Among the many thought-provoking works featured in the exhibition For Which It Stands… at the Fairfield University Art Museum is Sarah Rahbar’s I don’t trust you anymore, Flag #59 (2019), a mixed-media American flag assemblage that confronts themes of patriotism, identity, conflict, and disillusionment. The following wall label by Silvia Marsans-Sakly, PhD offers further insight into Rahbar’s powerful work and its place within the exhibition’s broader exploration of the American flag as a complex and evolving symbol.
By: Silvia Marsans-Sakly, PhD
Associate Professor of the Practice of History and Islamic World
I don’t trust you anymore, Flag #59, 2019
Mixed media, collected vintage objects, on vintage US flag
Courtesy of Sara Rahbar
Sara Rahbar (American, born Iran, 1976)
This work forms part of a series that the artist began in the years following 9/11, using the American flag as a canvas. Rahbar, who emigrated from Iran to the United States during the Islamic Revolution and overthrow of the Shah and the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979, when she was a 4-year-old, stitches together a disparate range of materials as she wrestles with patriotism, politics, and her own biography.
In this reimagined American flag, the artist—who emigrated to the United States after a conflict the U.S. helped ignite to destabilize both countries and weaken the region—keeps the familiar constellation of stars but forges the stripes from cartridge and utility belts, dog tags, hammered Middle Eastern charms, and crucifixes. The result lays bare a nation whose symbolic fabric has been rewoven through the gear of killing. The outline remains, but its promise hardens into iron: a banner of democratic ideals set against the reality of a nation for whom war is not an aberration but a defining identity—and a profitable industry. These weapon-laden stripes expose the gulf between the justifications offered at home—“defense,” “freedom,” “security”—and the power projected abroad through endless war in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Syria, Palestine, and beyond. In this flag, the myth of democratic virtue stands next to the machinery that sustains empire.
Good morning President Nemec, Members of the Board of Trustees, Honored Guests, Members of the Faculty and Administration, Family, Friends, and Members of the Class of 2026.
You know, I never quite understood the phrase “happy ending.” If something we cared deeply about is coming to a close, what's there to be happy about? But while endings may feel like a loss, they prove something real took place. The emotions we feel today show that this journey of ours mattered.
Fairfield University became a place where all of our lives crossed paths, no matter where we came from. We found meaning in the moments we knew wouldn’t last: late nights at the library, conversations in the Barone Campus Center, and routines with roommates that became traditions.
All of this reminded me of a quote from my favorite movie of all time, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, spoken by Gwen Stacy, Spider-Man’s girlfriend and valedictorian of her class. Gwen says:
“I know we all think we're immortal… but, like our brief four years together, what makes anything in life valuable is that it doesn't last forever. What makes it precious is that it ends.”
As much as I would love to spend time convincing you how great of a film it is, what matters more is what that quote reminds us of, especially today. We knew this day would come, which is exactly what made our time here so precious. Significance from impermanence.
I’m sure I’m not alone when I say four years felt like a lifetime away when I first arrived at Fairfield. It felt like we had time to figure everything out. And in a way, we did — but not in the way any of us expected.
Because somewhere between our first days on campus and our last, life wasn’t just happening around us — it was happening to us. And without even realizing it, we changed.
And in that change, Fairfield gave us three things that we’ll carry with us: the people who shaped us, the education that pushed us, and the responsibility we carry forward.
One of the biggest reasons many of us were so eager to arrive on campus back in 2022 was the opportunity to meet new people. In a way, the first week of college reminded me a lot of kindergarten: your parents dropped you off and you miss them, you don't know anyone, no one knows you, and you take a lot of naps.
But over time, this place started to feel smaller. We began to recognize faces, make group chats, and say, “Hey, you’re in my FYE class!”
Strangers became classmates, classmates became friends, and those friendships became a part of who we are today.
For me, that started during one of the first few nights at Fairfield’s traditional Quad Fest. It was that night I met Lucas and Cooper, two people who I can now call some of my best friends for the rest of my life.
I know for a fact I’m not alone in having an experience like that. For many of us, the relationships that mean the most didn’t come from big, planned moments — they came from the little things, like an unexpected conversation or a classmate we randomly sat next to.
Whether we knew each other personally or never met, we shared this journey together through Pres Ball dancing, Tully dinners, trips to the beach, and taking on the Magis Core requirements.
People we didn’t know for the first 18 years of our lives became the people who defined the last four.
Today reminds us it is never just the place — it is always the people too.
But as much as the people shaped who we are, so did the education that pushed us.
This beautiful campus gave us a place to think, to question, to test our capabilities. Some conversations challenged the way we saw the world, and sometimes even ourselves. But that’s exactly where the growth happened.
We started to realize that education here wasn’t just about getting the right answers — it was about learning how to ask better questions.
We’re not in control of how much time we’re given, but we are in control of how deeply we choose to be curious.
Earlier, I mentioned the Magis Core, which is a unique set of courses designed to take all Fairfield students beyond just their major or school.
A mentor of mine, Professor Natlo from the marketing department, who was both my professor and my advisor, once told me to “take advantage” of the Magis Core to learn something new while I was here. That always stuck with me.
It made me see these classes Fairfield University required us to take not as “extras,” but as opportunities to expand our intellect.
In fact, within our Jesuit values, the word “Magis” means “striving for more.”
These Jesuit principles challenge us to grow by moving out of our comfort zone to serve the community and the greater glory of God.
It’s no coincidence that many of us, including myself, have been so involved here on this campus. It was never just about ourselves.
So whether we were solving global problems in the Dolan School of Business, learning to save lives in the Egan School of Nursing, exploring complex ideas in the Meditz College of Arts and Sciences, or literally building the future in the Bannow Science Center, we started to see that different paths here had the same lesson:
Every challenge Fairfield put in front of us was an opportunity for something greater than ourselves.
As we leave this place shaped by the people we met and the education that pushed us, we are left with something else: a responsibility.
Everything we’ve been given here was never meant to stay in Fairfield — it was meant to be carried forward.
If these past four years taught us anything, it’s that moments don’t last forever, but our impact can.
For those who know me, you know I’ve always been a huge fan of Spider-Man, and for those who don’t, hopefully starting off this speech with a Spider-Man movie quote was convincing enough.
You see, the biggest takeaway from Spider-Man — or any superhero for that matter — is not the superpowers. It’s the message: hope.
Hope that good can defeat evil, that challenges can be conquered, and that you don't need powers to be a hero.
My wish for you is this: become hope.
There will be dark days ahead of us, and that’s when hope is needed most. Be the reminder that just like the good times, the bad ones don’t last forever.
Fairfield University has given us hope that each and every one of us can, and should, make a difference in this world.
The foundation for growth, expansion, and success has been built. What happens next is up to us.
And so, to close, I will paraphrase the latter half of Gwen Stacy’s quote from The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and I ask all of you to take this message with you:
“Today of all days reminds us that time is luck. So don't waste it living someone else's life. Make yours count for something. Fight for what matters to you, no matter what. Because even if you fall short, what better way is there to live?
I know it feels like we're saying goodbye, but we will carry a piece of each other into everything that we do next, to remind us of who we are, and of who we're meant to be.”
Class of 2026, be the hope for a better tomorrow.
I had a great four years with you all, and I will miss you all very much.
Thank you, and congratulations to my fellow graduates!
Grounded in Purpose: Fairfield Nursing Students Reflect on the NSNA Convention
As the largest Fairfield delegation ever to attend the National Student Nurses’ Association Convention, nine Egan School seniors traveled to Houston, Texas, this spring to present their capstone research, connect with peers and professionals from across the country, and explore the future of nursing. From showcasing evidence-based research projects to attending specialty sessions and networking with nurse leaders, the experience offered students valuable opportunities for professional growth and personal reflection. Following the conference, students shared how the event strengthened their confidence, expanded their perspectives on the profession, and reinforced the distinctive value of a Fairfield nursing education.
Caroline Carnes ‘26
The theme of this year's convention was "Grounded in Purpose and Destined for the Stars." I left Texas feeling truly inspired. The opportunities are endless for nurses. I was surrounded by many future nurses, current nurses, nurse leaders like Jeff Doucette and Kellie Bryant, and nurse recruiters. There were also plenty of graduate schools promoting futures in nurse anesthesiology, nurse practitioner, clinical instructor, and nurse leaders/educators. In the early mornings, each day I was able to further prepare for the NCLEX with the Uworld review. In this review we looked at test taking strategies for bowtie questions and case studies. I was refreshed upon maternal complications of pregnancy, common childhood illness, and the cardiovascular system. In the mid-morning each day, I presented my poster to all who came by. I learned that not all nursing programs have students that do research. This capstone project in retrospect makes Fairfield stand out. There were focus sessions in the afternoon each day.
