The Harbinger

February 28, 2005

 

Reminder: Hiram College Hosts Lectures in Religion March 2 - 3

Susannah Heschel, the Eli Black Associate Professor of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College, will serve as the speaker for the 24th annual Hiram College Lectures in Religion scheduled for March 2-3.  Her theme is “The Politics of Scholarship: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in the Academy.”

Heschel’s scholarship focuses on Jewish-Christian relations in Germany during the 19th and 20th centuries, and her numerous publications include a prize-winning monograph, Abraham Geiger and the Jewish Jesus, and a forthcoming book on Protestant theologians in Nazi Germany. Heschel has served as a visiting professor at Princeton and the University of Cape Town and has held the Martin Buber visiting professorship at the University of Frankfurt. Since 1999, she has served on the Academic Advisory Committee of the Research Center of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

In addition to her academic work, Heschel has written and lectured frequently on Jewish and feminist issues and is a member of the National Council of Jewish Women. She spoke on Judaism at the 1992 UN Earth Summit and at the 1994 UN Conference on Population and Development in Cairo.

 The lecture series begins Wednesday, March 2 at 7:30 p.m. when Heschel will discuss “The Intrigue of Islam: The Jewish Fascination with Its Daughter Religions.” Two lectures are scheduled for Thursday, March 3. Heschel will discuss “Theological Bulimia: Christianity and the Jewish Jesus,” at 12:30 p.m.  At 3:30 p.m., the series draws to a close with the lecture “We’re Not Jews: Multiculturalism and the New Jewish Studies.”

All events are free and open to the public. Lectures will be held in Hiram’s Kennedy Center Ballroom, State Route 700 in Hiram. For more information, call 330-569-5147.

Shannon Keeney Named “Best Delegate” at Harvard Model U.N. Conference

Ten Hiram students traveled to Boston on Feb. 17-20 to participate in the Harvard National Model United Nations 2005 Conference. The annual U.N. simulation brings together over 2,000 students and advisors from colleges and universities from around the world. The delegation of Hiram students was assigned to represent Azerbaijan, a country of 7.9 million people in southwestern Asia, bordering Iran and Russia. Shannon Keeney, Jarrod Parsons, Jaina Sangtani, Ron Alcorn, Matt Draiss, Fionna Faulk, Terra Hansen, Gregory Mitchell, Christopher Reichle, and Erica Steward served on different U.N. committees at the conference.

Senior Shannon Keeney was selected as a “Best Delegate” from the committee she represented, the U.N. Economic Commission on Europe. The committee met for 20 hours writing position papers, debating topics, and drafting resolutions. Keeney was one of only 19 participants selected for this award.

“It was a huge honor to be chosen as best delegate,” said Keeney. “I enjoy the research, but once you’re there, the pace is very fast. I was fortunate to have four years of experience at Model U.N. conferences.”

 Hessinger to Publish Book

In May, Rodney Hessinger's new book will be published by the University of Pennsylvania Press.  Seduced, Abandoned, and Reborn: Visions of Youth in Middle Class America 1780 - 1850 exposes the fears expressed by elders about young people in the early American republic.  Focusing on popular publications and large urban centers, Hessinger draws a portrait of deeply troubled reformers, men and women, who worried incessantly about the vulnerability of youth to the perils of prostitution, promiscuity, misbehavior, and revolt.  Benefiting from new insights in cultural history, Seduced, Abandoned, and Reborn looks at the way the categories of gender, age, and class took rhetorical shape in the early republic. In trying to steer young adults away from danger, these advisors created values that came to define the emerging middle class of urban America.

Dyer to discuss her work

Joyce Dyer will be traveling to Youngstown State on Tuesday, March 8, to speak to students of history professor Thomas E. Leary who have recently read her book Gum-Dipped: A Daughter Remembers Rubber Town in their class Regional Industrialization:  Work and Workplaces in the Midwest. Working with Leary—an expert on American architecture, historical preservation, and work in America, as well as winner of the Augusburger Award for his distinguished contribution to Buffalo and Erie County history—Dyer will talk to students about work experiences and labor conflicts in relation to changes in buildings and production techniques.

