The Scroll

… is my colleague Dr. Bruce Kramer’s blog Dis Ease. Yes, Bruce has ALS. But he has so much more: http://diseasediary.wordpress.com.

Read even one entry and you might begin to imagine the word “beyond” … in a grand, greater sense. Only from one incredible teacher might we learn more than we ever knew we needed or wanted.

Bruce is the dean of the College of Applied Professional Studies at St Thomas. His blog begins:

“On December 6, 2010, I was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig’s Disease. My, how things have changed since then. This blog is offered not so much as a commentary on the ‘progress’ of the disease, but more as a weekly reflection on life, informed by the fact that each of us is temporarily able bodied and none of us gets out of this alive. So where is the grace and the goodness in that?”

It must be in faith, something I’m personally gaining in a broader, more-beyond way, thanks to Bruce’s willingness to share his journey – often with ease, often without – in life. That, no doubt, is beyond good. To Bruce, no doubt, I say thanks for writing. You are goodness and grace.

Posted by Carol Bruess at 12:01 am | No Comments »

. . . an Army-Air Force second lieutenant nurse in World War II. Whoofda! I really have no idea what that would be like, but I do know what it’s like to wear the uniform that used to belong to such a veteran.

This isn't a photo of a nurse coming home from World War II, but of St. Thomas sophomore Lisa Weier in St. Paul last year.

Yes, on Thursday and Friday this week, I will don an olive-green skirt and jacket, complete with matching hat and tie, a tan undershirt and brown shoes. It will be very warm. People will stare. And I will dance on Saturday night. That seems very random, doesn’t it? Well, it’s really not, and it’s even the second year that I have done so.

The reason is the Victory Ball. This annual dance is the largest (and probably the most fun, in my humble opinion) that the UST Swing Dance Club puts on. The event is in commemoration of soldiers coming home from battle in World War II, duty done, heart break seen. But even with all the miseries of war came, for many, the joys of home. It’s really a beautiful thing to remember.

On a different level, since we are St. Thomas students, it’s fitting that the Victory Ball comes at this time of the year. With finals looming, there are smaller victories to be had, and summer is waiting for us. So, I’d encourage all of you to come to the dance on Saturday, May 12, to celebrate the past, the present and a bit of the future as well.

Check out the dance details.

Hope to see you there!

Victory Ball co-chairs: Anne Marzinske, Tom Reusz, Kevin Dease and Lisa Weier

Posted by Lisa Weier at 12:01 am | 1 Comment »

I’m old enough now, and jaundiced enough, to be happily surprised when someone or something delivers – or comes close – on a promise. Such is the case with the Anderson Student Center.

Over the past two years, I worked on several videos about the new center, prior to and during its construction. Father Dennis Dease and other UST administrators were consistent and insistent in their description: It would be, they claimed, the campus living room.

Here we are three months later and, it turns out, they were right. It took less than a day for students to discover the ASC and less than a week for them to act like they’d been living in it for years.

The ASC is where they eat and greet, text and talk, read and relax and plug in and hang out; it feels more like a family home than a living room. Well, not exactly a family home, at least not the parts that attract me:

• The spiral staircase: Even at 71 years old, and five feet six inches, I feel like somebody, perhaps a long-awaited sage or seer, walking down those steps from the third floor to the atrium. They allow for a grand entrance or a very aerobic climb back.

• The View: The food is good. The choices are many. The service is prompt and polite. The 10-meal lunch card for $62.50 feels like a bargain. My personal favorite to date is a Philly steak sandwich, with lightly sautéed fresh red and green peppers and onions, and I can get that with a fresh garden salad of my own making.

• The actual view (from out the window): Sitting at a window table in the restaurant gives the diner a panoramic view of the quad and the library bell tower to the east, or to the north, the football field and well-kept family homes along Cretin Avenue. These are views I’d present to parents about to spend thousands of dollars on their child’s education. “Every floor, every side of the building seems to offer a cool view,” says Gary Schulzetenberg, associate director of Web and Media Services.

• Full-length restroom mirrors: You’re so vain, this whole design is about you. Yep, I’m smiling as I think about standing in front of that mirror, only when no one is around, checking out my stuff: stomach in, pants hitched up, shirt tail tucked in, hair combed. I’m ready now.

• John P. Monahan Plaza: I’ve already been out there, on March 14, for lunch: 65 degrees, hazy sun, light breeze and a heart-healthy salad. Who could ask for more? Well, maybe a cheeseburger and fries.

