Construction on the Student Union offers today’s students, staff and faculty to send a message to their counterparts in the future through a time capsule to be placed somewhere in the expansion of the facility.
Pamela Zarkowski, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, made a put out a call for ideas and this is what was selected from the suggestions.
- A letter for future faculty, staff, administrators and students
- A copy of the University magazine Spiritus
- A flash drive with video of the blessing/opening of the renovated Student Union
- A Black Lives Matter poster
- The poem “Lockdown” from a John Staudenmaier blog post (below)
- A COVID-19 mask and a Titans Together pin
- Copies of the Critical Concerns of the Sisters of Mercy and of the Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus
- A piece of slate from the Fisher Administration Center
- A COVID-19 test kit
- One of the virtual fans used for the 2021 basketball games in Calihan Hall
- Hitchcocked! An Audio Serial by Joe Landry, Detroit Mercy Theatre Company
- A letter from the Jesuits and Sisters of Mercy
- A student planner/journal from 2020 and/or 2021
- A Tommy Titan stuffed figurine
- Admissions view books and current brochures
- A piece of the marble from the chapel at Mercy College of Detroit and a doorknob (with the seal) from the University of Detroit
- A video tour of all of Detroit Mercy campuses
- A hard copy of the “A Few Frigid Pigeons” A Poetry Chapbook written by students in an English class
- A lapel pin with the new School of Architecture & Community Development logo
- Copy of a CDC COVID-19 vaccination card
- Medallions honoring significant University events
Lockdown
By Fr. Michael Surufka OFM
Yes there is fear.
Yes there is isolation.
Yes there is panic buying.
Yes there is sickness.
Yes there is even death.
But,
They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise
You can hear the birds again.
They say that after just a few weeks of quiet
The sky is no longer thick with fumes
But blue and grey and clear.
They say that in the streets of Assisi
People are singing to each other
across the empty squares,
keeping their windows open
so that those who are alone
may hear the sounds of family around them.
They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland
Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.
Today a young woman I know
is busy spreading fliers with her number
through the neighbourhood
So that the elders may have someone to call on.
Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples
are preparing to welcome
and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary
All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting
All over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new way
All over the world people are waking up to a new reality
To how big we really are.
To how little control we really have.
To what really matters.
To Love.
So we pray and we remember that
Yes there is fear.
But there does not have to be hate.
Yes there is isolation.
But there does not have to be loneliness.
Yes there is panic buying.
But there does not have to be meanness.
Yes there is sickness.
But there does not have to be disease of the soul
Yes there is even death.
But there can always be a rebirth of love.
Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.
Today, breathe.
Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic
The birds are singing again
The sky is clearing,
Spring is coming,
And we are always encompassed by Love.
Open the windows of your soul
And though you may not be able
to touch across the empty square,
Sing.
