“For us to go for a third year in a row means a lot of people are putting in the effort and doing their jobs strategically really well,” says two-term president Deisy Abarca-Espiritu ’19. “It means we have a lot of nationally talented members.”

Rochester will compete in four rounds against four other teams, alternating between playing the roles of the defense and the plaintiff in this year’s national championship case. The case, Empower Milk vs Jerri Anderson, follows fictional company Empower Milk’s attempt to sue a social media influencer for defamation after she posted an unsubstantiated claim about their product which then experienced a decrease in sales.The outcome of each trial in the tournament will be decided by a panel of legal professionals including lawyers, prosecutors, and judges.

While the case is fictitious, the teams use real case law and rules of evidence modeled after the Federal Rules of Evidence that govern courtroom procedures.

In addition to Abarca-Espiritu, Rochester’s team includes Denis Lomakin ’20, Alan Boka ’20, Tinashe Marera ’20, Emily Murphy ’19, Sydney Goldstein ’22, Meghan Yahrussi ’20, Samantha Myers ’19, Lucy Oh ’22, and Hannah Brennan ’19.

As one of the four seniors on the team, Myers is proud of her time on the team and of how far they have come—ranked 78^th nationally in 2015 to 28^th in 2018. Individually, Myers won an award for “Outstanding Attorney” at the recent semi-finals event in Hamilton, Ohio. “What I feel most proud of though,” says Myers, “is how the environment of our organization has changed. Mock trial has transformed into a group that will welcome any and everyone, regardless of where they come from or what knowledge or skills they have, and will provide them with an opportunity to learn and develop themselves both as public speakers and as people.”

While many teams at the national competitive level have faculty or alumni coaches, the University’s Mock Trial team is completely student-run.

“It takes a lot of effort,” says Abarca-Espiritu, “but the reason we’ve been able to do it is because we really care about each other and we give each other the feedback we need to be competitive in trial.”

As the championship looms closer, Abarca-Espiritu wants her team to know its worth. “We have the ability to beat any team that we’re up against. We’ve shown already how talented we are and I’m excited to show that again.”

, a professor emerita of history at the URochester, invites buffs and satire enthusiasts alike to dive deep into the world of 18th century court jesters. Her book, (The University of Virginia Press, 2019), is out in April, and is the first study to compile the lives of four famous jesters in post-Renaissance Germany.

If you’re picturing a grinning clown in purple and yellow pajamas with a floppy belled hat, Outram begs you to reconsider. “People tend to think about Shakespeare’s fools,” she says. “I wanted to talk about a different sort of fool. They weren’t very grand. These fools slept in the straw with the dogs.”

Uncouth, dirty, and devoid of all status, German court fools had little in common with the endearing and sagacious fool in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. And unlike their French and English counterparts, who died out by the end of the 16th century, the German fool was an active member of the court well into the 18th century.

Their primary purpose was to keep political leaders grounded by entertaining the court aristocracy with crude jokes and performances. By making fun of the monarch—within reason—fools were supposed to keep the aristocracy distracted from the monarch’s political weaknesses, and therefore less likely to engage in social-climbing and potential power-grabbing.

“Fools were close enough to rulers to speak to power,” explains Outram, “but at the same time were despised and treated as servants by their rulers. That contradiction interested me.”

While researching, Outram admits she was taken aback by some of the cruel and humiliating pranks the fools endured, including electric shock experiments and public nudity. Barbaric though this may seem from a 21st-century perspective, Outram encourages readers to see the contemporary relevance of fooling.

Although fools and modern late-night hosts are, of course, not true equivalents—given that the former was degraded and poor, while the latter is respected and usually rich—they share an important function. “We need people who speak truth to power,” she says.

“The research was connected to my own experience as a young woman living in post-Soviet Russia,” explains Bakhmetyeva, who is also the associate academic director of the Ģ����ý’s “I developed an interest in all things Catholic–only to discover that there is a long and fascinating history of Russian Catholicism–a complicated identity in a largely [Russian] Orthodox country.”

Bakhmetyeva delves into Svechina’s life as a noblewoman during a time with few occupational opportunities for women and within the context of liberal Catholicism, religious conversion, nationalism, and the role of the European salon.

“This prize was particularly gratifying to me,” adds Bakhmetyeva, “because I consider myself primarily a historian of women in Catholicism, so this prize recognizes both my work and the importance of the subject.”

