Fall Membership Party and CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION (1921-2021) Commemorating 100 years since the Club's incorporation
Monday, September 27, 2021 6:00 pm - 10:00 pm (ET)
Please join with fellow NYC alumnae and members of Smith College administration and faculty for a cocktail reception and (mostly) LIVE themed symposium, 'Then, Now...Tomorrow,' focusing on the Club, the College, gender and single sex education and our alumnae role, within the greater context of period American history, literature, the Great American Songbook and memorabilia to commemorate SCCNYC's 100th year since incorporation. We will be at the Penn Club on West 44th Street. COVID-19 precaution-compliant and more so - see below.
A preview of some of the evening's offerings:
- Greet and mingle over delicious passed hors d'oeuvres with an open bar featuring period cocktails as well as usual beverage fare.
- Meet Provost and distinguished Helen Means Professor of English Language and Literature, Michael Thurston. Become absorbed in his lecture on Modernism followed by discussion:
"Looking Ahead to Look Back (and Vice Versa): Modernism's Annus Mirabilis (1922)"
Centenaries offer useful occasions for retrospection. We look back over 100 years to see how far we have come and to find lessons that might help us to shape the next 100 years. On the brink of the 100th anniversaries of three crucial texts of literary modernism (T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, James Joyce's Ulysses, and Virginia Woolf's Jacob's Room, all published in 1922), we can look forward to those works' centenaries as a way of looking back on the works and the circumstances that produced them. All of these three texts reckon with the shattering background of the First World War and the influenza pandemic of 1918-1920, and all struggle to imagine ways forward. Our stereotopic view of them can offer hints for how we might imagine our own futures as we emerge into the new normal after our own wrenching recent past.
Provost Thurston will also spend a few minutes with some updates on Smith's response to the Covid pandemic and the beginning of the new (in-person) academic year.
About Michael Thurston
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Michael Thurston is the Helen Means Professor of English Language and Literature. Since his arrival at Smith in 2000, he has taught courses on 20th-century poetry in English, modernism, American literature and American studies. His primary research interest is modern and contemporary poetry, on which he has published three books and numerous articles. In addition, he publishes on the work of Henry David Thoreau and Ernest Hemingway and, with the support of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities, he is writing a biography of the literary critic and Harvard professor, F.O. Matthiessen. In 2010, he was awarded Smith’s Sherrerd Prize for Distinguished Teaching. He has contributed substantially to faculty governance at Smith, serving as chair.
- Professor Carrie Baker, the Sylvia Dlugasch Bauman Chair of American Studies and professor in the Program for the Study of Women and Gender will address gender identity and expression at Smith College via real-time, (in-camera only), big screen Zoom talk followed by interactive audience discussion.
"The Woman Question Today: Gender Identity and Expression at Smith College and Beyond"
In The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir asked, "what is a woman"? She famously argued, "one is not born, but rather becomes a woman." For generations, Smith College has nurtured explorations challenging narrow and traditional notions of womanhood, gender and gender expression. In so doing, the College has opened the door to new possibilities for women to engage in study, work, politics, sport, and family life.
Professor Baker will lead a conversation on how gender identity and expression have evolved over time, what it means to be a woman at Smith today and what the future might hold at the College and beyond. How have single-sex/gender educational environments changed over time? How might they continue to modify in light of our current socio-political environment?
About Carrie Baker
Carrie N. Baker
, J.D., Ph.D. is the Sylvia Dlugasch Bauman Chair of American Studies and a professor in the Program for the Study of Women and Gender at Smith College. Her scholarship and teaching centers on women’s rights law and policy in the United States, focusing in particular on sexual harassment, sex trafficking, and reproductive justice. She is a regular writer and contributing editor at Ms. magazine, where she serves as co-chair of the Ms. Committee of Scholars. he also has a monthly column in Northampton’s Daily Hampshire Gazette.
