News

E. Benjamin Skinner

E. Benjamin Skinner, investigative journalist and author of A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery, will talk about the global scale of human trafficking and slavery on Wednesday, Oct. 5 at 7:30 p.m. in the Rehm Library, Smith Hall, at the College of the Holy Cross. The lecture, presented by the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture, is free and open to the public.

In researching his book, A Crime So Monstrous (Free Press, 2008), Skinner observed negotiations for the sale of human beings on four continents. In Port-au-Prince, Haiti, just five hours travel time from downtown Manhattan, Skinner negotiated the purchase of a 10-year-old girl for domestic and sex slavery for $50 USD. He shares these stories along with the stories of survivors, dealers, and the former U.S. antislavery czar, John Miller, former director of the State Department Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons from 2003-06. A Crime So Monstrous won the 2009 Dayton Literary Peace Prize for nonfiction, and one of its chapters was adapted into an Emmy-award-winning episode on ABC’s Nightline called “How to Buy a Child in Ten Hours.”

Skinner is senior fellow at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University. He has written for Time, Newsweek International, The Los Angeles Times, The Miami Herald, Travel + Leisure, Foreign Affairs, and Foreign Policy. He serves on the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Illicit Trade.

He recently spoke about modern-day slavery for PBS’s Need to Know.

To learn more about Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture events and to listen to lectures online, visit holycross.edu/crec.

About The Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture:

Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture provides resources for faculty and course development, sponsors conferences and college-wide teaching events, hosts visiting fellows, and coordinates a number of campus lecture series. Rooted in the College’s commitment to invite conversation about basic human questions, the Center welcomes persons of all faiths and seeks to foster dialogue that acknowledges and respects differences, providing a forum for intellectual exchange that is interreligious, interdisciplinary, intercultural, and international in scope.  The Center also brings members of the Holy Cross community into conversation with the Greater Worcester community, the academic community, and the wider world to examine the role of faith and inquiry in higher education and in the larger culture.

sign language

The Deaf Studies Program at the College of the Holy Cross will hosts two events for the deaf community this weekend.  On Sunday, Sept. 25 from 6:15 – 9 p.m. in the Hogan Campus Center Third Floor Lobby, a group of education, advocacy and human services professionals will discuss their experiences visiting the Bo’Ai School for the Deaf in China. On Saturday, Sept. 24 from 1:30 – 2:30 p.m. at Giguere Gymnastics (148 Main Street, Cherry Valley) , there will be an open house for the DEAFinitely Gymnastics program, a new gymnastics course for deaf children, organized by Holy Cross and Giguere Gymnastics.  Both events are free and open to the public.

“A Journey to Bo’Ai School for the Deaf in China,” will offer the opportunity to hear the stories of visits to the Bo’Ai School that were made by a Massachusetts delegation of professionals in the fields of deaf education, non-profit advocacy, and human services. As part of the presentation, there will be a live video chat with the deaf children from the Chinese school. There will be interpreters that translate Chinese Sign Language to American Sign Language and spoken Chinese to spoken English. Lights refreshments will be served. 

Please contact Judy Freedman Fask, director of the Deaf Studies Program, for additional information: 508 793-3344 (voice) or 508 762-1171 (videophone).

The DEAFinitely Gymnastics open house will offer the opportunity to learn about a six-week gymnastics course for deaf children, on Saturday afternoons from 1:30 – 2:30 p.m., Oct. 22 – Dec. 3. Instructor Kristen Morrissey, a student at Worcester State University who is taking all ASL classes at Holy Cross, is a certified USAG (USA Gymnastics) gymnastics instructor and will teach the class in ASL to give deaf children the opportunity to fully participate in the sport. The cost is $30 per child for all six weeks. 

For more information on DEAFinitely Gymnastics, contact: Chris Clark at 508-892-3797; Kristen Morrissey; or Judy Freedman Fask, director of the Deaf Studies Program at Holy Cross, at 508 793-3344 (voice) or 508 762-1171 (videophone).

piano

The music department at the College of the Holy Cross will present the following musical performances on campus during fall 2011. All events are free and open to the public. For additional information, please contact the music department events line at 508-793-3528. 

