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Jonathan Rick '05 published an op-ed,"N.H. primary: Best and worst of politics," in the Utica, N.Y., Observer-Dispatch.  Rick, who volunteered for Senator John Kerry's presidential campaign in Keene, N.H., said, "Listening to the Democratic candidates... led me to some general reflections... First, ideas matter. A lot. Fundamental political differences are, in fact, differences of worldviews."

Linda Retallack '00, a curator at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home, will present, "Framing the West at Monticello:  Thomas Jefferson and Lewis & Clark," on Wednesday, Feb. 4, at 4:15 p.m. in the Hamilton College Burke Library Browsing room.  At the same time, Burke Library will unveil a collection of Lewis and Clark books and maps from the 19th century from its rare book collection. The event is sponsored by the history department.

Richard Pinsky, corporate writing consultant, will present, "College Writing/Corporate Writing: What the Successful Writer Needs to Know,"  on Monday, Feb. 2 at 7:30 p.m. in the Chemistry Auditorium.

As a native New Yorker, I have taken the city for granted, but this program has made me see New York City in a different light.  I have been able to visit places that I never knew existed before (like the exhibit Tribute in the Standard Oil Building), and our academic classes have forced me to think about the details of NYC in new ways.  For example, this week we read about the transformation of Times Square. Kenneth Jackson argues that "what is being played out in Times Square is the tension between commerce and culture."  Even as people flock to The Lion King, Jackson argues, they are contributing to the diminishing of culture on 42nd street.  This argument interested me. New York City will always have struggles between culture and commerce, assimilation and diversity, and public and private.  Yet, these tensions are healthy.  In Times Square, for example, commerce may have diminished its traditional "culture," but that culture was characterized by crime and the degrading of women. Maybe, the commercialization of Broadway isn't such a bad thing.

On Friday at 4 p.m., I boarded the bus to Manchester with other staff from the NYC headquarters. ...We arrived after midnight, so we went straight to the YMCA in Manchester. I slept on a gym mat made for a six-year-old. We woke up at 6:30 the next morning and got a head start on our first day volunteering. I spent the morning canvassing and then worked until 11 p.m. answering phones at the headquarters.

The Emerson Gallery exhibit, "Krieg!: Käthe Kollwitz and Images of War," was featured in the Syracuse, N.Y.,  Post-Standard.  According to the article: "A fabulous exhibition on view at Emerson Gallery at Hamilton College through Feb. 22 presents 21 of Kollwitz's prints accompanied by works of two of her male contemporaries - American George Bellows (1882-1925) and Swiss/French artist Felix Vallotton (1865-1925).  The mostly narrative works by Bellows and Vallotton provide poignant contrasts to Kollwitz's deeply emotional statements.  Hamilton College student-curator Katie Poulin '04 deserves high marks for this thoughtful approach to organizing the show."

Cheng Li, the William R. Kenan Professor of Government, participated in a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace conference, "The Future of Political Reform in China." Li gave a talk as part of a session on the changing communist party titled "Is the CCP Getting More Institutionalized?"

The Ohio State University Press series ("Theory and Interpretation of Narrative") that Professor of Comparative Literature Peter Rabinowitz co-edits with James Phelan has published a new book, Bloodscripts, by Elana Gomel. From the OSU Web site: "Bloodscripts is a stimulating, original and accessible account of the narrative construction of the violent subject. It proposes a narrative model that will be of interest to literary critics, cultural scholars, criminologists and anyone trying to understand the role of violence in postmodern culture."

Vivyan Adair, the Elihu Root Peace Fund Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies, published a letter to the editor in the Christian Science Monitor (Jan. 27, 2004). Adair, who is also director of the ACCESS Project, wrote a response to a CSM editorial,“Marriage Skills, Federal Style,” about President Bush's proposal to spend $1.5 billion on promoting marriage to welfare recipients. Adair wrote, "Rather than spending $1.5 billion to promote marriage, our response should be to educate, train and support poor women so that they can earn sufficient salaries and become independent and financially secure — just like men."

As the Georgia education department debates dropping the word "evolution" from the state’s science curriculum in favor of the phrase, "biological changes over time," a Hamilton College professor of rhetoric and communication argues that both evolution and creationism "should be taught side by side in the spirit of scientific inquiry." Professor John Adams said, "Then, students would simultaneously engage evolution's and creationism's central tenets and learn how argument and debate are central features of scientific thought and science education.