Thursday, September 27, 2007

Early Adulthood in the Early '80s: 'This Is Our Youth' Staged at Washington College

Chestertown, MD — The Washington College Department of Drama will present Kenneth Lonergan's "This Is Our Youth" in the first floor lounge of Minta Martin Hall on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, October 4 to 6, at 8 p.m.

A senior thesis production directed by Bobby Bangert, "This Is Our Youth" is the story of three young people on the cusp of adulthood in 1982, a time when everything in their lives and their world seems uncertain. Warren (played by senior Phil Doccolo) is an overeager and lovable failure. A disruptive home life leads him to seek refuge with his friend and role model Dennis (played by Senior Tim Helmer).

Warren's problems only multiply with the introduction of Jessica (played by sophomore Molly O'Connell), the girl he likes and tries to impress. Through their misguided and often unsuccessful attempts at taking control of their lives, the characters are surprised to learn who they really are, and who they intend to become.

Admission to "This Is Our Youth" is free, but seating is limited and reservations are required; call 410/778-7835 or e-mail drama_tickets@washcoll.edu.

September 27, 2007

Tropicante Brings Latin Beats to Washington College

Chestertown, MD — The rich musical traditions of Latin America will come alive when Tropicante performs in Washington College's Martha Washington Square on Thursday, October 4, at 8 p.m. The performance is presented in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month.

Tropicante gets the audience swinging and clapping to the Colombian cumbia, the Dominican merengue, the Venezuelantambor, the Brazilian samba and other popular Latin beats. The ensemble's lively concerts are sprinkled with first-rate musicianship, anecdotes and humor.

Tropicante's appearance at Washington College is presented by the Office of Multicultural Affairs; the Office of Student Activities; the Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures; and the Department of Music. Admission is free and open to the public; in the event of inclement weather, the concert will be held in Hodson Hall.

September 27, 2007

Washington College Unveils New Home Page, October 1

Chestertown, MD — A new home page slated to launch October 1 aligns current navigation menus in a structure consistent with the rest of the site. The introduction of new channels for dynamic content enables us to showcase more features about students, faculty, and alumni.

The site was designed by the Office of College Relations with the guidance of the Web Advisory Council. The continuous input of students, faculty, and staff remains critical to the ongoing evolution of the site. Please send feedback about the new home design to Web Editor Shane Brill at sbrill2@washcoll.edu.

Key Features of the Site

September 27, 2007

Friday, September 21, 2007

National Endowment for the Humanities Awards Major Federal Grant to Washington College

It's the largest federal grant that Washington College has received in its 225-year history—and that includes the 50 guineas that George Washington gave to help found the school in 1782.

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has announced that it has awarded a $625,000 "We the People" Challenge Grant to Washington College—one of only five recipients of the grant from nearly 30 applicants nationwide. "We the People" is an NEH initiative designed to "strengthen the teaching, study and understanding of American history and culture."

The unprecedented and prestigious federal gift to Washington College will support the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience's historian-in-residence program (co-sponsored by the Rose O'Neill Literary House), endow scholarships for outstanding students who plan to major or minor in History or American Studies, and strengthen Clifton M. Miller Library's electronic resources in American history and related fields.

"This is a very exciting moment for Miller Library," said Library Director Ruth Shoge. "The grant allows us to offer the most comprehensive collection of American historical documents in an electronic environment where time and physical space or objects no longer hinder access to researchers."

The historic liberal arts college—the 10th oldest institution of higher learning in America and the first one founded after the victory at Yorktown—is in good company: the other four recipients of "We the People" Challenge Grants this year are Harvard University, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Kenyon College and the National Society of Colonial Dames of America/Stenton.

"This is a high honor," said Dr. Bruce Cole, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. "NEH challenge grants are awarded only after a demanding peer review process. Washington College's proposal was reviewed by scholars and administrators with experience in leading programs and centers devoted to the study of American democracy. These reviewers expressed special praise for the quality of the application, finding it clearly and engagingly written. They deemed the plans for the fellowships to study the legacy of the founding era to capture perfectly the intent of the 'We the People' Challenge Grant initiative."