Madison Muoio ‘26
The NSNA 74th Annual Convention has truly been a defining experience at this point in my education and career process. This opportunity gave me the chance to communicate professionally, not only with my classmates but also with future colleagues nationwide! I was able to relate the core Jesuit values I learned at Fairfield University during the convention. For example, I attended a lecture, “The Role of Animals in Health Care.” This gave me pertinent information on the application, risks, and benefits of this complementary therapy that I can educate my patients on to support their psychological well-being. Various sessions piqued the interest of each student, and we all were able to share what we learned at these focus sessions. With that being said, I learned about fields such as correctional nursing, CWOCN, and oncology through conversations with my peers. During my time at the convention, I was also able to earn a Seizure First Aid certificate. Most of all, the keynote speakers were truly inspirational and have only made me more excited to see what positive impact I can have on this amazing profession. Overall, this was truly a meaningful experience that I will forever be grateful for, thanks to Fairfield's SNA, faculty, and my peers.
Olivia Petzold ‘26
I am so grateful for the opportunity to attend the NSNA convention and represent Fairfield University. It was incredibly inspiring to connect with and learn from other student nurses and nurse leaders from across the country. Engaging in these conversations not only broadened my perspective on the profession but also gave me greater confidence in discussing my own research and the knowledge I have gained throughout my nursing education and clinical experience. I also enjoyed collaborating with my peers and hearing about their research as well!
I especially enjoyed attending lectures in specialties I am interested in, including pediatrics and oncology, as they provided valuable insight into potential career pathways and available resources. One session that stood out to me was the seizure certification lecture, which further expanded my clinical knowledge in a meaningful way. Overall, this experience reinforced my passion for nursing and motivated me to continue growing both academically and professionally. I would love to attend this conference again in my future nursing career.
I am truly thankful to Dr. LoGiudice for her constant support and guidance, which made this experience possible. I highly recommend this experience for incoming juniors and seniors at Fairfield, as I feel there is a lot to gain from attending!
Peyton Rivers ‘26
Attending the NSNA conference in Houston Texas this past weekend was a fantastic experience. I got the privilege to share this opportunity with students from universities all over the country. Everyone was excited and impressed by the number of students Fairfield brought to the conference, as well as the fact that each student presented their own individual poster. Over the course of the conference, I had the opportunity to discuss and share, my research and observations with fellow peers and faculty from other universities, as well as professionals from various hospital organizations. I would like to sincerely thank COSO and the Egan School of Nursing for supporting this trip.
Caitlin Scacchetti ‘26
Attending the NSNA Convention was a valuable experience that allowed me to grow both personally and professionally as a nursing student. I had the opportunity to present my capstone project to students and faculty from universities across the country, which strengthened my confidence and communication skills. I also engaged in meaningful conversations with other nursing students, nurses, and educators, gaining new perspectives outside of the traditional clinical setting. Throughout the conference, I attended sessions on becoming a pediatric nurse and a wound care nurse, as well as a Seizure and Epilepsy First Aid class, where I learned about different types of seizures, their causes, and appropriate interventions. Listening to the opening and closing remarks was especially inspiring and reinforced my passion for pursuing a career in nursing. I plan to carry what I learned into my future practice by applying this knowledge to patient care, continuing to seek out learning opportunities, and building strong professional relationships. Overall, this experience helped me expand my knowledge, build connections, and continue developing into a well-rounded nursing professional.
Jenn Schiffel ‘26
The NSNA Conference in Houston, Texas, was an amazing opportunity to learn and network before graduation! As a nursing major, I feel as though there can be an educational gap on how important networking is when obtaining a job as a new grad and transitioning into your dream unit. During the symposium, I had many students and professors from other schools approach me about my project, and we continued to talk to develop a relationship and even connect on LinkedIn. Gathering perspectives from students in different programs and states helped me learn about many opportunities available to me after graduation, and it was interesting to compare their nursing school experiences to mine!
Throughout the few days, I also had the opportunity to attend information sessions about oncology and pediatric nursing. These programs were special because everyone attending was either extremely passionate about the specialty or genuinely passionate about learning, regardless of the topic. It was an amazing opportunity to see what pathways are available for me after graduation and even further down the line if I decide to pivot my career in a new direction. I was able to learn about different kinds of certifications and further education that would be valuable knowledge to have, and also help me stand out to employers. I especially loved engaging with some of the educational companies we utilize here at Fairfield, such as Archer, and with the NCLEX coming up in a few months, I enjoyed seeing what resources other companies offered. Overall, I thought this experience was exciting and inspiring! If given the opportunity, I would definitely attend in the future as an advisor!
Ella Tanis ‘26
Attending the NSNA convention this year in Houston was a rewarding experience that deepened both my professional and personal growth as a future nurse. Presenting my capstone project provided me with the opportunity to communicate my research and clinical findings to a broader audience, strengthening my confidence in public speaking and professional presentation prior to Fairfield University’s Annual Research Symposium. Beyond my own presentation, I had the privilege of engaging with nursing students and healthcare professionals from across the country, exchanging ideas and perspectives that expanded my understanding of the nursing profession on a national level. The convention reinforced the importance of evidence-based practice, advocacy, and lifelong learning, which I will now carry with me throughout my nursing career. I am grateful to Fairfield University and the Egan School of Nursing for making this experience possible!
Associate Professor, Visual and Performing Arts | Director, Arts Institute
“The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous.” -Frederick Douglass
When Mark Twain’s picaresque American novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), was first published, it was met with a deeply divided response. Some saw the book as racist and vulgar, with fellow New Englander, Louisa May Alcott, suggesting that Hartford resident Twain “had best stop writing.” Others praised the work for its mastery of American vernacular, regional descriptions, and its blatant, post-bellum critique of racism.
As Michael Ciavaglia and I sat down over a year ago to select a large-scale American musical to present at part of our America250 calendar at Fairfield University, Big River, Roger Miller and William Hauptman’s 1984 adaptation of Twain’s novel, came to mind for several reasons. First, the music (drawn from Black Spirituals, Bluegrass, Country, Folk, and more), is as deeply American as the story itself, celebrating the rich cultural diversity that has contributed to the formation of our national identity. Moreover, just as the response to Twain’s novel was discordant in the nineteenth century, we find ourselves at a cultural moment of national celebration where a sense of unity feels strangled by division. But what can Big River teach us about who we are today?
I hope that Big River teaches us that American identity is not forged through comfort or consensus, but through moral struggle, proximity, and choice. At its core, Big River—like Huckleberry Finn—refuses the fantasy of innocence. Huck’s journey is not toward purity or even solidarity, but toward responsibility. He is raised inside a racist moral system, and the musical makes clear that good intentions are not enough; what matters is the courage to act against inherited beliefs. In a moment when national discourse often seeks absolution through silence, symbolism, or nostalgia, Big River reminds us that progress comes from uncomfortable reckonings and from listening to voices long ignored. The great Mississippi becomes a metaphor for America itself: expansive, shared, and full of potential, but also shaped by currents of violence, inequality, and possible escape. Big River insists that our national story remains unfinished, and that the next chapter depends on our willingness to choose empathy over inheritance, justice over comfort, and action over nostalgia.
Ultimately, I believe that Big River can teach us that unity is not something to be declared during anniversaries or commemoration, like this one, rather, it is something we earn through moral courage. Huck’s famous choice to “go to hell” rather than betray Jim is not an act of rebellion for rebellion’s sake, it is an act of ethical clarity born from a mutual relationship grounded in love and compassion.
Twain’s novel, and this adaptation, are recognized for their use of often crude but historically accurate language, including racist slurs and tropes that scar both our past and our present. As director, and with the permission of Concord Theatricals, I have chosen not to include this language in our production. This decision is not an attempt to erase the very real violence and hatred embedded in these words, which continue to haunt this and the larger American story. Rather, it is an intentional act of civility. As a Jesuit institution and a place of learning, Fairfield University is committed to affirming “the God-given dignity of every human person.” Our production is likewise obligated to create a space in which all are made to feel welcome, respected, and seen.
