The Perils of Antiquing

I may be the first – and youngest – person to ever sustain a knee injury at an antique store.

Okay, I admit it—I like antique stores. I’m not into porcelain tea sets or costume jewelry or paintings of dogs playing poker or anything like that; I just enjoy perusing the aisles and seeing what type of interesting junk…um, I mean treasures people have to sell. Occasionally I’ll buy an old book or a vintage typewriter, but for the most part I’m just a browser.

And that’s exactly what I was doing a few weeks ago down at a local antique dealer in nearby Coraopolis. I was coming back from a meeting at the RMU Island Sports Center, when I spotted the store and decided to do a little treasure hunting. That’s when I came across an old painting entitled “The Formation of the First National Bank of the United States.” I was immediately intrigued.

In case you didn’t know, our very own namesake, Robert Morris, “Financier of the American Revolution,” helped organize the Bank of North America – the first modern U.S. bank – in 1781, while he was serving as superintendent of finance. This bank was the predecessor of the First Bank of the United States, which got its charter from Congress in 1791. Was Robert Morris involved in the establishment of this “First Bank” too? I didn’t know, and it was impossible to tell from the painting, which shows several men all wearing traditional colonial garb and powdered wigs. The only recognizable face was that of George Washington. So, unsure if Morris was in the picture, I decided not to buy it.

After a couple weeks, however, I decided to just go and purchase the painting since it wasn’t expensive, and there was a good chance that Morris was one of the subjects depicted. But when I arrived at the store I became distracted by some dusty old books and started to peruse the titles.

That’s when it happened. As I squatted down to look at a book, I felt a sharp pain in my knee. And when I came back up, the pain was even more intense. So, after paying for the painting, I hobbled out of the store, hoping that I hadn’t just blown out my ACL while antiquing.

As it turns out, I just pulled my quad muscle, which is not as serious an injury, but still quite an embarrassing one to sustain at an antique store. Fine, I admit it: I’m old.

As for the painting, I’m still not sure yet if Robert Morris is one of the white-wig-wearing gentlemen shown discussing our nation’s first bank. Regardless, I gave it to Fran Caplan, RMU’s dean of university libraries, as a donation to the Heritage Room, of which she is the curator. It should make a nice addition to the room, which honors our esteemed namesake.

In the meantime, I’ll keep digging around on the Internet to see if I can find an answer to this mystery. Hopefully I won’t pull anything while operating my computer mouse.

--Valentine J. Brkich

A Bard Wannabe

I’m what you call an amateur poet. By that I mean that, from time to time, when the mood strikes, I pen a really terrible “poem” that nobody will or should ever read. In fact, I’m hoping one day to have an entire collection of unread poetry that I can never share with anyone. Then, when I die, someone will find it, attempt to read it, see that it’s really bad, and then make sure that it’s disposed of properly. Preferably with fire. Call me a dreamer, but it could happen.

Yesterday, thanks to Robert Morris University, I got to attend a wonderful poetry event at the Schenley Park Visitors Center in Oakland. Hosted by Autumn House Press, the event was a celebration of poetry and a release party for Autumn House’s When She Named Fire: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry by American Women by Andrea Hollander Budy.

The event also featured favorite poem readings by Toi Derricotte, professor of English at the University of Pitt; Marty McGuinn, chairman and CEO of Mellon Financial Corporation; Rick Sebak, producer for WQED Multimedia Pittsburgh; Sally Wiggin, WTAE Channel 4 Action News anchor; and some other guy named Franco Harris, who they tell me played football to some acclaim back in the 1970s.

My wife accompanied me to the reading, making us the only two people out of the hundred or so in attendance unable to recite any poem from memory other than “Roses Are Red…”

One of the more distinguished attendees was RMU’s very own Jay S. Carson, D.A., university professor of English Studies for the Department of English Studies & Communications Skills, and a pretty darn good poet in his own right. His poem, “Jay Bird,” was printed in the April 2005 edition of Paper Street Press in Pittsburgh, and “How I Would Become a Blacksmith” was in the latest edition of Hawaii Review.

It may surprise you, but RMU has a lot of talented poets right here on campus, and you can read many of their works in the university’s very own student literary magazine, Rune, which just released it's latest issue. If you’re a poet and, unlike me, you’re willing to share your work, Rune accepts poetry, short stories, dramatic writing, and other writings along with photography and art as well. You can e-mail Jay S. Carson for more information.

