Lecture addresses Soviet poetry
Professor Donald Loewen, department chair and associate professor of Russian at Binghamton University in New York, spoke Thursday night about the politically-charged and controversial history of Soviet poetry in the 1960s. Annette Sayre “Let’s just take a minute to remind ourselves to some of the things that was going on in those years,” Loewen said. “In the Soviet Union, it was a time of unsettled change in many ways. Joseph Stalin had died a few years earlier and after his death many of the anchors of Soviet reality really started to come loose.”Loewen said those changes affected the realm of Soviet lyrical poetry.“So, tens of thousands of people who have been locked up in Soviet prison camps for anti-Soviet behavior were suddenly released, and the author, Ilya Ehrenberg, provided a name for this changing world when his novel, ‘The Thaw,’ was published [in 1954],” Loewen said.Loewen said “The Thaw” inspired creativity and expression in an era of Soviet history when the government was set on instituting censorship and propaganda.“‘The Thaw’ also found its way into literature and in a particular way into lyric poetry,” he said. “For years, Soviet lyric poetry has been dominated by really an intense pressure to focus on the state and state priorities.“In 1946, the Central Committee … decided to reinstitute a policy that laid out fundamental principles that poets and prose-writers were expected to support. The decree stated fairly unequivocally that Soviet poets should not concern themselves with private or personal interests. … It was only in 1953 that open and explicit resistance to this decree started to attract notice.”Loewen said that resistance manifested years later into a movement of impassioned, live performances with intense rhetoric, which Loewen demonstrated by showing his own performances and video recordings of poetic live performances from the 1950’s.“It’s an incredibly powerful story when told in the context of the 1950’s and the early 1960’s when all around [the performer] people were trying to rethink, ‘What if history could be different?’” Loewen said, “One of the really amazing things that these clips show was how important these poetry readings were and the importance of these live performances, because live performances allowed [poets] a special opportunity to engage their listeners.”
The ESPN talk radio and TV program “Mike & Mike,” featuring Notre Dame alumnus Mike Golic and Northwestern graduate Mike Greenberg, filmed its Friday morning show at Heritage Hall in the Joyce Center in front of a full crowd in advance of Saturday’s game between the two hosts’ alma maters.“We’ve been coming for years,” Greenberg, Northwestern class of 1989, said. “We’ve probably done — I want to say we’ve done a half a dozen shows at least on this campus over the years, maybe more. It’s always fun.”The show kicked off at 6 a.m., with Golic, Notre Dame class of 1985, and Greenberg discussing Saturday’s game and wagering on the outcome of Saturday’s game. In the end, the co-hosts decided Greenberg would wear one of Golic’s old Notre Dame jerseys on a show next week if the Irish won, and Golic would mimic the now-infamous Kim Kardashian photo from Paper Magazine if the Wildcats won.Golic and Greenberg debated the terms of the bet throughout the four-hour show while also covering the top stories in the sports world from Friday morning, including an injury to Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose and Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw’s recently-awarded National League MVP.During the show, Irish head coach Brian Kelly and NBC Sports and NFL Network commentator Mike Mayock visited the set for interviews, and Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald and former Irish quarterback Brady Quinn called in for interviews.Greenberg said incorporating information from several different sports, along with current events, is just another part of the job for him.“As I’ve always said, we’re on the air for four hours, and the other 20 hours are show prep,” Greenberg said. “So I mean, our whole lives are show prep. … As far as the actual sports news, that’s been made a lot easier by things like social media. It’s so easy, even on a day when I was traveling pretty much the whole day [Thursday], I was never out of touch with what was going on in the sports world or beyond because, with Twitter and everything else, I knew.”Mike & Mike producer Ray Necci said traveling away from the show’s normal studio at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut, made the broadcast more complicated than usual.“It all kind of gets worked on here and has to go through Bristol, where they still have to run it through the normal paths that we would if we were doing a show in the studio,” Necci said. “They still had a director back in Bristol; they still had a producer on the TV end back in Bristol, so you have extra staff when you’re here for the remote stuff, but it’s all still gotta go through the same way.”Necci said the travel schedule of Mike & Mike goes in spurts, depending on what the sports schedule is like. For example, the crew will usually stage remote shows during the college football regular and bowl seasons and the NFL playoffs throughout January.Despite what can sometimes be a restrictive travel schedule, Necci said hitting the road has its benefits as well.“I’d never been to Notre Dame, so for me, I’m going to the game [Saturday], so that’s a perk,” he said. “That’s pretty good. But sometimes, it’s a get-in and get-out. Sometimes it’s straight business, no perk to it. But it’s nice to go places that you don’t normally get to go, whether it’s different schools or different championships or anything like that.”Greenberg added that there were benefits to airing the show away from Bristol from his and Golic’s perspectives as well.“The energy you get from the crowd is unmatched,” he said. “We’re accustomed to doing the show in a room that is otherwise completely silent, and the only thing you’re really looking at are cameras, who are not reacting to anything that you say. So having that instant reaction, having that enthusiasm from the crowd — there’s no question that that brings an energy.”Tags: ESPN, ESPN Radio, Mike & Mike, Mike Golic, Mike Greenberg, Northwestern
