Wednesday, February 26, 2003

by Sanggee Kim
Gazette News Reporter

Announced yesterday, the Philadelphia Orchestra Association introduced
Christoph Eschenbach’s first season as music director for one of the “top
five” orchestras in the country.  Among the season’s highlights will be a
guest performance by Swarthmore’s very own Gamelan Semara Santi during the
first weekend of October.

Maestro Eschenbach hopes to explore the connections between Balinese musical
tradition and the works of composer Olivier Messiaen in this program run,
which will also feature guest artists, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano, and Jean
Laurendeau, ondes martenot playing Messiaen’s signature masterpiece, the
“Turangalîla Symphony” with the orchestra.

Liz Leininger ’04, a musician with Gamelan, was excited about the
opportunity to play in Philadelphia and New York with the orchestra to “have
the chance to share Balinese music and traditions to a larger audience.”  In
her fifth semester playing with the ensemble, she especially loves playing
Gamelan as an opportunity to relax and de-stress.

Founded in 1997, Gamelan Semara Santi is the Philadelphia area’s only
Gamelan (Indonesian percussion orchestra) devoted entirely to performance of
traditional compositions from Bali, Indonesia.  The directors are Tom
Whitman, professor of music at Swarthmore College, I Nyoman Suadin, and
Latifah.  The musicians and dancers of Gamelan are students, faculty, staff,
and friends from the extended community of Swarthmore College. They rehearse
as musicians in Indonesia do: by listening to one another and playing by ear
and by touch, without music notation. All of the notes and rhythms are
precomposed and have been memorized. There is little room for improvisation
in Balinese music.  Gamelan Semara Santi takes its name from Semar, the god
of love, and Santi, the Sanskrit word for peace, to honor the peace-loving
Quaker traditions of Swarthmore College.

by Mary Harrison
Gazette News Reporter

Student Council heard a number of important discussions at its weekly
meeting, most significantly the possible elimination of the dinner
meal-equivalency at Tarble due to budgetary concerns.

After talking with Larry Schall, VP for Facilities, co-president Ryan Budish
reported that plans for increasing dinner equivalency at Tarble were to be
postponed as the college dining services were facing potential budget cuts
of over $3000. In addition, Schall explained that in a year Tarble could
potentially close for dinner. Sharples, however, would remain open later in
order to accommodate student schedules. Members of Student Council reacted
to the news with a pledge to fight the abolition of Tarble dinner,
suggesting that raising prices for meals at Tarble would a preferable
response to the budget cuts if such measures became necessary.

Student Council also discussed working on reducing secure storage’s
vulnerability to theft, and possibly setting up picnic tables on the Science
Center patio. According to Budish, the fireside talk led by Al Bloom on the
topic of Swarthmore’s direction for the future scheduled for the coming
weeks might merge with a lecture by Larry Schall on the history of
Swarthmore (the subject of his doctorate) for an event chronicling the past,
present, and future of the college.

*****

Early Sunday morning Sergeant Stufflet was observed a vehicle stopped at a
yellow light at S. Chester Road and Yale Avenue.  Sgt. Stufflet turned on
the siren lights of the police car and the vehicle pulled to the right curb
lane and drove over the curb. A strong odor of intoxicants was detected when
the driver was asked for his license.  The driver performed several field
sobriety tests which he failed.  He was then taken to the Swarthmore Police
Department and charged with driving under the influence.

*****

* Stephen Hadley, the deputy national security advisor, sought to reassure
the nation on Tuesday over concerns about how long US troops (an estimated
several hundred thousand) will stay in Iraq after the war. Anserwing that
they will stay as long as necessary “but not one day more, ” Hadley remained
quiet over whether the US plans to install an unelected Iraqi leadership
that would be in alliance with the US or try to transform Iraq into a
democratic nation. According to officials the US also has a plan for
ensuring that humanitarian aid reaches the Iraqi people in the event of war.

* Lee Boyd Malvo, one of the Washington DC sniper suspects, and his partner,
John Allen Muhammad, were equal partners in the shootings, prosecutors
announced on Tuesday. A hearing on the case is scheduled on Monday in
Fairfax Virginia, the first state out of six that the men are committed of
crimes in. Both of the suspects are looking at possible death penalty
charges, though Malvo is only 17.

* Members of the rock group Great White have been subpoened and are expected
to appear before a grand jury on Wednesday. The jury will dtermine whether
criminal charges can be brought against the band. Great White’s use of
pytrotechnics during a concert at a Rhode Island nightclub probably caused a
fire last week that killed 97 people.

*****

PBS Documentary: “A Force More Powerful: Nashville(1960), India (1930),
South Africa (1984)”
Presented with popcorn and a beverage
Friends Meeting House, 7:00 p.m.

French Film Festival: Milou en Mai
Kohlberg 328, 7:00 p.m.

Anomalous Picture Show: Mystery Science Theater 3000
Trotter 203, 7:30 p.m.

*****

SPORTS UPDATE

Today:
Women’s basketball at Johns Hopkins (CC Semifinals), 7:00 p.m.
Men’s lacrosse hosts Manhattanville, 7:30 p.m.

Tomorrow:
Men’s tennis hosts Mercyhurst, 3:00 p.m.

*****

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in
students.”
–John Ciardi

*****
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