Sandy Jordan

[Excerpt] After 28 years, Sandy Jordan is saying goodbye to her career at ILR on August 31, 2006. Sandy started out in ILR in 1978 as an administrative assistant working on a small grant administered by Prof. Robert Doherty and Prof. Ronald Donovan. She had been laid off from the local telephone company and was desperately searching for another job when Mary Tucker off ered her the position mainly because Sandy “happened to be the only applicant that did not remind Mary of her mother.” During the summer of 1978, she applied for and was offered a position in the ILR Extension Division Fiscal Office working for David Stotz and Merle Hayes. She worked in the Extension Fiscal Office until June 1991 when she transferred to the ILR Human Resources Office working with Pam Strausser and Gail Hendrix and has remained in the HR office ever since. After retiring, Sandy plans to ride off into the sunset on a big orange motorcycle

Independence Versus Community: Gendered Contradictions in Margaret Laurence's The Stone Angel and The Fire-Dwellers

Hagar and Stacey, two of Margaret Laurence's protagonists not usually considered together, share a host of gendered contradictions in their efforts to live full and balanced lives. They are victimized by their efforts to survive, strive for agency only to find themselves more contained, and meet their needs by contributing to their own oppression. Résumé Hagar et Stacey, deux des protagonistes de Margaret Laurence qui ne sont pas habituellement considérées ensemble, partage un bon nombre de contradictions dans leurs efforts pour vivre des vies pleines et équilibrées. Elles sont victimes par leurs efforts pour survivre, elles s’efforcent pour l’agence pour se voir encore plus contenues, et rencontrent leurs besoins en contribuant à leur propre oppression

The Cowl - v.79 - n.4 - Sep 25, 2014

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol 79 - No. 4 - September 25, 2014. 24 pages

Seeking (and Finding) Ulysses: Some Positive Ageing Narratives in Recent Fiction and Film

The process of ageing is all too often seen as something to be avoided, feared or even, sadly, ridiculed. We are all familiar with literary and film narratives which portray older persons as either curmudgeons or crones, or personify them as being ugly or ill (Up, Grumpy Old Men, Snow White‟s stepmother in disguise, Red Riding Hood‟s grandmother) – images which often translate to real-life assumptions about older people, and ageist attitudes which are not conducive to individuals ageing well. Commentators within the field of Social Gerontology have noted with concern the dominance of such negative stereotypes, linking them to poor outcomes for real-life older persons. Yet, instinct suggests that we are right to fear such prospects for our own ageing, and this raises the question: „With what can we replace these age-old models of decline and decay?‟ A partial answer to this question can be found in a recent abundance of positive literary and filmic portrayals of older persons leading triumphant, vibrant and adventurous lives. Via a brief survey of some texts and films drawn from the recent past, which includes Joanne Harris‟ novel Chocolat, Helen Simonson‟s Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, and the films Skyfall and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, this thesis examines some positive fictional portrayals of ageing in the light of contemporary research within the social sciences. Taking as its inspiration the poem „Ulysses‟ by Alfred Lord Tennyson, this thesis is intended to be neither exhaustive nor definitive, and has as its primary motivation the purpose of highlighting key attitudinal and practicable qualities demonstrated within these fictional contexts that are applicable to ageing well in the real world, as indicated within the relevant scholarship

Writing Sample

Two stories. The Paternity Test , and The Last Assassi