College Bulletin Kohlberg Hall The Class o f ’71 gels it together T IME A T E i ■ I mural was uncovered Mwhen Trotter Hall was I gutted this winter in preparation for a i« M ished in the fall of 1997. The painting features a wiz­ ard, an Einstein-like character, representations of an Asian w ar, and the w ords of Presi­ dent Dwight D. Eisenhower: “Every gun that is made, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed. those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arm s is not spending money alone, it is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its i hildren This is not a way at Under th e cloud of threatening wai it is hum anity hang- The mural had been cov­ ered by wallboard glued with energetic squiggles over the plaster w here it w as originally i painted. Who created it? When? The artists are — The Editors PHOTOGRAPHS BY STEPHEN GOLDBIATT ‘6 j COLLEGE BULLETIN • MAY 1996 10 A rt Meets Intellect in Kohlberg Hall With tons o f stone in walls and floors and steps, Kohlberg Hall already looks venerable. Its ground floor reveals gardens and lawns through glass walls, and its upper floors buzz with the stuff o f education. Join the pictorial tour o f our newest space. By Jeffrey Lott Editor. Jeffrey Lott Assistant Editor Nancy Lehman ’87 News Editor Kate Downing Class Notes Editor Carol Brevart Desktop Publishing: Audree Penner Designer Bob Wood Editor Emerita: Maralyn Orbison Gillespie ’49 Associate Vice President for External Affairs: Barbara Haddad Ryan ’59 Cover This 1993 theater poster by Polish artist Andrzej Majewski is part of the collection exhibited this winter by poster collector—and assistant professor of theater— Allen Kuharski. See page 22. Changes of Address: Send address label along with new address to: Alumni Records, Swarthmore College, 500 College Ave., Swarthmore PA 19081-1397. Phone: (610) 328-8435. Or e-mail alumni@swarthmore.edu. Contacting Swarthmore College: College Operator: (610) 328-8000 http://www.swarthmore.edu Admissions: (610) 328-8300 admissions@swarthmore.edu Alumni Relations: (610) 328-8402 alumni@swarthmore.edu Publications: (610) 328-8568 bulletin@swarthmore.edu http://www.swarthmore.edu/ Admin/publications/bulletin/ Registrar: (610) 328-8297 registrar@swarthmore.edu ©1996 Swarthmore College Printed in U.S.A. on recycled paper. The Swarthmore College Bulletin (ISSN 0888-2126), of which this is volume XCIII, number 5, is published in September, November, January, February, May, and August by Swarthmore College, 500 College Avenue, Swarthmore PA 19081-1397. Secondt en i )ital i lic » l i- ery aante i alton ’6 8 Katonah, N.Y. hawkmeadow@aol.com sa ’IN P O S T I N G S Social welfare isn’t “historical aberration” Tothe Editor: Ifound the essay by'Christopher Edley Jr. 73 (“Are America’s Values Changing?” February 1996) a very challenging discussion. As a non­ lawyer I appreciated his explana­ tion of the tensions involved in balancing a concern for values with constitutional rights, but I was bothered by some of his conclusions and characterizations. For example, Edley carefully makes a distinction between the agenda of the religious right, which is tolerable, and the rhetoric, which is intolerable. This is a judicious assessment, but to then generalize many “NewDeal” social welfare policies as “historical aberrations,” seems less than judicial and decidedly ahistorical. As a nation we are well served by having such programs as Medicare, unemployment insur­ ance, and Social Security. While the growth and implementation of Many programs can be faulted, new technologies and market-oriented Please turn to page 36 MAY 1996 Cheri G oetcheus, coaching th e hey came from the South and the East and the West and the North— women’s softball team on their Florida from New Mexico, Maine, Missouri, thespring training, wrote that they hoped Carolinas, California, even Paris! And to “hit the beaches” soon. Hey, what Florida ... of course Florida. They were about the basest Not all the traveling college teams Spring Break postcards, coaxed from fared quite as vacationers by well, as Kelly th e friendly W ilcox ’97 College Book­ wrote: “While store staff with improving our an offer of free lacrosse skills, film and store we have also discounts. lea rn ed how Alm ost 80 to outrun alli­ students, fac­ gators. Don’t ulty, and staff worry, no one members was seriously (who says that h u rt in the only the young process.” can have fun?) First-year stu­ resp o n d ed dent Channaly from far and Oum took the wide. Most opportunity to sent commer­ re c o m m e n d cially scenic and geograph­ to th e book­ sto re a book ically a p p ro ­ she saw while p ria te card s, on her break but—never at in W ashing­ a loss for cre­ ton, D.C. ativity—other And Kelli Tennent ’98 waxed poetic: traveling Sw arthm oreans sent their “‘Spring Breaker, Spring Breaker, own photographs, a cardboard granola box cut to size, and even a recycled Where have you been?’ ‘I’ve been to Boston to check out review book request. Some cards had the bare essentials—-name, address, the scene!’ ‘Spring Breaker, Spring Breaker, and sta m p —and o th e rs sh a re d What did you there?’ detailed itineraries. ‘I hung out at MFA and Harvard “Having a blast in Boston,” wrote Susan Hunt ’99. “Friends, films, and Square?” Faneuil Hall.” Curiously, many of the cards didn’t “So it’s not Florida,” lamented Jessi­ come from faraway places at all. They ca Alwes Howington ’98 in Louisville, w ere m ailed rig h t h e re in 19081. Ky. “What a lovely view.” Zongqi Xia ’97 consoled himself that “It’s really spring h e re ,” exulted even though he spent most of his wak­ engineering Professor Nelson Macken ing hours preparing for exams the fol­ from Colorado. “Skiing is great!” lowing week, “At least I am able to get Not so in New York City, apparently, eight hours of sleep every day.” w here Rebecca Louie ’99 rep o rted , And Nina Santos ’97 wrote the fol­ “The weather is freezing.” lowing: “Dear Sw arthm ore College The gloating from warmer climes Bookstore, Greetings from Cornell.... included a postcard from North Caroli­ Cornell Library, that is. That’s right, I’m na, where Lynda Yankaskas ’99 sent spending Spring Break here on cam­ greetings from “the Southern part of pus. And the scenery is beautiful, there a re n ’t too m any to u ris ts , and th e Heaven.” Joshua Silver ’97 added from Disney accommodations are quite cozy. The World, “Hope y’all are persevering weather is great, wish you were here. through the cold while I bask in the Wait—you are!” —Nancy Lehman ’87 sun.” ■ The weather is great, wish you were here. Wait—you are! 3 COLLECTION SWARTHMORE TODAY Swarthmore Alumni Gospel Choir celebrates its 25th anniversary Kemal Nance ’92 adds an exuberant • dance as Vaneese Thomas 74 directs the Swarthmore College Alumni Gospel Choir during its 25th-anniversary concert on Black Alumni Weekend in March. Thirty-six mem­ bers returned to campus for the concert that featured pieces from the choir’s new record­ ing, Hallelujah! Amen. C Guinier on affirmative action ... Best known for her nomination—and withdrawal—for the post of assistant U.S. attorney general, Lani Guinier gave a spirited talk on “Reframing the Affirmative Action Debate”on March 19. The professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School challenged the notion that fairness necessarily means “treating everyone the same. ” There is no one-size-fits-all way of judging people, she said, so “how can we know in advance whether someone is qualified?”Guinier’s talk was one in a series on contemporary black political atti­ tudes sponsored by the Swarthmore African American Student Society (SASS). 4 SWARTHMORE COLLEGE BULLETIN Librarian Michael Durban and Biologist Barbara Stewart to retire ollege Librarian Michael J. Durkan and Barbara Yost Stewart ’54, professor of biology, will retire at the end of the academic year. Durkan came to the College in 1976 after working for 10 years in rare books and technical services at Wesleyan Uni­ versity. Prior to that he worked in various libraries in his native Ireland, where he received a B.A. from St. Patrick’s College in Maynooth and a graduate diploma in library studies from the National University of Ireland, University College, Dublin. In alternate spring semesters, Durkan taught (and will continue to teach) the course Introduction to Anglo-Irish Literature. He nominated internationally renowned Irish poet Seamus Heaney for an honorary degree, which the College bestowed in 1994. In October 1995 Heaney was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. During his 20 years at the College, Durkan oversaw the building of the Cornell Sci­ ence Library, the establish­ ment of the support group Associates of the Library, the automation of the Library catalog, and the sub­ sequent installation of Tri­ pod, a computerized catalog that links library collections at Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, “j and Haverford. § Stewart, who taught | courses and seminars in the ° molecular biology of memMichael J. Durkan branes, came to Swarthmore in 1967 as a half-time teach­ ing assistant. While working at the College, she obtained a master’s degree in molecu­ lar biology in 1972 and a Ph.D. in lipid biochemistry in 1975, both from Bryn Mawr College. For the past 12 years, she has been the associate chair of the Department of Biolo­ gy and the College’s health science adviser. In these roles she advised more than 500 biology majors and S helped more than 330 preBarbara Yost Stewart ’54 medical students apply to medical school. Both Durkan and Stewart have been granted emeritus status by the Board of Man­ agers. C Along with teaching in the Linguistics Program this semester, Navajo native Paul Platero is also leading seminars in silkscreen printing through the Art Department. Lang Professor works to save his native tongue from extinction xperts say that many languages, chiefly those of Native Americans and forest people, are dying tongues. Paul Platero is determined that Navajo won’t be among them. As this year’s Eugene M. Lang Visiting Professor of Social Change, Platero is spending the semester as a member of the Linguistics Program, teaching the struc­ ture of Navajo to Swarthmore students, who are becom­ ing more proficient in the language than most preschool Navajo children. Former director of an education pro­ gram administered by the Navajo nation, Platero is con­ cerned that the majority of Navajo children do not know their own language. “I did a recent study and found that about 55 percent of these children have English as their only language,” he said. “About 17 percent are growing up monolingual speakers of Navajo, and roughly 24 percent are bilingual. And my guess is that in the next 10 years the percentage of English-only speakers will increase considerably if the Navajo people do hot reverse the present trend.” Platero’s study, he says, came as a “wake-up call” to his tribal government. “I believe the Navajo government is taking steps to require that preschool children be taught in Navajo. If they are not Navajo speakers now, they will have it introduced to them as a second lan­ guage so they can at least have some experience hearing and speaking a few words.” The loss of native speakers may mean a loss of the history of the entire tribe. Although Navajo started to be recorded phonetically by enthnographers more than 100 years ago, the tribe never developed its own written lan­ guage. Like many Native American nations, teachings are passed orally from generation to generation. A native of New Mexico, Platero lives with his wife and 14 children in Arizona, where the entire family is involved in a commercial printing business. And although he taught at the college level for five years after receiving a doctorate in linguistics from MIT, this year has been his first back in an academic setting since 1983. “I was drawn away slowly from my area of training,” he says, “and I didn’t realize how much I missed linguis­ tics until now. It’s exciting to see these young students grasping the complex theoretical issues of a non-IndoEuropean language.” E o Did they or didn’t they? The debate over the Rosenberg case comes to campus ore than 300 people filled the Lang Performing Arts Center Cinema on April 13 to hear a debate between Michael Meeropol ’64 and Joyce Milton ’67 on the case of Julius and Ethel Rosen­ berg, who were executed in 1953 for conspiracy to commit espionage. Meeropol, a son of the Rosenbergs and co-author of the autobiographical We Are Your Sons and editor of The Rosenberg Letters: A Complete Edition of the Prison Correspondence of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, main­ tains his parents’ innocence against the charge, saying that his parents were part of a “politically motivated frame-up” in the climate of the Cold War and McCarthyism. Milton, co-author of The Rosenberg File: A Search for the Truth, believes the Rosenbergs received a fair trial and that the guilty verdict was justified. The debate also included Victor Navasky ’54, pub­ lisher and editorial director of The Nation, who served as commentator, and Meta Mendel-Reyes, assistant professor of political science, who moderated. “The government used my mother as a lever against my father when she and my father refused to cooperate,” Meeropol said. “They held her as a hos­ tage in a life-and-death game of chicken, and when the end came they killed her knowing she was not guilty.” “I don’t think the Rosenbergs were heroes because they didn’t name names,” Milton asserted. “Quite the contrary.... This whole idea that it’s somehow heroic to remain silent I find repugnant.” M Michael Meeropol ’64 Victor Navasky ’54 Joyce Milton ’67 Meta Mendel-Reyes The greening ofSwarthm ore ... Erika Krick ’98 (left) and Nancy Koven ’98 tend to their award-winning plant collection in their room in Woolman House. The two were among winners of the “Greenest Room Contest”sponsored by the Scott Arboretum in the category of “The Wild, the Weird, and the Wonderful” for growing the most exotic, out-ofthe-ordinary plants. The contest grew out of plant clinic and potting-up days the arboretum staff holds twice a semester for students. Kris Benarcik, arboretum education coordinator, said, “We were seeing all of these fantastic plants and wanted to see where they lived. ” SW ARTHMORE COLLEGE BULLETIN How I cam e to leave Swarthm ore after 18 years on the faculty By Jacob Weiner, Professor of Biology in which agriculture occurs. I would have much to learn. The seminar was very successful in analyzing agriculture arrived at Swarthmore in August 1978, literally the day from many different perspectives. By the end of the semes­ after I handed in the final version of my doctoral thesis ter, it became apparent to me that agricultural ecology is at the University of Oregon. This summer, almost 18 the field I most want to study. It is not only interesting, but years later, I will leave my tenured professorship here to important, and I think I may have something special to con­ take a position in agroecology and sustainable agriculture tribute. My interest was apparent to the students, and they at the Royal Agricultural University in Copenhagen. I have asked me: Why don’t you do agricultural research if you are to credit my students for encouraging me to try something so interested in it? It simply didn’t seem possible. While my that I have always wanted to do. research on plant population biology was conceptually and In December 1993 I met with seven students to discuss methodologically very close to crop research, I could not possible topics for the first-ever Capstone Seminar in Envi­ pursue serious agricultural research at a liberal arts college ronmental Studies. This was to be an advanced interdisci­ without an experimental farm. I had been at Swarthmore plinary seminar within a major area of environmental stud­ for 18 years. In another 181would become professor emeri­ ies, involving work in at least two, and preferably within all tus with a comfortable pension. So why should I become three, of the College’s academic divisions. I saw the semi­ distracted by a fantasy to change fields? Swarthmore is an nar as an opportunity for me to explore areas outside of outstanding institution and has been good to me, but after biology, to learn more than to teach. I had no idea how it many years of teaching, research, and administration, it would contribute to changing my became clear to me that under­ life. graduate liberal arts education Several topics were discussed had not become my calling. I have during that meeting, but only one great respect for this type of emerged with both enthusiastic career and can find little to criti­ and unanimous support: sustain­ cize at Swarthmore. I have done able agriculture. At first it might the best job I could, but it is not seem surprising that seniors at a what I most want to do for the small liberal arts college would be rest of my life. Botanical research, so interested in agriculture, but pure and applied, is. upon reflection it’s not surprising Several months after the Cap­ at all. Agriculture is the basis of stone Seminar, I saw an advertise­ modern civilization, the ultimate ment in Nature for a position at example of conscious human alter­ the Danish Royal Agricultural Uni­ ation of the natural world. It is the versity. The job description was most fundamental technology. Fur­ straightforward: basic and strate­ thermore the environmental degra­ “After getting to know me, my students challenged me gic research in agricultural ecolo­ dation and resultant non-sustain­ to become an environmental scientist. If I did not