What’s your favorite Thanksgiving recipe?
The first Thanksgiving took place in Plymouth Colony, in what is present-day Massachusetts, in 1621. More than 200 years later, President Abraham Lincoln declared the final Thursday in November as a national day of thanksgiving.
So, Thanksgiving is a time to be grateful, we know, but we also know that it is really all about eating (and watching football).
So to honor our forefathers, let’s talk turkey! Everyone has a favorite recipe handed down through the generations.
What is your favorite, or unusual or mouth-watering, not-to-be-believed recipe – the one that keeps ‘em coming back for more?
A shout out to Steph
A few months ago, I wrote about how impressed I was with fellow blogger, sophomore Steph Hammerman - and that was before the Disability Awareness Month activities even began. So, let me say that I’m even more impressed with the way she pulled off this extremely successful initiative. From the Disabilities Forum, to the Different Abilities Dinner, to the World with Wheels to the Matt Glowacki presentations, and all the while raising funds for Bubba, it all seemed to go off so well and so seamlessly. Even President Ross acknowledged her outstanding efforts during his State of the University address.
But beneath the surface we know the amount of work, dedication and passion that went into it all. And believe me, after just a mere week of my own awareness event – myLynn Awareness week – I know keeping up the planning, organization and pace for an entire month of major events had to be extremely stressful and exhausting.
Steph said in her recent blog post: “I would have never imagined last year at this time that I was truly capable of putting together an entire month of events and having them go as well as they did.” Well, Steph, imagine no more. You did it!
On Founders Day, it’s not about who will win, but who will SWIM
When you live in South Florida, the leaves don’t fall from the trees in November. Citrus fruits do. So it’s always hard at this time of the year to believe it really is fall. But then along comes Founders Day at Lynn and suddenly you’re a believer. There’s something about the smell of roasted, syrup drenched corn that now says “fall” to many of us. Oh, and the smell of lake water on cotton.
This year, organizers of our fifth annual Founders Day have upped the saturation point on the day’s most popular event (Canoe Challenge) by adding a new “Anything That Floats” category to the mix, along with a costume competition. That means you’re likely to see someone navigating the lake between the administration building and Old Lynn on a recycle bin or a Gilligan-style raft of coconuts and bamboo shoots (use your imagination – and local materials – here, people). Me? I’m showing up early to ensure I get my kettle corn and a good spot on the south bank to watch the madness unfold.
A Sun-Sentinel photo from the 2007 canoe challenge. Man overboard!
As in year’s past, the buzz on campus isn’t about who will win, but who will swim. President Ross, along with CIO Chris Boniforti and senior vice president Greg Malfitano, had one of the wettest runs on record back in 2007 (that’s our president above with a drier team – sorry Chris and Greg – back in 2006). And last year, I saw a bunch of students in banana suits all but park their canoe on a fountain head. Good times.
Of course, my third favorite part of the day (behind the canoe races and outdoor breakfast) is the evening picnic. This year, keep your eyes on two-year-old Eli Hughes on the carnival games circuit. Kid’s got an arm (a gift he didn’t inherit from his father, I’m sorry to say). Consider yourself warned!
As for those of you who are canoe challenged, any predictions?
H1N1 vaccine is here, if not on campus yet
On Tuesday I sent out an alert to campus to let students know that Lynn’s shipment of the H1N1 vaccine is now being forecast to arrive in mid-November (this according to the county’s health officials). This is more than a month later than expected. The news was not much of a surprise given the seemingly nonstop media coverage on the national shortage in recent days.
That said, apparently not all is lost if you’re intent on being among the first to get the vaccine. One of our own students (thanks Adriana!) emailed to say that she and her daughter both received the vaccine earlier this week at a local hospital. If you’re in a hurry to get this, try going through the county. You can access more information at:
http://www.pbchd.com/spotlight/h1n1.html.
In the meantime, keep washing those hands!
It’s Phillies vs. Yankees – even at Lynn
For those of you living under a rock – or who maybe just don’t care – the World Series has begun. It’s the battle of the Phillies vs. the Yankees, a big Northeastern rivalry (score one for the Phillies).
I saw these 2 students walking together in the Assaf courtyard today, each sporting his team hat. Mike Deluca (Philly fan) and Matt Dumoulin (Yankee fan) are buddies and neighbors and have a friendly rivalry, but draw the line when it comes to watching the games. Both go off to watch with their fellow fans and say they don’t care where they watch as long as there’s a big screen TV.
Fans and even non-fans seem to have a love/hate relationship with one or both of these teams. So, I’ll admit my team preference here and say: Go Phillies! Can they do it a second year in a row? What do you think? I’ve gotten several high fives from fellow Philly fans here at Lynn. So, come on … fess up, who are you rooting for?
MyLynn “votes” are coming in fast and furious
We’re only 3 days into our weeklong myLynn awareness effort and I need to say publicly that I am so thrilled by the response. Everyone – and I do mean everyone from students to staff to faculty to even our own CIO – has been more than willing to stop and take 30 seconds to fill out our ballots, even proudly wearing the “I voted for myLynn” sticker. Considering we’re in their face and cornering them as they hurry to lunch or class, they have been gracious and willing participants. So, I’m thanking everyone here in advance. And a shout out to some of our myLynn fans I didn’t even know we had – professor Jill Levenson said she “loves” myLynn and student Dan Hennessey says he reads it all!
