March 2006

Legacy of laughter

The first documentary produced about Erma Bombeck's life premiered before 350 writers at last weekend's Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop. ''Erma Bombeck: A Legacy of Laughter'' sparked laughter, tears and some guilt from the mostly female audience. One writer asked if the kids ever felt like they were intruding on their mom while she wrote. "She used to lock herself in her office, and we'd slip notes — lots of notes — under the door. I don't know. It didn't seem like neglect," said Betsy Bombeck to laughter.
Narrated by talk show pioneer and former neighbor Phil Donahue, the half-hour documentary will air on more than 270 public television stations, more than 90 percent of the nation's television markets. (Read more here.)

by Teri Rizvi 3-28-06

Write on

At the University of Dayton Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop last weekend, writers got to write about writing on a blog posted through the workshop's home page (click on "Live from the Bombeck Workshop" and then on "comments" to read writers' reactions). The main buzz was around Dave Barry, the keynote speaker during Thursday's opening dinner, who left the humor column writing business so "everybody would have a chance," according to blogger Dave Lieber. Barry also had kind words for those he met during the book signing that evening. Here's the experience of Joe Blundo, columnist for the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch:

Just another Dave Barry note: My son, Noah, is a columnist for the Post at Ohio University, and he worships Dave Barry. So at the Erma, I bought Dave's new book, figuring I'd have him autograph it for Noah. While standing in line for the autograph, it occurred to me to ask Dave if he'd talk to Noah on my cell phone. So when I got to where Dave was sitting, I handed him the book and the phone and explained the situation. He took the phone and said, "Hi, Noah. This is Dave Barry. I just wanted to tell you that your dad is here at this convention and he's drunk and naked." The only thing that could have impressed my son more was if I really had been drunk and naked. Because, hey, he's a college student. He respects heavy-duty partying.

by Michelle Tedford 3-28-06

Swirling, sniffing, sipping in class

What kind of grapes are in a cabernet sauvignon? How do you even pronounce that? These questions and many others are answered in Tom Davis' wine tasting class, a Monday night course with a waiting list. With Wine for Dummies as the textbook, this is no ordinary class.
Each week 65 students learn everything there is to know about wine, from how to correctly open the bottle to the origin of the grapes within. A recent homework assignment included visiting a wine store, a task no one complained about.
"Tom Davis and his wine tasting course are truly among UD's most valuable treasures," said Susan Byrnes, director of ArtStreet and a student in the course. "The class is both spiritual and scientific, full-bodied with the spice of life."
Davis, a professor in the School of Business Administration, has been teaching the art of wine tasting for more than six years.
The half-semester course will end with a formal dinner that will include a tasting of more than 20 wines and gourmet food from Kennedy Union to show the great combinations wine and food can make. Swirling, sniffing and sipping are all just part of the class.

by Shelby Quinlivan ’06 3-27-06

The big laugh

What makes good humor?
A keen punch line:
"The Rose Bowl is the only bowl I've ever seen that I didn't have to clean." — Erma Bombeck
Or maybe a peek at the absurd.
Mark Shatz teased wit from of the brains of attendees at today's UD Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop. His session, "Using Stand-up Principles to Punch-up Humor Writing," sent participants on a visual journey of the bizarre. Take, for example, bar stool cushions. When asked what else they could be used for, one group shouted out bun covers for Princess Leia's hair. Another suggested nursing pads for Dolly Parton.
How about humor in opposites?
Shatz dared the crowd to expose the most unlikely people to get body piercings.
The biggest groaner: hemophiliacs.
The most surprising answer: the Amish.
And where would the Amish go to get these body piercings?
One man chimed in: "They'd have to find that needle in a haystack."

