Editor's note: This is a double issue.

The Christian Science Monitor

Leadership: For This Non-Profit Organization, Leaving Was Leading

November 30, 2011

By Jina Moore, correspondent

Leaders of "for-profit enterprises have a little extra push," says Cheryl Dorsey, president of Echoing Green, which invests in nonprofit leaders. "They have the specter of a big financial payout. That can coax people along."

But, she says, "there's a less clear exit path for successful founders" of ventures that never intended to make big money, she says. The tendency of founders to cling to their organizations is known in the nonprofit world as "founder's syndrome."

It's a problem that Mark Hanis, a young social entrepreneur, knows well. As a senior at Swarthmore College in 2005, he and classmates wanted to raise money for peacekeepers in Darfur, the western region of Sudan. Their idea quickly snowballed into the Genocide Intervention Network (GI-Net), a grass-roots antigenocide nonprofit organization.

Mr. Hanis and his colleague Sam Bell moved to Washington, D.C., after college and set themselves up in borrowed office space with the mission of convincing legislators to do something about Darfur. ...

By 2010, Hanis and his team had built a $3.5 million nonprofit engaged with hundreds of communities across the country to pressure American leaders to prevent or alleviate atrocities around the world.

They'd also found themselves with competition from other similarly minded groups. ...

"If you're a maverick, you've got to be able to play in the same sandbox," [Hanis] says. "There's no social issue where you're the only player in the landscape, and you can't solve it on your own. If you could, most likely it would already be solved."

Last year, Hanis entered into negotiations with Save Darfur, arguably the most powerful and recognizable player on the issue, to merge the two organizations.

"We saw this as an exciting opportunity to strengthen the sector, even though GI-Net was fine financially," he says. "It might be part of our maverick attributes. It's rare that you hear of mergers when it's not out of financial need or other crises; it's rare that people see that as part of their strategic plan."

When the groups merged, Hanis decided to bow out. The high profile of the newly merged group, United to End Genocide, attracted high-powered leadership interest. ...

Financial Markets Regulatory Wire

Sen. Richard J. Durbin Holds a Hearing on Balanced Budget Amendment

November 30, 2011

Committee: Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights. Sen. Richard J. Durbin, chairman

Diana Furchtgott-Roth recently spoke before a Senate committee about a Balanced Budget Amendment.

Sen. Durbin introduced Diana Furchtgott-Roth: Furchtgott-Roth is senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Previously served as chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor and chief of staff at the Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush. Served as deputy executive secretary of the Domestic Policy Council under President George H.W. Bush and as a staff economist on the Council of Economic Advisors under President Reagan. She has a B.A. from Swarthmore and a master's in Economics from Oxford.

Excerpt of text from transcript follows:

DURBIN: This hearing of the subcommittee on the Constitutional Civil Rights and Human Rights will come to order and the title of today's hearing is, "A Balanced Budget Amendment: The Perils of Constitutionalizing the Budget Debate." ...

FURCHTGOTT-ROTH: Thanks so much for inviting me to testify today.

Look, none of us really want a balanced budget amendment because our best -- the best option would be for Congress to work as it's supposed to and pass budgets that would enable us to live within the revenues that we have. But the Senate hasn't passed a budget even for over 2-1/2 years. The deficit last year was $1.3 trillion. The super committee failed even to get $1.2 trillion of cuts. That's over a decade, not even in one year. We borrow 40 cents out of every dollar that we spend.

Congress has considered many balanced budget amendments in the past, which is summarized in an excellent study by the Congressional Research Service. Versions in nine congressional sessions did not pass. But imagine that the balanced budget amendments of 1982 and 1995 had passed and had gone on to be ratified by three courts of the states. Today, we would be in a far stronger position. No trillion- dollar deficits, no 100 percent levels of gross public debt. ...

With regard to wartime spending, I would say the balanced budget amendment, as it's written, is, if anything, too flexible because the balanced budget provision is waived for any year in which a declaration of war is in effect or when the United States is engaged in military conflict. Then a simple majority of members can waive the amendment. ...

