Up and running

Tigers look for double repeat at Heps

Last fall, the men’s and women’s cross country teams completed a rare double at the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships when both Tiger squads won team titles. On Oct. 26, Princeton will look to duplicate that feat and become just the second school to record back-to-back sweeps (Dartmouth did it in 1994 and 1995).
The Princeton women are clear favorites in their race. Ranked fourth in the national coaches’ poll, the Tigers have won every meet they’ve entered this season with a lineup that includes remarkable depth: At the Pre-Nationals Invitational Oct. 13, all seven of Princeton’s entrants finished in the top quarter of their race. Sophomores Liz Costello and Christy Johnson are the Tigers’ most likely contenders for the individual Heps crown.
Princeton’s men also have a pair of runners who hope to lead the Heps pack - Frank Tinney ’08 and Michael Maag ’09 - as well as David Nightingale ’08, the No. 3 runner at Heps last year, who recently returned from an injury. Cornell, which placed three spots behind Princeton at the Pre-Nationals, could be the Tigers’ top challenger.
Check the Oct. 31 post for a full recap.

Novelist examines Mexican history

In a wide-ranging lecture delivered Oct. 18, the novelist and Mexican diplomat Carlos Fuentes brought the history of Mexico alive, spanning from creation myths to the present day in one hour.
Fuentes grappled with difficult issues of religion, identity, and revolution while bringing his McCosh Hall audience from colonialism into the 21st century. The Mexican Revolution of 1910, he noted, “was a real revolution as deep and decisive for my country as was the French, Chinese, or American for theirs.” “A revolution is like an annunciation,” he said. “It is equally as important for what it achieves as what it promises.”
Fuentes’ comments included moments of levity (“Our Lady of Guadeloupe has become a symbol for Mexico, where even agnostics are Catholic.”), as well as an examination of contemporary issues. In response to an audience member’s question, Fuentes advocated the respect of immigrants in America as well as the greater responsibility of Mexico to provide for its people. He also told of the intellectual’s duty, as “a thermometer of the society,” to speak up in the face of injustice. “It is incumbent upon the intellectual to speak out for those that don’t have a voice,” he said.
The speech, which was part of the Spencer Trask public lecture series, marked a homecoming of sorts for Fuentes, who taught comparative literature at Princeton from 1997 to 1999. His best-known novels include The Old Gringo, The Eagle’s Throne, and Aura, a book studied in undergraduate Spanish classes at the University. And Fuentes journals, letters, drafts, and even some elementary school writings have found a home in Firestone Library as The Carlos Fuentes Papers. By Julia Osellame ’09

New books: Tough break

Breaking up is never easy, but Emma Taylor ’05 and co-author Lorelei Sharkey hope to dull the pain with their therapeutic new book, Buh-Bye: The Ultimate Guide to Dumping and Getting Dumped (Chronicle Books). The authors, better known as Em and Lo, have penned five other amusing but profane relationship guides. In Buh-Bye, they have created a cross-referenced A-to-Z glossary, covering break-up etiquette (“the face-to-face imperative” - after more than a few weeks of dating, you must call it off in person); pitfalls (the “groundhog dump,” in which a breakup stretches over several days, making each day seem dreadfully similar to the one before); logistics (how to split up things “acquired” during the relationship, like new friends or a favorite restaurant); and recovery (from “retail therapy” to the break-up makeover, or “breakover”).
For information about other books by alumni and faculty, visit New Books at PAW online.

Good grief; campaign chatter

Schulz and Peanuts, David Michaelis ’79’s new biography of cartoonist Charles Schulz, has been called one of the fall’s “must-reads” by the Houston Chronicle. But for those who might not have the time to pore over the book’s 655 pages, there is an alternative. PBS’ American Masters series will focus on Schulz Oct. 29. The 90-minute program will include home movies and photos of Schulz as well as interviews with family members, fellow cartoonists, and Michaelis.
Marty Moss-Coane, host of Radio Times (WHYY-FM 90.9, Philadelphia), will be on campus Oct. 24 at 6 p.m. to record a conversation about early trends in the 2008 presidential race. Princeton professors Julian E. Zelizer and Brandice Canes-Wrone are slated to join Rutgers professor Cliff Zukin in a panel discussion that will be taped and re-played on Moss-Coane’s show, which airs in the Philadelphia area and online weekday mornings from 10 a.m. to noon.

More at PAW Online

Rally ’Round the Cannon - Gregg Lange ’70 surveys the list of professional sports champions from Princeton.
Cardboard - It was easy to be angry at the tall man she saw begging near her home, Barbara Risk de Boinville ’74 writes. Then she got to know him.
On the Campus - Jocelyn Hanamirian ’08 takes a closer look at Princeton’s “other” club.