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The Choate Reunion: A Party, not a Function Dedicating Choate Common photos: Mike Christie by Harry Froklaq There's a difference between a party and function." Of the eight things which Fr. Norm Choate, C.R. taught her, Dana Woito (BA '84) lists this as the first. One attends a function out of a sense of obligation. One attends a party for fun. On Saturday, September 16th, 2006, there was a party for Fr. Norm at St. Jerome's. Graduates, friends and colleagues who knew him during one of his three SJU incarnations--as a lecturer in Sociology (1964-67), as university chaplain (1974-79), and as president (1979-89)-- gathered in the quad outside Siegfried Hall during the afternoon to dedicate it in his name. Henceforth, it will be known as "Choate Common," in recognition of his pastoral presence, committed leadership, and New England heritage. Myroslaw Tataryn, Interim President of St. Jerome's, praised Choate for demonstrating "that Catholicism, rigorous intellectual inquiry, and caring for students could harmoniously interact for the NI benefit of all who participated in the life of St. Jerome's." Throughout the dinner that evening and the speeches that accompanied it, the warm memories and entertaining anecdotes came so thick and fast that Choate prefaced his own remarks by asking, "Is there a presentation of a casket at the end of this program?" There were words of praise from his former colleague, Fr. Bob Liddy, and from Rob Donelson (BA '81) who declared, "We are the people we are today in large part because you have lived and shared your life with us." Peter Naus, the former Dean, now retired, and Ted McGee, a longtime professor of English, extolled Choate's defense of academic freedom and support for scholarship, and graduate after graduate rose to share humorous recollections and to quote Choate's influential words of advice. For his part, Choate remembered asking Fr. Zach Ralston for counsel upon first arriving at St. Jerome's. "'How do I get started? How do I do this? How do I begin?' And Zach said, 'You get to know the students and you will come to love them, and everything will fall in place.' And that is exactly what happened. I fell in love." "You were and continue to be the love of my life. I guess I broke all the rules about professional distance and boundaries and so on and so forth. I became friends, probably, with too many of you. But I don't regret that for one minute." For pictures and a list of attendees, visit http://www.sju.ca/graduates/past events.html Fr. Norm Choate, C.R. published Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Adolescence as part of the McGraw-Hill Contemporary Learning Series. Stan Fogel, English, has an article entitled "El Cuerpo y el Texto" ("The Body & the Text") in the current issue of Miradas: Electronic Journal of The International Film School (Cuba). He also chaired a session, "Capitalism & the Teaching of the Arts," at the 30th anniversary conference of Cuba's Higher Institute of the Arts in December. Dorothy Hadfield, English, will have her book Re: Producing Women's Dramatic History: The Politics of Playing in Toronto published by Talonbooks. Norm Klassen, English, published an article on Chaucer's Parliament of Fowls in Notes and Queries in June ("A Note on 'Hyre' in Parliament of Fowls, 284") and has had an article entitled "City of Lights: Natural and transcendent light sources for Ambrogio Lorenzetti's 'Good City-Republic'" accepted for publication in Quaderni d'Italianistica. Another article, co-authored by Jens Zimmermann and entitled "Simon Critchley: The Ethics of Deconstruction or Metaphysics in the Dark," will be published in The Strategic Smorgasbord of Post-Modernity: Literature and the Christian Critic, edited by Deborah Bowen and Jane Hogeterp-Koopman, and published by Cambridge Scholars Press. Whitney Lackenbauer, (BA'98) History, had his book Battle Grounds: The Canadian Military and Aboriginal Lands published by UBC Press. Ted McGee, Interim Academic Dean and professor of English, will write the program notes and offer a table talk for this summer's production of To Kill a Mockingbird at the Stratford Festival.