FRONT COVER

SPRING  | IN THE WRITERS’ ROOM | THE HEART OF PARIS | DAWN CHORUS DIMINUENDO

cover_final.indd 1 4/23/20 2:50 PM Cover illustration by Anuj Shrestha

Finches such as this siskin are among the bird families whose numbers have declined precipitously in the last  years. Read more in “Dawn Chorus Diminuendo” on page .

LILLIAN KING/GETTY IMAGES

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FEATURES DEPARTMENTS  In the Writers’ Room From the Editor  WCAA By Lisa Scanlon Mogolov ’  Letters to the Editor Class Notes The Heart of Paris From the President  In Memoriam By Paula Butturini ’ † Window on Wellesley  Endnote  Dawn Chorus Diminuendo By Catherine O’Neill Grace Shelf Life

This magazine is published by the Wellesley College Alumnae Association, which has a mission “to support the institutional priorities of Wellesley College by connecting alumnae to the College and to each other.”

ifc-pg1_toc_final.indd 3 4/23/20 2:57 PM From the Editor VOLUME , ISSUE NO. 

am certain that when the class of ’20 returns for its 50th reunion in 2070, the memory of their fi nal week on campus will be as vivid to them then as it is today. I write this on March Editor Alice M. Hummer 16. The last fi ve days on campus have been simultaneously completely heartwrenching and utterly heartwarming. Senior Associate Editors Lisa Scanlon Mogolov ’99 The College announced its decision to suspend classes and go to remote teaching last Catherine O’Neill Grace IThursday. Somehow, the seniors managed to paint the campus red overnight—festooning Design departments in the traditional decorations in their class color—and wore their robes for “the Hecht/Horton Partners, Arlington, Mass. last day of classes.” One senior—not to be left out—made a robe out of trash bags and tape. Principal Photographer There were tears and stunned disbelief as the class took in the fact that athletes wouldn’t be Lisa Abitbol able to play their fi nal seasons, that they had to say good-bye to beloved professors and friends Student Assistant instantly, and that commencement might not happen. Grace Ramsdell ’22 Then the fl urry began. Several thousand students needed to get to their homes—if they Wellesley (USPS 673-900). Published fall, winter, could (a contingent of 165 remained on campus). Rooms had to be packed, storage found, tickets spring, and summer by the Wellesley College bought, and rides secured. And some had an urgent need for funds for traveling. That’s when Alumnae Association. Editorial and Business Wellesley began showing its true colors. O– ce: Alumnae Association, Wellesley College, 106 Central St., Wellesley, MA 02481-8203. On Thursday afternoon, the dean of students put out a call for extra boxes, tape, and, most Phone 781-283-2331. Fax 781-283-3638. urgently, suitcases. Overnight, the Multifaith Center in the chapel was turned into a depot that Periodicals postage paid at Boston, Mass., and looked like a cross between Staples and a luggage store—with hundreds of donations gathered other mailing o– ces. Postmaster: Send Form 3579 to Wellesley magazine, Wellesley College, from offi ces and homes of faculty, staff, and area alums. A local Brownie troop even chipped in. 106 Central St., Wellesley, MA 02481-8203. The College provided travel assistance for more than 120 students and started an emergency fund for students to which alumnae contributed. The Students’ Aid Society dispensed grants for WELLESLEY POLICY One of the objectives of Wellesley, in the best rental cars, plane tickets, shipping and storage, internet access at home, and much more, with College tradition, is to present interesting, President Paula Johnson calling the group “an outstanding partner ... providing much-needed thought-provoking material, even though it immediate support.” And totally independent of the College, alumnae used social media and may be controversial. Publication of material does not necessarily indicate endorsement of crowdsourcing to match student needs with people around the country who could meet them. the author’s viewpoint by the magazine, the Homes were opened for staying or storage. Students were driven to the airport—or farther Alumnae Association, or Wellesley College.

afi eld. But most movingly, alums covered thousands of dollars of immediate expenses for stu- Wellesley magazine reserves the right to edit dents they did not know, sight unseen—with a special focus on fi rst-generation students or those and, when necessary, revise all material that from low-income backgrounds. One alum commented in the Facebook group organizing all of it accepts for publication. Unsolicited photo- graphs will be published at the discretion of this: “I am not a religious person … but seriously, God bless Wellesley.” the editor. Which brings us to this magazine. Most of the articles and class notes in this issue were written well before the College closed for the semester. So you’ll fi nd in secretaries’ columns KEEP WELLESLEY UP TO DATE! The Alumnae Office has a voice-mail box references to upcoming travel and mini-reunions and weddings that may not have happened to be used by alumnae for updating contact as planned. We have a tiny staff, so we could not update everything. We are as far current as and other personal information. The number is press deadlines allow and will catch up in the 1-800-339-5233. summer issue. In the meantime, as many of You can also update your information online you still may be at home social distancing or when you visit the Alumnae Association web- site at www.wellesley.edu/alumnae. under quarantine when this magazine arrives, we hope it will bring you some Wellesley cama- DIRECT LINE PHONE NUMBERS raderie and warmth. College Switchboard 781-283-1000 Alumnae O– ce 781-283-2331 In her memo announcing the cancellation of Magazine O– ce 781-283-2331 the Blue’s remaining athletic season last week, Admission O– ce 781-283-2270 Director of Athletics Bethany Ellis spoke of Career Education O– ce 781-283-2352 Development O– ce 800-358-3543 “rally[ing] round our student athletes, holding them tightly in our hearts.” To my eye, there INTERNET ADDRESSES is a lot of heart-holding going on all through www.wellesley.edu/alumnae magazine.wellesley.edu the worldwide Wellesley community. We here at the magazine hope you all feel that embrace in this diffi cult time.

Alice M. Hummer, editor

pg2-3_letters_final.indd 2 4/23/20 3:22 PM Letters to the Editor Wellesley welcomes short letters (300 words maximum) relating to articles or items that have appeared in recent issues of the magazine. Send your remarks to the Editor, Wellesley magazine, 106 Central St., Wellesley, MA 02481-8203, email your comments to [email protected], or submit a letter via the magazine’s website, magazine.wellesley.edu.

A “Superb” Issue I so enjoyed the winter ’20 issue, particularly the Olivia Hood Parker ’63 piece (“Beauty in the Unexpected”) and of course, the article (and photos, wow!) on women journalists (“The Broadcast Pioneers”). I especially liked the segment on Linda Cozby Wertheimer ’65, whom I met the summer after my first year of law school, when I interned for NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg in Washington, D.C. Like Linda, I was a big fan of Pauline Frederick when I was a girl. PHOTO COURTESY OF LOIS LIEBESKIND LEVINE A superb issue all around! Lynne Spigelmire Viti Senior Lecturer Emerita in the Writing Program I am enclosing a picture of us in flapper dresses Westwood, Mass. that should be published with apologies in the Only to Be There next magazine. Connected Lois Liebeskind Levine ’52 In April, the College and the Alumnae Association announced with sadness that we I got my winter ’20 mag- Pleasanton, Calif. will not host an in-person reunion in June. The azine via office mail last Editor’s Note: At the risk of starting an a cap- WCAA is considering options for the classes week, and I absolutely pella war here, research in the Wellesley College that are missing reunion, and we thank the love this issue! Though Archives shows that Lois is correct. We apolo- reuning alumnae for their patience as we begin I work at Wellesley, it the complex process of making new plans. Stay gize to the Widows and are eating appropriate tuned, and stay in touch. We miss you all. made me feel especially amounts of crow. The original singers in all connected. Thank you. their flapperly glory are shown above. —Kathryn Harvey Mackintosh ’03, Jülide Iye ’18 executive director, WCAA Natick, Mass. Cover to Cover The magazine gets better and better. I have A Cappella Wars? always read it cover to cover; still do. The winter ’20 magazine came with a shock! Muriel Tennis Asbornsen ’53 Imagine the Tupelo’s being given a full page with Albany, N.Y. a story claiming to be the College’s oldest a cap- pella group (“A Home in Singing”). Harmonizing Bigger Type, Please! since 1947? There weren’t any a cappella groups I am writing to ask you to make the type until the Widows!!! The Widows started in 1949 bigger—big enough to read! I just threw out the when Ruth Bettman Kassel ’52 and I were soph- fall ’19 issue, reading only my class notes—with omores who wanted to start an octet such as a a magnifying glass! Everyone’s eyes go in their friend had started at Vassar. No one in the music 40s, which means that most of your readers are department would sponsor us, but a woman in affected. You would increase alumnae support of Biblical History offered to help us. We sang not Wellesley by enlarging your type. only at Wellesley, but at many other colleges over Paula Rosenfeld Glatzer ’61 the years. We were invited back to the College New York in 1999 for a 50th reunion of all former Widows, and it was a gala event. I flew in from California.

SPRING 2020 3

pg2-3_letters_final.indd 3 4/23/20 3:23 PM FROM THE PRESIDENT

Ever, Always, Wellesley

AS I WRITE THIS, we are in the Aid Society was an outstanding partner, providing much- midst of a global pandemic. Last needed immediate support. Alumnae are also reaching out week, we made the profoundly to older graduates living in nursing homes or otherwise at sad but essential decision to send risk of feeling isolated. students home for the rest of the I want to give a special salute to the many Wellesley academic year. On March 30— alumnae on the front lines in health care and other first just 10 days from now—classes responders and those providing essential services. I know will resume through remote there are hundreds, if not thousands, of you, and we look instruction, thanks to the truly forward to hearing—and celebrating—your stories in the heroic efforts of faculty and staff. I am so grateful for their months to come. service during this uniquely challenging time. In these harrowing times, our Latin motto feels pierc- So much is unknown and uncertain. Yet one thing is ingly resonant. Non Ministrari sed Ministrare. Not to crystal clear: the boundless strength and resilience of the be ministered unto, but to minister. I hope that, after this Wellesley community. emergency, we build on this momentum. I see this everywhere. Always the trailblazers, alumnae have leapt into action, with offers of housing, financial support, and so many other things. Faculty and staff work Throughout the world, we are navigating tirelessly to manage a logistical and human crisis. And amidst uncharted territory. The Wellesley it all, our students come together in remarkable ways. community is an ecosystem within that One of these caught the attention of the New York Times, which documented the so-called Class of COVID-19’s “faux- global context, and I am so proud to see mencement” ceremony. One by one, seniors stepped up and the best of us coming to the fore. shared a few words of reflection. (In lieu of diplomas, they collected flowers.) There was Hooprolling and Stepsinging, grief and celebration, beautifully captured in a March 17 This is not the first time that Wellesley has faced a photo spread. devastating crisis. Strangely enough, the deadline for The proceedings were especially poignant to me, as I students to leave campus earlier this week fell on the embarked on my own Wellesley career with this red class precise anniversary of Wellesley’s 11 College Hall Fire. of 2020. As a physician who has worked in public health, I On the night of March 17, 1914, students and professors was admittedly not happy to get word of this impromptu were ripped from sleep by the sound of a clanging gong gathering, yet as Wellesley’s president, I was also deeply as flames raged around them. Once they had safely exited touched. What an extraordinary show of resourcefulness the burning building, students formed a human chain to and resilience. What an extraordinary show of love for rescue valuables, passing them hand to hand down the hill Wellesley and for each other. to the library. That same feeling of love is palpable among our Today, another human chain is taking shape. While we alumnae, as you embrace each other—and our students— are physically separated, unable to touch each other, our ever more closely. “I wish these Wellesley babies could bonds are every bit as real as the clasped-hand chain that have been introduced to the alum network under better formed beside Lake Waban a century ago. Now, as then, we circumstances but HEO, welcome, we ♥ you, hang in join forces to protect what matters most. Now, as then, we there,” tweeted Melanie Bellini ’12. At last count, almost draw together, ever, always, Wellesley. 600 alumnae had given to Wellesley to help cover students’ moving and travel expenses. The Wellesley Students’ —Paula A. Johnson, president

To read the ew ork Times story, visit bit.ly/wellesley20.

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pg4-15_wow_final.indd 4 4/23/20 3:33 PM The Quiet Campus

In early March, a string of unseasonably warm days President Paula Johnson announced that spring “One of the most inspiring lessons I take from brought students and entire classes out onto the break would begin early, on March ­Š, and remote Wellesley’s long history is that the bonds forged Academic Quad, many of them relaxing in the instruction would begin on March ‹ and continue for here are strong, and transcend time and geography. Adirondack chairs that were added to the space in the rest of the semester. Students who had no other We are in this together and we will do this together,  ­€. A week later, as COVID-­† cases emerged option were able to remain in campus housing— because we are Wellesley,” President Johnson around the country and colleges began closing to those who are nationals of countries to which they wrote in a letter to the community. help slow the spread of the virus, the chairs and the were unable to return, as well as students for whom —Lisa Scanlon Mogolov ’ campus were largely empty. returning home would be impossible or unsafe.