try gy with the goal of contributing to ability of farming are among the to meet this challenge, / would not feel worthy of the development of more sustain­ most important environmental them,”says Professor Jacob Weiner, who is leaving able agricultural systems. problems facing the world. the College this summer after 18 years on the faculty. Although my research is interna­ The decision to focus on sus­ tionally known within plant ecolo­ tainable agriculture could not have suited me more. My gy, I didn’t think I would have a chance to get this position interest in agriculture, specifically agricultural ecology, because I have little direct experience in agricultural goes back more than 20 years. I had considered going into research. I spent an entire day writing my application letter, agricultural botany when I entered graduate school in the describing my interests and the type of research I would 1970s, but the worlds of “pure” biology (represented by the like to do. I discussed my book chapter on agroecology and research universities) and applied biology (at land grant some ideas from the Capstone Seminar. Seven months later universities) are historically very separate. I chose to enter I was quite surprised to be offered the position. the world of academic science because it offered a more My decision to enter this new and quite unknown world rigorous and broader training. was difficult—not difficult to make but to accept. The After coming to Swarthmore—which is about as differ­ change will be enormous: leaving friends and family behind ent from an agricultural university as an institution can to go off to a new country with a strange language, into a be—my involvement in agriculture was limited to dis­ new field, working at a totally different type of institution cussing it in my courses and seminars and writing a chap­ with a very different job description. While it could be a ter on plant population biology and agriculture for a book huge mistake, it was clear that if I didn’t go, I would always on agroecology a few years ago. Now I would at least have regret not having taken the chance. I realized that combin­ the opportunity to study agriculture in a serious way with ing my scientific interests with my environmental and uiy seminar students. And though I knew quite a bit about social values to help make agriculture less destructive of agricultural biology, the Capstone Seminar would also con­ the environment is probably the only real ambition I have cern itself with the social, political, and economic context ever had. This summer I leave for Copenhagen to try it. I MAY 1996 7 COLLECTION obel laureate Derek Walcott presented a selection of his poems and plays during a reading on campus April 19. Born on St. Lucia in the West Indies, Walcott is the acclaimed author of numerous volumes of poetry, including The Antilles: Fragments of Epic Memory, for which he won the Nobel Prize in Liter­ ature in 1992. Considered a poet of immense power, skill, and intellectual depth, he was called “the best poet the English language has today” by the late poet Joseph Brodsky. Walcott teaches at Boston University. N College mourns Peter Gram Swing ... eter Gram Swing, professor emeritus of music, died Feb. 15 at his home of chronic myeloid leukemia. He was 73. He joined the Swarthmore faculty in 1955 as the first full-time music professor and director of the chorus. He headed the department from 1958 to 1974, remaining choral director throughout his 34-year career. Prof. Swing was the first recipient of the Daniel Underhill Chair of Music. The conductor and organizer of innumerable music events, Prof. Swing annually directed the community Christmas presentation of Handel’s Messiah. He also conducted the Swarthmore College Chorus in works by P.D.Q. Bach, the alter ego of Swing’s former student Peter Schickele ’57, and led the College Chorus in performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Contributions in his memory may be made to the College’s Friends of Music and Dance. P ... and Barbara Brooks Smoyer *37 ormer Board of Managers member Barbara Brooks Smoyer ’37 died March 19 of a cere­ F bral hemorrhage. Active in many civic organizations in Prince­ ton and statewide New Jersey government, she also served as president, secretary, class agent, reunion committee members, and class notes secretary for her class. In addition she chaired the Annual Funds Committee and served as an admissions interviewer. Mrs. Smoyer was a nationally ranked senior woman amateur tennis player, and she, along with her husband, Stanley, received the Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year Award, the United Way Lambert Award, and the Humanitarian Award of the National Conference of Christians and Jews. And the winner i s ... Nobody. The votes are in on the final voting on adopting a mascot for the College: There will be none. Out of a total of 1,492 ballots cast among alumni, par­ ents, students, faculty, and staff, 858 (58 percent) voted for “no mascot.” Of the remainder 361 voted for the Garnet Fox (24 percent) and 273 for the Little Quaker (18 percent). It’s interesting to note that 77 percent of the current stu­ dent body voted “no.” Jen Philpott ’97, sports editor of the Phoenix and one of the students who originated the idea, said wistfully: “All in all, although we have no mascot to show for our effort, the process was entertaining, and we can conclusively say one thing that we could not before: Swarthmore does not have a mascot because it simply does not want one.” Applications blizzard... The College has received 4,001 applications from prospective members of the Class of 2000, a new record for Swarthmore and an 18 percent increase over last year’s figure. Of the total, 1,206 were offered admission, and as of early May more than 400 had accepted Swarthmore— another record. Jennie redux... Provost Jennie Keith will continue on in the position through the 2000-01 academic year. President Alfred H. Bloom announced the extension of her term “based on enthusiastic faculty support” and the recommendation of the Committee on Faculty Procedures. Phasing o u t... The concentration in International Relations, part of the cur­ riculum since the 1950s, will no longer be offered. James Kurth, professor of political science and coordinator of the concentration, said it has simply become obsolete. “Concentrations,” he said, “should represent visions that haven’t yet been fully integrated into academic disciplines. Now, however, many of our academic fields have an international approach imbedded with­ in them. It seems important that we add new and necessary concentrations and delete the ones that have become redundant.” Students currently enrolled—through the Class of 1999will be able to continue in the concen­ tration. SWARTHMORE COLLEGE BULLETIN mark. However, the squad came on strong winning five of he 1995-96 winter sports season provided out­ their final eight contests including a sweep of Haverford. standing individual and team efforts. Two teams On senior day it was fitting that Nancy Rosenbaum ’96 was were undefeated, and several students earned the star. Playing in her last game, she recorded her 1,000th national recognition. rebound and hit the game-winning basket with four sec­ The women’s swim team sent seven swimmers to the onds remaining. Rosenbaum ends her career leading the National Championships in Atlanta, and all returned AllGarnet with 1,003 rebounds and 281 steals. She also was Americans. Skye Fulkerson ’96 earned honors with a sixthnamed to the Centennial Academic Honor Roll. Freshmen place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke. Jill Belding ’99 Holly Barton and Erin Greeson made their mark on the Col­ also earned individual All-American status with a sixthlege record books. Barton connected on 27 three pointers place finish in the 200-yard butterfly, while Jenny Harvey to shatter the single-season mark and tie the career mark ’99 earned Honorable Mention All-American status with a while Greeson set the season mark with 39 blocked shots. 15th-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke. The 200-yard The wrestling team battled to a 3-11-1 mark as injuries medley relay team of Alanna Roazzi ’99, Fulkerson, Cathy depleted the squad. The Garnet jumped out to a promising Polinsky ’99, and Janine Gent ’99 earned an All-American start, posting a 2-1 record, but lost six consecutive match­ bid with a seventh place finish. The 400-yard medley relay es before a 24-24 tie with team of Kristen Robertson ’98, Fulkerson, Polinsky, and Har­ Swimmers earn All-American honors Johns Hopkins. At the Centen­ nial Conference Champion­ vey earned Honorable Mention ships, Pete Balvanz ’98 came status with a 12th-place finish in second place at 142 in a school record time of pounds. Alec Stall ’98 finished 4:03.86; and the 200-yard in third at 150 pounds, and freestyle relay team of Fulker­ Tirian Mink ’98 posted a son, Polinsky, Gent, and Harvey fourth-place finish at 134 finished in 16th place in a pounds. The Garnet finished school record time of 1:43.47 to in fifth place, collecting 27 earn Honorable Mention status. points. Chaz Teplin ’96 earned The team finished with a 13-2 a spot on the Centennial Aca­ overall record, 6-1 in the Cen­ demic Honor Roll. tennial Conference. The badminton team post­ The men’s swim team fin­ ed a 5-3 record, winning its ished the season with an over­ first four contests. Thanh all record of 9-4 and went 5-1 in Hoang ’97 earned a secondconference for a second- place place finish at the Northeast­ Sublime swimmers ... Team members (rear; / to r) Cathy finish. Andy Robbins ’98 and Polinsky ’99, Jill Belding ’99, Jenny Harvey ’99, Kristen Robert­ ern Regional Collegiate Cham­ Kendrew Witt ’96 represented pionships and the doubles son ’98, Skye Fulkerson ’96, Alanna Roazzi ’99, and Janine Swarthmore at the National team of Vanya Tepavcevic ’97 Gent ’ 99; (front, l to r) Kendrew Witt ’ 96 and Andy Robbins ’ 98. C h a m p io n sh ip s. R o b b in s and Hoang finished in third brought home Honorable Men­ place. The doubles team of Erika Johansen ’99 and Jennifer tion All-American status finishing in 11th place in the 200Chen ’99 earned the first-place prize at the PAIAW Champi­ yard backstroke in a school record time of 1:54.44. Justin onships. Herring ’97 earned a spot on the GTE Academic All-Ameri­ The men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams can All-District II at-large team. Herring also earned All-Con­ posted successful seasons. The women, with a 10-1 record, ference honors along with Robbins, Witt, and Carl Sanders ranked 24th in the final U.S. Track Coaches Association ’97 as a member of the Centennial Champion 200 and 400 Poll. The men, with a perfect 11-0 record, were ranked as medley relay teams. Witt also was a double Centennial high as 16th during the season but did not make the final champ in the 100 and 200 breaststroke as was Robbins in poll. Both teams finished in third place at the Centennial the 100 and 200 backstroke. Mark Friedberg ’98, Alex Huk Conference Championships. Mike Turner ’96 set school ’96, Fulkerson, Witt, and Herring were named to the Confer­ and conference records in the 200- and 400-meter dashes ence Academic Honor Roll. and was part of the 800- and 1,600-meter relay teams that The men’s basketball team closed a frustrating season broke school records. Senior Scott Reents established the on a winning note. The Garnet edged division champion school mark of 3:59.1 in the 1,500 meter. On the women’s Haverford 56-55 on the strength of a Craig Rodner ’96 free side, Danielle Duffy ’98 set the school and conference mark throw in the game’s final seconds. Swarthmore finished the in the 200-meter, and Jill Willdonger ’97 eclipsed the school season with a 9-15 overall record and a 5-8 conference and Centennial mark in the 400 meter. Also, Catherine mark. Ben Schall ’97 led the squad in scoring, steals, and Laine ’98 set the school mark in the 55-meter dash of 7.4 rebounding, posting 14.1 points, 38 steals, and eight seconds, and Shoshannah Pearlman ’98 broke the school’s rebounds per game. Colin Convey ’97 set a school mark 5,000 meter mark in a time of 18:21.58. with 56 three-point baskets and the team set a conference Hood Trophy Update: The Hood Trophy battle is tied at mark with 94 three-pointers. Mark Pletcher ’96, A.J. Shan4.5 each. Swat earned a full point with the women’s basket­ ley ’97, Rodner, and Schall made the Academic Honor Roll. ball sweep and a point from the wrestling victory while The women’s basketball team also struggled this sea­ splitting a point in men’s basketball. son, compiling a 7-17 overall record and a 4-11 conference T MAY 1996 9 ART MEETS INTELLTCT IN THE SPIRITED SPACES OF KOHLBERG LEFT AND OPPOSITE © PAUL WARCHOL / JEROME KOHLBERG BY STEPHEN GOLDBLATT '67 H A L L By Jeffrey Lott Blending cam pus tradition w ith a contem ­ porary sensibility, Swarthmore’s new Kohlberg Hall delights visitors w ith its open spaces, light-filled classrooms, and elegant details. From its surprising asymmetrical sem inar tables to its open and inviting pub­ lic spaces, this is a place for thinking, talk­ ing, and learning— a building that brings architecture and intellect together in a way that lifts the spirit. Old and new—Clothier, Parrish, and the stone tower ofKohlberg Hall—seem to converge in the view from the third-floor corri­ dor ofSwarthmore’s newest building, which was dedicated on May 3. The departments of Modem Languages and Litera­ tures, Sociology/Anthropology, and Economics moved into the building in January. Named for Jerome Kohlberg ’46 (above), it is the first half of a $28 million project that will also include the complete renovation of Trotter Hall. li estled near Parrish and Trotter halls, N Kohlberg Hall is also built to last. W ith tons of stone in walls and floors and steps, it has the substance of Parrish, yet its ground floor seems transparent. An archway pierces the massive building’s center as out­ doors and indoors blur in the comfortable Com m ons, w here a cup of cappuccino reheats a classroom conversation. Through walls of glass, a formal garden and spacious lawns anticipate a sunny Swarthmore day Above: Jeffrey Spritzer ’96 visits with Marion Faber, professor of German, outside her office. Right: The busy Commons, with a coffee bar, offers a view of the Isabelle Bennett Cosby ’28 Courtyard and, in the opposite direction, the lawn leading to the Du Pont Science Building. Far right: The end of the spa­ cious corridor on the third floor looks out on the nearby Lang Performing Arts Center. Inset: Bruce Grant, assistant pro­ fessor of anthropology, meets with Amanda Rocque ’97 in his office, one of 68 faculty offices in the new building. 12 SW ARTHM ORE COLLEGE BULLETIN S p i» ero «II* Ws&ÆU pstairs is a hive of teaching and technol­ U ogy The language learning center crack­ les w ith connections, bringing words and images from cultures around the w orld. And in classrooms w here chalk and blackboard still have m uch to say a video jum ps from a ceiling-m ounted projector onto a hideaway screen. Light-filled faculty offices line long halls w here backpacks slouch on benches, resting betw een trips to class and dorm . A professor’s open door reveals a wall of books, a favorite painting, an O riental rug. Come in, sit dow n, please ask your questions. Left: The Scheuer Room, named to honor Marge Pearlman Scheuer and Walter Scheuer (both ’48), is used for lectures, faculty meetings, and campus gatherings. Kohlberg Hall also sports a new faculty lounge. Above: Students work together in the state-of-the-art language learn­ ing center. The lab is equipped with 36 networked Macintoshes for classes and independent study, plus audio and video tapes and six laser disk players. Right: NiYa Costley ’97 and Upward Bound student Hameed Abdur-Rahman take advantage of an intimate seminar room in the top of the building’s asymmetrical “clock tower. ” 14 SW ARTHM ORE COLLEGE BULLETIN Inset: The sundial on the tower isbelieved to be the world’s first with auxiliary markings for daylight-saving time. Left and below: Floors of flag­ stone and walls of glass bring the outdoors in along the groundfloorhall and in the Commons. All of the furniture forKohlberg Hall—including coffee tables and benches of solid granite—was made specifically for the building. Right: Professor of Economics Larry Westphal leads a seminar inthe Corddry Center, a secondfloorwing donated by Paul Corddry ’58 and his wife, Char­ lotte. Another of the Center’s sem­ inarrooms was named to honor Gilmore Stott, associate provost emeritus and, at 82, still serving asassociate dean of the College. n late afternoon the bronze gnom on’s shadow I slips across the new sundial. It’s quiet in the Cosby courtyard. A rt glass w inks its colors in a window, and the texture of stone sharpens in the slanting light. A 4:30 lecture draws a sw arm of students to the first-floor Scheuer Room, w hile across the way an adm issions tour returns to Parrish portico. In the nearby rose garden a couple pauses, laughing. You rest a m om ent, thinking of the m eaning of this new place, of future generations of Sw arthm oreans w ho w ill study here. This Kohlberg Hall, ju st four m onths old, seems venerable already. ■ MAY 1996 Supernatural traditions from African religion have survived the "conversion" to African American Christianity, blurring the line between religion and magic. By Tom Krattenmaker h e r e ’s relig io n , a n d th e n th e re ’s magic. A ccording to th e c o n v e n tio n a l view , th e two are separate stream s with no comm on water. But consider the religious candle that Assistant Profes­ sor Yvonne Chireau found in a New Jersey “botanica” (a shop where reli­ gious and m agical item s a re so ld ) while rese a rc h in g h e r forthcom ing book: It b e a rs d e p ic tio n s of Jesus, Mary, and the crucifixion, yet printed above the familiar-looking biblical fig­ ures and scenes are nam es such as “Ochum,” an African goddess of love, and “O gum ,” a god of virility. T he w ords “Seven African P o w ers” are emblazoned across the top. As illustrated by the candle and its com bination of Christian and pagan imagery, black supernatural tradition has m ore than survived the “conver­ s io n ” of A frican A m ericans to th e W e ste rn c h u rc h . T h e p r a c tic e of magic in black culture—even, surpris­ ingly, in th e context of m ainstream Christianity—is the subject of a book Chireau is writing for the University of California Press, Black Magic: Dimen­ sions o f the Supernatural in AfricanAmerican Religion. To the uninitiated th e r e ’s an intriguing spookiness to so m e of th e ro o ts , m ojos, v o o d o o dolls, and magic recipes she’s collect­ ed, but Chireau finds in them the stuff of worthwhile scholarship. The study of magic, she says, reveals volumes about the black experience in America T 18 and may contribute to an understand­ ing of E uro-A m erican beliefs and superstitions. “I’m trying to pull apart this loaded term ‘m agic,’” says Chireau, now in her second year in the Department of Religion. “At certain points in history, magic was used to describe religious p ra c tic e s th a t d id n ’t have a place within official stru c tu re s like Chris­ tianity. But if you dig deep into the his­ tory of m ost religions, you find that p e o p le in c o r p o r a te all kinds of idiosyncrasies that don’t necessarily fit in w ith th e official doctrine. I’m interested in knowing w hat kinds of alternative beliefs, c o n stru ed to be magic, are just the way people believe and practice their religion. “This becomes especially interest­ ing w hen you look at black people. They come from Africa, where religion is oriented toward the magical, where you don’t find the same doctrines and rules that exist in W estern Christiani­ ty. So w h en A fricans com e to the West, there’s a clash of perspectives. C hristians are saying: ‘You Africans are pagans. You’re magical. You’re the other.’ The white people consign all th e African beliefs and practices to the category of magic. So one might think that when Africans convert, they Assistant Professor of Religion Yvonne Chireau teaches courses in African Ameri­ can religion, folk traditions in religious expression, and women and religion. SW A RTH M O RE COLLEGE BULLETIN discard all th o se magical ways. But they d o n ’t. T hey ju st in c o rp o ra te them into Christianity.” Chireau, who has an undergraduate degree from Mount Holyoke, a m as­ ter’s in theological studies from Har­ vard, and a Ph.D. from P rin c e to n , began exploring black supernatural tradition about four years ago for her dissertation. She discovered a rich lit­ erature in court records—magic prac­ tice w as illegal in th e A m erican colonies an d th e fledgling U nited States—as well as in novels, autobi­ ographies, and the journals and let­ ters of both African Am ericans and the white m issionaries and teachers who lived among them. The material is especially abundant for the period beginning in th e late 19th century, when folklore becam e established as an academ ic d isc ip lin e and m agic began to capture the imaginations of a growing cadre of collectors and ama­ teurs. ne anecdote Chireau dug up reveals how magic appealed n o t on ly to rank-and-file church m em b ers in th e ir tim es of need, but even to the clergy. As the story goes, a young preacher, circa 1890, o p en s a new c h u rc h in New York City b u t c a n ’t get an y o n e to come. One day a conjure man comes to visit and offers to prepare a charm that will fill the pews. D esperate by this time, th e p reach er agrees. The charm w orks w o n d e rs , a n d th e church is full th e next Sunday. But now the preacher is deeply conflicted. Wracked w ith guilt, he th ro w s th e charm away. Attendance, according to the anonymous source of the story, quickly declines. But to Chireau that’s beside the point. “People use magic as a last-ditch measure in desperate situ­ ations,” she says. “It meets that desire for an additional power source when you really need it. That’s where you find m agic being p ra c tic e d w ithin Christianity.” Rural b lac k s from th e S outh, according to Chireau, brought magic with th em d u rin g th e n o rth w a rd m igrations e a rlie r th is c e n tu ry . Whereas a p e rso n in need of extra power in the rural South in the 1800s could visit the m edicine m an in his shack at the edge of town or out in the swamp, people nowadays can shop at O MAY 1996 Religious objects such as the votive candle at left and the charms below are both crafted by hand and available in the commercial market. The candle’s “Seven African Powers, ”seen combined with Christian symbols, are “an ideal representation of the cross between religion and magic, ”says Chireau. Each object on the necklace—a nut, a tooth, a cowrie shell, a coin—represents a different spiritual power. Also shown are a voodoo doll that gives power over a specific individual and a “mojo bag” containing other charmed objects. Many religious charms are natural objects, like the “black cat bone”in the jar above or the unusual root sold as “so-called lucky hand root. ” “Egyptian secrets”and dream interpretation books are also part of African American magical folklore. the occult and magic stores that have become common in American cities. There one can find supposed reme­ dies for everything from an illness to a lost lover to a tapped-out wallet or b a n k a c c o u n t. To ro u n d o u t h e r rese a rc h for th e book, Chireau has visited num erous m agic sh o p s and assem bled an alluring array of books and artifacts. Along with the “Seven African Powers” candle, she’s collect­ ed an assortm ent of conjure bags—lit­ tle red cloth sacks filled with shells or roots. To “do roots” on someone, she explains, is to concoct a charm that will harm the person, or make him or h er fall in love, or co u n teract som e magic the target might be suspected of practicing. While exotic roots like “low-johns” and “John the Conqueror” are believed to p o ssess th e power, folk trad itio n ascribes even greater potency to dust from a grave or parts of som eone’s body, such as hair, nails, or pieces of skin. Also in C h ireau ’s collectio n is a small cloth “voodoo” doll, known as a “mojo hand” in the blues tradition or a “lucky hand” in some places. Accord­ ing to popular misconception, people stick pins in the doll to inflict injury on th e p e rso n it re p re s e n ts . The real idea, Chireau says, is to put inside the doll som e p a rt of th e ta rg e t’s body 20 ^ ^ a g i c 's greatest appea is among the people most deprived of political and social power. and, thus, to make it an extension of that person. Practitioners of this type of magic treat the doll alm ost like a p e rs o n , plying it w ith food and whiskey to keep it “alive” while they m anipulate it in ways aimed at pro­ ducing the desired result. Like roots, the doll’s magic can be used to con­ jure love or harm. U ses of m agic n e e d n o t alw ays involve m atters of love, life, or death, however. People also turn to it when they want that extra boost finding the apartm ent or job they need, according to C hireau. M agic, in fact, can be dow nright bottom-line. At one shop she visited, Chireau found a yellow a e ro s o l can c a lled “Mr. M oney Maker.” Shake it and spray it, accord­ ing to the directions, and money will come to you. O ther wrinkles of the black super­ n a tu ra l tra d itio n are revealed in a mysterious old book Chireau found at a sh o p in H arlem . Its black paper cover reads: Egyptian Secrets or White and B lack A rt for Man and Beast: Revealing the Forbidden Knowledge of A n c ien t P hilosophers. Inside are a homespun remedy for toothache and a way to make a useful salve, as well as a p ra y e r for p ro te c tio n against “persons doing evil unto you, whom you suspect of bearing malice.” The p ra y e r c o n c lu d e s w ith a line that sounds more like mainstream religion than magic: “We have all drank in the Saviour’s blood. God the Holy Spirit be with us all.” h ire a u b eliev es th a t magic’s appeal is g reatest among seg­ m ents of the population most deprived of political and social power. It’s easy to un d erstan d why slaves, who lived under the constant threat of the whip and the auction block, might keep magical roots in their pockets. Creating demand for magic today are the economic struggles, health prob­ lems, and o th er difficulties that are characteristic of life in any time and place, but are especially acute in the C SW ARTHM ORE COLLEGE BULLETIN Broke? Try some Mr. Money Maker spray. Need power? Use “High John the Conqueror”roots. Playing the numbers? Don’t forget to consult Rev. Doolittle for advice. Does magic work? It depends on what you mean by “work, ’’says Chireau. African American community. Where there is less access to money, legal means, and conventional m edicine, Chireau says, people are m ore likely to resort to the supernatural. “1 explain th e sta y in g p o w er of magic by looking at what it provides for people,” says Chireau. “What does it give th e m th a t th e ir relig io n doesn’t? I find, for example, that magic provides a very rich vocabulary for dealing with the question of evil. Say you’re a parent, and your daughter becomes inexplicably sick. The doctor says th e r e ’s n o th in g he can do. If you’re a Christian, you pray. You ask why is this happening to me, to my daughter? But if you believe in magic, it’s easy to identify the source of the affliction—it’s h a p p e n in g b e c a u se somebody put a fix or a mojo on her. Thus, magic gives you a way of under­ standing something you cannot other­ wise explain. It also locates evil or misfortune within the social body. It’s much more satisfying to say, ‘You did it,’than to say it’s God’s will.” C hristianity, C hireau n o tes, has always condemned magic practice as dancing with the devil. But as Chireau has gotten deeper into her research over the last four years, she has found MAY 1996 that supernatural practitioners see no such conflict between their craft and the stuff of churches. “What I found is that even the language conjurers use is from C h ris tia n ity ,” s h e sa y s. “They’ll say, T h e Holy Spirit did this,’ or, ‘The Devil did th a t.’ It’s coming straight from the Bible. They also use item s th a t are norm ally asso ciated with the church to work their spells, including pages from the Bible.” Although her research focuses on s u p e rn a tu ra l p ra c tic e s of A frican Americans, Chireau asserts that magic has long had a role in white Christian churches as well; it is, she acknowl­ edges, one of her more controversial points. W itchcraft trials in colonial Virginia and M assachusetts, Chireau points out, demonstrate the extent to which the early North American Chris­ tian s feared, and th u s believed in, supernatural forces. And what about d e v o u t C h ristia n s to d a y w ho a re superstitious? For example, according to one rural custom , a child’s nose­ bleed can be stanched by tying a red string around his or her finger. A God­ fearing m o th e r w ho p ra c tic e s th e technique would vehemently deny it’s rela te d to th e occult, even though analogous methods in the black com­ munity might well be labeled “magic.” And here’s another intriguing ques­ tion: Does m agic work? That, says Chireau, depends on what is meant by “work.” “When we go to church and pray, do we think of religion as ‘working?’” sh e asks. “We d o n ’t even ask th a t question. Some people sw ear magic works; just as many swear th at con­ ventional prayer works. One question I deal with in the book is that if magic d o e s n ’t w ork, th e n w hy do p eople c o n tin u e to u s e it? T he sla v e s believed th at if som ething didn’t go according to plan, it w asn’t because the magic did n ’t work, but because you d id n ’t do it rig h t, o r b e c a u se som eone else had a stronger charm. So as a belief system, it sort of takes care of itself. “I d o n ’t know w h e th e r m agic works. If you look at it scientifically, no, it d o esn ’t work. But w hat if you ask that same question about prayer to people who pray to Jesus or the s a in ts ? T h e y ’d say , s u re , p ra y e r works. But if you ask them to prove it, how could they?” ■ Tom Krattenmaker is director o f public relations at the College. 21 \ Plakat P The Polish theater poster is “low art” with a high purpose. by Christopher J. Haines ’86 hen Allen Kuharski arrived Kuharski awoke to a spotless city. The R etu rn in g to th e U nited States, in W arsaw in S e p te m b e r graffiti was gone. The p o sters w ere Kuharski e n te red th e doctoral pro­ 1981, he e n c o u n te re d a gone. Telephone lines were dead. TV gram in th ea ter at the University of drab, gray m etropolis, unkem and pt and radio were silent. Martial law had California at Berkeley. Ironically, he crowded, a cement shadow of its pre­ b e e n d e c la re d , and th e re w ere no eventually m et at Berkeley several war splendor. Despite its meticulously pedestrians in sight. émigré lum inaries of Polish theater, restored Old Town, it was a national “My tim in g w as e x q u is ite and including experimental directors Jerzy c a p ita l w ith e m p ty s u p e rm a rk e t awful,” recalls the 38-year-old Kuhar­ Grotowski and Kazimierz Braun and shelves and restaurants like Depres­ ski. Soldiers axed the foreign phone Shakespeare scholar Jan Kott. As he sion-era soup kitchens. From the win­ lines and travel betw een cities was w orked on his Ph.D., Kuharski was dow of th e high-rise a p a rtm e n t he forbidden, so rumors abounded: that able to continue the personal explo­ sh ared with a working-class family, Germany had reunified and was pre­ ration of Polish culture that he had the young Fulbright scholar could see pared to invade, that Russia was also begun as an undergraduate at the Uni­ a R u ssian a rm y b a s e . And as he about to invade, that the government versity of Wisconsin at Madison. w alked th e bleak s tre e ts , th e only had stockpiled scarce food supplies in “I was a typical Polish American relief from the colorless communist- rural areas. Kuharski spent the ensu­ child raised in the wake of the Cold era architecture came from the rows ing weeks trying to get an exit visa. War, ignorant as can be about my her­ of vibrant th eater posters, plastered In late D ecem ber, his F ulbright ita g e ,” K uharski say s. “Americans o n to b u s s to p s a n d c o n s tr u c tio n plans in a sh am b les, K uharski left were not supposed to think of Poland sites—and from the bright red politi­ Warsaw with the seeds of his poster as a good place.” cal graffiti splashed on concrete walls. collection rolled up in a tube—with But while he was a student at Wis­ The posters publicized the theaters one exception. A poster for filmmaker consin, Polish culture suddenly reap­ whose dynamic work had brought the Andrzej Wajda’s Man o f Iron, a quasi­ peared on the world stage. Cardinal 22-year-old Kuharski, now assistan t d o c u m e n ta ry a b o u t th e S olidarity Karol Wojtyla became Pope John Paul professor of theater studies at the Col­ strikes, featured a crucifix-like image II and Czeslaw Milosz won the Nobel lege, to P oland. T he bold, grap h ic of a bloodied worker’s shirt. Kuharski prize for literatu re. In a Polish lan­ advertisem ents w ere considered art­ feared it might cause trouble with the guage course, Kuharski encountered w ork by aficionados, and Kuharski border guards, so he folded and con­ th e p lay s of W itold Gombrowicz, soon began to collect them . But the cealed it in his laundry. It remains the w hose work blended Shakespearean graffiti spelled out a different m es­ only creased poster in his collection, a drama, theater of the absurd, existen­ sage, signified by the crimson Solidari­ fragile reminder of a troubled era. tialist philosophy, and camp humor. ty logo, p o rte n d in g th e eight-year Gombrowicz became the lodestar for death throes of the communist regime. Kuharski’s academic career, the sub­ Even before he saw the w ords on ject of his dissertation, and an ongo­ Warsaw’s walls, Kuharski had sensed ing passion for him as a scholar, the­ tro u b le . P rio r to his d e p a rtu re for ater artist, and translator. His aborted Poland, w here he intended to spend Fulbright was intended to allow him to tw o y e a rs studying stage d irection com bine th e stu d y of directing and and scenic design, Polish authorities stage design within the Polish tradi­ had delayed his visa until the last pos­ tion of teatr plastyki, or “image the­ sible moment. Soon after his arrival, a ¡±j ater.” student-faculty strike related to the i “It was impossible to study in this Solidarity strikes at the Gdansk ship- 3 way in the United States, and I was yards closed down th e Academ y of I discouraged by several graduate the­ Fine Arts where he was to study. Poster collector—and assistant professor ater programs from even proposing a T h en , on D e c e m b e r 13, 1981, of theater—Allen Kuharski c o m b in e d s tu d y of d ire c tin g and W 22 SW A RTH M O RE COLLEGE BULLETIN s, 0of le al :r, zy id le as oid liA prevalent theme in these Polish posters was child­ like imagery. Puppets, masks, clowns, and cartoons portrayed politically inflammatory subjects with deliberate naivete. Another facet of this strategy was the almost sloppy handwritten lettering. in Id ir­ is id sPal ul el ri- 'Ú j f / '& / d design,” said Kuharski. But in Poland rigid d is tin c tio n s b e tw e en sc en ic design, stage direction, and graphic design do not divide the disciplines as they do in the West. Many Polish the­ ater directors had begun their careers as visual artists, then moved to the stage, where they eventually designed posters for th eir own p ro d u ctio n s. Jozef Szajna and Tadeusz Kantor are the best-lmown practitioners of image theater, a n d th e ir p o s te r d e sig n s became extensions of th e ir experi­ mental stagecraft. For Kuharski the Fulbright had offered an opportunity to work with Szajna, and it exposed him to a dram atic tradition th a t he has passed on to students at Swarthmore, since joining the faculty in 1990. “The approach to theater I learned in Poland informs every aspect of my teaching—how I organize sem inars, IN MAY 1996 id z, in nir. ar bo- e:d to id li­ é­ is is ea how I teach playwriting. I teach Polish plays not in the context of a national tradition, but as keys to larger issues of performance theory, theater histo­ ry, an d d ra m a tic a r c h e ty p e s ,” he explains. “Hearing Allen speak so personally and passionately about Polish theater was a great inspiration for me,” says Gail Lerner ’92, a Swarthmore theater student who is now a freelance direc­ tor in New York City. “I learned from him that the best way into intellectual re se a rc h is th ro u g h th e blood and sweat of personal passion.” In January Lerner directed Witold Gombrowicz’s Ivona, Princess o f Burgundia for h e r m a s te r ’s th e s is at Columbia University. She first read the play as a sophom ore in a course taught by Kuharski. After selecting the play for h e r th e sis p ro ject, L erner 23 HENRYK TOMASZEWSKI, TEATR NOWY, 1983 These posters reflect the vibrant marriage of visual and perform­ ing arts known as “image theater. ’’Allen Kuharski, who began his theater career as a designer and now teaches directing, has brought both the posters and the ideas behind them to the Swarthmore theater program. 