Following inflammatory statements made by high-profile politicians and presidential candidates about the Muslim community, the Augsburg College faculty passed a resolution declaring their “deep support, love and friendship for the Muslim members of our campus, community and world.” The Campus Compact article states that, “Faculty and staff at the college make this commitment real through myriad practices and partnerships.”

Included in those partnerships is the work that the College has done with Sisterhood Boutique, a “second-hand clothing store and youth social entrepreneurship program developed by young women, a majority East African and Muslim, living in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis.” Augsburg faculty members — such as Assistant Professor of Business Marc Isaacson — have engaged their students in projects to support the boutique.

Read: In Word and Deed: Augsburg College in Support of Muslim Students, Colleagues, Neighbors on the Campus Compact site.

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Augsburg’s Mary Laurel True of the Center for Democracy and Citizenship has a Norwegian sweater with an interesting history. She writes:

Several years ago I bought what I thought might be a Norwegian sweater at Savers second hand store so that I would have appropriate attire for the celebration of Velkommen Jul at Augsburg College.

I wore it a little sheepishly the first year not knowing if the many members of the Augsburg Norwegian community would think that I was foolishly wearing a sweater from the wrong country.

While enjoying some traditional treats of the day, I was approached by one of the long-time Augsburg Associates volunteers, Evie Sonnack, who was looking with amazement at me as she asked, “Where did you get that sweater?” I said that I had bought it in a second hand store in Minneapolis. She happily told me the following story:

Evie’s mother-in-law and her sister were traveling around Norway in 1959 and decided to order handmade matching sweaters. One sweater was for herself, and one was for each of her daughter-in-laws. When Evie’s mother-in-law passed away, she was given her sweater. Evie kept it for several years and then donated it to a thrift shop.

She said that, in fact, the exact sweater that I was wearing was the one that her mother-in-law had ordered on that trip. She was sure of this as it had unusual features that made it easy to distinguish from other Norwegian sweaters of its kind—both had zippers (not pewter clasps) and a very distinct pattern.

The sweater I was wearing had found its way home to the Norwegian college for a Velkommen Jul celebration. I begged Evie to wear her 1959 red, white, and blue sister sweater to Velkommen Jul the next year. She did, and we marveled at the sweater’ reunion to each other after all these years!

Evie (nickname “Inch” because she’s so tiny) is an Augsburg alum 1943. She met her husband, Paul Sonnack ’42 at Augsburg. Paul’s father, Paul Sr. graduated from the Augsburg seminary and college in 1919.

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On Monday, Brian Noy and Mary Laurel True of Augsburg’s Sabo Center for Citizenship and Learning sat down and started brainstorming about ways to help—because that is what Auggies do.

“Actually,” True said, “President Pribbenow called and asked what we were going to do for North Minneapolis.” The two decided to organize clean-up groups to go to the area Wednesday and Thursday afternoon (see details below).

The Sabo Center is coordinating two clean-up trips to North Minneapolis, sandwich making on campus, and a donation collection. Noy says they are hoping to find a location to serve meals in the evenings as well. .

Ann Garvey, vice president of student affairs, reported that there are 66 students whose permanent address is in the affected zip codes, and several faculty and staff also live in North Minneapolis. Garvey offered to let displaced residents stay in the on-campus housing if needed.

For more information, “Like” the Campus Kitchen at Augsburg College Facebook page and read the Augsburg Daily A-mail for updates.

Ways to pitch in – UPDATED

Donation drive

Week of May 23

Bring donations of canned food, bottled water, diapers, blankets, clothes, and other household items to the Christensen Center welcome desk

1,000 peanut butter and jelly sandwich-making

Wednesday, May 25 10 a.m.-12 noon

Marshall Room, Christensen Center

Storm clean-up

Wednesday, May 25 12-4 p.m.

Meet in Christensen Center lobby

Storm clean-up

Thursday, May 26 12-4 p.m.