Finally, Percival Everett’s pathbreaking novel James (2024)—a retelling of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from Jim’s perspective—has been invaluable to my process of understanding and unpacking these complex characters. I encourage everyone to read it and to continue reflecting on why this story still resonates so deeply today.
Fairfield University will present Big River: In Concert, a staged musical celebrating America250, in collaboration with its Theatre Program, Glee Club, the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts, and the Greater Bridgeport Symphony Orchestra, featuring professional Equity actors. Performances will take place April 17–18 at 7:30 p.m. at the Quick Center in Fairfield, Conn. Based on “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” the production follows Huck Finn and Jim’s journey to freedom along the Mississippi, and brings together nearly 90 student singers, Broadway-caliber performers, and a full symphonic orchestra.
Tickets and event details: fairfield.edu/quickcenter.
We live in a time of war. We have many reasons to be sad, and much cause for righteous indignation.
Our university was founded in such a time. The Jesuits who decided in 1942 to begin our university were not oblivious to the horrors of the Second World War raging at the time, but they had an Easter faith. They believed that the Risen Christ had won the final victory over sin and death, and that their mission came from that same Lord.
In a time of so much uncertainty we turn to Jesus, the one invincible light, for hope and ask Him to send us into a broken world as servants and sentinels of the gospel. He has promised never to abandon us, and the light of Easter morning still traces a path for us.
Fairfield is privileged to host the exhibit “Icons on Ammo Boxes” with ammunition boxes from the front lines in Ukraine transformed into radiant mirrors of the divine. The artists live in the hellscape of war, facing death every day, but their faith in the Risen Lord allows them to transform the residue of war into beacons of hope.
In our own daily struggles may we, with God’s grace, do the same.
Fairfield Professor Reveals New Information About Jesus of Nazareth
In his book Josephus and Jesus: New Evidence for the One Called Christ, Thomas C. Schmidt, PhD, advances a striking claim: that the ancient historian Flavius Josephus was not a distant or secondhand witness to traditions about Jesus, but rather stood in close social proximity to individuals directly involved in the events surrounding the crucifixion. Schmidt’s argument reframes a long-running scholarly debate—transforming Josephus from a disputed source into a potentially central historical witness to the life and death of Jesus.
Excerpt from Josephus and Jesus (pp. 199-201):
But there is another reason to conclude that Josephus knew some who attended the trial of Jesus. This is because the individuals mentioned below can all be placed at the same time and general location of the trial itself. This is clear from Jewish law, which stipulated that on the evening of Passover—when Jesus was put on trial—faithful Jews were to gather in Jerusalem in the house of their familial patriarch. The conclusion from these things is that Ananus II, Josephus’ future commander, would have been celebrating Passover in the house of his father at the precise time the New Testament says Jesus was brought to his father’s house for interrogation. It means too that Simon, Josephus’ fellow Pharisee, would have been with his father Gamaliel when Gamaliel was called to the Sanhedrin trial of Jesus. And much the same can be said for the other of Josephus’ acquaintances as they celebrated Passover with their illustrious families, each family undoubtedly having many members among the Sanhedrin or the chief priests who, according to the Gospels, all attended the trial of Jesus.
I should not fail to emphasize that the Passover timing of such an event would have given Josephus’ contacts an extraordinary opportunity to have learned what occurred at the trial of Jesus, probably even allowing some to participate. And from this experience they each could have apprised Josephus about many things pertaining to Jesus of Nazareth. Indeed, Josephus is so well connected to Jesus that he is only one degree of separation removed from each of the four Jewish leaders whom the Gospel authors describe as participating in Jesus’ trial: Ananus I, Caiaphas, Herod Antipas, and Gamaliel. For Josephus knew close family members of each man. And of course, some of those family members are likely to have attended the trial itself, making Josephus a direct contact with those who prosecuted Jesus.
Aside from these persons, there are also any number of other individuals whom Josephus may have met during his years in Galilee or his decades in Jerusalem whom he could have heard speak of Jesus. These include a great range of people, from various chief priests, to the scions of the Herodian dynasty, to the leaders of the Sanhedrin, to the common folk of Jerusalem and Galilee, to even Josephus’ own father and mother. After all, his parents were living in Jerusalem during the public crucifixion of Jesus in 30/33 ce, when his father was an esteemed priest and his mother was at least a teenager. They both would have been able to recount to him many things about Jesus. And this is not to forget that Josephus also knew several Jewish leaders who supervised the trials of the apostles James, Paul, and likely Peter and John. All told then, Josephus clearly had an impressive roster of informants able to tell him about the man from Nazareth.
But, given these things, there now remains but one more significant question to address: what can the TF tell us about the Jesus of history? For if the TF is authentic—if it really was written by a Jewish historian who grew up in Jerusalem in the 30s and 40s ce, who lived among the common people of Galilee, who circled among the chief priests of Jerusalem in the 50s and 60s ce, and who knew the prince of the Sanhedrin and several High Priests; if its author, Josephus, really did know some who crucified Jesus and some who put the apostles on trial—then we would be wise to pay attention to its words. For the TF may have historical depths which have not yet been plumbed.
For additional historical context on Flavius Josephus and the debates surrounding the Testimonium Flavianum, watch the discussion between Dr. Schmidt and Dr. Andrew Mark Henry, PhD, originally featured by “Religion for Breakfast.” The Most Famous Extrabiblical Reference to Jesus: Authentic or Not?
About Thomas C. Schmidt, PhD
A scholar trained at Yale and now serving as associate professor at Fairfield University and visiting fellow at Princeton, Schmidt has published widely on the historical Jesus, the formation of the New Testament, and early Christianity across diverse cultural contexts, working directly with sources in Greek, Latin, Syriac, and Arabic. This technical and linguistic expertise undergirds his fresh analysis of Josephus.
Schmidt's book Josephus and Jesus: New Evidence for the One Called Christ has already been nominated for several prizes with academic organizations such as the American Academy of Religion, the American Society of Church History, and others. He has also been invited to present his book's findings at prestigious institutions including Princeton, Harvard, Oxford, and the Society of Biblical Literature.
Again, this year the festivals of Passover and Easter will be observed amid challenging times.
In Israel, war with Iran will force Jews to observe their seders in safe rooms and bomb shelters. Few Christian pilgrims will be in Jerusalem walking the Via Delarosa following the footsteps of Jesus’ final days.
The memory of the deadly attack on Australian Jews at Hanukkah and the reality of increased Anti-Semitism here at home force synagogues to take unprecedented security measures and make many unnerved.
But Passover is a sacred festival that encourages us to consider both parochial concerns for the Jewish community and the myriads of ills that beset society in general. When we read the words of the Haggadah (the liturgical text of Passover), “Let all who are hungry come and eat…,” we need to be mindful of harsh policies that run counter to the Jewish and Christian teachings requiring us to love the stranger and welcome those who have fled oppressive regimes and unstable lives. So many residing in this country feel vulnerable and threatened.
Clearly something is wrong. God’s world is not playing out as many of us believe God intended.
The ultimate message of these springtime festivals, however, is one of redemption and renewal. The Passover story details how God intervened in human history, sought the leadership of Moses, confronted tyranny, delivered the people from enslavement, and eventually brought them to the Promised Land.
Around seder table worldwide (this year on April 1 and 2) we’ll hear a tale that moves from slavery to freedom, from degradation to praise. And when we turn to the final sections of the Haggadah we’ll move beyond despair to a prevailing sense of hope. Doors are open so that the Prophet Elijah symbolically can come join the experience offering the possibility of better days.
And the ancient words of “Next Year in Jerusalem” will be chanted. Most Jews know that that expression is not only about a return to an earthly Jerusalem (even Jews who live in Jerusalem offer the same prayer), but rather a glimpse of redemption and peaceful days for all. It suggests that when Jews declare “Next year in Jerusalem” at the seder’s conclusion, they are really asking to find wholeness in their brokenness. It’s an especially apt sentiment in a year when wholeness and peace seem more elusive than ever. Passover is the night for reckless dreams; for visions about what a human being can be, and especially for what our society can become.
American Canvas: The Flag, Art, and Contested Meaning in U.S. Politics
Aaron Q. Weinstein, PhD
Assistant Professor of Politics, Fairfield University
Faculty Liaison to the Exhibition For Which It Stands…
It’s easy to think the U.S. flag is the least ambiguous symbol in American politics. It stands for America! But as the Fairfield University Art Museum’s semiquincentennial exhibition For Which It Stands… shows, the flag’s meaning is anything but static. It is constantly open to interpretation, re-interpretation, and contestation. We all understand the flag stands for America, but what America stands for . . . that’s a different question.
