“I’m damned lonesome,” a research subject in his 80s told Grace Ellrodt ’20 last year. “But I don’t know what the hell to do about it. I just don’t know.”

For sure, there’s no one-size-fits-all cure for loneliness, a condition particularly troublesome for older people. But with the help of that widowed Maine farmer and more than 50 other folks who shared personal experiences or professional expertise, Ellrodt has assembled an impressive new resource for lonely elders and those who support them.

“” is first and foremost an online gallery of photographs and stories depicting the 29 people who shared their own experiences with Ellrodt, an environmental studies major from Lenox, Mass. Loneliness was a central theme in the interviews that she conducted in and around Lewiston, Maine, and during study abroad in Temuco, Chile. (The photos are also hers.)

“I’ve interviewed older adults who told me that loneliness is like a darkness, you’re just alone in the darkness,” says Ellrodt. But on the other hand, there’s the woman in her late 70s who’s earning a college degree, is a social activist, and who says that “loneliness just exists in your mind, essentially. You just have to get out, get moving.”

Bringing a strong record of community engagement to The EngAging Project, Ellrodt, a recipient of the Harward Center’s 2020 Outstanding Community-Engaged Academic Work Award, addresses a widespread problem linked to adverse effects both psychological and physical. (A Brigham Young University researcher .)

“Loneliness has been shown to contribute to heart disease, loss of motor control, dementia, depression, and anxiety,” says Ellrodt, whose website describes six broad causes of elder loneliness, from financial insecurity to a disconnection from accustomed social and occupational roles.

In its “Takeaways” and “Toolkits” sections, respectively, the extensively researched EngAging Project proposes countermeasures against those causes; and it suggests strategies, comprehensive lists of action steps, and outside sources of assistance, all organized by specific constituencies, whether older adults themselves or local officials or policymakers.

An overriding theme of the project, though, is the role of place, specifically the importance of place in providing opportunities for social engagement among older folks, Ellrodt says. (Following the federal definition of older adult, her focus is people age 65 and up.)

“It’s a way of saying, ‘Let’s not focus on the public health crisis and epidemic of loneliness when aging is already characterized by problems.’ Instead, let’s make it about encouraging social engagement.”

And Ellrodt focuses on the growing policy emphasis on so-called aging in place, where older people are encouraged to stay in their homes as long as possible. “But loneliness seeps into these arrangements,” she says. “If this is to be a sustainable trend, we’ll need expanded state and local support.”

Still, the EngAging Project positions lonely older people as the prime movers in their own healing. “While they need support, such as infrastructure and emotional resources, it has to be their own process and they have to be in control,” she says.

The website was Ellrodt’s major project for an environmental studies course that substitutes substantial published writing for the customary senior thesis. The project’s focus, she allows, may seem unconventional for environmental studies — but she sees at least two strong connections. One is the considerable overlap between ES and the field of public health (the area in which she hopes to make her career, perhaps through journalism).

Then there’s sociologist Eric Klinenberg’s concept of “social infrastructure” — in Ellrodt’s words, “the programs and physical places where we form bonds, where social cohesion happens. 

“And one of the main things Klinenberg talks about is ‘third spaces,’ places like libraries and public parks, but also the diner down the street.” That widowed farmer, pre-COVID-19, found friends and companionship at The Settlement, a gas station-cum-restaurant in the town of Sabattus.

Francis Eanes, visiting assistant professor of environmental studies, taught this semester’s edition of that capstone course, “Environmental Writing in the Public Sphere.” And Ellrodt, he says, “reasonably makes the case that ‘social infrastructure,’ the web of social networks and institutional offerings that foster human connections vital for staving off loneliness, is inextricably bound up with the built environment.” These are integral parts of ES, he says.

Begun as a yearlong thesis, The EngAging Project morphed into Ellrodt’s final project in the capstone, for which seniors develop an online portfolio of writings for public consumption. To Eanes, the project exemplifies the intentions of a course designed to unpack complex socio-environmental phenomena for diverse constituencies, including “aging lonely individuals, caregivers, families, and practitioners and policymakers,” he says.

“Some loneliness is natural, but long-term and intense loneliness is unnecessary suffering. We have a community responsibility to intervene.”

Ellrodt has been both “artful and rigorous” in fusing solid research with rich human stories, Eanes says. She strikes a “sensible balance between asset- and deficit-based approaches” by offsetting the real harms of elder loneliness — harms rooted in economic and societal structures — with depictions of “the amazing personal qualities and solutions that her aging subjects offer.”

Ellrodt’s interest in public health comes in part from her parents, who work at the Berkshire Medical Center, in Pittsfield. Her father is Dr. Gray Ellrodt, who chairs the Department of Medicine at the hospital. She recalls, “We’d sit at the kitchen table and he would take a napkin and draw charts of the different social determinants of public health trends that we were seeing” in Berkshire County, which shares certain economic and demographic qualities with the Lewiston-Auburn region. 

A philosophy minor, Ellrodt also points to a biomedical ethics course at �ֲ���ý as informing her thoughts. “Elder loneliness isn’t just a societal ‘resource strain,’” she says. “It represents an injustice. Some loneliness is natural, but long-term and intense loneliness is unnecessary suffering. We have a community responsibility to intervene.”

She zeroed in on elder loneliness as a research topic while studying public health practices in Chile in 2019. “In conversations with my host mother, herself an older adult, as well as my own dad, we arrived at this question of loneliness among older people as a public health crisis.” And that question found its way into the interviews she conducted among Temuco residents.

Those subjects included indigenous people and European descendants; and in Maine, in addition to European descendants whose local roots go back generations, Ellrodt talked to older adults from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mexico, and Brazil.

