Milton and the Devil’s Party: Top, Daniel Robinson; right, Mark Graybill; and left, Bob Falgie.

By Erin Sylvester ’13

Students usually don’t imagine their professors writing and performing rock songs outside of the classroom. This is, however, how Widener English professors Dr. Daniel Robinson and Dr. Mark Graybill spend their free time. Robinson—the editor of the CEA Critic who teaches mostly 18th- and 19th-century British literature, specializing in poetry of the Romantic-era—moonlights as a singer, songwriter, and bassist. Graybill—the new associate dean of Arts and Sciences who teaches modern, contemporary, and postmodern American fiction—moonlights as a guitarist.

Robinson and Graybill met while they were in graduate school and decided to form a band when they ended up teaching together at Widener. They created the local indie rock band Milton and the Devil’s Party back in 2001 and have been rocking out with success ever since. Bob Falgie, their current drummer, has been with them since 2006.

The band’s name has received quite a bit of attention, and Robinson has cited its origin as the passage in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake when he calls John Milton, the author of Paradise Lost, “a true Poet and of the Devil’s party without knowing it.” Robinson told Metro Philadelphia, “It’s kind of a joke. I thought it would be a funny name for a rock band because there’s that whole silly tradition of rock Satanism.”

Milton and the Devil’s Party’s music reminds some of R.E.M and The Smiths, and Robinson has been likened to Elvis Costello. He admits the influence of Morrissey, Nick Cave, Lloyd Cole, and Ray Davies on his songwriting. The band has put out three albums thus far: What Is All This Sweet Work Worth?, What Is All This Sweet Work Worth? (Expanded and Revised), and How Wicked We’ve Become. Their fourth album, You Must Contribute, Brain!, is expected to come out later this year.

To hear a sampling of music from Milton and the Devil’s Party, check out the band’s website. If you’re over 21, come hear their music live on Thursday, June 7 with 4th Line Revolutionary at the M-Room in the Fishtown section of Philadelphia at 9 p.m. Tickets are $8 at the door.

Erin Sylvester is a senior from Brunswick, Maine, majoring in English.

Fifty-four years ago, a “mysterious fire…extensively damaged” the new home of George T. Raymond and his family in the all-white community of Rutledge, Pa., just east of Swarthmore. Raymond, a black man from Chester who served as president of the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for more than 25 years, was progressive in his views and actions. He played a major role in the civil rights movement. “Largely through his efforts, Chester was transformed from a totally segregated city to a city where blacks could expect fair treatment in employment, housing, and education,” wrote John McLarnon of Millersville University.

Raymond’s papers are now available online because of the work of Jan Alexander and Jill Borin, reference librarians and archivists at Widener’s Wolfgram Memorial Library. The two were recently honored for compiling and digitizing the contents of three scrapbooks that the Raymond family donated to the university in 2009, separating them into five exhibits now known as the George Raymond Papers. Raymond created two of the scrapbooks in which he recorded the events of the civil rights movement through newspaper clippings, photographs, and other materials from the 1940’s through 1960’s. Another NAACP member created the third scrapbook, which reports the events of 1963-64. Alexander and Borin received the George T. Raymond Freedom Award at the 101st Annual NAACP Chester Branch Awards Dinner on April 27, 2012.

Alexander learned in the archival process that her father, Earle Edwards, knew the Raymonds personally. He helped make the purchase of the home possible while working for Friends Suburban Housing, a non-discriminatory real estate agency in Swarthmore, and was invited to the house blessing after it was renovated. Alexander said she was “deeply honored” by the award and that the papers are a “valuable historical resource.” Borin said, “When we received these papers, I realized what a treasure trove of history they contained.”

This photograph was taken two years after the fire at the house blessing of   the renovated Raymond home. George Raymond is pictured third from the left; Earle Edwards is second from the right.

To learn more, read the press release or local news coverage.

Erin Sylvester is a senior from Brunswick, Maine, majoring in English.

“The education and knowledge we received at Widener is now the foundation we can use to accomplish all of our goals and dreams,” Forese said. “Now is the time to go out and achieve our potential, not be complacent with the successes we have just achieved.”

You can read the rest of Forese’s speech, as well as Beers’s remarks, online.  You also can peruse a vast photo album with many photographs from the big day.

