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Community Campaign bests last year's total--Generous members of the MHC community donated more than $27,200 to the annual Community Campaign, an umbrella organization of nonprofit groups funded through the United Way and the Combined Health Appeal. Campaign coordinator Phil Buchanan, assistant to the president, noted that donations continue to trickle in, and that money received so far represents a 17 percent increase over last year's total, and a 38 percent increase over the total from two years ago. He was especially pleased with the $1,012 donated by MHC students. Student organizer Leah Kane '99 said a check from the all-campus student effort will be officially presented to the College soon, possibly during a SGA Senate meeting.

An Electra-fying children's book--The latest children's book by Corinne Demas, associate professor of English, has just been published by Boyds Mills Press. In Electra and the Charlotte Russe, Demas, who writes under the name Corinne Demas Bliss, draws on an incident from her mother's Greek-American childhood. The fictional girl walks to the local bakery to buy extraordinary dessert pastries called charlotte russe (fancy cakes topped with clouds of whipped cream), but arrives home with cream-less cakes and a tummy ache. The story takes place in the Bronx in the 1920s, but Electra's moral dilemma (what should she tell her mother?) and the reassurance of a mother's love are timeless topics.

Demas, who has published several other children's books, an adult novel, and two short story collections, taught the seminar Writing Literature for Children at MHC last spring. "Writing children's books may seem easy because there aren't many words, but you have to work with prose in a refined way," says Demas. "It's a little like writing poetry." By sharing the projects she was currently working on--half a dozen books were underway--her class saw each step in the process from writing through working with agents, illustrators, and editors to produce the printed book.

"Students are hungry for courses in children's literature," Demas says, "and it's an important part of the curriculum especially for a women's college. Children's publishing is one area where women are in power and Mount Holyoke alumnae are everywhere. Writing children's books gives us a chance to shape the next generation."

A really cool research project--Some people head south in fall and winter for the warmth. Hannah Thomas '99 has gone south for the ice ... to Antarctica, in fact. She was selected for the Antarctic Research Project in a national competition, and funded by both the National Science Foundation and the Girl Scouts of America. Thomas, a geology major, has fourteen years' experience in Girl Scouting (the last two as a troop leader), and says the high school Girl Scout program developed her interest in science. "It had a definite impact because it encouraged me, as I worked on my Gold Award, to take an internship with a Skidmore College biologist," she says. "From there, my interest in science, especially hands-on science of the kind you find in Antarctica, has grown and grown and grown."

She arrived in Antarctica on October 20 and received training in survival skills and in how to move around on the sea ice that surrounds the McMurdo research station where she works. Thomas says her main goal, before she leaves in early January, is to experience a variety of Antarctic science projects and to work with several researchers. "The variety and volume of research going on down here is incredible," Thomas emailed from McMurdo.

Thomas is participating in a variety of research projects in Antarctica, including "the impact of organic enrichment on the fauna of McMurdo Sound, antifreeze proteins in fish, geologic core analysis, paleobotany, and penguin distribution," she writes.

She hopes to interest a broad audience in science by sharing her Antarctic experiences. "Much of Girl Scouting centers around sharing unique experiences with others," she notes, and Thomas plans to share journal entries about her Antarctic research with others by creating an Antarctic Web page. "I'm hoping that maybe I can stir some interest in Antarctic science through the Web page especially among the younger set--elementary through junior high school students," she says.

Listening to mentally ill patients urged--Gail Hornstein recently spoke on "Patient Narratives of Mental Illness" at the triennial meeting of the International Society for the Psychotherapy of Schizophrenia (ISPS), held last month in London. The group's members advocate the use of psychological methods (not medication, shock treatments, etc.) to treat seriously disturbed patients. Thus the ISPS was a prime audience to hear Hornstein's talk about what patients' writings can reveal to therapists about their illnesses and possible treatments. Hornstein's paper relied heavily on material developed for an MHC course on the same topic cotaught last spring by Hornstein and Lee Edwards of UMass. Listening seriously to what mental patients say is "a perspective that's in the distinct minority in America, but is more widely used elsewhere, especially in Scandinavia," Hornstein says. She is a professor of psychology and education and director of the Five College Women's Studies Research Center.

We want your news - Send items of interest to Emily Weir, Office of Communications, or email eweir@mtholyoke.edu.