Meet in Christensen Center lobby

Neighborhood check-in

Door-to-door to check in on residents to gather information on service needs

Friday, May 27 12-4 p.m.

Meet in Christensen Center lobby

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This fall, the students in robert tom’s introduction to sculpture class worked to construct a fountain for the set of Ana’s Playground, a not-for-profit film about children in armed conflict. Written and directed by Eric D. Howell, “The film is intended to expose new audiences to the fact that children are being used as tools of war around the world.” (filmmakers blog)

Midway through the fall semester, tom was connected with Howell and the film’s producer through Mary Laurel True of Augsburg’s Center for Service, Work, and Learning. She had learned that the film would be shot in Cedar-Riverside and wanted to find ways for Augsburg students to be involved in the project.

Tim Bekke, Erica Malloy, Katy Lawson, Ryan Thomas, and Eric Reardon [above L to R] took Howell’s instructions: 12′ long, 6′ tall, needs to be viewed/filmed from 360 degrees, iconic male form look like he is doing a backward dive, arms extended, panels need to portray a “dissection” idea or stack of slabs. Each of the students made sketches and brought their ideas together to create the final piece. “We came up with the crescent idea to make the plates work,” Thomas said. “In the sketch, they were just floating in midair.”

The sculpture, which is composed of Styrofoam, wood, and steel pipe, is meant to be a once-working fountain that is now “dead.” In fact, the piece was constructed so that water could be sent through to the fingertips of “Oscar,” the back-diving figure on top of the fountain. Posted near the fountain, which is currently on display in the Oren Gateway Center lobby, students wrote, “After a long and exhausting challenge, this is our creative contribution to the war-torn children of the world…”

tom and the students were invited to the film set in November. “It was exciting,” Lawson said. “They created an environment that didn’t exist before.”

“It was hard to tell what was real and what was fake,” Thomas said. “There were lots of random materials that you wouldn’t expect.”

The students agreed that the experience of working in a professional setting was significant. “And we got out of two projects for the class because we made this,” said Molloy.

Ana’s Playground will be complete in May or June of 2009.

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The idea of a campus garden started with a conversation between Abigail Crampton Pribbenow and Mary Laurel True, associate director of community service-learning, when the Pribbenows were on campus during the presidential interview process. Both women shared enthusiasm for a community garden based on the “Edible Schoolyard,” a project started at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School in Berkeley, California.

Tim Dougherty, community and civic engagement student coordinator, sees the project as both a way to promote civic engagement through a welcoming gathering space and a commitment to provide healthy food for the Campus Kitchen and neighborhood gardeners. Forty 9′ x 9′ plots are contained in the garden, 33 of which are currently spoken for by students, faculty, staff, community neighbors, and groups like the Confederation of Somali Community in Minnesota and the Brian Coyle Center.

Augsburg junior Ruth Senum is the garden intern. She will teach neighborhood youth groups about types of plants and the different ways they grow. For one of her activities, Senum hopes to use a Three Sisters-style garden — a Native American trio of corn, beans, and squash — to teach students about native plants and indigenous culture.

The garden encourages staff members to work together. Judy Johnson and Emily Nugent of the Office of Adult Admissions will tend a salad garden. Johnson, who says she has been an amateur gardener for decades, is looking forward to working with Nugent, who has no gardening experience. “Judy knows all about gardening, so I expect to learn a lot from her,” said Nugent. “I am excited to get outdoors and do something with the earth and to have a virtual salad right behind my office that I can work on over lunch.”

In addition to providing healthy, organic food and an opportunity to get out of the office, Johnson sees the garden as a spot to interact with others. “Gardeners tend to exchange tips and gab,” she said.

On the north side of the plots, history professor Phil Adamo’s summer class will design and construct a labyrinth with the help of Bruce Rowe, Augsburg’s head groundskeeper. Unlike the mystifying corn mazes we might find in the Minnesota countryside, this unicursal labyrinth will provide a “single path” for meditative meandering. Students interested in this course can find information at .

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