Posted on Jan 10, 2008

The St. Lawrence String Quartet makes its Concert Series debut Sunday, Jan. 20 at 3 p.m. in Memorial Chapel performing a classical repertoire from Haydn, Berg and Dvorak.

Founded in Toronto in 1989, the Quartet includes original members Geoff Nuttall, violin, and Lesley Robertson, viola, along with Scott St. John, violin, and Christopher Costanza, cello. The ensemble's popularity soared in 1992 after winning both the Banff International String Quartet Competition and Young Concert Artists International Auditions.

The Quartet performs more than 100 concerts annually in North America and Europe. This summer marks the group’s 13th year as Resident Quartet to the Spoleto USA Festival in Charleston, S.C. Additional festival appearances include Mostly Mozart in New York, Maverick Concerts, Bay Chamber Concerts (Maine) and the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival.

Known for fervently championing the work of contemporary masters such as Christos Hatzis, Jonathan Berger and Argentinean-American composer Osvaldo Golijov, the group returns to a more traditional chamber music repertoire for this performance. The program features Franz Josef Haydn’s (1732-1908) String Quartet in C major, Op. 54, No. 2; Alban Berg’s (1885-1935) “Lyric Suite” and Antonin Dvorak’s (1841-1904) String Quartet in G major, Op. 106.

The St. Lawrence String Quartet’s commitment to bringing chamber music to less traditional venues outside the classroom or concert hall has spawned numerous collaborations, including projects with the renowned Pilobolus Dance Theatre and the Emerson String Quartet. As Ensemble in Residence at Stanford University since 1998, the musicians have worked with students and faculty from the School of Medicine, School of Education and the Jewish Studies program.

The group’s initial recording of Schumann's First and Third Quartets received the coveted German Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik as well as Canada’s Juno Award. The Quartet’s 2002 recording, “Yiddishbbuk,” featuring the chamber music of Golijov, received two Grammy nominations.

This concert is free for the Union College community, $20 for general admission and $8 for area students. For tickets, call (518) 388-6080; for more information on the Series, call (518) 372-3651 or visit http://www.union.edu/ConcertSeries.

Posted on Jan 10, 2008

Susan Haack, who was included in “100 Philosophers: The Life and Work of the World’s Greatest Thinkers” by Peter J. King (Barron, 2004), launches the winter term’s Philosophy Speaker Series Thursday, Jan. 24 at 4:30 p.m. in the Schaffer Library Phi Beta Kappa Room.

Haack is professor of Philosophy and Law and the Cooper Senior Scholar in Arts and Sciences at the University of Miami (Fla.).  Her talk, “The Growth of Meaning and the Limits of Formalism: In Science, in Law,” is free and open to the public.

Haack is noted for her lively writing style, wry sense of humor and philosophical achievements. Her numerous articles and books on logic, science, formalism and epistemology include “Putting Philosophy to Work: Inquiry and Its Place in Culture” (Prometheus Books, 2007).

She has been a visiting lecturer at institutions around the world, and her interdisciplinary work has been translated into 10 languages. She holds a doctorate from Cambridge University, where she was the Fellow of New Hall and later taught. She also served as professor of philosophy at the University of Warwick, UK. 

Other offerings in the Philosophy Department's series include: Linda Martin-Alcoff, Syracuse University, “Social Identity, Rationality and Epistemic Agency” (Feb. 7);  Sean Kelley, Harvard University, “The Normative Nature of Perceptual Experience” (Feb. 21); and Katalin Balog, Yale University, “Libertarian Freedom and the Experience of Agency” (March 6).

All talks will be held in the PBK Room at 4:30 p.m. Funding for the series is provided by the Ichabod Spencer Foundation. For more information, contact Department Chair Raymond Martin at ext. 6376 or martinr@union.edu.

Posted on Jan 10, 2008

Calling him “the most famous of a batch of young Kenyan writers who are unafraid to challenge both foreign and homegrown perceptions of their country,” the Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently named Union Writer-in-Residence Binyavanga Wainaina to its list of people around the world worth watching in 2008.

He joins such global newsmakers as Presidents Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of Argentina; Cuba’s Fidel and Raul Castro; Israel Defense Minister Ehud Barak; and U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus.

A week after being cited by the Atlanta newspaper, Wainaina was tapped by the BBC in London, The New York Times and the London Guardian to comment on the political unrest in his native country.

Wainaina was scheduled to teach three classes this term, but now remains in Kenya.

In his interview with the BBC Newshour on Friday, Jan. 4, he said, “The framework we live in, the definition of Kenya, the constitution we have, we’ve known was unwieldy and wasn’t working for us. Finally, it ran out … that’s what happened and when it did, the state became naked, we saw it in one crazy day and everything got peeled away. So, for me, in a strange sort of way, this is a kind of nation-forming moment.”

