Whittier College
Communiqué

Communique is published every other Wednesday during the academic year by the Whittier College Office of Communications. For more information, call us at (562) 907-4277.

November 17

Taking her inspiration from what she calls the dying art of Irish storytelling, Kim Russo, associate professor of art, created the installation "Tongue Dwelling," which was on display in Waterford City, Ireland, last summer.

Put together in the ruins of the 12th-century Black Friars' Abbey, the installation was an adjunct to-but not specifically part of-a three-day bank holiday that includes street acts, a parade of specially created floats and music in the streets and in the pubs. "The host organization, Waterford Sproai, wanted this installation to offer the community another art form to consider and experience," Russo said. She has been creating collaborative multi-media installations that are not complete until the viewer interacts with them since 1994.

Sponsored by the Arts Council of Ireland and Americans for the Arts, the temporary, site-specific work combined sculpture, found objects, sound and performance. Russo said she chose the abbey as the site for its relationship to the concepts of memory and loss, as it "represents the decay of Irish culture and history."

The installation included a circle of 12 tall, burnt chairs, each with a glass globe sitting on it. The globes framed air or breath and represented the breath of stories. Beyond the chairs were two canopy beds, with sheets embroidered with the first paragraph of two Irish fairy tales. Lying on the beds, viewers of the exhibit heard a father and son team of Seanchais-storytellers-reciting stories.

Russo sat behind the beds, framed in the abbey's rear window on scaffolding that was 22 feet high. At times, she recited from an out-of-print book that suggested topics for essays on Irish culture, such as the pleasures and hardships of rural life, unsung heroes, folk music and classical myth and legends.

She wore a dress that fell 20 feet to the ground, and when not reciting, she embroidered the dress with stories. Completing the work was a television revealed under the dress, showing the mouths of the Seanchais, silently telling their stories.

A cast including professional actors, Whittier College students and alums, and one faculty member will present a staged reading of "Lily Dale," the third play in Horton Foote's Orphans' Home Cycle tonight at 8 p.m. in the Shannon Center.

Junior Carrie Wiener will read the title character, Lily Dale, who is the sister of Horace Robedaux, a character based on Horton Foote's father.

David Paddy, assistant professor of English, will read the part of Albert Thornton, and alumni Chris Mueller '98 and Neil Switzer '94 will read the parts of Horace and Will Kidder, respectively.

Professional actors in the cast include Devon Abner, Joan Chodorow and Melissa Weber, who appeared in the 1995 production at the Victory Theatre in Burbank, directed by Crystal Brian, associate professor of theatre arts.

Brian says "Lily Dale" is, among other things, a study of economic conditions confronting women in the early part of this century. It is also an intense, psychological study of family dynamics. In it, Horace suffers a nervous breakdown after being rejected by his mother and sister for the second time.

The reading is free to Whittier students, $5 for faculty and staff and $10 for the general public. Information and tickets are available by calling the Shannon Center Box Office at (562) 907-4203.

Going, going, gone-Weekend getaways, tickets to special events, holiday gifts and much more will go to the highest bidders at the Nov. 19 auction benefiting the Broadoaks Children's School. Admission is free to the annual event, which includes desserts, coffee and a no-host bar. The silent auction runs from 8 to 10 p.m., and the voice auction starts at 9:30. The event takes place at the Embassy Suites in Brea, 900 E. Birch St. For more information, call Broadoaks at ext. 4250.

Number please-The new campus telephone directories are available now in Human Resources. If you have not yet received a copy, you can get one by calling ext. 4208 or e-mailing Mary Lou Gallagher, human resources assistant.A true poet campus-Buzzy, winner of the Laguna Beach poetry slam, will "read" from his work at Garrett House at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 22. He will perform his hip, hipsterish, supercool poetry with a live jazz trio and a modern dancer. Tony Barnstone, assistant professor of English, calls it "quite a performance, and good poetry, to boot."

Poet redux-Author David St. John, who teaches at USC and has won several major awards for his many books of poetry, will read from his work at Garrett House at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 29. For more information on the poetry readings, call David Bourgaize, faculty master and professor of biology, at ext. 4941.

Fred Anderson '66, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Apple Computer, Inc., was quoted in the Los Angeles Times Oct. 14, in a story on how well the new version of the Apple iMac is selling.

"Physical Beauty Is Only Egg Deep," an opinion piece by Judith Daar, Whittier Law School professor, appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Oct. 28. Daar discussed the ramifications of the Web site advertising the eggs of models and actresses for sale to infertile couples, which, she writes, is not illegal under federal law.

Dick Harvey, distinguished service professor of political science, was quoted in an Oct. 23 Whittier Daily News political column on the recent drop in the number of registered Republican voters in Los Angeles County. Harvey cited "unhappiness with the Republican Congress and their actions" as a factor in the decline.