• The flat-screen message boards: They give the center a clean, high-tech look, including a synopsis of the latest weather conditions and forecast. “The technology is very evident,” says Schulzetenberg, “and will only get more effective as people learn how to use it to its fullest.”

Schulzetenberg agrees with me that the student center is a true showcase and one of the best undergrad recruiting tools that St. Thomas has.

Of course, it’s not perfect – not to us curmudgeons and cranks. The hand dryers in the restrooms are loud enough and strong enough to resemble the takeoff of a 747. And sometimes it takes a long time for the order numbers to appear on the boards in Scooter’s, apparently more of a technical problem than a staff issue.

But those are nits. The nub is: It’s a heckuva building.

Posted by Dave Nimmer at 12:01 am | 2 Comments »

… and you want to hear about yet another pretty darn really cool, but little-known and underground (quite literally), person at the University of St Thomas?

That would be Jim.

As in Jim Waska.

As in the effervescent, always helpful, goes-the-extra-mile, genuinely wants you to “have a nice day!” guy. You know Jim: he wears his trademark denim shorts year-round, even when the mercury dips way below zero. You know Jim: always-affable, willing to create a box from other odd-sized boxes and clear tape while helping you deal with the realization that you need to send your mother a package or your taxes via same-day, super-fast, ultra express.

Jim is the super nice guy at the “FedEx window” … or at least that’s what I call it. Technically, I think it’s called “Shipping and Receiving.” You know, in the basement (some like to call it “lower level”) of Murray-Herrick Center near the Pepsi machines.

I often ponder: someone who works without natural light is one of the sunniest people on campus. How does that work?

I have no idea.

But I do know this: we can ship with confidence because there are still human beings out there who provide fabulous customer service and St. Thomas gets a really swift deal from FedEx so we can send stuff (Is it Aunt Angie’s birthday already?) without paying the big, not-so-cool bucks that other places charge. Sweet, I say! Or as my tweenager would put it: “that’s sick-nasty” (which means “awesome,” she assures me).

Are there other pretty darn really cool gems at St. Thomas about whom you might not know? Stay tuned. There might just be a Part III … or … even IV.

Posted by Carol Bruess at 12:01 am | 4 Comments »

By Doug Hennes

For the second year in a row, men’s basketball loyalists filled the Tommie Room on a glorious spring day to hear an announcement about the future of their team. Last May, the news was that Steve Fritz would step down, national title comfortably in hand, after 31 years as head coach and that Johnny Tauer would be the interim head coach for the 2011-12 season. On Monday, the news would be that . . .

“I’m coming back,” Fritz whispered to me as he headed to the podium.

“How did Johnny take the news?” I asked.

“Pretty well,” Steve replied. “He’s a good guy.”

“Are you hiring him as an assistant?”

“We’re negotiating.”

A few moments later, Fritz announced, in his role as athletic director, that the “interim” had been dropped from Tauer’s title and that he finally could be called “Coach Tauer.” Ah, so much for a little drama, even if it is tongue in cheek.

John Tauer at Monday's news conference

“It’s not much of a surprise to anybody,” Fritz said of Tauer’s selection as the 22nd head coach in 106 years but only the third since 1954.

Or to use a basketball metaphor, this appointment was a “slam dunk.” Just as Chris Olean was a “can of corn” to shed the interim tag as baseball coach two years ago and Duke Boeser hit the “open netter” in becoming men’s hockey coach last season.

But until the basketball deed was done, a modicum of mystery surrounded Tauer. He remained remarkably patient throughout the process, telling everyone from diehard fans to players to recruits that the search was important and that he was confident the right person would be selected.

Right, indeed. Tauer beamed at the podium as he shook hands with Fritz and spoke about how “it’s a true dream to be here today.”

He reminisced about his long ties to St. Thomas basketball, starting when John and Michele Tauer brought their six-year-old son to games in old O’Shaughnessy Hall and later returned to campus, first to watch him star on teams from 1991 to 1995 and then serve as Fritz’s assistant for 11 years.

He thanked Fritz for serving as a “tremendous role model and mentor” and pointed out that the players on his MIAC title team this year have done the same thing for his sons, nine-year-old Jack and seven-year-old Adam.

