commentary
Commentary
If You Only Had Six Words
05 Mar 2009 by Carol Bruess / 6 Comments
If someone asked you to develop a six-word statement of your identity – a half-dozen words capturing your entire life story – what would those six words be? Six words: No more, no less. Inspired by bestselling book “Not Quite What I Was Planning,” (which, by the way, was inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s famous tale [...]
“Slumdog Millionaire” Offers Realistic – but Narrow – Slice of India
02 Mar 2009 by Dr. Kevin Sauter / 2 Comments
Editor’s note: Dr. Kevin Sauter, professor of communications and journalism, submitted a guest column to The Scroll. MUMBAI, India – It added a different level of interest and intensity to be sitting in the middle row of a theater filled with Indians, in the middle of the city of Mumbai, on the second day after [...]
Defining Ourselves can be Tricky at Times
25 Feb 2009 by Susan Alexander / 1 Comment
Who are you, anyway? Some of us have well-defined roles in our professional lives. Some of us overlap categories. In any case, we define ourselves at work in many ways. Sometimes our sense of self is so complicated we have trouble with a simple name and role introduction. When I introduce myself these days, I [...]
St. Thomas Community Lives out University’s Mission
23 Feb 2009 by Karen Harthorn / No Comments
Editor’s note: Karen Harthorn, director of Purchasing Services, submitted a guest column to The Scroll. St. Thomas: What a great place to work. I can’t even count the ways! I have been employed by St. Thomas for just two and one-half years and LOVE it! Where else can you do a retreat series over lunch [...]
Flower bed Caretaker is our True Harbinger of Spring
19 Feb 2009 by Dave Nimmer / 12 Comments
Somewhere in the middle of the rain storm last week. I got to thinking that maybe spring isn’t far away. The thought of people unbundling, ice melting and robins returning made me almost giddy. But I know when spring officially begins its entrance: Steve Trost starts roto-tilling his campus flower beds. Trost is my harbinger [...]
Love: Not a Spectator Sport
10 Feb 2009 by Carol Bruess / 2 Comments
One of my favorite concepts to teach in the Family Communication course is how, in our families and intimate relationships, we need to understand each other’s “relational currencies.” Relational currencies are those symbolic acts or statements used to express our love, care or concern for another person. For example, to some, receiving chocolate on Valentine’s [...]
A Final Journey With Cardinal Laghi
09 Feb 2009 by Doug Hennes '77 / 1 Comment
Any beginning student of the Italian language would have difficulty with the name Cardinal Pio Laghi. It is, after all, a singular Christian name, Pio (Pius), appearing to describe a plural noun, Laghi (lakes). No such confusion lay in the mind and heart of the man Pio Laghi, however. He was a man with a [...]
A Jolt of Pride, Satisfaction and Gratitude
05 Feb 2009 by Fr. Dennis Dease / No Comments
Do you ever have those stretches of time when you are moving so fast – running to meetings, keeping up with email and voice-mail, handling the latest emergency – that you don’t sit down long enough to think about how good this university truly is? I seem to have a lot of those stretches! And [...]
January Term not so Quiet After all, and That’s OK
02 Feb 2009 by Doug Hennes '77 / 1 Comment
Quiet . . . a cold January morning, 20 degrees below zero. Trudging through the snow to campus, everything seems different. It’s quiet, there are very few students milling around and I can finally find a close parking spot! My “to do” lists keep getting longer and longer as I have all this time (the [...]
Purple Pride and Being No. 1
27 Jan 2009 by Doug Hennes / No Comments
Editor’s note: Doug Hennes, vice president for university and government relations, submitted a guest column to The Scroll. For weeks, as the St. Thomas men’s basketball team’s undefeated record grew, I blabbered rather incessantly to anybody who would listen that if we kept winning, it would be just a matter of time before the d3hoops.com [...]