For more information about the early days of online learning, see “From Zero to Zoom” on page 7. GRACE RAMSDELL’ GRACE

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Technology to Level— and Broaden—the Playing Field Rebecca Darling LOUISA CANNELL

tudents toil away on research papers, only drive so peers, family, and friends can engage with systems like Google and Sakai, and partner to find their hard work almost always has the content. “It adds another level of account- closely with Wellesley’s reference librarians and an audience of one—their professor. But ability and value,” Darling says. “Students often Office of Accessibility and Disability Resources. S what if class proects could have a much give more effort and they take more ownership Her work helps foster the College’s commitment wider reach? Rebecca Darling helps faculty and of the work they’re creating.” to inclusive excellence, supporting students of students discover ways to achieve just that. One student created a digital story about how all races, ethnicities, nationalities, genders, and As a staff member who specializes in instruc- immigration policies have affected her family, socioeconomic classes, whether they’re first- tional technology, Darling spends her days while another took a first stab at video editing generation, have disabilities, or struggle with showing students and professors how to tap with a digital story about transgender athletes. mental or physical health. into technology to make class assignments more Boston Children’s Hospital used the student’s In a workshop for faculty last year, Darling dynamic and, in the process, more accessible video during its GBT awareness week. demonstrated how to make PDFs more accessi- and inclusive for students with a wide variety “We were able to create something the ble by making sure text is selectable and tagging of learning styles, language backgrounds, and student really felt attached to and that had images with descriptions. Both allow a screen disabilities. value,” Darling says. “Some of these students are reader to read the texts out loud for students. “Having different options and tools allows all umping way outside of their comfort zones. The Those with vision problems benefit, as do ath- students to express their knowledge,” Darling amount of creativity and richness and thought letes who can listen to coursework while training. says. “If we can raise the general accessibility going into these proects is extraordinary.” These technologies may also touch other stu- of courses, then more students get benefits from Other faculty and students in foreign dents who haven’t disclosed disabilities or those that. That’s the vision.” Technology can help language courses use video annotation tool who haven’t been tested and so don’t qualify for level the playing field. VoiceThread, which allows students to create, accommodation benefits. Recently, Darling helped students in a share, and comment on presentations outside of With more accessible course materials, all Women’s and Gender Studies course choose class. The technology helps enhance comprehen- students can engage with content without having tools to create their final assignment. One sion and spurs dialogue around classwork. to ask for accommodation. “In reality, these types student designed an interactive fiction proect— Much has changed since Darling began her of tools really benefit a much broader group a text-heavy, choose-your-own-adventure-like career at Wellesley, when she started out in the of students than you might initially expect,” video game—using open-source tool Twine. The library’s Knapp Media and Technology Center Darling says. student explored the path of a pregnant woman of in the 1990s delivering overhead projectors to color as she sought out medical support. Darling classrooms, then managed the College’s Mac —Deborah Lynn Blumberg ’00 has also worked with students to produce digital computers. She gradually transitioned to her role stories—three- to five-minute self-filmed videos in instructional technology, helping students and This story was written before the extent of the that argue a point—and podcasts. faculty use tech in their teaching and learning. COVID-19 crisis was known. Darling and her team Students often share the digital stories and Darling and her team of three also help were instrumental in helping the College convert to other proects they’ve created in a class Google faculty get up to speed on learning management online learning.

6 WELLESLEY MAGAZINE

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From Zero to Zoom

A FEW DAFFODILS were beginning to show their color, and students were atherine Ruffin sent her 1 students in ARTS 222 Print Methods: anticipating spring break. Then, in mid-March, everything changed. The Typography/Book Arts home with tool kits to continue their hands-on College closed, students were sent home, and faculty were asked to pivot work. “Instead of one fairly complicated final proect in the Book Arts ab to virtual teaching. Assisted by Library and Technology Services staff, and papermaking studio that would have incorporated hand papermak- faculty redesigned syllabi; learned Zoom, the online video-conferencing ing, letterpress printing, bookbinding, and other techniques, I have given platform; and prepared for a new kind of intellectual engagement in class. the students a range of eight smaller proects that are based on creating They moved online with alacrity: Professor of English Frank Bidart, who unique artist-made books from materials they have at hand,” she says. before the COVID-19 crisis didn’t even use email, began teaching via Zoom. “The students are responding in a variety of ways,” says Ruffin, direc- James Battat, associate professor of physics, was teaching a lab-only tor of the book studies program and lecturer in art. “I’m appreciative of course, PHYS210 Techniques for Experimentalists. He ordered a set of them sharing their pets, or playing music when we take a five-minute electronics equipment for his students so that they could continue their stretch break in the middle of class, or making really kind, supportive work remotely. They are completing a set of exercises and taking short comments about their classmates’ work in the chat.” videos of their circuits in action to post online. Battat and Katie Hall ’84, James Battat says the pivot has been a learning experience. “By going distinguished lecturer in physics, host a total of six Zoom sessions per remote, I have been forced to reconsider ‘standard’ pedagogical prac- week, and students may participate in any two they choose. tices—and have appreciated that challenge. One big take-home message “This has been working really well,” Battat says. “Part of the reason is that faculty are more in tune with some nonacademic burdens that stu- is that during the first part of the semester, we had established a strong dents face outside the classroom, and how there is a large disparity in rapport with the students, the students had built a strong sense of com- who faces which challenges. Of course, those disparities have always been munity with each other and with us, and we had also had time to practice present, even when we were teaching in person. So hopefully this experi- using this kind of equipment in person. This made the transition to remote ence will help motivate us to reconsider what it means to teach at Wellesley learning much easier.” in the face of this landscape of student experiences.” Heather Corbally Bryant, lecturer in the writing program, was teach- ing her first Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing when the shift hap- —Catherine O’Neill Grace pened. “The course examines some of the 21st-century developments in women’s writing,” she says. “Recently the students have branched out into studying … authors [of their own choosing]. Early in the semester, we settled into a lively rhythm and the three-hour-and-10-minute seminar seemed to fly by every week.” Bryant was concerned about shifting the seminar format online. “I was dubious about how the Calderwood seminar would translate, because it is a course that depends so heavily on interpersonal interaction,” she says. Every week, half the students write and the other half edit. Then they share drafts through Google docs and arrive in class ready to discuss how to improve each piece. “Though I miss the magic of the classroom, I was thrilled that my stu- dents did not miss a beat. They all showed up in our Zoom gallery view ready to engage, to laugh, and to commiserate. Ultimately, they all sup- ported one another wherever they are sheltering in place—from northern Maine to Jamaica,” Bryant says. A recent assignment had been to write an op-ed piece about the authors they had chosen to study. “But they decided together that they would like, instead, to address the pandemic. Their writing astounded me—we agreed that it was the best writing they had done this semester.” Daniela Bartalesi-Graf, lecturer in Italian studies, was prepared when the shift happened. For the past six years, she has been developing online Italian courses. “My language class doesn’t use a textbook—only online materials—so the transition was very easy,” she says. For ITAS 102-02, students watch videos, read PDFs, do interactive assignments with imme- diate feedback, and listen to audio files. Bartalesi-Graf says oom has one advantage over in-person instruction. “Using breakout rooms, I can divide students into random groups to work together simultaneously, which is difficult to do in the classroom,” she says. BRIAN STAUFFER C/O THEISPOT.COM C/O STAUFFER BRIAN

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Adventures in Recreation

Sometimes, you need a little adventure. A little well as eight club sports teams. And last year, the department. “I have the absolute, No. Ž, best job on movement. Particularly if your days are filled with Outdoor Adventure program was created to further campus,” Wong says. “It’s so fun. It brings me so classes and lectures and labs, and your nights encourage students to not only get outside, but to much joy.” Twice a week, she leads students in Spin are spent in front of a computer or holed up in the get outside their comfort zone with opportunities to classes, putting to use the training she acquired with library. If that were the case, then the chance to go try ice and mountain climbing. Wellesley’s help, including national certification. ice climbing or kayaking or biking might be just what The breadth of oƒerings is what first attracted “Everyone has a million options on how to spend the doctor ordered. Sophia Ashebir ’ Ž to Recreation. As a first-year, their time,” she says. “It’s really special to me that Or just what Monica Verity, director of recre - she started with spin classes and then took part in people are like … we’re just going to focus on our- ation for the Department of Physical Education, the Coast-to-Coast Challenge, riding enough miles selves and focus on each other in this small room for Recreation, and Athletics, wants you to consider. to travel from New York to Los Angeles. “I just felt ˜™ minutes every week.” “Recreation is a lifelong connection to being physi- really accomplished after doing that, so I stuck with In addition to the other oƒerings, Recreation also cal and being well and having an understanding of Recreation,” she says. “I have done it all.” She went hosts periodic special events, from snow tubing to being balanced,” she says. “We hope in our program on her first-ever mountain-climbing trip last fall. a March Madness ping-pong tournament, ensuring that we provide students all diƒerent opportunities She regularly visits the boathouse to kayak. “I keep there really is something for everyone. “My goal will to connect with finding that balance.” coming back because it’s a new adventure,” Ashebir always be to help connect with every student and Recreation at Wellesley goes well past some says. “Trying new things and experimenting, just help them understand the importance of recreating,” open gym hours and fitness equipment. It encom- pushing myself outside my barriers of what I thought Verity says. “Helping them understand that sleeping, passes † oƒerings a week of student-led group I could do and what I know now I can do.” eating, and moving will make them be successful fitness classes, from spin to barre to AquaFit. It Grace Wong ’ Ž wanted to try something new, people both inside and outside of the classroom.” includes Open Recreation, where students can play too, and it ended up taking her on a path she didn’t a pickup game of basketball, soccer, or a variety of expect. As a first-year, she took her first-ever spin —Jennifer E. Garrett ’ other sports. It includes the recently created fitness class. And now she’s in her second year of teach- center and the rejuvenated Butler Boathouse, as ing Spin and is a group-exercise supervisor for the

Students on a mountain-climbing trip last November, partway up the Greenleaf Trail on Mt. Lafayette in New Hampshire COURTESY OF PERA

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A Celebration of Their Own

On March  , the class of  held an “uno
cial senior ceremony,” AKA “fauxmencment,” featuring flowers, speeches, tears, and laughter. “I will never forget the ceremony in the amphitheater and how full my heart was from all the love and warmth around me,” says Maheen Akram ’ (at right), who is from Srinagar in the region of Jammu and Kashmir and is currently staying with family friends in Wayland, Mass. CLARA FERRARI ’

Gratitude and Kindness for 40 Days

AS THE FIRST snowdrops and bits of green popped also joined in, introducing a bulletin board where up around campus this year, Wellesley’s Office community members could thank anyone who’d of Religious and Spiritual Life had turning a helped them along in their time at the College. new leaf on kindness in mind. The result was Student posts included names of professors and this year’s “40 Days of Gratitude & Kindness” mentors, even inspirational alumnae—one note program, a series of events across campus that thanked Ophelia Dahl CE/DS ’94 “for her advo- ran from late February until the College went to cacy and commitment to making a difference in remote learning. the world.” “We just talked about what different ways we Marquez said that one of the events she was can start a conversation on campus around kind- most excited for students and faculty to experi- ness, around gratitude, around some of the basic ence was an adaptation of Buddhist Chaplain John things that I think are important in our human Bailes’ weekly guided meditations. During the 40 relationships and interactions,” says Dean of days, all were loving-kindness meditations, a type Religious and Spiritual Life Jackie Marquez “focused on this idea of giving love and kindness to of the chaplains’ conversations leading up to ourselves and sending love and kindness out into the initiative. the world,” she says. This year’s trial program revolved around a On such a busy campus, the idea of practic- calendar that listed events and suggested activi- ing kindness and gratitude in daily life might not ties over the 40 days. Community partners partic- take root overnight. Envisioning new programs ipated in their own ways, such as the Department and pausing to consider how pre-existing ones can of Physical Education, Recreation, and Athletics better emphasize kindness and gratitude are both sponsoring a Pillar of Gratitude, where students beneficial approaches. It’s up to the community to posted sticky notes expressing thanks for things grow from there. ranging from “Wellesley field hockey and the new turf and lights” to “caramel” and “good health and —Grace Ramsdell ’22

a support system of friends.” Career Education ABITBOL LISA

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BEGINNING IN , artist Sara Rahbar (b. 1976, Tehran, Iran) undertook what would become a multiyear series of mixed-media works based on the nited States fl ag. The series now numbers over 50 works of art, and each unique composi- tion embodies a complicated narrative of politics, aesthetics, and biography. The American fl ag has a long, and sometimes controversial, history of use in art. Artists such as Jasper Johns, Faith Ringgold, and eith Haring have each incorporated the distinct ico- nography of stars and stripes into their work to achieve various ends, harnessing the symbol to explore its minimalist graphic forms, critique social issues, or celebrate community events. Rahbar emigrated from Iran as a young child with her family and has lived and worked in New York for most of her life. She sets the American fl ag in dialogue with her own experience as an immigrant, resulting in a provocative body of work that presents a deeply complex and per- sonal representation of national power. Dust and Ash|Flag #52, completed in 2015, is among the last works in the series. The earli- est fl ags included fragments of vibrant domestic textiles such as rugs, pillows, woven bags, and clothing. Rahbar subsumed the American fl ag’s red and white stripes with the chromatic exuber- ance and inventive patterns of Middle Eastern weaving, and revealed only the unmistakable blue fi eld of white stars in the upper right corner of the composition. Dust and Ash includes the field of stars, yet incorporates none of the vibrant domestic textiles that distinguished the early works. Instead, the brown and olive-green palette of military gear dominates this later work. The long arc of Rahbar’s 15-year series manifests a shift in materials and aesthetic forms, from the warm luxury of home comforts to the darker fabrics of utility and war. Dust and Ash speaks to the artist’s changing engagement with international confl ict and identity. The artist describes the American fl ag as a “foundation” for every work in the series. The flag remains whole in each work, forming a

Sara Rahbar, Dust and Ash|Flag #52, 2015, mixed media, 59 ⅞ in. by 37 in., museum purchase, the Maryam and Edward Eisler/Goldman Sachs Gives Fund on Art and Visual Culture in the Near, Middle, and Far East

