Oswego Alumni Magazine » From the Editor’s Pen http://oswego.edu/magazine Oswego Alumni Magazine Wordpress site Fri, 19 Apr 2013 19:03:42 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 From the Editor’s Pen http://oswego.edu/magazine/2013/04/10/from-the-editors-pen-7/ http://oswego.edu/magazine/2013/04/10/from-the-editors-pen-7/#comments Wed, 10 Apr 2013 19:19:59 +0000 Michele Reed http://oswego.edu/magazine/?p=4412

ONE DAY LAST WINTER MY DAUGHTER texted me, “Check out this cool website! Is this where Grandpa worked?” I followed the link to pictures of the abandoned rug mill in Amsterdam, N.Y., where my father ran the boiler for more than a quarter century, and scrolled through photo after photo of the ruins. There were the stairs my father climbed on his way to work. Here was the control panel, now rusted, that regulated the mighty boilers. A photo hangs in my living room of my father standing in front of the same dials. My father died seven years before Katie was born, but now she — and I — could share his world in a way never before possible. I recognized the photographer’s name: Rob Yasinsac ’99 was one of our “40 Under 40” alumni from the Summer 2005 issue. The next morning I excitedly showed the website to Associate Editor Shane Liebler. Within moments he found photos of the East Town Theater in Detroit, where his father heard the J. Geils Band and saw Emerson, Lake and Palmer play their U. S. debut for $2 on “new band night.” We knew we had to share Yasinsac’s photos with all 77,000 Oswego alumni through the magazine. Only a handful of the images could be printed in these pages, but you can visit Rob’s website, www.hudsonvalleyruins.org, for a look at the lost factories, churches, theaters and homes of a bygone America. Maybe you’ll see a memory from your own past!

]]> http://oswego.edu/magazine/2013/04/10/from-the-editors-pen-7/feed/ 0 From the Editor’s Pen http://oswego.edu/magazine/2013/01/15/from-the-editors-pen-6/ http://oswego.edu/magazine/2013/01/15/from-the-editors-pen-6/#comments Tue, 15 Jan 2013 14:26:22 +0000 Michele Reed http://oswego.edu/magazine/?p=3842 Most days, when I’m pounding the keyboard to write a story or poring over proofs, red pen in hand, I stop to think how fortunate I am. I have been able to build a career around my passion for the written word. So when I looked at this issue’s feature stories, I was naturally struck by the art alumni feature.

Here are 35 artists who were able to fashion careers and make a living doing what they love. Their stories inspire our current students, and I hope, you as well. But read deeper and you see it’s true for all our feature stories, as well as class notes and profiles.

Tom Niziol ’77 took the passion he honed for winter weather on the roof of Piez Hall to a national audience. Dr. Richard Shineman pursued his passion for chemistry as founding chair of our chemistry department and a leader in the sciences faculty at Oswego. His wife, Dr. Barbara Palmer Shineman ’65, M ’71 has been a passionate educator and supporter of Oswego. Now her generous gift of $5 million ensures Dick’s influence will continue on for generations of students in the discipline he so loved.

As we begin a new calendar year and look at all our blessings and dreams, I hope you find that your Oswego education has served you well, and fuels your passion for life.

]]> http://oswego.edu/magazine/2013/01/15/from-the-editors-pen-6/feed/ 0 From the Editor’s Pen http://oswego.edu/magazine/2012/08/20/from-the-editors-pen-5/ http://oswego.edu/magazine/2012/08/20/from-the-editors-pen-5/#comments Mon, 20 Aug 2012 12:42:56 +0000 Michele Reed http://oswego.edu/magazine/?p=3327 Although the magazine comes out in August, I am writing this column in June, right after Reunion Weekend. More than 800 alumni returned to campus for four days packed with good food, great friends and memories galore. The days are long — I’d be fibbing if I said my feet didn’t hurt! But what we — your alumni staff — take away from that weekend is a renewal and re-energizing of our passion for our profession.

Personally, I am always thrilled to hear your stories of relationships with professors cultivated, lifelong friendships forged and romances that bloomed right here on the shores of Lake Ontario.

It’s not too early to start thinking about two great Reunions coming up — Return to Oz IV is slated for Sept. 27 to 29, 2013. Register now for a Sept. 29, 2012, Kick-off Party in New York City (oswego.edu/returntooz). And Reunion Weekend  2013 — June 6-9 — is already in the planning stages (oswego.edu/reunion). Volunteer for the Reunion planning committee, get in touch with your friends and come back to campus for a great time. We’ll be waiting to welcome you … and the Oswego alumni magazine crew will have our notebooks and cameras handy to record your inspiring stories!

]]> http://oswego.edu/magazine/2012/08/20/from-the-editors-pen-5/feed/ 0 From the Editor’s Pen http://oswego.edu/magazine/2012/04/23/from-the-editors-pen-4/ http://oswego.edu/magazine/2012/04/23/from-the-editors-pen-4/#comments Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:00:27 +0000 Michele Reed http://oswego.edu/magazine/?p=2742 When I was in third grade, I started a newspaper at our elementary school, writing and editing and getting someone in the office to run it off on mimeo (photo-copying was still rare!). I drew cartoons featuring two little elephants (who talked, of course!) and drew them, not only in the newspaper but on every chalkboard I could, sometimes getting into more than a bit of trouble. I wrote plays about holidays and historical figures and recruited classmates to act in them. In short, from the age of about 10, I knew I would be a writer, a storyteller. So when Peggy La Tulip Focarino ’77, America’s first female commissioner of patents, told me that in fifth grade, she had asked her parents for a telescope, I knew just what she meant.

