WCSU in the Age of Reason

I commented in a post a while back about the troubling trend of news organizations that write themselves into knots trying to explain why sources sometimes refuse to talk to them on the record.

They say they protect someone’s identity so the person “could speak freely” or because they “did not want to be named discussing personal interactions” instead of explaining what the source might have to gain by giving up a juicy bit of information.

Well, The New York Times apparently reads my stuff and as a result has ordered its reporters to be more honest with us.

In this excellent article about California’s Republican Senate candidate, Carly Fiorina, reporter Jennifer Steinhauer relates that Fiorina and the GOP candidate for governor, Meg Whitman, don’t like each other.

Steinhauer wrote that “several people connected with both campaigns — who would not speak for attribution because they do not wish to be fired, or alienate either candidate — described the candidates’ relationship as frosty and somewhat rivalrous.”

Now that’s telling the plain truth: the sources won’t speak for the record because they don’t want to be fired. Thank you, Ms. Steinhauer.

The Times article is mostly about Fiorina’s unscripted comments regarding her opponent Barbara Boxer’s hair style. Again, I’m way ahead of The Times. I wrote this post about hair back in November.

To follow Western Connecticut State University, go to www.wcsu.edu.

It’s a fact of life that news people are often at odds with everyone else. That state of affairs suits the personalities of many in the news business, including me. Although in my circle I was sometimes considered to be soft, my journalistic bonafides were righteous; many newsworthy people despised me.

Shortly after I left newspapering and started my job at Western Connecticut State University, Gov. M. Jodi Rell visited campus. We got a few days’ notice and spent that time busily preparing and anticipating. On the day of her arrival one of my former colleagues arrived to cover the event and observed that for him it was just one more visit by a celebrity politician. But he noticed that all of us were excited.

He was correct. In my new world, I was allowed to be eager to see the governor (who remembered my name and talked to me when she spotted me). It was definitely more fun than my old, more contentious approach.

Gov. Rell visited campus again a couple of weeks ago. This would be her fourth visit in the past four years, and we quickly chose the site where she would speak, tracked down a lectern with microphone and made the other arrangements.

When Gov. Rell arrived, she was escorted from her car by WCSU President James Schmotter; the chancellor of the Connecticut State University System, Dr. David Carter; and others. She recognized me, shook my hand and thanked me for holding open the door of the Science Building, where we were having the event.

The governor said a few words and then signed recently passed legislation that would allow Western to offer a doctorate in nursing. The students who sign up for this program will be nurses who want to teach others to become nurses.

There is a shortage of nurses and of nursing professors in Connecticut and across the country. The more people who can teach nurses, the more seats in the nursing department that a university like Western can offer to students.

As important, the governor confirmed once more that Western is her favorite university. In the world.

Basically, she implied that every other institution of higher learning is nothing but a scraggly weed in the shadow of Western, a mighty oak. That made us happy.

At the newspaper, we were not allowed to be happy. Even if Gov. Rell had said we were her favorite — and I happen to know that she thought I was a very good editor — we could not revel in it or even report it.

So I am enjoying my new life. We like you, Gov. Rell. Please visit again.

Follow Western Connecticut State University at www.WCSU.edu

It turns out Wyclef Jean is a sweetheart. My bias is that famous rich people are going to have an attitude, but from the moment Wyclef, as he insisted everyone call him, got out of his car at the Westside Campus Center to prepare for WCSU’s undergraduate commencement, he shook hands, talked to professors who I guarantee had never listened to any of his music, and did everything we asked.

After the musician’s excellent keynote speech, which got a standing ovation, he shook each of the 800 graduates’ hands as their names were called.

Afterward, before he left the stage, I asked him if he would mind being interviewed by a local radio reporter. He agreed, saying he would do whatever I needed. I suggested he could do the interview as he walked across the field to a waiting car.

“That would be more difficult for her,” Wyclef said quietly. “We can do it here.” He spoke to her for five minutes. When a group of students asked if they could take a photo with them, he waved them up.

Then, acknowledging anyone who called his name, he walked calmly through the crowd, which was probably about 25 percent larger than most year’s because, I assume, we had a commencement speaker graduates were excited to hear.

(If you were going to go to a commencement this weekend, Wyclef would be the top choice, right? As opposed to, say, a commissioner of higher education or a history professor. I’m just saying.)