Joe Weber, Head of Office for Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, spoke about his work in Afghanistan’s Central Highlands and his experience working closely with impoverished Muslim families in rural areas of the country Wednesday night.Weber has worked in Afghanistan with Catholic Relief Services for eight years, managing 10 international staff members and 350 national workers. He said when he was first presented with the opportunity to work in Afghanistan, he had a very different idea of the country in his head than what he experienced when he got there.“When I thought of Afghanistan, I thought of tanks and desserts, and when I got there, they were none to be seen,” he said.“In college and in graduate school, I carried around this angst on my shoulders and I wanted to fix the world, and I worry if [this angst] still exists in colleges today.”Weber said his team has been working on two projects. One of the projects is training two people each from multiple communities to manage a school and training select community members to be school teachers. In one month, Weber’s group trained 47 communities to start up first grade classes, he said.The second project is improving livelihood. Weber said the rural villages in the mountains are completely isolated due the the aftermath of terrible winters and severe erosion. The conditions became so bad relief organizations cannot reach them, and the amount of land useable for growing has decreased. Weber’s group achieved what he said seemed impossible and got 400 severely food-insecure families to construct and replicate a model of vegetable gardens. He said the group works with incredibly impoverished families who have been greatly affected by famine.“Potatoes are a main crop in the villages and due to the weather conditions, people were losing 60 percent of their potatoes,” he said. “It was one step forward and two back, so we brought in a national potato expert. He implemented simple adaptations and reduced the loss to 2 percent, and the new adaptations only costs six to ten dollars. Keyhole gardens began to sprout up all over the place. … When you talk to the poorest families, you’re still not there. Then you talk to the women, and you pull the voice up from the voiceless,” he said. Saint Mary’s junior Breanna Elger described her job as a CRS student ambassador in relation to the talk and said the talk helped to achieve her objectives in that job.“Our role as ambassadors is to educate, and he [Weber] painted a picture with [Catholic Relief Services],” she said. “He described tangible ways that they implement CRS.”Tags: catholic relief services
David Finch, the author of the New York Times best-selling book “The Journal of Best Practices,” spoke with his wife, Kristen Finch, on Thursday in Carroll Auditorium at Saint Mary’s.Finch has written for both The New York Times and Huffington Post on Asperger’s syndrome, which is also a central theme of his book. “The Journal of Best Practices” details a two-year period after his diagnosis of Asperger’s, five years into his marriage with Kristen.“I just wanted to write a book to make people laugh,” he said of the book. “I’ll write about how I ruined someone’s life.”In addition to his writing, Finch has also been featured in an NBC feature that aired on Rock Center with Brian Williams, and he travels around the country talking about the realities of autism and Asperger’s.“A lot of people who are on the [autism] spectrum are individuals who can observe very well what’s happening around them and really fly under the radar,” he said. “We hyper-process everything. Marriage and autism are very similar in the sense that … you stand back and look at the relationship and think it’s completely normal, but you sometimes don’t realize what is going on inside.”Finch said when his first book went on sale, he received many surprising letters from people who were fighting their way through similar situations. The common thread in all the letters was that the book gave them hope, he said.“Autism and Asperger’s doesn’t always have the word ‘hope’ attached to it,” he said. “It is not easy for everyone; some people have a very difficult time. There are lots of amazing gifts and talents, almost super powers out there in the minds of these people.”According to the CDC, one in 68 people are diagnosed with autism. However, Finch said even to this day he still strays away from telling people he has Asperger’s because of the social stigma that comes with it. People still try to give him “special treatment” when he comes to speak at events, he said.“Most doctors should walk into the room with your child’s or your diagnosis saying, ‘You have a high power functioning machine here, he’s/she’s got an amazing mind.’ In reality, no doctors come in just saying that. They say that you have Asperger’s and it is going to be very difficult for you.”Finch said there are four rules he has developed to lead to success, not only for people on the autism spectrum. The fourth rule, he said, revolves around learning to adapt.“ … You cannot fail unless you fail to adapt,” Finch said. “We live in a neuro-typical world, not an autistic world. How do you fail when you have people to love you, to understand you and to guide you?”Tags: David Finch
