Learn Grow Be

MacTogether Webinars

The Mac Together Webinars provide an opportunity to hear updates and insights from Macalester faculty and staff. These are around timely events occurring on campus and in the world around us.

Mac Cafe Series

The Mac Cafe series features alumni from a variety of notable fields and interests to discuss their personal and professional passions in a casual online setting for interesting and relevant learning. Join your fellow alumni for a 45-minute virtual Zoom coffeehouse chat to hear some of the amazing stories and experiences Mac Alums are engaging in. Bring your cup of coffee, tea, breakfast or lunch, and questions to spark conversation about world events and professional accomplishments while connecting with the Macalester community. 

Faculty Alumni Office Hours

Professor’s office hours are something most students took advantage of during their college years. Now that you have graduated, Faculty Alumni Office Hours provide a setting to relive those moments and hear from faculty members about their current pursuits, fond memories, and Macalester today.

Upcoming Faculty Alumni Office Hours

• With Sowah Mensah, Director of the African Music Ensemble – Tuesday, January 25

Big Questions Live Event Recordings

McCurdy Distinguished Lectures

Follow and listen to these podcasts created by students, faculty, and staff across campus.

	Big Questions Podcast The “Big Questions” series is our attempt to try something different. These are glimpses into the minds and hearts of the people who comprise Macalester: a collection of their thoughts about the things that matter to them and, we hope, to you. You might think of these short videos as a stripped down, “acoustic” version of Macalester communications and as a way to see what truly animates the college. https://macalesterbigquestions.buzzsprout.com/
	Macalester Scots Podcast Hear students and alumni share their Macalester athletics experience. https://athletics.macalester.edu/podcasts
	Groveland Podcast The news that matters to you. A production of The Mac Weekly, the independent student newspaper of Macalester College. https://themacweekly.com/category/podcasts/groveland/
	The Abstract Podcast Stories of scientific research, from profuse failures to precious moments of triumph. A production of The Mac Weekly, the independent student newspaper of Macalester College. https://themacweekly.com/category/podcasts/science-podcast/
	Macalester CRSL Podcast from Home During these shortest days and longest nights of our pandemic year, our Macalester Center for Religious and Spiritual Life embarks on a podcast adventure. Each day, we’ll hear from someone else with a short episode, sharing stories about where and how we’re making home this winter. We might interview elders, children, or roommates. We might share cozy things we’ve encountered, or children’s stories, folktales, poems or music that we love. By sharing snippets of our lives and loves, we’ll know each other a little bit, and build a sense of home right now. https://anchor.fm/macalestercrsl
	MJO’S 5780 Elul Podcast Elul, the final month of the Jewish year, is a time for reflection, preparation, and hearing what the shofar call wakes up in us. This year more than ever, we yearn for anchors in time and in community. With this daily podcast, we mark our journey into the year of learning and towards Rosh Hashanah as a campus Jewish community with a brief daily offering from our own voices of Jewish Macalester. https://anchor.fm/mjoelul

Mac Alumni Anti-racist Parenting Conversation hosted by the Mac Alumni Board

MacTogether: Race and Policing with Professor Duchess Harris

MacTogether Webinar with Professor Katrina Phillips

MacCafe: Conversations on Peace and Conflict Transformation with Martha McManus ’70

MacTogerther Webinar: The state of admissions at Macalester

Macalester Athletics is hosting virtual wellness sessions titled “Thrive in Place”. All are welcome to participate. Find additional home workouts from Mac Sports Performance on Instagram

Calm in COVID Meditation

Spend some time on Mindful.org

We are living through history. Why not take this time to put some of your thoughts and experiences down on paper? You may end up being the Samuel Pepys of our time…or at least provide some interesting reading for future you. Not to mention it’s proven to be therapeutic. Whether you go long-form, or take a bullet journal approach, here are some ideas to get you started. 

• One line a day — this is a great way to get started if you haven’t journaled before (or since grade school) or don’t have much extra time. Commit to writing just one sentence each day about what you saw, did, felt, etc. 
• Mood tracker — fill in color-coded boxes, create a rating scale, or just use your words to check in with how you’re doing emotionally today. 
• Gratitude log — in the midst of this crisis, take stock of what brings you happiness. Make a list of the things in your life you are grateful for, and the people that you most appreciate (bonus points if you send them a note to share your gratitude!)
• “A challenge I’ve overcome is…” — remember that you are resilient and have tackled big challenges in the past. Write about something tough that you’ve dealt with and reflect on the people, things, and exercises that helped you through.
• Partake in some light plagiarism — copy down the quotes, poetry, song lyrics, and passages that make you smile, make you laugh, make you feel at peace, or otherwise inspire you 
• Cabin fever to-do list — make a list of things you can do to take a break from the news, cheer yourself up, or just mix it up while social distancing. Yes, “things to watch on Netflix” counts, not every to-do list has to be productive. On that note…
• Keep track of the great content you’ve engaged with — make lists of the books you’ve read, performances you’ve streamed, recipes you’ve tried, and other things that you’ve used this time to enjoy
• “Things I’m looking forward to” — write about the people you are excited to see, places you want to visit, and things you can’t wait to do when it is safe to do so

Start a journal with your family, friends, roommates, or loved ones. This can be a fun way to reflect back on the years.

• Get a stack of 3×5 index cards (or larger if you want to write a lot) and a box to hold them in.
• Create a card for each day of the year, labeling in the uper left corner.
• Every day write the year on the card and something you all want to remember together.
• Next year you will come back to that same day and see what you wanted to remember and get to add to the card something for that year.
• Eventually, you will have several years listed and be able to see what was special about that day each year.

Did you know there was a Macalester coloring book? Pull out your crayons or colorful pens to spend some time destressing while remembering Good Ole Macalester!

Macalester Coloring Book