T hroughout <strong>the</strong> academic year, <strong>Princeton</strong>’s staid metal lampposts sprout colorful appendages that capture, in microcosm, <strong>the</strong> vibrancy of campus life. Battered by wind and rain, stapled toge<strong>the</strong>r in untidy agglomerations, and never <strong>the</strong> same from one week to <strong>the</strong> next, <strong>the</strong>se posters attest to <strong>the</strong> remarkable creativity and curiosity of our faculty and students, to <strong>the</strong> eclectic nature of <strong>the</strong>ir interests, and to <strong>the</strong> unique juxtaposition of opportunities that defines a university like ours. It is true that digital advances and environmental concerns are changing <strong>the</strong> way we publicize events, but whatever <strong>the</strong> future holds for conventional posters, <strong>the</strong>ir graphical message will remain an important form of individual expression, public communication, and institutional identity. For all <strong>the</strong>se reasons, I thought I would introduce you to two lampposts as <strong>the</strong>y appeared on a bright spring afternoon. The posts in question were largely obscured by 12 different posters, all jockeying for attention and, in places, overlapping one ano<strong>the</strong>r. Two were modest affairs on letter-size paper—one posted by <strong>the</strong> <strong>Princeton</strong> Scandinavian Association, promoting its “Viking Study Break 2.0” from 9 p.m. to midnight at Whitman College, and one posted by Theatre Intime, announcing auditions for 7 Stories by Canadian playwright Morris Panych, with show dates coinciding with Reunions. (Mark your calendars!) But <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r posters were larger, more elaborate, and as different in appearance as <strong>the</strong>ir <strong>the</strong>mes, which ranged from a call for <strong>Princeton</strong> Preview hosts (“Earn Your Stripes; Host a Future Tiger”), to a list of Holy Week services in <strong>the</strong> <strong>Princeton</strong> <strong>University</strong> Chapel, to an open invitation to “An Evening of Vinyasa Flow Yoga and North Indian Sitar,” combining practice, discussion, and performance. Emblematic of <strong>Princeton</strong>’s educational mission was a poster depicting part of Raphael’s celebrated fresco, The School of A<strong>the</strong>ns, with Plato and Aristotle front and center. This formed <strong>the</strong> visual backdrop for <strong>the</strong> fifth annual graduate conference in political <strong>the</strong>ory, jointly supported by <strong>the</strong> Department of Po<strong>litics</strong> and <strong>the</strong> <strong>University</strong> Center for Human Values—an opportunity for our graduate students to discuss <strong>the</strong> work of visiting peers. The poster listed all eight papers to be given, as well as <strong>the</strong> intriguingly titled keynote presentation by Professor Elisabeth Ellis ’90 of Texas A&M <strong>University</strong>, “Extinction and Democracy: Species Conservation and <strong>the</strong> Limits of Po<strong>litics</strong>.” Also tempting passersby was a poster announcing THE PRESIDENT’S PAGE Tales of Two Lampposts <strong>the</strong> Lapidus Family Fund Lecture in American Jewish Studies, to be delivered by Professor Jenna Weissman Joselit of George Washington <strong>University</strong>. The title of her talk, “Mr. Wyrick’s Tablets: America’s Embrace of <strong>the</strong> Ten Commandments,” was underscored by <strong>the</strong> poster’s use of red, white, and blue, as well as a 19th-century drawing of Moses receiving <strong>the</strong> Tablets of <strong>the</strong> Law atop Mount Sinai. Contrasting sharply with <strong>the</strong>se examples of representational art was a poster whose vivid hues and abstract design could pass for an artist’s concept of <strong>the</strong> cosmos. Under <strong>the</strong> heading, “Religion and Race,” it announced a four-person panel discussion chaired by Associate Dean of <strong>the</strong> Graduate School Karen Jackson-Weaver ’94 and sponsored by <strong>the</strong> Office of Religious Life and <strong>the</strong> Women’s Center. Attendees were promised “a dynamic and thoughtful conversation about <strong>the</strong> intersections of religion and race from feminist and womanist perspectives.” Race also formed <strong>the</strong> subject of ano<strong>the</strong>r poster, this one featuring photographs of award-winning playwrights Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas and Young Jean Lee, <strong>the</strong> latest speakers in <strong>the</strong> Center for African American Studies and Department of English’s Critical Encounters Series. Entitled “‘Enabling Violations’: Race, Theater, and Experimentation” and cosponsored by <strong>the</strong> Programs in Gender and Sexuality Studies and Latin American Studies, this “open conversation” reflects <strong>the</strong> series’s aspiration to offer “a forum that bridges <strong>the</strong> gap between scholarship and <strong>the</strong> creative arts.” The arts made an appearance on three o<strong>the</strong>r posters, including one promoting Theatre Intime’s production of Private Lives, directed by Savannah Hankinson ’13. Nöel Coward’s classic comedy of manners was skillfully represented by <strong>the</strong> silhouettes of two embracing couples linked to one ano<strong>the</strong>r by outstretched cocktail glasses. Ano<strong>the</strong>r poster announced <strong>the</strong> first in a series of movie screenings and discussions with <strong>the</strong> engaging title of “Hollywood Science Gone Bad,” hosted by <strong>the</strong> <strong>Princeton</strong> Undergraduate Geosciences Society. Featuring <strong>the</strong> 2004 disaster film The Day After Tomorrow and a conversation led by Dusenbury Professor of Geological and Geophysical Sciences Daniel Sigman, this event was vividly captured by <strong>the</strong> Statue of Liberty in mask and snorkel, about to be enveloped by a monstrous wave. Equally eye-catching, albeit in a less dramatic way, was a poster advertising “Inspiration Night” at <strong>the</strong> <strong>Princeton</strong> <strong>University</strong> Art Museum—a “Late Thursdays” event designed to give participants an opportunity to sketch, compose, or write in <strong>the</strong> presence of inspirational works of art, with drawing materials and refreshments provided. The poster was itself a creative gem, depicting one of <strong>the</strong> museum’s best known paintings, Monet’s Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge, spilling lilies onto a young artist’s open sketchbook. Remarkably, this is just a small sampling of <strong>the</strong> hundreds of posters that adorn our campus lampposts. Next week, <strong>the</strong>y will tell an entirely different story, reminding us that life outside <strong>the</strong> classroom is as rich as life inside it. THE ALUMNI WEEKLY PROVIDES THESE PAGES TO THE PRESIDENT
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