Professor of Sociology Michael Rocque has been an expert source for the media on gun violence for years and has also regularly authored opinion pieces on the topic. In the wake of the mass shootings in Lewiston, one year ago, he wrote , calling for legislative action, as well as .

But in , Rocque took a new approach to the issue, delving into the available data around weapons used for hunting versus self-defense, and calling for more nuance in discussions on how gun volume in the U.S. relates to violence.��

Raised in Maine, Rocque has been a hunter since he was a boy. He vividly recalls taking his required hunting safety course with his father at his side. As a sociologist, he’s long puzzled over why Maine, a place with a high rate of gun ownership, has had low rates of gun crimes. But as he writes now, “I was overlooking the reality that a large portion of guns [in Maine] are likely meant for killing wildlife. What’s the difference? I would argue a lot.” 

“There is a symbolic difference between owning weapons for hunting and owning weapons for sport or defense. The former is not infused with the implication of violence against humans. The latter carries with it that possibility.”

�ֲ���ý News had questions for Rocque about how this piece came about, his evolving thoughts on how a decrease in hunting nationwide might be linked to the data around guns and violence and what’s next for him in terms of scholarship.

BN: When did you realize that you’d been overlooking this differential between Maine’s relatively low gun violence rates versus its high rate of gun ownership? 

MR: I thought about this initially when the Maine Legislature was considering a group of gun laws a few years ago and the media was asking me questions about how much of a likelihood there was for a mass shooting in Maine. We have low gun crime but relatively high gun suicide rates, which is part of this puzzle. 

BN: In the piece you review some of the studies available and outline what we are missing in terms of data. There’s no national registry of guns in the U.S., or comprehensive data on the amount and type of guns that Americans own. There have been some analyses around types of firearms, such as handguns, but not much in the way of studies around a possible connection between hunting and crime.

While you as a hunter are horrified by even the idea that a gun you buy for hunting could be used to harm a human being, you write, “an argument can be made that hunting would be related to a higher propensity to commit crime. After all, hunters kill animals and are used to handling weapons. Perhaps a willingness to take a life translates to a greater willingness to cause pain across species.” But you haven’t found any data that show a conclusive connection between hunting and crime, one way or another. Does this mean you’re about to dive deeper into this as a scholar?

MR: I would very much be interested in exploring this topic further on more than a surface level. I think there are interesting logical arguments to be made about how hunting may be related to crimes. Putting data to work to better understand this relationship is important and can add nuance to the gun debate we’ve been having for 50 years.

BN: What has the response to the Slate article been so far? Have you heard from a lot of hunters? You write about being in the woods with your dad’s old hunting buddy Jack and his stance that “it’s not the guns, it’s the people” behind these mass shootings. While you write, “No, guns on their own don’t kill people, but they do allow a person intent on killing an easy way to do so,” you’re not picking a fight with him. You’re more interested in nuance, and frustrated by the way both sides, as you write, “overlook so many shades of grey.”

Have you heard from Jack since the piece was published? Or others? 

MR: I have not heard from Jack but I’m looking forward to discussing the ideas with him. I have heard from a few people who have appreciated the perspective and a few who think I missed the mark. It’s always great to write something that people are considering and thinking about even if they disagree though.

BN: You seem to draw the conclusion that the decrease in hunting nationwide — i.e., gun ownership not just for sport but also literally for filling freezers for families to eat — and the increase in gun crime might be linked. Is this right?

MR: Yes, and more specifically, if the decrease in hunting is linked to mass shootings. The connection is a bit complex and not likely to be direct, but to the extent that there are more guns in circulation now and fewer hunters suggests that those guns are meant to be used on humans, not animals.

BN: Do you mean that given that the number of hunters continues to decline, it’s hard to overlook that, overall, the purpose of gun ownership has shifted? 

MR: Yes, I think that’s a fair question to ask. We know that the NRA, for example, shifted quite significantly from advocating for gun safety initially to now primarily being concerned with making sure there are no limits to gun ownership. So I think culturally there has been a big shift in the US. .in terms of what guns mean and what they symbolize.

BN: How did this piece end up in Slate?  

MR: My �ֲ���ý colleague [Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies] Tyler Harper let me know that one of their editors was interested in essays exploring the gun debate in unique ways, and she mentioned hunting in her list of possible topics. I pitched the idea to her, and she accepted it in the spring but wanted to wait until hunting season before running it.

BN: I know you’ve been working , which sounds fascinating. Will you have to put that aside to do this work on gun ownership?

MR: The lobster project is my main priority in terms of research but the violence and gun crime topic is still one that I’m working on with some colleagues across the country. I like to diversify the topics that I work on to avoid burnout!

So much has changed.

”In about seven days, we converted it to an online environment with faculty who had largely never taught in that environment and students who had largely never learned in that environment,” says Associate Professor of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies Jonathan Cavellero.

But some things haven’t changed, say these �ֲ���ý professors, who, from their new off-campus workspaces, share insights and takeaways after two weeks of teaching their students remotely.

Video by Theophil Syslo.

The strong bond between students and their professors hasn’t weakened.��“I still care about my students — as individuals, people on an intellectual and personal journey,” says Su Langdon, visiting assistant professor of psychology. “I still want them to succeed.”

And the students are still diving into schoolwork.�� “I am still teaching a community of students that are enthusiastic about learning the Japanese language,” says Lecturer in Japanese Keiko Konoeda.

Assistant Professor of Biology Lori Banks is impressed. ”I’ve got to give it to them,” she says of her students. “They’re pulling through … They are absolutely stepping up to the plate.”

