Contact by email:
Director (or send email to emeriti@emory.edu) Letters to the Editor Click on the above link to let us know what you think (or send email to emeriti@emory.edu)! |
Upcoming Events--
All on Zoom
Lunch Colloquium
Henry Kahn April 27, 2020
Lunch Colloquium
Denise Raynor
May 4, 2020
Afternoon Seminar
Kathryn Holmes
May 5, 2020
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This issue of our newsletter is sent to members and friends of the Emory University Emeritus College (EUEC). I hope the newsletter will help keep you informed about our activities and help you feel connected with our members throughout the U.S. On the left are links to our website and links to contact either me or the EUEC office.
With best wishes,
Gray
Gray F. Crouse Director, EUEC
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 Message from the Director
We have been Zooming for just three weeks, but in that relatively short time we seem to be settling in. It is really great to see many of you regular attendees at our sessions and to see new people join in. There are of course disadvantages to not being able to meet in person, but there are also significant advantages. We are having members attend from outside the Atlanta area and outside Georgia, and they are as "present" as any of the rest of us. Monday's Lunch Colloquium with Kipton Jensen (that will be detailed in our next newsletter) was a wonderful example of the type of dialogue possible, with a great discussion among scholars from Emory, Morehouse, and Agnes Scott, and that discussion continued "in the hallway" after the meeting was over! Note also that we are having an Afternoon Seminar on May 5 given by Kay Holmes who is in Seattle. Kay is a colleague of June Scott and this is a great example of the type of programming we can consider, particularly in the COVID-19 era. There are, of course, two great new Lunch Colloquiums featured below, and I hope you will be able to join us for those. If you are new to Zoom, I have recorded a twelve-minute Zoom tutorial that you can watch by clicking here. Also, feel free to contact me if you need help in getting connected.
I appreciate the reports on your activities you have sent me. Some are in this issue, and more will be featured in later issues. Keep them coming! There are also some interesting COVID stories from members in sites ranging from North Georgia to India.
I am very grateful to Gretchen Schulz, Ann Hartle, and Marge Crouse for help with editing and proofing.
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Zoom Lunch Colloquium--Monday, April 27
Can US Healthcare Be Made Affordable?
Location: Wherever you are
11:30-1:00
Henry Kahn, Professor Emeritus of Family and Preventive Medicine
Click here to read more about this Lunch Colloquium below
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Zoom Lunch Colloquium--Monday, May 4
"Ah, You're a Doctor?" Exploring the Experiences of African Americans in Medicine
Location: Wherever you are
11:30-1:00
Denise Raynor, Professor Emerita of Gynecology and Obstetrics, and Adjunct Professor, Department of Psychology, Emory College
Click here to read more below about this Lunch Colloquium
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Zoom Afternoon Seminar--Tuesday, May 5, 4:00 pm
Why Are Coronaviruses so Frequently Implicated in Emerging Diseases of Humans and Domestic Animals?
Location: Wherever you are
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Zoom Lunch Colloquium Report--Monday, April 6
Bringing "Remote Learning" Closer to Home
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Zoom Lunch Colloquium Report--Monday, April 13
Building Resilience through Contemplative Practice
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Faculty Activities
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COVID-19 Stories
Those of us living in Atlanta know a lot about what is happening here. Some of our more distant members have stories from elsewhere.
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We note the death of member Edmund P. (Tad) Day
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Walking the Campus with Dianne
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Zoom Lunch Colloquium--Monday, April 27
Can US Healthcare Be Made Affordable?
Henry Kahn, Professor Emeritus of Family and Preventive Medicine
Our medical costs per capita far exceed those of any comparable nation, but our health outcomes do not. What are the consequences for the uninsured, for the underinsured, and for the caring professions and societal survival? Our medical care financing is unique among developed countries. For-profit corporations dominate the environment of private coverage and play increasing roles in our public coverage. Corporate influence throws obstacles in the way of policy changes that could otherwise respond to rational evidence and the public interest. The stress of the COVID-19 pandemic may present opportunities for major reform.
