Published on: May 17, 2013
Ronald Gerber
Jackie Robinson was by no means the greatest career MLB ballplayer in history. It may have been due to the fact that he was already 28 when he got to the big leagues, and as such ended up playing for only ten seasons and didn’t have the time to develop as impressive a career record as his contemporaries. More…
Photo Credit | Kirsiah McNamara ’10
Published on: May 17, 2013
Erik Elbieh
Students who attended the dance concert held Thursday, May 2 and Friday, May 3 already know that the event was incredible, but even so, it is worth recapping. The performance included over 60 Simon’s Rock students.
Performances prepared for the event during the weekends, often spending more than four hours each day. More…
Published on: May 17, 2013
Erik Elbieh
As you will now know if you read the earlier article about campus myths, Kellogg was moved down from upper campus to its current spot in 1992. The idea of moving the building down to the central portion of campus was started in the spring of 1990, when the campus began considering several master plan decisions. Other changes occurred during this process including moving the admissions office to Blodgett and reopening the gatehouse entrance to campus from Alford Road. More…
Published on: April 29, 2013
Ronald Gerber
For the fourth and final event of the semester-long Guest Artists Series, the 1987 film adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ classic play The Glass Menagerie was screened in the Daniel Arts Center on Friday, April 12. Adjunct faculty member Karen Allen, who starred in the film alongside Joanne Woodward, James Naughton, and John Malkovich, was present to address comments and questions after the screening. More…
Published on: April 29, 2013
Erik Elbieh
Kellogg was rolled down from upper campus on logs – BUSTED
For the uninitiated, the Kellogg music building formally belonged to Dehon Seminary (what is now upper campus) and was brought down the hill to its current location. More…
You voted. Congratulations to Ishan Guru ’12 and Jamie Hutchinson, the winners of the 2013 Winter Photo Contest!
First Place:
3 Ishan Guru ’12
Second Place:
3 Jamie Hutchinson
The Llama Ledger would like to thank all of those who submitted photos for this contest. We received an overwhelming number of entries. Keep an eye out for the 2013 Spring Photo Contest.
Published on: April 11, 2013
Jared Weiss ’10
Wednesday, March 20, Academic Senate approved a series of proposed changes to the structure of the academic calendar, to take effect this upcoming year.
Most of the changes will take effect in the spring semester, but one change will directly impact the fall semester calendar. Family Weekend will begin the October break next year rather than be held towards the end of the month.
“The argument here was to save parents money,” Wendy Shifrin, Academic and Faculty Senate President said. “Because if they drive to pick up their kids, they only need to do so for the two breaks, not two breaks plus Family Weekend.” More…
Published on: April 11, 2013
Ronald Gerber
Screenwriter Wentworth Miller publicly acknowledged recently that the new psychological thriller Stoker was heavily influenced by Alfred Hitchcock’s 1943 classic Shadow of a Doubt, but anyone who has seen both films will tell you that Stoker goes beyond its inspiration. This is Hitchcock without the shackles of the extremely restrictive Hays Code, able to go down as dark a road as he wants (and these roads get very, very dark). More…
The entries are in!
Vote below for your favorite winter photos by Simon’s Rock students, faculty and staff. You may select up to three photographs for your SINGLE vote. You will be unable to vote again after selecting submit, so be sure to select your three favorite photographs first. Voting will close at 11:00 pm Saturday, March 30.
Please scroll to the end of the photo entries to submit your vote. Photos and ballot options are categorized alphabetically and by the entry number from that person (Ex: 1 First_Name Last_Name). Make sure to check the entry numbers and photographer for each photo before submitting your vote. More…
Published on: March 22, 2013
Ronald Gerber
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone is directed by Don Scardino, whose previous experience is only in television and on Broadway. Co-writers John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein have written a couple of bad comedies and not much more. Editor Lee Haxall has even worse comedies to his credit, including the 2008 travesty The Love Guru. It all shows. We have only the talented cast to thank for the scattered funny moments in what is otherwise a dull and rushed attempt to defy the few parts of insipid, over-sexualized comedy that actually work. More…
Published on: March 16, 2013
Ronald Gerber
We have one person to thank for the intensely engaging series of moments that comprise Rust and Bone: Jacques Audiard. Son of famous director Michel Audiard, Jacques is finally – after spending the last 20 years directing feature films and much longer writing them – getting the attention he deserves in America. 2009’s A Prophet was a Cannes favorite and soon garnered international acclaim and an Oscar nomination… and for good reason. More…
Published on: March 16, 2013
Jared Weiss
The Simon’s Rock Theater Department’s productions seem to have evolved over the past few years. We used to see more traditional, Renaissance- and Enlightenment-era theater, be it Molière’s “Tartuffe” or Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night.” There was an emphasis on the witty dialogue, the character interactions, and the interweaving subplots.
