Hillary Hangs Tough
Professor Jane Moss (French and women's studies) was a classmate of Hillary Rodham Clinton at Wellesley College, and she approves of the stance the first lady has taken on the president's alleged sexual improprieties. "There is a lot of hypocrisy going on [among those critical of Rodham Clinton]," Moss told The Boston Globe, "and we should all be proud that Hillary hasn't risen to the bait, hasn't gotten teary or huffy, retreated into a shell, dumped her husband or threatened divorce. What shows is her inner strength and character, and that's what people admire."
Same Old Stories
In a letter to Harper'smagazine, Assistant Professor
Julie de Sherbinin (German and Russian) took exception to the claim that nine
Anton Chekhov short stories had been "newly discovered" by scholar Peter
Constantine. "Russians have been reading these `discoveries' for over one
hundred years," she wrote, "and Slavic scholars also know them well." With an
appreciative nod to Constantine for making the stories available to English
speakers, de Sherbinin said, "It is enough to present them as fresh
translations and to forgo the Anglocentric sensationalism. Chekhov is worth
reading in any language at any time."
Twisting Their Arms
The slumping Asian economies are having an impact on countries in Latin
America, according to an article in Defense News that uses
Associate ProfessorPatrice Franko (economics and international
studies) as a source. Franko is an expert on defense and military issues in
Latin America. She told the newspaper that Chile's military collects 10 percent
of the nation's copper sale proceeds and uses that to buy arms. Since Chile's
sales are focused on the Pacific Rim, lost Asian revenue will mean cutbacks for
the armed forces.
Hey, I Know That Guy!
Watch closely when the credits begin to roll during the movie
Twilight, starring Paul Newman and Gene Hackman. Former professor of
English Richard Russo co-wrote the screenplay for the film, along with director
Robert Benton. Russo and Benton collaborated in 1994 on the film adaptation of
Russo's novel Nobody's Fool, which also featured Newman in the lead
role. Russo currently is working on a screen adaptation of his most recent
novel, Straight Man.
Fund Razing
John D. MacArthur Associate Professor of Sociology and African-American
Studies Cheryl Townsend Gilkescommented on the troubles of Henry Lyons,
the National Baptist Convention U.S.A. leader who is accused of embezzlement of
church funds. "If he misused those funds," Gilkes said in a Christian
Centuryarticle, "at the least it is gross fiscal incompetence that
makes the denomination look bad, and at the very worst it is a failure of the
first order, and it makes me angry." Gilkes is associate minister of Union
Baptist Church in Cambridge, Mass.