About Henry Kahn
Henry S. Kahn, MD, FACP, is an Emeritus Professor in the Emory University School of Medicine and an adjunct faculty member at the Morehouse School of Medicine and the Rollins School of Public Health. As a volunteer physician in 1973 he was Emory's first faculty member appointed specifically in the field of primary care. He entered academia full-time in 1974 and played a major role in developing Neighborhood Health Centers for the Grady Health System. He served as a primary-care internist in the Neighborhood Health Centers from 1974 through 2010. He directed courses in Community & Preventive Medicine for students in their first and second years of medical school and continues to provide education related to medical-care cost and access. Following retirement from academia he was a full-time epidemiologist in CDC's Division of Diabetes Translation during 2001 - 2018. His research interests have included low-cost assessments of adiposity, methods to estimate the risk for type 2 diabetes, the prenatal circumstances associated with diabetes in later life, and explanations of disparities in chronic disease. A native of Poughkeepsie, NY, he is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School. His postgraduate training included two years at Boston City Hospital and one year at Lincoln Hospital (Bronx, New York). In 1972 he achieved Board Certification in Internal Medicine. He then served 2 years in the U.S. Public Health Service at the CDC (Epidemic Intelligence Service) in Atlanta. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American Heart Association, and a long-time active member of Physicians for a National Health Program.
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Zoom Lunch Colloquium--Monday, May 4
"Ah, You're a Doctor?" Exploring the Experiences of African Americans in Medicine Denise Raynor, MD, MPH, Professor Emerita of Gynecology and Obstetrics, and Adjunct Professor, Department of Psychology, Emory College Building on her own experiences in medical school, residency, and academic medicine, perinatologist Denise Raynor, who retired from her position as director of the OB/GYN residency program at Grady's Perinatal Center in 2009, is currently developing a book on racial bias in medical education and its impact on disparities in health outcomes. As she has said, there's been very little change in that area since she began medical school at Vanderbilt in 1980. No less impactful for being more implicit than explicit, such bias continues to be an invisible hand that touches all interactions in health care between colleagues, staff, and patients. Perhaps in bringing the subject out of the shadows and into the light, through talks like this one and talks she's been offering her OLLI students as well, Denise will help further the change that's been so slow in coming, however badly needed for so long.
About Denise Raynor
B. Denise Raynor, MD, MPH, is Professor Emerita, Emory University School of Medicine in the Department of OB/GYN as a perinatologist. She remains an adjunct professor in Emory College Department of Psychology. She also has an MPH from Harvard School of Public Health in General Hospital Management. At Emory, she conducted basic laboratory and clinical research; provided clinical care primarily at Grady Hospital where she directed the perinatal ultrasound unit; and served as GYN/OB Residency Program Director. She taught perinatal fellows and residents in OB/GYN, Emergency and Family Medicine who practice across Georgia and the US. She has published numerous scientific articles in obstetrics and fetal behavior. After leaving Emory, she oversaw the residency program accreditation site visit at Danbury Hospital, then completed a preventive medicine fellowship, worked on the development of Planning for Healthy Baby, a Georgia Medicaid program to provide contraception for women ages 18-49, before joining a private perinatology practice. She also served as chair of the Georgia March of Dimes Maternal Child Health Committee for several years. She is currently writing books on unknown African Americans in history and the impact of racial bias in medical education on disparities in health outcomes. Click here to return to top
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Zoom Afternoon Seminar--Tuesday, May 5, 4:00 pm
Why Are Coronaviruses so Frequently Implicated in Emerging Diseases of Humans and Domestic Animals?
Kathryn V. Holmes, Professor Emerita of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Colorado School of Medicine
Long ago when Kathryn first set up her laboratory, she chose to study a mouse coronavirus that causes important diseases in inbred mouse colonies for two reasons: little was known about coronaviruses because they were difficult to grow in cell cultures and she wanted to study an animal virus that she would not carry home to infect her two small children. She soon became interested in why each coronavirus generally infects only a single host and discovered that a key determinant of coronavirus host range is how the viral spike glycoprotein recognizes a receptor on the surface of cells of its host species to begin infection. But there are many different coronaviruses that cause diseases in humans or domestic or wild animals. Kathryn will discuss how coronaviruses--rarely--jump from one host to another to begin epidemics like SARS, MERS, or COVID-19 or epizootics like SADS in pigs, and then, sometimes, become established in the new host. What factors in coronavirus replication promote the possibility of such host jumps? Why are these jumps often associated with emerging diseases from wildlife reservoirs? Can such jumps be anticipated and prevented?
