Sewanee Community Council Takes Historic Vote

by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

“This is a historic moment,” said Vice-Chancellor John McCardell at the March 21 meeting of the Sewanee Community Council. “To the best of my knowledge, this is the very first time this body has taken a binding vote to allocate taxpayer dollars for community purposes.” The council approved allocating $9,975 to fund seven community enhancement projects. In other business taken up by the council at the March 21 meeting, Duck River Electric Membership Corporation (DREMC) President and CEO Michael Watson addressed residents concerns about electric and magnetic field (EMF) radiation; and Adam Tucker presented an initial analysis of public safety expenditures.

In June 2014, the Sewanee Community Council approved increasing the municipal service fee paid by all leaseholders to generate $10,000 to be used by the council for physical improvements and amenities on the Domain. In an almost unanimous vote—one vote against and one abstention—the council voted to approve partial or full funding for seven community enhancement projects recommended by the review committee. See “Seven Community Enhancement Projects Funded” for details about the projects and disbursement of the funds.

Addressing residents concerns about EMF radiation from the Sewanee power station, DREMC’s Michael Watson said, “Concern about EMF radiation was a big issue 25 years ago. Subsequent research has shown the 60-hertz frequency we use has no adverse health effects.”

Peggy Bonds, president of the Sewanee Children’s Center, said the Center had a family withdraw its children from SCC because of concerns about radiation from the nearby power station. Struggling with comparing research statistics implying adverse health effects and World Health Organization (WHO) data using a different frame of reference, Bonds said, “What the center wants is a number that is comprehensible within WHO recommendations.”

“We’ll help you translate the statistics into data you can understand,” Watson said.

Steve Oden, DREMC director of member services, offered to meet with parents at the center, bring a meter to test EMF levels and help them interpret the results. 

Adam Tucker, chair of the Fees and Services Committee, reported on an initial analysis of the cost of municipal services in Sewanee compared to similar communities. Formed as a subcommittee of the University Lease Committee, the Fees and Services Committee wanted to determine “if Sewanee residents are getting a fair deal for the services they receive for what they pay,” Provost John Swallow said. 

Tucker’s preliminary report revealed some of the challenges in obtaining this information about other communities. He said that cities and towns often organize their budgets differently, making it hard to do an “apples-to-apples” comparison. Even determining the population of Sewanee is a challenge. 

Tucker pointed out that the parameters of the Sewanee community were defined in at least two ways: residents on the Domain, including students, and residents in the broader 37375 zip code area.

Council representatives pointed out excellent fire protection resulted in Sewanee area residents having lower insurance rates, and the municipal service fee paid by leaseholders is far less than what they would pay in municipal taxes.

Vice-Chancellor McCardell stressed this was only a preliminary assessment, and the council could expect future reports from the committee.

Fees and Services Committee Chair Tucker serves as a community representative on the University Lease Committee. The other Fees and Services Committee members are Stephen Burnett, Dennis Meeks, Barbara Schlicting, John Swallow and Nate Wilson. All except Burnett also serve on the Lease Committee.

The council’s next meeting is April 27.

University Taps Gentry as Dean of Students

The University announced the appointment of W. Marichal Gentry, a 1986 Sewanee graduate, to be dean of students, effective July 1. Gentry is currently associate vice president for student life at Yale University.

“I am delighted to welcome Marichal Gentry back to Sewanee,” said Vice-Chancellor John McCardell. “He is one of the most experienced and respected individuals now working in the area of student life. We have been colleagues in the past, and I am confident that his leadership and judgment will enrich not only the experience of our students, but also the quality of life on this campus.”

Former dean Eric Hartman is on administrative leave this semester as he prepares for a new role as vice president for risk management and institutional effectiveness. Becky Spurlock is currently serving as acting dean of students. “Becky has made a real contribution at Sewanee,” said Terry Papillon, dean of the college. “I appreciate her taking on the responsibilities of dean this semester.” At Yale, Gentry is the associate vice president and dean of student affairs. He has planned and implemented programs for all students in the university, played a leading role in advancing Yale’s commitment to the values of community and diversity, and overseen the Resource Office on Disabilities, the LGBTQ Resource Center and the Woodbridge Fellows program. 

“I am excited about returning to Sewanee because I believe in Sewanee’s purpose, its authenticity and in being part of a community that truly is committed to the development of students through the rigors of a liberal arts education. I’m excited to return to a community where honor and integrity are valued,” said Gentry. “And I’m honored to work again with many Sewanee colleagues with whom I had the privilege of working when I first began my career in higher education.”

