Tree lights up Center City

The tree, a 35-foot spruce, was donated by Mr. and Mrs. Louis Rieser of Northeast Philadelphia in response to the mayor's citywide request for a donor. After the tree and other festive lighting were turned on, the crowd of about 80 people listened to local musical groups perform Christmas music. The groups included the Temple University Brass Quintet and the Joy Unlimited Youth Mass Choir. The tree is the most recent city holiday decoration to be erected. Last week, snowflake lights were placed on the entire length of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway from City Hall to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. – Gregory Montanaro Russian poet to give reading Renowned Russian Poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko will read poems from his Anthology of 20th Century: Russian Poetry: Silver and Steel today during the second College Lecture Series, sponsored by the School of Arts and Sciences. Yevtushenko, one of the defiant Soviet writers of the 1960's, will also be available to talk to students and staff after his 5 p.m. reading in Stiteler Hall, Room B-6. A visiting poet and lecturer in the Slavics Department at the University in 1991, Yevtushenko writes about people's experiences in the former Soviet Union. College Dean Matthew Santirocco said Yevtushenko is one of the most prolific of contemporary poets, often compared to American greats like Walt Whitman. "He's a popular poet, with a true feeling for the land and the people of what was once the Soviet Union," he said. Yevtushenko will read his poems in Russian tonight, and Bradley Jordan, an assistant professor at Union College, will translate. Santirocco said Yevtushenko will be available to sign copies of his books, which will be sold at the reading. – Charles Ornstein