What We Wish for the Class Of

SUMMER 2020 | A SOLITUDE OF SPACE | THE UNPLANNED VOYAGE | THE FIGHT FOR—AND AGAINST—THE VOTE

What We Wi sh for the Class of ’20

cover_final.indd 1 6/25/20 1:10 PM Cover and table of contents photography by Kayana Szymczak

ifc-toc_final.indd 2 6/25/20 1:15 PM From the Wellesley College Alumnae Association

The WCAA is committed to the continued work of diversity, equity, and inclusion in our organization and in our world. We acknowledge the pain that our Black colleagues and alumnae have been experi- encing for generations. Fighting systemic injustice and inequity is a responsibility we all share. We have not always been loud enough with our collective voice or actions against racism, and we will do better. Our alumnae dedicate themselves to making a difference in the world, and we stand with them. Please continue to engage with us and one another on issues of injustice. We learn and grow from the strength of this community.

Martha Goldberg Aronson ’89 President

Kathryn Harvey Mackintosh ’03 Executive Director

Summer 2020

FEATURES 18 A Solitude of Space By Catherine O’Neill Grace 22 What We Wish for the Class of ’20 By Wendy Judge Paulson ’69, Jasmine Guillory ’97, Heather Long ’04, Claire Ayoub ’11, and Timothy Peltason 32 The Unplanned Voyage By Lisa Scanlon Mogolov ’99 34 The Fight for—and Against—the Vote By Amita Parashar Kelly ’06

DEPARTMENTS

2 From the Editor 40 WCAA 3 Fall Semester Update 46 Class Notes 4 From the President 77 In Memoriam 5 Window on Wellesley 80 Endnote 14 Shelf Life

magazine.wellesley.edu @Wellesleymag

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-toc_final.indd 3 6/30/20 12:55 PM From the Editor VOLUME 105, ISSUE NO. 4

everal months ago, just before our governor gave the shelter-in-place order, a friend lent me a couple 1,000-piece puzzles. I took them with some trepidation. Working puzzles Editor often occupied the long summer months when I was a kid, but I hadn·t had m\ À ngers on Alice M. Hummer a jigsaw piece for decades. 1ot enough time, and deÀ nitel\ not enough patience, the adult Senior Associate Editors S Lisa Scanlon Mogolov ’99 me alwa\s thought. 7he puzzles sat on the Á oor in m\ ´ofÀ ceµ A.K.A. the dining room) Catherine O’Neill Grace for weeks as the pace of remote magazine production ramped up and up and up. Almost daily announcements came from the College—room and board refunds, cancellations of commence- Design Hecht/Horton Partners, Arlington, Mass. ment and reunion, and eventually hiring freezes and furloughs. Many of these memos caused us to rethink or redo our content for the spring and summer issues—over and over and over. Principal Photographer Lisa Abitbol One night, when I could barely put two words together or proof a single sentence, I pulled out a puzzle bo[ and started À shing out edge pieces. It Tuickly became evident why puzzles Student Assistant Grace Ramsdell ’22 have been almost as sought-after as toilet paper in this lockdown period. When you’re focused on À guring out how dozens of rosy-hued pieces combine to make a sunset, the mental wheels Wellesley (USPS 673-900). Published fall, winter, spring, and summer by the Wellesley College can’t whir as Tuickly. One’s thoughts shift into neutral, and in my case, I would À nd ideas for Alumnae Association. Editorial and Business magazine revisions falling into place as I triumphantly heard the snick! of two long-sought Offi ce: Alumnae Association, Wellesley College, pieces snapping together. 106 Central St., Wellesley, MA 02481-8203. Phone 781-283-2331. Fax 781-283-3638. My current puzzle is a beautiful but nasty little number—an incredibly complex, semi- Periodicals postage paid at Boston, Mass., and abstract colored-pencil drawing by Frank Lloyd Wright. Many of the pieces are so similar in other mailing offi ces. Postmaster: Send Form color and pattern that I’m working only by shape to À t them together. Occasionally there’s an 3579 to Wellesley magazine, Wellesley College, 106 Central St., Wellesley, MA 02481-8203. instant, satisfying snick!, but most of the time, it’s a slow, trial-and-error process. I discard many more pieces than I eventually put in place. WELLESLEY POLICY In a small way, it’s not that dissimilar from what a lot of us are doing right now as we search One of the objectives of Wellesley, in the best College tradition, is to present interesting, for the right path forward. 7rial and error 7his old way of doing things getting groceries, thought-provoking material, even though it teaching children a math lesson, having an uninterrupted meeting with work colleagues) doesn’t may be controversial. Publication of material work anymore, but maybe that new idea does. does not necessarily indicate endorsement of the author’s viewpoint by the magazine, the Take this magazine, for example. We’ve now trialed-and-errored our way to version 56b. It Alumnae Association, or Wellesley College. started out as a special issue on women in politics, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Wellesley magazine reserves the right to edit Amendment and preview the election in November. The one article from that plan that remains is and, when necessary, revise all material that ´The Fight for—and Against—the 9ote.µ Fascinatingly, writer Amita 3arashar .elly ’06 discov- it accepts for publication. Unsolicited photo- ered that there was substantial opposition to woman suffrage at the Wellesley of a century ago.) graphs will be published at the discretion of the editor. There were more relevant and compelling pieces that went snick! when we subbed them in. A graduation celebration for the class of ’0—with À ve wonderful mini commencement addresses KEEP WELLESLEY UP TO DATE! from alums and faculty, page 22. A funny and poignant essay about sheltering at home—and The Alumnae Office has a voice-mail box to be used by alumnae for updating contact working—with a - and a 10-year-old ´The 8nplanned 9oyage,µ page 2). And an exploration and other personal information. The number is of what (mily 'ickinson’s poetry teaches us about being alone ´A 1-800-339-5233. 6olitude of 6pace,µ page 1). These pieces À t together to create a You can also update your information online compelling picture of Wellesley in the CO9I'-19 period. We’ve when you visit the Alumnae Association web- added a few items since then, as %lack Lives Matter protests À lled site at www.wellesley.edu/alumnae. streets around the world.) DIRECT LINE PHONE NUMBERS One of the things I like most about puzzles is you can’t see the College Switchboard 781-283-1000 whole picture at once—it unveils itself gradually, if you persist. These Alumnae Offi ce 781-283-2331 Magazine Offi ce 781-283-2331 days, as an inveterate planner, I sometimes À nd myself a little frus- Admission Offi ce 781-283-2270 trated when I can’t make decisions in an efÀ cient way. %ut I’ve been Career Education Offi ce 781-283-2352 grateful to learn to slow down, enjoy the steady process of putting in Development Offi ce 800-358-3543 piece after piece, and watch the picture develop. Wishing all of you INTERNET ADDRESSES patience, a lot of snicks!, and emerging new views. www.wellesley.edu/alumnae magazine.wellesley.edu Alice M. Hummer, editor