About Kathryn Holmes
Kathryn Holmes received an AB in Biology from Radcliffe College, a PhD in Virology and Cell Biology from the Rockefeller University, and did postdoctoral work at Harvard University. She held faculty positions at Georgetown University Schools of Medicine and Dentistry and University of Texas Southwestern Medical School before moving to the Pathology Department of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda as Associate and then Full Professor. In 1995 she became Professor in the Department of Microbiology of the University of Colorado School of Medicine where she retired as Professor Emerita in 2010. She was Co-Founder and Vice President for Virology of PeptiVir, Inc., exploring conformation-stabilized viral spike peptides as novel vaccines for coronaviruses and influenza viruses.
She has been doing research on coronaviruses since 1977, and in that time her lab has published over 150 research articles, review articles, and book chapters on human and animal coronaviruses. As a coronavirus expert, she has served on NIH study sections, reviewed papers, served on the ICTV committee on taxonomy of Nidoviruses, presented plenary lectures at national and international meetings, and has hosted meetings on coronaviruses and Nidoviruses. In particular, she was a co-organizer with Dr. Stanley Perlman of the X1th International Nidovirus Symposium "Toward Control of SARS and Other Nidovirus Diseases" in Colorado Springs in 2005. She was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1997 and as a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology in 2005.
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Zoom Lunch Colloquium--Monday, April 6
Bringing "Remote Learning" Closer to Home
Gretchen Schulz, Professor of English Emerita, Oxford College
On Monday, April 6, we offered the second of our Zoom sessions when Gretchen Schulz, inspired by the capacity for participation by multiple attendees illustrated by the Zoom BookFest of the previous week, ventured to "teach" a "class" that would demonstrate how the "remote learning" so many of our colleagues are struggling with right now can work. She asked all who registered to do some "homework" by reading "Araby," a short story by James Joyce, ahead of time, bringing a printout to "class" with them so we could all examine the text together and perhaps (and not so incidentally) come to see why so many see this story as one of the best of all time.
We were amazed when 73 people signed up for the "class." And we were even more amazed when it went as remarkably well as it did, as those whom Gray had so patiently tutored in how to "raise their hands" proceeded to do so, answering Gretchen's questions about the details in the story (and the language in which those details are presented) and asking questions of their own as well. Yes, many of those offering comments were other English teachers "in the room," like Liza Davis and Linda Hubert, and teachers of literature in other languages, like Holly York and Tiny Westbrook, and humanists in non-literary fields also used to the close analysis of text, like Vernon Robbins and Brooks Holifield from religion and Rudy Makkreel from philosophy. But there were also some excellent comments from those representing training and experience on the far-from-humanities end of the disciplinary spectrum--including medical men like Spencer King, Don Stein, and Larry Vogler. After all, as Spencer pointed out, he might not know much about analyzing literature, but he hasn't forgotten what it's like to be a twelve-year-old boy, the age of the boy in the story, give or take a few months. And indeed, most of those "present" in our "class" seemed well able to remember and relate to Joyce's depiction of the confusions of puberty, exacerbated, as they are here, by the "extravagant romanticism" of the boy (and thanks to Liza Davis for that wonderfully summative phrase).
Of course, attentive readers (as Gretchen encouraged us to be) are aware from the very start of the story with its description of the "blind" street on which the boy lives that he is "blind," too, prevented by his romantic infatuation with his friend Mangan's sister from seeing that she is just an ordinary girl, for all the halo of light that surrounds her, and is, moreover, utterly uninterested in him. We realize his determination to bring her a "token" from the place of "Eastern Enchantment" he imagines the bazaar called Araby to be, serving the lady he adores as did the knights of old, is doomed to failure. And we watch, helplessly, as the loss of innocence predicted by the "central apple tree" in the "garden" behind the boy's house, approaches, approaches-and occurs. His experience of the tawdry commercial enterprise that is the reality of Araby leaves him devastated. And we readers are hardly less so. As a voice from on high calls "The light is out" he "gaz[es] up into the darkness and [sees] himself as a creature driven and derided by vanity" and his "eyes [burn] with anguish and anger." Our collective comments on these final moments, thus described, revealed great empathy with his suffering, modulated by our realization that he's narrating this story in the past tense, having left Edenic innocence behind, for sure, but having made it to an adulthood infused by the knowledge, indeed wisdom, experience, even and especially painful experience, can provide.