Before moving to Yale, Gentry was associate dean of the college at Middlebury College; there, he was the college’s judicial officer, and he also was asked to chair a review of Middlebury’s Honor Code. He has a B.A. from the University of the South, where he had a joint major in political science and French, a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina and has completed a certificate from the Harvard Institute for Management and Leadership in Education. Gentry was awarded the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Medallion for character, leadership and service to the University and the community in his senior year at Sewanee.

Gentry was assistant director of admission in Sewanee’s office of admission from 1989 to 1992, and created and implemented the first active University program to attract qualified minority students. He has also served his alma mater as an alumni officer, a member of the board of trustees, a member of the Vice-Chancellor’s Visiting Committee and a keynote speaker for “Beyond the Gates.”

Eight faculty and staff members served as an informal search committee that advised on the appointment of the new dean. 

“I am so grateful to this group,” McCardell said. “Its work has resulted in a spectacular appointment.”  At Yale, Gentry is the associate vice president and dean of student affairs. He has planned and implemented programs for all students in the university, played a leading role in advancing Yale’s commitment to the values of community and diversity, and overseen the Resource Office on Disabilities, the LGBTQ Resource Center and the Woodbridge Fellows program. 

“I am excited about returning to Sewanee because I believe in Sewanee’s purpose, its authenticity and in being part of a community that truly is committed to the development of students through the rigors of a liberal arts education. I’m excited to return to a community where honor and integrity are valued,” said Gentry. “And I’m honored to work again with many Sewanee colleagues with whom I had the privilege of working when I first began my career in higher education.”

Before moving to Yale, Gentry was associate dean of the college at Middlebury College; there, he was the college’s judicial officer, and he also was asked to chair a review of Middlebury’s Honor Code. He has a B.A. from the University of the South, where he had a joint major in political science and French, a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina and has completed a certificate from the Harvard Institute for Management and Leadership in Education. Gentry was awarded the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Medallion for character, leadership and service to the University and the community in his senior year at Sewanee.

Gentry was assistant director of admission in Sewanee’s office of admission from 1989 to 1992, and created and implemented the first active University program to attract qualified minority students. He has also served his alma mater as an alumni officer, a member of the board of trustees, a member of the Vice-Chancellor’s Visiting Committee and a keynote speaker for “Beyond the Gates.”

Eight faculty and staff members served as an informal search committee that advised on the appointment of the new dean. 

“I am so grateful to this group,” McCardell said. “Its work has resulted in a spectacular appointment.”

Seven Projects Awarded Funding by Sewanee Community Council

At the March 21 meeting, the Sewanee Community Council voted to allocate $9,975 to fund seven community enhancement projects. The Sewanee Community Funding Project Committee, chaired by Sarah Marhevsky, reviewed 18 proposals, as well as “half a dozen informal suggestions” before reaching a decision about which projects to recommend for funding. 

“We’re grateful to everyone who submitted ideas,” Marhevsky said. In assessing proposals, the committee took into account community impact, need, cost and sustainability.

The committee recommended and the council approved the following projects for funding.

The Elliott Park playground rebuild, a project of the Sewanee Civic Association, was awarded $5,000 to improve Elliott Park using GameTime Playground Design’s play structure and installation. Civic Association Parks Committee Chair Stephen Burnett requested $7,500; the full cost of this portion of the project will total more than $60,000.

The Sewanee Dog Pound was awarded a $2,000 grant to improve its facilities. Applying on behalf of numerous like-minded community supporters, Lynn Vogel submitted the proposal for the pound, which houses dogs near the Equestrian Center. Plans call for installing K9 Kennel Store’s Pro Line Kennels to help maintenance, safety and sanitation. The pound has not had substantive updates since its creation in the early 1990s. Vogel requested $8,000.

Thurmond Library was awarded $1,000 to outfit its new space in the Otey Parish Claiborne House with equipment and furnishings that will make it  attractive, well-stocked, comfortable and electronically up-to-date. Thurman Library board member Karen Keele drafted the application; Keele requested $5,000.

On behalf of the Sewanee Children’s Center, a proposal from the teachers, coordinated by Carrie Mauzy, was awarded $650 for the creation and installation of a Little Free Library in the Sewanee village that will be paired with a butterfly garden. This project will involve both SCC children and the community. The center received the full amount of its request.

The Sewanee Community Center was awarded $610 to turn an under-utilized room into communal space for a variety of community uses, including small group meetings, classes and counseling sessions. Center Manager Rachel Petropolous drafted the proposal. The center was awarded the full amount of its request.

