As for events this coming weekend, St. Mary’s College is hosting the following today:

Whenever I drive past the Commemorative on Mattapany Road or see any mention of it such as today’s Sacred Journey event, I always of my friend Rich Brewer who worked at the College. Rich would visit me at Buzzy’s a couple times a week on his lunch break and we would talk mostly about College-related matters.

Rich and I both graduated from St. Mary’s in the 70’s and I always enjoyed hearing him talk about his experiences while attending St. Mary’s. His time at St. Mary’s was spent living on campus in the dorms. I was newly married at the time, working nights on Base and going full time to St. Mary’s during the day as a commuter. Thus, my SMC college experience was nothing like Rich’s. My SMC experience was akin to work: I showed up, did what I had to and went home. Rich’s time at St. Mary’s was more along the lines of the full-on-campus-rock-and-roll experience that once earned St. Mary’s a rep as a “party college.” Thus, I always enjoyed hearing Rich talk about his SMC days.

In addition to reminiscing about our college days, Rich would also keep me informed on what was currently going on at the College. His position at SMC was that of Special Assistant to then President Tuajuandra Jordan. He had originally started out as her driver but soon became part of her staff doing other duties as assigned. His office in Calvert Hall was located adjacent to Dr. Jordan’s.

I remember in the 2016 timeframe during one of our Buzzy conversations Rich told me about their preparations to construct the new stadium on the property just south of Mattapany Road. He noted that as they did the site prep, they had discovered the remains of various slave quarters that had been on the same site. He said that they were busy trying to figure out how to proceed.

As discussed in the following video, it was decided to construct the Commemorative building shown above. Go to 9:48 to hear Dr. Julia King talk about how their archeological efforts had located the remains. Then check out Dr. Jordan’s (15:00) discussing the connection of viewing the Commemorative on the way to and from sporting events.

Note that the event today is rain or shine.

Always think of this Jimi tune on a rainy day. Buddy Miles on drums, Freddie Smith on sax, Mike Finnigin on keyboard. Jazz, blues and rock and roll all in one. Turn it up (2:50) to hear Jimi jump back and forth from speaker to speaker as he solos.