Now, by way of concluding this article, I (Gretchen) thought you might enjoy a look at some of the comments people sent me afterwards--comments that suggest we might want to schedule more Zoom "classes" (along with our lectures) in the future.
But let me start with a comment from a person who wasn't there--because her Zoom connection broke down just as she settled in to enjoy the session. (And here as throughout this section, I will be maintaining people's anonymity.) This is what she wrote while the rest of us were engaged in our discussion:
Gretchen, I have read the story, "Araby," twice, and reviewed my underlinings. I loved the story and was eager to hear the discussion. Gazing into my [blank] computer screen, "I felt like a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger."
I certainly appreciated the positive feedback from the other English teachers whose Zoom worked well enough for them to "attend," and, more generally, from the others in humanities disciplines. Here are some of their comments:
It was just very exciting to be a student discussing a short story again! And I saw so much more than I had when I last taught it.
The "Araby" class today was terrific. Joyce himself would no doubt have been surprised at what all he put in there!
That was a wonderful session. I remember being struck by the houses gazing [at the start], but had paid no attention to the gazing into the darkness [at the end]. He ends up seeing nothing other than himself and . . . feels his eyes burning with anguish. This is a case of being blinded by the sense of sight.
Thank you for a stimulating, invigorating, and enlivening class session. I learned an immense amount about how to read short stories. I'll never read one in the same way again.
I truly enjoyed your "Araby" class, your comments especially, but also those of all the participants.
It truly was fun. . . and the participation was excellent. A delightfully stimulating and engaging "class" for us all. . . so enjoyable and great fun indeed! I was also so delighted that there was such interest - over 60 participants!! I thought that was really amazing.
What fun your class was Gretchen! It was a delight to hear adults spend so much time discussing literature.
Most striking of all, and perhaps most appreciated, were comments from attendees who'd never had any lit classes at all or, if they'd had them, never learned from them how illuminating close analysis of a story can be--and how much fun. Here are some comments from members of this constituency:
Loved your class! It's been over 50 years since my last English class so this was fun. Must admit that English classes were not my favorite, but I really enjoyed this one. Another confession is that after my first reading of "Araby" I wondered why it was considered so important. The second reading was a bit better, but after this discussion I realize how many layers were nested within it. I had discovered some of them, at least dimly, but the discussion was an eye opener. I don't often read short stories, but may try more of them now.
Thank you for your presentation today. It was very informative. As a science person in your audience, let me give you my reaction. It reminded me of college literature classes (and all were not enjoyable). I did read the short story and it made virtually no sense to me (just like it would not have 60 years ago). I was intrigued as you and other participants teased meaning out of it. I wish I had been helped more like that as a student. It was a good experience.
Gretchen, thank you for introducing me to James Joyce's "Araby." From the first paragraph I was transported into this young man's world. I just assumed that Joyce's writing would not appeal to me, although I have visited the James Joyce Tower in Sandycove. You tricked me into reading it by suggesting a short story (how painful could a short story be?). And I did enjoy the discussion. I have a DrPH and was a nurse early in my career, so I'm not an English major "type" as many in the group are.
I read the "Dubliners" so many years ago I can't remember. I was in Dublin last September and those blind streets are still there. I lived on one myself.
And, if I've got a favorite, this is it:
This obviously must be the oldest average age class you ever have taught!
I was never motivated to read Joyce, though, because his writings sounded difficult and esoteric.
Anyway, your class was a real delight.
Never too late to learn!
So now, Gretchen, if you wish, you may refer to your (unnamed) student who first read anything by Joyce at age 80!
(That is, 80 years, not 80 factorial years.)
In closing, then, A BIG THANK YOU to "the oldest average age class [I] ever have taught" --and maybe the best. Thanks, too, to the two "TAs" who were such a help (that would be Gray and Dianne, the first and only TAs I've had in lo these many years). I do think a wonderful time was had by all--and, I can assure you, by no one more than me.