One of the NEH peer reviewers predicted: "The C.V. Starr Center is going to become a major player in the study and interpretation of the American democratic experience."

The grant requires a 3-to-1 match over the next four years, so that Washington College's eventual gain should total $2.5 million. More than half the matching funds already has been raised, thanks to a recent $1.05 million gift from the Barksdale-Dabney-Patrick Henry Family Foundation, which is being used to turn a 1730s house in Chestertown's historic district into a residence for nationally eminent historians, who will spend an entire academic year working on books and teaching at the College.

"The Endowment is very pleased to join in strengthening humanities activities at the C.V. Starr Center and Washington College," said NEH Chairman Cole. "We are delighted to be a funding partner for this exciting endeavor, and I hope others will join us in supporting this enrichment of the humanities in America."

Established in 2000 with a grant from the New York-based Starr Foundation, the C.V. Starr Center draws on the special historical strengths of Washington College and colonial Chestertown to explore the early republic, the rise of democracy, and the manifold ways in which the founding era continues to shape American culture, through innovative educational programs, scholarship, and public outreach, and especially by supporting and fostering the art of written history. In cooperation with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and George Washington's Mount Vernon, the Center administers the George Washington Book Prize, a $50,000 annual prize recognizing outstanding published works that contribute to a greater understanding of the life and career of George Washington and/or the Founding era.

"This generous gift will benefit Washington College students and faculty in a multitude of ways, as well as supporting important work on American history that will reach the wider public," said Adam Goodheart, the Hodson Trust-Griswold Director of the Starr Center. "And beyond the monetary aspect of the award, it means a great deal to know that the National Endowment for the Humanities has invested itself in the future of the Starr Center and Washington College."

For Washington College, the grant announcement is very aptly timed, as the school is celebrating its 225th anniversary this year.

"This is a wonderful, and somehow very fitting, birthday present for us," said Washington College President Baird Tipson. "As it was for us in the beginning, so it is again for us now, the grateful recipient of largesse ... from Washington. Somewhere up there you're smiling down on us, General—many thanks again."

September 21, 2007

Cardboard Boats Highlight the 225 Anniversary Waterfront Festival

Chestertown, MD — The Center for Environment & Society team led by Capt. John Seidel and the crew of Greenpeas was first around the course, garnering the top prize—the Cape Horn Award—at the Cardboard Boat Regatta on Saturday, September 22. The second best circumnavigator was Capt. Nancy Cross and the OIT crew of I-Float who took home the Capt. Cook Award, followed by Capt. D'Andre Phillips and the Athletics Department team, Kicking Some Grass, who won the Robert Peary Award.

The Horatio Nelson Award for best overall design, name and costumes went to Capt. Adam Goodheart and the C.V. Starr crew of R.M.S.Titanic. Capt. Maureen Sentman and the crew of Mighty Duck took home the Cutty Sark Award for best design and construction (way to go WC Ducks Unlimited). Capt. Teresa Fewlass and Elizabeth Clay from the Public Archaeology Lab garnered the Kon-Tiki Award for Leaky the mastodon. Capt. Spencer Case and the Psi Chi crew of Freudian Slip won the Linda Greenlaw award for most team spirit, while Capt. Jamie Beaber and the Slow & Steady crew swam away with the Titanic Award for the most spectacular sinking. Other notable entries included Capt. Brittany Dunbar and the crew of Moldy Minta, Capt. Annie Koch and the S.O.S. crew, and Capt. Heather Holiday and Dusty Mears of Two Peas in a Pod.

Washington College would like to thank and acknowledge all who joined the greater Chestertown community in celebrating our 225th Anniversary at the Waterfront Festival on Saturday. Special thanks to John Wasserman and Frank Gerber for teaching cardboard boatbuilding workshops, and to Taylor Buckley, Chesapeake Light Craft, The Finishing Touch, The Imperial Hotel, Roy Kirby, Old Mill Café, Play It Again Sam and Riley's for contributing to the Cardboard Boat Regatta. Tom Cousineau, Loretta Lodge, and Vicco Von Voss did a marvelous job of judging the competition.

