THE SHOT

As Coach Becker and the men’s basketball team prepare for their NCAA Tournament match-up with Lamar University, I’m sure I’m not alone in finding my thoughts turning back to the greatest win in Catamount basketball history: Vermont 60, Syracuse 57 on March 18, 2005 in an NCAA First Round game in Worcester, Massachusetts—the defining moment an audacious three-point bomb from T.J. Sorrentine in overtime.

Happy as that moment was for all Vermont fans, that shot had its own particular sweetness here at Vermont Quarterly when we were able to link the story of the game with a wonderful essay written by alumnus Kevin Hench ’89, a producer and columnist for FoxSports.com. Kevin’s piece, titled “Philosophy of a Gunner” focused on then coach Tom Brennan’s personal and professional style and the green light he was willing to give a natural shooter like Sorrentine.

Click here to take a look back at Kevin’s essay in the spring 2005 issue.

And to see Sorrentine’s shot and the latter stages of the game, here’s a great clip on YouTube.

Never gets old watching that.

POWER OF NAMES

Kevin Dempsey… Justin Ellsworth… Antoine Smith… Lance Thompson… Matt Ryan… William Miller… Bradley Parker… Daniel McDonald…

The litany of names began at 7 a.m. today. From a podium on the front steps of Bailey/Howe Library, speaker after speaker was scheduled to step to the microphone, joining together to read aloud the names of the 6,313 United States service members who have been killed overseas between 2001 and 2011. In front of the steps, 6,313 small U.S. flags were planted in the green, another memorial to the men and women who lost their lives in service to their country. On this Veterans Day 2011, UVM was among 170 campuses nationwide taking part in Remembrance Day National Roll Call.

 

NEW FOOD = BIG STORY

The Skinny Pancake takes its place along University Row.

As journalistic scoops go, this probably doesn’t rival uncovering the story behind the Watergate break-in. But while walking in front of Williams Hall on Tuesday I noticed an unfamiliar addition to the usual line-up of food trucks along University Row—a funky, yellow Airstream. Relying on my reporter’s instincts, I read the sign: “The Skinny Pancake.” Digging, I uncovered a source, a shaggy guy working inside the Airstream, and asked him how long they’d had their vending trailer on campus. “This is the first day,” he said.

Since the University Communications office began more regularly adding content to the UVM Facebook page, I’ve gotten in the habit of carrying my camera around campus to take shots. It seems that ephemera, glimpsed moments that give a sense of life at the university are among the better uses of Facebook for us. So I snapped some shots and was grateful for the student with the orange backpack and green jacket for adding some life, color, and compositional interest to the photo.

Back to the office with my scoop and I popped it up on Facebook along with the news that the Skinny Pancake was generously donating 100% of their proceeds to the Burlington Intervale Farmer’s Recovery Fund. The “likes” and the “comments” began to pop up extremely quickly. The count stands at 79 likes, 17 comments, and 13 shares. (I have a strong impulse to follow these tallies, this evidence that someone is reading and liking out there. It’s something I really should get help with.)

Why all the interest?

In retrospect, I’d say there were a number of things working for that post:

1) The Skinny Pancake itself. If you haven’t been to Burlington in a few years, “skinny pancake” is an Americanization for those among us who can’t handle the word crepe. There’s an SP flagship restaurant on the corner of Lake and College, a cart on Church Street, a sister cafe, The Chubby Muffin, in the Old North End, and now this cool trailer on campus. It’s a popular place, particularly with your younger crowd.

2) Post-Irene generosity. The Skinny Pancake gave 100% of their proceeds to the Intervale Farmer’s Recovery Fund this week. Not 10%. 100%. There’s every reason to like that. Bravo, guys.

3) Timing. I posted this right about 11:45 a.m. My theory: People were hungry as they looked at Facebook. Don’t go to the grocery store when you’re hungry or you’ll buy everything. Likewise, don’t read Facebook when you’re hungry or you’ll like all of the food-related posts.

4) Photo. In our experience at UVM, photos get liked. This particular photo featured something bright, smooth, yellow, like a big baby toy. It made you happy to look at it and who doesn’t like happy?

