Each Wednesday, a newsletter lands in your inbox. What is it? Why is it published? This message offers insight into the purpose of the Campus Life Today newsletter working group and a look at the folks on that team.

In the inaugural edition on April 15, we explained that this concise weekly publication was created to provide essential and helpful information to Campus Life staff, especially as we work through the COVID-19 pandemic. We hope Campus Life Today has since become a valuable information source that brings you insights into the university’s activities, details about our colleagues’ work, and available resources to help us manage this new normal.

The team working on this newsletter has evolved over the past six weeks, continually examining how to best meet the information needs of Campus Life staff and offer hope and wisdom during this unprecedented time. During our weekly Zoom meetings, we review the prior week’s newsletter and consider how to more effectively inform colleagues so that we all still feel together.

We also brainstorm ideas, review resources, and collaborate with our Campus Life Communications team colleagues. Although ECL staff members can’t pop into one another’s workspaces or meet on campus now, we want us all to remember that we are on the same team and that our work has vital meaning and value.

On a personal level, I look forward to our working group’s Zoom meetings every week as I see how committed the team members are and how much they care about Emory, our students, and our colleagues. We hope we are shaping the newsletter to bring you information and resources that help you as we move forward.

Meet the team

The photo and text below identify our newsletter working group members. To personalize them, we have included for each a favorite book, movie, food, stay-at-home hobby/activity, and/or campus location.

In the photo above, team members are, from top left to right:  

Bridget Guernsey Riordan. Hobby: Yoga by Adriene. Location: Cox Hall Bridge on Wonderful Wednesdays.

Paul Eleazer. Book: The Allegory of the Cave, by Plato. Movie: Minority Report, a Steven Spielberg film. 

Jane Yang. Movie: The Shawshank Redemption, starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. Foods: Movie theater popcorn, tamales, and cheese. 

Christy Bradley. Book: In the Skin of a Lion, a novel by Michael Ondaatje. Hobby and food: Homebrewing kombucha tea.

Brenda Francois Kinchen. Book: Becoming, by Michelle Obama. Movie: Good Deeds, a Tyler Perry film. 

Bruce Covey. Movie: Chungking Express, a Wong Kar Wai film. Hobby: Playing Animal Crossing with my daughters.

Natalie Turrin. Hobby: Gardening. Location: The Quad.

Nicole Jackson. Movie: The Body Guard, starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. Food: Smartfood Caramel & Cheddar Mix Flavored Popcorn, lettuce wraps, and (love love love) seafood. 

Johannes Kleiner. Book: Midnight in Chernobyl, a history by Adam Higginbotham. Location: George Trakas' Source Route art installation behind the Carlos Museum in the Baker Woodlands. 

Alexa Palomo. Movie: The Goonies, a Richard Donner film. Food: Homemade whipped cream.

Vargas, Lina. Book: The House on Mango Street, a novel by Sandra Cisneros. Activity: Watching @cumbiaton_la Brunch Series on Instagram. 

Mekeshua L. North. Movie: Under the Tuscan Sun, an Audrey Wells film. Hobby: Binge watching Riverdale on Netflix. 

John Baker Brown. Book: Blake: Or The Huts of America, a novel by Martin Robison Delany. Activity: Long walks with my family.

Candice Marie Williams. Book: Persuasion, a novel by Jane Austen. Movie: God's Own Country, directed by Francis Lee.

Swoop. Foods: Not particularly picky, but I have a general aversion to chicken. and turkey. no pheasant, duck, goose either. Movies: Bold Eagles and (perhaps predictably) The Birds.

Now you know who we are and how much communicating with you means to us. Please know that all ideas for this newsletter are reviewed and appreciated. Please send them to: ecleditorial@emory.edu. 

If you have other comments or suggestions, please email me at bridget.riordan@emory.edu.

Thank you for your interest in Campus Life Today! We look forward to keeping you informed and engaged in the life of the university and the community we call Campus Life.