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Jan.
18, 2001
CAMPUS BUZZ BY SANDY SMITH Thanks for sharing: Thanks to the Penn community’s generosity, hundreds of children and families in West Philadelphia had a merrier Christmas this year. Penn VIPS Director Isabel Sampson-Mapp reports that more than 600 toys and gifts were collected for neighborhood children during the annual Penn VIPS Holiday Toy Drive. In addition, staffers in nine University departments adopted families for the holidays, and the guests at President Judith Rodin’s annual holiday party donated 250 toys and gifts. The gifts were distributed to seven area organizations, including the People’s Emergency Shelter, Caring About Sharing and the Health Annex, operated by the School of Nursing and the Philadelphia Recreation Department. Living history museum: Thanks to a just-completed $2 million facelift, the Palestra is now brighter and cleaner than it’s been in decades. But that $2 million also brought history to life. On permanent display in the Palestra concourse is a new photographic exhibit documenting the history of the country’s most storied college basketball arena and of the five-team rivalry that helped cement its reputation. Another blockbuster: It may not have had the impact of the Andy Warhol reception that put the Institute of Contemporary Art on the cultural map back in 1965, but the reception for the Lisa Yuskavage/Mei-ling Hom/Hella Jongerius and Jurgen Bay exhibit at the ICA Dec. 1 was a record-setter nonetheless. The event drew 1,500 people, the largest crowd in recent memory, according to ICA publicity director Roy Wilbur. The attendees included several notable New York artists, including John Curran, Kiki Smith and Cindy Sherman. Many of those in attendance were friends of Yuskavage’s, including many of her old Juniata Park neighbors, but according to Wilbur, the crowd also took a great interest in the work of Jongerius and Bey. Musical shops: ’Round and ’round they go, and where they stop, now we know. University of Cards has changed its name to The Paper Garden and moved around the corner from its 34th Street storefront to the former LeBus site on Sansom. Former next-door neighbor Starbucks Coffee now occupies the prime corner real estate at 34th and Walnut that originally housed the Funderberg Information Center. And Bitar’s has sprouted a second campus branch, occupying Eat at Joe’s old spot in the Moravian Cafes food court. But as we go to press, the most eagerly-anticipated new establishment is El Diner, the genuine-article replacement for the diner-themed Eat at Joe’s. It’s slated to open at the end of the month.
Penn in ink: Former Assistant Attorney General Laurie Robinson, now ensconced in the Fels Center of Government as a senior fellow at the Jerry Lee Center of Criminology, had some advice for her successors in the Bush administration in a Jan. 7 Washington Times essay. Among her pointers for mid-level political appointees: Work with, not against, the civil servants who report to you. Master the appropriations process. And think less partisan, not more. What's the buzz? Tell us what's happening! Call us at 215-898-1426, send e-mail to current@ pobox.upenn.edu or drop a line to the Current at 200 Sansom East/6106.
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