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Professor of Comparative Literature Peter Rabinowitz gave a paper titled "'You May Be Surprised to Receive My Letter': Toward a Narratology of Scambaiting" on March 16 at the International Conference on Narrative in Washington D.C. Scambaiting is a sport that turns the tables on e-mail scammers: on receiving a scam letter, the baiter assumes a fake identity, writes back, and strings the scammers along for as long as possible with the double intention of wasting their time and of generating an interesting narrative. Rabinowitz's paper explored the complex rhetorical structure of these narratives and showed how they challenge some of the common assumptions of narrative theory--in particular, how they trouble the distinction between fiction and nonfiction.

The F.I.L.M. (Forum for Images and Languages in Motion) series welcomes photographer and filmmaker Sharon Lockhart on Sunday, March 25, at 2 p.m. in the Kirner-Johnson Auditorium. Lockhart will screen her newest film Pine Flat, which has been described as a highly formalized meditation on adolescence in a rural California community. All F.I.L.M. events are free and open to the public.

Despite a Nor'easter over the weekend of March 16-17, two Hamilton College debate team members made it to Boston to compete in the Brandeis University Debate Tournament. Laura Wright '10 and Jessica Yau '08 competed against 37 teams, including 27 novices. Wright and Yau won 5th best novice team and Yau received 8th best novice speaker. On April 6-7 four students will travel to Chicago for the University of Chicago's debate tournament. The debate team members scheduled to compete are Philip Fraccola '08, John Molfetas '09, Yau and Wright.

Jennifer Potter Hayes K ’73 has been selected as a Fulbright Scholar to the U.S.-Korea International Education Administrators program. Hayes is currently employed as a program developer and career advisor at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, where she works with graduate international students. She was formerly Director of Alumni Programs at Hamilton College and prior to that, Registrar.

Professor of History Maurice Isserman was interviewed for a New York Times article (3/20/07) about the donation of memorabilia to New York University from the Communist Party USA. According to the Times "The cache contains decades of party history including founding documents, secret code words, stacks of personal letters, smuggled directives from Moscow, Lenin buttons, photographs and stern commands about how good party members should behave." In the article, Isserman said "the party started out as an underground revolutionary organization but achieved its greatest successes and popularity in the late 1930s as part of the Popular Front, which it joined at Moscow’s direction."

Hamilton's Mock Trial team placed fourth in the American Mock Trial Association National Tournament on March 16-18 in Waukegan, Ill. Team members who competed are: Wenxi Li '10, Alia Rehman '10, Larry Allen '09, Stuart Lombardi '09, Joshua Agins '07, Michael Blasie '07, Scott Iseman '07 and Stacy Sadove '07. They are coached by Jean-Marie Westlake.

Associate Professor of Physics Seth Major has published an article he co-wrote in Journal of Mathematical Physics (Vol.48, No.3). Major's article, "On recovering continuum topology from a causal set," was written with Sumati Surya (Raman Research Institute, Bangalore, India) and David Rideout (formerly of Hamilton College now at Imperial College, London).

When the call came last year for volunteers to help out at an alternative community school in Cofradia, Cortes, Honduras, four Hamilton students stepped up and organized a week-long international service trip. This year seven students are carrying on the tradition with another week-long trip to San Jeronimo Bilingual School (SJBS) during Hamilton's spring break, March 18-25. Lauren Hayden '07, Lauren Miklos '07, Diana Gaydusek '07, Jessica Mariglio '07, Julie Young '07, Kenji Tabery '07 and Julia Daly '08 will work closely with the community in Cofradia to enrich SJBS. The presence of Hamilton College students will provide Honduran students with positive role models and new perspectives.

Hamilton’s Curling team took the Division 5 National Championship at the National College Curling Tournament, held March 16-18 at the North Shore Curling Club in Chicago.  Forty teams from 27 colleges and universities competed. Hamilton’s team consisted of Dave Hamilton (skip), Tom Irvin (vice), Katherine Alser (lead) and Yuqi Mao (second), all members of the class of 2009 and all chemistry majors. Teammate Victoria Jenkins was snowed in during the weekend Nor'easter and unable to make the trip.

Hamilton's College Hill Singers performed on Richmond, Va., TV station WTVR, CBS 6, on March 14, during its "Virginia This Morning" program. The College Hill Singers were invited to perform while visiting Richmond during the annual Choir Tour, which this year covered the Mid-Atlantic states. This year's tour also visited Baltimore, Charleston, S.C., Arlington, Va., Charlotte, N.C., Lawrenceville, N.J., and Binghamton, N.Y., and will conclude with a "home" performance at Hamilton College on March 30 in Wellin Hall.