Blue Jay Buffet

Henri travels to 3 States over the Holidays with Stefanie

To celebrate the winter season this year, I traveled with JHU_Stefanie to three different states! 

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First, we packed up warm clothes, and drove up to NYC.  Her Hopkins’ friend Alan accompanied us.  He happens to be allergic to fuzzy bears, so I stayed cozy in JHU_Stefanie's purse.  The lights in the Big Apple were amazing though!  Time Square really does live up to all of its hype! 

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However, we only stayed for one day because we had to drive down to Delaware to go to a family friend's Christmas party. So the next day, I got to indulge in good old Southern cooking, and meet a lot of cool people. 

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Gilberto's family, Stefanie, and I then traveled to Harrisburg, Virginia.   There, we just spent the week getting a lot of sleep, eating delicious Colombian dishes, and playing a ton of board games.  It was great to get to know the extended family.  The uncles, aunts, cousins, and precious abuelita (grandma) were absolutely fantastic. 

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Harrisburg was really gorgeous, but it was also nice to have the opportunity to travel only an hour to hit the slopes.  Here is Elisa showing me how to ski. 

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We ended up celebrating Christmas twice, once in Virginia and the second time in Delaware.  We decided to settle back in Delaware and celebrate New Year's Eve nice and chill.  Then it was back to Baltimore, Maryland for Intersession.  JHU_Stefanie was working a lot in Admissions, so I hung around Mason Hall (the true home of my heart).  It was good to be back to familiar grounds.   

Eleanor Leaves the City and Heads to North Carolina

Hello again!  I’m glad to be safely back in Baltimore after several long weeks hanging out with JHU_Mandy.  She took me home to North Carolina to show me life outside of the city…

Here I am all dressed and ready for our trip!  I got shoved in a suitcase because Mandy’s orgo books took up too much room in her bookbag. We took a taxi to the airport and got on a plane for a short 45-minute hop over to North Carolina. 

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After we got to Mandy's house, she wanted me to make friends with the dog.  When I saw that she had stuffing from a toy on her nose, I decided it was safer to stay far from her reach. So I stayed upstairs away from where her little legs could take her.

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After a couple of days of lounging around the house hiding from the dog, it was finally time to see what it's like outside of a city.  We got in the car and drove about half an hour to Pittsboro, NC, and took this picture in front of their old town hall.  You know you're in a small southern town when the statue in front of the old building is dedicated to "our Confederate heroes."  I sure got a lot of funny looks from people driving by; it's like they've never seen a blue bear having its picture taken before!

Once Mandy had decided she'd subjected me to being stared at long enough, we explored downtown Pittsboro a bit.  We stopped in this really cool "vintage" store called Beggars and Choosers.  The main floor was where I sat for a picture, here they had all kinds of cool antiques.  There was a "Bargain Basement" full of random things, but my favorite part was the clothing on the upper level.  They had all kinds of crazy things up there, including dresses from the 1930s and 1940s (and dating up to today).  Mandy tried on dusty old dresses for awhile then finally decided we'd been there long enough once we hit about three hours.

On our way back home, we stopped at Jordan Lake, a large lake made from a dam.  It was quite chilly, but it was so peaceful!  I watched from afar while Mandy wandered around the beachy area and waded into the water...crazy.  After she could no longer feel her toes, it was time for us to head back home in time for dinner.

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So it's not the most detailed account as I would've liked to offer you, dear readers, but it sure does give a glimpse of life in a smaller town.  I managed to safely avoid the dog for the rest of my trip and make it back to Baltimore in one piece.  As "interesting" as our little excursion may have been, I'm certainly happy to be back in Baltimore where I have so much to do.

Henri participates in Culture Show preparations

After having gone with Kate to look at the MSE Library, Henri wanted to get an idea of what she does besides studying. As a result, Henri found himself trekking with Kate to Charles Commons's multipurpose one sunny Sunday afternoon to observe a Culture Show dance practice by the Filipino Students Association.