Michelle Calhoun, applying on behalf of the “Moms’ Group,” was awarded $515.95 for a special needs swing for a boy in the community. Physical Plant Services has agreed to install the swing at the Woodlands playground. 

Caroline Hiers was awarded $200 for the completion of her Girl Scout Silver Award Project, which will provide structural and informational updates at the kiosks at the University gates, Morgan’s Steep and Green’s View. Hiers was awarded the full amount of her request. She will provide the labor, posthole digger and router.

“We’re excited about the wide range of things we could fund,” Marhevsky said.

In discussion about whether the council would reimburse the awardees after project completion or provide the funds up front, Vice Chancellor John McCardell suggested in cases where the council only agreed to fund a portion of the project, the funds could be provided at the point in the project implementation where the funds were needed.

Members of the Sewanee Community Funding Project Committee were selected by Vice-Chancellor John McCardell and provost John Swallow. In addition to Marhevsky, the committee included Annie Armour, Pixie Dozier, Michael Hurst, Dennis Meeks, Theresa Shackelford, Sarah Sherwood and Adam Tucker. Armour, Dozier, Hurst, Meeks and Shackelford also serve on the Community Council.

—Reported by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

Shackelford Reaches 500 Wins

Already the winningest coach in Sewanee athletic history, women’s tennis head coach Conchie Shackelford earned her career win No. 500 on March 22, as No. 14 Sewanee defeated No. 23 Mary Washington, 6-3. She is 500-183 in her 29th season at Sewanee. This year, the women’s tennis team is 10-3 and ranked No. 14.

“I couldn’t be happier doing anything else other than coaching tennis,” Shackelford said. “I have the perfect job for me.” She has led Sewanee to 28 straight winning seasons, which is also the most in school history. 

“I give a lot of credit to my husband,” she said about John Shackelford, head coach of the men’s tennis team. “He coaches with me, helps me recruit and takes care of so many things for me each day.” John Shackelford is second to his wife as Sewanee’s all-time winningest coach in any sport. His record stands at 481-273.

Shackelford has been her league’s coach of the year four times.

“Under Conchie Shackelford’s leadership, the Sewanee’s women’s tennis program has flourished with extraordinary accomplishments on the conference and national levels,” said Mark Webb, Sewanee athletic director. “Reaching the milestone of 500 wins places her in a rare category for college coaches in any sport. We congratulate her on this momentous achievement.”

Shackelford’s teams have finished in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings for the last 27 years. She has coached three national senior players of the year, three conference players of the year and 12 players who have been All-Americans a total of 36 times.

“I really love being with my players,” she said. “We spend a lot of time together, on the courts and traveling in the vans, and we have a good time.” 

Shackelford began coaching on a part-time basis at Sewanee after moving here with her husband. They were both recent graduates of University of North Carolina-Wilmington. 

“My salary that first year was $3,500,” Shackelford recalled, “but the money didn’t mean anything to me. I wanted to coach.” She has coached hundreds of young women during her career and has guided dozens to national and conference awards both on and off the court.

Reading by Next Williams Playwright-in-Residence

Professional actors will read excerpts from playwright Cheri Magid’s plays at 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 31, in Gailor Auditorium. Magid will be the 2015–16 Tennessee Williams Playwright-in-Residence at Sewanee. 

The actors will read from “The Tavern Wench,” in which a sailor falls for an erotica writer (but is he falling for her or the seduction of her stories?), and “The Chosen Ones,” in which a doctor of Chinese medicine is coerced into working as Heinrich Himmler’s private physician. Their sessions become a battle of wits and manipulation with the world stage in balance. The readings are for mature audiences only. A reception will follow the readings.

Magid was a 2013–14 Audrey Resident at New Georges, a 2014 Walter E. Dakin Fellow at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and is a member of the Dorothy Strelsin Writers Group at Primary Stages. “Lydia, or the Girl at the Wheel,” Magid’s radio play about the earliest days of burlesque, aired on National Public Radio. 

Magid is currently the area head of undergraduate curriculum at New York University’s Dramatic Writing Program. 

This event is made possible by the Walter E. Dakin Memorial Fund and presented by the Sewanee English department.

Mountain Goat Trail Walk & Run on April 4

The newest section of the Mountain Goat Trail will be the site of the second Annual Mountain Goat Trail Run and Walk on Saturday, April 4. The event is a fund-raiser for the Mountain Goat Trail Alliance; it is sponsored by Mountain Outfitters. Registration begins at 9 a.m. (runners at Angel Park in Sewanee, walkers at Pearl’s Cafe), with the start at 10 a.m. Cost is $15 for students, $25 early registration, and $35 day of the event. 

