High Tea Gala 2021: A Celebration of Community & Inspiration
By Shan Rao
On October 6th, students, professors, and alumni gathered in the Bronx Botanical Gardens for the English Department’s third annual High Tea Gala. Dressed in their highest finery, people poured into an open tent for this sold-out event. As the wait staff brought out trays of mini sandwiches and macarons, people mingled with those they’d never met before; laughing about the differences between campuses and sharing ideas for English Department courses they hope to see offered.
Sarah Gambito, Director of creative writing, and Mary Bly, Chair of English, welcomed everyone to the event and shared their joy at finally being able to gather in person after a year and a half of online events. Everyone seemed to be in high spirits at this opportunity to truly celebrate Fordham English and having made it through such a difficult time.
The event was hosted by creative writing concentrators, who served as greeters and table hosts, creating a welcoming and warm atmosphere as everyone entered the tent. Attendees were mixed across tables, giving everyone an opportunity to meet new people connected to Fordham English. Tables included a mix of underclassmen, upperclassmen, graduate students, alumni, and faculty. Upperclassmen shared course recommendations and study tips, table hosts encouraged underclassmen to apply to the creative writing concentration, and grad students spoke about their research passions and ambitions.
Alumni Jess Cozi had driven up from Long Island through hours of traffic to make it to the event, but said that she wouldn’t miss it for the world. A graduate of FCRH 2020, she has attended all three High Tea Galas so far and hopes to attend many more. Recently hired professor Sasha Panaram was attending her first High Tea. Finally getting a chance to meet more English majors in person, she spoke about her Text and Contexts course which focuses on Caribbean literature.
Halfway through the event, Sarah Gambito asked tables to all take some time to share stories of what kept them inspired throughout the months of the COVID-19 pandemic and remote learning. Each table selected an individual to nominate as a representative to share their inspiration story with the whole room. As a surprise gift at the end of the gathering, each table’s representative was presented with a beautiful collection of loose leaf teas by Vahdam.
Attendees were left with an inspiration playlist to listen to as they walked the gardens, curated by the creative writing concentrators. Alongside the playlist, concentrators had included their own reasons that these songs inspired them, a gift to all those in attendance as they walked through the crisp fall wind to explore the Botanical Gardens.
Inspiration playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6jXTb8u6aRK2ecUN3PHhUg
Inspiration playlist stories: https://docs.google.com/document/d/182UjRKyUtsKdfSbrySWI5rNTayEYZ6L0_wJBExLK1kI/edit
Table inspiration stories: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DnRC1Xkb4_rr6DVkyU6l4gUNPUmu9cgsk2bopgIWD9Q/edit?usp=sharing
