SALEM — Is there an oratorical curse on Salem State College?
Less than two years ago, former presidential candidate John Edwards canceled his appearance in the Speaker Series after the National Enquirer exposed his scandalous relationship with a campaign aide. Edwards has since admitted to fathering a child out of wedlock while his wife was battling breast cancer.
This week, Paul Levy, the chief executive of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, bowed out as one of Salem State's commencement speakers because of his relationship with a woman. Levy withdrew after admitting to what the hospital's board of directors called a "serious lapse in judgment" in a "personal relationship with a former employee." He was fined $50,000.
The college is still scrambling to find a replacement.
While any comparison between Edwards and Levy is probably unfair, it is something of a strange coincidence.
It also makes Bill Clinton look pretty good.
The 42nd president of the United States made a big splash at Salem State in 2001 when he spoke at the college just weeks after leaving the White House. It was his first public speech since stepping down from the presidency and something of a coup for the college. (Of course, he was paid $100,000.)
Fortunately for Salem State, the Monica Lewinsky scandal was a distant memory.
Here's hoping the guest speaker at Salem State's spring sports banquet isn't Tiger Woods.
Man walks into a bar
Congratulations to School Committee member Kevin Carr, or should we say Counselor Carr — who recently passed the bar exam.
Carr was at home on a Saturday late last month doing yardwork when he got the letter with the good news.
"I had to walk around the house a few minutes to build up the confidence to open the letter," said Carr, 32. "The first words were, 'Congratulations,' and to be honest with you I don't remember the rest."
Carr joins the School Committee's fellow litigators Jim Fleming and Mayor Kim Driscoll — and even Superintendent William Cameron — who all have law degrees.
Will this soon become a requirement to serve?
Butterfly biology
Salem native Corinne Michaud is out chasing butterflies in the fields of Maine, but there's nothing frivolous about it.
Michaud, who graduated from Salem High in 2000 and Salem State in 2004, is pursuing her doctorate in conservation biology at the University of Maine. Her research involves using genetics techniques to investigate the health of an endangered butterfly in Maine, the Clayton's copper butterfly.
"I'm hoping to make a career teaching at a university and doing conservation genetics research," said Michaud, who captained the field hockey and winter track teams at Salem High.
She graduated at the top of her class at Salem State and earned a master's degree in forensic biology at Michigan State. She even traveled to Chile and Argentina to learn about sustainable business practices in South America and to experience different ecosystems and political systems.
"I'm also passionate about being involved in different cultures and communities," she said, "and bringing science to the public."
One old tree
In this historic city, old is beautiful.
That's why it's kind of odd that one of the oldest objects in Salem — maybe the oldest — gets no attention. That, of course, would be the big chunk of wood in front of the former Jeffers Millwork on Boston Street.
The huge midsection of a redwood tree from Sequoia National Park in California is believed to be more than 2,600 years old. To put that in perspective, the tree started growing centuries before the birth of Christ.
In other words, it's older than Pioneer Village, Dube's restaurant or School Committee member Brendan Walsh. (Just kidding, Brendan).
The ancient redwood was given to John Jeffers, the late owner of Jeffers Millwork, by a member of the prominent Weyerhaeuser lumber family, according to Jeffers' son, John.
"My dad went to school with George Weyerhaeuser," he said.
The redwood section was a big story back in the 1960s, Jeffers said, and even rode on a float in a city parade.
JFK never slept here
The Hawthorne Hotel has gone Kennedy-crazy.
They have put a package together for guests that includes a room at the hotel and tickets to the Richard Avedon exhibit at the Peabody Essex Museum of photos of John F. Kennedy and his family right before they moved into the White House.
Hotel guests can even pose with a cardboard cutout of JFK.
OK, that is kind of tacky — but funny.
Cash from Kids
The Phoenix School raised so much money for Greg Mortenson's Pennies for Peace program that they needed a little red wagon to transport it to the bank.
The private grade school was one of four schools or school systems that presented checks to Mortenson during his Saturday night appearance at Salem High. Mortenson, the mountain climber who has built 131 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan, was in town last weekend to receive the Salem Award.
Good cause
Give a hand to Debra Crosby's "Talent Quest TV Show" for organizing a fundraiser May 26 at the Hard Rock Cafe in Boston to replace the "Baby Safe Haven" signs that have disappeared around Boston.
Proceeds from the show will be used to replace the yellow and black metal signs that were taken down from street poles near Boston hospitals. The signs drew attention to the state's safe haven law, which allows parents to legally surrender babies 7 days old or younger at a hospital, police or fire station without facing charges.
Crosby runs A Quest Actor's Studio in Salem.
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