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literal—and potently metaphorical—support for the array of elements Rahbar collages on its surface. In Dust and Ash, the field of stars and the pattern of red and white stripes just visible along the bottom edge indicate the vertical pre- sentation of the flag. In the upper left, Rahbar includes a large fragment of a soldier’s duffle bag, still bearing inscriptions that document the chronology and geography of his service. Several embroidered name patches, typically found on the shirts of blue-collar workers, also appear across the composition. Originally meant to assert a unique identity, they are here dislocated from the wearer’s uniform and made anonymous, and their accumulated presence invests a sense of collective purpose in Rahbar’s engagement with the American flag. Woven straps from bags, harnesses, and belts hint at the vertical geom- etry of the patriotic stripes beneath the surface. Ode to the Anonymous Snapshot Rahbar uses Middle Eastern jewelry and coins, removed from their context of bodily adorn- YOU RAISE YOUR HANDS to form a rectangle, squint, and quickly tap down ment and daily transactions, to embellish the an index finger. A familiar gesture, one that future generations (even flag. Silver earrings and pendants glint among the iPhone generation of today) might puzzle over, reinterpret, or find the shiny buckles of the military gear; their endearing. Snap. dangling forms echo groupings of bullet casings What do these gestures we make, the poses we strike, say about us that also decorate Dust and Ash. Individually, What do the ways that we immortalize these fragments of our lives reveal the name patches, service inscriptions, and “Instagram didn’t invent everyone repeating each other,” notes Carrie traditional jewelry hint at human intimacy, yet Cushman, inda Wyatt Gruber ’66 Curatorial Fellow in Photography. combined, they invest Rahbar’s flag with broad People posed conventionally and constructed their self-images even back cross- cultural potential. when a snapshot was a singular and tangible object, not something to Rahbar often acquires her materials in be hashtagged and shared online. The Davis Museum spring exhibition person by browsing thrift stores and markets. Going Viral: Photography, Performance, and the Everyday put forth 123 She prefers to feel their worn life with her hands, anonymous snapshot photographs from the early 20th century to explore and she is attuned to their quiet stories without this reality. ever knowing the specific details. Rahbar did In curating the show, Cushman drew from a gift of almost 1,000 snap- not have a background in fiber arts when she shots given by vernacular photography collector Peter J. Cohen. Amid began the series, and the American flag was the varied images, patterns emerge, such as the gesture of a girl showing first textile she incorporated into her practice. off her skirt, as well as commonplace compositions, like a photographer Combining domestic and military elements from including her own shadow in the image. her two cultures, and using the American flag These photographs remind us of ways that we are alike—while also as a visible support, is cathartic for the artist. interrupting our assumptions about the past. Personal snapshots (“a new Describing the process as “piecing together world for photography scholarship,” says Cushman) can provide a lens a puzzle,” Rahbar offers an apt metaphor for through which to explore people’s histories. This includes populations the slow experience of constructing an identity that have previously lacked representation—in art, and in our textbooks. from multiple homelands. For many people, the “That’s my hope for the collection,” Cushman says, “that people can do American flag is both an emblem of hope and actual historical work.” a complicated political statement. In Rahbar’s work, the textiles and jewelry of American and —Grace Ramsdell ’22 Middle Eastern life come together to layer new stories over a powerful symbol of nationhood. At this time, the Davis Museum is making its galleries and exhibitions accessi- ble virtually and developing online resources to continue the museum’s mission.

—M. Rachael Arauz ’91 ANONYMOUS SNAPSHOT, GIFT OF PETER J. COHEN, . “Going Viral” is available at bit.ly/Davisphotog.

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We didn’t want to approach it from a mascu- line perspective,” Coleman says. “We really wanted to integrate holistic learning, and that is not really being done out there.” What sets apart Wellesley’s Executive Education for Women is its three-pronged approach to workshops. “It’s kind of this concept of head, heart, and hands. How do we stimulate people intellectually with some of the data and some of the lecture content. How can we help them practice some of it, that’s the hands piece, and then this mindfulness, this holistic ‘you need to take care of yourself ’ is the heart piece,” Coleman says. “Those three components are really the approach we’ve taken throughout all of the programs.” All three components are supported by Wellesley’s strengths: The campus offers a welcoming change from cookie-cutter hotel conference rooms, with opportunities for STEPHANIE S. BERENSON lake walks and mindfulness exercises. The Senior lecture emerita in psychology Linda Carli (left) and Preeta Banerjee taught the recent College’s rich history of educating women Women’s Leadership for Impact course at the College Club. and commitment to experiential learning provide a solid foundation for the programs. And the courses themselves are taught by a mix of business practitioners and Wellesley Educating Other faculty. The leadership workshop was created and is co-led by Linda Carli, senior lecturer emerita in psychology and co-author of Generations of Women Through the Labyrinth: The Truth About How Women Become Leaders. “The mate- rial that we cover is based in large part on IS THERE A BETTER PLACE to learn about women’s from additional leadership offerings to team- research on women’s leadership,” Carli says, leadership than Wellesley College? And that building and presentation-skills workshops. “and that is a very distinctive feature of learning doesn’t necessarily start—or end— While most programs are aimed at the it, that it is empirical. It’s based on lots of with the undergraduate experience. Just ask midcareer professional, workshop attendees research on what actually is effective, what Nancy Coleman, associate provost and direc- have diverse levels of experience and cover a are the obstacles for women leaders, [and] tor of Strategic Growth Initiatives. wide range of industries. “The course topics how can they overcome those obstacles.” “Wellesley has a perspective on women’s and the way we’re approaching it, it hasn’t “These programs are really important for leadership and women’s empowerment really mattered what you do or where you do engaging women and having them expand the that transcends the four-year undergradu- it. They’re general concepts that, no matter possibilities of what they can do,” Carli says. ate experience,” Coleman says. Under her if you’re in a nonprofit or deep in the STEM Just as Coleman and Strategic Initiatives look stewardship, Strategic Growth Initiatives field,” says Pamela andis, director of market- to expand the possibilities of what the College has been extending the College’s reach ing and enrollment for Strategic Initiatives, can offer beyond those four undergraduate through three main programs: pre-college “it’s conceptually the same.” years. “I think executive education, and even and summer term, the Nehoiden Golf Club, The executive education training market a pre-college summer term for teenage girls, and most recently, executive education. Last in the Boston area is a fairly crowded one, are ideal opportunities to extend the power summer, the College launched its first work- but Coleman and her team saw an opportu- of Wellesley across a variety of different age shop geared specifically toward professional nity to offer something unique—something groups,” Coleman says. women, Women’s Leadership for Impact, and Wellesley. “We had this perspective that this year, a slate of programs was planned, women’s leadership was not about strategy. —Jennifer E. Garrett ’98

For more information, visit https://extended.wellesley.edu/professional.

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BY THE NUMBERS / SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, CLAPP LIBRARY "" 35,000 75 lbs. BY 573 1 Total number Weight of the heaviest book in Dimensions of the smallest Letters written between Life mask of of holdings the collection, a Spanish missal book in the collection, Dialoghi, Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Abraham Lincoln bound with wooden boards by Giacomo Leopardi Browning during their and iron fittings courtship

REPORTS FROM AROUND CAMPUS College Road

New Dean of Academic Aairs Sharing Our PPE President Paula Johnson As the coronavirus crisis intensified, faculty and staff and Provost Andy Shennan members across campus identified various items of per- announced this spring that sonal protective equipment (PPE) stored around the OVERHEARD Michael Jeffries, associate College. Gloves, goggles, face masks, lab coats, and disin- professor of American studies fectant were collected and inventoried. Wellesley donated and Class of 1949 Professor in some of the PPE items to the Massachusetts Department Ethics, will become the next of Public Health stockpile for distribution to health-care dean of academic affairs. He professionals. The College also kept a sufficient stock on succeeds Dean Ann Velenchik, campus to supply any needs to protect campus students who completes her service in and the staff supporting them. RICHARDHOWARD June and will be returning to the classroom to teach economics and writing. ‘Four years Jeffries is a sociologist whose research focuses on racism, sexism, exploitation, and the way marginalized later and I people create meaning and build identities. His most recent still have to do book, Behind the Laughs: Community and Inequality in Comedy, was published in 2017. Currently chair of alphabetical American studies, he serves on the Committee on Faculty order in Appointments, a position elected by the faculty, and from 2015 to 2018 was the inaugural chair of the Presidential the quad to Commission on Ethnicity, Race, and Equity. know where I am. ’

Where’s My Class Tree? — Tweet by a member of the class of ’20 Can’t remember where your class tree is? Kristine Meader ’ŒŽ has a solution! As an intern for the Paulson Ecology of Place Initiative, she created an interactive map that shows the location of class trees back to Ž”•–, lists their species, and even records how much atmo- spheric carbon dioxide they capture and store annually. Fun facts from the map: The purple class of Ž––œ is (appropriately) represented by a purple beech in front of the Science Center. It sequesters ¢£.” lbs. of carbon per year. Visit the map at bit.ly/class-tree.

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From the Coast to the Capitol

TO SAY THAT Rebecca Selden has a passion for the ocean would be an under- species,” Selden says. This summer, she had hoped to take students to sites statement. For the past 15 years, she has devoted her career to marine across New England to study species like blue mussels—which is a key science, traveling to oceans near and far (and doing some 700 research fishery that has declined in recent years. Those plans are on hold for now. dives) to study marine ecosystems and particularly species harvested by But for Selden, her job doesn’t end with the research. “We know our coastal communities. Yet in May 2019, Selden’s passion for the ocean led her systems really well, and I think it’s naive to just sit on our hands and hope somewhere new—to Capitol Hill, where she traded her mask and fins for that our academic papers find their way into the policymakers’ hands,” a microphone to testify before the House Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, Selden says. “That’s why I’m really passionate about communicating our and Wildlife about a central aspect of her research: how climate change is science in a way that informs the public and can be used for policy.” And if affecting fisheries. it requires an occasional trip from the coast to the Capitol, that’s fine by her. “We’ve seen as species shift poleward to match the warming oceans, they are shifting away from ports where fishers have relied upon them for —Catherine Caruso ’10 generations, and becoming newly available to others,” Selden explains. During her testimony, she discussed this trend and fielded questions about how it may affect fisheries in individual states—for example, the summer flounder fishery that is moving from the Carolinas north into the coastal New Jersey region. She also recommended that regions start coordinating fisheries management, since species are shifting across existing manage- ment lines. “It was a fantastic experience. I really felt like I had the opportunity to put the science out there and share this view of how climate change is affect- ing fisheries now in a way that might actually inspire action,” Selden says. And it seems her testimony (and that of a few others) was well received. In October 2019, the committee proposed a Climate-Ready Fisheries Act. Selden, an assistant professor of biological sciences, caught the marine biology bug early but didn’t become interested in fisheries until later when, as a Watson Fellow, she studied small coastal communities that rely on sea turtles. “My experience made me realize that you do need to think about the importance of these coastal resources for those communities, and people are part of this ecosystem, too,” Selden says. “We want to allow for sustainable harvest to continue for generations, so how do we do that the best way we can?” As Selden continued grappling with this question during her Ph.D. at the University of California, Santa Barbara, she realized that there was a massive global stressor that could no longer be ignored: “It felt like climate change was the elephant in the room, and I was interested in how that might affect our ability to manage fisheries, and what additional challenges it might pose.” To that end, Selden took to the ocean in places like the Gulf of Maine, “We want to allow for sustainable where she discovered that warming temperatures have sent cod populations harvest to continue for generations, into decline, allowing other predators like spiny dogfish to expand. Her research established the importance of understanding the broader roles so how do we do that the best way that species play in ecosystems when considering how these ecosystems we can?” — REBECCA SELDEN may be affected by climate change—and how the fisheries they encompass should be managed. Selden also gained insights from interviewing fishers. For example, she learned that many would rather continue fishing in the same geographic area than follow shifting species. To investigate these issues on a larger scale, Selden tapped decades of fisheries and climate data to create sophisticated predictive models. Selden arrived at Wellesley last fall. She is most excited about getting into the field with her students—and hopefully inspiring them to consider careers in marine science in the process. “We have access to our fantastic intertidal ecosystem here. The Gulf of Maine is warming more rapidly than much of the globe, and I’m planning for our lab to think about how warming

interacts with other stressors like ocean acidification, harvest, and invasive ABITBOL LISA

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When an Opinion Is Not Enough

EVERYONE IN AMERICA , it would seem, has strong opinions on immigra- tion, and the students in Assistant Professor of Political Science Maneesh Arora’s spring seminar, Immigration Politics and Policy, are no exception. In the first week of class—ust after the Trump administration announced an expanded immigration ban—he divided them into groups: Half of the students had to make the case for tighter immigration restrictions and the other half for looser restrictions. et even when they were arguing for a policy they strongly agreed with, most students still struggled to construct a coherent argument. “I defi- nitely saw lightbulbs going off,” says Arora, who oined the political science department last fall. “It’s one thing to say I disagree with the travel ban,’ but why do you disagree and how can you demonstrate in a more eloquent and comprehensive way why you disagree” he says. “Crafting a message is much more difficult than having an opinion.” Americans did not always have such passionate disagreements about immigration. It’s hard to remember now, says Arora—and, in fact, most current Wellesley students were not yet born—but in the 2000 presidential election, immigration was not the lightning rod it is today. “It ust wasn’t a politically salient issue, and there was much more agreement between the two parties about what the immigration system should look like,” he says. But, as he points out, by the 2016 election, voters ranked immigration over obs among the issues that mattered to them most. One presidential candi- date was talking about “systemic racism” while the other called Mexicans

“rapists and criminals.” ABITBOL LISA How did we get here This is a primary question behind Arora’s own research, which focuses this policy will affect a quarter of the 1.2 billion people living in Africa, on racial and ethnic politics and American public opinion. He is cur- but we don’t go any further than that, this number becomes meaning- rently writing a book, expanding on his dissertation at the niversity of less,” he says. In addition to policy papers, he assigns articles by and about California, Irvine, that examines how political and media elites talk about immigrants—a 0-year-old man brought to the .S. illegally as a child a minorities and why explicitly racial messages work to mobilize voters. fiance stranded in igeria by the newest immigration ban. “We have had a partisan realignment where we have become polarized Arora hopes that, in writing their own policy briefs or ust talking with in our racial views,” he says. “A lot of our partisanship now is based on someone who doesn’t share their political perspective, students leave his immigration.” class “able to critically analyze policy proposals to the extent that they To help his students transcend personal partisan opinion and to make can contribute knowledge and wisdom”—rather than mere opinion—“to an informed argument, Arora walks them through the 200-year history of that debate.” .S. immigration policy. The son of immigrants himself, he also challenges students to consider the individuals affected by these policies. “Often the —Sarah Ligon ’03 perspective of human rights is absent from our conversation, so if we say

IN THE CLASSROOM POLI  Seminar: Immigration Politics and Policy Reading Assignments Capstone Assignment “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant.” Students will work on The United States is in the middle of an increasingly hostile and polarizing The New York Times, June ‹‹, ‹Œ„„. becoming an expert in national debate over immigration policy and the outcomes of immigrant one area of immigration “New U.S. Travel Ban Shuts Door on Africa’s incorporation. This course situates that debate within the historical context policy for the purpose Biggest Economy, Nigeria.” The New York of the country, addresses the politics of American diversity, and analyzes of writing a policy brief Times, Feb. ‹, ‹Œ‹Œ. contemporary policy debates over undocumented immigration, border (—–„Œ pages) and fact control, national security, and comprehensive immigration reform in the “Rethinking the Last ‹ŒŒ Years of U.S. sheet (™–š pages), post-‚/„„ era. Possible topics include family separation, open borders, Immigration Policy,” Migration Policy which they will present immigration control (ICE), and refugee resettlement. Institute, June „, ‹ŒŒ–, bit.ly/ImPolicy to the class.

