The Weekly Blog: 1/3/07

NOTE: This post was originally published at princetonalumniweekly.blogspot.com/

Eyes on the ice

Members of Princeton’s women’s hockey team keep a close watch on the action against Ohio State Dec. 30 at Baker Rink. The Tigers lost to the ninth-ranked Buckeyes 3-2, but came back to beat Ohio State 2-1 the next day.

Photo by Frank Wojciechowski

Shooting for a winner

With a 6-1-1 record in its last eight games, Princeton men’s hockey is on the verge of climbing above .500 for the first time this season. The Tigers host Quinnipiac on Jan. 6 at 7 p.m. at Baker Rink. With a balanced attack that includes seven players with 10 or more points this season, Princeton has won four consecutive games, including one-goal wins against Nebraska-Omaha and Minnesota State Dec. 30 and 31. Fans in New England can watch the Princeton-Quinnipiac game on NESN.

Men’s and women’s basketball will play key weekend games as well. On Jan. 6 at 2 p.m., the Princeton men host Rice, a team that includes national scoring leader Morris Almond (30.3 points per game). The Tigers, who lead the nation in scoring defense (an average of 50.9 points allowed), will aim to contain the 6-foot-6-inch swingman. In women’s basketball, Princeton opens its Ivy League schedule at Penn Jan. 6 at 7 p.m. The Tigers shared the Ivy championship with Brown and Dartmouth last season.

Faculty clips

In December and early January, several Princeton faculty members put their writing skills to use in the popular press. Peter Singer, the DeCamp Professor of Bioethics, wrote a Dec. 17 New York Times Magazine cover story about charitable giving, making a case for “donating more than you’re comfortable with.” He also wrote an opinion piece in The Australian Jan. 3 about the difficult medical decisions involved in treating or withholding treatment for extremely premature newborns.

Alvin Felzenberg *78, a visiting lecturer at the politics department, wrote an appreciation of President Gerald Ford in the op-ed pages of the Washington Times Dec. 28. Ford, he wrote, “provided service to his country in ways that went beyond his cleaning up for his predecessor.” And two other professors took turns as book reviewers.

Michael Wood, Charles Barnwell Straut Professor of English and Comparative Literature, critiqued Thomas Pynchon’s latest novel, Against the Day, for the London Review of Books, while James McPherson, the George Henry Davis Professor of American History, emeritus, examined Doris Kearns Goodwin’s latest book about Abraham Lincoln’s cabinet for The New York Times.

Winter notes at Richardson

Musical performances by jazz guitarist Stanley Jordan ’81 and singers from the Trenton Children’s Chorus Covenant Singers and the Princeton Day School will highlight the University’s Martin Luther King Day Celebration at Richardson Auditorium Jan. 15 at 1 p.m. The program will examine the music of human rights movements, with an address by Daphne Brooks, an associate professor of English and African American studies.

Richardson also will host three orchestral events in January, starting Friday, Jan. 5, with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, which will play a lineup of Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony, John Adams’ Shaker Loops, and Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, featuring solo violinist Jennifer Koh. The Greater Princeton Youth Orchestra takes the stage Jan. 20 for its 45th annual winter concert, and the following day, the Princeton Symphony Orchestra will play selections from Schubert and Beethoven in an afternoon performance. To complete the month’s string selections, the Artemis String Quartet, a German traveling group, will perform Jan. 25.