Thursday, February 27, 2025
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Public Talk Reimagines Border Crises
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Guest speaker Lisa Flores, the Josephine Berry Weiss Chair of the Humanities and Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Penn State, will deliver a public talk titled “Spectacular Urgencies and Quotidian Lives: Reimagining Border Crises through Black ‘Aliveness’” next Thursday, March 6, at 5 p.m. in Olin Auditorium. (Flyer attached.)
In recent years, public imaging of U.S. border crises, especially at the U.S.-Mexico border have trafficked in the rhetorical form of spectacle. While useful in generating public attention, spectacle operates through temporalities of now-ness, generating urgencies and immediacies through the disidentification of viewers and audiences with the scene and the stage of spectacle. With attention to one moment of border spectacle, the September 2021 use of horses by border agents, Flores will argue that if we consider different temporalities of urgencies, we can build reading practices that interrupt disidentification and advance rhetorical attention from the spectacle to the quotidian. In that shift, we build reading practices of what Kevin Quashie names Black “aliveness.”
A critical race/gender/queer scholar of rhetoric, Flores examines intersectional rhetorical racialization. Her work has explored Chicana feminism, masculinity, whiteness and border rhetorics. Her recent book, “Deportable and Disposable: Public Rhetoric and the Making of the ‘Illegal’ Immigrant” (Penn State University Press, 2020) was recognized with the Rhetoric Society of America Book Award and, from the National Communication Association, both the Diamond Anniversary Book Award and the James A. Winans-Herbert A. Wichelns Memorial Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Rhetoric and Public Address. Her current projects examine mobility and containment as modes of rhetorical racialization particularly as relevant to historic and contemporary border politics.
This public lecture is sponsored by the Rhetoric, Writing and Public Discourse; Gender Studies; and Indigeneity, Race and Ethnicity Studies programs. The event receives additional support from the Robert and Mabel Groseclose Endowed Lecture Fund.
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As we are in the middle of a particularly bad flu season and as people make plans to travel during spring break, please take a moment to review these recommendations from the Health Center:
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- It is not too late to get a flu shot! They are easily available at pharmacies around town or through your medical provider.
- Make sure your measles vaccinations are up to date. Students are required to have proper evidence of measles vaccination to enroll at Whitman, but staff and faculty should verify that their vaccine and booster dates are still protective. (An improved version of the measles vaccine was created in 1968, so check with your health care provider if your immunization was prior to that date.)
- Minimize your risk for respiratory diseases like colds, flu and measles by wearing a mask and frequently washing your hands, especially while traveling around others. If you need a mask, stop by the Welty Student Health Center.
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Please take precautions to stay healthy and make your break as enjoyable as possible!
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Together25 Art Event Tonight
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The Walla Walla Community Change Team will host “Together25” on Thursday, Feb. 27, from 6–7:30 p.m. in the Reid Campus Center Young Ballroom. This free, family-friendly event will showcase community members who have created art to tell their stories of trauma/addiction and recovery/resilience. (Flyer attached.)
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Salmon Conservation Club Event Tonight
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The Salmon Conservation Club will host a public talk by Chris Pinney on Thursday, Feb. 27, at 7 p.m. in Maxey 207. Pinney is a retired Army Corps of Engineers salmon biologist and current salmon activist. He will discuss his career path, his thoughts on the lower Snake River dams and failed attempts to mitigate the damage they cause, and his visions for the future of healthy salmon populations.
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Learn About Watson Fellowship Opportunities Next Week
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The Career and Community Engagement Center will host two events related to the prestigious Watson Fellowship on Wednesday, March 5. The events will feature three Watson fellows: Katie Jose ’23, Annie Means ’22 and Cameron Conner ’20. (Flyer attached.)
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The Watson Fellowship offers graduating seniors $40,000, health insurance, 12 months of student loan payments and the opportunity to engage their deepest interest on a global scale.
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Dialogue & Dignity Series Event Next Week
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The Dialogue and Dignity Series will continue with a talk titled “Reimagine Resilience: Storytelling as a Portal to Prevention” on Friday, March 7, at 7:30 p.m. in Olin Auditorium. (Flyer attached.) Dr. Amra Sabic-El-Rayess is an award-winning author, scholar and Columbia University professor who works to build community belonging and nurture resilience to hate. Her first nonfiction work “The Cat I Never Named” is widely taught in K–12 classrooms.
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Photo (Alan Hoffmeister): At last Friday’s away game—for only the third time in Whitman College history—our women’s basketball team capped a perfect Northwest Conference (NWC) season with a 60–46 win against Linfield University. The NWC Tournament begins this Friday at Sherwood Athletic Center. Admission is free for Whitman students; additional tickets are available for purchase.
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Reid Campus Center, Lower Level
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Reid Campus Center, All Faiths Room
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Meet at Sweet Basil Pizzeria
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Reid Campus Center, Queer Resource Center
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Reid Campus Center, All Faiths Room
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Would you like to share an event with campus? Submit the information to the Events Calendar.
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