We also extend our gratitude to Chester River Runoff for playing great bluegrass; Student Affairs for sponsoring the popular Kayak Competition and Caribbean steel drum band; Chesapeake Fields, Rose Green funnel cake, the Chestertown Optimist Club, and WC Dining Services for providing great food and service; Birds of Prey, Ducks Unlimited, Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, LaMotte Company, the Public Archaeology Lab and the Student Environmental Alliance (SEA) for interesting and educational exhibits; Admissions, College Relations, The Elm, Kent County News and WCTR for publicity and promotion; the GIS Lab for banners; Liz Anger, Jenifer Endicott and Carla Martin for handling registration; Tessa Miskell, Laura Wilson and the WC Special Events office for decorations; WC Buildings & Grounds and Kappa Alpha fraternity for clean-up; Jared Halter, Darnell Parker and Beth Anne Roy for coordinating recreational activities on land; Mike Duquette, JoAnn Fairchild, Bryan Matthews and John Wagner for coordinating activities on the Waterfront; Tom Briggs, Bill Cameron, Dave Dudek, Jim Flanagan, Mitch Grieb, Dyer Harris, George Lewis, Joe Manley, Chuck and Linda Parry, Rock Hall Yacht Club, Matt Tobriner and Fred Welsh for teaching people how to sail, giving boat tours of the Chester River, and showing their enthusiasm for messing about in boats.

Of course the real hero was the Chester River, and we're grateful for all who appreciate her beauty, mystery and magic. We hope that you'll all join us again next year!

September 21, 2007

You Don't Say So! Fact, Fiction and Environmental Futures on September 26

Chestertown, MD, September 21, 2007 — Wallace Kaufman will lecture on "You Don't Say So! Fact, Fiction and Environmental Futures," at Washington College's Hodson Hall on Wednesday, September 26, at 7:30 p.m.

The media mediates our understanding of nature and ultimately the actions we take, either personally or through our public agencies. Wallace Kaufman challenges accepted practices whether he is creating a housing program in Kazakhstan, writing about environmental planning, consulting with a new business in Russia, or teaching in an American university. "I want my subject to be something I've put my hands on, something I know from doing," he says.

Kaufman's consulting, writing, and personal pursuits demonstrate his unusually broad hands-on experience. He has put his environmental principles to work in rural planning, urban renewal, and land development. He created several American businesses and consulted with new businesses in Russia and Central Asia.

His writing includes literary essays, economic surveys in the former USSR, translations from German and Spanish, prize-winning newspaper columns, business and science writing and fiction in magazines like Redbook and Mademoiselle. He has been a Marshall Scholar at Oxford and a Science Writing Fellow at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woodshole.

The lecture is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by the Center for Environment & Society, the McLain Program in Environmental Studies, and Adkins Arboretum.

Novelist Frank Bergon Presents 'Toughest Kid We Knew' at Washington College

Chestertown, MD, September 21, 2007 — Novelist Frank Bergon, renowned writer on the American West, will present "The Toughest Kid We Knew: An All-American Story" at Washington College's Casey Academic Center Forum on Wednesday, October 3, at 4:30 p.m.

"The Toughest Kid We Knew" is about a California descendant of Dust Bowl migrants. He is among those whose stories have not been told, the sons and daughters of John Steinbeck's characters inThe Grapes of Wrath, second-generation "Okies" who came of age when toughness, hard work, girlfriends, and loyalty to other men defined what it meant to be a man in America.

In addition to being a novelist, Frank Bergon is a professor at Vassar College. He was born in Ely, Nevada, received his B.A. at Boston College, attended Stanford University as a Wallace Stegner Fellow, and completed his Ph.D. at Harvard University.

Bergon's work on the American West includes several novels and anthologies, as well as both the London Folio edition and the Penguin Nature Classics edition of The Journals of Lewis and Clark.

At Vassar, Bergon teaches courses in the English Department, including Senior Composition and Native American Literature, along with courses in the American Culture Program and Environmental Studies.

In 1998 Bergon was inducted into the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame. He is currently working on a novel set in Chiapas, Mexico.

"The Toughest Kid We Knew: An All-American Story" is being presented by the Friends of Miller Library and the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience. Admission is free and open to the public; a reception will follow.