Wyclef went off-text a few times during his talk, but the speech below, which he sent us beforehand, is a good representation of his message, in which he humbly referred to his great successes, on a very good day.

Wyclef Jean
WCSU commencement
May 23, 2010

Good afternoon graduates, proud parents and relatives, faculty and staff.

It’s a great privilege for me to be here today to attend this ceremony and share with you in your success and accomplishments.

I know this has been a long road for you – four years for some, shorter or longer for others.

I know the last thing that you want to do is be bored by a speaker.

I also know that you are anxious to finally walk across the stage and accept that degree you’ve worked so hard to obtain. For those reasons, I promise to keep my remarks brief.

I’ve spoken lots of places before – from the UN, the White House to awards shows in front of hundreds of thousands of people.

But this is my first commencement speech. Deciding what to say was difficult. I wondered what could I share with you.

A couple weeks back I was in the studio working on my new album. I’d hit a creative block. My brother, who was in the studio with me, helped me look for inspiration for a song.

He ran across a video of Adam Clayton Powell Jr., a well-known African-American civil rights leader, pastor and congressman from New York, delivering a speech in Cambridge, Mass.

The speech was moving – one of the most powerful speeches I’ve ever heard.

The title of it was “What’s in your hands?” Dr. Powell was speaking to a group of people who were down on their luck, thought they didn’t matter, thought they didn’t have power, thought they had no way of escaping poverty and no way of changing their circumstances.

Dr. Powell asked the audience, “WHAT’S IN YOUR HANDS?” He wanted to get them to think about what they CAN do rather than what they couldn’t do. What they DID have as opposed to what they DIDN’T have.

He then went through a list of figures both biblical and historical. From Jesus to Benjamin Franklin, he laid out examples of people who used what little they had in their hands to change the world.

Not only did the speech inspire me to complete the song, it formed the basis for the message I want to give you today – that we all have the ability to achieve our dreams, if only we can envision what we want and plan to make it happen.

I was born in a small town in Haiti. We didn’t have much.

My parents left Haiti to come to America in search of a better life for my brother and me.

The BELIEVED that if they could just change their circumstances, they could begin to live out the vision they had for themselves and their children.

They saved every penny they could to get to America. But they knew getting to America wouldn’t mean automatic success. They had to plan in order to reach the goals they set for themselves.

They had a vision for their future that was far greater than many of their friends and even other family members had.

Like my parents, you’ve done everything you can to complete that first step. They wanted to get to America, you wanted to get your degree.

But you have to know it doesn’t end there. You have to ask yourself, what will you do with the degree? How will you use it to achieve your goals? And the answer to that depends on HOW FAR YOU CAN SEE.

You must have a vision for your future. You must pair that vision with a plan.

Because my mother and father instilled in me the need to have a vision and a plan, I survived in the entertainment industry – an industry that isn’t very kind.

I came to America as a boy excited. This was the land of possibilities and opportunities. I loved music, writing, singing, playing. That’s all I ever wanted to do.

I was told that I didn’t have a chance. That there was no way I could make a living as a musician or a rapper.

I was in a group on one wanted to manage. Whose first album didn’t get great reviews. I was told to give up … several times.

But I had a vision for myself that was strong. And I set in motion a plan to accomplish what I knew I could.

If you have a vision for yourself, it won’t matter that others may be blind to what you CAN see. That vision will help you see past many factors that can discourage you. That vision will help you see past the setbacks – and setbacks WILL happen.

It’s not enough to just be able to SEE. That’s only the beginning. The real question, the more important question is, WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH WHAT YOU SEE? What are you going to do with that vision?

Talk to any successful person, whether it’s your professors or parents. Research any figure who has made their mark in history or in their respective field.

The one thing they will often have in common is that they SAW something in their future. And the reason we remember them is because they DID something with that vision.

You don’t have to be rich, powerful, or famous to be great or successful. In fact, your vision doesn’t have to be of you becoming rich, powerful, or famous.

Unfortunately in this society we measure success oftentimes in shallow and material ways. How much money do you have? How powerful are you? Are you famous? How big is your house? What kind of car do you drive?

All these questions reinforce the misguided believe that success is somehow tied to material things that benefit the SELF. I have, I do, I am.

I have had a lot of success in entertainment. But I didn’t really become successful as a person until I began to give of myself to others who needed my help.

