Blog

Written by: Elizabeth Patrick

Thanksgiving is a time for family and friends to gather together to appreciate what they have and be thankful for one another. Every Thanksgiving, Defiance College has the tradition of hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for the students.

After taking a year off due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Defiance College is happy to announce that its annual Thanksgiving dinner will be happening again this year. This year’s event will occur on Thursday, November 18, at 5:00 pm in the dining hall.

For the people who have not yet had the opportunity to experience this tradition, the meal is served family style in the dining hall. In order to make this event extremely special, the staff will use real linens and china. Defiance College staff and faculty will serve the different food to the students at the various tables.

Residential students will need to bring their current student IDs. Those commuter students who wish to attend should pick up a meal ticket from the Office of Student Life in 128 Hubbard Hall.

For those students who play basketball and often cannot make it at 5 pm due to practice, there will be a buffet set up at 6 pm in the banquet hall room. Hope to see you there, and make sure to come hungry as there will be plenty of delicious food calling your name.

The annual Thanksgiving dinner, served family style to students by faculty and staff, likely started in the late 1970s and from the mid-1980s until 2016 and was organized by the Chaplain’s office. This family style dinner is usually served the week before Thanksgiving. A typical Thanksgiving dinner consists of roast turkey, turkey stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, corn, dinner rolls, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie.

Written by: Emily Vargo

November is Native American Heritage Month. This month we take the time to celebrate the rich and diverse culture, traditions, history, and significant contributions of Native people.

In 1986 Congress requested that President Ronald Reagan sign a proclamation to have November 23-30 be National American Indian Week. This proclamation recognized Native Americans as the first people to inhabit the land.

In 1990 Congress requested that the president, George W.H. Bush, issue a proclamation to make November National American Indian Heritage Month. Then in 2009, the name changed to National Native American Heritage Month.

Over the years, many states and many cities, and many lakes have named places after Native Americans. Lakes that have been named after Native American tribes are Lake Erie and Lake Huron. At one time Bellefontaine, Ohio was known as Blue Jacket’s Town.

The state of Ohio has a significant amount of Native American history. Many tribes used to live here at one time like the Shawnee, Chippewa, and Delaware. Blue Jacket and Tecumseh, leaders of Shawnee tribes, were actually in the battle at Fallen Timbers.

At one point in time, there were five different tribes that lived in the Defiance area. The tribes were; Kiikaapoi, Peoria, Kaskaskia, Potawatomi, and Myaamia.

To find more information check out https://nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov/. There is also a list of virtual events and activities to learn more about Native American Heritage Month. By texting your zip code to 855-917-5263, you get info on what tribes were initially present in the area. If you would rather, go here https://land.codeforanchorage.org/ and enter your zip code or city and state, and it will generate whose land you are on.

Written by: Elizabeth Patrick

Did you know, according to Country Living, “The word Halloween comes from All Hallows’ Eve and means “hallowed evening”?

Halloween is a nationally celebrated holiday that is celebrated every year on October 31.

Every year millions of people will spend the month of October decorating and enjoying fun fall activities leading up to the day of Halloween. Some of the most popular activities include: trick-or-treating, carving jack-o-lanterns, going in haunted houses and walks, watching scary movies, and dressing up in various costumes.

The Halloween tradition started with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, where people would have bonfires and dress up in costumes to ward off ghosts. Halloween is celebrated on this day because the ancient Gaelic festival of Samhain, the oldest known tradition of Halloween, took place on this day.

October 31 marked a critical time of the year for the Samhain. The seasons were changing, and observers believed that they were able to connect with the dead. This belief was commonly shared among other cultures, but most commonly around the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, which also occurs in October and involves praying for the dead. This was when Halloween gained its scary or haunted reputation.

Eventually, the holiday spread in popularity, and other cultures and people were celebrating it. One of the first American Colonial Halloween celebrations consisted of large public parties to commemorate the upcoming harvest, tell ghost stories, sing, and dance.

Over time, Halloween has grown in fame, where today you will find thousands of houses dressed with pumpkins, gourds, and different decorations, kids disguised in costumes going trick or treating throughout the neighborhoods, and teens being frightened in haunted houses and going on spooky walks with the hope of being scared.

To finalize, Halloween started with the ancient festival of Samhain. Over the years has turned into one of the most popular holiday celebrations where you will find hundreds of kids trick or treating or going into haunted houses.

Written by: Emily Vargo

On November 7, 1886, a brilliant woman was born in Warshaw Congress, Poland, in the Russian Empire. This woman grows up to be the first woman ever to win the Nobel Prize in Physics and the Nobel prize in chemistry. She is also the only person with the Nobel prize in two scientific fields. This women is Marie Curie.

