Monday 10/02/2023
Took a complete standard walk for the first time in a bit. Then at 10:15 I went down to the auditorium to be available as John set up for his wife Francis’s book talk. He didn’t need any consultations.
Francis’s book is The Little College That Could, about how a lot of enthusiastic alumnae rescued her alma mater Sweetbriar College from destruction. The school was established in 1901 by the will of a woman who bequeathed her 3,000-acre(!) estate to be a college for women. In 2013, the then board members announced suddenly and with no warning that they were closing the school. It was never made clear why, as the school was not in financial trouble. Some of the people responsible were in the real estate biz, however. Anyway, the alumnae banded together, raised $12 million, filed a host of lawsuits, and forced the board to resign and be replaced by a new board dedicated to keeping the college open. Francis and another alumna wrote a short book about it which I can’t find on Amazon to link.
After lunch I went to FOPAL and spent 2 hours as usual. At 6pm I opened the auditorium for a concert by some amazingly gifted kids, a 12-year-old violinist, a couple of 13yo cellists, and a 15yo pianist, all playing heavy-duty classical music, Paganini and Chopin and such.
My part was minimal, just providing mics for announcements. However I wanted to try out our new camera and recording equipment so I recorded much of it. I will edit the video tomorrow to see what I got.
Codgerville 