SPRING 2018 Periodical Postage PAID Philadelphia, PA and Additional Mailing Offices GREEN GODDESS p12 BLUE GARNET p17 500 College Ave. Swarthmore, PA 19081–1306 www.swarthmore.edu SWARTHMORE COLLEGE BULLETIN LAURENCE KESTERSON SPRING 2018 color your way home June 1–3 alumniweekend.swarthmore.edu (Email a photo of your masterpiece to bulletin@swarthmore.edu!) color HARVEST GOLD p78 in this issue 9 WILL POWER MOMENT IN TIME The men’s basketball team— including Zack Yonda ’18— advanced to the NCAA Division III Elite Eight for the first time in program history. To Print, Perchance to Dream Crispin Clarke ’98 celebrates Shakespeare. by Jonathan Riggs “With love’s light wings did I o’er-perch these walls; For stony limits cannot hold love out, And what love can do that dares love attempt;” —Romeo & Juliet, Romeo, 2.2 (66–68) 18 2 45 FEATURES DIALOGUE CLASS NOTES Getting Lost in Color Editor’s Column Letters Community Voices Alumni News and Events ... and finding your way home. by Kate Campbell and Elizabeth Slocum intro by Phillip Stern ’84 38 The Wisdom of Wombats A hairy-nosed zoological curiosity sparked Andy Podolsky ’88’s passion for conservation. by Michael Agresta 42 Profiles Stephanie Hirsch ’92 with Ben Ewen-Campen ’06 and Patricia Deats Jehlen ’65 Patricia Brooks Eldridge ’60 Joe Khan ’97 Ryane Disken-Cahill ’12 Rewind Their Light Lives On Michael Noreika ’04 Books 78 Global Thinking SPOKEN WORD Jenny Pérez ’05 9 COMMON GOOD Becky Robert Swarthmore Stories Learning Curve WEB EXTRAS Philip Stoddard ’79 BULLETIN.SWARTHMORE.EDU Liberal Arts Lives Dante Anthony Fuoco ’12 Way-Ting Chen ’94 and Jennifer Li Shen ’94 PRISMATISM Splash into a colorful video. CHAMBER OF SECRETS A Lasting Legacy Two generations, two journeys, one Swarthmore. by Jonathan Riggs Explore some campus historyand mystery-filled objects. 11 HUE OUGHTA KNOW Browse our color package extras. ON THE COVER Purple (and pink, yellow, red, etc.) rain photographed by Laurence Kesterson CHRISTIANE MOORE COLORS OF GHANA Tamara De Moor ’10 reflects on the country’s vibrant palette. GOING TO (WOM)BAT FOR Read Andy Podolsky ’88’s wombat conservation lecture. SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 1 dialogue LETTERS SWARTHMORE COLLEGE BULLETIN Kind Words Editor Jonathan Riggs I have always appreciated the Bulletin over the years, but winter 2018 was particularly attractive and meaningful from start to finish. The major photo piece, “What Stays the Same,” was extremely well done: bold and inclusive, interesting and moving. So many of the stories were fascinating, from the legend of “Tiny” Maxwell, Class of 1907 (which I had heard as gospel “truth”), to “Universal Attraction” (the NASA photo really drew me in). I especially enjoyed Bob Freedman ’58’s “We Are All One” and wrote him personally about his very provocative, perceptive, open-minded piece. Great work! I look forward to the next Bulletin with renewed expectation. —RON SUTTON ’57, San Diego, Calif. Managing Editor Kate Campbell Class Notes Editor Elizabeth Slocum Designer Phillip Stern ’84 Photographer Laurence Kesterson LAURE NCE KE STERS O N Administrative/Editorial Assistant Michelle Crumsho Editorial Assistant Eishna Ranganathan ’20 Editor Emerita Maralyn Orbison Gillespie ’49 HAPPY BIRTH-DAY bulletin.swarthmore.edu facebook.com/SwarthmoreBulletin instagram.com/SwarthmoreBulletin Email: bulletin@swarthmore.edu Telephone: 610-328-8533 JONATHAN RIGGS Editor COLOR’S SPEAKING for itself in this rainbowbright issue with our biggest feature ever, where editors Kate Campbell and Elizabeth Slocum, designer Phillip Stern ’84, and photographer Laurence Kesterson shake up a kaleidoscope of Swarthmore stories. (I made the Jell-O.) “I enjoyed looking beyond the beauty of color to explore its meaning—which is different for everyone,” Elizabeth says. “That the bucktooth parrotfish truly appears to have buckteeth was thrilling,” adds Kate. Whether you’re more interested in beauty or buckteeth, here’s to loving and living your true colors—every single one. We welcome letters on subjects covered in the magazine. We reserve the right to edit letters for length, clarity, and style. Views expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or the official views or policies of the College. Send letters and story ideas to bulletin@swarthmore.edu Send address changes to records@swarthmore.edu The Swarthmore College Bulletin (ISSN 0888-2126), of which this is volume CXV, number III, is published in October, January, April, and July by Swarthmore College, 500 College Ave., Swarthmore, PA 19081-1390. Periodicals postage paid at Philadelphia, PA and additional mailing offices. Permit No. 0530-620. Postmaster: Send address changes to Alumni Records, 500 College Ave., Swarthmore, PA 19081-1390. ‘UNIVERSAL’ APPEAL Printed with agri-based inks. Please recycle after reading. Congratulations on the winter 2018 Bulletin, the most interesting issue I have read in years. “Universal Attraction,” about Swarthmore’s young astronomers, captivated me especially. —ROBERT GURFIELD ’60, Los Angeles, Calif. ©2018 Swarthmore College. Printed in USA. SUPER STARS pr inted w e c o-fri e nd + WRITE TO US: bulletin@swarthmore.edu 2 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 ly H-UV ks th i in During our search for colorful Swarthmore stories, we came across this rainbow of 51 hats crocheted by Sara Hiebert Burch ’79, Edward Hicks Magill Professor of Mathematics and Natural Science. Inspired by her fellow professors Sibelan Forrester (Russian) and Patricia White (film and media studies), who sometimes knit during faculty meetings, Burch joined in the multitasking multicrafting. Over the course of a year’s worth of meetings, she crocheted a hat for charity at the rate of about one per week. “I’d done this kind of thing before—when I lived in Australia, there was a call out for knitting sweaters for penguins whose feathers had been damaged in an oil spill,” she says. “This time, I found Knit-ASquare, which provides essential warm items for South African orphans, many of whose parents have died of AIDS. They accept squares for blankets and had a recent call out for hats and toys.” She encourages anyone interested in putting their creativity and compassion to hands-on use to consider knit-a-square.com or a similar outlet. OVERHEARD ON OUR WEBSITE WINSTEAD BARNES by Cameron French ’14’s “Through Birth, a Companion” (winter 2018) was a wonderful testament to bringing new life into the world. I hope the Swarthmore doulas’ work continues well. —LINDA GOULD via bulletin.swarthmore.edu I AM WOVEN, HEAR ME ROAR This February, I had the pleasure of speaking about the history of the universe to an enthusiastic audience at the retirement community where my fellow “Universal Attraction” interview subject Nancy Grace Roman ’46, H’76 now resides. It was an honor—she is as sharp as ever. —JOHN MATHER ’68, H’94, Hyattsville, Md. Louise Hawes ’65, I was excited to read about you and your career (“Song of a Stargazer,” spring 2017). Now I will order your latest book. Remember how in our freshman year we used to trudge up the hill to breakfast in Parrish, chanting for some odd reason, “stupid old sun shining through the slats”? I’ve often thought about you over the years and wondered how your life unfolded. —SARAH VAN KEUREN ’66 via bulletin.swarthmore.edu Sarah, dear Sarah! How wonderful to hear from you! I’m sorry I’m just seeing this now, so you might not read how much fun it is to be in touch with an old classmate. Please write me via my website, louisehawes.com. And yes, “Stupid Old Sun”! How was that born??! Must be a story there! —LOUISE HAWES ’65 via bulletin.swarthmore.edu SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 3 dialogue COMMUNITY VOICES ALAIN JEHLEN ’66 DELIVERING HOPE T HE MORNING corner, sit on a curb, and cry. after Election Day The current era echoed the mood 2016, I met a group when Pat grew into activism. of Swarthmoreans “In the 1960s, just like now, people to make sense of the were angry,” she says. “They wanted to new political reality. change things and got engaged. I came Over wine and pasta, my classmates to believe the most important way I promised to help with my campaign for could help is to talk to my neighbors.” local office in Somerville, Mass. “This past year has been a wake-up Last November, Ben Ewen-Campen call to get involved,” says Ben. ’06 and I won seats on Somerville’s Local frustration now centers on 11-member Board of Aldermen. the city and region’s housing crisis— We followed eight out of 10 by Patricia Deats residents cannot Jehlen ’65, who afford to stay if has represented they lose their with Somerville since current housing Ben Ewen-Campen ’06 and 1976, including as in Somerville. Ben Patricia Deats Jehlen ’65 its state senator and I promise to since 2005. use the best tools Voter anxiety helped fuel our upset to address the problem. wins in our community of 82,000 that From donors to door-knocking neighbors Boston and Cambridge. As volunteers, Swarthmore alums helped, we knocked on thousands of doors, Ben as did our Swarthmore education. and I heard almost universal dismay. When I read the vote counts, the win People shared their worries—about felt bittersweet. I ran for office to addiction, deportation, or eviction; make sure government works well about rats and traffic; and about the for everyone and to advocate for biggest of national and international people who have less of a voice. But in threats. Often after talking to a voter winning, I shifted the composition of on their stoop, I had to go around the the board. Pat, Ben, and I have degrees STEPHANIE HIRSCH ’92 “Let’s get involved in government at every level, for the long haul.” 4 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 from Swarthmore and Harvard, making our profiles similar to a wave of residents who have contributed to gentrification. I will judge my success on how well I serve all residents, address issues we’ve heard, and build bridges across groups. Pat reflected on a similar challenge in the ’60s. “Working-class Americans were angry about the war, because it was their kids who were getting killed,” she says. “But to look at the rallies, it was the college students who seemed to be the face of the movement. There was a lot to be gained in finding the common ground by talking across class lines.” The campaigns created a sense of hope, but can we deliver on it? “We can’t solve these issues overnight,” says Ben, “but the first step is to increase engagement. I’m incredibly hopeful.” Despite the challenge, in the face of terrible news every day, most of us are picking something to work on. I choose to believe that what we do at the local level matters, and that, together, we will bear witness to a stronger community that’s listening— and talking—across party lines. —STEPHANIE HIRSCH ’92, BEN EWEN-CAMPEN ’06, and PATRICIA DEATS JEHLEN ’65 all hold elected office in Massachusetts. ASHWIN RAO ’99 Change begins in local government—so we ran and won REWIND: I AM A SWAT ENGINEER Why the world needs us, atypical as we may be I HAVE ANSWERED some Think about an engineer designing a challenging questions in job bridge. She literally has a Point A and interviews: “Your résumé says you Point B. The creativity and beauty of have a B.S. in engineering with no the discipline lie within that interstice. specialty. You didn’t specialize in a But what if we don’t know Point B? discipline?” and “A liberal arts school What if Point B doesn’t even exist with an engineering program?” not yet? Engineers crave answers, yet to mention the most awkward, “Tell not all questions have answers—and, me about Swarthmore. indeed, some of the most by Was that some kind of important questions community college?” do not have a single, Yes, I have an universal truth. Rather, ’04 engineering degree, but they lend a certain I am not your typical internal reflection and engineer. Where do I begin? subjectivity that engineering by itself In the years since I graduated from does not always afford. Swarthmore, I have worked with This is why Swarthmore’s engineers of all disciplines—civil, engineering program set me up mechanical, electrical, software, precisely for my career. I work for industrial, chemical, and even Puget Sound Energy outside Seattle liberal arts—and all have this in to determine and promote the value common: They are exceptionally of energy efficiency and renewable good at answering questions with an resources. unambiguous Point A and a definite Engineers have historically Point B. dominated this field. “This light bulb MICHAEL NOREIKA draws less power than that other one, so it’ll save you energy and money off your utility bill.” Makes an awful lot of sense in a perfectly rational world. The engineer in me thinks, “Logic good. Logic safe. Irrational scary. Irrational threatening.” The Swarthmore-matriculated engineer in me thinks, “How do we know this is the right thing to do?” (philosophy) “At the fundamental level, we’re not just replacing old equipment with more efficient equipment; we are in fact attempting to change our customers’ behaviors!” (psychology) “What are the implications to the customer, the utility, the entire Northwest?” (public policy) “And how can we be sure the energy savings are real?” (economics) “We need to look at an inferential analysis!” (statistics) “And how can we visualize these data in meaningful ways?” (art/art history) “How can we get this into a sound, cohesive argument?” (linguistics/ literature) “What do you mean you need this done by the end of the day?” (whining) There are so many questions we need to ask! Are Swarthmore engineering students predisposed to these liberal arts perspectives? Probably. However, I dismissed most humanities and social sciences on my way to college. For me, an engineering education was an inevitability; literature was something my dad read. After a Swarthmore degree in engineering with a minor in art history and a graduate degree in civil engineering from the University of Washington, I realize that I owe Swarthmore a great deal of gratitude for the liberal arts education that galvanized my career. We need more engineers who chase their truth like a rugger chasing a pterodactyl across Parrish Beach— engineers unsatisfied with Point A’s and Point B’s, engineers with a nonpareil ability to contextualize outside of conventional system boundaries, engineers willing to explore and master nontechnical subjects, engineers unafraid to ask questions that don’t always have answers. The world needs more Swarthmore engineers. SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 5 dialogue AUTHOR Q&A BEHIND THE BOOK OTHERWORDLY, OURSELVES FOOTPRINTS: JONATHAN GILLIGAN ’82 by Joanne Lipson Freed ’05 by Michelle Crumsho “When businesses and other private organizations look beyond their own actions and begin to influence others to reduce emissions, this is what I call ‘private governance,’” says Jonathan Gilligan ’82, an associate professor at Vanderbilt University. In Beyond Politics: The Private Governance Response to Climate Change (Cambridge University Press), Gilligan and co-author Michael P. Vandenbergh examine how the private sector can play a key role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the absence of traditional public governance. Available now, Haunting Encounters: The Ethics of Reading across Boundaries of Difference (Cornell University Press) is Joanne Lipson Freed ’05’s first book. What sparked the idea for this book? Governments around the world aren’t taking sufficient action to avert dangerous climate change—in the U.S., accepting the truth of basic climate science has become a polarizing political issue. Businesses should realize that they can use their influence to make it easier and more attractive for others to protect the environment. What surprised you? Individual and household energy use is the single biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.: bigger than the industrial sector and bigger than the commercial sector (offices, stores, etc.). What can individuals do? My research shows that if everyone in the U.S. took a few simple steps to use less energy, then even with no major changes to people’s lives, we could cut SUSAN URMY IN MANY WAYS, the questions I explore in Haunting Encounters— about ethics, otherness, and the power of fiction—emerged from my Swarthmore studies as an English major/interpretation theory minor. I’ve always believed that literature can matter in the world, serving to correct stereotypes and redress injustices. But too often, claims about its transformative power can seem dangerously oversimplified. After all, the characters we meet in the pages of a book are just that: imaginative constructs, brought to life through the fiction writer’s art. That’s what I mean by “haunting”: the feeling of closeness that fiction can provide, which—although powerful—we know to be an illusion. Writers of world literature are keenly aware of the way their works cross national, cultural, and linguistic boundaries that are also boundaries of power. In Haunting Encounters, I trace the way literature from a variety of countries and cultures engages the imaginations of readers— especially white, Western readers. Equally important, I explore the way it enforces the limits of these kinds of fictional encounters. Cross-cultural reading is most valuable when it is not taken as a substitute for justice and inclusion in the nonfictional world. greenhouse gas emissions by more than 500 million tons per year, which is more than the entire annual emissions from France. Look at yourself as part of a connected community—your knowledge can help you to inform others about simple ways to reduce emissions, and your actions will set an example for your friends and neighbors. HOT TYPE: NEW BOOKS BY SWARTHMOREANS Alan Gordon ’81 Where Werewolves Fear to Tread Thurston Howl Publications 6 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 A wave of day-walking lycanthropes don’t stand a chance against an elite guard-dog trainer and his team of powerful pups—including a mystic Weimaraner and a tickedoff dachshund—in this funny, fast-paced suspense novel. Celebrated for his law career, stage musicals, and eight-volume medieval Fools’ Guild Mysteries, Gordon is as endlessly, effortlessly clever and creative as always. “A new alpha has joined the pack of paranormal writers,” raves author Leigh Perry. Matthew Warshawsky ’92 The Perils of Living the Good and True Law Juan de la Cuesta Based on original archival records and published transcriptions of mid1600s Spanish Inquisition testimonies during the “Great Conspiracy” trials in Lima and Mexico City, Warshawsky’s text examines the complex lives and clandestine practices of individuals who risked their lives—and sometimes lost them—to secretly maintain their Jewish identities despite converting to Catholicism. “Inquisition procedure created a space of genuine expression for the most determined of these individuals,” he finds. Kathy Goss ’63 Darwoon Dyreez Lonesome Burro Press “Although I received my degrees in English,” writes Goss about her fictional memoir, “I have gleefully broken all the rules of spelling, grammar, and punctuation in this book, utilizing an invented dialect I call Darwoonish.” A modern-day Mark Twain/ poet/spoken-word artist/ musician, she guides readers through life in a quirky California desert mining town, population 35, where Saturday fun involves gluing a broken plaster lawn burro back together. Remarkably warm, wise, and one-of-akind. Neil Gershenfeld ’81, H’06; Alan Gershenfeld ’84; and Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld Exploring the promise and the perils of the third digital revolution, where after computing and communication comes fabrication, the authors lay out a plan for humankind to prepare—personally and as a society—to harness our growing ability to turn data into objects without simply reacting to it or perpetuating inequality. “To paraphrase Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart,” they write, “we are not passengers on the third digital revolution roadmap. We are the crew.” Designing Reality Basic Books SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 7 common good dialogue SHARING SUCCESS AND STORIES OF SWARTHMORE GLOBAL THINKING COLOR GUARDIAN She’s an influencer in the cosmetics industry by Kate Campbell 8 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 and creativity,” she says. And those extolled relationship-building skills are vital, too: “With small budgets and a limited amount of people, it’s critical to have strong collaborations.” These traits have translated well to her new role overseeing MAC’s international online business, where she is committed to the culture of inclusion. As a queer woman of color, Pérez feels honored to work for a company that vigorously reinforces diversity. Named one of the “Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality” in 2017 by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, Estée Lauder Cos. scored 100 percent on the 2017 Corporate Equality Index. Estée Lauder is also helping to close the gender gap in technology by partnering with the nonprofit Girls Who Code. After all, investing in the tech and science skills of the next generation isn’t just the right thing to do—it contributes to a stronger brand. “With advancements such as AI, smart diagnostic tools, live streaming, and social media,” Pérez says, “the sky is the limit in terms of improving the shopping experience in ways we never thought possible.” One nifty tool MAC launched in ON THE WEB DOUG KIM ANCIENT EGYPTIANS were the first to create cosmetics, applying crushed minerals to accentuate beauty, guard against the elements, and—while they were at it—pay tribute to gods and goddesses as insurance for protection in the afterlife. Today, makeup is a multibilliondollar business shifting directions in fashion with one fiery contoured cheek or glittered brow. A key player in this industry of self-expression is Jenny Pérez ’05, executive director of MAC Cosmetics international e-commerce. As a leader in the global corporation, Pérez works a relentless schedule. But she keeps her creative side radiant by writing slam poetry and, most importantly, by building “agility and efficiency” with the startup mentality she honed as a Swarthmore economics major and Philip Evans Scholar. Real-time platforms that offer product testing and learning are trending in e-commerce and digital marketing at MAC. But that can mean getting “so bogged down by analyzing data that we forget to go with our gut instinct,” says Pérez. She’s found that some of the most important business decisions involve letting her team take risks. “It’s human nature to pat ourselves on the back for successes and only talk about the huge wins,” she says. “We neglect to talk about the things that don’t work and why. We forget that with every failure comes a lesson learned.” Before joining MAC, Pérez oversaw the Latin America online business within its parent company, Estée Lauder Cos. “It’s an emerging region, so the skills necessary included resourcefulness JENNY PÉREZ ’05 Beauty Titan select stores in 2017 was a “Virtual Try-On Mirror” simulating makeup shades to dab, pat, or blend on the customer’s face using live video and without ever touching a product. Technologies like this make strides in intensifying the digital consumer experience, but when it comes to cosmetics, there remains something special about the human touch. “Maybe five years from now, I’ll be able to just say out loud that I need to replenish my favorite foundation and it appears at my doorstep in 60 seconds,” Pérez says. “But I think cosmetics are such fun, intimate, experiential products that the in-store experience is still key.” CONGRATULATIONS! Nine faculty members received promotions at the February Board of Managers meeting. + CELEBRATE bit.ly/SwatProfs TRUTH AND EVIDENCE Water-treatment expert Marc Edwards shares lessons from the Flint water crisis. + LEARN bit.ly/EdwardsTruth BATTLE SCARS Philosopher Krista Thomason discusses the personal responsibility of child soldiers. + HEAR bit.ly/KThomason ZERO WASTE Explore how campus is ramping up to reach ambitious green goals. + WATCH bit.ly/SwatZeroWaste “I’m inspired by all of the initiatives we are creating at Estée Lauder Cos. to build an incredible workplace for existing and future generations.” MED IMAGINATION Hear Sari Altschuler ’01 discuss literature and health in the early U.S. + LISTEN bit.ly/Altschuler WHERE THERE’S A WILL ... To Print, Perchance to Dream by Jonathan Riggs “TO ME,” says Crispin Clarke ’98, “Shakespeare represents the undying fire of the human spirit.” Clarke was aglow when his English grandparents gifted him a broken-spined Victorian-era Shakespeare collection. Inspired by the volume’s sumptuous chromolithography, he founded a new company, Shakesprints (shakesprints.com), to reproduce the lavish art on an “infinite variety” of goods. “This labor of love,” he says, “honors humanity’s collective and ongoing desire to celebrate and learn from Shakespeare.” + MORE (AS YOU LIKE IT): bulletin.swarthmore.edu SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 9 common good Needle and Thread BUGGIN’ OUT ANT by Sylvia Bogsch Rucker ’65 AS AN 11-YEAR-OLD Hungarian immigrant, I noticed right away that my American classmates wore a different outfit every day. Desperate to fit in—and to augment my spartan European wardrobe—I took up sewing, which I really enjoyed. Later, as a penniless grad student, I made clothes for my children, myself, and even my husband, Rudy Rucker ’67. I have always been madly in love with color and geometry. In fact, I used to paint abstracts in strict blocks, masking off each color area with tape, inspired by Frank Stella and other later 20th-century hard-edge painters. Quilting, which I took up in retirement a few years ago, was a natural continuation: I assemble blocks of beautiful colors. I don’t like to plan too far ahead. I choose a few colors and geometric shapes and let serendipity take over, but it can be hard to branch out from my favorite combinations, blue and yellow or red and black. Once in a while, I make a scrap quilt to use up all my leftover fabric and go wild with colors, but generally I try to restrict myself to a very limited palette, as did the inspiring Gee’s Bend quilters. 10 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 H by Celia Caust-Ellenbogen ’09 illustrations by Christiane Moore F My goal is to make enough quilts to use up all my fabric, but it’s hopeless; like all quilters, I always buy much more than I need because all those yummy colors call out to me! + HIP TO BE SQUARE: sylviarucker.com Ballpark Figure “Baseball depends on so much luck,” says Shingo Murata ’07, “but successful teams integrate flexible managers with a cuttingedge front office.” NO MOUNTAIN UGH O N E IGH AS A STUDENT, Shingo Murata ’07 crunched numbers for wiffle ball games in Willets. Today, he manages operations for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, a professional baseball team in Japan. Compiling data from video and radar—as well as hypotheses from coaches and players—Murata and his colleagues statistically analyze the Golden Eagles, short- and long-term. “When the coaches have questions, I can support it from the data,” says Murata. “When we’re talking to the players, we can give them confidence.” Murata sees his own career as something of a curveball. In a spark of what he describes as Swarthmore’s “if it’s not there, try to make it yourself ” mentality, Murata helped create—and obsessively run stats for— the aforementioned Indoor Wiffle Ball League, played against a cardboard strike zone in his dorm. After Swarthmore, he revived this entrepreneurial spirit with Stats Ninja, an app that allows you to gather statistics about sports games you watch ... and finally prove whether your team really plays better when you’re sitting in the stands. Although Murata’s a numbers guy who likes to make informed decisions, he also appreciates the role that chance played in his journey. “I didn’t foresee coming to Japan and entering the field this way,” he says, “but I’m happy I did.” —CARA EHLENFELDT ’16 ORMER Swarthmore professor Neal Weber (1908–2001) had a theory as to how Europe’s common brown pavement ant (Tetramorium caespitum L.) first arrived on campus. Beginning in 1889, Swarthmore set out “class ivies,” brought over from meaningful sites such as Swarthmoor Hall in England and the Royal Gardens in Paris. “It would have been a simple matter for a fecundated female of this ant to have survived the journey in soil about the ivy roots,” Weber explained in 1965 about the ants that eventually took over Parrish Hall. Two years later, shortly after the pesticide DDT was banned, the yellowish pharaoh ant (Monomorium pharaonis) moved in, too. “They have lived in Parrish much longer than I have,” Peter Fulton ’84 admitted in a 1979 Phoenix article, “and, like the Pyramids, will continue to thrive long after I am gone.” He was right. In a 1986 Halcyon ranking of the top six most detested creatures on campus, ants were No. 1. Throughout the 1980s, they plagued campus by spurring false fire alarms: Guileless ants tripped the College’s old photoelectric smoke detectors; clever ones took up safe residence in the sensors. Eventually, Swarthmore’s pest-control service constrained the population with the help of soda straws, baited with sugar mixed with a growth regulator to inhibit the insect’s development cycle. Despite being a nuisance, Swarthmore ants have influenced us all. Campus’s very first air conditioner was installed on behalf of exotic ants studied in Dr. Weber’s lab. As mentioned, ants were part of the reason the College upgraded its fire safety system. They also sparked at least two April Fool’s Day pranks: In 1971, the Phoenix jokingly reported that 13 million escaped lab ants devoured campus; in 2001, students placed ant art on a sculpture outside Trotter with a “For Sale” sign, suggesting househunters should follow up with the queen ant. Moreover, a number of alumni have built ant-related careers— notably the late Carl Rettenmeyer ’53 (bit.ly/AntCR), a pre-eminent expert on army ants. They tie into Swarthmore’s heritage, too—Quakers, particularly in the 18th and 19th centuries, were drawn to the natural sciences as a mode of observing God’s creation and a source of practical knowledge. A Philadelphia Quaker, Mary Townsend (1814–1851), published a landmark work in popular entomology, 1844’s Life in the Insect World: or, Conversations Upon Insects, Between an Aunt and her Nieces. “I have always felt a particular interest in ants,” the titular “Aunt M.” writes. She praises their quiet strength, diligent industriousness, and commitment to supporting their communities despite—or perhaps because of—their individual vulnerability. Perhaps that is why Evan Gregory ’01 compared Swarthmore to an ant colony in his graduation speech, with its “hundreds of worker ants dashing about, constantly worrying about time management, and dozens of thesis adviser ants reprimanding the workers for not finishing their abstracts or bibliographies on time.” SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 11 common good COLOR WHERE THE SPIRIT LEADS Tracking Trajectories “It’s renewing and refreshing to sing,” says Jim Thomas, an artist featured in Jane Dreeben ’79’s Vineyard Portraits. CREATIVE VISIONING ICA SS JE SL AY SW D AN MORE: janedreeben.com GREEN GODDESS Amy Vachal ’11’s debut album, Strawberry Moon, has risen: bit.ly/A-V-Music AS AN ALLURING ALIEN, the late Susan Oliver ’53 appeared in the end credits of Star Trek reruns on a near-daily basis from the late 1960s on. A documentary on her remarkable life, The Green Girl, shows that Oliver was so much more than one iconic role: an award-winning actress, a record-setting aviator, and a groundbreaking television director. + 12 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 MORE: thegreengirlmovie.com NEW APPOINTMENTS Professor of Sociology Sarah Willie-LeBreton will be Swarthmore’s new provost effective July 1, and Salem Shuchman ’84 will be the new chair of the Board of Managers after they meet in May. “Swarthmore’s excellence is the result of many partnerships among faculty, staff, administrators, and students,” says Willie-LeBreton. “I look forward to fostering those relationships while advancing our academic mission.” “I am humbled and honored,” Shuchman says. “I’m looking forward to my continued work with fellow alumni, students, faculty, and staff to ensure that Swarthmore’s priorities remain focused on academics and access.” LAURENCE KESTERSON + Nine students—including Gabriella Small ’19 and Susie Min ’18—performed excerpts from the 1890 ballet Sleeping Beauty on campus. LAURENCE KESTERSON Down a dirt road and tucked into the woods, the Martha’s Vineyard home of Jane Dreeben ’79 holds hundreds of books and the inquisitive mind of a dreamer. “I feel a sense of awe—emotional, intellectual, and spiritual—when I hear music or see a photograph,” the teacher and psychologist says. “Creativity moves us to transcendence.” And so her book, The Urge to Create: Vineyard Portraits, is a gorgeous tribute to the creative lives of 50 artists on the island, including Jim Thomas, pictured above, who is director of the Martha’s Vineyard Spirituals Choir and the founder and president of the U.S. Slave Songs Project. Dreeben hopes readers absorb the diversity of artists—from weavers to poets—in this tiny community where nature often nutures creativity. This journey, it turns out, was her own artistic calling. “My Swarthmore experience imbued me with the confidence to follow my curiosity,” she says. —KATE CAMPBELL CONTEMPLATIVE COLORING inspired Sharon Seyfarth Garner ’89 to write Praying with Mandalas: A Colorful, Contemplative Practice and Mandalas, Candles, and Prayer: A Simply Centered Advent (Upper Room Books). “Intentionally creating time for prayerful coloring, stillness, and silence is a tremendous investment,” says Garner, founder of Belly of the Whale Spiritual Direction & Retreat Ministries. “This gives us the clarity to be more centered and effective.” Garner chose the circular mandala as her books’ devotional pattern since it represents the all-encompassing nature of God and is a reminder of the sacredness at the center of each of us. “We also collect and distribute prayer cards through our prison ministry,” she says. “We’re always looking for new and meaningful ways to share the power of colorful prayers.” —MICHELLE CRUMSHO SASHA FORNARI REECE ROBINSON “Strategy is a complex game that rewards the sharpest thinking,” says Peter Cohan ’79, author of Disciplined Growth Strategies: Insights from the Growth Trajectories of Successful and Unsuccessful Companies (Apress), although he laughs about how little of it he brought to Swarthmore. “I was very confused,” he says. “As a freshman, I wanted to be a poet, but—to make a point—my father told me to look it up in the Yellow Pages.” After a brief stint as an aspiring architect, Cohan—who taught himself to program a computer at age 14—decided his future was in tech strategy. Today, he’s a recognized international expert on the subject, the founder of his own management consulting and venture capital firm, and an executive-in-residence at Babson College. “My two Swarthmore degrees, in art history and electrical engineering, gave me a unique ability to look at problems from many perspectives,” he says. “I hope to provide a roadmap for leaders who are more creative and who can use their capital to create sustainable growth trajectories—especially since some companies will now have about $600 billion in tax cuts coming to them.” —JONATHAN RIGGS CABINET OF TREASURES Explore the campus historical wonders hidden in plain sight in the lobby of the Service Building. —ALISA GIARDINELLI + DISCOVER THE REST: bulletin.swarthmore.edu SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 13 common good Helping Hands by Roy Greim ’14 NO ONE would’ve blamed women’s basketball coach Renee DeVarney or swimming coach Karin Colby if they’d canceled Swarthmore’s winter training trips to Puerto Rico the way 16 other colleges did—after all, post-Hurricane Maria, parts of the U.S. territory remained without power or clean water. DeVarney and Colby, however, saw an opportunity for their studentathletes to learn ... and to help. “The needs of the people made me and the team want to go even more,” says DeVarney. From the beachside town of Rincón, basketball players, coaches, and training staff drove a bus to the mountains to deliver water to families without access to transportation. “I was able to speak to families in Spanish,” recalls Hayley Raymond ’18. “I will never forget them.” “Our original plan was to train and experience warm weather,” says DeVarney. “Luckily, it turned into so much more.” In November, ESPN signed sportscaster and journalist Mark Kriegel ’84 to cover boxing. A high-profile writing assignment might seem old hat—after all, Kriegel was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1990 