In Sunday’s Times, in an op-ed titled “No Country for Old Hatreds,” he wrote, “For 40 years we have been dancing around each other, a gaseous nation circling and tightening. The moment is now to make a solid thing called Kenya.”

And in a piece in Saturday’s Guardian, Wainaina wrote: “We all want peace, and all civil leaders should speak loudly to their own constituencies. Baying from across the bridge does not do much. Nations are forged through situations like this. Leaders are made. We have maybe been play-acting nationhood. Do we want a common state? Do we really want this? The time has come to decide.”

Wainaina’s latest honors capped a year of accolades and recognition. In the fall, he was a guest and speaker in the Partnership-with-Africa Conference, hosted by German President Horst Koehlerin, and a panelist at the New Images of Africa Conference in Oslo, Norway, hosted by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He also spent time in Marfa, Texas on a Lannan Foundation scholarship.

Last summer, Wainaina was a guest contributor to Vanity Fair’s special issue devoted to Africa and wrote an essay for Harper’s. He was a finalist in fiction for a National Magazine Award. Last January, he drew worldwide attention for his satirical piece for the British literary magazine Granta  “How to Write about Africa.” 

Wainaina, who earned an MFA in creative writing from the University of East Anglia in England, is the founder and editor of Kwani? (So What?), Kenya’s first literary magazine.             

Posted on Jan 9, 2008

Seven Union students received funding through the Union College Internal Education Fund (IEF) for travel associated with their senior thesis or sophomore scholars research projects in December. The students, their projects, advisors and areas of travel are: 

Carly Aimi ’08
Majors: Anthropology and Latin American Studies; Minor: Dance
Research project: A Cross Cultural Perspective on Women’s Rights in Fiji and Mexico (the U.S. borderlands)
Research advisor: Victoria Martinez, Modern Languages and Literature

Alex Handin ’10
Major: Undeclared
Sophomore Scholars project: New Orleans Hurricane Recovery: A Photo Documentary (New Orleans and Dulac, La.)
Research advisor: Sharon Gmelch, Anthropology

Hilary Handin ’08
Majors: History and French
Research project: Women’s Roles in the French Resistance (Paris)
Research advisor: Brian Peterson, History   

Kristin Hissong ’08
Major:  European History; Minors: French and German
Research project: Immigration, Isolation and Resistance: Unveiling the Stories of Moroccan Jewry (Rabat, Casablanca, and Fez, Morocco)
Research advisor: Brian Peterson, History   

Jacob Lebowitz ’08
Major: Political Science
Research project: The Road to Recovery: A Study of New Orleans’ Residents’ Recovery Experiences in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina (New Orleans)
Research advisor: Amy Gangl, Political Science  

Leigh Mastin ’08
Major: Geology; Minor: Spanish
Research project: Stratigraphy of Tephra Deposits at Volcan Tepetiltic ((Nayarit, Mexico)
Research advisor: Holli Frey, Geology 

Danielle Wineberg ’08
Major: Geology
Research Project: Risk Assessment and the Distribution of Tephra Deposits from the Eruption of Volcan Tepetiltic (Nayarit, Mexico)
Research Advisor: Holli Frey, Geology   

Posted on Jan 9, 2008

Friday, Jan. 11 through Monday, Jan. 14, 8 and 10 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center Auditorium / Film: "Dan in Real Life"

Friday, Jan. 11, 10 p.m. / Old Chapel / Mentalist Chris Cater

Saturday, Jan. 12, 2 p.m. / Viniar Athletic Center / Women’s basketball vs. Skidmore

Saturday, Jan. 12, 7 p.m. / Messa Rink at Achilles Center / Men’s hockey vs. Cornell

Tuesday, Jan. 15, 7 p.m. / Viniar Athletic Center / Men’s basketball vs. Skidmore

Wednesday, Jan. 16, 10 p.m. / Old Chapel / Comedy by Improv Jam

Thursday, Jan. 17, 12:40 p.m. / S&E N304 / Physics & Astronomy Colloquium Series featuring Dinesh Loomba of the University of New Mexico on: "Shedding Light On Dark Matter

Friday, Jan. 18, 7 p..m. / Messa Rink at Achilles Center / Men’s hockey vs. RPI

Friday, Jan. 18 through Monday, Jan. 21, 8 and 10 p.m. / Reamer Campus Center Auditorium / Film: "Dan in Real Life"

Saturday, Jan. 19, 3 p.m. / Messa Rink at Achilles Center / Women’s hockey vs. Sacred Heart

Sunday, Jan. 20, 3 p.m. / Messa Rink at Achilles Center / Women’s hockey vs. Sacred Heart