Posts Tagged 'Michelle Kanaar'

Grab Bag: Chafetz, DeSare, CSO prepare diverse, patriotic repertoire for annual Independence Day celebration

Grab Bag: Chafetz, DeSare, CSO prepare diverse, patriotic repertoire for annual Independence Day celebration

Stuart Chafetz may be the only conductor who visits Sam’s Club once a year to buy 15,000 paper bags.

“[The cashiers] kind of look at me funny, like, ‘What’s this for? Boy, is this for camp?’ ” Chafetz said. “I just usually say, ‘Yeah, a lot of mouths to feed.’ We always have plenty of paper bags — the ushers hand you your program plus three paper bags.”

Opening Sacred Song Service one of pure, ‘rock ’em, sock ’em’ celebration

Opening Sacred Song Service one of pure, ‘rock ’em, sock ’em’ celebration

Jared Jacobsen likens his choice of Sacred Song Service themes to putting together a puzzle. And the opening night’s selection is a picture of pure jubilance.

“I just want to celebrate how excited we are to be back at Chautauqua,” Jacobson said.

Jacobsen is the coordinator of worship and sacred music, known to most as the talented fingers and feet behind Chautauqua’s organ performances. The focus of the first 8 p.m. service of the season is “Oh Happy Day!,” an arrangement Jacobsen calls “down and dirty gospel.”

Miller Family Papers to add Chautauqua chapter to Edison project

Miller Family Papers to add Chautauqua chapter to Edison project

Sometime in the next months, the 16 gray coffin-like archival boxes holding the Miller Family Papers will leave the Oliver Archives Center in Chautauqua, N.Y., and journey to Rutgers University, N.J., to become part of the Thomas A. Edison Papers Project at Rutgers.

A note of clarification is required. The Miller Family Papers are the collected correspondence, diaries and memorabilia of the family of Lewis Miller, one of Chautauqua Institution’s founders. The papers include the letters of Mina Miller Edison, the second wife of Thomas Edison. The Thomas A. Edison Papers Project is a research center based at Rutgers University, and it is described as “one of the most ambitious editing projects ever undertaken by an American university.”

In Chautauqua, pair of rising stars find a place to find themselves

In Chautauqua, pair of rising stars find a place to find themselves

“There is just something about Chautauqua at 6 a.m. that cannot be described,” said Mac McShane, 16-year-old circulation manager of The Chautauquan Daily. “My route is my way to relax. It’s just me, the cool morning air, and a list of houses.”

The kid everyone calls Mac spends his summers working at the Daily, along with waiting tables at Intermezzo at Chautauqua.

En route, he delivers the paper on his scooter to people all throughout the grounds, including to Institution President Tom Becker.

Community gardens blossom in fourth season of growth

Community gardens blossom in fourth season of growth

The Chautauqua season is nine weeks long, but for some who live on the grounds, there is a longer, more important season to arrange one’s summer around: the growing season.

At the southernmost end of the Institution, hidden behind bushes that grow along Bryant, are 15 small plots that together comprise the Chautauqua community gardens. The gardeners who tend them extend their Chautauqua time for planting and harvesting.

Chautauquan donates 511-year-old Bible for Institution’s book collection

Chautauquan donates 511-year-old Bible for Institution’s book collection

The Bible is one of the world’s most read books. People turn through its pages in moments of despair or elation. The holy text is present at baptisms, weddings, funerals and the moments that punctuate life in between.

The Department of Religion of Chautauqua Institution recently received a Bible that has seen many such moments. Earlier this month, Judith Burrows, a retired Episcopal priest, gave a 511-year-old Bible to the institution.

“This wonderful institution was built on a religious foundation. It’s right for it, it’s where it should be,” Burrows said.

Hurlbut Church lift will improve community accessibility

Hurlbut Church lift will improve community accessibility

Hurlbut Memorial Community United Methodist Church at Pratt and Scott avenues is on the verge of being handicapped accessible. Hurlbut, known as a place “Where Worship Welcomes,” is making an effort to be even more welcoming by having a Limited Use Limited Access elevator installed by its Scott entrance. People with limited mobility should find attending worship, Special Studies classes and summer programming much more accessible once the lift is installed and operating.

“God’s Vision … Our Mission … Beyond Walls” was the theme for a building campaign that started with refurbishing the art deco designed stained glass windows in the sanctuary just prior to the 2008 Season and, in 2009, completed restructuring the Pratt sanctuary entrance by installing new front steps. A handicapped-accessible entrance facing Scott is the third major aspect of the building project.

Bales, Robb discuss unique life of being commander-in-chief’s daughter

Bales, Robb discuss unique life of being commander-in-chief’s daughter

Most people can relate to a teenager’s difficulty dealing with homework, school dances and friends while growing up.

But only a few people understand what it’s like to deal with those things under the white-hot spotlight of being a presidential child.

Lynda Johnson Robb and Susan Ford Bales shared their stories with journalist John Avlon during Wednesday’s morning lecture in congruence with the Week Nine lecture theme, “The Presidents Club.”

White analyzes Christian ethic within Lincoln’s second inaugural address

White analyzes Christian ethic within Lincoln’s second inaugural address

Abraham Lincoln was a Christian president, and he embedded Christian ethics of inclusivity, humility and reconciliation within his speeches, writings and presidency, said Ronald C. White Jr., the author of A. Lincoln: A Biography and Lincoln’s Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural. White presented Monday’s 2 p.m. Interfaith Lecture in the Hall of Philosophy.

White opened this season’s Week Nine religion lecture theme, “The Ethics of Presidential Power,” with a lecture titled “Abraham Lincoln’s Sermon on the Mount: the Second Inaugural Address.”

White began his lecture with a reading of the 701-word document, which only took Lincoln six minutes to read to an audience of 25,000 to 30,000 people on March 4, 1865. At the time the president delivered the speech, the crowd was full of soldiers who had lost limbs during the Civil War, family members who had lost sons and brothers, White said. The atmosphere was turbulent, and already there were threats of Lincoln’s assassination or abduction. Nearby rooftops were strewn with sharpshooters, White said.