Congress should also consider putting the federal government on generally accepted accounting principles like these corporations that are the focus of protests by that occupy Wall Street crowd. They may be evil, but they have to stick within their accounts and within their budgets. If the government had to file its accounts under GAAP, current measures of both deficits and public debt would be far different. ...

HedgeWorld Daily News

NY Federal Judge an Outlier in Challenging U.S. SEC

November 30, 2011

By Grant McCool ; additional reporting by Aruna Viswanatha

NEW YORK (Reuters)-Judge Jed Rakoff's blunt rejection of a major Citigroup Inc. securities fraud settlement could resonate with other judges who share the public's frustration with Wall Street and its regulators.

Mr. Rakoff is considered an outlier on the federal bench, a judge who rails against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's policy of settling almost all lawsuits without defendants admitting wrongdoing. ...

But Mr. Rakoff's order on Monday [Nov. 28] blocking the proposed $285 million settlement over the sale of toxic mortgage debt was a populist decision that could influence other judges. This is the second time in two years that he has rejected a high-profile SEC settlement.

"It's man bites dog. Judge bites agency," said Professor Adam Pritchard, of the University of Michigan Law School. "You haven't heard about this sort of thing before because it doesn't happen."

In striking down the SEC's $33 million settlement with Bank of America over its failure to disclose that it had authorized bonus payments to Merrill Lynch employees as part of its takeover of Merrill in 2009, Mr. Rakoff said it unfairly punished shareholders. He later approved a $150 million pact.

Some judges recently have made strong interventions in settlements, but not those involving allegations of securities fraud. The 68-year-old Mr. Rakoff is known for his acerbic opinions and maverick style. He was appointed to the federal bench in 1995 by Democratic President Bill Clinton. ...

The pact would have required the bank to pay a $95 million fine, which Mr. Rakoff called "pocket change" for Citigroup, and give back alleged ill-gotten profit. He said the court would be a "handmaiden to a settlement privately negotiated on the basis of unknown facts" if he were to approve it.

The white-haired, white-bearded Mr. Rakoff practiced law for 26 years, both as a federal prosecutor and in private practice, before he became a judge. He is a 1969 graduate of Harvard Law School and earlier studied English literature at Swarthmore College near Philadelphia, his home city.

In December last year, Mr. Rakoff assumed senior status, a form of semi-retirement for federal judges but does not prevent them from taking a full case load. ...

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pa.)

Entrepreneurship Financial Savvy Gets Real for Local High School Students

November 29, 2011

By Tim Grant

Bob Fragasso is convinced schools aren't doing enough to teach children the dangers of spending too much and saving too little, so he decided to do something about it.

The chairman and CEO of Fragasso Financial Advisors, Downtown, sponsors an elective course at Urban Pathways Charter School at 914 Penn Ave., Downtown, where students get a financial education by running and operating a business of their own creation.

"Nationally we are failing our students because we are teaching a 100-year-old education system that's out of date," Mr. Fragasso said. "We need to teach a functional education that readies people for life." ...

In a report titled "The Economics of Payday Lending," researcher John Caskey found more than half of the payday borrowers surveyed had household incomes between $25,000 and $50,000. Another 25 percent of borrowers made more than $50,000 a year. The survey, sponsored by Swarthmore College, also found that payday loan customers tend to be younger than the general adult population and are more likely to have children. ...

The Associated Press State & Local Wire

JMU Taps Rutgers VP as Next University President

November 28, 2011

HARRISONBURG Va.–James Madison University's board of visitors tapped the senior vice president of Rutgers University on Monday to become the school's sixth president, ending an 11-month search.

Jonathan Alger was named to JMU's top post on Monday. He will replace JMU President Linwood Rose, who is retiring in June.

