Appleton

APPLETON, WIS. — Patience and persistence will be keys to successfully navigating the mix of cooperative and competitive elements facing the U.S.-China relationship in the future says a scholar on Chinese foreign policy and East Asian security

In the second installment of Lawrence University’s 2008 Povolny International Studies Lecture Series, Phillip Saunders presents “Strategic Dimensions of U.S.-China Relations,” Wednesday, Feb. 13 at 7 p.m. in Science Hall, 102. The event is free and open to the public.

Saunders, a senior research fellow at the National Defense University’s Institute for National Strategic Studies in Washington, D.C., believes bilateral tensions between the United States and China are likely to increase significantly in the next few years. His presentation will examine several of the strategic challenges China poses to the United States, among them the potential for domestic crises, its nuclear modernization and the Taiwan situation.

According to Saunders, effective pursuit of U.S. interests in dealing with China are compromised by different priorities within the government as well as the trade offs faced between short-term policy goals and long-term strategies.

“Leadership, vision and patience will be necessary for the United States to take full advantage of the benefits that cooperation with China offers while successfully meeting the strategic challenges China poses to U.S. interests,” says Saunders.

Prior to joining the INSS, Saunders spent four years at the Monterey Institute of International Studies as the director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program. He also has taught courses on Chinese politics and foreign policy and conducted research on East Asian security issues for the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and for the Pentagon while an officer in the United States Air Force.

Richard Bush, a 1969 Lawrence graduate and director of the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution, will conclude the series Monday, Feb. 25 with the address “The Taiwan Strait Issue and U.S.-China Relations.”

The “U.S.-China Relations” lecture series is sponsored by the Mojmir Povolny Lectureship in International Studies. Named in honor of long-time Lawrence government professor Mojmir Povolny, the lectureship promotes interest and discussion on issues of moral significance and ethical dimensions.

APPLETON, WIS. — One of the most complex, important and rapidly changing bilateral relationships of the 21st century — the United States and China — will be the focus of Lawrence University’s 2008 Povolny International Studies Lecture Series.

Peter Hays Gries, associate professor and director of the Newman Institute for U.S.-China Security at the University of Oklahoma, opens the three-part series Wednesday, Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. in Science Hall, 102 with the address “Chinese Nationalism and Anti-Japanese Sentiment.” All lectures in the series are free and open to the public.

Gries will examine the factors behind a growing Chinese hostility toward Japan despite expanding economic relations between the two countries. Emboldened by a quarter century of economic growth, most Chinese no longer fear Japan and long-suppressed anger for the Japanese has resurfaced.

According to Gries, the “victor narrative” of China championed by Mao Tse-tung from the 1950s through the 1980s, has been challenged by a new “victim narrative” focusing on Chinese suffering during the 20th century, much of it at the hands of the Japanese, including atrocities like the “Rape of Nanking” during World War II.

“The emergence of a deep-rooted and popular anti-Japanese enmity in China today does not bode well for 21st Century Sino-Japanese relations,” said Gries. “As a result, Japanese increasingly fear China’s rise and possible future retribution for Japan’s wartime aggressions. The possibility of a Sino-Japanese arms race is increasingly real.”

Gries’ scholarship focuses on nationalism, China’s domestic politics and foreign policy and the political psychology of international affairs. He is the author of the book “China’s New Nationalism” and co-edited “State and Society in 21st-Century China.” He was appointed the Harold J. & Ruth Newman Chair in U.S.-China Issues at the University of Oklahoma in 2006 after five years in the political science department at the University of Colorado.

Other scheduled speakers and topics for this year’s series are:

• Feb. 13 — “Strategic Dimensions of U.S.-China Relations,” Phillip Saunders, senior research fellow at the Institute for National Strategic Studies

• Feb. 25 — “The Taiwan Strait Issue and U.S.-China Relations,” Richard Bush ’69, director of the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution.

The “U.S.-China Relations” lecture series is sponsored by the Mojmir Povolny Lectureship in International Studies. Named in honor of long-time Lawrence government professor Mojmir Povolny, the lectureship promotes interest and discussion on issues of moral significance and ethical dimensions.

APPLETON, WIS. — British-born author, award-winning journalist and noted conservative political blogger Andrew Sullivan examines the U.S. political landscape Tuesday, Feb. 5 in a Lawrence University convocation.

Sullivan presents “American Politics: A View from Home and Abroad” at 11:10 a.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel, 510 E. College Ave., Appleton. Sullivan also will conduct a question-and-answer session at 2 p.m. in the Coffeehouse of the Lawrence Memorial Union. Both events are free and open to the public.

A senior editor at The Atlantic and a columnist for The Sunday Times of London, Sullivan was among the first mainstream journalists to experiment with blogging. Known for its insights on current events and people in the news, Sullivan’s blog, “The Daily Dish” on the homepage of The Atlantic.com, has become one of the country’s most widely read political blogs, helping establish Sullivan as one of America’s most influential intellectuals.

Sullivan has written three books, including “The Conservative Soul: How We Lost It, How to Get It Back.” Published in 2006, it traces the shift in political conservatism from a narrowly defined political philosophy to a concept dominated by religious fundamentalism.

