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PREVIOUS EVENTS
PETER GOMES LUNCHEON... Monday, April 23, 2007 The
Reverend Professor Peter Gomes regaled us at a luncheon program at the
Radisson Hotel in RTP. Rev. Gomes lived up to his immensely impressive resume
and reputation by simultaneously entertaining and enlightening a sellout crowd.
You can read Rev. Gomes' impressive biography at the website of
the Memorial
Church of Harvard University. Rev. Gomes has spoken to our Club several
times and never disappoints. We look forward to his next visit. Join us when he
returns.
SCOTT ABELL, Harvard's Associate Vice
President and Dean for Development for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences,
visited the Triangle to provide Harvard Club members with a candid update on
what is happening at the University. We gathered at the Gateway Jazz Cafe in
Morrisville on Tuesday evening, November 28, 2006, from 6 to 8 pm to talk face to face
with Dean Abell.
Dean Abell addressed recent events at the University, the
interim leadership process, current research projects, and future initiatives
including the Allston development project. His remarks were followed by an open forum. Refreshments and heavy hors-d'oeuvres were served.
THE GAME...Saturday, November 18. The Yale
Club organized the 2006 Harvard/Yale Game TV party at Quinn's sports
bar in Raleigh. The gathering was really a lot of fun, with
a good representation of Harvard and Yale folks alike.
SOUTHERN SONGS BY YANKEES - A MUSICAL REVUE FOR THE AGES
Bob Whyte performed his Southern Songs By Yankees
show November 9, 2006, for a packed house of Harvard Club members and guests at the Radisson Hotel
in RTP. A clever mixture of story-telling, humor, and music, Bob and his very
talented sidekicks, singer Laura Jones, and piano player, Dan Wielunksi, took
the audience on a Tin Pan Alley adventure featuring standards such as Swanee,
and less familiar ditties like I’ve Got Those Red White and Blues. The
show was structured to give the audience an emotional roller-coaster ride,
moving from the snappy, saucy tunes of the 20s, such as Dinah and Hard
Hearted Hannah, to the sweeter sounds of Georgia and Stars Fell on
Alabama more typical of the somber depression era of the 1930s. Then the
band cranked it up with Alabamy Bound and Mississippi Mud
featuring a gutbucket, washboard, and kazoo band made up of audience volunteers
including Phil Carl, Sean Witty and Grace Ueng’s 9-year old son, Nick. The show
ended with a sing-along of Carolina in the Morning and a standing ovation
for Bob, Laura, and Dan. Long time club members Jean and Tom Nuzum said it was
the best Harvard Club event they had attended in years and hoped it would become
an annual affair. Well, Bob?
You can view an
online "slide show" of the revue on the News & Observer website at the
following link:
http://www.newsobserver.com/1241/story/511703.html
The November 19
News & Observer story about the show ("Dandy Yankee Tunes" by N&O Staff
Writer Peggy Lim) can be found in the
newsobserver.com
archives.
DEAN THEDA SKOCPOL LUNCHEON MAY 9, 2006
We had the privilege and pleasure of meeting the Dean of the Harvard Graduate
School of Arts and Sciences at our final spring luncheon event on May 9th. Dean
Skocpol's presentation on African American Fraternal Groups in the U.S.
captivated an audience of thirty Club members and guests. Her upcoming book
about this subject promises to open the eyes of historians and others to the
essential role that these groups played in promoting the civil rights movement
and preparing the African American community to take its rightful place in
American society.
It was enlightening and stimulating to hear this outstanding scholar and senior
Harvard administrator respond to questions about the issues and events leading
to the recent resignation of President Summers. Everyone in the audience came
away with a great deal of respect for Dean Skocpol and appreciated the
professional and candid manner in describing a complicated and delicate
situation. Dean Skocpol urged alumni to contact and communicate with faculty
members to help the University move forward.
HODDING CARTER LUNCHEON APRIL 5, 2006
UNC Professor of Leadership and Public Policy Hodding Carter III knows
something about terrorism. From his childhood in the Mississippi Delta as the
son of a crusading newspaper publisher, through his own tenure there as
reporter, editor and civil rights advocate, Carter witnessed firsthand the
violent spasms of American bigotry and became a leader in the fight against
institutionalized racism.
Later, as State Department spokesman during the Iran hostage crisis, Carter had
intimate knowledge of our government's protracted struggle to free our citizens
from their fanatical captors. As a lifelong student and teacher of history and
as a man who has worked tirelessly in defense of a free press and in support of
responsible journalism, Carter doesn't lose sight of the big picture even while
focusing on details.
The Harvard Club was privileged to hear Carter speak at length about terrorism
on April 5 at the Friday Center. Carter sought to put the current danger of
Islamist terrorism in a proper historical and political perspective. He reminded
his audience that terrorism is neither new nor foreign and should never be used
as an excuse to diminish our precious liberties – a danger that Carter fears is
all too real at the present time. Carter's talk was well attended and well
received by the Club.
LUNCHEON WITH PROFESSOR BILL FERRIS
An enthusiastic crowd of
Harvard alumni and their guests, along with our friends from the local Yale, MIT
and Penn alumni clubs were in for a rare treat when they gathered on November 2,
2005 to hear
Professor Bill Ferris help us begin to understand what makes the south so
special and how the south gave birth to the blues, rock and roll and country
music. He delivered his message in an entertaining way, with a sizable mix of
storytelling and song. The event was held at the Radisson Hotel in RTP.
Dr. William R. Ferris, Joel R. Williamson Distinguished Professor of History
at UNC and former Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, is the
Senior Associate Director of UNC's Center for the Study of the American South.
Professor Ferris, who is a native of Vicksburg, Mississippi, is an award-winning
author, folklorist, filmmaker, and scholar of Southern Culture. Ferris has
taught at Jackson State University, Yale, the University of Mississippi and
Stanford. Author of over 100 publications in fields of folklore, American
literature, fiction, and photography; he was made a "Chevalier in the Order of
Arts and Letters" in 1985 and an "Officer in the Order of Arts and Letters" in
1994 by the French government; and in 1995 he was given the Charles Frankel
Award by President Bill Clinton. Ferris received a Doctor of Fine Arts from
Rhodes College in 1997. He has served as a consultant to The Color Purple,
Crossroads, and Heart of Dixie.
Ferris, wearing his Mississippi roots with pride, is quick to point out that
Elvis Presley, B. B. King, and Jimmy Rogers, pioneers of R&R, Blues, and Country
respectively, all came from Mississippi. He brings the art of storytelling into
his classroom, using the many compelling stories he has discovered during his
distinguished career. He has conducted thousands of interviews with musicians
ranging from the famous (B.B. King) to the unrecognized (Parchman Penitentiary
inmates working in the fields).
As testimony to Professor Ferris's diversity of achievements and recognitions,
he was a Visiting Fellow at Harvard in the 1980's and, in 1991, was named by
Rolling Stone magazine as one of the Top Ten Professors in the United States. |