Lafayette Campus News (www.lafayette.edu), November 9, 2007 — The College will celebrate National French Week Nov. 12-16 with a variety of activities focusing on French culture including crepe-making, poetry, art, and renaissance music.
The week’s activities are sponsored by the foreign languages and literatures department and Le Cercle Francais (French Club), and are part of the College’s yearlong celebration of the 250th anniversary of the birth of the Marquis de Lafayette.
- A web site dedicated to the 250th celebration and to the Marquis’ unique connection to the College provides information and updates.
“The purpose of National French Week is to increase our community's understanding and appreciation of the francophone world,” says French Club president Allison Shapp ’08 (Plainview, N.Y.), a music and language studies double major. “It’s to allow members of the campus community who do not ordinarily encounter French culture to get a chance to learn about and interact with it.”
“The 250th birthday celebration has helped bring to the attention of campus the importance of the Marquis de Lafayette, and of France, in America’s history,” explains Shapp. “That theme has always been a part of the reason for French week, so the birthday celebration ties in nicely and reinforces the goals of French Week.”
French Week schedule of events:
- Crepe Sale: noon, Monday, Nov. 12 in Landis Atrium, Farinon College Center – The French Club will be selling crepes with a variety of fillings for $1 each.
- French Poetry Reading: 12:15 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 13 in Limburg Theater, Farinon
- “The Marquis on the Marquee” Film Contest Screening/Reception: 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 14 in Pardee Hall, first floor – The contest includes short films by high school students that focus on the Marquis. Students will receive awards at the reception, which will feature French hors D'oeuvres and music by Patrick D. Kelley ’09 (Shillington, Pa.), a math and music double major; Viktorija Gecyte ’08 (Vilnius, Lithuania), a mathematics-economics and French double major; and Sean Gough ’09 (North Plainfield, N.J.), a history and music double major. The contest is co-sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF).
- Concert by Musicians In Ordinary: noon Thursday, Nov. 15 in Pardee Hall, Encounter Space (fourth floor) - Musicians In Ordinary are dedicated to the performance of solo song and chamber vocal music of the Renaissance and Baroque eras. The group will be performing French music popular during the life of the Marquis de Lafayette. This event is free and open to the public. Students are welcome to bring their lunch.
- French Game Night: 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15 in Keefe Hall, French floor lounge
- Lecture by French Scholar Elisabeth Liris: noon Friday, Nov. 16 in Gendebien Room, Skillman Library– “Lafayette, Hero of Two Worlds: An Engagement in Freemasonry Between Myth and Reality,” will be delivered by French professor and widely-published specialist on the French Revolution, Elisabeth Liris. The lecture will be in French, but a translation will be provided beforehand. The talk is free and open to the public. Lunch will be provided.
- “Lafayette in the Artistic Context” Exhibit: Pardee Hall, Rm. 418 – The exhibit features popular works from artists who were contemporaries of the Marquis and that may have influenced him during his lifetime. The exhibit will continue through January.