by Michelle Tedford 3-24-06

A better climate for women

"Amy Lopez and Miryam of Nazareth. What can we say about both these women?" Sister Laura Leming, FMI, asked those who gathered to see Lopez, director of conference services and Kennedy Union, receive the 2006 Miryam Award on March 22. On the list of their gifts and graces, was this: "She is not fearful of other's power. She acts as if she is a partner in their growth."
The Miryam Award honors an individual or group for enhancing the climate for women on campus and includes $1,000 to be designated to an area on campus. Lopez will dedicate the money "toward education about the most destructive and prevalent crime affecting college-age women - sexual assault," she said. "We need to look for creative and successful ways to provide education to our students and staff that goes beyond telling our women how to be safe. We need to provide training to Public Safety and to prioritize sexual assault education for them and for our male students. Our climate will never be welcoming, supportive and Marianist as long as this crime exists in our community."

by Deborah McCarty Smith 3-23-06

Helping Father Marty in Nairobi

Campus trend-spotters, take note. Handmade beaded necklaces are quietly draping the necks of more and more employees across campus.
The hands that make them belong to Chris McCann, records auditor in the office of the registrar. The hands that sell them are her coworker's, Rosey Terzian. The hands and bodies and minds that benefit from them belong to children attending a Marianist-run school in Nairobi, Kenya.
All proceeds of the necklaces, which sell for between $7 and $20, benefit Our Lady of Nazareth, a school of 1,500 children ages 5 to 14 run by Father Marty Solma, S.M. '71. (Solma describes the school in this video.)
McCann didn't have sales or Solma in mind when she took up beading just before this past Christmas. In fact, she didn't want the trouble of selling them, Terzian's suggestion, and thought if she could avoid thinking of a charity to support she'd be off the hook.
That's when her boss, Tom Westendorf, walked by and said, "How about Father Marty?"
In just three weeks of sales, McCann has raised nearly $1,000, almost enough to sponsor two hot meals a day, school uniforms and education for eight children for a year.

by Matthew Dewald 3-22-06

An itch to scratch
Why become an engineer?
"I wanted to be able to make new things to help others as well as myself," Chris Heitkamp told a room full of third-graders. He and two other first-year chemical engineering students accompanied instructor Beth Hart to Holy Angels School today to teach Erin Wysocki's students what it means to be an engineer.
After the talk, the students were given a task: create a better backscratcher. First, teams of third-graders sketched their ideas. Next, choosing from craft sticks, dowel rods, pipe cleaners and tape, they built, and rebuilt and rebuilt again. Finally, they calculated the cost of production, learning that engineers look to balance beauty and cost, function and form when creating a new product.
Erin and Grace used the colorful tape to make their backscratcher pretty. Helen and Ayanna wrapped their handle in red and white pipe cleaners to make it soft to hold. Jacob and Joe made the most expensive creation, reinforcing dowel rods with craft sticks, zip ties and electrical tape.
"Getting kids interested in engineering is very important because we're declining in the numbers going into engineering," Heitkamp said.
UD student Jacob Kremer agreed: "And they say if you're not interested in it before the fifth grade, then you're not going to go into it."
Peaking their interest was just what the UD students did. The third-graders didn't want to part with their creations, agreeing they should stay in the classroom for others to see.
Could be the beginning of a new itch to scratch.

by Michelle Tedford 3-21-06

Good show in the 'sticks'

You can imagine my jubilation when the NCAA men's basketball tournament brackets showed my alma mater (Ohio State) and the team I've followed since I was 9 years old (North Carolina) playing in Dayton for the first and second rounds. After watching Ohio State's practice session with my 4-year-old twin daughters, I found that the ESPN SportsCenter mentality reaches a young age. One of them said, "Daddy, the Buckeyes practice wasn't very much fun. All they did was shoot. I liked that Iowa (Northern Iowa) school better. They dunked."
Although the Friday games were close and my teams won, it was bad basketball. I looked forward to Sunday and watching UNC and OSU advance to the Sweet 16. The aforementioned jubilation came to a screeching halt as both teams lost. However, I walked away from arena proud that UD put on yet another excellent show for the nation. I heard many complimentary things about UD during the weekend. As my Google news alert e-mails came in fast and furious with mentions of "University of Dayton," I had to smile at the number of major media outlets who reported the happenings "out here in the sticks."