Upon entering the room, Henri took a look at some of the framed photographs on the multipurpose room's wall, including a photo of two Buddhist monks. After his idyllic museum-like experience, he realized that he and Kate were the only people who had shown up so far.

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Furthermore, there were several chairs arranged in a circle in the middle of the room! Oh, no! What should they do? Always the nobleman,

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Henri helped Kate push aside the chairs while waiting for other people to show up. However, there still weren't other people in the room when Kate and Henri were done pushing chairs. Kate thought that perhaps some people were lost trying to find their way to the multipurpose room.

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She started to make signs to hang in the Charles Commons hallway that would point in the direction of the room - and once again, Henri offered his assistance.

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Finally, two FSA members came into the room while carrying two large bamboo poles that are used in the Filipino folk dance tinikling. Once they were laid on the floor, Henri examined the poles up close to satisfy his curiosity. Not long afterwards, more people arrived at the multipurpose room, and Henri had the pleasure of watching them practice tinikling.

December at Hopkins

December at Hopkins was festive, spirited, and overwhelmingly exciting. As the semester wrapped up, there was a lot more activity on campus besides just studying for finals (though we do admit, the library was quite a hot spot): plays, sporting events, lighthearted competitions, and the annual lighting of the quad! Here are some of the highlights...:

Let's Light Up the Quad

Each December, to welcome students into the holiday season and bring a little festivity to the tree-lined campus, the Student Council and the Deans' offices hold the "Lighting of the Quadrangles." On December 3 at 9 pm, herds of students and people from the community emerged from the library and the warmth of their houses to watch Mrs. Brody "flip the switch" to illuminate lampposts that had been artfully wrapped in lights by the Facilities Management staff. To celebrate the occasion, a capella groups and the JHU Pep Band performed holiday songs, and everyone was invited to indulge in free hot beverages, donuts, and Christmas-tree cookies. Read more about it by clicking here.

Engineers Without Borders: In Time Magazine!

On November 29, Time Magazine Online published a story about the volunteer group Engineers Without Borders. EWB is a national non-profit group that focuses on low-tech, high-impact projects in the developing world, implemented almost entirely by student engineers. There are chapters of EWB at universities across the United States, but Hopkins was among the few featured in this article! Engineering professor William Ball told the magazine that more than half of his department's students have signed up with Hopkins' EWB chapter, which is engaged in long-term work to improve irrigation in rural South Africa. Read the rest of the article, and see what Time has to say about Hopkins students, by clicking here.

Forward-Thinking

The evening of December 3, dozens of students and faculty members turned out to partake in a discussion held by beloved Professor Steven David. He discussed the recent Annapolis Conference, its possible outcomes and its implications for Israel and the United States. Students reported feeling well-informed and inspired after listening to David's insights on the current issues.

"Rap Sessions:" On New Orleans and Baltimore

On December 5, The Center for Africana Studies presented "Rap Session," an intellectual student exchange on the black experience. The theme of the exchange was "Tragic Visions of the City: New Orleans and Baltimore." The session was facilitated by the Department of Political Science's Blake Ethridge, and dozens of students went to Café Azafran to discuss or merely observe. The event was jointly sponsored by Center for Africana Studies, the CAS Student Advisory Council, the Black Graduate Student Association, and the Black Student Union.

Who Will Become Johns Hopkins' Next Top Model?

For a little light-hearted competition in the midst of not-so-light-hearted finals, dozens of Hopkins undergraduates battled it out to claim the title of Hopkins' Next Top Model. Tyra Banks was a bit too busy to make it to the event...but this year, President Brody joined the judges' panel! The competition was held on December 4 in the Glass Pavilion, and model-wannabees strutted their stuff on a makeshift runway, to the cheering and jeering of their adoring peers.

Hopkins Ranked First in R&D Spending for 28th Year in a Row

According to new National Science Foundation ranking, released on December 3, Hopkins performed $1.49 billion in science, medical and engineering research in fiscal year 2006, making it the leading U.S. academic institution in total R&D spending for the 28th year in a row. The university also ranked first — once again — on the NSF's separate list of federally funded research and development. Read more about it by clicking here.

