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Feminist film series features dramas, documentaries
From a dark comedy about a young girl's adolescence to a documentary of human rights abuses in Guatemala, Union's Feminist Film Series is offering a range of provocative films selected specifically to inspire dialogue about gender roles in our society and others.
“We have all new films this year, chosen once again to cover a range of timely and important topics in feminism as well as represent a variety of cultures,” said Lori Marso, associate professor of political science and director of the Women's and Gender Studies Program, which sponsors the series.
The series, shown in conjunction with WGS 495, Feminist Film, and open to the public, includes a special screening of the documentary “State of Fear” with internationally noted filmmakers Pamela Yates and Paco de Onís, on Friday, April 7 at 1:30 p.m. in Old Chapel.
The event is sponsored by the Sadock Fund for Women and the Arts with the help of the Latin American Studies Program and the Political Science Department.
In addition, Women's and Gender Studies will host a lunch from 12-1 p.m. on April 7 in Everest Lounge, where the filmmakers will answer questions about their earlier film, “When the Mountains Tremble.” This film, about Rigoberta Menchu and human rights abuses in Guatemala, will be screened Tuesday, April 4, at 6 p.m. in Arts 215. (Faculty and students are welcome to attend the luncheon, but please RSVP Marso by April 3.)
Last year, Marso said, a number of different classes watched the films, “and as we got going, we saw many more members of the Schenectady community join us on a regular basis. This was wonderful, and we had some very exciting discussions.”
The 2006 series includes:
“When the Mountains Tremble”
Tuesday, April 4, 6 p.m., Arts 215
Directors Thomas Yates and Newton Thomas Sigel's documentary exposes long-time human rights abuses of indigenous peoples in Guatemala. The film's central subject is Rigoberta Menchu Tum, winner of the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize for her courageous struggle against the Guatemalan military regime. The film contrasts footage of bodies left in the wake of the massacre to segments explaining the business and corporate interests that have taken precedence over human rights. (In Spanish and English)
“State of Fear”: Special screening with filmmakers
Friday, April 7, 1:30 p.m., Old Chapel
Peru faces a terrorist threat and in a desperate search for security, transforms its democracy into a state of fear. This documentary chronicles the threat and the ensuing responses and assaults on democracy, including anti-terrorist legislation and attempted military solution. (In English and Spanish with English subtitles) Director Pamela Yates and Producer Paco de Onís will lead a Q&A session after the screening.
“Welcome to the Dollhouse”
Tuesday, April 11, 6 p.m., Arts 215
Thirteen-year-old Dawn Weiner experiences the physically and socially painful years of adolescence in this darkly comedic Todd Solondz film. At school, the young heroine is referred to as “Weiner-Dog,” and at home she must cope with inattentive parents who dote on her smart older brother and beautiful ballerina of a younger sister.
“Heavenly Creatures”
Tuesday, April 18, 6 p.m., Arts 215
This drama is based on the true story of Juliet Hulme (Kate Winslet) and Pauline Parker (Melanie Lynskey), best friends in the 1950s who are intensely bonded by their love of fantasy and writing. When one mother tries to separate them, tragedy strikes. Directed by Peter Jackson
Fat Girl (Á Ma Soeur!)
Tuesday, April 25, 6 p.m., Arts 215
This film follows two sisters, Anäis, 12, and Elena, 15, on a family vacation. Elena constantly ridicules Anäis for being overweight, and Anäis criticizes Elena for being “a slut.” Elena's relationship with an Italian law student yields tragic consequences for the whole family. Directed by Catherine Breillat (in French with English subtitles)
“Me and You and Everyone We Know”
Tuesday, May 2, 6 p.m., Arts 215
This is the story of Christine Jesperson, a lonely artist who uses her artistic visions to draw connections to what she desires, and Richard Swersey, a newly single shoe salesman who is prepared for great things to happen, yet panics when he meets Christine. The film also follows Richard's two sons: Robby, who is having an Internet romance, and Peter, who becomes the guinea pig for neighborhood girls practicing for their future romantic lives. Directed by Miranda July
“Vera Drake”
Tuesday, May 9, 6 p.m., Arts 215
A happy, working-class woman living in London in the 1950s spends her days caring for her family and neighbors while also secretly, and illegally, helping desperate women induce miscarriages. Lives are forever changed after the authorities discover Vera's activities. A Mike Leigh film
“A Question of Silence”
Tuesday May 16, 6 p.m., Arts 215
In this controversial Dutch drama, three women murder a man to protest the male-dominated society in which they live. The women are taken to court and assigned to a female psychiatrist who starts to feel sympathy for their cause and question her own feelings toward men. Directed by Marlene Gorris (in Dutch with English subtitles)
“Swimming Pool”
Tuesday, May 23, 6 p.m., Arts 215
Sarah Morton is a conservative yet imaginative British mystery writer whose life is turned upside down while vacationing at her publisher's house in France. Once she begins to feel comfortable, she is interrupted by her publisher's wild, party-girl daughter. Tensions rise and tragedy strikes when the competition of personalities between the two starts to involve a local male waiter. Directed by Francois Ozon
“The Stepford Wives”
Tuesday, May 30, 6 p.m., Arts 215
Director Frank Oz's 2004 remake of the 1975 film shows how a group of men in fictional Stepford, Conn., creates a society of perfect families by creating the perfect wives – women who are easily submissive, eager to please their husbands and ideally beautiful. Then Joanna Eberhart, previously a successful executive, moves into town, and she and another newly relocated wife attempt to get to the source of the “perfect” wives' façade.
