Jack Allard 鈥�16
Former All-American lacrosse star released from hospital after long coronavirus battle 鈥� multiple outlets
On April 17, Jack Allard 鈥�16, a two-time All-American lacrosse player and politics major at 乐播传媒, walked out of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania as medical staff applauded.
Jack Allard ’16 (left) and classmate Charlie Hildebrand celebrate a big 乐播传媒 lacrosse win over Tufts in April 2016. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)
Allard鈥檚 dramatic story 鈥� his weeks long fight with COVID-19 鈥� had drawn steady attention from the national media but this happy chapter was particularly well-chronicled.
Not long after first showing COVID-19 symptoms in mid-March, Allard was hospitalized in New Jersey. He was placed on a ventilator and later airlifted to Philadelphia to take part in a trial for an experimental treatment. There, his condition improved day-by-day.听
https://twitter.com/RHSBOYSLACROSSE/status/1251141155640741888
Due in part to Allard鈥檚 young age and otherwise good health, his family speaking out, and his high school and college lacrosse teams rallying around him, his story drew international attention.
鈥淗e took personal responsibility for lifting the Bobcats to national competitiveness,鈥� wrote Lasagna. 鈥淢ost importantly, his teammates will tell you that he is a better and more giving person, a more caring mentor than he is an attackman.鈥�
Five weeks ago, former standout and All-American Jack Allard was confirmed positive for . He was put on a ventilator. Last Thursday, he walked out of the hospital. For Jack and the hundreds more who have recovered, we鈥檙e optimistic.
— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy)
From his family鈥檚 home in Ridgewood, N.J., Allard told Matt DaSilva of US Lacrosse Magazine that his story should serve as a cautionary tale.听听
鈥淲e need to listen to our scientists and our doctors when they give us warnings and give us guidance,鈥� he said. 鈥淧eople my age think it鈥檚 not going to hit them and, if it does, it鈥檚 going to be a slight flu. That鈥檚 clearly not true. It took me to my knees.鈥�
Read the stories:
- 鈥�,鈥� US Lacrosse Magazine, April 22, 2020听
- 鈥�,鈥� USA Today, April 19, 2020听
Andrew Mountcastle
乐播传媒 professor leads effort to print coronavirus protective gear 鈥� Sun Journal听
Steve Collins of the Lewiston Sun Journal reported on an initiative led by Assistant Professor of Biology Andrew Mountcastle to 3D-print face shield visors to protect medical personnel from the coronavirus.
The Androscoggin County Emergency Management Agency is distributing the shields, which faculty and staff from 乐播传媒, Bowdoin, Colby, and other institutions with access to 3D-printers are creating.听
鈥淚 feel it鈥檚 the least I can do to support members of my community and state who need it most,鈥� Mountcastle said.听
Read the story:听
- 鈥�,鈥� Sun Journal, April 3, 2020听
See also:听
- 鈥�Shields up! 乐播传媒 helping to ease PPE shortages,鈥� 乐播传媒 News, April 3, 2020听
Jane Costlow听
In teaching stories of disaster, hope lies hidden in plain sight 鈥� Literary Hub
Writing in Lit Hub, Jane Costlow, the Clark A. Griffith Professor of Environmental Studies, reflected on teaching a course, 鈥淐atastrophe and Hope,鈥� during the very kind of catastrophe her students read about.听
As an added layer, this semester is Costlow鈥檚 last as an instructor before she retires. For her, there will be no opportunity to incorporate the present moment into her future teaching. But she鈥檚 trying to convey to her students that upheaval like this need not be defeating.听
鈥淢y experience of life first in the Soviet Union and then in post-Soviet Russia had convinced me 鈥� that people in extraordinarily constrained political and economic conditions make lives of dignity, lives inflected with moments of joy and commitment,鈥� says Costlow, whose background is in Russian literature.
鈥淚 wanted my students to read a book like Zhivago because it鈥檚 about a society that comes apart, lives that are profoundly鈥攙iciously鈥攗nsettled, and yet there are forms of endurance, too.鈥澨�
Read the essay:听
- 鈥�,鈥� Literary Hub, April 24, 2020
Ru Freeman 鈥�94
We owe more to our young writers: On the relevance of the workshop 鈥� Literary Hub
Also in Lit Hub, writer and writing professor Ru Freeman 鈥�94 argued that creative writing faculty and university writing departments should prioritize not the craft of writing or the parsing of prose, but helping students understand their own experiences within their society and become 鈥渇earless鈥� writers who speak truth to power.听 听
鈥淲e must commit, as a collective, to bringing a fierce energy to our classrooms where a few students may develop an intensity of discomfort in their intestines, but most will finally identify their guts as being part of the body they inhabit,鈥� Freeman writes.听
鈥淲ith passionate effort, our students might yet go from being a concert of crows cawing in the same register, safe within the dull shades of uniformity, to articulating the music and iridescence of a truly creative menagerie.鈥澨�
Read the essay:听
- 鈥�,鈥� Literary Hub, April 16, 2020
Todd Nelson 鈥�78
T.S. Eliot and Me 鈥� The Ellsworth American听
Retired high school English teacher Todd Nelson 鈥�78 wrote a column for the Maine Ellsworth American about reading the poems of T.S. Eliot and, after a fashion, encountering the poet himself.听
Nelson lived for a time near the London home where the late Eliot had lived. Nelson took to the poet in high school and college; Eliot鈥檚 鈥淔our Quartets鈥� helped inspire his senior thesis on religious poets.听
鈥淓liot follows me, bursts from his poems informing my own arc,鈥� Nelson writes. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a life鈥檚 work fathoming Eliot鈥檚 poems. Why not? It was a life work to write them; to weave the threads of memory, history, family experience, religion, and philosophy into self-study.鈥澨�
Read the essay:听
- 鈥�,鈥� The Ellsworth American, April 17, 2020
Anne Williams
Piecing together the history of jigsaw puzzles 鈥� multiple outlets听
As quarantined Americans turn to jigsaw puzzles to pass the time, several news outlets have turned to Professor Emerita of Economics Anne Williams, an expert on toys and puzzles, for a history lesson.听
The first jigsaw puzzles were made with scroll saws 鈥� also known as jig saws 鈥� and were intended to teach geography, said Williams, author of The Jigsaw Puzzle, Piecing Together a History.听
During the Great Depression, families used jigsaw puzzles not only for entertainment, but for income. 鈥淭hey set up the saw in their kitchen or their basement, started making jigsaw puzzles and selling them to their neighbors or renting them out through the local drug store,鈥� Williams told CBS News.听
Read the stories:听
- 鈥�,鈥� CBS News, March 29, 2020
- 鈥�,鈥� NPR, April 5, 2020
- 鈥�,鈥� CNBC, April 5, 2020
Phyllis Graber Jensen
Documenting history during the pandemic 鈥� UPAA听
In a roundup of the how college photographers were documenting the closure of their campuses, the University Photographers鈥� Association of America featured work by Phyllis Graber Jensen, director of photography and video for the 乐播传媒 Communications Office.
