As we near the end of the semester, 乐播传媒 is offering a varied lineup of arts events for the last few weeks of the year, hosting visiting writers and artists, and showcasing faculty and student work from the semester. Some events are much anticipated traditions, like the annual Fall Dance Concert, while others are new ventures, like the electronic compositions of the 乐播传媒 Sound Studio. With something for everyone, these final showcases promise a strong finish to the semester鈥檚 artistic calendar.

Literary Arts Live presents Kevin Moffett
Location: Muskie Archives 201
Thursday, Nov. 13, 7 p.m.
A reading by and discussion with Kevin Moffett, author of the National Book Award long-listed Only Son.

Fall Dance Concert
Location: Schaeffer Theatre
Nov. 14鈥�16, various times
乐播传媒鈥� annual ensemble and solo dance recital, featuring thesis work by Amara Ogbonna 鈥�26, Samantha Manogue 鈥�26, Liz Nahigian 鈥�26, and Lucy Whitelam 鈥�26.

乐播传媒 College Orchestra
Location: Olin Concert Hall
Saturday, Nov.15, 7:30 鈥� 9 p.m.
The 乐播传媒 College Orchestra performs Bart贸k鈥檚 Romanian Folk Dances and Dvo艡谩k鈥檚 Symphony No. 9, 鈥淣ew World.鈥�

乐播传媒 Jazz Ensemble
Location: Olin Concert Hall
Monday, Dec. 1, 7:30 p.m.
The 乐播传媒 Jazz Ensemble performs a program of big-band classics and contemporary arrangements. 

Virtual Horizons: New Frontiers in Immersive Listening
Location: Olin Concert Hall
Tuesday, Dec. 2, 7:30 p.m.
Original works by students of the 乐播传媒 Sound Studio spanning fixed-media electronic compositions and performance-based projects.

乐播传媒 Piano Recital
Location: Olin Concert Hall
Wednesday, Dec. 3, 4:30 p.m.
Join some of the college鈥檚 most experienced classical pianists as they present solo and ensemble works that they have prepared with instructor and musician Chiharu Naruse.

Brass Ensemble and Steel Pan Orchestra
Location: Olin Concert Hall
Wednesday, Dec. 3, 7:30 p.m.
A joint concert of the 乐播传媒 Brass Ensemble and Steel Pan Orchestra 鈥� one of the most popular music events of the semester.

乐播传媒 Voice Studio Recital
Location: Olin Concert Hall
Thursday, Dec. 4, 7:30 p.m.
Students of Jo毛lle Morris perform a program of vocal works.

Printmaking Workshop
Location: Benjamin Mays Center 103
Friday, Dec. 5, 3 p.m.
The annual printmaking workshop with the Museum of Art. The event is free for 乐播传媒 students and $5 general admission for community members.聽All materials are provided, and online registration is required ahead of time.

乐播传媒 College Choir
Location: Olin Concert Hall
Friday, Dec. 5, 7:30 p.m.
The 乐播传媒 College Choir performs choral arrangements of African American spirituals by Moses Hogan and William Dawson, along with classical and contemporary works.

乐播传媒 College Gamelan Ensemble
Location: Olin Concert Hall
Saturday, Dec. 6, 7:30 p.m.
The 乐播传媒 Gamelan Ensemble presents its Fall Semester concert, highlighting traditional Indonesian repertoire and student-composed works.

As the leaves begin to turn and the semester hits its stride, 乐播传媒 College presents a dynamic lineup of arts and literary events on campus, showcasing the creativity of students, faculty, and visiting artists. The season features readings from acclaimed authors, concerts spanning genre, and performances in dance and theater. From gallery openings to ensemble recitals, these coming events in the next month highlight the vibrant artistic community at 乐播传媒 and are not to be missed.

Literary Arts Live presents Iain Haley Pollock
Oct. 9, 7 p.m.
Poet Iain Haley Pollock, winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize, will share new and selected poems from his upcoming collection All the Possible Bodies.
Muskie 201

Crosscurrents in Jazz and Arabic Music: Dharma Down and Gideon Forbes
Oct. 10, 7:30 p.m.
A double bill concert featuring the ensemble Dharma Down and saxophonist Gideon Forbes, highlighting intersections of jazz and Arabic musical traditions.
Olin Arts Center

Opening Reception: American Studio Ceramics and Shellburne Thurber: Full Circle
Oct. 24, 4:30 p.m.
Join the 乐播传媒 Museum of Art for the opening of two exhibitions: American Studio Ceramics and Shellburne Thurber: Full Circle.
乐播传媒 Museum of Art

Fitter Happier: A Tribute to Radiohead
Oct. 25, 7:30 p.m.
乐播传媒 Student Strings and Horns join Fitter Happier for a tribute to the music of Radiohead.
Olin Arts Center 210

Spectre: A Musical S茅ance
Oct. 30, 7:30 p.m.
A haunting concert featuring Jazmin Derice (voice) and Morgan Lee (piano), blending music and ghost stories from local Mainers.
Olin Arts Center 210

