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Over winter break, I traveled to Europe to study theatre, with a special focus on the work of William Shakespeare. This project gave me the chance to witness the Bard’s work through its intended medium (live performance),

which radically expanded my understanding of staging, interpretation, and the importance of theatre. Here are a few highlights.

 My first experience in London was a workshop of Sweat, a contemporary play by Lynn Nottage that focuses on working-class communities in Reading, a small, struggling city in Pennsylvania. I happen to be from Reading, so I was eager to discover how my hometown was portrayed through theatre. Over the two-hour workshop, we focused on a specific scene of the play and completed exercises in reading and interpretation. In my favorite exercise, we played the scene with a partner. With each line, we had to take a step either forward or back: forward if our line was trying to connect with the other person and back if we were trying to disconnect. Some lines were ambiguous as to whether they were positive or negative, so my partner and I practiced reading them different ways. I learned that, even when the text is kept exactly the same, the lines can be read in vastly different ways, depending on the players’ conceptions of the characters’ backgrounds and motivations. This was a powerful lesson that I kept in mind throughout my trip.

 The first play that I saw was the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Macbeth, which was staged at the Barbican Theatre. I was fascinated by what the production did with King Duncan (who is killed by Macbeth). I had always read Duncan as a noble and worthy king, but this production portrayed him as old and incompetent. His lines were kept in exact accordance with the text, but the way he delivered them (as well as his gestures, costume, and staging) changed my impression of him. The play was full of interpretive choices like this; for example, in the moment before Duncan names Malcolm as his successor, everyone on stage looks at Macbeth, expecting him to be chosen. When Duncan chooses Malcolm, everyone is shocked, and the audience gets the impression that Macbeth has been treated unfairly.

I also attended a production of Romeo and Juliet, which, like Macbeth, was performed at the Barbican. The staging was very simple, with this box serving as the centerpiece for the entirety of the play. Actors would sometimes climb on top of it, including during the famous balcony scene.

After that was Doctor Faustus, which was playing at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse and was written by Christopher Marlowe, a contemporary of Shakespeare’s. The coolest thing about the production was the playhouse itself. Although the playhouse is very new, it was built using plans from the 17^th century, which means that there is no electrical lighting within the theatre—everything is candlelit. Actors drew attention to themselves by carrying their own candles, and chandeliers hung from the ceiling. The stage was small, with three doors in the back for entrances and exits. There were no entrances on the wings of the stage, but some players actually entered through the audience seating, literally climbing over people and barriers to get on stage. (This was usually humorous.) Although Faustus gets dragged to Hell at the end of the play, it’s not all serious. Much of the middle of the play is actually hilarious, as the players play tricks on each other and even the audience members themselves. The audience was right next to the stage, so sometimes the players would flirt with or insult them! In this way, Faustus showed me how humor (which doesn’t always translate well in written text) comes to life on stage.

Finally, I returned to the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse to see a different production of Macbeth, as I was eager to compare it to the one I had seen earlier. This production was more period-appropriate, with older-looking costumes, music, and props. This production, in comparison to the first one, portrayed Duncan as a virtuous king, which made it a bit more difficult to justify Macbeth’s decision to kill him. The production also reused most players in multiple roles, whereas the RSC production had a bigger company and did not duplicate as many roles. One player, for example, portrayed Duncan, a witch, a murderer, and a courtier. This was a very common practice in Shakespeare’s time because, by reducing the number of actors, the company saved money on wages.

 

In all, the trip was far more rewarding than I ever could have imagined. I have a better understanding of the multiplicity of interpretations that can be derived from a single text, which should be very helpful as I write my honors thesis this spring. I’ve also come to understand the immense importance of live theatre—not just to Shakespeare nerds like myself, but to everyone. I doubt that all my fellow theatregoers were English majors, but everyone was laughing together in the funny moments and holding their breaths in the tense ones. Furthermore, since tickets were going for as little as £10, the productions were accessible to people from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds and stages of life.

One of my favorite moments was when I was leaving a theatre at the end of a production and overheard young children discussing the play. I expected them to only be interested in the fight scenes, but it turned out that they were actually engaging in an impressive level of analysis—not only had they followed the action of the play, they understood it well enough to comment on the way in which it was done! It turns out that, in the U.K., theatre really can bring diverse people together. In the U.S., however, theatre is often less accessible, as quality theatre can be quite expensive. That’s why it’s so important that people support local productions when they can and that the government provide financial support through programs such as the National Endowment for the Arts. The theatre is magical, educational, and one of the best untapped cultural resources for bridging barriers between people. It matters. And I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to experience it for myself.