The Koenig Award, granted by the American Catholic Historical Association, is awarded to a monograph that focuses on the life of a Catholic personage of any age or time. The $1500 prize will be presented to Bakhmetyeva in January at the association’s annual meeting.

To learn more about Bakhmetyeva’s book and Sofia Svechina, tune into the July 2017 episode of the University’s Quadcast.

(The Daydream Foundation) is an international nonprofit organization whose goal is simply to provide moments of happiness and childlike joy to people of all ages through recreational community events. The University chapter used its grant to fund weekly transportation to the Cameron Community Ministries in downtown Rochester where members volunteered at an after-school dinner program called .

“We were excited and relieved to win the grant,” says Shelley Verma ’19, who served as president of Soñar Despierto during the 2017-18 academic year. Transportation had been a struggle for the organization in the past, Verma explains, but with the grant they were able to volunteer regularly for the first time. At Kids Cafe, members of Soñar Despierto played games with the children and became familiar faces. “We really felt that we were making a difference in these kids’ lives,” she says. They also used a portion of the grant to volunteer at the Monroe Community Hospital where they hosted interactive events for patients including dance performances and sing-alongs.

The Community Engagement Challenge is supported by the Class of 2011 Community Service Fund. The fund aims to strengthen the University’s relationship with the City of Rochester and highlight students’ efforts to give back to the community. Last year’s winning project was selected by a team of six panelists consisting of four administrators from the Rochester Center for Community Leadership, one undergraduate student, and one local alumnus.

for the 2018-2019 academic year must be submitted by September 30 and can be found on the website.

The analyses of individual lives or events can provide insight into the larger patterns and structures of history. On November 17 and 18, the Department of History will host 19 speakers at , taking place in the Hawkins-Carlson Room of Rush Rhees Library. The event is free and open to the public.

“This conference brings together an impressive group of to discuss one of the most influential methodologies of the last few decades, and how it fits into current transformations in the field,” says associate professor of history Thomas Devaney, one of the co-organizers of the conference, who teaches a microhistory course at the University.

In the past, microhistory’s emphasis on narrative as a means of accessing historical truth had struck some scholars as naïve. But Devaney says it’s time to take a closer look.

“Newer work by global historians has made clear that the need for a re-evaluation of the field is more pressing than ever,” he says. “Macro-level analyses too often lead to the kinds of generalizations that were once associated with the very Eurocentrism that global history aims to undo.”

The scholars at the symposium, , represent a wide range of specializations, including the High Middle Ages, Renaissance Europe, early America, postcolonial Africa, and 20th-century Eastern Europe. Although most of the attendees are historians, their lectures cross into other fields such as anthropology, religious studies, literary criticism, and musicology.

Ultimately, what scholars learn from the microhistorical approach may have far-reaching effects on our understanding of history.

“Microhistory excels at demonstrating connections,” says Devaney. “That mere demonstration has forced scholars to reconsider basic claims.”

The symposium will feature a keynote address by historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, the 300th Anniversary University Professor at Harvard, whose microhistory A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard Based on Her Diary, 1785–1812 (Vintage Books, 1991), won the Pulitzer Prize for History and subsequently became the subject of a PBS documentary.

Read more about Ulrich at “What makes Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich curious?”

As a young attorney at a Washington, D.C., law firm, had no notion of becoming a prize-winning author. But only a few years into her practice, she realized law wasn’t her passion. She enrolled in an MFA program at American University, while continuing to work as a lawyer part-time to finance her studies.

Now an associate professor of creative writing at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia, the poet and novelist can add “award-winning” to her resume.

Poliner is the winner of the 2017 for her novel (Little, Brown & Co., 2016). She will be on campus on Wednesday, November 1st for the awards ceremony and a reading, followed by refreshments and a book signing.

The prize—awarded annually by the Ģ����ý’s Susan B. Anthony Institute for Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies and the Department of English—recognizes American women on the precipice of promising writing careers. It was created in 1976 to honor its namesake, a young editor who was killed in a car accident just as her career was blossoming. Previous winners include the Nobel Prize- and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist Toni Morrison, for Song of Solomon, and PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author Ann Patchett, for Taft.

“I’m thrilled to have been selected,” says Poliner.

A multigenerational saga that extends beyond the confines of its small locale, As Close to Us as Breathing chronicles the yearly summer pilgrimage of one family to their seaside cottage in Woodmont, Connecticut. It balances the melancholy in a post-World War II Jewish community with the optimistic themes of a beach novel: summer, young love, and baseball. Yet, the characters  struggle to do what is expected of them, rather than what they desire.