Prizes will be given for the fastest male and female finishers of the 5-mile course. A costume category has been added to this year’s event: The best costume worn by a walker or runner will receive a prize.

Mountain Outfitters will host finish-line festivities, including drawings, free snacks for the runners and food for sale from Dave’s Modern Tavern’s taco truck. To learn more or to register go to <mountaingoattrail.org/run>.

Explore Shakerag

This is a great time to visit Shakerag Hollow for a last look at winter botany and a first glimpse of wildflowers, which might include bloodroot, trout lily, Dutchman’s breeches and spring beauties. 

Meet Jon Evans at 1 p.m. on Sunday, March 29, at Green’s View, and get an introduction to winter botany, as the woody plants will still mostly be bare of leaf. 

Mary Priestley will lead a walk in Shakerag Hollow starting at 10 a.m., Saturday, April 4; her focus will be on wildflowers. Shakerag’s early spring wildflowers are considered to be the most beautiful in the region.

Both hikes will meet at the Green’s View parking lot (past the golf course). The hike is a moderate-to-strenuous two miles, with one fairly challenging incline.

For more information call Yolande Gottfried at the Sewanee Herbarium, (931) 598-3346, or email <ygottfri@sewanee.edu>. Directions are available on the Herbarium website, <lal.sewanee.edu/herbarium/>, under the calendar of events.

SCCF Announces 2015 Grant Round

The South Cumberland Community Fund (SCCF) welcomes grant requests from nonprofit organizations to support initiatives that strengthen community and improve lives in the region.
The deadline for applications is May 1; final selection of grant recipients will be made by August 1.
“Grant funding is one of the main ways that the South Cumberland Community Fund cultivates leadership and resources across the Plateau. We’re proud of our collaborations with about 30 community organizations, and our almost $300,000 in direct grants,” said Margaret Woods, SCCF board chair.
All grant applicants for 2015 must attend an information session designed to ensure they understand what is required in an application. There will be three sessions, all held at the Coalmont Community Center: 10 a.m., Saturday, March 28; 5 p.m., Tuesday, April 7; and 5 p.m., Tuesday, April 21.
The SCCF has seven priority areas for its grants: Building Our Sense of Community; Strengthening Our Economy; Developing the Potential of Our Youth; Tapping the Potential of Our Elders; Conserving the Past; Enlarging the Vision of the Future; and Meeting Basic Needs. For more information, visit <southcumberland​communityfund.org/grants>.

“Sewanee Remembers” Offers Range of Events to Commemorate Holocaust

“Sewanee Remembers” is a week-long commemoration of Yom Ha’Shoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) to be held Monday, March 30, through Friday, April 3. Events planned include public performances, student research and lectures. All events are free and open to the public. For a complete schedule of events and information about locations, go to <http://yomhashoah.sewanee.edu>. This year is the 70th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust.
At 7:30 p.m., Monday, March 30, at Proctor Hill Theater in the Tennessee Williams Center, University of the South professors David Meola (history), Dan Backlund and Peter Smith (theatre arts), along with their classes, will present a spoken-word project bringing short, meaningful writings of people involved in the Holocaust. More than just a dramatic reading of victim’s diaries and memoirs, this project will weave together the stories of numerous personalities, including perpetrators and bystanders.
The week’s keynote speaker is Dagmar Herzog, distinguished professor of history and the Daniel Rose Faculty Scholar at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. Her talk will take place at 4:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 1, in Gailor Auditorium. She will lecture on her current research titled “Post-Holocaust Anti-Semitism and the Psychiatry of Trauma.” Herzog writes on the histories of religion, the Holocaust and its aftermath, and gender and sexuality. Her most recent book is “Sexuality in Europe: A Twentieth-Century History,” and she is currently working on a transatlantic study of psychoanalysis, trauma and desire in the postwar era.
Tom Lenda, a survivor of the Terezin (Theresienstadt) ghetto-concentration camp (located in what is now the Czech Republic), will be in Sewanee to give a talk at 6 p.m., Thursday, April 2, in the University Arts Gallery. Lenda is a noted Holocaust speaker and he has also written a memoir, “Children on Death Row: Holocaust and Beyond.” Following the talk, a production based on Lenda’s memoir, “Carrying the Remains: One Boy’s Promise to the Children of Terezin,” will take place at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, April 2, in Guerry Auditorium. This production is arranged by Jim Carlson (department of music) and choreographed by Courtney World (theatre arts). It will take audience members through Lenda’s memories of living in the dystopian world of the Nazi camps. Music, narration (performed by David Landon, theatre arts), and dance will create a performance unlike others before.
Through generous support, 40 children’s drawings from Terezin will be on display, on loan from the Jewish Museum of Prague. These images will be displayed from Sunday, March 29, through Thursday, April 30, in duPont Library. These images are not located in a central area, but have been distributed throughout this public space.
Four University of the South students will present their individual research on the Holocaust at 9:30 a.m., Thursday, April 2, in Gailor Auditorium.
A public discussion on anti-Semitism will be held at 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 31, on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. Meola will give a short lecture on the “History of Anti-Semitism before the Nazi Era,” and Herzog will speak on “Nazi Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust.”
An Indigogo campaign is underway to raise funds to make 1,000 DVDs of these remembrance events to be distributed to schools across Tennessee and the country. For more information on this campaign, go to <https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/carrying-the-remains-dvd-project>.
The University Lectures Committee, Sewanee Arts, the Dean of Students, the Dean of the College, the Mellon Globalization Forum, Middle Tennessee State University and Sewanee’s departments of history, German, theatre arts, music and religion sponsor this event.
Contact Meola at 598-1262 or <dameola@sewanee.edu> for more information.

