New York Times Columnist Frank Rich to Deliver Krieger Memorial Lecture Frank Rich, author and award-winning columnist for The New York Times, will deliver the Alex Krieger '95 Memorial Lecture at Vassar College on Tuesday, February 9. The program, free and open to the public, will begin at 8:00 p.m. on the second floor of the Students' Building. A question-and-answer session will follow the lecture. Please note that general seating is on a first-come, first-served basis with no reservations.
Frank Rich began as a columnist for the Op-Ed page of The Times in January 1994; his weekly column, which focuses on American politics and popular culture, helped inaugurate the expanded opinion pages that now appear in The Times’s “Sunday Week in Review” section. Rich served as The Times’s chief drama critic from 1980-1994. Prior to that time, he had been film and television critic at Time magazine, a film critic for The New York Post, and film critic and senior editor of New Times Magazine. His book The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth in Bush’s America criticized the American media for their support of George W. Bush’s administration in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Photo Credit: © Fred Conrad, The New York Times. Read more...
Vassar’s Efforts to Help Haiti
In the wake of the catastrophic earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, many organizations and student groups within the Vassar community have initiated relief efforts on campus and beyond. “Vassar’s connections with the country, particularly through the Vassar Haiti Project, are numerous, deep, and personal,” noted President Catharine Bond Hill in an all-campus email on January 15. Andrew and Lila Meade, founders and directors of the Vassar Haiti Project (VHP), joined forces with student members of the Vassar Haiti Project in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake to begin a drive seeking first aid and medical supplies. On January 20th, the first day of classes, VHP began tabling in the College Center, selling Haitian handicrafts to support their initiative, as well as accepting donations on behalf of other relief efforts. Tabling continued through the end of January, but the opportunity to support the endeavors of the Vassar Haiti Project remains. VHP will contribute 50% percent of the funds generated from the sale of art purchased at their website projects.vassar.edu/haiti/art and at their sales events to the artists; funds from the sale of art also go to support VHP’s ongoing efforts to increase access to education and health in the village of Chermaitre. Image caption: "Point of View," by Joseph Aderson. For additional information, or to volunteer with the Vassar Haiti Project, visit their website or email haitiproject@vassar.edu...
2010 Modfest Continues though February 7
It’s the final week of the eighth annual Modfest, a celebration of new music, dance, drama, film, literature, poetry, and the visual arts. Among the festival’s many remaining highlights are: A talk by Dorothy Lamb Crawford ’54 about her recent book A Windfall of Musicians: Hitler's Émigrés and Exiles in Southern California on Wednesday, February 3; Modfest Art and Music for Late Night at the Lehman Loeb with a performance by composer and violist Adrienne Elisha of “Circle Voices,” a work inspired by the FLLAC installation Harry Roseman: Hole in the Wall on Thursday, February 4; a performance by The Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre, choreographed by Dance chair Stephen Rooks, with music by Vassar adjunct artist Howard Kilik on Friday, February 5, and a performance by the Vassar Jazz Ensemble on Saturday, February 6.
Closing day events, on Sunday, February 7, include a combined concert, reading, discussion, and presentation focused on past winners of the W.K. Rose Fellowship, annually awarded to a Vassar graduate in the creative arts. Presenters include composer Jonathan Elliott ’84, a jazz pianist and head of the music department at Brooklyn’s Saint Ann's School; painter Katherine Mangiardi ’04; and fiction writers Kate Brattin ’07 and Ralph Sassone ’83, who is professor of English and author of the novel, The Intimates, to be published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux this year. During the event, Professor of English Patricia Wallace will discuss the paintings of Eleanor Daniels ’66, another Rose fellow, who passed away from cancer in 1990. (Eleanor was the daughter of Vassar Historian Elizabeth Daniels '41, Professor Emeritus of English.) A reception will follow the discussion. Works by Bishop and Mangiardi will be on display in the Palmer Gallery. Photo caption: “The Old Barn,” Eleanor Daniels '66, part of the Modfest exhibition in the Palmer Gallery. View the full Modfest schedule...