This brief essay will give you some tools for understanding what the flag “means.” These may be somewhat technical terms for feelings you already have. Put differently: a lot of what I’m going to tell you, you already know—even if you can’t quite put it into words. My goal is to give you names and concepts, drawn from the political science literature, to contextualize why the flag makes you feel a certain way. As we go, I will highlight a selection of items on display in For Which It Stands...Regrettably, I don’t have the space to mention all of the wonderful artworks you can see in the Museum’s galleries during your visit. Instead, I invite you to take the following brief discussion and apply it to your experience in the exhibition.
A Brief Primer on National Attachment
People want to feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves. Although there are many such groups (families, religions, etc.), I want to talk about nation states—or what Benedict Anderson calls “imagined communities.” These aren’t fictional relationships, but they are abstract. After all, none of us can ever know all our fellow citizens individually. All forms of national attachment are effectuated by political symbols, the rituals attached to those icons, and the beliefs associated with them. The United States has many such symbols: the Constitution, the Founders, Lady Liberty, and—of course—the U.S. flag.
But not all forms of national attachment are created equal. Some are desirable, others less so. In diverse, liberal democracies like the United States, national attachment is good when it makes room for contestation and bad when it doesn’t. Scholars tend to associate the former (good) with patriotism, and the latter (bad) with nationalism. Patriotism implies a deep love for one’s country, but a willingness to dissent when criticism is necessary. Nationalism, by contrast, asserts that one’s nation is superior to all others. This makes it intolerant of dissent, demanding uncritical loyalty. To understand the distinction between nationalism and patriotism in action, consider Carl Schurz’s famed quotation: “My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right, if wrong, to be set right.” The first half of the quotation (the famous part) is nationalism: it implies a blind loyalty to one’s nation, regardless of merit; the second half (arguably Schurz’s point) is patriotism: anyone who loves their nation must be willing to criticize it, when necessary. As I will demonstrate, you can see both patriotism and nationalism in the United States. But before I do, it is necessary to address a second question: who or what determines the form our national attachment takes?
There are two basic sources for national identity: the first comes from above, the second from below. For the most part, the Top-Down variety (associated with the political philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who called it “Civil Religion”) is the purview of the State. It is the State that establishes the ideal form of national attachment. This variety prioritizes national unity, cohesion, and legitimating state institutions. I should also be clear: Top-Down national attachment originates with the State, but everyday citizens often buy into and reproduce it. By contrast, a Bottom-Up approach (which we associate with the Father of Sociology, Émile Durkheim) embraces cultural symbols like the flag as the product of social interpretation. If the State establishes what a flag “is,” then We The People are the ones who establish what it “means.” This may mean parroting the State’s official version, but not always. The Bottom-Up approach is inherently more democratic: while some people may view the flag in ways consistent with State preferences, others do not. Whether protestors or artists, everyday Americans imbue the flag with meaning the State wouldn’t necessarily approve of.
These four concepts—nationalism v. patriotism, and Top-Down v. Bottom-Up—can help us consider how the flag is presented in For Which It Stands… Does an exhibit encourage or discourage criticism? What about inclusivity? Is it representing the United States as a geographic entity, form of government, or set of abstract principles? Who is speaking? Is it the State, or is it the people?
The “Sacred” Flag v. Free Speech
The flag is the ultimate avatar of the U.S. government, its population, and the nation’s higher ideals. You can see it fulfilling this duty throughout the exhibition: for instance, Joe Rosenthal’s Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima (1945), or Keith Mayerson’s First Men on the Moon (2012). These works don’t portray individuals operating in their personal capacities, but rather existing as extensions of the State. Because the flag is perhaps the indispensable signifier of the State, the State’s agents—at both the state and national levels—have attempted to codify its appearance and regulate its usage.
These flag desecration laws have varied over time. Initially, they (1) came from the states, not the national government; and(2) weren’t intended to prevent political misuse of the flag, but rather its commercial abuse.1 In Halter v. Nebraska (1907), the Supreme Court upheld a state law preventing such uses because they threatened to denigrate the flag in the public’s estimation. (Although the imagery used on the Old Glory Condoms created by Jay Critchley in 1990 came out decades after the Court shifted away from this interpretation, they arguably embody the “disparaging” uses at issue in Halter.) Notably absent from Halter, however, was attention to individuals’ First Amendment right to free expression. This logic didn’t emerge until World Wars I and II, when states—fearing dissent would threaten the war effort—amended the laws to address speech. In 1942 Congress joined the states in protecting the flag by passing the Flag Code (4 U.S. Code Chapter 1). This is the Code you are likely familiar with: it prescribes certain behaviors (e.g., saluting the flag and pledging allegiance), and proscribes others (e.g., burning it outside of ceremonial disposal, allowing it to touch the ground, or hanging it upside down unless in distress). Although it’s largely advisory, Congress formalized these recommendations via the Flag Protection Act (1968). The result was that, for a brief time, the flag enjoyed significant state and federal protections.
But this period was short-lived. Starting in 1969, the Supreme Court began handing down a series of decisions declaring desecration laws unconstitutional. In Street v. New York (1969), the Court overturned the conviction of a man who verbally disparaged the flag; in Smith v. Goguen (1974), the justices declared unconstitutional a Massachusetts law that criminalized treating the flag with “contempt” (in this case, sewing it onto the seat of one’s pants); and in Spence v. Washington (1974), the Court overturned the conviction of a man who had taped a peace sign over the flag (violating the state’s prohibition of superimposing another symbol atop it). But the big case came in Texas v. Johnson (1989), when the Supreme Court ruled that Gregory Lee Johnson was exercising his First Amendment right to free speech when he burned a flag in protest of the Reagan Administration’s policies. In short, they found that any law criminalizing conduct merely because of the ideas it expresses violates the Constitution. Later that year, Congress amended the Flag Protection Act to bring it in line with the Court’s decision– but to no avail. In United States v. Eichman (1990), the Supreme Court determined the new Flag Protection Act suffered from the same flaws as the previous iteration.
This debate over desecration laws demonstrates the ongoing tension between Top-Down and Bottom-Up interpretations of the flag. The Johnson decision makes clear which interpretation the Court backs. As Justice Brennan wrote for the Majority:
"If we were to hold that a State may forbid flag burning whenever it is likely to endanger the flag’s symbolic role [e.g., in protest], but allow it wherever burning a flag promotes that role [e.g., ceremonial retirement] . . . we would be saying that when it comes to impairing the flag’s physical integrity, the flag may be used as a symbol . . . only in one direction."
Beyond protecting so-called “respectful” engagement with the flag (e.g., the pro-Vietnam War protestors photographed in Leonard Freed’s Hard Hat Rally (1970), these Court decisions signaled a commitment to a broad range of political expression some could find unpalatable. Some of these offenses may seem mild today: for instance, the protestors in Larry Fink’s Vietnam Demonstrations (1967), who are captured engaging with the flag in ways Flag Code proponents would find distasteful (e.g., holding it “flat or horizontally” and allowing it to “touch anything beneath it”). Then there are he more obvious violations: both Glenn Ligon’s photograph of a crumpled flag in a wash bucket and Dread Scott’s Emancipation Proclamation (2020) violate the physical integrity of the flag in precisely the ways that Johnson protects. I would even add to this list James Rosenquist’s Mirrored Flag (1971). Although not explicitly political, it presents the flag mirrored in two senses: once as actual reflective material, but a second time as an inverted Union. Given the controversy that surrounded planting the flag on the moon (the U.N. Treaty on Outer Space prohibits lunar territorial claims), the inclusion of an upside-down flag is pregnant with meaning.
Flag desecration laws are always topical. Should sewing the flag into a shirt be prohibited? It violates the spirit of the U.S. Flag Code, to be sure. Yet the problem is that offense, by its nature, is subjective. What I find distasteful may be benign to you. Many of those who called for the Yippie Abbie Hoffman’s prosecution after he wore the flag as a shirt seemed unperturbed when General Richard Myers did exactly the same thing. It is in this context that Donald Trump’s August 2025 executive order to prosecute flag burning must be read. To be clear: the executive order does not criminalize flag burning. Instead, it relies upon the “imminent lawless action” test the Court established in Brandenburg v. Ohio (i.e., speech that can reasonably be expected to lead directly to criminal activity is unprotected). The implication is that while burning the flag in theory is permissible, this speech can be prosecuted if it can be tied to illegal activity. The executive order directs the Attorney General to prosecute such violations. The problem, of course, is that the AG has prosecutorial discretion when pursuing charges. The danger is that, just as with Abbie Hoffman and Richard Meyer above, one’s point of view of “offensive” may lead to an uneven—even targeted—application of the law.
