PresRelease

This Thanksgiving week, our minds are occupied with many details of home and family: dinner gatherings and menus, coordinating family schedules with one eye on the Weather Channel, shopping lists for Black Friday, that paper due when we get back to UConn on Monday, that final exam to write.  In this whirlwind of activity, we can be thankful for the annual televised Detroit Lions football game on Thanksgiving afternoon, which offers all males in recliners across the nation three hours to catch up on their sleep.  And in the spirit of the season, I suggest that these same football fans offer to help with the dishes.

UConn’s Thanksgiving Recess allows us all a chance to catch our breath and gather momentum for closing the semester.  It’s not been an easy one for many of us.  Yet in rewarding or disappointing times alike, Thanksgiving Day stands at the gateway to winter and the winter holidays, with their promise of renewal and new opportunities.

George Washington delivered the first Thanksgiving Proclamation in 1789, establishing a Presidential tradition that suffered only one hiatus (although a rather lengthy one, from 1816-1862).  That hiatus corresponded oddly with Senator John C. Calhoun’s political career, beginning as Secretary of War in 1817 and concluding with his death in 1850 while a Senator, in the midst of the Senate debate over the Compromise of 1850.  The Civil War would soon follow.  Abraham Lincoln revived the Thanksgiving Proclamation in 1863 (although he and Confederate President Jefferson Davis each issued thankful victory proclamations in 1861 and 1862). It has continued to this day.  In 1989 President George H.W. Bush added a Presidential Pardon for a ceremonial turkey.President Truman presented with a turkey in 1949President Geo. W. Bush considers a pardon, 2008
I’m recalling President Jimmy Carter’s Thanksgiving Proclamation of November 13, 1980:

The greatest bounty of our Nation is the bounty of our heritage – our diversity as immigrants and descendants of immigrants, our common identity as Americans. We have set aside one day a year to give thanks for all that we have. Yet Thanksgiving is more than just a day of celebration. It is also a commemoration – of the day America’s earliest inhabitants sat down to table with European colonists.
That occasion was historic not only because it established a national holiday, but because it marked the start of a national tradition of cooperation, unity and tolerance.
Even in times of trial and frustration we have much to be thankful for, in our personal lives and in our Nation. As we pause on Thanksgiving . . ., we should not forget that we also owe thanks to this country’s forefathers who had the vision to join together in Thanksgiving, and who gave us so much of the vision of brotherhood that is ours today.

So wherever you’re from, and wherever you’re going, I hope you have a safe and inspiring Thanksgiving Week.  All the best!

Saturday, all of our UConn student-body Presidents got together in Hartford to discuss ideas and initiatives on their respective campuses and continue building a more unified vision for UConn student government.  They’ve had several meetings already this semester, including a day-long workshop and reception on the Storrs campus on September 13, when I had a chance to meet them at a reception in the Jorgensen Gallery:

I’m excited to see our student leaders reaching out to each other, to draw on their collective strengths and experiences from our different campuses and build a better organization – and a better experience – for all of our UConn students.  It’s the perfect example of synergy: “Increased effectiveness, achievement, etc., produced as a result of combined action or co-operation.” (OED)  When I was a kid in Iowa taking Biology, we learned about ‘hybrid vigor,’ also called heterosis,’ the genetic phenomenon that produces an unexpected dimension of strength when two different but related strains are combined.  Of course, in Iowa Biology we were talking about corn.  Here in Connecticut, I suspect the subject is introduced using nutmegs as examples.

UConn vigor!

UConn alum Wally Lamb autographed and read from his new, fourth novel, Wishin’ and Hopin’: A Christmas Story last Tuesday evening at the UConn Coop.  His first two novels, She’s Come Undone (Simon & Schuster/Pocket, 1992) and I Know This Much Is True (HarperCollins/ReganBooks, 1998), were # 1 New York Times bestsellers and New York Times Notable Books of the Year.  He’s taught creative writing in the past at UConn and also facilitates a writing workshop at Connecticut’s York Correctional Institute, a maximum-security prison for women. Wally’s been a Connecticut Department of Corrections volunteer since 1999.
Here’s a 1951 photo of Wally (front and center) on the book jacket of Wishin’ and Hopin’:

There’s a quote of his circulating on the internet: “As my early drawings warned me, where humans go, lions and tidal waves follow.”

UConn’s preeminent faculty rock band, “Off Yer Rockers,” warmed up the Coop the night before.  The first photo shows the backs or the tops of the heads of musicians/professors Davita Silfen Glasberg (Sociology): Vocals; Harry Frank (Chemistry): Vocals and Bass Guitar; Eric Jordan (Mechanical Engineering): Drums; David Miller (Psychology): Vocals and Rhythm Guitar; Ernie Zirakzadeh (Political Science): Lead Guitar. Special guest: Robert Birge (Chemistry): keyboards. In the second photo, bassman Harry Frank, drummer Eric Jordan, and tambourinist/vocalist Davita Silfen Glasberg rock it out. Professor Greg Anderson and his wife Mona were mesmerized:

Both events were fundraisers for the Covenant Soup Kitchen in Willimantic. Along with gift wrap donations, the Coop raised $1500. You should keep your eye on the Coop’s web page and Facebook page: there’s a lot going on over there.