24 GOMBRO'/ICZ c : TEAX^ FQ LS K i Vy WQCHbäfrE accompanied Kuharski to a Gombrowicz festival in Poland and later invit­ ed her former teacher to participate in the Columbia production as dramaturg. At Swarthmore Kuharski’s courses focus on th eater history, directing, and the collaborative process of play making. But in the best tradition of Polish th eater, the p o ster remains for him an extention of the theatrical art. His collection of Polish posters has grown to nearly 200 pieces, and he h a s c u ra te d fo u r exhibits of posters from his collection, including one at Swarthmore’s List Art Gallery. Gallery director Andrea Packard ’85 helped Kuharski to select and hang 20 p o ste rs, including th e Andrzej Wajda poster that had left Warsaw in Kuharski’s laundry in early 1982. In a g a lle ry ta lk in February, Kuharski discussed the artistic, the­ atrical, and political context of the posters. One remarkable aspect of the posters is their high quality—especial­ ly as they were produced in a society where ordinary items like toilet paper were often in short supply. “After the cultural genocide attem pted by the Nazis during World War II, the post­ war communist government was des­ perate to gain legitimacy by identify­ ing itself with Polish national culture,” s a id K u h arsk i. “Even when tim es w ere tough and people had to wait in long lines for the barest necessities, the govern­ m en t p rin te d th o u sa n d s of p o s te rs on v ery high quality stock.” Posters had first become pop­ ular in Poland at the turn of the century as pedestrian-oriented advertising images culled from art nouveau book illustrations. After World War II, most poster art consisted of socialist realist exhortations to follow the Party line, either through good work h a b its o r a b s te n tio n from drink. As th e politics eddied § from Stalinism to the relatively o' perm issive late 1950s, Polish | th e a te r and film gained new f independence, and the poster h followed suit, freely drawing on | various schools of modern art ? from photomontage to pop art 1 to surrealism. g Curiously, theater posters did * n o t co m e u n d e r th e close SW ARTHM ORE COLLEGE BULLETIN rovitate ra;es ng) lay of ins cal srs nd of ing ry. ’85 os zej in ry, iehe he iality >er he he stesfye,” en )le he rnof ity )phe ed >m is. ter ist rty >rk >m ed sly sh ;w ;er on art art lid se TIN scrutiny of the government’s censors, If a play or film had received official approval, th e accom panying p o ster had carte blanche. The poster’s status as “low art” helped it to survive—and even to thrive—under a regime that consistently censored most other art forms. As a result the posters became the locus for all kinds of symbolic subversion and supplied opportunities for aesthetic innovation. A esthetics that were deplored in high art, such as the distortion of the human figure, became common in the poster as Pol­ ish artists found a place w here they could ex p ress w hat w as forbidden elsewhere—and for a national audi­ ence. In 1968 th e governm ent even founded a Polish poster museum, the world’s only museum devoted exclu­ sively to poster art, which continues to host a biennial international design competition. “The p o ste rs never m erely illustrate im ages from a p erfo rm a n c e,” said Kuharski. “Rather, they respond to the performance and create a dialogue.” One prevalent them e was the use of childlike imagery, even when dealing with the m ost adult them es, Puppets, masks, clowns, and cartoons portrayed politically inflam m atory subjects w ith d e lib e ra te n a iv e te , Another facet of this stylistic strategy was the intentionally sloppy handwritten lettering often used in place of established fonts, a lingering reaction against the kind of typographic rigidity p o p u la riz e d by th e G erm an Bauhaus. The future of the Polish poster is I unclear. Although the saying goes that the history of Poland is cyclical, many feel that the arrived of W estern capitalism has sounded the death knell for the poster. Hefty subsidies for the arts disappeared along with the communist regime, and Western film distributors now im port po p u lar Am erican images for advertising in Poland, saving money on design by simply translating film titles—and the Hollywoodstyle poster. Ironically, one answ er for Polish artists may lie in the West. Three exhibitions of Polish poster art have been mounted in th e U nited S tates th is year, and th e W arsaw Poster Museurn’s Biennale receives regular cover­ age in th e A m erican p r e s s . Wellknown a r tis t Rafal O lbinski now designs posters for the New York City MAY 1996 Opera and last year won the competi­ tion to design the poster celebrating th e 50th an n iv ersary of th e United Nations. “When I curated my first exhibit in 1982, I had the same questions that I have today about the future of the Pol­ ish poster,” said Kuharski, echoing the theme of cyclical history. “All reason- able expectation tells me th at it will c e a se to evolve as a dynam ic and politically provocative art form and fade to a m useum artifact, b u t my experience w ith Polish culture has taught me not to be so pessimistic.” he gallery is to an art class what the library is to a seminar,” says Andrea Packard ’85, who has directed Swarthmore’s List Gallery since September. Located in the Eugene M. and There­ sa Lang Performing Arts Center, the gallery displays selections from the Col­ lege’s permanent collection and pre­ sents seven major exhibitions each year. Students use the facility as an art laboratory where they meet and learn from visiting artists and as an exhibition space for senior thesis projects in the spring. “This space gives the art faculty a chance to bring to campus artists and works that specifically inform their teaching,” Packard continued. “The Col­ lege’s permanent collection provides opportunities for students to do close analyses of individual works, and the changing exhibitions highlight technical strategies—such as photography—that are being explored in the classroom.” Packard was an English major who “fell in love with art at Swarthmore and then made it my career.” She continued her studies at the Pennsylvania Acade­ my of the Fine Arts and at The American University, where she received a master of fine arts degree. She has combined her work as a sculptor and painter with teaching and art administration at schools such as the University of the Arts and the Fleisher Art Memorial. In her opinion an art gallery is indispens­ able to a liberal arts college. “Because they raise issues about his­ tory, society, and identity,” says Packard, “many exhibits, like the Polish poster show, are of interest not only to art students but to the entire college community.” This year’s shows have included still life paintings by Ron Graff; a show of Packard’s own sculpture; landscape paintings by Julian Hatton; the Wyatt Collection of African art; Kuharski’s theater posters; hand-woven works by the late Tokiko Kitao; “Boxes of Ocum,” a mixed-media installation by Martha Jackson-Jarvis; five week-long senior thesis exhibitions; and an Alumni Weekend show featuring works by Patricia Lykens Hankins ’66, Pamela Casper ’76, and Eb Froehlich ’86. —C.J.H. Christopher Haines ’8 6 is a freelance writer living in New York. T y S « “ Andrea Packard ’85 25 Getting It Together Reflections at the Quarter We have m et the enemy, and it is each o f us—and all o f us. By Don Mizell ’71 wenty-five years after th e Class of 1971 graduat­ ed from Sw arthm ore— a quarter-cen tu ry dow n th e road from th o se tum ultuous tim es—there are still uncom fortably w orrisom e, p erhaps intract­ able problem s facing our nation. Yet, as th ere w as in our youth, th ere rem ains room for hope— if not for absolute faith. Am erica is m anaging to m uddle through, but we ought to do b e tte r—and soon. One w ay to do b e tte r m ight be to sto p looking at society’s problem s as p art Don Mizell, former chairman o f the Swarthmore African American Stu­ dents Society, received the NAACP Image Award for Community Service in 1982. A graduate o f Harvard Law School, he is an entertainment attor­ ney in Los Angeles. 26 of som e “o th e r” but rath e r as a result of a separation inside ourselves, a separation betw een our inner, private “I” and our public, image-ego “I.” O bdurate societal dilem m as m ay be view ed as difficulties with both interpersonal and inner-personal relationships that are writ large on A m erica’s broad m ulticultural can­ vas. If we are to reach a com m on higher ground, we m ust first look into our own mirror. We need to focus on th e dynam ic betw een our private and public selves, betw een th e “I-axis” and th e “real w orld,” w here our ap p aren t separation and differences cause recurrent conflict. We have m et th e enemy, and it is each of us and all of us. They are Us. And until we can as individuals reach a greater conscious aw areness of our need for unity, our balkanized inner experiences will continue to lead to bo th personal and social disequilibrium, dysfunctionality, and w orse. Recalibrating th e I-O ther dichotom y is not only a p ath to personal happiness and healing, it places us on a w holesom e continuum betw een inner-connectedness and th e relationship betw een us all th a t is our society. Today’s protracted, divisive separation-difference w ars of race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, generaSW A RTH M O RE COLLEGE BULLETIN n e e t< h a i< tl t< s n d ti h o s p fi c “( r< tl b M tion, class, and culture can only w ither away in the {ace of such a powerfully focused qu est for our per­ sonal and social salvation. Many of us have been on this quest for a long time. In the following pages, four m em bers of th e Class of 1971 share som e of their thoughts on the em otional state of th e co u n try as we approach th e millenium. Each of th ese classm ates is, in his or her own way, a healer. Som etim es their healing has been inwardfocused and personal, but th ese four Sw arthm oreans have helped m any oth ers along th e way. I hope th at their journeys and th eir insights will help all of us understand th e essential fact of unity behind a world of appearances—th e unity th a t we urgently need both as individuals and as a society. Only Human The problems we face today, as individuals and as a society, are a direct consequence o f our evolutionary predicament as a species. By Mark P roctor ’71 omo sapiens—“know ingm an”—can register in thought his experience of th e world, store it in memory, and draw upon it to anticipate future experi­ ence. This is our strong suit. Our ability to learn from experience has enabled us to overrun th e planet and to inhabit an astonishing variety of environm ents. We have, however, paid a trem endous price for this advantage. A good deal of wiring (12 million million neurons) is required to drive our cognitive capacities, making the m ature hum an brain about th e size of a can­ taloupe—too big to trav erse th e female pelvis of our species at birth. The evolutionary solution to this mechanical problem w as dram atic and fateful: We deliver our offspring into th e w orld in a small, imma­ ture, and helpless state. How th en can th e hum an infant live long enough to be able to survive on its own? The solution is to provide wiring and horm onal systems th a t create interpersonal bonding betw een parent and offspring. Thus, our being able to learn from experience has entailed th e phenom ena of infan­ cy, childhood, and family structure. It is not uncom m on for adults to yearn for the “carefree” and “sunny” days of childhood, yet this ret­ rospective view is a profound cognitive distortion. For the first decade or so of life, we are not rem otely capa­ ble of ensuring our own survival; we rely absolutely H MAY 1996 upon our parents for our v ery existence. As children we are also psychologically dep en d en t upon our par­ ents. We do not acquire th e capacity for ab stract, conceptual thinking until ab out th e age of 12. Until th en we do not have th e cognitive w herew ithal to organize th e daily flow of our thoughts, feelings, and perceptions into any meaningful sen se of “m yself” or “a p erso n .” At adolescence, w hatever sen se we have of ourselves as a p erso n d ep en d s entirely upon how accurately our p arents have experienced us as th e people we are. A child w hose p arents did not experi­ ence him as a se p ara te p erso n in his own right m ay em bark upon his adult life w ith no real sen se th a t he is a perso n at all. This is th e price w e pay for our cognitive prow ess—absolute physical and psychological help­ lessness during th e first decade of life. As a practical m atter, even th e m ost a stu te and devoted parent can­ not be aw are of a child’s every feeling, need, or hunger pain. It follows th a t every child has known w hat it feels like to be helpless, alone, petrified, and in im m inent danger of dying. Differences in our exposure to this dreadful predicam ent are differences only in degree. With th e b e st of parenting, we m ay know this ho rro r for m inutes at a time; w ith th e w orst of parent­ ing, we m ay know it for years. While th e hum an brain does a su p e rb job of telling us w hat is going on outside of ourselves, it d o esn ’t do a very good job at all of telling us w hat is going on inside of ourselves—w hat we are feeling, w hat we are thinking, w hat we rem em ber, how we are behaving. Carl Jung estim ated th a t fully 80 percent of our “m en­ tal co n ten t,” including our experience of childhood and th e feelings associated w ith it, is outside of our conscious aw areness. Self-awareness can be devel­ oped to a high degree, bu t seeing ourselves clearly always requires som eone else’s having seen us accu­ rately—and th eir having show n us w hat th ey see. W hen all goes well, it is a child’s p arents w ho see him for w ho he is and reflect w hat th ey see. This sam e task com prises m uch of th e p sy c h o th e rap ist’s work with his patient—accurately em pathizing with the patient and show ing th e patient to himself. The seasoned clinician can see, in th e behaviors and p attern s of adult life, th e extent to w hich we unwittingly sh ap e our adult lives to th e p u rp o se of rem aining unaw are of th e helplessness we faced in childhood. By and large, m any of us m ake our way through life w ith little o r no direct acquaintance w ith our own hum an experience. Gaining self-aw areness and self-knowledge is extrem ely arduous. It continues throughout a p e rso n ’s lifetime. It usually occurs only in th e context of a safe and reliable relationship within 27 w hich it is possible to to lerate th e th e anguished feel­ ings of childhood as th ey interm ittently em erge into consciousness. This m ight o ccur in a psy ch o th erap eu ­ tic relationship, but it can occur in any relationship w ith a caring and em pathic person. In o rd er to know som eone else, w e m ust know our­ selves. W hat we cannot see in ourselves, we will not see in others. W hat w e do not see in our children, th ey will not see in them selves. Hard-won self-knowl­ edge is also th e basis of com passion. W hen we know our own frailties, we u n d e rsta n d th e frailties of others. As th e B uddhists point out, com passion and “right action” follow as a m atter of course, w ithout any need for m oral deliberation. Scarcity of com passion