Marie was the youngest of five siblings. Growing up, Marie’s grandfather taught her chemistry, mathematics, and physics. Because the Russian authorities eliminated laboratory instructions from Polish schools, he brought equipment home and taught the children.

Marie lost her mother when she was only ten years old, and three years later, she lost her oldest sister. Their deaths were hard on Marie, which caused her to drop out of boarding school and take up tutoring. Eventually, Marie and her sister went to Clandestine Flying University that admitted women for higher education.

In 1891 Marie left Poland and moved to France, where she studied Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics at the University of Paris. While she was in University, she lived on very little to get by. She wore all the clothes she had on cold winter nights and studied so hard at times she forgot to eat.

Once she obtained her degrees, she began her scientific career in Paris by working on various types of steel. In 1894 Marie visited Poland to see her family and find a job in her career. Unfortunately, no one would accept her due to her sex. Her lover Pierre whom she met in France, convinced her to go back to France, where they married a year later in 1895.

Over the years, Marie and her husband worked on X-rays and how to improve them. They ended up studying radiation phenomena. In December 1903, the Royal Swedish Academy of Science awarded Maria and her husband, the Nobel Prize in Physics. In 1906 Maria’s husband was killed in a horrible accident.

However, a month after his death, Marie was given a physics chair position at the University of Paris. She became the first woman to become a professor at the University of Paris. In 1911 Maria received a Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering the elements of radium and polonium.

Unfortunately, Maria died on July 4, 1934, from radiation poisoning, resulting from the x-ray experiments that she performed in her scientific research. However, Maria went through many obstacles in her life, but she never let anything stop her from achieving her hopes and dreams.

Written by: Elizabeth Patrick

Like the many other departments on the Defiance College campus, the social work department seniors are busy at work with a variety of different activities and fundraisers.

To start with, the seniors within the SWK Macro Practice class organize the student-led Pay it Forward philanthropy project every fall semester. 

Within this class, students collaborate and assess community needs. Based on what the students decide, they will then come up with a project to raise money for the people they are serving.

This year, in addition to the Staff and Faculty Flash, the seniors have decided to sell pizza kits from Drop Zone.

The types of pizza they are selling include: cheese, pepperoni, supreme and come in 10 and 14 inches with either regular or cauliflower crust.

If you are interested in purchasing a pizza kit, please contact Professor Yakos-Brown or any social work senior.

In addition to selling the Drop Zone pizza kits, the class will also be hosting a Chipotle Fundraising night. This fundraising night will take place on October 30, 2021, from 5:00 pm-9:00 pm.

Stop by and enjoy your dinner while supporting the senior social work class. When ordering online, use promo code RHH3VAG so your order counts for the social work department’s fundraiser.

If you would like to donate and cannot attend on October 30, 2021, from 12:45-2:00 pm, please stop by Professor Yakos-Brown’s room in Schauffler, Room 207.

The social work seniors appreciate any support you are willing to give to help their organization help the community.

The class also will conduct a five-county community assessment, prepare requests for grant proposals, send RFPs to approximately 50 non-profit social service agencies, and award grants to applicants that best address the identified community needs.

This year students within this class decided that their proceeds would go towards women in poverty.

For the last 12 years, the Defiance College class has awarded more than $23,000 to address transportation, hunger, unemployment, poverty, education, youth mentorship, and cultural understanding in northwest Ohio.

The senior class has set a fundraising goal of $1500, which is lower than in recent years due to the ongoing Covid 19 pandemic.

As a result of the challenging times that the Covid-19 pandemic has presented everyone with, the social work seniors are working extremely hard to come up with different ways to raise money this year. Some events that they have had in the past have been canceled. For example, The Knights of Columbus have not held their annual Friday Fish Frys, and the seniors have also not been able to hold their annual bake sales on Fridays due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The senior social class is working extremely hard to raise money to give to the women in poverty, and any support is genuinely appreciated.

Written by: Emily Vargo

Monday, October 25, 2021, is a special day for those who love greasy food.

This day is also extra special to me for a sad but amazing reason. As you will notice, this article is a bit different from my other articles. On Sunday. October 17, 2021, heaven gained another person. This angel was my grandpa, who was a lover of all forms of greasy food. The greasier, the better.

Now greasy food isn’t the healthiest of food, but it sure is the tastiest. It’s always a nice treat to have something greasy like pizza, fried chicken, or a massive plate of nachos to indulge in once in a while.

There isn’t much information about this national day, but it’s something fun to have, and let’s face it, it’s an excuse to eat something delicious.

My grandpa that I mentioned early is my grandpa by choice, not by blood. My mom is a nurse aide at a nursing home. Nine years ago, I met an amazing, funny resident who loved to cause a ruckus. He has been my grandpa since then.

He has watched me grow up, followed my running and cheerleading journey, watched me start high school, gave me tips on how to pass my drivers test, was absolutely excited to see all of my college acceptance letters, watched me graduate high school, and enjoyed hearing my accomplishments in college.

