And the best one: I was in a long line at 7:45 am today at the grocery store that opened at 8:00 for seniors only. A young man came from the parking lot and tried to cut in at the front of the line, but an old lady beat him back into the parking lot with her cane. He returned and tried to cut in again, but an old man punched him in the gut, then kicked him to the ground and rolled him away. As he approached the line for the 3rd time he said, “If you people don’t let me unlock the door, none of you will ever get in to shop.“

5/18/20 —
* These are wonderful!  Marian Moore
* Truly WONDERFUL! Thanks.  Sue Wheatley Carr
* What a wonderful laugh! Thanks.  Jennifer B-C Seaver
* Those were hilarious. Thanks for the laughs. Barbara Hartt Hise
* Such fun words to read, a relief for sure. Bette
* Great !!  Thanks for so many classmates!! Bonnie Stretch

 

5/26/20 — This has puzzled me for a long time. Why are there palm trees on the logo of Mount Holyoke College?  Were there missionaries
who went to Hawaii on the board of the “seminary” in 1837?
Ann Merchant Boesgaard5/26/20 — If you have a Bible handle handy or go online and get the passage. You will notice that Psalm 144:12 is a verse With two parts (A description of males) Followed by this one about women:
     Ps 144:12b  (May) our daughters (be) Like corner pillars, Cut for the building of a palace.
     Mary Lyon lived in a time of when people knew biblical texts. She chose a text that shows the strength of women. Precious few existed.  Maggie5/27/20 — Oh biblical scholar ship says you always look at more than one translation. I didn’t I did it the easy way. I also happen to own a book that was printed in Pennsylvania in 1851. I assume it is the king James version though it does not say so. Here you are-
     Ps 144;V 112:  That our sons be as plants Grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be a corner stone yes Polished after the similitude of a palace.
     There are many translations of the Bible In  existence And of course, you need to read it in Hebrew to get closer to what is meant. Though I have no idea where the Mary Lyon studied Hebrew or not.  Guiltily  meg

5/27/20 — Is it possible that the verse that was quoted is in addition to the idea of MHC being an oasis?  That would make more sense to me.
Allie-Lou (Oeder) Richardson

5/26/20 — I too am having strange dreams.  In part this must be because I’m sleeping so much since the stay-at-home business.  Yes, about old friends.  But also some recurrent anxiety dreams, like being lost in a strange place.  Ann Merchant Boesgaard

5/27/20 —  “A strange mixture of friends”     
     Perhaps think of them as the strengths we have absorbed from knowing them. Humor from one friend, Caring from another, deep thought from another.  And the ability to be silly, now there’s a great one!!  And to make lemonade out of lemons. Sitting around a dorm room at the end of the day solving mysteries of the universe. Or helping one of us get through a breakup or a bad grade. 
     Maybe it’s mostly that we’re not alone. Our friends are still with us. Dottie Smith Mann 

5/27/20 — I have also been aware of dreams. I was attributing them to age. I might forget what I did yesterday, but have a vivid memory of an event in college. When I was doing community nursing, I can remember some patients relating events from their twenties who could not remember who I was from one visit to the next. I imagine that was anxiety and for me I am anxious about many things- the virus, our health and so on. Sallie Crittendon 

5/27/20 — Judy,  There are many articles about the effect COVID-19 has had on dreaming.  The first one I read was in the NY Times but I can’t find the reference any more.  However, i just googled the subject had came up with lots and lots of hits from reputable websites.  When we were first “house-bound” I found i dreamt and remembered what i had dreamt, very unusual for me.  However, I no longer remember my dreams.  i guess I’m more relaxed about the situation?  Liz T.

5/28/20 — Dear friends, You should feel grateful for being able to dream.  I am unable to sleep!  My insomnia is not a result of Covid-19, and I’ve battled it all of my life.  I’d give anything to start dreaming.  Hugs, Liz Hottel Barrett (aka Webfoot)

5/28/20 — Liz, I, too have suffered from insomnia forever. Recently, I started putting a small pillow under my thigh after I hurt my sciatic nerve. Voila! Now I can fall asleep and stay asleep although by morning, the pillow has migrated to another part of the bed.
Jennifer B-C Seaver

5/28/20 — Thanks, Jenifer.  I’ll give it a try.  I also have sciatic nerve problems now and then, and my thigh wouldn’t mind a pillow.  I’ll keep you and 80 other eager people informed of my success/failure.  
….  (Ed Note:  deleted 2 long paragraphs.)  Please send me your email address, so I don’t bore anyone else.  Sorry for this, everyone.  Gee, I’m better than Donald Trump at changing the subject to my topic of choice.  What’s more, I have some exciting news, but it’s too much for one email.
     Can’t wait to try a pillow.  Cheers — Liz Barrett