“There’s a unity” among all the subjects in terms of how they comprehend loneliness, Ellrodt says, “but there’s also such a disparate experience. And so I’ve been navigating it, really, just by letting interviewees define aging for themselves, define loneliness for themselves, and set out what brings them social integration, or prevents that.

“And then once they’ve each articulated that for themselves, I’m allowed to come in and find patterns and differences.” 

So, even as The EngAging Project is abundantly researched, Ellrodt has been deliberate about putting storytelling at the center of it. While there are patterns of experience common to humans confronting loneliness, even across cultural differences, ameliorating loneliness is always an individual journey, and storytelling reflects diversity and individuality.

“What kinds of social bonds are you looking to form?” she wonders. “What is your identity? What is your life history and how is that being interrupted by the process of aging?”

In her profiles, Ellrodt combined audio and photos with the texts. “Visuals and voices make the storyteller human — more than worthy of our eyes and ears,” she says. She framed most of the photos, she adds, to conceal the subject’s identity. “That was not only as a comfort for the photographed, already sharing so much,” she says, “but also lets the subject take on qualities of any older person you may love, or wonder about as you flit by, or imagine yourself becoming in time.”

Something Ellrodt has heard a lot during the past few months is that the COVID-19 pandemic has made The EngAging Project more relevant than ever. But the truth is just a semantic difference away: The problem of loneliness among older adults was no less relevant back when they were isolated not by a pandemic but by infirmity, distance, or a lack of money.

“While we see an alarming swell in loneliness right now, loneliness ran deep and wide through older adult communities long before COVID,” Ellrodt says, “and it will remain long after COVID.”

What mental health issues affect child refugees? How can physicians in Maine treat diseases typically found in Africa? What cultural barriers come between refugees from Africa and their American healthcare providers?

These are among topics at issue Oct. 15-17 as �ֲ���ý College hosts African Refugee Health: Best Practices, a regional conference also sponsored by, and presenting from, St. Mary’s Health System and the Central Maine Medical Family in Lewiston, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Following a poster presentation of public health research, conference registration begins at 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 15, on the ground floor of the college’s Pettengill Hall, 4 Andrews Road (Alumni Walk). The keynote presentations (see below) and a are open to the public at no cost, but advance tickets are required.

.

Attendance fees for the conference workshops vary, but undergraduate students and �ֲ���ý faculty may attend at no cost and scholarships are available for African attendees. To register for the paid presentations, to obtain tickets for free events or to learn more, visit or contact Brenda Pelletier at this bpelleti@bates.edu.

Offering keynote presentations at 6:30 p.m. Friday are Dr. Patricia Walker, medical director at HealthPartners Center for International Health in Minnesota and co-editor of the pioneering textbook Immigrant Medicine; and Dr. Martin Cetron, director of the CDC’s Division of Global Migration and Quarantine, which handles refugee health at the federal level.

Closing the conference with a keynote address at 11 a.m. Sunday is Dr. Richard Mollica, director of the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma and author of Healing Invisible Wounds: Paths to Hope and Recovery in a Violent World.

The public events take place in the Olin Arts Center at �ֲ���ý, 75 Russell St. Presenting research in health, public health and medicine, the poster session precedes the conference at 4 p.m. on the 15th in Perry Atrium, Pettengill Hall.

Conference background

The conference’s nearly three dozen presenters include healthcare workers from across the country and beyond; faculty in diverse disciplines from �ֲ���ý and other colleges; and interpreters, social workers, counselors and other experts in breaching cultural factors that impede refugee access to healthcare. (See bios of conference presenters.)

The roster is “unique in that we’ve tapped the expertise of the population we are trying to serve by recruiting African healthcare providers and refugees” as presenters, explains Dr. Alice Haines, a conference organizer. A primary care physician in Lewiston, Haines has worked with African patients here and at a refugee camp in Daadab, Kenya, that hosts hundreds of thousands of mostly Somali refugees.

She adds, “We’re pleased to partner with CDC for this event, and hope it will provide tools to help clinicians and public health professionals better serve refugees in their communities.”

The conference also stands out because it will provide both clinical and public health perspectives on the issue of refugee healthcare. “The physicians alone, the nurses alone, the anthropologists and public-health people alone can’t do this,” says �ֲ���ý psychology professor Kathryn Low, another conference organizer.

“It takes everybody to solve the problem” of providing healthcare to people who are poor, may not speak or read English and who remain unaccustomed to Western medicine and society.

Haines and Low put the event together with Walker, an internationally recognized expert on refugee and immigrant healthcare. The three “wanted to add to the understanding of the distinctive medical and mental health needs of African refugees,” says Haines, “and celebrate the knowledge and effort amassed in Maine, particularly in Lewiston and Auburn,” over years of African settlement in the state.

The mechanisms of healthcare for immigrants and refugees “have had to be invented as we go along,” she says. “I think this community has done pretty well at welcoming them.”

Public health in the �ֲ���ý curriculum

Low is the coordinator of the college’s new general-education concentration in public health, which ranges across the disciplines from anthropology and biology to politics and women and gender studies. Reflecting the college’s ethos of community engagement, the concentration is distinctive for an institution of �ֲ���ý’ size and, with its emphasis on local engagement, unique among the college’s peers in New England.

Public health as taught at �ֲ���ý “has a very strong social justice piece,” Low says. “People shouldn’t face obstacles to getting care.”

The Maine Community Foundation and the Office of Minority Health at the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention are also providing support for the conference.

