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Vol. 5, No. 5 - March 31, 2006
McCormack Visiting Artist-Scholar on Campus Next Week Acclaimed jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon will be on campus April 3-7 as the 2006 McCormack Visiting Artist-Scholar at Skidmore. Her schedule includes a number of campus and community events, including a role at guest artist in the Music Department's collaborative student-faculty program "Hated Music and Music Against Hatred," scheduled Thursday, April 6; and and a solo concert on Friday, April 7. Admission to both events is free. Read more about Freelon and the McCormack Residency. "The Saga of the Soferet" to Be Presented April 4 Aviel Barclay, a soferet (female scribe) and creator of a Torah scroll commissioned by a Seattle synagogue, will present "The Saga of the Soferet" at 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 4, in Emerson Auditorium of Palamountain Hall. Admission is free and open to the public. The handwriting of sacred Jewish texts (such as the Torah scrolls found in every synagogue) is an ancient craft practiced by specially trained scribes. Tradition requires that these scribes be men, who learn the many laws of Jewish scribal arts as disciples of a master scribe; women have been excluded from the profession. The first Torah scroll publicly acknowledged to be written by a woman has been commissioned by Kadima, a synagogue in Seattle. Barclay is the soferet who is currently writing this Torah scroll. Her story is a dramatic tale of the road less traveled, and includes provocative discussion of the political and Jewish legal complexities involved in her work. Barclay is grounded in Judaism's mystical and legal traditions. In the summer of 2003 she traveled to Jerusalem, where she completed her training as a soferet with her two Orthodox mentors. Following her certification, she began writing scrolls of the biblical book of Esther and is currently writing a Sefer Torah (Torah scroll). Barclay's work has been featured in solo and group shows in Canada, Israel, and the United States, and her ketubot (Jewish marriage contracts) have been featured in the Israeli journal Oren. Her art and designs can be found in private collections across North America. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and offers courses in Hebrew calligraphy, as well as Jewish legends and mystical teachings on the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Her work may be viewed at her web site, www.soferet.com. Panel Discussion to Consider Labor Movement A panel featuring students, faculty, and an employee will look at the "Past, Present and Future of the Labor Movement" in a discussion scheduled at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 5, in Emerson Auditorium, Palamountain Hall. The College community is welcome. Mehmet Odekon of the Economics Department will moderate the discussion, which will include economics faculty Armagan Gezici and Yahya M. Madra; William Lewis of the Philosophy Department; and Rik Scarce of the Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work Department. Emma Yorra '08 of United Students Against Sweatshops and Kevin Lloyd of the College's Transportation Department, representing SIEU Local 200D, also will participate.
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