Posted on Oct 1, 1999

Friday, Oct. 1, 7 p.m.

Nott Memorial.

“The Chinese Revolution Turns 50. A Retrospective of the First 50

Years of the Chinese People's Republic,” a panel discussion.

Co-sponsored by East Asian Studies and Asian Student Union. Reception to

follow in Hale House.

Friday, Oct. 1, through Monday Oct. 4, 8 and 10 p.m.

Reamer Auditorium.

Film committee presents Big Daddy.

Tuesday, Oct. 5, 11:15 a.m.

Arts 215.

John Moore, painter and professor of art history at Skidmore College, on

“Self Taught Artists: Outside the Mainstream.” Part of the

exhibit “An Exact Spectacular” in the Nott Memorial.

Tuesday, Oct. 5, 7 p.m.

Humanities 019.

Chinese film series presents Blue Kite (1994). Directed by Tian

Zhuangzhuang, this banned film traces the fate of a Beijing family through

the political and social upheavals in 1950's and 60's China.

Thursday, Oct. 7, 11:30 a.m.

Reamer Auditorium.

Faculty colloquium with Prof. Adrian Frazier.

Thursday, Oct. 7, 7:30 p.m.

Nott Memorial.

Former Congressman Vic Fazio '65 speaks on “Rekindling Faith in

Public Service in the Quest for the Common Welfare in the Next

Millennium.”

Through Oct. 10.

Social Sciences Lounge.

Exhibit of 17 abstract paintings by German artist Gerlinde Grossmann.

Through Oct. 15.

Arts 215.

“The Time Between Dogs and Wolves: Paintings and Field Studies by

Keith Jacobshagen and Harry Orlyk.”

Through Oct. 17

Mandeville Gallery, Nott Memorial.

“An Exact Spectacular, drawings by Ed Rogers and sculpture by Henry

Turner.”

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Posted on Oct 1, 1999

In the first class this fall, Prof. Ian Condry used a rap music video –

“You Better Listen Up” – to introduce himself and his research

to his students in Introduction to Cultural Anthropology.

The artists, in ponytails and cocked baseball caps,

swagger across a smoky set waving and pointing to a quickly-moving camera.

The performance looks and sounds as if it could have been performed by any

of dozens of American artists. Except that the lyrics are in Japanese.

The messengers, in this case a Japanese group known as

Rhymester, seem every bit as urgent as their American counterparts as they

implore the next generation to overcome the recession in Japan and

“find the strength to leave something for the next century.”

But absent from Rhymester's lyrics – and those of

other Japanese rap artists – are themes common to many American rappers:

guns, violence, sex and drugs. In their place are socially conscious

messages about homelessness, unemployment or injustices in the educational

system.

“It is not very revolutionary by our standards, but

yet the idea that you should speak out in a society where there is sharp

age grading and youth are supposed to be quiet is fairly outrageous,”

says Condry, who wrote his doctoral dissertation on “Japanese Rap

Music: An Ethnography of Globalization in Popular Culture.” His

project presents a case study for evaluating the impact of mass culture,

media and transnational cultural flows on everyday life.

“I am interested in how culture can flow across

national and ethnic boundaries,” Condry says. “And music in hip

hop certainly does that.”

Condry grew up in Dryden, N.Y. (near Ithaca), with a

father who played a lot of folk music. “People like Bob Dylan and Tom

Waits, these are my heroes,” he says. “I've always been

interested in how little songs can tell big stories.”

Introduced to rap as an undergraduate at Harvard, Condry

cultivated the interest – and learned Japanese – during his college

years. He lived in Japan several times, at one point teaching English to

youngsters in northern Japan. After a master's from Yale, he returned

for his doctorate. With a Fulbright Fellowship, he launched two years of

mostly nocturnal fieldwork in Japanese nightclubs and recording studios

that would be the basis of his dissertation.

As with rap in the West, J-Rap has two often-competing

divisions: party rap and underground rap, Condry explains. Typical of the

genre, one party rap song uses the refrain “Maicca” (akin to

Bobby McFerrin's “Don't Worry, Be Happy”) about a young

couple grappling with the intricacies of dating. A typical underground rap

by the group King Giddra centers on criticizing the injustices of the

education system. Party rappers have huge audiences with teenage girls.

The underground hip hoppers tend to appeal to older males.

Just as in the U.S., Condry says, there is an industry

of (mostly) male academics who cite youth culture, including rap, as

evidence that society is breaking down. Condry points out that Plato made

the same observation about music in ancient Greece.

The Japanese language – with its tonal accents and

verb-ending sentences – does not lend itself to the meter and rhyme of

rap, Condry says. So J-Rappers have improvised, adding stress accents and

sprinkling their lyrics with English words.

Condry's dissertation – on CD ROM – has a number

of video clips in which the rappers describe their music; copies are

available from Condry.

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Posted on Sep 27, 1999

Schenectady, N.Y. (Sept. 27, 1999) – The College Park neighborhood will be the setting for a block party celebration today as more than 100 neighbors, Union students and staff, as well as a host construction workers celebrate the Union-Schenectady Initiative, the College's community revitalization effort.

The party, organized by Union staff and members of the College Park Neighborhood Association, kicks off on Huron St. at 4 p.m. and runs until 7 p.m. The event features a cookout, disc jockey and games for neighborhood children. Union President Roger Hull, Schenectady Mayor Albert Jurczynski and College Park Neighborhood Association President Judy Goberman will provide brief remarks at 5 p.m.

“What better way to celebrate the success of the Initiative than a block party?” said Union College Director of Community Outreach Gretchel Tyson. “Like the project itself, the event highlights the strong partnership between the Union and the College Park neighbors. It's also a great opportunity for residents to get to know the students who now live in the area. We've also invited members of the construction crews who, thanks to their hard work, kept the project on schedule.”

About 100 Union students moved into 13 renovated houses along Seward Place in August. Following completion of an additional 13 houses by January, a total of 161 students will live in the College Park neighborhood. Also slated for completion in January are the Union satellite security office on Seward Place and the College Park Community Outreach Center on Park Place, in the former Alps Grill building.

The Union Schenectady Initiative, announced in October 1998, is the College's $10 million neighborhood revitalization effort targeting the College Park neighborhood, the area from Union St. to Nott St. and from Seward Place to Erie Blvd. Developed to increase the College's student, faculty and staff housing offerings and as a mechanism to encourage homeownership in the area, the program includes full tuition scholarships to homeowners in the neighborhood and home mortgage programs from the College and Trustco Bank.

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Posted on Sep 24, 1999

Members of the Union College community can purchase

reduced-priced tickets ($14) to the “Broadway Gala” concert by

the Albany Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, Oct. 16, at 7 p.m. at the

Palace Theater.

For the reduced ticket price of $14, payment must be

received by Oct. 5. Please make checks payable to Union College and

forward them to Human Resources. For more information, call ext. 6108.

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Posted on Sep 24, 1999

September 13, 1999

Meeting #1

1. The minutes of May 31, 1999 were approved.

2. Cherrice Traver was elected Chair of the AAC.

3. Noontime schedule was discussed relative to the lunch

room crowding problem.

4. The Calendar Committee was reviewed: Andy Feffer,

Barbara Danowski, Christie Sorum, Seth Greenberg, Danette Slevinski,

Brooke Barylick, Ann Anderson.

5. Fall agenda to include discussion of the Sociology

and Anthropology Reviews and a discussion of Academic Dishonesty.

6. Danette Slevinski gave the Student Forum report.

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