2 WELLESLEY MAGAZINE

062420_r2_letters.indd 2 6/25/20 1:21 PM Plans for a Year Unlike Any Other

In late June, as this issue was going to press, President Paula A. Johnson announced the College’s preliminary plan for the 2020–21 academic year, a year that will begin as the coronavirus pandemic continues in the United States and around the world. “Our most important priority for the coming academic year is to create an excellent academic program that prioritizes the health and safety of our community, while allowing each of our students to enjoy a residential experience and take in-person classes for a signiÀcant part of the year,” Johnson said in the announcement. The plan was developed by a number of College working groups that included faculty, staff, and students, and was informed by the recommendations of Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker’s Higher Education Working Group. President Johnson is a member of the state working group and leads the task force responsible for developing the COVID-19 testing protocols for colleges and universities throughout Massachusetts. In order to follow key public health recommendations, including ensuring that the on-campus community can maintain physical distancing, the College is making signiÀcant changes to the residential and academic program. All student rooms will be conÀgured as singles, reducing the College’s residential capacity to fewer than 1,500 students at any given time. The College will invite first-years and sophomores to live on campus during the fall, and juniors and seniors during the spring. AMOS CHAN AMOS There will also be enough room to prioritize housing for students who, for a number of reasons, need to be on campus all year, including resi- dent assistants, international students who are unable to return home, curriculum will be designed for juniors and seniors,” Johnson said in and others. As this issue was at press, the College was also exploring the announcement. off-campus housing for seniors for the fall semester. Students returning to campus, as well as faculty and staff with The academic year will be divided into four seven-week quarters. frequent student contact, will be given a baseline COVID-19 test at The curriculum will include in-person courses, remote courses, and the start of the fall term or upon arrival to campus, and asymptomatic hybrid courses, in which some of the students are on campus and community members will be tested at regular intervals, “which will others are off. enable us to add another important layer of protection against spread Given the need for physical distancing in residence halls and of COVID-19 on the Wellesley campus,” President Johnson stated. In classrooms, much of the academic program will need to be delivered addition, the College will have robust contact tracing, isolation, and remotely, Johnson said. “We believe remote education is best delivered quarantine protocols, and enhanced cleaning and disinfection in all in shorter, more concentrated formats, so we plan to divide each of our campus buildings. semesters into two terms, with each student taking two courses per To alumnae, President Johnson says, “In the face of much uncer- term. This will allow for a greater level of concentration and focus for tainty, two things are unfailingly clear: First, that we have much work our students, and it will also allow us to pivot quickly to fully remote to do as a society to build the world we want to live in. And second, instruction if needed due to the public health situation,” she said. Wellesley’s role in preparing our students to do this important work “It has been a central principle of our planning to ensure that stu- has never been more urgent or more necessary.” dents residing on campus have, to the greatest extent possible, access to in-person courses. For this reason, the fall on-campus curriculum is For more information on the College’s plans for the 2020-2021 year, visit designed for Àrst-years and sophomores, while the spring on-campus blogs.wellesley.edu/announcements/2020.

SUMMER 2020 3

062420_r2_letters.indd 3 6/25/20 1:21 PM FROM THE PRESIDENT

Hope Is an Action

BESET WITH FEVER, chest pains, Rana Zoe, you sprang into action, using all the resources and shortness of breath, Rana Zoe at your command to get her better care. You lived out the Mungin ’11 was rushed to the hos- words of our Latin motto Non Ministrari sed Ministrare— pital by ambulance. Yet, despite Not to be ministered unto, but to minister. the classic COVID-19 presenta- These efforts did not change the outcome, but they tion, she was refused testing— nonetheless point us forward. COVID-19 is laying bare perhaps it was a panic attack, one the injustices that plague our communities, even as the provider suggested. Days later, virus plagues our bodies. How can we seize this moment to she was back, struggling to breathe. She died on April 27, advance the common good? How can we best honor Rana after a month-long battle. Zoe’s memory? I am heartbroken—not only for Rana Zoe’s family and So many of you are already living your answers to friends but also for the world so in need of her extraordi- this question. You are on the front lines of health care— nary gifts. as doctors, nurses, EMTs, public health officials, and A Àrst-generation college student, Rana Zoe was a volunteers. You are reinventing organizations to meet Àerce advocate for the vulnerable and disadvantaged. A the demands of this moment. You are building stronger gifted writer—she received an M.F.A. from the University communities, through Wellesley and far beyond. You are of Massachusetts—she once wrote: “It’s not anyone’s fault teaching now-virtual classrooms Àlled with the next gen- that they’re rich, but it’s always a problem when you’re eration of leaders. poor.” At the time of her death, she taught social studies at a Brooklyn charter school. “To think of the books she would have written, and the students she would have Hope was manifest in this community mentored: It’s truly devastating,” mourned one Wellesley when it rallied around Rana Zoe. faculty member. Now, we must show this same power This singular tragedy points to troubling larger truths. as we step up as citizens. The fact that our health care system is ill-equipped for the realities of this moment. That what you look like—and who you know—may go far to shape the care you get. Our As I write these words in May, it is hard to know what health system too often gives short shrift to women and next month will look like, let alone next year. It is hard to people of color. Rana Zoe was both. Would she have met make concrete plans. less skepticism—been more quickly tested—if she’d been But what we can do—what we must do, each and every a white man? That we will never know, but we do know this: day—is to choose hope. In the words of Madeleine Korbel Black Americans account for a disproportionate share of Albright ’59, writing in the New York Times: “It might COVID-19 deaths and infections. do well for us to view these abnormal days as an oppor- News of Rana Zoe’s death quickly rippled through the tunity to ask more of ourselves, to reÁect on our relations Wellesley community, sparking both sorrow and anger. It with one another, and think critically about improving followed weeks of efforts by Wellesley alumnae to get Rana the social, economic, and political structures that shape Zoe better care—efforts that her sister credits for drawing our lives.” attention to her case. It’s often said that love is an action. The same is true of “Her Wellesley alumnae really stood with me in this hope. Hope was manifest in this community when it rallied struggle and this Àght,” Mia Mungin told CNN. “Without around Rana Zoe. Now, we must show this same power as them making such an outreach for help, I don’t think that we step up as citizens. May we Ànd ways to act in hope for I ever would have received any help for her. Honestly.” the greater good—to remake the systems that failed Rana It’s often said that Wellesley alumnae are the most pow- Zoe and so many countless others. erful women’s network in the world, and that power shines through here. When the health system threatened to fail —Paula A. Johnson, president

