GOOOOALLLL!

The Emory alumni soccer team in Washington has been successful in not only keeping up their Emory spirit, but also in stomping other alumni soccer teams.

I had the opportunity to speak with one of the players, Krister Holladay 90C, who updated me on the team’s progress and success.

The Washington, DC Chapter of Emory Alumni, first joined the Capital Alumni Network (CAN) co-ed 7 vs. 7 soccer league three seasons ago. They were first coached by Steven Hunt 98Ox 01PH and his wife, Heather. Rob Rutland-Brown 01C coached the team with Tahir Duckett 08C last year, and in 2010, Duckett and Dana Alsen 06C led the squad.

Under their leadership, the Eagles alumni soccer team recently won the CAN sports league 7 vs. 7 soccer championship! “It was a long, hot couple of back-to-back games, but well worth it,” Holladay said.

The Eagles finished the regular season with five wins and three losses, but really hit their stride in the playoffs, first defeating Tulane (5-0), then Boston College (3-2, OT). In the semifinals, the Eagles started off slow in the sweltering summer heat against Elon College. Elon scored the first goal and then a second goal on a penalty kick in the first half to take a 2-0 lead.

However, the Eagles soared back in the second half scoring three unanswered goals, the clincher from Drew Mincheff’s 06C, to cap a 3-2 come-from-behind win.

After a much-needed half-hour rest, the Eagles took to the field again for the championship game and quickly scored two goals against Wisconsin. Emory dominated the rest of the game crushing the Badgers 4-1 to win its first CAN soccer title thanks to Philip Goo’s 06C hat trick and a goal from Jeff Collins 06C.

“I moved to Washington after college and found myself working in a small office of five people,” Alsen said. “Involvement in the alumni community was an opportunity to broaden my social circle and make friends in a new town.

“With the CAN team sports, it has been a way to see a group of alumni on a weekly basis, allowing us to get to know each other while working together as a team,” she continued. “And it’s been a great way to celebrate the blue and gold.”

Not only is being a part of the Emory alumni soccer team a way to meet new people, it is a good way to “win with class, have unselfish play, and perform with hard work,” Duckett said. “To win a championship in any sport you have to like your teammates, and that's never been truer for me than with this team.”

The rewarding experience of being a part of the Emory alumni soccer team stretches far beyond a championship. “Our Emory bonds have stayed with us long after we left campus, and that shared loyalty to Emory provides an instant network of friends who socialize, play, and in some cases, work together,” Holladay said. “The DC alumni group is a dynamic, diverse, and talented group of people of which I very much enjoy being part. We had a great soccer team this past season and winning the championship against our friends from other peer institutions was really a great feeling.”

Learn more about DC's CAN alumni softball team ...

-- Farah Shackelford, communications intern, EAA

The expression most frequently exclaimed by alumni attending the multischool consortium alumni job fair in Washington, DC last Friday, June 18 was "awesome."

Braving bitter cold temperatures, students, alumni, and employers celebrated Emory talent in Washington and New York last week at Emory Network Nights, networking events co-sponsored by The Career Center, the Emory Alumni Association, and local alumni chapters.

In addition to enhancing their personal networks and making connections with alumni and other employer representatives, alumni served as resources to students who attended while on winter break.

“Given the economy, it’s so important that alumni serve as resources to our students, providing industry insights and internship leads,” said Paul Fowler, executive director of the Career Center.

Marni Galison 98L agreed. Gallison (seen above, in the background, wearing black pants) is a former prosecutor who practiced law at prestigious New York firms before founding Sunday at Noon, a selective professional matchmaking company in Manhattan.

“Contacts I made through the Emory network with other alumni directly resulted in associate positions with New York firms," she said. "There is no question that students and alumni need to tap into the network and that all alumni need to lend a hand whenever possible.”

The next Emory Network Night will be held in Atlanta on February 18.

-- Carolyn Bregman 82L, director, alumni career services, EAA

After being sniffed by security dogs and emptying our pockets down to loose string and chewing gum wrappers, we trudged up two flights of marble staircases, carrying cardboard boxes, easels, and laptops.

Breathless, we arrived at the Cannon House Office Building Caucus Room, then gasp again. The room was awe-inspiring—lofty ceiling, gilded moldings, crystal chandeliers—and already filled with people busily preparing for our November 18 presentation of Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database.

Clangs and bangs bounced off the walls and ceiling as the tech company assembled a 12-by-9-foot projection screen and the catering staff lined up chairs. Stepping carefully around ethernet cables and electrical wires duct-taped to the floor, my Emory co-workers Julie Delliquanti and Julie Braun unpacked and set up the exhibit posters, while Nafees Khan 10PhD and I plugged in and checked (and rechecked) the computer kiosks to be used for searching the nearly 35,000 slaving voyages recorded in the Voyages database.