Clifford and Jonathan

On Saturday evening I stopped by the reception at the Dodd Center for the 2009 Connecticut Children’s Book Fair.  The Fair filled the Rome Ballroom Saturday and Sunday with presentations and book signings by well known authors and illustrators, storytelling, crafts, holiday shopping, two breakfasts with Clifford the Big Red Dog, and presentation of the 2009 Raab Associates Prizes for Illustration and Writing.

The Connecticut Children’s Book Fair brings together prominent children’s authors and illustrators and the general public in an annual event designed to foster the enjoyment of children’s literature. Each year it’s open to the public without an entrance fee. Children, parents, grandparents, book collectors, and interested members of the public attend to meet the writers and artists, hear readings and storytellings, and meet some characters from their favorite books.

At the reception I met Katelyn Fox, 2009 Raab Prize in Illustration Winner and John Allie, 2009 Raab Prize in Writing Winner.  The Raab Associates Prizes are intended to promote the field of children’s book writing and illustration. The illustration competition was created in 1999 by Susan Salzman Raab, founder and co-owner of Raab Associates, a children’s book marketing agency based in Chappaqua, New York. Ms. Raab, who is also a 1980 UConn alumna with a degree in English, especially wants to encourage and support people who have interests in the arts and the world of publishing. The competition is held annually and the prize is awarded to students enrolled in the University of Connecticut’s School of Fine Arts’ illustration courses or in the English Department’s creative writing courses offered during the fall semester. In 2009, Susan Raab established the Raab Associates Prize for Writing in conjunction with faculty in the English Department, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Brinley Franklin; children’s author Lois Lowry; children’s author PW Catanese; me; Lisa Catanese.

The Connecticut Children’s Book Fair is a project of the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center and the UConn Co-op. Proceeds from sales at the event are used for the growth of the Northeast Children’s Literature Collection in the Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut Libraries.

The Book Fair is a great program that reaches out to our younger readers while supporting writers and artists who produce children’s literature.  Thanks to Jean Nelson at the Dodd Center for the photos.

On Saturday I helped UConn student Aseel Eid, who directs the SOS Food Recovery Program in Towers Dining Hall, her friend Brian Thomas, Dennis Pierce (Director of Dining Services), and several UConn Dining Services Staff in making a food delivery to the Covenant Soup Kitchen in Willimantic, and then helping serve the Saturday lunch with a group of volunteers from Storrs’ St. Thomas Aquinas.  UConn’s Community Outreach provided the van, driven by History major Andrew Folsom, who was cramming for an assignment as we loaded food at each dining-hall stop.

This initiative on our Storrs campus is a close collaboration between our Community Outreach office in Student Affairs and Dining Services.  Community Outreach trains and prepares the student leader who in turn who recruits, trains and manages the student participants.  Gina Brassaw in Community Outreach works very closely with Dining representatives to ensure that this program has developed systematically over the last three years.   Dining Services provides the food and staff on campus to freeze and package the materials.  Both aspects are crucial to making the program possible.  Dining and CO need each other to make this program work.

The SOS Food Recovery program delivers surplus food to the Covenant Soup Kitchen from Towers Dining Hall. Much of the food has been flash frozen to ensure that it is fresh, or it’s been maintained at a health-department required temperature. The program serves a dual purpose as it puts our left-over food to good use and also provides nourishment to those who need it the most. The SOS Food Recovery program focuses on delivering and providing food to Covenant.  We were fortunate to be able to help serve lunch on Saturday also.  The program aims to have consistent deliveries to the Soup Kitchen on a weekly basis during the year.

Here’s Alex Morely, Dining Services Area Assistant Manager at North, with Aseel Eid and Brian Thomas, in the kitchen at North. They’re “temping” the refrigerated food that’s being picked up for delivery to Covenant.  “Temping” means taking the food’s temperature and recording it on forms, so that we can be sure that food has remained at a safe temperature throughout the pickup and delivery process.
Here we’re on the loading dock behind South, taking containers of food to our van for transport.  Joe Ferris, Area Assistant Manager at South, is wearing the tie. Aseel is taking care of the records.

Unloading the van (or loading, I can’t remember which) at Covenant in Willimantic.  This insulated container for transporting food in aluminum trays is called a “cambro.”

Covenant Director Paul Doyle greets us and our food with more thermometers, in the receiving area at Covenant.

We joined up with a group of volunteers from Storrs’ St. Thomas Aquinas, who were at Covenant for their monthly volunteering effort there.  Some of the folks from St. Thomas volunteer at Covenant more than once a month.  They were a friendly, lively crowd, and included several UConn alums.

Here’s the serving line at Covenant, open for business.  I’m at the right, serving cupcakes from the UConn Bakery and also home-made ones from the St. Thomas volunteers.

And here we are back on campus, returning cambros at Shippee.  That’s Andrew Folsom (of Extreme Measures) on the extreme left – our intrepid driver – myself, Aseel, and Brian.  Thanks to Sal Murana for some of the photos, and to Paul Doyle for welcoming us to Covenant.