October 2008
Parent party
Family Weekend is one of the best times of the year. It always falls after the strain of midterms and before the end-of-the-year crunch.
Last weekend, sheets hanging from student houses welcomed and honored parents: "Dear parents, after losing $ in the market remember my $150,000 was well worth it."
On Friday, my friends and their families gathered into the crowded Pub to listen to the UD Jazz Ensemble Halloween performance. My musician roommate left her trumpet and danced with her father to a saxophone solo. Afterward, she amazed us all as she sang "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" in her Dorothy costume.
Parents relived the college life and younger siblings got a taste of what's ahead; they played cornhole on sidewalks and socialized on porches as part of UD's community.
Family Weekend always goes by too fast, but for a while we can forget the pressures of school. We were sad to see our families drive back home, but one thing is true: we can't wait for next year.
Special delivery
Flyer men's basketball tickets went out this week with a little something special. Or, in the case of Duane ’00 and Julie ’95 Pullins, a 6-foot-10 something special.
Monday night, junior forward Kurt Huelsman knocked on the Pullins' door and handed Julie her season tickets. The special delivery was one of several by players and coaches to 20 season ticket holders in the upper decks.
Julie posed twins Camden Thomas Hayes and Christian Joseph Tressel for a photo with Huelsman.
"This will be a great picture to put in their scrapbook," she wrote. "Thank you once again for showing what a class program UD is."
The internship factor
A 53rd floor view of the Hudson River greets senior Aimee Everman each morning this semester. The communication major is interning with Fox News and The O'Reilly Factor with Bill O'Reilly in New York.
"I am in charge of the guests and the packets," Everman said. "He likes to have one packet at a time on set with him, so at the commercial breaks I trade the segments out. After taping we have a meeting about upcoming shows and the radio show for the next day."
Everman applied for the The Newscorp internship because she watches the station and believes understanding politics is an important part of her education. So far the internship has been star studded. "The best part would be the phenomenal people I have met," she said. "From Robert Vaughn, Dennis Miller, to John Stossel, it's been amazing."
Yet another Fox News star has given Everman encouragement for the future. "I have talked with Megyn Kelly about where and what my next actions should be. She has given me some good advice to hopefully, one day, be on air," she said. "Who knows, we'll see where this all takes me."
The occasional UD friend crashing the couch isn't the only thing keeping Everman busy exploring the city. An exhausting schedule of 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. takes on some unusual tasks. "I had to walk around New York looking for a place to have a football re-pumped for the producers," she said. "It was a boring day because the show was all finished and booked and they decided to send me on a mission."
"Anything for Bill!"
My Old House: 232 Lowes
UD students rented rooms in the Lowes house that Jeff Wenning ’74 and Jan Wenning Connair ’81 grew up in. When the family moved to Oakwood, they started renting the whole house to students.
Perceptions
I was stood up for an interview today.
But I was put out for only a fleeting moment. The unexpected gap in my schedule was a welcome one. Consumed lately at the "macro" level with the powerless observation of worldwide financial collapse, I have been gradually preoccupied, too, with its impending effects on a "micro" level — on my family, my community, my work ... my future.
As I passed by a monument to the Blessed Virgin Mother with casual disregard, my brisk stride slowed at a sudden awareness of the divine: I was alone. The normally bustling central campus was quiet, the students away on a four-day midterm break. In that peaceful moment, I was taken by the serene beauty of creation. A warm breeze quietly rustled the leaves, mostly still green under the sun's autumn brilliance. As I glanced toward the flawless blue sky, extremes came to mind. Despite our best efforts to pollute the world and abuse its abundant resources, God's creation has not lost its stunning majesty, holy and perfect. It stood in direct contrast to the man-made cesspool of a world economy that has polluted my outlook for the past few weeks.
When I got back to my office, the phone rang. It was my interviewee, sincerely apologetic.
No apology was necessary, I said. No harm was done. In fact, the net effect was the opposite, I told her, for the circumstance had brought about a revelation I desperately needed.
"How does one reconcile such perfection and such discord in the same realm?" I asked her, rhetorically.
To this world-class scholar, the question wasn't rhetorical. She shared that she'd had a similar epiphany just the day before. As the Dow was recording its largest seven-day percentage decline in 21 years, she'd been filled with fear — for the world, for our country, for her children, for her future.
But she'd spent part of the day at temple in prayer. It was a high holy day — Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement. On Yom Kippur, she said, one seeks to make reparation with God and with the community. But to receive true peace, one also must make things right with those who have been harmed.
The desired effect: tikkun olam -- translated from Hebrew, "perfecting the world," or "world repair."
In our common glimpse of God's perfection and our shared experience of it, hopefulness prevailed above the fear and uncertainty.
Tikkun olam.
Sleeping in a cardboard box
Monday night, six UD students slept in a house made of cardboard boxes. It was World Habitat Day, and the UD chapter of Habitat for Humanity wants to get the word out.
Allison Hrovatich, fundraising co-chair for UD’s chapter, was out to set the record straight on Habitat. The organization doesn’t just give houses away. It requires “sweat equity” from future homeowners as well as money for the materials. Habitat also counsels recipients on homeownership.
UD’s chapter hosted a fundraiser last week at City Barbecue raising over $300. Students volunteer every Saturday to work on sites in the area, and travel out of state every spring break to build homes. The tentative spring break destination this year is Tennessee.
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