4 WELLESLEY MAGAZINE

pg4-13_wow_final.indd 4 6/25/20 1:25 PM The halls may be empty and echoing at Wellesley this summer, but behind the scenes, faculty and staff work continues to hum. The research and information support staff at Library and Technology Services has been busy col- laborating with Oscar Fernandez, faculty director of the Pforzheimer Learning and Teaching Center, and Rob Haley, director of non-academic and innovative programming, to develop a slate of learning opportunities for faculty to help them prepare for fall. Topics include accessibility, assessments, community building, and making better videos. “My hope for fall is that meaningful learning will happen for students and faculty, that we’ll discover different, productive ways to engage with each other and course content that we can use when we return,” says Rebecca Darling, assistant director of instructional technology. Research has been ongoing, as well. James Battat, associate professor of physics, says, “This summer, I’m working remotely with six Wellesley students on a project that combines dark matter research with machine learning algorithms. In addition, I am contributing to a neutrino physics project called DUNE. That collaboration consists of more than a thousand researchers in 32 countries, so our work was primarily ‘remote’ long before the pandemic. Restricted access to research labs has certainly created delays on that front, and research conferences have shifted to online-only formats, but it’s quite amazing how much can be accomplished even in these circumstances.” Battat is excited about the fall semester, whatever the “new normal” turns out to be. “There are many A Quiet, unknowns,” he says. “But I look forward to the chance to connect again with students in the classroom, But Connected, whether in person, remote, or hybrid.” —Catherine O’Neill Grace Summer For more information on the College’s plans for the fall, see page 3. AMOS CHAN AMOS

SUMMER 2020 5

pg4-13_wow_final.indd 5 6/25/20 1:26 PM WINDOW ON WELLESLEY / IN PERSON

A Different Kind Of Senior Year Karina Alvarado ’20 SANDRA RIAÑO ’21

arina Alvarado ’20 spent most of the painting and drawing,” Alvarado says. “That’s Her role as co-president of Mezcla drove second semester of her senior year an area that I have zero experience with, zero home the importance of engaging with and in her dorm on campus. Which, in background in. It’s deÀnitely been fun to try helping people. Although the campus was any other year, would be a fairly out something new.” Diving into something new (mostly) empty, her work with Mezcla continued, typical occurrence—who didn’t hole was just one of the ways that she coped with this as the group tried to support students virtually up in their room, frantically trying to unprecedented experience. Although most of and devise ways to reach out to prospective stu- Ànish a senior project or thesis, while also trying her time was spent in her dorm room—classes dents. These experiences helped focus her career to polish a rpsump and Ànd a job? But this year, were held there via computer, and meals were thoughts, because despite the uncertainty of the the College closed its doors in March, sending (usually) picked up and taken back there—she world, some time-honored senior traditions con- most students out into the wide, wide world a did get out to enjoy the campus when she could. tinue, including the job search. In February, she little earlier than usual. “It’s deÀnitely very calming to take a walk every began applying for digital marketing jobs with Around 180 students, however, remained on once in a while and take some time to breathe content-creating roles. campus for a variety of reasons, from uncertain and get away from screens,” Alvarado says. There were a few other senior traditions she home conditions to visa issues. With social- During those walks, she balanced the old got to participate in, as well, even if the time- distancing measures in place, Alvarado and other with the new. “Campus is really big,” she laughs, line was a little … rushed. Once the closure was students holed up in their rooms—or relocated and during the hustle of a regular semester, she ofÀcial, the senior class scrambled to create the to new ones—to Ànish out the semester in a dif- stuck to the well-worn paths. But during the last parting moments other classes got to experi- ferent way. But some things remain the same: part of the semester, she’s ventured into spaces ence over months. Hooprolling, Stepsinging, Alvarado still had to Ànish that senior project. As she’d never noticed before. “There’s a Àeld that’s and commencement were all packed into one a cinema and media studies major, she had her right by the Science Center, and there are actu- Saturday in March. “I was still in a state of Ànal art project all planned out. “It was a photo ally stairs that lead to it that are kind of hidden,” shock,” she says. “I had not processed what was project that was supposed to be printed and dis- she says. “I found it during one of my walks, and going on.” During the improvised commence- played on windows in Pendleton West,” Alvarado it’s really beautiful.” As a content creator for ment ceremony, Alvarado broke down in tears. says. “I was in the initial stages of printing, and the Communications and Public Affairs OfÀce, “It’s a little sad that I won’t be able to have that all of that got shut down.” Alvarado got to share that beauty through her moment to celebrate with my family, but it was Although photography is her usual medium, photography. “I really enjoy the work, because really nice to still be able to have that moment she was forced to pivot when she no longer had I’ve always wanted to engage with people,” she with my friends.” access to the studios and other resources on says. “I realized that I love doing creative work, campus. “I decided to change my medium to and this role has really helped me push [that].” —Jennifer E. Garrett ’98

6 WELLESLEY MAGAZINE

pg4-13_wow_final.indd 6 6/25/20 1:27 PM WINDOW ON WELLESLEY College—From Home As the spring semester was concluding, we asked two students about their experiences with remote learning.

