Tanisha Francis ’18 Looks Into the Legacy of Black Women in Prison

August 9, 2017 By Leave a Comment

Tanisha Francis ’18

The ACLU reports that black women make up thirty percent of all incarcerated women in the US, even though they represent just thirteen percent of the female population in the country. And according to government figures, black women are imprisoned in state and federal prisons at twice the rate of white women.

These jarring statistics have inspired Tanisha Francis ’18, an Africana studies and history major, to investigate the origins of this disparity, and the history of black women in US prisons. Read the full story in Bowdoin News.

Filed Under: Bowdoin, History, Students

Whispering Pines: ‘The Thoughts of Youth Are Long, Long Thoughts’

August 9, 2017 By 2 Comments

Whispering Pines

“A boy’s will is the wind’s will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts”
– My Lost Youth (1855), Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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Filed Under: Alumni, Miscellaneous, Whispering Pines

‘We the People:’ Rudalevige Explains Role of Public Opinion in US Constitution

August 8, 2017 By Leave a Comment

Founding Principles Chapter 6: Public Opinion from Bowdoin College on Vimeo.

How important was public opinion to the framers of the US Constitution? How do we know what the public really wants? And how qualified is the general public to answer questions about US government?

These are some of the issues raised by Thomas Brackett Reed Professor of Government Andrew Rudalevige in the Washington Post political science blog The Monkey Cage. Every week over the summer The Monkey Cage is publishing an episode of Founding Principles, a series of short videos presented by Rudalevige explaining how American government works. The latest episode—the sixth of fifteen—explains how American government rests on what Alexander Hamilton called a “due dependence on the people.”

Filed Under: Bowdoin, Faculty, History, Law, Government & Politics

Ellis Price ’18 Works in an Old Maine Mill with Modern Textiles

August 8, 2017 By Leave a Comment

Art history major and visual arts minor Ellis Price, in Erin Flett’s Westbrook studio.

While studying abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark, last year — a city famous for its love of beautiful design — Catherine “Ellis” Price decided that creating textiles was her calling.

The first textile designs she made, one for a wallpaper and the other for a fabric, were inspired by the Danish landscape — the old canals and the rolling farmland, divided into tidy rows. “I wanted to connect the two landscapes, farming and water,” she said.

Designing patterns — for blankets, rugs, pillows, tea towels, napkins, etc. — incorporates Price’s interests in printmaking, drawing, and photography. Plus it appeals to her down-to-earth side.

“In a sense, textile design is more practical [than fine arts],” she said. “It is something you live with everyday and use everyday. And I think it is pretty interesting how you can do so much with a simple design, like stripes. It might be simple, but you can still create something beautiful and transform a space.” Read the full story in Bowdoin News.

Filed Under: Arts & Culture, Bowdoin, Business & Finance, Students