Two hours later, boxes and wires and supports were hidden away under draped fabrics, black velvet and glossy gold, the room communicating an atmosphere both celebratory and solemn. Along the walls, oversized posters depicted Africans liberated from slave ships, statistical graphs, and maps charting the volume of the trans-Atlantic slave trade were gathered.

As the most comprehensive resource on the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and available freely online for public research and contribution, the Voyages database is a powerful tool for discovering the global and personal impact of this once legitimate business, and a growing memorial to the over 12 million enslaved Africans whose lives were devastated or destroyed.

I don’t recall when guests started arriving, only that one moment I was surfing through the database (above) with a few early arrivals and the next I found myself surrounded by conversations and questions ...

-- Liz Milewicz 09PhD, project manager, Voyages

To read more, visit the December 2009 issue of EmoryWire.

See the photos.

Event planning is serious business. Especially when you are talking to people with guns.

Such are the complications of holding events on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. For sheer atmosphere and proximity to both power and impressive architecture, the location is tough to beat ... once you get in.

Destinations: Washington, DC -- Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, a partnership between the Emory Alumni Association and the Emory Libraries, took place Wednesday night, November 18 in the Caucus Room of the Cannon House Office Building. Some 250 people attended, and the stories told (many of them previously unknown) of millions of Africans' voyages to the Americas in chains were horrifying, riveting, educational, and shocking all at the same time.

One of the hosts for the evening was Rep. John Lewis, whose Georgia congressional district includes Emory. We'll have more on his appearance as well as photos and other reflections on the EAA's latest (and one if its most successful) visit to DC in future EAAvesdropping posts.

Stay tuned.

But for now ... back to our discussion of security.

Vehicle access to the Cannon House Office Building requires passing through checkpoints run by the U.S. Capitol Police. If the stern looks of the officers aren't a strong enough deterrent of funny business, the guardrails and retractable steel and concrete barriers should be.

Getting through the checkpoint requires a hefty list of approvals, which is understandable. Among the last officers to approve entry are a couple who have four legs.

"We were told we need to be sniffed by canines," was the line spoken to one of the human officers by a co-worker--a person who obviously hasn't experienced too many law enforcement interrogations (not that *I* have, mind you, but I've heard stories).

Apparently the dogs didn't find anything suspicious other than minivan exhaust and the overpowering smell of cardboard from the dozen or so boxes we were hauling, because after a moment (albeit a long one that included a few calls to verify we were who we said we were), the police lowered the barriers and waved us through.

Once inside the Cannon building and after climbing the stairs to the third-floor Caucus Room, the Libraries staff went to work. They assembled several Voyages workstations and the display board visuals accompanying them with such speed and ease, it was if they'd been practicing set-up for a month.

It was something that would impress even the most stoic U.S. Capitol police officer. Or his dog.

-- Eric Rangus, director of communications, EAA

Maybe it was the taxi driver.

After serving as a captive audience for the driver’s diatribe on why armed militias are going to be necessary in the “reclaiming” of America, his minimally veiled threats toward the president, and the scary way he sped up every time he went on a Michael Savage–inspired rant, Emory photographer Kay Hinton and I were more than happy to throw a handful of bills at him as we arrived at our destination on K Street in downtown D.C.

With that prelude, once we got into the elevator and rode up to the Center for Health Transformation to interview its founder, Emory alumnus Newt Gingrich 65C, the former Speaker of the House—sometimes cast as a strident conservative—seemed downright conciliatory.

Gingrich (who started Emory’s Young Republicans club during his sophomore year) has been a six-time congressman, the co-author of the Contract with America, and a political player and pundit for more than 30 years. When he graced the cover of the New York Times Magazine in March, we thought it was time to catch up with him and run a profile in his own alumni magazine, which should be in your mailboxes now. The electronic version, with bonus audio, is right here.

Amiable, full of opinions, and spouting statistics as if they were kudzu, Gingrich carved nearly an hour out of his jam-packed day to speak with us and pose for photos. This despite the fact that Gingrich and his wife, Callista, were preparing to leave for a two-week tour of Asia. An avid reader and author, he had already stocked his Kindle with a dozen books to read on the trip. Some faves: Ace Atkins historical mysteries and John Sanford’s detective thrillers.

“FDR used to read mysteries,” he told me. “It relaxes you, and really good mysteries teach you about people.”