and right action is one of our society’s g reatest ills. In an environm ent of abun­ dant resources, we busy ourselves w ith activities of self-aggrandizem ent and actively avoid aw areness of our own frailty. Unaware of our own frailty, we are oblivious to th a t of o th ers and so find ourselves inca­ pable of acting com passionately. The result is th e pro­ gressive isolation, th e disintegration of family and comm unity, and th e h eed lessn ess to th e plight of oth­ ers th a t is so m uch a p a rt of A m erica today. The Greek s to ry of Icarus is as fresh and apt today as it w as th o u san d s of y ears ago. It tells us th a t if we persist in trying to escap e th e frailty and th e limita­ tions of being hum an by taking action in th e external world, d isa ster will ensue. And so it does. Evolution­ ary th eo rists say th a t our species w as designed for a nom adic life on th e Eurasian steppes, traveling in small groups in search of food. Com paring th at lifestyle w ith th e lifestyle of con tem p o rary Am erica m akes clear th e extent to w hich we have preoccupied ourselves w ith building our own m any variations on Icarus’ w ax-and-feather wings—th e extent to which w e have looked to th e external w orld for contentm ent and for a sen se of our own personal w orth. As a species w e are beautifully equipped to know th e external w orld, even as individuals. We are also well equipped to know our own selves, but in order to do that, we absolutely require th e social stru ctu res of family and com m unity within w hich w e can be seen for w ho we are, and so be able to see o th ers for w ho th ey are. A philosophy major at Swarthmore, Mark Proctor, M.D., received his medical education at the University o f Califomia-San Francisco, Yale University, and the University of Rochester. He is a psychiatrist in private practice in Brookline, Mass. 28 In Awe of Life Take time, take space, and breathe consciously : Laugh, sleep. Make fewer rules. Let others be. Love when you can. Love when you can ’t. ByMarya Ursin 971 Once, not too long ago, in a Buddhist monastery, there were two young novices wrangling about the respective merits o f their masters. They argued about techniques, about philosophy, about training, about accomplishments. Finally one o f the young monks, exasperated, made this claim: “My master can transform him self into a flying elephant, belch flames, uproot trees, and drink up an entire river. He is indeed a fearsome sight to behold. ” The monk waited anxiously for a comparative response from his brother. After a pause the sec­ ond novice replied: “Ahh. My master eats when he is hungry and sleeps when he is tired. ” have a wonderful, trou bled, rich, frantic, serene life. I have been held at gunpoint, I’ve had a ceiling fall in on me, I’ve been raped, I flipped a car and broke m y back, I’ve been robbed, I’ve m oved I 41 tim es, I’v e s le p t w ith m an y m en a n d tw o w om en. I’ve had an abortion. I was a shoplifter. I’ve been anorexic, bulimic, alcoholic, addicted. I’ve been suc­ cessful. I’ve failed. I’ve lost m ore friends th an I can count to AIDS. I danced in several com panies. I gave birth to a healthy child. I had a midwife, I had a loving husband. I w as divorced. I plant herbs and flowers. I am loved. I am grateful. I am so rry for myself. I am full of grace. I am loved. I am extrem ely sensitive. I close up. Iam in awe of life. I am petty. I am grand. I am effec­ tive. I am beginning to laugh at myself. I am able to love. My w ork consists of perform ing as a dancer/m im e in mask, teaching yoga, working as a m assage th era­ pist, painting p o tte ry m asks, writing and directing our plays. I have an extraordinary d aughter w ho is 15 and an amazing gentle p a rtn e r of seven years. My training in m assage th erap y has included vari­ ous techniques. In th e order of my use, th ese are Swedish, Reiki, jin shin do, reflexology, Thai, polarity, shiatsu. I have taken w orkshops on relationships, anger, sham e, psychodram a, color therapy, stress reduction, visualization, w iccan practices, Native American practices, Vipassana, Zen, weeping, sexuali­ ty, femininity, dousing, circle dancing, Sufi spinning, totem anim al seeking, tarot, astrology, pow er of gems, handwriting, neurolinguistic program ming, therapeu­ tic touch, dance therapy, storytelling, toning, m usic therapy, som atotonics. What has this to do w ith any of your questions? Nothing and everything, I suppose. Of course, psy­ chotherapy m ust be spiritually and ethically oriented. So must th e governm ent, th e schools, th e grocery stores, th e artists, th e grave diggers, th e road pavers, the com puter com m unicators. Is this new? I am m ore frightened and w orried about th e direc­ tion of th e political entities, th e spiritual quality of the powerful—and of th e weak. I am frightened about the seeming focus of humanity, th an I w as w hen I was younger. But again, is this new? I look at my daughter as she opens to this life with a mix of tru s t and cynicism and w onder if I planted both th o se seeds. I read h isto ry and rem ark on th e vastness of cruel­ ty, on the am azing hum an resistance to learning and change, on th e incredible sto re of beauty and open­ heartedness, and I know I am a m icrocosm of the same cruelties and resistances and possibilities. I feel th e w arm th of m y body and flow of my b reath and know th a t eventually a particle of my skin, a cell of my exhalation will to u ch you. MAY 1996 I walk into a room and see th e “energies” of differ­ ent folks expanding and receding, reflecting illness, ease, excitem ent. I w ork on bodies and listen and w atch th e guides w ho ap p ear w ith th eir advice and observations. I see th e skin change, feel th e m uscles, w atch th e eyes, sen se th e aura, listen to th e quakings. W hen I w ork on myself, th e interference is greater, th e projections and m ental interjections m ore wily, th e physical m essages clear b u t not always heard. In m y yoga practice, I give myself th e tim e and sp ace to listen. In my teaching I suggest th e sam e to others, counseling a willful surrender, a soft belly, a quiet lis­ tening. In my perform ance I reh earse and practice, and th en have to release it, saying th e B uddhist prayer­ blessing, “May all beings be at peace, m ay all beings be free,” over and over again. My perform ance rem ains m y responsibility, bu t w hat effect it has is w hat effect it has. How do I su p p o rt myself? I am su rrounded by peo­ ple w ho are growing and loving, I do w ork th a t I value, th a t o th ers value, and th a t I h ope causes little or no harm (ahim sa). I try to eat and sleep with tenderness. I am working on elim inating th e backlog of rules I have th a t aren’t of use to me. I have my yoga/m editation practice, I take dance classes, I am in a 12-step pro­ gram, I have a good therapist. I adore m y daughter and my lover. I treasu re m y sister and m y father. I love m any beings: two-legged, four-legged, earth-growing. I let o th ers su p p o rt me. So. Were I to m ake any specific recom m endations, th ey would be simple: Take tim e, take space, and breath e consciously, and as a daily practice. Notice w hat you eat, how you sit, how you move, how you walk. Laugh. Sleep. Make fewer rules. Let oth ers be. Love w hen you can. Love w hen you can ’t. Accept love. Accept. In th e w ords of K rishna to th e w arrior Arjuna: “Be not attach ed to th e fruits of th e action, be not attach ed to th e actor.” And yes, I am full of a so rt of shivery h ope for the coming millennium. Marya Ursin’s puppet theater troupe, Mystic Paper Beasts, was the subject of a feature in the August 1994 Bul­ letin. She lives in Stonington, Conn., and teaches dance, yoga, and stress reduction at the Eugene O’Neill The­ ater Center in nearby Waterford. 29 You and Me and the W ild Beyond H ow ever unified things m ay be out there in the cosmos, the m ajor work needed right here on Earth is still unification. By Frederic Wiedemann ’71 arely tw o y e a rs afte r g ra d u a tin g from Sw arthm ore, I s a t in th e m o u n ta in s of C o lo rad o an d th o u g h t: “T h e u n iv e rse se e m s to d o a p re tty g ood job of ru n n in g itself. S h o u ld n ’t w e h u m a n s learn so m e­ th in g from th is? ” I knew en o u g h a b o u t E in stein ’s c o n c e p t of th e unified field to call m y e m b ry o n ic m assag e /h e aling p ra c tic e Unifying Field. I p o etica lly a d d e d th e line “We se e k th e h e a d w a te rs of th e R ainbow Body.” Now, a lm o st 25 y e a rs later, m y life p artn e r, C y n th ia B isso n n e tte , a n d I h a v e re tu rn e d to th e C o lo rad o m o u n ta in s as founding d ire c to rs of th e n o n p ro fit e d u c a tio n a l Unifying Fields F o unda­ tion, a n d to g e th e r w e think: “T h e u n iv e rse se e m s to b e d o in g a p re tty g o o d jo b of ru n n in g itself. S h o u ld n ’t w e h u m a n s learn so m e th in g from th is? ” R ecen t b re a k th ro u g h s in cosm ology, a stro ­ p h y sics, a n d q u a n tu m m e c h a n ic s su g g e st th a t a “unified field” b u rs t fo rth from “th e v o id ” eig h t to 20 billion y e a rs ago, a n d h a s co n tin ­ u e d to ev olve ev e r since. T his unified field se e m s to p o s s e s s th e c reativ ity to su p p ly uni­ v erse-b u ild in g p a rtic le s, th e intelligence to issu e m o re th a n 100 billion galaxies, th e p o w e r to e x p a n d for eo n s, an d th e u n d erly ­ ing o rg an izatio n to s u p p o rt th e w h o le show. N ot to m en tio n p ro v id in g P la n et E arth an d all of u s in h a b ita n ts. “Unified field” is o n e of th o s e d e lib e ra te ly a m b ig u o u s te rm s, offering e n d le ss m e ta p h o r­ ical p o ssib ilities for in te rp re ta tio n an d p ro ­ jectio n . Is it an a c tu a l ev en t, a m a th em atica l reality, o r a m y stical key? Is it God? O ur new o rg a n iz atio n h a s e m b ra c e d th e te rm b e c a u s e it s e e m s to h o ld all th e s e p o ssib ilities. We se e k to a n sw e r th e q u estio n : W h at ca n w e h u m a n s learn — a n d ap p ly — from th e unified field’s evere x p a n d in g w h o len e ss? B ecau se h o w e v e r unified th in g s m ay b e o u t th e re in th e co sm o s, th e m ajo r w o rk still n e e d e d rig h t h e re o n E arth is unification B 30 SW ARTHM ORE COLLEGE BULLETIN How we got to this Rocky M ountain w ilderness outpost, b ath ed in th e unified field, an hour from th e nearest town, w as a journey. Four years ago in Los Angeles, at th e height of family, career, and social obli­ gations, w e w ere inspired to shift our consciousness to a m uch bigger gam e th an we had ever known. We gave up successful professional careers (J had a full­ time clinical practice, and Cynthia was a sem inar leader), and we leaped off th e precipice. Sometimes, late at night w hen fear w ould strike, we would com­ fort each o th er by w hispering our favorite saying: “Leap, and th e net will appear.” It did. The last four y ears have been a wild ride into th e unknown. We have followed our vision of a transfor­ mational and research com m unity w here we can practice a new connection to th e spirit, research the unified field, and live and teach, b o th literally and fig­ uratively, on th e outerm ost edge of society. Our goal is to provide a two-way gate, a shuttle service betw een scientific and esoteric traditions, between psychological and spiritual practice, between im m anence and transcendence. We try to ferry th o se w ho are too tightly identified w ith the mainstream into th e wild, and we c arry back into society th o se lost souls w andering aim lessly in ungrounded dream s. We help people treasu re hunt in the rich soil of th eir psyches and sim ultaneously open to a new transpersonal, spiritual aw areness. In short w e are u n ab ash ed Utopians, aching to bridge the dualism s ram pant in our W estern thinking. We notice a groundswell of positive changes occur­ ring in America. A recent nationw ide survey finds that 44 million Am ericans affirm values and lifestyles of personal growth, spirituality, social responsibility, racial harm ony, and ecological sustainability. The world is literally moving into a new millennium w here millions are yearning to u nderstand th e big picture, and w hat we can consciously co-create with it. This is th e glass half full we choose to see. The grim news d o esn ’t concern us b ecau se we know th at according to chaos theory, a com plex system m ust break dow n before it can break through to a higher level of integration. It provokes peace in us to accept all that we see happening on th e planet as th e cries of a new birth. Ten Ways to Open to the Unified Field We use th e image of a tree to reveal the nature of wholeness. The higher a tree grows, the deeper or broader it m ust sink its roots. The value of psycho­ spiritual practice is th a t it encourages us to expand our personal identities in bo th directions—and change the w orld in th e process. The following is a list of w hat we use daily to advance healing and wellness. 1. Work on yourself first. This tu rn s activism on its head. It is rem arkable how all things th a t activism pur­ sues—justice, peace, equality, a harm onious com m u­ nity—grow organically from this. Taking personal responsibility always leads to enlightened social responsibility. 2. Dig deep into yo u r own rich, subtle, and contra­ dictory psychology. We find within ourselves a riot of subpersonalities, seething hatreds, childish expecta­ tions, and perv erse addictions. Owning and then releasing them is hum anizing and liberating. Activists, politicians, and executives trying to m acrom anage th e w orld w ithout first doing this w ork are not only arro­ gant b u t doom ed to failure. 3. Explore your spiritual nature at th e sam e time. Plumbing our psychological d ep th s w ithout a spiritual counterbalance leaves us bereft. Exploring th e great spiritual traditions gives us th e big picture, th e hope, and th e strength to keep working for a U topian soci­ ety. 4. Find your path. W hether you call it a journey, a life cycle, karm a, or growth, th ere is w hat m any spiri­ tual traditions sim ply call “th e p a th .” It is up to each of us to find and walk our path, w hich always leads to a bigger path, and ultim ately to th e unfolding of the unified field. 5. Em brace paradoxes. No m atter how cosm ic our dream , how old our soul, how lofty our vision, how grand our gift, w e still have to deal w ith th e realities of job, relationship, body, family, sex, and money. Dealing with b o th th e cosm ic and concrete is th e paradox of w holeness. 6. Prepare to be rew arded for your courage w ith challenges. Taking th ese ste p s guarantees th a t your life will becom e m ore intense and challenging. Maturi­ ty is learning to quiet th e inner, im m ature su b p erso n ­ ality th a t w hines, “We are doing all th e righteous things—so w here’s th e rew ard?” 7. Notice th a t you still fragm ent, relapse, sh u t down. T hese experiences are som e of th e h ard est m om ents on th e path. Feeling betray ed we tu rn on ourselves, convinced th a t w e have dedicated our lives to an illusion. To learn w hat is tru e takes going into Frederic Wiedemann received a Ph.D. in psychology from Georgia State University and is the author of Between Two Worlds: The Riddle of Wholeness. With Cynthia Bissonnette, he directs the Diamond Joy Retreat near Aspen, Colo. 31 may 1996 this fear and com ing out th e o th er side. 8. Open yourself to relationship and com ­ m unity playing an ever m ore significant role in healing and w holeness. T here is a saying th a t relationship is th e teacher. Out of hon­ est, revealing, and com m itted relation­ ship com es th e possibility of real com ­ munity. 9. Expand from self to relationship to com m unity to com m unities to planet to ... ? As we unify th e p a rts within our­ selves, join with an o th er in a holy rela­ tionship, take th e leap into intentional community, and link com m unities, we are participating in saving th e planet. 