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A national decree in 1934 declared a day in October as Columbus Day. Last year, President Biden issued a proclamation announcing the celebration of Indigenous Peoples to coincide with that day, this year being October 10. I doubt that celebrating Columbus Day and Indigenous People’s Day on the same day is intended as a slight to the Italian American community. …
Continue readingIn celebration of Juneteenth, I started with a poignant statement from President Biden: “Nations don’t ignore their most painful moments. They confront them to grow stronger.” In honoring the recently minted holiday of Juneteenth, that is the sentiment we carried forward during our recognition. We celebrated the end of slavery in the United States in 1865, more than two years…
Continue readingCCBC’s annual Commencement ceremony is the climax of our academic year. It is the day we pay tribute to the talent, hard work, passion and resourcefulness of several thousand students whose work has culminated in an associate degree or a certificate. It is a reward, not only for students and their families, but for the tremendous efforts made by faculty…
Continue readingNurses across America have been officially recognized and celebrated for over 40 years. Nurses Day has morphed into Nurses Week, and this year has extended into a month-long celebration focusing on the theme of “Nurses make a difference.” From an international perspective, the theme grows even larger: “Nurses: a voice to Lead – Invest in nursing and respect rights to…
Continue readingCCBC is a college that strives to live its commitment to diversity by counting inclusion among its core institutional values. Over the past two years, ravaged by two distinctly different pandemics – one, a virus and the other, an awakening to social justice, it is more important than ever for us to sustain our commitment to celebrating our broad definition…
Continue readingI write to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving. The pandemic remains a factor in our lives, but far less than last year when many of our Thanksgiving dinners were enjoyed with family members via zoom, rather than in person. Now that we are more in hybrid mode and slowly feeling our way back into sociability, I encourage each of…
Continue readingEach November, I am struck by the proximity between Veterans Day and the two fall events which precede it: the anniversary of 9/11 and Election Day. The extra special nature of 9/11 this year was the celebration of the 20th anniversary of an American catastrophe turned into American triumph. Election Day, as it always does, reassures us – everyday Americans…
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