The prize committee consisting of Ģ����ý faculty members , (Professor of Spanish), , (Associate Professor of English), and (Visiting Assistant Professor of German), calls the novel “nothing short of epic.” Meanwhile, adio calls it “a marvel of artful storytelling,” and the praises Poliner for the “warm, particularized light in which she dresses her many characters.”

Poliner’s impressive cast of characters—four children, three sisters, two husbands, and more—presented her with a creative challenge. “It took a long time to imagine their lives fully,” says Poliner, who took six years to write the book, but conceived of the idea ten years before that.

Although the author doesn’t play favorites—“even the flawed characters are near and dear to my heart”—the author concedes that she most enjoyed writing Bec Syrkin, a savvy seamstress. “I identified with the fact that she found her way into her work and had a knack for making things. I always admired her,” says Poliner.

Another challenge was the narration style. The story is relayed in the first person through adult Molly who tells the story in  hindsight, often looking back on the summer of 1948 when she was twelve years old.

“It took some time and a little bit of technical practice,” Poliner admits, who teaches MFA students.

The setting of Woodmont, Connecticut, was the site of Poliner’s own childhood summers, two weeks each year, at her grandmother’s cottage. But that’s where the similarities end.

“A lot of people want to know if I’ve written about my life—who’s who, what character stems from what person in my life—but it’s really largely imagined,” says Poliner. She muses that some readers may question the integrity of fiction because they have lost sight of the power of imagination.

Ultimately, literature is where we learn about humanity, she adds, and how to think critically about it. “Reading literature is a wonderful way to broaden oneself by experiencing a new world presented in a book,” says Poliner.

The Kafka Prize ceremony, reading, book-signing, and reception will take place on Wednesday, November 1st at 6:00 p.m. in the Hawkins-Carlson Room of the Rush Rhees Library. The event is free and open to the public. 

This initiative will provide grants of up to $1,000 for 11 local youth teams. The participating projects, listed below, vary widely in design from a refugee cultural fair to a youth-police talent show to community mural paintings. Each team is responsible for developing, managing, and implementing their own project.

“This project is intended to address the root causes of hate and incivility,” says Kit Miller, director of the institute, located at 929 South Plymouth Avenue. “We hope it inspires other communities to turn their youth loose on problem solving too.”

Miller pays tribute to the inspiration for this program, Dr. Howard Thurman, a mentor of Martin Luther King Jr. and an alumnus of the Colgate Rochester Crozier Divinity School.

“He wrote about the dangers to a society when hatred becomes respectable,” Miller says.

The funding for these grants is sponsored by the , which provides grants to community organizations in Monroe and Ontario counties.

Remedies for Fear and Hostility recipients

“The Common Box,” designed by Hadassha Rivera, is an interactive workshop that aims to bring together individuals from diverse backgrounds and find common ground.

“ROCKidsCONNECT,” designed by Griffin Cross, is a student exchange program between high school students from the Pittsford Central School District and an urban Partnerships to Uplift Communities (PUC) charter school to help students develop a deeper understanding of the racial and socioeconomic diversity in the Greater Rochester community.

“Collaborating to Connect,” designed by Maya Waller, hopes to bring Rochester City School District students and police officers together to paint murals.

“Project Awareness,” designed by Malik Jaff and Thomas Cuyler, is a research project that uses GIS technology to map and catalogue the physical locations of hate crimes against Muslims.

“Painting Peace,” designed by Latina Chatman, Gina Verdin, and Kyle Skovira, will organize a peace march and mural painting.

“MCC Upward Bound Police Civilian Talent Slam,” designed by Isabel Hernandez, is a talent show that brings together contestants from both police and civilian backgrounds.

“Peers to Peace,” designed by Kaiya Thomas, is a series of interactive workshops that aim to heal hostility between African American and Latino students.

“Hate Fears Love: An Open Hearted Exploration,” designed by Kasim Wallace, aims to publish four monthly magazine issues that investigate the history of social topics within Rochester.

“Art Shakedown,” designed by Gianina Spano, is an interactive community event that aims to promote peace and unity through mural painting, a drum circle, and meditation.

“Peace and Love,” designed by Iyanna Davis and Laura Jean Drake, will work with 6^th grade teachers to address bullying by tie-dyeing t-shirts with positive messages for their students.

“Social Justice Theater,” designed by Robert Ricks and Tayalsia Smith, will produce two theatrical performances that address bullying in school and promote pride in African-American history.