And he emphasized that his priorities – faith, family, academics and athletics – would be the same as those that were the foundation of Fritz’s teams. “We encourage our players to honor the first two,” Tauer said, “and excel in the last two.”

Tauer’s sons and parents attended the news conference, which gave the boys a chance to get out of school for an hour, “but I don’t think they’re missing much,” said grandpa John Tauer. “I asked them what they learned today and they said, ‘Nothing.’ ”

Mom and dad are pretty proud of their son. Dad graduated from St. Thomas Academy and the College of St. Thomas (1964) on this campus and later coached teams at Nativity School as well as the junior varsity here. He has a keen eye for the game and can offer a crisp assessment of a win or a loss, but on Monday, as he fingered his 2011 NCAA Division III championship cap, he had only a few words when asked his reaction.

“This is great,” he said. “This is just wonderful.”

John Tauer talked with his team in the locker room last November before a home game against St. Olaf. The Tommies won 72-56.

Posted by Visiting Authors at 12:01 am | 1 Comment »

What is always fun about being at St. Thomas is learning another “whoa, that’s really pretty darn cool” fact about our university, or meeting another really plain old fabulous colleague, alum or student. Last weekend was no exception, except that all of the above (the wow, whoa, really, cool, pretty, darn, fabulous facts about impressive alumnae and students) happened simultaneously over scrambled eggs and a tasty blueberry scone.

Saturday’s 75 degrees and unrelenting sunshine made a stunning backdrop for the third annual Women Connect Spring Legacy Brunch. No, I’m not an alum, darn it. But, lucky me, I was invited to be a “conversationalist” (I know, right? Me and conversation? Go figure.)

What is Women Connect? Basically, for most women, it’s the greatest idea ever. Technically, it’s an alumnae affinity group committed to inspire and advance one another personally, professionally and spiritually, as well as give back to the St. Thomas community through networking, service and fun. Women Connect awards scholarships, supports students in leadership development, hosts talks and events throughout the year, and attracts a cool cross-section of ages, degrees, colleges/schools, undergrad, graduate, Ph.D.s, Ed.D.s, JDs, MDs, CEOs, moms, daughters, sisters, old roommates from Dowling … you name the group, it’s involved.

And it was the smart Women Connect women who put on the upbeat, high-energy event Saturday in the Anderson Student Center. Yes, tulips and smiles – plus a few tears of feminine joy as we shared stories of the women who have supported and inspired us at UST and beyond – added even more sunshine to the 30 tables filling Wolfe Alumni Hall.

While I could easily write about the many dozen pretty darn really cool women about whom I learned and with whom I conversed, I want to spotlight one of the most “wow:” Semhar Araia, a ’99 grad honored by the White House in January with a “Champions of Change” award. She was cited for her work as founder and executive director of the Diaspora African Women’s Network, whose mission is to develop talented women and girls of the African diaspora, provide them with opportunities related to Africa, and promote community service in minority and immigrant neighborhoods. Semhar also served as a member of the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team and has experience as a foreign policy staffer in Congress, an Africa analyst for The Elders (www.theelders.org) and an attorney on the implementation of the Eritrea-Ethiopia peace agreement. Her higher education started at St. Thomas when she came to major in economics and international Studies.

Semhar, you are one really darn cool and inspiring woman who took time out of your Saturday to chat with and mentor the next generation of fabulous alumnae. For that and your life-changing work, I say “whoa” and “wow” and “you go, girl!”

I know this blog is getting long, so I don’t have much more room to mention all of the other alumnae I met Saturday: people like Jayne Haugen Olson, editor of Mpls-St. Paul and Delta Sky magazines; Katie Tinucci, J.D. ’09, press secretary to Gov. Mark Dayton; Lindsey Lee ’04, editor-in-chief of HERLIFE magazine; Debra Schoneeman, M.B.A. ’96, chief financial officer at Piper Jaffray Companies; and Amy Simpson ’99, chief of staff at the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota. Oh, the list could go on and on.

And then there were the students, like this year’s Women Connect scholarship recipient Molly Mamaril, a communication and journalism major, and Anesih and Stephanie … the really darn smart students at my table who gave me goose bumps as I heard what they have achieved. I’d like to tell more about them, and so many others, but if I try my editor will begin to quiver and cut me off at mid- . . .

