The Haverblog

Students sometimes say Haverford doesn’t have enough traditions. The reappearance of the lovely lights which lined the entryways to Lloyd Hall this holiday season were brilliant testimony to quick Haverfordian action to save one tradition.

Current memories suggest that the tradition of Lloyd holiday lights goes back 5-6 years (happy to learn more from alums). “Dorm reps” were responsible for picking up a small annual subvention from Students’ Council and organizing each year’s lighting efforts.

But dorm reps disappeared this year due to SC reorganizaton.

Fortunately, some students acted fast to be sure the tradition didn’t lapse. Judging took place Dec. 16 with Dining Service Director John Francone, Director of Student
Activities Jason McGraw, Students’ Council co-president Meghan McAllister ‘10 and other current students rating the entries.

Top honors went to Lloyd 11-12, whose residents are Dennis Norris, Sonia Williams, Shashi Neerukonda, James Meagher, Nikhil Dhingra, Anna Krieger, Emily Green, Julianne
Eubank, Bethany Morrow, Allyson Abrams, Tovah Tripp and Rachel Jacobson, all ‘08.

Third Entry* took second prize, perhaps because of the innovative rotating head of our red-nosed friend Rudolph. Eighth Entry won the bronze medal.

Hearty congratulations to all the students who made Lloyd Green a winter wonderland at a stressful time.

If anyone woders what happens to all the bulbs, Jason McGraw can tell you. They fill up his office! He’s be very happy to donate shares of the bulbs to anyone needing them. Contact Jason at jmcgraw@haverford.edu

*–A note on nomenclature: we’re told that these days students call the entries “Tens,” “Twenties” “Thirties,” and so on. Not too long ago, it was “First Entry,” “Second,” “Third,” etc. (And there was a mythic but not mythical “Tenth Entry” up the road for students needing good burgers and liquid refreshment.) Did any one ever call
the entries “Morris,” “Stokes,” “Strawbridge,” “Logan” or any of those good Quaker names till painted over each doorway?

–Greg Kannerstein ‘63

The College announces major changes in its Financial Aid policies: grants replace loans for incoming freshmen; returning students to see relief scaled to most benefit the neediest; new endowment fund created to focus giving for those hoping to support such grants-in-aid. Recipients of the new grants will be invited to pledge support for the fund “as their means allow and the spirit moves” throughout their lifetimes, with no pre-set expectation of how much they might contribute.

Details here.

We recently revamped our eNewsletter to make it more attractive and useful — for you, certainly, and for us in that the software reports how many times each item is clicked, helping us to better program the piece going forward. Here’s how the early returns are shaping up for the issue shipped this week. Count is expressed as a percentage of all clicks, rounded:

Tom Donnelly Video 21%
First Snowfall Video 21%
Haverblog Main Page 21%
Nobel Prize 7%
Iron Chef 6%
Special Olympics 4%
AIDS Quilt 3%
18 in 08 Film 3%
Literary Magazine 3%
Haverford Fund 3%
Treasure Island 2%
Bronze Casting Video 2%
Art Show 2%
News Page 2%

Looks like people go with what (or who) they know and for the newsletter’s audience, it doesn’t get much more familiar (and beloved) than Tom Donnelly and the first snow on Founders Green. Notably, those top entries were displayed low on the eNewsletter’s page, echoing my experience formatting Philly.com: people scan for appealing links, location on a page be damned. It’s almost as if perusing a web page taps into the same part of our brain that Neanderthals used in scanning the forest for glints of light and shadow and their associated message of “I will eat that/that will eat me.”

-CM

Well, they might sound like contenders for the bare-knuckled boxing crown of the US back in the late 19th century when John L. Sullivan and a host of other sons of Erin ruled the ring roost in this country, but actually it’s a much more timely–and for Haverfordians much more interesting–combat taking place right now.

In the right-hand corner, Bill O’Reilly, aging loudmouth from Fox News, exulting in his “victory” against secularists in their “war against Christmas.”

Across the ring, Haverford religion major and former field-hockey star ALEXIA KELLEY ‘89, president of an organization named Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good.

The bout took place on December 4 on O’Reilly’s show when the host took on Alexia, claiming that if he had not done his campaign “the forces of darkness would have won the ‘war’ on Christmas.” According to Bill, none of us could say “Merry Christmas” to anyone this year if those forces of darkness had prevailed.

From the transcript of the show, it’s obvious that the result was a unanimous decision for the Haverfordian.

O’Reilly chose to rain a flurry of ineffective would-be haymakers at Alexia, an unlikely “force of darkness” as anyone who knows the gentle, appealing and articulate Ms. Kelley would tell you. With rarely a chance to get a word in edgewise, Alexia still threw plenty of careful counterpunches that left O’Reilly bruised and battered.

Many ringside commentators and bloggers have since written about the fight, and their comments about O’Reilly just can’t be reprinted in my blog, but you’d enjoy them for sure.

The casus belli for O’Reilly were ads that Alexia’s organization put out saying that “We believe the real assault on Christmas (as opposed to that waged by O’Reilly and his ilk in their ‘culture wars’) is how a season of peace, forgiveness and goodwill has been sidelined by a focus on excessive consumerism. The powerful message Christ brings to the world is ‘good news for the poor…’”

Haverfordians, even old Scrooges like this writer, have to be pretty darn proud of Alexia for telling “truth to power” and then some. We’ll close with wishes for “Merry Christmas,” “Happy Hanukkah,” “Joyous Kwanzaa” and even “Happy Holidays” to all our readers, and even to Bill O’Reilly, may he think twice in the coming year before taking on one of the Ford’s finest!