by Shawn Robinson 3-20-06

Tournament time

Tonight I was able to have fun at UD Arena. We hosted an NCAA play-in game between Hampton and Monmouth universities. I've been to several of these games and really enjoyed all of them. Let me explain why.
Usually when I attend, it is to watch our beloved Flyers play in head-to-head competition. But tonight I watched from the onset not caring who won or who lost. Monmouth played better than Hampton, but both teams played with determination and with guts. Monmouth out-gutted Hampton with the help of the boy-monster John Bunch. Big John was working as a ticket-taker at a movie theater (I am not making any of this up) when the wife of a D-III coach attended the movie and asked him if he played basketball (remember the kid is now 7'2" and weighs 320 pounds). He wound up playing at a D-III for two years and went to Monmouth as a D-I player.
He is not a starter but plays with intensity and heart. His feet are slow, but he employs quick hands. And he seems to have good court vision. Big John blocked shots all night long, and the crowd roared with approval with each block.
I left the Arena with a feel-good feeling after watching a kid who was never in the spotlight excel, and on national TV, when no one ever expected it to happen. His performance was fun to watch. And the best college men's basketball crowd in America was won to his performance.
And guess what his and his teammates' prize will be? To play in round one of the NCAA tournament against Villanova. I'll bet the Monmouth kids don't care who they play.

by David Barth '70 3-15-06; the text is an excerpt of a message Barth sent to a listserv for Flyer fans after the game last night.

More Cheerios, please

For the student engineers, it was a lesson in process and problem solving. For Hope Daniels, 5, it was a exercise in independence -- and feeding herself Cheerios with a fork for the first time.
Last Thursday, first-year engineering students presented their class projects, assistive-eating devices for Hope. The kindergartner with curly blond pigtails and red painted fingernails cannot feed herself using traditional utensils due to arthrogryposis, a condition that limits her ability to bend her joints.
The prototype Hope liked the most was constructed from a colorful erector set and was operated by two processes. First, she moved a spatula to push Cheerios on the plate toward the fork. Next, she pulled on a tennis ball, which raised an arm connected to the fork up to her mouth.
After the students saw the test drive, they asked to take it back and make refinements. Her response: "It's fine the way it is." And with a smile, she ate another forkful.
Senior engineering students are also investigating a motorized device that would further assist her. Her mother, Amanda Daniels, approached the School of Engineering after reading a Dayton Daily News article about UD students who previously worked on a similar device for 4-year-old Kailen Carpenter.
"What she does she really has to work for, so making it easier for her would be better, especially with eating," said the mother, who agreed a motorized solution would be best. "We want to make it as easy as possible for her."

by Michelle Tedford 3-13-06

Satan

The seats, the old choir loft and most of the floor space in the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception were full the first Sunday of Lent for the 10 a.m. Mass as Little Sibs swelled the congregation. Father Francois Rossier, S.M., of the International Marian Research Institute on campus, welcomed the throng with seasonal humor. Those standing could see that posture as penance; those seated could feel guilt.
His homily was also seasonal. He spoke of Satan, whom Jesus had to face in the desert .
He talked of those who see the figure as an abstraction of evil. He spoke of the Bible, where Satan is very much a person. And he pointed out a detail in the chapel's statue of the Immaculate Conception: Mary's heel is crushing the head of the serpent.
He also gave us a Greek lesson. In the New Testament, the verb "symballein" is used but once -- of Mary. It means "to bring together." Tearing things apart, "diaballein," is the diabolical one, the devil, Satan.
From this language lesson we might learn how to crush the head of evil.

by Thomas M. Columbus 3-7-06

The icing is the cake

This year’s Women’s Week went out with a bang as more than 200 people — men and women alike — gathered in the Kennedy Union ballroom Saturday night for the first Women’s Advocacy Dinner.
The event was not only a celebration of women but a fundraiser to help send four UD students to Zambia, Africa, this summer. The women will live with the Sisters of Mercy in Lubwe, where they’ll help out at two hospitals, build a library and conduct research. They’ll return to campus in the fall with experiences to build awareness about global women’s issues.
The evening included door prizes, musical entertainment and an address by Judith Ezekiel, associate professor of American Studies at the University of Toulouse-le-Mirail, renowned feminist and Dayton native.
Caitlin Finn ’06 ended the evening by announcing the silent auction winners — which turned out to be a veritable Who’s Who of her family tree. Her grandpa placed the winning bid for one item, her parents won another and her grandmother took home two.
Then again, Finn’s family was probably pretty darn proud of her. The entire event was the brainchild of students, who organized and pulled off an incredibly enjoyable evening. The students even knew that a celebration for women must include chocolate cake.
“I’d like to claim more involvement with this event,” said Sheila Hassell Hughes, director of UD’s women’s studies program. “But really, they used my name to get a bank account and stored T-shirts in my office.”