The faculty who appear in this �ֲ���ý News video, in order, are:

• Rebecca Fraser-Thill, Visiting Instructor in Psychology
• Joshua Rubin, Lecturer in Anthropology
• Keiko Konoeda, Lecturer in Japanese
• Michael Rocque, Associate Professor of Sociology
• Jonathan Cavallero, Associate Professor of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies
• Lori Banks, Assistant Professor of Biology
• Su Langdon, Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology
• Aleksandar Diamond-Stanic, Assistant Professor of Physics
• Stephanie Pridgeon, Assistant Professor of Spanish

Elizabeth Strout ’77

Elizabeth Strout on Returning to Olive Kitteridge — The New Yorker

Elizabeth Strout ’77 thought she was “done” with Olive Kitteridge, the central character in her 2008 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. Until, she told New Yorker fiction editor Deborah Triesman, one day in a European cafe when Olive “just showed up.”

Pulitzer Prize–winning author Elizabeth Strout ’77 stands with President Clayton Spencer following her 2017 Reunion discussion with Spencer. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Olive, Again, will be published in October. The sequel features Olive as she ages and her interactions with other characters deepen and change.

The books’ Maine setting, Strout told Triesman, is inextricable from its characters. “Olive — my Olive — would not be Olive if she lived anywhere but Maine,” she said. “She is like a barnacle clinging to the rock of the place.”

Read the story:

• “,” The New Yorker, July 29, 2019

See also:

• “,” Portland Press Herald, Sept. 1, 2019

Michelle Greene

�ֲ���ý College receives its largest-ever federal grant — Multiple outlets

Maine and national outlets covered the announcement that �ֲ���ý received a $3.97 million National Science Foundation grant to build a video database to support research in fields that rely on the analysis and recognition of images, such as neuroscience, cognitive science, and artificial intelligence.

Assistant Professor of Neuroscience Michelle Greene, the principal investigator for the grant, will lead the creation of a Visual Experience Database comprising some 240 hours of video clips that depict everyday human activities and, importantly, simulate human vision and track head and eye movement.

Assistant Professor of Neuroscience Michelle Greene (right) works with student researcher Hanna De Bruyn ’18 to prepare an EEG test in March 2018. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

As Greene told Maine Public, the process of collecting video clips for the database will involve trained members of the project team, including �ֲ���ý students, “going out into the world wearing head-mounted cameras, like a GoPro. We’ll be recording what the world looks like as we engage in some common, everyday activities.”

Read the stories:

• “,” Sun Journal, Aug. 16, 2019
• “,” Maine Public, Aug. 16, 2019
• “,” The Associated Press, Aug. 16, 2019

Peter Goodrich ’89

Timeout: 9/11 still a painful day for those who knew Peter Goodrich — Sun Journal

On the 18th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Sun Journal sportswriter Tony Blasi returned to the story of Peter Goodrich ’89, the track and field All-American who died on Flight 175.

Blasi had interviewed, written about, and gotten to know Goodrich as a student as he racked up track and field awards and majored in math and physics.

Peter Goodrich ’89, shown throwing the shot put for �ֲ���ý, “was a gentleman,” said classmate Greg Nespole ’89. (Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library)

This year, Blasi talked to Goodrich’s classmate Gregory Nespole ’89. “Peter was a kind, thoughtful man who was modest, though highly exceptional as a student and athlete — a gentleman,” Nespole told him.

A lawyer, Nespole has long worked in Lower Manhattan, and his office is near the 9/11 Memorial. “I lost many friends,” he said. “It is still a painful day.”

Read the story:

• “,” Sun Journal, Sept. 11, 2019

Christopher Petrella ’06

Colin Kaepernick wants you to know your rights — PAPER magazine

Chris Petrella ’06 had a in a recent issue of PAPER focusing on human rights.

The issue, called a “,” by the New York Daily News, carried the theme “Know Your Rights” and featured Q&A interviews with 10 black thought leaders, including 2018 �ֲ���ý Commencement speaker Bryan Stevenson.

Christopher Petrella ’06, director of engagement at American University’s Antiracist Research & Policy Center, makes a point during a meeting of the college’s Justice and Equity Reading Group in 2017, when he was a �ֲ���ý faculty lecturer member of the Office of Intercultural Education staff. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

The issue’s lead story, “Colin Kaepernick Wants You To Know Your Rights,” was written by Petrella along with radio host Miabelle Bocicault and scholar Ameer Hasan Loggins. The trio also wrote the introductions to each Q&A story.

The entire issue was guest-edited by Kaepernick, the football player-turned-social activist, whose current efforts with his Know Your Rights camps teaches young people their legal rights and, importantly, how to exercise them.

A friend and part of Kaepernick’s inner circle, Petrella is director of engagement at American University’s Antiracist Research & Policy Center.

Read the stories:

• “,” PAPER Magazine, Fall 2019

Michael Rocque

The U.S. Attorney got the numbers wrong. Here’s a look at D.C.’s actual incarceration rate — DCist

A recent debate in Washington, D.C., saw criminal-justice reform advocates saying that D.C. imprisons more people than any of the 50 states. At the same time, the district’s U.S. Attorney said the opposite, that it sends fewer people to prison than any state.

The news website DCist turned to criminologist Michael Rocque, associate professor of sociology at �ֲ���ý, to untangle the numbers.

Michael Rocque, associate professor of sociology. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Ultimately, you can’t compare D.C. statistics to state statistics, said Rocque, “just as I would caution against comparing NYC to Maine.”

The contrasting data points were bandied about during a public debate over a D.C. Council bill that would “expand opportunities for certain violent offenders to petition for a reduced sentence,” according to the DCist story.

After its initial claim, the U.S. Attorney backtracked and admitted that it had used federal data that only counted inmates at the D.C. jail as opposed to D.C. inmates held by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons in federal facilities across the country.

Read the story:

• “,” DCist, Sept. 10, 2019

Edmund Muskie ’36

During his 1972 presidential race, Maine’s Edmund Muskie faced at least three death threats — Sun Journal

FBI files related to Edmund Muskie ’36 and released to the Sun Journal revealed that Muskie received three death threats while campaigning for the 1972 Democratic nomination for president.