Hello from �ֲ���ý! Here is a preview of public events at the college in October 2010. Except as noted, these events are open to the public at no charge. (Where there is an admission fee, the cost for the general public appears first, followed by the cost for students and seniors.)

For a printable version: If you’re viewing this in the e-mail update, please click the headline above to go to the Events Schedule website. At the website, go to the bottom of the page and click “print”  (as in “print this page”) for the printable format.

For up-to-date events information throughout the month, see our page. Questions or comments? Contact events editor Doug Hubley at this calendar@bates.edu.

Friday, Oct. 1

4:15pm

Q&A with playwright-songwriter Ethan Lipton: , who performs with his band in an evening show today, offers a question-and-answer session expected to range through myriad aspects of living a creative life, from the specifics of crafting lyrics vs. spoken lines to the business of creativity.

Olin Arts Center, Room 104

6pm

Volleyball vs. Amherst.
Alumni Gymnasium

7:30pm

Concert: Ethan Lipton and His Orchestra. Likened to “a peek into a curio shop from a hundred years ago” by The Village Voice, songwriter-playwright offers musically spare, conversationally scripted songs about bicycles, life, death, guilt and pets. Tickets are $10 and available at www.batestickets.com. FMI: 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.
Olin Arts Center Concert Hall

8pm

Global Lens film: Please note that Saturday screenings of the Global Lens series have been discontinued, but 6pm Monday shows are now offered. And the location has changed for all Global Lens screenings: The new location is the Ronj, �ֲ���ý’ student-run coffeehouse. Tonight, the international series presents (Peru, 2008, 91 min.). Sponsored by the �ֲ���ý College Museum of Art. Admission: $5. FMI: 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.
The Ronj, 32 Frye St.

Saturday, Oct. 2

Time TBA

Women’s golf: �ֲ���ý Scramble.
Martindale Country Club, Auburn

1:30pm

Volleyball vs. Middlebury.
Alumni Gymnasium

Sunday, Oct. 3

5:30pm

Spiritual gathering: Protestant worship service, emphasizing gospel music led by the gospel choir. The Rev. William Bill Blaine-Wallace, multifaith chaplain, leads the service with faculty, staff and students participating. All are welcome. FMI: 207-786-8272.
�ֲ���ý College Chapel

7:30pm

Concert: Naomi Shelton and The Gospel Queens. This acclaimed brings a soulful blend of gospel and R&B to �ֲ���ý. The �ֲ���ý Gospelaires, a student ensemble, opens. Learn more. Tickets are $16/$8 and available at www.batestickets.com. FMI: 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.
Olin Arts Center Concert Hall

Monday, Oct. 4

6pm

Global Lens film: (see Oct. 1).
The Ronj, 32 Frye St.

7pm

Lecture: In Evolution of Morality, economist Herbert proposes that human morality results from a dynamic interplay of culture and genes. Hosted by the mathematics department and sponsored by the Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Program, which makes distinguished scholars available to colleges and universities with Phi Beta Kappa chapters. FMI: 207-786-6146.
Pettengill Hall, Keck Classroom (G52)

7:30pm

Lecture: Living Downstream: A Scientist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment by Sandra , who wrote the first published work correlating data on toxic releases with data from cancer registries. The annual Otis Lecture is made possible by the Philip J. Otis Endowment at �ֲ���ý. Free admission, but tickets required. FMI: 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.
Olin Arts Center Concert Hall

Tuesday, Oct. 5

12:30pm

Noonday Concert: Performer TBA. FMI: Contact 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.
Olin Arts Center Concert Hall

4pm

Men’s soccer vs. Southern Maine.
Russell Street Field

Wednesday, Oct. 6

6–9�賾

Figure drawing sponsored by the �ֲ���ý College Museum of Art. Artists, bring drawing board and supplies! Easels provided. Admission: $7 (free for �ֲ���ý students).
Olin Arts Center, Room 259

7:30pm

Concert: . Violinist Chiara Banchini leads this award-winning European early-music ensemble in chamber works and concerti by Albinoni, Muffat, Albicastro and J.S Bach. Tickets are $10/$4 and available at www.batestickets.com. FMI: 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.
Olin Arts Center Concert Hall

Thursday, Oct. 7

4:15pm

Lecture: Episodic Memory in Primates by Bennett Schwartz, a specialist in memory and a psychology professor at Florida International University. Episodic memory means our ability to recollect individual events from our personal past. Often considered the sole domain of human beings, recent research suggests that other animals are capable of remembering episodically as well. Sponsored by the psychology department.
Pettengill Hall, Room G52

Friday–Sunday Oct. 8–10

Parents and Family Weekend: See the full weekend schedule.

Friday, Oct. 8

8pm

Contradance: Traditional New England folk dancing to the band Bustopher Jones. No experience needed; all dances taught and called. Beginners’ workshop at 7:30. Admission $5. Sponsored by the Freewill Folk Society.
Chase Hall Lounge

8pm

Global Lens film: Please note that Saturday screenings of the Global Lens series have been discontinued, but 6pm Monday shows are now offered. And the location has changed for all Global Lens screenings: The new location is the Ronj, �ֲ���ý’ student-run coffeehouse. Tonight, the international film series presents Masquerades (Algeria, 2008, 92 min.). Sponsored by the �ֲ���ý College Museum of Art. Admission: $5. FMI: 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.
The Ronj, 32 Frye St.

