1 10 67 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Celebration Description An account of the resource Speeches from the Celebration of Roy's Life, December 9, 2007, George Mason University, Arlington campus, Arlington, VA. Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. Text Any textual data included in the document. For many years Roy and I used to entertain each other with ideas for get-rich-quick books. We were sure that the popularity of <em>When Bad things Happen to Good People </em> would be easily topped by our sequel, “When Good Things Happen to Bad People,” and we were equally confident that our lavishly illustrated coffee table book on the history of dentistry would be a bestseller. But our favorite idea—one to which we would refer over and over in the years that followed-- occurred to Roy in the early 1980s, when we were post-doctoral fellows at Wesleyan University’s Center for the Humanities. Neither of us had taught before at an institution at which scholars and artists were objects of fascination not only for students but also for other faculty members. Almost everyone we met at Wesleyan had odd or funny stories to tell about famous academics, especially those who had spent time at the Center for the Humanities in what were obviously its more illustrious days. We didn’t know if they were accurate in every or even any detail. But we became interested in the widespread habit of telling them, and as the stories accumulated, Roy proposed that we assemble a “Humanist Joke Book.” It was to be organized in two parts, corresponding to the two categories into one or the other of which, we believed, all jokes about humanists fit. Jokes in the first category made the implicit point that “famous humanists are just like you and me.” A story about political theorist Hannah Arendt and avant-garde composer John Cage playing tag after hours in the Center for the Humanities was one example. The other category conveyed the opposite point, of course—that “famous humanists are not like you and me”. The anecdote we heard about Norbert Weiner, mathematician and developer of cybernetics, is an example of this second type. This is how it goes, or at least how one version of it goes: Norbert Weiner was coming home from work, but couldn’t remember where his home was. He and his family had recently moved though within the same neighborhood, and he had forgotten not only his new address but what the house looked like. He saw a bunch of children outside, playing, and went up to one of them. “Little girl,” he asked, “do you know the house where the Weiners’ live?” Pointing to one across the street, she replied, “Yes, Daddy, it’s right over there.” Of the two kinds of stories, Roy enjoyed retelling those that suggested that famous humanists are not like you and me, because the joke usually turned on humanists’ blindness to basic knowledge that we have of one another and to the bonds that define and enrich our lives. Roy found that obliviousness funny, I think, because it was so unlike the way he was and what he valued. In early 1999, Roy read Malcolm Gladwell’s “Six Degrees of Lois Weisberg” in the New Yorker, an article that describes people who are what Gladwell came to call connectors in his book The Tipping Point, published the following year. Like Lois Weisberg, they know everyone. “In a very down-to-earth, day-to-day way,” according to Gladwell, “they make the world work. They spread ideas and information.” They connect people up with friends, spouses, jobs and other opportunities. And they do this not as a deliberate, self-serving strategy but because they have what Gladwell calls “an innate and spontaneous and entirely involuntary affinity for people. They know everyone because—in some deep and less than conscious way—they can’t help it.” Half-way through reading the New Yorker piece, Roy looked up and said, “this is my sister.” He had always admired Robin’s ability to stay in close touch with all their relatives, the number of her friends and acquaintances, and the ways she managed to intertwine them. But by the time he finished reading the article, he had realized that he was a connector too. It may have dawned on him at the moment when he read that Roger Horchow, another of Gladwell’s examples, “sends people cards on their birthdays” and that “he has a computerized Rolodex with sixteen hundred names on it.” (Roy’s electronic address book only has 1,542 cards—I checked.) He saw that he and Robin had similar propensities; they just operated in different communities. He served as social glue for those whom he met in the schools that he went to, starting with first grade but, much more so over the years, in his profession. Many of you have alluded to this quality on the website thanksroy.org. He was, Dina Copelman wrote, “a one man employment service. . . . always thinking about who would be good for a job, who needed a job, who might want to talk to someone who might know of a job.” Another friend and colleague Ellen Noonan remembers that he was always “passing along information about a project or person I should know about.” His “special gift for bringing the world together,” as Gladwell puts it, was wonderfully compatible with his politics and his desire to be part of a solidarity for causes in which he believed. A walk through downtown