That abruptly changed, however, with last spring’s brilliant, haunting production of student-scripted “Hospital Kapital.” Suddenly, we were treated to an entirely different kind of theater, one that functioned on a minimalist plot (in fact, many felt that there was not a coherent plot at all) and sparse dialogue. That play more than compensated by relying on images, moods, and atmosphere to affect the audience, and utilizing chilling staging, costumes and makeup, lighting and sound design, etc. More…
Published on: February 28, 2013
Women writers of all ages and from many different walks of life will be featured in the Third Annual Berkshire Festival of Women Writers, taking place throughout the month of March, Women’s History Month, at venues all over Berkshire County.
The Festival, sponsored by Bard College at Simon’s Rock with the collaboration of many other organizations, includes the participation of more than 150 women writers, at 55 separate events. More…
Published on: February 24, 2013
Jared Weiss
Though a delicate issue that remains very painful for many alumni, staff and faculty, and even students on campus today, the 1992 shooting at Simon’s Rock was the lead piece for PBS’s Need to Know show on Friday, Feb. 22. The piece is twenty minutes long, and there are plans to post additional footage online. Over the past few weeks, film crews interviewed faculty and staff on campus for the news segment, conceived by the Need to Know associate producer, Zachary Green ’99 alumnus. More…
Published on: February 24, 2013
Ronald Gerber
The Daniel Arts Center saw a double-bill of dance theses on Saturday, Feb. 9 and Sunday, Feb. 10. Caitlin Murphy ’09 and Julynn Wilderson ’09 presented their final performances, called Photolocation and Point Blank respectively, in the McConnell Theatre and the upstairs Dance Studio, one directly after the other.
Murphy’s thesis, Photolocation, was a thematically complex piece set curiously simply. It featured four dancers – Gemma Gearhart ’10, Grace Rossman ’11, Tara Turnbull ’10, and Murphy – who weaved across McConnell’s stage carrying out similar motions that were often staggered to give the group a sense of a domino effect. More…
Published on: February 24, 2013
Erik Elbieh
Vectors with negative magnitude. Tractricoids and pseudospheres. Quarternion hyperboloid geometries. These are just a few of the many phrases given by Ilesanmi Adeboye, an assistant professor from Wesleyan University during his talk on Tuesday, Feb. 12. More…
Published on: February 24, 2013
Ronald Gerber
One must admire the career of Stephen Soderbergh. Starting with his daring debut Sex, Lies, and Videotape in 1989, he has made no fewer than 25 films. As prolific as Hitchcock in his American years, but more willing to explore different genres, Soderbergh has made a name for himself with a wide array of films, including Best Picture winner Traffic, the mainstream hit Ocean’s Eleven and the subsequent sequels, and the massive, brilliant four and a half hour biopic Che. More…
Photo Credit | Danny Sawyer ’11
Published on: February 10, 2013
Katherine Corn
As Winter Storm Nemo’s record-breaking visit to the Northeast comes to a close, the nation is breathing a sigh of relief at its passage. However, its impact on Great Barrington on Friday, Feb. 10 and Saturday, Feb. 11 was less than anticipated, leaving winter sports enthusiasts disappointed. More…
Published on: February 9, 2013
Ronald Gerber
I was more than a little surprised to find when I got back this weekend from seeing J.A. Bayona’s The Impossible that there was not much controversy around it. It has been largely received positively by critics, receiving several nominations from various awards organizations. More…
Published on: February 6, 2013
The Llama Ledger Staff
The Pre-Med Society held their biannual American Red Cross Blood Drive on Friday, Nov. 30. The event was well attended by the Simon’s Rock and Great Barrington community. Keep an eye out for the Blood Drive this semester on Friday, April 19. More…
Published on: January 31, 2013
Ronald Gerber
If you haven’t read Yann Martel’s novel (as I still, unfortunately, have not), you may not realize before seeing the movie that Ang Lee’s Life of Pi is a religious experience. Yes, the tiger is ferocious and looks real, and there’s a whale, and a bunch of Indian people light things up and send them out to sea at some point. More…
Published on: December 18, 2012
Katherine Corn
The Simon’s Rock community gathered in the Kellogg Music Center to celebrate the lives of Galen Gibson and Ñacuñán Sáez on Friday, Dec. 14, the 20th anniversary of the Simon’s Rock shooting. More…
Audrey Werth and Megan Patoskie
While websites like Facebook make it increasingly difficult for employers to learn reliable student information, readabout.me offers students the opportunity to build professional profiles with college-verified accomplishments.