Saturday, Oct. 9

9am

Men’s tennis: Wallach Invitational
Wallach Tennis Center

11am

Men’s soccer vs. Williams.
Russell Street Field

Noon

Dance performance: The �ֲ���ý College Modern Dance Company features work by students, faculty members Rachel Boggia and Debi Irons, and guest choreographer Monica Bill Barnes. Free; no reservations. The show will last just under an hour.
Schaeffer Theatre

Field hockey vs. Williams.
Campus Avenue Field

1pm

Football vs. Williams, in the first official game on the newly renovated , featuring a state-of-the-art FieldTurf playing surface and a new scoreboard and grandstand.
Garcelon Field

2pm

Spiritual gathering: A celebration of the Hindu holiday of Navratri with Kirtan chanting led by Unitarian Universalist minister Ben Fowler. Details are tentative; contact the Multifaith Chaplaincy for more information at 207-786-8272 or this aberard@bates.edu.
�ֲ���ý College Chapel

Women’s soccer vs. Williams.
Russell Street Field

3:30pm

Exhibition opening: Les Femmes du Maroc: An Exhibition by Lalla Essaydi. Nick Capasso, senior curator at the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, offers a gallery talk on Essaydi and the exhibition (described under �ֲ���ý College Museum of Art below). Reception follows. Sponsored by the museum, the Davis Family Foundation and the Harward Center for Community Partnerships. FMI: 207-786-6158 or this museum@bates.edu.
Olin Arts Center, �ֲ���ý College Museum of Art

7:30pm

Concert: The Rest Is Music, a program of new work by the �ֲ���ý Composers Society, a campus-wide community of composers and musicians. Free, but tickets required. FMI: 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.
Olin Arts Center Concert Hall

Sunday, Oct. 10

Time TBA

Men’s golf: �ֲ���ý Invitational.
Martindale Country Club, Auburn

9am

Men’s tennis: Wallach Invitational.
Wallach Tennis Center

Noon

Dance performance: Modern Dance Company (see Oct. 9).
Schaeffer Theatre

5:30pm

Spiritual gathering: Protestant worship service (see Oct. 3).
�ֲ���ý College Chapel

Monday, Oct. 11

4:30pm

Lecture: Helping People and Orangutans Through Video, a presentation of Phillips Fellowship-supported work by Robert Little ’12. Sponsored by the dean of the faculty’s office. FMI: 207-753-6952.
Chase Hall Lounge

6pm

Global Lens film: Masquerades (see Oct. 8).
The Ronj, 32 Frye St.

7:30pm

Reading: Novelist Debra Spark, author of The Ghost of Bridgetown and Good for the Jews. The Language Arts Live series is sponsored by the English department, the Learning Associates Program, the �ֲ���ý Humanities Fund, the programs in African American studies and American cultural studies, and the John Tagliabue Poetry fund. FMI: 207-786-6326 or 207-786-6256, or this rfarnsworth@bates.edu or this eosucha@bates.edu.
Chase Hall, Skelton Lounge

Tuesday, Oct. 12

12:30pm

Noonday Concert: Music’s Quill. FMI: 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.
Olin Arts Center Concert Hall

4pm

Men’s soccer vs. Amherst.
Russell Street Field

Wednesday, Oct. 13

3:30pm

Women’s soccer vs. Maine-Farmington.
Russell Street Field

4:30pm

Lecture: Unite for Sight by Emily Howe ’11 and Beyond the Culture of War by Theodore Sutherland ’11 are presentations of Phillips Fellowship-supported work. Sponsored by the dean of the faculty’s office. FMI: 207-753-6952.
Chase Hall Lounge

5pm

Field hockey vs. Southern Maine
Campus Avenue Field

6pm

Lecture: Artist Wally Reinhardt discusses his work in the exhibition Metamorphoses: A Collaboration with Ovid (described under �ֲ���ý College Museum of Art below). Sponsored by the museum, the programs in classical and medieval studies and interdisciplinary studies, and the Division of Humanities. FMI: 207-786-6158 or this museum@bates.edu.
Olin Arts Center, Room 104

6–9�賾

Figure drawing sponsored by the �ֲ���ý College Museum of Art (see Oct. 6).
Olin Arts Center, Room 259

7:30pm

Panel discussion: Wrestling with School Reform in Maine: National Strategies, Local Realities. Panelists include Glenn Cummings of the U.S. Department of Education; Norm Fruchter of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, Brown University; and representatives from Maine school systems. Part of the Harward Center for Community Partnerships’ Civic Forum series. FMI: 207-786-6202.
Edmund S. Muskie Archives

Thursday, Oct. 14

7:30pm

Concert: Two beloved chamber works — Dvorák’s “American” Quartet and Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet — are performed by two prominent names in Maine music, the DaPonte String Quartet and pianist Chiharu Naruse of �ֲ���ý’ applied music faculty. Admission is free, but tickets required. FMI: 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.
Olin Arts Center Concert Hall

Friday, Oct. 15

4pm

Poster session: Celebrating the development of an undergraduate public health concentration at �ֲ���ý, the poster presentation Health, Public Health and Medicine precedes the African Refugee Health conference (see next item).
Pettengill Hall, Perry Atrium

6:30pm

Conference: Keynote lectures by prominent experts in refugee healthcare begin the three-day conference African Refugee Health: Best Practices: A Clinical and Public Health Perspective. Speakers are: Martin Cetron, director of the CDC’s Division of Global Migration and Quarantine, and Patricia Walker, medical director of the Center for International Health in Minnesota. Sponsored by �ֲ���ý; the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; the Central Maine Medical Family; and St. Mary’s Health System. Space is limited and reservations required. Contact 786-6400 or this bpelleti@bates.com, or visit the website.
Olin Arts Center Concert Hall

7:30pm

Theater: Fuddy Meers by David Lindsay-Abaire. For an independent study, Michelle Schloss ’12 directs this story of an amnesiac who awakens each morning as a blank slate on which her husband and teenage son must re-imprint the facts of her life. Free; no reservations. FMI: 207-786-6161.
Black Box Theater

8pm

Global Lens film: Please note that Saturday screenings of the Global Lens series have been discontinued, but 6pm Monday shows are now offered. And the location has changed for all Global Lens screenings: The new location is the Ronj, �ֲ���ý’ student-run coffeehouse. Tonight, the international film series presents Leo’s Room (Uruguay, 2009, 92 min.). Sponsored by the �ֲ���ý College Museum of Art. Admission: $5. FMI: 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.
The Ronj, 32 Frye St.