for his essay “The People’s Court,” about playground basketball in New York City, and is an acclaimed novelist and biographer—but there are times he still can’t believe his career path. “My father was a writer,” laughs Kriegel, “so I promised myself to not become one under any circumstances.” That resolve lasted about two weeks after Swarthmore. “Here I was, a recent Phi Beta Kappa graduate, trying to teach myself how to type,” he says. “At night, I would take a bus from the Port Authority to Paterson, N.J., and write obituaries for the Hudson Dispatch.” After receiving encouragement from Professor Richard Rubin, Kriegel was torn between law school or a journalism graduate program. During the entrance exam for the former, he had an epiphany. “I realized I couldn’t do it, so I walked out,” he says. “Columbia journalism school was the best thing that could’ve happened to me.” Initially, Kriegel saw sportswriting as a stop along the way, but he soon realized the opportunity and education it provided (especially pugilism stories like this: bit.ly/ MKriegel). “Boxing makes me a better writer than I actually am,” he said. “Writing is all about conflict, and boxing accentuates that. All other sports are metaphors for what boxing actually is: combat.” —RG TRACK & FIELD At the conference championship, the women’s team placed fourth, improving significantly from last season’s seventhplace finish. The men’s team finished third. SWIMMING The women’s swimming team was the runner-up at the conference championship, its best result since 2008. For the men’s team, Alec Menzer ’21 was named the Centennial Conference’s Outstanding Rookie Performer as the Garnet earned silver at the championship meet. 14 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 In addition to his on-air boxing analyst duties for ESPN, Mark Kriegel ’84 will do longform storytelling as well as video and print essays on a wide array of subjects. MINDFUL MAYOR POLITICAL SCIENCE He’s making South Miami—and the world—greener by Amanda Whitbred BECOMING MAYOR of South Miami, Fla., eight years ago was “an accidental thing” for Philip Stoddard ’79. “I went to a friend’s house to hear who the next candidate would be,” he laughs. “I discovered it was me.” As he considered running, Stoddard thought about the sustainable policies he’d like to see cities enact. Now in his fifth and final term, Stoddard has seen many of his proposed initiatives face challenges and pushback, but he relies on his scientific background to keep making the case for change in his change-averse town. “One of my happy discoveries is that voters value leaders who make evidence-based decisions,” says Stoddard, “provided the leaders clearly and simply articulate that evidence.” A professor of biology at Florida International University with a lifelong dedication to conservation— and the solar-powered house and car to prove it— Stoddard has made pioneering environmental progress for South Miami. This includes mandating solar panels on new construction, reworking park contracts to require landscapers to use no-risk pesticide alternatives, and being awarded $4.1 million by the CDC to fight mosquitoes without toxic sprays. “I didn’t start out knowing much about how to run a town,” reflects Stoddard. “But I discovered that you can call up the experts and say, ‘Hey, I need a tutorial on something,’ and somebody will spend part of their Saturday bringing you up to speed.” This inclination for collaborating and asking questions is something Stoddard says he learned from Swarthmore, and he still has big goals: affordable housing, revitalization of South Miami’s downtown, and an ongoing commitment to solar power. Achieving them GRAY READ BOXER, BRIEF will mean returning to his College roots. “Swarthmore showed me there’s a whole world of people out there who know more than you about something,” he says, “and they’re happy to share it.” “I thought I could do good locally, but I didn’t realize how hungry the country would be for evidence-based decision-makers.” SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 15 common good LIBERAL ARTS LIVES DANTE ANTHONY FUOCO ’12 AKEEM BIGGS “The last time I performed this one emotional scene in Transplant, I actually started crying,” says Dante Anthony Fuoco ’12. “It was a raw, real ‘we’re all connected’ moment. I treasure those.” LIBERAL ARTS LIVES BEST SUPPORTIVE ACTOR He cares about his performances—and the people who inspire them by Jonathan Riggs 16 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 AN ONLY CHILD, Dante Anthony Fuoco ’12 loved when his parents let him watch Saturday Night Live. “Playing characters and making people laugh stuck with me,” he says. “I invented eight different brothers, each with their own idiosyncrasies. I could play each at the drop of a hat.” After graduating from Swarthmore and moving to New Orleans, Fuoco flexed his performance muscles in local improv classes, creating a solo sketch parodying Teach for America, the very program that brought him to the city. The piece was the product of his critical reflection on his place in a post-Katrina New Orleans. “The more I learned, the more ashamed I was of my privilege as a gentrifier, a white man, a transplant,” Fuoco says. “I wondered: How can I put down roots in a city that’s maybe better off without me?” Such was the inspiration for Transplant, his darkly comic solo show. From a conflicted yuppie craving artisinal kombucha to a bombastic ally for people of color, Fuoco plays a dozen characters in 75 minutes, tapping into the best and worst aspects of himself while experiencing New Orleans—and life—in all its joy and pain. It resonates with his day job— Fuoco teaches elementary-age kids with severe emotional and behavioral disabilities at the New Orleans Therapeutic Day Program. The strength and flexibility required from students and teachers alike has put into relief why creating meaningful, honest moments onstage and off matters so much to him. “The goal of teaching and the goal of performing are the same: connection. You have to make yourself vulnerable,” he says. “It takes courage, but in an increasingly fractured and broken world, it’s absolutely necessary.” STEPHANIE YANTZ Compassionate Chameleon “Swarthmore is a place where, not only do you develop your way of viewing the world, but you create incredibly strong relationships that last a lifetime,” says Way-Ting Chen ’94 (right), who met best friend and business partner Jennifer Li Shen ’94 their freshman year. HEARTS OF GARNET Their bottom line: Benefiting others by Elizabeth Slocum LIKE SWARTHMORE, Way-Ting Chen ’94 and Jennifer Li Shen ’94 are enhancing their social impact—by helping organizations maximize theirs. “We do strategic business planning in the social sector,” Chen says of Blue Garnet, the LA-based consulting firm she and Shen co-founded in 2002. “So instead of focusing on the bottom line, our focus is on lasting social change: What impact are you going to make? How do you deliver it? And then how do you do it sustainably?” “We love geeking out on social impact and thrive on being a team of pragmatic idealists,” says Shen. “People say we help put structure around ambiguity, and that’s true—we aren’t afraid of complexity.” Even with high-profile clients such as the Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles, the James Irvine Foundation, and Time Warner, their partnership always feels personal for these trueblue College friends. After graduating from Swarthmore, Chen and Shen were roommates in New York before moving to opposite coasts, going to business school, and landing at competing managementconsulting firms. Yet both felt called to make a difference in their community, together. Blue Garnet was born, named with a nod to their beloved alma mater and its spirit of social responsibility. “Garnet represents honesty, loyalty, and true friendship,” Chen says. “When we started the firm, a rare garnet was found in Madagascar that in certain lights looked blue or green. We loved that idea of transformation and change—it worked beautifully.” The duo is proud that Blue Garnet resembles a “mini-Swarthmore” through its ethos, team of learners, and small-by-design environment, which reminds them of where they came from and where they still want to go. “We started with this youthful optimism around changing the world,” Chen says. “Doing so takes patience and a long view—it requires changing pieces of it at a time. We’ve found our piece that we’re trying to change.” WAY-TING CHEN ’94 and JENNIFER LI SHEN ’94 Entrepreneurs SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 17 50 55 60 nature of our school’s color. It has many official incarnations, depending on whether it is ink on paper, pixels on your screen, dye in clothing, or paint on signs. It has changed over time. I say this lack of color consistency—a rejection of exclusion and authority—is a good thing, rooted deeply in the ideas of the women and men who founded this College. 45 40 35 30 GETTING LOST IN COLOR ... and finding your way home by Phillip Stern ’84 Q UITE A FEW years back, my wife, Tamar Chansky Stern ’84, and I repainted our dining room ... or should I say we tried. For two weeks, we agonized over the color. It would be orange, we agreed, but which? Upon seeing the startling hue I had rolled onto the wall, Tamar, typically not prone to losing her grip, was incensed: “Is this a joke? Are you trying to make me crazy?” Behold the power of color. 18 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 Rifling through the paint chips, we found a sweeter orange, but I knew this shade would never wake me up in the morning. After hours of debate, we came upon a solution: Use both oranges, layering a semi-opaque glaze of the second over the first. Voilà! Sumptuously appetizing, suggestive of orange peel and the Italian villa we could only imagine going to in those years of repaying student loan debt. Sometimes, two wrong oranges make a right. SO HOW DO WE MAKE CHOICES about color? To me, color implies motion, the tendency not to stay put: restlessness and adventure. Put a color chart in front of me and I feel like I’ve been invited to play a game in which there are no correct answers, only questions: What do we want this room, this design, this painting, this magazine to feel like when people experience it? What do we want them to take away? You have a concept—a feeling, maybe some words if you’re lucky—but what does that really look like? You get lost in this game, and you find your way out. This game of color drags many things into it. At Swarthmore, we have the Chromatic Cabinet, an interdisciplinary, informal gathering founded by art professor Logan Grider and physics professor Tristan Smith, which meets three times a year to share perspectives on working with color. Lured by its mysterious and mischievous name, evocative of Narnia and Dr. Caligari, I attended a meeting and was delighted to find myself in the middle of a discussion about synesthesia in poetry. French professor Jean-Vincent Blanchard led a discussion about Rimbaud’s “Voyelles” (translated by Christian Bök) in which all the vowels and their sounds have a color—mostly unappealing: A black, E white, I red, U green, O blue: the vowels. I will tell thee, one day, of thy newborn portents: A, the black velvet cuirass of flies whose essence commingles, abuzz, around the cruellest of smells ... I was thrilled to be back in class with a group of Swarthmoreans talking about color and poetry, in French and English. What an opportunity to catch a whiff of unsavory poetic hues, feel the shiver of refractory sounds, and as Grider says, “ask the dumb questions.” MAYBE IT DOESN’T SURPRISE YOU that color is happening at good ol’ “staunch and gray” Swarthmore, especially if you know the splendid arboreal beauty of campus. Think of glowing vaults of yellow leaves over Crum Creek; white-, tan-, and black-mottled sycamore bark; pinkfleshed magnolia petals on the ground in April, as thick as snow; the dense green that envelops the campus in June. What’s really remarkable to me is that here the notion of “colorful” can include the thoughtful, stable, humble, wellbehaved hues of gray and brown in stone just as much as all the raucous reds, purples, and yellows in the Arboretum’s collection. And what of garnet? As the College’s print designer, I am familiar with much colorful disagreement over the true IF YOU ASK ME what are my favorite colors, I am tempted to say none. I am a color explorer traveling under no flag … well, I do have a tendency. My eye keeps going back to blues: the midnight dusk of skies, the indigo swirled with turquoise of tropical seas, a strange flickering gleam you can sometimes see looking closely at snow, the steely blue-gray of the North Atlantic. Periwinkle. Cobalt. Azurite. Prussian. In her compelling collection of essays A Field Guide to Getting Lost, Rebecca Solnit writes of “the blue of distance” and the fascination it held for lost figures, like the mystical, protoconceptual artist Yves Klein, who famously leapt “into the Void” from a second-story window and who patented a certain incarnation of ultramarine blue. Heavily influenced by The Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, and 2001 as a kid, I would fall into that blue trance, thinking of going far away and possibly never returning. As if to practice for such a major voyage, I would get lost on solitary walks in the thickets and coves beyond the backyard, but of course come home, packed with material for maps and dreams. I also took drawing classes with an elderly painter, a group of kids sketching cows and boats in charcoal on Saturday mornings. One rainy day he asked me to do a pastel of a decoy duck he had in his studio, but in an imagined environment. Looking at my finished work, he remarked only on the water, which he described as “a strange, almost electric blue.” That made-up blue was the beginning of my adventure in color. NOW IT’S BLUENESS ... and redness, yellowness—all the qualities of all the colors—that keeps me up at night. The artists who fascinate me most are those who fearlessly use color to warp, enrich, and tunnel into the primordial monolith of space, like the Exotic Birds of Frank Stella, whose restless palette teases out new surfaces that we can virtually walk through. The point of going on such walks and getting lost is always to find a new way back that shows you home in a different light. There is the sense that many things are possible when it comes to color, and given enough time and understanding, they will all happen. The Stern household epic of many oranges continued, peacefully, with other walls, sporting peach or sunshine or adobe. EXPLORING COLOR is a relatively safe way to get lost, a friendly terra incognita, the beginning and end of the spectrum clearly fixed, the whole thing constrained by the orderly wave nature of light. The rest is fair game for the discovery of new color pathways, by all of us. On the following pages, get lost among the many ways Swarthmoreans live with color thrumming in their lives and work ... and find your way back—changed forever. SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 19 Re Or Ye Pi Pu Bl Br 22 30 by Kate Campbell and Elizabeth Slocum 25 24 32 photography by Laurence Kesterson 26 34 Gr 28 “The aim of our studies is to prove that color is the most relative means of artistic expression, that we never really perceive what color is physically.” —Josef Albers, artist and author of Interaction of Color Re D IS PASSIONATE. And love—which often commandeers the color red—was one reason Ross Ogden ’66 joined the American Red Cross as a high school junior. He wanted a way to meet more girls. “It worked,” he laughs. But he has stayed there 57 years for other heart-related reasons. “Helping neighbors in need knows no boundaries,” says Ogden, who lends a hand however he can, in one case consoling a young sailor whose wife had just died. For his contributions, he received the Red Cross’s Harriman Award for Distinguished Volunteer Service in 2010, as well as Swarthmore’s inaugural Arabella Carter Award for community service. The inverse of the Swiss flag, the Red Cross symbol is one of the most recognized globally. Ogden has witnessed the iconic emblem bringing expressions of relief and gratitude. “I’ve seen this in action,” he says, “from those whose lives were destroyed by hurricanes to U.S. servicemen and women in Kosovo to a cancer patient receiving life-prolonging Red Cross blood and families reunited after 9/11.” The simple act of helping people when they need it most— showing love—remains Ogden’s most powerful inspiration. “In the end,” he says, “it’s neighbors, friends, and compassionate individuals who do the most to provide relief.” —KC 22 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 D URING THE French Revolution, the presence—or absence—of red and blue on the cockades that adorned hats and jackets led to some gravely important actions. “And beheadings!” says Megan Brown, an assistant professor of history at Swarthmore. Most famously, news that troops loyal to the royal family had stomped on tricolor cockades while sporting white monarchist ones led working-class Parisians to march by the thousands to Versailles in 1789. (White was associated with the House of Bourbon, while red and blue meant a Paris connection.) “In the tricolor cockade—and flag—we see the merging of those colors,” says Brown. “This should remind us that, at least in the early days of the Revolution, it was not evident that the king would be entirely excluded from future governance, let alone executed. “We mark the passage of time not just by major breaks, but also by continuity,” she adds. “Tracking colors, especially as they’re used in symbols or rituals, is one way of seeing how groups of people attempted to harness traditions.” —KC GARNET STRONG “Wearing the garnet ‘S’ represents a strong culture,” says Cameron Wiley ’19, the varsity men’s basketball team’s junior point guard from Atlanta. Being Garnet, for the athletes and scholars at Swarthmore, could reflect the gemstone’s symbolism of strength. The original Swarthmore colors were changed in 1888, when, as the Phoenix later related, “at a mass meeting of the students, pearl and maroon were abolished, and after considerable discussion, garnet was unanimously chosen as the succeeding color.” The Garnet’s Wiley, an honors philosophy major and history minor, was voted the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player in 2017 on a team that won the program’s first Centennial Conference Championship, but his transition to college athletics wasn’t easy: A concussion his freshman year kept him sidelined for several months. “It was a frustrating period,” he says, “because I wanted to lead our team and see my goals come to fruition.” He attributes his eventual success to a willingness to ask for—and listen to—advice ... and to be patient. After all, garnets are formed over time and under pressure. “On our team, we have to hold each other accountable,” says Wiley. “That’s where the period of growth comes.” ­—KC SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 23 Ye “Orange is not just a color to me but a movement to educate the public about the use of Agent Orange, and the legacy of the toxic substance for all who were unknowingly exposed to it.” LLOW powder the shade of a hard-boiled egg yolk fills a small vial in Swarthmore’s most colorful interdisciplinary lab, where art and science intersect. Made by combining potassium chromate and zinc chloride in solution—and then turning it basic—the pigment exudes a bright, cheerful hue when used in a painting. At least, at first. “Zinc yellow starts out a lemon color, then turns a greenish-brown over time,” says Therese Ton ’19, who researched and concocted the pigment as part of fall’s Art, Chemistry, and Conservation class, co-taught by chemistry’s Ginger Heck and art history’s Patricia Reilly. One infamous example of zinc yellow in decline: the pointillist masterpiece A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande —Charles Bailey ’67, director emeritus of the Aspen Institute’s Agent Orange in Vietnam Program and co-author of From Enemies to Partners: Vietnam, the U.S. and Agent Orange Or ANGE is a cheery antidote to the typically bland world of residential real estate,” says Eli Spevak ’93, owner of Orange Splot LLC in Portland, Ore. “It’s an artistic statement of freedom.” Spevak’s firm has been building affordable homes with a focus on sustainability for 15 years. He loves warm colors, gravitating toward them to boost his spirits, so he plucked the name for his company from The Big Orange Splot by Daniel Pinkwater (note the colorful last name), “an awesome kid’s book that shows how a subversive splash of color on an unsuspecting house can inspire and transform a street.” “Orange has always been about going against conformity,” he says. “I’d much rather have a city block with a mixture of aesthetics. Living in the Pacific Northwest is great, but the weather is often gray and dreary. Orange just makes me smile a little more.” —KC 24 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 Jatte by Georges Seurat, whose sunny seaside hill has muddied over the past 130 years. Certain other properties made zinc yellow a once-popular pigment, Ton notes: “It’s known to be anti-corrosive, so it was used as a primer on anything that covered metal—on the wheels of airplanes, in machinery, on cars. You know yellow Ford Mustangs? That’s the pigment. And if you mix it with black, you get Army green—the coating they used on military vehicles.” But zinc yellow, she adds, has a major black mark: “It’s an antibacterial and nothing can grow on it, because it’s really toxic. They didn’t realize it at the time, but it’s a huge carcinogen—and a large number of factory workers came out with lung cancer. “So, basically,” Ton says, “as a pigment, as an industry, zinc yellow is just not good.” —ES + SEE VIDEO: bulletin.swarthmore.edu PSSST … COLOR IS AN ILLUSION Perception is a tool that helps us decode what we see, and color is just one means of interpreting that information, according to Frank Durgin, the Elizabeth and Sumner Hayward Professor of Psychology and director of the Swarthmore Visual Perception Lab, where students use a virtual-reality system to study space perception. “Color, as Isaac Newton noted, isn’t really in the light,” says Durgin. “Our experience is that we seem to simply see color, but it’s really much more like a construction of our minds.” By “our” Durgin means trichromats: humans (and a handful of other primates) who have three types of receptor cones in the retina that are responsible for the perception of three colors. “They are sensitive to overlapping distributions of long, medium, and short wavelengths of light all within a very narrow band of the electromagnetic spectrum,” he says. The colors we see can be understood as ratios of activity of these three cone receptor types. So, when short wavelengths are prevalent, we see blue. “Although it horrifies a color scientist to label them this way, you could say that the short, medium, and long correspond to blue, green, and red, respectively,” Durgin says. “However, the light itself isn’t colored—we just see it that way.” Then why can we organize colors into a wheel? “From these three types of sensors, our minds can construct only a three-dimensional representation,” he says. “If our species had evolved to have more or fewer sensor types, our experience would be very different.” How other animals see color is difficult to know, Durgin says: Most nonhumans have two cones versus three (some have 14!), “and we can’t talk to the animals about what surfaces look like to them. We can’t even be confident that each of us humans experience ‘red’ as the same color.” — ­ KC ­­ SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 25 COLOR AND CATARACTS Pi NKWASHING has Lori van Dam ’86 seeing red. “I was getting my car serviced,” says the CEO of Susan G. Komen New England, “and they were selling pink keychains and pink air fresheners—and none of the proceeds were going anywhere except into the pockets of people who made them.” It’s an unfortunate side effect of a cause being so closely connected to a color—an idea pioneered by Komen founder Nancy Brinker to unify the organization and pay tribute to her late sister, Susan Komen, whose favorite color was pink. “For a long time, people talked about pink and its association with breast cancer as being about awareness— taking breast cancer out of the shadows and saying it’s something we can actually talk about,” says van Dam. But awareness isn’t enough, she adds: Even with pink’s saturation— especially during Breast Cancer Awareness Month (which Komen hopes to rebrand as “Breast Cancer Action Month”)—44,000 people die of breast cancer annually in the U.S., with one in eight women diagnosed in her lifetime. Which is why Komen launched “More than Pink,” with a goal of halving the nation’s breast cancer mortality rate by 2026. On the local level, affiliates are working to increase access to care and reduce disparities in outcomes for women of color. For many patients and survivors, pink symbolizes hope, community, and support—but it’s important for pink to mean more than green. “You can buy all manner of pink items that don’t advance the cause,” van Dam says. “The only time pink upsets me is when it’s on socks that don’t go anywhere.” —ES “T “Since its cousin red is the color of war, I like to think that pink could become the hue of nonviolent battle, and that learning to embrace it may be a very small first step toward ending the war on women for good.” —Sarah Archer ’00, “A Western Cultural History of Pink, from Madame de Pompadour to Pussy Hats” + 26 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 HE IMPORTANCE of color varied a lot between different punk scenes,” says George Hurchalla ’88, the author of Going Underground: American Punk 1979–1989, who came of musical age in the torn-and-tattered hardcore era of the 1980s. “The initial New York scene was more about black, like the Ramones and their leather jackets. But the early ’70s glam-era influence in London was what gave us the notion of vibrant color in punk.” Notably pink, he says, which was featured prominently on the covers of three all-time classic British punk albums. “The Sex Pistols’ epic Never Mind the Bollocks had the band’s name outlined in pink on a yellow cover,” Hurchalla notes. “The legendary Pink Flag was the first album of the band Wire. And on the cover of the Damned’s classic third album, Machine Gun Etiquette, guitarist Captain Sensible is wearing a ludicrous pink feathered top over yellow feathered pants. “Pink was the complete antithesis of a ‘rock ’n’ roll’ color, which punk was trying to shake up,” he adds. “It was vibrant, it was gender-bending, and for all these reasons, it upset people—mainly men—a lot.” —ES Before I had cataract surgery, I sought out several friends who’d had the procedure done. One or two mentioned that before surgery, their vision had become foggy, as though they were looking through a yellow filter. Afterward, colors just popped. I thought I was seeing colors just fine—was I in for a surprise! I had the procedure done in both eyes, about a week apart, and was amazed at how color perception in the “new” eye was so much more intense than the remaining “bad” eye. It was easy to compare during that intervening week, and I kept covering one eye and then the other to see the difference, not really believing it. Colors definitely were more brilliant—especially in the dark-pink, magenta, and yellow ranges. There were some amusing side effects: Soon after the surgeries, I discovered that some outfits I had assembled for their matching colors no longer really matched. And sometimes at stores, when I see pants and tops labeled with the same color, the items look a little off, particularly when the fabric is different. I have read that people can perceive the same color differently. So, is my new vision the real deal? What is “real”? —JULIE BUNCE ELFVING ’65 FULL ESSAY: bit.ly/PinkHistory SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 27 “I Gr EEN FORESTS, emeralds, and limes, OK. But green fire? Kathryn Riley ’10, a visiting assistant professor at Swarthmore, urges her students to study chemistry through an intellectual kaleidoscope. Unlocking the causes of multicolored fire is one such experiment. “Different metal ions added to the fire absorb energy as heat and then emit energy as light with unique colors—for example, copper produces a beautiful green flame,” says Riley. “The hottest part is the light-blue interior of a flame, with a temperature around 1,500 degrees Celsius.” Having embraced the liberal arts here as a student, when Riley returned as a faculty member, she wanted to enable her students to view science through multiple lenses and created an Instagram where she posts fire—and other elements—in all their scorching hues. “Too often students see chemistry as equations and molecules on a page,” she says, “but science is art—and it’s colorful!” —KC “G reen is the color of energy being captured and transformed,” explains Associate Professor of Biology Nick Kaplinsky, a plant molecular geneticist who focuses on plant responses to high temperatures (bit.ly/NKaplinsky). One peculiar celebrity in his toasty greenhouse is the Amorphophallus titanum—common name corpse flower— whose bloom can reach up to 8 feet tall, but takes up to 10 years to get there. Its leaves look green because cells in the leaves hold chloroplasts, dynamic little “molecular factories” whose job is to trap the sun’s light energy and turn it into sugar. The chlorophyll in the leaves absorbs deep-blue and red light, Kaplinsky says, making the plant appear green. In a showy last act when it finally blooms, the corpse flower emits the sharp scent of rotting flesh—a trait designed over millennia to attract the flies that pollinate its flowers. —KC 28 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 ALWAYS did like animals that could change color,” says Francis Ge ’17, who collected and studied the nocturnal gray tree frog in Assistant Professor of Biology Alex Baugh’s animal communication seminar. The frog’s name is somewhat misleading, Ge says. “Each frog has a unique mottled pattern on their dorsal side that ranges from nearly completely black, to a light creamy color, passing through really gorgeous shades of green and brown,” she says. “The Latin name Hyla versicolor means they change color, and in our experiment, we asked whether they changed color based on ambient temperature, background color, or both.” They discovered that the arboreal dwellers are darkest on darker backgrounds and at colder temperatures, which means they sense, process, and appropriately respond to their environments. So the clever frogs—native to the eastern United States—use color-change to better match their background. But why? Ge learned that “cryptic coloration” could be an adaptation to escape being spotted by visually hunting predators like birds. It could also be a mode to stay warm, capturing more solar energy at lower temperatures. “Color is something I take in, take note of, gather data about, and remain attentive to just by looking,” says Ge. “At least to the human eye, tree frogs on trees or lichen are extremely well-camouflaged, which is especially important when it’s cold and the frogs can’t escape predators very quickly— or at all.” ­—KC “Redwood forests are quite dark and appear to have a muted color palette—different shades of green, and brighter colors in the form of flowers, mushrooms, and birds.” —Alison Campbell ’87, of California’s Muir Woods National Monument MAKE ROOM FOR COLOR A dazzling collection of pigments will line one wall, and hundreds of barcoded pigment cards will be available for checkout in the latest addition to McCabe Library. Named for a matchbox couple, the new color-themed Frank ’68 and Vera ’70 Brown Study Room will also offer mobile physics demonstrations, including how to simulate a sunset, say assistant professors Logan Grider (art) and Tristan Smith (physics). As co-founders of Swarthmore’s Chromatic Cabinet—a faculty/ staff discussion group exploring color from every possible interdisciplinary angle—Grider and Smith turned a serendipitous conversation with the Browns last spring into a shared vision for this space, a newly designed seminar study room on McCabe’s second floor. The room has a sentimental history: When Frank and Vera first started dating 50 years ago, they spent many studious hours there, until one day, Frank suddenly interrupted the silence to ask Vera to marry him. “After I said ‘yes,’ we went right back to studying,” laughs Vera. A lifetime later, the Browns wanted to ensure the room where their journey started—the Chromatic Cabinet’s current headquarters—will always inspire Swarthmore students to make memories as beautifully colored as their own. “Swarthmore is a very special place,” they say. “It will always be in our hearts as the beginning of us.” —KC SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 29 A SONG FOR YOUR EYES “Color is central to all our projects in telling stories, representing experiences, and transforming places,” says Caitlin Butler ’06, chief strategy officer for Mural Arts Philadelphia. As the nation’s largest public art program, Mural Arts is built on the idea that art ignites change. For 30 years, the program has connected artists and communities working to create art that transforms public spaces and individual lives. “We sometimes describe our murals as Philadelphia’s autobiography,” says Butler. “Artists and residents co-create projects that highlight people, places, traditions, and ideas that are important to our communities.” Established as part of the Philadelphia Anti-Graffiti Network, Mural Arts is led by artist Jane Golden H’98. A mural painter herself, Golden connects with graffiti writers to redirect their energies into constructive public art projects. “For an artist, color is a tool,” says Butler. “It communicates emotions and energy, and it can help shape the message. If an artist uses colors one wouldn’t expect, it could be a challenge to viewers to question their assumptions, or look at things differently.” With up to 100 public projects each year, Mural Arts also offers programs and learning opportunities for thousands of Philadelphia youths and adults. “Many of our murals feature lush landscapes full of vibrant foliage and vivid botanicals—images desired by people lacking easy access to nature,” says Butler. The Mural Arts outdoor gallery is now part of the civic landscape and a local source of pride, earning Philadelphia international recognition as the “City of Murals.” “Color is an important part of what our artists are sharing, be it a memory, a symbol of their identity, or a place that they love,” says staff artist James Burns. “Like a musician working with notes, a painter uses a range of colors to create a song for your eyes.” ­—KC Pu RPLE, historically a color of royalty and nobility, took on a different meaning in the military, thanks to an act by Gen. George Washington during the Revolutionary War. “There’s a wonderful line in his order creating the original Badge of Military Merit: ‘The road to glory in a patriot army and a free country is thus open to all,’” says Sean Barney ’98, recipient of the modern-day version of the honor, the Purple Heart. “Washington chose this color of aristocracy for an award that was the first of its kind—expressly for enlisted men and noncommissioned officers. “By saying this was something that anyone could earn in this Army, it sent a broader message about what they were fighting for in the Revolution.” And that egalitarian message lives on through today’s Purple Heart. “This is the only medal that— whatever your rank, whatever race, whatever gender, documented or undocumented—if you bleed in service of your country, you receive it,” Barney says. “Nobody can decide that they’re not going to favor you with it.” To Barney—a Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq War who was seriously wounded by a sniper in 2006 (bit. ly/BarneyEssay)—the Purple Heart symbolizes a willingness to sacrifice for fellow citizens, a virtue still meaningful in his current role as a Delaware public defender. “There are many lawyers in our office who could do better for themselves financially in another area of practice,” he says, “but they’re committed to ensuring for all people that the rights we have in the Constitution—the rights the Founders fought for—are respected in the courts.” —ES 30 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 “Complex and contemplative, Ultra Violet suggests the mysteries of the cosmos, the intrigue of what lies ahead, and the discoveries beyond where we are now.” —Pantone Color Institute, on its 2018 Color of the Year “W HY YES, THERE IS a purple tree on campus!” reads a Swarthmore College Facebook post from 2015, soon after the dead weeping hemlock near Sharples was painted to honor its beauty and fragility. But it won’t be there much longer: The tree will be removed this spring for safety reasons (as seen above, it’s beginning to fall apart) and to make way for a living replacement. “I was keen to paint the dead hemlock,” says Josh Coceano of the Scott Arboretum. “It had a great form, was in a prominent place on campus, and was a plant species that was dying in the wild. “We are so quick to discard things as they age, die, deteriorate,” he adds. “This is especially true in gardens: Get rid of anything that looks less than perfect.” The weeping hemlock became the third tree on campus to receive a colorful afterlife, following a Chinese maackia painted blue in 2006 and a bur oak painted red in 2010. “This time, orange and purple were the two colors up for debate,” says Coceano, with Royal Purple becoming the winning hue. As a compromise— and for contrast—a couple hundred orange tulips were planted underneath. “Purple has long been a symbol of cooperation and bipartisanship,” Coceano says. “Honestly, it’s my favorite color in the garden. It engages and blends at the same time.” —ES SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 31 “I Bl UE IS MUSICAL. As an instructor at Swarthmore, Andrew Hauze ’04 has twice performed George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue on piano along with the wind ensemble. “I suspect the title had special resonance for Gershwin, a brilliant amateur painter, whose work so abounds in ‘blue notes’—in which certain notes of the Western scales are lowered for expressive effect—and the influence of African-American musical styles,” Hauze says. “It’s great fun to unpack its many musical influences and to encourage the students to dig in, trying to bring out the vernacular nuances of this many-layered work.” While people have talked about “having the blues” or “the blue devils” for centuries, the blues as a musical form emerged in the U.S. after the Civil War. “The expressive power of the blues now pervades so much of our culture, from the great torchbearers of the original style—such as Muddy Waters and B.B. King—to the rock and pop performers deeply influenced by the blues recordings they encountered early in their lives—such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Eric Clapton,” says Hauze. “Musicians around the world now speak of blue notes, though this way of referencing the subtle inflections of blues musicians often oversimplifies a very nuanced practice.” —KC SOUND! COLOR! YAY! Listening to music through the color lens—and breaking away from cultural symbolism—opened the mind of Jon Kriney ’20, who created the campus radio show Sound! Color! Yay! “I found a much more complex emotional relationship to color,” says Kriney, who discovered his favorite was blue ... and not just because of Joni Mitchell. Although his crusade to curate colorful playlists (bit.ly/Kriney) hasn’t quite connected with a large audience yet—the midnightto-2 a.m. shift for the WSRN 91.5 FM show may have something to do with it, he laughs—it hasn’t dampened his quest, either. “Doing this show has made me think about color in terms of not just how it looks,” says Kriney, “but how it sounds and smells, and the emotions that are associated with it.”