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Reviews of books by Wellesley authors Truth’s Painful Consequences An Intimate Look at a Global Life

whole life in my parents’ fiction, governed by lies TO WRITE SEVEN MEMOIRS worth reading requires and secrets and half-truths,” writes Fremont in lots of stories and a flair for telling them. The Escape Artist, about After Long Silence. Madeleine Korbel Albright ’59, who has lived a “I needed to write something that was my own life of global scope at warp speed, displays both truth.” Truth exposed; case closed. in abundance in her latest offering, Hell and But even if a memoir ends with a tidy resolu- Other Destinations: A 21st-Century Memoir. It tion, rarely does life tie up so nicely. The Escape covers her life after the U.S. State Department, Artist picks up 20 years later, and it addresses where she served as secretary of state from the fallout after the publication of After Long 1997 to 2001. The themes of her previous books Silence. Fremont’s mother and sister stopped are all here: promoting democracy, empower- speaking to her for three years, and Fremont ing women, fighting genocide, managing crises, communicated with her father only through finding a voice, building a team, making friends, letters until his death. Even after her father and suffering fools not so gladly. But the tone is died, when Fremont reconciled with her mother more intimate—sometimes tragic, often hilari- and sister, things were not the same: Her parents ous, always resilient. had rewritten their wills so Fremont was “pre- A surprise request for divorce after 23 years deceased,” leaving all their assets to her sister. of marriage “nearly crushed me,” she writes. In The Escape Artist, Fremont grapples with (Albright married three days after her Wellesley these painful consequences (“I could either con- graduation and raised three daughters.) But it tinue to live a lie, and remain in my family; or also awakened new capacities: “The irony is that I could lose my sister and my family, but speak had we not divorced, I doubt very much that I Helen Fremont ’78 my own truth”). But she also digs deep into her would ever have become secretary of state.” Nor The Escape Artist Gallery Books family’s history to try to understand the compli- would she have started buying her own jewelry, 352 pages, $28 cations of a life built on secrecy. “It’s instinctive including the 200 signature pins featured in Book to search for meaning, to arrange and rearrange No. 4, Read my Pins: Stories from a Diplomat’s WRITING MEMOIR is a messy business, and no one the pieces of the puzzle in such a way that they Jewel Box. As the Clinton administration’s UN knows this better than Helen Fremont ’78. fit, that there is a satisfying snap of recognition, ambassador, Albright criticized Saddam Hussein Fremont’s book The Escape Artist serves as a a sense of truth, of something resonating deeply,” for ignoring Security Council resolutions. In writes Fremont. sequel of sorts to her memoir After Long Silence, Continued on page 76 published in 1999. After Long Silence grapples For any reader, The Escape Artist is engross- with the secret Fremont’s parents kept from ing, complex, and difficult to believe, proving her and her sister for most of their lives: that truth is stranger than fiction. But it is a must-read they were Jewish Holocaust survivors. Though for those writing memoirs of their own—not to Fremont and her sister knew their parents had warn of the bad things that can result from pub- survived World War II, fleeing their Polish home- lication, but because Fremont puts herself under town, the daughters were raised Catholic. This a sharp lens while also showing great empathy false religious identity was one their parents for those who caused her pain. The best memoirs assumed to flee Europe, and, to protect those always get at the complexities and contradictions Madeleine Korbel who helped them, it was an identity they kept of human nature—no one is purely good or bad— Albright ’59 Hell and Other up until Fremont and her sister were in their and Fremont examines and tries to understand why she, her sister, and her parents did what they Destinations: 30s. Upon discovery of the truth, Fremont wrote A 21st-Century Memoir After Long Silence, revealing the secret her did. Fremont’s prose is raw yet generous in a way HarperCollins 384 pages, $29.99 parents had kept for over 50 years. “I’d lived my Continued on page 76

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A Poet in Uncertain Times Ellen Ja¢e ’‡‡ was born in New York inspired by photographs by Karin Wellesley (like other colleges) was on City, studied in England, and moved Rosenthal ’‡”. I did not want the book the cusp of becoming more politi- to Canada in „ ” , working part-time to focus only on cancer, so I kept the cal. As editor of the Wellesley News, as a therapist and teaching writing working title (from a poem based on I promoted that budding awareness workshops in schools and commu- a childhood experience). That poem, with articles about U.S. politics, the nity programs. Since „ ¤, when like many in the book, plays with Vietnam War, and related subjects. she became a Canadian citizen, she the tension between certainty and This writing sharpened my style and has received grants for writing and uncertainty/mystery. increased my knowledge. I also heard arts education from the Ontario Arts writers like Robert Frost, W.H. Auden, Council and has published a young- As a poet, how do you approach and Eudora Welty at Wellesley and in adult novel and two acclaimed books uncertainty? Boston. Freshman English with Naomi of poems. She recently self-published Life is uncertain, and it helps to realize Diamond („ †‡–†‰„‰) turned out her third collection, The Day I Saw that, rather than trying to find abso- to be one of the best courses I took. Ellen Ja¢e ’66 The Day I Saw Willie Mays Willie Mays and Other Poems. lutes. For me, part of a writer’s job is to Naomi taught me to read with greater and Other Poems, experience uncertainties and dišcul- perception and focused my writing Pinking Shears Publications How does this book dier from ties (personal and in the wider world) with her clear, direct comments. I was 120 pages, $20 your first two collections? and then find words and images to fortunate to connect with her again in After my second book, Skinny-Dipping write about them with empathy and Toronto, over †‰ years later. With the Muse, was published in †‰„¦ precision. This can be surprising: In by Guernica Editions in Toronto, I con- writing the cancer poems, for example, —Elizabeth Lund tinued writing about my family, my I often began in despair and anxiety Jewish roots, and childhood memo- and ended in a place of love and hope. A poet herself, Lund writes about poetry for the Washington Post and the ries. Then, in February †‰„ , I was Christian Science Monitor. diagnosed with cancer and began to How did Wellesley influence you write about my response to this illness; as a poet? This spring, Ja
e was still in treatment these poems took my writing to a new, When I came to Wellesley in „ ‡†, I and said she was feeling relatively well. Her website is www.ellen-s-ja
e.com. urgent, “closer to the bone” place. knew that I wanted to write—but did I also completed a series of poems not yet have a sense of “being a writer.”

Freshink

Narges Bajoghli ’­€ Miriam Greenbaum ’‡„ Eugenia Warren Herbert ’„ƒ Jennifer Phillips ’‡– Kathleen Broome Williams ’•• Iran Reframed: Anxieties of Auschwitz. Not Long Ago. Serendib: Scenes Sitting Safe in the Painting War: George Plante’s Power in the Islamic Republic, Not Far Away. from Colonial Ceylon, Theatre of Electricity, Combat Art in WWII, Stanford University Press Abbeville Press Off the Common Blurb Naval Institute Press Patrice Caldwell ’ƒ„, editor Mary Beth McEvoy Sejal Shah ’Œ€ Christina Willis Willis-Ott ’­• A Phoenix First Must Burn, Manjikian ’”• This Is One Way to Dance, Sustainable Networking for Viking Books for Young Readers Introduction to Cyber University of Georgia Press Scientists and Engineers, Politics and Policy, SPIE Claire Richmond Dunphy ’„‡ Enid Steine Shomer ’•„ CQ Press Becoming Earthwoman: Thank Shoreless, You Notes from a Grateful Guest, Stephen Marini, faculty Persea Books SEND US YOUR BOOKS Biblio Books The Cashaway Psalmody: If you’ve published a book and Charlotte Bacon Ripley Transatlantic Religion and you’d like to have it listed in Suzanne Roquemore Ennis ’‡Œ Sorenson ’•ƒ Music in Colonial Carolina, “Fresh Ink” and considered for Serious Fun Ballet, Charlotte’s Way: A Woman’s University of Illinois Press review, please send two copies Standalone Press Path Through Changing Times, Sarah Milledge Nelson ’„– Pilgrim Press to Catherine Grace, Wellesley Nina Freedlander Gibans ’„€ Ancient China’s Tiger Queen, magazine, 106 Central St., In the Garden of Old Age, Tiffany Tsao ’­€ RKLOGY Press Wellesley, MA 02481-8203. Atbosh Media The Majesties: A Novel, Atria

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A cadre of Wellesley writers are shaping some of your favorite TV shows and relishing the creative endeavor— despite the tremendous uncertainties of their industry

By Lisa Scanlon Mogolov ’99 / Illustrations by Anuj Shrestha

pg18-25_writers_final.indd 19 4/23/20 3:46 PM nyone who’s struggled always rewarded. A creator who is known, or a pilot with to catch up on the latest hit TV shows will not be sur- subect matter that’s hot, will often get a pickup over an prised to learn that last year, there were 532 scripted unknown creator with a great new show to offer.” U.S. television series on network TV, cable, and on When the chances of success are so low, what keeps services like etflix, Amazon, and Hulu. This number Wellesley TV writers going? They describe the joy and has been steadily increasing over the last decade—in excitement that comes from collaborating on a creative 2010, the number of shows was only a little more than proect that they believe in deeply, and the satisfaction 200, according to the research department of the cable that comes from seeing it come to life and connect with network F—as television has become a fertile field for a worldwide audience. prestige dramas and innovative comedies. Rachna Fruchbom ’, who’s written for Parks and In this era of “peak T,” as critics have dubbed it, Recreation and Fresh Off the Boat, says, “My favorite Wellesley writers have been drawn to the industry, and thing about being in a writers’ room is that your ob is a growing number of them are penning the episodes sitting with a bunch of people you admire, who are so of your favorite shows. Series that have had Wellesley smart and funny, and you’re ust pitching stories and women behind them include Fresh Off the Boat, Mr. okes together. And that is a cool way to make a living.” Robot, Fear the Walking Dead, The Resident, The Goldbergs, Speechless, Bluff City Law, Briarpatch, Scandal, 30 Rock, The Bold Type, The Leftovers, Parks SO YOU WANT TO BE A TV WRITER and Recreation, and Silicon Valley. There are two main paths in the television industry. The Despite the networks’ and streaming platforms’ first is to rise through the ranks on T shows, starting hunger for new shows, it is a steep, uphill battle to get as a writers’ room assistant and progressing to become a show created or to land a writing position on a series. a staff writer, then a story editor, a producer, and ulti- Amy Holden Jones ’5, co-creator of the Fox medical mately an executive producer or a showrunner. The drama The Resident, describes the odds of getting a new other path, the one that Jones followed, is to begin by show made this way: There are more than 500 shows simply writing pilots—the first episode of a T series being made, but perhaps fewer than 100 are new. Spots that’s used to sell the show to a network. She was able to for debut shows tend to go to a cadre of known cre- do this because she had already made a name for herself ators, mostly white men—“the established male guys,” as a screenwriter for films including Mystic Pizza, Maid Jones calls them. So there might be roughly 25 debut to Order, Indecent Proposal, and Beethoven. She origi- shows available for others. “It becomes unbelievably nally wanted to be a director, but quickly discovered difficult to break in, unbelievably difficult,” she says. that Hollywood was not supportive of female directors. What’s more, “People who hold the power and decide “I started to get writing assignments, because it was what is good or bad, to an overwhelming degree, can’t acceptable for women to be writers. ot at parity. There tell good from bad. And so you’ll watch over and over were many, many more men. But the director would be a when a good piece of work does not advance, and a poor guy, and then the person at his elbow could be a woman,” one does, for reasons that are incomprehensible. … The she says. hardest thing about our business is that quality is not

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pg18-25_writers_final.indd 20 4/23/20 3:44 PM By the early ’00s, when mobster Tony Soprano was having love affairs. … They were not about problems in seeking treatment for panic attacks in the seminal HBO medicine. But I was driven very much by the nonfiction,” show The Sopranos, marking the beginning of the pres- Jones says. “We had a real theme, and Fox fought it for tige television era, Jones decided to make the leap to the quite a while. They said, ‘Make it more like The Good small screen by writing pilots. It can be a lucrative busi- Doctor. Make it more like This Is Us.’ But eventually, ness, Jones says, but it’s also a longshot one. A network they came to realize that it was something unique, and might buy 60 drama pilots, and of those, it will shoot by the end of the first season, we were rocking. So now anywhere from four to 10, usually. Of those that get shot, we’re hopefully looking at season four.” as few as three or four will make it on air. “The world is Jones entered the television industry as a show littered with what they call ‘dead pilots.’ You put all this creator, but most TV writers start at the other end of work into it, and it’s over,” she says. the food chain. In 2012, French major Haley Harris ’12 One of the many pilots Jones wrote, a drama about stood at the podium in the Academic Quad as student Harvard Medical School students, got as far as being speaker at commencement and proclaimed, “My fellow shot, but never made it on air. Not long after, another seniors, I’m scared. … Honestly, I couldn’t think of a show she created, Black Box, a psychological medical lone job title I would be happy to hang my hat on— drama, aired for one season before being canceled. barring, of course, playing a lady detective on a long- “So I was pretty discouraged by this time … and was running television show.” After she delivered that considering giving it up,” she says. But then she read speech, she went home to Chicago and worked for an Unaccountable: What Hospitals Won’t Tell You and economist, then did a six-month stint working for the How Transparency Can Revolutionize Health Care by San Francisco Opera, and returned to Chicago to work Martin Makary, which inspired her to create a series for the economist again while she “hosted live trivia and called The Resident. The show focuses on the problems did lights and sound for a drunk improv show,” she says. with the medical system in the U.S. and the struggles Meanwhile, Harris was applying to entertainment that new doctors face as they fight to keep their ideals industry jobs in Los Angeles and getting nowhere. She within a flawed and dollar-driven health-care industry. was investigating joining the police academy—the “lady Several networks were interested in The Resident, detective” quip wasn’t entirely a joke—when L.A. called. and Fox picked it up. “Fox was petrified from the begin- Through networking and serendipity, she landed a job ning, because medical shows were all about doctors as a writers’ production assistant for The Leftovers, an