So many times, when we write about alumni who have made a difference in the world, there is a common thread: A passion and a joy for intellectual or artistic or entrepreneurial endeavor that has carried them through life. And that passion, born in childhood, was often nurtured at Oswego. That’s the best part of what we do here — we help dreams grow. We enable people to become who they were meant to be — who they always knew they could be, if given the opportunity.

That’s why alumni love Oswego, why you support it and why it endures.

Share your story of how Oswego nurtured you to become all you were meant to be.

]]> http://oswego.edu/magazine/2012/04/23/from-the-editors-pen-4/feed/ 0 From the Editor’s Pen http://oswego.edu/magazine/2011/12/01/from-the-editors-pen-3/ http://oswego.edu/magazine/2011/12/01/from-the-editors-pen-3/#comments Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:04:16 +0000 Michele Reed http://oswego.edu/magazine/?p=2151 It was my first issue as editor of Oswego alumni magazine. Excited to be starting a new adventure, I had scheduled a meeting with my boss to discuss the story list at 9:30 a.m. Sept. 11, 2001. You’ll never read those stories. Because as soon as we heard about the first plane flying into the North Tower of the World Trade Center and turned on the TV in King Alumni Hall to see the second plane crash into the South Tower at 9:03 a.m., we threw that list away and started on a magazine about Oswego alumni and the 9/11 attacks. We called our feature “New American Heroes,” and over the weeks we would work on it, we came to know what courage, fortitude and heroism really meant. We would learn the names of the lost, too — a dozen souls who walked the same campus pathways as we did, sat in the same classrooms and called Oswego their alma mater, before being cut down by terrorists’ hate. In this issue, we revisit many of those we covered in that magazine, and also hear from current students and faculty reflecting on the tragedy. It may be a cliché, but everyone remembers where they were when they heard the news. I just feel honored that I was in King Alumni Hall to be able to tell the story — with pride — of Oswego’s alumni heroes.

Revisit the Fall/Winter 2001 issue at oswego.edu/magazine.

]]> http://oswego.edu/magazine/2011/12/01/from-the-editors-pen-3/feed/ 0 From the Editor’s Pen http://oswego.edu/magazine/2011/08/24/from-the-editors-pen-2/ http://oswego.edu/magazine/2011/08/24/from-the-editors-pen-2/#comments Wed, 24 Aug 2011 20:30:27 +0000 Michele Reed http://oswego.edu/magazine/?p=1501

This issue is our love song to Oswego on her 150th birthday. Of course, we know there are far more than 150 things to love about the college Edward Austin Sheldon founded a century and a half ago.

In fact, there are probably as many answers to the question “What do YOU love about Oswego?” as there are living alumni — a number that just topped 75,000.

Over the past few months, many of you answered our call for loveable things about your alma mater, and that’s how this list was generated. We couldn’t cover all 150 in the few pages we have here, so we chose a representative sampling.

So please don’t be upset if we didn’t mention your favorite memory about our gorgeous lakeside campus or student life in Oz. Just let us know! Please go online to oswego.edu/magazine and join in the conversation. Or drop us a line at Oswego alumni magazine, King Alumni Hall, 300 Washington Blvd., Oswego,
NY 13126.

And don’t forget to take your picture with Flat Founder and send it in to us at King Hall or alumni@oswego.edu.

So raise a toast, hum a few bars of the alma mater and sing along with us: “Happy Birthday, dear Oswego, happy birthday to you … and many more!”

]]> http://oswego.edu/magazine/2011/08/24/from-the-editors-pen-2/feed/ 0 From the Editor’s Pen http://oswego.edu/magazine/2011/04/04/from-the-editors-pen/ http://oswego.edu/magazine/2011/04/04/from-the-editors-pen/#comments Mon, 04 Apr 2011 17:47:48 +0000 Michele Reed http://oswego.edu/magazine/?p=936 Oswego may be celebrating its 150th birthday this year, but ever since Edward Austin Sheldon pioneered new teaching methods, we try to stay on the cutting edge of things. And the same is true for your Oswego alumni magazine. So in this issue, we are proud to announce two innovations. On page 48, read about our new, enhanced magazine website. You’ll be able to access all our content in a clean, easy-to-read format, or if you prefer the traditional look of the magazine, you’ll be able to virtually “turn the pages” with our interactive pdf. We’ll have added content like multimedia and links for every issue, too. On page 48 and the inside covers of this issue, you will see a square-shaped bar code. This is a QR, or Quick Response, code. If you have a smartphone and the proper app, you can use it to take you directly to Web pages for Reunion, the magazine or giving. As we celebrate our Sesquicentennial, we are proud to honor our heritage, but we are also excited about all the new, interesting ways we can serve our alumni better. We like to think Sheldon would be proud!

Michele A. Reed, Oswego editor

 

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