­­­—KC 32 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 ’VE NEVER SEEN so many different shades of blue as I have looking out over the Grand Bahama Bank,” says Kathleen Moran Hanes ’94. Scuba diving daily, she explored hidden pockets of the watery field site while researching the impact of green turtles and other creatures foraging in seagrass beds. And so, her first children’s book, Seagrass Dreams, surfaced. A vibrant and beautiful introduction to counting, the picture book explores life within these important nursery grounds for conch, lobster, shrimp, and crabs. Hanes’s favorite is the perfectly named bucktooth parrotfish, which wields its oversized teeth (really its mouth) to shred seagrass blades and scrape off pink or white algae. “Bucktooth parrotfish contain many of the colors of the rainbow and absolutely shimmer when the sunlight strikes them,” says Hanes. “Each of the organisms seems to have its own colorful personality, whether it is a yellow stingray playfully burrowing into the sand to hide or a silvery barracuda menacingly surveying the scene.” Gentle gray dugongs (a relative of manatees) have a great appeal, too. “They snuffle along the ocean floor and remind me of cows grazing in a pasture,” Hanes says. All of this dizzying color is set against the backdrop of hardworking seagrass blades that slow down water currents and provide shelter. “This creates a calm, protected place for juvenile organisms to hide and feed as they grow,” she says. “I’m interested in all of the organisms that make those colorful meadows their home.”—KC SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 33 THERE’S MAGIC IN MIXING Br OWN ISN’T the only color Wendell Willard ’70 sees when he looks at wood. “I don’t like to stain wood or artificially color it,” says Willard, who for 37 years has co-owned Harvard Custom Woodworking in Massachusetts, crafting cabinets, built-ins, and freestanding furniture from native hardwoods. “I prefer to finish with clear coating or oil—then you see all the true shades.” For example, maple, to Willard’s eye, is more blond than brown. White oak is a warm tan. And cherry starts off a pinkish red, but darkens and intensifies with age. “Black walnut may be the closest to what others think of as brown,” he notes, “but I see a whole range of colors, from light amber to cocoa to chocolate to purple.” The beauty, Willard says, is in seeing something seemingly ordinary as anything but: “You have all these glorious colors coming through.” —ES 34 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 “The deep, rich color of chocolate reminds me of being happy on a cool evening by a warm fire.” — Liz Stern, who has baked at least 70,000 cookies at Sharples since March 2016 W Start with a little red, yellow, and blue, and what can you make? Orange, green, and purple, of course—but also turquoise and crimson and lime and marigold … “When my publisher asked me to write about color, my only guidance was that it also include tertiary colors,” says Arielle North Olson ’53, whose What Can You Do With Red, Yellow and Blue? is her sixth children’s book. “I could go in any direction I wanted, so I decided just to make it fun.” Initially inspired by the hues of an old oil-paint box, Olson loved the opportunity to explore color in creative ways. “I am fascinated with the brain condition synesthesia, which adds color to sights, sounds, and smells,” she says. “I would love to see India’s Festival of Colors [Holi], when powdered paints and colored waters are thrown on happy celebrants. And wouldn’t it be fun to eat enough brine shrimp and algae and carrots to see if we could become as colorful as flamingos?” Her newest publication, Where Shall We Go, Big Black Crow?, expands on her vibrant outlook. Co-written with her daughter and illustrated by her granddaughter, the board book uses color and lift-the-flap fun to guide readers on a search for the bird’s dinner. “Colors play such a vital role in attracting children to books,” Olson says. “Our words might never be read if the illustrations don’t lure readers inside.” —ES ith the scope of ecocriticism continually expanding, Susan Signe Morrison ’81 proposes a broadening of the “green studies” color palette. “What about ‘brown studies’?” says Morrison, an English professor at Texas State University. “There are aspects of life beyond trees.” Including some subjects routinely reserved for the restroom. “We now basically have one attitude toward excrement: It’s bad,” says Morrison, who wrote Excrement in the Late Middle Ages after recognizing a recurring theme in literature of that era. “But in the Middle Ages, there was a huge spectrum of attitudes— from very bad, where shit would be a metaphor for sin; to good, where it’s a code for resurrection.” Morrison wants to combat the stereotype that medieval people reveled in waste: Legal cases from that period pointed to sewage concerns, she says. Dung heaps, valued as fertilizer, turned up in wills. Sure, iconic writers like Dante and Chaucer sometimes focused on feces (enough for Morrison to coin the term “fecopoetics”) but, if anything, people then had a much more well-rounded take on what we leave behind. “Traditionally, people wanted to repurpose things—including excrement,” says Morrison, who followed up her fecal-focused book with research on waste in general. “We, of course, have become this society where we just throw things away. We set ourselves up as, ‘We’re cool. We’re not like those medievals,’ when in fact, we’re just as dirty, if not worse—especially toward the planet.” —ES SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 35 Bl ACK-AND-WHITE in photography frees your mind from having to process all the colors,” says Ron Tarver, a visiting assistant professor of studio art at Swarthmore who cut his teeth as a newspaper photojournalist and earned a 2012 Pulitzer as part of a Philadelphia Inquirer team. “You actually see the image—the composition, the message. A truly beautiful black-and-white photograph, in my perspective, is a lot more difficult to make than a color one.” Which is why Tarver introduces students to photography through a foundational course in black-and-white film. For each assignment, students are given just two rolls of 24 exposures, forcing them to slow down and consider each frame—a challenging task for a digital generation. By learning the importance of light and shadows, they become stronger photographers, period. “When you shoot in black and white, you see in black and white,” Tarver says. “With my fine-art photography, people would sometimes ask, ‘What did that look like in color?’ And you know, I didn’t even see it in color—my brain had stripped it all away.” —ES Wh ITE MORE OR LESS symbolizes a blank slate in karate, and black represents knowledge,” says Max Chomet ’12, a high school biology teacher and longtime student of Seido karate who leads adult beginner classes in New York on weekends. “It’s important to acknowledge, though, that when you earn your black belt, this does not denote that you’ve learned everything.” On the contrary, it marks the start of more advanced training. And to achieve it, students must first return to their roots. “When in promotion for your black belt, you put your white belt back on,” he says. “This symbolizes ‘beginner’s mind.’ For about a month, you are functionally a white belt again and take all beginner’s classes, in addition to the testing you undergo. “Going back to white is important—it’s an exercise in humility and reminds the karateka to work on the fundamentals.” As Chomet enters his 18th year of karate practice, he remains inspired by the Zen phrase “ren ma.” “The characters in Japanese literally mean ‘keep polishing,’” he says. “The concept is that there is no such thing as perfect—it’s not about getting to a destination. Practice is an active process.” —ES ODE TO JOY Energy, diversity, optimism, change—how could one symbol embody so many themes? That was the challenge in designing a logo for President Valerie Smith’s inauguration in 2015. Along with a committee of faculty and staff, College designer Phil Stern ’84 set out to create an emblem that captured the campus’s excitement over her arrival. “The whole community was electrified,” Stern says. “For the design and colors of the emblem, it felt like an opportunity to rethink our staid image—to take our seriousness and transform it into something beautiful and expansive.” “President Smith asked us to imagine a symbol that would inspire joy and forward motion,” says Nancy Nicely, secretary of the College and vice president for communications, who led the inaugural committee. “Phil’s design did just that, and so much more.” His sketch on the back of an airline beverage napkin became the basis of the logo, which has since been adopted for the Changing Lives, Changing the World campaign (lifechanging.swarthmore.edu). “The emblem suggests positive momentum,” says studio art professor and committee member Syd Carpenter, “with the circular format indicating an inclusive strength shared by all.” And the colors, she notes, are of a celebratory nature: Yellow, green, black, and bright red make up the major tones, along with Swarthmore’s garnet, which the committee decided should be just one note in a symphony of colors. A warm gray—symbolic of the campus’s stone buildings—forms the foundation upon which they all dance. “To me, the central disc is like the College—all these people from different backgrounds living with one another,” Stern says. “And in the outer ring, they’re all going out their separate ways into the world. “I’m really happy to see the emblem thriving,” he adds. “It’s special, and it feels vital. It’s Swarthmore.” —ES “When I play the piano, I do not ‘see’ black-and-white keys but 36 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 instead hear colors swirling around me.” —Annette DiMedio ’75, pianist and University of the Arts music professor SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 37 THE WISDOM OF WOMBATS A hairy-nosed zoological curiosity sparked Andy Podolsky ’88’s passion for conservation by Michael Agresta Andy Podolsky ’88 with bare-nosed wombat Boo at Ballarat Wildlife Park in Victoria, Australia. A PANDA SNEEZES and breaks the internet; photogenic cetaceans inspire generations to “Save the Whales.” And then there’s the northern hairy-nosed wombat. Despite the desperation of their situation—just over 200 exist on Earth, almost all in a single colony in a farflung Australian research preserve—public outcry has been relatively restrained. Should we care that these obscure marsupials— overshadowed as they are by their cuddlier cousin, the koala—are teetering on the edge of extinction? If a species falls in the (ever-shrinking) forest, does it make a sound? Andy Podolsky ’88 is one of what he estimates are under a thousand people who have actually seen a northern hairynosed wombat in the flesh. He’s made it his mission to increase visibility of the species, so that their lonely plight does not go unnoticed. Podolsky is an unlikely wombat savior. First of all, he’s not Australian—he grew up in Boston and has spent his career in the U.S., collecting a doctorate in colonial history and working as a technology consultant and academic administrator. And second, he’d never laid eyes on any of the three species until the late 1990s, when he saw a wombat at the San Diego Zoo. Even so, it was love at first sight. “They are nocturnal, often surly, and have a hairy nose ... not unlike myself,” he laughs. “I don’t have anything against more iconic, charismatic animals—say, pandas—but they almost get over-resourced while wombats are actually far more endangered. Maybe if people knew, they would care, and if they cared, something would happen.” Spreading the word about the northern hairy-nosed wombat is not Podolsky’s first underdog fight to protect an undervalued population: He pulled off a miraculous act of advocacy on behalf of public-interest lawyers nearly 20 years ago. At the time, Podolsky was working to improve a student-loan forgiveness program Stanford Law School had implemented for graduates in public-interest careers. Podolsky noticed that a number of alumni were about to complete the program, but that those same underpaid lawyers would be taxed heavily on the imputed “income.” “Stanford’s outside counsel told us that solving the problem was impossible,” Podolsky says. But he, fellow Stanford faculty and administration, and staff in government relations persevered. By working with a member of Congress and eventually a representative of the U.S. Treasury Department, they crafted a tweak that was included in the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 and modified SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 39 GET WISE TO WOMBATS Wombats are unusual marsupials in that they carry their joeys in pouches that face backward. This protects their young from dirt when the mother is digging a burrow. Wombats live in underground colonies and emerge at night to forage an herbivorous diet. A group of wombats is known as a wisdom. Due to their long digestive process, which can take up to 18 days, and the lack of muscle contraction in their rectum, wombats famously leave cube-shaped scat. EHP.QLD.GOV.AU SABERWYN A wombat’s main defense is its tough rump. When threatened, a wombat dives face-first into a nearby burrow, using its rump as blockage. Accordingly, they can crush predators against the roof of their burrow. Created to protest commercialization, “Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat” was an unofficial mascot of the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics. Through conservation efforts, the northern hairy-nosed wombat’s total population has risen from 38 individuals in 1982 to 230 today. To help further, Podolsky suggests supporting the Wombat Foundation (wombatfoundation.com.au). + WANT HIS LIST OF WHERE TO SEE WOMBATS AROUND THE WORLD? Email bulletin@swarthmore.edu. 40 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 slightly the next year. The law is still on the books today, excluding from taxation student loans forgiven for citizens in public-service work. “When President Clinton signed the bill into law, we had a party,” Podolsky says. “I told the aspiring lawyers who were there: If you learn nothing else in law school, please learn to never, ever tell your client something is impossible.” Podolsky followed his appetite for the impossible into the tech industry, where he worked for years in the complex field of knowledge engineering and semantic analysis. “These days, I’m almost retired, in the sense that now I spend most of my time visiting wombats, which is not a career,” he laughs. “There’s not any way, as far as I can tell, to make money chasing wombats.” Podolsky’s referring to his completist urge to visit every wombat-hosting institution in the world. After the first meeting at the San Diego Zoo, Podolsky and his wife, Christina Devlin ’86, traveled to Australia and Sydney’s Taronga Zoo. There, in the wombat heartland, he learned more about this roly-poly marsupial’s family, including its three species branches: northern hairy-nosed (Lasiorhinus krefftii), southern hairy-nosed (Lasiorhinus latifrons), and bare-nosed or common (Vombatus ursinus). The southern hairy-nosed variety, though more numerous than its northern relations, is a threatened species; the bare-nosed wombat is protected in some areas, pervasive in others. Podolsky’s fascination with the creatures only grew­—he made a list of the 10 U.S. zoos that host wombats and, over the course of a year, visited them all. Inspired, he planned trips to Europe, Asia, and all over Australia, observing the approach of each institution he visited. He knows of 97 zoos and wildlife parks worldwide that care for southern and bare-nosed wombats. Podolsky has visited them all. The more he saw of this culture of conservation and public education, the more Podolsky became intrigued by the sad and sobering future facing the northern hairy-nosed, which has never successfully adapted to life in captivity. “For such a critically endangered animal to be so almost totally unknown itself is intellectually interesting,” he says. “I’ve been to zoos in Australia where the signage says, ‘Did you know? There are two kinds of wombat: a bare-nosed and a southern hairy-nosed.’ I’m standing there thinking, Actually, you still have a couple hundred northerns left. “You’ll meet Australians who don’t even realize there’s this third incredibly endangered wombat species.” Podolsky knew that to encounter this most endangered wombat would require a visit to their protected colony at Epping Forest National Park, in remote central Queensland. Epping Forest is technically closed to the public, open only to scientists and long-term wombat-protection volunteers. But for the cheerfully self-described “crazy wombat guy,” the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage When he received a wombat in 1869, artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti described his new pet as “a Joy, a Triumph, a Delight, a Madness.” Perhaps this bare-nosed mother and joey, photographed in Tasmania by Andy Podolsky ’88, would agree. Protection made an exception. “From an Australian’s perspective, I was about as exotic as a wombat to an American,” Podolsky says. “It was very odd to find this 50-year-old Yank, without any children in tow, appearing at small, sometimes rural zoos. I was able to leverage my hobby and receive permission to visit Epping Forest. There’s a lesson in there of, well, you have to ask.” One early evening in Epping Forest, Podolsky experienced the thrill of his wombat-chasing life, as he became not only one of the lucky thousand to spot a northern hairy-nosed, but also one of an even more select few to document the sighting on camera. It was dusk—the time wombats emerge from their burrows to begin the night’s forage. Podolsky was waiting by the entrance to a burrow that the site’s managing scientist believed to be home to a breeding female. “It was a case of being in the right place at the right time and, unbelievably, also having a camera on hand,” Podolsky says. “Being lucky enough to see her, and realizing that there were actually two pairs of eyes peering out. Her joey was next to her, also looking out of the burrow, which was really remarkable.” What does a wombat-chaser do after he’s seen them all? Podolsky has focused his wombat-related energy on advocacy. He urges alumni to get involved with habitat preservation—if not for wombats, then for other endangered species around the world. “Swarthmore graduates, to make a generalization, tend to like to engage directly,” Podolsky says. “To the extent that someone can participate as a volunteer or can raise their hand and say, ‘We need to preserve the environment,’ either on land or engaging directly with the government, as I did with the tax law—that’s something people can do. Plus, donations to fight habitat loss are always needed.” Podolsky has twice given speeches about the outsider’s experience of wombat conservation and public outreach efforts, through Montgomery College’s Spectrum Lecture Series in Maryland and at the National Wombat Conference in Australia, where he was able to connect with wombat researchers and enthusiasts from around the country. He came away from the conference most impressed by the ordinary Australians who receive certifications to aid southern hairy-nosed and bare-nosed wombats injured by wild dogs, cars, and other civilizational nuisances. Podolsky began his love affair with wombats very much out of a feeling that these endearingly odd creatures—with whom we humans may share more in common than we think—were going the way of the dodo with too few noticing or caring. But his deeper dalliance with wombat culture has brought him into contact with a community of others like himself: a wisdom of quirky, compassionate wombat-lovers. That has been an affirmational lesson. “This started for me as a personal hobby,” Podolsky says. “But it grew into more. I’m going to places I didn’t expect to go and meeting interesting people. Their careers are so inspiring. A lot of them are pretty much living on a shoestring. One that I met put herself through a veterinary nursing program on her own dime so the animals wouldn’t have to endure hours in the car to care facilities. I’ve met a lot of dedicated people who just care so much.” + READ Andy Podolsky ’88’s full wombat conservation lecture: bulletin.swarthmore.edu SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 41 I T WAS THE TREES. Yes, Quaker values and academic rigor helped persuade Karan Madan ’91 to choose Swarthmore when he opted to attend college in the United States. But what made up his mind was the natural beauty of campus that he’d seen in the brochures—those gorgeous trees. “I thought, What better place to study?” he says. Those trees are still here; they’ve grown and flourished in the quartercentury since Karan’s graduation. Something else has, too: Today, A LASTING LEGACY Two generations, two journeys, one Swarthmore by Jonathan Riggs photography by Laurence Kesterson 42 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 he’s driving his son Arjun ’21 back to Swarthmore to begin his second semester. “I’m excited,” Karan laughs. “I’d love for him to partake in the experiences that were important to me when I was a student, but I also want to step back and let him have his own.” Karan grew up in India, went to high school in Wales, and came to Swarthmore as an international student. In fact, this helped define his identity on campus: Not only was he president of the International Club, but most of his best friends were also new to the U.S. Although he played squash and started an intramural soccer club called The Flying Turbans in honor of the headwear he then donned, Karan preferred to spend his time with friends, hanging out in the amphitheater or planning campus cultural activities. He was particularly close to Larry Westphal, the J. Archer and Helen C. Turner Professor of Economics, joining him as a research assistant in the Netherlands after graduation. “He always joked, ‘When you get rich on Wall Street, buy a gold chair for me,’” says Karan. “I was proud to do something even better, when I helped fund the ongoing Larry and Myrt Westphal Scholarship at Swarthmore.” Driven by a desire to save the world, Karan worked at the U.N. and World Bank, but ultimately realized he could have a larger social impact helping companies grow. Today, he’s managing director and head of emerging markets and foreign exchange for the Americas at the investment bank Nomura. Born in Britain, Arjun grew up in New York City, a gifted student who excelled at Latin and has played the tabla since kindergarten. For as much as he admires his father, following so closely in his footsteps was something he weighed carefully. “The biggest factor in me choosing Swarthmore—bigger than a family connection—was knowing that this is a liberal arts school with an engineering program,” he says. “I knew I could come here and pursue a wide variety of things. Plus, since I played four years of high school golf and loved it, “I’ve thought a lot about my dad’s path, from Swarthmore to today,” says Arjun Madan ’21 with his father, Karan Madan ’91. “I don’t know what mine will be yet, but I appreciate how supportive he is as I figure it out.” SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 43 knowing I could play for Swarthmore’s team was huge.” Passionate about music, Arjun also co-hosts a Wednesday-night radio show on WSRN with friend Steve Hergenroeder ’21, Deep Sound Presents: Tasty Tracks, where the pair play and discuss their favorite house, trance, and dance music. He’s a sportswriter for the Phoenix and looks forward to deepening his existing Swarthmore friendships while developing new ones. It means a lot to the father to see his son so confident and thoughtful, especially since being back on campus can blur the lines dividing present, past, and future. “We went to get pizza at Renato’s in the Ville,” Karan says, “and it was the same guy working there from 25 years ago! We all laughed about how much has changed.” “It’s nice to know one thing that won’t,” says Arjun. “Both of us going to Swarthmore is a bond I’m proud my dad and I will always share.” LADDER LEADER “When visiting campus with Arjun last spring, Karan began a conversation with us about opening a recruiting relationship between Swarthmore and Nomura,” says Nancy Burkett, Swarthmore’s director of career services. “He believes our liberal arts education provides a strong foundation for a career in finance. “As a student, Karan was a Career Peer Advisor, and he continues to apply that educational and mentoring lens. Through his efforts, three Swarthmore juniors were hired as summer interns at Nomura and one senior was hired as a full-time sales and trading analyst. He also has supported externs for many years, from when he was at Barclays, Deutsche Bank, and Merrill Lynch, to today. “Karan Madan is making a real difference in the lives of our students, and we’re very grateful for his support.” PEIWEN ZHANG ’18 “Although Swarthmore was not a target school in the past, Karan came here to hold all-day campus interviews to meet as many Swatties as he could. “I was very nervous because it is extremely rare to have such a senior “Swarthmore is underrepresented on Wall Street,” says Karan Madan ’91, who helped (from left) Tommy Ferguson ’19, Simon Vernier ’19, Peiwen Zhang ’18, and Nick DiMaio ’19 land opportunities there. “If I can use my experience to help our students gain equal footing, secure their careers, and achieve their dreams, there’s no better gratification.” 44 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 person interview students, but Karan was very kind and genuinely interested in what I’ve done here. He was also extremely helpful by sharing his own experience in the financial services industry, and how he got there from Swarthmore. “When I received an offer, I accepted immediately—Karan’s an unbelievable personal and professional mentor.” TOMMY FERGUSON ’19 “It’s a rarity for a managing director to do this kind of thing, but there he was. So when Karan was talking, I was taking notes: I knew I did not want to miss out on any advice he had to offer. “I know he will continue to provide a wealth of information and I will seek out his mentorship during—and after—my internship. I would not be where I am without his commitment to helping Swatties break into the competitive world of banking and finance.” SIMON VERNIER ’19 “Karan helped me get a more realistic sense of what my own finance experience would—and could—be like. His generosity and thoughtfulness in guiding us through the interview process was invaluable. “We both believe that Swarthmore students have the advantage of being different from the usual candidates for these internships—we take a diverse range of classes and build a large set of skills so we can approach issues in creative ways.” NICK DIMAIO ’19 “Liberal arts institutions like Swarthmore encourage students to study what they love and apply it. As a result of my education here, I have developed an interest in international markets and macroeconomics, and my relationship with Karan has been instrumental in me pursuing it. “Nomura is a global firm known for ‘connecting markets east and west.’ I have sought to do exactly this with my Swarthmore education and am looking to continue this journey in my professional life, as well. “After I graduate, I hope to follow in Karan’s footsteps in another way, too, and act as a mentor to fellow Swatties.” class notes A TREASURY OF ALUMNI-RELATED ITEMS ALUMNI EVENTS ALUMNI COLLEGE ABROAD Join fellow Swarthmoreans on an educational journey. bit.ly/SwatAbroad “Art & Ales of Flanders”: Aug. 17–25 “Waterways of Russia: St. Petersburg, Moscow”: Aug. 26–Sept. 6 “Eclectic Peru: The Art & Culture of an Ancient Civilization”: Oct. 15–22 GARNET HOMECOMING AND FAMILY WEEKEND Oct. 26–28 Save the date for this annual celebration of what makes Swarthmore special. swarthmore.edu/ garnetweekend LAURENCE KESTERSON ALUMNI WEEKEND June 1–3 Start planning your trip to campus now to join classmates and friends for the Parade of Classes, Alumni Collection, and so much more! alumniweekend.swarthmore. edu A late-winter nor’easter hit campus March 7, creating perfect sledding conditions outside McCabe Library. Editor’s note: Is your Garnet Sage class missing a column this issue? Fear not! With recent changes to the Bulletin, including our new “Their Light Lives On” section, several class secretaries requested a switch to twice-a-year columns. However, they’d love to hear from you at any time! Visit bit.ly/ SwatSecretaries to find your class scribe, or email your news directly to classnotes@swarthmore.edu. Ultimately, the Class Notes section belongs to you. Have a suggestion for how we can keep improving? Please get in touch! We love hearing from all our alumni and take pride in helping you share your stories post-Swarthmore. —Elizabeth Slocum, Class Notes Editor 1941 Libby Murch Livingston lizliv33@gmail.com 207-885-0762 A few “notes” ago, I suggested that we write of our offspring’s activities, and I am pleased to have had a good talk with Barbara Ferguson Young, whose granddaughter Kris writes juvenile books. Publishing under the name K.E. Rocha, she has been very successful, and the last book in her Fairhaven series was just released. Very popular already! I am looking for it for one of my great-grandchildren. Barbara still “runs” her retirement community. (Just joking, but she is really amazing in all she does.) We are both lucky to be in excellent communities where we can stay involved yet taken care of. I have had little contact with Swarthmore lately. I enjoy my monthly luncheon date with Becky Judd, daughter of the late Margaret Chase Judd ’39. I also had a chat with Dagmar Strandberg Hamilton ’53, who had been a good neighbor here but returned to Texas, as husband Bob ’52 needed special care. (Sadly, Bob died Jan. 13.) So, ’41ers: Do send me news about SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 45 class notes you or yours. Please email me—or how about a call? I would love it! 1942 Mary Weintraub Delbanco delbanco660@gmail.com Bernard and Lucy Rickman Baruch maintain a holiday home to which they periodically retreat to escape “institutional life.” A welcome sight they enjoyed during such an escape was 25-plus deer in the field nearby. Lucy Selligman Schneider’s granddaughter Emily works for the Friends Committee on National Legislation and leads workshops on counteracting President Trump’s legislative initiatives. Lucy enjoys holiday celebrations at her daughter’s Manhattan home. Your secretary, Mary, enjoys the many educational opportunities offered at Roland Park Place in Baltimore, including discussions led by lawyers, musicians, and art historians. An added pleasure is having daughter Janet’s family within walking distance. We three hope there may be other classmates who would join in contributing to Class Notes! William Longaker died in December after a life well-lived in Ithaca, N.Y., where he practiced psychiatry. He loved nature, read voraciously, and made his own bread and wine. He is survived by five children, six grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren; his friend and former wife, Patricia; and brother Richard Longaker ’49. 1949 Marjorie Merwin Daggett mmdaggett@verizon.net From snowy Lebanon, N.H., Bob Norman writes: “Nita and I live in a retirement community that is just 46 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 the right size—about 85 residents. We know each other, though to varying degrees. We do have to put up with some cold weather, particularly this year with several nights colder than 20 below zero. We have many concerts and events, some at nearby Dartmouth College, as well as a good local theater. I see Tedd Osgood ’53 occasionally at musical events. “My health is pretty good for an old geezer, except for macular degeneration (dry kind), which makes reading difficult. Considering what I can’t see, it is surprising what I can—especially things that aren’t there. “Heinz Valtin’s daughter, Alison, wrote that ‘Heinz has had a pretty uneventful year, and perhaps that’s not a bad thing.’ He shares events with many friends and I know would welcome classmate visits in his sunny, comfortable quarters at Goodwin House in Alexandria, Va. “It is hard to believe that our 70th Reunion is a year away. I hope to go and to see many of you there—if my eyes will cooperate!” Condolences to Elizabeth Wilbur Hodges on the passing of husband Thomas, who died in August on their beloved Little Deer Isle, Maine. He and Liz married in 1948 and settled on the Main Line. In 1954, he started an eponymous industrial advertising agency—just as the computer era was taking off. Tom was passionate about protecting the bay in Maine from industrial salmon farming; he was a skilled sailor and navigator, and was quick to rescue boaters in distress. Well into his 90s, he volunteered at the Bryn Mawr Hospital Surgicenter. Besides Liz, he is survived by a daughter. Our sympathy also to the family of William Derr, who died in December. After high school, he joined the Navy as an aviation cadet and was in flight training until the end of World War II, after which he attended Swarthmore. He started a successful sales career in Philly, continued in Chicago, and ended as a VP at Humphrey Leather Goods Co. He was an avid boater and was proud to be a “looper,” having circumnavigated the eastern U.S. by way of the Erie Canal and the Mississippi River. He also served as a Florida Inland Navigation District commissioner, where he secured funding for marine projects. 