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pg18-25_writers_final.indd 21 4/23/20 3:44 PM HBO supernatural drama based on the Tom Perrotta recalls a moment soon after she got a job as an assistant novel of the same name, which follows the struggles of to the showrunner of Copper and Borgia. Before that people left behind after 2 percent of Earth’s population job, she knew she wanted to be a writer, but had never suddenly disappears. considered television. One day, Erickson overheard the Harris’s job entailed doing “everything that nobody showrunner speaking with one of the writers in the else wants to do,” she says, and she adored it. She got hallway. “They were arguing about what a character coffee, ordered the writers’ lunches, and cleaned the would do. And they were each very passionate about the kitchen, but she also watched the dailies (the raw, uned- character’s motivations and what their backstory would ited footage from a day’s shoot) and did some research. mean for what they’re doing now. And the conversation “I got to look up all the times someone had been stoned went on and on, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, they’re to death in the past five years and why. There were a lot arguing about imaginary people. That’s their job.’ … All of times when I had to go find a biblical passage that was I wanted to do in that moment was be in a position to a good reference for someone that could then be their argue about imaginary people one day,” she says. character’s house address,” she says. She put together These intense discussions about imaginary people a book listing everyone who had been mentioned as begin after a network picks up a show. Then, writing being among the disappeared on the show, to serve as a staff are hired and the show gets its own office space. reference for the writers. The next season, she became “Typically, [the writers] have individual offices, and a writers’ assistant, taking notes in the writers’ room. there’s a conference-room type office with a big table, The season after that, she was hired as a staff writer. “I and everybody sits around it,” Erickson says. “You lucked out hard core. I like to say that I did the strug- get there, and there’s a whiteboard, and there’s lots of gling before I came to Los Angeles, because it took me index cards, and you usually ‘blue sky.’ You talk about a while to get on this path,” she says. all the big ideas, and who the characters are, and what the studio wants out of the show. You lay out all the big expectations and hopes and dreams and general under- ARGUING ABOUT IMAGINARY PEOPLE standings of what’s happening [in the show]. And then Writing for television is different than writing for most you start working the episodes one by one.” other media in that it is intensely collaborative. Kate Broti Gupta ’16, who has written for comedies includ- Erickson ’05, who has written for shows including Mr. ing Friends From College, Speechless, and Carol’s Robot, Fear the Walking Dead, and The Passage, vividly Second Act, says while each episode is credited to an

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pg18-25_writers_final.indd 22 4/23/20 3:45 PM individual writer or a pair of writers, that’s very mis- leading. “OK, this person’s name goes on the script ‘Being in a because they wrote the first draft,” which was based on the group’s ideas, she says. “That [draft] was then completely rewritten by this group of people. So it is writers’ room hugely collaborative, and we are very lucky that we have super talented writers’ assistants who do basically all of is a very the typing, and they have to write whatever garbage is coming out of our mouths as a group of people.” Gupta, who got her start while still at Wellesley, vulnerable contributing to comedy websites like College Humor, McSweeney’s, and the New Yorker’s Shouts & Murmurs thing, because site, says that writers tend to bring their own experi- ences to their work. “Being in a writers’ room is a very vulnerable thing, because a lot of it is sharing your per- a lot of it is sonal stories. And as a group of comedy writers, you always reshape whatever trauma happened to you as sharing your hilarious. And so it’s a lot of sharing those episodes of your own life to see how they can support the show- runner’s vision for the entire show,” she says. “I always personal say that being in a comedy writers’ room is sort of like being in group therapy but if, as a group, you wanted stories.’ to get worse.” Lynn Sternberger ’07, who’s written for dramas —BROTI GUPTA ’16 including Heartbeat, The Bold Type, and Bluff City Law, says that she particularly enjoys the “jittery enthusiasm” that comes during the blue-sky phase, when the writers’ room brainstorms the journey each character will take. “I love that part, because I often feel like my voice is really valuable then. I’m often one

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pg18-25_writers_final.indd 23 4/23/20 3:45 PM of the younger writers. I’m often the only queer woman. And of course, being a woman adds another layer So if there’s a queer character or if there’s a potential of challenges. “The struggle of being a woman in [the to tell a story that I’m really excited about, I try to get industry] was close to impossible [to bear] until, say, it in early,” she says. the last four or five years,” says Amy Holden Jones ’5. One episode Sternberger wrote for The Bold Type “And it’s only begun to change very recently. I’ve seen was an homage to the indie romance Before Sunrise. In an endless number of women be passed over in favor the episode, two women who had a “will they or won’t of less talented guys, and it’s enough to break your they” dynamic spend a romantic 14 hours together in spirit when it goes on for 30 years. But it still exists an airport after one of them, an Iranian artist, is unable today, unfortunately, particularly when it comes to the to enter the United States due to issues with her visa. biggest, most powerful jobs like show creator, execu- “It is my favorite thing that I’ve been able to write. And tive producer, or showrunner. It’s getting better, but it it’s not ust because it was wish-fulfillment for me as still exists.” According to a 2016 report from the Writers a queer woman who had gone through a multinational Guild of America West, 29 percent of television writers relationship that involved immigration. All of the things were women and 13 percent were people of color. about that episode were extremely personal to me. But After the #MeToo movement, “the door blew wide the outreach from fans to me specifically after I wrote open in terms of what you can talk about and what you it was really incredible,” Sternberger says. can acknowledge” in terms of sexual harassment, says Kate Erickson. But that didn’t make it disappear. Last September, while Broti Gupta was a staff writer on THE CERTAINTY OF UNCERTAINTY Carol’s Second Act, she formally complained that an Wellesley television writers say that one of the most chal- executive producer had inappropriately touched her on lenging aspects of the industry is the uncertainty: not two occasions. Gupta said she didn’t want him fired she knowing whether you’ll get staffed on a show, whether wanted him to go through sexual harassment training. your show will be picked up, whether it will be renewed. But after subsequent changes on the show, Gupta felt (And, after this story was reported, all the uncertainty she was being retaliated against, and left. The New York created by the coronavirus.) After The Leftovers ended, Times wrote about it in a Nov. 16, 2019, article, “Two it was 2½ years before Haley Harris got her next staff Female Writers Quit Patricia Heaton’s CBS Show After writer position, on Briarpatch. “This is why you really Making Complaints.” have to love it, because it’s such a dumb job to pursue. The experience was particularly traumatic, Gupta There’s no security. There’s no control over it, especially says, because of how her two female bosses handled it. for us Wellesleys who are pretty type A. You don’t get “I think there is still this fear of losing power. … And to decide your fate. There’s only so much that you can that results in these panicked decisions that my female do to make yourself hireable, and that’s agonizing,” she bosses made,” she says. However, she says she’s been says. The Writers Guild of America negotiates rates for heartened by all the support she’s received since. “The T and film writers that are high enough to float writers number of people who reached out to me and said just through a certain amount of unemployment and pro- vides health insurance. But financially and emotionally, the profession can be very difficult. Shukri R. Abdi ’01, who’s written for the upcoming AMC series Kevin Can F—Himself and BET game ‘It’s nothing show Black Card Revoked, tells a story about a time she almost got a staff writing job—but then didn’t. After till it’s something. … getting the bad news, as she folded laundry at home in misery, her boyfriend suggested that instead they go for a walk or a run at Silver Lake Reservoir in L.A. “We You just gotta started walking, and he said, ‘Do you want me to walk with you?’ And I said, ‘No, why don’t you go ahead and bend like the run around, because I plan on crying very loudly while I’m walking, and if you’re walking with me, people are going to stop you and ask you what you did, because blade of grass.’ that’s how loudly I’m about to sob,’” Abdi says, and does a hilarious impression of herself wailing while jogging, —SHUKRI R. ABDI ’01 illustrating that comedy-writer trick of turning tragedy into comedy. “It’s nothing till it’s something. … You just gotta bend like the blade of grass,” she says.

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pg18-25_writers_final.indd 24 4/23/20 3:45 PM the most generous and kind things, like, ‘You’re setting for graduating seniors. Rachael Labes ’20 won this an example for us,’ and things like that, it really did feel year’s competition. “I’ve always considered art a big like I was just unlucky to have dealt with those particu- part of my life, and I love making people laugh—I’m also lar women, but that the industry as a whole, maybe— president of Dead Serious, Wellesley’s improv group. and maybe this is wishful thinking—but that the moral Right now, I think there’s a lot of opportunities for TV arc is bending more toward good than not.” and film writers. It’s an exciting time to be in the indus- Wellesley writers of color say that another frustrat- try,” she says. ing aspect of the industry is the many straight white Wellesley television writers say that once you’re in men who complain that “diversity hires” are taking their the writers’ room, it is extraordinarily exciting. “The jobs. “It’s like, ‘No, dude, other white men are taking reason I’m a television writer is because being in a tele- your jobs. There are so many of you,’” says Rachna vision writers’ room is like being in the coolest English Fruchbom. “It’s like that saying, privilege is when equal- class you ever had, where you’re talking to all of the ity feels like oppression. … I think that, as a woman, as most intelligent people you’ve met about what story you a person of color, as a mom, representation is low. [But] want to tell,” says Haley Harris. “What I love about it is the more you have creators that encompass a fuller spec- the collaboration, getting to hear all of these cool ideas. trum of who people are, the more shows you have that And that moment when someone pitches something, you are more reflective of different perspectives and experi- go, ‘Yes, that’s what we should be doing. Let’s do that.’” ences.” One of the shows Fruchbom wrote for, Fresh Off the Boat, a comedy about a Taiwanese-American family Lisa Scanlon Mogolov ’99 was thrilled to write a story that in Orlando, Fla., in the 1990s, is an example of that—it combines two of her favorite things, Wellesley and TV. The was created by Nahnatchka Khan, whose parents immi- last time these two interests intersected was when she and her dormmates binge-watched VHS tapes of The X-Files. grated to the U.S. from Iran. With all these challenges, Wellesley alums in Hollywood need all the support they can get. Not sur- prisingly, they often look to each other. Wellesley in Entertainment, a Shared Interest Group that’s a sub- group of the Wellesley College Club of Los Angeles, offers social hours, networking opportunities, creative and business panels, and a screenwriting competition

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pg18-25_writers_final.indd 25 4/23/20 3:45 PM THEBY PAULA BUTTURINI ’ HEART

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pg26-29_notredame_final.indd 26 4/23/20 3:59 PM A YEAR AFTER THE FIRE AT NOTRE-DAME DE PARIS, THE STATE OF THE CATHEDRAL STILL EVOKES TEARS. WHY DOES THE DESTRUCTION OF SHARED HERITAGE TOUCH US SO DEEPLY? OF PARIS THOMAS SAMSON/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

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pg26-29_notredame_final.indd 27 4/23/20 3:59 PM My reporter husband remembers doing an interview in 2008 for the New York Times with the cathedral’s chief sacristan, whose job entailed responsibility for the comput- erized system that rings the ancient bells in lieu of Victor Hugo’s hunchback bell ringer, Quasimodo. John got a private tour of the forest of massive wooden beams—where last year’s fi re started—in the unseen space between the cathedral’s lead roof and its vaulted stone ceiling. Knowing John’s feet had walked the very beams that burned and tumbled into the nave a year ago made the fi re seem more personal to me. But worldwide icons like Notre-Dame ine months achieve their status precisely because they after fl ames devoured much of otre-Dame somehow speak beyond their own small world de Paris, I pulled up old videos of the blaze to humanity itself. on my laptop and found myself inexplicably Like Notre-Dame, UNESCO’s 1,121 bawling—ustN as I’d dissolved into inexplica- World Heritage sites—from the Incan citadel ble sobs while watching those videos in real of Machu Picchu to the tomb of China’s time on April 15, 2019. first emperor with its terracotta warrior Whatever lay behind all those unexpected armies, from Iran’s archeological master- tears? piece at Persepolis to Africa’s Victoria Falls It was no case of love at first sight or Arizona’s Grand Canyon—are recognized that summer of 1972, when I was a rising for possessing outstanding cultural or natural Wellesley senior on the fi rst stop of my fi rst importance that enrich humankind’s shared trip to Europe. Jet-lagged and exhausted, I heritage. remember being deeply disappointed when I No wonder then that UNESCO Director approached the cathedral toward its fl attish, General Audrey Azoulay, witnessing the western facade. From that vantage point, its fl ames devouring otre-Dame, responded in what God, or gods, we worship or don’t. But storied bell towers looked squat and boxy, a sense for all of us who watched in person or long term, visceral, emotional responses felt like a wedding cake whose baker had forgot- from afar: “We are fi lled with emotion, and our most at play. ten to mount its crowning layer. Only later, hearts are broken.” My stomach clenched as the fi re quickly when I’d circled the entire perimeter—fl ying What broke so many hearts? Why did so gutted not just the structure itself but my own buttresses! rose windows! gargoyles!—then many respond so viscerally to those howling multilayered sense of sacred space over time— stepped inside to fi nd all the heart-soaring fl ames, that billowing smoke Why were the voices reaching us across millennia. Those space and light I’d been expecting, did my dis- world’s eyes so fi xed upon that blazing spire voices came from the ancient Parisii, a Gallic/ appointment fl ip to delight. as it lost its mooring, tipped, then toppled into Celtic tribe that controlled river traffi c, and Nearly 30 years after that initial visit, when the nave? lived and worshipped on the island from about I was living in Paris, my husband, toddler, Some primordial fear of fire set me off, 250 B.C.E.; from the ancient Gallo-Romans who father, and I often spent Sunday afternoons though my brain kept fl ashing me more logical, later built a temple to Jupiter on that same searching for winter sunlight in the tiny, sandy intellectual reasons for my intense distress: island; and later still from medieval Christians playground on the cathedral’s south flank 850 years of “presence” suddenly ablaze. A who razed a simpler, smaller church near the overlooking the Seine. multifaceted icon—of religion, culture, history, site to begin building Notre-Dame in 1160. In time, our daughter inherited a bat- art, architecture, literature, fi lm, tourism—in The blaze reminded me of the Taliban’s tered copy of the 1996 Disney video The fl ames. The irony of an island cathedral, often intentional dynamiting of the monumental Hunchback of Notre Dame; she and her best described as the heart of the French nation, Bamiyan Buddhas of Afghanistan in 2001, friend would alternate watching that ani- surrounded by water, burning out of control. an act that also made my stomach turn, no mated, English-language fi lm at our apart- Fire or not, my daughter reminds me that the matter that I’d never seen those towering ment, then switch to the 1998 video of the live brass marker of Point Zéro is set in the square statues, that I wasn’t Buddhist. Nonetheless, French musical at her friend’s. She remem- fronting the cathedral. If the French want to as long as they stood, they somehow transmit- bers her French Scout troop’s expeditions to fi nd the distance from Paris to another spot, ted a message from the 6th-century humans Notre-Dame, and a school outing where her they measure it from there. who had carved them into the limestone cliffs. class learned medieval dance steps during a Logic and intellect prompted the start of “Here is who we were,” they seemed to say. historical fair on the cathedral square. what hit me and others that day, no matter “Here is what we could do.”