“It doesn’t appear from the 1,038 pages of material released to the Sun Journal that the FBI ever tracked down two of the culprits,” wrote the paper’s Steve Collins, who obtained the files through a Freedom of Information Act request. “Federal prosecutors opted not to charge the other, a mentally ill man quickly found by agents.”

Edmund Muskie ’36 and supporters at a 1968 campaign event, location unknown. (Burton Burinsky / Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library)

Collins also learned that Muskie had a police record (sort of). “On Dec. 28, 1965, in the tiny town of Centreville on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, Muskie was issued a criminal summons at Broadwater Farms for ‘attempting to take migratory water fowl with the aid of bait,’�ĝ writes Collins.

Muskie paid the $25 fine.

Read the story:

• “,” Sun Journal, Aug. 31, 2019

Clifford Odle

‘The Petition’ addresses black liberation and white allyship in the Old State House — WBUR

Jerome Campbell of Boston public radio station WBUR sat in on a performance of The Petition, a play by Lecturer in Theater Clifford Odle that explores the contradictions of the American Revolution when it comes to slavery.

The immersive play, in which audiences sit around a table in the Old State House Museum in Boston, is about Prince Hall, a free black man who unsuccessfully petitioned the Massachusetts assembly to abolish slavery.

Lecturer in Theater Clifford Odle (right) talks with Professor of French and Francophone Studies Kirk Read during Opening Convocation on Sept 3. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

In the play, Hall’s friend and ally Joseph Warren encourages the petition but ultimately prioritizes the “liberation” of white colonists from British rule.

It’s an example of the harm of white inaction, Odle told Campbell. “Unless you are arguing and agitating for people to have the same rights that you already have, unless you are willing to put your privilege on the line, the job is not done.”

Read the story:

• “,” WBUR, Aug. 27, 2019

Julia Sleeper-Whiting ’08

Local people who are all about the work share what motivates them — Sun Journal

A Lewiston Sun Journal article on what motivates community members’ work featured Julia Sleeper-Whiting ’08, co-founder and executive director of Tree Street Youth.

Julia Sleeper ’08 (right), co-founder and executive director of Tree Street Youth, speaks in 2016 with then-Lewiston High student Binto Matan and Gene Geiger, who supported an expansion of the youth center. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

“Work is about creating solutions to things happening around us and solving challenges in the world,” Sleeper-Whiting told reporter Beth Herman. “As long as your focus remains on the greater purpose, the work itself remains relevant and meaningful.”

Read the story:

• “,” Sun Journal, Aug. 31, 2019

Ann Kranjec Fortescue ’84

New IMAS exec seeks cross-culture experiences — The Monitor

Francisco E. Jimenez of The Monitor of McAllen, Texas, profiled Ann Kranjec Fortescue ’84, the new president and executive director of the International Museum of Art and Science.

Fortescue said her 35-year career in museums was inspired in part by a �ֲ���ý course on 19th-century European history that included a visit to a historical farm.

“We spent two days on this farm, harvesting rye with a scythe and experiencing what it was like to live as closely as we could to 19th-century peasant farmers,” she told Jimenez. “That was when a switch went off in my head in terms of, ‘I could actually work in a museum and teach with objects.’”

Read the story:

• “,” The Monitor, Sept. 3, 2019

�ֲ���ý College

New students at �ֲ���ý College told to become activists — Sun Journal

The Sun Journal covered �ֲ���ý’ Opening Convocation, in which labor activist and civil rights leader Dolores Huerta received an honorary degree and delivered the keynote address.

The 89-year-old co-founder of the United Farm Workers told the incoming Class of 2023 to learn their history and engage politically to get the country “off the road to fascism.”

Dolores Huerta acknowledges applause as she’s given an honorary degree at Opening Convocation. Ready to present her with the honorary hood is Michael Murray, Phillips Professor of Economics. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

“The wonderful thing about a democracy is that we can change things,” she said. But “nothing is going to change unless you decide to change it.”

Read the story:

• “,” Sun Journal, Sept. 3, 2019

See also:

• “Convocation speaker Dolores Huerta to the Class of 2023: ‘We have the power,’�ĝ �ֲ���ýNews, Sept. 4, 2019

James F. Amaral ’80

“We want people to bake”: Baker, food writer team up to publish book — The Lincoln County News

Jessica Clifford of Maine’s Lincoln County News interviewed Borealis Breads owner Jim Amaral ’80, who wrote a cookbook with food writer Cynthia Finnemore Simonds.

Amaral told Clifford that the goal of the book, Borealis Breads: 75 Recipes for Breads, Soups, Sides, and More, is to encourage people to bake, even if it costs him business at his popular bakery.

“It’s hard not to feel good about yourself when you bake a loaf of bread, no matter how it turns out,” Amaral said. “It’s a life-affirming thing when you bake – you’re nourishing yourself, you are nourishing your family.”

Read the story:

• “,” The Lincoln County News, Sept. 9, 2019

�ֲ���ý has announced four faculty promotions, including tenure awards, effective Aug. 1 for the 2019–20 academic year.

Travis Gould, physics, and Michael Rocque, sociology, were promoted from assistant to associate professor and were granted tenure. Krista Aronson, psychology, was promoted from associate to full professor. Anita Charles, education, was promoted from lecturer to senior lecturer.

The promotions were recommended by the faculty’s Committee on Personnel and approved by the �ֲ���ý College Board of Trustees.

“Their extraordinary talents are emblematic of the across-the-board excellence of the �ֲ���ý faculty.”

“The faculty whose promotions we are celebrating this year, in physics, sociology, education, and psychology, are not only leading scholars, but also, through their teaching, guides who lead our students and our community to engage with important ideas,” said Malcolm Hill, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty.

“Their extraordinary talents are emblematic of the across-the-board excellence of the �ֲ���ý faculty.”

Meet the four newly promoted faculty members, learn their research fields, and discover why they teach.

