The Riffin' Griffin

Apollo knows talent!

Posted on May 9, 2013 by

apollo Apollo calls you out to play your own tune, or revel in those of others, amidst all of the talent that will be showcased at Reunions ’13: Reedfayre, June 12-16. More than 600 people are already signed up to attend. Dorms are still available, and $50 gets you a bed for the duration. Register online.

Entertainment: Reedies got talent!

Peruse the newly posted offerings of music, showmanship, and other hijinks: from karaoke to sing-alongs, comedy to Kalamazoo Gals, and folk dancing to David Byrne worshiping, a cacophonous range of notes will sound. Other diversions will include bowling, roller-skating, fire-dancing, the talent show, and a carnival on the front lawn. Full slate of entertainment.

Explore Options for Act Two of Your Career

Ready to write a book? Run for public office? Leave your public service job of 20 years to get a PhD in art history? Join us to explore the options for the latter part of your career. Taking our lead from Pele, the goddess of creative power, passion, and purpose, we invite you to consider the possibilities for the second half of your career on Friday, June 14, at 2:15 p.m.

We’ve organized a panel of alumni who have successfully navigated a significant change in their careers. There will be an opportunity to discuss topics with like-minded Reedies, such as balancing family and work, spicing up one’s occupation, and considering something new and different. Join us for an afternoon of celebration, contemplation, and rejuvenation (snacks and no-host drinks will be available). See this and other schedule highlights.

Published or self-published and coming to Reunions?

Contact the Reed Bookstore if you would like your book featured in our alumni author display during Reunions. For more information, contact book buyer Marianna Mullens ‘07 at mullensm@reed.edu. Some restrictions apply.

Apollo artwork by Lucy Bellwood ’12

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged reedfayre, reunions | Comments Off

All-knowing Athena has your number…

Posted on April 18, 2013 by

Whatever your reunion numeral may be, follow Athena’s yarn back to Reed and revel in the company of fellow alumni. The goddess of wisdom invites you to indulge your playful side, apply your intellect in Alumni College (one during and one after Reunions!), and/or just catch up with classmates on the front lawn at Reunions ’13: Reedfayre, June 12-16!

More than 700 people are already signed up to attend. Register online.

Coming attractions:

—Erina Duganne ’93, Anna White ’95, and Rachel Wolcott ’93 offer arts & crafts for kids
—Adam Gropman ’89, Dr. Demento, and others turn up the Laugh Track
—Stop Making Sense video-dance party makes sense across the generations
—Kaul Auditorium is transformed into a roller-skating palace, complete with soundtrack

Athena artwork by Lucy Bellwood ’12

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged reedfayre, reunions | Comments Off

Hoist a pint to Steve Arch at 4 p.m.

Posted on April 11, 2013 by

The biology department would like to share this virtual toast with all friends of Steve:

“As you know, Steve Arch passed away unexpectedly on Sunday while vacationing with friends in Colorado. He made a huge impact on our lives and there is now a gaping hole.

We enclose a photo of the famous clock to prompt an informal toast. So at “4 p.m.” PDT today, wherever you are, hoist a pint (IPA, please) to Steve. We will certainly be doing so.”

Also, you are invited to a memorial celebration of Steve on campus next Saturday.

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Greg Eibel is retiring!

Posted on March 20, 2013 by

Greg Eibel is retiring from his work as the machinist in the physics department at Reed College after 38 years. As the second longest serving staff member at the college, he’s had the opportunity to work with, befriend, inspire, and support many of us over the years. Check out this profile of Greg that ran in the Quest last semester.

To honor Greg’s years here, I’m putting together a retirement book that will contain photos, stories, and memories of time spent with him in the shop or elsewhere. Having been a student, and currently as a staff member, I’ve got lots of great memories of my time with Greg, and I imagine many of you do as well. (A few alumni friends are planning an off-campus shindig for Greg at the home of Sean Griffin ’83 on Friday, May 17; for more details, contact Phyllis Petteys ’86 at 503/970-1210 or see this Greg’s retirement party pdf.)