by Kristen Wicker 3-6-06

Tall hat, timeless tales

As I walked through the Patterson-Kennedy Elementary School hallway with a foot-and-a-half tall, red-and-white striped hat on my head, I was greeted in an unusual way.
“Hi Cat in the Hat!” lines of kindergartners yelled.
On this, Dr. Seuss’s birthday, I was honored.
As part of the National Education Association's Read Across America program, I spent half an hour at Patterson-Kennedy reading to the students.
I decided to read one I had never heard of before, The Tooth Book. Having a dentist for a father, I felt slightly hurt that this Seuss classic had been denied to me for so long.
Hat on head and book in hand, I wandered through the halls to Room 109, filled with first-graders eager to tell me all they knew about Dr. Seuss and his works.
One bright child proclaimed, “This is a rhyming book,” and we kept reading through.
When it was all over I made one major mistake — I related this book to a first-grader's life: “Oh, looks like you’ve lost a tooth or two.”
Suddenly, I was barraged with tooth tales from each child until finally the teacher took over.
All in all it was time well spent.
And I sure am glad I went.
When I saw the room of toothless smiles,
I was glad I had walked that extra mile.
Dr. Seuss, Happy Birthday to you,
Thanks for being so fun for college kids, adults and first-graders too!

by Amanda Hargadon ’06 3-6-06

The DECA difference

Ohio Gov. Bob Taft wants to know how he can enroll in the Dayton Early College Academy.
“Do you take old people?” he asked a group of DECA students after talking to them about their experiences at the innovative high school, a partnership between UD and Dayton Public Schools.
The governor was particularly impressed with the amount of work the students tackle. One student told Taft how they all write a 75- to 100-page autobiography by the time they graduate.
“You do?!” asked the governor, incredulous.
Another student told him teachers assign homework every day, which students complete in addition to such extras as internships and preparing exhibition projects.
“Great,” Taft said. “You may not think it’s good, but I think it’s great.”
In addition to his DECA visit, Taft was on campus to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the Peace Corps. Taft began his career in public service in the 1960s as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania, where he taught English and other courses and coached the girls’ volleyball team.
Taft admitted that his father, a Republican congressman from Ohio at the time, wasn’t exactly thrilled his son chose to join the Peace Corps, a “Democratic initiative” in his view.
However, speaking in the student union named after the president who inspired him to enter the Corps and serve his country, Taft said his parents eventually came around. Wearing a tie adorned with flags of the world’s nations, he also spoke fondly of his time in the Peace Corps — including the first day he arrived at the Tanzanian school at which he would teach only to find the school, and such supplies as food, locked up.
“Then almost out of nowhere came this man on a motorcycle,” Taft told a crowd of approximately 130 gathered for a luncheon in the Kennedy Union ballroom. “But it wasn’t just any man: It was an African priest in a white, flowing robe on a motorcycle, inviting us to his parish for dinner. And we said, ‘Thank you, God.’
“I’m not sure if he was a Marianist priest,” Taft added. “But if you want to embellish the story here in Dayton, go ahead.”