Washington, camera in hand, surrounded by friends demonstrating in support of a woman’s right to choose, in commemoration of the 1963 March on Washington, or in protest against the Iraq War-- was a day well spent. His preference for collaborative rather than solitary work is well-known—he saw early in his career ways to blend friendship and scholarship. The telephone was an apt metonym for Roy until the computer took its place. The appeals of email and then the internet for Roy were obvious. As his friend Tom Thurston said on thanksroy, “From the start he saw that this new medium must be a collaborative enterprise, that the inter-networks were about social networks. Roy understood the web long before there was a web.” So now “famous humanist” stories are beginning to circulate about Roy--like the time he tried to keep the front seat of his car from sliding forward, unbeknownst to the examiner, while Chris Clark took his driving test or the time early this fall when he advised a younger colleague about his book manuscript while lying on the floor of his office, the only way to minimize his physical pain. And like the stories that amused him most, many of those about Roy also make the point that he was “unlike you and me.” But he was different not, as is typical of this type of story, because he ignored or forgot his social world but rather because he was able to do more than most of us to create and sustain it. In the last week of Roy’s life he mustered what energy he had to tell friends and family members that he was grateful to them. He thanked his doctors, he thanked the nurses who cared for him at the Virginia Hospital Center. He dictated emails of affection and appreciation that I sent for him to colleagues. A few people he was able to thank in person, and he asked me to call others and put him on the phone briefly. Had he been in perfect health that effort, given all his friends and colleagues, would have been herculean. But without much stamina he had to stop the phone calls and email long before he had intended. So I want to say on his behalf: thank you all for your friendship at whatever point in Roy’s life you knew him and for the support you gave him in his last 17 months. He was determined to carry on as he always had, doing the work he enjoyed with the people that he loved. You accepted his determination and carried on with him. I also want to thank our families, friends, and colleagues at George Mason who have been helping me through this impossible loss. Finally, I am very grateful to those of you—too many to name—who have arranged this Celebration of Roy. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 132 Title A name given to the resource About Roy Language A language of the resource eng Description An account of the resource Speech written by Deborah Kaplan, Roy's wife, for the Celebration of Roy's Life, December 9, 2007. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Deborah Kaplan Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2007-12-09 Type The nature or genre of the resource Document https://www.thanksroy.org/files/original/c6efcc5bae679b9ddfe4d645299d15f2.jpg 1d99bfeb1a185e7fa8b7cad1408ecbd8 Omeka Image File The metadata element set that was included in the `files_images` table in previous versions of Omeka. These elements are common to all image files. Bit Depth 8 Channels 3 Height 2298 Width 3456 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Celebration Description An account of the resource Speeches from the Celebration of Roy's Life, December 9, 2007, George Mason University, Arlington campus, Arlington, VA. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 178 Title A name given to the resource Alan Merten, GMU President, Speaking at Roy's Celebration Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Still Image https://www.thanksroy.org/files/original/e1aaf9d62c81e50f0cf37e6701658e81.jpg d0c2605c5399f39c712c38e180bc517e Omeka Image File The metadata element set that was included in the `files_images` table in previous versions of Omeka. These elements are common to all image files. Bit Depth 8 Channels 3 Height 2298 Width 3456 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Celebration Description An account of the resource Speeches from the Celebration of Roy's Life, December 9, 2007, George Mason University, Arlington campus, Arlington, VA. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 247 Title A name given to the resource Alison Landsberg Speaking at Roy's Celebration Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Still Image Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Celebration Description An account of the resource Speeches from the Celebration of Roy's Life, December 9, 2007, George Mason University, Arlington campus, Arlington, VA. Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. Text Any textual data included in the document. For the past two years I worked closely with Roy as the administrative assistant for the Center. In spite of the fact that most of my work was on the clerical and mundane side- budgets to update, forms to have signed- I now recognize that my job entailed more than just merging cells on a spreadsheet. Working at the Center and with Roy, day to day, couldn’t fit a classical job description of an administrative assistant and I should have been more mindful of the response I got when I asked during my interview what a typical day was like- no day is typical. No matter what came up during the day or the night before at 10pm, I always tried to brew a pot of coffee before Roy arrived. There are many fond memories that I have of Roy. Whenever, I think about my time at the Center, there are two things that come to mind first, black jeans and Roy’s walk. I know that there’s been a lot of talk about Roy’s red shirts but I always remember the black jeans. His apparel choice was about as consistent as a cup of coffee in his hands. There was one occasion when Roy came in wearing blue jeans. I was stunned. Absolutely baffled. I couldn’t process Roy in blue jeans- it totally blew my mind! After a couple of minutes, I recovered and we proceeded to launch into one of the many hundreds of conversations we had about budgets. I’d have to say about eighty percent of our conversations dealt with Center finances, but i don’t want to bore you with that! Roy had a very unique gait. He shuffled a bit; had a slight roundness in his shoulders (I’m sure from years of walking around reading or responding to emails on his Treo). I always knew when he was approaching, - which leads the first item I want to share about working with Roy. Walking… Roy had a habit of starting a conversation at my desk and towards the end of his thoughts (while I clearly wasn’t aware of) he would begin walking away, his back towards me, still speaking– I couldn’t enhance my hearing ability so after a couple of conversations where this would happen- I started to stand while speaking with him- that way I could follow him and thus ensure that I wouldn’t miss any detail. Details were very important- being uber-prepared was de rigueur. When I had my first event to plan on my own, I was incredibly nervous. I wanted to do everything right and make sure that the event went off without a hitch. I booked the room, sent out emails, provided directions, and ordered food. I did everything that I needed to and assured Roy that everything was prepared, snafu-proof... Fast forward to the event, the catering was to arrive at 5:45. By 5:46, Roy discreetly made his way to the back of the room and asked me about the food. My worst fear materialized when I called the restaurant and they were surprised to hear from me- isn’t the event tomorrow? I almost choked. I did not want to tell Roy. I, at the point, didn’t know how he would react. Thankfully, he remained composed when I told him the situation but he was clearly flustered- he paced about, kept going in and out of the building, and had me call the restaurant about every five minutes. After the longest thirty minutes of my newly professional life the food arrived- we had leftovers for a week in the office and I self-imposed a double-check policy on all future events. Also, my personal moratorium on Moroccan food stands. Checking-in was a regular aspect of communication between Roy and I… every week, sometimes every day, a new problem presented itself or issue arose- Roy would explain the situation, his desired outcome and then I would figure out the rest. He definitely had a lot of faith in my ability to find a solution- but I had to think on my toes… I didn’t havemuch time before Roy would come back for an update sometimes within a half hour of presenting the issue! If I couldn’t get in touch with anyone or the situation got more complicated- Roy’s response was usually the same- “oi!” followed by, “let me know if I can do anything.” I quickly made best friends with my phone and memorized the most relevant numbers- it was clear that I couldn’t wait for the rest of the world or Mason to catch up, and as in most academic settings there is a lot of bureaucracy to wade through, but that didn’t stop Roy and subsequently didn’t stop me from, I wouldn’t use the word “harassing” but persistently contacting someone until I got an answer! I’m sure that I tested a few people’s nerves but I realized that was beside the point- we had a purpose, we didn’t want to waste any time, and no one was hurt in the process! And, to clarify, no decisions were ever made in haste- everything was well thought out it’s just that Roy worked about ten times faster than everyone else. Roy knew how to quell most potential roadblocks or issues. It wasn’t working the system, per se; we didn’t break any rules, perhaps we bent the rules a little… but I’d characterize it as resourcefulness and determination to remain committed to the Center’s mission. He never pushed his agenda to a point of overstepping bounds or treaded on any toes- we just made a lot of phone calls! Roy was very patient, especially since I had little experience in accounting and a lot of trouble sitting still. He was lenient with deadlines, in my case- a few extra days to finish updating budgets, and always considerate when I made mistakes. I knew Roy was busy, but he never failed to take the time to talk with me- he invariably had an answer for any question that I asked. The only things that were predictable about Roy were his attire, his lunch order of a ham sandwich and apple, and his never-ending battle with the projector. Everything else... Thanks! Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 128 Title A name given to the resource As Roy's assistant... Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource You must be 13 years of age or older to submit material to us. Your submission of material constitutes your permission for, and consent to, its dissemination and use in connection with Thanks, Roy in all media in perpetuity. If you have so indicated on the form, your material will be published on Thanks, Roy (with or without your name, depending on what you have indicated). Otherwise, your response will only be available to approved researchers using Thanks, Roy. The material you submit must have been created by you, wholly original, and shall not be copied from or based, in whole or in part, upon any other photographic, literary, or other material, except to the extent that such material is in the public domain. Further, submitted material must not violate any confidentiality, privacy, security or other laws. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Heather Velez Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Heather Velez Type The nature or genre of the resource Document redshirt hamsandwich https://www.thanksroy.org/files/original/e34a4f3a838b048a0677c1575adabe59.jpg dc5f344de676d7c9aa3747435fa6e500 Omeka Image File The metadata element set that was included in the `files_images` table in previous versions of Omeka. These elements are common to all image files. Bit Depth 8 Channels 3 Height 2298 Width 3456 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Celebration Description An account of the resource Speeches from the Celebration of Roy's Life, December 9, 2007, George Mason University, Arlington campus, Arlington, VA. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 201 Title A name given to the resource Betsy Blackmar Speaking at Roy's Celebration Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Still Image https://www.thanksroy.org/files/original/3631c12e777fd4545e3a2d2e5b2ebe40.jpg 6aa776d582421b76be7dd6d6720d7723 Omeka Image File The metadata element set that was included in the `files_images` table in previous versions of Omeka. These elements are common to all image files. Bit Depth 8 Channels 3 Height 2298 Width 3456 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Celebration Description An account of the resource Speeches from the Celebration of Roy's Life, December 9, 2007, George Mason University, Arlington campus, Arlington, VA. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 229 Title A name given to the resource Betsy Blackmar Speaking at Roy's Celebration Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Still Image https://www.thanksroy.org/files/original/f8fb6bea6c052e06fa9c620834392d14.jpg c3b91f004866573d091425bb1e9af836 Omeka Image File The metadata element set that was included in the `files_images` table in previous versions of Omeka. These elements are common to all image files. 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Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 237 Title A name given to the resource Dan Cohen Speaking at Roy's Celebration Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Still Image https://www.thanksroy.org/files/original/638d716cfa93ce60920e8d9b518fb511.jpg 790edc1123c7b7363413d30c2413c3bf Omeka Image File The metadata element set that was included in the `files_images` table in previous versions of Omeka. These elements are common to all image files. Bit Depth 8 Channels 3 Height 2298 Width 3456 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Celebration Description An account of the resource Speeches from the Celebration of Roy's Life, December 9, 2007, George Mason University, Arlington campus, Arlington, VA. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 248 Title A name given to the resource Dan Cohen Speaking at Roy's Celebration Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Still Image https://www.thanksroy.org/files/original/498436168d6ada2bce821504acf5aa92.jpg b02563070b8ebca4c1c2febd7537f666 Omeka Image File The metadata element set that was included in the `files_images` table in previous versions of Omeka. These elements are common to all image files. Bit Depth 8 Channels 3 Height 2298 Width 3456 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Celebration Description An account of the resource Speeches from the Celebration of Roy's Life, December 9, 2007, George Mason University, Arlington campus, Arlington, VA. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 181 Title A name given to the resource Deborah Kaplan Speaking at Roy's Celebration Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Still Image https://www.thanksroy.org/files/original/900f8d9f5152f33851d78726ddcb777a.jpg 8419eeb65b1ac8399c61b2cec903f398 Omeka Image File The metadata element set that was included in the `files_images` table in previous versions of Omeka. These elements are common to all image files. Bit Depth 8 Channels 3 Height 3126 Width 2078 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Celebration Description An account of the resource Speeches from the Celebration of Roy's Life, December 9, 2007, George Mason University, Arlington campus, Arlington, VA. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 232 Title A name given to the resource Deborah Kaplan Speaking at Roy's Celebration Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Still Image