Skidmore College - Scope Magazine Fall 2018

17 SKIDMORE COLLEGE COMMUNITY CALENDAR Filming, In It, Beatlemore: Christopher Massa; charger: Erin Covey IN IT TOGETHER Among last year’s all-campus “In It” programs to promote cultural fluency and community inclusion was a screening of Sauti, a documentary about African refugees, with its filmmakers Gayle Nosal ’79 and Beret E. Strong, P’19. Also featured were discussions with Skylar Kergill ’13, whose gender-transition YouTube channel has inspired a huge following and fueled his book Before I Had the Words; Beverly Daniel Tatum (above), former Spelman College president and author of Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria; and interna- tional affairs major Kali Villarosa ’18, along with mom Linda, who has been executive editor of Essence magazine, and grandmother Clara, author of Down to Business: The First 10 Steps to Entrepreneurship for Women . FAIRY-TALE FILMING When creating a TV series for Amazon Video, faculty member Nicole Coady hired students and alumni in writing, wardrobe and other crafts. Coady is a longtime Hollywood screenwriter who now teaches in Skidmore’s documentary-studies program; she also co-founded Trident Fantasy Films to produce classic fairy tales with messages of empowerment for modern kids. When Trident’s Adventures of Snow White and Rose Red debuted in April, its credits listed 11 Skidmorites, with majors from art to sociology and with class years from 2016 to 2020. Some scenes were even filmed amid the lawns and gardens behind the College’s Surrey-Williamson Inn (above), and the local state park’s warming hut served as the title characters’ house. By using “very mini- mal special effects,” Coady hopes to highlight “the roots of the folk tales themselves.” BEATLEMORE MILESTONE The 2017 Beatlemore Skidmania, with a focus on 1967’s Sgt. Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour albums, presented 15 student numbers—from “Fixing a Hole” by the Bandersnatchers to “She’s Leaving Home” by Bugs in the Tall Grass. As always, a rousing faculty-led farewell got the crowds on their feet with “All You Need is Love.” But this time, that faculty finale was particularly poignant: After 17 years of guiding Beatlemore and coaching its student coordinators, music professor Gordon Thompson (above, at right) is retiring. Fellow music faculty member Joel Brown vows to continue the popular tradition. CLEAN ENERGY Politics of Food, Agriculture and Social Justice; Literature and the Environment; and Soil and Watershed Sci- ence for a Crowded Planet were among the scores of last year’s courses that focused on sustainability issues—and that contrib- uted to Skidmore’s silver rating through the Associa- tion for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, as well as a score of 94 out of 100 in the Princeton Review’s Guide to Green Colleges. As part of a comprehen- sive strategic plan for sustainability, last year’s work included geothermal wells ahead of the new sci- ence center’s construction, new bicycles for the bike- share program, additional electric-vehicle charging stations, low-impact menus and composting in the dining hall, and more. C A M P U S C O M M U N I T Y