This year’s Spring Quarter BBQ had a “Mad Hatter” theme: Wear a favorite hat to the BBQ and you will be entered in a drawing for a delicious prize! There will also be prizes for the “craziest,” “prettiest,” and “other creative” hat—special prizes for children’s hats as well! The hats were topped only by the food, which included barbecued chicken, hot dogs, veggie burgers, and “smores”—under the aegis of master chef Dan Montello—and bounteous and delicious offerings donated by all and sundry. Alice (In Wonderland) might have agreed with the mad hatter’s quibble about describing the plethora of food: “You might just as well say that ‘I see what I eat’ is the same thing as ‘I eat what I see.’” Suffice it to say that lots of delicious food was both seen and eaten, and the adults had almost as much fun as the children!
Professors David Carr, Stuart Sweeney, and Phaedon Kyriakidis judged the hat competition. Staffer Connie Padilla won the prize for the “prettiest” hat—and certainly the most thematically appropriate. Dan Montello got an honorable mention (and a lot of teasing) for his Viking hat; your editor, Bill Norrington, finally achieved immortality by winning the “craziest” hat category; and Professor Kostas Goulias’ daughter Katri won a children’s special prize for her “chicken hat.” Of special note was the most “geographic” hat—a hand made paper mache globe created by staffer Jose Saletas’ son Pablo. Grad student Ted Eckman was the lucky winner of the raffle grand prize: a home made chocolate cake donated by staffer Nancy Ponce.
The “Children of Geography” all won prizes for their efforts and seemed to enjoy their prizes almost as much as they did the food, the beach, and an impromptu soccer game. To quote one Geography parent: “The bbq was really great – my six year old had a great time too (the streamer toys for the kids were a great idea)!!”
Editor’s Note: Mad Hatter’s Disease was the name once given to the mania and melancholy experienced by those in the hat making trade. The reason for the hatters’ mood swings and irrational behavior was attributed to the mercury that was used in the felt-making process. See http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-mad2.htm for an explanation of why Bill won the “craziest” award (he’s also a leatherworker who used to make hats).
Click on the pictures to see bigger versions of them.
More mad pictures are here….