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Bookshelf
James Baar ‘49
Ultimate Severance
Authorhouse
Flim-flam artists, captains of industry, Wall Street piranhas, impatient mobsters, spinmeisters, and assorted mountebanks abound in Ultimate Severance, a satirical novel that serves as a public relations guidebook to the reality of spin and humbuggery in the 21st century.
With the end of the War on Terror through the accidental launch of new “lite'n kleen” nukes, a culture of euphoria, ethical and social impairment, and calls for numerous peace dividends is again in fashion. Clearly an environment of business opportunity for financially bleeding Trotter Pugg Mitchell, a world PR giant, and its clients, such as Old Masters Originals, a maker of “limited edition” reproduction art. And when the agency teams up with Mob Boss Joey Lasagna to abet dicey corporate megamergers, they provide Wall Street raiders with a new quick-fix ultimate severance package: an innovative Corporate Governance Program powered by Trotter's new “language of happiness.”
James Baar is a writer, international corporate communications consultant and software developer, blogger, former business executive and Washington journalist, and sometime college lecturer. He is the author of an earlier satirical novel on business and public affairs, The Great Free Enterprise Gambit; Spinspeak II: The Dictionary of Language Pollution; four books on politics and technology; and a forthcoming collection of short stories, The Real Thing and Other Tales. His initial foray into lexicography, The Careful Voters Dictionary of Language Pollution (Understanding Willietalk and Other Spinspeak), was written as an “act of penance” for earlier contributions to the Art of High Spin. Baar, who majored in philosophy at Union, currently lives in Providence, R.I., with wife and their dog, Fred the Affenpinscher.
Warren F.
Broderick ‘71
Introduction to 2005 edition Granville Hicks' Small Town
Fordham University Press
Granville Hicks was one of America's most influential literary and social critics. Along with Malcolm Cowley, F.O. Matthiessen, Max Eastman, Alfred Kazin, and others, he shaped the cultural landscape of 20th-century America.
In 1946 Hicks published Small Town, a portrait of life in the rural crossroads of Grafton, N.Y., where he had moved after being fired from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for his left-wing political views. In this book, he combines a kind of hand-crafted ethnographic research with personal reflections on the qualities of small town life that were being threatened by spreading cities and suburbs. He eloquently tried to define the essential qualities of small town community life and to link them to the best features of American culture. The book sparked numerous articles and debates in a baby-boom America nervously on the move.
Long out of print, this classic of cultural criticism speaks powerfully to a new generation seeking to reconnect with a sense of place in American life, both rural and urban.
Warren F. Broderick is an archivist for the New York State Archives in Albany and writes on local, American literary, and Native American history. He lives in Lansingburgh, N.Y., not far from Grafton.
Don Dulchinos '78
Neurosphere: The Convergence of Evolution, Group Mind, and the Internet
Unitarian Universalist Association
According to Donald Dulchinos, the real action on the Internet isn't in the realm of commerce. It is, plain and simple, in the realm of religion. But not exactly that old-time religion. This book is about the spiritual impact of our increasing ability to communicate quickly and with enhanced evolution. It's about our search for meaning, our hunger for a glimpse at humanity's future development in which-frighteningly or excitingly-the trend is clearly toward increasing integration of telecommunications and information technology with the body itself. Electronic prosthetics, direct neural implants, and the brain's control of electronic and mechanical limbs move the boundary that used to exist between human and machine to some undefined frontier inside our bodies, our brains, and, perhaps, our minds.
