WC Students Will Teach Kids Some Cool Moves at Community Dance Day Saturday, March 31

CHESTERTOWN, MD—The Washington College Dance Program will host its 11th Annual Community Dance Day for children on Saturday, March 31. The event will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Johnson Lifetime Fitness Center on the College campus, 300 Washington Avenue. Members of the College chapter of Nu Delta Alpha dance honor society will offer instruction in creative movement, hip hop and Broadway dance.

This free event is open to children in grades Kindergarten through 8. No prior dance experience is necessary.

For more information contact Professor Karen Smith at 410/778-7237 or ksmith2@washcoll.edu, or Nu Delta Alpha president Megan Gentry at mgentry2@washcoll.edu.

In Lit House Talk, Spanish Prof Offers 18th Century Journey from Pornography to Eroticism

CHESTERTOWN, MD—The next Tea & Talk event at the Rose O’Neil Literary House, Wednesday, March 21, features Elena Deanda-Camacho, assistant professor of Spanish, discussing that fine line between pornography and eroticism. The event begins at 4:30 p.m. on the enclosed porch of the Lit House, 407 Washington Avenue.

Deanda will focus on how linguistics and rhetoric reflect the transition into works being considered erotic rather than pornographic, using as examples the works of 18th and 19th century Spanish poets including Nicolas Fernandez de Moratin and his son Leandro, Tomas de Iriarte and Juan Menendez Valdes. Her talk, “Eu/Dysphemisms: From Pornography to Eroticism in the Eighteenth Century,” also will apply lessons from the Spanish Enlightenment to today’s porn and its intersections with art, politics, business and the media.

As a scholar, Deanda-Camacho studies the inquisitorial censorship of discourses perceived as obscene in Spain and New Spain from the 16th to the 18th century. In particular, she focuses on the antagonistic and conniving relationship between obscenity and censorship. Besides literature, she has studied philosophy, religion, and medieval studies in Mexico and France. At Washington College, she is enjoying teaching all levels of Spanish language, culture, and literature with a focus on the Spanish Golden Age, baroque, colonial literature, and the enlightenment.

The Lit House “Tea & Talk” series features writers and scholars from Washington College and the Chestertown community sharing the research and topics that interest them personally. Both the tea and the talk are free and open to the public. For more information: http://lithouse.washcoll.edu/.

College Offers Free Transportation to the Smithsonian for "American Pictures" Series

Illustrator Maira Kalman Kicks Off Series Saturday

Afternoon, March 24, with a Diane Arbus Photograph

CHESTERTOWN, MD— Interested in a Saturday of art, history, and cultural exploration in Washington, D.C.? Thanks to a special program offered by Washington College, area residents can join faculty and students for free, daylong excursions to the nation’s capital to attend the acclaimed “American Pictures” series at the Smithsonian. The dates of this year’s events are March 24, April 7, April 21, and May 12. Tickets, including bus transportation from Chestertown to Washington, are free and available to the general public on a first-come, first-served basis.

The “American Pictures” series is a joint program of Washington College, the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Each talk features an eminent writer, artist, critic or historian who chooses a single favorite image to explore, revealing how artworks reflect American identity and inspire creativity in many different fields. The series director is historian Adam Goodheart of Washington College. Events take place at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. All talks will begin at 2:00 p.m. (a change in time from previous years).

Buses will leave Chestertown at 11:00 a.m., and depart DC for the return trip at 7:30 p.m. Faculty and staff from the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience and the Department of Art and Art History are arranging special gallery tours for Washington College’s guests following each talk. For more information, or to make a reservation, please contact Lois Kitz at the Starr Center by calling 410-810-7165 or emailing lkitz2@washcoll.edu.

The series opens Saturday, March 24, with illustrator and writer Maira Kalman, who will explore a haunting photo by Diane Arbus. Kalman has written and illustrated more than a dozen books for children, including Looking at Lincoln (2012), Ooh-la-la-Max in Love (2001), What Pete Ate (2001), and 13 WORDS (2010), a collaboration with Lemony Snicket. Kalman’s books for adults include And the Pursuit of Happiness (2010), and an illustrated version of Strunk and White’s classic The Elements of Style (2005).

She is a frequent contributor to the New Yorker, and is well known for her collaboration with Rick Meyerowitz on the popular 2001 “New Yorkistan” cover. Beloved for her whimsical-neurotic take on modern life, Kalman also created a year-long visual column on American history and democracy for the New York Times. In 2010, the Institute of Contemporary Art organized a retrospective of her work, Various Illuminations (of a Crazy World).

