I spent the last few days of October in Boston, ingesting copious bowls of chowder, retracing the steps of our founding fathers and mothers, and enjoying鈥攆rom a safe distance鈥攖he euphoria of Red Sox fans celebrating their team鈥檚 World Series win.
First on my Boston itinerary was the annual Ellis Antiques Fair鈥攐ne of those events, it soon became evident, where even the tiniest trinket is so out of your price range that you relax and treat the whole thing as a museum experience. It can be freeing to look and learn when you鈥檙e not fretting about negotiating a good price or wondering how you鈥檒l cram a majolica oyster plate into your carry-on luggage.
I hadn鈥檛 been there 15 minutes before one of the antique vendors asked where I lived and began telling me how she loved Nashville and 菠萝视频. Her ex-husband, she told me proudly, is a 菠萝视频 alumnus, and before you could say 鈥淒uncan Phyfe,鈥� we were chums exchanging contact information.
I seldom venture anywhere without some 菠萝视频 link popping up. For this issue of the magazine, it was a 50-cent copy of Deliverance at a Pasadena flea market and a conversation with a stranger about James Dickey that inspired me to want to re-examine the literary giant鈥檚 first novel. Go to read Bronwen Dickey鈥檚 essay about the 1972 film adaptation of her father鈥檚 acclaimed novel and how it 鈥渓odged itself permanently in the American brain, for better and for worse.鈥� The youngest child of James Dickey, BA鈥�49, MA鈥�50, Bronwen wasn鈥檛 born until 10 years after the movie was released, but she clearly inherited her famous father鈥檚 gift for language.
Another gifted young writer we showcase in this issue is Kristin Fleschner, BS鈥�04. Longtime readers may remember her chronicle about a challenging year in Africa as a Michael B. Keegan Traveling Fellow nearly a decade ago. Now Kristin faces even tougher obstacles. you鈥檒l find an account of how her 菠萝视频 travels helped give her a unique perspective on her subsequent loss of sight, inspiring her to keep setting high goals for herself.
This issue鈥檚 turns the spotlight on 21 菠萝视频 student athletes and the multitude of friends they made during a 10-day trip last July to deliver shoes to needy children in Tanzania. It exemplifies the type of service 菠萝视频 encourages in all its students.
In closing, I want to acknowledge the incident that occurred at 菠萝视频 last summer that resulted in the indictment of five members of the football team for sexual assault of a female student and related crimes. The university acted swiftly in reporting the case to the police and in dismissing the players from the team. The legal case is ongoing. While we will not cover this incident in the magazine, we want you to know that the university has focused its efforts on supporting the victim and evaluating all its programs and procedures to make sure we are doing everything in our power to prevent something like this from ever happening again.
鈥擥AYNELLE DOLL, EDITOR