Dulchinos traces ideas of evolution, anthropology, biology, and theology-all of which point toward a betterment, a unity-and argues that these ideas find their embodiment in the technology of the World Wide Web.
Although other books on new technology and new consciousness touch on many of the ideas in Neurosphere, none do so in quite such a straightforward, logical way. Dulchinos has a way of telling personal stories that make the technical accessible to the dreamer, the spiritual comprehensible to the skeptic, and the future of body technology less fear-inducing to everyone.
Donald P. Dulchinos has spent the last 15 years working in various aspects of cable television. He has been involved in online network communities for at least that long, as a charter member of the Boulder Community Network, and an early, active member and conference host on The Well, an electronic community. He has written two books on consciousness and spirituality, Pioneer of Inner Space: The Life of Fitz Hugh Ludlow, Hasheesh Eater and Forbidden Sacraments: The Survival of Shamanism in Western Civilization.
Feminist film series features provocative dramas, documentaries
From a dark comedy about a young girl's adolescence to a documentary of human rights abuses in Guatemala, Union's Feminist Film Series offers a range of films selected specifically to inspire dialogue about gender roles in our society and others.
“We have all new films this year, chosen once again to cover a range of timely and important topics in feminism as well as represent a variety of cultures,” said Lori Marso, associate professor of political science and director of the Women's and Gender Studies Program, which sponsors the series.
The series, shown in conjunction with WGS 495, Feminist Film, and open to the public, includes a special screening of the documentary “State of Fear” with internationally noted filmmakers Pamela Yates and Paco de Onís, on Friday, April 7 at 1:30 p.m. in Old Chapel. The event is sponsored through the Sadock Fund for Women and the Arts with the help of the Latin American Studies Program and the Political Science Department.
In addition, Women's and Gender Studies will host a lunch from 12-1 p.m. on April 7 in Everest Lounge, where the filmmakers will answer questions about their earlier film, “When the Mountains Tremble.” This film, about Rigoberta Menchu and human rights abuses in Guatemala, will be screened Tuesday, April 4, at 6 pm in Arts 215. (Faculty and students are welcome to attend the luncheon, but please RSVP Marso by April 3.)
Last year, Marso said, a number of different classes watched the films, “and as we got going, we saw many more members of the Schenectady community join us on a regular basis. This was wonderful, and we had some very exciting discussions.”
The 2006 series includes:
“When the Mountains Tremble”
Tuesday, April 4, 6 p.m., Arts 215
Directors Thomas Yates and Newton Thomas Sigel's documentary exposes long-time human rights abuses of indigenous peoples in Guatemala. The film's central subject is Rigoberta Menchu Tum, winner of the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize for her courageous struggle against the Guatemalan military regime. The film contrasts footage of bodies left in the wake of the massacre to segments explaining the business and corporate interests that have taken precedence over human rights. (In Spanish and English)
“State of Fear”: Special screening with filmmakers
Friday, April 7, 1:30 p.m., Old Chapel
Peru faces a terrorist threat and in a desperate search for security, transforms its democracy into a state of fear. This documentary chronicles the threat and the ensuing responses and assaults on democracy, including anti-terrorist legislation and attempted military solution. (In English and Spanish with English subtitles) Director Pamela Yates and Producer Paco de Onís will lead a Q&A session after the screening.
“Welcome to the Dollhouse”
Tuesday, April 11, 6 p.m., Arts 215
Thirteen-year-old Dawn Weiner experiences the physically and socially painful years of adolescence in this darkly comedic Todd Solondz film. At school, the young heroine is referred to as “Weiner-Dog,” and at home she must cope with inattentive parents who dote on her smart older brother and beautiful ballerina of a younger sister.
“Heavenly Creatures”
Tuesday, April 18, 6 p.m., Arts 215
This drama is based on the true story of Juliet Hulme (Kate Winslet) and Pauline Parker (Melanie Lynskey), best friends in the 1950s who are intensely bonded by their love of fantasy and writing. When one mother tries to separate them, tragedy strikes. Directed by Peter Jackson
Fat Girl (Á Ma Soeur!)
