September 22, 2026
Turns out a lot of folks in SMPA have strong feelings about football.
A year or so ago SMPA started putting puzzles in our lobby. Anyone could come by and try to reassemble a cherry blossom scene, a famous painting, or whatever picture was on the most recent box. Omar, a former member of the team that cleans our building, was a committed and expert puzzler. You can track how prof. Karpf is feeling about world events by the attention he pays to the puzzle. I spend more time than is rational saying, “just one more piece…”
This fall we've added an informal coffee and puzzling time from 11a - 1p on Wednesdays. I join the staff, students who drop by, and faculty who wander through doing some work, catching up, and poking at the puzzle. Kim Dozier, the new director of the Project on Media and National Security is a regular.
The past couple weeks have had a different vibe.
The current puzzle is a picture of an Ohio State University football game. People have thoughts. Prof. Aday - born and raised in Texas, University of Oregon alum - put a picture of a Texas/Ohio State score in front of the box (Texas won). Prof. Livingston - University of Washington graduate - offered his scathing input about Ohio State. Prof. Holland - University of Mississippi - weighed in. And so it has gone. I have heard of one Ohio State supporter, a faculty member from a different program at GW who happened to be in our lobby.
People trash-talking college football, hanging out, and working on the puzzle may not be the point of SMPA, but it’s a lot of fun. And remember, the faster we finish the puzzle the faster Ohio State goes away.