If you’re in the area and looking for a reason to get back on campus while giving back to the community, here’s your chance!

The KSC Thanksgiving Basket Drive is on; it’s the annual push to ask the entire KSC community to help put together baskets for this holiday season. The collection of Thanksgiving Baskets will be on Monday, November 23, in the West Dining Area of the Young Student Center, from 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

KSC contributions are distributed to families with children under 5 years of age in local communities. Last year, this effort collected a record 158 baskets! As of October 23, local organizations had received over 1,700 requests for Thanksgiving baskets, and that number is expected to increase.

New this year, there will be donation boxes set up in the Gym, Library, Science Center, and Student Center until the day of the drive for gently used winter outerwear and additional last minute food items to be donated to the Community Kitchen.

If you are interested in participating in this event, need more information, suggested menu items, or pledge forms, contact KSC Human Resources at 603-358-2406.

It’s time once again for the annual MERRY TUBACHRISTMAS concert here at KSC, and the deep, resonant call is out for all professional and amateur tubists to join the band!

The Keene TUBACHRISTMAS orchestra (courtesy photo)

The concert will be held on Sunday, December 6, at 1 p.m. in the Mabel Brown Room of the L.P. Young Student Center. It’s free and open to the public. The performance will feature traditional Christmas carols especially arranged for TUBACHRISTMAS by American composer Alec Wilder.

Dr. Jim Chesebrough, band director at Keene State College, will direct the 19th Keene TUBACHRISTMAS. All area tuba, euphonium, and baritone horn players are invited to perform. Rehearsal will take place in the Mabel Brown Room at 10:30 a.m. on Dec. 6. Performers pay a $5 tax-deductible fee to the Harvey Phillips Foundation. For more information, please contact Dr.  Chesebrough.

More information.

Photo by Lynn Roman

Sixteen non-art-major students from Richard Carlson’s Color Design and Painting, an Integrative Studies Perspective course, produced a colorful, abstract mural that was unveiled this month in the basement hallway of the newly renovated Huntress Hall. The students were asked to consider several site-specific design factors, including the lobby’s shape, current wall colors, pedestrian traffic flow, and the history and techniques of other wall paintings, as they created the mural. They did a great job–the next time you’re on campus, take some time to check it out.

More information.

The 2009 ECAC Women’s Soccer Champions (photo courtesy of Brandeis University)

After 110 minutes of scoreless play, the second-seeded KSC women’s soccer team connected on four of their five penalty kicks to capture the ECAC New England tournament crown from top-seeded and two-time defending champion Brandeis University 4-2 in Waltham, Mass. on Saturday, November 14. KSC sophomore goalkeeper Megan Dempsey, registered her third-straight shutout and was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

More information.

As a part of this year’s Diversity Dialogue series, there will be a discussion on veterans at Keene State on Tuesday, November 10, from noon-1:15 p.m. in the Mountainview Room in the Student Center. This dialogue will be done in recognition and honor of Veterans Day, with a light lunch provided. Kent Drake-Deese, Director of Residential Life and Housing, and Michael Ward, Administrative Assistant-Student Center, will be facilitating the conversation. All are welcome, and alumni who are veterans are particularly invited to participate.

For more information, please contact Dottie Morris, Chief Officer for Diversity and Multiculturalism.

This Saturday afternoon, the Mason Library is having its piece of the Centennial pie.

Library tours will start at 1:30 p.m.; Ernest Hebert ‘69 (also a former Keene State writer-in-residence and honorary degree recipient, Keene native, and author of ten books, including the Darby series) will give a talk entitled “Keepers of the Flame” at 2.

LEC tournaments start tomorrow here at KSC as four Owl teams have earned coveted spots. The men’s and women’s soccer and field hockey teams have grabbed top seeds, while the KSC women’s volleyball squad is seeded fourth.

Looking for its sixth-straight LEC tournament title, the Keene State field hockey team (16-4) gets the ball rolling with a quarterfinal game against eighth-seed Salem State (8-8) on Tuesday night (6 p.m.), and the defending champion Keene State women’s volleyball team (18-16) takes on fourth-seed Rhode Island College (17-18) in a quarterfinal match at 7 p.m. at Spaulding Gym.

The KSC men’s soccer team (13-6) faces fourth-seed UMass-Dartmouth (9-6-2) on Wednesday (6 p.m.), while the Owl women (13-5-2), who get a first-round bye, take on the winner of the #4 Western Conn.-#5 Southern Maine game on Thursday (6 p.m.).

More information.

As part of the Centennial, the department of Communication, Journalism, and Philosophy has sponsored a timeline of the almost 100 years of student newspapers at Keene State.

Professors Julio Del Sesto and Rose Kundanis will present this timeline Friday, November 6, at 4 p.m. in the Media Arts Center Atrium. Join us as we celebrate the Equinox — and earlier versions of the student newspaper.

To RSVP or for more information, contact Rose Kundanis.

2500 pumpkins from Bradford, Vermont, were lobotomized on Fiske Quad on October 16 (Lynn Roman photo).

Thanks in no small part to the dedicated efforts of KSC students, faculty, staff, and friends churning out clever carved gourds at this year’s Pumpkin Lobotomy, the City of Keene’s Pumpkin Festival wowed visitors with a total of 29,762 lighted jack-o-lanterns. That total broke the festival’s previous record of 28,952, set in 2003, but fell a bit short of the world record 30,128, set in Boston three years ago. But we’re within striking distance of recapturing the Guinness record. Wait till next year!

More information.

"Perfect Thighs" Kris Dresen, 2005, digital projection, ©Kris Dresen

Are you a fan of comic book art? Then stop in at the Thorne and check out the current show, “Out of Sequence: Underrepresented Voices in American Comics,” for a celebration of historical and contemporary comics creators that includes women and minority artists. The show features works by a diverse group of comic illustrators and writers including Ethel Hays’ 1927 depictions of Flapper Fanny, Dale Messick’s popular Brenda Starr in 1945, and 21st century artists such as Nat Turner, creator of Kyle Baker, and Ann Telnaes’ digital projection, Drawing the Line. The exhibit ends on December 6.

More information.