What are you studying? How has the community supported you? I started my English major only when I became I’ve actually been a bit overwhelmed by the support I’ve a junior, so I’m taking three English classes right gotten from professors and staff. They extended help, now. I’m in Critical Interpretation (an introductory and wanted to make sure I was safe and had a place to course), a Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing stay, and had made it back home safely. It was really called Dead Poetry Society, and a seminar on hap- heartening to know that they had kept me in mind. piness. I’m also taking a history seminar on world economic orders. What has been most challenging about this period? The uncertainty of not knowing what’ll happen this How has your online experience been? summer, and this coming year, is difÀ cult to deal with. The time difference has made being engaged in class I really miss my friends, a lot [of whom] were seniors. a bit difÀ cult—I hadn’t expected avoiding morning Neha Rajbhandary ’21 And knowing our time together has been cut short is classes to backÀ re this semester. Two of my classes At home in Kathmandu, Nepal a bit painful. I’m also really worried about my friends only start after midnight [Kathmandu time]. My who are in severely affected areas, or are far from Calderwood seminar functions like a writing work- home, and friends who are searching for jobs right now. shop, so I stay up for that class. It’s almost three hours long, so I only stay for half of it (otherwise I’d I’ve actually What will you particularly remember about this time? be up till 3 A.M.), and then my professor sends me been a bit overwhelmed The last couple of days we had on campus. It really a recording of it. Another class of mine only starts was so precious. All of the fun we would miss out on at 1:30 A.M., so I haven’t attended my professor by the support I’ve by not being on campus was compensated for in those records it, and I watch that. gotten from three days. It was just three days of concentrated fun. Although online classes can be quite awkward, professors and staff . It almost feels like a fever dream because there was so I’m grateful for the routine they provide. The con- much fervor in the fun we had, but also a lot of tears. tinuity provides some semblance of normalcy. I do I’ll especially look back on the day my friends and I like that I get to see my friends and my professors had our last meal together, them as seniors, in the and hear them talk! Tower dining hall. We were so sad, but also so giddy.

What courses are you taking? What’s been most diffi cult? I am taking an American studies class on the Being back in California and in a different time zone has Gilded Age, an introductory chemistry course, a been a challenge, since my chemistry class, for example, À rst-year writing class focused on U.S. immigra- is now at 5:30 A.M. It has also been difÀ cult to À nd con- tion, and a history class on the American South in sistent Wi-Fi in our house, since my family members the 19th century. are also using the Wi-Fi for their own Zoom meetings.

How has your remote learning experience been? How are you maintaining your Wellesley connections? What about offi ce hours and other normal The residential life staff in my dorm, Shafer Hall, academic activities? have still been hosting events, and I have been calling Online learning has been an adjustment since Wellesley friends daily. College Government has also in-class discussions just cannot be replicated on Caroline Francois ’23 still been having meetings, so I have continued to Zoom! I have really appreciated being able to At home in Walnut Creek, Calif. attend Senate and Academic Council as one of the maintain a semblance of my old routine with online student representatives. classes, though, and love seeing my professors and peers. What will you remember most about this period? Two of my classes have À nal research papers, and I will always I will always remember the Wellesley community’s those professors in particular have been reaching remember the Wellesley support of students in the pandemic. As colleges across out and offering help with the research and writing the country left their students essentially stranded process. All of my professors have continued to hold community’s with limited options for getting home, I am especially ofÀ ce hours and have been incredibly understand- support of students grateful for the response both from the College but ing of the challenges that different students face in the pandemic. especially from alumnae who offered to help in any at home. way they could.

—Alice M. Hummer

SUMMER 2020 7

pg4-13_wow_final.indd 7 6/25/20 1:27 PM WINDOW ON WELLESLEY / ART OF WELLESLEY

Standing Guard

When Associate Professor of Art David Teng-Olsen was spending two years creating Survival Robot (2020), a piece of art designed to withstand disaster, little did he know how soon it would be put to the test by a global pandemic. “I attempted to make a sculpture to solve an impossible problem, an artwork that could secure the future of its owner, in this case, my own children, family, and friends. Because countries, governments, and societies tend to rise and fall, I built a survival robot that could outlast a serious disaster,” Teng-Olsen says. Inside the sculpture are six cryptocurrency mining machines, which each process data in return for different digital currencies like Bitcoin. That is to say, Survival Robot makes its own money. The 12-foot-tall sculpture was built for Q20: Wellesley Faculty Artists, a show at the Davis Museum this spring that has since closed and was scheduled to reopen in the fall. Survival Robot is distinctly futuristic, but it also calls to mind the terra-cotta warriors buried outside the tomb of the first emperor of China. “Like Qin Shi Huang’s terra-cotta army (210 B.C.E.), I am doing everything I can to prepare for the unknown future, after I am long gone. For clues, I looked at what my Chinese ancestors did to secure future generations like myself and my children. In the not so distant past, many of my relatives lived and died through the collapse of their society in China,” Teng-Olsen says. Teng-Olsen built the sculpture entirely on the Wellesley campus in what he calls a “nomadic creative process” after losing his Framingham, Mass., studio to gentrification. “Fortunately, Wellesley’s art department has amazing new facilities with state-of-the-art equipment to do ambitious work. I figured out a way to make my work without interfering with the demands of the students and the other faculty. This meant I worked nights and weekends seven days per week in order to complete the project in time [for the exhibit],” he says. Much of the sculpture was made using a 3-D printer or a computer-controlled cutting machine. Teng-Olsen estimates that it took 2,000 hours of fabrication time in total. “In order to keep the project physically manageable, I made every piece about the size of a textbook. This also meant I could store the sculpture as it was fabricated anywhere a book could fit,” he says. When Teng-Olsen was working, he was often accompanied by his twin sons, Jack and Felix, now 6, who would help with the sculpture and create their own (with LEGO). “They were disap- pointed that the sculpture did not move when it was finished. They understood that I was making it to protect their future, but in their minds they thought it would physically do that,” he says. Teng-Olsen has been remotely checking in on the sculpture’s cryptocurrency miners, still in the closed Davis Galleries. Last time he checked, one was still crunching away. Perhaps there’s hope for the future yet.

—Lisa Scanlon Mogolov ’99

Q20: Wellesley Faculty Artists is currently slated to run at the Davis from Sept. 18 to Dec. 13.

