Notes and News - Week of April 15, 2019

April 15, 2019

Notes and News – Week of 4/15/19

HL’s Pieces

Dear Red Lions,

First, some good news – after reporting the problems with the credit card reader and app for the washers/dryers in TD – we just heard that the machines will now be FREE until the problems can be sorted. And if you continue to experience any problems with the machines please report them to the service number posted in the laundry room.

Hope you all had the chance to enjoy some of the TD events this past weekend! I have so many entries for “Photo of the Week” coming from the SAC Spring Formal and Berry Brunch – to name just two of the events we have had – that it’s pretty difficult to pick just one.

But I am going to go with this one of Bennett Hall TD ’22 that beautifully captures his reaction to a mind-blowing card trick performed by Diego Vargas, who heads the Magicians Without Borders (Magos Sin Fronteras) chapter in Costa Rica. For anyone who missed his fabulous show where he entertained us with magic while sharing his stories of working with Magos Sin Fronteras, you might catch him doing table magic in the TD dining hall while he is here this week.

After a super busy week of events in the college, we will be ramping down our programming and start to get ready for the end of the semester. But don’t despair, folks!!! It looks like you can catch Dean Mahurin doing stand-up comedy at the Y2Y Comedy Show on Thursday 4/25 where 9 beloved Yale professors, TAs, and university administrators will step up to the mic to regale you with their best jokes in the name of philanthropy! The show’s proceeds will go to support Y2Y New Haven’s work to provide overnight services for youth experiencing homelessness in a youth-led space that is trauma-informed, gender-neutral, and actively LGBTQ+ friendly. You can get tickets here or contact Lucie Warga TD ’22 at lucie.warga@yale.edu.

Here are our important events for this week:

Tuesday 4/16 5-7:30pm Guacamole Cart is Back (TD Dining Hall)

Our favorite TD Dining Hall pop up is back! The staff treats us to fresh avocados and guacamole with an assortment of toppings galore. If you enjoyed Berry Brunch, you will love the Guacamole Cart!

Here are our important events for next week:

Friday 4/26 TD Day (TD Courtyard)

Our end of the year celebration on the final day of classes! Enjoy some bouncing and a courtyard bbq provided by our Dining Hall staff. We’ll also have a new TD day shirt to giveaway!

Sunday 4/28 8:30pm Joint Orchestra and Choir Concert (TD Dining Hall)

We end the spring semester with a lovely joint concert with the TD Community Chamber Orchestra and the Yale University Choral Society featuring a number of TD singers! A light reception of lemonade and cookies will follow.

Without further ado, here is a word from Dean Mahurin…

Áshe,
HL

***

County Fair

Mary Karr

On the mudroad of plodding American bodies,

my son wove like an antelope from stall

to stall and want to want. I no’ed it all: the wind-up

killer robot and winged alien; knives

hierarchical in a glass case; the blow-up vinyl wolf

bobbing from a pilgrim’s staff.

Lured as I was by the bar-b-que’s black smoke,

I got in line. A hog carcass,

blistered pink on a spit, made its agonized slow roll,

a metaphor, I thought, for anyone

ahead of me—the pasty-faced and broad. I half-longed

for the titanium blade I’d just seen

curved like a falcon’s claw. Some truth wanted cutting

in my neighbors’ impermanent flesh.

Or so my poisoned soul announced, as if scorn

for the body politic

weren’t some outward form of inner scorn,

as if I were fit judge.

Lucky my son found the bumper cars. Once I’d hoped

only to stand tall enough

to drive my own. Now when the master switch got thrown

and sparks skittered overhead

in a lightning web, I felt like Frankenstein or some

newly powered monster.

Plus the floor was glossy as ice. Even rammed head-on,

the rubber bumper bounced you off unhurt

and into other folks who didn’t mind the jolt, whose faces

all broke smiles, in fact,

till the perfect figure-eight I’d started out to execute

became itself an interruption. One face

after another wheeled shining at me from the dark,

each bearing the weight of a whole self.

What pure vessels we are, I thought, once our skulls

shut up their nasty talk.

We drove home past corn at full tassel, colossal silos,

a windmill sentinel. Summer was starting.

My son’s body slumped like a grain sack against mine.

My chest was all thunder.

On the purple sky in rear view, fireworks unpacked—silver

chrysanthemum, another in fuchsia,

then plum. Each staccato boom shook the night. My son

jerked in his sleep. I prayed hard to keep

the frail peace we hurtled through, to want no more

than what we had. The road

rushed under us. Our lush planet heaved toward day.

Inside my hand’s flesh,

anybody’s skeleton gripped the wheel.

UPCOMING DATES AND DEADLINES

April 26, Friday Classes end, 5:30 p.m.; reading period begins.

Last day to withdraw from a spring full-term course or a course offered in the second half of the spring term. See Withdrawal from Courses and Grades.
May 2, Thursday Reading period ends, 5 p.m. Final examinations begin, 7 p.m.

Deadline for all course assignments, other than term papers and term projects. This deadline can be extended only by a Temporary Incomplete authorized by the student’s residential college dean – i.e. me!

FELLOWSHIP EVENTS

Writing Essays for National Fellowships Workshop

Thursday, April 18, 12:30pm - 1:30pm