The Symposium and Saturday's Auction

Well, I wasn't hand-fed grapes or fanned by two women with palm fronds, but last night's symposium was pretty great and authentic! Marissa provided a beautiful lounge setting for a group of grad students to share the results of their projects and endeavors. The diversity of topics matched Marissa's furniture preferences, which consisted of a cool variety of desert-colored wood furniture and sleek Danish-modern designs. But isn't that a perfect metaphor for the group? The graduate students are a band of all ages, backgrounds, personalities, sexual orientations, and research interests. Diverse, yes, but also harmonious (and if I may say, tres chic). In all the presentations, a sense of enthusiasm and energy came through. And, surely, that enthusiasm will carry over to the BICAS auction (...don't call me Shirley). After the excesses of good food, great wine, and exceptional presentations, the graduate group seems ready to help put on a good show and, in honor of our current economic system, inflate some prices (via persuasion and salesmanship, of course). Keep it classy out there. See everyone tomorrow at the auction! And congrats to the graduate and undergraduate students on a successful semester of BICAS programs.