Barry Shain will discuss, and sign copies of, his book "The Nature of Rights at the American Founding and Beyond," on Thursday, Sept. 18 at 4:30 p.m. at the Colgate Bookstore in the Class of 2003 Events Room, third floor at 3 Utica St. The event is free and open to the public.

The book is based on a series of lectures on the nature of "Rights at the American Founding" delivered at Colgate University in 2000-01 and made possible by a grant from the John M. Olin Foundation's "Project on the Principles of a Free Society."

In "The Nature of Rights at the American Founding and Beyond," Shain gathers together essays by some of the leading scholars in American constitutional law and history to examine the nature of rights claims in eighteenth-century America and how they differed, if at all, from today's understandings. The volume also considers how such concepts of rights have continued to shape and reshape the American experience of political liberty to this day.

Shain is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Colgate University.

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Professional basketball player and Colgate University graduate Adonal Foyle will speak at the college Tuesday about the youth vote and the 2008 presidential election.

Foyle graduated from Colgate in 1998 and three years later launched the group, Democracy Matters, which has chapters on 50 college campuses across the country and involves hundreds of students and faculty in campaign finance reform.

Foyle plays for the Orlando Magic of the NBA. A native of the tiny Caribbean island of Canouan, he came to the United States when he was 15. He became U.S. citizen last year and will vote this year for the first time in a presidential election.

Foyle led Colgate to its only two appearances ever in the NCAA tournament. He was Colgate's second-leading scorer and the leading rebounder, and held the NCAA record for the most career blocked shots when he graduated.

Foyle will speak twice Tuesday:

-At 11:30 a.m. at the O'Connor Campus Center.

- At 7 p.m. in Love Auditorium in Olin Hall.

Both talks are free and open to the public.

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Over the last year, Exeter resident Adam Hermans traveled through 15 countries guided by the search for primates.

While some were well known and easily found others were elusive, but the search led Hermans, an Exeter High School graduate, through areas of Japan, South Africa and Madagascar where in total, he found 45 different species of primates. Included were the Aye Aye, which has a long middle finger to cut through trees and coconuts for food, the Golden Bamboo Lemur, which can eat high levels of cyanide without getting sick and Safakas that sprint and dance instead of walking because of their form that helps to leap from tree to tree.

Hermans, a 2007 graduate of Colgate University, was awarded the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, which pays $25,000 for a year of independent exploration outside the United States. Each of the 50 recipients of the fellowship chooses a topic to research, such as the use of cattle around the world, puppeteering and fossils.

During his year of exploration, Hermans studied the history, life and culture of primates and the humans that surround them. He created a presentation titled "Primates, People and Places." Hermans said he chose the title based upon the topic he studied, the people who resonated with him and the places where it all happened.

A favorite experience came after days of searching along the Kinabatangan River in Borneo, when Hermans finally discovered a wild orangutan.

"The orangutan first peed on me, then pooped into her hand and threw it at me," he said. "This got me over my binding excitement and into a respectful position from which to film without upsetting her."

In many cases of watching the primates, Hermans said he was impressed by their intelligence and resemblance to humans. "Once I was a safe distance away, (the orangutan) proceeded to collect leaves and construct what looked like a large leaf fan. I watched on in awe, but not understanding. Soon after, a thundershower hit, she raised the fan — actually an umbrella — and stayed dry while I got drenched and frantically tried to put the rain cover on my camera."

While in Hogsback, South Africa, Hermans befriended a man named Happy while staying in the small mountain hamlet. Happy helped him find the local Samango monkeys. It would be after spending a day together that Happy would ask Hermans for bread and milk, he said.

"He didn't want to ask up front," Hermans said, "so he would spend all day befriending me. I liked this guy."

Madagascar, which he described as very poor, may have been the favorite stop on his trip, Hermans said. There are few vehicles, dirt roads and the residents, a mix of Asian and African cultures, grow rice to eat, as the cultures they come from are lush for growing the food.

"Ninety percent of the things you find in Madagascar, you won't find anywhere else in the world," Hermans said. "So it's poor but it's also beautiful."

With more than 100 hours of footage gathered over the course of the year, Hermans plans to create at least two films. For one film he intends to focus on the whole experience, coming to grips with each country and the places to which he was traveling. Another project idea is creating primate poetry for which Hermans will join haiku poems with images from his trip.

"I want it to show the essence of the places I went, the jungle and the real beauty of it, the characters," Hermans said. "It will be glimpses as opposed to a full story because that's all I got, too."

With the year behind him, Hermans said he is inspired to do more traveling. He'd like to go in search of a purpose as he did over the last year.

"I felt like the primates were my impetus and they pulled me along to great places," Hermans said. "It's not aimless wandering and it's not doing what everybody does, but it's having your own experience."

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GLENS FALLS - The Vintage 13, a group of 1960s-era alumni of the Colgate 13 a capella singing group from Colgate University, will perform at 10 a.m. on Sunday at the First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls.

The group will sing Franz Biebl's Ave Maria from the gallery at the opening of the service.

The men will then join the church's choir for more songs.

The church is located at 400 Glen St. For more information, visit the Church's Web site at www.fpcgf.org, or call the church office at 793-2521 Monday through Friday.

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