10. Rem ember: Both inner w ork and “m agical” thinking. Both real life and vision. Both im m anence and transcendence. Em brace th e Riddle of W holeness. Unify fields. As We Mature, America Matures By isolating us from one another, society tends to foster a pathological narcissism and self-indulgence a t the expense of authentic maturity and relationship. By Jim Colvin ’71 s an ordained m inister w ho is also a practicing psychotherapist, I’ve thought a lot ab o u t th e value of spirituality in psychotherapy. I have always seen th e spiritual as our link to o th ers and to th at w hich is greater th an ourselves, and upon w hich we d epend for existence. I call this entity God. But w hat­ ever we call it, we fall into spiritual narcissism if we fail to nam e and relate to som e larger-than-m e asp ect of creation. Individual and collective narcissism is challenged by th e discovery of th e “other,” not only beyond us b u t within. Som etim es we d o n ’t like w hat we find inside us, b u t as we search our new found aw areness helps us to be hum ble—and to discover new strength there. I know th a t m y own spiritual journey floun­ dered until I faced all my fears ab out p sy ch o th erap y and th e “enem y w ithin.” The beginning of w holeness m ay develop out of pain, b u t it can lead to a new relationship w ith oneself. To quote M atthew 7:3, not to deal w ith our own nar­ cissism is to be aw are only of th e “speck in our neigh­ A 32 b o r’s eye,” not th e “log in our own eye.” By whatever m eans—usually involving a crisis of som e kind—we m ay undertake a journey of self-understanding and becom e familiar with this “o th e r” within. It is an amazing source of feelings, thoughts, and potentials for both creativity and destruction. Thus th e begin­ ning of w holeness m ay develop out of pain but may also lead to a new relationship with oneself. If p a rt of th e journey requires m e to connect to an inner other, th e next p a rt draw s m e to o th er persons and to the ultim ate Mystery. Indeed, joining an ethical com m unity is im portant for individual health. We w ere created as th e result of a relationship betw een our parents, born into relationship w ith m other, and we thrive only if we stay in relationship with each other. The process is lifelong and ever increasing in scope. If we are to becom e m ature, we m ust like what we find within and strive to com e into harm ony with o th ers around us. Poets and m ystics of all th e ages have known this simple, fundam ental truth, but by isolating us from one another, our society ten d s to foster a pathological narcissism and self-indulgence at th W or w: in b( w fa ui a 2, h< cl F( c< d< Pi aj C( w g< A history major and chair of the Christian Association at Swarthmore, Jim Colvin is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. He practices psychotherapy in Westfield and Montclair, N.J., and is pastor of a church in Woodbridge. SW A RTH M O RE COLLEGE BULLETIN Pi 0 tl si g< ei 0’ M. r n 3 al it i at d the expense of authentic m aturity and relationship. Wholeness is achieved for th e individual only w hen he or she relates bo th to th e inner self and to th e larger whole. This isolation is one of th e great problem s we face in America. My family and I discovered the value of being co nnected to com m unity last year w hen my wife was stricken with a severe attack of chronic fatigue im m une disease. For several m onths, she was unable to w ork or do m uch of anything, and we had to figure how to care for our four children at hom e, ages 2,4,9, and 17. We w ere buoyed up in th e m idst of this horror by m em bers of our form er church and the church w here I now serve as pastor, 10 miles away. Food was provided, tran sp o rtatio n offered, along with cards, prayers, and expressions of love. We could not do it alone. T hat is th e m essage learned by whole peopie. If we can m ature as individuals, can we also m ature as a nation? I am b o th hopeful and despairing w hen I consider th e em otional sta te of America. I sh u d d er when I see how quick we are to blam e and seek scape­ goats w hen we confront unsolvable problem s or inex­ plicable tragedies. W hen news first broke about the Oklahoma City bom bing, m ost Am ericans assum ed that a Middle E astern terro rist group m ust be respon­ sible. Perhaps m ore frightening, it was “one of u s” gone awry. Yet th e tragedy of Oklahom a City is not entirely shocking to anyone familiar w ith his or her own potential to do violence, but it is baffling to any MAY 1996 unfamiliar to th e “o th e r” within. We’re in danger w hen we s ta rt blam ing others and ignoring our inner selves, because w hat we d o n ’t know about ourselves, we pro­ ject onto others. This is especially dan­ gerous w hen we engage in collective blaming, an age-old sto ry in our centu­ ry. If th ere is hope, it lies in our adm it­ ting this to one another. One good sign com ing out of suffering is th e w idespread form ation of m utual sup­ p o rt groups for p erso n s suddenly unem ployed. There is increasing recognition th a t “we are all in this together,” as th e Mayflower Com pact rem inded th e early settlers. It m ay be nec­ e ssa ry to suffer further crises for th a t ethos to sp read across racial and econom ic lines th at seem increasingly rigid. “T he distresses of choice are our chances to be blessed,” w rote W.H. Auden. As individuals we m ust face our choices to grow, and as com m unities and groups we need to do th e sam e. All of us in th e heal­ ing and helping professions—and anyone in a posi­ tion to influence o th ers—have a responsibility at this m om ent to urge th e generation in pow er (us baby boom ers!) to consider w hat Erik Erikson called “generativity,” th e need to give back to th e com m unity so th ere can be a future. In th e 1960s m any had this ethos, w hich som e of us have m ore or less continued, b u t as a generation we are now m ore known for driv­ ing m inivans th an for prom oting connection am ong neighbors. I w ish I had som e great new paradigm or move­ m ent to offer, b u t I do not. W hat excites m e is th a t p erso n s of good will seem to be tired of letting things get w orse. I tru s t th a t we have a critical m ass of indi­ viduals in th e society w ho recognize our continuing need to value and aid one another. My main bit of w isdom is th e quote from Benjamin Franklin th a t we often used in th e antiw ar m ovem ent: “If we fail to hang together, we shall all hang sep arate­ ly.” Never has th a t been m ore true. It also seem s to be tru e th a t we are at th e end of som e period and moving tow ard another. Recently a m ental health colleague declared th a t th e end of th e C artesian split betw een m atter and spirit is at hand. A nother colleague tells m e th a t physics and mysti­ cism are overlapping in astonishing ways. If all this is so, it is because we have com e to realize th a t while scientific rationalism m ay have brought us joys, tech ­ nology is not our salvation. ■ 33 fl A L U M WARTHMORE HAPPENINGS and Jean Toll (Smith College Recent Events ’47) talked about their book Boston: On April 25, Boston Invisible Philadelphia at the a re a alu m n i, p a re n ts , a n d A tw a te r K ent. M useum on frie n d s g o t to g e th e r for a April 14. A re c e p tio n with guided to u r of th e W inslow M ildred and Jean followed H o m er e x h ib itio n a t th e the talk. M useum of Fine Arts. Rishi On April 27 the Connection R eddi ’88 c o o rd in a te d th e c e le b r a te d s p rin g with a to u r, a lo n g w ith a “d u tc h g u id e d to u r of Longwood t r e a t ” d in n e r a fte rw a rd at Gardens. The afternoon tour the Cactus Club. w as o r g a n iz e d by Mary N ew York: T h e New Y ork W oolson Cronin ’83. Connection gathered for “An And on May 28 Philadel­ E vening a t th e B asic T h e ­ phia alum ni joined a group a tre ” on Feb. 21, which was Unwinding... Rebecca Jackson ’91 and Ward Lopes ’92 of graduating seniors at Vet­ o rg an iz ed by J e a n e tte Hill joined other Chicago young alumni for a TGIF cocktail party erans Stadium to watch the P orter ’89 and Alice Hughey at a local pub in January. The event was organized by Jennie Phillies take on the Dodgers. ’79. A le c tu r e a n d p e r f o r ­ Romich ’94. W a sh in g to n , D .C .: More m ance, The Plow that Broke than 60 Sw arthm oreans got the Plains, to o k p la c e on together on April 27 to reno­ M arch 29 a t th e B ro o k ly n vate a hom e in Washington, A c a d e m y of M usic. D avid D.C. The project was spon­ Wright ’69 and Joe Horowitz sored by Christm as in April, ’70 planned the event. a n o n p ro fit organization. The following day, March Jack Riggs ’64 organized the 30, a lu m n i, p a r e n ts , a n d afternoon of community ser­ friends enjoyed a screening vice. of fiddlefest, execu tiv e-p ro ­ D orita Sewell ’65 helped d u c e d by W a lte r S c h e u e r o rg a n iz e a d a n c e concert ’48, at th e MGM Studios. A and reception at the Elling­ recep tio n w ith Sw arthm ore to n S chool of th e A rts on P re sid e n t A lfred H. Bloom May 25. Hosting for the Col­ followed the film. Jim DiFallege w as M aurice Eldridge co ’82 and Karen Ohland ’83 ’61, associate vice president o r g a n iz e d th e a f te r n o o n Go team!... Jenny Rickard ’86 (third from left) hosted a post­ and ex ecu tiv e a ssista n t to screening and reception. President Bloom. In A pril th e C o n n e c tio n game reception for the Swarthmore women’s basketball team following its game with CalTech on Jan. 6. Pictured are (from e n jo y e d th e s c r e e n in g of another film produced by an left) Leslie Hermsdorf ’97, Holly Barton ’99, Rickard, Pia Upcoming Events alum nus. Jim Stark ’71 w as Houseal ’97, Emily Walker ’96, and Michelle Walsh ’98. A p e rfo rm an ce by Theatre also on hand for a reception by th e Blind is planned for to talk a b o u t his film Cold th e New York Connection in Fever. (See page 58 for a profile of Elizabeth McCrary ’83 and Gretchen late May. Planned for early summer Stark.) Julie Sacks ’82 organized the Mann Handwerger ’56. is a wine tasting—Swarthmore Sym­ e v e n t. F in a lly , on M ay 15, a re a P h ila d e lp h ia : On A pril 13 th e posium X. The Connection continues Sw arthm oreans got together for the P h ila d e lp h ia C onnection g a th e re d to schedule its Third Tuesday lunch W aterline T heatre Com pany’s “Fish on cam pus for a debate on the 1950s at Annie M oore’s Pub & Restaurant. R o d e o ,” w h ich in c lu d e d a p e rfo r­ espionage case of Julius and Ethel For m ore inform ation, contact Julia m ance by Kendall Cornell ’86. R osenberg w ith M ichael M eeropol S tock ’95 o r th e A lum ni Office at Paris: On M arch 30, Paris S w arth­ ’64 (s o n of th e R o s e n b e rg s ) a n d (610) 328-8404. m oreans w ent on a tour of Chartres Joyce Milton ’67. Victor Navasky ’54 The W ashington, D.C., Connection C a th e d ra l, follow ed by lu n ch a t a served as com m entator. w ill h o ld a w in e ta s tin g at la local cafe. The event was planned by Authors Mildred Webb Gillam ’47 M adeleine on Sunday, June 2. 34 SW A RTH M O RE COLLEGE BULLETIN i d i g e s t We’ve got your number, but we don’t give it out to just anyone ?e Dk le >n th id )n a id ur 1 iP i le s. 'e Dt he Alumni Relations Office gives high priority to helping alumni stay in touch with each other, but it also Trespects the privacy of those who don’t wish to be con­ tacted. Alumni and students may request an alum’s phone num­ ber, address, or e-mail by calling (610) 328-8402, faxing to (610) 328-7796, or e-mailing alumni@swarthmore.edu. They must give their Social Security or student ID number to verify their identity. Alumni who do not want information released should inform the Alumni Office. Alumni addresses are provided for social purposes only. Please alert the Alumni Office if you have been con­ tacted this way for other purposes. Students seeking vocational advice or employment are referred to the Career Planning and Placement Office, which maintains lists of alumni in many occupations who have volunteered to provide such help. When nonalumni ask for an alum’s address, the Alumni Office does not provide this, but offers to forward the com­ munication. Career Connections... At its spring meeting in April, the Career Planning and Student Life Committee of Alumni Council discussed ways to enhance connections between alumni and students. From left are Tom Francis, the College’s Career Planning and Placement director; Colleen A. Kennedy ’72; committee chair Betty-Jo Matzinger Lash ’87; Ngina Lythcott, dean of the College; Amy Bussian; and Charles L. Bennett ’77. on, nil, n. i le r:d rt gin 1 >- ;e it :o Creating an Electronic Alumni Netw ork The Alumni Council’s spring meeting was very busy and exciting. Several of our committees are engaged in projects that I will share with you in the next several issues of the Bulletin. The fol­ lowing article by Jean Kristeller ’74 describes Council’s initial efforts to in­ crease alumni communications through the Internet. •e —Alan Symonette ’76 President, Alumni Association )r in ir n;s :h t. ia it in a he Internet represents tremendous for S w arthm oreans to Tstaypotential in touch with each other and the College. More than 2,600 alumni, from the Class of 1934 onward, have regis­ tered their electronic addresses with the College, and you may have already looked at the Swarthmore home page on th e W orld W ide W eb ( h ttp :// w w w .sw arth m o re.ed u ). Now th e MAY 1996 ALUMNI COUNCIL Alumni Council has been discussing ways to make th e netw orking even more interactive. We would like to hear your sugges­ tions, concerns, etc., as we work with the College to develop a system that is creative, flexible, and inform ative. Some possible formats are: • “Listservs” or discussion groups, to which individuals subscribe depend­ ing on their interests. Groups might be organized by profession (e.g., law, education, medicine) or by topics, like public policy or international business (or chess or ?). • “Virtual sem inars” enabling a rela­ tively small group to form around a single topic for a time-limited period, with a designated faculty or alumni facilitator. • Live on-line discussions, sometimes known as “chat rooms,” with the time and electronic “location” announced ahead of time, perhaps about m atters on which the College desires alumni input. • An electronic resource th at would enable s tu d e n ts to discuss various g ra d u a te p ro g ra m s a n d p o s s ib le career choices with alumni who wish to help. The College is supporting electron­ ic communications by providing com­ puter support and staff time for priori­ ty projects, so your input is needed. What listservs might you like to see? Can you contribute expertise in this area so we can take advantage of the best technology? Have you set up a system elsewhere? Would you like to help organize or manage a listserv? You may respond directly to Astrid Devaney at adevanel@ sw arthm ore. edu or send your ideas to the Alumni Council Electronic Connections SubCommittee chair, Jean Kristeller ’74, at pykris@root.instate.edu. If you are not on-line, please send your com m ents to me at the address below. —Jean Kristeller ’74 800 S. Center St. Terre Haute IN 47807 35 L ET T ERS experiments on the state and local level may improve the government’s ability to promote social welfare without trans­ gressing personal values. C arlton H enry 75 University Park, Md. chenry6502@pop.gnn.com Technology exacerbates social inequalities To the Editor: Your concerns about technology (“Par­ lor Talk,” February 1996, commenting on “Virtuoso Computing” in the same issue) are well placed. I’m also a tech­ nobuff, but the fact is that the march of technology is anything but value-neu­ tral. It tends to exacerbate existing social inequalities in most (but emphat­ ically not all) areas. Swarthmore’s stu­ dent body experienced a peculiar mani­ festation of this during the 1991 Parrish Wall debate [over allegations of racism], when a parallel debate took place on the College’s VAX system, the precursor to the current computer net­ work. People felt free to be far nastier to each other on the VAX than they were willing to be in person—even though, in most cases, they knew each other personally as well. That’s not a “social choice,” in Neil Gershenfeld’s terminology, because nobody made that choice. It was made for the partici­ pants by the very presence and charac­ ter of the technology. A ndrew P errin ’9 3 Berkeley, Calif. aperrin@igc.apc.org Trade policies don’t help all Americans To the Editor: Professor Stephen Golub’s research (“‘America-Firsters’ have it backward,” Collection, February 1996) shows a close but not perfect fit between wages and productivity. No problem there. But then come the politics in the last paragraph: On balance, argues Golub, free trade brings more wealth into the country than it takes away, and there­ fore “it benefits the United States as a whole.” This even though free trade exacerbates the “grave problems of income inequality and inadequate skills.” If you happen to think that income 36 Continued from page 3 inequality is a graver problem than our inability to accumulate an even higher percentage of the world’s assets, it’s hard to see why an ideology that helps those on the top of the heap at the expense of those at the botton “benefits the United States as a whole,” even when those on top are winning a little bit more than those on the bottom are losing. The “freedom” in arguments for free trade is all one way. Our competitors maintain tariffs to protect their lowwage workers, while we do not. Golub provides the stock answer to these questions: The problem of income inequality should be “tackled directly,” presumably by taxing free trade win­ ners and spending the money retraining the losers. Trouble is, these answers are never part of the alphabet soup of free-trade laws that Golub nevertheless endorses. Maybe next time. Maybe they will amend those laws. At which time my mind wanders back to Alice: “Jam tomorrow, jam tomorrow, but never jam today.” I know it’s too much to expect a trade policy that helps “the United States as a whole.” But can’t we at least have one that does not hurt it? M ark S chneider 77 Rockville, Md. Battle of values is "bogus”— it’s all materialism underneath To the Editor: Professor Meta Mendel-Reyes has a point when she says, “The real question is ... how to bring values into American politics.” (“Are America’s Values Chang­ ing?” February 1996) So does Professor Rob Hollister in his realistic assessment of America’s problems. However, I feel that setting up a supposed “battle” between supposed right-wing Christian values and supposed liberal values is bogus—a replay of the media Battle of Good and Evil. America itself is founded on a histo­ ry of Europeans taking over a vast land, enslaving Africans, killing native peo­ ples, cutting down forests, building fac­ tories—all in the name of its Manifest Destiny. The “gangsta rap,” “cyber­ porn,” “skinheads,” and “swastikas” decried by Christopher Edley 73 are symptoms of a deadened materialist society. The authoritarian, patriarchal