Trumbulletin 2-7-20

February 7, 2020

TrumBulletin for February 7th

Tomorrow, Saturday, February 8, at 2:00 p.m., a memorial service will be held at Marquand Chapel at Yale Divinity School for Harry Adams, the former Master and long-term Fellow of Trumbull College.  He was very active right up until his passing.  I will attend this service; all are welcome to attend. 

Although most students likely know of Harry Adams, primarily from his portrait which hangs in our dining hall, he has a long, long history at Yale and at Trumbull that is both important to recognize and, also, from which to learn. 

Harry is from Kentucky and later Missouri.  In 1942, Harry arrived at Yale from Missouri as a freshman. Yet he left soon thereafter to serve in the Army Air Corps as a pilot for three years before returning to Yale and completing both an undergraduate degree and a divinity degree.  After graduation he left for a while but arrived back here to join the faculty in 1956 eventually serving as Associate Dean of the Divinity School, Chaplain of Yale and Master of Trumbull College for many years.  He might have retired soon thereafter but he didn’t stop his service to Yale.  He took on, when needed, the role of acting Dean of the Institute of Sacred Music and acting Master of Saybrook College.  He quietly and frequently volunteered at the Connecticut Food Bank.  He attended Fellows’ meetings at Trumbull (right up through this year) and he engaged with the Elizabethan Club and the Koerner Center.  He kept in close touch with me and I visited him at the Whitney Center.  He returned to Trumbull last year to reconnect with a former Trumbullian, Min Jin Lee, to whom he was close when she was a student and whose book Pachinko was inspired by one of his teas which dealt with discrimination against Koreans that had occurred in Japan.  Min Jin noted to me that she hadn’t known about that previously and was inspired to do the historical research on the issue that led to her book.  It was touching to see them reconnect (see attached photos here and here.).  Showing just how vital he was to the end, after attending our dinner, he rushed off before any of the rest of us left to attend a concert elsewhere on campus.

Some recognition and thanks.

Of course I am deeply grateful to Harry Adams for his service to and support of Trumbull and also for being the person who started the Mellon Forums across all of Yale College.  

I thank all of our many, many Trumbullians who turned out for the IRIS Run for Refugees this past Sunday.  Yale News featured us in their publicity this week.  Click on this link if you wish to see the photos.

https://news.yale.edu/2020/02/04/yalies-run-hundreds-benefit-refugee-resettlement-new-haven#&gid=1&pid=11

I thank Alexyss Lange for designing our shirts, Deb Bellmore for organizing us, and Jerry Zhou for his help in driving over to the start of the race with me in the morning and hauling our box of T-shirts and then, along with Debbie Rueb making sure that people could retrieve their belonging after the race.  I believe Simon Doss-Gollin was our fastest runner and I congratulate him (and note that we had many good runners).  I was our slowest runner.   We all finished.  Thanks to Leah Jehan for pointing out to me that we were featured in Yale News.

I thank our TCC as well for all the many, many things they do for us.  They are always looking forward and have let us know that Oscar Night in the Dining hall, Valentine’s Candy Grams, a TrumFormal at the Q Club, a Trum-Talent Show, and Pamplona are all in our future (along with some other events they are still dreaming up.)

I congratulate Carlos Guanche for his wonderful performance (last night!) in The Importance of Being Earnest, Carrie Mannino for having her play It Couldn’t Happen Here, selected for Yale’s Festival of Plays this week.  Also, Trumbull Ballroom Dancers Iman Jaroudi and Dwaha Daud along with Trum-Alum Jonathan Liu who did Trumbull proud dancing in Davenport last Saturday evening.

Next, Megan Gorman and Jenna Clark deserve huge congratulations.  Megan for her leadership in her role as captain and Jenna for her contribution to the Women’s Basketball Team at Yale.  They are clearly doing wonderful jobs!  They have an historic eight game winning streak going on and they play Harvard tonight.  It’s an away game but let’s all cheer them on from afar.

And congratulations to Chris Fake, Men’s Lacrosse.  From the YDN January 29 issue, this is some of what was written about him, “named to the second team, has proved a worthy player ever since he first sported the blue and white. Ivy League Rookie of the Year and unanimous first-team All-Ivy League are only two of the many honors that the New Jersey native received as a first year. Last season, he was named to the Tewaaraton Award Watch List and received recognition as the best defensive player on the Bulldog squad.

The junior is thrilled for his fellow teammates who also made the 2020 list, yet he expressed similar values as Ierlan — that many other Yale players who do not receive the honor are “just as critical to the team.”

See the full article go here:
https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2020/01/29/mens-lacrosse-five-elis-named-preseason-all-americans/

A note on vandalism.  Having just said this is a great place (and it really is), we sometimes do encounter bumps.  One such bump occurred last week on Wednesday evening.  Sometime after an event in our Common Room, after 10 p.m. or so, our Common Room was vandalized.  A large container of hot cocoa was dumped in the middle of one of the rugs in the Common Room creating the worst stain that Kebabian Rugs (who are working to save the rug) report they have ever seen.  Cocoa also was poured from the two taps ruining the finish on two tables.  When this occurs there is no insurance covering the associated expense.  I still don’t know what this will cost us in the end (the bills haven’t arrived yet) but it will be in the thousands rather than hundreds.  These costs come out of our budget and means that we can do fewer things for the college.

In this regard, please help me (and our staff) out.  If anyone knows what happened, how it happened, etc., please let me know and I’ll maintain your confidentiality. Looking forward, if you see something in the midst of it happening call the house 203-432-8860 or come over to the house and ring the doorbell; if you see it right afterwards do the same.  (For example, getting the rug to the cleaner quickly gives us a better chance of saving it.)  Don’t let people into the college whom you do not know.

We do know that a “free food available” notice went out on an app called Vulture to Yale students that night essentially invited lots of people to the Common Room. We know the intent was positive (not to waste food; to serve hungry folks), yet I ask that these apps not be used following any of our events with food as I do worry about lots of folks entering the college and not caring for our spaces as we do.  Instead, I’m happy to work with anyone to make any such leftover food available in our Buttery or over in Bingham for our students or to our Trumbull students who live off campus.  Also, sometimes. food can be frozen and then made available later as well. 

Coming up

Monday, February 10th, Senior Mellon ForumWe’ll hear from Varsha Raghavan, Jasmyne Pierre, and Caroline Borden.  It will be a full night!

Monday, February 10, Financial Life After Yale Workshop in the common room from 7:00-8:30 PM.  Look for e-mails which gives instructions on registering.

Tuesday, February 11, Junior Class Reception, Trumbull House from 9:00 to 10:00 PM. 

Thursday, February 13, First-Year Class Reception, Trumbull House from 9:00 to 10:00 PM.

Don’t worry, receptions for the Sophomore and Senior classes will be announced soon!

Thursday, February 13th from 6:30 to 7:30 in our Fellows Lounge; Trum-CraftingTrumbullian Jewel Moore is starting a new group focused on crafting (including knitting and crocheting but it’s broader than that).  This group will meet in our Fellows Lounge regularly early on Thursday evenings.  The idea is really to relax, chat and learn a new craft or continue an old one.  Please join in.   (The lounge is located on the 2nd floor of entryway K.)