1950 Jan Dunn MacKenzie mjanmack@comcast.net Dirk Spruyt died in November 2016. Friend Sheldon Weeks ’54 writes: “I overlapped with Dirk at Swarthmore in 1949–50, his senior year, my freshman. We played tennis together early mornings, and on Saturdays went to the Embreeville State Hospital for recreational therapy with patients. This was a formative experience for me, as after graduation I worked for five years for the American Friends Service Committee and developed weekend institutional service units at Manhattan State Hospital. At Swarthmore, I also took over the student transportation committee and acquired the old ambulance from World War II that we used for transport, buying a new GMC bus for the student body. Dirk was helpful in stimulating me in many constructive ways.” Gordon Mochel, husband of Patricia Lackey Mochel, died June 18. Please send any remembrances you may have of him. Yoshiro Sanbonmatsu died Oct. 22. In all the years I knew Yosh, he never expressed bitterness about the treatment he and his family endured during the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII. He was angered frequently by actions of this country and others, but he never put his outrage through the filter of his own experience. Ten bound volumes of MAD 1945, 1946, and 1948 are in need of class secretaries. Interested? Email classnotes@swarthmore.edu. magazine collected by the late David Peele now enliven McCabe Library and honor the former college librarian’s memory (bit.ly/ PeeleMAD). Betty Nathan planned to travel with her daughter in February to Costa Rica. Her grandson teaches in Monteverde, which was founded by Quakers in the 1950s. Jane Hooper Mullins writes: “In October, I went with my daughter to Accra, Ghana, to visit Ashesi University, which was founded by Patrick Awuah ’89, whom I knew well when he was a student. It is an amazing, successful university with a curriculum structured with Swarthmore as its model—and with interesting alums doing splendid things for their country and Africa. I also met Tamar di Franco ’89, whom I remembered as a student and my daughter thinks she baby-sat. Small world indeed. “Life at Kendal at Longwood is good and full of Swarthmoreans— alums, retired faculty, and former residents of the town.” Among them: Peg Allen, with whom Jane recently dined. 1951 Elisabeth “Liesje” Boessenkool Ketchel eketchel@netscape.com Walter Blass “spent all of September in Europe—seven countries, 30 people, and even one neo-Nazi lecturing me on the train! Then in November I was the Woodrow Wilson Fellow at the University of North Georgia lecturing, interacting, and speaking to 400 sixth-graders about the Holocaust. Since I never attempted politics, their cheers were the closest I have come to instant fame. But in December, sad news of Bob Osborn’s passing.” In April, Ken Kurtz sold his Lexington, Ky., home of 43 years and moved across town to a senior residence, the Lafayette, “giving up some great neighborhood friends, but making new ones here at once. In time, I also found a new girlfriend, a dancing teacher and choreographer, Mary Jo Holland, who lost her longtime spouse about the time I did, some 10-plus years ago. (She is 4 foot 8 and can fit under my arm.) She’s a bundle of energy, and just gave up heading the Energizers, a group of ‘senior women’ who perform at area hospitals, nursing homes, schools, and VA places, all pro bono. “Also at the Lafayette, I started teaching film classes again, weekly on the in-house closedcircuit channel. I’m also to teach eight weekly classes through the University of Kentucky’s outreach program. This spring will combine U.S. and foreign ‘classical films,’ and I’m working on a two-semester course for fall on the history of documentary films. “All of this was set back in late December when I fell and fractured the ‘distal end of my right fibula.’ I’m in one of those ‘air boots’ right now, but am making progress and hope to get back to driving—and maybe a new square-dance class the Lafayette plans later this year. Don’t know if I have done that since college, but the instructor says it will start with the basics.” Hello from Portland, Ore., writes Anne Mount Hay. “I find that this is the time of our lives when we sadly lose many friends and family members. Joe Floren, my second husband of almost 20 years, died on New Year’s Eve of natural causes. He was 88. We were born in the same small hospital in Oregon City, just eight days apart. Even though we’d lived in Portland much of our lives, we hadn’t knowingly met each other until we were almost 70. But those later years together provided a lovely coda to our lives. Here’s to all survivors!” And the latest from Dan Singer: “Maxine [Frank Singer ’52] and I live independently in the house we have lived in since 1960. Our kids are grown and gone—two to the West Coast, one to the U.K., and one to Israel. All seem busy and happy. Our four grandchildren are also West Coasters—three in San Francisco and one in Portland. We are gearing up to host Passover celebrations with almost all the progeny (plus Maxine’s sister Lily Ann Frank Youman ’57 and family). There will be plenty of helping hands, and we hope all goes well. Beyond that, all seems reasonably comfortable—hoping mostly to survive to see the end of the Trump nuttiness in the off-year elections, a consummation devoutly to be wished. Warmest regards!” Good to hear from Jean Matter Mandler: “I am having a wonderful trip on the ship Seabourn Encore, which is going all around New Zealand. I am currently in Wellington, a magnificent city with amazing sights.” I want to thank all who responded to my request for news. I can’t believe how active and engaged we are! Kudos to the Class of ’51. Not much new with me. I love my senior-living community, where I have made many friends and am on several committees. I am still active in the guardian ad litem program: Three of my cases closed joyfully in December with children going back to their parents after some remedial work. Such a happy time, and, of course, the delivery of Christmas gifts to all the children! Editor’s note: To fill in some blanks requested by Dan Singer: “In June 1951, we were 217, of whom as of Jan. 12, 2018, 105 are still alive in varying states of wellness—not such a bad reckoning, all things considered.” 1952 Barbara Wolff Searle bsearle70@msn.com Greetings from California, where I am luxuriating in the warm weather while so much of the country suffers. (I’m writing this in January.) I am adjusting well to retirement-community life and find myself increasingly appreciating the many amenities and services CAPTION THIS YOUR CAPTION HERE! Be creative! Submit a caption by June 15 to cartoon@swarthmore.edu. To see last issue’s cartoon with suggested captions, go to Page 55. the complex provides. It turns out to be a nice way to grow old! After complaining about having to report so much bad news, I received a couple of upbeat communications. “I have been meaning to write you ever since you advised us you were moving to California,” says Franz Leichter. “I am pleased you are continuing as class secretary. You have been so loyal and dedicated for so many years that I could not imagine anyone taking over this function. [Thank you, Franz!] I hope your ‘new life’ turns out well. “Robert Ammerman came from Cincinnati to New York to celebrate his 90th birthday. We were also joined at a reunion by Helene Smith Ferranti ’54 and Bob’s grandson Patrick ’14. I went to Turkey in June to visit a dear friend who has a house on the Mediterranean. It is a trip I have made numerous times, but Turkey is a sad country to visit now. “My traveling is winding down, though I hope I have in me another trip to Vienna in February, where a play about my mother is to be performed. I attended a Swarthmore event in NYC hosted by President Valerie Smith. I find her very impressive. The event showcased Swarthmore’s new fundraising drive, which is partly to support more community outreach by students. Professors talked about their students’ activities in Africa, among other places, as part of their studies. What a difference from when we attended. Was there even a class on Africa in our days? I find the College very exciting and with such an enrichment of opportunities and resources.” I got a lovely note from John Smucker in a shorthand that I will try to unpack without too much distortion! “Louisa, my wife, is 92; I am only 89. We’ve been married for 60 years next June. Our son has written three books: The last one is Riding with George about George Washington, his great-great-greatuncle. Anne ’81 does acupuncture in Charlottesville, Va. She watched with horror the activity of superright-wingers last summer. As a former dynamite salesman and Episcopal clergyperson, I preach ‘power to the people.’ Life is good SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 47 class notes and exciting sometimes.” Ronald Maddox died in August at home in Herndon, Va. After graduation from Swarthmore and George Washington Law, he conducted a practice in Virginia and was a longtime member of the Fairfax Bar Association. Ron loved sports, particularly football and the Washington Redskins. He was also an avid reader and writer of science fiction. Ron was a loving husband and father of eight children. He is survived by many family members. I look forward to hearing from you. I’m impressed with how active many of you are! 1953 Carol Lange Davis cldavis5@optonline.net As we approach our 65th Reunion, chairman Bob Fetter urges that if you plan to attend a future reunion, come this June. For those who cannot stay the whole weekend, Bob suggests attending the Saturday lunch. On Saturday evening, a film will be shown in which Stanley Mills delivers a stunning tribute to the College. At least 11 people are serving on the reunion committee, including Francis Ashton, the parade marshal, and Roger Youman, who will be at 30th Street Station helping travelers change trains. Breaking news from Brice Harris! “We moved three years ago to a retirement community in Pasadena, Calif.—not much of a move since it is only five miles from Eagle Rock, most of our activities have been in Pasadena, and our apartment is on the first floor. Retirement from Occidental College (no, I did not know Obama—I was teaching at the American University in Cairo!) has been more difficult since I miss the students, but organizing discussion groups for Anglo seniors and tutoring for Latino third-graders helps out. If anyone has time, take a chance with these interviews: bit.ly/VillaGardens and 48 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 bit.ly/BriceNBC. “We seek to travel while healthy— to Venice in May and Central Asia in September—to keep up with six grandsons (alas, no granddaughters!) and wonder how we ever had time for a regular job.” Arielle North Olson (pg. 35) still edits and writes for a publisher in India, Little Latitude, and just received the first copies of her newest book, Where Shall We Go, Big Black Crow? written with daughter Christy Kennedy and illustrated by granddaughter Caity Kennedy, “the chief creative officer of the fantastically successful Meow Wolf in Santa Fe, N.M.” Arielle says information about Meow Wolf is online (meowwolf. com), as is a video of artist Prashant Miranda discussing Arielle’s book What Can You Do with Red, Yellow, and Blue?, which he illustrated (bit.ly/RYBBook). Arielle also reports that son Randy, a National Geographic photographer, was named International Photographer of the Year at the Siena International Photo Awards festival in Italy. Who can top this? Woody Thomas ’51 writes: “Merrillan Murray and I married in July 1952. Merrillan took her senior classes at the University of Rochester but graduated from Swarthmore with the Class of ’53. As of July 2017, we have been married for 65 years!” As mentioned in the last Class Notes, Barbara Turlington died Sept. 3 in Chevy Chase, Md. I found an interesting update on Barbara’s early years after Swarthmore in our 25th Reunion yearbook and can duplicate it for anyone interested. In September, Margy Morey Zabriskie had written that Mary Jane Winde Gentry was active, but dealing with chemotherapy. Sadly, Mary Jane died Oct. 4 at Wake Robin in Shelburne, Vt. Mary Jane had been involved in many community organizations. She assisted in the transformation of Shelburne Farms into a nonprofit educational organization on whose board she served from its inception until 2016. In partnership with her late husband Stokes ’51, she was also instrumental in the founding and development of Vermont’s first continuing-life-care community, Wake Robin. I think everyone in our class knew and admired Mary Jane. She was one of eight family members to graduate from Swarthmore, and she also had aunts, uncles, and children-in-law who were alumni. We will miss her. 1954 Elizabeth Dun Colten lizcolten@aol.com Ferocious East Coast winter weather as I write in January! Hopefully, when you read this in April, spring will have sprung. Peter Bart started his third year of weekly podcasts for Deadline and Variety, and notes that, amazingly, in this era of streaming and social media, “radio” (i.e. podcasts) is making a big comeback. After 51 years, Judy and Paul Kantrowitz moved, though they’re still in Brookline, Mass. (1501 Beacon St., Apt. 503). Paul retired from active practice but (part-time) teaches first-year Harvard med students while Judy continues her psychoanalytic career. They enjoy their 9-year-old granddaughter. Caroline Barrera Matzen sent greetings from Minnesota, and Ann Reeves Reed’s card included an excellent family photo. After 15 years of heading Point Loma Library’s book-sale room, Anne Chandler Fristrom resigned and took over the Sweet Somethin’s musical program at Mount Miguel Covenant Village in Spring Valley, Calif., a job made more difficult as there is no money available to pay the performers. Husband Punky ’55 continues his monthly Poetry Hour, and they both look forward to visits from sons Carl ’80 and David ’83. Mary Wren Swain retired after two terms as a library trustee, and husband Raymond completed 20 years as a Maine Maritime Museum docent. Margaret and Tom Greene headed a 17-day, 11-person trip to Italy last June (Rome, Siena, Florence, and Ravenna). The group included children Meg, Tom, and Marion ’92, their spouses, and three of their four grandchildren. With ages ranging from 11 to 84, Tom recommends multigenerational travel! Peter and Patricia Bryson Van Pelt took a small boat cruise last April in Burgundy, where all eight passengers were family members, and in September joined a classical music tour on the Danube from Berlin to Budapest. In early fall, they attended daughter Susan’s first solo dance performance in many years. Until recently, the administrative duties of Susan’s nine years as Ohio State’s dance department chair had precluded performance. Jack and Ruth Maurer Kelly enjoy life on Jekyll Island, Ga., and Beaver Island, Mich. They took trips last spring to the Oregon Bach Festival and Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and visited friends and old haunts on the state’s coast. Their coastal home was not damaged by Hurricane Irma, although Ruth’s studio suffered 26 inches of floodwater. Naomi Lichtman Rose visited California in January 2017, had an indulgence of play-going in the spring with Cornelia Fuller, and went to Uganda in June to see the gorillas. Beth Wood Bowers says, “I’m still mobile enough to travel.” As witness, she visited Florida last winter and California in June; mentioned two family sojourns at the beach—Delaware and North Carolina—during the summer; and sent a pre-Christmas photo taken from a Lake Tahoe mountaintop. Dee Brock Partridge has lived at Wake Robin continuingcare retirement community in Shelburne, Vt., for 10 years and mourns the loss of founder and close friend Mary Jane Winde Gentry ’53. Dee and husband David deserve a “Traveler of the Year” prize—three trips during 2017: in June, a river cruise with Tauck from Amsterdam to Budapest; in October, a National Geographic/ Lindblad expedition from Puerto Montt, Chile, through the Chilean fjords and glaciers, visiting Torres del Paine park and rounding Cape Horn; and in December, sailing through the Panama Canal from Atlantic to Pacific, heading up to Costa Rica. Sheldon Weeks’s annual letter was entitled “A Year of Making Music.” Home base is Brattleboro, Vt., where he and wife Gudrun play in various venues, participate in the local Quaker worship, and especially enjoy the proximity of grandson Niko, 3, who lives upstairs. In January 2017, they headed to Loja, south-central Ecuador, city of several symphonies with numerous museums and concert opportunities. With the help of a young translator, Sheldon bought a traveling violin! Harriet Donow Cornell’s son Keith ’84 was elected Surrogate Court judge in Rockland County, N.Y., and more than 300 people, including Harriet, attended his January installation ceremony. Keith’s son Skyler ’21 continues the family’s Swarthmorean tradition as a freshman this year. The New York Times publishes daily noteworthy facts. One recent comment was that today, 18.5 percent of the Dutch population is 65 or older (up from just 7.7 percent in 1950). True in the U.S.? I don’t know, but it is nice to think we are a “significant” number … 1956 Caro Luhrs celuhrs@verizon.net It wouldn’t be Christmas without a card displaying Mary Lou “Zuzie” Jones Toal’s beautiful artwork. This year it’s a sweet little English robin showing off his bright-red chest. Mary Lou writes that her newest volunteer job is cataloging the archives of her 300-year-old church. How fascinating it must be to dip back into the 1700s! Sally Guthrie and husband Ed Geers spent their adult lives helping those in need, not just in the U.S., but also in Haiti, Ukraine, and Cambodia. After Sally’s death, Ed returned to Iowa (his home state) where he has established the Ed Geers and Sally Guthrie Endowment for Environmental Education. ALUMNI COUNCIL NEWS The Alumni Council met in March. Get to know our newest group of members, who will join the Council in the fall: bit.ly/SwatCouncil alumni@swarthmore.edu swarthmore.edu/alumni/alumni-council Despite some health issues in 2017, including a knee replacement, Eric Osterweil and wife Evelyn are active and well in Brussels. They had a lovely time last summer in England with their “English family”—daughter Marie-Hélène, son-in-law, and grandchildren. Their “U.S. family” (with more grandchildren) is based in New York. Harder to visit, but New York daughter Michele Osterweil Chaikin ’89 has been able to spend time with them in Brussels. At 80-plus, Eric just ended his legal career! But he is already training to become a short-story writer, taking a creative writing course sponsored by Wesleyan University. Evelyn continues with her beautiful photography. They saw wild ponies in England—I suggest a wild-pony short story illustrated with Evelyn’s pictures! It is with sadness that I report the November death of Marilyn “Lynn” Modarelli Lee. Our thoughts are with her three children—including son Al ’84—and their families. Lynn loved Swarthmore and made significant use of her education. A little over 20 years ago, she wrote: “Considering all my labels of woman, mother, grandmother, divorcee, lawyer, library negotiator, union negotiator, Democrat, community leader, and friend, I can say that I enjoy my life.” Sandy ’55 and Ruth Cooper Lamb were incredible environmental entrepreneurs long before most of us even thought about the environment. For 15 years they lived “off-the-grid” like pioneers in an isolated area of the Adirondacks. They managed to feed themselves and deal with multiple problems without using most of the tools we take for granted. We are at the age now where one begins to think seriously about preparing for death. The Lambs have worked out a “green burial” plan. After getting town approval, finding a funeral director to transport their bodies, and securing cardboard caskets, they dug their own graves with the help of kids and relatives on their old Adirondack property, “Journey’s End.” Sandy and Ruth aren’t planning to die soon, but with this plan in place, they feel they have more time to continue leading happy, productive lives. Sally Pattullo McGarry was forced by Hurricane Irma to evacuate Hilton Head Island, S.C., in September. Fortunately, she was able to get to Ohio to spend time with her children and their families in Cincinnati and Columbus. Her “big trip of the year” was a 17-day November river cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest. We fondly remember Marjorie “Marji” Jones Fooks, who died in November after a short illness. Marjorie was one of our very few “overseas” classmates—this was a big deal in those days! Coming from the British West Indies (Jamaica), she was British, charming, and had a keen wit. After Swarthmore, Marjorie moved to England. She married Ray Fooks, headmaster of Thomas Peacocke, an old and well-known British secondary school. For many years, they lived in Rye, a beautiful small town by the sea, but about 10 years ago they moved to Oxford, where a daughter and two grandchildren lived. Marjorie described Oxford as “a very special city” but with “tremendous traffic and dozens of bikers swirling around with no thought of safety.” A wonderful event for the couple occurred a few years ago, when they were received at Buckingham Palace in London. Ray was made a Member of the British Empire for his considerable lifetime service to Rye. Queen Elizabeth II was scheduled to make the award but, unfortunately, was double-booked, so Prince Charles took over. In any case, an exciting, memorable day! Please note my schedule has changed from four columns per year to two, and your notes will now appear in the spring and fall issues each year. This is because there is so little news as we get older. It’s just a logical change—I haven’t forgotten you! 1958 Vera Lundy Jones 549 East Ave. Bay Head, NJ 08742 verajonesbayhead@comcast.net Roy Tawes has written Recall, a story of the Vietnam War and the cultural revolution/antiwar aftermath in San Francisco. Most of the story is true, but Roy chose to present it as fiction since no one would believe it. Roy based his story on declassified information from the ’60s and has gotten positive feedback from his Penn Med classmates. Roy also talked with Blaine Braniff. Both hope to get to our 60th Reunion, but “travel is getting to be a hassle,” he writes. Janet Smith Warfield sent me a photo of herself with Bob Freedman and his wife, Marisa Harris, at the Ritz-Carlton New York in Battery Park. They had a lovely brunch together when Janet was in town for an International Association of Top Professionals networking event. Janet speaks all over the world, demonstrating what we do with words and teaching how to use them more effectively. Last summer, Janet did a series of radio interviews and was part of an online telesummit series, “Be the Voice of Positive SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 49 class notes Change.” She plans to present a workshop in San Diego and will speak at an International Women’s Day event in Uganda. In the summer, she will speak in Panama City, Panama. “I’m also working on a couple of books,” she writes. Janet Lewis Honecker reports that son Kent James ’84 lives with wife Marianne in Washington, Pa., not far from Janet. Their youngest, Lauren ’21, is a Swarthmore freshman, and they invited Janet to attend Parents Weekend with them last fall. “I hadn’t been back on campus for quite a while, and I had a wonderful weekend. The weather was perfect, the grounds were lovely, and the organization was impressive. Lauren was busy most of the time playing Ultimate Frisbee, but she did take me to the fourth floor of Parrish. It was so dark that I couldn’t see the rose garden, but I remember climbing up all those stairs with friends from that hall. When we lived there, we didn’t have to leave the building to get breakfast—no more!” Janet and her family went to lectures and watched the alumni vs. Swarthmore women’s soccer game. Janet hopes to make it to our reunion in June. I certainly hope lots of you come! 1960 Jeanette Strasser Pfaff jfalk2@mac.com Don’t forget that we will have a Class of ’60 mini-reunion at the College June 1–3. It will probably be very “mini” since few of you have indicated that you can come. But however many of us gather, we will have a good time. Register through the College in the regular way; this is not an “official” reunion. Gordon Dass Adams “moved from Seattle to Berkeley, Calif., last spring with my partner, to be near her lovely granddaughter. I travel to Seattle frequently to visit my daughter, grandson, and son. I’m in good health; still doing those fivemile hikes in the Berkeley hills!” 50 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 BULLETIN BOARD Notes and announcements from our staff. CROWN JEWEL The May Queen was a campus fixture for decades. Send us your May Day memories, and help us figure out when the maypole tradition wrapped up. WHO YOU GONNA CALL? Haunted dorms, spirits in the stacks—tell us your best spooky stories from your time at Swarthmore. WRITE HERE, WRITE NOW Have a great idea for a feature, profile, or story? Get in touch! bulletin@swarthmore.edu John Palka writes: “These days I am writing a blog, Nature’s Depths. Last October’s post, ‘Come Walk with Me’ (bit.ly/JPalka), recounts some of the experiences I had at or through Swarthmore that turned me into a biologist with hybrid interests, both neuroscience and the life of plants.” We continue the topic we started in the winter issue, recalling midcentury things that are now out of date. Mimi Siegmeister Koren: “In the 1950s, my family would gather around the phone whenever we made a long-distance call—even from Brooklyn to our cousins in New Jersey! Such a call was something special. “Those days, people did not answer, ‘I’m good,’ when asked how they were feeling. They also didn’t drop the ‘of’ as in ‘a couple of times’ or ‘dispose of this carefully.’ “In midcentury, there were certain topics that were not discussed, or were only whispered: divorce, adoption, cancer, unemployment, homosexuality, and the sex lives of politicians. I’m glad we’re not afraid to talk about the first five now, and sorry that so much time is devoted to the sixth topic.” Norm Sarachek: “Before drones there were pats of butter on the cafeteria ceiling in Parrish. IBM 80 column punch cards made great bookmarks. No computer room with Wi-Fi was available. My haunt was a tiny, isolated desk between stacks of books in the basement of the library. The boiler would roar to life to keep me awake.” Kay Senegas Gottesman: “Longdistance phone calls varied: You could make a call to anyone who answered, to someone specific at the number, or place a collect call that could be accepted or rejected. There were different charges for each type of call. Many of us remember that you could let your family know you were OK by making a collect call that they then rejected.” Will Fairley: “We used to sweat starting the car on cold mornings. I once used an ‘engine blanket’ to help keep it warm overnight. Now we take cold-weather starts for granted.” Marcia Montin Grant wrote via her “chancy internet service” in the French village of Branceilles: “We wrote letters—I even wrote to my grandmother every week! Telephone calls were a real luxury. “We had typewriters, typewriter ribbons, wonderful little portables (mine was an Olympia), carbon paper, whiteout, paper files. We had written paper airline tickets, which I was always scared of losing. “We did not have microwaves to heat things up, just doubleboilers on the stove. No wheels on suitcases. No handheld little hairdryers. No tiny hearing aids that you can’t see. No Skype to view people when you phone them. No showing them the Christmas tree or what you had for dessert.” Elise Landau: “Well, one thing is ironing. We went to college before wash-and-wear. Certainly before Lycra and spandex. We had cotton. It had to be ironed. That meant the laundry, and it meant wives. Those shirts and blouses, those trousers had to be pressed! I don’t know whether women’s liberation, such as it was, would have been possible without the technological changes to fabric production that came along in the ’70s and beyond. I still have an ironing board, but sometimes it sits for months without use. Another thing for my son and grandchildren to deal with one day!” One more from Sue Willis Ruff: “When was the first time you heard someone say ‘Totally’ as if it were a sentence?” Just to show how unevenly we discard habits of the past, I, Jeanette, iron everything: dish towels, sheets, T-shirts, whatever. I rely on my landline phone and don’t have a TV. I write letters, probably illegibly, with my fountain pen, and I white-out my mistakes. Some old habits linger; others are transformed by progress. We all have our own way of handling change. I have the sad duty to report the deaths of two classmates: Martha Merrill Pickrell on Sept. 20; Robert Mayberry on Dec. 8. I welcome personal memories you may wish to share. 1961 Pat Myers Westine pat@westinefamily.com The College sent me a financial summary of the Class of 1961 Reunion Fund for the Arts and Social Change, and copies of the thank-you letters from last summer’s recipients. The fund provides stipends for summer internships (“meaningful engagement”) with nonprofit organizations, grass-roots advocacy groups, or public-service agencies. David Wible ’18 worked with the Chester Children’s Chorus in several roles, from music-theory tutor to reading and classroom assistant, and found the experience an effective way to contribute to a nonprofit while learning more about himself. Dorcas Tang ’19 interned with the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Education Research Center, where she was impressed with the museum’s impact on educators and saw how the departments have evolved to take part in “providing physical and digital resources to integrate arts in learning across all disciplines.” Leslie Moreaux ’20 worked with Urban Word NYC, a group she had been part of since childhood, and helped organize the Summer Institute, a two-week-long writing and performance series of workshops with renowned poets. The students were appreciative of the 1961 Reunion Fund’s assistance and thanked us for “the opportunity to help an organization achieve their summer goals” and to learn new realities about themselves. Alan Kaplan writes: “After six decades, I have returned—in a matter of speaking—to my Phoenix editing days, by way of writing a monthly Policy Digest for the Family Caregiver Alliance (FCA), an advocacy and service organization in San Francisco. After working on Medicare regulatory and legislative issues for many years, and then more than a decade in what became a daily backup role as my mother journeyed from independent living to assisted living to a nursing home, I was invited to co-author an FCA paper on the transition of seniors from hospital to post-acute care. One thing led to another, and I’m now keeping close tabs on caregiving developments— an ever-more-recognized hotbutton issue—for FCA.” With a theme “menacingly recurrent throughout history and in headlines today” is Linda Gordon’s latest book, The Second Coming of the KKK. Look for it in bookstores! Class president Maurice Eldridge received the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award from Marquis Who’s Who. Maurice was Swarthmore’s vice president of college and community relations and executive assistant to the College president until his 2015 retirement. Before that, he was principal/director at Duke Ellington School of the Arts in D.C., an education specialist in the Massachusetts Department of Education, and assistant headmaster at Windsor Mountain School. He is a co-founder of the Chester Charter School for the Arts and is co-vice president and secretary of its board. Marquis honored him for his “achievements, his leadership qualities, credentials, and successes he has achieved in his field.” Pat Clark Kenschaft was also honored by Marquis as a Lifetime Achiever. Pat, who had “Christmas in July” with her entire family in Montclair, N.J., is secretary of the Cornucopia Network of N.J., is co-clerk of Peace and Service at her church, and raises most of the family vegetables. Holiday letters: From North Carolina, Louise Todd Taylor included a delightful array of pictures of her family, sons, and grandchildren’s activities—and spoke of how grateful she is for family and friends. From Honolulu, Jean Geil, too, spoke of old friends and family visiting her and said she sings at her retirement community, plays in a recorder ensemble, and—now that her in-house library responsibilities have been reduced—has more time to read to her brother, a Parkinson’s patient. From Pennsylvania, Marilyn Emerson Lanctot volunteers on the New Hope–Solebury library circulation desk, takes her dog to a nursing home to visit patients, and enjoys “being serenaded by her husband and son on banjos, Dobros, and guitars.” Emily and Bob Rowley moved to a new address in Brookfield, Conn., and sent a great picture of their gaily decorated front door. Sheila Maginniss Bell traveled last year with her granddaughter on a Road Scholar trip to San Francisco and went alone on a walking/hiking trip to southwest Ireland. She works with Scott Arboretum, is secretary of the Swarthmore Senior Citizens Association, participates in Art Goes to School, and sings in her church choir and a community chorus, for which she is treasurer. Dorothy Smith Pam, in Amherst, Mass., teaches English, communications, and public speaking at Holyoke Community College; “grandchild-sits” a thirdand fourth-grader while their parents run Kitchen Garden Farm, selling organic vegetables to fine East Coast restaurants and stores; and with her husband stays active in their community. After deadline, Steve Vessey sent me notice of wife Kristin Bergstrom Vessey’s death due to complications from a fall in early January. (See her memorial on pg. 75.) I welcome reminiscences to share with classmates. 