Saturday, Oct. 16

11am

Men’s soccer vs. Wesleyan.
Russell Street Field

Noon

Field hockey vs. Wesleyan.
Campus Avenue Field

1pm

Football vs. Wesleyan.
Garcelon Field

2pm

Spiritual gathering: A celebration of the Hindu holiday of Navratri with yoga and Kirtan chanting. Details are tentative; contact the Multifaith Chaplaincy for more information at 207-786-8272 or this aberard@bates.edu.
Benjamin Mays Center

Women’s soccer vs. Wesleyan.
Russell Street Field

7pm

Performance: Performers from Africa appear in conjunction with the weekend African Refugee Health conference. Featured are spoken word poetry by IBe, readings by Somali poet/playwright Omar Ahmed and Somali rap by Jamal and Friends. Space is limited and reservations required. Contact 786-6400 or this bpelleti@bates.com, or visit the website.
Olin Arts Center Concert Hall

7:30pm

Performance: Fuddy Meers (see Oct. 15).
Black Box Theater

Sunday, Oct. 17

11am

Lecture: Dr. Richard Mollica, director of the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma, offers a keynote address on a topic TBA to conclude the conference African Refugee Health: Best Practices (see Oct. 15). Space is limited and reservations required. Contact 786-6400 or this bpelleti@bates.com, or visit the website.
Olin Arts Center Concert Hall

2pm

Performance: Fuddy Meers (see Oct. 15).
Black Box Theater

5:30pm

Spiritual gathering: Protestant worship service (see Oct. 3).
�ֲ���ý College Chapel

6pm

Spiritual gathering: A celebration of the Hindu holiday of Navratri with traditional prayers, dance and food. Details are tentative; contact the Multifaith Chaplaincy for more information at 207-786-8272 or this aberard@bates.edu.
Benjamin Mays Center

7:30pm

Concert: After an amazing performance at �ֲ���ý in 2008, Israeli bassist Avishai Cohen returns with his highly personal Aurora project, reflecting Israel as a crossroads of many cultures. Tickets are $12/6 and available at . FMI: 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.
Olin Arts Center Concert Hall

Monday, Oct. 18

Time TBA

Poetry reading: Meena Alexander, author of six highly regarded volumes of poetry and diverse other works, is tentatively scheduled to read from her writings. Please visit the page for further information, or call 207-786-8294.
Benjamin Mays Center

6pm

Global Lens film: Leo’s Room (see Oct. 15).
The Ronj, 32 Frye St.

7:30pm

Lecture: Taiwan’s Health Reforms: Lessons for the U.S. and Maine by William Hsiao, a professor of economics at the Harvard School of Public Health and architect of Taiwan’s universal health care system. Part of the Harward Center for Community Partnerships’ Civic Forum series. FMI: 207-786-6202.
Edmund S. Muskie Archives

Tuesday, Oct. 19

12:30pm

Noonday Concert: Performer TBA. FMI: Contact 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.
Olin Arts Center Concert Hall

3:30pm

Women’s soccer vs. St. Joseph’s.
Russell Street Field

5pm

Field hockey vs. New England College.
Campus Avenue Field

Wednesday, Oct. 20

6–9�賾

Figure drawing sponsored by the �ֲ���ý College Museum of Art (see Oct. 6).
Olin Arts Center, Room 259

Wednesday–Friday, Oct. 20–22

Fall Recess: No classes, but administrative offices remain open.

Sunday, Oct. 24

5:30pm

Spiritual gathering: Protestant worship service (see Oct. 3).
�ֲ���ý College Chapel

Monday, Oct. 25

4pm

Lecture: Kiado Cruz, community organizer for a food-sovereignty network in Mexico, speaks on sustainable agriculture, community organizing and effects of U.S. trade policies and increasing privatization. Organized by the Latin American studies concentration faculty with support from a Mellon Innovation Grant, the environmental studies program and the anthropology department. FMI: 207-786-8295.
Pettengill Hall, Room G21

Tuesday, Oct. 26

12:30pm

Noonday Concert: Jazz by two members of the faculty, guitarist John Smedley of the physics department and pianist Tom Snow, director of the �ֲ���ý Jazz Band. FMI: 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.
Olin Arts Center Concert Hall

Wednesday, Oct. 27

6–9�賾

Figure drawing sponsored by the �ֲ���ý College Museum of Art (see Oct. 6).
Olin Arts Center, Room 259

Thursday, Oct. 28

7:30pm

Reading: One of Maine’s best-known poets and poetry advocates, Wesley McNair has written eight collections of poetry including this year’s Lovers of the Lost. For more about the Language Arts Live series, see Oct. 11.
Chase Hall, Skelton Lounge

Friday, Oct. 29

3pm

Field hockey vs. Colby.
Campus Avenue Field

4pm

Men’s soccer vs. Colby.
Russell Street Field

8pm

Global Lens film: Please note that Saturday screenings of the Global Lens series have been discontinued, but 6pm Monday shows are now offered. And the location has changed for all Global Lens screenings: The new location is the Ronj, �ֲ���ý’ student-run coffeehouse. Tonight, the international film series presents My Tehran for Sale (Iran, 2009, 97 min.). Sponsored by the �ֲ���ý College Museum of Art. Admission: $5. FMI: Contact 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.
The Ronj, 32 Frye St.