--Gretchen Schulz
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Zoom Lunch Colloquium--Monday April 13
Building Resilience through Contemplative Practice Bobbi Patterson, Professor of Pedagogy, Department of Religion It was a sheer joy to zoom into this Colloquium and see Bobbi's look of optimism: truly a bright light in these challenging times. In preparing for this lecture, I came across the following quote regarding the significance of Bobbi's newest book, Building Resilience Through Contemplative Practice: A Field Manual for Helping Professionals and Volunteers: "the first book to demonstrate how and why professionals and volunteers can reframe burnout as an opportunity for resilience-building service." Bobbi certainly made that claim clear as she led us through reflection exercises, old models of service and burnout, the environmental framework for building resilience, an overview of the book's chapters, and next steps, all before a lively Q&A session. After spending more than two decades in the world of teaching and research regarding service-learning and contemplative practice, as well as volunteering in my current role of a retired professor working with refugees, I came to the session with a keen interest in learning how this model for resilience-building could impact my current situation. Of course, while this phase of Bobbi's work is new and groundbreaking, I have always respected her as an expert in service and contemplative principles and practice and long benefitted from her knowledge, guidance, wisdom, and grace under pressure. Bobbi began by emphasizing that the first two chapters of her book provide the basic model she was going to discuss with us. She further stated that while the book was not specifically written to address the magnitude of the problems we are facing today with COVID-19, it does provide content and exercises broad enough in their applicability to help in a wide range of life experiences including even problems like these. This became evident to me when we engaged in the Q&A session. True to contemplative practice, Bobbi encouraged us to silently reflect on our own stories about service and what it's like to burn out. Next we were asked to draw images of that experience. Following these valuable exercises, she carefully explained the traditional concept of the "flat line" between service and burnout where service sits at the good end and burnout sits at the bad end. In her book under "Lessons Never Learned," she cites the fundamental problem posed by the common assumption that "good people" serving others simply do not and can not burn out so that skill sets for handling breakdowns are absent from the literature even though we know breakdowns and burnout occur. The opening "flat line" exercise remained on my mind for another day as I reflected back to September 2019 when I was beginning my ninth year as a retiree volunteering to teach refugee mothers English as a second language. There I was at what should have been a happy moment beginning a new semester in a state of grateful anticipation of work well done and much appreciated, yet in fact suffering with burnout thoughts fraught with ego-driven torment and no one to share my dilemma with. After reading sections in Bobbi's book, I now realize what an unnecessary and frustrating trap the old "flat line" model forces us into and how possible it is to yes, acknowledge, but then move beyond burnout. Bobbi introduces this different narrative in her book: the new story explains how, when engaged in service or volunteer work, we should expect burnout as a natural occurrence through which resilience emerges. To further explain this dynamic, Bobbi walked us through "Adaptive Resilience Theory" (credited to Lance Gunderson, current chair of Environmental Sciences at Emory). In a very abbreviated form, and as a novice, I understood Adaptive Resilience Theory as making salient the relationship between forces of stability and instability with resilience as the mediating force enabling adaptation even while burning out. I encourage you to view the recording of Bobbi's presentation for a clearer explanation of the theory. Bobbi also explained that ecological concepts emphasize the dynamics of systems where "breakdown and collapse" are normal and not reflective of a personal failure as in the "flat line" model. It was suggested by a participant in the Q&A session that Bobbi's message of resilience could be very useful to the COVID-19 emergency room doctors and nurses who are performing service so clearly good while perhaps nonetheless being tormented by the negative feelings of burnout. Bobbi's explanation of the theoretical concepts behind resilience helped us understand and accept a view of breakdown/burnout without the "bad" stigma so often attached. This view is clearly the sort of breakthrough that can happen when we move outside of disciplinary walls and the old-think that goes on within them and combine, in this case, environmental thought with contemplative practice. After providing an overview of the chapters in her book, emphasizing its stories, case studies and inventories, Bobbi left us with
"Two Big Ideas of the Book"
and "What Needs to Change"
I wish to emphasize that the Q&A session was very valuable in pointing to the multitude of issues that one can seek to resolve through application of the concepts in her book. Bobbi was patient, thoughtful, and engaged in addressing and expanding upon matters ranging from embracing burnout in mid-life crisis, support for COVID-19 front-line workers, mindful practice, love in both good and difficult times, learning new ways of being after the death of a loved one, living in community, spiritual qualities in terms of the ways we make meaning in life, the value of wonderful friends in these times, and interdependence with generosity. Bobbi, thank you for sharing not just your inspiring ideas but also your optimism, warm smile, laughter, and generosity of spirit for which I am truly grateful. --Isa Williams
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Faculty Activities
Clark Lemons Professor Emeritus of English, Oxford College
As a Professor of English, I'm often asked by others to edit what they write, especially if it is important. (Gretchen is the hallmark--if I need the "last word" on my writing I send it to her.)
