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
25 items (or 62, depending your count) in the Bates library’s Lost and Found on Nov. 11, 2024

Friday, November 15, 2024 12:54 pm

The sweetest lost item was a greeting card with the quote “Etre avec des gens qu'on aime cela suffit” (“Being with people you love, that’s enough”) from a grandfather to his Bates grandson in his first week on campus.

Say What? Quotable quotes from Bates folks: Nov. 15, 2024

Friday, November 15, 2024 12:05 pm

Our latest in an occasional roundup of quotable Bates quotes, this time about a terrifying regatta, why the Quad was like Candyland this fall, and the beauty and strength of being in solidarity with one together.

Video: The sights and colors in an autumn flyover of the Bates campus

Friday, November 8, 2024 4:28 pm

Rooftops, treetops, and towers, it’s all here in this guided aerial view…

dressed up woman voting in a very showy way
Takeaways after the 2024 U.S. election from three Bates politics professors

Friday, November 8, 2024 1:23 pm

John Baughman, Stephen Engel, and Clarisa Pérez-Armendáriz offers insights into the outcomes and implications of Tuesday’s election, including Donald Trump's convincing victory and a TBD Congressional win for a Bates alumnus in Trump territory.

“‘If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.’” — Physics and Geology Lecturer Gene Clough, quoting Ralph Waldo Emerson on the stars, while looking at Venus in the evening sky. During the semester that he teaches “Lunar and Planetary Science,” Clough stands outside of Carnegie Science for an hour at dusk on every clear night so that interested members of the Bates community can star gaze.
Slideshow: Remembering Gene Clough, a teacher with boundless passion and curiosity

Friday, November 1, 2024 2:04 pm

Gene Clough, a Bates teacher whose passion and curiosity inspired generations of Bates students during a 38-year Bates career, died Oct. 23 at age 77.

A visit to the Looking Ahead Clubhouse in Lewiston by the Gather Hear Tour by pianist Miki Sawada (seen at the piano). Looking Ahead is a program for adults with mental illness based on the Clubhouse Model of Rehabilitation. Jahan Baker-Wainwright ’25 (blue crewneck sweater), a biochemistry major from Cottage Grove, Wis., performed Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata, op. 13, the third movement, on the piano. Assistant Professor of Music Zen Kuriyama (down coat) sang Franz Schubert’s “Der Doppelgänger” and “An die Musik,” accompanied by Miki Sawada on piano. Marrich Somridhivej ’26 (quilted pullover), a biology major from South Windsor, Conn., performed Amy Beach’s “Summer Dreams,” op. 47, no. 2 and 3, with Miki Sawada on the piano (four hand). Chiharu Naruse (glasses, black coat), Bates piano teacher, collaborative pianist, is seen at the picnic table and as a page-turner when the wind came up.
At a Lewiston clubhouse, a musical performance that’s ‘less about perfection, and more about connecting’

Friday, November 1, 2024 1:24 pm

Two Bates students and a newly appointed professor of music helped to bring the soothing beauty of music, through piano and voice, to an audience at the Looking Ahead Clubhouse, a vocational center in Lewiston for adults living with mental illness.

Bates Alumni and Students in the News: Nov. 1, 2024

Friday, November 1, 2024 12:14 pm

This edition’s items include a new documentary celebrating civil rights leader Benjamin Mays, Class of 1920, astonishing art sales by painter Takako Yamaguchi ’75, and humanitarian efforts by Army veteran Christine Quinn Antal ’98.

Then and Now: Vintage George French campus images (then) and gorgeous fall colors (now)

Friday, October 25, 2024 4:02 pm

This edition of Then and Now presents early 20th-century Bates images by famed Maine photographer George French, Class of 1908, and images taken this week during the waning days of a gorgeous fall foliage season.

Picture Story: Back to Bates 2024

Friday, October 11, 2024 3:53 pm

This immersive Picture Story features images from Back to Bates weekend, Sept. 28–28. Since 1920, the fall weekend has promised alumni and families the opportunity to "grow young once more."

Bates Bazaar: Online deals for Oct. 11, 2024

Friday, October 11, 2024 11:35 am

This month: a 1925 watch fob going for $41.97; a 1950s Bates track singlet for $128; and a 1960 Deansmen album for $24.95.

Load more