Posted on Jan 12, 2001

Vera Schwarcz, the Freeman Professor of East Asian Studies at Wesleyan University, will speak on
“The Garden of History: Art and Atrocity in One Corner of China” on Wednesday, Jan. 17, at 7:30 p.m.
in the Nott Memorial.

The talk is part of the College's Perspectives at the Nott lecture series.

Schwarcz, the author of seven books and over 50 articles, is best known for her recent studies on the
parallels between Chinese and Jewish cultural memories.

Among her books are Time for Telling Truth is Running Out: Conversations with Zhang Shenfu and Bridge Across
Broken Time, a comparison of the Jewish and Chinese cultures in what the New York Times called “at once a
scholarly consideration of Chinese and Jewish intellectual life, a poetic evocation of the wrenching
imperative of historical memory and an extraordinary personal story about uncovering family secrets.”
Bridge Across Broken Time was nominated as a finalist in history for the Jewish Book Council's National
Book Award.

A reception in Hale House sponsored by the Women's Commission and the East Asian Studies Program will follow
the lecture.

Posted on Jan 12, 2001

Richard Fox, assistant professor of political science, is co-author (with Robert Van Sickel of Purdue
University) of the just-published book Tabloid Justice: Criminal Justice in an Age of Media Frenzy
(Lynne Rienner).

The book explores the ways that the media have covered high-profile cases throughout the 1990s and assesses
the impact of that coverage on public attitudes toward the U.S. justice system.

Focusing on cases such as Rodney King and O.J. Simpson, Fox and his colleague find that the media's attention
to high-profile trials has highlighted — and at times aggravated — many of the deepest social divisions in
society: race, gender, ethnicity and social class. They also show that a distorted presentation of the justice
system has reduced the legitimacy and authority of the law in the eyes of the public.

“It is difficult to imagine how we can move toward a relationship between the public and the mass media that is
characterized by truly serious news reporting and thoughtful analysis by citizens,” the authors write. “In the
meantime, we will likely just collectively sit back and await the next 'trial of the century.'”

Posted on Jan 12, 2001

The African and Latino Alliance of Students is planning a commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr.
on Monday, Jan. 15, at 4 p.m. in Old Chapel.

The program will include music, readings and poetry. A reception will follow.

Meanwhile, a community service day in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday will link
Union students with Schenectady High School students in volunteer activities at Bethesda House,
Hamilton Hill Arts Center, Family and Child Service of Schenectady and the Eddy Senior Center.

Posted on Jan 12, 2001

Barbados and Ireland may not seem to have much in common, especially in terms of climate.

But for anthropologist George Gmelch, both are rich in ethnographic opportunities.

Gmelch, who since 1983 has run an ethnographic field school in warm and sunny Barbados,
is moving the program this fall to the Emerald Isle. The move coincides with his wife Sharon
(also professor of anthropology) doing a Fulbright Fellowship as lecturer and researcher at
the University of Maynooth, west of Dublin.

Ten students will study in Gmelch's program, beginning with three weeks of touring rural towns
and taking classes in Irish history. “There's so much more history to know than in Barbados,”
Gmelch said. For the rest of the term, students will move into homes with local families in different
towns in southeast Ireland – Kilkenny, Wexford and Carlow, for example.

The program is not connected to a term abroad in Galway, offered in collaboration with Hobart and
William Smith Colleges.

“There's no question that (the ethnographic field school) is the ultimate term abroad experience,”
said Gmelch, who ran a similar program in Ireland in the 70's when he was teaching at the University at Albany.
“The students are out there living in the community by themselves, and that forces them to examine the host
society in ways that do not happen in a classroom.”

Gmelch visited Ireland last fall, finding places in rural western Ireland that would be suitable for doing
field research. His next visit over the summer will secure host families for the students. “I have a waiting
list of host families in Barbados,” Gmelch said. “I'll have to start all over in Ireland.”

As for the weather, Ireland's higher latitude means cooler temperatures than in Barbados.
“But at least we'll miss most of the rainy season,” Gmelch said.

Posted on Jan 12, 2001

Through Jan. 14
Mandeville Gallery, Nott Memorial
“Union Women: 3 Decades of Art.” This exhibit honors seven Union women who have established their interest and expertise as artists — from Claudia Gioseffi who graduated in 1976 to become a painter of bold, colorful landscapes, to Veronica Sack, a member of Union's most recent graduating class, a printmaker who works on cloth as well as paper.

Through Feb. 2
Arts Atrium
“Digging Deeper, Woodcut and Linocut Prints by Rosanne Retz and Carol Sanchez.” Retz, a printmaker from Massachusetts, has had her work exhibited internationally. Sanchez, a printmaker from New Mexico, creates her work from ideas or thoughts taken from nature. Atrium hours are Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and weekends noon to 5 p.m. Show runs through Feb. 2. For information, call ext. 6714.

(A full schedule of events appears in “Union's Calendar,”
distributed weekly on campus, and at www.union.edu/News/Events_Calendars.)