Associate Professor of Physics Travis Gould

Assistant Professor of Physics Travis Gould (center) works students during his Short Term course “Microcontroller Laboratory” in 2015. (Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

Appointment year: 2013

Doctoral institution: University of Maine, Orono

Fields of research: Adaptive optics, development and application of fluorescence microscopy techniques, fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, fluorescence nanoscopy, image processing, light-sheet microscopy, STED microscopy, super-resolution microscopy

Why I teach: Having been primarily a researcher before coming to �ֲ���ý, I’ve been pleasantly surprised that teaching has been such a rewarding experience. It has also been an opportunity for me to learn — as I’m trying to work concepts out for myself, I’m sharing the thought process with the students, making connections between technologies and the physics behind them. The students and I have been able to go through the process of figuring it out together.

Our students really get into the material and many of them want to apply it in a research setting. It’s been really nice to see that excitement, and to have students come from classes into my lab to do summer research, senior thesis, or independent study.

Associate Professor of Sociology Michael Rocque

Associate Professor of Sociology Michael Rocque is also the faculty liaison to the Bobcat football team. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Appointment year: 2014

Doctoral institution: Northeastern University

Fields of research: Biosocial crime prevention, corrections, criminology theory, desistance from crime, life-course criminology, race and crime, race and school discipline, risk assessment in corrections, survey research

Why I teach: I feel like I am among the luckiest people in the world to be able to call �ֲ���ý College my professional home. It is an institution that truly values educating the whole person and allows us as professors to do that in innovative and creative ways.

As professors, we get to witness and play a small part in the development of young people as they make their way from their teens into adulthood, becoming the people they will be for the rest of their lives. It is an honor to be able to do this for a living.

Professor of Psychology Krista Aronson

Professor of Psychology Krista Aronson reviews picture books during a Short Term course trip to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Mass., in 2017. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Appointment year: 2003

Doctoral institution: University of Michigan

Fields of research: Digital humanities, multicultural children’s literature, intercultural competence, racial and ethnic identity development, acculturation, immigration, psychometric assessment

Why I teach: I love my job because I get to engage amazing students in meaningful work designed to affect contemporary social problems — every day.

Whether it’s in the classroom, in the library, at school, or online through the Diverse BookFinder, I love working with �ֲ���ý students to bring theory and research into practice. This is my passion.

Senior Lecturer in Education and Director of Secondary Teacher Education Anita Charles

Senior Lecturer in Education Anita Charles teaches a course on topics in special education in 2018. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Appointment year: 2004

Doctoral institution: University of New Hampshire

Fields of research: Early and adolescent literacy, public education reform, special education, teacher education

Why I teach: I come from a long line of educators — my passion for teaching is literally in my blood! After years of teaching in K–12 venues, I now teach future educators at �ֲ���ý who aim to make the world a better place for all children and youth. I hope to cultivate in my students a love of learning and teaching in relationship with young people in the community and beyond.

I believe that the work I do encourages transformative reflection and engagement, rigorous ideological exploration tied to practical civic action, and a commitment to social justice within educational institutions.

Education is the linchpin of democracy; the courses I teach in literacy, special education, and teacher education aim to disrupt hegemonies and assumptions around systemic power structures and around concepts of ability and possibility. My hope is that students leave my courses with at least as many questions as answers.

Michael Rocque

Megan Rapinoe did not stomp on the flag. Here’s why people got outraged regardless — Newsweek

In Newsweek, Associate Professor of Sociology Michael Rocque argued that a recent Twitter flareup — in which World Cup-winning soccer player Megan Rapinoe was accused of stomping on the American flag, when she’d done no such thing — is part of a pattern of often-uninformed outrage on social media.

“The temptation to jump to outrage is especially strong on social media, where our virtual communities of the like-minded, created by choosing our ‘friends’ and whom to follow, reinforce our preconceptions and can block any facts that get in their way,” Rocque wrote.

Michael Rocque, associate professor of sociology. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Anger spreads more easily online than other emotions, and collective anger paradoxically leads to feelings of affirmation and unity, Rocque wrote. “We’re wired to crave that collective anger.”

So before taking part in an online mob, he suggested, wait a second to get the facts.

“When we see a meme, post or tweet that sparks that familiar tingle of outrage, take a minute to look into it, verify sources or, better yet, wait to see how the story unfolds once more information is gathered.”

Read the story:

• “,” Newsweek, July 12, 2019

Joyce White Vance ’82

Prosecutors pick their battles. I chose not to pursue an ICE raid in Alabama — The Washington Post

Best-known these days for her legal insights into special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and report on the 2016 elections, Joyce White Vance ’82 recently turned her attention to the massive Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid of food processing plants in Mississippi.

Former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama Joyce White Vance ’82 speaks at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on the Mueller Report on Capitol Hill in June. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

A former U.S. attorney for Alabama, Vance once declined to pursue an ICE raid in her state because she failed to “see how it would be a wise use of our resources to pull away from crimes that were affecting our community in visible ways to arrest people who, while they might have lacked legal immigration status, were going to work every day.”

Noting that it took months to plan the ICE raids, Vance wondered if there aren’t other prosecutions that might have “better served the community” than “removing parents from children — children that the parents were hard at work for, so they could help them grow into productive citizens.”

Read the story:

• “,” The Washington Post, Aug. 9, 2019

Scott Allen ’84

These doctors risked their careers to expose the dangers children face in immigrant family detention — CNN

For years, Drs. Scott Allen and Pamela McPherson did their work — inspecting facilities where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detains immigrant families — quietly.

But in 2018, the two doctors, who are medical consultants for the Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, became whistleblowers.

Since then, Allen and McPherson have appeared in myriad media outlets, including The New York Times, 60 Minutes, and The Washington Post, to call attention to the harm children suffer when confined, with or without parents, to detention facilities, such as the ICE centers at the Southwest U.S. border.