'[sic],' a Comedic Look at Modern Manhattanites, Staged at Washington College

Chestertown, MD, September 21, 2007 — The Washington College Department of Drama will present a faculty-directed production of "[sic]," a comedy by Melissa James Gibson, at Norman James Theatre on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, September 27 to 29, at 8 p.m.

Co-directed by Professors Polly Sommerfeld and Jason Rubin, "[sic]" is a contemporary comedy of manners about three young adults who are neighbors in a Manhattan apartment building. The two men and a woman have reached an impasse in their careers. The play investigates the vicissitudes of their relationships with one another as they navigate through the limbo of lives not fulfilled.

Playing the three friends are students Mary Lide and Jaques de Silva and Washington College graduate Harry Wright. Playing multiple other roles are students Mike Golze and Maggie Kobik.

Filled with fanciful, humorous, brittle and brutal exchanges, "[sic]" premiered off-Broadway in 2001; before then, Washington College Assistant Professor of Drama Michele Volansky worked on the play at the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago.

Admission to "[sic]" is $3 for students and $5 for adults. For reservations and more information, call 410-778-7835, or e-mail drama_tickets@washcoll.edu.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Hardboiled Hero: Author James M. Cain's Legacy Celebrated at Washington College

Chestertown, MD, September 20, 2007 — Perhaps the most famous scribe to emerge from Washington College was pioneering hardboiled author James M. Cain, who along with Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler rewrote the rule book on crime fiction, creating a uniquely terse, tough American style that influenced literature, cinema and pop culture in general.

As part of its year-long 225th-anniversary celebration, Washington College commemorates Cain's legacy with lectures and movie screenings from Thursday, October 4, through Monday, October 8.

Born in Annapolis in 1892, James M. Cain grew up in Chestertown where his father, James W. Cain, was president of Washington College from 1903 to 1918. The younger Cain graduated from the College in 1910, made a name for himself in journalism, and became an overnight sensation with the publication of his first novel, The Postman Always Rings Twice, in 1934. A lurid, hard-hitting tale of adultery and murder, Postman was a runaway bestseller and a huge influence on both the crime-fiction genre and Hollywood. It was adapted for film multiple times, as were other Cain novels that poured forth in the ensuing years.

Cain's style continues to inspire new generations of writers and filmmakers. This theme will be explored when the Sophie Kerr Committee presents "The Influence of James Cain's Fiction on the Coen Brothers," a talk by leading film-noir authority R. Barton Palmer, in the Sophie Kerr Room in Miller Library on Thursday, October 4, at 4:30 p.m. Palmer is the author ofHollywood's Dark Cinema: The American Film Noir, a standard in the field. He also is the author of a recent book on the Coen brothers' films and, interestingly, several books about medieval literature.

The filmmaking duo of Joel and Ethan Coen burst onto the scene with their surprise-hit 1984 movie Blood Simple. Audiences were wowed by the film's very James-Cainesque stew of infidelity, crime, duplicity, suspense and plot twists. As a tie-in with Palmer's lecture, the Washington College Film Series will present screenings of Blood Simple at Litrenta Lecture Hall in the John S. Toll Science Center on Friday and Sunday, October 5 and 7, at 7:30 p.m.

The most enduring of all James M. Cain movie adaptations is the 1944 classic Double Indemnity, starring Fred MacMurray, Edward G. Robinson and Barbara Stanwyck as the silver screen's ultimate femme fatale. Directed by Billy Wilder, Double Indemnity is considered by some aficionados to be the purest example of film noir. The Washington College Film Series will present a special screening of this hardboiled masterpiece at Litrenta Lecture Hall on Monday, October 8, at 7:30 p.m. Washington College Dean and Provost Christopher Ames, author of Movies About the Movies: Hollywood Reflected, will provide a brief introductory talk, "James M. Cain: From Washington College to Hollywood." Dean Ames will explore some intriguing connections said to exist between Cain's formative years in Chestertown and his later prose style.

All events in the James M. Cain celebration are free and open to the public.