Joyce Kaufman, professor of political science, and director of the Whittier Scholars Program, was quoted in an Oct. 25 Whittier Daily News story on the recent grant of $90,000 awarded to the program by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

John Lewis '79, assistant chief of campus safety, and John Paerels, associate director of housing and area coordinator, were quoted in an Oct. 22 Whittier Daily News story on the DUI demonstration "car wreck" staged on campus as part of Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week last month. The feature included two photos from the event.

Bill Bell, editor of the Whittier Daily News, featured Jan Vermilye, assistant professor of earth and environmental science, in his Oct. 23 column on the 7.1 Hector Mine earthquake. It was the first earthquake for the New York native, who, when the quake hit, was on a field trip to Joshua Tree National Park with 10 students and Martin Kammerer, earth and environmental instructor, to study the geology of the area.

Judith Wagner, professor of education and child development and director of the Broadoaks School, was quoted in an Oct. 26 Whittier Daily News story on the disappearance of Sandra Rosas, the wife of a member of the band Los Lobos. The band has performed at fund-raisers for Broadoaks.

The Sept. 10 issue of The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education included a story and photo on the appointment of President Kate Will.

Jeff Decker, assistant professor of business administration, was asked to teach a course at Claremont Graduate University last month as a substitute for Peter Drucker, the Marie Clark Professor of Social Sciences. Decker taught two executive management classes on effective decision making while Drucker was recuperating from an illness.

Gustavo Geirola, associate professor of Spanish, has been selected by the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts to be part of a special board that will promote Hispanic theater in Los Angeles area schools. Edison International awarded a grant to BFA and selected Whittier College, Santa Monica Community College and Cal State Los Angeles to participate. Geirola wrote "Imagining Federico," an essay on Federico Garcia Lorca, to be published in a student guide that will include questions for teachers and students and other activities for the classroom. He will also be coordinator of discussions in the Los Angeles Theatre Center as part of this project.

Ria O'Foghludha, assistant professor of art, presented "Reconsidering Rome in the Early Renaissance" at the South Eastern College Art Conference in Norfolk, Va., on Oct. 28.

Greg Woirol, professor of economics, published "The Contributions of Frederick C. Mills" in the June 1999 volume of the Journal of the History of Economic Thought.

Memories Spark Campaign Gift

The Donor: Virginia (Keasbey) Moorhead '33

Amount of Contribution: $2,000 to the John Greenleaf Whittier Society and $3,000 to the capital campaign

Why She Gave: "I contribute to JGWS every year," said Moorhead, "and I've wanted to do something for the capital campaign for awhile now. My first date with my husband [Tolbert Moorhead '32] was to a retreat because we were both involved in student government. He offered me a ride to the beach and I thought he was just being polite-but he thought it was a date. That's just one of the many fond memories I have of my time at Whittier College."

Wanted

Administrative Assistant, Advancement
Publications Coordinator, Communications
Assistant Director, Cultural Center
Program Coordinator, Cultural Center
Operations Assistant, Shannon Center

Welcomed

Elsa Rodriguez, Registrar's Assistant

New Assignment

Roderick Bingley, to Corporal, Campus Safety

For more information, please refer to the Oct. 19 Employment Opportunities Bulletin, or call the college job line at (562) 907-4850.

APRIL

Wednesday 17
2 p.m., Fringe Benefits Task Force meeting, Human Resources Conference Room

7:30 p.m., Millennium Series continues with "Social Illusion: How Our Hysteria Masks Our Gravest and Saddest Social Problems" by Michelle Switzer, instructor of philosophy, Garrett House.

8 p.m., Staged reading of Horton Foote's "Lily Dale," Shannon Center

Friday 19
Noon, Chinese Table, President's Dining Room

Saturday 20
8 p.m., "A Salute to Duke Ellington", starring Herb Jeffries and Marilyn King with the Paul Smith Trio, Shannon Center.

Monday 22
7:30 p.m., Men's basketball vs. Chapman, Gymnasium

Tuesday 23
12:30 p.m., Faculty meeting, Science 302

Thursday-Friday 25-26
Thanksgiving Break

Sunday 28
2 p.m., Men's basketball vs. Dominican, Gymnasium

Tuesday 30
Noon, Purple & Gold Winter Sports Luncheon, Faculty Center

7:30 p.m., Women's basketball vs. La Sierra, Gymnasium

Wednesday 1
Noon, La Table Francaise, President's Dining Room

7:30 p.m., Millennium Series continues with "Technology and Computers in the Last Millennium and the Next," by Dave Garland, associate professor of mathematics, Garrett House.

For information on events at the Shannon Center, call the Box Office at ext. 4203.

For information on athletic events, call the athletics center at ext. 4271.