“Each passing day of continued detention of children — and no acknowledgment of the risk that we have reported — alarms me,” Dr. Scott Allen ’84 told CNN in May.

“The medical community is quite unified in opposition to the detention of children. Decades of research have shown that detention is harmful to their medical and physical health,” Allen told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in June.

For their work, Allen and McPherson, along with Scott Shuchart, received the 2019 Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling.

Read and watch:

• “,” CNN, May 23, 2019
• “,” The Washington Post, Dec. 19, 2018
• “,’�ĝ The New York Times, July 18, 2018

Stephanie Kelley-Romano

If the Democrats master this single strategy, they can defeat Trump in 2020 — Newsweek

Stephanie Kelley-Romano, associate professor of rhetoric, film, and screen studies, watched the second set of Democratic presidential primary debates in late July and concluded, in a Newsweek op-ed, that the candidates need to work on framing — defining the issues they’re talking about and the limits on their solutions.

Stephanie Kelley-Romano leads a “Television Criticism” class on March 6, 2019. (Theophil Syslo/�ֲ���ý College)

For example, debate moderators often framed discussions of universal healthcare as “taking away” private insurance in favor of government-funded care. It was only toward the end of these discussions that several candidates argued that universal healthcare would be a gain, not a loss.

“In the lead-up to 2020, Democrats must remember to take control of the framing of issues early, so they can focus on what it is they are trying to explain and why,” Kelley-Romano wrote.

Read the story:

• “,” Newsweek, Aug. 1, 2019

Dan Mills

An Artist’s Maps of Imperialism and Greed — Hyperallergic

Carl Little reviewed in��art news site Hyperallergic an exhibit at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art by Dan Mills, director of the �ֲ���ý College Museum of Art.

Recently named by Maine magazine as one of 50 Mainers who are “creating a brighter future for the state,” Mills creates “collaged maps,” displays of numbers related to war and colonialism overlaid on vintage maps.

“Mills delves into the devastating numbers and then converts them into chaotically beautiful cartographies,” wrote Little, a well-known Maine art critic and historian. “The central paradox of his map pieces is that, even as they record the woes of the world, they are stunning and seductive. The visuals engage; the numbers appall.”

Read the story:

• “,” Hyperallergic, Aug. 10, 2019

Rebecca Fraser-Thill

The five biggest myths about meaningful work — Forbes

Backed up by a recent study by �ֲ���ý College and Gallup on purposeful work, Rebecca Fraser-Thill explained in Forbes that meaning in work and a meaningful life go hand in hand.

Rebecca Fraser-Thill is the director of faculty engagement and outreach at �ֲ���ý’ Center for Purposeful Work and a lecturer in psychology. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Dispelling several myths, Fraser-Thill, a visiting instructor of psychology and the director of faculty engagement and outreach at �ֲ���ý’ Center for Purposeful Work, argued that meaningful work is subjective and individual — it does not have to be a helping profession, high status, low paying, or even different from what you’re doing now.

“Whether it’s simply asking a co-worker about her weekend or bringing a smile to customers in a coffee house, any act that makes us feel more connected to others also makes our work — and our lives — more meaningful,” she wrote.

Read the story:

• “,” Forbes, Aug. 7, 2019

John A. Elsesser ’80

Conversation with: John Elsesser — Journal Inquirer

Tim Leininger of the Manchester, Conn., Journal Inquirer sat down with John A. Elsesser ’80, who has been the town manager of Coventry, Conn., for more than three decades.

Elsesser, who over 30 years has improved Coventry’s trash and sewer systems as well as its school and recreation programs, mused that he took to local government, in part, because of his upbringing, as the son of a Baptist minister.

“We always had company over,” he told Leininger. “We were taught that you should do good for others, try to make an impact. There was a lot of pressure for me to become a minister, me and my brother and sisters actually. None of us did, but I think the issue of trying to make a positive difference was the core of that.”

Read the story:

• “,” Journal Inquirer, Aug. 3, 2019

Sarah Strong

Across space and time: translating Night on the Galactic Railroad — Metropolis

Kenji Miyazawa’s masterpiece Night on the Galactic Railroad is exceedingly difficult to translate, wrote Eric Margolis of English-language Japanese magazine Metropolis. The novel, about a lonely Italian boy who rides to heaven on a magical train, contains surreal imagery and sound effects, made-up words, and regional dialect.

In taking on the task of translation in 1991, Sarah Strong, who is now professor emerita of Japanese language and literature, sought to represent in English the emotions of reading the novel in Japanese.

“If something was weird, I wanted the reader to think, ‘That’s weird,’�ĝ Strong told Margolis. “What was funny? What was happy? What was sad? I needed to get as close as I could to really understanding the writing.”

Read the story:

• “,” Metropolis, Aug. 2, 2019

Stephanie Wade and Megan Guynes ’11

River story workshop held in Lewiston — Sun Journal

In early August, Stephanie Wade, assistant director of Writing at �ֲ���ý, ran a writing workshop at Tree Street Youth through the Androscoggin Land Trust.

Children at the youth center went fishing in the morning, then came back to write a story about their experiences, which Lewiston Sun Journal photographer Daryn Slover documented. Also on hand was Megan Guynes ’11, program director at Tree Street Youth.

See the photos:

• “,” Sun Journal, Aug. 1, 2019

Emily Kane

Winners overlook rigged games’ lack of fairness, study finds — Associated Press

For context on a Cornell study about winning and fairness, Associated Press reporter Seth Borenstein turned to Professor of Sociology Emily Kane.

In the study, nearly 1,000 people played a card came in which winners could throw out their worst cards and take other players’ best cards. The winners attributed their winning to talent and only acknowledged the unfairness of the game after they were allowed to exchange cards a second time.