We’ll be around for a few more days donning our “Vote for myLynn” T-shirts and urging you to cast your ballots – and then we promise to leave you alone while we go about the business of pouring and sifting through the results. Our Discovery Phase is almost behind us, what with this massive voting week and the various sessions we’ve had with student and staff groups. We are hearing you all loud and clear; we will take it all in and process it.
As we go about the business of redoing, rebuilding, redesigning – whatever you want to call it – know that you have played an important role. Also, please feel free to offer input, feedback or ask questions at any time.
One final note: During a lunch session on myLynn with our student bloggers, they wondered aloud why our blog – Knight Writer – was able to commandeer such prime real estate on the Home page now. What about them? They are still relegated to the black hole of the Community tab (hey, I’m just saying it as I hear it). We are working on getting them more front and center, so if you do not regularly read their blogs you should. They’re awesome!
Big news about big bucks (and a few more details about that soccer stadium)
At the State of the University on Wednesday, the big news was all about the big bucks– a recent $1 million anonymous gift to the university for a soccer stadium and the $45,000-plus savings possible for those students selected for Lynn’s new 3-year degree program. As the Sun-Sentinel’s Scott Travis reported, the Lynn Degree 3.0 initiative “will start next school year and will be available to freshmen who receive at least a 3.0 grade point average their fall semester and maintain or improve their GPA during the spring semester.”
Exciting stuff. And the 3.0 marketing materials are already moving. The table tent above will be going on the road with Lynn’s admissions officers beginning immediately. (That’s our Lynn design team, Andreia Brunstein and Shaun Aaron in the background.)
As for the soccer stadium, here are a few more details you didn’t hear about Wednesday. The site selected for such a facility is the current intramural field (west of the deHoernle Center) and is expected – according to our most recent athletics master plan – to have approximately 1,000 seats.
Last but not least in this rundown of State of the U news: if you were at the fourth annual address by Dr. Ross, you saw the person below snapping pictures from a variety of angles. Some of those pics have been loaded to our Facebook page. And the photographer? None other than CIC grad and master’s student (and marketing photographer!) Carolina Gonzalez. The photographer on this blurry shot? Me. Yes… that’s why we have Carolina shoot the important stuff!
Vote for tomorrow’s myLynn today
Marketing is jumping on the awareness week bandwagon. Everyone else is having one; why not us? So, it’s official: the week of Oct. 26-30 is myLynn Awareness Week. What the heck is that, you might ask. As many of you already know, my “partner in crime” and fellow blogger, Jason Hughes, and I have been combing the Lynn community looking for feedback – about, you guessed it – myLynn. So, armed with a Napoleon Dynamite-ish election theme, we’ll be set up at tables each day (in various locations) to solicit your feedback. We want you to want us (a la Cheap Trick), and we want myLynn to be yourLynn, so help us out. You can fill out a ballot and vote for your favorite features, and/or you can stop by our table and play with our dot stickers Gensler style; and as a thank you and in celebration of upcoming Halloween, we’ll even have some treats – but no tricks, we promise.
Here’s where we’ll be and when:
* Monday, Oct. 26, Student Center lobby, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
* Tuesday, Oct. 27, Student Center lobby, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
* Tuesday, Oct. 27, Ritter courtyard, 5:30-6:30 p.m.
* Wednesday, Oct. 28, Student Center lobby, 12 – 1 p.m.
* Thursday, Oct. 29, Assaf courtyard, 10-11 a.m.
* Thursday, Oct. 29, Assaf courtyard, 5:30-6:30 p.m.
* Friday, Oct. 30, Library fountain area, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Stop by!
Brrrrrrr… baby it’s cold outside – and in
Well, finally … the 90-degree heat wave has broken. I heard on the Weather Channel (one of my favorite stations) that we had more than 15 days in a row of temperatures in the upper 90s, making it an unusually hot October, not to mention the heat and humidity of the last 6 months. So, temperatures over the weekend plummeted to the mid 50s at night. That may not sound like frigid air to the average, hearty Midwesterner, but to us, it’s plenty cold: cause for celebration for some (open the windows, break out those flannel shirts!) and chattering teeth for others.
I guess it takes awhile for our buildings on campus to catch up to this sudden seasonal temperature change, cause the a/c is still cranking away. In our staff meeting today, it was interesting to note the various forms of winter dress – sweaters, scarves, closed-toe shoes, and my favorite (below). Love the look!
So, is it cold enough for you – outside and/or in?
Little LU in danger!
*WARNING* – Contents of this blog post may be disturbing to our more sensitive readers. Please view at your own risk.
For those of you who missed it, Little LU, our small but significant, tiny but tough face of Lynn University – and the smaller sidekick to “Big LU,” the taller but softer Lynn mascot, has been getting himself into some sticky situations lately…
In fact, earlier this year Little LU got kidnapped for, as his assailants say, “too much traveling and well… just being a celebrity really. If you are willing to pay the ransom we might be willing to provide proof of life.”
These evil-doers were no match for our little guy. LU easily escaped the rubber band that held him captive for only a few short days.
He may be strong and tough, but he’s still not staying out of trouble. There have been reports of Little LU nearly drowning in the bottom of a lake during the Adirondack Experience and others have reported seeing LU decapitated after one of his wild adventures.
All I know, is that Little LU needs to start playing it safe and being more careful during his world-wide travels.
Have your own Little LU adventure story? Please share below!