"We desired a leader who values our student-centered focus, emphasis on teaching and is committed to the full development of the individual," JMU Board of Visitors Rector James Hartman said in a written statement. "Today, in Jon Alger we feel we have found the individual who best encompasses such values and is well positioned to lead our university into the next century."

Alger is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Swarthmore College. Before coming to Rutgers Alger was assistant general counsel at the University of Michigan and worked as counsel for the American Association of University Professors. ...

"I believe that James Madison himself would proudly embrace the university's theme, "Be the Change," reflecting how members of the Madison community are being prepared to lead meaningful and productive lives and to be agents of change in the world," Alger said.

JMU is a public university in Harrisonburg with about 20,000 students. It offers 69 undergraduate, 31 master's and seven doctoral degrees.

The Times Leader (Wilkes Barre, Pa.)

Area Man was Head of 'Hunt' in W-B

November 27, 2011

By Tom Mooney, correspondent

For about 40 local men, the evening and early morning of Jan. 2 and 3, 1920 was unforgettable.

Over several hours beginning late at night, federal agents -- along with Wilkes-Barre police -- raided two hotels and numerous private homes in the city, arresting men they proclaimed communist radicals, bent on overthrowing the American government.

"Wilkes-Barre is a hotbed of these radicals in Pennsylvania," the Sunday Independent newspaper reported authorities as saying. Agents also "confiscated a large quantity of soviet literature," the paper reported, adding that the raids had been meticulously planned far in advance.

While many living Americans recall the so-called communist "witch hunt" of the early 1950s, led by U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy, the 1920 campaign led by a high-ranking U.S. government official who was born in Luzerne County has pretty much faded into history. ...

The government official in charge of those January 1920 raids was the attorney general of the United States, A. Mitchell Palmer, a native of Luzerne County and who cut his political teeth in Northeastern Pennsylvania. ...

In the new movie "J. Edgar," the story of former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, actor Geoff Pierson plays Palmer.

In his days as head of the Justice Department, Palmer was an early mentor of Hoover, who would later become famous in his own right as a crime fighter and a pursuer of real or suspected radicals.

Alexander Mitchell Palmer, according to numerous sources, was born at Moosehead, Dennison Township, Luzerne County. He grew up and attended school in Stroudsburg, Monroe County, receiving a degree from Swarthmore College, near Philadelphia, and beginning the practice of law in Stroudsburg.

Becoming active in the Democratic Party, he won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1908, holding the seat until he relinquished it in 1912.

He impressed party leaders so much that at the Democratic Convention that year he rejected a bid to run for president himself, instead throwing his support to Woodrow Wilson. His reward was an offer to become secretary of war, but he declined it and returned to Stroudsburg and his law practice. He ran for a U.S. Senate seat in 1914 but lost.

In 1917, as the United States entered World War I, President Wilson named Palmer his Alien Property Custodian, in which capacity he took over, administered and sold German property in America. Two years later, Wilson named him attorney general, the chief law enforcement officer in the nation. ...

Some arrests under Palmer's direction were made in November 1919. But on Jan. 2, 1920, the action was strong and sweeping. ...

He evidently had another goal. Three months later at the Democratic National Convention he sought his party's presidential nomination. Although he ran strong in early balloting, on the 38th ballot the Democrats finally chose James M. Cox, who would go on to lose to Republican Warren G. Harding in November.

Palmer did not run for office again. But he remained in Washington and continued to participate in Democratic politics ...

He died in 1936. He's buried at a cemetery in Stroudsburg. ...

The New York Times

For Occupying Protesters, Deadlines and Decisions

November 27, 2011

By Brian Stelter

PHILADELPHIA – ''Cooperative'' is the word usually used here to describe the relationship between the campers of Occupy Philadelphia and the city, a birthplace of the constitutional right to free speech and assembly.

The arguments and arrests that have occurred at protests in New York and other cities have been largely absent. Mayor Michael A. Nutter even visited the encampment on its first night and pledged to work with the movement when possible.

