From the Editor's Desk

Sweet Briar Board Authorizes Construction of New Fitness and Athletic Center

At its meeting on Saturday, February 9, the Sweet Briar College Board of Directors authorized construction of a new fitness and athletics center (FAC). A ceremonial groundbreaking was held on April 25. Construction will begin in earnest in May, and the approximately 53,000-square-foot building is estimated to be completed in fall 2009.

Elizabeth Wilson ’70, Freelancing in NYC

Elizabeth Wilson ’70 is a freelance writer in New York City. She lives near the the Metropolitan Museum of Art, visits exhibits several times each week, and writes mostly about the visual and performing arts.

Wilson has published two articles in Smithsonian Magazine. One focuses on the ancient Egyptian queen, Hatshepsut, and the other on the French revolutionary painter Jacques- Louis David. “Hatshepsut was the first great female ruler in history,” Wilson said. Her controversial position as queen made for an interesting story, perhaps even challenging the historical interpretations of her rule. Similarly, Wilson’s article on Jacques-Louis David hovered around his radical mix of politics and art. He was essentially an art dictator during the French Revolution who sent several painters to their deaths and eventually voted to have Louis XVI, for whom he had been a commissioned painter, executed. “[David] was one of the inventors of propaganda. Mussolini and Hitler were very interested in what he did,” shared Wilson. “Now there’s a story for you!”

Guion’s Denizens Make Room for Live Sharks Sweet Briar College’s Guion Science Center is home to an eclectic bunch of charismatic creatures, the faculty of the science and math departments notwithstanding. Now, the chameleons, monarch butterflies, and occasional visiting salamanders have been joined by a colony of sharks.

Sweet Briar’s First Fringe Festival Fringe-tastic! Just Fringe It! Viva la Fringe! Fringe-a-licious! Those are just a few of the signs that greeted people to campus when they attended Sweet Briar’s inaugural Fringe Festival, held January 31 through February 3, 2008. The idea started as a question by Professor Nicholas Ross: How could SBC combine artistic events and make them more accessible to everyone? If there was a way people could make one or two trips to campus and see several events, then that would solve their dilemma of having to pick between individual events throughout the semester.

Professor Translates Spanish Novel Pam DeWeese, professor of Spanish at Sweet Briar College, has completed an English translation of 360º Diary, a novel by Spanish author Luis Goytisolo was released by Peter Lang Publishing in March. 360º Diary is the first of Goytisolo’s novels to be translated into English.		Daisy Gives Tours of Sweet Briar House Visitors to campus were given a tour that brought Sweet Briar House to life as Holy Cross Catholic School’s eighth grader Claire Wittman, told of its history while impersonating Daisy herself dressed in fashionable nineteenth-century clothing. With her hair tied back in a dainty peach bow, she walked from room to room as spectators, or better termed Daisy’s house guests, followed and listened to her stories of the founders of Sweet Briar.
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