War imitating life is topic of Feb. 21 inaugural lecture at Elizabethtown College

Related Media

Dr. Carmine Sarracino

The Office of the Provost and Senior Vice President continues to host the Inaugural Scholarship Series, commemorating the inaugural year of the College's 14th president. The second lecture of 2012, slated for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21, features Dr. Carmine Sarracino, professor of English, who will present "Life, Point Blank: War as a Metaphor for Ordinary Life." The lecture takes place in Room 212 of the James B. Hoover Center for Business. A reception follows. The lecture and reception are free and open to the public.

"In war, as in life, we lose friends," said Sarracino. "We don't know from day to day who will be here. Ordinary life can be like battle, just less dramatic."

Sarracino will read from his collection of poems about the American Civil War and comment on how he came to see ordinary, day-to-day life as mimicking the conditions of battle. In both extremes of experience, like the armies of the Civil War, we suffer wounds, sometimes physical (through accident, illness or disease) but also emotional and psychological (through fearfulness, disappointment, grief). At the other extreme, however, the virtues of the battlefield -- courage, loyalty, heroism, and most surprisingly love) – also are part of ordinary experience.

The final event in the Inaugural Scholarship Series features Dr. Jane Cavender, Biology, presenting "The T antigen Onco-protein: Inducing Cell and Student Transformation," Tuesday, March 27. The session also begins at 7:30 p.m. in Room 212 of the James B. Hoover Center for Business.

Links: http://www.etown.edu/map/

Elizabethtown College, in south-central Pennsylvania, is a private coed institution offering more than four dozen liberal arts, fine and performing arts, science and engineering, business, communications and education degrees. Through personal attention, creative inspiration and academic challenge, Elizabethtown College students are encouraged to expand their intellectual curiosity and are given the opportunity to become a bigger part of the world through experiential learning-research, internships and study abroad. Elizabethtown College's overall commitment to Educate for Service is fulfilled as students are taught intellectually, socially, aesthetically and ethically for lives of service and leadership.

Visit www.etown.edu for more information about Elizabethtown College.