New Year!

In what seems like a lifetime ago, I took a work trip to South Korea with my then boss who did two things that I thought were sure to sabotage our entire trip: (1) he packed the international cell phone in his checked luggage, and (2) an hour before the end of our nearly day-long flight, he turned to me and said, “This has been a great flight.” Instinctively, I responded, “Take that back immediately. Are you trying to jinx us?!” I couldn’t believe that here was a man, many years my senior who didn’t know about the jinx, and who would so foolishly put the lives of fellow passengers and the airline crew in such jeopardy with his ignorance. Why am I telling you this? Well, first because I survived. And, second, because I was wondering why, as the clock struck midnight on January 1, I felt so weird saying “Happy New Year!” as we ushered in 2021 while kicking out the deplorable 2020. First of all, there was no real measurable change from one second to the next except for the hope that everything would be better. But more importantly, I didn’t want to jinx it and put the kibosh on that hope. In the great words of Michael Scott from television’s The Office, “I’m not superstitious but I am a little stitious.” So, just in the hopes of not jinxing anything, I raise a toast to all and say as loudly as I can, “New Year to Everyone!”

Stay safe and healthy,

Tracy Jacobs

Zoom lectures and workshops, January and February 2021

Free to Osher members. Pre-registration required.

Join us in January and February for a series of Zoom lectures and workshops.

Over the past couple of years, I would often talk about how I thought the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Towson University could expand our horizons by offering some courses and lectures online as part of our curriculum. The conversations about distance learning would always start with “One day…”—envisioning some undefined future when we would magically learn about the best eLearning modes and even more magically, implement them. Turns out, the future is now, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Twenty-twenty was a year like no other. Through it all, Towson University’s award-winning photographic services team safely captured the Tiger stories that make us #TUproud every day. Director of Photographic Services Lauren Castellana ’13, Assistant Director of Photographic Services Alexander Wright ’18 and student photographer Nicholas Sibol ’23 share their favorite photos from the past year with us.