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The newspaper of The Johns Hopkins University February 9, 2004 | Vol. 33 No. 21
 
In Brief

 

Homewood i-site kiosks win national graphic design award

Homewood's network of information devices known as i-sites have been honored with a 2004 Juror Award in design from SEGD, which stands for Signs Environments Graphics Design.

The first system of its kind, i-site uses a touch screen and buttons to provide an innovative wayfinding system for disseminating directions and important campus information. Users can use the screen to find locations of buildings and offices, handicapped-accessible routes and details of daily events, or can push a button for instant access to a help desk in the Security Office. The 12 units were unveiled in October 2003.

"This project represents great vision and foresight in challenging technology for complex wayfinding in an exterior environment," said the competition's jury.

The kiosks were developed for Johns Hopkins by Thinkframe, a Philadelphia design firm.

 

Baltimore Free University offering 20-plus spring classes

More than 20 courses will be offered this spring by Baltimore Free University, the informal adult education program revived last fall by Johns Hopkins. The semester, which runs from Feb. 23 to June 11, will have noncredit classes in poetry writing, documentary photography, yoga, ballroom dancing, socialism, drawing, art history, public speaking, urban planning, the nature of prejudice, civil liberties, training for childcare providers and debt management. The number of class sessions varies from onetime workshops to courses that meet once a week for several weeks.

Registration will be held from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Feb. 14, in the Sherwood Room of Levering, Homewood campus. Attendees will be able to meet the instructors, many of whom are doctoral candidates, professors and students at Johns Hopkins.

Like its predecessor, which existed from 1968 to 1984, the new BFU features an array of personal enrichment, social issues and practical trade courses. There is a nominal registration fee of $10 for two courses per student. For more information, call 410-516-4777.

 

Homewood Arts Programs presents original movement theater

A performance of original movement theater titled Fear will be presented at 8 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 13, in Levering's Arellano Theater, at Homewood.

A collaboration of Johns Hopkins' Homewood Arts Programs and the Towson University MFA in Theater program, Fear was designed and will be directed by Towson graduate student Tatsuya Aoyagi as part of his MFA final project. Aoyagi and 10 advanced student actors from Towson will be premiering original movement pieces based on work generated during a course titled Creative Process of Original Ensemble Theater. A similar course, Voice and Movement for the Stage, is being offered at Johns Hopkins this spring by Christine Glazier, a lecturer in the Writing Seminars and stage director at the Peabody Institute.

While much of Western theater is based on the words in a text, this type of theater uses primarily movement and physical gestures as its text, said Eric Beatty, director of the Homewood Arts Programs and one of Aoyagi's thesis advisers.

Aoyagi is a founding member of Naoko Maeshiba Performance Collective and has performed at the Kennedy Center and the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., and at Baltimore Theatre Project.

 

Writing faculty to share their craft at Wednesday Noon Series

Writing Seminars faculty Jean McGarry, Stephen Dixon and Tristan Davies, all nationally recognized writers, will share their techniques and tips during "How I Wrote This Story," a presentation at noon on Wednesday, Feb. 11, in Homewood's Shriver Hall. McGarry is chair of the department, Dixon is a professor, and Davies is senior lecturer.

Copies of McGarry's Dream Date, Dixon's 14 Stories and Davies' Cake, all published by Johns Hopkins University Press, will be available for sale and signing.

McGarry's stories in Dream Date, funny and haunting in equal measure, explore the subtleties of romantic relationships. The collection is her sixth book of fiction. The stories in Davies' Cake also examine the modern relationship, its moments of crisis as well as its moments of quiet success. Dixon has published more than 125 short stories and more than a dozen books; readers of 14 Stories will find the same inventive humor that characterizes his distinctive style.

This event is part of the Wednesday Noon Series presented by the Office of Special Events and is co-sponsored by JHU Press.

 

'Talk to Her' opens Women, Gender and Sexuality Film Series

The Women, Gender and Sexuality Film Series called Bee-Have opens this week on the Homewood campus. The 10 films, presented as "Movie Screenings and Discussions in Five Acts," are divided into themes, with each film introduced by a faculty member. The films, which run from Feb. 13 to April 20, will be shown at 7 p.m. on Fridays in 110 Gilman, the Donovan Room.

The first two films are paired under the topic "Inversions." Pedro Almodovar's Talk to Her (Spain, 2003) opens the series on Friday, Feb. 13, and will be introduced by Jorge Minguell of the Romance Languages and Literatures Department. On Friday, Feb. 20, Jennifer Lin of the Political Science Department will introduce Karim Ainouz's Madame Sata (Brazil, France, 2003).

Future screenings include The Night Porter, Lolita, The Exorcist, Aliens and Barbarella. For listings, see The Gazette's calendar each week.

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