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"It's time for us to treat creativity and compassion
as everyday skills that can be taught ... . In this increasingly globalized modern world, where religions, cultures and economics interact with each other at the same time, it's really important to teach our students not only knowledge -- but other skills that are vital in today's world."
-- Elena Grigorenko, associate professor at the Child Study Center, "Look Beyond the Three Rs; The
Two Cs -- Creativity and Compassion -- Are Vital, Too," Today (Singapore), June 11, 2007.
§
"China, India, Vietnam, Brazil are countries that have improved living standards enormously in a short time. Now political changes are coming too, especially in China. People are protesting more vigorously now, such as dissent over government attempts to block and filter the Internet. Economic growth feeds political liberalization."
-- Nayan Chanda, editor of YaleGlobal Online and director of publications at the Center for the Study of Globalization, "Experts: Globalization Improves, Not Worsens Peoples' Lives," Deutsche Welle (Germany), June 4, 2007.
§
"At last week's annual conference of the main faculty union in Britain, leaders of the University and College Union (UCU) voted to support a resolution calling for the boycott of Israeli academics and universities. ... It is particularly incredible that some are attempting to de-legitimize Israel, the only democracy in the region, while a significant radical social movement, Hamas, gains strength that is anti-Enlightenment, genocidal in its anti-Semitism, not to mention anti-democratic, sexist and homophobic, and in fact governs Israel's neighboring Palestinian Authority. Can one imagine an academic group in any other circumstance lending support to those who would send basic human rights backwards in the support of reactionary forces? Those who call for the marginalization of the State of Israel or for its demise are also enablers for those reactionary forces that not only threaten liberal democratic forces in the Middle East, women and minority rights, but all that the UCU perceive itself to support and stand for."
-- Charles Small, director of the Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism, in his article, "Why the Boycott Should Outrage All Academics," Inside Higher Education, June 5, 2007.
§
"Most people would agree that criminal acts are not likely to be induced through hypnosis. Hypnosis is much more recognized as a voluntary commitment by a person. You can get into a sleepwalking state, if you wish to, but you can easily break out of it if you don't want to be in it anymore."
-- Jerome Singer, professor emeritus of psychology, "Experts Doubt Hypnosis Could Sway Testimony," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 7, 2007.
§
"Many studies have shown that the AIDS epidemic in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa will dramatically decrease economic productivity and contribute to the continuing impoverishment of these areas. It will also produce enormous hardships on families, neighborhoods, and larger social organizations by killing large numbers of family members. That is why more efforts by the wealthier parts of the international community are necessary and commendable, but at the same time there are many impediments to getting relief funds properly directed. ... In the social turmoil created by mass deaths due to HIV/AIDS, there may be tendencies to focus too extensively on short-term gain and as a result increase one's willingness to misuse relief funds."
-- Robert Heimer, professor of epidemiology and public health and associate professor of pharmacology, "G8 -- Shortfall on Help in AIDS Fight 'Devastating,'" All Africa (South Africa), June 11, 2007.
§
"Too many sermons I hear try to solve something. Take people to God and then sit down because you can't top that."
-- Thomas Troeger, the J. Edward and Ruth Cox Lantz Professor of Christian Communication, offering advice to fellow preachers, "Wholeness, Humility Ought To Mark Anglican/Episcopal Preaching, Troeger Says," Episcopal News Service (NY), June 8, 2007.
§
"Nowadays the work being done by artists is so diverse and widely dispersed that it is really futile to think in old-fashioned ways about the 'mainstream' of art, or even, to take a more aggressive term, its main thrust. If, as I do, one thinks of art as being like a vast river delta with many channels of varying widths, depths and speeds, then the issue [in putting together a representative exhibition] is not choosing only to go with the wide, fast-moving ones but also exploring the smaller, slower but sometime deeper ones, or ones that take off in an unusual and mysterious direction."
-- Robert Storr, professor of painting and dean of the School of Art, on his work as director of this year's Venice Biennale, "Inside the Mind of the Venice Biennale; Director Robert Storr Explains the Thinking Behind the Latest Edition of the World's Most High-Profile Exhibition," Art Newspaper (UK), June 7, 2007.
§
"For any people, there's a psychic comfort in searching for their roots. To generalize, so many African Americans, for understandable reasons, have not felt welcome in their own home. Finding their actual ancestors is an impossibility. The links to Africa, transmitted through slavery into the New World, is a search for a psychic home and a place of comfort. We did make a contribution, a tremendous contribution here, but there has been a cultural denial about that."
-- Jonathan Holloway, professor of history, African-American studies and American studies, "A Journey of Sorts," New Haven Register, June 18, 2007.
§
"Muslims who have chosen to live in America have to live under the law of the land. They cannot expect to enforce their vision of the law onto the whole country and society."
-- Gerhard Bowering, professor of religious studies, on Muslim cab drivers who cite Islamic laws against drinking as a reason to refuse to pick up passengers who are carrying alcohol, "Refusing Work Duties Due to Faith," Catholic Online (CA), June 21, 2007.
§
"When a child is frustrated trying to put on his shoes, you'll see a mom intervene before the dad will. It's because dads reason, 'Nobody is going to cut the crust off his bread when he leaves this house.'"
-- Dr. Kyle Pruett, clinical professor of psychiatry and nursing, and clinical instructor at the Child Study Center, "Dawn of the Dad; What Fathers Say Has a Surprising Effect on Children," Boston Globe, June 16, 2007.