Posted by Carol Bruess at 12:01 am | 1 Comment »

It seems that I’m aging at a rapid pace near the end of another school year at St. Thomas. By fall, I’ll have turned the momentous 21, moved from Dowling into a house and survived being a two-year-old’s nanny (I’m optimistic, anyway), and the self-descriptor “junior” will roll gracefully off my tongue. However, with all these changes heading my way, I’m still most dumbfounded by the transformations coming for those around me.

The oddest examples are those of many of my friends getting married this summer; they are only a couple years older than I am. Most bizarrely, I’ll be maid of honor at my sister’s wedding in late May. Don’t get me wrong; I’m sure it will be a classy event that will celebrate a lovely union between Lori and her fiancé, Justin.

It’s just been more than a little strange to remember her playing wedding dress-up as a six-year-old and to now see her fitted for the real deal (appropriately, whenever we played, she was always the bride and I was the bridesmaid). I have found myself watching a large number of nuptial flicks, Mom has been altering my dress (it has pockets for the tissues I’ll need), and I’m working on my gift and travel plans. I will start the toast plans soon!

Lori and Lisa Weier playing "wedding dress-up"

Most of all, I don’t think it’s hit me yet that in a little over a month, I’ll be watching Lori walk down the aisle, crying my eyes out (those darn allergies!) and reminiscing. She will be really beautiful. She always has been.

This all leaves me feeling a bit older and closer to leaving the school bubble and entering “the real world.” I know I have no real claims to the word “old” yet; I’m in my ripe and full youth (or so I’ve been told) and really consider myself as too young to do a lot of grown-up stuff. However, I’m beginning to understand why my birthday is often accompanied by the groans of my nine older siblings. I know I’ll be groaning when my oldest niece turns 10 this summer.

There’s something scary, sad, romantic and exciting about aging, all at the same time. Overall, though, the opportunity to age and to be there for family and friends as they age is a gift. I feel especially blessed that as I become a “bigger kid,” opportunities and gifts seem to grow as well.

Posted by Lisa Weier at 12:01 am | 1 Comment »

By Michael Orth

Going to a neighborhood community meeting can be a very frightful task for a St. Thomas student, especially when you are a representative of the St. Thomas students so often discussed at these meetings.

When I received my first invitation to attend a neighborhood community meeting and speak about our Undergraduate Student Government work to build relations with the community, I was hesitant. I had visions of neighbors laying their built-up frustrations and anger on me. I could just hear the complaints about loud parties, beer cans on the front lawn and cars parked in the front yard.

Despite this, I went to the meeting. When I sat down at the table and looked around the room, I saw a gathering of neighbors eager to hear what I had to say. They so badly wanted to meet a student who would listen to them and bring their concerns back to St. Thomas. After I was done speaking and listening to what they had to say, I could tell they felt a pressure lifted off their chest.

Going into the meeting, I knew I had much to be proud of as a St. Thomas student. Over the past two years, USG has made an unprecedented commitment in building good relations with our neighbors. This stems from two consecutive years of voting to make neighborhood relations one of our top priorities. USG representatives have attended community meetings and dinners, held meet-and-greets with neighbors and worked with other campus departments on events and initiatives in the neighborhood. We even started a community newsletter. This work really showed through at the community meeting.

Frustrations on both sides still linger, however. The recent proposed ordinance to restrict the amount of student rental housing near campus is a clear sign there continue to be tensions in our relationships with neighbors. Even though the ordinance represents bad public policy in the way that it singles out St. Thomas among other universities, we must move forward in a positive way.

The reality is that neighbors and students are not as polarized as we might think. I especially learned this after attending the community meeting. The vast majority on both sides seek a positive relationship – one that fosters a healthy and vibrant community and supports productive dialogue.

I ask that every student take ownership of this USG initiative and realize we all share in making this neighborhood a great place to live. We must seek to be good stewards in ways that I need not list. At the same time, we ask for patience from our neighbors and that there not be a rush to judgment of all students because of the actions of a few. Students always mean well. They care about where they live, and they know our neighborhood requires us all to be keepers.

Let’s all move forward together, not back.

Orth is president of the Undergraduate Student Government at St. Thomas.

Posted by Visiting Authors at 12:01 am | No Comments »

What day is it? Month? Year? After watching Sunday night’ s episode of “Mad Men,” I woke up thinking it was surely the ’60s. Although it was a short-lived sense of disillusionment, I asked, “What season is it?” several times during the month of March. I’ve been seriously fooled by the balmy breezes and subtle sunburn, and utterly confused as to why the drinking fountains* along my favorite bike trails aren’t working.