Outside of being a husband and a father, nothing has given me greater satisfaction that the work I’ve been able to do with Yele Haiti – the charity I founded in 2005.

It’s one of the many things I’ve been able to accomplish because I had a vision for myself. All of the success I’ve had would mean nothing without the opportunity to better the lives of others in my home country.

I’d like to challenge each and every one of you to define success for yourself. You will find that making a commitment to others as well as yourself will be key.

Create a vision based on your specific gifts, talents and tools. There is a greatness in simply being you and using your skill to do something with your vision – and to put your personal plan in motion.

You are ultimately responsible for HOW FAR YOU CAN SEE. Your future belongs to you, and you alone.

Believe it or not, I used to ride a donkey to school in Haiti. I lived in a one-room shack. When I came to America, I didn’t speak a word of English.

Today I am able to travel the world, reach people with my music, work on behalf of my native Haiti and even speak at a college commencement.

I am proof that anything you want is possible, if you can only envision it first.

CONGRATULATIONS, CLASS OF 2010!

Walking across the campus on a warm spring day is one of my small pleasures: the flowering trees, the historic buildings, the strong young people exercising their vocabularies.

I make my way from Point A to Point B, a short and relaxing break.

A professor is walking toward me. I can’t remember her name. Her face is not forgettable, it should trigger my memory. We have a history. When I worked at the newspaper, she got mad at me because I didn’t cover something she was involved in. That was several years ago, though, and now I am her big booster. She has a long memory. Our eyes meet as we near each other on the walkway. It’s not Ruth, not Gail, not Linda. There’s an H in there somewhere, but first or last name, I don’t recall.

“Hello, Paul,” she said with a smile. Oh, God. I’ve got one more split second.

“How’re you doing?” I reply. Her smile turns cold. She knows. No longer do I enjoy the sun, the flowers.

To succeed in my job, which is to make known the university’s successes, I must work within the network of professors who produce most of the stories worth promoting.

Some of them get it, some of them don’t. But it doesn’t matter whether they like working with me or not. I’ve got to work with them.

A couple of days later I remember her name. It does have an H in it! Now, if I can remember it until the next time we meet …

Follow WCSU at wcsu.edu.

A friend of mine said recently that WCSU has excellent events on campus and he would consider attending — except that he can’t quite figure out where to park or how to get around once he gets here.

It may be that he likes his lounge chair and beer more than any type of exercise or intellectual stimulation, because it’s just not that difficult to find your way to or around either of Western’s campuses.

Now we have made it even simpler.

Next week, when Western helps the community celebrate the 20th anniversary of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, in addition to the plentiful parking that is always available, helpful student guides identified with colorful badges will populate our grounds to answer questions and direct visitors to the proper venues.

Here is a link to maps of both campuses: www.wcsu.edu/campustours.

You will see the location of both Midtown parking garages, though the White Street garage is the only one available to non-students for daytime events during the week. After 5 p.m. and on weekends, the Fifth Avenue garage is also available. On the Westside, visitors should park along University Boulevard.

So don’t pretend you can make excuses to avoid joining us for all the great Hubble events. This is the lineup. See you there.

Tuesday, April 20
WOMEN IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
A panel discussion for girls and young women interested in education and careers in science and technology.

Panelists include:

• Suzanne Woll, the lead systems engineer at Hamilton Sundstrand working on the Sabatier System, an environmental control system designed to reclaim water from hydrogen gas byproduct from oxygen generation and waste carbon dioxide. She is also the Region F Senator for the Society of Women Engineers.
• Valentina Lugo is a mechanical design engineer for Hamilton Sundstrand’s Air Management Systems division. She is an MIT graduate and potential astronaut.
• Rachael Manzer, a science coach in the Suffield, Conn., school system; president of the Connecticut Science Teachers Association; and is a NASA teacher astronaut-in-training.
• Dr. Ruth Gyure, WCSU associate professor of Biological and Environmental Sciences. She has done leading research on phytoremediation, or the process of using plants to remove contaminants from soil. Gyure is a past recipient of the Trustees Teaching Award from the Connecticut State University System Board of Trustees.
•
The free event will begin with a breakfast for all guests at 8 a.m. in the WCSU Science Building on the Midtown campus, 181 White Street, Danbury, followed by the panel discussion. Please call (203) 837-8486 to reserve a seat. Parking will be available in the WCSU garage on White Street.

