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It was a twist for John Rufo ’16 to find himself giving an interview rather than conducting one. The Senior Fellow is spending the year interviewing contemporary political poets through the lenses of race, gender, sexuality and disability. With a focus on younger poets, he hopes to open up a space for them to talk about their practice. Rufo, a creative writing major, took his project as an opportunity to merge his concentration with race and gender studies, sociology and history.

Professor Naomi Guttman's poem "Chernobyl Wedding," from the recently published novella-in-verse, The Banquet of Donny & Ari: Scenes from the Opera, was Poetry Daily's pick for Oct. 17.

Dr. Robert Sternberg, professor of human development at Cornell University and the Robert S. Morris Class of 1976 Visiting Fellow, began his lecture on standardized testing by noting, “since this talk is about testing, it only makes sense to start with a test!” Sternberg then administered a five-question test to the audience, consisting of questions like “whose face is on the U.S. $10 bill,” and “what town in New York State is Colgate located in?”

Miguel “Mickey” Melendez, an advocate for Latino and Puerto Rican rights, will present a lecture titled “The Puerto Rican Experience and the Young Lords” on Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 4:15 p.m., in the Red Pit, KJ. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Frank Lentricchia, an American novelist, literary critic and professor of literature and film studies at Duke University, will read from his works on Tuesday, Oct. 27, at 8 p.m., in Dwight Lounge, Bristol Center. The lecture is sponsored by the English and Creative Writing Department and is free and open to the public.

Students and their families reunited for Hamilton’s annual Family Weekend on Oct. 22-25.  More than 1,100 visitors enjoyed a host of activities from poster sessions on summer research to athletic contests, poetry reading and performances.

Jazz Tales from Jazz Legends – a distillation of more than 325 interviews recorded over two decades with jazz greats, their band members and critics– has just been released by Couper Press. Written by Director of the Fillius Jazz Archive Monk Rowe, the book includes interviews with Dave Brubeck, Steve Allen, Marian McPartland, Joe Williams, Bela Fleck, among many others, as well as with former members of bands led by Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Woody Herman, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman and Stan Kenton. 

Associate Professor of Japanese Kyoko Omori gave an invited talk at the University of Pittsburgh on October 15. Her lecture, “The Voice of Silent Film: Benshi Performance in Context and in the Classroom,” focused on the figure of the benshi, or live silent film narrator, as a way to chart the shifting sensorium of modernity in early 20th century Japan.

Visiting Professor of Art History Scott MacDonald presented “Binghamton Babylon: Voices from the Cinema Department, 1967-1977” on Oct. 21 at Binghamton University as part of the Harpur College Dean’s Speakers Series.

Reynaldo Ortiz-Minaya, visiting assistant professor of Africana Studies, traveled to Habana, Cuba, to present part of his ongoing research on Lt. General Antonio Maceo and the Cuban War of Independence in the late 19th century.