Words worth repeating from the Oxy community
| "I'm setting my sights on breaking that record." |
| "We're the majority—women, people of color, white men of conscience. The power is in your person. … We must be responsible citizens." |
| ÂÂ"The American Dream does not come easy for everyone." —Somer Greene '16 of Irvine, kicking off the inaugural TEDx Occidental—"Reinventing the American Dream in a Global Age"—with a stirring spoken-word piece about her grandmother's growing up in segregated Memphis, Tenn. There she learned that her dreams, while seemingly made of gossamer, are indestructible. The March 29 program in Thorne Hall included five student speakers. |
| ÂÂ"You truly are the embodiment of what this award is all about." —Jorge Gonzalez, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the College, presenting the first-ever Dr. O Humanitarian Award to Carolyn Adams, longtime executive assistant in the dean's office, at the dedication of Dr. O's Garden on April 18. Located in front of the Norris Hall of Chemistry, the space is dedicated to Tetsuo Otsuki, the former Bertha Harton Orr Professor of Chemistry who died in 2012. |
| When Barry Met Barry: Or, The Tale of the Orange Shirt Barry Maron '63's family has vacationed each summer on Martha's Vineyard, Mass., for the last 35 years, and one Sunday last August, the Minneapolis cardiologist decided to hit the links at the renowned Farm Neck Golf Club. On that day, Barack Obama '83 had the same idea—and when word got out that the president was close to finishing his round, Maron positioned himself with 10 other spectators at some distance from the 18th green. "Eventually, he saw us and—remarkably—approached our little group and started shaking hands down the line," recalls Maron, who "for some odd reason" had planned out exactly what he would say if such an occasion arose. "He shook my hand, and I said, 'Occidental College 1963.' It took him literally a microsecond to point to my chest, almost touching, and remark: 'You got the color.'" Only then did Maron realize that he was wearing a bright orange golf shirt: "That is the kind of mind required to get elected president against all odds," he says. "Twice." |