The Flag as Reservoir of Meaning
The flag’s potency as a symbol extends beyond the “Official” or State-issue flag. How many times have you seen something that looks like flag—but isn’t—that nonetheless inspires intense emotions? Because the State cannot control meaning, protestors and activists are free to interpret and reinterpret the Stars and Stripes as they see fit. The result is an array of politically potent (and constitutionally protected) speech.
Sometimes these alterations are small. David Hammons’s African American Flag (1990) [cat. 39] preserves the size and dimensions of the traditional flag, but replaces the colors. Instead of the traditional Red, White, and Blue he uses Red, Black, and Green, colors inspired by Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Society. The flag captures both the centrality and marginality of African Americans in the U.S. experiment. Another example of a modified official flag is Sara Rahbar’s I don’t trust you anymore, Flag #59 (2019), which criticizes U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East by superimposing military and ammunitions belts atop an American flag. Alterations can also be more considerable. Danielle Scott’s False Flag (2020) is an indictment of U.S. race relations: it uses shotgun shells instead of stars and prints images of lynchings across the white stripes. Then there is Deborah Nehmad’s old glory? (2017), which constructs a flag out of 33,000 stitches (one for every gun death per year), including markers for suicides (x’s) and homicides (crosshairs). And just because a picture is worth a thousand words doesn’t mean artists won’t find meaningful ways to incorporate text. The indigenous artist Demian DinéYazhi’ creates a flag by repeating the phrase “EVERY American flag is a WARNING SIGN” in red and blue; and William N. Copley’s contribution to the 1967 Artists and Writers Protest Against the War in Viet Nam, replaces the stars in the canton with the word: THINK.
Are these U.S. flags? They certainly don’t do what the Top-Down flag is supposed to do. They don’t project unity or respect for institutions; rather, they highlight differences of opinion and critique the status quo. But as we said earlier, this is the mark of patriotism: the willingness to voice unpopular opinions with the goal of correcting political and social injustices. These Bottom-Up flags represent the generational attempt to help the United States realize its unfulfilled promises.
E Pluribus Unum? Race, Borders, and U.S. National Identity
The flag is an avatar of the American people. But how do these people see themselves? Nationalists and patriots will disagree. The former likely have restricted definitions, focusing upon either race or religious affiliation (an orientation legal scholars call jus sanguinis, or “right of blood”). The latter, on the other hand, have more open definitions that don’t tie citizenship to parentage but rather to where one is born (called jus soli, or “right of soil”). One has a place in a vibrant and multicultural democracy, the other does not.
Consider America’s ongoing and tragic struggles against racism. Although there are not many instances of purely nationalistic sentiment in For Which It Stands… , its excesses and evils are never far away. Sometimes it’s out in the open, as with John Gutmann’s photograph of a Nazi rally at the San Francisco City Hall that placed the U.S. flag alongside the Swastika. The message is unmistakable: U.S. citizenship is open to Whites only. Generations of Americans have been forced to push back against this bigotry. There are the everyday citizens, like the SNCC workers pictured waving an American flag in Danny Lyon’s 1963 photograph outside the funerals of victims of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombings. Or there are the artists using the tension between what the flag should stand for and what it does stand for. I actually use Stanley Joseph Forman’s Soiling of Old Glory (1976) in my “Intro to American Politics” class every year. The photograph, which went on to win the Pulitzer Prize, captures the moment a White protestor threatens to impale an African American man with a flagpole. These examples only scratch the surface. Throughout the exhibition, you will find citizens and artists seeking to reclaim the flag from the original sin of slavery.
Who gets to be an American? Who is accepted as us and who is rejected as them? National identity is constructed out of borders that are both metaphysical as well as material. Consider Frank Diaz Escalet’s Mojados (1994), which represents the border as the U.S. flag. The image appears optimistic: immigrants—many with children—fording a river, seeking a new life in the United States. For many, however, the U.S. border isn’t a gateway but rather a prison. Salvador Jiménez-Flores’s La Jaula de Oro (The Golden Cage) presents the American flag as a chain-link fence. This Bottom-Up flag juxtaposes the promise of the American Dream alongside the reality of border cages. Yet the beauty of the flag as a stand-in for U.S. borders is that it doesn’t just limit membership—it can extend it, as well. James Prosek’s Invisible Boundaries (2021) replaces the Union stars with a bald eagle and integrates the silhouettes of indigenous American wildlife. It is a reminder that membership in the U.S. imagined community needn’t be limited to merely human life.
Concluding Thoughts
Throughout this brief essay, I have tried to give you some tools for understanding what the flag means to you. We have discussed how its meaning is, to some extent, determined by our political leaders and laws (Top-Down); and that, in a vibrant democracy, disagreements will naturally lead to alternative approaches (Bottom-Up). We have also illustrated the differences between a patriotic national attachment and a nationalistic one. I hope the examples we covered have been helpful in illustrating these differences.
I’ll end this essay with a brief discussion of one last piece that I think sums up For Which It Stands… Maria de Los Angeles’ contribution is a microcosm of our discussion: an artist literally sewing herself into the American story. Her work combines iconography from her Mexican heritage alongside U.S. symbols. But this work isn’t just about her: you have the ability to contribute to it. I encourage you to join one of her workshops, where you will exercise your constitutional right to generate your own flag (whether or not it’s inspired by the U.S. flag is up to you) for inclusion into de Los Angeles’ sculpture. And as the United States gets ready to turn 250, I can’t think of a better way to celebrate than engaging with what Faith Ringgold beautifully called The People’s Flag.
1 For much of the following state-level jurisprudence, I am indebted to Albert Rosenblatt’s analysis. Albert M. Rosenblatt, “Flag Desecration Statutes: History and Analysis,”
Washington University Law Quarterly 1972, no. 2 (1972): 2.
American Higher Education and Our Nation’s 250th: The Promise and the Paradox
Mark R. Nemec, PhD
President, Fairfield University
Professor of Politics
American higher education is the embodiment of American exceptionalism. From the founding of Harvard College in 1635 to the founding of Fairfield University in 1942 to today, our higher education institutions have been central to the American project. Our nation’s extraordinary history and example is in no small part a product of the breadth and depth of our remarkable model for higher education.
It is with this Tocquevillian ethos in mind, that we are most excited to be hosting a series of events and exhibitions in conjunction with our country’s semiquincentennial, America250: The Promise and Paradox.
The cornerstone of this offering is the exhibition we share here: For Which It Stands…. This thoughtfully crafted exhibition examines depictions of the American flag over the past century—from patriotic to politically charged.
A painting which stands as the representation of both is Childe Hassam’s Italian Day, May 1918. I was blessed to see this painting as a returning college freshman at my home museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in August of 1988 as part of the exhibition The Flag Paintings of Childe Hassam and have kept the catalogue ever since. As the curator and author of that volume, Ilene Susan Fort, notes, this is the only flag painting to depict an airplane, a modern—but in the context of the first world war also a daunting—marvel. Hassam’s paintings speak to us as they call us to both celebrate and examine with a nuanced and layered complexity.
Far beyond a singular painting, each work in this exhibition stands on its own, but just as importantly they stand as a collective, reflecting a spirit of inquiry and rigor and asking us to engage thoughtfully with the American experiment. Thus, we host this exhibition as not simply a museum, but as a university—a university whose societal role in our American context is to ensure public ideas and public discourse are essential. For as I have written previously, “if the university comes to be broadly perceived as simply a vested interest inhibiting the consideration of reform, rather than as an agenda-setting institution, its unique societal position—its relevance—is lost.”
Fairfield University’s relevance stems not just from our commitment to free inquiry, but from our over 500-year Jesuit, Catholic educational tradition which embraces the centrality of the arts in our shared endeavor of advancing human flourishing and seeking wisdom in support of dignity of every individual and the greater good—or as our motto states, Per Fidem ad Plenam Veritatem—Through Faith to the Fullness of Truth.