I hope that you’ll take the time to think back and share fond or funny stories of Greg. How did your interactions with Greg influence the direction you took in your life? How did the shop (or life) skills you learned from him help you out over the years?

In addition, I’d love to have copies of any related photos you have. I’ll take these recollections and photos and put them together in a book that we’ll give to Greg upon his retirement in May. I’m happy to email out electronic copies of the final book to anyone who responds with content to include.

For those of you with memories, recollections, stories, or photos to share, here is the information that we’d love to get from you.

Name:
Email address:
Preferred Reed class year (if applicable):
Major at Reed (if applicable):
Where are you now (general location):
What do you do for work:
Favorite memory, recollection, or story about Greg:

I’ll do my best to include everything submitted but may have to edit or truncate things if we end up with lots of responses.

Please send any input for the book to me at ewingj@reed.edu or, if you prefer to use postal mail, at:

Jay Ewing
Reed College Physics Department
3203 SE Woodstock Blvd.
Portland, OR 97202

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Jay Ewing
Department Associate
Reed College Physics Department

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Greg Eibel, machinist, physics | 3 Comments

Virginia Woolf’s England

Posted on February 22, 2013 by

Join Jay Dickson, professor of English & humanities, along with Robin Tovey ’97, assistant director of alumni & parent relations, as they plunge headlong into the world of Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group, October 9-17, 2013.

Using the cities of London and Brighton as our exploratory bases, we will travel for eight days in October through English historical and literary sites important to Virginia Woolf’s writing career (and to her most extended meditation on England’s history, her 1928 novel Orlando). From the squares of Bloomsbury and the museums of London, to the spires of Inigo Jones’s Greenwich, to the great Kentish Elizabethan castles and gardens of Knole and Sissinghurst belonging Virginia Woolf’s lover Vita Sackville-West, and finally to the homes of Woolf and her sister Vanessa Bell in Sussex, we will journey together through the places and scenes crucial to the career and writing of England’s most important and influential 20th-century novelist.

Woolf itinerary_6.2013 (pdf)

Price: from $1495 per person includes lodging (double occupancy), ground transportation, and entrance fees. Price does not include airfare or transit to and from airport. Options for partial-program participation or lodging exclusions (London-only price is $750 per person) as well as single traveler exist; contact Mike Teskey, director of alumni relations, at teskeym@reed.edu or 503/777-7593.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged England, travel, Virginia Woolf | Comments Off

Reed on the Road 2013: the conversations continue

Posted on February 21, 2013 by

The tour has begun. More than sixty alumni, parents, and friends who attended the Reed on the Road: Campaign Edition event in Seattle welcomed President John R. Kroger last night. After a brief introduction, John accepted clarifying questions and words of advice. For a summary from Randall Barton, roving reporter, including comments by the alumnae panelists, read this post on the Sallyportal blog of Reed magazine.

These are interactive events, and we kindly request that participants read the following article by Louis Menand. As part of the future strategic planning discussions he will be leading, John asked participants to weigh in on three questions.

Posted below each question are the brief comments from some attendees. Now you can expand upon these and add to the discussion (in your comment, please note the numbered question to which you are referring):

1. In the years since Reed, which has proved more important: the subject matter of the courses you took, or learning how to learn? What is your most lasting insight from your time at Reed?

2. In the aftermath of the Great Recession, careers have become a major focus of the alumni board. What, if anything, should the college do to help student transitions to “life beyond Reed”?

3. The faculty recently added an interdisciplinary major in environmental studies. Looking ahead, should Reed’s faculty consider modifying the curriculum in any other way? What do you think Reed’s curriculum should include or emphasize in the future (for instance: computer science, gender studies, study abroad)?

