Join SMU’s Society of Fellows for an evening of music and history

November 21, 2007

Lacey, Washington — The Saint Martin's University Society of Fellows presents its Fall 2007 Colloquium on Wednesday, Nov. 28, at 7:00 p.m. Special guest Hank Cramer will entertain and educate with his program, “Bound for the Northwest — Songs of Settlers and Sailors.” The event, free and open to the public, will take place in the Norman Worthington Conference Center on Saint Martin’s main campus, 5300 Pacific Ave. SE, in Lacey.

Weaving together music and history, Cramer will give an overview of the settlement of the Pacific Northwest and examine how settlers told their stories in traditional folk songs. Tales set to music include those of sea explorers who hunted furs, land explorers who struggled to map territory, eastern-state "emigrants" who sought a new life in a strange land, and non-natives such as Aleuts and Hawaiians who were "imported" to do the work of Hudson Bay Company — plus stories of how these groups interacted with indigenous Native Americans.

Cramer is a traveling folk singer who lives in Washington State. He is best known for his booming bass voice, accompanied by vintage flat-top guitar and a wry sense of humor. Cramer’s penchant for songs about the itinerant lifestyle reflects his own wanderlust, having been an underground miner, professional soldier, shanty-man on a square-rigged sailing ship, wrangler for a high-country outfitter and world traveler. He has 12 albums and two television soundtracks to his credit.

Saint Martin’s University is an independent four-year, Catholic, coeducational university located on a 320-acre wooded campus in Lacey, Washington. Established in 1895 by the Catholic Order of Saint Benedict, the University is one of 18 Benedictine colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, and the only one west of the Rocky Mountains. Saint Martin’s University prepares students for successful lives through its 21 majors and six graduate programs spanning the liberal arts, business, education and engineering. Saint Martin’s welcomes 1,250 students from many ethnic and religious backgrounds to its main campus, and 650 more to its five extension campuses located at Fort Lewis Army Post, McChord Air Force Base, Olympic College, Centralia College and Tacoma Community College.

For additional information:

Keri Graham
Humanities & social sciences divisions
360-438-4564
kgraham@stmartin.edu

Kathleen McKain
Foreign language divisions
360-438-4337
kmckain@stmartin.edu