From department chair Louann Reid: Homecoming was a hit! Thank you to Pam Coke and Rebecca Kennedy, who organized the event, and to the scores of people who helped make it successful. Marnie, Sheila, and Sue helped us prepare and clean up; work-study students Kayla and Mike were instrumental in some design and implementation tasks; lab monitor Jeffrey distributed programs; communications intern Ashley and Communications Coordinator Jill (who also put together a special slideshow) took pictures the whole time; Joelle Paulson gathered and posted alumni stories to the blog beforehand and helped prepare the invitation; and Marilyn Bistline of the CLA Development Office helped us with a mass mailing of invitations.

There were more than 80 people; some alums brought children; and a few have children they’re encouraging to attend CSU. There were alums from 1950 through 2013 or 14. First-gen and first-year students were invited, and a few of them did attend; several helped out with directing people and distributing programs. Sean Waters played guitar, and Airica Parker stepped in to cut and serve the cake. English ed. students led tours of the building, having been trained to do so by Bruce Ronda. A few faculty from Ethnic Studies and Philosophy stopped by.

Four previous chairs joined us, starting with John Pratt from 1974 through Rosemary, Pattie, and Bruce. Cake crumbs were embedded in the conference room carpet. Stephanie created a tremendous display that included the FIRST Colorado Review, which included e.e. cummings, Ray Bradbury, and a host of other writers who are pretty well known.

The centerpiece of the event was unveiling a dedicatory and celebratory poem for our return to Eddy, written by all four poetry faculty. Camille first read it aloud, then Matthew and Sasha spoke about the process and the title, respectively, and then they read the poem again, dividing the lines as they had written them, with Camille and Sasha reading their lines and sharing Dan’s and Matthew reading his 4 (it’s a sixteen-line poem). We have an 18×24 framed copy to hang somewhere in the department, and we printed a limited edition of 200 broadsides so that everyone on the faculty and staff can have their own 9×12 copy. Jessica Crouch of Wolverine Farms Press was a pleasure to work with on this project.

 

If I have forgotten anyone, please know that my memory isn’t a match for my gratitude. My thanks to you, too.

And we completely ran out of cake.

See the full set of pictures on our Facebook page