His first book, 1995’s “Virtually Normal: An Argument About Homosexuality,” examined gay rights from four perspectives — prohibitionist, liberationist, conservative and liberal. In his second book, “Love Undetectable: Notes on Friendship, Sex, and Survival,” Sullivan presented a series of essays on the deep connections between homosexuality and friendship.

Educated at Oxford and Harvard universities, Sullivan began his journalism career as an intern at The New Republic magazine while still a student. In 1987, he was appointed an associate editor at TNR, the youngest in the magazine’s history, and four years later was named its editor-in-chief.

Under Sullivan’s editorship, The New Republic earned a reputation as one of the nation’s most lively and controversial journals of opinion, addressing issues of race relations and gay rights. AdWeek recognized Sullivan with its Editor-of-the-Year Award in 1996.

During his career, Sullivan also has written for The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Time, Esquire, and The New York Times Magazine. He has appeared frequently on “The Chris Matthews Show” and NPR’s “Talk of the Nation” as well as many other public affairs programs, among them “Meet the Press,” “Nightline” and “Face the Nation.”

APPLETON, WIS. — Lawrence University’s Black Organization of Students will host the seventh annual Celebration of Black Heritage dinner and program Saturday, Feb. 2 at 6 p.m. in the Buchanan Kiewit Recreation Center gymnasium. The theme for this year’s event is “Coming From Where I’m From: Celebrating the African Diaspora at Lawrence.”

The event includes an ethnic dinner, followed by a program featuring poetry readings, singing and traditional dances from Africa and Jamaica performed by students. Members of BOS also will share stories of their personal experiences.

Tickets, at $10 for adults, $5 for children 12 and under, are available at the Lawrence University Box Office, 920-832-6749. Tickets also will be sold at the door for $12 the night of the event. For more information, contact the Lawrence University Diversity Center, 920-832-7051.

APPLETON, WIS. — The Bank of Kaukauna captured its eighth consecutive off-campus title over the weekend in Lawrence University’s 43rd Great Midwest Trivia Contest. With 1,325 points, The Bank finished comfortably ahead of runner-up Six Feet Under, which tallied 1,210 points. Subprime Iowans were third with 1,160 points. The win was the 10th in the past 12 years for the Kaukauna-based team, which received a broken telephone signed by all the trivia masters as a first-place prize.

Bucky’s made it six straight wins among on-campus student teams, edging Morgan Freeman and the North Side, 1,168-1,113. Finishing third on campus was 1972 Soviet Baskyetbol with 1,029 points. Bucky’s was awarded a Batman stocking for its win.

A total of 366 questions were asked during the 50-hour contest that ended at midnight Sunday, Jan. 27. Twelve on-campus and 72 off-campus teams participated during the weekend.

No team was able to answer this year’s “Super Garruda,” the contest’s final question, which asked: “In the ‘Citadel of Opportunity’ section of ‘An Invitation to the International Olympic Committee to celebrate the XIX Olympiad at Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.,’ there is a photograph of a girl wearing a sign around her neck. This sign bears the name of what notable figure?” The answer was Josephine Baker.

APPLETON, WIS. — Ladies and gentlemen, start your (search) engines.

Once again, copious amounts of insignificant knowledge and advanced Internet skills will be put to the test when the 43rd edition of Lawrence University’s annual Great Midwest Trivia Contest — the country’s longest-running salute to all things trivial — kicks off Friday, Jan. 25.

The 50-hour marathon of minutia that simultaneously challenges the brains and tickles the funny bones of hundreds of players on campus and around the country with its grab-bag of questions, eclectic music and off-beat humor, begins anew at precisely 10:00.37 p.m. and ends at midnight Sunday, Jan. 27. For the third year running, the contest will be webcast on WLFM, the Lawrence campus radio station, at www.lawrence.edu/sorg/trivia.

During the contest, questions of varying point values are asked in three-minute intervals via the Internet while teams call in their answers to the WLFM studios.

From its armadillo mascot to its first-place prizes unfit for even the cheesiest white elephant exchange, the trivia contest is steeped in tradition. Following one of the more time-honored ones, Lawrence President Jill Beck will open the weekend’s trivial pursuit by asking the contest’s first question, which, also by tradition, is always the final question of the previous year.

After two years as a participant and one year as a mere master, James Prichard carries the coveted mantle of “Grand Master” for this year’s contest.

“You’re the most important person on campus for 50 all-too-short hours,” said Prichard, a senior from Northfield, Minn. “President Beck gets to ask the first question, but then she has to abdicate to the trivia masters for the next 49 hours and 57 minutes.”

After some gentle tweaking, Prichard promises a 2008 contest that will run “smoother than ever. We’ve really worked on the logistics.”

Prichard is hoping to make more of a connection this year between current students playing on campus and the legions of trivia fans participating throughout the Fox Cities and beyond by offering some new “theme hours” during the weekend that focus on landmark events from previous year’s contests.

“I think some of the people who have been playing trivia for a long time will really appreciate it and enjoy it,” said Prichard. “And I hope current students get a little better sense of some of the long traditions of the contests.”