Friday, September 14, 2007

President + Congress = 'Rivals For Power,' September 25

Chestertown, MD, September 14, 2007 — An American University scholar is visiting the Shore to discuss a timely political topic: the tug-of-war between the U.S. President and the U.S. Congress. Join James A. Thurber, Director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies, when he presents "Rivals for Power: Cooperation and Conflict Between Congress and the President," at Washington College's Hynson Lounge on Tuesday, September 25, at 7:30 p.m.

Dr. Thurber has been on the faculty of American University since 1974 and was honored as the University Scholar/Teacher of the Year in 1996. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. He is author and co-author of numerous books and more than 75 articles and chapters on Congress, congressional-presidential relations, congressional budgeting, congressional reform, interest groups and lobbying, and campaigns and elections.

He is author or editor of Congress and the Internet (2002) with Colton Campbell, Rivals for Power: Presidential-Congressional Relations, Second Edition (2002), The Battle for Congress: Consultants, Candidates, and Voters (2001), Political Advertising in Election Campaigns(1999), The Role of Political Consultants in Elections (1999), Remaking Congress: The Politics of Congressional Stability and Change (with Roger Davidson, 1995), Campaigns and Elections, American Style (with Candice Nelson, 1995), and Divided Democracy: Cooperation and Conflict Between Presidents and Congress (1991).

"Rivals for Power" is being presented at Washington College by the Louis L. Goldstein Program in Public Affairs. Established in 1990, the Goldstein Program has hosted journalists, political activists, foreign policy analysts, diplomats, military commanders and government officials of both national and international stature.

Hynson Lounge is located in Hodson Hall. Admission to "Rivals for Power" is free and open to the public.

Concert Series Opens with Adaskin String Trio

Chestertown, MD, September 14, 2007 — The Washington College Concert Series begins its 2007-2008 season with a performance by the Adaskin String Trio at the Norman James Theatre on Saturday, September 22, at 8 p.m. The acclaimed trio will be joined in concert by Thomas Gallant, oboe.

The Adaskin String Trio is the premier ensemble of its kind in North America. Founded in 1994, the trio has performed extensively throughout the United States and Canada, including performances at Merkin Concert Hall in New York City, at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and in Montreal, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Nashville, Boston, Florida, Oklahoma and Oregon. In addition, the trio's concerts have been recorded for broadcast by CBC Radio, Radio-Canada and National Public Radio.

The trio has become renowned for its interpretations of works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert as well as masterpieces by 20th-century giants such as Villa-Lobos and Schnittke. The Boston Globe enthused, "Not only was the Adaskin's technical mastery never in question, they brought to the music a focus and intensity that was all the keener for its selflessness...Always...you felt, they were directing the listener to the heart of the matter."

Award-winning Thomas Gallant is one of the world's few virtuoso solo and chamber music performers on the oboe. Gallant has been praised by The New Yorker as "a player who unites technical mastery with intentness, charm and wit."

Now in its 56th season, the Washington College Concert Series will continue with performances by guitarist Alex de Grassi on October 27; the flute/piano duo "2" on February 2, 2008; the Cambodian Classics Ensemble on March 2, 2008; and harpist Elizabeth Hainen on April 26, 2008. All concerts are held at the College's Norman James Theatre in William Smith Hall. Single tickets can be purchased at the door, $15 for adults and $5 for youth and students. Season tickets are available for $50 per person in advance or at the box office on performance nights.

For more ticket information and a 2007-2008 season brochure, call 410-778-7839.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Washington College Hosts Two-Day Book Prize Celebration

Winner of $50,000 Award Coming to Chestertown September 27, 28

Chestertown, MD, September 12, 2007 — Washington College's C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience will host Charles Rappleye, winner of the 2007 George Washington Book Prize, during a two-day celebration of the $50,000 award for the best book on the founding era in American history.

The winning book, Sons of Providence: The Brown Brothers, the Slave Trade, and the American Revolution, is the story of one of the great sibling rivalries in American history. The youngest sons of a prominent Providence family, John and Moses Brown were rascals in the great American Revolutionary tradition. They were pirates and smugglers, John was a war profiteer, and Moses engaged in industrial espionage, stealing one of Britain's most closely-guarded secrets to launch the first competitive American cotton mill. Together they made a fortune and helped shape the political and economic character of a region. They founded Brown University and Rhode Island's first bank. But one subject divided them bitterly and publicly: Moses was an ardent abolitionist and John an unrepentant slave trader. John was even prosecuted under a law banning the slave trade that Moses helped lobby Congress to pass.