But the limits of that cooperation are about to be tested. Following the example of other cities that have taken steps to evict the Occupy camps, Mr. Nutter, citing health and safety concerns and an imminent construction project, said the protesters must pack up and leave the steps of City Hall by Sunday evening.

''We cannot allow current conditions, including masses of tents and 24-hour-a-day camping, to continue,'' Mr. Nutter said at a news conference on Friday. ...

''All along, like in other cities, there have been factions that have wanted to compromise with the authorities and factions that have wanted to be more disruptive,'' said Jim MacMillan, a journalist-in-residence at Swarthmore College. ...

Given the peaceful history of the local protests, Mr. MacMillan said he thought that some would resist the eviction on Sunday, but that the number would be small. He predicted that the police would not clear the plaza until after the 11 p.m. local newscasts. ...

The New York Times

A Special Woman As Inspiration

November 27, 2011

By David Colman

Certainly one might imagine the young designer Joseph Altuzarra, who recently won the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund award (which comes with an industry mentor and $300,000), to be one of this crew.

Parts of his story sound as if he were out of central casting. Right out of college, he interned at Marc Jacobs, then worked for Proenza Schouler, then moved back to Paris (where he grew up) to work at Givenchy. His best friend and muse is the stylish socialite Vanessa Traina.

And the first thing he did when he moved back to New York to start his own line in 2007 was to buy a charming old mannequin of sorts, on which he could pin and drape his new ideas. (The second thing he did was buy a similar one for Ms. Traina.) ...

So it's surprising to hear that, until his sophomore year at Swarthmore, Mr. Altuzarra had only a personal interest in fashion, dead set on a career pursuing his concentration, art history.

But then, speaking of art history, it wasn't really a mannequin that Mr. Altuzarra bought upon arriving in New York. It was a santos, or cage doll: an antique Provencal statue of the Madonna, similar to the carved wooden ones he remembered from his childhood, when he and his parents spent August in Provence.

''I don't really think about her being the Virgin Mary,'' he said of the statuette's appeal. ''I just think about her being a really beautiful portrayal of a woman.'' ...

As it turned out, the figure did not work out as a mannequin. Mr. Altuzarra became fond of the way she looked sans raiment, even if she looks more Twiggy than Mary.

''She's so expressive,'' he said. ''There's a certain longing in her face, an expression of melancholy. And I love how weirdly robotic the bottom half looks, while the upper half looks so emotional.''

She is not totally unadorned, though. Not long after getting the santos, Mr. Altuzarra decided he was going to put his habit of wearing many chains and good-luck charms behind him and upon her. ...

Austin Daily Herald (Minn.)

1st Gay Ambassador Remembers Austin

November 22, 2011

By Adam Harringa

Six decades ago, most people in Austin considered James Hormel and his brothers the heirs apparent to one day run Hormel Foods.

The son of the company's president, Jay C. Hormel, and the company's founder, George A. Hormel, James Hormel lived in Austin through the eighth grade, before moving to North Carolina to attend a boarding school. After graduating from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania in 1955 and the University of Chicago Law School in 1958, he served as the law school's dean of students, married Alice Turner and had five children before coming out as a gay man.

He eventually settled in San Francisco, where he works as a philanthropist and gay rights activist. He funded the creation of Jay C. Hormel Gay & Lesbian Center at the San Francisco Public Library and was the first openly gay U.S. Ambassador. He served as U.S. Ambassador to Luxemburg from 1999 to 2001.

Now 78, Hormel released his autobiography, Fit to Serve: Reflections on a Secret Life, Private Struggle and Public Battle to Become the First Openly Gay U.S. Ambassador. He was in Austin on Saturday to sign copies of his book....

The following are two of the questions from the reporter and Hormel's responses: ...

Q: What do you feel are the some of the biggest obstacles for gay people?