The study “tells us something about privilege and about society,” Kane told Borenstein. “It reminds us how powerful perceptions are — it’s not just what is happening that matters, it’s often more a matter of what we think is happening,”

Read the story:

• “,” Associated Press, July 17, 2019

Mara Tieken

Despite West Virginia education reform, the extraction of rural youth to continue — The Register-Herald

Associate professor of education and rural education expert Mara Tieken spoke with reporter Erin Beck of West Virginia’s Register Herald about the state’s struggle to both promote college education and keep young people in the state.

Associate Professor of Education Mara Tieken teaches “Community Organizing for Social Justice” in May 2018. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Tieken said that few high school graduates in West Virginia are getting college degrees — there aren’t a lot of jobs in rural areas that require them, even as traditional jobs like coal mining are declining.

“If we’re really trying to support kids to go to college, we also need to make sure that there are jobs in rural places that can use that college education,” Tieken said.

Read the story:

• “,” The Register-Herald, Jul. 14, 2019

Karl Alexander ’12

Getting Bike Share Right Is a Balancing Act — U.S. 1

Karl Alexander ’12 spoke with Princeton, N.J., newspaper U.S. 1 about how bike-sharing companies can establish themselves responsibly in communities.

Alexander, marketing manager for Zagster, told reporter Diccon Hyatt that the bike-sharing company tries to move into places — like Princeton — that will already be receptive to more bicycles, and promote bike-friendliness from there.

“You have to take the time to look at what works best for the community, whether that’s bikes or scooters, or if it is something else entirely, like increasing walkability,” he said. “You have to think before you act. You’ll probably be better off in the long run.”

Read the story:

• “,” U.S. 1, July 10, 2019

“They cancel classes for a reason,” Britiny Lee ’19 says of the annual �ֲ���ý Martin Luther King Jr. Day observance.

The reason is that the observance is packed with a full schedule of talks, film screenings, performances, and workshops that examine contemporary human issues, from the nation as a whole to right here on campus.

This year’s theme, “Lifting Every Voice: Intersectionality and Activism,” encourages the community to look at ways racism intersects with other forms of oppression — and search together for solutions.

Watch Britiny Lee ’19 explain the variety of events and opportunities to learn at the �ֲ���ý MLK Day observance.��

Lee, a member of the MLK Day Planning Committee, says the day is a “great chance for you to go and address issues that aren’t talked about every day but that are problems on this campus, that are problems in this world — that people are accustomed to brushing over, because it hurts.”

For others, MLK Day is chance to understand the experiences and challenges that people face due to racism and other forms of oppression.

Watch students Britiny Lee ’19 and Kyle Larry ’21, Director of Compensation and Performance Melani McGuire, Assistant Professor of Sociology Michael Rocque, Associate Professor of Philosophy Susan Stark, and Professor of Sociology Emily Kane explain the value of going to MLK Day events.

“I’m able to get out of my space— my white, privileged space��— and to be able to learn about issues that people of color are having,” says Melani McGuire, a member of the MLK Day Planning Committee who is the director of compensation and performance in the Office of Human Resources.

“As a white privileged person, we’re very protected from learning that information. And it’s an opportunity to find out and understand the challenges of the people we live with.”

Says Lee, “Whatever your race is, whatever way you identify, there’s something in it for everyone.”

What makes eggs organic depends on whom you ask — PBS NewsHour

After the Trump administration rolled back a new definition of what an organic egg is, , CEO of Pete and Gerry’s Organic Eggs.

Jesse Laflamme ’00, CEO of Pete & Gerry’s Eggs, photographed in 2004. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

The new rule, created late in the Obama administration, would have required organic egg producers to give their hens access to soil. Now, producers can continue to label eggs as “organic” if hens merely have access to sunlight, such as in a porch-like enclosure.

The much-looser definition “is just so misaligned with what consumers expect of organic,” Laflamme said. “It’s going to damage the organic seal and not just in the egg category. I’m talking about all types of organic products. This is a fundamental issue of consumer expectation of organic and trust.”

Hartford Jewish Film Festival is a homecoming — Hartford Courant

Actress and alumna , a native of West Hartford, Conn., returned home for a screening of , featured in the Mandell JCC Hartford Jewish Film Festival.

In the film,��in which she stars alongside Paul Sorvino and the late Martin Landau, Dubin plays a nursing-home volunteer who grows close to Landau’s character, Abe, who is a resident of the home, as is Sorvino’s character, Phil.

The official trailer of Abe and Phil’s Last Poker Game, co-starring alumna Pamela Dubin:

“It’s about aging at every level. She deals with age. He deals with age. It’s about how our society does not deal with age,” Dubin .

Pamela Dubin and Martin Landau pose for a selfie on the set of Abe and Phil’s Last Poker Game.

“It was just the most beautiful role. I love this character,” Dubin told the .

In an , Dubin talked about how inhabiting a role is like creating a new “part of yourself. Even though it’s a different person, it comes from you.”

The film will be screened April 22 in Nyack, N.Y., as part of the .

There is clear link between mass shootings and mental illness — Los Angeles Times

Michael Rocque, assistant professor of sociology. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Efforts to “downplay the role of mental illness in mass shootings are simply misleading,” in the Los Angeles Times, pointing to media coverage that .

In fact, says Rocque, “there is a clear relationship between mental illness and mass public shootings.”

Research has shown that “individuals with major mental disorders…are more likely to commit violent acts,” says Rocque, an assistant professor of sociology. “When we focus more narrowly on mass public shootings — an extreme and, fortunately, rare form of violence — we see a relatively high rate of mental illness.”

A new kind of computer science major delves into how technology is reshaping society — Los Angeles Times

The nation’s leading liberal arts colleges, with �ֲ���ý at the fore, are introducing digital and computational courses that “push students to examine how modern technology both changes and challenges society,” says reporter Rosanna Xia of the Los Angeles Times.

“In Maine,” she writes, “�ֲ���ý College started a multidisciplinary Digital and Computational Studies program, with aims including ‘to interrogate the values and assumptions of a digitized world’ and ‘increase understanding of the power and limitations of computers in solving problems.’”