by Kristen Wicker 3-3-06

Dance, dance, dance

If you have been to a UD men's basketball game in the last three years, you have probably seen him. Right around the end of half time, he is that student in the second or third row dancing like crazy to the techno hit “Sandstorm.”
The funny thing about senior Kevin Davidson is that he hates to dance. Davidson never goes out to dance and swears that he will never be seen dancing at a weekend party. But, he said, “if I hear ‘Sandstorm,’ it’s hard to stay in my seat. It just makes me dance.” (Click to see a Quicktime video taken during two January games.)
The whole thing started sophomore year when he tried using keys to distract opposing players during free throw shots and to get the crowd excited right before the second half. He abandoned this idea “because I kept hitting people in the face with the keys.”
Then last year, he noticed more and more people sitting, watching and clapping along with his dancing. A star was born.
Davidson’s dance has gained him great celebrity following.
“I have been stopped by people wanting my autograph; people have asked me to pose in pictures with their children, and one woman even asked me if I would dance at her daughter’s wedding,” said Davidson, who declined the invitation.
And if you’ve been ogling his red and blue pants, hoping for a pair of your own, it’s no use. They’re one of a kind – made by his mother.
“We happened to have the same colors at my high school so my mom made me a pair of red and blue pants,” Davidson said. “They happened to work well for UD too.”

by Amanda Hargadon ’06 3-2-06

Body and soul

Women's History Month brings an interesting juxtaposition of exhibits to the Kennedy Union lobby. "Remembering Black Catholic Sisters," displayed near the elevator, honors three black women who founded Catholic religious orders, as well as St. Catherine Drexel, who founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for the education of Native Americans and African-Americans. Cecilia Moore of the UD religious studies department wrote the biographies for the exhibit, including that of Mother Mary Lange and her thoughts about being a woman of color and a woman religious.
Throughout the lobby, bright pink life-size silhouettes display the thoughts that UD women expressed about what it's like to live in their bodies. The exhibit, "The UD Body Monologues," is sponsored by the Women's History Month committee and provides space for faculty, staff and students share stories such as surviving cancer and wearing one's "jiggly thighs" with the same sense of pride as one wears one's family name.

by Deborah McCarty Smith 3-02-06

Lackner largesse

The Lackner Award, which honors faculty and staff who have made a significant contribution to the Catholic and Marianist character of UD, comes with a piece of original art, which recipients get to keep, and $5,000, which they don't. They do get to donate the money to the UD endeavors of their choice. Between them, 2006 Lackner recipients Roberta Weaver and James Farrelly have nearly eight decades of service to UD and $10,000 to designate.
Weaver will give $1,000 to the Fitz Center to support its tutoring and mentoring program; $1,000 to the Dayton Early College Academy for books and materials and $3,000 to the School of Education and Allied Professions to support urban initiatives to prepare teachers and principals.
Farrelly sliced his pie into smaller wedges, dishing out $2,000 to Studio Theater for original productions -- in honor of his UD alumni children, Mark Farrelly and Anne Farrelly; $1,000 to Sister Mary Louise Foley of campus ministry for outreach to single parents; $900 for scholarships to the Stratford Festival trip sponsored by the English department; $500 to the Library Advancement Association for music and literature, $500 for a cause he couldn't remember; and $100 to endow the "chairs of the table of wisdom" (the long-serving UD folks who gather each day in the Barrett Dining room) with coffee for the month of March.
Forewarning the attendees that his after-dinner remarks might last a bit longer than requested, Farrelly cheerfully encouraged them: "Deal with it. You got a big meal and a great dessert."

by Deborah McCarty Smith 3-01-06

Graduating into life

With a brain full of knowledge and jobs beginning to develop, I see that my career is not the thing to worry about most; tax season is a different story.
When I graduate in May, taxes are just one of the many wonders that will be thrust into my life. Enter my life as a “real person” (as I refer to those who make a significant contribution to our world): taxes, health plans, apartments and generally life beyond my parents.
Before attending a series of four sessions geared to graduating seniors, I only vaguely understood letters like PPO, HMO and IRA. The confusion of graduation is still there and, sure, I’ll be calling my parents often after school to answer questions about the “simple, stupid things,” as the speaker called it. At least now I don’t stare back blankly attempting to conceptualize the words when someone talks about these things.
I now walk in the direction of my future with some confidence that I’ll be able to do this, where ever that direction is... .
The series for graduating seniors was sponsored by the office of student involvement and leadership and the UD Mothers' Club. To view more events like this for graduates, visit the student involvement Web site.

by Kailyn Derck ’06 3-1-06