Wednesday, April 21
THE FUTURE OF AEROSPACE

A panel discussion on “Aerospace in the 21st Century” with a keynote speaker from NASA.

Panelists include:

• Edward Francis, vice president and general manager, HS Energy, Space & Defense, Hamilton Sundstrand
• Dr. Mark Stier, director of Optical Programs at Goodrich ISR

The keynote speaker will be Douglas A. Comstock, director of NASA’s Innovative Partnerships Program, which encourages private sector development of new technology.

The event will begin at 11 a.m. at the Westside Campus Center, 43 Lake Ave. Extension, Danbury. Lunch will be served. The event is open to the public at $25 per person. Parking will be available on University Boulevard. For information, call (203) 837-8486.

Thursday, April 22
PRESIDENT’S LECTURE

Retired astronaut Story Musgrave will present the annual President’s Lecture: “The Beauty of Nature — The Art of Technology.”

Musgrave flew on the first mission to repair and service the Hubble Space Telescope.

He will speak at 7:30 p.m. in Ives Concert Hall, White Hall, WCSU Midtown campus, 181 White Street, Danbury. The event is free and open to the public. Parking will be available in the WCSU White Street parking garage and the Fifth Avenue parking garage. For information, call (203) 837-8754.

Saturday, April 24
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FAIR

Demonstrations and presentations by Hamilton Sundstrand, Goodrich ISR, The Aldrich Astronomical Society, the Clay Center for Science and Technology, and Western Connecticut State University.

Exhibits include a NASA space suit, a one-fifth scale model of the Hubble Space Telescope, a meteorite, a space shuttle tire, a Segway scooter, and many more space industry artifacts.

WCSU will offer tours of the Science Building, presentation of the latest Hubble photographs and, weather permitting, telescope viewing of the sun.

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Science Building, Midtown campus. Free and open to the public. Parking will be available in the WCSU garages on White Street and on Fifth Avenue.

Saturday, April 24
PLANETARIUM SHOW AND TELESCOPE VIEWING

Western will host a planetarium show, “Spring Skies,” followed by telescope viewing of the moon, Mars, Saturn and the spring sky from 8:30 to 10:30 p.m. at the Westside Observatory and Planetarium on the university’s Westside campus, 43 Lake Ave. Extension in Danbury. The event will be free and open to the public. For more information, call (203) 837-8672 or visit www.wcsu.edu/starwatch.

For more information, go to http://www.wcsu.edu/hubble or call the Office of University Relations at (203) 837-8486.

With the Hubble Space Telescope, it’s always been about the mirror.

The mirror that would allow humanity to look farther into space than ever before. The mirror that was sent into orbit with a huge flaw. The mirror that was fixed and returned to glory.

The mirror! The mirror! The mirror!

But as it turns out, there are other instruments associated with the telescope that are just as important.

Linda Abramowicz-Reed, a systems engineer at Goodrich ISR in Danbury, happens to be an advocate of the fine guidance sensors. The sensors hold the telescope steady and allow it to point accurately into space.

“You’ve all seen the pretty pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope,” Abramowicz-Reed said recently. “The fine guidance sensors don’t take those pictures. The fine guidance sensors make those pictures possible.”

Abramowicz-Reed would never rant about the amount of press the mirror gets. But she is proud of the work she has done over the past 26 years on the fine guidance sensors and their effect on the success of the Hubble.

Abramowicz-Reed spoke along with scientist Edward Nelan about the fine guidance sensors to a crowd of nearly 300 in the IMAX Theater at the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk. It was an invitation-only event that drew educators, astronomers, and current and former engineers and scientists who worked on the Hubble project at Perkin-Elmer Corp., which later became Goodrich ISR.

The spacecraft has three fine guidance sensors, including one that has stayed there since the Hubble’s launch 20 years ago this month. It is the only original instrument on the Hubble, which was the first satellite designed to be repaired and updated in space.

Put simply, the sensors find light emitted by stars, measure the light, and use the information to position the spacecraft to unbelievable tolerances.