Diane Arbus, whose photograph Untitled (8) will be the focus of Kalman’s talk, was one of the most provocative and distinctive American visual artists of the 20^th century. Created between the 1950s and her death in 1971, her haunting, densely detailed black-and-white portraits – often of men and women considered deviant or “freakish” by society at large – continue to challenge and fascinate viewers. Norman Mailer famously said of her, “Giving a camera to Diane Arbus is like putting a live grenade in the hands of a child.”

Untitled (8), taken not long before Arbus’s suicide at age 48, is one of her most striking images. It depicts five men and women, residents of a home for the mentally impaired, dressed in Halloween costumes.

In addition to Kalman, this spring’s all-star line-up features journalist, travel writer and historian Tony Horwitz, biographer Edmund Morris, and memoirist, novelist, and musician James McBride. The series director is historian Adam Goodheart, Hodson Trust-Griswold Director of Washington College’s C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience.

2012 SCHEDULE

Saturday, March 24: Maira Kalman on Diane Arbus’s Untitled (8) (1970-71)

Saturday, April 7: Tony Horwitz on Ole Peter Hansen Balling’s John Brown (1872)

Saturday, April 21: Edmund Morris on Ronald Reagan at Bergen-Belsen (NBC television sequence, 1985)

Saturday, May 12: James McBride on Julian Wasser’s Singer James Brown during a Performance at the Shrine (1969)

For a more complete description of the four programs, click here.

Biologist to Discuss Her Controversial Book "The Oyster Question" Thursday, March 22

CHESTERTOWN, MD--On Thursday, March 22, Dr. Christine Keiner will visit Washington College to discuss her book, The Oyster Question: Scientists, Watermen, and the Maryland Chesapeake Bay since 1880. Her talk, which is free and open to the public, will take place at 4:30 p.m. in Litrenta Lecture Hall, Toll Science Center. A brief Q&A will follow, and autographed copies of The Oyster Question will be available for sale.

Dr. Keiner’s outlook challenges the standard view that a lack of regulation enabled oystermen to exploit the Bay to the point of ruin. She argues that state officials, scientists, and oystermen created a regulated commons that sustained tidewater communities for decades, until a series of natural and man-made disasters weakened the Bay's resilience. Her book also examines the ongoing debate over the wisdom of introducing nonnative oysters to the Chesapeake Bay. The Oyster Question won the 2010 Forum for the History of Science in America Prize and co-won the Maryland Historical Trust’s Heritage Book Award.

Christine Keiner earned a B.A. in biology from McDaniel College and a Ph.D. in the history of science from Johns Hopkins University. She is an associate professor in the Science, Technology, and Society/Public Policy Department at Rochester Institute of Technology.

Litrenta Lecture Hall is on the ground floor of the Toll Science Center, which is located along Campus Avenue. Parking is available in the campus lot beside Goldstein Hall. This event is sponsored by the Center for Environment & Society at Washington College. For more information, please contact tholste2@washcoll.edu, visit www.ces.washcoll.edu, or call 410-810-7162 .

Cellist Astrid Schween Continues College Concert Series with March 25 Performance

CHESTERTOWN, MD—The 60th season of the Washington College Concert Series hosts cellist Astrid Schween accompanied by pianist Gary Hammond in a Sunday concert March 25. The performance will take place at 4 p.m. in Hotchkiss Recital Hall, Gibson Center for the Arts on the College campus, 300 Washington Avenue.

Tickets to individual concerts ($15, or $5 for youth ages 18 and under) and season tickets ($50 for all five concerts) can be purchased at the door or in advance. Washington College students are admitted free with a valid ID. There are no reserved seats. For more information or to purchase advance tickets, please call 410-778-7839 or email concert series director Kate Bennett at kbennett2@washcoll.edu.

The former cellist for Lark Quartet, Astrid Schween now enjoys a busy international concert career as a soloist, in recital with Hammond, and with piano trio Mirepoix. Recent activities include recitals in Europe and California and a solo CD released by Arabesque Recordings. In 2010, Ms. Schween commissioned and premiered “Music for Electric Cello and Electronics,” by Gordon Green, which features the cellist on a Yamaha SVC210 Electric Cello as soloist with an “electronic orchestra.”

