Wednesday, February 11, 1998

Editor’s note: This article was initially published in The Daily Gazette, Swarthmore’s online, daily newspaper founded in Fall 1996. As of Fall 2018, the DG has merged with The Phoenix. See the about page to read more about the DG.

The Daily Gazette

Swarthmore College
Wednesday, February 11, 1998
Volume 2, Number 78

NEWS IN BRIEF

1) Chamber Choir and Dance department to perform Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas

2) World news roundup

SPORTS IN BRIEF

1) Men’s basketball game cancelled

2) Women’s basketball at Washington

3) Today’s and tomorrow’s contests

WEATHER FORECAST

Today:       Cloudy, rain possible in evening. High of 55.
              Well, I’m glad that drought is over.
Tonight:     Rain, possibly a thunderstorm. Low around 45.
              Three whole days of sunshine — how did we survive?
Thursday: Somewhat cloudy, rain in afternoon. High near 60.

NEWS REPORT

1) Chamber Choir and Dance department to perform Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas

In conjunction with the Chamber Choir under the direction of John Alston,
the Dance department is performing a modern dance interpretation of the
early baroque opera Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell. The story itself is a
part of the original Virgilian epic of Aeneas’s wanderings between the fall
of Troy and his founding of Rome. Purcell, though, took quite a few
narrative liberties in his libretto: while the love story between the
Carthaginian queen Dido and the Trojan prince Aeneas is still at the core
of the story, the cause of their troubles is more fairy-tale-like and less
classically ambiguous.

Act 1 of the choreography by Sally Hess and Sharon Friedler was performed
in the student dance performance last semester, as was the music in the
fall Chamber Choir concert; but this weekend’s performances will be the
first complete tandem productions. Will Mackintosh ’00, one of the
dancers, said of the combination, “The layering of the dance and music
together is wonderful. Purcell stripped the original story to its bare
bones, and this approach to performing the opera restores some of the
emotion that Purcell has lost. Dance and live music together is a magical
combination, and one that doesn’t occur often enough. Its also very
exciting to participate in a full-length dance piece with a plot–there
haven’t been many such opportunities at Swarthmore, and the structure of
such a production has more expression than a purely abstract piece.”

The performances are scheduled for 10 a.m. on Thursday and Friday, and for
8p.m. on Saturday, and will be held on the LPAC stage.

*****

2) World news roundup

Olympic Medal results from Tuesday:

Pairs figure skating
Gold–Kazakova and Dmitriev of Russia
Silver–Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze of Russia
Bronze–Wotzel and Steuer of Germany

500 meter speed skating (men)
Gold–Hiroyasu Shimizu of Japan
Silver–Jeremy Wotherspoon of Canada
Bronze–Kevin Overland of Canada

90 meter hill ski jumping (men)
Gold–Jani Soininen of Finland
Silver–Kazuyoshi Funaki of Japan
Bronze–Andreas Widhoelzl of Austria

MAINE VOTERS OVERTURN GAY RIGHTS LEGISLATION

With approximately 52% of voters supporting repeal, Maine became the first
state to overturn gay rights legislation. Lawmakers had added provisions
banning discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations and
credit on the basis of sexual orientation to the Maine Human Rights Law
last year, but a petition drive led by the Christian Civic League of Maine
prevented the measures from ever going into effect. Independent surveys had
found that about two-thirds of Maine residents supported the new
provisions, but turn-out was low in this special election, and a series of
severe ice storms in January diverted attention from the issue.

NEW YORK STOCK MARKET REACHES RECORD HIGH PRICES

The Dow Jones Industrial average reached a new record high, six months
after breaking its last record. Analysts suggested that this optimism about
future earnings reflected decreasing worries about how the Asian financial
crisis, scandals surrounding Clinton’s presidency, and the possibility that
force might be used against Iraq, might affect the US economy. It also
followed the release of a Labor Department report which said that American
labor productivity rose at an annual rate of 2% in the last three months of
1997, suggesting that both wage rates and the US economy as a whole may
continue to grow without increasing inflation.

IN OTHER NEWS…

Canada, Australia, and Poland pledged military support for the US against
Iraq in the event that diplomacy fails to end the stand-off in the Middle
East, while U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Iraqi government envoys
further increased their efforts to find a peaceful solution to the crisis.
… Russian President Boris Yeltsin met with Pope John Paul II in Vatican
City, reportedly discussing the situation of Russian Catholics. … The
movie “Titanic” received a record-tying 14 nominations for the Academy
Awards, which will be handed out on March 23rd. … First and
second-graders in Atlantic City were attacked by three pit bull terriers at
recess, sending 15 of them to the hospital. … A foot of baseball-sized
hail fell in Devine, Texas. … A pair of “Siamese” twin girls with only
two legs and one kidney between them was born in California, where doctors
say there has never been a successful separation of such a pair.

SPORTS UPDATE

1) Men’s basketball game cancelled

The men’s basketball game versus Drew was cancelled last semester. The
Gazette regrets omitting this information in yesterday’s issue.

*****

2) Women’s basketball at Washington

The women’s basketball results were not available at the deadline. Results
will be posted in tomorrow’s gazette.

*****

3) Today’s and tomorrow’s contests

TODAY

Swimming travels to Washington for a 6:30 p.m. meet.
Men’s basketball competes at Washington in an 8:00 p.m. game.

TOMORROW

Badminton travels to Harcum for a 7:00 p.m. game
Women’s basketball hosts Immaculata at 7:00 p.m.

*****

Interested in reporting or writing for the Gazette? Just want to tell us
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gazette-management@student-publications.swarthmore.edu.

Got a news tip for us? E-mail
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Want to contact our sports editors? E-mail
gazette-sports@student-publications.swarthmore.edu.

The Daily Gazette
Board of Editors
Mary Elizabeth Alvarez
Ross Bowling
Massey Burke
Fred Bush
Steve Dawson
Lorrin Nelson
Cathy Polinsky

Staff Writers
Elizabeth Weber
Aarti Iyer
Tamala Montgomery
Josh Bess
Nathanael Stulman
Jennifer Klein

Weatherman
Rafi Dowty

Contributing Writer
Kristin Alvarez

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This concludes today’s report.