October 13, 2005
Snakes, comics, dahlias. travel and glass blowing — all at lunch
It’s a lot like an art class on upper campus. First the laptop refuses to talk to the projector, and then the projector disses the laptop. Finally, the slides start flowing past. The classroom in the T wing of the Health Sciences Building is filled with murmuring admiration, first of the art and architecture of Venice, and then of the miraculous mythical figures of glass produced in another classroom on the island of Murano.
This isn’t a displaced art tutorial, though. The diverse and talented people working in the HS Academic Services & Facilities Department have gathered from around the building to enjoy Food for Thought, a quarterly lunchtime meeting to learn about each other’s outside interests.
“This is a really diverse department, with a mixture of technical types and creative people,” says Janelle Zorko, the department’s assistant director, as a colleague chimes in, “We’re a combination of left- and right-brainers.” Janelle adds, “These lunches let us find out about the techie who has a really artistic hobby, or when somebody goes someplace unusual on vacation.”
Over the past 25 years, Food for Thought has changed from an occasional half-hour coffee to its current brown-bagger incarnation. Past topics have included everything from award-winning dahlias, comic book and button collections and vicarious tours of Cuba, Nepal and Central Asia.
“What makes this unique is that people choose to spend their lunch hours this way,” Stephanie Steppe, the department’s director. “They’re here on their private time.”
On this particular day, Zorko is explaining the techniques and showing the amazing mythical creatures created by her teacher on the island of Murano, a place renowned for centuries of glass blowing and sculpting. Zorko spent a week on the island, learning new techniques to enhance her glass-wielding hobby. She showed her colleagues slides of a tiny red devil brandishing a violin, lithe Medusa with her head of snakes, and winged Icarus flying and falling on the twisted stems of two matching wine/liqueur glasses, all created by her teacher.
As people finish their sandwiches and salads, their eyes sparkle with the magic Zorko picked up in Murano, and a taste of a short vacation that will last as long as tempered glass.
– Pam Sowers