"They emerged as American archetypes," Mr. Rappleye writes, "the robber baron and the social reformer, thunder and light, a dichotomy in the American character that echoes to this day."

The Book Prize celebration begins Thursday, Sept. 27, at 2 p.m. on Martha Washington Square, with Revolutionary War reenactors and a parade by the New Ark Colonial Fife & Drum Corps. At 4:15, Mr. Rappleye will appear on the square to sign copies of Sons of Providence.

The centerpiece of the celebration will take place at 5 p.m. in Hynson Lounge, Hodson Hall, when Mr. Rappleye will deliver the 2007 Book Prize Lecture—"Brothers Divided: An Abolitionist, a Slave Trader, and the American Revolution."

Mr. Rappleye will return to Hynson Lounge the following day, Friday, Sept. 28, at 10:30 a.m., for an onstage discussion with Adam Goodheart, Hodson Trust-Griswold Director of the C.V. Starr Center, which administers the Book Prize. In "Making History: A Public Conversation on the Historian's Craft," Mr. Rappleye will talk about how he pieced together the story of John and Moses Brown, interviewing descendants and sifting through public records, family documents, and historic archives, and about some of the remarkable discoveries he made—including new information about George Washington and his famously conflicted feelings about slavery. There will also be an opportunity for the audience to ask Mr. Rappleye questions about his work.

Book Prize festivities will conclude at 6 p.m., Friday, Sept. 28, when Mr. Rappleye will appear at Book Plate in downtown Chestertown to read and sign copies of his winning book. The book prize events are part of Washington College's year-long 225th anniversary celebration.

Charles Rappleye is a veteran newspaperman who lives in Los Angeles with his wife, journalist and art critic Tulsa Kinney. His first book was All-American Mafioso: The Johnny Roselli Story. Mr. Rappleye and Ms. Kinney recently founded an edgy new magazine—Artillery—to cover the Los Angeles fine arts scene.

The George Washington Book Prize was created in 2005 by Washington College, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, and George Washington's Mount Vernon. It is one of the largest literary awards in the country. For more information, visit gwprize.washcoll.edu.

About the Prize Partners

Established in 2000 with a grant from the New York-based Starr Foundation, the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience draws on the special historical strengths of Washington College and the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Through educational programs, scholarship, and public outreach, the Starr Center explores the early republic, the rise of democracy, and the manifold ways in which the founding era continues to shape American culture. In partnership with other institutions and with leading scholars and writers, the Center works to promote innovative approaches to the study of history, and to bridge the gaps between historians, contemporary policymakers, and the general public. Washington College was founded in 1782 under the patronage of George Washington, and was the first college chartered in the new nation.

Founded in 1994, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History promotes the study and love of American history among audiences ranging from students to scholars to the general public. It creates history-centered schools and academic research centers, organizes seminars and enrichment programs for educators, produces print and electronic publications and traveling exhibitions, and sponsors lectures by eminent historians. In addition to the George Washington Book Prize, the Institute also sponsors the Lincoln Prize in conjunction with the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College and the Frederick Douglass Prize in cooperation with the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University.

George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens, open to the public since 1858, communicates the character and leadership of Washington to millions of Americans each year through a variety of interpretive programs on the Estate and in classrooms across the nation. Mount Vernon is owned and operated by the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, founded in 1853, making it America's oldest national preservation organization. The George Washington Book Prize is an important component in the Association's aggressive outreach program, which engages millions of teachers and students throughout the nation.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Washington College Rallies Support for Relay for Life

Chestertown, MD, September 10, 2007 — As part of its 225th Anniversary Celebration, Washington College is assembling a group of 225 students, faculty, and staff to participate in Relay for Life, a community gathering where everyone can participate in the fight against cancer. The Relay begins at Kent County High School September 14 at 6 p.m. and concludes September 15 at 11:00 a.m. Support the faculty, staff, and student participants from Washington College in their effort to raise funds for the American Cancer Society through donations or by attending the event.Check the progress of campus community members who are participating in Relay for Life.