And in this spirit, we welcome you both to this exhibition and our university, an institution which is blessed to be a model of the modern Jesuit, Catholic, American university embracing the duality of our context and the bright promise of our future.
Jesuit Education: Preparing Health Professionals for a Complex World
Patricia Simino Boyce, PhD, RN
Dean, Marion Peckham Egan School of Nursing and Health Studies
Entering a Jesuit Academic Community
As I begin my service as dean for the Marion Peckham Egan School of Nursing and Health Studies at Fairfield University, a Jesuit institution, I am deeply appreciative of the intellectual, spiritual, and humanistic tradition that animates the University’s mission and academic life. Fairfield’s values-based, student-centered, and outcomes focused ethos aligns mission with academic excellence and student success. The Jesuit commitment to educating the whole person, and forming “persons for others’’ grounded in reflection, discernment, and action, offers strong foundation for educating health professionals at a time of profound change in health care, higher education, and society.
While my professional journey has been shaped across diverse institutional contexts, I have come to increasingly appreciate how the Jesuit tradition speaks directly to the formation needs of today’s clinicians and health care leaders. In an era marked by rapid transformation, moral complexity, and widening health inequities, a Jesuit education offers not only academic rigor, but a coherent moral and humanistic framework that prepares graduates to serve with competence, compassion, and integrity.
As a new member of this Jesuit academic community, I approach this tradition as both learner and steward and offer this reflection as an invitation to continued dialogue and shared purpose in service of the evolving needs of health care and society.
An Inflection Point
Health care is at a critical turning point. Technological advances, especially the integration of artificial intelligence and data analytics, are reshaping decision-making and demanding new forms of clinical judgment amid uncertainty and constant change. These developments raise core questions at the heart of Jesuit education: what it means to be human in the age of AI; how moral agency and professional responsibility are exercised when algorithms guide decisions, and how human dignity is preserved as efficiency and automation shape care.
At the same time, the health system is under growing strain from widening inequities, workforce shortages, rising chronic disease, and increasing exposure to trauma and violence. In this environment, health professionals must navigate not only clinical complexity but also ethical tension, moral distress, and burnout—often while working within systems constrained by limited resources. Employers and community partners therefore seek graduates who bring not only technical competence, but also strong judgment, communication, empathy, resilience, and leadership.
A Distinctive Educational Framework
The Magis Core curriculum provides a distinctive framework for integrative learning in Fairfield’s undergraduate and graduate programs, translating Jesuit educational principles into a coherent academic structure, that deepens professional and disciplinary study. It brings together the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and ethical inquiry to strengthen critical thinking, moral reasoning, and reflective judgment. Through engagement with questions of meaning, responsibility, and human dignity—including the ethical use of emerging technologies—students learn to discern not only what can be done, but what should be done, and on whose behalf.
This integrative approach extends into graduate education in nursing, public health, nutrition, and social work, where ethical formation, reflective practice, and commitment to the common good are central to professional identity development. Across programs, graduates are prepared to navigate complex, high-stakes environments with competence, compassion, integrity, and sustained attention to health equity, justice, and human dignity.
Workforce Readiness
Integrated with the professional curricula of the Egan School, the Magis Core prepares graduates for entry into today’s health and human services workforce and for adaptable careers across evolving roles and settings. Students develop the capacity to function effectively in complex environments, manage ethical dilemmas, communicate across disciplines and cultures, and lead with purpose.
This preparation is reinforced through experiential learning, simulation and applied practice, interprofessional education, and community-engaged work. Alumni consistently report feeling ready to enter high-need settings, assume leadership responsibilities early, pursue advanced education, and move confidently across clinical, community, policy, and leadership roles.
Institutionally, Fairfield’s integrated approach to health and human services education supports workforce relevance, mission alignment, and a cohesive ethics-centered model, grounded in experiential learning, and community partnership. Collectively, these elements reinforce long-term reputational strength for Egan School graduates and for the University.
An Integrative Lens
The challenges facing health and human service education call for more than adding ethical or humanistic content alongside technological and theoretical training. In the Jesuit tradition, these dimensions are mutually reinforcing—shaping how graduates integrate knowledge, exercise judgment, and lead amid complexity and constraint.
This integrative lens is particularly critical in the caring professions, where healing, accompaniment, and trust depend fundamentally on human presence and relationship. Jesuit education affirms that care cannot be reduced to technical intervention or algorithmic decision-making alone; it must remain grounded in the attentiveness to the person, respect for dignity, and responsiveness to context, vulnerability, and lived experience. In this way, Jesuit formation safeguards the human heart of professional practice even as care systems grow more technologically sophisticated.
Within the Egan School, this approach grounds clinical, public health, nutrition, and social work education in reflection, moral reasoning, effective communication, and a commitment to human dignity. Graduates are prepared not only to meet current workforce expectations, but to respond thoughtfully to emerging ethical and societal challenges over time.
As health and human services evolve, educational excellence will be measured not only by technical competence at entry to professional practice, but by graduates’ capacity to grow, lead, and sustain meaningful careers. By integrating rigorous professional preparation within the Jesuit tradition, the Egan School advances a distinctive, future-focused model in which humanistic formation strengthens professional excellence, ethical leadership, and service to the common good.
In an era increasingly shaped by technological mediation, this Jesuit model ensures that advances in health care are guided by Egan graduates whose practice is grounded in wisdom, ethical responsibility, respect for human dignity, and commitment to the relational core of the caring professions.
Meet School Counseling Program Director Chelsea Hilliard, PhD
Fairfield University's School of Education and Human Development is pleased to welcome Chelsea Hilliard, PhD, as assistant professor of Counselor Education and Fairfield’s School Counseling program director. Dr. Hilliard joins Fairfield from Loyola University Maryland where she served as visiting clinical assistant professor.
For individuals who are not familiar with the profession, could you share about the roles and responsibilities of school counselors today?
Housed within the Counselor Education department, our school counseling master’s program prepares students to become professional school counselors—a term that reflects the full scope of the role far more accurately than the former terminology of ‘guidance’ counselor. Today’s school counselors design and implement comprehensive school counseling programs that promote equitable support for all students across three key domains: academic development, social/emotional development, and post-secondary readiness.
What distinguishes school counseling from other counseling professions?
At their core, school counseling programs are prevention-focused and rooted in a tiered system of support:
Tier 1: Classroom instruction and schoolwide programming
Tier 2: Consultation, collaboration, and small-group or individual counseling
Tier 3: Intensive and targeted student support services
How do school counselors support student success?
In a time when youth mental health concerns are at historic highs, school counselors play a vital role as accessible, school-based mental health professionals. They are often the first- and sometimes the only- mental health resources students can access at no cost.
Can you tell me about your research interests and dissertation?
Before entering higher education, I worked as a high school counselor, where I primarily supported multilingual learners. This work deeply shaped my professional interests and led me to pursue my PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision. My dissertation,“The Experiences of Multilingual Learning-Focused School Counselors,” addressed a critical gap in the literature; at the time, no research had examined this specialized role. Giving voice to these practitioners’ unique experiences was both timely, and necessary.
I am proud to share that my manuscript was accepted and published in October 2025 in Professional School Counseling, the flagship journal of the school counseling profession.
To learn more about the school counseling profession, or to connect with current Fairfield school counseling students who can share insights about their experiences in the program, please contact Dr. Hilliard at [email protected].
Beyond the Dream: Lessons from My Mother and Dr. King
Don C. Sawyer III, PhD
Vice President | Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging
Associate Professor of Sociology
Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929. I know that because my mother made sure I knew it.
I grew up in Harlem, New York City. It was a hard time in our neighborhood. Crime was rising, and drugs were everywhere. My mother was clear about one thing. She wanted me surrounded by strong Black male role models. I had my father, uncles, and cousins. In addition to them, she wanted me to see people beyond athletes and entertainers. She wanted me to know there were many ways to live a meaningful life. So, she made me read. She made me write. My mother required me to write book reports, which I turned in to her.
I researched George Washington Carver, Ralph Bunche, Langston Hughes, Thurgood Marshall, and, of course, Martin Luther King Jr. Again, these were not school assignments. They were home assignments. Although I hated them then, I understand them now. She wanted the best for me and my future. By researching these men, including Dr. King, I saw what was possible.