Thurs., Sept. 15, 8 p.m.
Peter Sulski, violin & viola
Eric Culver, piano
Brooks Concert Hall 

Sun., Sept. 25, 3 p.m.
Philip Fournier, Organist, Holy Cross Organ Scholar 1992 and director of Music at St. Vincent de Paul in Toronto, Canada
St. Joseph Memorial Chapel 

Tues., Sept. 27, 8 p.m.
Elizabeth Keusch, internationally acclaimed soprano and lecturer of music at Holy Cross
Brooks Concert Hall 

Tues., Oct. 4, 2 p.m.
Nicholas Kitchen, violin
Brooks Concert Hall 

Wed., Oct. 5, 8 p.m.
Holy Cross Chamber Orchestra
Brooks Concert Hall 

Tues., Oct. 18, 8 p.m.
Mike Monaghan & Friends
Hogan 519 

Thurs., Oct. 20, 8 p.m.
Asteria, Late Medieval Music
Brooks Concert Hall 

Sun., Oct. 23, 3 p.m.
Boston Symphony Musicians, Organ & Instruments
Cynthia Meyers, flute
Robert Sheena, English horn
James David Christie, Distinguished Artist in Residence and College Organist
St. Joseph Memorial Chapel 

Fri., Oct. 28, 8 p.m.
Holy Cross College Choir/Family Weekend
St. Joseph Memorial Chapel

Fri., Oct. 28, 9:30 p.m.
Holy Cross Jazz Ensemble
Hogan Crossroads 

Sun., Oct. 29, 2 p.m.
Holy Cross Chamber Orchestra/Family Weekend
Brooks Concert Hall 

Thurs., Nov. 3, 8 p.m.
Carol Lieberman, violin
Alan Weiss, flute
Mark Kroll, harsichord
Holy Cross Chamber Players
Brooks Concert Hall 

Sun., Nov. 6, 3 p.m.
Jean Ferrard, Organist, Professor of Organ Emeritus at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels, Belgium
St. Joseph Memorial Chapel 

Sun., Nov. 13, 5 p.m.
Holy Cross Chamber Singers
Brooks Concert Hall 

Thurs., Nov. 17, 8 p.m.
Pat Spencer, Contemporary Flute Music
Brooks Concert Hall 

Thurs., Dec. 1, 8 p.m.
Holy Cross Jazz Ensemble, Winter Concert
Brooks Concert Hall 

Tues., Dec. 6, 4 p.m.
Student/Faculty Recital
Brooks Concert Hall 

Thurs., Dec. 8, 8 p.m.
Holy Cross College Choir and Chamber Singers for Advent Festival of Lessons and Carols
St. Joseph Memorial Chapel 

Fri., December 9, 8 p.m.
Gamelan Concert
Brooks Concert Hall

Leah Hager Cohen

Leah Hager Cohen, critically acclaimed nonfiction writer and novelist, and the College of the Holy Cross Jenks Chair of Contemporary American Letters, has written a new novel, The Grief of Others (Riverhead), which hit shelves on Sept. 15.  It has already been chosen as Oprah’s Book of the Week and graced the cover of the New York Times Book Review, which claims the novel “is her best work yet.”

The Grief of Others begins with the death of a baby, the third child of Ricky and John Ryrie, just hours after its birth.  When John discovers a shocking secret that Ricky had concealed from him about the pregnancy, long-suppressed doubts about their relationship begin to erupt, shaking their entire family to the core. In the end, the Ryries discover that it is the unexpected power of grief that has not only alienated them, but is also what tethers them to one another—and to humanity as a whole.

The San Francisco Chronicle writes “Cohen’s empathy is sure-footed and seemingly boundless; her writing gifts its characters with glints of ordinary human radiance. It is the possibility of this glinting that ultimately becomes Cohen’s most powerful gift to us, her readers, as well.”

Cohen is the author of four books of narrative non-fiction including Train Go Sorry (Houghton Mifflin, 1994) and Glass, Paper, Beans (Doubleday, 1997); and four novels including House Lights (W. W. Norton & Company, 2007).  Four of her works have been awarded Notable Book citations from The New York Times and she has received recognition from the American Library Association, The Toronto Globe and Mail, and Booksense. She is a frequent contributor to the New York Times Book Review.

Elizabeth Keusch

Internationally acclaimed soprano and College of the Holy Cross lecturer of music Elizabeth Keusch will perform songs from the Romantic era, on Tuesday, Sept. 27, at 8 p.m. in Brooks Hall.  Keusch will be accompanied by and pianist Shuann Chai.   The performance is free and open to the public. 

The duo will perform a recital of art song selections by Robert and Clara Schumann, Alban Berg, Hugo Wolf, Claude Debussy, and Sergei Rachmaninoff.

Keusch has performed in music venues across the country, most recently in Disney Hall with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She earned her B.M. from the University of North Texas, and an M.M. from the New England Conservatory. At the New England Conservatory she was recognized as the 2001 Presidential Scholar for the Conservatory and in the summers of 1997 and 1999, she was a Tanglewood Fellow.

She resides in Worcester.

Critically acclaimed pianist, Chai is known for her modern and historic musical interpretations. She has performed solo and chamber music programs nationally and internationally, across the U.S., U.K., and Norway.

