S. Worthen | Weblog

Smith College is an institution of many traditions, many of which cluster around commencement and reunion. The best of them involve good weather, so it was a real disappointment when cool drizzle set in to dampen all the usual outdoors events of this past weekend. Ivy Day just isn't the same when a large parade of white-robed women sit in a gym instead of processing through the sunshine and rows of rose-holding seniors. Illumination Night wasn't at all - it rained steadily, and the Chinese lanterns weren't even hung, let alone lit, on the rows of strung wire winding through campus. Commencement too was indoors, in the ITT instead of the ivied walls of the quad.

( Campus changes... )

Other moments of note:

• In place of illuminations, a newly-met acquaintance and I spent a few late-night hours in the greenhouses, breathing in green and musing on Indian figs (prickly pears), Turkish corn (New World corn), and our unexpected talent for locating infesting slugs.


• The Computer Science department's 3D printer is so nifty! 3D printing is meant for rapid prototyping and thus the results are no more durable than paper - even less so in some cases. The machine lays a layer of glue-bound starch 1/5 of a millimeter at a time to build up 3D computer-imaged forms. The resultant forms can be marvellously detailed; they can also be fully functional. It's possible to print ball bearings, for example, or rings locked into impossible knots or twisted into toroids. Printing Kepler's geometric map of the planet's spacing is entirely within this machine's capabilities.


• Unfortunately, my class color is yellow. This means that if I continue to go to reunions, I will continue to accrue bright yellow objects; it's really not a good color for me.


• I ran into more faculty with whom I'd studied while at Smith when I was at Kalamazoo last weekend, than when I was at Smith this weekend!


• In German, "body bag" means "backpack". A "handy" is a mobile phone. Thus, one can have a "handy body bag".

Train trip
The train from Manchester Oxford Road left from platforms 1, 2, and 3 - or so it was announced over the course of five minutes. By the end of those frantic minutes, we previously-silent passengers had bonded in shared train-catching anxiety.

Place that tune
The quiet elevator-style music in the background of the Indian restaurant was exceedingly familiar. I could sing along to it, so clearly I knew it. But where was it from? Then I realized - it was the soundtrack to Bombay Dreams; not something I ever thought I would hear done elevator-style.

( The Gondoliers at the ENO )

( Leonardo da Vinci at the V&A )

( Life in Renaissance Italy at the V&A )

Reunion
Canadian and British universities are still learning the fine art of cultivating alumni networks. Part of the art is instilling a belief in the importance of the network from the very beginning of the degree itself, before potential alums have come anywhere near graduating themselves. Another part of the art is to make all events personal, if possible

A month or so ago, I went to a University of Toronto reunion event. It was held in conjunction with another twenty-or-so Canadian universities in a large, chaotic room with mini chocolate bars to munch on; interaction largely revolved around game play, not a bad tactic given the numbers. In contrast, last night's meeting of the newly revitalized Smith Club of Great Britain was all about personal contact, tags labeled not just with names but years, canapes which encouraged lingering. Sure, the venue was a big noisy, in a corner of a bar, but the effect was still there. Also, it seemed as if all retired Smithies living in London have second homes in France. Not bad, really.

Favorite recent spam subject line: "And no equatorial"