Blue Jays Expected to Reign Supreme

On December 13, the votes were counted: it was announced that the Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse team earned the number one spot in the 2008 Face-Off Yearbook Preseason Poll. This is the third time in the last four years that Hopkins has earned the number one ranking in Face-Off Yearbook's Preseason Poll (2005, 2006) and the fifth straight year the Blue Jays have been ranked in the top two (2nd in 2004 and 2007). We're all looking forward to a great season! Read more about the team by clicking here.

These Are Days

Name: Lori Smith (Gleason)

Parent of: Joshua Gleason - JHU Class of 2011

Hometown: Park Ridge, NJ

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First of all, at least as to my first blog,, I pay homage to my son Joshua’s music theme in his own freshman blog by choosing a song title – and also in keeping with his theme since his music taste is a bit eclectic, the song is not one that topped the billboard charts. Kudos to anyone that knows the song and who recorded it. But as I thought over the past few weeks of how to start my own blog and what I wanted to say, the lyrics just resonated with me –

these are days you’ll remember,
never before and never since, I promise, will the whole world be warm as this,
and as you feel it, you’ll know its true,
that you are blessed and lucky,
its true, that you are touched by something that will grow and bloom in you.

So while you are thinking about exactly how those lyrics apply to this incredibly exciting transition in your life (and assuming it is parents reading this, your son or daughter’s life), let me tell you a bit about myself and why I agreed to write this blog.

My name is Lori Gleason. As mentioned above my son Josh writes a freshman blog. He is currently a film and media studies major and considering a double major or minor in a number of different areas from writing seminars  to psychology to entrepreneurship (you can learn more about him in the freshman blogs). I also have another son, Brendan, who is a junior in high school so I am going through the college search process all over again – and like most families, my two boys have entirely different interests and different approaches to decision making so their search processes are following very different paths. I have to say  that I thought the second time would be easier – but it isn’t – it is just different.

With a second  search underway and a full time job as a lawyer in NYC, you may wonder why I decided to take time out of my busy schedule to write the blog? There is only one reason – in just a few short months (that go by way too quickly by the way), I have watched my son fall in love with Johns Hopkins and have seen him “grow and bloom” to bring you back to the lyrics above. I think that there are a lot of misconceptions out there as to what Johns Hopkins is and isn’t and hopefully through this blog I can help share with you some of the real experience of being part of the Hopkins family.

And I am serious when I use the term “family” – our path to Hopkins wasn’t a straight line. Josh didn’t even want to put Johns Hopkins on his list of schools to visit. I did all of the typical "helicopter parent" stuff -- bought all the magazines and books, sat and read them before Josh even made his way through them and started to try to push him in a certain direction. If he said he might want to pursue a career in x or major in y, I had the list ready and the facts to back up why a particular school might be a good choice. But Josh had his own lists –- in the end his criteria came down to just a few things -– in or near a city, preferably with a campus, a great communications, film and/or writing program, preferably no core curriculum, and someplace he would be challenged and be with his peers (and the last one is not me even if it sounds like a parent speaking – this goes to wanting to “fit”).

Well you look at that list and you say Hopkins fits the criteria, but it didn’t actually get on our list –- every time I mentioned it, Josh said “Mom, I am not going to Hopkins. It is too much of a science school." So we looked at all the typical choices -- Columbia, Brown, Northwestern, etc, etc. Then Josh spent 6 weeks at Georgetown in a summer program and one of the schools they took him to visit was Hopkins. That afternoon on the bus ride back to Georgetown I got a call from Josh saying he had just been to Hopkins and it was amazing -- “Mom, did you know about their writing seminars program… and their film program is growing! Did you know Wes Craven went there and gave them a lot of money?”

I hung up the phone and jumped and down for joy because at that point we had not yet visited some of the other “peer institutions” and this was one of the first “top tier” schools that Josh had gotten excited about. But no, the story doesn’t end there -- because over the course of the rest of the summer, Josh got excited about almost every school he visited -- the last school seen seemed to be the first choice for at least a week or two until we moved to the next city. (Other than University of Chicago – sorry, but that one got crossed off pretty quickly).

