The Snow Leopard’s Best Friend
National Geographic
Zoo exhibits and photographs are as close as Shafqat Hussain has ever gotten to snow leopards. But in the Himalaya mountains of northern Pakistan, he might be their best ally. Trained as an economist and anthropologist, Hussain became a de facto wildlife conservationist after working on sustainable rural development projects in Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan region. There, the U.S.-educated Pakistan native realized that endangered snow leopards, already under threat due to declining habitats and poachers, were being killed off by local shepherds and farmers to prevent them from preying on domesticated herds. Attempting to balance the livelihoods of humans and animals who were encroaching on each others’ turf, Hussain created Project Snow Leopard, a nonprofit centered on an insurance program that compensates herders for goats, sheep, yaks, and cattle lost to predators. Hussain estimates that some 50 snow leopards may have been spared so far. … Now 47, Hussain has taught anthropology at Connecticut’s Trinity College since 2009. He acknowledges that he may never see a snow leopard in the wild. But that’s not really his goal. “I’m happy to see people and nature thrive together,’’ he says…

Why some fear this election’s lasting damage to American Christianity
The Washington Post
…The contrast between different groups of religious voters this election season is striking, said Mark Silk, professor of religion in public life at Trinity College. Polls ahead of the election showed Catholics divided, and that many Mormons abandoned the Republican Party compared with years past. But evangelicals voted for Trump in even greater numbers than they voted for Republican candidates Mitt Romney and John McCain. “Trump has been a candidate where one could say, ‘Is there no point at which you won’t vote for the Republicans?’” Silk said. “I think that’s what’s given away the extent to which personal identity for religious conservatives and churchgoers has become wrapped up in Republicanism.”

Syracuse University Presents ‘It’s a Wrap! West African Textile’ Exhibition
Face2Face Africa
Syracuse University Art Galleries in New York is currently exhibiting more than 40 examples of unique textiles drawn from West African countries, including Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Cameroon, and Nigeria. The exhibition, titled, “It’s A Wrap! West African Textiles,” aims to highlight the unique woven, stamped, appliqued, and resist-dyed techniques of designing textiles that are common in West Africa. “The textile culture in West Africa is very old – weaving is documented at Igbo Ukwu, Nigeria, in the 9th and 10th centuries, and by the 11th century weaving flourished in Mali,” Syracuse University writes on its website. The exhibition has been organized by Professor Michelle Gilbert from the department of Fine Arts at Trinity College in Connecticut and is partially sponsored by the Maxwell African Scholars Union in conjunction with the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs. The exhibition features textiles borrowed from the collections of Gilbert and the Amyas Naegele and Eve Glasberg Collection in New York and will run from November 15th to December 23rd in the Shaffer Art Building in Syracuse…

Beth El Synagogue presents its first cross-cultural Asian-themed concert
West Hartford News
…The evening begins with a pre-concert lecture at 6 pm with Michael E. Lestz [’68], Professor, Trinity College. Professor Michael Lestz is a member of the History Department at Trinity College. Lestz holds a Ph.D. in Chinese history from Yale University and his research is focused on Qing and 20th century China. With Jonathan Spence, he is the co-author of The Search for Modern China: A Document Collection. He directs the O’Neill Asia Cum Laude Endowment at Trinity and has often led undergraduate research programs in China. In the spring of 2014 he was Trinity College’s first exchange professor at Fudan University in Shanghai. The topic is The Jews of China: “And what remains? The Jewish Refugees of Shanghai, 1938 to 1945.” Professor Lestz will speak about the relocation of some 18,000 Jewish ‘stateless persons’ to Shanghai and their struggle to survive in one cramped neighborhood during the War. It is a fascinating chapter in the tragic history of the Holocaust…

Pablo Delano’s Photos Of Puerto Rico’s Street Art At Mattatuck
Hartford Courant
In recent years, thousands of Puerto Ricans have left the island because of the crippling debt crisis. Many neighborhoods in Puerto Rico reflect this financial hardship: Streets are empty, storefronts are vacant, buildings are crumbling, the infrastructure is ancient. Where many see squalor, the muralists of Puerto Rico see opportunity. Street art is booming in the U.S. territory. Photographer Pablo Delano is there to document it before artworks are painted over by other muralists, vandalized or destroyed. Dozens of street-art photographs by Delano — a Trinity College professor of fine arts and native of Puerto Rico who lives in West Hartford — are assembled in an exhibit at Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury. “There are murals and wall art in virtually every single town on the whole island, thousands and thousands and thousands of murals,” said Delano. “There is great creative energy, especially in the district of San Juan called Santurce. … Art tourism is growing. People from all over the world come to Puerto Rico to see the street art.”…