(Philadelphians should be sure to check out Carol Towarnicky’s column in today’s Phila. Daily News, p. 31, for another strong voice weighing in on Alexia’s side.)

-Greg Kannerstein ‘63

…and so was the turnpike from…uh…Pittsburgh to Easton. First snow of the season. Here’s the view from Founders, in video. Squeals of delight courtesy a visiting gaggle of elementary schoolers, though I’m sure many of our students are feeling much the same.

5:34 pm, from Founders “garden level” toward Sharpless:

…and from Founders porch:

-CM

I’m delighted to report that Joe Kluger is on the case: Joe is former president of the Philadelphia Orchestra and now an arts consultant. The College has hired him to help us get our heads, arms, hearts and budget around the process whereby we’ll ramp up our arts programming, spaces and development work.

This is most welcome. Joe stopped by this morning to hear my thoughts about the subject. As a former HC rock and roller (anybody out there remember practicing the refrigerator storage room?) who also did a bit of composing and singing in the chorale, I’m a firm believer in the value of arts education and experience. Go Joe!

-CM

Some pundits these days decry the lack of activism of the college generation. They obviously haven’t been on Haverford’s campuses–or many others–lately. Students are more active working for important causes and goals than at any time in the 30-plus years I’ve been around Haverford (and that’s saying a lot). The methods might be different. Just in the last couple of years, Haverford students started organizing lots of conferences on crucial topics–disabilities, the environment, public health, Iraq and many more. These conferences produce serious inquiry and lots of subsequent student involvement.

That thought and the interesting tendency of Haverfordians, who are nothing if not individualistic at times, to form groups were on my mind Friday evening when I attended the opening ceremony in Alumni Field House for the presentation of a portion of the AIDS quilt, memorializing individuals who have died from this scourge.

I’ve commented a few times this year that Haverford students remind me of the joke told by members of the ethnic group to which I belong (apologies if politically incorrect). The old chestnut asked how many houses of worship two of us would found if we were stranded on a desert island. The answer of course is three, one for me, one for you, and one more neither of us would be caught there!

So how many organizations would two Haverford students found on that island? I stopped counting at seven: one for me, one for you, one for those left out, one to hold a conference, one to prepare an exhibit, one to get a grant for travel, one to hold a reunion of former participants…and believe me, this list could go on.

The AIDS quilt presentation was a sad but moving ceremony, and (now with all seriousness) reminded me of how Haverfordians can organize for a noble purpose. More than 30 students, faculty, administrators and staff carefully unfurled the folded quilts. President Steve Emerson ‘74 and Bryn Mawr Professor Judy Porter provided context in brief speeches, International Student Coordinator Denise Allison joined the choir which provided background music as Director of Academic Scheduling Judy Young and students softly read the names of individuals who had perished from AIDS. Emma Lo and Sreela Namboodiri, both ‘08, oversaw the whole operation which they had carefully worked on for months. Members of athletic teams had spent part of the morning arranging and folding the quilts throughout the cavernous Field House.

And of course omnipresent throughout the ceremony and the long hours of the continuing display throughout the weekend was Marilou Allen, Director of the Eighth Dimension Program, the Women’s Center and so much more In the UK, they call the oldest member of the House of Commons the “Father of the House.” (No women have reached that status yet; we’ll see what happens then.) Now, please understand I am not saying Marilou is the oldest staff member at Haverford. She’s not, and I have to go to a meeting with her tomorrow and wish to survive! However, if anyone deserves the title of “Mother of the College,” it’s Marilou, and her continued devotion to the cause of the AIDS quilt and eradicating the disease is just one of many ways she proves that.

Friday was a busy day for me, and I thought I would stop in for 15-30 minutes with my wife Elissa and catch the ceremony. But those plans went astray, and I am glad they did. Gili Friedman ‘09 needed another volunteer for the unfolding and no one would say no to Gili. It seemed a simple task, and I confess I was still checking my watch, thinking of my next appointment, and worrying that the holes in my socks (we had to remove our shoes) didn’t look too good for someone pretending to be a dean these days.

After our eight-person team unfolded the multi-panel quilt on the Field House floor, we were to lift it over our heads. I wondered how we would ever get it up smoothly and keep it level since there were such differences in our respective heights. But something unexpected happened. Each time we lifted a quilt a foot or two, an air current came in under the quilt and quickly propelled it smoothly and evenly over our heads.

I imagine some physical principle was involved, but despite the best efforts of the Haverford faculty way back when, I didn’t get very far in physics. The only thing I could think of was that our eight people and all those other unfolding teams around the building, and all those other people involved in bringing the quilt to Haverford and displaying it here had accomplished something very special together. And I leave it to others to decide whether those folks whose names and histories appeared on the quilt were also present that night somehow helping.

After that happened once, I stopped looking at my watch and finally became a part of the occasion as the others already were. At the end, Elissa said she was proud of me, and I resolved to throw away the socks. I was thankful that Marilou and her devoted crew had allowed me to be involved, and, as I do every day, I thought what amazing things Haverford students accomplish, individually and together, and hope that they realize what a difference they make.

-Greg Kannerstein ‘63