Moving Beyond the Dream
Currently, when we talk about Dr. King, we almost always hear about his dream. We keep returning to that one speech, as if it captures everything he said. However, that is not the case. Thinking about his dream today made me pause. I asked myself, “What are my dreams?” What do I hope for this world? What kind of world do I want my children to grow up in? What kind of world will their children inherit?
I recently completed the Ignatian Colleagues Program, an eighteen-month journey that shaped me in ways I did not expect. We spent time with discernment, gratitude, reading, and a regular practice of reflection. In reflecting, I believe Dr. King would want more from us than admiration. I think he would like us to move past his dream and focus on ours.
My Sphere of Influence
I used to feel discouraged by the idea of living my dream and changing the world. I do not expect a holiday named after me, nor a monument in Washington, DC. I focus on my sphere of influence. I work with students on campus and in underfunded public schools. I work with undocumented Haitians in the Dominican Republic. I teach incarcerated men and accompany them as they return home after prison.
That is my world, my sphere of influence. If each of us committed to doing good within our own spheres of influence, real change would be inevitable. That’s what I aim to do. I try to use the gifts God has given me to serve others. That is how I honor Dr. King’s dream and how I live my own.
A Call to Action
I hope you will do the same. If we start from where we are, care for those entrusted to us, and live out our dreams together, we move the needle. And I think we can actually change the world.
The Bachelors Grimm: Rediscovering Alexander Wilhelmi’s Romantic Comedies
Walter Rankin, PhD
Vice Provost for Graduate, Continuing & Professional Studies
As a German professor, I can attest that Germany is not particularly well-known for romantic comedy as a genre. Most English-speaking theatre lovers are likely familiar with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Frank Wedekind's Spring Awakening, and Richard Wagner's epic Ring Cycle. Popular plays written in English with German themes have tended to focus on WWII, including Mel Brooks' The Producers and Joe Masterhoff's Cabaret. Thus, I was pleasantly surprised when I came across a 19th-century German playwright who specialized in courtship comedy years before Oscar Wilde and Noël Coward: Alexander Wilhelmi (1817-1877). Over three years, I had the pleasure of researching Wilhelmi and translating and adapting his one-act comedies into a collection, The Bachelors Grimm and the Charming Courtship Comedies of Alexander Wilhelmi (2026).
Alexander Wilhelmi was one of the most talented and prolific writers of German comedy during the mid-to-late 1800s, crafting original works primarily for the royal theater in Dresden, including his most famous work, and only one to have been translated into English, Einer muss heiraten! Adapted as The Bachelors Grimm, this comedy centers on the famed fairy tale brothers' meddling aunt who is determined to find brides for the contented professors. This new collection of adaptions includes four additional one-act courtship comedies never before translated into English. In A Man of Unwavering Resolve, a father cannot decide whom (or if) his beloved daughter should marry much to the consternation of his sister, the Baroness. A retired captain hopes to marry off his daughters as quickly as possible even though his best friend continues to advise him to Give It Time. Through an escalating series of marital Parlor Games, a husband and wife engage in a battle of wits and heart following the arrival of a handsome young suitor for the husband's sister. Finally, a stuffy professor is tutored in the ways of modern courtship and fashion by A Valet of Incomparable Talent.
Wilhelmi imbues each of these plays with an inherent optimism and warm embrace of cultural progress and avid learning, creating a world where women are encouraged to study science, where daughters can influence and change their stern fathers’ worldviews, and where the most learned professors can learn from the shrewdest of servants. Produced in the relatively conservative state of Saxony following years of revolution across the German states and a few decades prior to the 1871 unification of Germany, Wilhelmi’s comedies provide a warm, witty, and still relevant outlet to an audience looking for shared humor within the safe confines of the theater.
The angel said to them,
“Do not be afraid;
for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy
that will be for all the people.
For today in the city of David
a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord.
And this will be a sign for you:
you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes
and lying in a manger.” Luke 2: 10-12
May we all hear the message of the angel this Christmas and be transformed by “good news of great joy” so that Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Mary may be born in our hearts as He was born in Bethlehem!
Festivals of light at the darkest time of year have roots that pre-date both Judaism and Christianity. Historical events are often linked to pre-existing seasonal observances. So it is of no surprise that Jewish tradition celebrates its Festival of Lights, Hanukkah during the month of Kislev –the month nearest to the winter solstice. This year the Festival begins on Sunday, December 14.
Historically, Hanukkah commemorates the 2nd BCE victory of a small band of Jewish priests, the Maccabees, over the Syrian Greek’s who occupied Jerusalem and Judea at that time. The Temple had been desecrated and Judah the leader of the Maccabees, led a successful guerilla war against the mightier empire. The Book of Maccabees connects a celebration of that victory to a belated observance of the harvest festival Sukkot. Because of the battle with the Syrian foes the Jews couldn’t observe the earlier fall festival at the appropriate time. Once the Temple had been repurified, they added the eight-day festival in Kislev.
But, over time the celebration of a military victory became spiritualized. Not only did Hanukkah represent the battle of the few over the many and freedom over tyranny, but light over darkness.
Legends were added to tell of oil burning unexpectedly for 8 days.
In Talmudic times, the rabbis weren’t even sure what this was all about. In a section of the Talmud on how to light Sabbath candles someone asked about how to light Hanukkah candles. And some of the rabbis said, Mai Hanukkah—what is Hanukkah?
They went on to discuss where to place a Hanukkah menorah – and how to light it! Beit Hillel taught, first night light 1- increasing to 8; but Beit Shammai taught first night light 8-decreasing to 1.
If you’ve been to a Jewish home to observe the tradition you obviously know who won the debate! But the uncertainty in the 5th century some 600 years after the story of the Maccabees defeating the Syrian Greeks – makes it clear to me that this Holiday we begin on Sunday evening evolved over a long period of time.
So then, as we anticipate Hanukkah this year— how do Jews best continue the evolution of the festival’s meaning.
The ways we do are very much related to who we are. We interpret Chanukah in own image. For me there are a number of obvious contenders.
For American Jews it is most often about religious freedom from tyrants. The blessings of our place and the free expression of our faith in this country; all the while balanced with concerns over the rise in Anti-Semitism.
For Israelis the role of the military in ensuring Jewish security in the wake of October 7, 2023, will certainly be weighed against the way one’s army wages a just war, justly.
For traditional Jews it is about a fight against assimilation. It seems that read one way, the Maccabees offer a story about freedom fighters casting off religious oppression. Read another way, it's a story about religious fundamentalists battling their assimilationist neighbors.
More spiritual seeking Jews take another path and read the story allegorically as a story about seeking one's inner life and rededicating oneself to nurturing holy sparks, kindling light in the darkness. These take on profound spiritual meaning when we remember that light is associated with chesed, God's abundant lovingkindness—and that the first thing created, at the beginning of time, was (spiritual/metaphysical) light. The task is to purify our hearts so that divine light can shine in and through us.
So indeed, every generation asks what the Rabbis ask when they open their conversation on the holiday... "Mai Chanukah?"—What is Chanukah? How do we find its most appropriate meaning today?
Freedom From Want: Student Reflections on Gratitude, Family, and Hope
Image: Norman Rockwell, Freedom from Want (1943). Public domain.
In preparation for a discussion on art and the deeper questions that shape our lives, students in the Exploring Art History: Art, Politics, and Propaganda class—were given a contemplative writing assignment by Philip I. Eliasoph, PhD — Special Assistant to the President for Arts and Culture; Professor of Art History & Visual Culture; and Founder/Director of the Philip I. Eliasoph Open VISIONS Forum at Fairfield University.
Students were asked to study the iconic Norman Rockwell Freedom From Want painting from 1943 and write a brief reflection imagining themselves inside the artwork, exploring what they would be praying or hoping for, with whom, and why — with an optional extension inviting them to consider how Ignatian spirituality might illuminate the painting’s themes of reflection, compassion, and love.
This assignment encouraged students to engage deeply with both the emotional atmosphere of the artwork and the interior movements of their own hearts, drawing connections between historical context, spiritual imagination, and personal meaning.
What follows are the students’ responses to this reflective prompt.
Kiara Krunich
The date of the painting signifies the date in which the painting was completed. If I was in this painting I would probably be located around the kids table, often I am during thanksgiving. There are many things I have to pray for during this holiday season. I would first be wishing that everyone at the table is going to have a healthy and safe thanksgiving day and that the rest of the year will bring us joy and health.