§
"Cuba remains like the pre-Gorbachev Soviet Union. ... Government permission is required to travel abroad, change jobs or residence, own a computer, access the Internet, sell products or services, gain access to a boat, retain a lawyer, organize activities or performances, or form a business. One cannot receive religious instruction, watch independent TV stations, read anything not approved or published by the government, earn more than the government-controlled rate ($17 per month for most jobs, $34 per month for professionals), refuse to participate in mass rallies organized by the Party, or criticize the laws, the regime or the Party. ... Last year, a thick book of laws came out regulating contacts between Cubans and foreigners. It is now illegal for any Cuban to accept a tip or gift from a foreigner."
-- Carlos Eire, the T. Lawrason Riggs Professor of History and Religious Studies, in his article, "When Repression Masquerades as Social Justice," Spero News, June 13, 2007.
§
"Japan's pacifist Constitution has been frozen in time, unchanged since it was enacted during the occupation of U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur. But with little opportunity for debate, the Japanese parliament recently passed a bill that opens the door to major constitutional revisions ... -- amendment of Article Nine, which prohibits Japan from participating in war and restricts the size and scope of its military. ... This would be a grievous mistake. Any attempt to repudiate Article Nine would generate large anxieties in the region, even if it is accompanied by flawless democratic procedures. But an effort by elites to ram repeal through a defective process will justifiably generate larger concerns about the future of Japanese democracy."
-- Bruce Ackerman, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science, and Norikazu Kawagishi, in their article, "Japan's Revolution Is Far Too Quiet," Foreign Policy, May 2007.
§
"The advantage of writing an essay that's partly about yourself and partly not about yourself is that you get your share of solecism but you also get to do research. For example, when I was writing about coffee, I got to drink an enormous amount of coffee, but I also got to read an enormous amount about coffee. I'd always been curious about the influence of the English coffee house on 17th-century literature. I've always been curious about the history and the chemistry of coffee. I wanted to read about Balzac's coffee addiction. And knowing that I was going to write an essay about coffee enabled me to spend two or three weeks doing nothing but drinking coffee, writing about coffee and reading about coffee."
-- Anne Fadiman, adjunct professor of
English and the Francis Writer-in-Residence, "Essayist Fadiman Revives Familiar Literary Art," "All Things Considered," National Public Radio, June 6, 2007.
§
"It's not that there won't be bad things happening in those countries [in colder regions like Canada and Russia]. There will be -- things like you'll lose polar bears. But the idea is that they will get such large gains [from global warming], especially in agriculture, that they will be bigger than the losses."
-- Robert O. Mendelsohn, the Edwin Weyerhaeuser Davis Professor of Forest Policy, "Global Warming Winners? Canada, Russia, U.S. Rust Belt Might See Benefit," Associated Press, June 14, 2007.
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"Some are born with [the 'It' factor that makes them celebrities], others have It thrust upon them. And those that are born with It are interesting all the time, which can be an affliction as well as a great benefit. Others require a lucky break or a lurid calamity to activate the fickle prurience of average people. ... It embodies the contradiction at the heart of kingship -- the natural body and the body politic. The person with It can be idealized and reviled at the same time, loved and despised."
-- Joseph Roach, the Charles C. and Dorathea S. Dilley Professor of Theater and English, "The Undefinable Spirit of 'It,'" Chronicle of Higher Education, June 15, 2007.
§
"The discovery of 'Dark Energy' is arguably the most important scientific breakthrough of the last 50 years. ... So far, we know only that it causes the expansion of the universe to speed up. We call it 'dark' because we don't directly see it. 'Dark' is code for 'we have absolutely no clue what it is!' ... What excites me personally is how the discovery of Dark Energy illustrates that science is not a set of beliefs that one constructs. Instead, scientists observe nature, then develop theories that describe their observations. Science is driven by nature itself, and nature gives us no choice. It is what it is. As new facts emerge, scientific theories can be proved wrong or in need of modification, but scientists cannot ignore them. Eventually the facts will lead to the right theory."
-- Meg Urry, the Israel Munson Professor of Physics, chair of the Department of Physics and director of the Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, in her article, "The Secrets of Dark Energy," Parade Magazine, May 27, 2007.
T H I S
W E E K ' SS T O R I E S
Gift of $10 million to support work of China Law Center
Studies cast new light on problems, treatment of childhood obesity
Bias against overweight youths can have lasting impact
Weight management program shown to cut diabetes risk
Students' summer projects designed to serve city's needs
Tennis center being transformed into state-of-the-art facility
SCHOOL OF MEDICINE NEWS
Yale scientists part of 'dream team' investigating hypertension
New genome technology can identify patients with . . .
Study: Virus has 'bystander' effect
Phyical conditioning shown to improve older drivers' on-road skills
Conference speakers examined the 'ethical dance' . . .
Paul Genecin reappointed as director of YUHS
Postdoc honored with fellowship for research on drug delivery
Architecture School to begin new year in temporary home with talk, exhibit
Exhibit showcases diverse incarnations of Kipling's books
Manuscripts provide window into pre-20th-century Islamic life, learning
Alumni earn Yale Medals for service to their alma mater
Newly renovated Cross Campus Library to open in the fall
Exhibit highlights career of artist who 'probed the nation's ills'
Pilot Pen tournament to bring top-ranked players to Elm City
Ira Millstein is again named 'Corporate Lawyer of the Year'
MacMillan Center awards book prize to French professor Maurice Samuel
In Memoriam: Peter H. Marris
Memorial service for Helen Simpson Culler
Documentary on the creation of Peabody Museum's Torosaurus . . .
Yale Books in Brief
Campus Notes
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