Champagne, poetry highlight Bandy Center 40th anniversary party
Champagne flowed, French pastries were served and a sizeable audience filled every nook and cranny of the W.T. Bandy Center for Baudelaire and Modern French Studies to celebrate the center’s 40th anniversary.
Flo Wilson, interim university librarian, served as the master of ceremonies and introduced Connie Vinita Dowell, the new dean of libraries at Vanderbilt University.
Another highlight of the November 18 celebration was the reading of one of Baudelaire’s poems, “Enivrez-vous (Be Drunk)”, by Vanderbilt graduate students Lucas Faugere and Daniel Ridge. Faugere recited the poem in French followed by Ridge’s translation in English.
Tracy Sharpley-Whiting, professor of French and director of the W.T. Bandy Center, closed the formal part of the program with a toast to Baudelaire and Dr. Bandy.
Cindy Bandy O’Brien and her husband, Larry Harris, traveled from their West Virginia home to attend the celebration in honor of the center named for her late father. After the program, O’Brien played her dulcimer as background music for the party and also visited with a number of former graduate students who had been mentored by her father.