1962 Evelyn Edson 268 Springtree Lane Scottsville VA 24590 eedson@pvcc.edu With the Bulletin allowing Garnet Sages to publish just twice a year, my next column will be in six months—please help me fill it with details of our lives and times. We look forward to hearing from you. Sad news is the passing of Christine “Tina” Jensen Storch on Oct. 10 at Kendal in Oberlin, Ohio. I remember Tina regaling us with stories of her stint as an AFS student in Germany. I had not realized that she returned to Germany after graduation to work with the American Friends Service Committee. While in Germany, she met and married Howard Storch, a U.S. Army sergeant. A birthright Friend, Tina attended George School and remained active in Quaker circles her entire life. She was a welfare caseworker, then a municipal tax collector, of which she wrote: “One does not wake up in the third grade, or as a freshman at Swarthmore, with a burning desire to become a tax collector!” I’m sure many of us have similar reflections on unlikely turns in our lives. In retirement, Tina volunteered at a food co-op, a community garden, and an ecological learning center. Tina and Howard also made yearly trips to Australia to visit their daughter and her family. Thanks to Howard and daughter Margaret Storch for sharing their memories of Tina. Jillian and Robin Ridington are selling Retreat Island, where they have lived for 25 years, and have bought a refurbished 1909 house in Victoria, British Columbia. Robin is preparing to be an expert witness in a treaty-rights case brought by Blueberry River First Nation. “As usual,” he writes, “we are spending the winter in Maui.” Caroline Hodges Persell enjoys life at Kendal in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., where she is on the board and plays in the orchestra. In her travels last year, she saw Arlie Russell Hochschild and Suzanne Wright Fletcher in D.C. There they enjoyed reminiscing, seeing the cherry blossoms, and visiting the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Speaking of D.C., Judy Schwartz Floam sent a photo of the line outside Kramerbooks—people waiting to buy Michael Wolff’s tell-all book on the first year of the Trump administration. Kramerbooks, you might remember, was founded by Nancy Kramer Bickel’s father and continues to be a mecca for those who like to read hard copy. After numerous false alarms, I now have an actual copy of the book I edited and translated, Description of the Aegean and Other Islands, by Cristoforo Buondelmonti (Italica Press). Buondelmonti spent almost a decade roaming the eastern Mediterranean in the early 15th century, and he entertains the reader with tales of Greek mythology, marauding pirates, and weird folk customs. He sent it to his patron, Cardinal Giordano Orsini, saying that he hoped it would amuse him in his idle hours. The book includes a beautiful facsimile reproduction of a manuscript from 1475, now at the University of Minnesota. There is a hand-drawn map of each island. Tell your library to buy it! SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 51 class notes 1963 Diana Judd Stevens djsteven1@verizon.net Our class will miss Lani Despres, who is survived by daughter Heather Despres-Burack ’90 and son Jed; Carol Finneburgh Lorber, survived by husband Bennett ’64 and sons Sam ’89 and Josh; and David Bartlett, survived by wife Carol and sons Benjamin and Jonah. Lani was a gifted painter and astrologer. Carol, an active member of our class and her community, was a devoted caregiver for her family. Dave was described by classmates as brilliant and one who stayed true to his commitment to become a pastor or theologian. A classmate wrote, “He will never know the impact he had on me.” David Gelber, creator and executive producer of Years of Living Dangerously, reports that while the networks ignore climate change, Years has been producing three to five videos a week intended to galvanize climate action. The National Geographic Channel has given the green light to a third season of the series. Back in her hometown, Seattle, Gail MacColl is living in Horizon House, a senior community suggested to her by Anne Howells. Jack and Nancy Hall Colburn Farrell’s living plan includes eight months in Boulder, Colo., near the homes of two of Nancy’s daughters and their families, and four months in Fort Myers, Fla., near Jack’s daughter and her husband. In January, Jack and Nancy took the Swarthmore Cuba trip. Polly Glennan Watts has lived in Florida for two years and is pleased with the cultural opportunities and medical facilities. Seeing St. Thomas and St. John devastated by hurricanes was tough. From aerial videos, Polly believes her former house survived. Travelers: Paul ’65 and I toured Chile, Atacama Desert to Patagonia, learning the history 52 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 and culture, and experiencing the varied climate and flora and fauna. Sara Edmundson Wu recommends Western Australia—enormous, rural, and laid-back. She was there for a grand-niece’s wedding, where she broke her hip dancing, so also recommends the health care. Clyde Prestowitz suggests visiting the Oregon coast, which he did with his new knee in between visiting his sons in Reno/Tahoe, writing a book, and speaking in Houston and Mexico City. David and Austine Read Wood Comarow enjoyed a bike trip in Italy. Polly Glennan Watts visited her “musical family” in the Carolinas, D.C., and Delaware and enjoyed family reunions in Princeton, N.J., and central Pennsylvania. She also went to Orlando to see her beloved San Antonio Spurs play. Susan Potter Evangelista was in London when daughter Amina’s organization, Roots of Health, received the With and For Girls Award from the Stars Foundation, which invests in organizations and ideas that transform the lives of disadvantaged children, young people, and their communities globally. Edwenna Rosser Werner retired from the University of Southern California five years ago and worked briefly as a research assistant on brotherin-law Bob Putnam’s book Our Kids. Edwenna has two passions besides volunteering: her two granddaughters and Swing Left, a political action group working to flip the House Democratic in 2018. Her granddaughters live in D.C., where Edwenna’s daughter covers Congress for The Washington Post. When visiting D.C., Edwenna sees Bob and Caroline Eubank Lyke, Dan Sober, and Gail MacColl (before she moved to Seattle). Edwenna’s son programs computer games, and her husband is a Jet Propulsion Laboratory astronomer. In November, Linda and Bill Steelman welcomed grandchild No. 6, daughter of Mary Elizabeth and Pete ’95. Bill is handling the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease quite well as he continues work at the First Congregational Church Nantucket, where Linda serves as “de facto” choir adviser. The Steelmans look forward to ’63’s 55th Reunion. Earlier Class Notes “promised” more on Jane Jonas Srivastava’s trip to the “stans” (Kyrgyzstan, etc.) and the story of the 96 needles she took as gifts. Before her trip, Jane noticed the pincushion she’d had since seventh grade was leaking sawdust, so she cut it open and discovered 96 needles. Feeling sad that traveling mostly by bus she’d have little chance to interact with locals, Jane made packages of 6–8 needles to offer to women she met. She gave needles to a woman sewing with gold thread, a seamstress, and a weaver, and the remainder to her guide to give to a women’s craft co-op. Jane also connected with a local couple on a plane who noticed her knitting a hat. Through sign language and help from the guide, Jane and her new friends talked about their families and lives. Jane gave the friends a hat for their grandchild. As she exited the airport, Jane’s new friends gave her a bag of food they had purchased. Jane plans to attend our 55th. I look forward to learning more about her travels then and to talking with you. 1964 Diana Bailey Harris harris.diana@gmail.com swarthmore64.com We’re back on our old schedule: Class Notes in the spring and fall issues. News this time ranges from devastating tragedy to blissful happiness, with modulated gradations in between. Bennett and Carol Finneburgh Lorber ’63’s son Sam ’89 wrote a poignant memorial to his mother on Nov. 24. Here’s a moving extract: “It is with a heavy heart, a profound sense of loss, and deep sadness that I write to tell you my mother passed away early this afternoon at Abington Hospital. My father, who had been married to her for over 53 years, my brother Joshua, and I were with her. She went quietly, and without pain. We are all griefstricken, but know that, given the circumstances, this is what she would have wanted. “[She] suffered a bleed in her brain early last month. It wasn’t a major one, and she had been well on her way to a complete recovery when, two weeks ago, she, my dad, and my brother were in a bad car accident. (Another driver flew through a stop sign at high speed, struck their car and knocked it on its side. The fire department had to tear the roof off the car to get them out.) My dad and brother suffered minor injuries; my mom had a fractured pelvis. … Then, this past Tuesday morning, she had another bleed, far worse than the first, [which] had nothing to do with the accident. She … never regained consciousness.” John Simon wrote, on Dec. 28: “Completely out of the blue, last fall I fell in love with the magnificent Susan Fulop Kepner—then we got the horrible news that my cancer has come back. “Somehow Susie and I managed to survive 75-plus years each through famous literary thirdworlds and turbulent Berkeley decades without ever crossing paths, until one golden Saturday last October. We were instantly and deeply entranced with each other. … Two old people in love—how cute! The cancer part is not cute.” Hoping for a promised 25 months, John began chemo Jan. 2. We learned Jan. 16 that he died the evening before. Our hearts go out to Susie and John’s family. He will be missed. Another sad ending to an optimistic beginning: Paul Booth let me know Jan. 13 that he was in treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukemia, which had originally been diagnosed in 2014. He was upbeat about the outcome, but Jack Riggs wrote Jan. 18 to say that Paul had died the night before. Our condolences to Paul’s family. John Pollock co-edited Making Human Rights News with Mort Winston ’70, who gave a talk at our 50th Reunion. Unfortunately, Mort, an internationally recognized human-rights expert, died in January 2017, before the book LAURENCE KESTERSON ALUMNI PROFILE “I bought this matching hat and did my best to approximate Maurice’s expression under its brim,” laughs Patricia Brooks Eldridge ’60, paying tribute to her husband’s Bulletin portrait shot by Laurence Kesterson that changed her life. “When I met Larry myself, he stuck out his hand to shake and I said, ‘Hell with that,’ and gave him a big hug.” ‘EAGLE’ WHEN SHE FLIES She’s soaring to new heights by Elizabeth Redden ’05 A LIFELONG WRITER, journalist, and civil rights activist, Patricia Brooks Eldridge ’60 spent the summer of 1964 traveling through the South with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. More than 50 years later, on an island off Washington state beyond the noise and speed of the mainland, she found herself despairing about the state of race relations. “I was a mess because everything was being undone and the situation was getting worse,” she says. Then the winter 2015 Bulletin arrived. On the cover was Maurice Eldridge ’61, a longtime vice president of the College and her undergrad contemporary. Though she’d barely known him then, 55 years later she was eager to reconnect. When she wrote to him, she learned that his wife had died a few years before and that he was still mourning. “I thought that said a lot about his ability to love deeply,” she says. Following an intense correspondence and his visit to her island, she moved to Swarthmore, where the couple were married in June 2016—a date chosen so all their grandchildren could be part of the ceremony. “If you trust your instincts and are brave enough,” Brooks Eldridge says, “amazing things can happen.” The same is true on the page: She’s spent decades researching and writing a young adult series, Eagle and Child, visiting historical sites and scouring archival documents. The first novel in the series—published in November— opens in 1823, with 12-year-old Devon surviving the London influenza epidemic that killed her entire family. A kind doctor takes her in but soon becomes ill himself, leaving Devon with little protection from a sexual predator named Newgate. Ultimately, her only escape is to cross the Atlantic to become an indentured servant. Upon her arrival in Charleston, S.C., Devon observes the brutal treatment of slaves. “That sight of slavery will not be her last,” Brooks Eldridge says. “Devon serves the bulk of her indenture on an upcountry farm as the only white servant among a community of blacks—they’ve earned their freedom but are trapped on the farm because to leave it is to risk re-enslavement by the notorious ‘slave catchers.’” The remainder of the series finds Devon agitating for the abolition of slavery and the rights of women and workers, in alliance with Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and Frances Wright. “Slaves and indentured servants were often held in much the same conditions until the rich planters became too afraid of the black slaves they’d outnumbered themselves with,” Brooks Eldridge says. “To keep them apart, they raised the status of poor whites to form a buffer class, concocting the myth of African inferiority and dangerous nature. Hasn’t it worked just great to this day?” Brooks Eldridge begins the Eagle and Child series with this quote from the Black Renaissance writer and photographer John van der Zee: “We are, in fact, as Americans, the descendants of bound people, tied now by that binding in ways we have forgotten, which it would serve us well to remember.” “That, in a nutshell, is why I wrote the series,” she says. “I’ve spent my life trying to get people to understand how much we have in common and how much we need to work together.” SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 53 class notes appeared. “While attending an international human-rights conference in November,” John writes, “I learned our government, together with the government of Mexico, pursues a policy called ‘Frontera Sur,’ paying the Mexican government to keep aspiring immigrants heading north from authoritarian, brutal political conditions in Central America in encampments along Mexico’s southern border, so they will not reach the northern border of Mexico/southern border of U.S. I thought everyone should know about this policy.” Bob Kapp wrote Dec. 3 from Chongqing, China, “up the Yangtze River for a few weeks of desultory teaching about U.S.–China relations past and present. Currently translating a Chinese book into English for publication; the money’s lousy, but the translation process is pretty satisfying. “Happy in Port Townsend, Wash., going through the thrilling first year of a new golden retriever pup.” But “nothing from our daughter … [which] shadows our later years.” Contra and English country dancing have taken April and Jerry Blum “to New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, D.C., Virginia, West Virginia, and Georgia, and we’ll dance in New Jersey in February and then host our all-English dance weekend in May (anenglishtrifle. org). We had new lighting installed in our home’s ballroom (pictures: bit.ly/BallroomBlum) and had the floor refinished, so it’s an even nicer dance and house-concert venue than it was before. Still trying to put the finishing touches on the distribution of my dad’s trust after my stepmom’s passing early last year; these things take time.” Miki McCaslin Holden reports: “We’re now happily moved to our new home in Santa Fe, N.M., just up the road from our only grandchild. David and I were sure we’d stay on our Los Alamos ranch until we were carried out, but as we and the ranch infrastructure began to show unmistakable signs of advancing age, we found we were neither willing, nor able, to keep up. We have nodding-andwaving acquaintances with several 54 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 neighbors. David’s found a filmprofessionals group, and I found a knitting group. And in September, I celebrated 41 years sober.” 1965 Kiki Skagen Munshi kiki@skagenranch.com smore65.com Last fall’s fires in California affected Elizabeth “Elly” Rosenberg Rumelt, who wrote from Santa Barbara: “I just heard that the evacuation orders have been lifted and I can return home tomorrow with no harm done. What an ordeal!” Elly, whose husband died last year, will leave California this spring for the Quaker-based Kendal community in Northampton, Mass., near her daughter’s home in Amherst. Dave Wright also had his adventures and wrote a long piece those on my email list received. (If you aren’t on that list and want more news, please let me know.) The Skirball fire in Brentwood was close enough that he and wife Zofia packed for evacuation. Fortunately, they escaped damage. Dave is “out of update hibernation,” lives inland from Santa Monica in LA, and still works with his three investmentmanagement firms, managing to be named one of Barron’s Top 100 Independent Wealth Advisors for the past five years. David Pao and family are downsizing, which he’s finding difficult, and have put their home up for sale. David (bit.ly/DavidPao) is enjoying semiretirement working at the Veterans’ Outpatient Clinic and Pennswood Village retirement center, and teaching at Wills Eye Hospital. He also is “at the end of a five-year quest to make a plasma probe for ophthalmology. It may be the best ophthalmic instrument in this century (biased opinion) or a miniature laser lightsaber for the Star Wars collection.” Steve and Linda Smith Nathanson now live in a condo in Brookline, Mass., within walking and trolley distance to Boston. “Daughter Sarah, husband Aaron, Natalie, 10, and Chloe, 9, live just over a mile away,” Linda writes. “Steve retired three years ago after 42 years in Northeastern’s philosophy department. With an MAT in Russian, I taught in high school, later worked at Brandeis as an international-student and study-abroad adviser, then became admissions director with the Swedish (study-abroad) program, and then an independent admissions counselor. When we moved here, it seemed the right time to retire.” She’s taking up piano, still writing poetry, and feeling “very lucky to have the freedom to continue to learn.” Virginia Blake-Harris feels swamped—“emails, books piled next to my bed, and landscaping projects that kept me busy seven days a week outdoors till the day of our first snow here in Acton, Mass.” Kitty Calhoon welcomed her third grandchild at the end of October. Walt Pinkus won Best of Show in photography at the Leisure World Fall Art Show, for a picture of Thomas Hart Benton’s studio, and Earl Tarble and his wife continued their travels. They flew to Lisbon for a cruise to the Canaries and Casablanca in September; toured the Orkney Islands, presumably in October; and then went to Reno for a conference at the Nevada Museum of Art. In December, they went to Seattle for a baby shower. Kate Donnelly Hickey, on the other hand, writes that she and husband Bob ’64 had a quiet year—“many visits with family and friends but no big trips, no health crises (this is a good thing), and no major family events. We did spend March, as usual, at Chassahowitzka, Fla., in our trusty camper amidst many manatees, and had a fun weekend in Franklin, N.C., viewing the total eclipse.” Daniel Kegan, while traveling from Chicago to the East Coast, stopped in the Philly area for a pleasant update with Anita and David Pao and saw Bob Barr ’56 (our dean of men) at Foulkeways, a continuingcare retirement community. “Dean Barr looked good and cheerful. Our guide mentioned that Bob and wife Nony were bird-watching in Latin America a bit ago and he fell— serious injuries—but he is now much, if not totally, recuperated.” Dick and Gay Sise Grossman’s year started out badly. On Nov. 22, 2016, Dick was hit by a car while crossing a street—in the crosswalk—and his injuries colored their lives for several months. Three surgeries later, he is pretty well-mended. Gay still volunteers for Durango Nature Studies and volunteers with Big Brothers/Big Sisters. Dick has written the blog Population Matters for 21 years and plans to continue until the overpopulation problem is solved. The Grossmans still sing with the Durango Choral Society and serve on its board. “In addition to traditional (and nontraditional) Christmas carols, this year we sang a beautiful piece that combines medieval with modern characteristics, ‘Estampie Natalis.’ In June, we will sing for our second time at Carnegie Hall!” And now the bad news: Howard “Hap” Peelle died of cancer Dec. 15, at home in hospice care. It is another sad loss for us in a year when we’ve had too many. We’ll miss him. Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and parts of Maine and Massachusetts—all wonderful. His favorite discoveries were the tidal-power-generating plant in Annapolis Royal and the Joggins Fossil Cliffs, a UNESCO World Heritage site, both in Nova Scotia. Amid all the alarming news from the federal government, Wendy Prindle Berlind had a happy experience locally. As a member of her library board of trustees, Wendy spoke in favor of combining two part-time positions into one for a digital literacy librarian. The city finance committee gave unanimous approval: “Sometimes government works on a local level.” Wendy finds solace and satisfaction in creating at the sewing machine: She makes Halloween costumes, quilting projects, and clothes for a granddaughter’s American Girl doll. Johnny Wehmiller, perhaps also in search of solace, was reading Joe Biden’s new book, in which he reminds us to have hope, love, and purpose, and to keep busy. Johnny hopes we’ll all benefit from this message. Along a similar line of works that help us cope, Jody Pullen Williams recommends the Edward Snowden documentary Citizenfour. Good reads include Dark Money and The New Jim Crow. To combat the bad stuff, Jody and husband David hang out with young people and CAPTIONED! 1966 Jill Robinson Grubb jillgrubb44@gmail.com On this penultimate day of 2017, I’m trying to warm up after our weekly Signs on the Square in Mount Vernon, Ohio, this morning. Anywhere from 12 to 102 progressives fly homemade signs for the issue of the week/ month/year. Health care, the environment, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, wages, voting rights, taxes, services, and facts are all represented. Frank Cochran finds difficult my question about crossing dividing lines to improve understanding. He sees fear and fear-inspired hatred under key points of division and tries to bring Quaker decisionmaking to bear, to little avail. Travel, on the other hand, has taken him to “Thee go, girl!” — Mary Brown Sippel ’46 “We’ll surely arrive early for meeting for worship!” — Judith Leeds Inskeep ’60 “As much as I appreciate the sustainability efforts, I liked the old ML shuttle better.” — Alexander Laser ’20 “Thank goodness we’re rid of rule No. 24!*” * Magill’s rule No. 24: “Students of the two sexes, except brothers and sisters, shall not walk on the grounds of the College, nor in the neighborhood, nor to or from the railroad station or the skating grounds. They shall not coast upon the same sled.” — Ben Marks ’16 + MORE CAPTIONS: bulletin.swarthmore.edu sing in groups; another antidote is her court mediation, which often finds people who can solve their own problems. Another distraction was the Williamses’ Swarthmoresponsored trip to China and Tibet in October. Tibet is “hauntingly beautiful” but endangered by the Chinese inroads and the requirement to use Mandarin in schools. Our concerns for the world could be related to what we will leave our children and grandchildren. Robert Levering was still basking in the glow of becoming a firsttime grandfather last August. Judy Petsonk was happy to announce that daughter Hope’s son Judah Alan Levin arrived in October. Meanwhile, remember that Joe Becker had to leave our 50th Reunion early to help with his preemie granddaughter? Well, he danced with her at a wedding in October. He and wife Lisa also visited their adopted granddaughter in NYC and their grandson in New Orleans. Joe claims there’s a direct monetary conduit from his pension plan to American Airlines. Well worth it. A correction: Jim ’65 and Jean Lyon Preer were in D.C. for 33 years before moving to Indianapolis, where few people had heard of Swarthmore. Now in Brookline, Mass., they keep meeting people with Swarthmore connections and feel right at home. Fred Rhoades was very involved with the “ski team” at Swarthmore, but snow wasn’t a constant. He remembers running down through Crum Woods trees with ski poles, mimicking a slalom race around the trunks. He and his intrepid teammates did pretty well in competitions with those who had snow. Later, Fred, wife Gloria, and daughter Emily loved life in the Pacific Northwest, skiing on the slopes of Mount Baker, hiking, mushrooming, gardening, and cooking. After a stint in the Peace Corps in Togo, where Fred volunteered as a fish culture extension agent, and another period doing alternative service, he climbed old-growth Douglas firs in the Cascades, studying cryptogams (lichens, fungi, and mosses). That led to advanced degrees in biology and a position at Western Washington University. Since retiring in 2009, Fred has continued to present field programs and work on closeup, stereographic photography of his cryptogamic friends. Tom Riddell and wife Meg have 15 grandchildren. He recommends Chicago by Brian Doyle, suggested by son Michael, an English teacher. Tom also had a brief visit from Robert Levering, who was promoting the documentary The Boys Who Said No!, about resistance to the Vietnam War. Husband Tommy gave me Obama: An Intimate Portrait, with pictures to lift my heart on every page. From now on, our class columns will come out only in the spring and fall. We can always go back to four a year if you are sufficiently forthcoming with news, memories, and insights. Please write. Deadlines are mid-March, mid-June, mid-September, and January. I love hearing from you. 1967 Donald Marritz dmarritz@gmail.com swarthmore67.com Barry Feldman ’68 reports: “Coming to a computer near you: barryfeldman.net. After 25 years as communications director for the American Farm School in Greece and a semirural life on the school’s campus and farm, wife Randy Warner is now a freelance editor and art agent. I have converted an industrial space in the historic commercial center of Thessaloniki near the harbor into a studio and living space.” Bob Champlin died in December. Bob was married to Kit Ashburn Champlin for 50 years. Together they comprised two-thirds of the music majors in our class. Bob went on to get a master’s at the New England Conservatory of Music before taking the natural next step—building a house in Exeter, R.I., with his father and brother and SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 55 class notes becoming the co-owner of Critter Hut (critterhutri.com). Bob also played cello professionally and was a member of a trio, Trillium, and the Amari Quartet. Dan Wise was the victim of an unprovoked hate crime last summer, during which the assailant called him a “dirty hymie” and punched his chest with enough force to “knock me on my keister and send my hearing aids and glasses flying.” Dan says a report issued by the Anti-Defamation League’s New York chapter shows a rise in anti-Semitic incidents in NYC from Q1 of 2016 to Q1 of 2017. (Have others experienced or reported similar situations? Dan’s writing an article, so email him: dnljwise@gmail.com.) Bennett Lorber ’64, a sort-of honorary class member, let us know that wife Carol Finneburgh Lorber ’63 died the day after Thanksgiving. Bennett has often shown up at our reunions, including the last one. He was an integral member of the “We Work It In” jug band during our freshman year. Roger Shatzkin points out that “as a senior, he immediately conveyed a factor of cool to our nascent undertaking and has remained a steadfast and unassuming friend (despite his many medical and scientific accomplishments, service on the College Board of Managers, and successful side careers as a painter and guitarist).” Lita and Arne Yanof “took a road trip to Portland, Ore., to meet family and friends for the eclipse. Robert Weber and wife Johnyne took us to a beautiful cabin near Terrebonne and Smith Rock State Park. In the twilight, a deceived owl flew out of a pine tree. I was in wonder to see Venus come out at the zenith. The magnificent emotions of that moment are more memorable than our anxiety over crowds and clouds and scarcity of roads and water on the piney Oregon high desert.” Arne is one of those really annoying polymaths who don’t flinch when they see numbers and can put together letters and words with equal facility. Jan Vandersande is “doing OK. My wife of 45 years died nearly two years ago, but I now have a steady lady friend. That is a lot 56 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 better than being on your own.” Kelvin Seifert has been especially glad of late that, by chance, he landed a job in Canada in 1974: “one of the better decisions I have ever made.” Sure, just rub it in. Mark Roberts “recently had another child, Elias Wang Roberts (July 25, 2017), this is in addition to Adam Wang Roberts (June 25, 2015). These are my third and fourth children. From a previous marriage, I have Amy Roberts, 21, at Tufts and Jesse Roberts, 19, at Syracuse. I am in my 27th year of owning and running Off Wall Street (offwallstreet.com), an investmentresearch boutique for hedge funds and other institutional investors, and still live in Cambridge, Mass.” Charles Bailey and Le Ke Son, co-authors of From Enemies to Partners, visited campus in November to lecture on the origins and lasting effects of Agent Orange on the people and environment of Vietnam. For Jennie Boyd Bull, “visiting the campus and reconnecting with classmates at our 50th Reunion was a joy.” Certified to teach qigong and tai chi, she offers classes at two health centers in the mountains and assists with classes in nearby Asheville, N.C., where a favorite saying is, “Namaste, y’all.” Her poetry chapbook, Where I Live: Coming Home to the Southern Mountains, was to be published by Finishing Line Press in March. Edward Fei volunteered in FEMA’s response to last year’s hurricanes. After a week of training in Alabama, he deployed to Puerto Rico as an individual applicant specialist, working 12-hour days, seven days a week, but somehow also managing to take salsa lessons. 1968 Kate Bode Darlington katedarlington@gmail.com Looking forward to seeing you at our 50th Reunion, May 31–June 3! Chris Miller writes: “Kate, your (and my wife, Robin [Feuer Miller ’69]’s) hectoring appears to be paying off. I am making reservations for the reunion, propelled also by a call from Peter Fraser.” Susan Gibson Sharpe also looks forward to it. Since retiring from “a few eons teaching community college English,” she describes herself as a painter of landscapes and a bit of a naturalist. She mourns “the many losses that climate change has already brought here in the Virginia countryside.” Joe Boyd is making cross-country travel plans to attend. After graduation, he was an engineer with Philly’s KYW Radio for 16 years. Then he changed careers to insurance and investments, and moved to Southern California in 1986. He retired three years ago to travel, play tennis, and help the grandkids. Wally Adamson retired in August after 39 years teaching modern European history at Emory University in Atlanta. He and wife Lauren Bernstein Adamson ’70 plan to move to Madison, Conn., to be near their son. They want to get to know any nearby Swarthmoreans. Next longest catchup comes from Stephanie Brown, newly retired after 30-plus years working for and managing the office of the “marvelous” J. Tony Serra, civil rights lawyer, activist, and tax resister. Ten years ago, Stephanie married Matthew Hallinan and moved to Berkeley, Calif., where she had the pleasure of reconnecting with Caroline Acker. Bob Bartkus traveled to Stanford to help with a course, work on a book, and bike from campus to 1 Infinite Loop, Apple HQ. He visited with Paul Brest ’62, a professor when Bob was at Stanford Law. Lee and Caroline Robinson Sanders ’70 sold their cruising sailboat, with its memories of exploring the British Columbia coast and Alaska. Now that Lee is retired from the detective work of anatomic and clinical pathology, there’s been time for a two-month road trip to national parks and monuments of the West, grandkids, and nature photography. (If Lee took candid photos at reunion, do you think he could Photoshop us back to our 20s?) John Mather (pg. 3) will address us at reunion about the James Webb Space Telescope he’s working on (bit.ly/ UniversalAttraction), whose launch is planned for mid-2019. He fits in time to speak to “high school and college students and Girls Who Code about the glories of science. For fun, wife Jane and I went to see the eclipse in Idaho, and to putter around Sicily in a Fiat Panda for a couple of weeks. Friends are great!” Diana Royce Smith says her new nickname is “Titania”—due to all the non-TSA-alerting metal she acquired during a lumbar spine fusion and right hip replacement. She has gotten through these with husband Larry’s help and looks forward to skiing again next winter. Bronwyn Hurd Echols is trying to combat TAD (Trump Affective Disorder) with husband Louie by supporting frontline resistance organizations. She’s combatting TAD with brother Tim with a limerick factory of rhyming rants. She might be talked into a limerick workshop at reunion. Florence Daly Battis Mini visited Iceland, “a beautiful country characterized by civility and a sense of responsibility.” With her daughter, she saw the magnificent West Fjords and a geothermal power plant that uses the steam and 300-plus-degree water coming up from underground to provide Reykjavik with heat and hot water, and to pipe water under streets to keep them clear of ice and snow. Also this year, Florence’s mother, Isabel “Skipper” Benkert Daly ’37, died at 101. “I’m surprised at how much my mother was woven into my life, how often I think, ‘I must tell Mother about this’ or ‘What will Mother think about this?’ But it’s impossible to be too sad. She lived such a long, full life.” Chris and Chitra Yang King write from Ojai, Calif.: “We have avoided both fires and mudslides … so far. Thanks to amazing grace and 8,500 firefighters from around the country, our little pocket has dodged the nastiest. Literally down the road there is devastation. We were so grateful during the worst of it for shelter from Peter ’71 and Pat Tolins Coffin in Berkeley.” Pat is busy with grandkids, volunteer SPOTLIGHT ON … NANCY NOBLE HOLLAND ’72 Nancy Noble Holland ’72, music director of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Studio City, Calif., fulfilled a longheld dream in the fall: conducting Brahms’s Requiem with 80 performers. “What I love most about what I do is that it’s collaborative,” she says. “I feel like I’m a true conduit, connecting the music from the composer, developing it together with the musicians, and offering it to the audience. At Swarthmore, the personal love and attention from professors and students made me feel a part of something much larger than me. I feel that way when I conduct.” + work, and Pilates, while Peter fits bikes to differently abled people. Chris writes: “Thanks for good wishes. Hope to see many at the reunion.” Most classmates in these notes are coming to reunion and hope to see you. 1970 Margaret Nordstrom hon.margi@comcast.net Bruce Bush retired after 18 years of teaching and about 30 as a custom woodworker and cabinet maker, and moved to historic Frederick, Md., with wife Rhoda. After Rhoda retired in 2014, Bruce worked three more years teaching ELS at a Frederick County elementary school. “To my surprise, I really enjoy retirement. I am active with language conversation groups— Spanish, French, Italian. I interpret Spanish for a local free clinic and the schools, play bagpipe in a band, and make beer and wine (from my own grapes). I meet new, interesting people all the time and love living in Frederick. We have two children, both married. Patrick wholesales fine wines in the D.C. market, and Sarah teaches high school history in Ann Arbor, Mich.” He looks forward to our 50th CONTINUED: bulletin.swarthmore.edu Reunion, which is fast approaching. John Byers expects to retire from the University of Idaho at the end of this academic year, at which point he will have more time for the project he suggests in Built for Speed’s last chapter, namely establishing a Great Plains National Park. He knows that the political climate “is not sanguine” (massive understatement there, John), but also knows it’s important to get started. Anyone who wishes to help, has ideas about how to proceed, or has thoughts on where the park should be located can contact him: jabyers48@gmail.com. John Loven writes: “Hello to the old geezers of ’70. I’m still busy teaching communication seminars for Pryor Learning Solutions and have a business providing online psychometric instruments for organizations. Wife Sandy and I live in Collegeville, Pa., with our son Matthew. Folk music is my hobby, and I’ll be playing with the Swarthmore Folk gang at Alumni Weekend this June.” Finally, I received an obituary for Doris Ring, who died Nov. 20 in Thomasville, N.C. Doris received a B.A. in French, but there is a larger story that I learned when I also got a lovely note from her daughter, Julie Robertson. Julie writes that her mother “died as a result of complications after a stroke at age 90. She was born in 1927, and I believe she was one of the first of Swarthmore’s ‘mature’ students— going back to college at about age 40—and had to have a special meeting with the dean just to be admitted. She used a Swarthmore calendar as her primary calendar ever since she attended. I will be using her calendar for 2018.” 