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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US">Thank you, Sally and John. We needed that. I always look forward to your St. Entropy Christmas poem. Happy and safe holidays to all!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US">Dee<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D">Dee A. Stubbs-Lee, MA, CAPC<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D">Conservator / Restauratrice<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D">New Brunswick Museum<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D">277 Douglas Avenue<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D">Saint John, New Brunswick<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D">E2K 1E5<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D">Canada<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D">(506) 643-2341<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">From:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"> Nhcoll-l [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces@mailman.yale.edu]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>John E Simmons<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Thursday, December 17, 2020 11:31 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> nhcoll-l@mailman.yale.edu<br>
<b>Subject:</b> [Nhcoll-l] Seasonal Selection 2020<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:black">Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of pandemics stays us from the completion of our annual poem... #31 in a never-ending series is below for your holiday pleasure.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">2020 Vision<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">(St. Entropy needs his checked)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">‘Twas the night before Christmas; down the museum halls,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">Not a creature was stirring—they were all on Zoom calls.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">The stockings were hung (after being steam cleaned,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">Due to concerns over COVID-19).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">My colleague in her faceshield, and I in my mask<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">Maintained social distance—we each had our own flask.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">The museum was silent, as quiet as a stone,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">As I unwrapped our very own Curator Drone<sup>TM</sup>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">(It flies through the hallways, all smiles and concerns,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">But costs only half what a curator earns.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">It points out all your errors, just like a consultant,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">But solves none of the problems—it’s more an insultant.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">Like curators, though, it can sleep in collections,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">And never falls prey to biologic infections.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">I’d stocked up on supplies to manage this caper<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">(And found dissertations make great toilet paper).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">Though it had taken a year, I read Defoe through,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">And I was no stranger to the plague of Camus.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">I’d bought canned beans and puzzles to get through bleak December.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">Was there anything else? Not that I could remember.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">But then, in a twinkling, with my heart almost cheery,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">I heard a strange sound, right upon midnight dreary.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">Away to the window I flew in a hurry,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">But something was wrong. Was it now time to worry?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">Just like Fukushima, was starting to glow.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">When, what to my begoggled eyes should appear<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">But a miniature sleigh led by eight virus-free deer?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">The driver, emerging from a sealed plastic canopy<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">I knew in a moment was our own St. Entropy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">I then heard a crash and a thud and a rapping<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">And St. Entropy appeared with a swish and a tapping.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">His eyes, how they glittered; his smile, so serene;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">I hoped he was bringing the new viral vaccine.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">He was dressed all in Tyvek, from the mask to the boots,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">But this was no year for fur on the suits.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">Over his shoulder, he was manhandling a sack<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">Which he proceeded to open and quickly unpack.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">“I bring gifts!” the Saint shouted, “Relief from your woes,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">No more you’ll be troubled with ravens and crows!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">My heart slowly sank, my hopes now eroded…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">The Old Saint had muddled up corvid and COVID.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">The vaccine that he’d carried over mountain and loch<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">Worked only for smart birds that flew in a flock.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">We had plenty of magpies, crows, ravens, and jays,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">But none of them live ones; all stored in arrays.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">We had to do something. It was urgent. What’s more,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">The museum had those volumes of forgotten lore.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">We looked up old research and programmed the Drone<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">To leave our safe shelter and go out on its own.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">Away it flew, just like soft down from a thistle
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">(Okay, maybe not, but it came back when we whistled).
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">It went to the labs and retrieved new vaccines,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">And brought them in safely. Deus ex machines.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">The Saint, who had medical training (who knew?),<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">Injected us all, and flu flew up the flue.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">Then, not laying a finger anywhere near his nose<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">(Kids, don’t touch your face!), up the fume hood he rose.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">And I heard him exclaim, as I bolted the door,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">“Merry Christmas! And COVID, for you….Nevermore!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:106%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:106%;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">(Sally Shelton and John Simmons want everyone to stay well and safe, or else. Yeah, else.)
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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