Ms. Schween received her training at the Juilliard School, where she was twice awarded the Cello Prize. After performing as soloist with the New York Philharmonic as winner of their Young Peoples’ Competition, she was selected by Zubin Mehta to study in London with Jacqueline du Pré. She has collaborated with many celebrated artists including Joshua Bell, Branford Marsalis, Edgar Meyer, and choreographer Bill T. Jones. She teaches cello at the University of Massachusetts and holds a senior faculty position at Interlochen as a Valade Fellow. For more: http://astridschween.com/.

Pianist Gary Hammond is a graduate of the University of Washington and the Juilliard School and now serves on the faculties of Hunter College, City University of New York; CUNY; New Jersey City University and Sewanee: University of the South. Hammond partners with violinist Ray Dotoratos to donate school performances across the country, promoting an understanding and enjoyment of a diversity of music. 
For more on their outreach program: http://www.dotoratos-hammond.com.

The March 25 concert will include Robert Schumann’s Fantasy Pieces Op. 73, Franz Liszt’s La Lugubre Gondola, Alberto Ginastera’s Pampeana No. 2 Rhapsody for Cello and Piano, Op. 21, and Cesar Franck’s Sonata for Cello and Piano in A Major.

On Saturday, April 14, the final concert in the series brings mezzo-soprano D’Anna Fortunato, accompanied by flutist Peter H. Bloom and pianist Mary Jane Rupert, to Hotchkiss Recital Hall for a performance that will begin at 8 p.m. For more on the series, visit http://www.washcoll.edu.

WC Students in Free Enterprise Launch Kent County’s Biggest-Ever Food Drive

CHESTERTOWN, MD—The Washington College chapter of Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) has launched what it hopes will be the biggest food drive in Kent County’s history. Organizers of the “Let’s Can Hunger” drive have set a goal of collecting at least 5,000 cans (about 5,000 pounds) of food for the Kent County Community Food Pantry.

The food drive, which will continue through April 11, will involve students, faculty and local businesses. Each Washington College class has a goal of 500 cans of food, and faculty members are being challenged to collect another 1,000 cans. Professor Susan Vowels, the advisor for the College SIFE chapter, says an important part of the Let’s Can Hunger campaign, which is sponsored by SIFE donor company Campbell’s Soup, is to spread awareness of the growing number of people facing food insecurity on a regular basis.

Christian Tateo, a Washington College sophomore who is the project leader for the food drive, says signs showing goal thermometers will be posted in Hodson Hall to track how each class and the faculty are doing. “We will be delivering food to the Food Pantry each week, and the Food Pantry will weigh the food and tell me how we are doing,” says Tateo. Students will be reaching out to local businesses, too, offering promotion on campus in exchange for their donations of cash or canned goods.

Jim Fouss, chairman of the Food Pantry, says the students’ efforts will make a tremendous difference to struggling Kent County families. “Increases in gasoline and utility costs have really strained families, and the number of persons that we service continues to increase,” he notes.

For more information on the Let’s Can Hunger food drive and how to help the Washington College students reach their goal, email Christian Tateo at ctateo2@washcoll.edu.

Noted Legal Expert to Address Privacy in the Digital Era, March 19 at Washington College

CHESTERTOWN, MD—Today, GPS monitors can track our every move, brain scans can see ideas forming in our heads before we are aware of them, and genetic engineering may soon allow parents to design their own children. These new technologies create challenges to the basic constitutional rights that our founding fathers could never have imagined.

Noted legal scholar and author Jeffrey Rosen will address these challenges in a lecture Monday, March 19, at 5 p.m in the Litrenta Lecture Hall of the Toll Science Center. His talk, "From GPS Tracking to Airport Body Scanners: The Future of Privacy in the Age of Facebook,” will include issues such as personal versus private space and freedom of speech in the midst of rapid technological advances and burgeoning social media.

In addition to teaching law at the George Washington University, Rosen serves as legal affairs editor of The New Republic. He is the author of several books, most recently The Supreme Court: The Personalities and Rivalries that Defined America. Rosen is a graduate of Harvard College, summa cum laude; Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar; and Yale Law School. 
His essays and commentaries have appeared on NPR and in the New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, and The New Yorker, where he has been a staff writer. The L.A. Times called him, “the nation's most widely read and influential legal commentator.”

The talk is free and open to the public and all are cordially invited. A reception will follow.