1972 Nan Waksman Schanbacher nanschanbacher@ comcast.net I acknowledge the traditional stewards of this land, the Lenni Lenape. They are still here, and we recognize their sovereignty and acknowledge that we are guests in this space. Jonathan Betz-Zall retired from Shoreline and Highline colleges last year and took up employment as an online librarian. He returned to Highline to teach library and environmental science courses. David and Marti Booser Black ’75 spent all their time and resources the past two years successfully protecting their densely populated residential neighborhood from a proposed corporate crematory. They’re ready to apply their newfound skills to help other besieged neighborhoods. Kenneth Bowman retired from banking and is taking up marathon running. “Life is good. Decent health, decent finances, happily developing relationship that’s given me great pleasure, plus my first grandchild (by association), and a goodly circle of friends.” Kevin Chu retired from the National Marine Fisheries Service in October. He will be facilitating meetings between fishermen and a wind-energy company, “with an eye to finding ways that the two essential services can coexist.” Ken DeFontes is vice chair of North American Electric Reliability Corp.’s board of trustees. He also chairs Swarthmore’s Council on Presidential Initiatives. Charles Goldburg looks forward to retirement after practicing law for 40 years, the last 21 as the principal law clerk to a New York State Supreme Court judge. Charles has served for 14 years as a deacon for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre. Charles Grassie has made several trips to Thailand the last three years to visit his son, who seems to enjoy living there. Next trip: to Montego Bay, Jamaica, to visit a new grandson. Warren “James” Hazen now works for a home health-care agency, caring for elderly and disabled people in their own homes. John Lubar still works on sustainable fishing at Fisheries and Oceans Canada. En route to Peru, John and wife Elizabeth visited Carol and Ron Miller, who live on the edge of a huge wetland and wildlife refuge in Virginia Beach. Susan Okie retired from medical journalism. In 2014, she completed a poetry MFA at Warren Wilson College. Her chapbook, Let You Fly, came out in February. Lee Walker Oxenham is halfway through her second term in New Hampshire’s House of Representatives. “Amazingly, the next district to the north is represented by Susan Almy ’68, and the next one north of that is represented by Patricia Higgins—a Pomona exchange student who spent spring 1970 at Swarthmore.” Lee is on the Science, Technology, and Energy Committee and works with Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic legislators to develop a regional carbon-pricing plan. Bertha Fuchsman Small is a family doctor, doing small training trips SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 57 class notes and local promotion for Doctors Without Borders, and enjoying a second grandchild, a boy who “obligingly arrived during a visit from Linda Bovard.” Thomas Snyder has “been working for the past decade on making just one good musical comedy, and it’s the hardest thing I’ve tried yet, the most challenging parts being the music and the comedy.” Laurie Tompkins travels frequently now that she’s retired. This fall, a large glass sculpture Laurie made, on display at an exhibit in Hilo, Hawaii, won the people’s choice award. Sam Wilson became medical director at his Greenville, S.C., hospital and remains active in surgery. He and wife Dot enjoyed a week in Chautauqua, N.Y., and Sam wonders if other Swarthmoreans enjoy this unique place. Laurie Zoloth is new dean of UChicago Divinity School. Laurie dropped out of Swarthmore to become a licensed practical nurse to care for poor women; boycotted grapes with the United Farm Workers; rallied for civil rights; marched against the Vietnam War; and cut sugar cane in Cuba in 1969 to oppose the U.S. trade embargo. She returned to academia in the ’70s, earning bachelor’s degrees in women’s studies and nursing, master’s degrees in Jewish studies and English, and a doctorate in social ethics. Laurie’s academic and social passions converged just as the field of bioethics was developing, and she became a nationally respected bioethicist and a professor. After joining Kaiser Permanente’s ethics committee in California, Laurie led the Jewish studies program at San Francisco State University. She moved on to Northwestern University, where she had dual appointments in the religious studies department and medical school. Laurie led the faculty senate and was president of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities and the American Academy of Religion. I, Nan Waksman Schanbacher, have been named chair of the Board of the Museum Institute for Teaching Science. 58 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 1974 Randall Grometstein rgrometstein@verizon.net Thanks to all who responded— wonderful to hear from you! First, sad news. We learned of the death of Emily Atkinson Green, who lived in Millbury, Mass., and is survived by husband Peter and son Eric. Thanks to David Hoyt for this information. Several classmates sing the praises of retirement, while others continue their busy careers. Can you tell which category Demetrios Karis is in? He writes: “Enjoying life in Cambridge, Mass. (moved a year ago), teaching occasionally at Bentley (user experience research), plus time with family (two kids in college), exercise, resistance activities, and some work on climate change.” Joe ’73 and Lana Everett Turner “continue to be so blessed in every way: We’re healthy and fit, enjoying life in Steamboat Springs, Colo., and traveling frequently to other beautiful places, here and abroad. Our ‘kids’ are well and succeeding nicely at ‘adulting.’” Lois Polatnick, newly retired from medical practice, looks forward to traveling and spending time with family, including daughter Rachael in New Orleans and son David near Boston. She and her husband have homes in Chicago and Petoskey, Mich., and welcome Swarthmorean visits. Marc Halley “just retired from the MITRE Corp. after 35 years of high technology consulting. My wife and I spend our time between Virginia’s horse country and the Cayman Islands’ beaches. In between, hoping to win the Virginia Super Senior (65-plus) amateur golf championship this year.” John Whyte has “been involved in transition planning to replace myself in the research institute directorship position I’ve held for more than 25 years. I intend to step down in the next year but won’t be able to tear myself away from research altogether. Tom and I look forward to having more time, particularly for travel. Our son, Max, finished college last May and is making music and looking for ways to earn a living. Our daughter, Jesse, moved to Philadelphia to attend Penn Law School in the public interest track, and we’re glad to be able to see more of her.” Pat Heidtmann Disharoon writes: “We are now the proud grandparents of three girls and three boys, ages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.” Pat practices primary care internal medicine in Baltimore and teaches/ mentors medical students at her office. She also directs the Girl Scouts of Central Maryland Chorus and leads two troops. Adele Diamond: “Our first and (so far) only grandbaby, Hazel, turned 1 on Nov. 18. We gave her parents the present of one year of parental leave, all expenses paid, and they came to live with us for Hazel’s first year. They have now moved to Washington state,” an hour away from Vancouver, British Columbia. Interesting idea for those who have yet to experience grandparenthood! Congratulations to Ronda Muir on the publication of her book, Beyond Smart: Lawyering with Emotional Intelligence, by the American Bar Association. “Praised as ‘instantly the standard in the field,’ it is the first comprehensive guide to understanding, using, and raising emotional intelligence. I hope there are Swatties who can make use of the information. I am working with a couple of law schools on a teaching guide and hope to develop online programming.” It’s great to hear from Nan Cinnater, who after 28 years in Provincetown, Mass., as a bookseller, cabdriver, barista, high school English teacher, and bookseller (again) is now lead librarian at the Provincetown Public Library. She organized the Provincetown Book Festival, now in its third year (Sept. 15–16—save the dates!), which has featured such authors as Michael Cunningham, Sebastian Junger, Julia Glass, and Richard Russo. Vaneese Thomas is “in the thick of singing for a living. Last summer, I performed in Italy and Spain with my sister, Carla Thomas. Fabulous time! My latest albums have been in the blues genre, and I perform with my band in the N.Y. area. I plan to perform in Japan at the Billboard Clubs in Tokyo and Osaka in July. If you live there, please come see me. My husband and I are in Westchester County, N.Y. Feel free to drop in.” The last word goes to Joan Allen Malkin: “I am quite active as a volunteer in civic pursuits, mostly around the ‘theme’ of conservation. Manage to keep contact with Nell Hahn ’73 and Cathy Lutz, which is a great tie back to Swarthmore. Think that retirement and grandchildren are way underrated. Am thinking, as I suspect so many Swarthmoreans and Americans generally are, about the dire state of our country, the perils we face, the suffering and injustice we ignore, and the possibility that we may be witnessing the fall of our empire—and I use that word deliberately.” 1976 Fran Brokaw fran.brokaw@gmail.com Thanks to all who sent updates on your busy lives. Lots of news this time! Kilbourn “Sandy” Gordon published Med School 101 for Patients, which aims to improve doctor-patient communication and empower patients to play active roles in their own health care. Norma and Stewart Schwab finally became empty nesters after 38 years(!), when their youngest of eight went to college in the fall. It’s an adjustment, but made more fun by trips to Key West and to visit their daughter in Palau. Stewart teaches torts, employment law, and law and economics at Cornell Law School. Cyndi and Niley Dorit spent a couple of amazing weeks in Japan, including in the beautiful forests and mountains of Nagano. They hope to visit again soon. Niley resumed squash after 41 years away from his racquet and probably can’t remember why he ever stopped. Niley is also involved with the newborn legal cannabis industry in California at the venture-capital, cultivation, and legal-consulting level. “Pretty exciting to see an entire industry being born right in front of our eyes!” After years of living in TriBeCa in Manhattan, Pamela Casper, her husband, and 15-year-old twins Viola and Sebastian moved to Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. They love the old-New York feel and friendly neighbors. Pamela is a full-time artist, painting and doing 3-D work, and exhibited in three shows around NYC. Larry Frohman is professor of ophthalmology and neurosciences at Rutgers. He’s spent much time (for the past 25 years) on behalf of the North American NeuroOphthalmology Society, serving as voluntary executive vice president. Larry’s wife teaches third grade. Their two sons received their doctorates on the same day a couple of years back—one in food science chemistry at Cornell, the other in physical chemistry at Wesleyan—making for a mad overnight dash to participate in both academic robing ceremonies. Monica Heller received an honorary doctorate from the University of Bern, Switzerland. Rhonda Resnick Cohen is the new board chair of Glenmede Trust Co., a privately held and independently owned investment and wealth-management firm headquartered in Philly. She also serves on Swarthmore’s Board of Managers. Hugh Bryan and wife Barbara Allison-Bryan were jointly awarded the Clancy Holland Award, for political advocacy, by the Medical Society of Virginia. He was the society’s president in 2012, when he advocated for protection of Medicaid funding and establishment of physicianled team-based care. Hugh looks forward to retirement from clinical practice this year. Kelly Tillery, always a history buff, became intrigued with Benjamin Lay (bit.ly/BenjaminLay), an early Quaker abolitionist who used disruptive performance art to attract attention to his cause. Kelly located the cave where Lay lived, in Abington, Pa., and explored it with son Alexander. He has applied to the Pennsylvania Museum and Historical Commission to erect a historical marker near its location. Henry Clark sent news for the first time ever! He and his family live in Twickenham, England. Last year started with a house fire that disrupted their lives considerably. He and wife Jill celebrated their silver anniversary by attending an Elton John concert. They have GARNET SNAPSHOT Next-door neighbors Liz Loeb McCane ’76 and Julie Berger Hochstrasser ’76 hosted their College roommates in the Tetons in August for a solar-eclipse mini-reunion. From left: Cynthia Rasmussen ’76, Julie, Polly McKinstry ’76, and Liz. three children, ages 18 to 24, and the younger two are on the autism spectrum. Holly Shugaar Zimmerman welcomed granddaughter Talia Rachel Zimmerman, who has a brother, Judah, 4. Marian Evans Melnick lives near Boston and revels in helping care for two granddaughters several days a week. She sings in the choir at the First Church in Belmont Unitarian Universalist, which boasts at least a half-dozen other Swarthmoreans among its members. Teresa Nicholas and Gerry Helferich still divide their time between Jackson, Miss., and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Teresa is working on her third book, a memoir about her mother, and Gerry published another book of history, An Unlikely Trust: Theodore Roosevelt, J.P. Morgan, and the Improbable Partnership That Remade American Business. Last year was challenging for many of us. Here’s hoping 2018 brings good health and happiness! to be in touch, millanw@gwu.edu.” Congratulations to Steven Swartz, who last June married Kristi Sunde, his partner of nearly 10 years and an occupational therapist at the VA hospital in Manhattan; the two live in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Steve’s best man was son Jacques, a senior strategist at SYPartners. Robert Tench traveled to Sweden last year to present a technical paper at the 2017 European Conference on Optical Communications. Bob works at Cybel LLC, a startup in Bethlehem, Pa., where he focuses on “research and development of thulium-andholmium-doped fiber amplifiers and lasers in the 2000 nm spectral region. The technology is leading edge and extremely interesting.” Bob is proud of sons David, a computer science Ph.D. student at UMass–Amherst, and Connor, who works at a software company in San Leandro, Calif. “It is a great joy for me to see my sons enjoying life so much.” Mark your calendars for our (gulp) 40th Reunion, June 1–3! 1978 1980 Donna Caliendo Devlin dmcdevlin@aol.com Laurence Jarvik is featured in a lengthy interview in The Trump Effect by filmmaker Agustin Blazquez (bit.ly/TrumpEffectFilm). Wayne Millan writes: “For several years, I have lived in my native town of Falls Church, Va. No, you don’t really go home again. My parents’ house (no longer ours) is three times the size it used to be, and midgrade Army officers no longer reside anywhere near there. I, on the other hand, have come back to classics and since 2009 have been a lecturer in same at George Washington. I also do historical research in Baltimore, where I write a regular column on the history of medicine for the University of Maryland Medicine Bulletin. I often see Cole Kendall as well as Gerald Yeager ’77. Old friends (or new) are welcome Martin Fleisher marty@meflaw.com Congrats to Mike Kuehlwein! Each year, Pomona College—where Mike is the George E. and Nancy O. Moss Professor of Economics— names the Wig Distinguished Professor Award. Mike received his sixth Wig in 2017. Condolences to Jake Howland on the death of his mother, Bette. She had quite an obituary in The New York Times and seemed to have had a very interesting life. I was also deeply saddened to read in the fall issue about the death of Howard Stern ’79, who entered Swarthmore with our class. He was a close friend to many of us and a particularly brilliant student. I’m sorry I lost touch with him shortly after graduation. Congratulations to Andrea Libresco and Mary Battenfeld, who SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 59 class notes co-authored the well-reviewed Notable Books, Notable Lessons: Putting Social Studies Back in the K–8 Curriculum. Tom Long and Melanie Wentz made a quick trip to the East Coast from the Bay Area, and my wife and I had a nice reunion dinner with them and Eric and Jodie Landes Corngold. on the faculty of the University of Virginia. We were in town last Aug. 12, and we remain deeply saddened by the tragic events that took place here and the national tone that made them possible. Charlottesville, however, remains a wonderful place to live and work. As always, check out our class Facebook page, which allows for the direct sharing of news in (sortof) real time. 1982 1984 David Chapman dchapman29@gmail.com Jennifer Madison McNiff continues on the Yale Medical School faculty and reports that “the Democratic Town Committee of Bolton, Conn., recognized Gwen Erwin Marrion as the Democrat of the Year after nearly 30 years of public service. Gwen served for many years on the Board of Selectmen, the Bolton Land Trust, the Bolton Inland Wetlands Commission, and the Open Space Acquisition and Preservation Committee.” Tom Butcavage, an experienced designer of higher-education learning environments, joined global architecture and design firm Perkins+Will. Some of Tom’s prior projects include Georgetown University School of Medicine’s Dr. Proctor Harvey Teaching Amphitheater, the Media and Journalism School at UNC–Chapel Hill, and the American University Washington College of Law. Bruce Weinstein of TheEthicsGuy. com took on White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders regarding what has turned into a daily “issue” for our government’s executive branch: truth (bit.ly/WeinsteinSHS). Jamie Stiehm, a historian with a unique viewpoint on the historical nature of Republican Sen. Jeff Flake’s resistance, weighed in on value of conscience and conscientious objection in the era of the 45th president (bit.ly/ StiehmFlake). I, David, and wife Kathleen are in Charlottesville, Va., where I’m 60 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 Karen Linnea Searle linnea.searle@gmail.com Peter and Dee Durie Bobbe enjoyed son Chris’s graduation from Haverford last year—where they caught up with Diane Wilder ’83. Chris enjoyed several classes at Swarthmore, especially with Professor Craig Williamson. Peter was selected as his school district’s teacher of the year, and Dee retired after 25 years as a rural family doctor. They look forward to seeing Harry Schulz at his next gig! George Hartzell is “happily ensconced in Oakland, Calif., doing freelance computer science in biotech and pharma. Had a great summer, including a wonderful week off the grid at a whitewaterkayak school on the Cal Salmon River (proof that you’re never too old to be told you’re doing it wrong). Looking forward to a snowy winter. (Once an optimist, always an optimist ... )” Adrianne Pierce’s family, with two high schoolers, is deep into the college process. “We enjoy living with two budding thespians—one also a singer, and one also a field hockey athlete. Laura has changed positions within the Girls Inc. network, working to strengthen affiliates across the U.S. and Canada.” Adrianne is in her last year overseeing global programs at Hackley School and looks forward to devoting her time and attention to classroom teaching. In July, Adrianne attended Swarthmore’s classicists reunion. She reports that our class was well-represented, with Keith and Margaret Smith Henderson, Jay Kardan, and herself attending. Neil Ottenstein’s wife, Laura Neiswanger Ottenstein, changed branches at Goddard Space Flight Center and now works with the New Opportunities Office. Daughter Rachel is in LA doing production management on music videos, commercials, and short subjects, and now has three credits on IMDb. Son Alan graduated from Colby College, double-majoring in math and physics. He is pursuing graduate studies in math at the University of Iowa this fall. “I am still the flight dynamics operations lead on the contractor side for the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission at GSFC,” Neil writes. “MMS recently went through the apogee-raise campaign, changing the apogee from 12 to 25 Earth radii though a series of 32 Delta-V maneuvers over the course of two months. Before the campaign, the formation of four spacecraft flew at a size of about 7 kilometers, which broke their previous Guinness World Record for the closest flying separation of a multispacecraft formation.” Joelle Moreno enjoys life as a professor after a decade at Florida International University College of Law in Miami. “Although times are hard for law school graduates, our public school is thriving and our students are passing the bar and finding good jobs. I have been reconnecting with Swarthmore through my son Nathan MorenoMendelson ’20, who is carving his own path as a proud earthworm and engineering major. I regularly speak with my close friend (and two-time Wharton neighbor) Ann Starrs, who fights the good fight as head of the Guttmacher Institute.” Mark Reynolds lives in Boston with wife Clare and sons Niall and Declan. “I’m CEO of CRICO/Risk Management Foundation, which provides professional liability insurance and is the patientsafety organization for Harvardaffiliated doctors and hospitals. One twist is a reconnection with Max Mulhern. We have been crew together on a boat in the Marion, Mass.-to-Bermuda sailing race. The race is distinguished by having a class of boats that sail only with celestial navigation (no GPS or electronics). Max is an experienced celestial navigator and has trained the crew. As it happens, we took first place in the fleet.” Congrats, Mark and Max! Gwyneth Jones Cote has lived in Greensboro, N.C., for almost five years and is COO of Bell Partners, a real estate investment and management company. “Much to our delight, son Jack ’20 is at Swarthmore! Daughter Cynthia is a high school senior. She is interested in big, city schools, so our college tours have taken us in a different direction. Four years ago we became a host family for Qianxu Ding, a Chinese student who came to Greensboro Day School for high school. She immediately fit into our family and became such a ‘Cote’ that we became her permanent American family! She completed high school and just finished her first year at Wake Forest. We still do annual vacations in Grand Cayman with Donna Marchesani Cronin and her family.” Stephen Henighan is professor of Spanish and Hispanic studies at the University of Guelph, outside Toronto, and was named College of Arts Research Leadership Chair, 2017–2020. Stephen recently published two new novels, and has a short-story collection and an Angolan novel that he translated from Portuguese coming out in 2018. He is married to a theater director from Mexico City and is the father of two infants. Thanks for all the news! Please keep sending it my way. 1986 Karen Leidy Gerstel kgerstel@msn.com Jessica Russo Perez-Mesa jessicaperezmesa@yahoo.com Ramona O’Halloran Swenson participated in 2017’s Women’s GARNET SNAPSHOT From left: Dave Engerman ’88, Bo Arbogast ’88, Marty Juhn ’88, and Mark Bartlett ’88, gathering to celebrate Bo’s 50th birthday, recreated a photo taken at his wedding 20 years earlier. March in D.C. A mini-reunion followed at Don McMinn’s place with Lynelle Morgenthaler, Murray Scheel, Judy Fredericksen, Angela Tung, David Schutte, David Homer, and Noelle Damico ’87 engaging in passionate discussions reminiscent of late-night dorm-lounge days. Anne Titterton is now associate general counsel at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, feeling privileged to serve an institution that regularly inspires. She happily lives in Wayne, Pa., with talented teen daughter Ava. Ninotchka Bennahum is a dance history, theory, and performance studies professor at UC–Santa Barbara, where she researches, teaches, choreographs, and curates. She lives between California and NYC, as she teaches a digital UCSB dance-history class from New York dance studios. She spent nearly 20 years teaching for American Ballet Theater and has a beautiful daughter, Mairana, 9, a true California hippie. Greg Hannsgen, in Rhinebeck, N.Y., taught an International Financial Crises course at SUNY– New Paltz. He is collaborating on macroeconomics research and is involved in the hearing-voices movement. Check out his blogs, healthyveganhudsonvalley.com and greghannsgen.org. Marian Staats and partner Tom Bowen excitedly won an NEH Humanities Connections grant to develop a field-study course that will take students on a camping trip from Chicago to Yellowstone this summer, with stops in the Badlands, Pine Ridge, Black Hills, Bighorn, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Standing Rock, and the Aldo Leopold Foundation. Marian is an English professor and co-coordinator of environmental studies at Oakton Community College in Des Plaines, Ill. Congratulations to Julie Phillips for receiving a Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant for writers “in the process of completing a book of deeply researched and imaginatively composed nonfiction.” The Baby on the Fire Escape will be published by W.W. Norton. She lives in Amsterdam with her husband and two children. Congrats, also, to David Cateforis on his promotion to art history chair at the University of Kansas. Catherine Paplin is nearing her first anniversary at a “large but unusually friendly and personable architecture/engineering firm, CANY.” Lisa Meehan took early retirement after 25 years at Merck & Co. and is embarking on the next chapter with a part-time role running a private benchmarking group in corporate travel. Last year saw the wedding of her stepdaughter in Brooklyn and a climb up Mount Kilimanjaro with her husband and son. Retirement indeed! Alexander Gavis, Judy Fredericksen, Elizabeth Killackey, Alexa Malis Faraday, David Schutte, and David Sobel met in New York, continuing their annual mini-reunions. After five years in Lucerne, Switzerland, Judd Liebman, wife Kathy Seidl ’88, and their teenage twins moved near Boston a few years ago. Judd runs Kaplan International English North America operations in Cambridge, while Kathy is Bluebird Bio’s director of research. Luigi Mercone was in a poetic mood, reporting after a twodecade Bulletin absence that he “faked it until he made it … to managing director at ‘The Big Bad Scary Bank.’” Apparently, “tech-startup hipster was out,” as he doesn’t have “the hair, teeth, or beard.” He celebrates 14 years with Claire Szeto and has a fabulous, wise, and total bird-nerd (budding ornithologist) daughter Lucia, 10. “I’ve buried both my parents and one dog. Of all the coruscating souls I met at our dear alma mater, I have kept in touch most with Dave and Laurel Hall Stitzhal ’87, who have served as my moral exemplars of mindful, purposeful presence and commitment.” Eric and Susanne Myers Adler ’97 had the pleasure of tagging along with daughter Lauren for a Swarthmore info session and tour. Shepard Davidson says the “Brothers of Don Ho staged a golf trip to Scottsdale, Ariz.,” in November. Attending were Jeff Krieger, Geoff Hazard, Pete Orth, John Schaefer, Rich Dunne ’87. Much revelry ensued, with calls to Mitch Stern and other alumni. Greg Kaebnick is a scholar and editor at The Hastings Center, a bioethics research institute in Garrison, N.Y. Younger child Hannah heads to college next year, and Greg and wife Gwen Whitman Kaebnick ’85 are mentally preparing for the empty nest. Rebecca Rosenberg Jacobson remarried, “after a long single spell,” to Jake Jacobson. She left her position as biomedical informatics professor at Pitt’s medical school to become VP of analytics at UPMC Enterprises— the innovation lab of Pittsburg’s big health system. Son Colin Crowley ’18 graduates from Swarthmore this summer. I, Karen, extend my sympathies to classmates who lost loved ones this year. As we move firmly into our 50s, the good news is all too often colored with sadness. 1988 Mallory Easter Polk malloryepolk@gmail.com Bo Arbogast emailed some time ago: “My daughter had two letters in front of her, one for Swarthmore, one for Carleton. In the end, Swarthmore was not the choice, but it was fun to consider. Later that summer, I had a 50th birthday celebration with Dave Engerman, Marty Juhn, and Mark Bartlett near Oberlin College, where I now work. Mark and I had visited Oberlin during a 1987 spring break trip. Little did I know I’d be here 30 years hence, serving as an assistant dean in academic advising. At Swarthmore, I changed my major every year (premed, politics, psychology, then soc/anth), so I can give some comfort to advisees who feel lost. If your kids are considering Oberlin, have them come see me!” As a parent who has toured many a college campus, it’s reassuring to know that classmates like Bo are out there advising. Life is full for Preston ’87 and me. Parenting takes up most SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 61 class notes of our energies. Our two eldest boys (twins) study at Pomona and Pitzer. Son Marcus spent a wonderful summer interning at the Barnes Foundation, under the fine leadership of dear classmate Thom Collins. It did my heart good to know that Thom was nearby as I sent my son out into the workaday world. Son Mason spent last fall in China, and would have been—had we been able to arrange it—warmly welcomed by Nick Morse, who lives and works in Guangzhou. As you read this, we will be preparing to watch our elder daughter, Charlotte, graduate from Phillips Exeter. She will continue her studies this fall at Yale, which I hope to visit frequently and meet up with Nina Livingston and her family in Connecticut. Our youngest, Vanessa, is in eighth grade and plays elite basketball and volleyball. We had the good fortune to cross paths with Michael Hall ’87 and his family in Kansas City while at a tournament there. No doubt you, too, have Swarthmore connections at play in your life. Even though 30 years have gone by since we marched across the stage in Scott Amphitheater, the ties remain. 1990 Jim Sailer jim.sailer@gmail.com Samantha Blackburn has lived in Sacramento, Calif., for three years, while teaching nursing at Sacramento State. She also coordinates the school nurse credential/master’s program. Samantha says her Swarthmore sociology degree came in handy as she worked on her dissertation (nursing science and health-care leadership Ph.D. from UC–Davis) and as she conducts qualitative research on the work of school health administrators (people who manage K–12 health programs, such as school nursing, mental health, and wellness programs). Danielle Moss is continuing an 62 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 interesting, impactful career in social justice. Her most recent role, since fall, is chief of staff at the New York Civil Liberties Union: “Their strategy of litigation, community organizing, and legislative advocacy across New York state in support of issues that affect us all excites me.” Congrats, Danielle! Courtland and Emily Newland Reichman ’93 have three kids, Whitner, 16, Ava, 14, and Frankie, 12, as well as a student from Zimbabwe staying with them for two years, Watida, 18. Courtland is a trial lawyer at McKool Smith (where Pete Mastroianni also practices) and managing principal of the firm’s California offices. Courtland’s latest venture is a podcast, Behind the Trial, featuring interviews with the country’s most celebrated trial lawyers. David Eldridge is a Swarthmore employee! After years of fundraising for Quaker independent schools, Dave joined the advancement team and meets with alumni, parents, and others about their Swarthmore philanthropy. “It’s amazing working behind the curtain and discovering that Swarthmore has grown in many good ways since our graduation. In particular, President Valerie Smith and her senior staff are truly spectacular (including, of course, Jim Bock!). Naturally, the job has gotten me in the mode of renewing old friendships, which has really been fun. On the home front, my wife and I have three awesome daughters: one in college, two in high school (senior and first-year). We’ve been living up Route 1 in Wynnewood since our eldest came along 20 years ago.” Cheri Walker is CFO and EVP of corporate development of Kailos Genetics, “an early stage company with cool next-generation sequencing technology for genetic testing and diagnostics, including patient-directed business where people can go online and order testing.” She lives near Boston with her sons, 4 and 6. “I love adventure traveling—mostly involving animals—and have swum with wild dolphins in Hawaii, gone mountain gorilla and chimpanzee trekking in Uganda, been on safari in South Africa, and gone wild-tiger trekking in India. I am planning a swim with whale sharks for my 50th and still want to visit Borneo to see orangutans and the wildlife there. Otherwise, the boys and I love nature-based activities (zoo, farm, horseback riding, beach, hiking) or sports (baseball, basketball, soccer).” Finally, a personal update from me, Jim Sailer! 2017 was my first year as executive director of the Center for Biomedical Research at the Population Council, where I was previously a VP of corporate affairs. We filed a new-drug application to the FDA for a novel contraceptive device, a massive effort involving 69 preclinical studies, 17 clinical studies, and 200,000 pages in our application. If approved, our product will be an important family-planning option for women. I had lots of Swat encounters last year, including dinner with Suma McGourty, a visit to Atlanta historical sites with Neil Swenson, dinner with John Hanlon, periodic lunches with Caroline Curry, a trip to the JFK Library with Greg Smirin and our respective sons, attending a fundraiser for Phil Weiser’s Colorado attorney general campaign, and a great group video chat with Sara Waterman Saltee, Angela Shaw, and Tanya Boudreau. 1992 Libby Starling libbystarling@comcast.net Only four more years until our next reunion … Apologies to Alyssa Nathan ’21, whom I missed in my last column’s inventory of 1992 legacies. Parents SPOTLIGHT ON … READ ’93 AND RACHEL GUY SCHUCHARDT ’94 Read ’93 and Rachel Guy Schuchardt ’94 had daughter Marguerite Katherine on Sept. 23, bringing the family total to seven boys and three girls—and two grandchildren (all pictured above at a Christmas gathering). In March 2017, son Mercer and wife Emma had daughter Juniper, and in August eldest child Constance and husband Ruben had daughter Beatrice. “Because we married at Swarthmore and had our first child when Rachel was a senior, we became grandparents at 48 and 46, respectively,” Read says. “It’s ridiculously fun to have a new daughter who is younger than both our granddaughters, because it makes you feel old and young at the same time.” + CONTINUED: bulletin.swarthmore.edu Len and Lynne Maybee Nathan ’91 report that Alyssa “is a fourthgeneration Swattie and already loves it at Swat!” Some political updates: The voters of Somerville, Mass., wisely elected Stephanie Hirsch (pg. 4) as alderman-at-large this fall. In Hawaii, Josh Green hopes voters will elect him lieutenant governor. Congratulations to Heather Hill, named one of only 20 University of Michigan Bicentennial Alumni out of UM’s 800,000-plus alums. (I’m glad I don’t write their Class Notes!) Heather is the Jerome T. Murphy Professor in Education at Harvard. C. Kemal Nance is a new faculty member at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. He leads the Organization of Umfundalai Teachers, a consortium of artists and scholars who develop pedagogy experiences for budding African dance teachers. Last fall, he performed his work “Chalk Lines,” an artistic response to the Baltimore riots, at the American Dance Guild Festival at NYC’s Ailey Citigroup Theater. Marshall Curry released A Night at the Garden, an archival compilation of footage of a 1939 Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden. “I’ve seen the footage a thousand times, and it still gives me the chills,” Marshall says. Meanwhile, Paul Young gave the McCabe Lecture during Garnet Weekend, on “An Urgent Case for Laughter” (bit.ly/McCabePY). Paul is an Emmy-winning producer whose credits include Key & Peele, black-ish, and Central Intelligence. Michael Belfatti is the new CEO at Greenlight Capital Re, a specialist property and casualty reinsurance company headquartered in the Cayman Islands. With a financial engineering master’s from Princeton, Mike has spent more than 20 years in the reinsurance and insurance industry. Finally, a note from Sara Shay: “Thanks to everyone who organized our reunion! I attended the Saturday festivities with my husband, John McCauley ’91, and our two boys, 13 and 15, and—as always—I left wishing there had been even more time to catch up with classmates. Also, at the Philadelphia Airport in July en route to a family trip to Alaska (that also included my sister-in-law Rose McCauley ’93), I spotted exSwarthmore President David Fraser (bit.ly/DFraser). He and his wife were heading to Haines, Alaska, to donate 11 antique spruce-root baskets to the local art museum. They had purchased the baskets at an auction 30-odd years ago. Fun fact: When Fraser left at the end of our junior year, after nine years as president, he was just 46.” And now that most of us have slipped beyond 46, I anxiously await your news for the next episode of Class Notes! 