Saturday, Oct. 30

TBA

Men’s and women’s tennis: Alumni Match.
Wallach Tennis Center

1pm

Football vs. Colby.
Garcelon Field

Sunday, Oct. 31

5:30pm

Spiritual gathering: Protestant worship service (see Oct. 3).
�ֲ���ý College Chapel

Exhibition

Oct. 8–17

In celebration of the Hindu holiday of Navratri, images and statues of Hindu goddesses are displayed. FMI: 207-786-8272 or this aberard@bates.edu.
�ֲ���ý College Chapel

�ֲ���ý College Museum of Art

Museum hours: 10am-5pm Tuesday-Saturday. FMI: 207-786-6158 or this museum@bates.edu.

Oct. 8–Dec. 18
Les Femmes du Maroc: An Exhibition by Lalla Essaydi: The images in Essaydi’s most recent body of work present Moroccan women in staged narratives. These women inhabit a place that is literally and entirely circumscribed by text, written by the artist herself directly on their bodies, apparel and surroundings. The photographs, based on 19th-century Orientalist paintings, critique contemporary social structures, but simultaneously confront historical attitudes that have helped construct representations of Arab women. Made possible by the Lois and Richard England Family Foundation and the Davis Family Foundation.

Metamorphoses: A Collaboration with Ovid by Wally Reinhardt: Reinhardt since the 1980s has focused his work solely on interpreting Ovid’s Metamorphoses. His gouaches vividly bring to life many of the favorite characters of classical mythology. Reinhardt’s exhibition is offered in co-sponsorship with the programs in classical and medieval studies and in interdisciplinary studies, and by the Division of Humanities.

Two �ֲ���ý College seniors were chosen by the Council on Undergraduate Research to present work in Washington, D.C., during the organization’s annual event, in April.

Both interdisciplinary studies majors, the students are Mariam Alam of Greenwich, Conn., and Natalie Brown of Baltimore, Md. They were among 75 undergraduates from more than 50 colleges and universities selected to take part in the council’s two-day gathering, which honors the participants’ achievements and serves to remind Congress of the importance of funding for undergraduate research.

Alam, whose major focuses on public health, presented research conducted with Maine’s Somali immigrant community that tested the effectiveness of pictograms for conveying medical information to non-English speakers.

Majoring in the politics of education, Brown presented work that examines the best methods for creating equal access to quality education, with an emphasis on fostering voice and political agency in students. (For abstracts of the students’ work, do a browser search on their names here.)

More than 300 students submitted abstracts of their work for consideration by the CUR. “It’s rare enough for a college to get one student selected in a year,” said Pamela Baker, professor of biology and director of faculty research and scholarship at �ֲ���ý. “To get two is extraordinary.”

One other Maine institution, the University of New England, was represented at the gathering.

The Posters on the Hill program included a poster session and meetings with members of Congress or their staff. Both students praised the evening poster session, which gave them a chance to explain their research in depth.

“I got the chance to speak with someone from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is relevant to my research, as well as a cartographer who had great insight on the perception of imagery and a representative from the Association of American Colleges and Universities,” Alam says.

She adds, “It was exciting to see what undergraduates at other schools have been researching and to talk to them about the research process.”

Brown agrees. “I had people chatting with me for half an hour about my topic and how it related to what they were doing at their jobs.”

The �ֲ���ý students met with congressional staff from both Maine and their home states, and Brown also met face-to-face with Maine congressman Michael Michaud.

CUR’s ultimate goal for the gathering is to show the flag for undergraduate research as Congress makes funding decisions.

“It’s important that students meet with the senators and reps,” Brown says, “because they’ll get to see what the next generation is thinking about and looking at, and why.”

The Council on Undergraduate Research, founded in 1978, is a national organization supporting and promoting high-quality research and scholarship collaborations between faculty and undergraduates. The council is a grassroots organization, funded by dues paid by colleges and comprehensive universities.

Yes, the taxes do work as intended — but their effect, while statistically significant, is small, according to pioneering research published this week by a �ֲ���ý College economist and colleagues at Yale and Emory universities.

“If you raise soda taxes, population weight declines by a bit — but not a lot,” says �ֲ���ý economist Nathan Tefft. “That’s the key” to the importance of the research. Tefft, assistant professor of economics at �ֲ���ý, undertook the research with Jason Fletcher of Yale’s School of Public Health and David Frisvold of Emory’s economics department.

Their study, “Can Soft Drink Taxes Reduce Population Weight?” was published today by the journal Contemporary Economic Policy. ( with links to purchase the entire article.)

The study is the first empirical examination of the effectiveness of soft drink taxes in reducing adult weight. The researchers found that on average, a 1 percent increase in soft drink taxes corresponds with a decrease of .003 points in body mass index among adults.

(Relating height to weight as an assessment of body fat, a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 is considered normal, 25 to 29.9 is overweight and 30 and above is obese.)

The study sounds a cautionary note amidst a trend among state governments to tax sugared drinks.

So if policymakers are thinking about imposing soft-drink taxes, Tefft believes that — at least at the tax rates the researchers studied — an intention to lower obesity rates isn’t the strongest argument for doing so. Those taxes are better justified, he says, by their revenue potential and by the fact that at best, soft drinks are empty calories and at worst, pose health threats unrelated to caloric content.