In early March, the child of a former student in the 80s asked if she could stay with us while she wrote a paper for medical school in the Netherlands. She was in Zanzibar where her research took place. Rachel felt welcome because she had visited us here as a child and we had visited her family in Holland. She is bilingual, as are her father (my former student) and her mother, who is Dutch. Since I'd kept up with them I said sure, come. She stayed for 2 & 1/2 weeks. Every day she worked diligently on her paper, and I edited her work every evening, helping her with grammar/organization, etc. She was delightful.
Terry and I loved her, and I enjoyed helping with her English. We'll be friends forever. We accepted the challenge of having a 23-year-old at our home for 2 & 1/2 weeks and loved it; we've never had children. I think of Rachel, of my former student from the 1980s, and her mother, often, and we keep in contact more now.
 Dorinda Evans
Professor Emerita of Art History
My article "William Winstanley: Gilbert Stuart's Shadow and a Swindling Genius" has been published in the winter, 2020, issue of The British Art Journal, and I'm continuing to work on a book, William Rimmer: New Research on an Original American Artist, for which I hope to have a full draft in about a year.
Bhagirath Majmudar Professor Emeritus of Pathology
I continue to write in English, Sanskrit, and Gujarati, which is one of 22 Indian languages.
Donald B. McCormick Callaway Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry
Present Knowledge in Nutrition, the best updated volumes covering both basic science and clinical aspects in applications and dietary recommendations, has been taken over by Elsevier, the giant among publishers of scientific and medical texts. The current issue has my chapter on "Riboflavin" with a former student Al Merrill, Smithgall Professor at GA Tech. Over the years, I have also contributed chapters on B6, biotin, etc. as a recognized authority in the B-complex vitamins.
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COVID-19 Stories
Hawaii
March 26
Hawaii's first cases were in early March and travel related. Today we have 151 cases across the four main islands. There are more since no formal testing began before last weekend. We probably have more panic buying since most of our daily goods come by ship from the mainland and there is at least a two-week lag between the time shelves are bare for a product and it arrives again.
Visitor arrivals have dropped by over 90%. About10% of the workforce has already filed for unemployment since our primary industries are all service industries. Until this, we had one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country.
Last week was our first week of lockdown and there was confusion because mayors (the heads of the four islands) were issuing their own individual orders and nothing was coming from the state. This is not just my personal opinion, but our governor is a Casper Milktoast and was slow to act. And it is my personal opinion that planning is not one of the Islands' strengths. After closing for spring break two weeks ago, with an extra week added on, it was announced yesterday that public schools would at least be closed until April 30. There are no plans available on how students will continue learning. Since public schools are unfortunately last choice here, many of the students do not have computers. The one thing that is in place is meals for kids who were getting their meals at school.
To highlight the confusion, today a few of us went for a walk along the oceanfront, and we walked freely in land managed by the state but were told to leave our local beach park, which is next to the state-owned land. The city has closed all its parks.
I spend part of my day in my home office and the view (above) keeps me sane.
April 5
The problems with writing anything about the virus is that news changes daily. After not testing and then testing people with symptoms, the number of cases has more than doubled in a week. We will now test the people that were turned away who had been in contact with COVID-19 patients but were asymptomatic, which of course will raise the numbers even more. So far there have been four deaths out of 350 including a University of Hawaii faculty member who contracted it in Seattle. About a hundred visitors a day are arriving and have to self-quarantine, and a 14-day quarantine has also been imposed on travelers from the other islands.
