Scripps Blogs

Saying thank you, one ode at a time

by Robert Stewart, Director

Last Friday the faculty gathered in the Scripps 107 conference room for a potluck send off celebrating the careers of three faculty members. Sandra Haggerty, Anne Cooper-Chen and Patricia Westfall are transitioning to the next stage of their lives. Long-time JSchool “Oder” Dru Evarts helped make the event educational and entertaining with the performance of her ode in honor of the three.

While many of the references in the ode might be considered “inside baseball,” Evarts’ words and sentiments on behalf of Sandra, Anne and Pat nevertheless can be enjoyed by any student or colleague of these three. I offer the ode here, with Dru’s permission.

Ode to Sandra Haggerty, Anne Cooper, and Pat Westfall

Read at a luncheon in their honor June 4, 2010

There once was a J-school glorious
Whose faculty was very borious,
Made up entirely of men,
All roosters, with no hen,
Nationally typical, not notorious.

She entered the formerly all-male lair;
The men were welcoming, not in despair;
She taught all the editing sections,
Served up knowledge like confections,
And, finally, she became the search chair.

Sandra traveled to four continents
To see if the press published without consent
Or was attacked by the people in charge
Or harassed by the citizens at large;
She used her findings as course content.

Anne most brilliantly contrived
During the fall in which she arrived
To go uptown for Halloween,
Thinking she would not be seen;
She found it noisy and beehived.

Anne taught and served in administrative posts,
But she loved international travel the most;
Charles spoke Chinese and Japanese,
So working in the Orient was a breeze;
In countless countries they have Anne toasts.

Pat arrived in Athens with her loving friend;
It had four legs and a tail at the end;
Now this species is plural — legs 8, tails 2;
Fezzik and Mandy, her friends and dogs on queue.
Their lovely country setting makes a perfect blend.

Pat taught magazine courses, advised our lab mag;
Helped bring in new media, and, just to brag,
She emphasized critical thinking, no doubt
Presuming the students knew what it is about;
A spirit like hers could just never sag.

Listen to the ode.

00 0, 0000