5) Tradition. Finally, the campus food trucks are beloved at UVM. Current students, faculty, staff, alumni truly care about them. Comments lit up with inquiries whether Pam’s was still running. Recently retired art professor Frank Owen, a longtime connoisseur of the trucks, weighed in from Keene Valley, NY: “To think that I am not there daily to taste the goods.”

There you have it, news that matters. Anxiously awaiting my Pulitzer Prize for Facebook Post.

AFTER IRENE

At work on a VQ news story that will look at a number of ways the UVM community has reached out to help the state in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene, I had the good fortune to talk with Sarah Waterman this morning. Sarah is a post-bac/pre-med student at UVM (which means she’s getting the science courses she needs under her belt before medical school). Her brainchild, #VTResponse, was a quicksilver, Internet-age reaction to the storm that established an on-line resource connecting those in need with those willing to help. The site was up and running not long after Irene cleared Vermont’s borders.

Sarah Waterman: "I had a moment of being unwilling to accept inaction. It just wasn't going to work for me this time."

Sarah joined with Matt Sisto, UVM Class of ’07, and Katie Kent in the effort that involved 18-hour days on the part of all three as the site was finding its legs. Listening to Sarah’s story, I had the sense that her role in #VTResponse was a “perfect storm” of a very different kind. She had on-the-ground experience working in Biloxi, Mississippi in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina; academic interest and education in disaster preparedness; Web/social media savvy, particularly with the help of her friends; and a deep need to help her native state in a tangible way.

“It was either my best idea or worst idea,” Sarah told me with a slight smile. “On Monday afternoon (the day after the storm), I realized it was going to explode.” The site had 8,000 hits on that Monday and nearly 30,000 by Tuesday and quickly became the go-to resource for those offering help and those needing it.

With the storm two weeks past, the #VTResponse team has streamlined the system to the point that it’s “only” consuming about twenty hours a week for each of them. A good thing for Sarah as she now has time to sleep in addition to her classes and coaching cross-country at Mount Mansfield Union. But don’t mistake that as an indication that there isn’t still great need for help, particularly in communities such as Jamaica, Cavendish, and Plymouth which have just recovered to the point where they can use help. #VTResponse is coordinating teams of ten, several UVM groups among them, that will go into those communities for clean-up this Friday and in the weeks ahead.

COMING SOON

For every headline and caption in a printed magazine, there are many others, not a few of them egregiously bad, that end up on that proverbial cutting room floor. RIP. While looking at a nighttime photo of expert birders Allan Strong and Peter Jones, which appears on the contents page of the summer issue, I commented to VQ‘s art director Elise Whittemore-Hill on the otherworldly look of the shot. I was somewhat horrified as the line “Close Encounters of the…Bird Kind” involuntarily fell from my lips. Granted, puns and other sorts of word play are often the stuff of headlines. But when a headline suggests that a rimshot should come after it, that probably means you should think again.

Allan Strong listens for birds.

I did. It’s a good thing, since it would have been a shame to mar writer Josh Brown’s fine story and photographs with the “Close Encounters” reference, not to mention putting a date stamp on the editor. Josh’s feature on Strong, based on 24 hours in the field with the alumnus, professor, and Olympian birder, is among the highlights of what I think is an interesting, fun issue of Vermont Quarterly that will roll off the presses next week. A profile of Robert Rosenthal ’70 centers on his work leading the Center for Investigative Reporting, his latest stop in a journalism career that has included some of the nation’s top newspapers. Student photographer Bobby Bruderle’s lively work offers a glimpse of senior year through a student’s eyes. In an interview/discussion with Professor Hilary Neroni and Professor Emeritus Frank Manchel, Jon Kilik ’78 shares thoughts from his long career in film. And we share the lastest in the lives of  alumni such as Rob Cioffi ’90, Sara Nesson ’97, and Scott Lindenbaum ’04. Plus, lots more.

So, UVM alumni and parents, keep an eye on your mailboxes in July. The summer issue will be there soon. I hope it makes it into your beach bag reading and, even while you’re at the seashore, takes you back to Vermont.