Last year, Karen Anderson, Associate Director of Communications, began to introduce Simon’s Rock to the project in order to enable students to create their own profiles. More…
Published on: December 18, 2012
Hillary Saviello
The Oxford International Model United Nations conference opened its 10th session in picturesque Oxford Town Hall with the loud bang of a gavel. Students from as far as India and Venezuela, as well as – you guessed it – Great Barrington, USA, made the journey to the United Kingdom for Europe’s top Model UN conference, to simulate the United Nations apparatus hosted at the prestigious University. More…
Published on: December 18, 2012
Ronald Gerber
I must begin with a simple fact of life: Daniel Day-Lewis is the greatest screen actor of all time, bar none. He may not make films with the frequency of some other stars, but when he chooses a role, he throws himself into it with such zeal that he disappears into his character’s body, never to be seen again until press interviews. More…
Published on: December 18, 2012
Ronald Gerber
Creating a work of art from scratch is never an easy thing to do. In my time at Simon’s Rock, I’ve seen it done by many seniors whose hearts and souls went into it. The blood, sweat, and tears do not always pay off, but in the case of Amanda Rowe-Van Allen ‘09’s Floral Arrangements, based on the Greek Medea legend, they definitely did. Rowe-Van Allen’s adaptation, which played from Thursday, Nov. 29 to Saturday, Dec. 1 in the Daniel Arts Center, was initially rehearsed without a script. More…
Published on: November 29, 2012
Erik Elbieh
Every Rocker on campus during the past couple of decades is sure to have seen the pond in the atrium of the Alumni Library and might know about Ace the frog. However, the story of how there came to be a pond in the atrium is slightly less known. More…
Published on: November 29, 2012 More…
Published on: November 29, 2012
Theresa Paquette
Since its inception in 2006, Diversity Day has hardly run smoothly. Born out of racial conflict on campus, the first set of workshops, entitled “Bursting the Bubble at Simon’s Rock: A One-Day Teach-In on Diversity,” was challenged by students feeling that their time and money was being wasted on useless workshops when they could be spent in class. More…
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Published: November 20, 2012
Megan Patoskie
Students boycotted the 7th annual Diversity Day on Wednesday, Nov. 14 outside of the campus library and classrooms and distributed grievance fliers in order to express their views on how diversity is approached on campus. Approximately 50 students boycotted from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., but attracted a larger audience throughout the day as other students and faculty proceeded to the annual scheduled workshops. More…
Published: November 17, 2012
Julia Griffin ’12
Below is a reproduction of the Diversity Day Boycott Statement distributed throughout campus (Please note that this in no way is a reflection of the beliefs of the Llama Ledger and is a complete reproduction of the original document):
Today we are boycotting Diversity Day and all diversity-related events this week. More…
Published: November 15, 2012
Hillary Saviello
“My childhood is ruined,” replied a shocked freshman to Eden-Renee Pruitt, Professor of Psychology, to a packed audience who laughed in accordance with his sentiment in her standing room only Diversity Day workshop. Pruitt has just elaborated the original ending to the popular fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood,” which ended not with the wolf eating Red, but raping her. More…
Published: November 15, 2012
Erik Elbieh
Simon’s Rock hosted its 7th Annual Diversity Day on Wednesday, Nov. 14. While this year’s Diversity Day may change the workings of future events, it might be worthwhile to remember the founding of the event and its evolution in years past.
