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Welfare reform lies
Affluent people have a moral responsibility to work to raise wages and end poverty. So said Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author and lecturer Barbara Ehrenreich before a rapt College Hall audience Sept. 21. Based on that premise Ehren-reich issued a clarion call to action in her talk “Down and Out in Post-Welfare America” — this year’s Judith Roth Berkowitz Endowed Lectureship in Women’s Studies. But first, she examined the moral messages behind welfare reform.
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The Constitution is in the hands of lawyers
Ah, the four branches of government: executive, legislative, judicial — and lawyers. Lawyers? Okay, so they’re not mentioned explicitly in the Constitution. But according to Walter E. Dellinger III’s Sept. 26 lecture, entitled “The Supreme Court and the Presidency,” the world of lawyers — whether it be lawyerly thought processes guiding presidents’ actions or attorneys litigating behind the scenes — exerts a strong influence on the way the country is run.
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Little tiny hairs are way cool
A piece of lint may hold the key to faster computers, cooler motors and more heat-resistant aircraft. But first, scientists have to get the lint in line. Needless to say, this is no ordinary lint. The stuff we’re talking about here contains hundreds of thousands of nanotubes — cylinders of pure carbon about 1/10,000th the width of a human hair. Scientists experimenting with these tiny tubes have already discovered their incredible strength and their superior electrical conductivity. Now, Penn scientists have found that they’re excellent heat conductors, too.
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Rockin' and twangin'
Rockabilly performer Sleepy LaBeef is the featured performer on “The World Cafe” Oct. 20, and the brains behind Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven pay host David Dye a visit the very next day. Besides these, the usual assortment of musical flavors are on the Cafe menu these next two weeks. Thursday, Oct. 12 Teddy Thompson performs music from his debut album
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"Elysium Britannicum, or The Royal Gardens"
John Evelyn Edited by John E. Ingram 480 pages, 86 black-and-white illustrations, $69.95 cloth It is not often that a major work of scholarship is published 350 years after it was first composed, but the University of Pennsylvania Press is delighted to offer John Evelyn’s “Elysium Britannicum, or the Royal Gardens” in book form for the first time. Evelyn was a garden designer, a noted author and translator of garden books, and a founding member of the Royal Society in 1660, where experimental science fueled the changing intellectual debate.
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Campus politicos gear up for the election
The elections are coming — and Penn students of many political stripes are getting in on the act. Student groups dedicated to the campaigns of Al Gore, George W. Bush and Ralph Nader are going into overdrive as Nov. 7 draws ever nearer.
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Novelist dares to say the unsayable
For me, going to the Kelly Writers House in late September to watch author Rick Moody read was like being asked to take a bite of exotic seafood. Though reluctant at first, the gratifying satisfaction of the first bite dismissed any feelings of doubt I had about coming to see a writer whom I had never heard of. But I had heard of “The Ice Storm,” a movie based on his 1994 novel of the same name.
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The outfit is the message
At “Style and the Fashioning of the Body,” a forum sponsored by the Penn Humanities Forum late last month, three Penn professors — Diana Crane, Peter Stallybrass, and Caroline Weber — discussed fashion and its social and political agendas. Here are excerpts from each of their talks.
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"And before I knew it I was saying, 'I'll take her home.'"
The bulletin board in Colleen Gasiorowski’s office is covered with pets. More are on the shelves and cabinet tops. Her pets. Also her friend’s. And an animal she’s working with at the Women’s Humane Society. She’s been volunteering there for four years, and just last May they elected her to their Board of Directors. That same month she earned her Masters in Liberal Arts from the College of General Studies, with a focus on forest systems, ecology and environmental issues.
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Penn Senior Ari Alexander Named 2001 Marshall Scholarship Winner
PHILADELPHIA- Ari Alexander, a senior at the University of Pennsylvania, is among 40 American students to win one of the nation's highest undergraduate honors, the 2001 Marshall Scholarship. The British Marshall Scholarship funds two years of graduate study in the United Kingdom. More than 1000 students applied for the scholarship this year.