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The Christmas Service of Lessons and Carols, a tradition born at Kings College in Cambridge, England, at the end of World War I, has become a Christmas tradition at Hamilton College. That tradition of holding a service of Christmas Lessons and Carols will continue on Sunday, December 8 at 4 p.m. in the Hamilton Chapel. The College Hill Singers will sing under the direction of Prof. G. Roberts Kolb, and College Chaplain Jeffrey McArn will preside over the service of the procession of lights, bidding prayer, familiar carols, biblical readings of the Incarnation, and a candlelit chapel ushering in the wonders and holiness of the season. A reception will follow the service in the recently renovated third floor of the chapel. This event is free and open to the public, and everyone is cordially invited to join us.

Twenty-five Hamilton College students have been chosen to serve as Nesbitt-Johnson Writing Center tutors at Hamilton this year. Established in 1987, the Writing Center provides a place where students confer with other students who are trained to discuss writing.

Thomas Bass, visiting professor of American Studies, wrote a review of former SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt's new book, Take on the Street, What Wall Street and Corporate America Don't Want You to Know: What You Can Do to Fight Back, for the New York Times (11/24/02).

Philip Klinkner, the James S. Sherman Associate Professor of Government, was interviewed for a Los Angeles Times article (Nov. 22) about how members of the 107th Congress managed to deliver legislation on issues important to their constituents back home before the session ended. Klinkner said in the article, "Few members can credibly go back to their constituents and say, 'I created the new homeland security agency,'"... "On the other hand, they can go back and plausibly claim, 'This new shooting range is because of my skill and leadership on Capitol Hill.' "

Assistant Professor of Women's Studies Vivyan Adair, who is director of the ACCESS Project at Hamilton College, was a panelist at a higher education and welfare reform conference in New York City on Nov. 18. The conference, "Bridging the Gap: Higher Education and Career-Centered Welfare Reform," was sponsored by Metropolitan College of New York, Medgar Evans College (CUNY), National Urban League, National Black Caucus of State Legislators and the College Board. Adair participated in a panel, "Programs and Models That Work," where she described the ACCESS Project. ACCESS is a demonstration educational, social service and career program that assists profoundly low-income parents in Central New York in their efforts to move from welfare and low-wage work to meaningful and secure career employment through higher education. The program provides a fully supported introduction to a liberal arts education coupled with social services, family and career support.

A variety of classical music performances will take place this weekend, Nov. 22-24, in Wellin Hall. The String and Woodwind Chamber Ensembles and the Brass Ensemble will perform on Friday, Nov. 22, at 8 p.m. Music by P.D.Q. Bach, Haydn, Schubert and more. David Steadman '03 will conduct a choral program for his senior project in music Saturday, Nov. 23, at 8 p.m. A faculty recital featuring Sara Mastrangelo, violin, and Sar-Shalom Strong, piano, playing the music of Beethoven, Brahms and Fauré, will take place on Sunday, Nov. 24 at 3 p.m. All are free and open to the public.

Professor of French John O'Neal is the author of a new book, Changing Minds, The Shifting Perception of Culture in Eighteenth Century France, published by University of Delaware Press. According to the publisher's Web site, "In this study of the epistemological underpinnings of cultural changes in the French Enlightenment, O’Neal shows how many of the cultural changes brought about by eighteenth-century French thinkers arise from the different forms of knowledge and experiences they pursued. They derived these different forms of knowledge and experience from a new view of sensibility, which in turn depended on humans’ perceived proximity to or distance from nature and the categories normally associated with this concept."

Associate Professor of Sociology Mitchell Stevens appeared in a news segment about homeschooling that aired on Channel One News. Channel One News is a daily 12-minute newscast that is beamed via satellite to 12,000 U.S. middle schools and high schools. Stevens spoke on camera with news anchor Errol Barnet. Stevens is the author of Kingdom of Children: Culture and Controversy in the Homeschooling Movement (Princeton University Press, 2001).

James A. Bradfield, the Elias W. Leavenworth Professor of Economics, will present a lecture, "On Economic Consequences of a War with Iraq," on Monday Nov. 18, at 7:30 p.m., in the KJ Red Pit. The talk is sponsored by the Alpha Delta Phi Lecture Series. Free to all members of the Hamilton Community.

Associate Professor of Music and bassist Michael "Doc" Woods played in a jam session at New York City's famed Blue Note Jazz Club on November 8 and 9. Woods had attended a performance at the club, then joined an open jam session when the host group asked for a volunteer bass player.