1994 Joanna Vondrasek joanna.vondrasek@gmail.com Greetings, class: This will be my last column as secretary, after 10 years of writing updates. I have greatly enjoyed hearing from you, and serving as secretary has kept me connected to Swarthmore in ways I didn’t anticipate. Guian McKee ’92 and I have been in Charlottesville, Va., for 15 years, Guian at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center of Public Affairs, and I, for the past 10 years, at Piedmont Virginia Community College, where I am a biology professor. Sons Reece, 14, and Nathaniel, 11, keep us busy. Reece seems to be following in Guian’s footsteps and ran a successful first season of high school cross country this fall. Nathaniel is still keen on soccer. In years past, when I met new people, I often had to explain where Charlottesville was, but no longer. The past year has obviously been difficult in our community, and it has coincided with my term as faculty senate co-president. This has given me some perspective on the role educational institutions play in shaping community response to tragedy, and I continue to be inspired by and thankful for my colleagues and students, who have shown great compassion and strength this past semester. I am pleased to report that Kevin Babitz has graciously agreed to take over as class secretary. I look forward to seeing you all at our 25th Reunion next year and to reading about your milestones, big and small. Kevin lives in the Maryland suburbs of D.C. with wife Shulamit Shapiro Babitz ’97 and kids Rebecca, 15, Madeline, 13, Elisheva, 10, and Netanel, 5. Kevin is a tax attorney in Washington, and Shuly is a writer at the National Institutes of Health. They and their children enjoy the history and scenery of the D.C. area while still rooting for the New York sports teams. They also make yearly trips to Israel to see their favorite actors and musicians, and spend an inordinate amount of time discussing Swarthmore. Kevin hopes to stay connected to and reconnect with Swatties near and far, and looks forward to hearing your latest news. 1996 Gerardo Aquino aquinonyc@yahoo.com Melissa Clark melissa.a.clark@gmail.com Rachel Lynn ’97 married Todd Derscheid at the Houston Arboretum on Sept. 9. Rachel is a psychiatrist at MD Anderson Cancer Center, providing specialized care to cancer patients. “Little did I know that in Houston, I would actually find my home— my husband and three loving girls (Alex, Cori, and Daria) who welcomed me and my two cats, Zekie and Zoe, into their home and lives.” Adam Koplan ’95 officiated, and various Swatties attended, including Amanda Rocque ’97, Lisa Ginsburg Tazartes ’97, Kate Walker ’97, Snuller Price ’93, and Rachel’s dad, Stephan Lynn ’69. Also in September, Chris Marin was joined by Sam Voolich and Curtis Trimble on a trip to Wisconsin, where they cheered on the Milwaukee Brewers in an extra- innings game against the Chicago Cubs before moving north to Green Bay and watching the Packers’ Aaron Rodgers beat the Cincinnati Bengals in overtime. Chris extends his gratitude to Laurie Baker ’97 for providing deep insights into Milwaukee. In December, Chris crossed the pond to visit Andrew Groat ’97 in London. Pursuing art full time, Nazanin Moghbeli is spending a year in Paris with her husband and three kids. “It is an amazing city for art, and I have found a great communal studio in which to make paintings, drawings, and to improve my French.” Check out her work: nmoghbeli.com. Jagath Wanninayake advanced to the national finals of the Ernst & Young U.S. Entrepreneur of the Year competition. Tales of Two Americas, edited by John Freeman, was among the BBC’s 10 books to read in September. I, Gerardo, was affected by the catastrophic flooding from Hurricane Harvey in Houston. Although I was safely out of town, I was saddened to lose such sentimental items as our Swarthmore yearbook and pictures from our College days. Condo repairs are coming along and lots of good things are happening—so the storm has not washed away an optimistic spirit. Wishing everyone continued success in your personal and professional lives! 2000 Emily Shu emily.n.shu@gmail.com Michaela DeSoucey mdesoucey@gmail.com Last summer, I, Emily, met up with Alison Young and Neil DiMaio to visit David Peterson and Ursula Lang and their kids in Scotland for seaside adventures. Soon after, the Peterson-Langs returned to the U.S. and are now in Providence, R.I. Sarah Archer married Ma’ayan SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 63 class notes “Manny” Citron in October in Valley Forge, Pa., with a brass band, Israeli folk dancing, s’mores, and plenty of Swatties (Emily, David and Ursula, Neil, Alison, Jerry Melichar, Gabriel Cumming, Corey Datz-Greenberg, Will Mackintosh, Supriya Kota, and Meredith Hegg). A good time was had by all! Jessica Scott was featured in the Redford Center’s documentary Happening: A Clean Energy Revolution. Jessica was part of a coalition that passed 11 cleanenergy bills out of the Nevada Legislature, with nine signed into law. Check out the documentary on HBO. Arun Mohan, co-founder and CEO of Radix Health and an internal medicine hospitalist at Emory, is now a medical adviser at caredash.com (whose CEO is Ted Chan ’02), which features patientgenerated reviews and ratings about physicians and hospitals. Award-winning comedian Jenny Yang performed on campus in October. Liam O’Neill was inducted into the 2018 Marquette University High School Athletic Hall of Fame. Daniel Littlewood works at Vox Media and frequently runs into Louise Brooks in their Brooklyn neighborhood. Jerry Melichar, wife Nadia, and kids Luke, 3, and Rose, 1, left Brooklyn for Glen Ridge, N.J. Jerry started a new role as North American operations director for marketing agency Spark44. Miriam Freedman received tenure at Penn State and is now an academic mama of a son, 3, and an associate professor of chemistry. Eva Allan taught Art of Renaissance Venice at UC– Berkeley, where she is a postdoc in art history. “Informal highlights included playing lute when teaching about Giorgione, weaving fake pearls in my hair when teaching Veronese, and learning an enormous amount. Baby Kai, 1, Orion, 10, and Sylvia, 7, take up most of the rest of my energies.” Keep an eye out for Not Quite a Cancer Vaccine, Samantha Gottlieb’s medical anthropology book, published by Rutgers University Press. Kim Foote, National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellow and New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow in Fiction, is working on a book. Enjoy 64 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 a small sample of her writing via the Missouri Review (tinyurl.com/ footemorev) and Flapperhouse (tinyurl.com/footeflapper). Desiree Peterkin Bell co-authored Women Who Inspire. She was invited by India’s government to speak about smart cities and women’s issues, and she teaches urban communication at Penn. Her public affairs firm, DPBell & Associates, has partners and offices around the country and in Tel Aviv, Israel. Desiree is an enthusiastic gymnastics mom to a daughter, 9, and is celebrating 12 years of marriage to Brian Bell ’99. Dan Kraut submitted his tenure packet at Villanova in the fall. Rochelle Arms lives in Brooklyn with husband Daniel, downstairs from Prachi Patankar and her delightful 2-year-old. Rochelle is in her last year of a Ph.D. program in conflict analysis and resolution, and accepted a tenure-track position at CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Julia Sable is enjoying maternity leave from the Foundation for a Mindful Society to care for Corrin Jules, born in September. She and husband Rickey Pannell are totally smitten. Chris Fanjul and wife Corey Solinger welcomed baby Vanessa in January 2017. Chris is “still toiling away in my ceramics studio (chrisfanjul.com) on the North Fork of Long Island, and discovered that John Pagliaro ’93 (handwerklab.com) is doing the same on nearby Shelter Island!” Jen Slaw Napolitano lives in NYC, speaking at and juggling for businesses and schools, but her favorite new gig is being mom to Gianluca. She and husband Luigi welcomed their 9-pound-11-ounce healthy boy in March 2017. He has already outgrown his first Swarthmore T-shirt. Heather Stern writes: “Our family grew this year from four to five with the birth of daughter Elena, much to the delight of brothers Sam and Xavier. My husband, Nick, and I continue to work as chemical engineers for what is now DowDuPont.” Rachel Adams loves being a palliative-care physician at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. “Our department feels like ‘little Swarthmore’—my colleagues include Chris Woodrell ’01 and Elizabeth Lindenberger ’93. This year was particularly exciting for my family—my partner, Josh, and I welcomed twins Jack and Hannah.” Last summer, Lorrin Nelson’s family had a combo visit from Sean Brennan and his family and Geoff Anisman and his elder son. It was the first time the three freshman roommates had been together since our 10th Reunion. 2002 Tanya Wansom swarthmore2002@gmail.com Many daughters were born to classmates last year! Ursula Beauregard Rothwell, daughter of Lizzie Rothwell and John Beauregard ’05, was born Aug. 6. Sabine Lee Milla, daughter of Leaya Lee and husband Chris Milla ’03, was born Oct. 3 in NYC. And Nicky Benton, his wife, and sons Jonah, 5, and Micah, 3, welcomed Elise Charlotte Benton, born Dec. 12. After 11 years, Sarah Yardney completed a Bible studies Ph.D. in June at the University of Chicago. She lives in Chicago’s far-western suburbs with husband Jamie and children Nora, 6, and Morgan, 3. Sonia Mariano lives in Raglan, New Zealand, and will move to Bunbury, Western Australia, later this year, working in urgent care and as an emergency medicine doctor. She also spent four months in Pheriche, Nepal, working as a mountain doctor on the Everest Base Camp trekking route. Olga Rostapshova lives in Chicago and is raising two toddlers while directing Harvard’s Weiss Fund, advising the new nonprofit Precision Agriculture for Development, and directing evaluations at the international development consultancy Social Impact. Jae Won Chung received a Ph.D. from Columbia in the fall and started as an assistant professor in Korean literature and culture at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he lives with wife Lynn. Ariel Kobylak started a new position as a clinical research coordinator in hematologic oncology at Thomas Jefferson University. Shira KostGrant Brewer lives in Seattle with husband Matt and children Rafael, 9, and Aziza, 5. She teaches high school math and became a National Board Certified Teacher in 2017. In October, she ran into Dan Finkel and Annie Fetter ’88 at the Northwest Mathematics Conference in Portland, Ore. Hilary Rice and daughter Lydia reunited with former roommate Katie Saltanovitz, husband Tan Mau Wu, and their son, Henry, in Seattle. Amy Marinello Finkbiner was elected to the Malvern (Pa.) Borough Council in November after serving on the planning commission since 2010. Husband John Finkbiner ’98 and son Alex, 2, joined her for the swearingin ceremony in January. Cindy Schairer started as a postdoctoral scholar at the UC–San Diego School of Medicine, studying ethics and social implications of emerging technology. She and husband Chris DiLeo ’99 attended a local Swarthmore event and are always excited to meet area Swatties. I, Tanya Wansom, still live in Bangkok with my husband and two sons. I work in the U.S. Military HIV Research Program, conducting vaccine and cure research. I always enjoy hearing from everyone. Please update your email address with me! 2004 Rebecca Rogers rebecca.ep.rogers@gmail.com Danny Loss danny.loss@gmail.com Painter and former class secretary Njideka Akunyili Crosby moved on to a slightly more noteworthy title last year when she was named a 2017 MacArthur Fellow. Congrats, Njideka! Mark Pouy married Madelaine Denno in October. They live in MATT ROTH OF THE PIVOT GROUP ALUMNI PROFILE “I went to the Philadelphia DA’s office to prosecute cases of sexual assault, child abuse, and domestic violence,” says Joe Khan ’97. “I’ve been extremely lucky to be able to do the job I dreamed of doing as a kid.” NOT YOUR AVERAGE JOE He’s making a difference as an attorney and beyond by Carol Brévart-Demm EVEN IN HIGH SCHOOL, Philly native Joe Khan ’97 knew he wanted to be a prosecutor. “It’s a job where you’re an advocate,” he says. “You stand up for victims of crime but also protect the rights of the accused, and make sure the guilty are held to account and the innocent don’t suffer.” On his road to the courtroom, Khan—the son of a Muslim from Pakistan and a Catholic from Philly— chose Swarthmore for its sense of mission and social justice—not to mention myriad opportunities. The English literature and political science major served as editor of The Phoenix, a lifeguard, and a member of the rugby, football, and debate teams. “Swarthmore had the sort of personality that was a good fit for me,” he says. “It was a wonderful place.” After graduation—where he was the senior class speaker—he enrolled at the University of Chicago Law School, where he was taught by Barack Obama. “He was the ideal role model,” Khan says. “Long before he became a national figure, he was a guiding influence in my life in terms of understanding who I wanted to be as an attorney, as a public servant, and as a dad. He had a profound sense of humility and was always careful not to take himself too seriously.” One of the students who later worked with Obama on his presidential campaign, Khan remembered his mentor’s example when he himself became a professor and a political candidate. “A lot of my instincts came from those times of watching Obama be himself—authentic but deliberate in carrying out the mission—and persuading people to come along with him,” he says. “Sometimes, when I’m teaching, I hear echoes of how Obama conducted his class.” Between six years in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office and 10 more as an assistant U.S. attorney, Khan prosecuted more than 1,000 cases in his hometown. He specialized in cases of political corruption and sexual assault, including that of Jeffrey Marsalis, the notorious “Match.com rapist,” who was ultimately sentenced to life. “Prosecuting sex crimes was a particularly tough job, but an honor and a privilege,” Khan says. “You’re not only trying to take a dangerous person off the street, but also serving an important role for the victims, many of them children with no father figures, nor role models. I’d stay involved in the child’s life for as long as the family wished.” Last year, Khan ran for Philadelphia district attorney, endorsed by former DA, Philly mayor, and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell; the National Organization for Women; and Khizr Khan (no relation), father of Army Capt. Humayun Khan, the young Muslim American officer killed in the Iraq War in 2004. Despite having no political background, he came in second in a seven-person race to unseat the nowimprisoned DA Seth Williams. “It was nonetheless an amazing experience, coming out of nowhere to emerge with some wonderful support,” Khan says. “This campaign has really changed my life, and I’m very proud of the reception we got.” SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 65 class notes SPOTLIGHT ON … JUMATATU POE ’04 AND TAYARISHA POE ’12 Siblings Jumatatu Poe ’04 and Tayarisha Poe ’12 were honored last year with awards from the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. Jumatatu, a choreographer and Swarthmore assistant professor of music and dance, received a grant in support of his new work, Let ’im Move You: This Is a Formation, while Tayarisha, a filmmaker, was named one of 12 Pew fellows. “My work, especially this current series, centers on performance forms emerging from black queer ingenuity,” says Jumatatu. “It’s a privilege to be a part of a group of people with such brilliant notions about how the world works,” says Tayarisha, “and who put into practice those notions that they preach.” + Alexandria, Va. Cathy Meals married Patrick Griffith on Dec. 29—the date when both their sets of parents got married. Heather Sternshein reports that Winifred Dorothy Rubino was born on Dec. 15, weighing in at a healthy 8 pounds 6 ounces. Heather and husband Tony are already envisioning Freddie Dot’s hockey stardom. Autumn Quinn-Elmore and husband John Gale welcomed daughter Anna Katherine on July 14. She’s a happy baby and has already spent time with David Mister, Fraser Tan, Elizabeth McDonald ’05, and Joy Mills ’05. Autumn is a program manager on Google’s Android team. Kellan Baker joined the Health Policy Research Scholars to work on research and leadership that advances health equity. Claire Ruud is now director of convergent programming at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. Morgan Simon wants Swattie academics to know that copies of her book Real Impact are available for free (with study guides) at morgansimon.com/get-the-book. Peter Wirzbicki joined Princeton’s faculty from the University of Chicago, where he had been a collegiate assistant professor since 2013. He focuses on American history, looking at interactions among black intellectuals, the Transcendentalist movement, and abolitionist radicals in antebellum New England. 66 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 CONTINUED: bit.ly/PewPoes In September, Kathy Liu had a whirlwind 10-day trip to Tokyo, Kyoto, and Beijing, visiting UNESCO World Heritage sites. As director of major gifts at NYC’s Metropolitan Opera, she took a patron group to London to see the Met commission of Marnie at the English National Opera. We, Rebecca and Danny, were at Swarthmore for Garnet Weekend in the fall—Rebecca was participating in women’s soccer’s 35th anniversary celebration. We got to see the new Matchbox, which is beautiful, but we were thinking wistfully of the old squash courts! 2006 Wee Chua wchua1@gmail.com Happy 2018! I’m writing from JFK Airport, so starting in the Big Apple … Ana Chiu is living the dream in NYC. When not slaying it at her job in corporate responsibility, she performs in a Chinese-American dance company. Benjamin Turner married Carla Moy Turner, with Carey Kopeikin ’05, Taufik Parsioan, James Dalton, Mark Piper, Nile and Anita Kumar Chang, Wee Chua, and Robert Dorkin in attendance. Jayanti Owens was named a 2017 National Academy of Education/ Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow. Albert Chang writes from the Northeast, where he is a lawyer for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Albert and I reconnected after 10 years at a wedding in Austin, Texas, where he recounted the tales of being a proud parent of two wonderful daughters. Ben Ewen-Campen married Alex Feinstein. Adding to a big 2017, Ben was elected to the Somerville (Mass.) Board of Aldermen, along with Stephanie Hirsch ’92 (pg. 4). They join state Sen. Pat Deats Jehlen ’65 to form a dynamic core of Swarthmore public figures in Massachusetts. Ben sends his thanks to John Tuthill, Arpy Saunders, Tev Kelman, Ben Bradlow ’08, James Crall ’07, Blake Roberts ’07, Nabil Khan ’07, Charlotte Chase ’11 and the army of volunteers who fought the good fight to get him elected. Hannah de Keijzer and partner Michael will move to Boston for the 2018–19 academic year and would love to connect with Swatties there. After two years in Cleveland, Tanya Gonzales ’07 moved to San Francisco, rotating from sales to marketing within her company. She looks forward to reconnecting with Bay Area Swatties! Lauren Stadler was part of a New York Times investigation into the extent of polluted floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. She teaches engineering as an assistant professor at Rice University. On Jan. 1, Megan Richie and Tom Winner ’05 had son Galen Robert, who has shown tremendous interest in the music group Wardruna and in generating dirty diapers. Matt Krauss is entering his eighth year in D.C., with wife Sarah and son Adam. He made partner at Weisbrod Matteis & Copley on Jan. 1 and is working with Kristin Davis and Charles Fischette ’01 to keep the law firm’s Swarthmorean ratio high. Darcy Nelson Smoot and husband Cliff had daughter Aubrey Leigh on Aug. 22 in Redwood City, Calif. Mischa Stephens is leading a Playstation team to develop the future of social-gaming experiences. Drop him a line if you have thoughts about video games. He’s also producing San Francisco’s first festival of new musicals—if you know someone who wrote a musical and wants it seen or workshopped, email him at SFShowOff@gmail.com. Mischa appeared in Ragtime this winter in Berkeley. Proud papa Keefe Keeley gives thanks for lovely Skyla Jane, born to wife Cedarose in December. Keefe also gave birth to a book, The Driftless Reader. William ’05 and Anisha Chandra Schwarz live in Seattle with son Narayan Chandra Schwarz ’34. Anisha looks forward to the last six months of child neurology residency, ending in July, after which she plans to stay in Seattle for a neuromuscular neurology fellowship while discovering what her friends have been up to for the past five years beyond Class Notes. Eliza Cava and Rachel Shorey adopted daughter Lena Dee Cava in August. Lena was born in Florida and by the end of her second week on Earth had spent four days in a rental car evacuating from her first hurricane. Rachel works in The New York Times’s Washington bureau, and Eliza works at the Audubon Naturalist Society, an independent environmental organization in the D.C. area. 2008 Mark Dlugash mark.dlugash@gmail.com From Kunming to Buenos Aires: Susannah Bien-Gund and partner Cedric moved in September to Kunming, southwestern China, where they’ll live until June (and sadly miss reunion!). Through the English Language Fellows program, Susannah does teacher-training workshops throughout the country and teaches at Yunnan Normal University, while feeling angry and devastated about the advancing authoritarianism back home. In August, Jamie Midyette received a Spanish master’s from Middlebury College. The amazing, four-summer-long program allowed her to spend three summers studying in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Jamie still teaches Spanish to grades 6–8 at a public middle school in Richmond, Va. Artists and educators: Kate Speer was awarded a two-year artist residency at RedLine Contemporary Art Center in Denver, carving space for dance among visual artists. Jennifer Thompson published her first novel in December. Maria Mello is in Nashville, Tenn., working on a dissertation in special education at Vanderbilt University and hanging out with her favorite humans, Fernando and Stephanie Charpentier Munoz and their cute baby, Mateo. Andrea Pien is assistant director of college counseling at the Bay School in San Francisco. She is also a chapter leader for Resource Generation, a nonprofit that organizes young people with class/ wealth privilege for social-justice work. She’s excited to talk about these things, so feel free to reach out! Rita Kamani-Renedo won the 2017 Excelencia in Teaching Scholarship for outstanding leadership, service, and innovative teaching practices in the K–12 classroom. She teaches at Brooklyn International High School, where her approach centers around her belief that “education should help students engage critically with the world and become active change agents in building a more socially just society.” Working life: Jenelle Harris graduated from UC–Berkeley’s Haas School of Business with an MBA last May and joined the Bridgespan Group’s San Francisco office as a consultant. Brandon Wolff was selected to serve on the American Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division Council as New Jersey’s district representative. Jonathan Harris started at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business, pursuing an MBA to shift into investment banking. Maria Cristina Schrum-Herrera graduated from UC–Berkeley School of Law in 2016 and last year joined Outten & Golden, a pre-eminent employee-rights law firm. She is an associate in the Class Action Practice Area in San Francisco. Alex Ginsberg graduated from Columbia Business School in 2014 and spent 3.5 years looking for the right business to acquire as part of his search fund, One Line Partners. He finally made that dream come true and is running a last-mile delivery company in several cities, including Baltimore, where he recently moved. If you live nearby, please reach out! Celebrations: Lisa Benson and Christian Brown had their first child, Jack Aubrey Bronson, on Sept. 30. Lisa enjoys working at the intersection of clinical practice and data analysis in the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health’s Office of Clinical Informatics. Danielle Tocchet Casey and husband Mike had first child Emily Danielle Casey on Sept. 1. Danielle is very excited to introduce her to everyone at the reunion. Camila Harrigan-Labarca had baby Luciana Andrea in May and loves the mommy adventure. She works in Creative Associates International’s finance department, writing budgets for USAID proposals worldwide. Ethan Deyle and Tess Clearman ’09 live in Pawtucket, R.I., with baby girl Althea. Tess is finishing a family medicine residency, and Ethan is a remote-doc, working from his basement. Dan and Marissa Schaffer Sartori ’09 had first child Miriam Eva on Aug. 20. Dan will stay on as a chief resident at NYU/Bellevue. They enjoy life as a family of three in New York. Michael Gorbach married Sarah Garrigan (now Sarah Gorbach) in September under the cloudy skies of Carmel, Calif. They are living in Boston while Sarah finishes an English literature Ph.D. at Tufts, and Michael does software engineering remotely for Apple. They’ll probably move in a year or two, but are not sure where. Finally, it took only 13 years after being asked out by his Student Academic Mentor, but Randall McAuley married Celia Paris ’05 on Nov. 11 at Heinz Chapel in Pittsburgh, with their reception at the Ace Hotel. Erin Dwyer-Frazier ’05 attended (and generously lent the bride and groom a card box that she, Celia, Katie Berry ’05, Elisabeth Oppenheimer ’05, and Sarah Cohodes ’05 decorated for her own wedding). Randall also defended a Ph.D. dissertation last summer. (Feel free to ask him any burning questions regarding the role of MALT1 in cancer metastasis.) He’s now in the throes of third-year medical school clerkships. He works full time in the hospital while finishing up papers, studying for exams, trying to figure out what to do when he grows up and gets a job, and hosting dinner parties with Celia (when she’s not in Baltimore helping her Loyola University Maryland students make sense of American politics). Roy Sriwattanakomen ’05 was a recent guest, and other Swatties in Pittsburgh are encouraged to come by! FOLLOW US! Facebook and Instagram: @SwarthmoreBulletin #SwatBulletin 2010 Brendan Work theworkzone@gmail.com Congratulations! Your Swarthmore alum is a healthy, bright-eyed 8-year-old now. Certainly, it seems like just yesterday she was teething on her diploma or ripping up his student loan bill, but they’re not babies anymore. In this chapter you’ll see what’s new in this exciting phase of development: You might have noticed your alum is performing more sketch comedy. This is completely normal. Marina Tempelsman and Nicco Moretti are good examples of this, the writers of a successful web pilot for BRIC TV, Smüchr, about a failing onlinedating startup that takes a sudden turn when one of its employees goes rogue. Other alumni at this stage like to co-produce Sundance Audience Award-winning dramas, like Matt Thurm, whose Crown Heights was released nationwide in August. Adapted from an episode of This American Life, Crown Heights tells the true story of Colin Warner, who was wrongfully convicted of murder, and his best friend Carl King, who devoted his life to proving Colin’s innocence. Don’t be alarmed if your alum begins to practice medicine at this age. There are many precedents for this behavior, notably Erin Floyd, a third-year student at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth; G Patrick, who will be graduating from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and “pursuing his dream of being a legal trauma surgeon”; Liz Lopez, a UC–Davis Medical School graduate and anesthesia resident at Mass General Hospital in Boston; Ashley Miniet, who’s in her second year of the Emory Pediatrics Residency Program in Atlanta; and Marsha-Gail Davis, a Yale New Haven Hospital resident, who loves medicine, caring for patients, and being a doctor: “Weeks of night call, pages every 10 seconds, running around the SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 67 class notes hospital, patients coming with 20 complaints expecting you to fix all of them in 30 minutes … ” Elsewhere in health care, Mattie Gregor MacDonald finished a master’s in clinical research organization and management and is a clinical research associate monitoring drug trials in Portland, Ore., while Melissa Cruz is a behavioral consultant to primarycare providers at Maria de los Santos Health Center in North Philadelphia, where anyone can go regardless of legal status or financial situation. Melissa has worked with “a massive influx of folks coming in from Puerto Rico,” calls it “satisfying and energizing,” and would like to thank Swarthmore Psychology Professor Jane Gillham. She also notes that on her honeymoon to New Zealand, she and her husband ran into Rachel Lee. Alumni at this juncture have been known to create software, as well. There’s Emma Ferguson, software engineer for Eventbrite, who last April bought a house in Oakland, Calif., with partner Dan, and during the summer was maid of honor at the Boston wedding of Sara Daley. Or you can look at Myles Dakan, recently married to the lucky Ben Sachs-Hamilton and employed with Google, or even Jānis Lībeks, who left Facebook for New York and work with a deep machine learning infrastructure startup called Spell. (In Jānis’s free time, he bakes bread, seeks out small theater companies, and pursues the meaning of life.) One important lesson to remember with 8-year-old alums is that they might start working on the California state prison budget at any time. That’s what Caitlin O’Neil is doing (along with capoeira) in Sacramento, where Taylor Rhodes also lives. Another completely normal behavior is strategic planning and project management for an international digital marketing company, like Anne Tucci. Her favorite psych seminar topics from Swarthmore Professor Barry Schwartz have come in handy at her job, and she loves living in Boston with her fiancé and volunteering with the Boston Ballet. If your 8-year-old enjoys teaching 68 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 high school and writing plays, that’s fine, too—just look at Sam Goodman at NYC’s Robert Louis Stevenson School. Or perhaps he’s a Drexel Ph.D. studying the mediated/communicative aspects of analog games and play, like Greg Loring-Albright, who lives with his wife, tiny dog, and Cecelia Osowski ’15, Wes Willison ’12, and Hana Lehmann ’13 in Philadelphia. These are all exciting and developmentally positive steps for alumni—cheer them on and encourage them! Eight years out of the nest is about when you may see alumni bearing children of their own. Try not to panic—studies have shown this is the best time to produce a future alum. Exemplary alumni of this nature include Alice Evans, who with her partner gave birth on Dec. 27 to Moss Rio Evans-Moyer in Birmingham, Ala., and Class Notes guy Brendan Work, whose first son, Everett Clemens Work, was born at exactly midnight Nov. 30. The other Arabic teacher in the class, Sofia Saiyed, was expecting her second child in February to join Kareem, 1, and wrote in from LA where she witnessed the wedding of Shaila Chhibba. As these charming and unique Swarthmore alumni enter their ninth year, don’t neglect their hygiene habits and always promote independent toileting. And of course, if you have questions or concerns, our 24-hour parentsupport line is available at theworkzone@gmail.com. 2012 Maia Gerlinger maiagerlinger@gmail.com North: Emily Coleman is in her fourth year of Yale School of Medicine, where she is doing dermatology research. She runs and does yoga and rock-climbing, much to the displeasure of her knees and back, which she attributes—soberingly for us all— to her “old age.” Gabriela Morales is an attorney at Goodwin Procter in Boston, and now has a window facing the bay (“small wins”). She specializes in biotech companies and has a kitten. Elizabeth Cozart received an M.D. from the University of Rochester, began a four-year neurology residency at the University of Vermont Medical Center, and won the American Academy of Neurology Medical Student Prize for Excellence in Neurology. Tania Doles is cold (-20-degree morning!), but otherwise loves Portland, Maine, where she cross-country skis, works with a nonprofit, and is editorial director for a marketing and publishing firm. Harold Blum has been in school forever and is almost done! When he’s finished at the University of Michigan, he will be a math doctor. In his spare time, he tells stories with bizarre punchlines and wears puffy, green jackets. “You can write anything you want,” he told me. Mid-Atlantic-ish: James Bannon told me via Gchat that he is still not related to Steve Bannon. William Campbell writes only to say he is “graduated and employed,” with no further details, suspiciously. Jessie Cannizzaro still performs in Puffs, which transferred off-Broadway to New World Stages. After breaking the theater’s box-office record, Puffs’s run was extended to November. A live performance was filmed in February to be released worldwide this summer. I, Maia Gerlinger, live mostly in Jersey City and work as an online tutor for Revolution Prep, the “online” aspect of which allows the “mostly.” Walker Stole works for Bombas, a sock company that donates a pair for each pair they sell. They just donated their 6 millionth pair of socks! He left New York for a brief Montana reunion with Zak Kelm, during which they swam in the “boiling river.” (I looked it up—it’s real. Montana is wild.) Margret Lenfest is in her third year of Penn vet school. Taylor Wuerker and her girlfriend bought a house in Philly and adopted a puppy. Tayarisha Poe got the Pew Fellowship in 2017! Sara Blanco is Running Start’s communications director and will graduate from George Washington in May with a master of public policy. Charlotte Gaw lives in D.C. She recently made an excellent homemade cheese, with Genevieve McGahey as a witness. Nick Rhinehart is a robotics Ph.D. student at Carnegie Mellon University, in his “Nth year, with N>0,” har har har. His research spans truly terrifying topics in artificial intelligence, including machine learning, computer vision, and human-computer interaction. He received the 2017 Marr Prize Honorable Mention, among the top honors for a computer vision researcher. “Despite the promises made by my roommates, I still have zero cats and zero dogs. However, I am now an uncle, courtesy of my brother, Zach Rhinehart ’09.” The baby’s name is Tiny Rhiney. No, it’s not. Just kidding. South and Southwest: Jennifer Yi is entering the dissertation stage of a clinical psychology Ph.D. at UNC–Chapel Hill. Allison Stuewe is getting a cultural anthropology Ph.D. from the University of Arizona. Her research is about weddings as sites of alliancemaking/breaking in the Iraqi Yezidi refugee community of northern Germany. Genevieve Woodhead is at the University of New Mexico for a graduate degree in anthropology, specifically archaeology. She studies the pre-Hispanic American Southwest. Kyle Crawford is spending a year clerking on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana in Baton Rouge. Dante Fuoco (pg. 16) is in New Orleans but will be in NYC this summer for a five-week intensive at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, which is aimed at “a new generation of theater artists who yearn to upend tradition and generate new work and new ways of working.” His short story was a finalist for the Saints and Sinners Fiction Contest. California: Benjamin Hattem wrote two cover stories for Politico. He is starting law school at Stanford. Shiran Victoria Shen graduated from Stanford after five years and is starting as an assistant professor of environmental politics at UVA. She will miss the sunshine and wine but is excited to start a new chapter. Andrew Stromme is in the Bay Area, “at least for now,” where he works at Lyft, “kind of” knows HANNA KOZLOWSKA ’12 ALUMNI PROFILE Ryane Disken-Cahill ’12 sketched many of the costumes for Mostly 4 Millennials by hand. “I felt they needed to be grander and weirder than what I was going to just find in a store,” she says, “so it helped me and the process of my brain make costumes and not just outfits.” A LION, A STITCH, AND A WARDROBE When it comes to design, she’s magical by Cara Ehlenfeldt ’16 TO CREATE A FLAT EARTH costume, Ryane Disken-Cahill ’12 knew she needed materials as unconventional as the idea itself. “It essentially was a fourth-grader’s bad model Earth,” she laughs. “I went to the 99-cent store and thought, What’s going to inspire me right now?” The final costume, complete with a volcano and a miniature lion devouring a deer, appears in an episode of Mostly 4 Millennials, an upcoming comedy show on Adult Swim. As the show’s costume designer, Disken-Cahill relished the creative license and trust she received from the show’s creator, Derrick Beckles. From pitching a mesh-and-bedazzled pope outfit to creating handyman uniforms plastered with corporate logo parodies, “I got to just go for it,” she says. “When I first interviewed, he was like, ‘I just want it to be weird,’ and I said, ‘Great, that’s 100 percent my aesthetic.’” Disken-Cahill has established her reputation in the comedy scene, where her costumes help weave together a show’s textures, patterns, colors, and other design elements. Her extraordinary wardrobes allow the concept of a bizarre, larger-than-life world to fully materialize. After graduating from Swarthmore, Disken-Cahill launched a career in her native New York City, eventually becoming the costume designer for the truTV series Jon Glaser Loves Gear. In addition, she’s created costumes for the second season of Adult Swim’s Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter and several short films and music videos. In this creative world—where the cast, set, and production design can change overnight, if not faster—Disken-Cahill thrives. “I love last-minute, putting-stufftogether, on-your-toes creative thinking,” she says. “At Swarthmore, I was convinced I couldn’t come up with brilliant ideas until absolutely the last minute.” College is also where she honed her ability to swiftly solve design puzzles. She fondly recalls Logan Grider’s “24-hour draw/paint/ whatevermediumyouchoose-athon”—12 hours of collective sculpting followed by 12 hours of fervent drawing. “Suddenly, everything in Old Tarble was a potential material one might use to capture the crazy fish we had all worked together to build,” she says. “I learned a lot about creative resourcefulness in that class—and that sometimes the more interesting choice can be discovered when you allow yourself to veer from tradition.” Yet Disken-Cahill’s favorite part is not the rush of crafting new costumes, but the chance to see actor and outfit become one. “You can tell when a performer feels good in their costume,” she says, pointing to a video of Jon Glaser sporting a neon cowboy getup, complete with fringe along the sleeves. “There was a lot of love that went into that. Watching him walk around and knowing how good he felt in my costume makes everything worth it.” SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 69 class notes Mandarin, and has a man bun. Arsean Maqami is development director for San Franciscobased real-estate firm oWow. He is developing five ground-up multifamily projects and one hotel in Oakland. Hannah Deming is finishing med school at UCSF and applying in pediatrics. Molly Siegel is an OB-GYN resident at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, where she delivers babies—about which I have no joke, only a fearful kind of awe. Abroad: Pierre Dyer heads to London Business School in the fall; until then, he will be in Rio, East Asia, and Europe. Brice Jordan works for the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he plays soccer and tries to learn Amharic and Somali, all in 70-degree weather. Zachary Wiener (“W-ie-ner,” he writes) lives in Jerusalem, the “‘eternal capital’ of sick beatz and funky sin,” which is also what I think when I think of Jerusalem. Mary Jean Chan is a visiting lecturer in creative writing at Royal Holloway, University of London. In Amsterdam, Peter Akkies started a business in which he helps yoga studio owners automate their email marketing. 