values of the religious right and the sec­ ular values of the humanist left both mask and serve the underlying values of competition, individualism, material­ ism, self-righteousness, pride, and greed that are basic to our modern technological society. Truly radical religious values (like the Upanishads, the teachings of Bud­ dha, Christ, and Mohammed, basic Jew­ ish ethics and mysticism, taoism—and my Swarthmore favorite, Baruch Spinoza) suggest that unity with the divine makes material success unimpor­ tant. I prefer to be committed to values that have to do with material success (even intellectual success!) and power. Oddly enough these values are not in conflict with the old-fashioned Marxist ideals of economic justice. I’m not a Christian, but Jesus certainly puts things well when he suggests giving to the poor to get into heaven. A n n Erickson ’65 Guerneville, Calif. Remembering Frank Pierson To the Editor: I was sad to read in the February Bul­ letin of the death of Frank Pierson ’34.1 was also filled with gratitude that I had been able to study under him. None of my family had ever studied economics, so I signed up for his introductory course. He turned me on to it so much that I ended up with a minor in eco­ nomics. While I have had a career as a social worker, my whole life has been enriched by a deep understanding and appreciation of économics. All because of Frank Pierson. D avid A. Fisk ’53 Long Beach, Calif. The Bulletin welcomes letters from readers concerning the contents of the magazine or issues relating to the College. All letters must be signed and may be edited for clarity and space. Address your letters to Editor, Swarthmore College Bulletin, 500 College Avenue, Swarthmore PA 19081-1397, or send by electronic mail to bulletin@swarthmore.edu. SW ARTHM ORE COLLEGE BULLETIN Low-budget film reaps high praise Cold Fever b y Jim Stark 7 1 is h o t w ith critics a n d au dien ces a n d is a festiva l favorite. Above: Atsushi (Masatoshi Nagase) considers buying a frozen car from Sara (Katrin Olafsdottir) so that he may begin his journey in Jim Stark’s (right) new film, Cold Fever. ope and Crosby never made a road movie like this! In Jim Stark’s newly released film, Cold Fever, icebergs shatter from the sound of a mysterious siren’s voice, regional delicacies like ram’s testicles and the intoxicating Black Death are dined upon—and, oh yes, don’t forget to steer around the Fairy Stones. Cold Fever, the first film ever shot in Iceland during its winter, highlights the country’s harsh and barren beauty. According to Stark, the frigid tempera­ tures, snow, and ice made it tough on the cameras but the crew and actors came through almost daily snowstorms without a scratch. (Well, except for the one time a couple of crew members and their car went over a cliff. The people survived. The car did not.) Cold Fever, produced by Stark and directed by Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, with whom he shares the writing credit, is as much a spiritual journey as a phys­ ical one for the lead character, a young Tokyo fish company employee. Atsushi Hirata (played by the popular Japanese actor Masatoshi Nagase) is asked by his grandfather to give up a golfing trip to Hawaii to go to Iceland to perform a tra­ ditional memorial service by a remote river to honor Atsushi’s parents, who died there in an accident. The film will make viewers laugh, cry, drop their jaws in amazement, and H 58 want to put on a parka. Throughout Atsushi’s journey he encounters sociopathic American “tourists,” a woman who photographs funerals as a hobby, and a truckload of singing men. The movie ultimately warms the soul if not the setting as Atsushi pays final respects to his parents and puts their spirits to rest. Cold Fever is the 11th feature for Stark, a corporate lawyer turned inde­ pendent producer. Working on a shoestring budget isn’t easy, he confess­ es, but it reaps rewards that others in the film business wish they could have. “Hollywood producers have big bud­ gets, but they’ve also said to me they wish they could do the work I’m doing. The actors and crews I work with are doing this because they believe in the project and they’re trying to create something that has lasting artistic value—something they can make their contribution to and use to develop themselves as artists, actors, or techni­ cians,” explains Stark, who spent $1.4 million on Cold Fever. “In Hollywood you have to take a lunch, schmooz the right people, party with the right people. I don’t have to do that here,” says Stark, who lives in a New York City loft. “I don’t want to spend five years trying to develop a big picture that has 50 writers on it and goes through three studio regimes. I would rather find something I’d like to do, like this, and figure out how to make it happen.” Cold Fever, currently being released around the world, has been a critical success. At its world premiere at the Drambuie Edinburgh Film Festival in Scotland last August, it came away with the top prize. Cold Fever also won the top prize at Italy’s Rimini Film Festival and was selected from among hundreds of films to be shown at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in Utah find the Toronto Film Festival. In April it had a very successful New York opening. Stark says the two years he spent at Swarthmore gave him the preparation he needed for dealing with people in the film world: “After surviving Swarthmore I realized I would never be intimidated by people again, at least from an intelli­ gence or creativity point of view,” says Stark, who transferred in 1969 to the then newly coed Vassar College because he believed the ratio of men to women would be an “interesting experience.” “It’s a difficult decision (to go into this business). You have to make sacri­ fices. I tell young people I’ve done things for the money, and I’ve done things because I love them, and they should really find something they love and pursue it fearlessly. Assume you’ll be successful and you probably will.” —Audree Penner SW ARTHM ORE COLLEGE BULLETIN two of our compatriots. He saw Keele exchange student Phil Davies in Leicester, Eng­ land, where he’s head of American Studies at DeMontfort U. Phil lives with wife Ros and kids Andrew and Carolyn, who are Skip’s godchildren. Skip also saw Steve Roens, who “came east with his won­ derful wife, Cheryl, from Salt Lake City, where Steve teach­ es music at the U. of Utah.” Deborah Zubow Prindle has some exciting news. She’s moved to Poland for a fouryear Foreign Service assign­ ment. She’ll be program offi­ cer for the U.S. foreign aid pro­ gram in Poland. This will be extended to the Baltics, Czech Republic, and other countries as U.S. presence is scaled down. Still the same Debbie, however, she’s decided to learn to “tap dance, knit, go camping in the wilderness, and build additions to her house (your typical midlife crisis).” Much of the rest of the news is concerned with jobs and kids. Barb Atkin is still an appellate litigator for the National Treasury Employees Union in Washington, D.C. Her husband, John Hornbeck, is with the National Labor Rela­ tions Board—his boss is Fred Feinstein ’69. Karen Simmons Gillian enjoyed a visit with Barb, scouting colleges with her daughter. Geoff Selling and his wife, Cecily (Roberts) 77, are both teachers at Quak­ er elementary schools. Daugh­ ters Kate, 14, and Becky, 11, go to Germantown Friends, where Geoff teaches third grade. The intrepid Marya Ursin is still performing, teaching yoga, mothering 15year-old Ana, and learning with Dan. She was even “cavorting in the Halloween parade in NYC.” Our home-grown Swarthmoreans are increasing in number. Brian Inouye ’91, son of David and Bonnie (Grego­ ry) ’69, got married (gasp) in May! Connie Fleming Strick­ land’s daughter Barbara is now a freshman living in Willets. Connie writes, “In her college search, she had tried to find a better place than Swarthmore....” Connie’s still ment for abused children. He married Kris Van Lee in 1994 and last August celebrated the birth of their first child, Ella Marie. After five years in the sports trading card industry as president and chief operat­ ing officer of Fleer Corp., Jef­ frey Massien resigned to take a much-needed sabbatical. Polly Simonds Saltet writes that last summer she dropped off her daughter, Elisa, 11, at Debbie and Bob Shriver’s [’72] home for Indian woods skills camp. The Shrivers are ■ Matthew Rosen ’73 was parents at the local Waldorf included in New York Maga­ school, where Polly and her zine's list of the best 100 husband, Jan, teach. Who lawyers in New York, and the arrives but Richard Schultz, American Lawyer listed him in who had come with his wife a similar article called “45 under 45.” He is a partner with and two sons to help with the Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher first week of camp! Deborah Kogan, her hus­ &Flom. band, David Lee, and daughter Rebecca have moved to Soquel, Calif., next door to of Eric Kraus’ daughter Whit­ Santa Cruz, after seven years ney last November in Greens­ in the Central Valley in Sacra­ boro, N.C. Ann Lindsay and mento. Debbie still does Alan Glaseroff ’74 are enjoy­ social science evaluation ing life in Northern California. research for Social Policy Ann is county health officer and Alan the medical director Research Associates in Menlo Park. Claude Geoffrey Davis of a newly formed indepen­ and family are back in the Bay dent practice association. Area, where he is pursuing ______________ David Lyon reports that his biotech, after three years in planned move to Taipei in Massachusetts. Jeff Schon mid-1995 did not take place, Jody Gaylin Heyward recently bought a Victorian but he will be moving to Bei­ 73 Scenic Drive Hastings-on-Hudson NY 10706 jing in July 1996, where he will house in San Francisco, where he works for Living Books. be the U.S. Embassy’s consul They just released the first Dr. general. Thanks to my plaintive Seuss CD-ROM, Dr. Seuss’s Clay Perry is associate plea in the November class notes, I have received wonder­ professor and chief of the frac­ ABC. Steve and Jan Rood-Ojalvo ture service at Washington U. ful letters from some of our had their “fourth annual priin St. Louis. Francine Mason classmates. Keep it up: I love vate-but-open reunion picnic hearing from you and not rely­ Fleegler has recently become and 40-something birthday a faculty member at the U. of ing on the clips sent by the party last June at their home Pa. School of Medicine and College. in Haddonfield, N.J. Virginia will be doing work with a Ginny Mussari Bates is “Shorty” Boucher and her group studying breast cancer traveling the country working husband, Mark Reynolds, susceptibility genetics as well with insurance organizations. moved in November 1994 to as maintaining her hematoloShe also writes for trade jour­ the Santa Ynez Valley in Santa gy/oncology practice in Bryn nals. Mawr. Dorothy Fryer (former­ Barbara County, Calif. They Ann Benjamin married are research biologists at UCly Dolly Stegenga) has been Robert Ruff, a producer at Santa Barbara and manage a married for five years to ABC. She splits her time 6,000-acre ranch in Santa Ynez between directing World News Edwin S. Fryer. She has a as a biological research site. daughter and two sons and Tonight with Peter Jennings Richard Wilson continues practices cardiac anesthesiol­ and the new Weekend News shows, which originate in New ogy in St. Louis. Caroline Cur­ as part-time accountant for severed subsidized apartment tis Cope lives outside of Itha­ York. Congratulations to Lola complexes and serves as a ca, N.Y. She teaches and Bogyo, who traveled to China bicycle advocate on various supervises special education in February 1995 to adopt a government committees in a middle school. baby girl, Mia, who is now developing transportation Michael Caplin is presi­ almost 2. plans. Amanda Orr Harmeldent of the Childhelp Founda­ Steven Hansen writes that ing is now teaching French tion, which provides treat­ he attended the bat mitzvah teaching English and reading at Wesley College in Dover, Del. Chief bragging rights, however go to Rich and Marie Witwicki Schall, who have not one but two current Swarthmoreans, Ben ’97 on the basketball team and Michael ’99 on both the soc­ cer and basketball teams. Barb Hunter Chaffee’s son Conrad, however, turned down Swarthmore and Haverford to attend Oberlin. There’s a rebel in every group! Congrats are in order as follows. Marc Walter and his wife, Lee Spencer, are the proud parents of a son, Mason Chase Walter, born March 2, 1995. Marc asks, “Why did I wait?” Terry Miller Mumford, her husband, Lewis, and their four children will celebrate the couple’s 25th anniversary with a trip to Alaska. And final­ ly, Susan Morrison Walcott writes, “Only 24 years after graduating, I finally got a Ph.D. in geography—in time for the silver reunion!” 73 and Spanish full time at an independent school. Shirley Hon Spencer left Arctic Alaska after spending three years as health educa­ tion manager for the Eskimo Assn, and now lives in Seldovia, Alaska (population 300). Ken Klothen was elected to the Swarthmore Borough Council in November with the largest number of votes of all candidates running. He is president of Family Explo­ rations Inc., an eco-tourism company for families, as well as TADD International, a con­ sulting firm practicing in the area of international develop­ ment with an emphasis on Southern Africa and Latin American. Bill Yarrow writes that he is working on a book about Boswell. An article he wrote on metaphor and the life of Johnson has appeared in a collection of essays called B o s w e ll: C itiz e n o f th e W orld, M a n o f L e tte rs. Andrea Hackel Harris is now practicing geri­ atric medicine in Pensacola, Fla. Hugh Cort is looking for­ ward to finishing his residen­ cy in psychiatry at the U. of South Alabama in Mobile. He and Debbie will move back to Birmingham this summer, where Hugh will work in a group private practice. Alice Levine Rubinstein and her family recently moved to New­ port News, Va. Alice teaches Latin at a private school. Richard Orr, a litigation attor­ ney with CIGNA Corp., mar­ ried Margaret Perrone in July. Randy Lawlace recently left his law firm after almost 12 years and now is in-house counsel for Founders Health Care Inc., which owns and manages physician practices. Scott and Patricia McDon­ ald Walsh write that in spring of 1995 Scott moved from Kraft Foods Inc. to become director of human resources for KPMG Peat Marwick at the firm’s headquarters in Montvale, N.J. Pat received a doc­ torate in social welfare from City U. of New York Graduate Center in June 1994. She is project director of the employee assistance program at Hunter College. My only news is that I have one child going off to college in Septem­ 60 ber, another the following year, and, thank goodness, one still at home for another five years. My husband, Andrew, was just named pres­ ident of CBS News. 75 ______________ Ann Arbuthnot Huff 14 Rose Gate Drive Atlanta GA 30342 Hi folks. I must have said something to Barbara Busing Wachs at reunion about my recent retirement from paid work life, because a few weeks later she called and asked if I’d be interested in taking over the class notes. Of course I said yes, since I have more time on my hands (or so I thought), and it was a way to be in touch with more of my classmates (or so I hoped). I look forward to reporting your news in the future find hope many of you will be in touch for our next issue. Meanwhile, many thanks to you, Barbara, for the great job you did over the past few years, and don’t forget to let us know what you’re up to! Julie Braun Orth sold her handbag business two years ago, because competition with imports made it difficult to get sales and remain profitable. She is now working part time at a Pennsylvania state park teaching environmental edu­ cation and working in a green­ house. She writes that she loves being outdoors most of the time and enjoys spending more time with her children, Nick, 8, and Amanda, 7. Con­ gratulations to Mark Pattis and his wife, Anne-Francoise, on the birth of their first child, Madeleine Annette, who was born on Sept. 29 and, in Mark’s words, “has complete­ ly transformed the Pattis household.” Mark is publisher and CEO of National Textbook Co. Publishing Group and now resides in Highland Park, 111. Meanwhile, Robert Wachler writes to us from Pleasant Ridge, Mich., “Now that we have a daughter in high school, can the grandparent drill be far away?” Making us feel a little old there, Robby! Ilene Nathan is still with the Baltimore city state’s attor­ ney’s office prosecuting mur­ der cases and still living in Baltimore with a menagerie of two cats and two dogs. She escapes on weekends to a house her family built on Maryland’s Eastern Shore out­ side Ocean City, and she says it’s quite a different environ­ ment from the city. Susan deVeer retired from directing Shiloh Quaker Camp after nine years in order to focus atten­ tion on stepson Elan Poteat, 6. Susan is having a great time being warehouse manager at Frederick Non-Profit Building Supply—recycling surplus building materials to lowincome families, churches, and nonprofits, helping peo­ ple fix up homes. Maureen Cavanaugh and Christopher Plum live on an apple orchard in Buffalo, Minn., and raise Newfound­ lands, with 10 homebred champions to date. Chris is an analyst for Northwest Airlines. Maureen graduated from the U. of Minnesota law school in May 1995 and is now in the tax department of Coopers & Lybrand L.L.P. She reports that she continues to make slow but steady progress on her revised dissertation, to be published by the American Philological Assn./Scholars Press—with luck in 1996. For Tony and Shellie Wilensky Camp, life is more hectic than ever. Shellie is still very busy singing with the Philadelphia Singers and is involved with the Singers’ Union, including contract negotiations with singers and the opera compa­ ny. She’s also taking a ballet class and a jazz dance class and loving it. Tony’s five-doctor family practice is swamped. He combats the stress by playing racquetball and, with Shellie, has recently taken up skiing. They write, “The three kids’ schedules keep us hopping.” And this from the press release department: Ken Andres, a civil trial attorney with the firm of Segal & Andres in Medford, N.J., has been elected second vice president of the Assn, of Trial Lawyers, New Jersey chapter. He is a charter member of the American Board of Trial Advo­ cates, is certified by the Na­ tional Board of Trial Advoca­ cy, and is chairman of the Burlington County Bar Assn.’s civil practice committee. Cyn­ thia Turner Tolsma, who manages Nationwide Insur­ ance’s Rhode Island/Massachusetts operations, has been elected associate vice president and has been given additional management responsibility for the state of Connecticut. On a sad note, our sympa­ thies go out to Patricia Ann Price McHugh and her family on the death of her sister Jill Price Mason ’79 on Jan. 2. For my part 1995 was an eventful year, as I retired from my position as senior VP, mar­ keting, for J. Baker and, the week before Christmas, moved to Atlanta with my husband, Bill, and two young daughters. Although Atlanta is a big adjustment after Lincoln, Mass., it’s better than having Bill, who is with D & B Soft­ ware, commute every week as he did all last year. By the way we’re happy to have guests here (anytime but during the Olympics!). Keep those cards and letters coming. 