Schedule for the Relay

September 14

6:00 p.m. The Survivors Lap
The traditional cancer survivor lap is everyone who has survived cancer. They take the ceremonial first lap around the track. Once the survivors go half way around the track, family members and caretakers may join the survivors for the second half of the lap. Upon finishing the lap, you and your loved ones are invited to the survivor reception.

7:00 p.m. The Relay officially begins

8:30 p.m. The Luminaria Ceremony

Saturday, September 15, 2007

10:30 a.m. The Closing Ceremony

Penny Wars

In support of the American Cancer Society and the Kent County Relay for Life, "Penny Wars" is a competition between the freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors, and the faculty/staff. The object is to get as many points as possible through monetary donations for the Relay for Life event.

Penny Wars Rules

  1. The project is run from Friday, September 7 - Friday, September 21
  2. There will be 1 container for each class (freshmen, sophomore, junior, and senior), including one for faculty/staff. Each container will have a slit at the top so coin and paper money can be inserted.
  3. The containers will be labeled for the appropriate class and located just inside the Dining Hall entrance beside the cash register.
  4. Students from their respective class, and Faculty/Staff should put pennies in their class' container; with one point being received for every penny in the container.
  5. You may put other coins and paper currency into other containers. Each silver coin or bill will reduce the number of points from that container by the amount of the coin (e.g. a nickel reduces the points by five, a dime by ten, a dollar by 100, etc...).
  6. Containers will be emptied and counted every other day and the totals for each class and the faculty/staff will be posted daily, on the containers, as well as the webpage, for people to see.

The Raffle

As part of a campus effort to raise money, $1.00 raffle tickets are being sold in the dining hall during lunch and dinner for the following prizes:

  • A hooded Washington College Under Amour sweatshirt
  • A hooded Under Amour Sweatshirt
  • A Gift Certificate to Galena Blooms
  • A Gift Certificate to The Granary
  • An iPod Nano
  • Gift Certificate for two lunches (including dessert and drinks) at Feast of Reason.
  • Two Under Amour t-shirts
  • Vase/Candle from Rachel's Flower Power

The drawing for the raffle and the announcement of which class has won the Penny Wars will take place at the Waterfront Festival September 22 in Wilmer Park.

If you have questions or would like to make a donation, sign up to volunteer/participate, or register, please contact Tessa Miskell, at 410-778-7888 or e-mail tmiskell2@washcoll.edu.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

'Interrogation Palace' Poet Wojahn to Give Reading at Washington College

Chestertown, MD, September 5, 2007 — Award-winning poet David Wojahn, a 2007 Pulitzer Prize finalist, will read from his works in Washington College's Sophie Kerr Room on Wednesday, September 19, at 4:30 p.m.

Wojahn is the author of seven books of poetry and has been the recipient of many awards and prizes: the Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Scholarship, the William Carlos Williams Award and the Celia B. Wagner Award from the Poetry Society of America, Vermont College's Crowley/Weingarten Award for Excellence in Teaching, Poetry magazine's George Kent Prize and three Pushcart Prizes.

This year Wojahn was one of two finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in poetry for his bookInterrogation Palace. Wojahn said he was both surprised and honored by the recognition, especially considering that Interrogation Palace was selected from among the hundreds of books of poetry published in 2006.

"To have that sort of recognition from your peers means a lot," said Wojahn, "and it was especially gratifying that they recognized this book, which published both new work and a selection of poems from my previous six collections."

Professor of English and director of the creative writing program at Virginia Commonwealth University, Wojahn has had his poems appear in The New Republic, The New Yorker, Poetryand elsewhere. For subject matter in his verse, he often looks to moments of historical significance, such as the assassination of John Lennon. Wojahn has expressed the hope that his poetry is considered "activist," and Publishers Weekly has praised his "remarkable and well-informed protest poems."

Wojahn's poetry reading is the opening event in the 2007-2008 Sophie Kerr Lecture Series. The series honors the legacy of its namesake, 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.

Admission to Wojahn's reading is free and open to the public. The Sophie Kerr Room is located in Miller Library. For more information, call 410/778-7879.