Saturday, March 8, 2008

BSLUGs Enjoyed a Great Evening with Dean Georges Van Den Abbeele Friday, March 7

About 20 BSLUGs gathered at the warm and inviting home of Mary Jane and Peter Suzman in West Newton this past Friday evening, March 7, to hear Dean of Humanities, Georges Van Den Abbeele give a talk about "Ethics of Cultural and Historical Preservation." He was accompanied by Liz Sandoval, a UCSC Pioneer Class alum, and development officer for the Humanities Dept.

We were welcomed by hot hors d'oeuvres of empanaditas, and mushroom and cheese quesadillas. Although most of us who attended are old friends, it was great to have at least 5 new Slugs join us. Once we all had arrived, having braved the Greater Metro Boston Friday evening rush hour traffic, we enjoyed an absolutely delicious dinner of enchiladas, cornbread, green salad with oranges and jicama. Even after this feast, we still found room for a wonderful dessert of cornmeal pound cake with berries and butterscotch cream. This entire menu for more than 20 people was prepared and cooked by chef Mary Jane (and I'm sure ably assisted by Peter). Mary Jane's cookery skills and talent are, by all measures, astonishing.

Once everyone was ushered into the living room, Dean Van Den Abbeele gave an informal, fascinating talk about the areas of concern and professional debate related to preserving and interpreting significant places of our heritage. The Dean gave us vivid examples of historical preservation efforts in California which illustrated the difficulties involved such as those at: Angel Island , Manzanar , and Sutter Buttes . We could have gone long into the night, with our discussion, relating our stories and asking questions, but it was late Friday night, the end of a long week, and we had to call it a night to let people get home before the expected downpour.

The BSLUG Board would like to thank Dean Van Den Abbeele, Liz Sandoval, Allison Garcia, and Mary Jane and Peter Suzman for their hard work and generosity, making this lovely event possible.

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