Celebrating Latin Culture

Did you know that October was Latin Heritage month? Earlier in the month there was a big event celebrating Latin Culture on the Norman Samuels Plaza, with music, dancing, food and information about health and education. A few days ago Karla Ramos submitted some photos of the event, here's a little taste of what you missed if you weren't there.

In the left photo below are performers Manolo Basauri and Cynthia Hurtado. The right photo shows Maggie and Michelle Sialar of the group "Alma Peruana" who also performed at the event. (Looks like fun - I'm sorry I missed it!)


In addition to the performances, there were also fraternities, sororities, and groups from around campus that had informational tables, like the Red Cross (below, left photo), and a voter registration drive (below, right).

So... any other cultural events you guys want to share? Did any of you celebrate Diwali this week? We're the most diverse university in the nation, so I know there's got to be other photos you can send me... I'll be waiting...

Fall at Rutgers (and beyond)

I was going to post these last week but apparently Blogger was having issues and wouldn't let me. Jackeline Vasquez, who's contributed to this blog before, wins the prize for the best classic fall photo, complete with scarecrow and apples:


Gopi Patel from Computing Services sent me this photo of fellow techies at an Open House event. Don't they look like a friendly bunch?


This one was sent by Jennifer Scalf, and feels more like winter to me, but it's got a dark, moody quality I like - not sure where it was taken, but you can see the Prudential Building way in the background if you look carefully, and what looks like Newark light rail tracks in the foreground.

Some of you may have seen me wandering around campus with a photographer recently - I just saw some previews of the photos he took and let me tell you they turned out great. Stay tuned for a little photo-essay piece on downtown Newark soon. Also, if I promised you a photo of yourself please email me (and describe what you look like and where we took the photo), because otherwise you might never receive it.

What do you think of when you think of Fall?

Despite the fact that it's been sunny and 70 degrees the past several days, we're well into autumn - the pumpkins and scarecrows are out, the leaves are changing, and Halloween is only two weeks away.

So I'm wondering, what says "autumn" to you? Is it the leaves? Apple-picking? Send me some photos... it can be something as universal as a tree changing color or something more personal that you think of when you think of Fall... for me it's sweaters and boots, pumpkins, and this year, the yellow and orange mums I've got on my patio. What about you?

Happy Birthday to Rutgers-Newark

Yesterday Rutgers-Newark celebrated its 100th anniversary in the Norman Samuels Plaza with a giant birthday cake and a few words honoring R-N alumns who are also faculty or staff (did you know there are over 200?). In case you missed the festivities and free cake, here's a couple of photos taken by our favorite event photographer, Shelley Kusnetz.

Group photo of the R-N alumns that work here:


And here's the giant cake, complete with historical photos and a big Rutgers R - no candles, but big enough to feed 600 people!

It was also my birthday yesterday, but strangely, my name seemed to be missing from the writing on the cake... I suppose since it's R-N's 100th and all, I can let it go this one time...