Sewanee Town Planning Meeting

Sewanee residents are invited to attend a town meeting from 10 to 11 a.m. Saturday, March 28, at the American Legion Hall (36 University Avenue).
The meeting will be led by Brian Wright from Town Planning and Urban Design Collaborative. The firm has been hired to assist with the implementation of the Sewanee Village Action Plan that was presented to the Sewanee community at a meeting last September. The action plan can be viewed at <http://www.sewanee.edu/provost/2014-sewanee-village-action-plan/>.
All are welcome to attend to learn about the next steps in the process.

Bluebell Island Tour

The annual tour of Bluebell Island will be held on Saturday, March 28, at 10 a.m. This event is sponsored by South Cumberland Regional Land Trust (SCRLT).
Located on the Elk River, the island is regionally famous for its plethora of wildflowers, especially Virginia Bluebells. Meet at 10 a.m. at the gated entrance to the Tyson Foods parking lot on TN-50/US 64 W, just south of exit 127 off I-24 near the bridge over the Elk River, about 2 miles west of I-24. Instructions and a map are available at <scrlt.org>.
Rain may cancel this event if the river is too high to cross over.

Noted Author to Speak at SAS

This year’s Bishop Reynolds Forum speaker will be author and journalist Richard Louv. Louv will be speaking to the St. Andrew’s-Sewanee community at 8 a.m., Friday, April 10, in McCrory Hall for the Performing Arts. The public is invited to attend.
Louv is the author of eight books, including “Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder” and “The Nature Principle: Reconnecting with Life in a Virtual Age.”
As co-founder and chairman emeritus of the Children & Nature Network, Louv has catalyzed the creation of an international movement to connect people and communities to the natural world.
Louv appears frequently on national radio and television programs, including the Today Show, CBS Evening News, and NPR’s Fresh Air, and often addresses national and international gatherings. In 2010, he delivered the plenary keynote at the national conference of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and in 2012 was keynote speaker at the first White House Summit on Environmental Education.
In 2008, he received the Audubon Medal; past recipients include Rachel Carson, E.O. Wilson and Jimmy Carter.
Louv’s appearance is made possible by the support of The Friends of South Cumberland State Park. Louv will also be the keynote speaker at Trails & Trilliums on Saturday, April 11.
The Bishop Reynolds Forum brings a prominent speaker to campus each year to engage students and the community in a topic of current interest. The Bishop Reynolds Forum was established through an endowment in memory of The Rt. Rev. George Reynolds, the late Bishop of Tennessee and a former SAS trustee and parent. Reynold’s daughter Katherine was a graduate of the SAS Class of 1988.

Hunger Walk to Benefit Area Food Banks

The Monteagle Sewanee Rotary Club will host the First Annual Hunger Walk benefiting both the Sewanee-based Community Action Committee (CAC) and Monteagle-based Morton Memorial Food Pantry on Saturday, April 25.
“Morton distributes 8,000 pounds of food a month on the Mountain, and CAC distributes another 1,000 pounds a month. Rotary wants to help raise awareness of poverty and hunger in our communities. That’s why we’re so excited about this event,” said John Goodson, president of Monteagle Sewanee Rotary. “We hope everyone will come out and join us.”
Walkers will register at 9 a.m. in Sewanee at the Sewanee Angel Park. The Hunger Walk will begin at 10 a.m. with walkers traveling from Sewanee’s Angel Park onto the Mountain Goat Trail and walking to Pearls Café and returning to Otey Parish, a total of five miles. The Hunger Walk will end at Otey Parish, where a complimentary lunch will be served to all registrants.
Registration is $10 in advance or on the morning of The Hunger Walk. Interested participants can register and find more information online at <www.thehungerwalk.com> or on Facebook at <facebook.com/sewanee hungerwalk> or by calling 968-1127.