The following post was contributed by Alumni Memorial Scholars senior Kyle Rhodehouse, who recently completed an independent research project, using his AMS grant funds, studying wildlife conservation efforts in Madagascar. 

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I spent 25 days traveling around Madagascar to study wildlife conservation efforts in the island’s unique habitats.  More than 90% of species in Madagascar are endemic, meaning they are found nowhere else in the world, and many of these species are in serious danger of extinction.  I wanted to see firsthand how the Malagasy, the native people of Madagascar, interact with the unique biology of their homeland.

Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot, home to countless species of endemic birds, insects, arachnids, reptiles, mammals, and plants. But the island is most famous for its lemurs, a group of animals unique among their fellow primates.  Lemurs evolved in isolation on Madagascar, reaching the island from mainland Africa by rafts of vegetation swept away by storms some 40 million years ago.  Lemurs might resemble monkeys to the untrained eye, but they are very different creatures.

Lemurs belong to the group of mammals with wet noses (like pet dogs and cats), and have long snouts, while monkeys and apes have dry noses and flatter faces.  They have a specialized set of four incisors called a toothcomb, used for grooming.  Their eyes are larger and more forward facing than monkeys and apes, but they are largely colorblind.  Lemurs can be diurnal or nocturnal.  Diurnal lemurs live in female-led family groups, while nocturnal lemurs are loners.  Some are vegetarians, eating fruit, leaves, or bamboo, while others are omnivores and add insects to their diet.

Perhaps most importantly, their brain-body size ratio is larger than those of monkeys and apes—they aren’t as intelligent as their cousins in mainland Africa.  The lemurs that didn’t make it to Madagascar were outcompeted by the smarter species of monkeys and went extinct.  In Madagascar, they continued to thrive and radiate into more than 100 species, adapting to the variety of environments present on the island.

My 25-day journey around the country allowed me to observe a total of 13 species of lemurs (yay Colgate!).  This included 11 diurnal species and 2 nocturnal species.  My life-list included the indri, the world’s largest living lemur, which makes a haunting call through the forest that carries for miles.  The local Malagasy people revere these lemurs because legend says that they are our brothers and come to the aid of travelers lost in the forest.  I also saw the mouse lemur, a nocturnal lemur that, at only 45 grams, is the smallest primate in the world.  These two species live in the rainforest of the central highlands, where they share the forest with the diademed sifaka and the red-fronted brown lemur.  In the dry forests of the South, I saw the Coquerel’s sifaka, a species made famous by the children’s show Zoboomafoo.  In the spiny forest of the southwest coast, I observed ring-tailed lemurs, the most recognizable species, due to their long, bushy black-and-white tail, which they use to communicate with one another.

As I made my way south, the climate changed from temperate and warm to hot and hotter.  My journey ended in the lively beach village of Mangily, which sits on the Mozambique Channel just north of the Tropic of Capricorn.  Daytime temperatures could flare up to 110 degrees Fahrenheit, despite it being the Malagasy winter.  Here, I spent 8 days volunteering for the Lemur Rescue Center, a program run by the French ONG Reniala.  At Lemur Rescue Center, lemurs are rehabilitated after being recovered from the pet trade or bushmeat trade.

My experiences led me to conclude that lemur conservation continues to face an uphill battle.  Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world, and rampant corruption in the national government and in local police forces hampers the creation of national policy to improve peoples’ lives or protect the environment.  The average Malagasy person lives on less than $2 a day, and their economy is plagued by hyperinflation.  In rural villages, most people are subsistence farmers.  In the deserts of the South, we came upon villages that struggled to find and store fresh water.

Additionally, as food becomes more and more scarce, people will do whatever they have to do to survive and feed their families—this includes hunting and eating lemurs and rare tortoises.  There are lucrative black markets for pet lemurs and precious rosewood from the rainforest.  Slash-and-burn agriculture is practiced all over the island, and only 2% of the original forest remains, the rest having been burned for human use.  Madagascar eats more rice per capita than any other nation in the world.  Rice is a land and water intensive crop, requiring large amounts of land to be cleared every year.

The people have no choice but to burn the land to feed themselves—the fires continue, albeit illegally, inside national park boundaries, or encroach on protected land when spreading uncontrollably.  Additionally, families in rural areas will typically use any surplus money they have to buy zebu cattle, which exacerbates the need for more land.  A lack of family planning options has led to a booming population increase, which further strains the already scarce supply of resources.  For these reasons, habitat destruction is the number one threat to lemur conservation.

