Katy Dickinson

http://blogs.sun.com/katysblog/date/20061127 Monday November 27, 2006

102 SEED Applications at Deadline

We received 102 applications by last Friday's deadline for Sun's worldwide Engineering mentoring program, SEED. The SEED Established Staff term will run 15 January - 15 June 2007. All application materials were due 24 November 2006.

79 applications were complete. Tanya Jankot and I spent today checking, sorting, and making updates based on emails. 25 applicants were disqualified for being too junior or for not turning in their materials on time. I have sent many emails today returning late applications, recommendations, and resumes and discouraging further submissions since we do not accept materials after the deadline.

The selection decisions will be announced tomorrow afternoon. We expect to pick about 40 Established Staff term participants. I have been reading application forms and letters since Friday. It will be very hard to pick from such an impressively qualified group.

Rule Britannia! (Fall Concert)

The Harker School presented a funny and excellent "Rule Britannia!" Fall Concert by three talented choirs. My daughter has been in Cantilena, the 20 member women's choir directed by Susan Nace, for three years. On 17 November, regal Cantilena was joined by the ebullient 17 member Guy's Gig men's choir plus the delightful middle school Vivace group. They sang in the High School "FDR" (or faculty dining room, Harker's only space with good vocal acoustics).

The first half of the program included some modern pieces but most of Cantilena's vocal selections were from Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda by Gustav Holst, and later from Ceremony of Carols by Benjamin Britten. After a brief intermission, Cantilena and Guy's Gig together presented selections from Sir John in Love by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Sir John in Love is based on William Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor, the bard's sequel to Henry IV (famously written to please Elizabeth I and her court who wanted to see more of the charming rogue Sir John Falstaff).

Falstaff and his Men:
Cantillena 17 November 2006, 
photo: copyright 2006 Katy Dickinson
Falstaff's Toast:
Cantillena 17 November 2006, 
photo: copyright 2006 Katy Dickinson
Master and Mistress Ford:
Cantillena 17 November 2006, 
photo: copyright 2006 Katy Dickinson

Mistresses Page and Ford:
Cantillena 17 November 2006, 
photo: copyright 2006 Katy Dickinson
Reading Falstaff's Letters:
Cantillena 17 November 2006, 
photo: copyright 2006 Katy Dickinson
The Letters are the Same!
Cantillena 17 November 2006, 
photo: copyright 2006 Katy Dickinson

Applause for Cantilena, Guy's Gig, and Susan Nace
Cantillena 17 November 2006, 
photo: copyright 2006 Katy Dickinson

The concert ended with "Fields of Gold" by Sting and then Cantilena's haunting Quaker hymn and theme song, "How Can I Keep from Singing?". It was a pleasure as always.

Images by John Plocher and Katy Dickinson (Copyright 2006)