Matt Jadud, the inaugural holder of the Colony Family Professorship in Digital and Computational Studies, gives his talk, “It Begins With a Step,” in which he shared his vision and opportunities for the new DCS program. (Rene Roy for �ֲ���ý College)

Work by world-class couple evokes a physical response — Maine Sunday Telegram

A recently concluded exhibition at the �ֲ���ý Museum of Art featuring painter Robert Feintuch, a senior lecturer in arts and visual culture, and sculptor Rona Pondick was “profound, engaging, disturbing and exciting,” It was also likely “the best show in Maine this year.”

A married couple, Pondick and Feintuch are both internationally known, says Kany. Noting that Feintuch’s “touch with acrylic emulsions rivals that of the best watercolorists,” he calls one painting a “masterwork of feigned simplicity.” Pondick is a “worldwide art star,” Kany says, and her sculpture, “which combines human and animal elements, is striking, uncomfortably odd, and powerful.”

The artists’ work “digs deep in art history…but since the work elicits a physical response in the viewer, it’s accessible to anyone. The work is dazzling from a technical perspective (a little star power doesn’t hurt), and it is gorgeously displayed in the museum’s handsome main gallery.”

Sculptor Rona Pondick and painter Robert Feintuch pose in the �ֲ���ý Museum of Art before the opening of their exhibition, Heads, Hands, Feet; Sleeping, Holding, Dreaming, Dying. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Students Finding Connection & Opportunities in Research with Social Justice Bent — WCAI

Heather Goldstone, science editor at Cape Cod public radio station WCAI, , an assistant professor at Northeastern Illinois University, about her journey into biological research and why she uses a lowly worm known as C. elegans in her research.

Voisine studies aging and the diagnostics of certain diseases. Though worms are, well, worms, “we’re very similar to worms on a cellular level,” she said — a large number of neurons means a large number of behavioral responses. And worms only live for three weeks, meaning a valuable study on aging doesn’t take long.

A native of��Fort Kent, Maine, and a first-generation college-goer, Voisine originally wanted to be a medical doctor, but it was at �ֲ���ý that she decided to pursue a career in research, she told Goldstone.

At NEIU, many students have similar backgrounds — low-income, first-gen, bilingual — to her own. “I had gone through this journey of higher education and completing a Ph.D.,” she said. “I could provide some guidance to them at Northeastern that they couldn’t find at home.”

How this high school soccer coach brought a divided town together — The Today Show

Amy Bass ’92 returned to Lewiston to write One Goal, a book about how the Lewiston High School soccer team and its many Somali members won the 2015 state championship and provided a mode of unity for a town grappling with racism and xenophobia.

The story was widely publicized in February and March, appearing on , , , WNYC’s The , and , among other local and regional outlets.

“They were so open and so generous, and I’m so grateful to them,” Bass told the of the players and coaches, whom she spent months getting to know. “I’m really thrilled that I’ve gotten to know Lewiston again in this new phase of its being, because it’s an incredible place.”

At a meet-and-greet at the Maine Immigrant and Refugee Services office, Amy Bass ’92 talks with Shobow Saban, one of the key figures in her new book. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)

Yelp brings a touch of Silicon Valley to its new D.C. digs — Washington Business Journal

Washington Business Journal’s��Katie Arcieri took a tour of Yelp’s new D.C. office and its senior director and head of sales, Ali Howard ’10.

What Howard’s helped build is pretty swanky: “open-air floor plans, modern furniture, a large kitchen stocked with free snacks, a beer keg for on-tap drinks, and two game areas with a pool table, ping-pong and air hockey,” Arcieri writes.

The new space is much like Yelp’s other offices, and the expansion is part of Yelp’s effort to recruit talent in D.C. and the Southeast.

“D.C. is obviously a really vibrant, amazing city that we are thrilled to be in that’s not hard to get people to stay in,” Howard tells Arcieri. “Also, there are really smart, vibrant people in this city. We think there is an incredible talent pool that we can tap into.”

What does Yelp look for in that talent pool? Hunger, drive, and enthusiasm, Howard says.�� “If you are someone who views the world glass half-full, you’re going to be more successful here.”

North Korea Asks for Direct Nuclear Talks, and Trump Agrees — The New York Times

Evan Medeiros ’93, a top Asia-Pacific advisor to Barack Obama, told ��that a proposed meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un would be risky.

“Kim will never give up his nukes,” Mr. Medeiros said. “Kim played [South Korean president] Moon [Jae-in] and is now playing Trump.”

It’s a busy time for Asia-Pacific experts: The Trump administration imposed tariffs on China, Chinese president Xi Jinping was granted additional , and North Korea threatened a nuclear strike, then asked for talks.

Medeiros��has been quoted widely in recent weeks, in publications ranging from to to

Roller Derby: Kate Burakowski back on track in Providence league — SouthCoastToday.com

“My whole life is one big track analogy,” Kate Burakowski ’00 ’s Bill Abramson, who profiled the �ֲ���ý track star turned ESL teacher turned roller derby maven. “It teaches determination, perseverance and not giving up.”

Burakowski had a “versatile” track career at �ֲ���ý before moving to China to teach English. She earned a graduate degree in the U.K. and worked in the art world, then returned to Massachusetts as an art teacher. She spends her spare time competing as “Hellderly Spinster” with the Sakonnet River Roller Rats and the Killah Bees.

Squash, with a side of homework and dinner — Providence Journal

The Providence Journal’s Christine Dunn , a Boston-based squash program for middle and high school students that also feeds players and supports them academically, started a team in Providence, R.I.

Rodney Galvao ’14, who joined SquashBusters at age 12, was brought on to run the team, which recruited 28 sixth-graders based on “their kindness and respect for others and for their effort in the classroom and for the sport.”

“The backs of SquashBusters T-shirts are printed with the words: College, Character, Health,” Dunn writes. “Since 2003, 98 percent of program graduates have enrolled in college, and 80 percent have completed their bachelor’s degrees within six years.”