The 乐播传媒 photography focused on the experiences of and historic transition to remote learning in mid-March.听
Graber Jensen told the UPAA that she was guided by professional training and her instincts. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 yet have specific directions or assignments, just my usual internal, professional guidance 鈥� 鈥樌植ゴ� Communications needs to document this鈥� 鈥� plus the unequivocal support from my boss to forge ahead.鈥�
Read the story:
- 鈥�,鈥� UPAA听
Henry Colt 鈥�19
In a time of crisis, a twentysomething rookie reporter learns the value of community newspapers 鈥� Anchorage Press听
As the coronavirus sent the country into a lockdown and sent people scrambling for information, Henry Colt鈥檚 thoughts turned to his recent stint as a reporter for the Daily Sitka Sentinel in Alaska. For this 2019 graduate, the pandemic underscored the value of community newspapers.听
鈥淣ewspapers, of which more than one in five have closed in the U.S. during the last 15 years, are as vital to their communities as potlucks, concerts, salmon-sharing and marine-invertebrate-themed house parties are to Sitka. And in Sitka, few things are more vital than the Sentinel,鈥� Colt wrote in the Anchorage Press.
鈥淲ho else will tell you that an electric fishing boat took its maiden voyage? That your neighbor just won a $50,000 grant? That an injured great horned owl passed its rehabilitation test with flying colors?
鈥淲ho else, when crisis strikes, will tell you exactly what鈥檚 happening in Seattle, D.C., and Italy 鈥� then tell you exactly what鈥檚 happening at the Backdoor Caf茅, the Pioneer Home, and Mount Edgecumbe High School?鈥澨�
Read the story:听
- 鈥�,鈥� Anchorage Press, March 29, 2020
Andrew Kennedy and Michelle Greene
When professors are cut off from their students, what do they do? 鈥� 207听
NewsCenter Maine鈥檚 207 news magazine talked to professors Andrew Kennedy and Michelle Greene, whose remote class 鈥渕ovie trailers鈥� were a hit among their students and thousands of people on the internet.听
https://twitter.com/Prof_AJKennedy/status/1241071316599439365?
Kennedy, an assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry, made a trailer for his course 鈥淢echanisms of Memory.鈥澨�
鈥淚t鈥檚 like preparing for a baseball season, and you show up to your first game and after the fifth inning the umpire says, 鈥榃ell actually we鈥檙e gonna play football now,鈥欌�� Kennedy told 207鈥檚 Rob Caldwell, referring to the abrupt shift to remote learning.听
鈥淪o I was learning these new tools and learning how to make videos. I went down a rabbit hole of, 鈥楾his is funny; I might as well try it.鈥欌�澨�
Inspired by @Prof_AJKennedy 's great class trailer and my own lifelong desire to be James Bond, I present Neuroethics 2020: The Classroom is Never Enough.
— Michelle Greene (@MGreenePhD)
Greene, an assistant professor of neuroscience, made her trailer in James Bond fashion. Her students appreciated a section about her new teaching assistant 鈥� her cat, Tesla.听
鈥淭o not have those in-person dialogues is hard,鈥� she told Caldwell. 鈥淭hat being said, we still have deep, rich, lovely conversations.鈥澨�
Read the story:听
- 鈥�?鈥� 207, April 14, 2020
See also:听
- 鈥�乐播传媒 professors鈥� humorous movie-trailer videos brighten the move to remote learning,鈥� 乐播传媒 News, March 27, 2020听
Mara Tieken
Coronavirus pandemic is exacerbating a rural access crisis 鈥� Bangor Daily News听
For the Bangor Daily News, Mara Tieken, an associate professor of education and expert on rural education and issues, wrote that while images from the coronavirus pandemic are primarily urban 鈥� empty streets, subways, and airports 鈥� the crisis also poses serious risks for rural communities.听
In rural areas, hospitals tend to be sparse and under-resourced, fewer rural residents than urban dwellers have internet access, food banks are running low, and newspapers that deliver important information are scaling back or closing.听
鈥淩ight now, what rural communities need most is access: to health care, to the internet, to food, to information,鈥� Tieken writes. 鈥淭his access will help mitigate the worst effects of an already deadly crisis. But what is particularly frustrating about this moment is that these inequalities were identified long before now.鈥澨�
Read the story:听
- 鈥�,鈥� Bangor Daily News, April 22, 2020