ND Theatre NOW is presenting “Wildflower,” a play by Lila Rose Kaplan, starting Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the Philbin Studio Theatre in DeBartolo Performing Arts Center.Senior film, television and theatre (FTT) major Anthony Murphy, the leader of this student driven project, said the five characters and the honesty of the play were elements that made “Wildflower” stand out amongst a stack of other plays. He said it was this distinctive nature that led to his decision in bringing “Wildflower” to life using the Notre Dame student community.“I think it’s relevant to the Notre Dame community because the play gives a voice to misfits — a sector of people that are crippled by Notre Dame’s homogenous tendencies,” Murphy said.Murphy said he began thinking about the production last spring. The play features the relationship between a mother and son living in Crested Butte.“It’s been a long, yet rewarding road,” he said. “I have a stellar cast and production team who all took ownership of their roles and of the telling of the story. They’ve made my job much easier than it could have been.”Murphy said the benefit of a student-driven production is the community the cast has built, which is evident in the unique blend of professionalism and camaraderie on and off the stage.“We are a team of student artists. We respect each other and our individual work. And when the work is over, we’re friends. It’s an extraordinary experience,” he said.Murphy has been an active member of the arts at Notre Dame, acting in both FTT and Pasquerilla East Musical Company (PEMCO) productions. Prior to ND Theatre NOW’s “Wildflower,” Murphy has also directed “PEMCO’s Revue 2014: Breaking Boundaries” and FTT’s “ND Theatre NOW: Out of Orbit.”Murphy said he believes the arts are an integral part of the fabric of Notre Dame and act as a tool for communicating a message to the audience, both implicitly and explicitly. He said films and plays provide a platform of learning that is different from the usual lectures and PowerPoints students experience in a more formal, academic setting.“The arts provide a platform for a visceral reaction of the audience,” Murphy said. “There’s power on the stage and people can feel that impact.”Murphy said he wants the audience to understand the different perspectives of each character and hopes their final understanding of the show leaves them perplexed. He said the ending will leave many in a state of shock, but that ultimately, the conclusion of the play is up to personal analysis and interpretation.“Confusion causes conversation, and conversation results in consensus. I want the audience to make their own opinion on how the play ended,” Murphy said.“Wildflower” will be running from Oct. 1 through Oct. 11 and tickets can be purchased online on DPAC’s website. Tickets are $7 for students or $15 for regular admission.
Photo courtesy of Dulce Marcias Campus Ministry organized a pilgrimage to Philadelphia last October to see Pope Francis. Students will celebrate Mass with the pope again this summer in Krakow, Poland, for World Youth Day.“Pope John Paul’s vision was to celebrate and invigorate the youth in our Catholic Church but ultimately to continue to evangelize and enliven all of the faithful around the world,” Lichon said.According to Lichon, although groups of Notre Dame students have made independent trips to attend World Youth Day in the past, this year is the first time a pilgrimage to the event is being officially organized by Notre Dame.Lichon said the decision to offer a pilgrimage to World Youth Day was largely a result of Campus Ministry’s pilgrimage program’s growth and expansion over recent years.“Three years ago, we only offered about two to three pilgrimages a year,” Lichon said. “This year, we are offering 11 different pilgrimages all over the world. So it was a no-brainer to include World Youth Day next summer. With such interest and excitement around the practice of pilgrimage on campus, we wanted to include one of the most dynamic and memorable pilgrimage experiences one could go on. Just think about gathering with three million other youth from around the world to pray together and to encounter one another and God through this World Youth Day experience. What an amazing opportunity.”According to Lichon, Notre Dame is planning the World Youth Day pilgrimage in collaboration with Notre Dame’s sister school, the University of Portland, which also identifies with the Congregation of Holy Cross. Considering attendees from both schools, the pilgrimage is expected to include approximately 40 students.“Students will be invited to prepare for the pilgrimage during the spring semester, both personally and communally,” Lichon said. “We will have several meetings during the semester to prepare our hearts and minds for the experience. As well, we will have follow up reflections during the fall semester.”Lichon said the actual pilgrimage itself “will be both exciting and exhausting.’