Pending approval, UR HEAL will use the endowment to purchase blood pressure cuffs so that they may provide regular screenings for the patrons at soup kitchen. With this funding, the group will be able to purchase additional health services such as a scale and BMI charts. UR HEAL anticipates tabling monthly at A Meal & More for the remainder of the semester; they hope to begin blood pressure screenings and will be distributing pamphlets with information about local health services that specialize in serving lower-income populations.

This competition is generously supported by the Class of 2011 Community Service Fund. Donald Polaski, the administrative chair of the 2011 Class Council, served on the review panel for the Community Engagement Challenge and helped select the winning project. This fund aims to strengthen the University’s relationship with the City of Rochester and highlight students’ efforts to give back to the community.

Submissions for the 2017-2018 academic year will open in April, at which time information for applicants will be posted on the website.

The first “Color Cannot Divide Us Week” is sponsored by the Student Programming Board and the University’s “We’re Better Than That” anti-racism campaign.

Here’s a look at what’s on tap:

Monday, February 6

Breaking Racial Bounds Through Music, 7 to 9 p.m. – This event features performances by minority student and faculty musicians from the Eastman School of Music. The performances will be held in the Interfaith Chapel, and a discussion will follow.

Wednesday, February 8

Implicit Bias Training Dinner, 5 p.m. – Skilled facilitators will lead implicit bias training in the Eisbenberg Rotunda at Schlegel Hall, followed by a buffet dinner. This event is free and open to all students on a first come, first served basis. In order to attend you must RSVP to Meredith Crenca at mcrenca@u.rochester.edu. The event will capped at 50 students. The dinner is provided by Mel Catering and will be available throughout the training.

Thursday, February 9

Merchandise Giveaway: We’re Better Than That, 2 to 5 p.m. – Students can stop outside the Paul Burgett Intercultural Center in Frederick Douglass Commons to sign a banner, grab food, and pick up free We’re Better Than That swag. Giveaways include original WBTT t-shirts and stickers, as well as rubber bracelets and water bottles that read “Color Cannot Divide Us”.

Friday, February 10

W. Kamau Bell appearance, 7 p.m. – Bell is a sociopolitical comedian and host of the Emmy Award nominated CNN series, . The New York Times called Bell “the most promising new talent in political comedy in many years.”

He will be appearing at the Douglass Ballroom in Douglass Commons.

The Common Market is selling tickets at $5 for undergraduates, $10 for graduate students/faculty/staff, and $15 for the general public.

With a cast of University students, the story unfolds in a ’70s diner (think red vinyl, malt shakes, and big hair) staffed by a medley of characters, each a bit down on their luck. The curtains open on what appears will be just another day in small-town America, until strangers stumble into the local diner. Teddy, a Vietnam War vet, has a troubled past, a chip on his shoulder, and a hippie girlfriend, Cheryl, who is along for the ride. Stephen (Red) Ryder is a disenchanted short-order cook with big dreams. Throw in some bourgeois naïveté, a good-humored gas station attendant, fugitives on the run, and things get interesting.

Welcome to Foster’s Diner, a little joint forgotten by all but a few sorry souls. It may not be much to look at but it sure has character. Well, characters. Let’s meet a few of the Rochester students who bring those characters to life.

Ian von Fange ’17, as Steven (Red) Ryder

Ian von Fange plays the role of  Steven (Red) Ryder, the cook at Foster’s and a character whose proclaimed wanderlust isn’t convincing anyone. Steven is a closed-off guy who has put up a lot of barriers between himself and the other characters.  If von Fange could give Steven one piece of advice it would be to accept help when it’s offered. “There’s no honor being lost,” von Fange says. “There’s no dignity being lost. To honestly say ‘I need your help’ and ‘thank you for your help.’”

Von Fange is a senior majoring in creative writing. He hopes to move to New York City after graduation to get a gig in publishing. He’s been acting for almost 12 years, and has acted professionally at theaters in his hometown of Kansas City, Missouri. This is his eighth production at the University.

The most significant difference between Todd productions and some of his high school’s productions, he says, is the level of professionalism and the quality of the production. Most of the directors are hired from professional off-Broadway and international theater companies. Von Fange says they expose students to a high standard of performance as well as an intensive work schedule. How intense? Ģ����ý four nights a week, from 7 to 11 p.m, and on the weekends are 9 hour days. For those of you doing the math that’s 34 hours a week.