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pg26-29_notredame_final.indd 28 4/23/20 4:23 PM the cathedral burned during Holy Week—an help keep the walls standing. Metal scaffolding ironic message from the heavens?—meant erected as part of the pre-blaze reconstruction that all the religious panoply of Easter, the clung to the remains of the roof in a tangle, holiest day of Christianity’s liturgical year, much of it melted and fused together by the had to be hurriedly transferred to a nearby fire’s heat. Officials know that unholy tangle church. Christmas, however, brought the will have to be un-made before Notre-Dame sucker punch, when otre-Dame’s pastor can begin to be re-made. Unknown is whether announced that though the cathedral walls today’s workers can remove it without provok- were still standing, experts were giving them ing catastrophic damage. only a 50 percent chance of survival. As I gawked at the ruins that morning, 2019 marked the first Easter and thoughts and emotions flitted by. otre-Dame, Christmas since shortly after the French our Lady, our mother, your mother, my mother: Revolution—when the cathedral had been the closest thing to a goddess figure in all of shuttered and turned into a warehouse—that Christianity. Would the church have spoken no services were held in Notre-Dame. That to so many, I wondered, had she been named closure only added to my sense of general Sainte Frénégonde or Sainte Plectrude? unease in a world already suffering a plethora A 50-50 chance that her walls will survive of unnatural natural disasters: rising ocean hardly seems like reassuring odds. Those levels, melting glaciers and polar caps, relent- stone walls—baked, burned, scorched—may less temperature fluctuations, wildfires, earth- upon closer inspection be found to have soft- quakes, mudslides, surging hurricane activity, ened beyond repair, like the walls of fire- and, at home, mid-February temperatures bombed buildings in Berlin after the onslaught so mild that irises in our Connecticut garden of World War II bombing raids. already showed several inches of “spring” Broken hearts led to an unprecedented, growth. And now there is COID-1. worldwide avalanche of donations to rebuild François Cheng, a Chinese-born once President Emmanuel Macron vowed— scholar-poet-calligrapher and a revered with the fire still burning—to see the cathedral member of France’s Acadmie Franaise, restored within five years. Given the extent of STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES struck a national chord during a television the damage, it’s a timeline unlikely to be met. appearance after the blaze when he compared Perhaps today’s builders might be wise to It was the same message the medieval the cathedral fire to a “maternal presence” ditch Macron’s timeline, and simply rebuild at builders of Notre-Dame—or the prehistoric torn from her children, plunging them into a steady pace till the ob finds itself finished, cave painters at Altamira, for that matter— infinite sadness and regret. “We say to our- just as their medieval counterparts continued seemed to hand down through the centuries, selves: There are so many things that I could building the structure until there was nothing leaving successive generations awed by their have told her, and we never did. We never even more to build. The timeline isn’t the crux of the extraordinary prowess. Whether they were told her, I love you.” Speaking of the moment matter, nor whether the restoration is an exact creating masterworks as large as Notre-Dame when the blazing spire finally toppled and fell, or approximate reproduction of the building at or as small as a mini-bison daubed onto a rocky he described being seized by a “cry of horror,” any chosen moment in time. cave wall in northern Spain, both creations explaining: “Our ady is going to leave without At bottom, perhaps, we need to help keep possess the power to be as alive to us today as any time for us to bid her adieu.” the voices of the original builders audible, if they had just been completed. Last September, a day before returning to keep their voices from joining the fainter For me, the best of what these “ancients” to the U.S. after spending the summer in echoes of the civilizations who preceded left us keeps building on a shared sense of France, I decided I’d better bid my adieu to them. How best to keep up the conversation? wonder, meaning, and identity. They elicit a otre-Dame, ust in case she didn’t make it. I Perhaps by reminding tomorrow’s genera- sense of reverence, enriching us generation joined thousands of others milling about, vying tions that if we stop trying to listen, they’ll after generation, and allow us to “see our- for a view from the Left Bank sidewalk that surely stop trying to speak. selves as riders on the earth together … broth - runs along the river. Many came for a once-in- ers who know now they are truly brothers,” a-lifetime look. Others seemed to have come Paula Butturini ’73, a former foreign correspon- as poet Archibald MacLeish wrote in 1968, six to mourn some loss, their own, or humanity’s. dent for the Chicago Tribune and UPI, lived in months before man would walk on the surface A towering crane hung over the closed-off France from 1999 to 2014. She now spends half the year in her childhood home in Connecticut, and of the moon. disaster site that hot, sunny day. The cathedral much of the rest of her time in a stone farmhouse Any shaky sense of world stability— windows, glass removed, looked trim behind in central France. perhaps memory of world stability is a transparent covers, but the overall effect, of better way to phrase it these days—that I a blinded soul, was chilling. The flying but- might have been clinging to disappeared in tresses, one of the cathedral’s glories, were flames a little more than a year ago. That themselves buttressed by wooden supports to

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pg30-37_birds_final.indd 30 4/23/20 3:51 PM BY CATHERINE O’NEILL GRACE CONFRONTING THE DECLINE OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS ILLUSTRATION BY ELENI DEBO

pg30-37_birds_final.indd 31 4/23/20 3:51 PM Survey doing grassland bird surveys. At the research station I worked at, [we gathered] all kinds of information on how grassland birds were declining precipitously then, more than 20 years ago. So when this paper came out and I saw it, I was like, yup, they’re still in trouble.” Carola Haas ’, professor of wildlife ecology in the department of fish and wildlife conservation at irginia Tech, wasn’t surprised by the Science article either. Haas’ research centers on wildlife popula- tions in managed ecosystems, with a focus on breeding and movement behavior of amphibians, birds, and reptiles. essica Griffiths ’00 began her love affair with birds in the “It’s a very powerful paper,” Haas says. “It’s shocking in terms of suburbs north of Chicago. “Our backyard backed up to the magnitude, but everybody had a sense that this was going on. But a woodland,” she says. “The area was zoned as a flood to be able to really quantify it in that way was different. ou know, plain, so it couldn’t be developed. It was a few acres of in certain political climates, nobody cares about these things, but deciduous woodland. I would rush home from school— it’s easier to make more effective arguments when you can quantify I was 1, mind you—and I’d get a pair of binoculars, I what’s happening.” think they were from my grandpa. They were unbeliev- To arrive at the mind-boggling numbers, the authors of the study ably heavy military binoculars. But that was what we used on-the-ground tallies carried out over decades by amateur bird- had. And I would go out birding in those woods.” watchers—including the annual orth American Breeding Bird JWhen Griffiths got to Wellesley, she discovered a club called WABA, Survey and the Christmas Bird Count. Their observations provided which stood for Wellesley Amateur Bird-Watchers and aturalists. a wealth of data that the researchers cross-referenced with informa- WABA’s faculty sponsor, Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences tion from 1 weather radars designed to detect rain but also discern icholas Rodenhouse, would become Griffith’s maor advisor. biomass—the groups of hundreds of migratory bird species moving “When I was a sophomore, he asked me if I wanted a ob. It was a through the skies in fall and spring. Measurements revealed that the summer internship working on his field research at Hubbard Brook volume of spring migration has dropped 1 percent in the past decade. in ew Hampshire. It was bird work. I still remember him telling me “People have been talking about the extinction crisis, and we’ve about it, and me being like, Wait, wait. Are you telling me you’re going seen rare species decline or go extinct,” says Haas. “But when even to pay me to walk around in the forest and look at birds’ After that our common species have declined so drastically, it’s very hard to summer, I knew, Well, this is what I’m going to do now,’” Griffiths says. imagine that there aren’t significant holes in the tapestry of our world It would be a peripatetic life. ow a biologist for a California envi- and that at some point, it’s really going to fray.” ronmental consulting firm, Griffiths spent the first few years after Wellesley traveling around the country working for nonprofits and SOME GOOD NEWS government agencies in seven states, with a focus on songbird ecology and monarch butterfly migration. She worked as a wildlife biologist “One of the really great things about this paper, too, is that it was not at the Big Sur Ornithology ab, counted bird nests in osemite, and a universal decline,” Haas points out. “There are very, very severe coordinated citizen scientists doing the annual Christmas Bird Counts declines that they identified, and that could help [scientists] prioritize sponsored by the Audubon Society. where to work. But there was this one clear success story with So Griffiths was not surprised when Science magazine published waterfowl. And that’s something, because when I started my career a study titled “Decline of the orth American Avifauna” in its Oct. , in the ’0s and ’0s, waterfowl were in horrible condition.” The study 201, issue. en Rosenberg, a senior scientist at the Cornell ab of documents that populations of wetland birds such as ducks, geese, Ornithology and the American Bird Conservancy, was the lead author, and swans are flourishing, showing a 56 percent increase over the along with scientists from the ational Wildlife Research Centre in past 50 years. Ottawa, the Canadian Wildlife Service, and others. The laconic title Haas credits action in both the public and private sector for the notwithstanding, the article sounds an emergency call, revealing that improvement. “The amount of effort that went into habitat protec- the orth American continent has lost nearly billion birds across tion for wetlands was huge,” she says. “Changing hunting regula- 52 species over the last 50 years. This means there are 2 percent tions and the massive investment in habitat protection totally turned fewer birds in the nited States and Canada today than in 10. Of the things around for waterfowl. The Science paper was really inspiring nearly billion birds lost, 0 percent came from ust 12 families, includ- in showing that if we make the investment in habitat conservation, ing familiar birds such as sparrows, warblers, finches, and swallows. we can turn things around. And that’s really ust what we need to do, Interconnected factors are responsible for the decline. Agriculture to be thoughtful about not sprawling out, and to have natural areas.” and habitat loss are likely the primary causes, though climate change, It’s important to note the resurgence of waterfowl, Haas adds, declining insect populations, light pollution, glass window panes on because “it’s a huge success story. It shows it can be done. And that’s buildings, and outdoor cats also play a role. the kind of thing that I think keeps most of us going. That, and the “One of the things that came out in this study is that the guild of fact that most of the public wants to do it, too. If you do surveys of birds that shows the most serious decline is grassland birds,” says people and ask what would they want to spend money on, there is lots Griffiths. “I did a summer internship in 1 for the .S. Geological of public support for spending money on conservation.”

