Oberlin in the News - Winter 2004

January 2004
January 28--Director Talks about Opera Exchange Program
The Cleveland Free Times recently ran an interview with Jonathon Field, director of Oberlin College's Opera Theater Program and the upcoming production of Dido and Aeneas, which will be performed at Cleveland's Trinity Cathedral with a cast of Argentinian singers. Field is also part of the production team that will travel to Argentina with a group of vocalists from Oberlin, where they will perform Gianni Schicchi at Barcelona's Teatro Colón.

January 26--Oberlin Alumna Appears on The National Geographic Channel
Tami Blumenfield '00 will appear on National Geographic's Taboo II: Blood Bonds, which airs tonight at 9 p.m. on the National Geographic Channel. This presentation documents Blumenfield's work in China with the Moso people.

January 26--Opera Exchange Receives Press
Newsnet5.com ran a brief article about this weekend's opera performances at Episcopal Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland. The performances, which will feature students from Oberlin College and singers from Argentina, are the culmination of five years of exchanges involving the arts between Ohio and Argentina.

January 25--Obie Volunteers with Dean Campaign
Today's Philadelphia Inquirer ran an article about the hundreds of college-aged volunteers who have flocked to New Hampshire to support Howard Dean in next week's primary. Tom Hoberg '04 has been working with Dean staffers to get the word out about his candidate. "I recognize that this is now a very different campaign with very different dynamics," Hoberg said. "So he's the underdog now. Let's just talk issues, like health care and jobs. That's what matters."

January 25--Alumna Has the "Wright" Stuff
In today's Dayton Daily News, columnist Roz Young commented on the Oberlin Alumni Magazine's recent portrayal of Katherine Wright. It was Katherine who supported her brothers while Orville and Wilbur struggled to invent a "flying machine," and Katherine who managed their business accounts after they gained notoriety. A passionate member of the Oberlin alumni family, Katherine served as an Oberlin College trustee during the 1920s.

Janurary 23--Oberlin's Athletics Director Talks Track
Sports Illustrated.com has hailed the beginning of U.S. track and field's Olympic year with an article assessing the chances of our nation's top runners, and commenting on the recent doping scandal that has rocked the running world. Oberlin College Athletics Director Vin Lananna commented on the scandal, predicting that it will adversely affect the public's perception of athletes during the Olympic games.

January 21--Obie Author Featured in New York Times
The New York Times was on hand to cover Tracy Chevalier's visit to the Big Apple, where she discussed her latest effort, The Lady and the Unicorn. Chevalier (OC '84) is also the author of the international bestseller (and now film), Girl with a Pearl Earring.

January 19--Oberlin Professor Recalls Landmark Events of Civil Rights Movement
Professor Booker Peek remembers growing up in the segregated South and hearing Martin Luther King, Jr. speak. He also remembers driving six hours to attend King's memorial service after the Civil Rights leader was shot and killed. Peek, who teaches African American studies at Oberlin College, recently shared his memories in an article that ran in The Lorain Morning Journal.

January 18--College Students Flock to Iowa to Help with Candidates' Campaigns
With the Iowa Caucuses fast approaching, newspapers around the country have been focusing on the frenzy in Iowa. Today's Dallas Morning News ran an article about the volunteers that have descended on the state to work for the candidates they support. The article included a quote from Cecilia Hayford '07, who drove 1,000 miles from her Virginia hometown to help with the Howard Dean campaign.

January 16--Civil Rights Advocate Recalls Life-Changing Meeting at Oberlin
Today's Los Angeles Times ran a feature story on former Oberlin student and civil rights advocate James Lawson. Lawson left his studies and travelled South to join the Civil Rights Movement after hearing Martin Luther King, Jr. deliver a lecture at Oberlin. Now a retired pastor, he is currently serving as the president of the Los Angeles chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

January 16--Author Tracy Chevalier's Latest Works Court Media Attention
Author Tracy Chevalier '84 has been receiving a lot of attention lately; over the weekend, articles about the novelist appeared in The Chicago Sun-Times and Cleveland's Plain Dealer. In the articles, Chevalier talks about the success of her book, Girl with a Pearl Earring, and its transformation into a film starring Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. Chevalier also talked about her newest literary effort, The Lady and the Unicorn, which hit U.S. bookstores earlier this month.

January 16--Conservatory Graduate Debuts Latest Composition
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer recently featured an article on composer Garrett Fisher '91. Fisher's latest theater piece, "Dream of Zeus," will debut this weekend at Seattle's Consolidated Works. "Zeus" is a two-part work, the first of which, "Agamemnon," premiered in 1998 at the Nippon Kan Theater.