Consistently, I found that protecting the lemurs is understandably not a priority for much of the population, who are concerned with their own survival much more than that of any animal.  Some believe that conserving lemurs will bring in droves of ecotourists (like myself) who will spend money, create jobs in the tourist industry, and revitalize the economy.  I find this claim intensely dubious—tourism alone cannot generate the revenue needed to improve the quality of life for most Malagasy.  And, as others have observed, the notion that Malagasy people would love to be employed serving tourists’ beck and call is akin to a second colonialism (Madagascar was a French colony from 1896-1960).

As I see it now, there is no one right answer for how best to protect and conserve the critically endangered lemurs of Madagascar.  As habitat destruction and global climate change continue to threaten these species, the future of lemurs looks bleak.  My experiences in Madagascar made it clear that the problems facing conservation are intrinsically linked to the problems faced by the Malagasy people.  In order to effectively help the animals of this unique place, we must also be prepared to help its people.

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This interview was conducted with Jacob Pilawa, a sophomore in the Alumni Memorial Scholars Program intending to major in Astronomy/Physics. This past summer, Jacob researched quasars with Professor Balonek at Foggy Bottom Observatory. 

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Could you tell me a bit about your high school experience?

I went to a high school in Cleveland called Saint Ignatius High School. It’s an all-male Jesuit school, so it was pretty unique in that sense. I spent most of my time in high school doing Science Olympiad, robotics, those kinds of STEM extracurricular activities. I was also a diver for a little bit, on the swimming and diving team. I think it was like the high school experience of most students at Colgate, where you’re taking as many AP classes as you can, trying to get college credit, and things like that. I pushed myself pretty hard in high school.

Was there anything in particular that motivated you to work hard?

It was really that I wanted to prove to myself that I could do things. Probably the most important teacher I ever had was named Father Lawrence Ober. He taught my art history class, and you wouldn’t think that would be something that an astronomy/physics major would want to study. But it was the most inspiring class because he really gave me this love of learning and not just love of school. He was very motivational and would always say things like “Charge on,” or “You’ve got this, you know everything.” He taught me a love of learning, not a love of good grades. That is what kept me going during really tough classes. I would tell myself, “Hey, I’m taking this class because I love learning it, I just have to keep going.”

I really found learning fun and looked forward to learning new things, so when I came to Colgate, I decided I wasn’t going to do anything halfway, I would go all out. I would do it, do it well, and love what I’m doing. That’s not to say that I always enjoy hard weeks or finals time, but it’s always in the back of my mind that I’m doing this because I love it. There’s that expression, “Do what you love, love what you do, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” So that love for what I’m learning is what really keeps me going.

Can you tell me what kinds of things you’re involved in at Colgate outside of class?

I did research here over this past summer, and now I’m continuing it into the academic year. I’m in Star ‘Gate, which is the astronomy and astrophotography club. I’m in running club- I like running, so why not? And I’m in physics club, of course.

Of the classes you’ve taken, what have been your favorites?

My favorite class so far has been Introduction to Mechanics with Professor Levine in the physics department. In high school physics, you talk about a ball rolling down a hill or something. But, in that class, we took those same concepts and applied them to the movements of the stars and things like that. In a typical problem, instead of a ball going in a circle, we’d have a planet orbiting the sun. Having that real application to things that I love talking about was really great. So that was far and away my favorite class.

What made you decide to conduct research at Colgate this summer?

This comes back to what I was saying earlier about a love of learning and a desire to learn more. Last year, it came time to apply and I was thinking about what I was going to be doing with my summer. I saw that summer research positions opened up at Colgate and I thought that I might as well give it a shot. I was a first-year, so I wasn’t expecting to get anything because there were probably way more qualified people.

I applied to this and a couple others, but this was my top choice. I wrote an essay about why I wanted to do this research and what my future interests are. And then I got the email in February that I’d been selected and I freaked out in the library. I was doing a physics problem set and I was like, “This has to be a joke. I’m going to make money doing things that I love doing in the summer and learn more from it.” I guess I just gave it a shot- it’s better than an office job.

Could you tell me a bit more about what you researched?

This summer we worked on these objects called quasars. Basically, at the centers of super far-away galaxies, there are supermassive black holes: black holes with a mass hundreds of thousands to millions of times our sun. So, these are incredibly big objects, the most massive things we’ve ever discovered in the universe. And in super distant galaxies, around some of them there is this gas and plasma that’s falling into these black holes. Because of things that Einstein did with special and general relativity, this actually shoots out two beams of light from the black hole. We study how that light changes over time. Basically, we’re looking at the centers of galaxies and seeing how their brightness changes.