Through the years, he always gave me life advice and treated me like a grandchild. Even though we were not blood, we were family. He loved his family, but he sure did love his greasy food.

His favorite greasy food was Five Guys fries, and my family and I made sure he had his fries before he left this wonderful world.

Growing up, I always heard stories about my other grandpa, Grandpa Vargo. He sadly passed away before I was born, but he was also notorious for his greasy food. Grandpa Vargo, unfortunately, had cancer and had to undergo major surgery. When he woke up, he wanted the biggest, juiciest, greasy, dripping off your elbows, burger, and fries, the nurse could find. When he was told “No,” he asked for green jello. Now whenever someone we know has surgery, we always have green jello.

Even though October 25, 2021, is national greasy food day, it is also a day that I will honor my grandpas by getting whatever greasy food I can get.

Enjoy this day by cherishing your favorite greasy foods, cherishing those who are most dear to you.

Written by: Elizabeth Patrick

Just like the many other departments here on the Defiance College campus, the English department hosts a wide variety of different campus wide events.

The English Department has four main events coming up including DC English Book Club, English Tea, Trunk-Or-Treat, and NaNoWriMo.

The first event coming up is the DC English Book Club which will be hosting a meeting on October 19, 2021, from 3:30-4:30 pm in Serrick room 216. They are reading Into The Woods by Jon Krakauer.

DC book club is perfect for students who love reading, are looking for a campus activity that fits their unique interests, and want to earn fresh ways of earning jacket points. If these spark your interest then the DC English Book Club is the organization for you.

The DC English Department offers a book club that is open to all current DC students. The book club meets twice a month to discuss books, gain new insights and perspectives, and practice conversation and leadership skills in a fun, friendly environment.

One of the best things about this club is that the students have a vote and say in what books the club reads. At the meetings, each month students are encouraged to suggest book titles, vote on book themes, genres, and have the opportunity to lead as discussion facilitators. If you are interested and would like more information please contact Professor Agler at aagler@defiance.edu 

The next event that is coming up in the English Department is English Tea on October 27, 2021, from 1:00 pm -2:00 pm. At this event, students will have the opportunity to meet our special guest: Professor John-Whittier-Ferguson from the University of Michigan.

At this meeting, Dr. Whittier-Ferguson will be talking a little bit about his passion for literature and why we read. If interested, RSVP to Dr.Engler at sengel@defiance.edu 

The English Department meets monthly to share some tea and snacks, talk with an interesting person about reading, writing, and other English-y things.

Later in the month on October 28, 2021, the English Department will be at the Trunk-Or-Treat with a Dracula-inspired setup. Come on out and see the English Department as well as all of the creative participants.

One of the English Department’s main events during the school year is NaNoWriMo which takes place the whole month of November. NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month and takes place November 1-30.

In celebration of this, the English Department will be hosting its second annual audacious attempt to write a novel in 30 days. All DC students are invited to set a goal and write every day to meet their goals. The English Department will offer encouragement, tips, and a little NaNoWriMo swag to get you going. If interested reach out to Dr.Engel for more information at sengel@defiance.edu 

The Department is made up of four faculty members. These four faculty members include Dr. Engel, The Director of Composition, Professor Green, Lecturer of English Professor Agler, and Professor Thierry, Adjunct Professor, Adjunct Professor of English and Clinical Supervisor of Field Placement.

The English Department offers courses in writing, literature, and language. There is a new English writing minor as well. To find out more, check out their English Department website at https://englishwonder.wordpress.com/

The reasoning behind hosting a wide variety of different events is to share their love of language, the joy of stories, and the power of community with students.

The English Department prides itself on innovative teaching, personal connections, and working with students to read the world’s great stories and to acquire the skills to write their own.

To wrap it up, the English Department is looking forward to seeing as many students as possible at the upcoming events. 

Written by: Amber Baldwin

Have you ever wondered why TV shows are filmed in front of a live studio audience or why reruns exist? Well, if you have the answer is because of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

Before I Love Lucy premiered, Lucille Ball wanted the show filmed in front of a live studio audience. She thought that she performed better in front of people, and Desi Arnaz agreed. No one else thought this was a good idea because it wasn’t how TV shows were made in the early 1950s. To prove them wrong and to give his wife what she wanted, Desi Arnaz created the three-camera technique so that they could film in front of a live studio audience. This is still used today by many sitcoms.

Ball and Arnaz also wanted the show to be seen in high quality no matter where it was watched. At first, TV shows were filmed on kinescope because videotape was not invented yet. If a show was filmed on the west coast, then to get the show to the east coast, someone would record the TV show off of a video monitor. This would create a blurry recording for people everywhere except on the west coast.