Diversity Day first occurred on Wednesday, Mar. 15, 2006, and it was originally organized by students, staff, and faculty, as well as by some backing from the Race Task Force. Some students had created surveys to assess opinions of Cultural Perspectives (CP) classes, and it was decided that more incorporation or focus of diversity should be included on campus. More…
Published: November 15, 2012
Ronald Gerber
For the 50th anniversary of perhaps the most culturally significant film series ever, Eon Productions bestowed upon us arguably the best Bond movie ever. More…
Published: November 14, 2012
Joan DelPlato
Open Letter to Simon’s Rock Students Following the Community Meeting of 11/7/12:
We all owe a debt of gratitude to the students who organized and attended last Wednesday’s Community Meeting. I appreciate the opportunity to hear the thoughts of members of the Simon’s Rock community about the goal of diversity that is so central to the college’s mission and to my personal and professional values. The meeting allowed the airing of grievances, an important first step in resolving them, a process which will take some effort from all of us. More…
Published: November 7, 2012
Ronald Gerber
Apparently, Cloud Atlas is one of the most expensive independent films ever made, and that’s perfectly understandable; it features one of the biggest, most star-studded casts assembled since Harry Potter, not to mention that it is essentially a collection of period pieces that, by their very nature, require an inordinate amount of CGI. More…
Published: November 2, 2012
Katherine Corn
Last weekend, students hosted their relatives during the annual Simon’s Rock Family Weekend.
Events available for the busy weekend included Honors Convocation, professor meetings, first-year and alumni panel discussions, and the Provost’s Reception with Peter Laipson at the White House. More…
Published: November 2, 2012
Audrey Werth
Over the course of the semester, a number of events addressing diversity on campus challenged feelings of security and free speech on campus. The first documented event, which occurred on Sunday, Sept. 16, the day before the Jewish Holiday, Rosh Hashana, involved a student posting swastika graffiti in Kendrick Lounge.
“There was an investigation and follow up with the AHADC [Anti-Harassment and Anti-Discrimination Committee],” Bob Graves, Dean of Student Affairs, said. “When I found out who was involved I spoke with those students and [their] parents.” More…
Published: November 2, 2012
Megan Patoskie
Faculty Senate held an emergency meeting last Monday, Oct. 22 to address the inconsistent faculty awareness of the events questioning diversity on campus. The meeting, in addition to addressing a student email asking faculty to become more involved, resulted in a formal letter to the Simon’s Rock Community on behalf of the faculty. More…
Published: November 2, 2012
Erik Elbieh
The new Student Store has now been running for three weeks since its opening before fall break. So far, the store has shown that it is up to the task of providing essential items to students.
However, David Ernst ’10, Student Store co-Manager, notes that the store will need to improve its cost-effectiveness. More…
Published: November 2, 2012
Erik Elbieh
On Sunday, Oct. 21, two teams from the Simon’s Rock Coders Club competed in the regional International Collegiate Programming Competition (ICPC) qualifier.
The competition, which consists of teams carrying a maximum of three programmers, involves solving seven conceptually and algorithmically challenging questions in a span of five consecutive hours. More…
Published: November 2, 2012
Ronald Gerber
On Saturday, Oct. 27, the Black Box Theatre in the Daniel Arts Center filled with a swarm of Simon’s Rock students, parents, and faculty eager for entertainment from tough gangsters and loose women.
“A Threepenny Cabaret” was a 45-minute long, minimalistic presentation by voice students and music faculty of selected songs from Brecht and Weill’s 1928 classic The Threepenny Opera. More…
Published: November 2, 2012
Megan Patoskie
Simon’s Rock awarded merit and need-based scholarships to students during the annual Honors Convocation on Friday, Oct. 26 in McConnell Theater. Peter Laipson, Provost and Vice President, welcomed the audience after an introduction from the Simon’s Rock Chorus, conducted by Jack Brown. More…
Published on: November 2, 2012
Ronald Gerber
There is an intriguing danger associated with an author adapting their own book for the screen. On one hand, there is a significant advantage in allowing an artist a chance to create their own vision, but on the other hand, an author can easily fail to produce a satisfactory adaptation if they are not familiar enough with the medium. More…
Published on: October 26, 2012
Katherine Corn
This past Monday, Oct. 22, the Llamas defeated the Bard College Raptors 191- 179 in a home swim meet.
“The meet was an extraordinarily close meet, but the hard work paid off,” said Eldred Lee ’12, who swam in several men’s events for the Llamas. More…
Published on: October 25, 2012 Laura Boning Zhu
Eight members of the Model UN team competed in the seventh annual Columbia Model UN in New York (CMUNNY) on Thursday, Oct. 4 through Sunday, Oct. 7. More…
Published on: October 25, 2012
Dear Llama Sutra,
I’ve been in a relationship for several months and I really care about my partner. I am anxious though, about what will happen when she leaves Simon’s Rock. The distance won’t be too far but I don’t know if she wants to be in a long distance relationship. I really like her, and I don’t want this to end, but I feel like she’s reluctant to stay together. What can I do? More…
