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Double Dose Essayist and MHC lecturer Sven Birkerts
has written articles recently about two literary lights of the twentieth
century. The lead article of the September 17 issue of the New York
Times Book Review is a review by Birkerts of the Collected Poems in
English by longtime MHC faculty member Joseph Brodsky, who died in 1996.
Brodsky, a Russian émigré, was both poet laureate of the
United States and winner of a Nobel Prize for Literature. The new collection
has been published by Farrar, Strauss & Giroux. And, in the current online version of the Atlantic Monthly,
Atlantic Unbound, Birkerts explores why Marcel Proust may be undergoing
a resurgence in popularity. In a piece titled “Why Proust? And
Why Now?,” Birkerts writes: “There are developments, trends—I
don’t know quite what to call them—that pique the interest
because they don’t quite make sense; they are culturally paradoxical.
. . . I would not have guessed, ever, that we should in the millennium
year find ourselves in the middle of what looks like a Proust boomlet.”
Proust is the author of In Search of Lost Time (still widely known as
Remembrance of Things Past), a work that Birkerts describes as “the
longest, and, in many ways, the most taxing novel in the whole literary
canon.” Read the online article at Perchance to Nap The lead story of the September
10 Boston Sunday Globe explored how a number of Massachusetts colleges
are dealing with the issue of Napster, an Internet service popular on
college campuses by which students and others can download songs from
an almost endless supply of tunes. In recent months, Napster has come
under legal scrutiny for possible copyright violations. Just as problematic,
use of Napster takes up a fair amount of space on institutional computer
systems. While some colleges (such as Amherst and Smith) are seeking
to cut off access to Napster completely, MHC has adopted a less draconian
posture. According to Susan Perry, director of Library, Information,
and Technology Services, who was interviewed by the Globe, the College
will take note when users of MHC’s system are using an inordinate
amount of system bandwidth. While the College will not monitor what
sites users are visiting, it may contact heavy bandwidth users on the
principle that academic uses of MHC’s system must trump nonacademic
uses if all members of the Mount Holyoke community are to enjoy full
benefits of the Internet. In fact, a note to this effect—and other
pointers on Netiquette—is going out to all who register their computers
with the College.
You Can Go Home Again MHC English professor Corinne
Demas’s new memoir, Eleven Stories High: Growing Up in Stuyvesant
Town, 1948–1968 (State University of New York Press) was published
September 1, and she will be launching the book locally with a reading
at the Odyssey Bookshop, Wednesday, September 20, at 7 pm. On September
13, Demas journeyed to New York to appear on the NPR show New York &
Co. and gave a reading at Borders that evening. On October 14, she will
give a reading in Stuyvesant Town. |
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MHC
Tops in Sports Sports Illustrated for Women’s September/ October
issue features the publication’s guide to top colleges for women
athletes, and Mount Holyoke is rated number one in the category of women’s
schools. The magazine’s editors considered a variety of factors
when ranking the top schools, including the number of national titles
and Sears Directors’ Cup points (awarded to schools in each division
with successful varsity programs); varsity, club, and intramural opportunities;
graduation rates; financial aid; and fan support. Sports-related curricula,
traditions, and attitudes were also taken into account. Laurie Priest,
MHC’s director of athletics, commented, “It is exciting to
be recognized as the number one women’s college for women athletes.
The Plan for Mount Holyoke 2003 envisions a higher profile for athletics,
and this recognition shows that our hard work and effort are paying
off. Scholar athletes can look at MHC and know that we provide an excellent
academic experience, along with a top quality athletic program.”
Included in the Mount Holyoke piece is a quote by senior rugby captain
Annemarie Farrell and a photo of a Mount Holyoke equestrian team member
executing a jump. Visit 