A tree able to bear over 40 different types of fruit was selected as the symbol of Syracuse University Remembers, a series of events reflecting on 9/11.

The living tree, titled ‘A Tree of 40 Fruit,’ was created by SU professor Sam Van Aken and will produce 40 different types of fruit from the stone fruit family through a process of grafting and budding.

‘We wanted a symbol for the service that would help us to understand our unity in diversity, that we all are different and have come to this event bringing different pasts, different hopes, different dreams and identities,’ said Tiffany Steinwert, dean of Hendricks Chapel. ‘We have been grafted together by this singular event into a whole community.’

The tree, planned to be a permanent fixture on the Quad, will not be planted until October or November. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City has already purchased a companion piece titled ‘Tree of 100 Fruit,’ Steinwert said.

Hendricks will be hosting a Service of Remembrance and Hope as part of SU Remembers. The service, designed to reflect on past memories and inspire commitment to make a better world, takes place Sunday to commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11, said Steinwert. It is an opportunity for students to gather at Hendricks to find a place of comfort, solace and hope on 9/11, Steinwert said.

Sunday’s service will feature performances by the SU Brass Ensemble, Hendricks Chapel Choir, Black Celestial Choral Ensemble and Syracuse Children’s Chorus. Former Hendricks dean Thomas Wolfe and Remembrance Scholar Laura Beachy will speak at the event, according to SU’s website.

Steinwert said the service is expected to fill Hendricks to capacity, but overflow space has been reserved and no one will be turned away.

Attendees will have the opportunity to write thoughts and comments on white bedsheets that will join SU’s Sheets of Expression collection. After the 9/11 attacks, students went to Hendricks seeking solace and comfort, Steinwert said. They were encouraged to write quotes, prayers, names and any emotions they were feeling on the sheets.

A few of the sheets are on display in the Schine Student Center, the Paul Greenberg House in Washington D.C., the Lubin House in New York City and SU’s center in Los Angeles, Steinwert said.

Hendricks is also sponsoring panel discussions for students next week. The panels will take place in the Noble Room and will feature professors leading discussions on topics such as memory, art, trauma and media in the wake of 9/11. The discussions are a chance to take a step back and let students see how the past 10 years have shaped their lives and the world, Steinwert said.

‘We hope that will be a time for students to talk about their own experiences,’ she said.

In honor of 9/11, SU’s chapter of College Republicans will be displaying over 2,000 American flags commemorating the lives lost, said Zach Weiss, secretary for the College Republicans, in an email.

‘We encourage students to visit the display between September 9 and 12 between the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and the Schine Student Center,’ Weiss said.

SU is participating in the nationwide campaign ‘Better Together,’ an initiative that works to bridge students of all beliefs together, Steinwert said. Canned goods are being collected for the local Interreligious Food Consortium of CNY and a portion of the proceeds from Sunday’s University Union Juice Jam concert will go toward the United Nations’ World Food Programme for famine relief in the Horn of Africa. Students can also exchange canned food at Juice Jam for concert memorabilia.

‘University Union has been very gracious to host the launching of ‘Better Together’ and to merge it with Juice Jam,’ Steinwert said.

Carly Hamond, senior inclusive education major, said she does not plan on attending Juice Jam but might go the service at Hendricks. She said she knows what the concerts are usually like at SU, and she didn’t feel it would be right to be in that kind of mood on 9/11.

‘I’ll probably just keep mostly to myself that day, not do something that revolves around a party,’ she said.

Because each person deals with things differently, Steinwert said she encourages students to find community on 9/11, pay attention to personal feelings and reach out to each other.

‘For some people, that may mean tears, for others that may mean laughter. For some, that might mean going to the service and being surrounded by a community that together remembers this event,’ Steinwert said. ‘And for others it might mean mindlessly dancing to electronica on South Campus.’

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Published on September 7, 2011 at 12:00 pm

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