A: What I see in that is the misconceptions that persist around the country that for example, being gay is a choice. One of the candidates for president, Herman Cain, has been saying that recently. It simply is not a choice. Being left-handed is not a choice. There's really no essential difference about being gay; it's innate. I think that the idea, the notion that being gay is a choice holds people back from thinking (gay people) are being discriminated against because people think 'well, they can choose not to be gay.' I don't know how to answer that, because it seems so clear to me that I wouldn't choose to set myself aside in a society that is so relentlessly heterosexual. ...

Q: What was it like growing up in Austin, [Minn.] and trying to fit in as the son of the president of Hormel Foods?

A: It was really a bigger challenge than it sounds. When I was about six-months-old, there was (an indirect) kidnap threat. Essentially, from as far back as I can remember, there were armed guards around, there were protective devices, and I was driven to school in a car by someone in uniform, and I just felt like I stood out like a sore thumb in Austin. But I must say the people of Austin were very respectful and courteous about that, but I just felt awful about being so separated. I had a few friends whom I could talk to. One of the people I could be friendly with in grade school was a kid by the name of Dick Knowlton. We were in school through eighth grade, and then I left Austin in the ninth grade to go to a boarding school in North Carolina. ...

(more)

Philadelphia Examiner (Pa.)

Actor Stephen Lang Stresses Importance of History at Gettysburg Address Event

November 21, 2011

By Jeffrey B. Roth

GETTYSBURG, PA –Remembering history was the theme of the Saturday morning, keynote speech by actor Stephen Lang at Dedication Day ceremonies, honoring the 148th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.

In a brief press conference immediately following his speech, which was delivered on the Rostrum in the Soldiers National Cemetery in Gettysburg, not far from the site Lincoln spoke, the Examiner asked Lang about his opinion of the frequent, flagrant misrepresentations of historic fact by politicians and groups like the Tea Party designed to further their agendas.

"You have to be very scrupulous with your facts," Lang, who portrayed Confederate General George Pickett in the Ron Maxwell movie, Gettysburg, and Confederate General Stonewall Jackson, in the prequel, Gods and Generals. "I think one of the reasons it is so important to teach history and teach it accurately in our schools is so we can all be fact checkers - so we can make sure that people who are quoting or revising history or using for their own political purposes that they get their facts correct so that we are not in any way being misrepresented."

Lang, who portrayed the villain, Colonel Miles Quaritch, in the movie, Avatar; and currently appears as Commander Nathaniel Taylor, head of a human encampment 85 million years in the past, in the new Fox television series, Terra Nova, said the freedom and democracy created by the Founding Fathers, while fragile, it survived and matured throughout the nation's western expansion. After 85 years of growth, the country was "violently shoved into civil war to test whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure."

"Long endure is a relative term," said Lang, a New York native, who attended a private high school in Pennsylvania and later graduated from Swarthmore College. "I'm not hear to lecture or hector on the hubris of empire building. I want to talk about time - a thousand years, is a long time to endure ... but it seems to me now Rome came and went in the blink of an eye."

Time is relative, said Lang, who recently visited Rome. As time passes, it compresses into an era. It has been 1,600 years since the fall of Rome, and as he stood in the coliseum, he did not detect a trace of life or of a living past. The empire represented by cold marble is silent, he said.

"The relics and ruins passive and impervious, but not so, this place," Lang, who has portrayed numerous military leaders, said. "This is a quiet place and not all roads lead here - just a few ... and the roads don't so much lead to Gettysburg, as they lead through Gettysburg, because Gettysburg is a crossroads." ...

"The embers glow to this day ... our job on Dedication Day is to blow on the embers to keep the fire alive and we are aided in this by the very place itself," Lang, who was accompanied by his wife and other family members. "After the deeds were done and the dead were buried and the words were spoken the quiet returned and to this day, Gettysburg stands apart, almost aloof. Gettysburg lies off the beaten track. We come here essentially for one reason, to dedicate and portion of ourselves to experiencing and understanding the deeds that were done here, the words that were spoken here and in gaining some understanding, making a commitment to come again and again, to renew and deepen our understanding of a new birth of freedom."