Von Fange spends his free time writing poetry and maintaining a blog. He is also a drummer and has performed with several local bands around Rochester.

Theodore (Teddy) Rycroft ’18, as Teddy

Teddy Rycroft shares his character’s first name but not much else. The character Teddy, like Red, is also a war veteran recently returned from Vietnam.  Teddy, though, suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. He is a violent and manipulative man who seems to take pleasure in disrupting the lives of the others. “I like to think I’m not any of those things,” Rycroft says in good humor. He says that because their dispositions are so different it can be challenging to play a character that cruel. However, it’s also a multifaceted role because the character uncovers ugly truths others don’t want to—but need to—hear. When asked what advice he would give to the other “Teddy,” Rycroft says he’d probably give him a hug.

Rycroft’s first Todd production was last fall’s Under Milkwood where he played multiple characters. He says it’s a new challenge to now play only one character because there are “a whole myriad of intentions that happen moment to moment.” At the same time, he says, it’s more rewarding because he is able focus on a single person’s development. He says the heavy rehearsal schedule is “a lot, but I knew that going into it.” His mantra on time management is “discipline is the key to freedom,” and he suggests that stressed students acknowledge a tier of priorities: food, sleep, and exercise.

Rycroft is a junior majoring in linguistics. He’s from Washington, D.C., and has been acting on-and-off since middle school. In addition to the Todd productions, Rycroft is deeply invested in songwriting and music production, which he does at studios off campus. His goal is to make a livable income solely from his music production within five years of graduation.

Andria Rabenold ’18, as Cheryl

Andria Rabenold plays Cheryl, Teddy’s girlfriend. Cheryl spends most of the play seated at a diner booth, observing while the action unfolds around her. Sound easy? Not so much, Rabenold says. Although Cheryl is not doing she is constantly reacting, and that demands vigilant concentration from Rabenold. “It’s a challenge to stay present and focused throughout the entire thing and to be 100 percent in the moment even when I’m not directly involved,” she says.

Additionally, Rabenold expresses her frustration with her character’s meek and quiet disposition. This presents its own internal struggle as Rabenold, who considers herself a very bold and outspoken individual, must allow her character to get pushed around on stage. “She never gets a chance to really stand up for herself,” Rabenold says. Her advice to Cheryl is that “independence is really valuable, and you can’t rely on other people for happiness and stability your whole life.”

Off stage, Rabenold channels her outgoing personality into many campus pursuits. This year she is a senator in SA government, chair of the academic affairs committee, and member of Kappa Alpha Theta. She also performs in a ballet group, and is involved in Toop, the student-run theater performance group. With all those activities it’s a wonder she makes it to rehearsal. “The key is that I keep everything in Google calendar,” she says. Her calendar is color-coded and when she’s really busy she blocks out times specifically to study and eat.

Rabenold is a junior majoring in math and political science. She’s from Saratoga Springs, New York, and has been acting for nearly 10 years. In high school, she performed mostly in musical theater and didn’t get involved in plays until college. She says that although her love for musicals is still strong, she has come to prefer plays because they’re more human and understated. This is her fourth performance at Todd Union.

Jacqueline Tran ’17, as Clark

Jacqueline Tran is making her theatrical debut as the strict and overbearing diner owner known as Clark. Tran is tasked with creating a fictional backstory for her character, as very little information is provided by the script or the playwright. Although Red Ryder is Tran’s very first play, she has been taking acting lessons for three years. When asked why she finds acting so rewarding Tran says, “It makes you become aware of the nuances in human nature we would easily pass by.”

Tran is senior majoring in anthropology and is from Brooklyn, New York. When she’s not rehearsing, Tran takes violin lessons at the Eastman School of Music and is involved with College Feminists. She also plans to join SATSANG, a meditation club, once Red Ryder has finished. She finds time by keeping a flexible schedule and doing school work whenever there’s a spare moment.

When You Comin’ Back Red Ryder? won an Obie Award for Distinguished Play in 1974.

With its debut on October 6, the production of When you Comin’ Back, Red Ryder? runs from Wednesday, October 12 to Saturday, October 15, at 7 p.m. All performances take place in Todd Theater on the River Campus. Tickets are $8 for Ģ����ý students, $12 for alumni, faculty, staff, and for seniors (65+), and $15 for the general public. The series is recommended for adult audiences only.

Tickets may be purchased online at , or by calling the box office at (585) 275-4088.  Tickets may also be purchased up to an hour before each performance at the box office.