32 WELLESLEY MAGAZINE

pg30-37_birds_final.indd 32 4/23/20 3:52 PM pg30-37_birds_final.indd 33 4/23/20 3:52 PM ‘People have been BALTIMORE ORIOLE talking about the extinc- tion crisis, and we’ve

CACTUS WREN seen rare species decline or go extinct. But when even our common EVENING GROSBEAK species have declined so

34 WELLESLEY MAGAZINE

pg30-37_birds_final.indd 34 4/23/20 3:52 PM drastically, it’s very NORTHERN BOBWHITE hard to imagine that

SNOWY OWL there aren’t signi cant holes in the tapestry

DARK-EYED JUNCO of our world and that at some point, it’s really

WOOD THRUSH

CAROLA HAAS ’83, PROFESSOR going to fray.’ OF WILDLIFE ECOLOGY AT VIRGINIA TECH

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF MACAULAY LIBRARY AT CORNELL LAB OF ORNITHOLOGY (TOP TO BOTTOM, LEFT TO RIGHT): BALTIMORE ORIOLE BY RYAN SCHAIN, CACTUS WREN BY BRIAN SULLIVAN, EVENING GROSBEAK BY JAY MCGOWAN, NORTHERN BOBWHITE BY KRISTOF ZYSOWSKI, SNOWY OWL BY DOUG HITCHCOX, DARK-EYED JUNCO BY JAY MCGOWAN / WOOD THRUSH BY MICHAEL PARR COURTESY OF THE AMERICAN BIRD CONSERVANCY (ABOVE)

pg30-37_birds_final.indd 35 4/23/20 3:52 PM ara Jones ’1 is a field technician studying acorn woodpeckers in of the initiative. “Considering we had 20 hardy souls at a rainy, cold, California. Since graduation, she has done fieldwork on a variety of winter tree walk last week during Winterfest, I feel that there is hope” bird proects from ew Hampshire to Florida to Oregon, and is slated Sometimes, hope can be hard to come by. In the classroom, Jaclyn to start graduate work on cerulean warblers at Ball State niversity Hatala Matthes, assistant professor of biology, teaches lessons in the in Indiana. She says, “There are definitely success stories that show reality of ecological change. She says it can be difficult to take in news that legislation and things like the Migratory Bird Act can have a big, like the Science study. “This is the trend we see in a lot of different eco- positive impact on saving endangered species. Bald eagles and raptors systems … with the number of species that are disappearing. It’s more have been doing really well, in large part because of banning DDT, than we can think about,” she says. “The first couple of years, I felt which harmed their eggs. Similarly, the California condor is a success really depressed when I was teaching all this stuff. Then I saw that my story. And wetland birds have also been on the rise. Things like that students were feeling the same way. Since then, I’ve tried to reframe that show that if we can get the right people into office and really [environmental science] as an urgent opportunity for action. If we’re advocate for conservation, it can make a huge impact.” going to do something about this, we need to do something now. We have this window of opportunity to be able to think about what we want the SMALL CHANGES, LARGE EFFECTS world to look like for the next 50 years.” Matthes says her students often talk about climate anxiety and its Jessica Griffiths was glad to see the Science study get widespread effect on mental health. “They think about the weight of all the things play in the media. “It got huge headlines. It got a lot of traction,” she that they’re going to have to deal with,” she says. “They feel the pres- says. “So many people emailed me The New York Times wrote an sure of having to live in a world where we don’t know what’s going to op-ed that publicized it. It’s really good that people are aware that this happen, where there are going to be more natural disasters and all of [decline] is happening,” she says. “I stay optimistic, because the more these things like bird decline.” we can get the word out that there are concrete things that the But Matthes has also been inspired by the way Wellesley students average person can do to make a difference, the better. The fact that are responding. “Especially this past year, we’ve seen this huge surge it is backyard birds declining, while that is awful, helps people form in climate activism among both our students and, more broadly, people a connection and helps them see that there are things they can do in across the .S., where they’re ust connecting these issues to other their own backyards that can improve habitat and help the birds out.” things that they really care about, like thinking about how this ties Griffiths says that because so many backyard birds are insecti- to race, and how this ties to inequality, and how this ties to economic vores, it helps to create an environment that attracts insects. Plant forces, as well.” nectar plants and blooming flowers, and plants that bloom at multiple Take Dayna De a Cruz ’21, a biological sciences maor who studied times of year. Don’t use herbicide, she advises. Put out a bird bath. in Peru this semester. “We [learned] different concepts of conserva- Have water. Have food. Have shelter. And keep your cat indoors. tion—conservation biology, conservation science, community-based “Any lifestyle changes that are environmentally beneficial will conservation. We [studied] the history of exploitation of indigenous be good for birds,” Griffiths says. “So use less water, drive less, people such as the rubber boom, and the culture and language of indig- reduce your carbon footprint, eat organic—all those things have enous people.” trickle-down effects.” De a Cruz grew up in Houston. “I believe my interest in con- ara Jones adds, “ou also can help birds by contributing to servation began from documentaries or shows that I watched as a organizations that do direct management or that raise awareness child on Animal Planet as it all appeared like a distant and mythi- or advocacy. Right now, the current administration is doing every- cal land, as someone that was coming from a city,” she says. “But my thing in its power to completely gut as many environmental protec- passion truly grew stronger after having my first summer field season tions as possible. And one of those is the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. at Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in ew Hampshire.” She did They’ve proposed changes to that rule and to the Endangered Species additional field research at Harvard Forest in Petersham, Mass., the Act that would really remove some pretty serious protections that following summer. are in place. It’s important to raise that kind of awareness and get “Being able to be in the presence of nature and experiencing all the people politically involved. Call your representative and apply that amazing biodiversity in action gave me this instinct to protect it at all political pressure” costs,” she says. “The more I learn about the vulnerability of nature, the more interested I become in conserving it.” LOOKING TO THE FUTURE While she believes young people need to take political action and make personal behavioral change to combat climate change and con- Emily Dickinson wrote, “Hope is the thing with feathers.” The College serve nature, De a Cruz thinks a simpler action is ust as important. is doing its part to raise awareness for the need for wildlife conserva- “Go out and hike, or backpack, or walk in a park,” she says. “Attempt tion—including birds. The Paulson Ecology of Place Initiative, now in to get closer to nature, to get to know nature, as [you] will slowly grow its third year, seeks to inspire and prepare students across disciplines fonder of it. This does not even have to require much traveling it could to engage with the natural environment and develop a sense of place be as simple as observing a bird or a bee in your backyard for a couple on campus. Paulson events and programs range from in-depth ecology of minutes. Being out and being connected will help spread awareness studies to field observation, bird-watching, owl prowls, and the gath- of the need for conservation.” ering of nature observations for an Emily Dickinson class. “We are working hard to instill in the Wellesley community the care and con- Catherine O’Neill Grace, a senior associate editor for this magazine, enjoys nection to nature that is needed,” says Suzanne angridge, director bird-watching at the Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary near Wellesley.

36 WELLESLEY MAGAZINE

pg30-37_birds_final.indd 36 4/23/20 3:52 PM SEVEN STEPS TO SAVE BIRDS Field biologist Lara Jones ’18 steered us to the website 3billionbirds.org, which details seven actions people can take to help birds. Go to the website for more information. They are:

1. MAKE WINDOWS SAFER 5. DRINK BIRD-FRIENDLY, Install screens or use paint, SHADE-GROWN COFFEE film, string, or tape to break up Shade-grown coffee requires reflections on glass. Read more less fertilizer than crops grown at bit.ly/safewindowsforbirds. in full sun and preserves forest canopies where migratory 2. KEEP CATS INDOORS birds winter. Even well-fed felines instinc- tively hunt and kill birds. 6. REDUCE THE USE OF PLASTICS One recent study found that 3. REDUCE LAWNS, AND PLANT NATIVE SPECIES 80 percent of seabirds have Plants provide shelter and ingested plastic, confusing nesting areas, attract insects, it with food. (See bit.ly/ and offer additional food birdsplastics.) sources such as nectar, seeds, 7. WATCH BIRDS, and berries. AND SHARE WHAT YOU SEE The Audubon Society offers tips 4. AVOID PESTICIDES Many widely used insecticides on how to get started (bit.ly/ and weed killers are toxic startbirding), as does Cornell’s to birds. Bird Academy (academy. allaboutbirds.org).

pg30-37_birds_final.indd 37 4/23/20 3:52 PM WCAA

News and information from the worldwide network of the Wellesley College Alumnae Association

FROM THE WCAA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Getting to Know You

My rough estimate is that I’ve met about Demographic data are ust the baseline. They 500 alumnae so far, which is ust over 1 percent help inform the questions I’d like to answer that of you. will help the WCAA pursue mission-critical ques- Here are a few things I know about our tions such as: alumnae population: • Are we engaging alumnae across all • There are approximately 5,000 of us. demographics • 2,12 alumnae attended reunion in 201. • How can Wellesley show up in more relevant • 1,100 of you volunteer in key roles with clubs, ways in the lives of our alumnae classes, or SIGs. • How can we foster meaningful connections • 2.5 percent of alums made a financial dona- between students and alumnae tion to the College last year. In fall 2020, Wellesley will launch a survey • 5 percent of us have oined the Hive, that will help us learn more about our alumnae Wellesley’s online networking platform. and the impact of a Wellesley education. A • About 0 percent of us are millennials, born survey should not be confused with a census. It between 11 and 16. cannot be expected to fill in all the gaps, but with • 1 percent of the most recently graduated a strong response rate, it should move us in a class are first-generation college students. WEBB CHAPPELLWEBB direction that will help us better know and serve • Wellesley alumnae live in 50 states and 116 our alumnae population. I LEARNED A LOT in my four years at Wellesley, countries. I look forward to sharing survey results with and I find myself immersed in a new learning While these are interesting data points, there our alumnae community publishing results and experience now that I am back on campus. While are plenty of things I do not know, such as: digging deeper into specific areas will be a criti- faculty were the primary influence on my educa- • How many of the total alumnae population cal piece of this work. tion as a student, my education this time around are underrepresented minorities If you have an email address on record with has been facilitated by alumnae, who have gener- • How many of our alumnae identify as the College, you will get this survey, and I hope ously shared their perspectives and experiences. GBTIA you will respond. Club, class, and Shared Identity Group (SIG) • What percentage of the total alumnae popula- ow is the time to update your information leaders have taken time from their busy sched- tion are first-generation college students with the College so that you have the opportunity ules to meet with me and help me think about to participate in the survey. isit alum.wellesley. how we organize and support our alumnae and We have not always collected this information edu and click on “pdate your profile” to log strategically engage their support of Wellesley. in a consistent or systematic way. So there are in and update your information. While you are I’ve been grateful to alumnae who have picked knowledge gaps—some larger than others—that there, please update the rest of your profile infor- up the phone to talk through program concepts we’d like to improve. mation so that we can continue to improve our or taken the time to share their ideas, concerns, As admission and student records practices records. ou can also update your contact prefer- and vision for our Alumnae Association in 2020 have changed over time, our most recent alumnae ences by calling 1-00--52 or by emailing and beyond. olunteers across the country have records have improved. With each new techno- recordupdateswellesley.edu. generously opened their homes to me and my logical improvement that the College undertakes, I am grateful to you, my educators, for colleagues. And in what other role would four including new customer relationship manage- helping me continue to learn and improve the women who previously held the position reach out ment systems in admission (2016), student life work that we do in the Alumnae Association by letter, email, and phone to offer their support (201), and alumnaedevelopment (2020), we have and wisdom Of course, on top of these outstand- more robust student data, better record reten- —Kathryn Harvey Mackintosh ’03 ing individual alumnae, the WCAA Board spends tion, and, four years after a student enrolls, more hours, both on campus and by phone, guiding the complete alumnae information. work of the Alumnae Association.

38 WELLESLEY MAGAZINE

p38-41_wcaa_final.indd 38 4/23/20 3:02 PM On-Site Insights Where better to learn about career paths than on a job site? In January, Wellesley Career Education matched  students with
 alumnae and parent volun- teers in  states and four countries to shadow professionals on the job. They explored industries ranging from architecture and design to medicine, media, and state government. Jahanara “Jana” Freedman ’‡ˆ shadowed Samantha Hand Fratus ’
at a construction site for a ,ˆˆˆ-room hotel project in the Boston seaport district. “I had a fantastic day describing my responsibilities as a project engineer,” Fratus says. “Jana’s questions made me stop and think about my world in a way I hadn’t in a long time. They were not just about the physical aspects of the job, but the ethics and overall work environment.” The pair discussed the challenges of being a woman in construction. “It was clear that Jana was not going to be easily discouraged by any challenge and this was very encouraging to me, to see firsthand how well Wellesley is preparing women to walk into the wide world unafraid.” LISA ABITBOL LISA

p38-41_wcaa_final.indd 39 4/23/20 3:02 PM WCAA

Forty Years of Literary Lessons Tips for an Author Event

The current co-chairs of Authors on Stage, Mary Baughman ’66 and Suzanne Kreinsen ’78, shared some information about their series for others who might want to try a similar event through their classes, clubs, or SIGs.

How do you decide on which authors to invite? AOS founder Janice Lane Hunt ’ frequently reiterates the committee’s credo: “At each program, we try to feature one author you do know, one author you should know, and one author you will know.” All books must be recently published and are reviewed beforehand.

PHOTO GLENN BY PARKER How do you go about reaching out to authors? EACH SPRING AND FALL since 1981, when Janice Newbery Medalist Susan Cooper, through Julia Hunt Zylstra ’‚ƒ, the moderator, has Lane Hunt ’52 brought together a handful of her Christmas Revels poem (and children’s book) established relationships with publishing Wellesley College Alumnae of Boston members to The Shortest Day, uplifted listeners by reminding houses and works closely with authors, their inaugurate a book and author series, town-gown them that the darkest hours give rise to the light. publicists, and the committee to find the right audiences have gathered on Wellesley’s campus Other tidbits of advice gleaned from the fit for the audience. Authors are generally on to hear three current writers impart nuggets of authors included: a publicity tour for a new book, paid for by the personal insight. Through the Authors on Stage • Try the unexpected: Valerie Martin, author of publishers, not us. The program includes a program, 249 presenting authors—biographers, Salvation: Scenes from the Life of St. Francis, book signing session. memoirists, cookbook gurus, essayists, journal- did exactly that when she wrote her biography ists, novelists, and poets—have discussed the chronologically backwards! Any lessons you’ve learned the hard way? genesis of their work while engaging in repartee • Conserve and recycle: Pulitzer Prize winner Logistics are always a challenge. A tremendous with audience members and the moderator, Julia Megan Marshall, whose biography The amount of planning takes place before each Hunt Zylstra ’80. In the process, the presenters Peabody Sisters involved reading thousands program. On the morning of the event, the have modeled life lessons worthy of emulation of letters, disclosed that many of them were committee is busy making sure that the authors and internalization. cross-written to save on postage and paper: have arrived and are prepped to present, that Andrew Forsthoefel, author of Walking to “The sisters filled an entire sheet with writing, the event room is set up properly, and that Listen, for example, shared his experience of then turned it 90 degrees and wrote back the book room is ready for sales—while also walking 4,000 miles across the United States across their own handwriting!” greeting, registering, and seating up to ƒƒ in an attempt to hear a cross-section of unique • Meet tribulation head-on: Reeve Lindbergh, attendees. Each program is diˆerent, and no stories. Stopping in churches, bars, and gas daughter of aviator Charles Lindbergh, matter how much we plan, we need to expect stations, and on front lawns, he used his ever- revealed that as an adult she learned of seven the unexpected and be ready to be flexible. improving listening skills to gain the confidence half-siblings living throughout Europe as a of strangers. He came to appreciate the role lis- result of her father’s double life. She overcame Any advice for Wellesley groups wanting tening plays in fostering understanding, trust, her anger by journeying to meet each one face- to try this? and respect in an egocentric age—a message to-face—a decision resulting in some lasting To start an author program, look for an alum, that left an impression with his Authors on relationships. ideally a club member, with experience in Stage audience. Similarly, Robert Goolrick’s It is these kinds of literary lessons that have publishing (or a bookstore or library). Take statement, “Goodness is all that we will be kept Authors on Stage audiences packing the advantage of the wider Wellesley community, remembered for,” in castigating the duplicitous house for four decades. including the Wellesley Hive. Perhaps try some- mail-order bride in his novel A Reliable Wife, thing a little diˆerent. Rather than reading from has endured with attendees. —Diane Speare Triant ’68 their books, the authors talk about how they Memoirist Da Chen noted what inspired came to write their books; these accounts can Sounds of the River, his charming story of pro- The next Authors on Stage program is scheduled for be fascinating. And often one author will pick vincial life in 1970s China. “I wrote in order to be Nov. 10 at the Wellesley College Club. All programs up on a previous speaker’s comments. a good son,” he told the audience. “My parents benet the lapp ibrary. gave me love, and I, by writing about them, gave them immortality.” It was surely a commentary on the importance of filial duty.

