An Open Letter To The President Of Wake Forest

Dear Madame President:

I was thrilled when my daughter was admitted to Wake Forest University and even happier when she graduated in 2000. All of her hard work paid off. She received a world class education and as I sat in the audience at her graduation (along with her mom, her grandparents and her brother) I felt secure that she had received a liberal arts education steeped in the values that we hold dear. I even remember the speaker at the event, John Chambers, then President and CEO at Cisco Systems. He was wonderful, delivering an inspiring and uplifting message for students and parents alike as we began the new millennium.

Thank goodness I wasn't in the audience at this year's graduation to hear Scott Pelley speak as I probably would have walked out. His shrill, woke infested, baldly partisan screed has made headlines for the university -- but for all the wrong reasons. Pelley injected a bitter, vindictive, angry moment into the proceedings, and all this as he and his network are justifiably under fire (and facing a lawsuit) involving persistent biased reporting. His remarks were neither necessary nor appropriate.

Madame President, it's hard to believe that all this happened at Wake Forest. This is not the university that my daughter attended. Whose idea was it to invite this guy and how much did you pay him?

Respectfully,

Daniel A. Cirucci

Fired Editor To Grads: 'Show What You're Made Of'

In what must be the most livestreamed commencement address in history, recently ousted New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson struck a tone of "resiliency" in her speech to Wake Forest class of 2014, her first public remarks since she was very unceremoniously fired by the Grey Lady.

Abramson began by noting that the graduates' accomplishments had "attracted so much media attention," a line delivered to laughs. "As well they should," she said.

Abramson discussed the firing, calling the opportunity to lead the newsroom the honor of a lifetime, but adding that she was in the same spot as the graduates, unsure of her next move. "I'm in exactly the same boat as many of you," she said. "Like you I am a little scared, but excited." Abramson also praised "the sting of losing": "when that happens," she advised, "show what you are made of."

But in response to one student's question as to whether she would get her Times "T" tattoo removed, Abramson said, "Not a chance."

Happy Holidays From Wake Forest University!

Holiday Greetings from Wake Forest University from The Office of the President on Vimeo.
. . . and Happy Holidays from Aimee Cirucci, Wake Forest Class of 2000.

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Plethora Of Bowls

It used to be that the Rose Bowl, Cotton Bowl. Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl were enough, thank you.
But now there are so many bowl games that it's staggering.
Like everything else bowl day is several days (it seems to extend forever) and its staggering.
Now you've got all these bowl games: Alamo Bowl, Armed Forces Bowl, Capital One Bowl, Champs Sports Bowl, Chick-fil-A Bowl, Eagle Bank Bowl, Emerald, Fiesta, Gator, GMAC, Hawaii Bowl, Holiday, Humanitarian, Independence, Insight, International, Las Vegas Bowl, Liberty, Meineke, Motor City, Music City, New Mexico, Papa John's Bowl, Pointsettia, St, Petersburg, Sun and Texas Bowl.
Of course, we DO congratulate Vanderbilt on winning the Music City Bowl yesterday.
And naturally, we're wishing Penn State the best in the Rose Bowl today ("JoePa! JoePah! Joe Paahh!). Plus, let's not forget Wake Forest's victory over Navy in the Eagle bank Bowl.
But where or where will it all end?!

Writers Who Teach

. . . and teachers who write.
It's time to hail two winning professors from opposite ends of the generational spectrum.

The first is Dr. Maya Angelou of Wake Forest University. As USA Today writes:

She has been a professor of American Studies at Wake Forest since 1981 and owns an 18 room home in Winston-Salem, NC.
Now, she adds, "I'm not a writer who teaches. I'm a teacher who writes. But I had to work at Wake Forest to know that."
She describes the joy she finds in a classroom: "I see all those little faces and big eyes. Black and white. They look like sparrows in the nest. They look up, with their mouths wide open, and I try to drop in everything I know."
She has no plans to retire. She teaches one course each semester at Wake Forest. (Currently it's World Poetry and Drama Performance.)
She writes on yellow legal pads and says that even after all these years, a clean sheet of paper scares and thrills her: "I see a yellow pad, and my knees get weak, and I salivate. I know that sounds like coyness, but I have less coyness than modesty, and I have none of that." She laughs.

And then there's upcoming writer and novelist Tony Earley who is also a "writer who teaches" and a "teacher who writes." Dr. Earley is the Samuel Milton Fleming Chair in English at Vanderbilt University. He received his M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Alabama and has taught at Vanderbilt since 1997. He has been named one of the twenty best young fiction writers in America by The New Yorker and one of the Best of Young American Novelists by Granta. His first book, Jim The Boy was widely acclaimed. That was followed by "mostly true" stories called Somehow Form A Family. His new novel, The Blue Star has just won additional acclaim. here's what USA Today says about Earley:

Tony Earley didn't plan to take eight years to write a sequel to his debut novel. But after the acclaim for Jim the Boy in 2000 -- Newsweek called it "dazzling" -- Earley says he was "afraid to write for a while," worried he might not be able to match his earlier success.
Then, he tried "to do something post-modern, just to prove I could, but apparently I couldn't." After three years, "having figured I'd sabotaged my career, I decided to go back to Aliceville (his fiction setting) and see what happened."

These two professor/writers and their respective universities are at the top of my list.

And, BTW: I happen to know a couple of fine young writers myself who benefited greatly from their studies at Wake and Vandy!