Innovative Chamber Music Comes to Sewanee

The University of the South Performing Arts Series presents an evening of innovative chamber music with Stewart Copeland, drummer and founding member of The Police, and internationally renowned pianist Jon Kimura Parker. Copeland and Parker will perform in Sewanee’s Guerry Auditorium at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, March 28.
Stewart Copeland, rock-star drummer turned acclaimed film composer and filmmaker, was ranked by Rolling Stone magazine as the fifth greatest drummer of all time. He will be joined by pianist Jon Kimura Parker, media personality and veteran of the international concert stage, to produce engaging and cutting-edge chamber music. The project features Copeland’s compositions, as well as standard classical repertoire, including Parker’s brilliant suite based on Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring.”
Together, Copeland and Parker explore the role of improvisation in classical music. Instrumentation includes piano, violin, double-bass and percussion, as well as the electronic valve instrument.
Stewart Copeland has spent three decades in the forefront of contemporary music as a rock star, acclaimed film composer and filmmaker, and a much sought-after collaborator in the disparate worlds of opera, ballet, world music and chamber music composition. His career includes the sale of more than 60 million records worldwide and numerous awards, including five Grammys.
A veteran of the international concert stage, Jon Kimura Parker has performed as guest soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, toured Europe with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and André Previn, and shared the stage with Jessye Norman at Berlin’s Philharmonie.
Tickets are $25/adults, $20/seniors, $10/students. (Sewanee students, faculty and staff are free with a University ID card.)

Marie Ponsot to Receive 29th Aiken Taylor Award

Marie Ponsot is the recipient of this year’s Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry, announced the Sewanee Review. Known for her poetry and her translation, Marie Ponsot is a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and in 2013 won the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, one of the most prestigious awards in American poetry.

Sewanee Vice-Chancellor John McCardell will present the award to Ponsot at 4:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 25, in Convocation Hall; after the presentation, Ponsot will give a reading, and there will be a reception in her honor. 

On Tuesday, March 24, David Yezzi, poet and critic of Johns Hopkins University and the New Criterion, will give a lecture on Ponsot’s career at 4:30 p.m., in the McGriff Alumni House, also followed by a reception. At both events there will be opportunities to purchase books. 

Twenty-nine years ago, through the generosity of Dr. K. P. A. Taylor, the Sewanee Review established an annual award honoring a distinguished American poet for the work of a career. Howard Nemerov was the first poet honored and was followed by Richard Wilbur, Anthony Hecht and W. S. Merwin. The other recipients of this important prize include Maxine Kumin, Wendell Berry, Donald Hall, Louise Glück, Billy Collins, William Logan, Debora Greger and  last year, Dana Gioia.

A native New Yorker, Ponsot moved to Paris for three years at the end of World War II—a decision that altered the course of her life. On her Atlantic crossing she became friends with Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who later published her first book of poems, “True Minds” (1957), on his City Lights Books press. In Paris she met the man who would be her husband for a time and father to seven of her children. While raising her children as a single mother, she never gave up on poetry.  “I did learn one great, crucial thing that I think every writer should be taught; that you can always find 10 minutes in the day to write,” Ponsot said. 

And write she did: six collections of poetry; more than 35 translations of fairy tales and fables from the French to English; and two books on the fundamentals of writings, still used in classrooms today. Ponsot taught in the graduate programs at Queens College for 30 years, as well as at Beijing United University, the Poetry Center of the 92nd Street Y, New York University, and, most recently, Columbia University. Her honors include the Delmore Schwartz Memorial Prize, a creative writing grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Shaughnessy Medal of the Modern Language Association and the Robert Frost Medal for Lifetime Achievement from the Poetry Society of America. 

Ponsot is a formalist—saying that forms “create an almost bodily pleasure in the poet. ... The forms are not restrictive. They pull things out of you. They help you remember.” She also thinks poetry should be deeply pleasurable, even fun: “We need to get back to the joy of being a poet—not have it always be written in anguish, or have to be mean spirited or edgy and black-browed and ominous. ... Poetry should just be a great joy, and we should have perfect freedom to enjoy it in that simpleminded way.”

For more information go to <re​view.sewanee.edu/about/aikentaylor>.