Two trivia teams have dominated the contest in recent years the way the Boston Celtics once ruled the NBA and UCLA owned college basketball. Amid whispers of retirement, the Bank of Kaukauna juggernaut, winners of seven straight off-campus titles, returns with its high-tech collection of computers with multiple direct connections and load balancing routers, a customized data management repository and even its own specialized score management system.

Employing a considerably less technological tack, the Yuai community has racked up five straight on-campus crowns. With a team typically numbering around 20 — both current students as well as past team members who make a late January trek back to campus — the Yuais approach to its trivia rivals is simple and straight forward according to team member Robby Sutton: destroy.

“Most of us take trivia very seriously,” said Sutton, a junior from Appleton. “My trivia needle is definitely on fanatical. That’s where it needs to be or else we lose.

“Remember,” Sutton added, “it’s all fun and games, unless it’s trivia. Then it’s war.”

The Lawrence trivia contest still serves as a mid-winter siren call to Appleton for many die-hard players, but the switch to a webcast format has turned the contest into a world-wide event. Last year answers to questions arrived from as far away as Europe and Japan.

The contest has undergone its share of changes, mostly technological, since making its debut in 1966 as an alternative for students who didn’t participate in an academic retreat with professors. But one thing that hasn’t changed over the past four-plus decades is the no. 1 rule of the entirely student-run contest: have fun.

“It’s a project that you can really get into,” said Prichard, explaining why he devotes so much of his time to planning and organizing the contest, as well as writing a fair number of its questions. “It’s easy to become consumed by it.

“If at the end of the weekend, everyone who played, everyone who just listened in for a while, all the volunteers who asked questions and answered phones can say they had a great time, then we’ll be able to say ‘mission accomplished.'”

While no team came up with the correct answer to last year’s final brain teaser — the traditional “Super Garruda” — any trivia team worth its clever name will pick up an easy 100 points when that same question reopens this year’s contest. Make a note: Francis Scott Key, Mary Pickersgill, Major Armistead, Rebecca Young, Carolyn Pickersgill, and Neighborhood Cat are the six caricatures framed on the wall of the children’s interactive learning room in the Jean and Lillian Hofmeister building of The War of 1812 Museum.

APPLETON, WIS. — People and places of the rural Midwest and works from the founding artists of the Die Brucke movement of German Expressionism will be featured in the latest exhibition at Lawrence University’s Wriston Art Center galleries. The exhibition runs Jan. 18 – March 9.

Photographers Julie Lindemann and John Shimon, both assistant professors of art at Lawrence, will jointly deliver the exhibition’s opening lecture Friday, Jan. 18 at 6 p.m. A reception will follow the address, which is free and open to the public.

Portraits of everyday people and panoramas of rural landscapes from the Midwest assembled for “J. Shimon & J. Lindemann: Sentimental and Specific” will be exhibited in both the Hoffmaster and Kohler galleries. The exhibition also will include an installation of vintage film projectors and numerous cast-off televisions featuring films and videos of their many and varied subjects.

Collaborators since the mid-1980s, Lindemann and Shimon have focused their cameras on the remote corners of the Midwest, particularly Wisconsin’s Manitowoc County. Among their photographic projects are “Animal Husbandry,” “Midwestern Rebellion” and “Pictures of Non-Famous People.” Their 2004 book, “Season’s Gleamings: The Art of the Aluminum Christmas Tree,” received national media attention, including a segment on “CBS Sunday Morning.”

Prints from Lawrence’s La Vera Pohl German Expressionism Collection will be shown in the Leech Gallery. The display will include the work of painters Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Hermann Max Pechstein and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff.

Wriston Art Center hours are Tuesday-Friday from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., Saturday-Sunday from noon – 4 p.m. The gallery is closed Mondays. For more information, call 920-832-6621 or visit http://www.lawrence.edu/news/wriston/.

APPLETON, WIS. — Dance, movement, theater, text, live music, contemporary pop songs and improvisation will be incorporated in Milwaukee-based Wild Space Dance Company’s performance of “Balancing Forces” Friday, Jan. 18 at 8 p.m. in Lawrence University’s Stansbury Theatre.

Tickets for the performance, at $10 for adults, $5 for senior citizens and students, can be purchased at the Lawrence University Box Office in the Music-Drama Center, 420 E. College Ave., Appleton, 920-832-6749. The performance is free for Lawrence faculty, staff and students.

The work, which explores the wildly dynamic convergence of balance and the forces that hold or release us from that state, was created through a collaborative process that drew upon choreography and movement concepts from several company dancers.

“I wanted to explore a new process for developing work that would more fully engage company members as choreographers while maintaining an ensemble approach to creating an evening long work” said artistic director Debra Loewen.

“Balancing Forces” features the work of 1998 Lawrence graduate Seth Warren-Crow, who composed several new selections for the project and provides a blend of sampled music and text from various artists with live accompaniment during the performance.

Founded in founded in 1986, Wild Space Dance Company has served as a company-in-residence at Lawrence since 2000. Hailed as “richly imaginative and witty” by the New York Times, Wild Space is known for site-specific works and artistic collaborations.