- Mr. Stritch (Billy), one of the premier singer-pianists on the New York and national jazz and cabaret scenes, will perform a selection of songs that were popular from the earliest days of our current "Celebration" (1920's) and up through the 20th century, illustrating how music has changed over the years - and how great music remains timeless and is still celebrated today.
About Billy Stritch Billy Stritch began his career in Houston, Texas, where he formed the vocal trio Montgomery, Plant and Stritch. The trio performed all over New York and Europe from 1983 unt
il they disbanded in 1990. A chance meeting with Liza Minnelli in March of 1991 resulted in her asking him to create vocal arrangements for the record-breaking extravaganza Liza Stepping Out at Radio City Music Hall. In addition to his 25-year collaboration as accompanist with and opening act for Liza, Billy recently toured with the legendary Tony Bennett as Tony's pianist and musical director. A solo entertainer in his own right, he has performed his own shows (including tributes to Mel Tormé and Cy Coleman) in concert halls and nightclubs across the country. Billy also serves as music director for such leading vocalists as Marilyn Maye, Linda Lavin, Linda Eder, Christine Ebersole and Paulo Szot. He is the co-writer of the Grammy-winning song "Does He Love You" recorded by Reba McEntire and Linda Davis. When he's not on the road, he is the pianist for Jim Caruso's Cast Party open mic night every Monday at New York's legendary Birdland Jazz Club and he and Jim hold forth on Sunday nights at Bemelmans Bar in Manhattan's fabled Carlyle Hotel. During Covid-19, he created his own weekly Facebook live-stream show "Billy's Place," celebrating the Great American Songbook with songs and stories from his varied career. He was one of the first artists to pivot into online performances and even with the return of live performances he is continuing the show every Thursday evening at 8:00 pm EST on his BILLY STRITCH Facebook page. He has recorded five solo CDs and his latest CD release "Billy's Place" (Club44 Records) is a collection of his favorite songs from these online concerts.
Topic: Fall Membership Party and CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION (1921-2021)
Date: Monday, September 27, 2021
Time: 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm (ET)
Location: The Spruce Room (3rd floor), The Penn Club, 30 West 44th Street, Manhattan
Limit: Attendance will be limited to 100 participants
Cost: Members - free of charge; Non-members $35.00 (Attend free-of-charge and receive all other benefits by joining or renewing your SCCNYC membership, in many instances, for less than or slightly more than, the price of this event ticket. And for graduates from 2010 and beyond, for only $40 additional, @ $75.00 per year.
Click to Register (Non-Member)
Registration is required in advance, up to 2 days prior to the event.
COVID POLICY and PRECAUTIONS
- All attendees must be fully vaccinated. You are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after you have received a second dose in a two-dose vaccine series or two weeks after you have received a single-dose vaccine.
- In order to enter the SCCNYC event, the Penn Club will need to see proof of vaccination against COVID-19 with a vaccine approved or authorized for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or by the World Health Organization (WHO).
- All attendees must provide in-person verification of vaccination. You will be asked to provide proof of vaccination through the CLEAR app (if available to you), the Excelsior Pass (for New York State residents), or an original physical vaccination card or photograph of it. Trained individuals will review your proof of vaccination as you arrive at the event.
- Once approved, the following COVID-19 precautions will be taken to ensure your safety: (1) Masking will be required of all attendees at all times during the event except during the cocktail reception, when eating or drinking, in the large specifically-designated room; (2) Attendees who wish to remain masked at all times may 'meet and greet' in a separate, adjacent room (where the symposium will be held), (3) Elevator entry, required to access the event, will be limited, at any given time, to a maximum of three (3) passengers, cleared for entry and observing the 'masks-on' policy. (4) Guests may choose to arrive at ~ 7:15 pm when the reception will have concluded and the symposium will begin - thus all guests (and staff) will be masked for the remainder of the evening.
Where:
Live and Virtual. The Penn Club and Zoom
30 West 44th Street
New York, NY 10036
[ Get Directions ]