for Mr. Latte and Eat, Memory. It will be a special afternoon of readings, conversation and freshly made treats from Hesser's recipes.

Rock Lit with Dan Kennedy

Norman James Theatre, Thursday, November 20, 8 p.m.

From writing about food culture to writing about music culture, "Literature of the Fact" next plays host to rising literary star Dan Kennedy. With his pieces in McSweeney's and his memoir Loser Goes First, Kennedy established himself as one of the funniest writers in America. With his follow up, Rock On: A Corporate Office Ballad, he has cemented that reputation and also shown his chops as a first-rate writer on music and the music scene. TheNew York Times called Rock On "a succession of gently mordant vignettes, with hilariously spot-on asides about media image-making, music-biz hierarchies and sensitive singer-songwriters... Neither Kennedy nor the music business will ever be the same."

Annual Freshman Reading

Rose O'Neill Literary House, Tuesday, February 24, 2009, 7 p.m.

Washington College's newest crop of up-and-coming literary talents will present their annual reading, with a reception to follow. The event is co-sponsored by the Department of English, the Writers' Union and the Rose O'Neill Literary House.

Poetry Reading with Thom Ward

Casey Academic Center Forum, Thursday, February 26, 2009, 4:30 p.m.

The Sophie Kerr Series presents poet Thom Ward on February 26. In addition to penning his own verses, Ward is editor for BOA Editions, Ltd., an independent publishing house of American poetry and poetry in translation. Ward's poetry collections include Various Orbitsand Small Boat with Oars of Different Size. His poetry chapbook, Tumblekid, was the winner of the 1998 Devil's Millhopper Poetry Contest.

Poetry Reading with Ted Kooser

Norman James Theatre, Friday, March 27, 2009, 4 p.m.

The jewel in the crown of the Sophie Kerr Series each year is Sophie Kerr Weekend, and the keynote event of Sophie Kerr Weekend 2009 will be a much-anticipated reading by two-time U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser. The highly regarded Nebraskan poet was the first poet from the Great Plains to hold the Laureate position. A professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Kooser is the author of 11 full-length collections of poetry, includingDelights and Shadows (Copper Canyon Press, 2004) and Weather Central (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1994). His newest book, The Poetry Home Repair Manual, gives beginning poets tips for their writing.
Over the years Kooser's works have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, Poetry, The Hudson Review, The Nation, The American Poetry Review, The Kenyon Review, Prairie Schooner, and Antioch Review. He has received two NEA fellowships in poetry, the Pushcart Prize, the Stanley Kunitz Prize, The James Boatwright Prize, and a Merit Award from the Nebraska Arts Council. He is the winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for his bookDelights & Shadows.

Lisa Couturier on "Urban Animals Unveiled"

Casey Academic Center Forum, Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 4:30 p.m.

The Center for Environment & Society joins forces with the Sophie Kerr Committee to present a program on environmental journalism during Earth Month. Lisa Couturier is a nature writer who has worked as an environmental journalist and as a magazine editor, during which time she traveled to remote parts of South America, Central America and Southeast Asia. Her work has appeared in the well regarded American Nature Writing series, in National Geographic's Heart of a Nation: Writers and Photographers Inspired by the American Landscape, in the PBS series "Writers Writing," and in other anthologies and magazines. She is the author of The Hopes of Snakes: And Other Tales from the Urban Landscape.

Annual Senior Reading

Rose O'Neill Literary House, Wednesday, April 22, 2009, 7 p.m.

An enduring rite of spring at Washington College is the annual Senior Reading, an occasion to bid farewell to the budding authors of the graduating class while hearing them read from their original pieces. Followers of the Sophie Kerr Prize generally regard the Senior Reading as a key early indicator of who the front-runners for the prize will be. The event is co-sponsored by the Department of English, the Writers' Union and the Rose O'Neill Literary House.
The Rose O'Neill Literary House has three other spring 2009 events to watch for: a Graphic Narrative Festival (featuring comic-book legend Neil Gaiman), a Creative Arts Career Fair and a Songwriting Workshop. More details will be forthcoming.
Throughout the fall and spring, the Rose O'Neill Literary House will host periodic community meetings; for more information on these and all other Literary House events, call 410/778-7899 or visit lithouse.washcoll.edu.
Admission to all Sophie Kerr Lecture Series events is free and open to the public. For more information, call 410/778-7879.
September 3, 2008

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

WC English Professor's New Book Introduces Readers to the Novels of a Legendary Austrian Writer


Chestertown, MD — Thomas Cousineau, Professor of English at Washington College, has completed his fourth book of literary criticism, Three-Part Inventions: The Novels of Thomas Bernhard.
Published in the United States by the University of Delaware Press and in England by Associated University Presses, this new book is designed to introduce English-speaking readers— among whom Bernhard is virtually unknown— to the pleasures of reading an author whom the Italian writer Italo Calvino once called "the greatest writer in the world."
"Throughout Europe," Cousineau points out, "Bernhard is revered as a modernist writer who has not only received the highest critical acclaim but whose work is also known and admired by the general public.
"When he died in the winter of 1989, one obituary writer in France declared that his death was a 'catastrophe' for literature, another regretted that he had not received the Nobel Prize that his achievement clearly merited, and a third affirmed that Bernhard was not only the greatest contemporary writer but also the only readable one.
"Fellow postmodern writer Walter Abish even went so far as to say that we are living in 'the Age of Bernhard.'"
Such tributes have not yet, however, translated into significant popular recognition of Bernhard's greatness in the English-speaking world. The critic Donald G. Daviau concluded his overview of the American reception of the Austrian writer's work by commenting that "a good beginning has been made over the past twenty years, but a great deal still remains to be accomplished before this 'major author of Western literature' will actually be widely read in the United States and not just appreciated by a select audience."
Cousineau hopes that Three-Part Inventions will be a small but effective step in this direction. His general overview of Bernhard's life and work, originally written for The Review of Contemporary Fiction, is available online at www.thomasbernhard.org.
Three-Part Inventions is available from the Washington College Bookstore by calling 410-778-7749, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, or online via the websitehttp://washcoll.bncollege.com.

Advance Praise for Three-Part Inventions

"The novels of Thomas Bernhard, one of the most brilliant and provocative writers of the post-World War II era, have long been underground classics in the United States, but discussion of what these sardonic, cruel, and elliptical novels really mean is still in its infancy. Thomas Cousineau here gives us one of the first book-length readings of Bernhard's novels, adapting René Girard's theory of mimetic desire to understand the triangular relationships between protagonist, adversary, and scapegoat that are at the heart of Bernhard's intricately patterned fictions. This excellent, closely argued study will be indispensable to Bernhard's growing audience, as well as to readers of postmodern fiction in general."
—Marjorie Perloff, Sadie D. Patek Professor Emerita of Humanities at Stanford University
"Long hailed as a master of prose by America's foremost stylists like William Gaddis and Gary Indiana, Thomas Bernhard has nevertheless suffered from a relative neglect in English-speaking countries. This omission has been repaired by Cousineau's informed critical reading of the Austrian writer; in a series of astute readings of Bernhard's major novels, Cousineau shows that the master of incantatory rant and relentless vituperation is the only rightful heir of Samuel Beckett. Bernhard's musical denunciation of social and ethical ills offers an indispensable vaccination against our age's weak follies and facile despair."
—Jean-Michel Rabaté, Vartan Gregorian Professor in the Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania
September 2, 2008