Gettysburg is a place of contradiction - a place of life and death, a place of honest glory and a place of vanity and foolishness, of genius of stupidity, a place of meaning, a place of futility. It is a place of complexity, which refuses to be simplified, Lang said.

"I think you're right," Lang told the Examiner, "that a lot of people do use our history and they put a slant on it that was not as it actually happened. We need to guard our history and be accurate with it." ...

Targeted News Service

November 21, 2011

Allegheny Placed in Top Liberal Arts Colleges by Guidebook That Emphasizes 'Best Values'

MEADVILLE, Pa. –Allegheny College issued the following news:

Allegheny College is included among the 100 "best values" in liberal arts colleges in the nation, according to Kiplinger's, a private financial advising company. The rankings, which focus on affordability as well as strong academics, will be published in the December issue of Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine. Allegheny moved 14 places ahead in the rankings since last year. ...

"The institutions on Kiplinger's rankings for best value in private colleges represent schools that provide high-quality academics as well as affordable cost even in these tough times," said Jane Bennett Clark, senior associate editor for Kiplinger's Personal Finance. "With money tight and the college choice so important, you have every reason to expect the best bang for your buck."

Thirteen colleges in Pennsylvania made Kiplinger's top 100 list of best values among liberal arts colleges. In addition to Allegheny, those colleges include Bryn Mawr College, Bucknell University, Dickinson College, Franklin & Marshall College, Gettysburg College, Haverford College, Juniata College, Lafayette College, Muhlenberg College, Susquehanna University, Swarthmore College and Ursinus College. ...

The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, Calif.)

Occupy SR: Time for a New Strategy?

November 20, 2011

By Martin Espinoza, staff writer

A few days before the tent city was erected at Santa Rosa City Hall, Arthur Warmoth, a retired Sonoma State University professor, visited the Occupy site to show his support.

The local protest, not yet two weeks old, already had begun to wane and conflicts were erupting with homeless people and troublesome transient youth. What's more, Occupy protesters were gearing to reinvigorate their movement -- by pitching tents. ...

Dominic Tierney, an associate professor of political science at Swarthmore College, said in an email that the Occupy movement's "style of demonstrations is likely to be counterproductive."

"Ben Franklin said fish and visitors go stale after three days, and that is captured in what I think will be declining tolerance for the encampments," he wrote.

Tierney, who is a regular contributor to the Atlantic magazine, said the Occupy movement could face a "winter of discontent" characterized by "declining public approval, Democratic politicians distancing themselves from the movement, a failure to advance progressive goals, and a wasted opportunity." ...

Citizen Economists

Curtis Trimble: Be Nimble, Quick and Play the Shales

November 18, 2011

With energy prices flat to down in a murky global economy, MKM Partners Managing Director Curtis Trimble says investor agility is essential. In this exclusive interview with The Energy Report [TER], Trimble talks about his favorite names and some of the fuel-rich plays that make them interesting.

TER: Curtis, what is your overall theme right now?

Curtis Trimble [CT]: Agility is probably the best theme I could come up with for the current environment. The debt overhang and political gridlock in the U.S. combined with similar events coming out of the European Union around the viability of Greece, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, et cetera have been unnerving. In the energy market, and crude oil in particular, China remains the 800-pound gorilla with somewhere between 40-50% of world crude oil demand stemming from its growth expectations.

TER: Clearly the global economic outlook is not optimistic for the near- or even the mid-term. What does that mean for energy prices?

CT: While we have seen some substantial discoveries off the coasts of West Africa, Brazil and even the U.S.-off the Gulf of Mexico along with crude oil coming out of the Bakken and Canadian Oil Sands.-there is nothing in the next three-year landscape even close to the level of discovery successes we've seen over the past three years. I will use Will Rogers' adage to buy land because they are not making any more of it, and for all intents and purposes that is going to apply to crude oil as well. ...

