Thematic Photographic 102 - Geometric

This week's Thematic Photographic theme is geometric. The first thing I thought of was the circles in Kenneth Snelson's sculpture Mozart III which is installed at Wellesley College.

circle

Here's a shot of the entire sculpture.

Then on the way home I was stopped next to this sign (bonus points if you can tell where this was taken) and thought it fit the theme pretty well too.

circles in square

See more at Written Inc.

See It Sunday: Tower

Galen Stone Tower at Wellesley College
taken this morning

See more See It Sunday here.

Feeling the Love

I love looking at the stars, but I don't really know very much about them. I had a floor-mate, Julie, in college who was an astronomy major, which mostly meant that we didn't see much of her because she spent evenings and nights in the observatory. The other exotic thing about Julie was that she was from Las Vegas. Up until I met her I hadn't ever really thought about the fact that there were families living in Las Vegas. But I digress. During one January Wintersession (a voluntary mini-semester filled with mostly non-academic workshops) she offered a star gazing workshop and a bunch of us who lived near her signed up. If I remember correctly the entire group was people from our floor. It was a lot of fun and I owe everything I know about stars to her. Because it was January the major constellations we could see were Orion, and Cassiopeia. I still think of her when I look up into the winter sky.

My nephew, D, loves learning about space and I'm guessing he knows much more about it than I do. His current plan is a career in astrophysics, though I don't think he would state it that way, yet. When it came time to pick his holiday present this year I wanted to find something that he would love and that would challenge his intellect. It took me till mid-January (D is perfectly okay with receiving gifts whenever they show up) to figure out what to get him, but what I sent was a telescope - what every budding astrophysicist needs.

Yesterday after a very long day at work, I arrived home to find this in my mailbox.

It brought a big smile to my face, and I love that the constellation he drew is Orion, one of the few I can pick out of the night sky.

PhotoSunday: Metal

Detail of the sculpture Mozart III which is installed at Wellesley College.
A couple more photos of it are here and here.

See more PhotoSunday here.

Thursday Challenge: Wheels

Taken on the Wellesley College campus in May.

See more Thursday Challenge here.

Macroday: Wet

Lane marker in the pool at Wellesley College.

(Taken underwater)

(We had a great vacation, and there is much to tell. I hope to have time soon...)

See more MacroDay here.

Tuesday Challenge: Towers

Galen Stone Tower
The carillon tower at Wellesley College.

See more Tuesday Challenge here.

LensDay: Sports

I couldn't resist sharing one more Wellesley Softball picture.

Larger View: here
More LensDay: here

Sunday Scribblings: Spicy

I'm wrote most of this while sitting under a tree on the campus of the college from which I graduated. As I sat there enjoying the bright sunny day, I was thinking about the chapel service this morning. It's reunion weekend and since the class I graduated with is back I stopped by for a couple of events including chapel. (I took a year off halfway through college and usually attend reunion with the class with which I started. But it's a *big* reunion, and I only live a couple of miles away...)

The college I attended was a fairly white bread place when I was there. There were students of color and international students but they didn't make up a very large percentage of the student body. Similarly the chapel services were decidedly Protestant.

I didn't attend very many chapel services as a student, but as a member of the college choir attendance was mandatory at a few every year. Those services had a comforting similarity to the Presbyterian and Congregationalist services I had attended (sporadically) before college. The order of service, the hymnal, the prayers all were familiar.

Partway through my college life the college hired a new chaplain who was decidedly feminist. I have fond memories of our choir director, an older man with roots in the Episcopalian church, complaining because this new chaplain was insisting that the wording of the hymns being sung have the wording changed to reflect here feminist bent. There is a certain absurdity to his annoyance given that I attended a women's college. Our director was a dear sweet man who just didn't want his beloved hymns messed with.

Things have changed quite a bit since then. The student body is decidedly more ethnically diverse and formerly marginalized communities are an integral part of the campus. The religious life of the college has changed as well. A number of years ago a new chaplain was brought in and charged with developing ways to embrace the religious diversity on the campus. The chaplain embraced this challenge with an evangelical passion. College wide chapel services now incorporate elements of a wide range of religions.

As I sat under the tree earlier today it was the sounds of the service which were running through my mind. The low ringing of the bell which is the Buddhist call to worship; the chattering of birds outside the open door, the lilt of a Hindu prayer, the blending of women's voices as they sang a round in Hebrew, the words of the Koran, and the more familiar words of the Protestant and Catholic traditions.

After the horrid attacks of September 11, 2001 the college scheduled a special all college chapel service. At a time when the unfamiliar was cause for anxiety, this service provided healing in sharing the range of religious observance. I particularly remember the end of the service when we were directed to the lawn outside the chapel. Once gathered in a circle there we shared a native American prayer. It was one more element toward bringing understanding about how our differences can enrich us.

Where the services of my college life were white bread, the services now are a lovely spicy stew and everyone who is fortunate enough to attend one is enriched.

This week's prompt at Sunday Scribblings is spicy. You can see more here. And thanks to Shelley for inspiration on this one.