For instance, an August 2007 links consumption of both sugared and diet soda to a 40 percent greater risk of “metabolic syndrome,” a cluster of conditions that increase the risk for heart disease.

With soft-drink consumption considered a major contributor to growing obesity rates, the study sounds a cautionary note amidst a trend among state governments to tax sugared drinks. More than 30 states tax soft drinks, according to the , although Maine voters recently repealed a tax on soda, beer and wine to help fund the state’s Dirigo Health program.

Why do the taxes have such a small impact on weight? For one thing, while soft drinks constitute the largest single source of calories consumed, they still amount to only 7 percent of those calories.

In addition, while soft-drink taxes are modeled after “sin taxes” on tobacco and alcohol, the medical arguments against those products are much clearer and more compelling. “With soda, it’s a looser argument,” Tefft suggests.

He adds, “An important aspect of this research, which we’re working on in our next paper, is that even if a tax successfully leads to reduction in consumption of soda, people may consume, for example, sports drinks, other sugared drinks or fruit juices instead.

“That doesn’t happen with alcohol or tobacco as much. That substitution is a real possibility here, so it becomes more difficult to use this as a health promotion tool.”

Tefft notes that the substitution issue is borne out in the threesome’s research into the connection between soda taxes and weight loss in children. “That’s probably even a more important group to look at,” he notes, because both lifelong dietary habits and a tendency to being overweight are formed early, and because kids have poorer self-control than adults.

With children, the team found “a decline in consumption, but we also found evidence of the substitution effect — for example, milk,” he says. “Milk is presumably healthier for you, but the calories in milk perhaps offset entirely the reduction in soda.”

The research was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

– Doug Hubley, Office of Communications and Media Relations

The has confirmed eight H1N1 (swine flu) cases in Maine, with five other cases probable, according to the

The 13 cases involve three adults in Kennebec County, four adults and one youth in York County, two adults and two youths in Cumberland County, and one youth in Penobscot County. All are recovering.

There have been no cases of swine flu reported at �ֲ���ý College. As the CDC outbreaks of swine flu, �ֲ���ý encourages students who have flu-like symptoms and/or have recently been to Mexico to call the Health Center at 786-6199. To date, have consisted of influenza-like illness including sudden onset of fever, plus cough or sore throat.

For more information from the Maine CDC on H1N1 (swine flu), go to .

The �ֲ���ý College Senior Emergency Response Group is assessing all new developments that may affect students, faculty and staff. The Health Center has sent messages to all students, faculty and staff in recent days with information about the virus and advice on preventing its spread.

Information for students and families

Classes and activities are continuing as scheduled. We do not anticipate the College needing to close before the end of the Short Term May 29. But should circumstances arise that necessitate an emergency closing, all students would need to leave campus within 24 hours of the announcement. Our concern is for the health and safety of the students, and our goal would be to get students home before there is widespread infection on campus. We therefore ask that students and families make a specific plan now for leaving campus.  If the student is not able to get home on short notice, please identify relatives or friends with whom the student will stay. Should a closure become necessary, updates on re-opening will be provided on the College Web site and via e-mail.

Information for faculty and staff members

Faculty and staff who are experiencing flu symptoms or have a family member in their home with confirmed swine flu should stay home from work, contact their physician, and follow the for preventing the spread of the virus.  Staff members are asked to contact their immediate supervisor prior to the start of their workday to inform them of their absence, and should plan to use accrued sick time while absent.

Staff and faculty are also asked to e-mail the Human Resources Department at hrdept@bates.edu to inform the College of their exposure to the swine flu.  If you do not have access to e-mail, you may leave a message with the Human Resources Department at 786-6140.  All personal medical information will be kept in strict confidence following HIPAA guidelines.  The information gathered will help inform the college about the level of flu incidences in our employee population.

The community should also monitor the news to stay informed. Public health officials are warning that the disease will continue to spread. Swine flu is thought to spread in the same manner as seasonal flu. Common precautions such as regular hand-washing and avoiding touching your nose, eyes, or mouth, should be practiced. The best sources of information come from the CDC and may be found at its Web site at . Students studying abroad should monitor public health announcements and visit the World Health Organization Web site at .

Additional information

The recent cases of swine flu provide an opportunity to remind us all of the things we can do to prevent illness and stay healthy.

• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze.  Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it and wash your hands.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after coughing or sneezing.  Alcohol-based hand sanitizers also are effective.
• Avoid spreading viruses by not touching your eyes, nose or mouth.
• Try to avoid close contact with sick people.

Students: What to do if you feel ill

If you feel ill with flu-like symptoms, students should call the Health Center at 207-786-6199.  Do not go to class or work until you have been cleared to do so.

Treatment

• Treatment consists of rest, fluids, and antiviral medications.
• Care providers should assess and treat any additional complications caused by the flu.

After your return from an area that has reported cases of H1N1 (swine flu):

• Closely monitor your health for seven days.
• If you become ill with fever and other symptoms of swine flu like cough and sore throat and possibly vomiting and diarrhea during this period, call the Health Center or your primary care provider for an appointment right away.  Your health care provider may test you for influenza and decide whether influenza antiviral treatment is indicated.
• When you make the appointment, tell your provider’s office the following:  your symptoms, where you have traveled, and if you have had close contact with a person infected with H1N1 (swine flu).
• If you are ill, avoid going to classes or Commons until you have been medically evaluated.

Period of Contagion

• The duration of shedding (the period of contagion) with the swine flu virus is unknown.  Therefore, until data are available, the estimated duration of the viral shedding is based upon seasonal influenza virus infection.  Infected persons are assumed to be shedding virus and potentially infectious from the day prior to illness onset until resolution of fever. Infected persons should be assumed to be contagious up to seven days from illness onset. Some persons who are infected might potentially shed virus and be contagious for longer periods (e.g. immunosuppressed, and immunocompromised persons).