BEST TOWN EVER

Outside Magazine‘s “best outdoor towns” list is an annual staple in the journal of all things, people, and places outdoorsy. Burlington made it on the cover in 1995, tabbed tops in an article headlined “Dream Towns: Where to Find It all: A Real Job. A Real Life. And the Big Outdoors.” Outside is pitching next October’s take on the article as the “Best Town Ever” and ten of the usual suspects — Burlington, Portland (Maine and Oregon), Santa Fe, and Boulder among them — are up for vote in a poll on the magazine’s Facebook page. Voters get a chance to win a five-day trip to the top ten town of their choice. (No, UVM alumni are not obligated to choose Burlington. But it would be nice.) The city with the most votes gets the cover of the October issue.

One aspect of Burlington’s outdoor town cred that I’ve always thought is particularly notable is the immediate accessibility of the outdoors. It’s not a half-hour drive away, it’s right here. The Outside vote got me thinking about the outdoor options so close to the UVM campus. Let’s use the statue on the Green of Ira Allen, an outdoorsman in his own right back in the day, as the center point on a compass and consider where one mile in each direction will take you.

North: You’re in the heart of the Intervale, some 700 acres of land along the Winooski River. Once a ragged, forgotten place dotted with the rusted hulks of abandoned cars, the Intervale has undergone a renaissance in the past couple of decades. It’s now home to small organic farms that are a national model for community supported agriculture. Walkers, runners, cyclists, and Nordic skiers take to the trails that connect central Burlington with the city’s New North End.

South: UVM’s Cycling Team refers to the campus fitness center at Gutterson Fieldhouse as “the airport.” While the structure’s design is worthy of that nickname, it also would seem to be a reference to the location as a place for epic departures. Spear Street soon turns into a country road and links to miles and miles and miles… and miles of some of the nation’s best cycling terrain.

East: The steep ravines and thick pine, hemlock, and hardwood groves of Centennial Woods are a refuge between the UVM campus and Interstate-89. While highly unlikely, it is possible that a home run hit by a Vermont Lake Monster at Centennial Field could conceivably strike a moose on the antlers. That’s not a boast you could make about a lot of minor league ball parks.

West: This one’s easy. Straight down College Street to Lake Champlain—broad and blue with the Adirondacks as a backdrop to some of the world’s most gorgeous sunsets.

YOUR BEST CLASS?

As the spring 2011 semester comes to a close, we asked a number of students to tell us about their best course from the past year.

Emily Cowan ’12

“Intro to Photography with Bill McDowell. I’m really interested in photography and this was the first class I’ve had since high school. Professor McDowell was just so accessible, really encouraging of student work and ideas and exploring.

Mike Webb ’13

“I’m an engineering major, so they are all pretty tough. I enjoyed my geomatics class, land surveying and environmental engineering, taught by Arne Bombliese. There are labs outside, hands-on, what you’re going to be doing for engineering; so we got a taste for what it’s actually going to be.

Naciim Benkreira ’12

“Permaculture with Keith Morris. It was definitely one of those classes with so much information that what you put in is what you get out.

Sara Sophia ’11

“BSAD 191, Strategy & Competition, taught by Allison Kingsley. It was a really interactive class that engaged all of the students and forced us to apply everything we’ve learned over the last four years.”

Sam Parady ’13

“Vermont Political Systems with Professor Frank Bryan. I’m a political science major and the course allowed me to understand Vermont in a comprehensive way. Vermont politics aren’t always correctly represented—it’s a fascinating mix of conservatism and progressive ideas, respect for the land. In the town meetings, you see the importance of both liberty and unity in this state.”

Julia Chin ’14

“Care and Prevention of Athletic Injuries with Kit Vreeland. The course was in my major, really informative, and taught very well.”

Anne Sedlack ’13

“Anthro 21, Human Cultures, with Luis Vivanco. Usually introductory anthro classes are very large, but that wasn’t the case in this one. It allowed us to have a very hands-on class with lots of discussion and activities.”

Scott Moran ’13

“Mass Communication, Soc 43. We learned about semiotics and explored how advertising works and plays into the commercialization of our culture.”