Metamorphoses
Oct. 30 鈥� Nov. 2
A daring theatrical adaptation based on the myths of Roman poet Ovid, staged with an on-stage pool incorporated into the set design.
Schaeffer Theatre

Portland Jazz Orchestra
Nov. 2, 7:30 p.m.
Maine鈥檚 premier jazz ensemble performs a night of big band classics and contemporary arrangements.
Olin Arts Center 210

Museum Lecture with Ceramicist Lisa Orr
Nov. 5, 7 p.m.
Renowned ceramic artist Lisa Orr discusses her practice and the intersections of tradition and experimentation in contemporary ceramics.
乐播传媒 Museum of Art

MOSH! Concert and Magazine Launch
Nov. 21, 9 p.m.
A collaboration between Snaggletooth magazine and the 乐播传媒 Musicians Union, this concert and arts showcase will celebrate the launch of MOSH! magazine.
The Little Room in Chase

When you first brave the January cold and walk up to the roof of Carnegie Science Hall to visit  the college observatory, it feels sort of like being in a boat. Varnished wood planking, large slow-moving machinery you need to push around, and the strange feeling that the world outside your container is slowly moving around you.

The observatory houses the Stephens Telescope, given to 乐播传媒 in 1949 by a self-taught astronomer, Roscoe G. Stephens of Kennebunk, who built the Newtonian reflector telescope himself.

The observatory is a hidden gem on campus, one that the 乐播传媒 Astronomy Club is determined to share with the student body. 鈥淚t鈥檚 such a great place,鈥� said club co-president Evan Boxer-Cook 鈥�26 of Scarborough, Maine. 鈥淚 love bringing people up there for the first time. Seeing their reaction to the telescope is incredibly rewarding.鈥�

Tonight, Boxer-Cook is guiding a group of about a dozen students to the observatory to see a close grouping of Venus, Jupiter, Mars, and the waning gibbous moon. The club usually hosts a monthly full moon viewing, but last week鈥檚 full moon viewing was thwarted by clouds, so they decided to have another session focused on the many visible planets. 

It鈥檚 no surprise that many of the visitors are first-year students. The club, revitalized in recent years by co-president Jade Pinto 鈥�25, a double major in physics and Asian studies from the Bronx, New York, places an emphasis on inclusion. 

鈥淥ne of our missions is to spread the idea that the sky is open to everyone. You don鈥檛 have to be a physics major to be involved,鈥� says Boxer-Cook, who is a classical and medieval studies major.

Much like Roscoe Stephens himself, who was a photographer, machinist, mason, and chicken farmer in addition to his astronomy interests, Boxer-Cook鈥檚 interests are wide and varied.

In high school, he earned awards in English, Latin, and physics; at 乐播传媒, he tutors students in Latin, serves as an officer of the Classics Club, and has worked in the Muskie Archives and Special Collection Library.

As ancient disciplines, classics and astronomy intersect in myriad ways, and one way becomes apparent when Boxer-Cook talks about hobbies, which include the history of timekeeping and navigation instruments such as astrolabes. During the visit to the observatory, he shows me one astrolabe, which looks like a palm-sized sundial, but with a lot more detail.

鈥淭he astrolabe is a two-dimensional representation of the celestial sphere,鈥� Boxer-Cook explains. 鈥淚t can model the movements of the sun, stars, and planets. Basically, when you rotate this, you can get a snapshot of your local sky at any moment in time, and you can solve all kinds of astronomical problems with that. It鈥檚 had many, many centuries of continued use.鈥� 

The technology we use on this night holds some similarity. Before we head up to the observatory, we gather in the physics department’s seminar room, where Boxer-Cook projects an image from the website onto a screen, which displays the position of celestial objects in the sky above 乐播传媒 at this exact moment. We use what we see as a reference to show us where to point the Stephens Telescope as we look for Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter. 

Inside the observatory, students climb a ladder one by one to look through the eyepiece to view each planet and inform each other of their positions. Boxer-Cook adjusts the telescope by hand to track celestial objects as the Earth rotates. 

The telescope鈥檚 tube measures 8 feet, 8 inches. Though hand-made by a self-taught astronomer, the instrument has long been considered a marvel of engineering, particularly its 12.5-inch mirror, which took Stephens six months to grind by hand.  

Though some adjustments are made by hand, electric motors control other parts of the observatory鈥檚 operation. One motor opens the dome鈥檚 shutter to the night sky. Another operates a rack and pinion gear system that rotates the entire dome.

And another small motor, not in use tonight, drives a worm gear that moves the telescope to track planets. Its design was aided by a senior thesis in physics by Jen Brine ’00, “Motorizing the Telescope in the Carnegie Science Observatory.”

As I take my turn peering through the eyepiece, it is strange to watch the planets crawl across the lens, feeling very fast and very slow at the same time. 鈥淭hey look like photos in a textbook,鈥� says Celia Horowitz 鈥�28 of Salt Lake City, Utah.

