After the jump, check out my DT roundup of these 4 Penn alumni making news on stage, literature and the arts.

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Last year, working artist Joan Myerson Shrager (College for Women, School of Education '60) led the effort with the First United Methodist Church of Germantown to create stained glass windows to be sent to a school for AIDS orphans in South Africa.

This year the group decided to donate their work to another school - this one rebuilding in a flood damaged area of New Orleans.

Per this newsworks article,

"Whether it’s bridging gaps left over from the classroom, transforming football players into glass artists, or bringing artistic suburban white women into the neighborhood to work with black students - often providing lessons for both sides of that equation, the stained glass program at FUMCOG tends to generate special moments."

After the jump, watch the video of these high school students at work during the process of creating stained glass projects.  It's pretty cool and the video actually feels like a good documentary.

Maybe there is an alum documentary filmmaker out there interested in exploring this story a bit more?

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Over the past year, Penn alum Joan Myerson Shrager (College for Women, School of Education '60) has shared special memories and artifacts with DT from the 3 generations of her family attending Penn.

Joan has also shared with us her outstanding artwork.

Now, over the past year, she has created a project to help better the world.

More about Joan's efforts after the jump...

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More from my "Blast from the Past" series!

Back in September, I introduced all of you to Joan Myerson Shrager (College for Women, School of Education '60).

Joan emailed me to let me know that her family is now 3 generations at Penn (Joan; her parents Ruth Leone Meyers Myerson (College for Women '30) and  Adolph Myerson (Wharton '29); and Joan's son Steven Gold (C'85)  ...and shared with me exclusive photos and stories passed down to her of what Penn was like when her parents went.

Back in September we learned what good grades from Wharton earned Joan's father in 1928.

Today, Joan fills us in on:

• what social activity we now take for granted that guys had to sign up for(!) back in the late 1920s.  
• Plus learn which very famous Wharton alum (I didn't know about) who Joan's mother passed on!

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Over the past 2 years, I have done many Now and Then Thursday posts and videos comparing my experiences at Penn with what's going on at Penn today.

I'm now going to take "Now and Then Thursdays" to the next level thanks to Joan Myerson Shrager (College for Women, School of Education, '60).

Not only has digital artist extraordinaire Joan emailed me to let me know that her family is now 3 generations at Penn (Joan; her parents Ruth Leone Meyers Myerson (College for Women, '30) and  Adolph Myerson (Wharton '29); and Joan's son Steven Gold (C'85)  ...but she has shared with me exclusive photos and stories passed down to her of what Penn was like when her parents went.

(l to r graduation day: Joan's Son Steve Gold (C'85), and Joan (College for Women C'60)

(l to r current day: Joan's son Steve Gold (C'85), and Joan (College for Women C'60)

Over the next several months, I will be sharing with you these stories, and I'm sure you'll find these stories as fascinating as I have!

Before we get to the stories from Joan's parents, get a glimpse of what Penn was like in Joan's time.  Per Joan:

"I have my 1960 yearbook and if I felt like counting I would bet over 3/4 of the book is male oriented with some women interspersed and a few pages about Miss Penn and the sororities. In my day, as they say, women could not eat in Houston Hall. Maybe you [DT] could invite some memories from us old timers about our favorite places like Paganos for pizza and Horn and Hardart's. We used the old Furness building as our library and sat in the stacks to do research. Imagine that. No Google, just microfiche that you could hardly read. Oh my............"

Now, to start things off, click HERE to find out what good grades from Wharton earned Joan's father in 1928!  You'll be amazed and jealous to find out that THIS really existed!

That's right, Joan's father's excellent grades earned him "permission to cut class", no penalties!

Per Joan:

"Imagine graduating from Wharton in 1929 --the Great Depression!  He completed 2 years at Law School but had to quit due to no money.  He was able to get a job as a teacher and then got a masters in Ed at Penn in 1932)"

If any alumni have photos or videos of "how Penn was" that you want to share, get in touch with me at merosler at gmail.com.



Other great Now and Then Thursday posts

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Writer Joe Port (C’97, DP Cartoonist) hopes someone buys into his Five Year Plan.

Specifically the ABC network.

A month ago, Joe shot a pilot for ABC (produced by NBC) called Five Year Plan, that he and his writing partner Joe Wiseman created and exec produced together. It stars Steve Howey, Will Sasso, Brooke D'orsay, Lee Thompson Young, Joy Osmanski and Steve Rosen.

Per Joe,

“The basic idea is we introduce this young group of people, we learn what their respective five year plans are, and then we watch them as they try to make those dreams come true. The pilot was directed by Gail Mancuso. We're all done editing itnow and have gotten a lot of good feedback so far (my mother Phyllis Port (C'60) claims, "It's a winner!"). We should know pretty soon whether or not it will be picked up to series.”

Before this, Joe worked on The Office, Just Shoot Me and per Joe, “many shows that you've never heard of.”

Joe’s not the only Hollywood Penn writer in his family. His brother Moses Port (C’91) and writing partner David Guarascio (C'91) executive produced last year's CW show Aliens in America and are currently developing projects for Sony.

Click here to learn how Joe got his start as a writer in Hollywood and how his brother Moses hooked him up

More Penn Hollywood Writers here!

More Penn alumni working in/on TV!

New to DT? 14 easy suggestions to get started!

See which Penn undergrads and alumni are registered on DuelingTampons.com

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When her husband was a chemo patient at Penn’s hospital, artist Joan Myerson Shrager (C’60) used her talent to brighten things up.

Per Joan,

“At the time my husband was a chemo patient (for 11 years) the walls [of the hospital] were bare and unpainted. The environment was so dingy for patients undergoing such a demoralizing procedure I wanted to brighten it up. Patients and nurses told me they loved seeing the art.”

Since then she donated approximately 20 framed computer prints to the medical building where chemo patients are under treatment. Her digital art is in the permanent collection of the University and hanging in a permanent exhibition at GSE.

Further, Joan is a founder and director of ArtForms Gallery Manayunk for 12 years (an artist-run cooperative gallery) and worked with hundreds of local and national artists to curate and create community outreach exhibitions. She is now working with the Temple Judea Museum of Keneseth Israel to curate and assist with a yearly calendar of exhibitions. She also creates ongoing art projects for the synagogue and volunteers as an art teacher of inner city teenagers in conjunction with an after school program run by the Methodist Church.

More about Joan's artwork  on her site here

More Penn artists here

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See which Penn undergrads and alumni are registered on DuelingTampons.com

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Did you like this article? You can get the latest articles at DuelingTampons.com in your email inbox each afternoon by entering your email address below. Your address will only be used for mailing you the articles, and each one will include a link so you can unsubscribe at any time.

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