Here are some of the ways Abramowicz-Reed and Nelan, who works at the Space Telescope Science Institute as the fine guidance system instrument scientist for Hubble, described the abilities of “the most accurate guidance system in space”:

• The sensors track their targets to an accuracy of 0.0028 arc seconds — the equivalent of the width of a human hair from three miles away.
• If you held a light bulb in your hand and moved it 4.7 millimeters, the Hubble could detect the movement from 3,000 miles away.
• The telescope discerns two stars that look like one through any other telescope. “It could see two headlights 7.5 feet apart from 25,000 miles away,” Nelan said. “Of course, they would have to be on.”

The sensors also perform the science of astrometry, which involves the measurement of the distances to and between stars and planets. Such measurement has led to some of the Hubble’s most important discoveries.

“When Hubble launched we did not know of any Jupiter-mass planets around any stars,” Nelan said. “Now we know thousands of them.”

And, of course, there are the pictures.

Nelan gave a casual account of the decision that led to one of the Hubble’s greatest photographic accomplishments — the discovery of a universe of universes called the Ultra Deep Field Survey, and an example of the Hubble’s ability to find things we have no idea are there.

“A bunch of us thought ‘Wouldn’t it be great to point it at a bare part of the sky and see what we can see?’” Nelan said. They didn’t know what, if anything, they might find.

The fine guidance sensors were instructed to point the telescope toward the same spot for 414 orbits. For about 30 days that’s all the telescope looked at. (And it was small. If you hold a dime at arm’s length, Roosevelt’s eye is about the size of the piece of sky Hubble was scanning, as seen from earth.) The result was an image that caused even seasoned scientists to gasp in wonder.

Last May, a team of astronauts visited the Hubble for the last time to switch out a handful of instruments, including one of the fine guidance sensors and a camera. The new-and-improved package of machinery allowed even more precise pointing so the scientists decided to take another look at the same part of space. One hundred orbits later, they produced, as Nelan said, “the super-duper Ultra Deep Field Survey.” In the photo, the smallest, reddish points of light traveled through space for 13 billion years before bouncing off the famous Hubble mirror and creating an image. The universe is 13.7 billion years old (another Hubble discovery) so we are looking back, in big terms, almost to the beginning of time.

“The fine guidance sensors are directly responsible for enabling this image,” Nelan said.

After the talk, the audience enjoyed a viewing of the just-released Hubble IMAX movie, which shows scenes from the last repair mission to the telescope — and lots of breathtaking pictures.

It was spectacular, everyone agreed. But it was equally thrilling to marvel at the ingenuity of a scientist and engineer at the top of their fields. We may never again read their names — because the fine guidance sensors don’t get the press — but we now know that without them and the work they’ve done, we wouldn’t have those pictures.

For a list of events during the Hubble Space Telescope Symposium at WCSU starting April 20, go to wcsu.edu/hubble.

My handlers at Hearst Newspapers, which publishes this blog, suggested the other day that I change the name of “Steal This Blog” so that it better identifies the subject about which I usually write: Western Connecticut State University.

As you will remember, I lifted the original name from Abbie Hoffman who wrote “Steal This Book.” Hoffman was a founder of the Yippies and didn’t take any guff from The Man, a history that appealed to me because I too have been a free-thinker many times in my life.

“Steal This Blog” also resonated with a gentleman named A.J. Weberman, who left a comment thanking me “for keeping Abbie’s memory alive.” I googled Mr. Weberman and found that he was a fellow traveler of Hoffman’s in his Yippie years as well as a big fan of musician Bob Dylan, even pawing through Dylan’s household garbage to get a better sense of the man, a technique he calls “garbology.” Rolling Stone Magazine called Weberman “the king of all Dylan nuts.”

Through my writing in “Steal This Blog,” I realized, I have come within just a single degree of separation from both Abbie Hoffman and Bob Dylan. (I might be even closer to Dylan, depending on what he threw away in his garbage.)

The Hearst people, though, said a change could boost the already high readership of my blog because Hearst would link the newly named postings to relevant stories published in The News-Times, Connecticut Post, Stamford Advocate and Greenwich Time. (As opposed to the current treatment of my blog by Hearst higher-ups which, when I’m in mixed company, I describe as complete indifference.)

In other words, changing the name from “Steal This Blog” would please the corporate braniacs who have done such a swell job reviving the newspaper industry in print and online but would compromise my soul and be a repudiation of everything I hold dear. All to acquire a few readers.

So as of today my blog will be called “WCSU in the Age of Reason.”

