Nature Writer Presents 'Urban Animals Unveiled' at Washington College

Chestertown, MD — Author Lisa Couturier, hailed by Booklist as "an artist at discovering little bits of Nature in the city," will present "Urban Animals Unveiled" at Washington College's Casey Academic Center Forum on Tuesday, April 14, at 4:30 p.m.

The lecture is presented by the Sophie Kerr Committee and the Center for Environment & Society.

Couturier worked as an environmental journalist and as a magazine editor while living in Manhattan for nearly 15 years, 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.

Couturier's new book, The Hopes of Snakes: And Other Tales from the Urban Landscape is testament to her lifelong passion for urban nature and to the human desire to cherish, and hold close, the non-human world that is alive and quietly thriving in our developed landscapes.

The naturalist has lived her entire life along the Northeast Corridor of the United States: the suburbs of Washington, D.C., the City of New York and the outskirts of Boston. "My life, my engagement with urban wildlife and my ideas about what is wild," she said, "were birthed in these most densely urbanized landscapes of the U.S."

It is predicted that an astonishing 80 percent of the population of the United States will live in cities in the year 2010. "This means our urban and suburban landscapes will need to be re-envisioned as the primary places to sustain our passion for wildlife," said Couturier.

"Open, undeveloped space is essential, critical to wildlife. But I feel the need to celebrate, also, the beaver living on the city line, the urban falcon or other urban creatures who are both a gift from the wilder world as well as a reminder that, somehow, we ultimately must not fail that wilder place."

In praise of The Hopes of Snakes, renowned poet Mary Oliver wrote that Couturier's "essays shine with her candor, her perception and her affection for the creatures of our world," while Publishers Weekly enthused, "She makes a convincing case that a suburban woman with a toddler can have as viable a relationship with the wild as an intrepid backpacker; she does not so much domesticate the wilderness as reveal the wildness within the domestic."

Admission to "Urban Animals Unveiled" is free and open to the public.

Understanding the '08 Financial Crisis: 'New Iron Triangle' Analyzed at Washington College

Chestertown, MD — Dr. Kathryn Lavelle, Ellen and Dixon Long Associate Professor of World Affairs at Case Western Reserve University, will present "A New Iron Triangle? Congress, the Treasury and the Federal Reserve in the Financial Crisis of 2008" at Washington College's Casey Academic Center Forum on Wednesday, April 15, at 4:30 p.m. The lecture is presented by the Goldstein Program in Public Affairs.

Dr. Lavelle is currently a residential fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. She is writing a book that analyzes the relationship between the U.S. Congress, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. She recently served as an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow, assigned to the staff of the House Committee on Financial Services for Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA).

Her first book, The Politics of Equity Finance in Emerging Markets (Oxford University Press, 2005), was praised by Foreign Affairs, which noted, "This book usefully recounts the recent evolution of equity markets in 16 emerging economies, [and] summarizes the nature and extent of privatization in many countries...."

Dr. Lavelle has published articles, book reviews and book chapters appearing in Perspectives on Politics, International Organization, Review of International Organizations, The Journal of Modern African Studies, Third World Quarterly, Review of International Political Economy, International Journal of Political Economy, International Studies Review and The Columbia Journal of World Business.

Washington College's 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.

Admission to "A New Iron Triangle? Congress, the Treasury and the Federal Reserve in the Financial Crisis of 2008" is free and open to the public.

Reagan Remembered: 'Rendezvous with Destiny' Screened at Washington College

Chestertown, MD — The Washington College Republicans Club will present a screening of the film "Ronald Reagan: Rendezvous With Destiny" at Litrenta Lecture Hall on Wednesday, April 15, at 6:30 p.m.

"Ronald Reagan: Rendezvous With Destiny" examines and celebrates the life and legacy of the 40th President of the United States. Hosted by Newt and Callista Gingrich, the documentary tells the story of the Reagan presidency and the three pillars that shaped his time in office: reviving the American economy, restoring America's spirit and challenging the Soviet Union.

Shot on location in Washington, D.C., the Reagan Ranch, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, France, Poland and the Czech Republic, the film features never-before-seen interviews with Michael Reagan, former Reagan Administration officials, former presidents Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic and Lech Walesa of Poland, and many others.

"Ronald Reagan: Rendezvous With Destiny" charts the path of a unique and notable 20th-century American life, from an Illinois childhood to a career in Hollywood, from the Governor's mansion in California to the Presidency of the United States.

The film explores how Reagan's conservative principles developed over the course of his life's journey, and how "the Great Communicator" used his words and vision to help restore confidence in the nation's future at a time when the national mood was at its nadir.

Over the course of the Reagan presidency, the United States emerged from a recession with then-unprecedented economic growth, and the Cold War finally lurched toward its conclusion. Reagan's prediction that the Soviet Union would end up on "the ash heap of history" ultimately proved to be prescient.

Litrenta Lecture Hall is located in the John S. Toll Science Center. Admission to "Ronald Reagan: Rendezvous With Destiny" is free and open to the public.

Washington College's Afro-Cuban Ensemble, Jazz Combo to Perform

Chestertown, MD — The exciting drum and song traditions of a vibrant musical culture will come alive on campus when the Washington College Afro-Cuban Ensemble performs at Norman James Theatre on Wednesday, April 8, at 8 p.m. The Washington College Jazz Combo also will perform, presenting enduring classics from the American jazz canon.