Sports Update

For the first time since joining the NCAC, the women’s basketball team made it to the NCAC tournament. The Terriers, seeded 8th, played #1 Kenyon College last Tuesday night, losing 69-28. The women’s basketball team finished strong, with sophomore Cassie Bedard (pictured) breaking a 19-year-old scoring record for most points in a game. Cassie replaced former head coach Anne Haynem in the record books with her 37 points against Kenyon on February 19th. The women finished 8-18 overall and 2-14 in the NCAC. The Terriers will return two seniors and a solid sophomore group for 2005-06.

 The men’s and women’s track & field teams will compete this weekend in the NCAC Indoor Track & Field Championships held at Denison University. Competition begins Friday at 2 p.m. and continues through Saturday evening.

 Several teams will head south this weekend to play in the warmer climates of Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina.  The baseball and softball teams will compete next week in the Gene Cusic Classic held in Fort Myers, Florida. The tennis teams will play several matches next week in Daytona Beach, Florida, before traveling to Hilton Head, South Carolina for a match. The men’s golf team will play a tournament next week at Pinehurst in Whispering Pines, North Carolina.

Women’s swimmer Beth Groselle will participate in three events at the NCAA Division III national meet, held March 10-12 in Holland, Michigan.

Student Profile

How to Get High Without Drugs!
By Roger Cram

Tim Bryan asked me to write a story for the Harbinger about Dan Wilson, a Hiram College junior who plays guitar at Jaspers Bar & Grill Restaurant in Akron on the first and third Saturdays of each month. When Dan arrived at my office for an interview, I told him I was finishing some work and hoped he didn’t mind waiting a minute or two. As he sat down, I asked him in passing how long he had been studying the guitar and what kind of music he liked? “I like Samba music from Brazil, but I’ve never taken any lessons,” Dan casually replied, “I just kind of play around in my spare time teaching myself.”
    
How good could this guy be,” I wondered to myself, “never having taken a lesson“?   Dan rested his guitar across his lap and waited.  He looked down at his guitar and started plucking a string or two. I turned my back to him and tried to continue my work over this new disruption. I wondered if I could ignore his plucking and finish my document.
    
I suddenly stopped typing. My hands froze on the keyboard and I stared blankly at my computer screen. What was I hearing?  Being embraced by the most haunting melody, a delightfully contagious rhythm, I silently prayed these haunting sounds would permanently reside within me. I remained motionless fearing any movement might distract the enchanting melody causing it to even slightly hesitate, or heaven forbid, stop altogether!
    
A few seconds passed, and I noticed from the corner of my eye another person silently standing just outside my office door, apparently as equally enraptured and motionless as I.  Then a second, a third, and a fourth person quietly arrived as if entranced by a mystical piper’s melody. My thoughts darted about in bewilderment, “Are these beautiful tones real? Are we being magically chanted away to join the children of Manelin?  Dan looked up and noticed the motionless crowd, each glassy eyed with jaws slightly ajar, gathered in my doorway.   “Excuse me,” Dan sheepishly muttered softly as he stopped playing his guitar, “I didn’t mean to disturb anyone in this office.” 
    
Shawn Brown, the first person to arrive outside my door then looked at me with an expression of amazement clearly inquiring, “How? Who? Was that real? Are we dreaming?” By now I had gathered my composure and whit. I shrugged my shoulders at Shawn replying, “This guy is named Dan Wilson. He likes Samba music from Brazil. He never took any lessons; he just kind of plays around in his spare time teaching himself.”

Dan “Music Man” Wilson, a self-taught musician playing what he terms, “straight ahead jazz,” became interested in Samba music after watching the movie Black Orpheus, a film taking place during Carnival in Brazil. 

Miles Davis is an inspiration for Dan, for Dan not only like Davis’ music, but his cool attitude toward jazz where Davis “…plays to put his own spirit in a mellow mood, the audience just happens to be listening.”

“Music Man” Wilson plays lead guitar in a trio at Jaspers. Jim Roller, the trio’s drummer, met Dan at a Tri-C Jazz Festival during the summer. Jack Hannan, a base player, finishes the trio. Neither Jim nor Jack are associated with Hiram College.