By Chelsea Zhao
Staff Writer
Mazzuchelli Honors program observed Dostoevsky’s birthday in the Noonan Reading Room on Nov. 11.
The Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky has adorned the dorm room desks of all honors students. His 1879 novel “The Brothers Karamazov” is the required reading for all honors freshman seminars.
Mazzuchelli honors students received a firsthand taste of the culture that the book was grounded in as the Mazzuchelli Honors program organized a social gathering with cupcakes, a birthday cake and Russian folk music from the Chicago Cossacks.
Honors professors who taught the novel, Mickey Sweeney and John Strauss, as well as program director Tonia Triggiano were there to cheer on the students, as they linked hand in hand to dance around the table.
The celebration marked the 200th year since Dostoevsky’s birth in 1821.
Along with music and dancing, there was also the humanistic aspect: the honors program hoped to collect 200 cans of food for a local pantry. The event marked the start of the collection, which will continue until Nov. 19 outside Fine Arts 303 and 327.
The honors program also aims to raffle off airpods, gift cards for the Haitian Bridge Alliance in collaboration with CCL. Students can purchase $1 tickets until the Nov. 29 drawing.