The Afro-Cuban Ensemble was founded in 2005 by percussionist and ethnomusicologist Kenneth Schweitzer, D.M.A., of the Washington College Department of Music. Wednesday's concert will include Santeria drums and songs, rumba, popular sones and boleros (as in "The Buena Vista Social Club") and Brazilian bossa nova.

Schweitzer also leads the Washington College Jazz Combo, which will round out April 8's entertainment. The Jazz Combo is comprised of a small group of Washington College students (both majors and non-majors) who show exceptional talent and motivation. The goal of the ensemble is to provide members with professional opportunities; playing in club-like settings and providing ambient music in a variety of venues both on and off campus.

Admission to the concert is free and open to the public.

'Slate' Editor Discusses 'Making Literature Online' at Washington College

Chestertown, MD — David Plotz, editor of the groundbreaking web site Slate, will present "On Making Literature Online" at Washington College's Rose O'Neill Literary House on Tuesday, April 7, at 4:30 p.m.

A writer for Slate since its launching in 1996, Plotz became the online magazine's editor in 2008. He also is the author of The Genius Factory: The Curious History of the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank (2005), Backstabbers, Crazed Geniuses, and Animals We Hate: The Writers of Slate's "Assessment" Column Tell It Like It Is (2006) and Good Book: The Bizarre, Hilarious, Disturbing, Marvelous, and Inspiring Things I Learned When I Read Every Single Word of the Bible (2009).

Plotz has written for the New York Times Magazine, Harper's, Reader's Digest, Rolling Stone, New Republic, the Washington Post and GQ. He won the National Press Club's Hume Award for Political Reporting in 2000, and was a National Magazine Award finalist for a Harper's article about South Carolina's gambling industry. He also has won an Online Journalism Award for a Slate piece on Enron.

Admission to "On Making Literature Online" is free and open to the public.

War between the Sexes: Washington College Drama Department Presents 'Some Girl(s)'

Chestertown, MD — The Washington College Department of Drama will present Neil LaBute's comedy "Some Girl(s)" at the Prince Theatre on Friday and Saturday, April 3 and 4, at 8 p.m.

"Some Girl(s)" is a comedy straight from the trenches of the war between the sexes. A writer is about to be married. But first, he feels compelled to revisit four women from his past, and travels to four different cities to do so. At each stop, he invites an old flame to his hotel room, hoping to make sure there are no hard feelings, even though he used experiences with each ex-girlfriend as material for his fictional work. In this bold tale of love cast aside, the writer learns a shocking truth about the price each woman has paid for his youthful cowardice.

The Hollywood Reporter hailed "Some Girl(s)" as an "entertaining, sleekly written new comedy," while the Associated Press raved, "LaBute's words cut and wound but they are also incredibly funny, and at times poignant."

The Washington College production of "Some Girl(s)" is directed by senior Michael Golze and features Brian Schultz, Katie Skarwecki, Dorothy Johnson, Molly O'Connell and Emily Broomell. Admission is free, but reservations are required; call 410/778-7835 or e-mail drama_tickets@washcoll.edu.

'Rock Lit' Returns to Washington College's Rose O'Neill Literary House

Chestertown, MD — It will be a weekend of rock journalism and rock tunesmithing at Washington College's Rose O'Neill Literary House, which presents "Rock Lit: Sound Opinions" with rock critics/radio hosts Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot on Friday, April 3, at 6:30 p.m., and "Rock Lit: The Art & Craft of Song," a workshop with singer-songwriter Paul Weinfield, on Saturday, April 4, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The Rose O'Neill Literary House's inaugural "Rock Lit" offering came last November as part of "Literature of the Fact," a special series of lectures on the diverse varieties of the art of nonfiction. This weekend, the subject matter ranges from how to write music to how to write about music.

Take two nationally respected rock critics, the latest music news, personal commentary, and exclusive interviews and performances, add a huge pile of records old and new, and the result is "Sound Opinions," the world's only rock'n'roll talk show. Based in Chicago, "Sound Opinions" is hosted by Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot, two of the finest and best-recognized pop music writers in the nation.

They are the top music critics and dedicated competitors at Chicago's two daily newspapers, the Chicago Sun-Times (DeRogatis) and the Chicago Tribune (Kot). Every week, "Sound Opinions" fires up smart and spirited discussions about a wide range of popular music, from cutting-edge underground rock and hip-hop, to classic rock, R&B, electronica, worldbeat and other genres.

DeRogatis and Kot are also both critically acclaimed authors who write for some of the nation's most prestigious rock magazines, including Rolling Stone, Spin and Vibe. Their April 3 presentation at the Rose O'Neill Literary House is free and open to the public.

On Saturday, April 4, "Rock Lit" shifts gears from journalism to songcraft, as up-and-coming performer Paul Weinfield leads a workshop from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Weinfield is gaining a following via Tam Lin Music, a catchall name for songs written and performed by this singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His songs have been compared to those of David Byrne, Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake and Jeff Buckley.

Weinfield was born in New York City to a poet father and a composer mother. He started combining words and music at a young age: by 9 he had taught himself guitar and by 11 was writing songs. After leaving home he spent many years as a student of religions, traveling through India and the Middle East.

In 2005, Weinfield began actively performing in New York City's downtown folk scene under the name Tam Lin Music (after the Scottish ballad made famous by the band Fairport Convention), a moniker that comprises Weinfield's singing, songwriting and guitar playing with a revolving group of eclectic musicians. Tam Lin Music infuses a more traditional singer-songwriter aesthetic with jazz-inflected improvisation and electronic loops and beats.

Some basic guitar skills are required of attendees to Weinfield's workshop; for registration and more information, email obailey2@washcoll.edu.