As our roadshow has gone on, folks have preferred to color outside the lines and create additional topics, so feel free to weigh in below! Additionally, Mike Teskey, director of alumni & parent relations, has been logging summaries of the sentiments heard around the country, also below.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Reed on the Road | 9 Comments

Reed on the Road 2013: Campaign Edition

Posted on February 18, 2013 by

Reed on the Road: Campaign Edition

Though our centennial campaign is over, Reed’s commitment to its historic principles and goals continues. The impact of the $200 million that alumni, parents, and friends contributed to help strengthen the academic program and to provide support for a community of scholars is multifaceted.

Celebrate this milestone at these convivial events where you will hear how the campaign’s success is changing students’ lives and have an opportunity to share your vision for Reed’s next century. President Kroger will lead a discussion on the future of Reed and the changing nature of higher education and take questions after the program.

This will be an interactive event, and we kindly request that participants read the following article by Louis Menand and then help us frame the conversation: propose additional questions on Reed’s curriculum that you would like to see discussed in small groups at the tables. Submit topics as a comment below (here are a few to get you started).

If you haven’t already, please RSVP for this event in one of eight cities this spring.

Posted in Uncategorized | 10 Comments

LBJ and the Texas Hill Country

Posted on February 1, 2013 by

The Path to Power: LBJ and the Texas Hill Country
April 18-21

Join Paul Gronke, professor of political science, and Mike Teskey, director of alumni relations, in an examination of the Texas Hill Country that President Johnson called home. Using volume one of Robert Caro’s biography as the main subject text (along with some other suggested readings), we will explore the LBJ Library, Johnson City, the Texas White House, and areas in between. Lest you think this extended weekend is all about LBJ, April is prime wildflower season, so we will also visit the Wildflower Center (one of Ladybird’s legacies) along with experiencing some Austin (and Luckenbach) music and dining on Texas barbeque.

Price: $595 per person includes lodging (double occupancy), ground transportation, and entrance fees. $400 per person price excludes lodging.

Full itinerary, details and registration information: LBJ Heartland

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged LBJ, Texas Hill Country, travel | 3 Comments

Travel to Russia

Posted on January 25, 2013 by

Russia and its Riches: 10th-anniversary tour, May 25-June 9

The Reed College alumni office and Russian department have collaborated on many a trip, and we are pleased to embark on another. We will visit Moscow and St. Petersburg with their extraordinary museums, concert halls, and historical sites, and make overnight trips to the medieval towns of Sergiev Posad, Suzdal, and Vladimir northeast of Moscow, and Novgorod the Great south of St. Petersburg. Besides a carefully designed itinerary of exceptional richness, the program will include presentations on Russian history and culture by the tour leader, former Reed Russian professor Judson Rosengrant, and local specialists.

The tour requires no knowledge of the Russian language and is open to any who would like to learn first hand about Russia and its place in the world. For details (pricing, visas, etc), write to Jud at jrosengrant@earthlink.net or call him at 503/880-9521.

Read this dispatch from Brad ’61 and Rozelle Wright ’61, who enjoyed the trip this past May, in Reed magazine.

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Dr. Demento rocks campus this weekend

Posted on January 25, 2013 by

Three chances to see Barry Hansen ’63, aka Dr. Demento, back on campus this weekend!

Paideia Concert: Dr. Demento
“Grandpa’s Pornograph: soft-core and hard-core porn on phonograph records, from the 1890s to the 1950s”
Friday, January 25, 7 p.m., Vollum lecture hall
Tickets, at the door: $5; free to students, faculty, staff, and alumni with current Reed/alumni ID. Must be 18 years or older to attend this concert.

Paideia Concert: Dr. Demento
“Blues from the Beginning”
Saturday, January 26, 7 p.m., Vollum lecture hall
Tickets, at the door: $5; free to students, faculty, staff, and alumni with current Reed/alumni ID.

Paideia Concert: Dr. Demento
“ZAPPA!”
Sunday, January 27, 7 p.m., Vollum lecture hall
Tickets, at the door: $5; free to students, faculty, staff, and alumni with current Reed/alumni ID.