Indeed, Gingrich was excited about the release of his own book this fall—a historical novel about George Washington crossing the Delaware called To Try Men’s Souls (co-written, like both of his previous novels, with historian William Forstchen).

During the interview, we touched on topics including this summer’s explosive town hall meetings about health care, the importance of living wills (he has one), the critical need for education reform, and the joys of visiting with his grandchildren.

Gingrich, at 66, says he’s nowhere near ready to sit back and rest on his laurels. “I could retire anytime I wanted,” he said. “But if you want to continue to contribute . . . you have to stay active.”

Gingrich said he believes the future of politics must be “tripartisan,” aiming for consensus among Republicans, Democrats, and independents.

I only wish our taxi driver could have been there.

-- Mary Loftus, associate editor, Emory Magazine

The Washington, DC chapter's alumni softball team has continued to completely dominate the Capital Alumni Network (CAN) since I interviewed team coach Tom Lombardi 00C two weeks ago. Emory's team played the last game of the regular season on Friday, July 24, defeating the University of Illinois 16-10 with big hits from Dana Alsen 06C and Beth Trentacost 07C, as well as another outstanding performance from pitcher Anne Dilger 00C (pictured above).

With a record of 13-1, Lombardi called this year's regular season "by far our strongest showing to date." Friday's victory clinched the division title for Emory -- and snagged the Eagles the no. 2 seed (out of 69 teams) in the upcoming end-of-the-year tournament! We'll be cheering Emory on during their next game in the opening round of the tournament on Saturday, Aug. 8.

-- Erin Crews 09C 09G, communications intern, EAA

Photo by Christine Ruffo 99C

I recently chatted with Tom Lombardi 00C (below, left) about his experience coaching the Washington, DC chapter’s alumni softball team. The team has been on fire as of late, boasting a 10-1 record and sitting on top of their division as they head into a crucial double-header this weekend.


Erin Crews 09C 09G, EAA: How did the softball team first come about? What kind of league does the team play in, and who can be involved?

Tom: The league is the Capital Alumni Network, or CAN. It’s an organization of alumni associations in the DC area. Well over 100 schools are represented. It involves everything from sports to community service, but one of the main focal points of CAN is the sports league, which consists of basketball, volleyball, softball, soccer, and football. There are about 70 teams participating in the sports league and Emory has been a member since 2005. Jeannette Harkin and Jon Levy—Jeannette graduated in 2003 and Jon in 2004—got the ball rolling and got the team started in 2005. Now we have 38 people on the team.

EAA: Tell me a little bit about how the past season has gone for the team and where things are heading for the rest of the year.

Tom: We’ve had a very successful season so far. Our current record is ten wins and one loss. We’re sitting on top of our division—in CAN there are eight divisions—and out of all the teams, we’re currently tied for first with the University of Colorado. We had some very big wins playing Texas A&M, Notre Dame, teams we had played in the past. You know, the little rivalries we’ve developed.

We have three more games in the season and a double-header this weekend. The winner of the games this weekend will determine who wins the division. And we have one final game against Illinois on July 24th, after which we have the double-elimination, end-of-the-year tournament. All 70 teams participate. It’s an all-you-can-eat, all-you-can-drink affair. All the teams are very festive, and it’s basically one big party, but the focal point is the softball.


EAA: What do you and your team members get out of playing softball on an Emory team?

Tom: One of the best parts is that we have fun playing and getting together once a week. We develop really strong relationships. I’d say most of my friends here, I met through Emory sports. We all go to parties and weddings, we go out to lunch together—we’re a very close-knit group. It definitely expands beyond the Emory circle, but we look to each other for guidance and advice. When you move to a new city, it’s hard to make friends. You’re working, you’re trying to establish yourself. But Emory has made it very easy—for me, joining the softball team in particular—to get to know 20 to 30 people and become very good friends with some of them.

EAA: Are you involved in any other alumni activities?

Tom: Sports is the main thing that I participate in, but we do participate in other events. The Meet Emory! party, I went to that. Volunteering at the food bank for Emory Cares. We all have our schedules and competing obligations, but I think in general people are very involved in the Emory Alumni Association up here in DC.

I think our oldest alumnus graduated in 1997 and our youngest in 2008. Some went to grad school, some went to law school. So it’s a very diverse mix of people that participate. It’s made for a very enjoyable time when we get together and play. When people are looking for jobs, we can help them. Or when people need a place to live—it’s a very strong community we have. And sports have really been a kind of focal point of that. It’s a very supportive environment. When new people come into it, I think they do find that it helps them acclimate to DC, to this community.

Photos by Christine Ruffo 99C