Homewood Apartments complex gets first tenant

The university has entered into a long-term master lease with the Cordish Co. to develop the retail space in the university-owned Homewood Apartments on Charles and 31st streets, just across the street from the Homewood campus. The retail space is expected to include five or six well-known stores and restaurants.

The first signed tenant, Xando coffee and bar, operates near other college campuses, including Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania. The casual dining and meeting spot, with posted hours from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily, is expected to open sometime after Thanksgiving.

The Baltimore-based Cordish Co. is currently developing the Power Plant in the Inner Harbor and the former Hutzler's department store in Towson.

'New Yorker' correspondent to deliver journalism lecture

Jane Kramer, European correspondent for The New Yorker, will deliver the 1998 Frank R. Kent Memorial Lecture in journalism at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 12, in Newbury Auditorium, Mudd Hall, Homewood campus.

Kramer's talk, "The Washington State Militia: A Foreign Correspondent at the End of the Line in America," will examine the "armed American right," the topic of her next book. The lecture is free and open to the public, but tickets are required; call 410-516-7157.

Kramer's New Yorker essay "In the South Bronx" won the 1993 National Magazine Award. The Last Cowboy won the 1981 National Book Award, and Europeans made her the first American and the first woman to win the coveted Prix Europeen de l'Essai "Charles Veillon." This past summer, she received the 1998 Women in Communications Clarion Award for her New Yorker article titled "Manna from Hell,"about the Swiss banking Holocaust scandal.

The Frank R. Kent Memorial Lecture honors the late Baltimore journalist, who served as a Sun correspondent in the 1920s and as the paper's managing editor for 10 years. One of the country's first daily political columnists, he wrote a syndicated column that appeared in more than 100 newspapers. Former speakers have included James Reston, Frank Rich, Ben Bradlee and David Halberstam.
--Leslie Rice

Libraries' catalog now allows access to circulation records

Ever forget when your library books are due? Or, in fact, what books you have checked out? With the latest enhancement of the libraries' Web-based catalog, you'll be able to view your own circulation records.

Here's how it works: Upon entering the Web version of the catalog, note the new option: View Your Borrower Information. This feature allows borrowers to view summary information about items charged and their due dates, any fines and/or notes on the library record, and the status of requests for JHU books.

Individual information is protected through an authentication process. Borrowers must type the barcode number from their J-card or other library card, plus a PIN.

A future enhancement will allow borrowers to renew items online.

New music course to be offered through Arts and Sciences

On stage, musicians make their craft seem almost effortless, bending notes and striking keys just as naturally as other people walk, sleep or even breathe. But behind these performances are years of practice, and sometimes anxiety or even terror that some musicians feel as they perform in front of a hall full of people.

Susan Weiss, a member of the faculty of the Musicology Department at the Peabody Institute, wants Homewood students to be able to get inside the heads of these musicians and also inside the music they are performing. To that end, Weiss has been the guiding force behind Music in Performance, a new course that will be offered through the School of Arts and Sciences.

Weiss will teach the three-credit, third-level course that will be offered in the spring semester. Arranged around a series of live performances by members of the Peabody faculty and some Peabody students, the course will satisfy the undergraduate humanities requirement in Arts and Sciences.

"We [at Peabody] have long felt that Hopkins students want to have more opportunities to study music, and with this course we can introduce them to the subject in a format that is fun and enjoyable," Weiss says.

The music studied will be from many different styles, historical periods and repertoires, including jazz, classical and popular. Students will have an opportunity to interact with the performers as they discover how ideas are translated into music and what goes into making a musical performance.

"I'll also have students attend the opera, symphony and chamber music recitals, where they will learn how to describe what they hear," Weiss says. "I hope they also will learn to have a respect for these performers. This is not a course in facts; I want them to come away with a better understanding of music and maybe even want to pick up an instrument and play it."

The course will meet two afternoons a week, from 1:30 to 3 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, in the Clipper Room of Shriver Hall. Weiss expects the class size to be between 100 and 150 students.
--Greg Rienzi

Wilmer Eye Institute receives top national ranking

For the third year in a row, the Wilmer Eye Institute has been selected as the best overall eye center in the nation in a survey conducted by Ophthalmology Times.

The No. 1 ranking was attained, in part, by the institute's first-place ranking in the categories of best research and best clinical (patient) care.