For more detailed information

• Please keep updated at the following CDC Web sites: and

There have been no cases of swine flu reported at �ֲ���ý College. As the CDC continues to investigate outbreaks of swine flu, �ֲ���ý encourages students who have flu-like symptoms and/or have recently been to Mexico to call the Student Health Center at 786-6199. To date, swine flu signs and symptoms have consisted of influenza-like illness including sudden onset of fever, plus cough or sore throat.

For more information from the Maine CDC on H1N1 (swine flu), go to .

Based on the CDC’s elevated pandemic risk announcement, the �ֲ���ý College Senior Emergency Response Group is meeting as needed to assess new developments that may affect students, faculty and staff. The Student Health Center has sent messages to all students, faculty and staff in recent days with information about the virus and advice on preventing its spread.

Information for students and families

Classes and activities are continuing as scheduled. We do not anticipate the College needing to close before the end of the Short Term May 29. But should circumstances arise that necessitate an emergency closing, all students would need to leave campus within 24 hours of the announcement. Our concern is for the health and safety of the students, and our goal would be to get students home before there is widespread infection on campus. We therefore ask that students and families make a specific plan now for leaving campus. If the student is not able to get home on short notice, please identify relatives or friends with whom the student will stay. Should a closure become necessary, updates on re-opening will be provided on the College Web site and via e-mail.

Information for faculty and staff members

Faculty and staff who are experiencing flu symptoms or have a family member in their home with confirmed swine flu should stay home from work, contact their physician, and follow the for preventing the spread of the virus. Staff members are asked to contact their immediate supervisor prior to the start of their workday to inform them of their absence, and should plan to use accrued sick time while absent.

Staff and faculty are also asked to e-mail the Human Resources Department at hrdept@bates.edu to inform the College of their exposure to the swine flu. If you do not have access to e-mail, you may leave a message with the Human Resources Department at 786-6140. All personal medical information will be kept in strict confidence following HIPAA guidelines. The information gathered will help inform the college about the level of flu incidences in our employee population.

The community should also monitor the news to stay informed. Public health officials are warning that the disease will continue to spread. Swine flu is thought to spread in the same manner as seasonal flu. Common precautions such as regular hand-washing and avoiding touching your nose, eyes, or mouth, should be practiced. The best sources of information come from the CDC and may be found at its Web site at . Students studying abroad should monitor public health announcements and visit the World Health Organization Web site at .

Additional information

The recent cases of swine flu provide an opportunity to remind us all of the things we can do to prevent illness and stay healthy.

• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it and wash your hands.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after coughing or sneezing. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers also are effective.
• Avoid spreading viruses by not touching your eyes, nose or mouth.
• Try to avoid close contact with sick people.

Students: What to do if you feel ill

If you feel ill with flu-like symptoms, students should call the Health Center at 207-786-6199. Do not go to class or work until you have been cleared to do so.

Treatment

• Treatment consists of rest, fluids, and antiviral medications.
• Care providers should assess and treat any additional complications caused by the flu.

After your return from an area that has reported cases of H1N1 (swine flu):

• Closely monitor your health for seven days.
• If you become ill with fever and other symptoms of swine flu like cough and sore throat and possibly vomiting and diarrhea during this period, call the Health Center or your primary care provider for an appointment right away. Your health care provider may test you for influenza and decide whether influenza antiviral treatment is indicated.
• When you make the appointment, tell your provider’s office the following: your symptoms, where you have traveled, and if you have had close contact with a person infected with H1N1 (swine flu).
• If you are ill, avoid going to classes or Commons until you have been medically evaluated.

Period of Contagion

• The duration of shedding (the period of contagion) with the swine flu virus is unknown. Therefore, until data are available, the estimated duration of the viral shedding is based upon seasonal influenza virus infection. Infected persons are assumed to be shedding virus and potentially infectious from the day prior to illness onset until resolution of fever. Infected persons should be assumed to be contagious up to seven days from illness onset. Some persons who are infected might potentially shed virus and be contagious for longer periods (e.g. immunosuppressed, and immunocompromised persons).

For more detailed information

• Please keep updated at the following CDC Web sites: and

When statistics showed high obesity rates among New York City children, the city’s Health Department implemented changes to the city’s daycare regulations, mandating space for indoor play, more physical activity, less TV watching and removal of sugar-sweetened drinks on site.

“Some 300,000 children are affected by the new regulations,” says Alicia Hunter ’94, a senior health policy analyst for the , part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Hunter’s work has focused on childhood obesity and its ramifications — such as the possibility that this generation may be the first in history not to outlive their parents’ generation. True, there are no easy fixes for the well-publicized trends seen in both children and adults. But there are contributing factors: poor nutritional choices, lack of proper exercise and the popularity of “screen time.”

Solutions, like the one implemented in New York City in 2007, will only emerge when health professionals begin to reevaluate their role, says Hunter, a �ֲ���ý political science major who holds a dual degree in law and social work from UNC–Chapel Hill.

“Public health practitioners need to understand the legal framework in which they operate. They need to know how to educate policymakers about public-health interventions and how to implement existing policies — legislative or regulatory — to effect better public-health practices.”

Such efforts can make substantial changes in people’s daily lives without passing broad new laws. And though personal responsibility plays a role in this issue, Hunter says, “we have to realize that no one person can effect personal behavioral change if they are not in a setting that’s conducive to that change.”

— Michele Pavitt