DAVID TENG-OLSEN, SURVIVAL ROBOT (2020), WOOD, GLASS, STEEL, ENAMEL, PLA, AND SIX ASIC CRYPTOCURRENCY MINERS, DIMENSIONS VARIABLE. PHOTO BY DAVID TENG-OLSEN

pg4-13_wow_final.indd 8 6/25/20 1:29 PM WINDOW ON WELLESLEY

This spring, workers all over the College—from Wellesley’s Senior Leadership team to custodians in facilities to fund-raisers in Heroic Efforts During Development—had to adjust to complex and rapidly changing conditions, problem-solving in real time. So many went far above and beyond. Here An Unimagined Semester are two, who helped build a sense of community for the students who remained on campus and worked to keep them safe and comfortable.

Helen Y. Wang, Director of Residence Life and Housing How do you create community in a crisis—especially when that crisis means keeping people apart in an environment designed to bring them together? That was the dilemma Helen Wang faced when Wellesley sent the vast majority of its students home in March. How could the College continue to support the needs of around 180 students who were forced by circumstances to stay on campus? Wang says that the students who stayed behind—socially distancing in Àve residence halls—quickly adjusted to the “¶alone together’ principle, Ànding ways to still acknowledge one another while being safe and protective of the environment. I think the friendliness of the community has grown, because it’s such a small one.” The students’ social connections included weekly Zoom get- togethers, “quaran-teas,” a book club, virtual bingo games and baking, a poem-a-day newsletter, and more. Wang says she was pleased, but not surprised, that students were so compliant and did “an incredible job of taking care of their environment” in the res halls. “Unique to Wellesley is how important this environment is as a home base. This is their sanctuary, and their emotional tie to this David Parisi, Director of Culinary Operations space is real, deep, and beyond compare,” she says. Wang credits College leadership with setting a tone for the crisis Wellesley’s director of culinary operations, David Parisi—a trained that helped everyone manage their anxiety and fear. “There are so chef—has worked in food service environments ranging from fast food many ways to describe what heroism is in these circumstances. We to New York’s Ritz-Carlton. But he had never encountered the situ- have steady, thoughtful, really data-driven, made virtually, leadership, ation he faced this spring, when his responsibilities for feeding more and that’s what we need in a pandemic. I don’t think we could be more than 2,000 students in dining halls shifted to feeding fewer than 200 in fortunate than to have [Paula Johnson] at the helm right now.” social-distancing conditions—in just a few days. Working to maintain Wang is hopeful that Wellesley will adjust and reopen this fall with safe conditions for students and staff alike, he deployed food-service a renewed sense of the value of the community. “We can do this,” she preparers into two teams that worked a week on and a week off in two says. “I have no doubt that we’re going to get through this. I’ve never different locations. doubted. I think we are best served in this environment by being grate- The students who remained on campus were from all over the ful for one another and what we have.” world and had different dietary needs. Parisi provided kosher and Halal meals, as well as Suhoor bags and extra water for students fasting during Ramadan. But his main concern was for the students: “I can’t imagine being a young adult, 18 to 22 years old, and … being several thousand miles away from home or not being able to get home, and feeling a sense of isolation,” he says. “So anything we [could] do to alleviate a little bit of that anxiety … that was important to me.” He and his team Àrst provided bags of snacks for students to take back to their rooms—fruit, chips, Oreos. But when he learned from Helen Wang that some students were anxious about coming to the dining halls, they swung into action—preparing 90 full grocery bags of staples that could be cooked in kitchenettes. There was home-made peanut butter and pasta sauce, a pound of pasta, bread, carrots, and much more. Wang gave them a public shout-out on the College’s email system: “Our initial ask for items was met with energy, creativity, and a let’s-go attitude … .” And for Parisi, who delivered the bags person- ally, the student response was worth the effort: They would “light up and [say] oh my gosh, look what’s in here!”

ILLUSTRATIONS BY LOUISA CANNELL —Catherine O’Neill Grace and Alice M. Hummer

SUMMER 2020 9

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“NONE OF US FEELS sure just what is going to On campus, some residential spaces were happen before next fall, or takes it casually converted to accommodate the overflow of for granted that September will bring joyful Have students from the infirmary. The 1918–19 reunion. Returning to college is no longer President’s Report records the death of one the matter-of-fact event it used to be for the À rst-year student and 255 overall cases of the majority. There is a new question arising and We Been inÁ uenza, 20 of which were treated away from growing daily in proportion—‘Have I the the school. “The College owes a debt of grati- right to stay in college?’” These words, pub- tude to the many alumnae who volunteered lished in the Wellesley News, express quanda- Here their services during the period of anxiety, to ries familiar to students today. But this writer the members of the faculty who carried extra has never heard of COVID-19. Instead, she Before? responsibility of various kinds, and to the splen- laments here the loss of “the usual carefree did spirit of the students who loyally accepted ‘goodbye’ till next fall’” that she feels from her the inconveniences and restrictions upon vantage point in history—June 1918. them,” wrote President Ellen Fitz Pendleton At a time when the word “unprecedented” 1886, Wellesley’s À rst alumna president. lurks around every corner, looking back at Despite the turbulence of this time period, even a sliver of what humankind has experi- Wellesley students still found humor in their enced is pretty extraordinary. Throughout the college experience. The News’ humor page, College’s history, we can À nd stories to take “Parliament of Fools,” featured two columns comfort in, a trail of breadcrumbs to remind us on the Á u in one October 1918 issue: “Little of the challenges that past Wellesley students, Orphant ’Enza” and “Ravings of InÁ uenza.” faculty, and staff have faced and overcome. The former rhymes, “The posters all advise Commencement in 1918 marked “the À rst us as to and fro we pass, / That it’s bad to lick hint of a war commencement,” one News your À ngers, or kiss your / friends in class.” reporter noted, another commenting, “It has Similarly, decades later, students bore taken time to adjust ourselves in the totally the repercussions of World War II at the strange situation of students during days of College with good humor. A June 1943 News warfare.” Student journalists noted the simpli- piece announced, “Commencement weekend, À cation of several events over 1917–18 due to regardless of rationing, weather, and all other the war (adding that students showed off class hindrances, ran true to form this year at rivalry that year in the “Junior-Sophomore THE TRIALS OF QUARANTINE Wellesley,” adding that the ceremony included surgical dressings competition”). the usual Wellesley traditions. But in the fall, it was the Spanish Á u that Midyears are upon us. Again we hear That year and the following, reunions were the College battled. In an October issue of the familiar plea of “Come to the canceled because of the war. Nonetheless, the News, one writer weighed in, “We have examination with your head clear.” By some local alumnae did gather on campus been unusually fortunate throughout the what methods are we to clear our for a simpliÀ ed annual meeting. In a 1945 brains and divert our minds in the epidemic, for we have not been obliged to time between and after vacation? issue of the News, Assistant Secretary to the leave college as have the Smith girls, nor Quarantine and the weather leave us President Virginia Eddy is quoted as saying, have we had as many cases as have Vassar small choice. Ice skating and coasting “Commencement has just never seemed like and Holyoke.” Wellesley students experi- are impossible,–theatres and other Commencement since the Alumnae have enced some level of restriction from the fall of forms of amusement forbidden. stopped having their reunions. … That’s the 1918 through February 1919. During the fall Walking fails to divert our minds to thing that has made the big change in our semester, that meant quarantine on campus, any large degree; we see the same wartime exercises.” with a prohibition on students traveling even places and people; we scurry along to Pieces of these past experiences echo in to the Vil. keep warm; we speak of the same our current moment. While that does not At the start of the spring semester, the things;–and the old monotony mean we’ve “been here before,” it does go to continues. If we shop it can only be for show that the College and its students have quarantine was loosened, with restrictions an hour or two for we must not eat in a mainly on activities in Boston, such as going public place. For those of us who ﬁ nish been through a lot. And during unusual times to the theater or other large gatherings. In examinations before the end of the on campus, debate and support within the January and February of 1919 during this second week and have no place to go community stayed true, as did appreciation loosened quarantine period, commentary fre- the question of amusement is the for the College’s traditions and its alumnae. quented the pages of the News. There were more important … . So, what’s to be gained by comparing all this numerous reports of students disobeying the to the present? Maybe, when so much today College’s instructions, and calls both to lift —The Wellesley News, Feb. 6, 1919 depends on isolation and distance, looking the “inconsistent” and therefore “needless” back on our Wellesley siblings can make us quarantine and to take it more seriously, as feel just a little less alone. “ladies will.” —Grace Ramsdell ’22

