The Art of Poetry On view in April (National Poetry Month) at the Eliana Ortega Cultural Center is art by Leandro Soto, visiting assistant professor of theatre arts, inspired by the poetry of Amando Fernandez. Fernandez, an internationally acclaimed Cuban American poet who died in 1994, published thirteen books of poetry and was a professor of humanities at Miami Dade Community College. Soto collaborated with the poet to create the more than twenty-five paintings in the show, which include lines from Fernandez’s poems that were painted on the canvases by the poet in 1993. The exhibition opened March 28 with a poetry reading by Grisel Pujala, visiting lecturer in Spanish and Italian, who is the author of Seven Essays on the Poetry of Amando Fernandez, and Angelica Acevedo ’01, who read her own poetry. Also on view in the show are Soto's works with themes of stones and nature as a metaphor of life. Soto was recently selected to represent the United States at the Florence Biennial in Florence, Italy, in December.

In Memoriam Sidonie Cassirer, who taught German at MHC from 1960 to 1990, serving as department chair for thirteen years, died March 14 at the age of eighty-one. She was active in the Modern Language Association of America, serving on the executive council and the Committee on the Status of Women in the Profession. She leaves her husband, Tom Cassirer, and a daughter, Frances Cassirer.