Sunday Scribbling: Second Chance

The Wellesley College softball team is playing in the NCAA Division III New England Regional tournament this weekend. They got off to a great start yesterday, blanking College Misericordia 8-0.

Today's match-up against the women from Tufts University was tougher. Wellesley's pitching was not as precise as in the last few games (two no-hitters and a one-hitter). And today the breaks weren't going Wellesley's way. Catcher Kara Wong got picked off second base and later in the game was thrown out at the plate trying to score the tying run. Tufts got help with two excellent plays from their right fielder - an over the head catch of a deep fly ball off the bat of Beej Grundlock, and a diving catch, the kind that makes the highlight reels on ESPN, on the next play.

It was an exciting, if disappointing game. As one of the players said after the game "losing sucks, but losing and having to study sucks more" (Wellesley finals start next week.)

What, I'm sure you're asking, does this have to do with second chances? Well, this tournament is a double-elimination tournament. What this means, is that to be eliminated a team has to lose twice. So, Wellesley has a second chance. They'll take on Keene State tomorrow. After all the work that has gone into getting here it is nice to know that all the teams get to play at least two games. And their family, friends, and random fans get to cheer them on a little longer.

I think this concept of double-elimination could be useful in other areas of life. I know I could use a second chance every now and then.

Update: Wellesley held off Keene State 2-1 in a game that started nearly 2 hours late because the previous game went to 11 innings. Beej Grundlock pitched a great game, and Jenna Harvey came in in the bottom of the 7th with the bases loaded and 1 out to save the win. Wellesley then took on Emerson in the nightcap (scheduled for 4pm the game started at 6:45). Wellesley's bats came alive and they won 5-1. Kara Wong had 2 - yes 2 - out of the park home runs, and took out a loud speaker with a foul ball.

Tomorrow (Sunday) Wellesley takes on Tufts at noon with the winner of that game facing Rhode Island College for the championship.

Sunday Update: Tufts eliminated Wellesley from the tournament 5-0. It was a sad way to end the season, but what a season it's been. Three cheers for the women in blue!!!

Sunday Scribblings: Wings

Sports have always been a part of my life. My father coached college football, and baseball so I attended my first game as an infant. Fall Saturdays during my childhood meant dressing up to go to Dad's games. Many winter nights were spent at hockey games. And spring meant baseball. I learned to score at a fairly young age, and served as bat girl for several of the teams my Dad coached.

The college I went to is not what I'd call sports crazy. As a women's college it doesn't have a football team for people to rally around, and attendance at sports events is usually limited to other athletes and families. When I was a student I attended only a couple sports events - the Head of the Charles (crew races) and one field hockey game. Oh, and a Harvard-Dartmouth football game, and the Harvard-Yale game my freshman year. The Harvard-Dartmouth game was mostly about the party after, and the Harvard-Yale game was with my mother, brother (a Yale student) and a couple of my cousins. My wife grew up in a family that didn't follow sports so we haven't spent a lot of time watching sports.

I have remained a great fan of softball and baseball. I umpire and coach during the summer. I'll watch softball on TV when it's there, and have spent many an hour watching the Little League world series.

The sports facilities at my alma mater are a whole lot better now than when I was there. Like many sports related events in my life I'm too old to have taken advantage of them although I do swim in the pool there regularly.

Several years ago Wellesley undertook the cleanup of a toxic waste dump at the edge of the campus. (The toxic waste was dumped by the factory which used to be on the site.) Once the cleanup was done the College converted some of the land to new sports fields. The rest is reclaimed wetlands. Among the new fields is a softball stadium which makes me drool every time I drive by, and I drive by frequently since I live nearby.

I've thought about going to a softball game there many times. Finally in March I took the leap and went to a game. And I got hooked. A friend asked recently what my connection was. I don't think I would have been asked that if I'd gone to Penn State and the sport was football.

I've attended almost every home game since then (The picture above was taken just over a week ago at a game there.), and one away game - conveniently held at the university where I work. Which brings us to this weekend. With a pair of wins last weekend my college's softball team qualified for the playoffs for their athletic conference. They won their first and second games on Wednesday. The semi-finals were more than an hour away, but I couldn't stay away. So with Amy's blessing off I went yesterday.

In yesterday's outing the team outhit Springfield College to qualify for today's finals. I had other plans for today, but just couldn't miss this game. So I canceled those plans and got back in the car this morning.

The day was grey and cold. There was occasional precipitation. But it was a glorious day. I reached the tournament early enough to watch the end of the last semi-final game. The final game was a pitcher's duel. A beautiful diving, sliding catch by Wellesley's left fielder, Megan Wood, in the top of the 4th saved a no-hitter for pitcher Jenna Harvey. And in the end it was Megan's solid single to right in the bottom of the 7th with 2 on that led to Wellesley's win and the championship.

Mid-afternoon a bus load of ecstatic young women left Springfield headed east. I'd hazard a guess that they didn't really need the bus. Those women, the ones with the great big grins pictured below, could have flown back on wings of happiness buoyed by the knowledge that their hard work, dedication and teamwork helped them achieve this first.














































Thanks to Sunday Scribblings for the inspiration to write.

The official press release on the game is here.