Tuesday, April 25, 6 p.m., Arts 215
This film follows two sisters, Anäis, 12, and Elena, 15, on a family vacation. Elena constantly ridicules Anäis for being overweight, and Anäis criticizes Elena for being “a slut.” Elena's relationship with an Italian law student yields tragic consequences for the whole family. Directed by Catherine Breillat (in French with English subtitles)
“Me and You and Everyone We Know”
Tuesday, May 2, 6 p.m., Arts 215
This is the story of Christine Jesperson, a lonely artist who uses her artistic visions to draw connections to what she desires, and Richard Swersey, a newly single shoe salesman who is prepared for great things to happen, yet panics when he meets Christine. The film also follows Richard's two sons: Robby, who is having an Internet romance, and Peter, who becomes the guinea pig for neighborhood girls practicing for their future romantic lives. Directed by Miranda July
“Vera Drake”
Tuesday, May 9, 6 p.m., Arts 215
A happy, working-class woman living in London in the 1950s spends her days caring for her family and neighbors while also secretly, and illegally, helping desperate women induce miscarriages. Lives are forever changed after the authorities discover Vera's activities. A Mike Leigh film
“A Question of Silence”
Tuesday May 16, 6 p.m., Arts 215
In this controversial Dutch drama, three women murder a man to protest the male-dominated society in which they live. The women are taken to court and assigned to a female psychiatrist who starts to feel sympathy for their cause and question her own feelings toward men. Directed by Marlene Gorris (in Dutch with English subtitles)
“Swimming Pool”
Tuesday, May 23, 6 p.m., Arts 215
Sarah Morton is a conservative yet imaginative British mystery writer whose life is turned upside down while vacationing at her publisher's house in France. Once she begins to feel comfortable, she is interrupted by her publisher's wild, party-girl daughter. Tensions rise and tragedy strikes when the competition of personalities between the two starts to involve a local male waiter. Directed by Francois Ozon
“The Stepford Wives”
Tuesday, May 30, 6 p.m., Arts 215
Director Frank Oz's 2004 remake of the 1975 film shows how a group of men in fictional Stepford, Conn., creates a society of perfect families by creating the perfect wives – women who are easily submissive, eager to please their husbands and ideally beautiful. Then Joanna Eberhart, previously a successful executive, moves into town, and she and another newly relocated wife attempt to get to the source of the “perfect” wives' façade.
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Under the influence
This past summer, in an effort to address this issue, I initiated a new requirement for first-year students to participate in an on-line course called AlcoholEdu before coming to Orientation. It was designed to educate students about the role alcohol plays in their lives. The College has been using AlcoholEdu as an educational sanction for minor alcohol offenses for several years. While this has been effective, we thought we could do more. The program is an important new initiative that encourages students to consider high-risk activities and consult with their parents on the topic.
AlcoholEdu is a four-part program that focuses on improving the health, safety, and academic performance of students. The first part focuses on what shapes a student's decisions about alcohol. The second part covers facts about alcohol and the effects of drinking. The third part addresses drug interactions, preventing or dealing with overdose, alcohol's role in violence and sexual assault, and intervention techniques. The fourth part, taken after the student arrives on campus, focuses on independent decisions and reviews some of the key material from the program.
Parents can also participate in the course. They play an important role in helping their sons and daughters make good decisions, and they have more influence over their son's or daughter's alcohol use than they realize. We encourage parents to review the program and talk with their child about alcohol before coming to campus.
The goal of AlcoholEdu is to decrease high-risk drinking behavior. We gave students information that empowered them to make well-informed decisions about alcohol and help them better cope with the drinking behavior of their peers. We anticipated that this program would help reduce the number of incidents involving high-risk behavior associated with alcohol. So far this has proven true. During fall term, we saw an encouraging 40 percent reduction in the number of first-year student transports to the hospital for alcohol abuse.
We continue to work with student leaders to address alcohol concerns on campus. U-Program, the campus program board, sponsors popular weekly social events without alcohol. The Student Forum supports over 90 clubs and organizations that sponsor popular non-alcohol activities.
In a recent meeting with the RA's, I learned that this year's first-year students seem to respect their living communities and have taken measures to stop vandalism from taking place in their halls; vandalism is typically associated with alcohol consumption. In the first-year residence hall where we saw the most damage last year, there has been a 39 percent reduction in the amount of vandalism so far this year. The RA's have worked hard to create communities. The first-year students have taken ownership of their living environments and consider their residence halls home-away- from-home.
Still, students consume alcohol. If a student is found in violation of the College alcohol policy, an educational sanction is always imposed. If a student puts himself or herself at risk while consuming alcohol, further sanctions are imposed including service hours and parental notification. If alcohol or other drugs become an overriding theme in a student's life, it is likely that the student will be separated from the College.
While we haven't conquered the alcohol problem on campus, we have certainly made strides toward reducing high-risk behaviors associated with alcohol. Many administrators and student leaders continue to work on this important issue, and we will continue to work toward our goal of having a more knowledgeable and healthy campus.