40 WELLESLEY MAGAZINE

p38-41_wcaa_final.indd 40 4/23/20 3:06 PM WCAA

Alumnae Trustee, Wellesley College

Board of Trustees 2020–2026 This magazine is published quarterly by the Wellesley ELYSE CHERRY ’, of Brookline, of Eastern Bank. The Financial Times and OUTstanding College Alumnae Association, Mass., has been nominated have named her one of the world’s top 100 LGBT executives. an autonomous corporate body, to serve a six-year term as Cherry received Wellesley’s highest honor, the independent of the College. alumnae trustee, from 2020 to Alumnae Achievement Award, in 2017. She is a member of The Association is dedicated to supporting Wellesley’s 2026, succeeding Lawry Jones Wellesley’s Business Leadership Council, recently serving institutional priorities by Meister ’83. as co-chair for the group’s 2019 plenary. A career mentor connecting alumnae to the Cherry is chief executive on the Wellesley Hive, she has also welcomed the College’s College and to each other. officer of BlueHub Capital, Lumpkin Interns to BlueHub. Cherry also serves on the which is a nonprofit community- Durant Committee for the class of ’75. WCAA BOARD OF DIRECTORS development organization that President has invested more than $2 billion Alumnae Trustee Nominating Committee Martha Goldberg Aronson ’89 in underserved communities. Before joining BlueHub as Georgia Murphy Johnson ’75, chair; Ruth Chang ’81; Janice Treasurer/Secretary CEO in 1, she was a partner with the Boston law firm Lane Hunt ’52; Martha McGowan Marlowe ’68; Martha Margaret Loebl ’82 Hale and Dorr. Cherry has chaired the Massachusetts Goldberg Aronson ’, ex officio and Missy Siner Shea ’, Dolores Arredondo ’95 Cultural Council, has served on the boards of more than a ex officio Crystal Churchwell Evans ’07, dozen privately held companies, and is currently a trustee chair of The Wellesley Fund Kimberly Miller Davis ’88 Leslie de Leon ’07 Charlotte Hayes ’75 Candidates for Office in the Alumnae Association Albina Thakkar Heidebrecht ’03, To be elected in the Director,  –  Treasurer/Secretary, Respectfully submitted, chair of Alumnae Admission Representatives Laura Sue Cohen 2019–20 Nominating annual meeting of the  –   Stephanie Hsieh ’89 Wellesley College Alumnae D’Annunzio ’85 Margaret Loebl ’82 Committee Sally Katz ’78 Association, which will be San Antonio, Texas Chicago Martha McGowan Sarah Jean Kelly ’05 held digitally on Saturday, Marlowe ’68, chair Shivani Kuckreja ’16 Director,  –  Term Renewal, Directors, Amy Tsui Luke ’90 June , at  A.M. Watch for an Crystal Churchwell Amy Huang ’99  –  Martha McGowan Marlowe ’68 email with more information. Evans ’07 Washington, D.C. Dolores Arredondo ’95 Cheryl Whaley ’87 Charlotte Hayes ’75 Whittier, Calif. Ex o ciis President Elect, Director,  –  Stephanie Hsieh ’89 Kathryn Harvey Mackintosh ’03  –   Lauren Young Durbin ’99 Charlotte Hayes ’75 Washington, D.C. Alice M. Hummer President,  –   Richmond, Va. Sally Katz ’78 Laura Wood Cantopher ’84 Shivani Kuckreja ’16 Alumnae Trustees Lawry Jones Meister ’83 Mount Pleasant, S.C. Young Alumnae Director,  –   Margaret Loebl ’82 Alvia Wardlaw ’69 Grace Toh ’83 Leilani Stacy ’18 Amy Tsui Luke ’90 Suzanne Frey ’93 Cambridge, Mass. Amanda Hernandez ’18

ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION SENIOR STAFF Zoom Your Way to Reconnection Executive Director Kathryn Harvey Mackintosh ’03

IN WHAT TURNED OUT TO BE a very prescient move for themselves and share which dorm they lived in senior Editor, Wellesley magazine the months ahead, the class of ’88 sponsored a virtual year. Conversation flowed from there. At the 0 minute Alice M. Hummer Valentine’s Day tea on Zoom, proving that the online mark, they took up the question, “Did turning 50 years Senior Director platform is great for class, club, and Special Interest old cause you to reflect and perhaps change behaviors Janet Monahan McKeeney ’88 Group gatherings. in your life?” The online event was the brainchild of Karen “It was great to have video and see everybody!” Director of Alumnae Association Board and O ce Operations Angelini ’88, class president. “As Wellesley sisters,” she said one participant. “It was an inspiring conversation.” Helen Gregory ’90 says, “we all can relate to Valentine’s Day, and to me— Another said, “It is great to connect with folks with a whether you are in love, seeking love, or just happy shared background and in the same place in life.” The Director of Alumnae Marketing and Communications to eat chocolate and surround yourself in flowers—it class plans future calls to discuss topics such as caring Stacy Chansky seemed creative to spin it into a day to pamper yourself for aging parents and travel. with your Wellesley friends.” About 15 classmates joined in (one from a car— If your Wellesley group has questions about how to use her husband was driving), and Angelini launched the Zoom or other similar platforms, please contact the discussion as moderator, asking them to introduce lnae e at alnaewellesley.e.

SPRING 2020 41

p38-41_wcaa_final.indd 41 4/23/20 3:06 PM Set in Stone Details from the exterior of Tower Court

Photo by Richard Howard

p42-79_class-notes_final.indd 42 4/23/20 3:10 PM Shelf Life

THE ESCAPE ARTIST Continued from page 16 all writers of memoir should aspire to, and in a way all humans should approach treating and understanding one another.

—E.B. Bartels ’10

Bartels is the author of Good Grief: On Loving Pets Here and Hereafter, a book about the ways we mourn and remember our pets, forthcoming ro oghton iliin in winter . o subscribe to her monthly newsletter, go to ebbartels.com.

HELL AND OTHER DESTINATIONS: A ˜™ST-CENTURY MEMOIR Continued from page 16 response, a poem published in the Baghdad press referred to her as an “unparalleled serpent.” Soon after, wearing a serpent pin, Albright met with Iraqi diplomats in New York —a signaling device that has continued throughout her career. A lively sense of humor runs through even the darkest moments in her story, including what she now views as a mistaken decision to serve on the board of the New York Stock Exchange. On a con- ference call, she heard one of her new board col- leagues comment, “The last thing we need is some former secretary of state coming in here and acting like Saint Francis of Assisi.” She replied: “Excuse me, I am Madeleine Albright and I am on the phone and can hear everything you say.” “I didn’t know whether the adventures I would have in my ‘afterlife’ would last for three years, or five, or 10, or perhaps longer,” she writes of her time post-State Department. “I did know that the sooner I started and the faster I went, the more I could do.” Of course, one of possible outcomes of after- life is hell, hence the title of this book. The cost of finding a voice, and Albright’s sorrow over the prospect of losing it, is something any reader will recognize, even if they never face the challenge of relearning how to pump gas into a car you have to drive yourself, as Albright did after returning to private life. Her answer to wrenching change, aging, and mortality is, simply, move faster. “Sum up my life? Not yet, I am still count- ing. Until I am carried out, I will carry on,” she concludes.

ail ssell hao

Chaddock was for many years the Washington political editor of the Christian Science Monitor.

p42-79_class-notes_final.indd 76 4/23/20 3:11 PM IN MEMORIAM

THE WELLESLEY COLLEGE CLUB Welcomes You

We invite all Wellesley alumnae, faculty and staff, parents of students, Davis Scholars, and residents of surrounding communities to become members of the Wellesley College Club, located on the shores of Lake Waban.

Stay Socialize Whether you’re bringing your child to look at the College or are We’re open for bu“et lunch Tuesday through Friday and coming to reconnect with alumnae friends, we welcome you have a variety of other events throughout the year— to our lakeside rooms. Complimentary continental breakfast, including summer barbecues, Canines & Cocktails (you high-speed internet, and parking are all included. and your pooch are invited to relax on our patio), and holiday dinners. Celebrate Meet If you’re planning a wedding, a bar/bat mitzvah, or some other celebration, our event sta“ is ready to help you with the details. We o“er light-filled rooms with the latest conference We can accommodate groups up to 200 people. technology for your meetings or training sessions. Corporate events are welcome.

For more information, visit wellesleycollegeclub.com, call 781-283-2700, or email wcc.wellesley.edu.

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It renews and sustains. Your annual gift to Wellesley nourishes the learning experience of every student. Your support today goes to work immediately by enhancing critical areas like our groundbreaking Career Education, which helps students find and finance summer research positions and internships. Give to Wellesley today and help us open new vistas of opportunity.

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The Thing With Feathers

By Michelle Au ’99

Last spring my family found a bird’s nest in our garage. We noticed it with a vague sense of dread, fully prepared to come face to face with by chance, high on a shelf 10 feet up, a packed swirl of twigs and pine one or two or even five dead baby birds. straw about the size and shape of a catcher’s mitt. One of my kids had But every time I looked, there were no dead birds. Each day, even broken a window in our garage months before (to this day, both the several times a day, I made my rounds and did a quick head count to projectile and culprit remain at large) and it must have been through be sure. I couldn’t tell them apart (I mean, I wasn’t the Birdwoman this breach that the bird gained access. It was unclear how long the of Alcatraz or anything—I didn’t give them names), just a quick one- nest had been there—for all I knew, it could have been months and I’d twothreeorve. Every day, all five were there. Sometimes umbled just never noticed it. We have a way of walking right past things we in a different order, sometimes crammed one beneath the other, but don’t expect to see. day after day, all five. Though she was rarely sighted, we were further surprised one Their enormous eyes opened. They first sprouted fuzz, then feath- day to find our mysterious tenant had delivered a clutch of five ers. The nest around them seemed to shrink as inside it, they grew. Instagram-worthy speckled eggs. We cooed and marveled over this And grew. And grew. development, but when nothing happened after a few weeks, we Then, one morning, the nest was empty again. We saw one of the figured the eggs had either been abandoned, or else were duds. hatchlings in the driveway, a straggler, recognizable only for the tufts We were wrong on both counts. My husband found the hatchlings of babyish down still visible by his wings. And then, like the other four one day, pink and mottled, their bulbous eyes fused shut and small before him, he took flight and was gone. bodies completely still. “I think they might be dead,” he texted me As a physician, I work in a world where tragedy is not only com- from home. “They’re not moving at all.” monplace, but even expected. I’ve also seen how over time, antici- But what, really, was there to do? Poke a little mirror under their pating tragedy becomes a protective mechanism to inure ourselves beaks to see if it fogged up? Hook up teeny tiny EKG leads? An injec- against painful surprises. We learn statistics, recognize patterns, make tion of epinephrine and chest compressions with the tip of a pinkie internal predictions, and prepare for the worst, even while hoping for finger Regardless, it sounded like we were too late. Baby birds exhib- the best. Because it’s the bad outcomes we allow to blindside us that iting no signs of life sounded … well, pretty dead indeed. truly break our hearts. I approached the nest that evening with the deliberate clinical But hardening ourselves against heartbreak can sometimes close detachment I’d honed over years of medical practice, anticipating a us off to the joy of an improbable result. It can be a short hop from grim visual. What greeted me instead were five bright yellow trian- pragmatism to pessimism, from realism to cynicism. It’s a hazard of gles, their gaping maws cheeping, frisky and most definitively alive. I the medical profession, and a deeply corrosive one. Because no out- exhaled a long breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding in. comes are assured, and sometimes we’re astonished in the opposite Still, I knew nature could be pitiless, so I steeled myself for what direction. People beat incredible odds. Genuine miracles happen. seemed inevitable over the next few weeks. The runt who couldn’t Look, I know. It was just a nest in our garage, and they were just get his share of the food and would gradually wither away. An over- birds. This story is quotidian, unremarkable. But for me, it was also adventurous fledgling taking a spill out of the nest onto the concrete a potent reminder that surprise and delight can sometimes go hand floor below. Maybe one day the mother bird would simply not return in hand. And that delight can be found in the most improbable places, to feed them. Regardless of the mechanism of inury, statistically I exactly when you least expect it. expected some loss by attrition. And each day, I’d approach the nest

ihelle wrote this essay beore the oronavirs risis. s a physiian anesthesiologist at ory t. osephs ospital in tlanta she is on the ront lines o the battle against . he is the athor o the eial eoir This Won’t Hurt a Bit (and Other White Lies).

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