Roast Beef and Yorkshire “Pancake” – Fall Semester’s last dinner

We had our last dinner of the fall semester, this evening. There were several ‘regulars’ along with some newcomers. The roast beef was great and even the Yorkshire “pancake” – it failed to rise, tasted good.

Over the fall I have served about 100 meals with five different cuisines - Italian, Sri Lanka, Philippine, Moroccan and English represented.

I would not inflate these meals to the status of “events.” Rather they are very much what I envisioned when I first moved into Anderson – an opportunity for one or two faculty members and students to interact with no overarching agenda. Tonight we discussed problems that students have encountered working with the AU ‘bureaucracy’ and how to deal with; the administration of AU’s study abroad programs. We debated ways of preventing more fire alarm pulls on the South Side and a variety of other topics. A couple advanced students hung out after the rest had gone, while Maeve and I did the dishes and cleaned.

I still remember the outside of class interactions I had with faculty members when I was a Dartmouth undergraduate. My hope is that, in years ahead, dinners at John’s apartment will;. for some of my guests, be among their positive memories of AU.