 

So, most of my nights this summer, I worked from about 10pm to 5am at this computer. We’d focus on about six objects a night and take pictures of them. We’d get our data from these images and we’d generate curves of their brightness over time. I’m continuing to research that during the academic year. When I find time, I come up here at nights and work. Hopefully, we’re going to write a paper about our findings of a specific object called OJ 287 and then I’ll be presenting at the KNAC (Keck Northeast Astronomy Consortium) Conference in October. That’s at Colgate, so that’ll be pretty cool. This is the research that Professor Balonek has been researching here for the past thirty years, so I’m just carrying on the torch.

 

I have. One of the reasons that I got into astronomy in particular is that I used to be really into photography. I’d see those cool pictures that NASA or the Hubble Space Telescope would take of these cool galaxies and nebulae and things like that. So I did some research about how to do shots of the Milky Way

or shots of the sky with my camera and I found out that I love that and the concept of being able to look at these things. So what I really want to do is some kind of trip to Europe or the West Coast of the United States- someplace cool- and do a bunch of astrophotography and compile it all into a presentation of some kind. It would help my own skills in producing good images, which we do here. But, it would also just be a really cool thing to do and I’d have something to show for it like, “Hey, look at this really cool picture I took.”

I’m also thinking about maybe doing an observatory tour of Europe because there are really cool observatories there. I’d like to go, look at these observatories, and find out what it is that they specifically do, what they research there, and the kind of technology that goes into it, in case I ever want to go into telescope design. So, it’s either astrophotography or an observatory tour.

Are you planning on studying abroad while you’re at Colgate?

I do want to study abroad. I’m actually trying to see if I can do an astronomy/physics and French double major. Next year, I’m trying to plan out going to an approved program in Paris. I’d like to live in Paris and continue my physics work while immersing myself in that culture and language to improve my skills.

What are some of your favorite things about being a student at Colgate?

Speaking for the physics and math departments specifically, we do almost all of our work together. Most of the learning that I did wasn’t in class, but in tutoring sessions with juniors and seniors or just meeting with my friends to go over a problem set. The way in which people work together here is great, and it’s great to be around people who are as driven as you are. Because at the end of the day, we’re all trying to learn this material and become experts in it. So, it’s not hyper-competitive and people will help you.

There have been times when I’ve asked a friend, “Hey, will you sit down with me and go over this problem set?” and then we’ll sit and talk for two hours about some cool problem that we did. I really like how the students here are willing to work together and want each other to succeed.

I also really like how accessible the professors are. That’s something that I can’t stress enough. Every day, I’ll see Professor Crotty doing research on the fourth floor of Ho, and I’ll stop in to say hi or to ask him about a problem, and he’s more than happy to drop everything that he’s doing and talk to me. I literally just did that earlier today. The accessibility of the professors and the eagerness of the students to work together, that’s what I love about studying at Colgate. And also, it’s pretty.

Are there any things about Colgate that you think could improve?

I wish we’d change the Core Curriculum around a bit. For example, I’m a STEM major, but I still have to take a Scientific Perspectives class. I think we should reshape our Core Curriculum and have it not be as much of a requirement as encouraged. I think Challenges, Legacies, and Communities and Identities are good to keep, but I’m not sure if STEM students are going to get anything out of a Scientific Perspectives class.

I also think we need to diversify our Core, in the sense that most of the authors that we’re reading are from Europe, they’re white men, things like that. That’s such a limiting scope of perspectives that we’re getting. Of course, that trend is broken in some classes, but for the most part I feel like we’re reading Eurocentric literature. Our claim is that we’re preparing our students for the global world, but how can we do that if we’re only reading from Europe?

I’m also not a fan of the Global Engagements requirement. I think if you study abroad, you should be able to get the Global Engagements requirement, but that’s not always the case. I think if you take a foreign language for an extended period of time, you should be able to get the Global Engagements requirement. I don’t think we have to have this separate class because that means if I take a Core every semester, into my junior year I’ll be taking a Core. My junior year, I want to be focusing on my major, what I’m interested in.

Have you thought about what you’d like to do after Colgate?

I think I like talking to people too much to not teach. I’d like to teach at some level in physics and astronomy. But on the same token, as evidenced by this summer, I also really like researching. So, I think my heart does belong in academia, but I’d like to do it at a small college. I like teaching people, I like being taught, I like the college environment. Everybody is here to learn- I really like that and I’m really inspired by that.