10 WELLESLEY MAGAZINE STUDENTS IN TOWER COURT DURING THE 1918–19 ACADEMIC YEAR COURTESY OF WELLESLEY COLLEGE ARCHIVES

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BY THE NUMBERS / SEMESTER GONE REMOTE 100 27,2801 917 567 Number of Commencement Percent of students whose grades Total number of Number of horses Number of attendees for Zoom boxes sent by the College to were MCRD, MCR, MNCR Wellesley-sponsored who turned up for chemistry ﬁtness classes conducted seniors—with graduation stoles, (mandatory credit with Zoom classes class (via Zoom by the Department of Physical Wellesley champagne ﬂutes, distinction, credit, or noncredit) and meetings between from a student’s ranch Education, Recreation, key chains, stickers, and notes this semester March 30 and May 4 in Wyoming) and Athletics in spring 2020 of congratulations

REPORTS FROM AROUND CAMPUS College Road

A Fond Farewell With cheers and warm remarks, the faculty virtually celebrated the contributions of retiring colleagues at its Ànal 2019–20 Academic Council meeting of the year: Beth OVERHEARD Hennessey, professor of psychology, who has taught at SGN Wellesley since 1985 Nancy Marshall, senior research scientist at the Wellesley Centers for Women and adjunct associate professor of women’s and gender studies, at the College since 1985 and Corri Taylor, senior lecturer in the quantitative reasoning program, at Wellesley since 1998. (Some Good News)* Prof on Zoom: > Larry Rosenwald, Anne Pierce Rogers Professor of American ‘Give me Literature, was awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship this spring, one of 175 recipients among 3,000 applicants. a sec I’m gonna Click for Tranquility “I’ve applied for the Guggenheim ﬁve or six times before,” mute myself The Paulson Ecology of Place Initiative teamed Rosenwald said. “I tried not to be too cast down by past rejec- with Communications and Public Affairs to create so I can tions, so now I’m trying not to be too elevated by this present Wabancam, a livestream video feed of Lake Waban. swear freely.’ honor. (Not entirely succeeding—I’m still high as a kite.)” As you watch, listen to birdsong and the bubbling of > The Weissman Foundry—an open-door design studio, or the brook that feeds the lake, recorded earlier this — Student tweet on ﬁrst day of Zoom classes makerspace, located at Babson College for students, faculty, year. Visit bit.ly/wabancam. and staff from Babson, Olin College of Engineering, and

Wellesley—produced NIH-approved face shields this spring to send to Harbor Health, a nonproﬁt public health agency in the Boston area.

> Students and alumnae captured some of the most competitive international fellowships this spring. Cseca Gazzolo ’20 and Yuxi Xia ’20 will have Watsons next year, Gazzolo to travel the world studying ethical commonalities across reli- gious divides and Xia to examine veganism around the globe. Rebecca Turkington ’12 and Thai-Catherine Matthews ’14 were named Gates-Cambridge Scholars, to pursue graduate studies at the University of Cambridge.

*With apologies to John Krasinski

SUMMER 2020 11

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Engineering Through a Screen