January 12--Alumni Author's Book Selected for Citywide Reading Program
Today's Philadelphia Inquirer reported that The Color of Water, authored by James McBride '79, has been declared this year's selection for the city's One Book, One Philadelphia reading program. The 46-year-old writer and saxophonist will talk and perform at serveral of more than 100 events organized by the Philadelphia Free Library and held around the region through March 15.

January 11-Crain's Cleveland Business Salutes Oberlin Business Inititative
This week's issue of Crain's Cleveland Business highlighted Oberlin's Business Scholars Program, an initiative designed to prepare students for careers in the business world. The program, which runs through the end of January, includes lectures by alumni who work in these areas, as well as trips to Cleveland-area businesses and to New York City, where students will visit the New York Stock Exchange.

January 11-Conservatory Graduate Finds Her Niche
Sunday's Wichita Eagle featured an article about Esther Noh '99, who will replace John Harrison as a violin instructor at Wichita State University and as concertmaster of the Wichita Symphony while Harrison attends grad school. Noh, who was born and raised in Chicago, landed the job after auditioning for university officials and symphony conductor Andrew Sewell. "She played really technically well," said Jacquelyn Dillon, assistant professor of string pedagogy at WSU. "She is a very emotional player. She can really belt it out when she needs to. For her age, she is really a mature musician."

January 9--Obie Connects with National Geographic
Mike Heithaus '95 appeared on the Today show to promote a new National Geographic television series. Heithaus, an assistant professor at Florida International University, traveled the globe last year deploying "crittercams" on wild animals. The new series, Crittercams, premiers on the National Geographic channel January 17, at 8 p.m., with an episode about humpback whales.

January 9--Folk Legends Covers Obie's Song
Folk legend Joan Baez has taken many young musicians under her wing, including Josh Ritter '99. In a recent article published online, Baez comments favorably about Ritter's work and explains why she chose to cover "Wings," a single from Ritter's latest CD, Hello Starling. "It has to do with seeing the world through the eyes of the generation below me--and the one below that," she says. "They write differently and see things differently. Like Josh Ritter's 'Wings.' I haven't a clue what it's about, and if I did come up with an explanation, he'd deny it. But that doesn't bother me at all because its appeal has something to do with the imagery and poetry."

January 9--Allen Memorial Art Museum Features New Exhibit
Cleveland's Plain Dealer focused its attention on the Allen Memorial Art Museum, advertising the museum's latest exhibit, "Modern Art in America: 20th-Century Works on Paper," which includes more than 70 prints, drawings, and photographs by leading artists of the past century.

January 4--English Professor Quoted in Reference to Author Anne Rice
With the release of Blood Canticle, author Anne Rice has closed the book on Lestat and his vampire friends. William Patrick Day, author of Vampire Legends in Contemporary American Culture: What Becomes a Legend Most, reflected on Rice's literary career in an article written by Janet McConnaughey of the Associated Press. "Before her books, the vampire was a purely mythic figure—the monster, the other—even when they had personalities and background," Day said. "What [Rice] does in Interview is say, 'You really want to know about the inner life of the vampire?' That is where the full vampire as us, as an image of our own identities, comes into part of the popular culture."

January 4--Conservatory Grad Shares Spotlight with Harpsichord
The Seattle Times recently featured an article about Jillon Stoppels Dupree '79 and her harpsichord, a new replica of a 1624 Flemish original. Dupree, who often performs at Seattle's National Gallery as part of their Gallery Concert Series, is preparing a solo recording of works by J.H. Fiocco that will be released soon on the Centaur label.

January 1--Boston Globe Reviews Tracy Chevalier's Lady and the Unicorn
Today's edition of The Boston Herald includes an article about Tracy Chevalier '84 and her recently published book, The Lady and the Unicorn. Chevalier, who admits to being "obsessed" with unicorns as a young girl, turned her passion for the mythical beasts into a work of fiction, imagining the lives of the people who created, and inspired, a series of tapestries that now hang in Paris' Musée National du Moyen-Age.

December 2003
December 30--Obie Tops 2003 "Best of" List
With the old year drawing to a close, insiders scurried to produce the music industry's annual "best of" list. Josh Ritter '99 made the cut for 2003, with popmatters.com listing him as one of the top 10 artists of the year and ranking Wings (the latest single from his CD Hello Starling) as one of the top five songs of the year.

December--Jazz Professor Quoted in Smithsonian Magazine
Assistant Professor of Jazz Percussion Billy Hart is quoted at length in the December 2003 issue of Smithsonian magazine in an article about drummer Roy Haynes. "Roy may have been the first avant-garde jazz musician, in terms of his freedom with the rhythms," says Hart. "He was so far in the future, way ahead of his time, but he was natural and traditionally grounded too."