In keeping with the theme, the last school visited, Columbia, became his early decision school – which never really made sense (see “no core curriculum” in list above). Alas, he did not get in to Columbia and despite the disappointment, life went on and another 8 or 9 applications got submitted. He, like most Hopkins students and anyone who is considering Hopkins, got into a number of schools, but the choice came down to two – by the time late March rolled around. Josh continued his mantra of “Mom, I will be happy wherever I go so don’t worry” -- but I knew (and at the end he admitted) that there were clearly only a couple of front-runners -- and Hopkins was one of them. The others were very different – one was a small liberal arts school (that while not in a city had somehow captured and held his attention throughout the process), one was a smaller school in a small city, and the other was a large school right outside a big city. In the end, the choice was narrowed to Hopkins and the small liberal arts school.

The decision process was actually quite quick – those acceptances came in within 24 hours of each other and for the next 48 to 72 hours it seemed like Josh spent every waking hour on  the Internet scouring for any info he could find on both schools – and after hours and hours on Facebook and Hopkins Interactive and whatever else he could find (thank you Admissions_Daniel and Admissions_Mark), he made a decision. While we had made arrangements to go to open houses for both schools, Josh didn’t want to wait. He asked me if he could send in his deposit to Hopkins ASAP. How could a mother refuse such a request?

So did he make the right choice ? Absolutely, and if I wasn’t sure of it when I dropped him off on move-in day or when I visited for family weekend, I am sure of it now. This blog is going on way too long, but I do need to make my final point about the Hopkins family. As you can anticipate, move-in day is quite stressful – not just for your son or daughter, but even more so for you as a parent. It is the time when you have to admit that you have to let go, at least just a little and let your child spread their wings. But Hopkins really eased the process. As the cars lined up to drop off trunk-loads of stuff, a student came and whisked (I believe in my anxiety ridden state, I probably looked at it more as stole) my son away so that he could register and pick up his J-card and keys. Parents stayed with the cars until it was your turn to unload.

While we sat there, a nice man and his wife came riding up on bikes to greet us. We thought it was perhaps a professor or junior staff member, but it was none other than Bill and Wendy Brody, the president of the university and his wife who stopped to talk to the parents in every car they passed. As our car progressed a little closer to Josh’s dorm we were greeted by another very nice woman who introduced herself as the dean of academic affairs. Not a bad way to start off. They then ran various programs to tell us about the school, security on campus, and whatever else we needed to hear as parents to ease our minds. But it still wasn’t easy to say goodbye particularly because I could tell that Josh was suddenly showing the first cracks in the armor and perhaps questioning whether he fit – had he picked a school where everyone was smarter than him (had he somehow scammed the system), was he really going to like it here. But I bravely walked to the car (strong-armed a bit by my husband and Josh’s brother), and went home.

Over the next few days I found reasons to email Josh frequently but I resisted calling. I felt this allowed him to know I was there and me to know he was O.K., without being controlling or intrusive (something I now realize my own poor parents couldn’t do 30 years ago and how hard it must have been on them). Over the course of the next few weeks, when we spoke to Josh there was still a bit of an edge, anxiety in his voice, some concern about whether he could get all his work done, but by the time he came home for fall break in early October, he was a Blue Jay through and through and he was an entirely different person – not just his beard and long hair – but he talked incessantly about his classes and his friends and all the things he wanted to do and see and learn. A whole new world had been opened up for him and he was flourishing and it has only gotten better since.

If I had any lingering doubts, I had the opportunity to be a fly on the wall over the Christmas break while others (from family members to friends) asked Josh how he liked Hopkins – and the answer was always a resoundingly “I love it!" I could tell it wasn’t just a line – Hopkins was the right fit and he is now part of the Hopkins family as am I (and I don’t take that lightly – because before I end I have to get in one little jab – I am a Duke law grad so there is a bit of rivalry come lacrosse season – more on that later in the year).