‘Twas the Season
The English Department had its gala Festivus event yesterday afternoon, and, no, we did not have peppermint martinis. In fact, the image above is there because I neglected to take any photos of the festivities. I was far too busy partaking of the delicious spread provided by my colleagues and laughing over the Department Trivia contest organized by Department Secretary Linda Terry and inspired by our work-study student Kelsey Van Hook.
Here are some of the interesting trivia tidbits we learned:
- Prof. Holly Dugan’s bathtub was once featured in an episode of Law and Order.
- Prof. Gregory Pardlo once operated the spotlight at a Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam concert at Six Flags in New Jersey. [Check out the “Lost in Emotion” video for some serious nostaliga. Que sera que sera!]
- Prof. Faye Moskowitz can say the alphabet backwards–quite fluently.
- Work-study student Megan Moore is a highly trained classical pianist.
- Prof. Ormond Seavey is a former Marine Sergeant.
- Prof. Maria Frawley once worked at Bath Boutique and sold bubble bath to Magic Johnson. Not knowing who he was, she quite helpfully suggested that he consider basketball.
- As a child, Prof. Jeffrey Cohen set his house on fire with his E-Z Bake Oven.
- PhD student Naomi Lesley once played in a string quartet to accompany the dissection of cadavers.
- Quite a number of English department faculty or graduate students have been cheerleaders (e.g., Prof. Evelyn Schreiber–captain of the squad!). On the other hand, at least one of us (Prof. Gayle Wald) tried out but didn’t made the cut–not even for the wrestling cheerleaders. What a loser.
Prof. David McAleavey (who has slept on benches in Germany and Denmark) was the winner of the Trivia Contest, and received a $25 gift card from Giant.
Thank you to Creative Writing faculty member (and one-time actor in a Steve McQueen movie) Lisa Page for getting the ball rolling, and thanks to Linda (who received a gingerbread man at a White House Christmas event when she was ten) and Office Manager Constance Kibler (who saw Jimi Hendrix play in the Washington Hilton Hotel; read the set list here!) for organizing the excellent trivia game. (By the way, did you know that our work-study student Kelsey was once told she was a good actor by Tom Cruise?!)
