Jay Burns

As the editorial director for the Bates Communications Office, Jay guides Bates Magazine and BatesNews.

jburns@bates.edu

Stories by Jay Burns
Bates Bazaar: Online deals for Feb. 21, 2025

Friday, February 21, 2025 9:17 am

This edition's finds include a 1929 Maine championship baseball charm ($75) and a 1992 Merimanders CD ($14.95), featuring a cover photo by Gene Clough.

Love, actually? Bates students revisit a 1920s professor’s take on romance

Thursday, February 13, 2025 4:09 pm

Bates Professor Halbert Britan’s talk on falling in love captivated audiences nationwide in 1921. Now, on Valentine's Day, Bates students Hannah Kothari ’26 and Ramona McNish ’28 revisit Dr. Love's insights and update his tips for the lovelorn —  like the power of a cool and mysterious Instagram.

An incomplete 50-year history of the Puddle Jump

Friday, February 7, 2025 12:00 pm

A pictorial 50-year history of a one-of-a-kind college tradition, the Puddle Jump, with the bookend editions of 1975 and 2025 featuring the founders and 1978 classmates Chris Callahan, Scott Copeland, and Lars Llorente.

Recalling when Jimmy Carter visited Bates to honor the ‘greatness of America’s character’

Sunday, December 29, 2024 3:38 pm

We pay tribute to the late, remarkable Jimmy Carter, who died today at age 100, by recalling his historic visit to Bates in 1985 to honor his friend Edmund Muskie '36 and to praise the greatness of another Bates friend, civil rights leader Benjamin E. Mays.

Objects from the Edmund S. Muskie Archives, photographed in the BCO studio at 141 Nichols Street, on July 19, 2018. Wedgwood Plate depicting Parker Hall and Gomes Chapel, this plate is from the college's first edition. It's believed the company began producing college designs in the 1920s.
Bates Bazaar: Online deals for Dec. 13, 2024

Friday, December 13, 2024 2:29 pm

An ornithological time capsule of sorts from 1918, a broadside poster for the 1926 Bates–Brown football game, and a first-edition Bates Wedgwood dinner plate.

The 15 most-viewed BatesNews stories 2024

Thursday, December 5, 2024 5:08 pm

As the year ticks to a close, here’s a countdown of the…

Fall foliage on the Bates campus Historic Quad, Hathorn Hall
Bates announces nine faculty appointments to endowed professorships

Thursday, November 21, 2024 5:01 pm

“Endowed professorships at Bates are a testament to the high aspirations of Bates donors and a powerful recognition of the sustained excellence of our faculty,” said Malcolm Hill, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty. 

On Veterans Day, we pause to reflect and remember. During this morning’s gathering at Bates Veterans Plaza, Joe Castonguay of Facility Services lays a flower atop one of the basalt stones that comprise the plaza centerpiece. “I learned the value of human life in combat,” said Castonguay, a U.S. Army veteran who served for 15 months in Iraq. The Rev. Dr. Brittany Longsdorf, @bates_multifaith chaplain, guided today’s centering moment, which included reflective readings and interfaith prayers, the observing of silence, and the ritual of laying flowers to honor the service and sacrifice of veterans. Dedicated in 2020 and located near the Benjamin E. Mays Center, the plaza honors Bates veterans and invites “reflection on the impact of war on the lives of everyone it touches.” President Garry W. Jenkins was in attendance.
Veterans Day at Bates, and thoughts from a Bates combat veteran

Friday, November 15, 2024 2:52 pm

We caught up with Army veteran Joe Castonguay after Veterans Day, on a sunny morning when he and his grounds crew team were clearing leaves outside Rand Hall.

25 items (or 62, depending your count) in the Bates library’s Lost and Found on Nov. 11, 2024

Friday, November 15, 2024 12:54 pm

The sweetest lost item was a greeting card with the quote “Etre avec des gens qu'on aime cela suffit” (“Being with people you love, that’s enough”) from a grandfather to his Bates grandson in his first week on campus.

Say What? Quotable quotes from Bates folks: Nov. 15, 2024

Friday, November 15, 2024 12:05 pm

Our latest in an occasional roundup of quotable Bates quotes, this time about a terrifying regatta, why the Quad was like Candyland this fall, and the beauty and strength of being in solidarity with one together.

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