Ten-month-old William D’Eletto enjoyed the perfect weather Saturday from a front-row seat at Widener’s Commencement ceremony. William, pictured here in the lap of his aunt, Kathy Hassel, a 2007 Widener nursing graduate, is the daughter of Master of Education graduate Kelly D’Eletto, a fourth grade teacher at the Widener Partnership Charter School.  William is the grandson and Kelly and Kathy are the daughters of George Hassel, Widener’s associate vice president for administration.

Folding chairs on Memorial Field mean only one thing — commencement is here.

The first official event is the ROTC Commissioning at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, May 10, at the Veterans Memorial in front of Old Main. The final event is the main commencement ceremony beginning at 9:45 a.m. Saturday, May 12. For the complete schedule, as well as detailed information about all aspects of commencement, please see the comprehensive commencement web pages.

The ROTC Commissioning, Nightingale Ceremony, Academic Awards, and Commencement will be broadcast live online. The webcast will begin streaming at least five minutes before the event begins.

Coach Bill Manlove and Billy “White Shoes” Johnson — legendary figures in Widener football history — are among those inducted as part of the inaugural class in the Middle Atlantic Conference Hall of Fame.  Manlove was inducted in the College Football Hall of Fame last year, and Johnson was inducted in 1996.  For more information, read the press release.

Winners of the Widener-PMC Alumni Association Awards were on campus recently to accept their honors on Alumni Weekend. Pictured from left to right, the winners and their award category are as follows:

Donald E. Devilbiss of West Chester, Pa., acting dean of University College at Widener, received the R. Kelso Carter Award, presented annually to a non-Widener graduate who has brought honor to the university through their acts or accomplishments.

Barry L. Purvis of Chambersburg, Pa., the award-winning principal at Chambersburg Area Senior High School, received the John L. Geoghegan Alumni Citizenship Award, which is given annually in memory of Geoghegan, a member of the class of 1963, to an alumnus or alumna who has brought honor to the university through leadership and community service.

Sheldon “Shelly” A. Schwartz of Greencastle, Pa., a graduate of the class of 1960, received the Alumni Service Award, presented for volunteer service to the university. He was instrumental in planning the 50^th reunion of his graduating class of Pennsylvania Military College.

Anna Miller, a senior chemistry major from East Prospect, Pa., received the John L. Geoghegan Student Citizenship Award which is given annually in memory Geoghegan, a member of the class of 1963, to a student who has brought honor to the university through academic achievement, leadership and community service.

Michael S. Scales of Cape May County, N.J. is the recipient of the Outstanding Alumnus Award. As associate professor of business studies at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Scales has been a strong proponent of civic engagement. He created several group service learning projects for students including Hospitality Helping Homeless, for which his class received the Atlantic City Hometown Hero Award; A Taste for New Orleans, a dinner and auction that raised money for the American Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund; and Feast for Families, an annual fundraiser for The Alcove Center for Grieving Children in Northfield, N.J.

For more information, read the press release.

The collection includes twenty-five short stories — some as short as two pages,  a style known as flash fiction — while others run a more traditional length of several thousand words.  A number of his stories featured in the collection have been published online, including “Opposites,” an evocative flash fiction piece, and  “Retroactive Special,” a funny yet poignant story about the passing of time.

George Dunton Widener

When the Titanic went down almost 100 years ago — the centennial of the epic maritime disaster is April 14 — two members of the family for whom Widener was later named perished with it. The bodies of George Dunton Widener, and his son, Harry Elkins Widener, were never recovered (the body of their valet, Edwin Keeping, was recovered and was buried at sea). George’s wife and Harry’s mother, Eleanor Elkins Widener, was also on the ship but survived, as did her maid.

The prominent family’s photos and many replicas of the their belongings, including a pearl necklace that was insured for $100,000, as well as George’s and Harry’s cenotaphs — memorials erected at a gravesite when the remains are elsewhere — will be part of an exhibit opening April 10 at the Widener University Art Gallery.

The exhibit,  curated by J. Joseph Edgette, PhD, professor emeritus of education and folklorist emeritus at Widener, also includes information on other Philadelphians who perished, as well as dogs on the ship.  The exhibit also explores the impact the Titanic has had on popular culture, the company that built the Titanic, the details about the ship, the recovery efforts following the tragedy, and how families memorialized members who lost their lives.

The exhibit will run through May 12.  A reception will be held on April 14, the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, from 2 to 4 p.m. in the gallery. For more information, see the press release, and for more on the Widener family, visit the Widener Family History page in the Wolfgram Memorial Library Digital Collections.