5/29/20 — The Alumnae Quarterly arrived today!  Ann Boesgaard is one of the “76 outstanding alumnae”.  Congratulations, Ann!  We are all so proud of you.  I’d hoped for a more lengthy article, but there are truly lots of alums deserving the honor; and I’m sure with all of the Covid-19 interference, getting that issue out was not easy!  For me it was also a nudge to remember our trip to beautiful Hawaii.  More beautiful than I ever imagined.  Sending virtual congratulations, hugs, and love.  Now I have to buckle down and read about the other 75.
     My other good news, not as great as Ann’s but still exciting to me:  On Wednesday we played GOLF.  What’s more, my arm didn’t hurt at all and I played wonderfully well!   Holy moly, it was amazing — I haven’t played golf for something like a year and a half, and I’m not a very good golfer.  Maybe there’s still hope.  I’m thrilled at the thought of getting more exercise.
     As we’re slowly getting used to the fact that this life-with-a-pandemic is going to be with us for a lot longer, I can feel myself becoming resigned to a long-term at-home routine.  Looks slightly better to me if we can play golf every once in a while.  Otherwise, I’ll just rot!  Isn’t is just so sad and disappointing the our President doesn’t really give a damn!  Hugs to you all — Liz

5/29/20 — Did everyone read David Brook’s column today in which he imagined having a “real leader”, he called a real leader a “she”, and he says “ think of the generations of religious and civic missionaries like Francis Perkins, who flowed out of Mt Holyoke’! I am so proud!
Betsy Karch Wilson

5/29/20 — I know that some of you have trouble following links and/or finding articles like this one from David Brooks, so here’s a “cut and paste” of it to make things easier.   Like Bets and Cindy, I too was “thrilled” to see Frances Perkins and MHC singled out to represent both “women’s education” and the importance of the “humanities” in general in his thinking (final paragraphs).  What a fabulous (and deserving) tribute to our alma mater.  Judy Marshall Kennedy
David Brooks

5/19/20 — It wasn’t just the reference to mount Holyoke, although that was lovely, the whole piece  spoke of the sorrow I feel about where we are as a country. And his big sad eyes always remind me of ED.   Dottie Smith Mann

5/29/20 — Yes, Betsy, and I thought it was terrific! Also liked the mention of Mt. Holyoke, of course.  That’s what the faculty resistance movement at the University of Tulsa is all about.  
BarbaraBarbara K. Bucholtz

5/29/20 — Thanks Betsy!  Read David Brooks? YES!  Of course!  Cheers for MHC Uncommon Women through the years!  
Cindy Dennett Yee

5/30/20 — Like all of you, I thank Judy for sending the article, and I loved the David Brooks article; but then, I love David Brooks,  one of the reasons we watch the PBS NewHour.   I couldn’t include the head shot of David as part of the opinion column heading.  Some things which I think should be easy are not.  I hated to leave out the photograph. Webfoot Disturbed

5/29/20 — It wasn’t just the reference to mount Holyoke, although that was lovely, the whole piece  spoke of the sorrow I feel about where we are ss a country. And his big sad eyes always remind me of ED.   Dottie Smith Mann 

5/29/20 — Great article over all, and he so beautifully says how I  feel.   Betsy

5/29/20 — I am moved to tears by all that David Brooks shares with us…thank you Judy for the link   Sherry Welles Urner

5/29/20 — Ditto.  Liz T.

 

6/2/20 — Dear Liz, I do think we’re all overwhelmed with the situation in the world and in our country.  I have been watching the news every day early in the morning and then later after work and during dinner.  It gets to be so intense and makes one feel so helpless.  As you said, first the virus which terrified us all and then the horror of George Floyd’s murder.   I wonder if this time the country won’t go back to such complacency.  Younger people are getting into the act more and that should make a difference.  It’s hard to tell fact from fiction about the protests/riots.  Andrea (daughter) lives in SoHo in NYC and her street was used as a staging area two nights ago for the looters who came from New Jersey.  They would go to the fancy shops, return with clothes on hangers and go back for more.  She wanted to get the police to have a check point on the tunnels and bridges and check cars.  Those were not protesters.
     You may all want to check out boogaloo.  A whole movement to foment civil war.  Many of those types in these riots.  They want chaos. I don’t do instagram or Facebook or Twitter.  They are all on those platforms.
     I have no special words of wisdom about how to deal with this.  In my experience the trauma of the moment taps into the trauma we may have experienced as children.  That may mean that it is harder for some people to manage the terrible situations facing us.  After 9/11 we found that it tapped into our patients histories and could make things worse and more difficult.
I hope everyone is still healthy.  I don’t know who of MHC got the virus but I hope no one.
     I am not on this list serve and haven’t added anything to it before.  Liz asked me for my thoughts.
     I don’t know if this is a site for political opinions but I think our President is making things worse every day.  This morning standing in front of St John’s church holding the Bible upside down as the Pastor said.  What a dangerous jerk.  We have to get rid of him but the news suggests that Biden isn’t strong among young people of color.  We need Bernie Sanders to stir them up.   
     All I can say as I see my first patient – remotely on zoom – in five minutes.  Be well all, Katherine

