All News

Classical music and comedy come together for an uproariously funny evening when Hamilton College and local musicians show off their chops in a musical/comedy revue. Comedy Tonight will debut on Saturday, Oct. 4, at 8 p.m., in Wellin Hall, Schambach Center for Music and the Performing Arts. Highlights of the program include performances by Samuel Pellman and Colleen Roberts Pellman, piano four-hands; Robert Hopkins, piano; G. Roberts Kolb, tenor; Lauralyn Kolb, soprano; Sar-Shalom Strong, piano; and a composition by Samuel Pellman. The performance is free and open to the public.

"Audacity of despair," David Simon repeated, leaning casually on the lectern at the front of the Hamilton College Chapel. "It's a silly title," he told the audience, and that's precisely why he chose it. The term was taken from a review of his hit HBO show The Wire, which documents the hardships of assorted characters in inner-city Baltimore. This particular critic said that Simon's brainchild was not selling anything but a "negative assessment" – and Simon agreed, to a certain point. That was the function of the show, he explained: to unflinchingly reveal the dirt and decay of an "America that was left behind." 

Hamilton's annual Fallcoming took place this year on Oct. 2 through 5, with a full weekend of activities to suit every interest. Among highlights were a lecture by author and journalist David Simon, a reception and talk in the Emerson Gallery, a football game and a hilarious display of musical talents on the campus. 

The Sedimentary Geology class, taught by Eugene Domack, the J.W. Johnson Family Professor of Environmental Studies, recently took a field trip to Fish Creek. The class examined the modern sediment processes in both Oneida Lake shorelines and in the Fish Creek alluvial system via the RV Continental Drift. Students in the first group were Anoop Pandey '10, Diana Di Leonardo '10, Richard Munschauer '09, Leila Malcom '10, Allison Mandel '09, Megan Fung '10, Gwen Simmons '10 and Dexter Race '10. The rest of the class will make the trip next week.

Associate Professor of Theatre Mark Cryer performed his one-man show, 99 Questions You've Always Wanted to Ask an African American But Were Too Afraid to Ask, at the University of Illinois at Springfield on Oct. 1.  Cryer created the play with a student, Jared Johnson '02, who conducted interviews of people in New York City to arrive at the questions.

James S. Sherman Associate Professor of Government Philip Klinkner, who earned his undergraduate degree at Lake Forest College, returned to his alma mater on Tuesday, Sept. 30, to speak at the college's Lily Reid Hold Memorial Chapel about what the presidencies of Barack Obama and John McCain would look like.

A video created by alumna Miranda Raimondi '08 when she was a student at Hamilton is being included in a film screening in New York City on Tuesday, Oct 7, at 8 p.m. "blue" will be shown at The Light Industry as part of "Come Softly - "Be Continuous Often," curated by Mark McElhatten.The Light Industry is located in Industry City at 55 33rd St. (3rd Floor), Brooklyn, New York. Admission is $6.

David Simon, executive producer, writer and creator of HBO's The Wire, will present a lecture at Hamilton College, on Thursday, Oct. 2, at 4:10 p.m. in the Chapel. The lecture, titled "The Audacity of Despair," is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by the Dean of Faculty and hosted by the American Studies program.

The Marine Biology and Invertebrate Biology classes, taught by Professors Pat Reynolds and Ashleigh Smythe, respectively, explored the diversity and ecology of marine habitats along the Connecticut and Rhode Island shores during the weekend of Sept. 27 and 28.

James Bradfield, the Elias W. Leavenworth Professor of Economics, appeared on a news segment on NBC affiliate WKTV on Tuesday, Sept. 30, in an interview on the current state of the economy. Bradfield said that he felt certain that the college's many economics graduates could look forward to bright futures in business despite current market turbulence.