Jay Burns

Recently retired as editor of Bates Magazine, Jay now occasionally contributes stories to the magazine as well as Bates News.

Stories by Jay Burns
10 new CatFacts (the Bates trivia edition) about Ultimate, risqué dancing, and yagging

Friday, May 12, 2023 12:43 pm

This edition of CatFacts, our second, tilts toward the trivial. But where else are you going to learn what “yagging” is? 

From Bates history: Granite from Mount David and a prince from Liberia

Friday, May 12, 2023 11:34 am

A few items from the Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library and elsewhere on campus, and our thoughts about what they are and mean.

Moments from the Spring Dance Concert Dress Rehearsal on April 6th, 5-8 pm, in Schaeffer Theatre. (Theophil Syslo | Bates College)
A Ukrainian student’s dance about war and hope: Why ‘love cannot be killed with just one shot’

Friday, May 12, 2023 10:31 am

To express human hope in the face of war’s inhumanity, Ruslan Peredelskyi '25 has used his immense talent in dance and in writing tell two stories about the war in Ukraine, including the killing of Iryna Filkina.

Video: Campus osprey tries to build a nest at Garcelon

Friday, April 21, 2023 1:52 pm

Immense talent at finding prey doesn’t mean that an osprey, or any bird, will also be good at nest-building.

Keeping it real as Bates’ record-setting admission season hits the home stretch

Thursday, April 13, 2023 1:34 pm

A record 8,937 prospective students applied to Bates this year. And on April 3, a dozen of those newly admitted students made their way to a Pettengill Hall classroom to get a real taste of Bates academics.

From a Distance: An aerial view of campus before Lake Andrews

Friday, April 7, 2023 9:47 am

Around 1957, Bates was building out the land north of campus. Check out some fun facts about this era, including why no structure stands in front of Gomes Chapel.

What: Wood sculpture of Christ on the cross Created by: The Brazilian sculptor Ziltamir Sebastião Soares de Maria (1947–2013) (aka "Manxa") was in residence at Bates in spring 1971 under a program called "Maine's Partners of the Alliance," a culture exchange program then part of USAID and now a private entity called "Partners of the Americas." Name: The back of the sculpture, which is, has what appears to be its Portuguese title, Auto Retrato Do Meu Povo, (“OWtoh hrayTRAtoh doh MEI-oh POvoh”, roll the “r”s in retrato) or "Self Portrait of My People" Size: 7 feet tall and 5 feet 8 inches wide When Created: The back has written March 5, 1971, with a dollar figure (a price estimate for a potential sale?) also written ($800). Inscription at Top: “INRI,” Latin for “Jesus, King of the Jews,” commonly seen on crucifixes. Fruit: The fruit that Jesus grasps could reflect Manxa’s style of indiginous Brazilian art. He “carved in wood... sometimes with spaces in copper inlays, characters, crafts and all tropical flora of Rio Grande do Norte,” his home state in Brazil.
Created in 1971, a sculpture of the crucifixion with a Bates and Brazilian provenance

Thursday, April 6, 2023 2:08 pm

An alumnus from Brazil and the college's multifaith chaplain explain the history and meaning of a sculpture of the crucifixion created at Bates in 1971.

30 items in the Bates library’s Lost and Found on March 30, 2023

Friday, March 31, 2023 4:07 pm

At first we thought it might be a cat carrier. But no,…

12 Bates ‘CatFacts’ about Jimmy Carter, Jimi Hendrix, Julia Child, and more

Friday, March 31, 2023 12:24 pm

During our annual stint on the Great Day to Be a Bobcat livestream, we shared a few CatFacts with viewers. From there to here!

The Bates community meets President-Elect Garry Jenkins at Alumni Gymnasium on March 7, 2022. President Clayton Spencer, Board of Trustees John Gillespie, Trustee and co-chair of the presidential search Committee Andrea Bueschel and Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees Jean Wilson, and John Lee, Jenkins’ husband, accompany Jenkins to Alumni Gym, departing from Lane Hall.
President-elect Garry W. Jenkins’ first remarks: ‘Listening with intention and care, and learning with you’

Friday, March 10, 2023 10:26 am

Video, photographs, and text capture Garry W. Jenkins' first remarks as Bates president-elect, on March 7 during an upbeat meet-and-greet event in historic Alumni Gymnasium.

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