I have to admit, I felt a little inspired after this event, and it gave me the confidence to share my latest poem. Let me know what you think:

Roses are red
Violets are blue
For a great degree
Come to RMU

Okay...so it’s a work in progress.

--Valentine Brkich

Laverne and Shirley land

This interesting essay in last week's Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription required) caught my eye because of the book recently published by RMU history prof John McCarthy. You can read about it here.

We're here to help

A story last week in the Trib caught our eye. It seems that a staggering number of returning members of the military reserves and National Guard are losing their civilian jobs after returning from active duty -- a violation of federal law on the part of employers (link).

It seems a good time as any to remind veterans of the resources available to them through Robert Morris University. For one, there's our Veterans Businss Outreach Center, for veterans who want to become entrepreneurs, and of course there is the new RMU Military Service Award, which allows qualified veterans to attend RMU tuition-free.

It's the least we can do.

Into the void

Robert Morse, here, and Kevin Carey, here, write that college ranking guides are so popular -- particularly Morse's U.S. News and World Report rankings -- because colleges themselves have failed to provide easy-to-understand measures of academic quality.

It's a fair point. That's why RMU created this web site to explain how we hold ourselves accountable for student results, and how others can do so as well. Take some time to check it out.

Students of promise

The Trib recently published a story about how students in The Pittsburgh Promise are faring at their most popular choice of schools, the Community College of Allegheny County. As an FYI, more Pittsburgh Promise students enrolled at RMU last fall than any other private school available to them. Of those 33 students, all but one returned for the spring term. (The student who did not take classes in the spring was injured in a car accident and plans to return next fall.) Those students have an average GPA of 3.0, right around the university average for all students and freshman students. They are active in campus activities and have become some of our most enthusiastic boosters.

Want to meet some of them? Click here.

The good fight

Back in 2003, as war was just breaking out in Iraq, RMU graduate Tammy Alvarez ’61 contacted renowned director Terry Sanders of Sanders & Mock Productions with the idea for a film that would document the lives of students in the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU).

Five years later, Alvarez’ vision became a reality as “Fighting for Life” premiered on Oct. 5, 2008, in New York City. Since then, this drama documentary on military medicine practices has appeared on PBS TV affiliates and in theaters across the country. On May 24, “Fighting for Life” will be broadcast at 9:30 p.m. on Pittsburgh’s WQED.

Filmed over a three-year period in a combat hospital in Iraq, on military aircraft, and in various military hospitals, “Fighting for Life” follows military doctors, nurses and medics, as they work to provide care to wounded soldiers. It also documents USU students as they study to become career military physicians, and shows the struggles of wounded soldiers fighting to survive and heal.

Alvarez, who served as executive producer, raised over $1.5 million to produce the movie. “‘Fighting for Life’ is a story about health, hope and humanism,” she said. “The film is about the tireless, selfless service of our military medical personnel. Their dedication and care for others is an example for all.” Alvarez’ husband is a 20-year member of the USU Board of Regents, and their son Bryan is a USU medical student graduate and second-year resident in general surgery at Balboa Naval Hospital in San Diego.

“Fighting for Life” was directed by Terry Sanders, a two-time Academy Award winner and one-time Emmy award winner and head of the Santa Monica-based American Film Foundation. Since its completion, the film has received positive reviews from U.S. News & World Report, The Washington Post, Variety, Rolling Stone, and ABC News.

Alvarez holds a bachelor’s degree in secretarial science -- a degree program that has not been available at the university for quite some time. She also attended the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University, and completed four years of art studies under Eric Butters at the Yellow Barn Art Gallery in Glen Echo, Md. “My experience at RMU was most influential in broadening my organizational, interpersonal and technical skills,” she said.

A native Pittsburgher now living in the D.C. area, Alvarez is founder and president of the Friends of the Uniformed Services University Inc. – an all-volunteer, not-for-profit membership organization, based in Maryland, which seeks to support USU. Previously, she served as director of special services for United Airlines. In addition to producing, she dedicates much of her time to volunteerism and has created and implemented various mentoring and social-awareness programs for young people.