“As you can imagine, spending over a week together with millions of people from around the world in one city can be both exhilarating and overwhelming,” he said. “So I anticipate a lot of energy, a lot of fun, an incredible amount of memories made but also some great nights of sleep. This is a pilgrimage, so it does require some flexibility and sacrifice.”According to Lichon, this sacrifice will include being “a little uncomfortable,” sleeping on the floor of a gymnasium and coping with hectic travel, but ultimately “the chance to meet people from all over the world, to pray with Pope Francis several times [and] to learn and grow and be transformed by this pilgrimage is worth it.”Events during World Youth Day include an opening ceremony followed by several days of catechetical sessions, each run by English-speaking bishops; gatherings of pray and talk each morning; and an overnight vigil immediately preceding closing Mass with Pope Francis on the final day of the official World Youth Day gathering. According to Lichon, Notre Dame students “will get the perk” of arriving a few days before the events begin and departing a few days after they conclude, as well as some additional small excursions to John Paul II’s hometown, the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and the Shrine of the Divine Mercy.Applications and information on the pilgrimage can be found on Notre Dame’s Campus Ministry website. Applications for the pilgrimage are due on Jan. 4. Lichon noted “there are a limited number of spots available.”“World Youth Day will be an incredible experience,” Lichon said. “While it will be a lot of fun and certainly an experience to remember for a lifetime, more than that it will be transformational. We are going on a pilgrimage, not a vacation. We are opening ourselves up to experience God through the people we encounter, through the culture, history and tradition of Poland, through the times of prayer and learning, and through our own personal discovery and reflection. By opening ourselves up to an encounter with God, we open ourselves up to deep and profound transformation and growth.”Tags: Campus Ministry, Pilgrimage, Poland, Pope Francis, World Youth Day Notre Dame’s Campus Ministry will take a group of students on a pilgrimage to the 2016 World Youth Day, which will take place next July in Krakow, Poland.According to John Paul Lichon, assistant director of retreats, pilgrimages and spirituality for Campus Ministry, World Youth Day is “an international gathering which invites young people to gather for prayer, transformation and celebration of faith.”World Youth Day was first organized by Pope John Paul II in 1985 and now occurs “about every three years in rotating host countries around the world,” Lichon said. Each World Youth Day typically garners around two to three million youth participants from various countries. While in attendance, participants “join together for about a week to listen to catechetical talks” in each of their native languages, “pray with one another and encounter God through this amazing gathering of the faithful.”
Public Domain Pictures GERRY — New York State Police have released more information regarding the drowning death of a three-year-old boy in the Town of Gerry.Troopers said that at 4:40 p.m., Monday, they responded to a call for a missing child on Damon Hill Road.While patrols were in route to the area, the child was found unresponsive at the bottom of an above ground pool.Troopers and a Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Deputy attempted life-saving measures but were not successful. Police said the child was not wearing a life vest. His body was transported to the Erie County Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy.Sinclairville Fire Department and EMS assisted in this incident, which remains under investigation. Share:Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
Share:Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window) WNY News Now Stock Image.CHERRY CREEK – Two people are facing charges after allegedly lighting a person on fire at a Cherry Creek address last month.The Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office says two men, one 18-years-old and the other 19-years-old, are charged with second-degree assault and third-degree unlawful imprisonment.Through investigation, deputies allege the two tied the victim to a chair inside a residence before pouring an accelerant on the victim and setting the person on fire.Deputies say the victim sustained substantial burns as a result of the fire. The Sheriff’s Office says both suspects were arraigned at the Chautauqua County Jail with one being released and the other held on bail.Investigators did not release the identity of the two men charged.The victim is recovering, deputies said.
Share:Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window) Stock Image.BUFFALO – A Forestville man will serve 20 years in prison after previously being convicted of receipt and possession of child pornography.The U.S. Attorney’s Office says that Richard Miller, 53, was also sentenced to lifetime supervised release by U.S. District Judge Lawrence Vilardo.Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan P. Cantil, who handled the case, stated that between 2006 and 2009, Miller produced child pornography by filming himself engaged in a sexual act with a minor.Between January 2016 and March 2017, Miller and co-defendant Joseph Harvey exchanged images of child pornography and engaged in illicit discussions regarding child pornography and pedophilia. In addition, a search of the residence shared by the defendants revealed multiple electronic devices that contained child pornography.Joseph Harvey was previously convicted and sentenced to serve 96 months in prison.The sentencing is the result of an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Kevin Kelly.
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