SUD Seeks Solution for Midway Customers -- Low Water Pressure in Community Continues

by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

At the Feb. 24 meeting of the Board of Commissioners of the Sewanee Utility District of Franklin and Marion Counties, commissioner Randall Henley again raised the issue of low water pressure in the Midway community. “Midway residents feel like they’re being overlooked because they’re off campus,” Henley said.

Commissioner Ken Smith agreed with Henley’s concern.

Nearly three years ago, SUD set in motion plans to install a pressure boosting station in the Midway community. After repeated efforts to get the necessary easements failed, SUD abandoned the project.

SUD manager Ben Beavers said another remedy would be a water tank. To be effective, the tank would need to be elevated 120 feet, Beavers said.

Relocating the pumping station would be the less costly option, Beavers said, but relocating the site will increase expenses for electric power, tree trimming and tree removal. Beavers will talk with the University about relocating the site to University land. If the University agrees to the project, Beavers will contact Duck River Electric about the cost of supplying electric service to the site. Beavers estimated the cost, excluding power and related relocation expenses, at $36,000.

In regular business, new board member Ronnie Hoosier was sworn in to serve a four-year term as SUD commissioner.

The board elected the following slate of officers to serve in 2015: Karen Singer, president; Art Hanson, vice president; and Ken Smith, secretary.

Forestry professor Scott Torreano updated the board on the trial wetlands slated for construction at the SUD wastewater treatment plant in conjunction with a research project undertaken jointly by the University of the South and the University of Georgia. The University signed the licensing agreement allowing the researchers to conduct the project on SUD property. Beavers will present the document to SUD’s attorney, Don Scholes, for final review. Torreano said the design process is well underway, and he anticipates the contract with the construction firm will be signed in the near future. 

Reporting on the automated meter reading technology recently installed by SUD, Beavers said 20 residential meters were not “communicating” properly, and the receiving unit registered the customers’ use as zero. The customers will receive a revised bill and given a year to make catch-up payments, if needed.

With data adjusted to reflect the residential metering error and a software error resulting in inaccurate reporting for two-inch commercial meters, SUD showed a decrease in unaccounted-for water loss in 2014, Beavers said. Unaccounted-for water loss is the difference between water produced and water registered as passing through customer meters, meaning SUD is not paid for the water. SUD is aggressively pursuing leak detection to further reduce unaccounted-for loss.

The SUD board meets next on March 24.

Monteagle Sewanee Rotary Hosts Cajun Supper

The Monteagle Sewanee Rotary Club is hosting a Cajun Supper on March 7 on the grounds of the Sewanee American Legion and the adjacent Angel Park. 

The event is a fund-raiser for Rotary’s collaboration with the Haiti Outreach project, which is coordinated by the University of the South’s biology department and outreach office. At the supper, live music will provide a festive atmosphere, while diners enjoy the freshly prepared Cajun fare, including crawfish étouffée or vegetarian red beans, rice, sides, a dessert and beverages. To-go plates will be available, and beer can be purchased.

Tickets are $20 per person, with discounts for multiple ticket purchases ($35 for two; $50 for four). Tickets are available from any Monteagle Sewanee Rotarian; from Sandy Layne at Regions Bank in Sewanee; Barry Rollins at Citizens State Bank in Monteagle; or Tracy Temples at Franklin County United Bank in Decherd; or by going online to <www.monteaglerotary.org>.

Yeatman Award Winners Announced

Yolande and Robin Gottfried will be awarded the 2015 Harry C. Yeatman Environmental Education Award from the Friends of South Cumberland on April 11 at Trails & Trilliums. Robin is executive director of the Center for Religion and Environment at Sewanee, a University professor of economics, emeritus, and has published widely on the subject of eco-theology. Yolande, one of two curators of the Sewanee Herbarium, leads wildflower walks and is the author of a trail guide to Shakerag Hollow.

Rabies Clinics Scheduled

Tennessee state law requires that all dogs 3 months old and cats 4 months old and over have current rabies vaccinations. Area veterinarians cooperate to make it easy for residents of rural communities to comply. 

On Saturday, March 7, the mobile unit will be at the Cowan police department from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., at the Midway Market from 9:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.; and at the Sherwood Community Center from 11:15 a.m. to noon. 

On Saturday, March 21, clinics will be 1–2 p.m., at Sewanee Elementary School; 2:30–3 p.m., at the community center in Oak Grove; and 3:30–4 p.m., at the new city hall building in Decherd. Cost for the vaccination is $11 per animal.

EQB Offers New Model for Seminarian Living

The School of Theology is launching a new seminary program, the EQB Fellowship, to address the issues of eliminating seminarian debt and forming future leaders for the Episcopal Church.