77 ______________ Terri-Jean Pyer RR 6 Box 234 Lewisburg PA 17837-9530 Cynthia Donovan is finish­ ing her doctoral dissertation in agricultural economics at Michigan State U. In February she began a two-year Rocke­ feller Foundation Fellowship to work in St. Louis, Senegal, with the West African Rice Development Assn. Last October Stephen Mink wrote: “Sitting in the chill of our house—due to ren­ ovation that involved ripping off the roof and adding a sec­ ond story—it is nice to recall the warmth of this past April, when my wife and 3-year-old, Erica and Thea, joined me in SW A RTH M O RE COLLEGE BULLETIN Assessing health care with an economist’s eye Charles Bennett 7 7 explores the boundary between medicine and public policy. nvestigating economic and patient- Ioriented aspects of health care deliv­ ery is the daily bread of health care management research today. That wasn’t the case when Charles L. Bennett 77, M.D., Ph.D., began exploring the area a dozen years ago. A senior research associate at Lake­ side Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Chicago, and associate professor of medicine at Northwestern University Medical School, Bennett has forged a multifaceted role for himself that incor­ porates early favorite subjects, math and economics—his major and minor at Swarthmore—with a career in medicine. He seeks answers outside the usual venues. Bennett’s firsthand accounts of the health care systems of Austria, Finland, and the Czech Republic, for example, have appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association. In Hong Kong he learned that only four percent of the gross national product is spent on health care, yet people live secondlongest in the world. In the United States, however, “We spend 14 percent of the GNP on health care, and we don’t have anything close to that length of life,” he says. Although other countries can teach us a great deal, any attempt to import a system from another country would probably be futile, Bennett believes, because medical systems are closely attuned to the culture of their countries. People in England, admired for their national health program, don’t mind waiting in line or visiting a shabby-looking hospital. Canadians, whose health care system was often mentioned as a fine model for the U.S., are far more accustomed to the concept of allocating care, such as for hip replacement surgery. It would be more realistic, Ben­ nett says, to model our health care sys­ tem on a successful American service industry, such as the telephone system. Bennett observed “an amazing exam­ ple of how public policy and science interface” while working in Taiwan with Dr. Baruch Blumberg, who won the Nobel Prize in 1976 for discovering the hepatitis B virus. The hepatitis B pro­ gram in Taiwan constitutes the world’s most successful vaccination effort to date, Bennett believes. That program reduced the proportion of the popula­ tion testing positive for hepatitis B anti­ gen from 14 percent to two percent in seven years, and will ultimately reduce MAY 1996 With both a medical degree and a Ph.D. in public policy, Charles Bennett says that “economic theory pushed me into thinking about how / could use an eco­ nomic approach to medicine. ” liver cancer, the most common cancer in the world. Public health policy in the United States is often less fruitful. Among Ben­ nett’s principal findings is the revelation that people treated for AIDS-related pneumonia under Medicaid receive poorer medical care than those who have private insurance. The primary reason is that they’re half as likely to obtain medical care, especially diagnos­ tic tests, in the first place. A board-certified oncologist who received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1981, Bennett became inter­ ested in AIDS through the back door. While doing his fellowship training through the University of Chicago School of Medicine in 1984-85, he pro­ vided care to large groups of hemophili­ acs. “It became apparent that over 90 percent were HIV infected,” Bennett says. They had received transfusions before the blood supply was screened to eliminate HIV. An oncologic problem introduced to Bennett through the AIDS epidemic was Kaposi’s sarcoma, a previously rare form of cancer that commonly afflicts people with AIDS. Clinical medicine alone, Bennett saw, couldn’t resolve problems related to AIDS. “It became quickly apparent that the boundary between public policy and HIV/AIDS was minimal,” he says. “I wanted to be involved in the process.” Accordingly, he obtained a doctorate in public policy at the Rand Corporation/ UCLA Center for Health Policy Study in Santa Monica, California. Bennett’s dis­ sertation, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1989, showed that hospitals treating large numbers of AIDS patients provide them with better care and achieve significant­ ly lower mortality rates than hospitals treating fewer people with AIDS. “Many people responded by regionalizing AIDS care into large centers of excellence,” Bennett says. “That’s where the public policy perspective comes in.” Oncology itself has expanded to encompass the study of viruses, Ben­ nett notes, as scientific data unexpect­ edly demonstrate that many viruses cause tumors or spur them to grow. Therefore, the boundary between emerging viral diseases and cancer “seems to be becoming blurred,” he says. For example, Epstein-Barr virus is now associated with lymphoma, and a rare form of herpes, herpesvirus 8, is associated with Kaposi’s sarcoma. Government funding is shifting its focus, Bennett notes. A concentration on basic science is replacing broadbased research incorporating public health and the social sciences. Tighter funding will make it more difficult for Bennett and like-minded researchers to explore certain issues, he explains. Bennett attributes the seeds of his dual career to Bernard Saffran’s eco­ nomics courses at Swarthmore. “Eco­ nomic theory pushed me into thinking about how I could use an economic approach to medicine,” he says. What most people remember about Bennett from his Swarthmore days, he says, is his skill at card tricks. He still performs them, he states, because they brought him luck when he was applying to medical school. Noting this achieve­ ment on his application form, the inter­ viewer requested a demonstration, which was promptly supplied. “The guy liked the trick; I got into med school,” says Bennett. “I always wonder whether I would have gotten in if he had picked a different card.” —Marcia Ringel 61 On the road with Molarsky’s Marionettes By Osmond Molarsky ’34 “Shortly before the First World War, Swarthmore became active on the Chautauqua circuit, which brought to rural America tent shows combining vaudeville, theater, lectures, and moral uplift. At its height the Swarthmore Chautauqua visited annually nearly a thousand towns in fourteen eastern states and three Canadian provinces. ” —Richard J. W alton, Swarthmore College, An Informal History he 1929 Sw arthm ore C hautauqua, four days of “culture and entertain­ m ent,” was only a vestige of th e origi­ nal 10-day C hautauquas th a t for tw o g en e ra tio n s h ad uplifted ru ra l au d i­ en c e s w ith ev e ry th in g from W illiam J e n n in g s B ry a n ’s “C ro s s of G o ld ” speech to Swiss bell ringers and now w as in c o m p e titio n w ith ra d io a n d moving pictures th a t actually talked. F o llow ing m y 1928-29 fre s h m a n year, th e Sw arthm ore C hautauqua list­ ed am ong its attra ctio n s “M olarsky’s T M a rio n e tte s ,” a m a rio n e tte v a rie ty show m y b ro th er and I had produced while still in high school. T hat year I had sh ared a suite of room s at th e top of W oolman with th ree seniors, one of whom, Jam es M ichener ’29, had a job lined up for th e fall, but had no visible m eans of su p p o rt until then. He had se e n a 10-m inute seg m en t of M olar­ sk y ’s M ario n e tte s in th e 1928 Ham ­ burg show, and he conceived th e idea of booking us on th e circuit, with him­ self as m y assistant. Our co n tra ct for th e sum m er to u r called for six afternoon perform ances of th e m arionettes each week and our ap p earan ce as actors in th e play th e s a m e ev e n in g . T h re e w e e k s of r e ­ h earsal w ere enough to fit M ichener into my b ro th e r’s p art in th e show — p u p p e te e rin g , shifting sce n ery , an d c ran k in g th e p o rta b le V ictro la th a t provided incidental music. Featured in th e show was a scene from The Merchant of Venice, w hich required som e abridgem ent to fit into th e program . As an Honors stu d en t in English, M ichener seem ed th e appro­ priate abridger, for w hich he required an extra dollar a week above th e $40 we had agreed on as his pay. His liter­ ary contribution included also a pro­ logue, in Shakespearean meter, as fol­ lows: In ancient Venice, where our scene is laid There dwelt two noble men, in friendship bound. The first had wooed and won a lovely maid. The second was the richest merchant known In all the city—rich alike in gold and honor But detested by a Jew, one Shylock, stooped With avarice and old in hating Christians. Now we bring to you the story of these men— Antonio, the noble merchant, Shylock, the crafty Jew And I, the borrower, Bassanio. The extra dollar a week I paid Mich­ ener for this contribution may be said to m ark th e beginning of his profes­ sional literary career. As to th e rest of th e program, to be m an ag eab le by tw o p u p p eteers, my b r o t h e r a n d I h a d k e p t it in a v a u d e v ille fo rm a t. P o litic a lly not unseem ly for 1929, alm ost every one of a d o z e n a c ts w a s a demeaning ster lye: fron T whi us 1 The brol pro afte: and of 5 wer afte mar cou con mer tou: hot' evei plet thar fast' our C dm hitt Anc Mici the Pea [’31 Dral age oth' agir wer' “aE Fett onh act< pre^ Osmond Molarsky ’34 still has the marionettes that helped him work his way through Swarthmore. 72 SW A RTH M O RE COLLEGE BULLETIN part Broi ring gen< T due boti ing < tow bad trifu er, ; onel of t (Mie MAY] fol- ’ ich•aid fes1be my . 1a not one im> m ■ jjj :T,N i | I stereotype of som e minority, all high­ fell asleep on stage during th e evening g ra b b ed th e wig. T he laugh th is got ly enlightening to o ur rural audiences play.) Ted Fetter, riding w ith us th a t from th e audience tem p ted us to keep from Somerset, Pa. to B rattleboro, Vt. day, clim bed o u t of th e p a sse n g e r’s it in th e script, but th ere w ere limits. The fin e p r i n t of o u r c o n t r a c t , s id e . I fo llo w e d . It w a s ra in in g . A Follow ing th e C h a u ta u q u a to u r, which I still have in my files, required crow d assem bled to gawk at our dis­ M olarsky’s M ario n e tte s b ec am e m y us to d riv e b e tw e e n e n g a g e m e n ts. com fiture, a d am p th eatric al tro u p e m e a n s of w o rk in g m y w ay th ro u g h The long h o p s w ere n eg o tiated in a a b o u t to m iss an en g a g em en t. T he college, m ainly booking to u rs of th e broken-down 1922 Dodge panel truck spell w as b ro k e n by a la te c o m e r, a large re so rt hotels in th e Poconos, th e provided b y th e co m p an y . Leaving m atro n ly w om an w ho sto p p e d , s u r­ New Jersey shore, th e coast of Maine, after the play, driving all night, th e B erkshires, and th e W hite and exploiting a gravity sp eed M o u n ta in s , w h e r e c a p tiv e of 50 m ph on steep grades, we audiences w ere eager to d ro p were a b le to m a k e th e n e x t m oney into th e collection for afternoon’s m ario n ette perfor­ good en tertain m en t. My p a rt­ mance, catching w hat sleep we n e r n o w o n c e ag ain w as m y could on th e coffin-like box th at younger b ro th er, a m usic stu ­ contained th e s h o w ’s e q u ip ­ dent and versatile perform er. ment. On th e en tire five-week Senior year m y farce “No! Not tour, w e n e v e r s to p p e d a t a th e R ussians!” p laced sec o n d hotel, h a d a p ro p e r b a th , o r to a p ro fo u n d d ra m a b y Bob even got o u r m akeup off com ­ Cadigan ’34 in th e one-act play pletely, and we alarm ed m ore contest, but m y frivolous effort than a few early-m orning breakc o n v in c e d m e th a t I w as th e fasters at all-night d in ers w ith n e x t N oel C ow ard. (M y p lay our garish com plexions. w as la te r p u b lis h e d in Stage Our evening play w as Skidan d w idely p e rfo rm e d in th e ding, a 1928 Broadw ay com edy U n ite d S ta te s a n d C a n a d a .) hit that becam e th e basis of th e Noel Coward failed to m aterial­ Andy H a rd y s e r ie s s t a r r in g ize in me, b u t a variety of w rit­ Mickey Rooney. M ichener was in g a s s ig n m e n ts fo llo w e d , the rom antic lead, to B arbara including a long-running chil­ Pearson (L a n g e G o d fr e y )’s d re n ’s feature in Family Circle [’31], lead in g lady. M o rtim er an d a u th o rsh ip of m any chil­ Drake ’29 w as Judge Hardy. At d re n ’s books, including a Book age 19, w ith a g ra y w ig a n d World “Best Book” for 1968. As other d is g u is e s , I p la y e d an a rad io talk show h o st in San aging cam p aig n m an ag er. We F rancisco, 1967-69, I w as th e were billed on th e program as target of m any poison pen let­ “a B roadw ay c a s t,” w ith T ed Osmond Molarsky’s 14th juvenile book, A Sky Full of te rs and d ea th th re a ts for m y Fetter ’28, as Andy Hardy, th e Kites, will be published this year by Tricycle Press, Berk­ early opposition to th e w ar in only c e rtifia b le p ro fe s s io n a l eley, Calif. The 1929 Chautauqua tour is recounted by Vietnam. None of this m ade m e actor in th e c o m p a n y . (T h e James Michener in his 1949 autobiographical novel, Fires either rich o r famous, but, with previous winter, Ted had had a of Spring. “Never one to spoil a good story with the facts, ” m y w ife, P eg g y , a p o e t a n d part in The Garrick Gaieties, a says Molarsky, “Michener depicts the puppetmaster as a archeologist, I’m alive and well Broadway m usical rev u e s ta r­ dwarf. The fact: I was and still am 6 feet tall. ” in C alifornia, w riting, sailing, ring Sterling Holloway and Imoand playing serious tennis. gene Coca.) veyed th e scene, and inquired eager­ I hope th e re are a few alumni who Trooping w ith th e C hautauqua pro­ ly, “W ere th ey all killed?” still recall th e 1928 H am burg Show, duced so m e m e m o ra b le m o m e n ts, In a n o th e r m is h a p , h u rr y in g in w hich in clu d ed n o t only M olarsky’s both am using and harrow ing. C oast­ from th e pasture on hearing m y cue, I M arionettes but also a buck-and-wing ing downhill into a small Pennsylvania trip p e d on a te n t guy ro p e , p ick ed dance by Alfonso Tom assetti ’32 and town, I trie d to av o id a ta n k tru c k myself up, and dashed up th e step s to Russell Jones ’32 and a m oving anti­ backing out of a service station. Cen- th e elevated stage. On entering th e liv­ w ar p an to m im e by Jam es M ichener trifugal force flipped us over. M ichen­ ing-room scene, I grabbed for m y hat, ’29, w ith piano accom panim ent im pro­ er, asleep on th e d is m a n tle d m a ri­ to doff it, and lifted my gray wig half a vised by Eddie Dawes ’32. Times have onette stage, craw led out of th e back foot from m y h ead before I realized changed, but m arionettes, an ancient °f the tr u c k , n o t y e t fu lly a w a k e . w h a t h a d h a p p e n e d . T h e h a t h a d a rt, will alw ays h av e a v e ry sp ec ia l (Michener, it m ay be said here, once been knocked off by a guy rope. I had appeal. ■ MAY 1996 n G \G G Lt GIGGLE o MUNCH M UN c h The R oad Back d ? REUNION ’96 Si wMBH BBS !® V « E T GI<»G£.e giggle k j -«Dì % «C H M unc. • A w <0 AÌ , I er ^ The Magical Mystery Tour. 3 ^ ■Ufli Dan Wasserman ’71 is editorial cartoonist at The Boston Globe. SMQRE96