Congratulations, Class of 2020!

Today is graduation at Houghton. Congratulations to this year's graduating seniors. Ironically, perhaps you should be glad to graduate virtually this year, since we have snow on the ground today. Personally, I think that if we have to suffer through global warming, we should at least get the perks of it also and not have snow for a May graduation.

It is sobering to think of how many graduating students I have known in one context or another: the History and Political Science majors, London and East Meets West Honors, In Search of Justice, general education Humanities, travel courses to Austria and Germany, pre-law.... One hopes not to have done them too much damage.

I happened across the image below and thought it was rather humorous. (And the verse, if you can manage to enlarge it.) Not that Houghton, of course, would ever kick you out the door like that. Oh, wait... er, never mind.

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A Warning Against Drink

I have gotten several things read over the last few days, but I keep forgetting to post any of it. Some more Gotthelf, but also a couple of other things. I'll try to break them up in order to get a few more posts out of them! Last Friday I finished another Gotthelf novella, Wie fünf Mädchen im Branntwein jämmerlich umkommen . That title does not translate very well into English, or at least I don't think so. Something like, How Five Young Women Perish Miserably Due to Brandy (or literally "in brandy"). It is an early work of Gotthelf's and a piece of social criticism. When Gotthelf was writing (1838), the canton of Bern had recently liberalized its system for granting licenses to operate a pub. At the same time, new methods of producing cheap brandy from different sources, including even the ubiquitous potato, were developed. As a consequence, inns and pubs sprang up throughout the countryside, creating a new temptation for poor...

"Plague Time" Essay Contest

If you are a major or minor in History, Political Science, Augmented History, Humanities, or German Studies, you are eligible to enter a brand-new essay contest being sponsored by the Department of History and Political Science. Details available here . And if you aren't a major or minor in one of those areas... it is not too late to become one now !

Titian Exhibition at the National Gallery, Live on BBC

London's National Gallery currently has an exhibition of Titian's work -- one that unfortunately cannot be seen right now due to the coronavirus shutdown. But on Saturday, the BBC will air a one-hour documentary about the exhibition -- a chance to "see" it in spite of the plague. According to the webpage, it should be available shortly after its broadcast. Update (4/4): Rats--it looks as though you can only see it in the UK. Very disappointing.

Plague Time

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