As we transition from March to April (or is it the middle of June?) we find packed golf courses, beach volleyball in full swing and the need to swat those first few mosquitoes. Ah, the joys of spring.

For students, this marks the post-spring break point in the semester. Of course, now that I am in “The Real World,” there really is no such thing as Spring Break (they’re called vacation days, and you need to use them judiciously).

Although I am not in school, I am still startled by how fast this semester is flying by. I remember last March, returning from spring break exhausted and slightly sunburnt, ready for the “final kick” until graduation. It was more of a turbulent triathlon, but that’s another story. What really amazes me is that I’ve been out in “The Real World,” experiencing life beyond the Arches for nearly a year now. How does time fly so fast?

I look at my good old UST student ID (and shhhh, don’t tell, but I occasionally still use it for the J. Crew student discount), and see a bright-eyed, sun-kissed soon-to-be freshman in college staring at me. Yes, I look much younger which is frightening, but the good news is, five years later I am still smiling. When it comes to my time at St. Thomas – the connections made and paths paved, I am extremely grateful.

So, gear up for the “final kick,” seniors (warning: it’s no senior citizen swim class – no offense, grandmas), and brace yourself because within a blink of an eye that job that you have been agonizing over finding will be yours and the anxiety associated with apartment hunting will be no more.

Times flies. Have fun. Enjoy spring!

* Drinking fountains: Better known as “bubblers” to those who sport Green and Gold. My fellow Wisconsin natives will shame me for my word choice in this post.

Posted by Martha McCarthy at 12:01 am | No Comments »

Spring Break seems a distant memory and Easter approaches – the end of Lent, my favorite season of the year. Spring has arrived, the days are longer, the ice is melting and the fishing opener is a month away.

But the Lenten season – and a 1992 “Passion Play” at St. Thomas – also provoked one of the most powerful and poignant spiritual moments of my life. The cast included students and faculty; I was one of them.

Professor Kevin Crossley Holland, who held an endowed chair, asked me to be in the play, a “modern” version of the ancient story adapted originally for BBC Radio. I was to play a television newsman covering the crucifixion and the events before and after.

The whole business sounded kind of crazy on first hearing, but I was afraid to turn down the offer – an untenured rookie eager to demonstrate that I was a good campus citizen. We had two or three rehearsals and my role proved more daunting that I’d imagined.

The stage was the Coughlan Field House floor and the props were simple, including a wooden horse that Jesus sat upon. My role was to watch a scene and then “describe” it to the imaginary television audience, neither easily done nor said. I mean, in one scene Jesus climbs down from the horse and addresses the assembled crowd:

“My father sent me, man, thee to redeem:

All thy ransom myself must pay,

Myself will die for love of thee;

If thou ask mercy, I say never nay.”

So, I paraphrased the Lord, looking into the camera and saying something like:

“Jesus told the crowd that God sent him to die for their sins. He showed no sign of resentment or fear and told those assembled that he loved them. He urged them to have faith and ask for mercy.”

I recall another scene, at night in the garden of Gethsemane:

“Deliver me, Father,” Jesus says, “from this pain.

Unto thy Son take heed:

Thou knowest I did never deed but good;

It is not for me this pain I lead,

But for man I sweat both water and blood.”

In my words for the camera, it came out as: “Jesus asked God to help him deal with the pain, noting that it wasn’t to atone for his own sins but for the sins of man. An angel later told Christ that God had, indeed, heard his plea.”

The most powerful of scenes, of course, was as Christ died on the cross. It’s about the only Scripture I can recall from memory (more or less) and I used it in my summary stand-up:

“They gave Jesus the drink he asked for and then he said, ‘It is finished.’ He bowed his head and he died (John 19:30:  ‘… he bowed his head and gave up His spirit’).”

As I recall, those were my last lines, although the play’s final scene was near the tomb where the risen Christ approaches a tearful Mary Magdalen. After that, they turned on the lights in the field house, which had been dark for most of the play, each scene lit with its own spotlight.

With the lights on, we all started toward the exits, with the students singing: “Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom.” As I walked with the students, I recall feeling great serenity; whatever life was about, it made sense. Whatever it was I thought I knew, I lost it long before Easter morning.

But no matter. Sometimes during Lent, I can still come close.

Posted by Dave Nimmer at 12:01 am | No Comments »