Toward the end of the night, after everyone has had a chance to look at every planet, Boxer-Cook encourages us to come back to the observatory, either during other club events or on our own as certified telescope operators at 乐播传媒.聽

Handling the certification process is Cole Hastings, a physics and astronomy assistant in instruction who oversees the observatory and the Ladd Planetarium. 

鈥淣ot many people know that anyone can be certified,鈥� says Boxer-Cook. 鈥淵ou don’t have to be in the club. They tell you that in astronomy classes, but it’s a very underutilized resource on campus, and we’re happy to be spreading the word.鈥� 

If Kamala Harris is elected president this year, she will be the shortest president in history. Who is the other shortest president?

That鈥檚 the favorite presidential trivia question of Stephen Engel, professor of politics and associate dean of faculty. If you really want to know the answer, he’ll tell you it鈥檚 James Madison, at 5 feet, 4 inches. But as co-host of Election Trivia Night in the Den, he also makes you promise not to take any points for that question.

This year鈥檚 trivia night, held Oct. 9, marked the second round for Engel and his faculty co-host, Stephanie Kelley-Romano. The event debuted during the 2016 presidential race, and after skipping 2020 due to the pandemic, the duo brought it back for the first post-pandemic election cycle.

鈥淚n 2016 we just needed to have some fun, wanted some levity,鈥� says Kelley-Romano, a professor of rhetoric, film, and screen studies. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 fun to think of all the weird things that we end up putting in the trivia questions.鈥�

Pre-event, Election Trivia Night already feels fun, with Kelley-Romano wearing bobcat pajama pants and receiving chicken bites from a student worker at the Den, while students pour into the room, separating into teams of three or four. They head to Engel, who is busy opening boxes of mini whiteboard erasers, to tell him their team names.

A half-dozen teams square off in the event, some with politically clever names, like “Pokemon Go to the Polls,” a name that plays off then-candidate Hillary Clinton鈥檚 awkward Pokemon joke from 2016.

The team El Gatos (鈥渢he Cats鈥�), meanwhile, call out 鈥�Cinco!鈥� when asked how many presidents they think went to NESCAC schools (it鈥檚 actually tres: Coolidge went to Amherst, Pierce to Bowdoin, and Garfield to Williams). The two-person team called “The Republicans” laugh with surprise when they are able to name the most Republican candidates from the 2024 primaries (nine!).

Leah Belber 鈥�26 of Washington, D.C., makes an appearance fully in character as U.S. Sen. Claire Bennett, one of two candidates running mock presidential campaigns this fall as part of Kelley-Romano鈥檚 course 鈥淧residential Campaign Rhetoric.鈥�

Working the room as candidate Bennett, Belber takes a photo for her campaign鈥檚 social media feed. Shifting back to her student identity for the trivia competition, her team, named “Kingdom of Hawaii” as a nod to teammate Hugh Piper 鈥�25 of Honolulu, Hawaii, finishes third.

It鈥檚 clear that many of the students at the event are there because of Kelley-Romano, whether they are part of her presidential campaign rhetoric course, which has 17 students, or they know her outside of class.

They approach her, waving and laughing as they arrive, and she circles the tables while they answer, commenting on their responses without giving anything away. Engel balances her energy by standing at the front of the room, reading the questions. When asked who is better at trivia, each points to the other and they both laugh.

Last summer, Engel and Kelley-Romano were part of a working group that developed a wide-ranging slate of pre-election programming, which includes debate watch parties, talks by 乐播传媒 faculty as well as visiting scholars, experts, and information nights. The program complements the 乐播传媒 Votes initiative focused on voter education, registration, and mobilization.

鈥淥ur goal with the whole series was to be very proactive during what we see as a very challenging campaign season,鈥� says Engel. 鈥淪o there are a lot of things we鈥檙e building into this series to help students, but also faculty and staff can take advantage of learning more, and just so they feel like they have a place to come to ask questions.鈥�

We asked Engel how a trivia night fits into helping students navigate a difficult election season. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an event where we鈥檙e not really engaging with the election, but it keeps the election front of mind. And it鈥檚 an event where students feel free to ask questions about registration, accessing the vote, and other ways they can be engaged,鈥� Engel says.

It鈥檚 also about helping students gain a larger sense of familiarity with politics, opening up a dialogue, and creating community.

“I find that a lot of students at 乐播传媒 want to be politically engaged and but don’t know how: Don’t know how to find their information, don’t know how to have these conversations. So this is a super low stakes way to laugh and learn stuff, like about the electoral college,” says Kelley-Romano.

鈥淐reating an opportunity for students to come together in a heated moment in a way that lowers the temperature a little bit and maybe builds community, so that when we do have a disagreement with another student, you can fall back on, 鈥楤ut we hung out the night before,鈥欌�� Engel says.

鈥淪o when things do get tense 鈥� because politics can get tense 鈥� you have that prior connection. And it’s events like this that build those connections.鈥