Curtis Trimble joined MKM Partners in August 2010 as an analyst covering the oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) sector. Mr. Trimble previously covered the U.S. E&P sector for Natixis Bleichroeder, ranking second in the 2010 Wall Street Journal analyst survey for that sector. He also followed the oilfield services sector for Canaccord Adams and Sterne Agee, ranking fourth in that space in 2006. Mr. Trimble holds a Bachelor of Arts in economics from Swarthmore College and a Master of Business Administration with a focus in finance from Rice University.

Tendersinfo News

Prudential Group Insurance Names William Guerin to Lead New Sales, Marketing and Strategy Team; Andrew Sullivan to Head Small Business Market

November 18, 2011

Prudential Group Insurance, a business of Prudential Financial, Inc. appoints two new leaders to further broaden its expertise in addressing existing client and marketplace needs.

William Guerin has been named senior vice president of the newly combined Sales, Marketing, and Strategy Planning unit at Prudential Group Insurance. He will be responsible for leading a sales and marketing strategy that meets the evolving needs of clients and emerging opportunities in the group insurance marketplace. ...

Guerin has worked most recently as a management consultant specializing in sales force effectiveness. ... Earlier in his career he served as executive vice president, Client Solutions for Taylor Nelson Sofres a large, global, custom market research company. Guerin earned a bachelor's degree in Engineering from Swarthmore College and an MBA in Management Science from Wilkes University. ...

Backstage.com

For Kendall Cornell Clowning is a Woman's Business

November 17, 2011

By Simi Horwitz

Sporting red clown noses and an array of quirky hats and eccentric costumes, the nine clowning women who make up Clowns Ex Machina raise lofty questions about art, commerce, and beauty while rendering such a heady discussion absurd. ...

Now celebrating its fifth year on the scene, Clowns Ex Machina is premiering its latest and fourth full-length multimedia work, "Clowns Full-Tilt: A Musing on Aesthetics," at Off-Broadway's legendary La MaMa theater.

Although women clowns have existed throughout the ages, Ex Machina is anomalous, says Kendall Cornell, who heads the company. Indeed, she suggests it may be one of the few, if not the only, all-woman clown companies of its size performing anywhere. Traditions and self-imposed restrictions die hard for women.

"Clowning is physical, openhearted, and revealing," Cornell says. "Being unselfconscious in a physical way could be more challenging for women." Yet Cornell balks at the idea that women have additional obstacles as clowns because they're not naturally funny. It's a cliche that has no traction. ...

Brought up in Rockland County, N.Y., Cornell planned to be an actor. After graduating from Swarthmore with a degree in English and art history, she moved to New York to continue her studies in acting and dance. Along the way she found herself drawn to comic acting and attended a workshop on physical comedy given by clown David Shiner, perhaps best known for his collaboration with Bill Irwin on "Fool Moon."  ...

Wall Street Journal

Occupy The New York Times: In defense of Obamaville, the Paper Trashes the First Amendment.

November 16, 2011

By James Taranto

Andrew Rosenthal, editorial page editor of The New York Times, recently started a blog. As we shall see, that was a mistake. Yesterday Rosenthal weighed in on the cleanup of New York's Obamaville--specifically, a judge's rejection of so-called protesters' claims that the city had violated their First Amendment rights by enforcing regulations that prohibit sleeping, camping and storing personal property in a publicly accessible park.

The plaintiffs, Justice Michael Stallman wrote, "have not demonstrated that the rules adopted by the owners of the property . . . are not reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions permitted under the First Amendment." Rosenthal then explains the principle: The [constitutional permissibility of] "time, place and manner" restriction is longstanding. But in order for that restriction to fly, it must be "content neutral" (the government can't take the message into account), must serve an important objective, must be narrowly tailored, and leave open alternative communication channels.

Rosenthal himself expressed no opinion as to whether the rules in question, and the city's application of them, meet those four criteria. He didn't need to, because it is perfectly obvious that they do--so obvious, in fact, that today's Times editorial on the subject, which is highly critical of Mayor Michael Bloomberg for enforcing the regulations, readily concedes that his decision to do so "was justifiable legally."