6/2/20  Thanks for your words of wisdom, Katherine.  I wish people like Andrea could write to the newspaper to elaborate more on the preparation of the “outsiders”.  I find it so utterly infuriating.   Biden may not be strong among young people of color, but Trump continues to do himself in.  I now like the fatherly image put forth by Biden — strong and calm and caring; and that’s what many of us are looking for in a President.  Honestly, Trump and the bible did me in.  
Big hugs and love, Liz

6/2/20 —  Scary indeed, but I bet even Hitler didn’t turn the bible upside down!  Kim

6/2/20 — Allie-Lou (Oeder) Richardson — I must be blind.  Backwards, maybe, but why do you say upside down?  My Bible has no writing on the back or the front and my markers hang out from the bottom.  I don’t like Donald Trump but I don’t want to spread lies either.  Allie-Lou (Oeder) Richardson

 

6/3/20 — Neither of my 2 bibles has any writing on its cover, just Holy Bible on the “neck” of each.  My best to all, Ding 

 

6/3/20 — I assume because the bookmark tassle is hanging down from the bottom!  Kim 

6/3/20 — Open it to title page it’ll tell you which translation. If its language is thee and thou its King James Version.  (It’ll have   Cornerstones In the psalm)
Regular English it could be one of many translations. the cornerstones are not their — My mind naïvely went back to the conversation about cornerstones; Ergo my reply.
     What intrigued me most about the press and the president was an article on the etiquette of the relationship between Saint John’s church and the White House.  Come to service when the president is expected; otherwise don’t go to That particular church, if you are president. I don’t know whether or not it’s true, but it is intriguing at least to me!  Maggie/Meg

6/3/20 — Personally, it doesn’t matter to me whether the Bible was up or down.  I am offended by the apparent “using” of the church as a backdrop for likely campaign photos, and without any notice, permission, or words to the church administrators, or to the many volunteers who were providing water, etc. to protesters/ journalists/witnesses.
     I would note from the extensive local and national news coverage that:
1. The protesters and journalists in and near Lafayette Square were dispersed roughly,  before the 7 p.m. curfew, by military-style force.
2.  The President’s group strode in that cleared wake without masks to St. John’s Church.  He was not carrying a Bible for the short walk from the White House.
3.  He posed with a Bible in front of St. John’s for photos alone and with his group.  
4.  According to the Episcopal Bishop, there was no phone or other contact from the White House to the church before or after the photo event.
5.  He never approached the church door or those working at the church, to offer any words.
     He left immediately after the photos were taken.  
Rocki Hill Hughes

6/3/20 — Thanks Rocki.  I appreciate your information.  I was (as were many others I’m sure) really offended (but not surprised) by the actions of the so-called POTUS.  Liz T

 

6/3/20 — Rocky.  I was thinking the exact same thing.   I just keep thinking that Trump cannot get any worse.   And then he does.   It was appalling to see the friendly protesters be attacked to move them over so Trump could parade through, go over to the church, whose doors he has not darkened since he was inaugurated, and stand in front of it holding up  a Bible that Ivanka gave him from her $1500 purse,  take a picture, and then leave.   No letting the church know he was coming or praying or telling them he was sorry about their fire.   Incredibly thoughtless.  We must vote him out, our country cannot stand much more.   Betsy.  

6/3/20 —  Betsy, I agree with you completely…”I keep thinking that Trump cannot get any worse. And then he does”. This action was the epitome of his thoughtless, brain-dead, dangerous maneuvering – How long can this go on?  Sue Wheatley Carr

6/3/20 — Even the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church says what the President did was offensive. Similarly a Jesuit rejected Trump’s going to the Catholic shrine for another photo op.
Jennifer B-C Seaver

6/3/20 — Frankly, I think it’s even worse and more manipulative that you all are suggesting.  I don’t think they just wanted Lafayette Park “cleared” so the President of the US could safely walk across it to the church he never goes to for a quick photo op with a Bible.  That makes no sense to me.  I think that as CNN journalist Don Lemon promptly said on air, the whole thing from beginning to end was a carefully orchestrated “reality show” for the sake of the media who were already filming there nonstop live video of what was happening , i.e.they deliberately left the peaceful protestors alone to do their thing until the very last minute (with planned intent of showing what  the “dominating and scary force” demanded of the governors in the morning conference call should look like, backed up by a very visible and horrifying phalanx of armed men on horseback from one edge of the street to the other to move and push and take back this tiny plot of “federal land ,” so that “the General” could then come out of his safe house surrounded by his aides to savor victory, show off his “courage and strength,” and most important of all — make the connection that his judgement and actions are “Godgiven” as so much of the Evangelical community has come to believe.  All that was missing were the “vicious dogs” of the 1960s.
     I was so horrified and upset by Monday night that I refused to watch television last night — and took Liz’s advice and watched the feel good movie “Moonstruck” instead!  Judy K   Judy Marshall Kennedy

Editor’s note:  Mid-June our Alumnae Quarterly arrived.  It featured memorable and notable graduates over the years.  One was our own Ann Boesgaard.  We are so proud to claim her as a member of the Class of 1961.  This is from the Quarterly. 

And here is a photo of (l to r) Ann, Chris, Liz, Bryan and Bobbi during that wonderful stay in Oahu.

END OF PART 6