2014 Brone Lobichusky blobichusky@gmail.com The chill of the bomb cyclone has me sipping hot chocolate (which may or may not include Bailey’s), covered in cozy blankets, and looking forward to spring while reconnecting with our class. Harrison Tasoff, who still wears cowboy hats, finished a master’s in NYU’s Science, Health, and Environmental Reporting Program along with Cici Zhang. Harrison plans to freelance in Manhattan while exploring job opportunities and contributing to Space.com. Of particular importance, he has added fedoras to his hat collection. Riana Shah, however, wears many metaphorical hats as serial 70 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 entrepreneur, startup strategist and adviser, innovator-in-residence at the Innovation Hub, and chief investment officer at GT Capital Labs. She interviewed Morgan Simon ’04 about impact investing. Stephanie Lechich is in her second year of a clinical psychology Ph.D. at Long Island University–Brooklyn. This year will be a balancing act while she finishes a master’s thesis on attachment and self-compassion, works as a therapist at LIU Psychological Services Center, attends classes, and applies for third-year externships. She enjoys the excitement of downtown Brooklyn, especially the 40 international food vendors at DeKalb Market. Living in Harlem, Christopher Gray joined Tetragon Financial Group Limited as a legal/compliance analyst. Robin Carpenter and Hannah Grunwald married in Salt Lake City on Oct. 1—the sixth anniversary of their meeting behind the bar at a Swarthmore Queer Union-hosted Paces party. The magic of Paces! Hannah is at UC–San Diego, inching ever closer to a biology Ph.D., and also started doing aerial silks. Robin won several bike competitions this past year, including the Joe Martin Stage Race and Cascade Classic, and was hired by the pro-continental team Rally Cycling. Congratulations to this brilliant and amazingly talented couple! Melissa Tier continues as Swat’s sustainability program manager and is pursuing a related master’s degree part time through Oxford University. When at Oxford for short trips, she catches up with Caroline Batten and other Swatties. Sara Fitzpatrick is finishing her first year at Harvard Law School. In addition to staying warm this winter, Brone Lobichusky is completing a year of clinical rotations at Temple University Hospital while studying for the second level of boards and preparing to apply to residency programs nationwide. She finds time to regularly visit her parents and their golden retriever puppy, and will embark on a medical mission trip to Ecuador, where she will treat unique respiratory diseases and operate at an ophthalmology clinic. 2016 Z.L. Zhou zzlzhou@gmail.com Stephanie Kestelman stephaniekestelman@gmail.com Julian Randall won the prestigious Cave Canem Poetry Prize, which included the publication of his first poetry book, Refuse. Joshua Wolfsun lives in Boston and is communications director for state Sen. Sonia Chang-Díaz. He also hosts a regular game night and does freelance video production and writing. Margaret Luo is in New Haven, Conn., pursuing a statistics master’s at Yale. She completed her first Olympic triathlon last summer. Jacob Oet is in the second year of a poetry MFA at Syracuse and also teaching chess. A new chapbook, No Mark Spiral, comes out soon from CutBank Press, and Jacob will read from it at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs. Jacob is also collaborating with artists and designers on a video game based on a poetry manuscript. In the fall, then-New Jersey first lady Mary Pat Christie announced SHE Wins Inc. founder A’Dorian Murray-Thomas as her 50th New Jersey Hero. Stephanie Kestelman continued her pattern of leaving a city before completing a year there. Life has taken her to Princeton, N.J., where she still researches tax economics, inequality, and state and local policy. It’s a good thing writing for the Bulletin doesn’t require her to be in a specific location! Olivia Ortiz is a transportation outreach coordinator at Clean Air Council and lives in Philadelphia, though she moved from West Willy to South Silly. Shane Loeffler is Swarthmore’s assistant men’s basketball coach. He took the job in July, and the team was off to a good start this winter. Go Garnet! PJ Trainor lives in Baltimore and works at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, which had him embark for two weeks on the USS Gerald R. Ford (the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier). PJ still plays Frisbee, contributes to opensource software, and is getting a master’s in applied math through work. Kelly Smemo is in her second year of AmeriCorps with College Possible, a nonprofit that helps low-income students get into and succeed through college. (Shoutout to Natalie Gainer ’15 for serving with her during her first year.) Kelly spent last summer teaching cryptozoology for Magischola Prep on Swarthmore’s campus with a whole gaggle of Swatties, including Ben “Books” Schwartz ’13, Nathan Graf, Leonie Cohen, Jake Mundo ’18, Emma Puranen ’18, and Jeffrey Moore ’15. She also hosts a weekly animationthemed podcast with her eternal partner in crime, Richard Monari. Klarissa Khor visited her from Singapore and wanted to keep it on the down-low but Kelly doesn’t believe in secrets. This spring, she looks forward to hearing back from all the grad-school programs she applied to. Fingers crossed! Hanyu Chwe is a research assistant at Pew Research Center, focusing on global attitudes and writing about how Americans and Mexicans see each other. Christen Boas Hayes spent the year organizing a national prisoners’-rights march while working at Sullivan & Cromwell in D.C. Her Swat friends pitched in time and precious postgrad funds to help make the march happen, especially Hanyu Chwe, Clara Obstfeld, and Paul Green. David Lazere lives in Washington, where he’s the education coordinator for DC Greens. Paige Willey is the special assistant to the chief of staff at the White House Council of Economic Advisers. She formerly did education policy research at the American Enterprise Institute. She still lives in D.C., aka The Swamp. their light lives on our friends will never be forgotten expanded tributes at bulletin.swarthmore.edu William Longaker ’42 Catherine Birdsall Knight ’40 “Polly,” a pioneering occupational therapist, loving mother, and avid folk dancer, died Nov. 10, 2017. A veteran Girl Scout leader, Polly was a constant correspondent, fan of Native American culture, and dauntless navigator for extensive family road trips. An esteemed psychiatrist and Renaissance man with an excellent sense of humor, William died Dec. 1, 2017. William joked at every birthday that he was turning 22-and-a-half, but his secret for living to 97, according to his obituary, was: “Accentuate the positive/ Stay close to your family/ Live with a cat/ Have a little gin/ Value peace and quiet/ Visit the ocean and the mountains/ Listen to music everywhere/ Drive a tractor and a fast car/ Pay attention to politics/ Tell jokes/ Have lots of cookbooks and use them/ Make your own bread and wine/ Grow your own grapes, tomatoes, and dahlias/ Live in the country in a college town/ Admire flowers & fishes, birds & animals/ Look at the moon/ Never stop learning/ Read voraciously/ Enjoy your work/ Listen well/ Be glad your mother lived to be 100!/ Live life on your own terms and have no regrets.” Robert Hecht ’43 A loving family man, executive vice president, and civic pillar, Robert died Nov. 2, 2017. Awarded four ribbons and three battle stars for his service as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy, Robert was a dynamo who loved giving back to the community as well as ballroom dancing, swimming, and playing tennis. Elizabeth Paine Sawyer ’44 Elizabeth, admired by many for her youthful spirit, unwavering faith, sharp mind, and active lifestyle, died Oct. 21, 2017. An avid reader, Betty also loved to garden, bake, and create beautiful quilts and braided rugs. As her classmates described her in the 1944 Halcyon, “quiet, glowing Betty” had a “friendly nature and affectionate interest that made her a valuable member of any group.” SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 71 in memoriam Elise Knaur Brigham ’45 Elise, a beloved mother and cherished volunteer who was as deeply adventurous as she was mischievous, died Nov. 28, 2017. A woman of action who cut down trees, hunted, skied, and enjoyed traveling, Elise adored wolves and advocated for their conservation, “adopting” two of them. Jeanne Fischer Winch ’47 Jeanne, who grew up in Swarthmore and was one-half of a matchbox marriage with the late Ray Winch ’45, died Jan. 13, 2018. In the 1947 Halcyon, classmates described her as “the gal for whom the phone always rang on the fourth east,” who had an “intuitive feeling for people and all things beautiful” and who, with Ray, built “a romance with a happy ending.” A mother of four, Jeanne enjoyed traveling, sailing, playing piano, tennis, reading, and staying active in community service. Sally MacLellan Councill ’46 Sally, a beloved wife, mother, and grandmother who fondly remembered her time as president of Swarthmore’s student government, died Nov. 19, 2017. An elder in the Presbyterian Church USA since 1973, she dedicated herself to volunteering in the community, including longtime service in the Junior League of both Richmond, Va., and Washington, D.C. Beverly Brooks Floe ’46 Beverly, an adventurous spirit who traveled the world—and battled saltwater crocodiles—as a freelance Ernest Reock Jr. ’45 Ernest, a Rutgers professor nationally acclaimed for his knowledge of state government— as well as for his efforts to educate and empower citizens accordingly—died Nov. 12, 2017. Despite his round-the-clock reputation as a tireless worker and champion of equality, Ernest was just as devoted to his family and enjoyed joining them on adventures, especially by boat. 72 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 journalist in the 1940s before later becoming an editor of the MIT Press, died Jan. 1, 2018. Deeply independent and intellectually curious, Beverly was a fierce advocate for the arts, archaeological research, and excellence in education, particularly for women. social consciousness and sustainability, fly-fishing enthusiast, avid hiker, experienced folk dancer, and proud U.S. Navy veteran of World War II.” Marjorie Moerschner ’47 The beloved mother of six, grandmother of 17, and great-grandmother of 11, Phyllis died Oct. 30, 2017. While at Swarthmore, Phyllis was an accomplished varsity athlete who swam and played basketball, field hockey, and tennis. Marjorie, a teacher turned real-estate title examiner who loved summering on Cape Cod, died Oct. 9, 2017. A tireless volunteer for many organizations, Marjorie served her community in countless ways, including as a church deacon, a driver for older adults attending medical appointments, and an activist for education and restorative programs for prisoners. Janet Hotson Baker ’47 George Lutz NV Phyllis Kinkead Kelley ’46 An ace copy editor who built a stable of high-profile authors turned fans dependent on her expertise, Janet died Nov. 3, 2017. Working closely with the major publishing houses, Janet polished and perfected the prose of Ken Kesey, Stephen King, Elmore Leonard, Joyce Carol Oates, Lisa Scottoline, and E.B. White, among others. John Cairns Jr. ’47 A man of science, vision, and compassion whose legacy is immortalized at johncairns.net, John died Nov. 5, 2017. As his family writes, “John will be remembered as a husband, father, and grandfather, distinguished professor and academic mentor, ecological pioneer, prolific author, champion of George, who ultimately graduated from The Citadel with a degree in civil engineering, died Dec. 17, 2010. A U.S. Navy veteran of World War II and the Korean War and a retired Bethlehem Steel worker, George was also an active Mason and Shriner. Lucy Hoisington Carver ’48 An artist and cartographer, Lucy died Nov. 23, 2017. Described as “refreshing Lucibelle … candid and honest … a loyal friend … romantic … artistic” by her classmates in the 1948 Halcyon, Lucy was also praised for having “a glow that comes from inside.” Samuel Hays ’48 Samuel, a sensitive historian and prolific author who cared deeply about the environment, died Nov. 22, 2017. A conscientious objector who served in Civilian Public Service from 1943 to 1946, Sam was also a lifelong gardener and a huge baseball buff. He first listened to Cubs games on an old Zenith radio in his grandfather’s room, attended the last Pirates game at Forbes Field, and celebrated his 80th birthday with the Rockies at Coors Field. Arthur Richards Jr. ’48 Arthur, a distinguished veterinarian who loved his work so much he titled his autobiography Tale Waggings, died Dec. 18, 2017. A pioneer in innovative surgical techniques who was named Pennsylvania Veterinarian of the Year in 1977, Art was described by his loved ones as “a shining example of how to live a life full of health, family, hard work, social awareness, and righting wrongs.” Art was also an active Rotarian, a longtime member of the Shriners, and involved in local politics. Mary Westergaard Barnes ’48 Mary, an acclaimed researcher of radioactive waste disposal who also won awards for her civil service on a zoning commission, died Oct. 21, 2017. A classical music devotee who spoke multiple languages, Mary also loved to travel, visiting six continents and skiing on four. William Derr ’49 William, who served in World War II as a Navy aviation cadet and launched his own men’s leather goods business, died Dec. 17, 2017. Proud of circumnavigating the Eastern U.S. by way of the Erie Canal and Mississippi River, William loved spending time on a boat with his family so much that they occasionally lived on their craft, Tobi III. Donald Gordon ’49 A beloved brother, husband, father, and grandfather, Donald died Jan. 24, 2018. In his Halcyon listing, classmates wrote that he “takes his realism with a sprinkling of stardust” and is “on laughing terms with the world”; in his obituary, his loved ones summed him up as their adored “true gentleman.” William Will ’49 William, who served as a medic in World War II before attending Swarthmore, died Aug. 11, 2017. Devoted to teaching and social justice, Bill was also a prolific writer, amateur poet, and passionate activist for health-care policy concerns, founding Citizens for Informed Decisions in Healthcare in 1991. Franklin Stow Jr. ’50 “Bud,” who ultimately graduated from Gettysburg College after his Army service in World War II interrupted his Swarthmore education, died Nov. 6, 2017. A career-management employee of the U.S. Pipe and Foundry Co. who resided in Birmingham, Ala., Bud was the son of Franklin Stow Sr., Class of Priscilla Buck Alfandre ’49 An educator who influenced countless children, Priscilla died Jan. 9, 2018. Generations of students remember Prill as a third- and fourth-grade teacher at Sidwell Friends School, where she created its first open classroom —The Blue Room— and tirelessly encouraged sophisticated discussion, incisive writing, and creative thought. For more than 30 years, she instilled her philosophy in all who loved her: “Everything is something; everything is connected to everything else.” Dirk Spruyt ’50 Dirk, a doctor and cellist who lived by the “think globally, act locally” ethos, died Nov. 16, 2016. The kind of child who went on secret night bike rides with his siblings and jumped off the roof with an umbrella, Dirk never lost his sense of wonder, growing up to volunteer his services around the world, including in Ethiopia, where he provided primary health care from a mobile tented clinic. 1919, who played end and punted for the Swarthmore football team that upset Penn, 6–0, at Franklin Field in October 1916. Robert Osborn ’51 Robert, an acclaimed scholar of Russia and the former Soviet Republics who was a long-serving professor and chair of the political science department at Temple University, died Dec. 11, 2017. An avid violinist who played in several community orchestras as well as a well-traveled birder, Bob was also devoted to community service and his family. Robert Hamilton ’52 Robert, a respected law professor, lawyer, and legal-education writer with an impish sense of humor, died Jan. 13, 2018. An introvert who loved teaching, Bob spent more than 40 years at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, astounding his students and colleagues with his unparalleled work SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 73 in memoriam Maryhelen Hintz Snyder ’53 Maryhelen, a lover of artistic expression and deep, meaningful connection, died Jan. 23, 2018. A poet, artist, therapist, and lifelong Quaker, Mel was a creative, compassionate force who co-founded the Corrales Community School in Albuquerque, N.M. A mother of four, Mel authored four books and numerous professional articles, and was named Poet of the Year by Passager in 2016. Her writing and art can be further explored at onbecominghuman.org. ethic. In fact, the school created a memorial scholarship in his honor: utlsf.org/hamilton. Bob was active in local politics and summered with wife Dagmar Strandberg Hamilton ’53 on Cushing Island in Portland, Maine. Ronald Maddox ’52 A loving husband and father who ran a law practice in northern Virginia, Ronald died Aug. 28, 2017. Ron loved all sports—particularly football and the Washington Redskins— and was an avid reader and writer of science fiction. Suzanne Braman McClenahan ’52 Suzanne, a gifted teacher of languages and literature, died Feb. 10, 2018. In her Halcyon, classmates summed “Suzi” up as a “bright-eyed, brighthearted, self-possessed” light who “radiates vivacity” with “boundless energy and imagination.” Her friend Ken Kurtz ’51 added that she was “a staple of the LTC, and had lead in Lady Precious Stream, which introduced the phrase ‘don’t stand on ceremony’ to campus.” Geoffrey Hazard Jr. ’53, H’88 A giant in the field of legal ethics, Geoffrey died Jan. 11, 2018. During his distinguished career, he served as Sterling Professor of Law at Yale (where his students included future leaders like Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton); directed the American Law Institute; and taught 74 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He was described as “a gifted scholar, teacher, institutional leader, and citizen.” Henry Cowell ’54 Henry, who went on to earn both an M.D. and a Ph.D. after Swarthmore, died Sept. 2, 2017. In his Halcyon listing, Henry’s classmates warmly described him as “everybody’s friend.” original personal finance columnist. Although a dispute over royalties and credit ended their working relationship, Lydia wrote a brilliant new chapter in her life when she created and ran a working farm that pioneered farm-totable humane ethos and became a top provider to some of New York’s best restaurants. Horace Reeves Jr. ’55 Horace, a licensed architect, professional engineer, and Marine veteran better known as “Harrie” to his family and “Hal” to his friends, died Nov. 25, 2017. An ardent sailor active in the International Yachting Fellowship of Rotarians, and co-founder of the Willingboro (N.J.) International Festival, Horace also loved photography, classical music, and opera. Marjorie Jones Fooks ’56 Marjorie, a medical secretary and beloved wife, mother, and grandmother, died Nov. 8, 2017. Susan Marx March ’54 Beloved for her devotion to family, her passion for social service, her generosity, and her sharp intelligence, Susan died Feb. 11, 2018. The former executive director of Hackensack, N.J.’s YWCA, Sue enjoyed traveling, visiting friends, reading good books, and spending time with her children and grandchildren, embodying the description her friends provided of her in the Halcyon, of having “unfailing good taste in all things.” Lydia Ratcliff ’55 Lydia, who chose to leave behind a lucrative career as a ghostwriter to become a trailblazer in sustainable farming, died Feb. 13, 2018. Fluent in several languages, Lydia was educated at the Putney School, Swarthmore, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the Sorbonne. After graduation, she rose through the publishing ranks to become the assistant—and ghostwriter—to Sylvia Porter, known as America’s Paul Booth ’64 Paul, an iconic union organizer and progressive activist who spearheaded the 1965 student march on the White House to protest the Vietnam War, died Jan. 17, 2018. Paul earned a place in the national consciousness as he rose to the top levels of Students for a Democratic Society, but his “Build, Not Burn” ethos distanced more militant colleagues, so he left to become a community organizer in Chicago. He spent the majority of his career working for the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, the nation’s largest public employee union, as the chief assistant to President Gerald W. McEntee and then executive assistant to successor Lee Saunders. In an email, Saunders wrote, “Paul was an organizer’s organizer, a man of great generosity and integrity, a friend and mentor to so many people in AFSCME, the labor movement and the progressive community.” More: bit.ly/BoothSwarthmore A political science major from Jamaica, Marjie was described in the 1956 Halcyon by classmates as having a “reserved British exterior” that hid her true nature as “a classical clown and wit.” Peter Gragg ’57 A gifted poet, playwright, author of short stories, photographer, videoist, artist, and craftsman, Peter died Oct. 22, 2017. Over the course of his career, Peter served in the U.S. National Guard, taught mathematics, worked for the Boston Public Library, and was active at the Arlington Center for the Arts in Massachusetts. As his loved ones wrote, “Peter was a friend, a talented writer and artist (as both Peter Gordon and Green Griffin), and a unique character. He will forever be remembered as ‘Peterish’ in our hearts.” Momberger. Even Fitzgerald would’ve been awestruck by his analysis.” Robert Mayberry ’60 A vigorous professor of philosophy and communications at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, Robert died Dec. 8, 2017. Robert also frequently traveled the Rhône Valley in southern France and was an expert on the wines produced in the region, penning acclaimed books and articles on the subject. For his writing and research on wine, he received a knighthood from the French Ministry of Agriculture in 1998. Philip Momberger ’61 David Thomas ’62 A mass spectrometrist who lived in Palo Alto, Calif., David died Nov. 13, 2017. Active in folk dancing at Swarthmore, Dave went on to earn a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from MIT. Carol Finneburgh Lorber ’63 Philip, a beloved professor of English so well-read and eloquent he was called “a walking thesaurus,” died Feb. 5, 2018. Described by a friend as “a brilliant gentle giant of a man with a huge heart and keen wit,” Phil had a lasting impact on students, including one who wrote in tribute that “no one taught Gatsby like A homemaker and former math teacher, Carol died Nov. 24, 2017. The beloved wife of Bennett ’64, H’96 and loving mother of Samuel ’89 and Joshua Edward Lorber, Carol was also an active volunteer and board member of the Cheltenham Township (Pa.) Adult School. Carl Harner ’63 Carl, a distinguished pillar of Boyertown, Pa., who worked tirelessly Michael Predmore ’59 Marilyn Modarelli Lee ’56 Marilyn, the esteemed longtime law librarian for Franklin County, Mass., died Nov. 19, 2017. Active in Democratic Party politics and community service, Lynn was a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association and the shop foreman and lead negotiator for the union representing law librarians across the state. Michael, an internationally respected scholar of Spanish lyric poetry and beloved Stanford professor emeritus of Iberian and Latin American cultures, died Dec. 23, 2017. A recipient of many honors including Fulbright and Guggenheim fellowships, Michael was also an influential humanrights, peace, and social activist who helped free political prisoners in Chile, Argentina, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and the United States. He was best known for his expertise on the work of Nobel laureate Juan Ramón Jiménez and poet Antonio Machado. Kristin Bergstrom Vessey ’61 Kristin, an influential professor, researcher, and program director in environmental biology, died Jan. 11, 2018. In addition to her lifelong love of science, Kris was a passionate volunteer who was especially active in the League of Women Voters as well as an excellent gardener, birder, and adventurer. She was also an active Swarthmore advocate and ally, serving as an admissions interviewer for more than 20 years and on the Alumni Council from 2010 to 2013. SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 75 looking back in memoriam Robert had an especially large College contingent in his family that included Swarthmore-attending siblings, inlaws, and nieces. for the city’s well-being, died Dec. 28, 2017. A highly influential business and community leader, Carl launched several initiatives that became local traditions—including Historic Haunted Walks to raise money for the Boyertown Area Historical Society—and was exceptionally proud to be a husband, father, and grandfather. Emily Atkinson Green ’74 An internationally respected professor and pioneer of math and computer science education, “Hap” died Dec. 15, 2017. Outside the classroom, Hap excelled at racquet sports, winning New England senior tennis tournaments (alone and with his wife) and becoming the Massachusetts state racquetball champion in his age division 10 times, ranking nationally as high as No. 3. He also loved to play backgammon, bridge, and Go, and once wrote a book explaining how to solve a Rubik’s Cube. Robert Champlin ’67 Robert, a professional cello player who, with his matchbox wife, Kit Ashburn Champlin ’67, made up two-thirds of the music majors in their Swarthmore graduating class, died Dec. 9, 2017. Well-known with his family as the owners of the pet store Critter Hut—a 40-plus-year success story that began with one fish tank—Bob loved animals almost as much as he loved music. Faris Worthington ’68 An Army veteran who went on to earn two master’s degrees from Penn, Faris died Feb. 1, 2018. Working at DuPont in a corporatelevel industrial process analysis group until his retirement, Faris then worked at Blaze Systems, where he remained in some capacity for the rest of his life. Doris Ring ’70 An accomplished seamstress who loved reading and sudoku, Doris died Nov. 14, 2017. Her journey to Swarthmore proved unusual: After graduating from the Dorothea Dix School of Nursing and serving as the head psychiatric nurse 76 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 John Simon ’64 John, an educator and poet renowned for his artistry and activism, died Jan. 16, 2018. The author of nine full-length volumes of poetry, John won many plaudits for his work, including prestigious fellowships with the California Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts as well as the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Berkeley Poetry Festival. Named 2013’s River of Words Teacher of the Year by U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Hass, John helped lead the People’s Community School in Berkeley, Calif., Poets in the Schools, and Poetry Inside Out. As noted by J.D. Moyer in a Berkeleyside tribute: “Mexican poet Alberto Blanco wrote, ‘The poems of John Oliver Simon, like all true poems, trace a map, a psychography, which allows us to enter, not only into another life but into the voyage of that life, and not only into another culture, but into other cultures: into another point of view.’” at Duke Hospital, she got married, moved to Delaware, and successfully petitioned the College for admittance as a nontraditional student, ultimately earning her bachelor’s in French. Robert Hay ’72 Robert, an art dealer who dearly loved the Crum, died Nov. 22, 2017. The son of a matchbox couple, + THIRTY-FIVE YEARS ago this June, the late Sally Ride ’72 became the first American woman in space. In this red-penciled 1969 Bulletin/Phoenix photo, however, she was a physics major at Swarthmore and a champion tennis player, so skilled that Billie Jean King urged her to go pro. (Accompanied by this portrait, a Phoenix article celebrated her second year ranked tennis’s No. 1 woman in the East, aided by the exercise required by “living on the Julie Louis ’81 fourth floor of Parrish.”) Although Ride opted for Stanford over Swarthmore after three semesters and chose a life of science over sport, she never forgot the College. On that historic space mission, Ride flew this Swarthmore College pennant aboard the shuttle, which her partner, Tam O’Shaughnessy, later donated to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. —CELIA CAUST-ELLENBOGEN ’09 Julie, who battled cancer for five years, died March 20, 2016. She was the sister of Susan Louis Eipper ’80 and the sister-in-law of Eric Eipper ’80. Warren Houghteling ’91 Warren, who preferred passion and honesty to small talk, died Jan. 8, 2017. According to his family, “Warren was known for his love of theater, and in another life, he would have been a career actor. Instead he was a teacher, handyman, software developer, and computer programmer. His greatest job, challenge, and achievement was being a father. He gave it everything he had, and was proud to be a father first. “Warren took joy in being a part of countless plays and productions at the Los Alamos Little Theater. He greatly enjoyed the professional productions he did at the Santa Fe Playhouse, including his favorite, The Pillowman. His exuberance was contagious. He loved playing basketball, he loved to bike, he ran cross country in school, and loved running, but his knees had other plans for him, and he traded it in for hiking. “Warren’s life was a struggle, marred by tragedy, but his losses did not leave him bitter. He held on to his positive view of the world with extraordinary openness and vulnerability. He was a wonderful person, who will be missed. His depth did not always show, but when he shared it with you, you knew it was something extraordinary.” to report a death notice, email records@swarthmore.edu WALTER HOLT; PENNANT: SMITHSONIAN’S NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM Howard Peelle ’65 A birthright Quaker known for her compassion and capability, Emily died Dec. 25, 2017. In the course of her career, she played important roles at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Data General, and the Worcester Envelope Co. before joining her husband—her best friend—in running BellHawk Systems Corp., which provides software for manufacturing companies. SPRING 2018 / Swarthmore College Bulletin 77 spoken word virginiana. Because I work in a very visual medium and make decisions about what pictures to take, it’s given me a whole new perspective on how decisions are made as far as planting. I want the Arboretum website to look full and vibrant with color. LAURENCE KESTERSON Where do you get your best ideas? I’m inspired by the beauty that my coworkers create in the Arboretum. They build stunning gardens throughout campus that impress in every season. I love to promote and discuss their art and humbly attempt to imitate their master creations in my home garden. What are your must-have tools? A glass of water (because I have to talk to so many people), a camera, and a computer. by Kate Campbell BECKY ROBERT once planted 400 allium, crocus, and lily bulbs in a single day. In fact, the Scott Arboretum’s PR and volunteer programs coordinator loves gardening—and protecting her flowers—so much that she put “deerresistant fence” at the top of her Christmas list. Robert is thrilled to be the spokesperson for what she calls the crown jewel of Pennsylvania’s botanical gardens. “Our emphasis,” she says, “is intimate and approachable gardening on a residential scale to inspire.” 78 Swarthmore College Bulletin / SPRING 2018 Where will we find you relaxing? I like working in the garden, hiking, and creek-splashing with my kids. I try to expose my Girl Scout troop to the wonders of nature whenever the weather is warm. How does color come into play? It’s the foundation of what I do. Outside my window right now is a native magnolia tree with yellow/ green coloration. Below that, in vibrant yellow with touches of red, is the native Fothergilla x intermedia. The resilient green foliage is Mahonia. The frosted evergreen is Juniperus Who influenced your worldview? My father and grandmother taught me to celebrate the diversity, unique skills, and perspectives of all people. These simple, valuable life lessons were most often taught while on our truck route selling fruits and vegetables grown on our farm as well as by the way they interacted with the people we met. What’s the best part of your job? Getting to know people—our volunteers include lawyers, doctors, and artists—and then cultivating those relationships. Plant people are very friendly! LAURENCE KESTERSON GARDEN GLORY Are your duties at the Arboretum as varied as its plant life? I’m the public face, so my job is to brag. I also manage the digital presence, overseeing all social media. The other arm of my role is training and managing volunteers. From March through November, we can get anywhere from 120 to 300 volunteers, and we couldn’t do this without them. At Swarthmore, we encourage interaction by building community and a sense of belonging. in this issue 9 WILL POWER MOMENT IN TIME The men’s basketball team— including Zack Yonda ’18— advanced to the NCAA Division III Elite Eight for the first time in program history. To Print, Perchance to Dream Crispin Clarke ’98 celebrates Shakespeare. by Jonathan Riggs “With love’s light wings did I o’er-perch these walls; For stony limits cannot hold love out, And what love can do that dares love attempt;” —Romeo & Juliet, Romeo, 2.2 (66–68) SPRING 2018 Periodical Postage PAID Philadelphia, PA and Additional Mailing Offices GREEN GODDESS p12 BLUE GARNET p17 500 College Ave. Swarthmore, PA 19081–1306 www.swarthmore.edu SWARTHMORE COLLEGE BULLETIN LAURENCE KESTERSON SPRING 2018 color your way home June 1–3 alumniweekend.swarthmore.edu (Email a photo of your masterpiece to bulletin@swarthmore.edu!) color HARVEST GOLD p78