The EQB Fellowship program will create a new model of sustainable living and learning in a residential community for 12 seminarians. Each student will receive a full scholarship, including living expenses, which will not only allow them to graduate debt-free, but will provide a rich environment for leadership formation.

Four students will be admitted to the program each year, beginning in the 2015–16 academic year, with a maximum of 12 overall. These 12 students will be selected for their commitment to “change the world” projects and programs.

Students will live in the EQB House, located on the campus of the University. 

EQB, or Ecce Quam Bonum, is the University’s motto. The translation is “How good it is” shortened from “How good it is when brothers and sisters dwell together in unity” (Psalm 133).

Eligible students will be single adults age 30 and under; be appreciative of the transformational power of living in community; be seeking a structured experiential context for further discernment; already be participating in ministry; have a proven track record of leadership; and have a willingness to take risks and collaborate with others.

The School of Theology invites those interested in the program to apply through the School’s regular channels. Go to <theology.sewanee.edu/admissions/apply-now> for the application.

Students who have been accepted by the School’s admissions office may apply for the EQB Fellowship.

Funding for this program has been made possible by many generous benefactors, including a grant from the Lilly Endowment Inc. and a partnership with the Society for the Increase of the Ministry. Most recently, a grant of $75,000 was received from the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation. The EQB Fellowship program has also received support from St. George’s Episcopal Church in Nashville and from the Kenan Foundation of North Carolina.

Grants for Home Rehab Available from County

Franklin County has received HOME grant funds in the amount of $250,000 from the Tennessee Housing Development Agency. These funds are for rehabilitating owner-occupied homes within Franklin County. The funds will be used to bring homes up to code. The deadline for applications is Friday, March 13.

Eligible applicants must be low-income, show proof of ownership (warranty deed, 99-year lease, life estate), have lived in the home for at least one year, and be current on all property taxes. Proof of income is required. Mobile homes are not eligible. 

Applicants will receive points in the following categories: income based on family size, number in household, number of elderly, number of disabled (must show proof of disability), single head of household, number of persons under 18 and the condition of the dwelling. 

Applications are available at the Franklin County mayor’s office, 855 Dinah Shore Blvd., Winchester. Applications are due back to the mayor’s office by 4 p.m., Friday, March 13. 

For more information call Sara Brown at (931) 379-2915.

The HOME Investment Partnership Act was approved in 1990 as part of the National Affordable Housing Act. The program provides Federal funds to state and local participating jurisdictions to carry out multi-year housing strategies through acquisition, rehabilitation and new construction of housing units and through tenant-based assistance. The purpose of the program is to expand the supply of decent, safe, sanitary and affordable housing for low- and very low-income households. The State of Tennessee has chosen to focus its HOME program on homeowner rehabilitation projects and home ownership activities.

Goodstein Lecture Cancelled

The Lecture will be rescheduled for a later date.






Ellen Chesler, senior fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, will present Sewanee’s 17th annual Anita S. Goodstein Lecture in Women’s History at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 5, in Gailor Auditorium on the University of the South campus. Her talk, “Margaret Sanger, the Woman Rebel at 100,” will be followed by a reception. The public is invited.

Ellen Chesler joined the Roosevelt Institute as a senior fellow in 2010 following more than 30 years of experience in government, philanthropy, and academia. She is working on a book about the history of women’s rights as fundamental human rights and is helping the institute develop programs on the broader human rights legacies of the Roosevelts.

From 2007 to 2010, Chesler was distinguished lecturer at Roosevelt House, the public policy institute of Hunter College of the City University of New York. For the decade prior, she served as a senior fellow and program director at the Open Society Institute, where she developed the foundation's global investments in reproductive health and women’s rights, and advised on a range of other program initiatives. Her work with women combined support for policy research and advocacy, public education, and litigation with strategic investments in new birth control products and model service innovations that promise long-term benefits in public health in the United States and in many countries around the world.

Chesler is the author of Woman of Valor: Margaret Sanger and the Birth Control Movement in America, a finalist for PEN's 1993 Martha Albrand award in nonfiction. She is also co-editor of Where Human Rights Begin: Health, Sexuality and Women in the New Millennium and has written numerous essays and articles for academic anthologies and for newspapers, journals, and periodicals. She is a member and former chair of the Advisory Committee of the Women’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch, and formerly chaired the board of the International Women's Health Coalition.

An honors graduate of Vassar College, Chesler earned master’s and doctoral degrees in history at Columbia University.

The Roosevelt Institute is a nonprofit organization devoted to carrying forward the legacy and values of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.