I chose this name after careful consideration. Following the tradition of people in academia, I flipped through a book of quotes to find something inspiring. (Note: I am not an academic, but I have lived among them for several years and they are now accustomed to my presence so that I can observe them without disturbing their natural behavior.)

The quote that gave birth to my blog’s new name comes from a philosopher named Allan Bloom, who said, “The most important function of the university in an age of reason is to protect reason from itself.”

I didn’t fully understand what Bloom meant, but I looked up some other facts that convinced me “WCSU in the Age of Reason” was a good name for a blog.

According to AllAboutHistory.org, the period that began in the early 17^th century known as “(t)he Age of Reason represented a genesis in the way man viewed himself, the pursuit of knowledge, and the universe. In this time period, man’s previously held concepts of conduct and thought could now be challenged verbally and in written form; fears of being labeled a heretic or being burned at the stake were done away with. This was the beginning of an open society where individuals were free to pursue individual happiness and liberty. Politically and socially, the imperial concepts of the medieval world were abandoned.”

A perfect description of WCSU.

Please continue to read this space for news and perspectives about the university and its effect on the world.

For more information about Western, go to www.wcsu.edu.

Helen O’Neill is a petite, will o’-the-wisp of a woman with an Irish accent and complexion, topped off with fair red hair. She is also a stubborn cuss. I believe both her heritage and her personality have contributed to her status as one of the most amazing writers you might ever have the pleasure to meet.

O’Neill, a national writer for the Associated Press based in New York, spoke to a writing class I teach at Western Connecticut State University and captivated us as she recounted how she does her job — which includes activities like being one of the first journalists to dive to the Titanic, and flying over a remote Alaskan glacier in a tiny Super Cub for a story about a lost plane rumored to be loaded with Chiang Kai-shek’s gold.

My favorite O’Neill writing is in a story about Grant Achatz, a brilliant chef who contracted cancer of the tongue, which eliminated his ability to taste. Here is a sample of O’Neill’s prose:

Steelhead roe in coconut suspended from vanilla pods. Granola encrusted bison with oatmeal foam. Persimmon and red curry. Jelled apple cider floating in walnut milk and vegetable ash. Sweet potato and bourbon tempura pierced by a smoking cinnamon stick.

Some courses look like miniature Kandinsky paintings. Others arrive floating on pillows of lavender air, or suspended on bouncing antennas — one-bite explosions of flavor at times so startling diners cry out in delight.

Dining as performance art. It is one reason people flock to this 3-year-old restaurant named the best in the country by Gourmet Magazine and considered by many to be among the best in the world.

They come for the experience and the mystery. They come for the sheer joy of sampling what the genius young chef with the magical touch has dreamed up next.

The Associated Press has submitted O’Neill’s work for this year’s Pulitzer Prize in feature writing. O’Neill has already won most other major journalism awards, including the Scripps Howard Foundation’s Ernie Pyle Award, Knight Ridder’s James K. Batten Medal, five National Headliner awards, two Associated Press Managing Editor awards for excellence, three Front Page awards from the New York Newswomen’s Club, and the American Society of Newspaper Editors award for feature writing.

O’Neill spoke to us about how to capture detail and to describe people and scenes to evoke emotion, along with the importance of being a good listener. There is also something intangible about being a great story-teller.

“My mother always said I was born telling stories,” O’Neill said. And she admitted that every once in a while she turns up the Irish accent a notch to see if that might persuade an evasive source to talk. Sometimes it does.

I first met O’Neill when I was an editor at The News-Times in Danbury and I hired her as a reporter. “You won’t be sorry,” she said. I was skeptical because other people had said that to me and went wildly wrong. But it was different with Helen. The only problem I ever had with her was that she worked too much. One Friday afternoon I ordered her to go home because she had already been in the office several extra hours that week, none of which she would be paid for. I told O’Neill I would fire her if she didn’t leave for the weekend.

She gave me a bemused look and said, “You go ahead and do that, Paul, if you think you have to.” After a moment I walked away silently and although I put in a long day myself, O’Neill left the office only after I did.

Those are the reasons I wanted her to speak to my class. Unfortunately (for us writers), not all of us can be Helen O’Neill. But after her visit a few more of us were inspired to try.

Follow Western Connecticut State University at www.wcsu.edu.