Tidbits from other places - Malaysia has a lot of stay at home restrictions and for your car, it is one person per vehicle. In Ireland everyone over 70 must stay at home and others are allowed to exercise no more than 2 km from home. Singapore, which thought it had it covered, has just ordered a 30-day quarantine after an outbreak among foreign workers
--Ruth Pagell, Goizueta Business School Librarian Emerita
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Dahlonega, GA
As you know, I have been taking classes at the University of North Georgia, this semester Linguistics and Persian. On Thursday, March 12, I told both my instructors that, regardless of what the University System of Georgia decided, I would not return to classes on campus after spring break ended on March 29, but I would be willing to participate in distance learning if they could support it. Two hours later, USG announced that campus classes would stop on March 16, that students should not return from spring break, and that instruction through the rest of the semester would be online. Although I have not yet had any virtual meetings with either instructor, I am continuing with class prep and homework submissions. My wife is taking Russian, and had her first Blackboard class yesterday, which she found a frustrating experience. Outside the university, my wife and I live in a rural location, about 6 miles outside Dahlonega, so isolation is not difficult. We stopped eating out after the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Lumpkin County. My favorite recreational pastime is riding motorcycles, and the USFS fire road network, which starts 4 miles from our front door, provides an opportunity to get out without encountering another human being. Riding gear means that I am covered head to toe with helmet, armored clothing, gloves and boots.
My only possible contact is at a gas station pump, for which I keep my gloves on. The nearest grocery store is a Walmart, which is usually reasonably well stocked. I usually ride, but if I take the car, I wipe my hands with a disinfecting wipe after leaving the store, and before touching the car. When I get home, hot water and 20-30 seconds of hand washing. So, apart from not eating out, and heightened hygiene, COVID-19 has had minimal impact on us. As a librarian, I am keenly interested in information sources, and the best I have found to date are:
My life history includes multiple hospitalizations for asthma and pneumonia, and 6 years ago I was diagnosed with bronchiectasis, so I am extremely concerned about exposure. Coincidentally, one of the medications I take for bronchiectasis management is azythromycin, which has anti-inflammatory properties, and is being tested experimentally as a treatment for COVID-19. I don't intend to lock myself away, and I think I have struck a reasonable balance for managing my risks. I am enough of an optimist that to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary, I have purchased 2 Atlanta-Istanbul air tickets for August 30-September 18. If necessary, they can be rescheduled without penalty, but I think we will be able to proceed as planned for a 2-week drive around Anatolia. I plan to brush up on my Turkish over the summer.
--Selden Deemer
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Tirunelveli, India
April 8 Greetings from India! I am saddened to hear all the havoc which COVID-19 is causing in the United States. Our son and our daughter live in New York City and Atlanta respectively with their families, and they are not affected by it. We do stay in constant touch with them. Our situation here in India is a bit different. The damage done so far by the virus is limited. Today's newspaper reports total cases in India as affected 5,155; healed 435; and dead 158, - and in our State of Tamil Nadu: affected 880; healed 18; and dead 8. There is total shut down all over the nation and people on the whole are observing it and following the rule: Stay home, Stay safe. The present shut down is up to the 15th of this month and it looks as though it will be extended. Schools and Colleges will open only in June. Please convey my good wishes for health and safety to all the members of EUEC. --Thomas Thangaraj, Professor Emeritus of World Christianity ____________________
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In Memoriam
Edmund P. (Tad) Day, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Physics
Tad Day died on March 3, 2020. He joined the Physics Department in 1990 and retired in 2010. We hope to publish a more complete obituary at a later date.
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Walking the Campus with Dianne
The building from our last walk can be found on Haygood Road near Druid Hills High School. It is an immense structure known as the Health Sciences Research Building.
According to the website:
The Emory University Health Sciences Research Building is a four-story building consisting of two functional components: a wet laboratory building and a tower containing an auditorium, café, and dry research space that also serves as the point of connection for the dry research and circulation bridge that extends across Haygood Drive, connecting the new research facility to the Emory Children's Center. The 180 ft long, 35 ft wide, two-story, 200-ton bridge was erected on the ground and raised into place in one lift to minimize disruption to Haygood Drive.
The building houses wet research laboratories, including 90 molecular biology modules (60 pediatrics, 20 cancer, 8 drug discovery, 2 additional), a drug discovery module, and a nuclear magnetic resonance laboratory. The dry research area includes dry laboratories, conferencing space, collaboration spaces, and support spaces. Also included are a Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) laboratory suite and a 10,500 sq ft vivarium. Construction is underway to complete a Health Sciences Research Building II (HSRB II). More information on that can be found by clicking here. I've provided some other photos of the current building below:
Our next walk takes us to a place that features a lovely outdoor fireplace...I believe it may be the only one at Emory.
Where will you find this on the Emory Campus?
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Emory University Emeritus College The Luce Center
825 Houston Mill Road NE #206 Atlanta, GA 30329 |
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