Why Do The Country’s Top Racers Want This Man As Their Coach? — FloBikes

Cycling news and livestreaming platform FloBikes called Al Donahue ’99 for cyclocross.

Donahue, who lives in Easthampton, Mass., got into cyclocross, a form of cycling that involves racing on a variety of terrains and often carrying the bike over certain obstacles, in his 20s. His first client was Jeremy Powers, one of the top cross racers in the country.

Donahue uses his �ֲ���ý biology education to understand the physiology of training for cyclocross racing, but he also “incorporates elements of yoga, meditation, mindfulness, and stretching in addition to their structured workouts on the bike.”

“That meditative state teaches people to get in more of a zone, in a flow state,” Donahue told FloBikes. “There’s a huge mental component to the higher-level competitions, and your brain — most people’s brains — will try to sabotage them. Riders who have a meditative practice can handle the stress of bigger races better.”

Each year when I ask faculty what they’re excited to teach, there’s a shared vibe — optimism for a new academic year and new students — in their different answers. But this year, I heard something new: urgency.

Associate Professor of History Joe Hall, for example, feels the force of current events as he launches his course on .

Hall says that following “horrible misreadings” of U.S. history by President Trump and following the violence in Charlottesville, his course “offers a wonderful opportunity” to set the record straight.

Current events, he says, offer the chance to talk “not just about understanding why history matters, which is frankly true of any history course, but to talk about the origins of slavery, which are at the center of this country, and later the founding of the Confederacy and race relations that still make our lives so complicated.”

Ian Shin, a lecturer in history and C3 Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, is bringing a new course to the college, .

As noted in the Catalog, the course will suggest that the “contemporary discourse of Asian Americans as the ‘model minority’ obscures a long history of struggles for equality and glosses over the community’s rich diversity.”

Ian Shin, a lecturer in history and C3 Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, brings a new course to the college, “Making Asian America: Citizenship, Identity, Belonging.” (Jay Burns/�ֲ���ý College)

“To my understanding, this is the first time this topic has been taught at �ֲ���ý,” Shin says. “So there are a lot of stories that haven’t been told and a hunger among students of Asian descent to hear these stories.”

Moreover, he says, the course “offers a new way to think about U.S. history” by setting aside the usual narratives of American history, ones that often focus on transatlantic immigrants, to take a new perspective, looking at those who came “over the Pacific from Asia and Southeast Asia” to America.

Jane Costlow, the Clark A. Griffith Professor of Environmental Studies, says she’s been “inspired by where we are right now” to shake up her environmental humanities course, ““

So while students will still read canonical writers like Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, and Edward Abbey, she’s been introducing new and more diverse voices, such as those in “” essays edited by cultural geographer and writer Carolyn Finney and published in Orion magazine in 2016.

Costlow says that her love of writers like Thoreau, Muir, and Abbey includes “fighting with them sometimes”; for example, dealing with Abbey’s misogyny. But then “there are his moments of insight into the world, where his orneriness is directed against things that drive me nuts, too, such as materialism and superficiality.”

“I tell students that I hope they will discover writers who resonate with them who are, at some level very different from they are.”

Assistant Professor of Sociology Michael Rocque is keen to teach his own new course, “.”

Rocque says his course will go beyond the criminal justice system to look at the “philosophy and social reasons of why we need to control and sometimes correct behavior.”

A criminologist, Rocque has correctional-system experience, including a stint as director of research for the Maine Department of Corrections. “I plan to use some of my connections, on both the inmate and staff sides, to show students an inside perspective on that whole world.”

Professor of Sociology Francesco Duina is the author of the forthcoming book, Broke and Patriotic: Why Poor Americans Love Their Country. (H. Jay Burns/�ֲ���ý College)

Rocque’s colleague Professor of Sociology Francesco Duina, author of the forthcoming book (Stanford University Press), says it’s a great time to teach his course on . “Very timely,” he says. “Given the current political climate, I think students will feel interested in topics such as national identity and populism.”

Rebecca Corrie, the Phillips Professor of Art and Visual Culture, is excited to teach her long-running First-Year Seminar “.”

The course looks beyond the familiar public face of museums to the complex world of collecting: “the art market, art law, and their sinister underside, art crime.”

Rebecca Corrie, the Phillips Professor of Art and Visual Culture, teaches the First-Year Seminar “Fakers, Forgers, Looters, Thieves.” (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

It’s a “topic that keeps on giving,” she says, referencing two recent news stories, one about the on the suspicion that it was looted from Italy in the 1970s and the other about an of 13 priceless pieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Like all �ֲ���ý geologists, Professor of Geology Mike Retelle is happiest when he’s out in the field, which is why he’s jazzed to teach his course on .

“It’s an intensive field laboratory course that gets students working like geologists,” he says. The class will visit what Retelle calls his “classic sites in Maine,” on the coast, rivers, and lakes. “They get a chance to get their hands dirty, literally.”

Assistant Professor of Physics Aleks Diamond-Stanic looks forward to his newly created First-Year Seminar on .

“We’re doing readings on stereotype threat, on , and how to be successful in sciences, and we’ll have discussions to help students contextualize various current events.”

Marcus Bruce ’77, the Benjamin E. Mays Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies, took a broader perspective than his colleagues.

He’s teaching courses on from 1550 to 1840 and , plus a for majors in religious studies.

Professor Emeritus of Sociology Sawyer Sylvester talks with Professor of Religious Studies Marcus Bruce ’77 after Convocation on Sept. 5, 2017. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

For Bruce, excitement comes from “teaching a new group of students. It’s always interesting to see what they bring to the classroom.”

As he engages his students in dialogue, “something happens in that moment when you exchange ideas,” Bruce says. “You tell them a little bit about America’s religious history, and they bring their insights and perspectives. And that keeps it fresh.”