IN MID-MARCH, as the coronavirus raced throughout the United States, Amy Banzaert found herself in a race of her own: one against the clock as she rushed to transition her hands-on, project-based engineering course to a virtual format. Days before Wellesley announced classes would move online, Banzaert scrambled to build engineering kits that students could take with them when they left. Forgoing sleep, she spent late nights in her lab, grappling with seemingly impossible questions: Should she buy more equipment? If she did, would it arrive in time? How much could students transport? Was some equipment too dangerous to use unsupervised? Ultimately, Banzaert decided to keep it simple (and skip the soldering tools), outÀtting each kit with materials already in her lab: A LEGO robot controlled by an Arduino microcontroller, plus another system to model thermal dynamics. She also included lab printouts and basic supplies like scissors. “It was very unclear what was going to happen, and so I felt like I had to prepare for any reality, making very few assumptions about where my students would be ending up,” Banzaert explains. Banzaert, the director of engineering studies, has been at Wellesley since 2012. “My role is to be the one faculty member who teaches engineering—it’s a pretty unique role that I adore,” she says. However, even her years of teaching experience could not have fully prepared her for teaching Fundamentals of Engineering remotely. Transitioning entirely to Zoom, the course continued to meet for almost three hours two times a week. During each session, Banzaert brieÁy dis- cussed key concepts covered in readings done before class—but rather than lecturing, she borrowed from existing online lectures from various sources, pausing to comment as needed. Her seven students then divided into “breakout rooms” to work through labs together. For example, during labs on how to maintain the temperature of a cup of coffee, students Àrst used software to create a virtual model of the thermal system, and then used their kits to build and manipulate a physical model. Supporting students remotely during labs was as challenging as it sounds. For one, Banzaert couldn’t subtly eavesdrop to gauge when students need help. “I had to get over the weirdness of jumping into a break- AMOS CHAN AMOS out room and being like, ‘Surprise, here I am,’” Banzaert explains. Plus, troubleshooting and debugging is difÀcult through a screen—although her can mean absolutely zero engagement.” Plus, because the transition online students Àgured out how to connect their phones to Zoom, and use their happened halfway through the semester, Banzaert and her students were cameras to show Banzaert their kits. “I feel like every class [was] a com- already close, making their Zoom sessions less awkward. In fact, Banzaert bination of mishaps and victories,” Banzaert says, as she also dealt with noticed that some of her quieter students spoke up more on Zoom. “The logistical glitches ranging from poor connections to forgetting to unmute. beneÀts of being in person are huge, and we’re really missing them,” Students were also under considerable stress, as many had taken on Banzaert says. “We’re just trying to make the best of our hard situation extra responsibilities, and all were dealing with the anxiety of the pan- and see the silver linings.” demic. “Students are in really different places, both physically but also Perhaps the biggest silver lining is how the Wellesley community has emotionally,” Banzaert says, so she tried to adapt her class to their indi- come together during a difÀcult time. “That Àrst week back, everyone was vidual needs—something Wellesley addressed by making courses pass/fail. just thrilled to be with each other again,” Banzaert says. “It was really Banzaert and her husband—an MIT professor—balanced teaching with heartwarming to see how much we needed each other, and how much we caring for their two children. “I am not used to having my kids interrupt needed the normalcy of our semester to get back to having a teaching and my labs, but that is just inevitable—we do our best!” Banzaert says. On learning relationship.” the Áip side, Banzaert enjoyed sharing more of her life with her students, and seeing more of theirs. —Catherine Caruso ’10 There were also other positives: Virtual teaching forced Banzaert to communicate more clearly. On campus, she says, she can revisit a confusing lecture concept in lab, “whereas online, if something’s confusing, that

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Teaching Pandemics in a Pandemic

AS CATIA CONFORTINI lay in bed one night this and maternal mortality, to name a few. Now here they felt closer than ever. “Emotionally, it’s really spring, thinking about the next day’s class on was a health challenge that would affect every- hard,” she says. Many students have parents who noncommunicable diseases for her course, Global one on the planet. are front-line health-care workers. Some started Health Governance, she had a sudden change of Confortini and her students spent that class to see people they know fall sick and even die. heart. “I thought, ‘Why am I teaching this right session reimagining what a course devoted to The beginning of each class was spent checking now when we have a global pandemic coming an unfolding pandemic would look like, with the in on everyone’s personal well being. on?’” says the associate professor of peace and students actively participating the redesign. Although much about the course changed, justice studies. Going forward, the students would work in pairs Confortini’s goals for the students did not. “I care It was Monday, March 9. Although the United instead of individually—“so they wouldn’t feel less that they learn in nitty-gritty detail about States was still carrying on with business as isolated,” says Confortini. Their readings would how the WHO works and more about how we usual, Confortini had already watched her family, come from as much from each day’s news as it work together in a world that is changing around who live in the Lombardy region of Italy, go into would from academic papers and textbooks. With us,” she says. “How do we establish this spirit full lockdown in response to the outbreak of the help from the staff of the Pforzheimer Learning of collaboration rather than competition with COVID-19 virus. and Teaching Center, Confortini and her stu- each other?” “We are living through something that was dents reconÀ gured the second half of the semes- Wellesley students can be extremely competi- predicted but no government took seriously—or ter to focus on different countries’ responses tive with one another, Confortini says. However, not seriously enough,” she says. “I thought there to COVID-19. there was no place for competition in this class: is no better moment to study a global pandemic That day turned out to be the last time the The students’ À nal project was a group project, than when a global pandemic is happening.” class would meet in person. Later in the week, which was peer-assessed. “I want them to see She woke up at 5 A.M. the next morning, still the College sent students home. For the rest of how this ethos makes no sense among each thinking about the course. “I went to the class- the semester, they came together once a week on other, and it doesn’t make any sense in the world. room, and told the students: ‘I think we need Zoom, with a second meeting devoted to working In a pandemic, you have to come together and to study this together. How can we do it?’” she in pairs. Confortini wrote an article about what collaborate, and they are doing that now in remembers. she has learned teaching global health during the classroom.” Originally, the course had dealt with how gov- the pandemic, which she recently published in ernmental and nongovernmental groups address University Affairs. —Sarah Ligon ’03 health challenges, particularly those that impact Another thing changed, too: Though physi- the poor, such as HIV/AIDS, Ebola, tuberculosis, cally farther apart, the students reported that

IN THE CLASSROOM PEAC 221/ POL 232 Global Health Governance

This interdisciplinary course investigates the role of governments, international organizations, and the media to respond to transnational health issues—in particular, the COVID-19 pandemic. Working in pairs, students will take on the perspective of diff erent states (China, South Korea, Italy, the U.K., and the U.S.), as well as the World Health Organization, and follow each actor’s response to the pandemic in real time. What worked well and what did not? How did the media cover it? As a class, we will disentangle the relationship between health, politics, ethics, and the international community, and consider the dif- ﬁ culties of governing global health and setting priorities.