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz started their own production company called Desilu so that they could record the episodes on 35mm film. Thus, creating reruns. By using 35mm film, people would be able to rewatch the high-quality episodes. This was expensive and both of them did take a pay cut in the beginning to do this.

I Love Lucy premiered on October 15, 1951, and ran until May 6, 1957. It has five Emmy Awards and was the number one TV show during four out of the six seasons. Even though the show is 70 years old now, it still has over 40 million viewers and has been called the most successful television sitcom in history.

It also was the first show to air with a bi-racial couple, Lucy was the first woman to run a major studio, and with the new production company, Lucy fought for the show Star Trek to be produced when no one else would.

There is even a new movie coming out December 10, 2021, in select theater and on Amazon Prime December 21, 2021, called Being the Ricardos which takes place during one week of filming I Love Lucy. The movie will star Nicole Kidman as Lucille Ball and Javier Bardem as Desi Arnaz. Also in the cast is J.K. Simmons, Greg Clark and it was written and directed by Aaron Sorkin.

There is also a Lucy Desi Museum located in Jamestown, New York where Lucille Ball spent most of her youth. It is open all year long. During the first week of August, they have the Lucille Ball Festival of Comedy. For more info on the Museum and the Lucy Festival visit https://lucy-desi.com/

Reruns of I Love Lucy can be viewed on Hulu, Paramount plus, Amazon Prime Video, and on the Hallmark Channel.

Written by: Emily Vargo

October 20, 2021, is a day where we can sit around and take the day as slow as we want. This day is National Sloth Day.

There are two different types of sloths. There is the two-toed and the three-toed sloth. Besides the two types of sloths, there are also six different species of sloths. The six species of sloths are Pygmy three-toed sloth, Maned sloth, Pale-throated sloth, Brown-throated sloth, Linnaeus’s two-toed sloth, and Hoffman’s two-toed sloth.

Out of these six species the Pygmy three-toed sloth is the most endangered. The population of these adorable pygmy sloths has decreased by 80% over the last few years.

Right now there are less than 100 pygmy sloths left on this wonderful planet. Due to the rapid decrease of these sloths experts predict that this species will be extinct by 2022.

Some amazing facts about sloths are they are great swimmers and can hold their breath for up to 40 minutes underwater. Due to an extra vertebra in their spine, sloths can rotate their head 270 degrees in either direction. On average, sloths live between 20 to 30 years.

Sloths love their alone time and don’t spend a lot of time with other sloths, and sloths sleep up to 20 hours every day.

Ways to celebrate this holiday are plentiful. You can donate to The Sloth Conservation Foundation. You can go to your local Zoo and see these adorable animals.

Or you can take the day and channel your inner sloth. Since it’s a Wednesday and there are no classes take the day to sleep in and be lazy. In joy, the day and life just like a sloth would.

Written by: Amber Baldwin

Fall has arrived so here are some fun activities to do around town and in the community. **Remember- some, possibly all, might require a mask or other requirement so please be prepared.

1. Graveyard Shift-Sherri Brake, author, and a paranormal investigator will be at the Stroede Center for the Arts, 319 Wayne Ave. on October 11. This event starts at 6:00 pm and is free. She will be speaking about cemeteries and her paranormal findings.
2. Witches Brew-Dress up like a witch and explore downtown Defiance. This event takes place on October 14. There are two times for this event, 11:00 am to 3:00 pm and 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm. It starts and ends at the Defiance Development and Visitors Bureau, 325 Clinton Street. There are also costume prizes for best hat, best shoes, and best overall
   costume.
3. Meet the Renegade, Simon Girty-Learn about Simon Girty, an American colonial, with historian David Westrick. The event takes place at 5:00 pm on October 18 at the Johnson Memorial Library in Hicksville, 116 W. High Street. It is also free.
4. Defiance College Trunk or Treat-Date: October 28 Place: Hubbard Parking Lot Time: TBA
5. Defiance Lions Club Halloween Parade-On October 30 at 7:00 pm there will be a Halloween Parade in downtown Defiance. There are many participants with candy and many viewers so get there early for a good spot.
6. Defiance Farmers’ Market-Every Saturday in October from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm there is a farmers’ market in the Northtowne Mall parking lot. The address is 1500 N. Clinton Street. October is the last month the farmers’ market is open for the year.
7. Leaders Farms-Leaders Farms is open every Friday from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm and every Saturday from 2:00 pm to 10:00 pm for the whole month of October. They have a regular corn maze, haunted corn maze, zombie hunter paintball, hayrides, putt-putt golf, a pumpkin
   patch, and much more.
8. Is Defiance Public Library…haunted?-James Willis, paranormal investigator, will be at the Stroede Center for the Arts, 319 Wayne Ave. on November 6. He will be speaking about his paranormal findings and his investigation at the Defiance Public Library. The event starts at 6:00 pm and is free.