The basis of the editorial's criticism is political and ideological, not legal:

Mr. Bloomberg hasn't done as good a job as he might have in managing the appearance of this last move, and we worry that his decision to clear the park of tents could end up quashing the entire protest. ...

"Occupy Wall Street should wrap itself in the American flag.

Compare photos of OWS rallies and Tea Party events. From a distance, you can't always tell that the leftwing protests are in the United States. By contrast, the Tea Party is awash with the stars and stripes.

Overt patriotism can make people on the left feel a little nervous. But when the nation's symbols have such meaning to so many people, why cede the flag to conservatives? . . .

Unless OWS understands the power of symbols, the American Autumn will be followed by a winter of discontent. And the protesters can start by hanging a hundred flags at Zuccotti Park [this was published before the cleanup]. One percent of the United States might not care about these symbols--but 99 percent do."

The photo accompanying Tierney's post hints at why this is so risible. It depicts a guy at some sort of protest holding what on first glance looks like an American flag but on closer examination turns out to be a vulgar hard-left counterfeit, featuring the usual 13 stripes but 30 corporate logos where the stars are supposed to be. ...

WHYY - Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane 

National Political Roundup, with Jill Lawrence & Ben Berger

November 16, 2011

Associate Professor of Political Science Ben Berger discussed his book of Attention Deficit Democracy: The Paradox of Civic Engagement (Princeton University Press, 2011) on WHYY's Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane as part of a larger conversation about the national political scene.   

An expert in modern political theory, Berger is one of 26 Periclean Faculty Leaders nationwide and directs the Swarthmore College's "Engaging Democracy Project," a program designed to promote community engagement, political participation and responsible citizenship in the classroom, on campus, and in the wider community. In one of his courses, students augment their traditional classroom learning by meeting with civic leaders, visiting town hall and school board meetings, and interning with political or public interest organizations in order to understand better the daily experience of democracy in different types of communities. (Listen)

SPORTS

The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, Va.)

Naccarato gets ODAC honor Teammate Scruggs Named to League's Honor Squad

November 22, 2011

By Steve DeShazo

Sophomore Nia Jones (Fredericksburg Academy) was named to the all-Centennial Conference second team after leading Swarthmore in goals (nine) and points (21). She scored twice in a 3-2 win over Johns Hopkins.

Moorestown Patch

Quakers Alumni Profile: John Pontillo

October 17, 2011

By Jim Vassallo

John Pontillo has taken what he learned at Moorestown and applied it not only in the classroom, but also on Swarthmore's soccer field. 

Moorestown Patch: What is your major?

 John Pontillo: I am a double major in religion and economics.

Patch: How did you choose Swarthmore?

Pontillo: Swarthmore is a very special place. I certainly did not recognize its value when I was applying to school. I knew of the stellar academic reputation and the ideas of Quaker-ism that pervade campus, but I really didn't know what to expect until I got here. Retrospectively, the love of learning is something that stands out. Everybody is passionate about learning, both in and out of the classroom. The diverse group of students, representing all 50 states and including a significant percentage of international students, fosters the learning of different cultures and lifestyles among students. It is fair to say I have learned just as much from my peers as I have in classes.

Patch: Do you play any other sports?

Pontillo: I do play other sports. I was recruited to play tennis at Swarthmore too. I played varsity tennis in high school and won two state championships at first doubles. ...

Pontillo: In college, I have two memories from the field that stick out. The first was my freshman year when we won a thrilling 2-1 overtime game in the NCAAs against Hobart to put us through to the Sweet 16s. The other would have to be last year's Centennial Conference Championship game when we beat Muhlenberg 2-1 in double overtime to capture the Centennial Conference. It was the kind of game when you came off afterwards and you were proud to have played the game with your teammates, because it was a total and complete, hard-fought team victory. ...