He’s Proud of his Heritage . . . Again
25 Jan 2009 by Dave Nimmer / 10 Comments
Watching the inauguration of President Barack Obama Tuesday in Scooter’s – packed with students, staff and faculty – I couldn’t help recalling my experience 48 years ago in Madison, Wis., when John F. Kennedy swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States, so help him God. The moment was more poignant and powerful today, [...]
She’s Obsessed With “Streamlining”
16 Jan 2009 by Carol Bruess / 3 Comments
Streamlining: “To construct or design in a form that offers the least resistance; to improve the efficiency of; to organize; to simplify; to improve something by removing the parts that are least useful or profitable” (www.thefreedictionary.com). I have been obsessed with this word for the past week since my 3rd grader returned home, frozen hair [...]
Hopes and Homespun Notions for 2009
11 Jan 2009 by Dave Nimmer / 1 Comment
The prospect of a new year generally prompts some reflection upon the passing one and a wish list for the one to come. Over the years, my reflections have been more generous than grumpy and my wishes more modest than magnificent. The year 2009 is likely to be challenging for governments, companies, families . . [...]
It Starts With a Seed
06 Jan 2009 by Nathaniel Minor / No Comments
St.Thomas helps a Mali village prepare for a ripe future
No Child Left Behind?
03 Jan 2009 by Dr. Donald R. LaMagdeleine and Dr. David W. Peterson / No Comments
Thinking critically about one of our nation’s most controversial education programs
Keep the Lights on!
31 Dec 2008 by Susan Alexander / 3 Comments
Before the holidays, fellow old-timer Barbara Rath and I were looking forward to that lovely gift of time that Father Dease gave employees – two additional days off at Christmas. Barbara, who has been in the Records Office even longer than I have been here, told me about the last time St. Thomas closed for [...]
Of Christmas Cards, the Word of God and the Importance of Others
18 Dec 2008 by St. Thomas Newsroom / No Comments
Rich Rexeisen, my comrade in the London Business Semester, led me on a variant path to the London Underground on our last day in London this month. He pointed out a plaque on a home indicating that Sir Henry Cole, the founding curator of London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, had lived there. Sir Henry is [...]
Do Advent
10 Dec 2008 by Carol Bruess / 4 Comments
The slim and tall radiator cover in the corner of our dining room has become an attractive and preferred dumping ground (or as my dear friend calls it, “a pile of disrespect”) for any and all pieces of miscellany paper in my personal and professional life: Kids’ homework, notes from teachers, half-chewed pencils, the soon-to-be [...]
His Perfect Christmas Gift
08 Dec 2008 by Dave Nimmer / 9 Comments
With Christmas just two weeks away, I am reminded that I’ve never been lucky in receiving or giving Christmas gifts. I get something I don’t need or want and turn around and do the same for a friend. But two years ago, I gave the perfect Christmas gift. I bought it on the spur of [...]
FINISH STRONG!
03 Dec 2008 by St. Thomas Newsroom / 2 Comments
After a much-needed Thanksgiving break filled with family time and that homemade food that they craved all semester, students are realizing there are just two short weeks left before the end of the semester. For some, panic ensues. For others, it’s time to coast. Whether you find yourself in a panic state, a coast state [...]
Oklahoma Road Trip Provides Perspective on People, Politics, Passages . . . and Home
01 Dec 2008 by Dave Nimmer / No Comments
Two-dollar-a-gallon gasoline and a new Honda Civic prompted me to hit the road last month to see an old friend in southwest Oklahoma. Something about a trip alone in a car, rolling down that ribbon of highway, listening to your music, tends to bring a little perspective on people, politics and passages. First of all, [...]
Holiday Rituals are a Rush
25 Nov 2008 by Carol Bruess / 5 Comments
On campus, there is a palpable feel of “I can’t wait to get home for the holidays!” In the past few days, I’ve overheard more than a few students chatting on their cells with Mom or Dad: “Can’t wait for Thanksgiving!” Or a friend from home: “Let’s go out when I’m home for Thanksgiving!” As [...]
