U.S. Campus Life The cookie exchange By Masako Yamada	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
クッキー持ち寄りパーティー 持ち寄られたさまざまなクッキー。

I'm a member of a club called the Wellesley College Alumnae of Boston (WCAB). This club sponsors different events, ranging from networking forums to museum tours, to volunteer activities, to brunches at local bakeries.

Although my name is in the club database, I've never been able to contribute my time to helping plan these events. Indeed, I have barely attended any of them. The current center of my world is Boston University, so this is really no surprise. BU is where I spend most of my time. I obviously do my research here, but I also am active in the graduate student organization, and am already committed to planning events for BU.

That said, I do appreciate the hard work that the Wellesley alums contribute in order to keep the club active. The officers are constantly trying to find better ways to reach out to alumnae. They do their best to plan events so that even reluctant and reserved alumnae might be inspired to participate. This effort is amazing considering that they are not being paid to do this work.

The club recently held a holiday party at the home of one of the alums. Paula is one of the co-president's of the WCAB, and she regularly provides her home as a meeting place for alumnae. I decided to go to this party in part because one of the WCAB officers personally called me at home to invite me. I know that it's rare to see this kind of personal touch at large universities, and I was moved to attend.

The fact that it was a holiday cookie exchange was also very attractive to me. Basically, the party was a potluck where everybody brought homemade cookies. Just imagine piles and piles of different cookies! As soon as I arrived, I started piling my plate with various treats. It was a dream scene.

The party was held in the early afternoon, and Paula invited the alums to bring their families. There must have been about 30 people milling about the beautiful home in a suburb of Boston. It was only 30 minutes away from my apartment, but I felt like I was in a different world. The back roads leading up to the home were practically in the woods. The home itself was gorgeous, with beautiful stained wood furniture, an airy sun room, swimming pool, cozy fireplace and a grand piano.

Live jazz music was provided by the son of one of the alums. He was a very accomplished young pianist, and some of the alums thought that a CD had been playing in the living room. He takes lessons at the New England Conservatory, as do I, so I started a conversation with his mother about music lessons. Paula's husband hovered quietly in the background, filling and refilling glasses, tending to the logs in the fireplace and flashing a warm smile to the guests as they entered the home. The various kids played in the yard and hovered around the table begging for cookies. I enjoyed this family-like atmosphere.

The holiday cookie exchange was a lot of fun for the participants, but its purpose was not merely for alums to socialize. The organizers asked everybody to bring a picture book to the party so that they could donate them to a local charity for children. At the end of the afternoon, they had enough books to fill a large box. Paula also told us that she would be bringing the leftover cookies to a local retirement home. Many Wellesley alumnae reside in that home, and Paula has established close ties with them. Most of the participants at the holiday party made extra-large batches of cookies with this in mind. Even after all of us had stuffed ourselves, I think Paula had plenty of cookies left over to bring to the home.

I went to the party directly from my lab, and as soon as the party was over, I returned to the lab, even though it was a Sunday. I am planning on finishing my thesis this spring, and there is a lot of work that I must complete by then. Because of this, I especially appreciated the holiday cookie exchange. For a couple of hours, I was transported to a world with crisp air and trees, families and friends chatting by a fireplace, and unlimited cookies on the table. One can hardly ask for more.

Shukan ST: Jan. 11, 2002

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