The following post was contributed by Alumni Memorial Scholar Denise Larson ’19, who recently completed an independent research project, using her AMS grant funds, observing classrooms in Taos, New Mexico. 

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From August 12th to 22nd 2017, I went to Taos, New Mexico to complete an AMS project entitled, “Classroom Observations in Taos, New Mexico.” As a prospective member of Colgate’s 5-year Master of Arts in Teaching program, I’m required to get 100 observation hours in classrooms spanning the grades that compose the secondary level of education. Further, those hours must comprise a diverse body of students and schools, with traits such as disabilities, poor socioeconomic status, and English Language Learners (ELLs).

The latter was proving to be a challenge to observe in upstate New York, so I decided to go to Taos Middle School upon the suggestion of my teammate Hannah Gunther who attended that middle school. The school is 98% Hispanic, 100% free and reduced lunch, and they have a thriving bilingual program. Not only would I be able to satisfy numerous requirements for my observation hours, but I’d do so much more fully than I could have hoped to emulate in upstate New York.

I spent 30 hours in the school and observed social studies classes, bilingual language arts classes, and even an advanced mariachi class. A typical day for me looked like getting dropped off amongst the middle schoolers at 7:40 and then proceeding to observe classes until the end of the school day at 2:45. I would sit in the back of the classroom and take notes on a legal pad.

I was particularly paying attention to classroom management strategies, how curriculum was differentiated for students with different learning preferences (particularly ELLs), and also those stand-out moments in classrooms that establish classroom culture. Coming off of a summer that I spent teaching for the first time, I found myself incredibly attune to the nuances of classroom life at Taos Middle School, and loved every minute of my 30 hours there.

By the end of the week, I even found students approaching me for help as I’d managed to establish myself as a credible figure in the classroom. Those brief moments, in tandem with my pages upon pages of notes have given me a wealth of knowledge to draw upon moving forward in my teaching career. I learned that the smallest adjustments make a difference, such as having written directions in addition to oral directions. I learned the importance of validating students’ cultures in the classroom, but also the importance of maintaining control and encouraging students to follow appropriate norms that the school has established. I learned that there are a wide variety of teaching styles and that no style is innately more effective, but that stylistic choice depends on what type of classroom environment a teacher wants to cultivate. Ultimately, I gained a new appreciation for the role of intentionality in the classroom, and the responsibility the teacher has for making the effort to be intentional.

In addition to the vastly foreign environment I found myself in at Taos Middle School, I also felt transported to another world just being in Taos, New Mexico. As such, my trip to Taos doubled as a cultural experience. I visited Taos Pueblo, and witnessed firsthand the rich Native American culture that flourishes in Taos to this day. This connects to my experience at Taos Middle School because there are some kids at the school who come from the Pueblo, and their culture dictates the way they navigate the school day.

My appreciation for the preservation of Native American culture was reaffirmed when I visited Bandalier National Park, which is home to cliff dwellings created and inhabited by Native Americans hundreds of years ago.
The themes of creativity and resourcefulness that I appreciated at Bandalier were re-emphasized at Meow Wolf, which is an interactive installation art exhibit that is a collaboration of over 100 local artists in Santa Fe.

Meow Wolf was the only exploration of New Mexico I did (besides in the classroom) that took place indoors, as I was enamored by the desert and mountain vistas. I gazed upon the Rio Grande from the Gorge Bridge, and visited the earth ships that sprouted up nearby. The earth ships are sustainable homes that people have built and live in year round with the aim of preserving the environment as well as living simply, and the location seemed fitting in close proximity to the beautiful Rio Grande.
Another day I hiked down to natural hot springs that reside adjacent to the Rio Grande, and that was the lowest point (literally, not figuratively!) of my time in Taos.
The highest point of my time in Taos came from hiking in the Taos ski valley up to a peak elevation of 11,200 feet. The chance to overlook the tourist-destination Taos ski valley as well as the town of Taos took my breath away (at least what remained after hiking 2000 feet of elevation gain!).
I also got to eat some of the best Mexican food I’ve ever had, and get in some high altitude running.

I found myself thinking and verbalizing that New Mexico is the coolest place I’ve ever been, and that was a combination of my experience both in Taos Middle School and across the town of Taos and the state of New Mexico. This wouldn’t have been possible without the help of Colgate’s education department for motivating me to have a rich observation experience, the AMS program for support throughout the grant application process, and the Gunther family for taking me in for my 10 days in Taos as well as being phenomenal tour guides. So a big THANK YOU to everyone who gave me this opportunity and helped me to maximize it!