Specifically with my parents knowing that I have left home I would be wishing that they don’t miss and worry about me too much. I also wish upon myself to stay academically focused for the last two weeks of the semester when we get back. With this, the holiday season always reminds me of those who are less fortunate. I hope every child who isn’t fortunate enough to have a huge thanksgiving meal is still able to be fed. I hope every parent that worries about work or being unable to provide has been given the opportunity to provide for their family. I feel deeply for those who have less or aren’t able to celebrate the “tradition.” Specifically this year, I won’t be with a full table at Thanksgiving and just my parents.
This makes me think of all the other families that are either separated or unable to be with their families this holiday season. With the events going on in the United States today, I think a lot of families will be separated this holiday season. Not only does this break my heart but makes me re-think what this so-called "traditional" American holiday stands for. In conclusion, I pray for my family through health and safety. I also pray for those less fortunate that struggle around the holiday season. And to conclude, I pray for those forced apart this year with the tragic events separating our country and pray they will one day be reunited. May these prayers guide me to live with greater gratitude and compassion, knowing that the days ahead will allow me new chances to grow, serve, and love.
Connor McDermott
If I were in this painting, I imagine myself sitting at the table with everyone as we get ready to share a meal. It reminds me a lot of my own Thanksgiving, because my family does something just like this every year before we eat. My cousins from Chicago, who are very religious, are the ones who lead the moment of prayer. We all pause and bow our heads and even though the house is usually loud and packed with almost thirty people staying over, everything goes quiet for a minute.
If I were in the painting, I would be praying for my family, both the people sitting beside me and the ones who have passed away. I always think of my grandpa during that moment. He died when I was young, so I never really got to know him, but I still feel like he is part of our holidays in some way. I would be wishing for good health for everyone, happiness, and the strength for all of us to stay close no matter how busy life gets. As I get older, I am starting to realize that moments like these are what make the holidays special for me. When everyone is talking, laughing, and squeezing around the table, it reminds me of what really matters. It also makes me understand that I should never take these moments for granted, because not everyone gets to have them and they will not always last forever.
Ignatian spirituality teaches us to slow down and reflect on the good in our lives. It encourages us to be present, to appreciate the people around us, and to recognize love in small everyday things. When I look at this painting, I see a family doing exactly that without even saying it out loud. If I were part of this scene, my hope would be to carry that same mindset into my own life by reflecting more, appreciating my family more, and trying to show love in the simple ways that make these moments so meaningful.
Sebastian Tejada
The painting Freedom From Want shows a big family gathering around a dinner table, smiling and getting ready to share a meal. It looks like a warm, happy moment where everyone is together and enjoying each other’s company. When you look at the painting, you can tell it’s about family, gratitude, and the feeling of being surrounded by people who care about you. If I were inside that painting, I would have my own prayers, wishes, and thoughts about what that moment would mean to me.
If I were in this painting, the first thing I would pray about is to thank God for just being able to sit at a table with food. Not everyone back then, or even now, has a meal like that, a warm place to gather, or people around them. I would thank God for giving me the chance to eat, to be healthy, and have a moment where life feels peaceful. I would bow my head and just be grateful that I have blessings that others wish for.
I would honestly wish I were there with my family, instead of these people who mean nothing in the painting. A comfort can't be replaced when it comes to being with family. When I'm with my family, I feel like I belong. I can laugh easily, talk freely, and feel supported. So I would wish the people around that table were the ones who raised me, joked with me, and shared memories with me.
I would also want the food on the table to be something from my culture, not just some traditional turkey. Turkey is generic for American Thanksgiving, but there are specific foods from my culture that would make me connect more with home. Cultural foods bring meaning; they remind me of my family, our traditions, and how we celebrate. I would feel even more comfortable and included if the table held the dishes I grew up with, like my identity was a part of the moment, too.
Other than that, I would pray for peace, not in the world, as people did, but in my own life. I'd want less stress, less confusion about the future, and more strength to handle anything that comes my way. I would ask God to watch over my family, keep them safe, and help us stay close no matter what. I would pray for guidance so that I can keep getting better and becoming the best version of myself.
Being in that painting would remind me that even in difficult times, gratitude matters: a table, a meal, and the people you love can give you comfort when everything feels uncertain. So my prayer at that table would be a mix of thankfulness for what I already have, hope for what I want in the future, and faith that God will continue to look out for me and my family.
Autumn’s Invitation | How do we observe time? In chronology? Or in opportunity?
by Evelyn Bilias Lolis, PhD
Dean, Fairfield University School of Education & Human Development
Educational Psychologist & Mental Health Advocate
Vice President, Hellenic Professional Women, Inc.
Founder, HPW Women’s Wellness Series
Originally published by Hellenic News of America.
Our fast-paced reality certainly presents time as fleeting, a perpetual clock that is measuring our lives in days, hours, minutes, and seconds. Time has thus become a luxe commodity in society; it is something to be maximized and not wasted. Which activities you invest in, who you afford your time to, and how quickly you achieve, accumulate, and move the needle on your life’s priorities contributes to this ever-burning urgency to continuously perform. In this way, the modern workforce as well as modern family life have become engulfed by the same signature element: anxiety.
Anxiety is the result of a complex interplay of physiological, cognitive, genetic and environment factors. Anxiety is deeply felt in the body as well as the mind especially when the system is in a chronic state of overdrive. Enter modern culture where time is of the essence and the internal mix tape of “Are you done yet? Are we there yet?” is constantly on loop. It is no wonder why both in family and in career burnout in our country is at unyielding rates. The notion of rest as something to be socially celebrated in summer quickly evaporates once we enter the back to school/back to work season. Abruptly and without notice, rest gets deemed unproductive and indulging in it regularly harbors feelings of guilt or selfishness. So, what do we do? We keep peddling. We peddle and push through until society deems it appropriate for us to take the next rest stop—six months for some and up to a year or more for others.
Thankfully, every changing season gifts the opportunity to start anew which can include a renewed way of thinking. Fall is one of the most beautiful yet most shortchanged seasons of all. This season often gets overshadowed by back to work/school activities, fall sports, and a sharp severance from summer lightness to the fiery anxiety. My wise Greek mother always refers to fall as “αδικημένο φθινόπωρο” or “unfairly (treated) autumn”. In the fury of organizing everything from calendars to closets, we easily lose sight of this soothing, hopeful, and majestic season and with it the opportunity before us.
Contrary to belief, fall marks the ultimate reset, not January 1st with its resolutions and catch-all goals. Fall is the season in which nature, the great teacher, is modeling for us that change and transition is a sacred process. Summer does not become winter automatically. Fall is the ultimate usher. The fall season is there to help us acclimate for the upcoming change by dropping the temperatures slowly, shortening the days little by little, watching blossoms change in color methodologically, and witnessing nature prepare for stillness and rest until the spring. And throughout this slow moving yet steady change we find some of the beautiful colors, tastes, and sights of any season. Harvest season.
Nothing in nature teaches us to thrust from the ease of a summer tempo into a frying pan of high anxiety. Although we adopt this lifestyle as normal, it does not have to be at all. In fact, fall teaches us the opposite: that opportunity unfolds slowly. Our Greek culture and heritage teach us the same. In Greece, the end to summer is a slow-moving train. As tourists exit the busy months of July/August, locals savor the beautiful mild weather of September and October, and they reclaim their beaches, cafes, and market places. They exhale from heatwaves and wildfires. They gather intergenerationally for harvest. O Trigos. Fall is filled with gratitude and provision.
This fall, let’s take a page from the ancient Greeks who believed time is not only sequential (chronos) but also opportune (kairos). What are the opportunities this fall can bring to your homes and your families? How can you ease into this transitional period (eukairia) with calm, wisdom, and clarity?
Here’s a simple start:
Savor the slowness of nature. Harvest the beautiful views, colors, and tastes. Fall is the season of comfort. Take time to enjoy the comforts of fall weekly, and I guarantee this will decrease your anxiety.
Embrace the opportunity that intergenerational gatherings bring—our culture is rich in gathering across the generations (from young children to the elderly). These connections afford positive health outcomes including better immunity, heart health, and positive emotions for both young and old.
Give yourself permission to rest. Rest is a supercharger for creativity and productivity. Rest reminds us that we need the simply joys to find rhythm in our lives so that we can walk towards our larger purpose.
Forgive. Often relationships, like the leaves, go through a pruning process. The ones that no longer serve us will fall off or may need letting go. Honor this process with love: forgive shortcomings and give thanks for the purpose it once served.