John D'gata

Writer John D’Agata will kick off the 2011-12 Visiting Writers Series on September 29 at 7:30 p.m. in Rehm Library at the College of the Holy Cross. The event, sponsored by the College’s Creative Writing Program, is free and open to the public.  

An experimental essayist, John D’Agata is known for his innovative use of narrative and for writing that hovers on the brink: between poetry and prose. In his most recent book, About a Mountain (WW. Norton 2010), he tells the story of moving to Las Vegas and discovering the Federal Government’s plan to store nuclear waste at a place called Yucca Mountain.

Charles Bock, a New York Times book critic, calls About a Mountain “a slim but powerful new book.”  Publishers Weekly writes, “A sublime reading experience, aesthetically rewarding and marked by moral courage and humility.” His resulting narrative, which critics have called “strikingly innovative and ambitious,” combines lists, modernist collages and lucid prose in a strikingly distinct style. It also explores themes of language, impending catastrophe and communication, “but like most great books, adds up to something much larger.”

D’Agata has also edited the renowned anthologies The Next American Essay and the Lost Origins of the Essay. He is also the author of the highly acclaimed volume of essays, Halls of Fame, which trace his travels, linguistic and literal, to visit America’s marvels and museums, from the Hoover Dam to the American Hall of Famous Ventriloquists.

He teaches creative writing at the University of Iowa.

The 2011-12 Visiting Writers Series will also include the following readings and performances during the fall semester:

• Thursday, Nov. 3 – Anthony Doerr, author of short stories, a novel, a memoir and essays on science
• Thursday, Nov. 17 – Rosanna Warren, poet and translator
• Thursday, Dec. 8 – Steve Almond, author of both fiction and creative nonfiction, and Betsey Lerner, a poet, nonfiction writer, editor, and literary agent, in a panel on “A Life in Letters,” moderated by Leah Hager Cohen, the Jenks Chair of Contemporary American Letters at Holy Cross

NIOT

The Latin American and Latino Studies program at College of the Holy Cross is hosting a screening and public discussion of a new PBS documentary, Not In Our Town: Light in the Darkness, on Sept.19 at 6 p.m. in Stein 102 on campus.

Not In Our Town: Light in the Darkness is a one-hour documentary about a town coming together to take action after anti-immigrant violence devastates the community. In 2008, a series of attacks against Latino residents of Patchogue, N.Y., culminate with the murder of Marcelo Lucero, an Ecuadorian immigrant who had lived in the Long Island village for 13 years.

The film screening will be followed by a discussion.

The screening at Holy Cross is part of the Not In Our Town National Week of Action, held from Sept. 18-24. During the Week of Action, communities across the country will use the film to find ways to prevent hate crimes and anti-immigrant violence. Public media stations along with national partners, including faith-based organizations, the Department of Justice Community-Oriented Policing Services Office, National League of Cities, National Hispanic Media Coalition, and Welcoming America, will also use the film to initiate dialogue about intolerance in their communities.

For more information about Not In Our Town: Light in the Darkness visit NIOT.org or PBS.org/NIOT.

Taylor and Boody Organ

Organist Philip Fournier, a member of the College of the Holy Cross class of 1992, will perform the first concert of the 2011-12 Holy Cross Chapel Artists Series.  The concert will take place Sunday, Sept. 25 at 3 p.m. in St. Joseph Memorial Chapel.  The performance is free, open to the public, and handicap accessible.

Fournier was the first Organ Scholar at Holy Cross and was subsequently named a Fenwick Scholar, the highest academic honor given by the College. Winner of the Historical Organ in America competition in 1992, he has studied under noted musicians Douglas Rafter, Paul O’Dette, Arthur Haas, Robert Clark, and James David Christie, Distinguished Artist in Residence at Holy Cross.

Now living in Toronto, Fournier is the organist and director of music at St. Vincent de Paul and the director of the Oratory Children’s Choir. There, he is responsible for Ursus Antiquior and (Tridentine) Liturgy of the Oratory. He specializes in Gregorian Chant, which he studied at Solesmes with Dom Saulnier. In addition, he regularly performs solo organ recitals at the Oratory, is guest organist of the Toronto Tallis Choir, and is an active composer.

Future performances of the 2011-2012 concert series include:

• Sunday, Oct. 30 – Boston Symphony Musicians
• Sunday, Nov. 6 – Jean Ferrard
• Sunday, Jan. 29 – Neil Cockburn
• Sunday, Feb. 26 – John Grew
• Sunday, April 29 – Philippe Lefebvre

For more information about any of the performances in the Chapel Artists Series, please call the music department at (508) 793-2296, or visit the department’s website.