Readings Final Project Globalization and Health, Jeremy Working together, students will Youde (Rowman & Littleﬁ eld) produce an informational brochure, or zine, outlining diff erent countries’ COVID-19 Resource Centre responses to COVID-19 and (The Lancet): https://www.thelancet. what lessons have been learned com/coronavirus for future epidemics. RICHARD HOWARD

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Reviews of books by Wellesley authors A Forthright Look at the Black Girlhood Foremothers of Woman Suffrage Takes Flight

distinguished career, and this book, which distills A Phoenix First Must Burn, a young adult its complex history into a dramatic narrative for anthology centering Black women and gender general readers, is the culmination of decades of nonconforming people, takes its title from an deep engagement with the subject. Octavia Butler quote: “In order to rise from its DuBois begins her story at the Seneca Falls own ashes, a phoenix Àrst must burn.” A phoe- convention in 1848, and takes it well past 1920, nix’s rebirth is a Àtting metaphor for the anthol- so she has a lot of ground to cover. She intro- ogy, edited by Patrice Caldwell ’15, which depicts duces readers to many of the towering Àgures of Black resilience through science Àction, fantasy, the long struggle: Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth and magic. Though the anthology’s 16 stories Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, Anna Howard Shaw, feature unreal beings, technologies, and powers, Harriot Stanton Blatch, Carrie Chapman Catt, they’re grounded in the real historical and con- and Alice Paul, among others. She pays special temporary strength of Black people, resulting in attention to Cady Stanton, and her writing Black girl magic that is wholly believable even as about her is particularly revealing. DuBois does it is otherworldly. not shy away from discussing some of Stanton’s The anthology’s stories are impressively racist statements privileging her own status as varied. Readers meet an enslaved girl who can an elite white woman over newly emancipated manipulate metal, a clever sorcerer’s apprentice, slaves or recent immigrants, whom she consid- a girl on an intergalactic interrogation mission, ered less worthy of the franchise. Throughout, a vampire-obsessed introvert who meets a real- DuBois confronts the racism of the women’s life vampire at the library, a girl from a lineage suffrage movement forthrightly, giving African of women whose enticing beauty is a dangerous American suffragists a leading role in the story curse, and many others. The contributors, who as they struggled for the vote on a path that was include award-winning and New York Times often distinct from but parallel to white women. best-selling authors, draw from folklore and Ellen Carol DuBois ’68 And she continues African American women’s history across cultures and even the ongoing Suffrage: Women’s Long Battle for the Vote Simon & Schuster story past 1920. For most Black women, it was Flint, Mich., water crisis. Though romantic 383 pages; $28 the Voting Rights Act of 1965, not the 19th love is a common theme, family and community Amendment, that Ànally removed the structural loyalty often take center stage, and the stories barriers to voting. are as political as they are magical. Ultimately, “We specialize in the wholly impossible.” African By the end of the book, readers will have a Continued on page 79 American educator Nannie Helen Burroughs deeper, richer understanding of the long struggle coined that motto for the school she founded in to win the right to vote and the three generations 1909, but it applies equally well to the century- of women—and occasionally men—who made long struggle of American women to win the this struggle their priority. Most likely they will right to vote. Historian Ellen Carol DuBois ’68 also feel a renewed sense of urgency in today’s masterfully chronicles that story in her wide- contested political landscape to continue the Àght ranging survey timed to coincide with the cen- for full access to the franchise that suffragists Patrice Caldwell ’15, tennial of the 19th Amendment. fought so long and hard to win. editor A Phoenix First Must The origins of this book lie in DuBois’s under- Burn: Stories of Black graduate days at Wellesley, when she discovered —Susan Wolfe Ware ’72 Girl Magic, Resistance, a passion for history that she soon combined with and Hope her passion for feminism. No other American his- Ware is the author of Why They Marched: Viking Books for Young Readers torian has so fully explored the topic of woman Untold Stories of the Women Who Fought for the 368 pages, $18.99 suffrage as DuBois has over the course of her Right to Vote (Harvard University Press).

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Parlaying Conversation into Connection

In 2008, Anne Devereux-Mills ’84, an female community was a total driver. way to lift each other up without it advertising agency CEO, lost her job With Parlay House gatherings, there’s being, “I give, you take.” Yes, success to the recession, her youngest child to this cascade effect of lifting each is important. But internal happiness is college, and (temporarily) her health other up. For speakers, we’ve had a equally important. Feeling connected to cancer. The experiences set her on psychologist experienced in handling to the world is harder now, yet it’s a new path. Ultimately, she started difficult conversations in tight spaces. more important than ever. Parlay House, an organization that We’ve talked about “frenemies,” we’ll aims to help thousands of women feel address women’s sexual health. We’ll What else is in the works? more empowered and build positive also hear from a hypnotist, and then I’m all about social experiments. communities. We caught up with her Cory Booker. We’re working on a series of com- by phone in Hawai‘i as she was setting munity journals we’ll leave in public up the first-ever virtual gatherings for Why do you dislike the word spaces like coffee shops. They’ll have Parlay House, a modern “salon” where “networking”? provocative questions written in them Anne Devereux-Mills ’84 women hear from prominent speak- Instead of finding commonalities, and strangers can leave anonymous The Parlay Effect: How Female ers to spark authentic conversations. networking is about, “What can I get answers—what they’re worried about, Connection Can Change the World Parlay House Devereux-Mills’ book is part memoir, from you?” I’m really on a campaign proud of, wisdom they want to impart. 192 pages, $16.95 part how-to on creating meaningful to end transactional relationships and We’ll distribute hundreds of them, and and trusting relationships to live a networking. Parlay House has very few then when they’re filled up, compile more connected and satisfying life. rules. The biggest one is, don’t come them into books. The journals are cur- She shows readers how small acts to a meeting and ask anyone for any- rently being printed, but to start we’ll can create ripple effects of good that thing. As women, we tend to give so have to wait until people can go to ultimately benefit others. much to everyone else in our lives. coffee shops again. Here, you’re in space that’s just about How did Parlay House come to be? you and your learning and ability to be —Deborah Lynn Blumberg ’00 When I was forced to stop mid-court in vulnerable and hear other people’s life, I thought, what are the situations truths. We talk about connecting and Blumberg is a Houston-based I would want to replicate? Being a part relating and sharing. A lot of what freelance writer. of Wellesley’s supportive, authentic happens is mentoring. It’s such a cool

Freshink

Veronica Ades ’99, editor Lorelei Brush ’68 Harriet Paulk Hessam ’76 Hannah Sholder ’09, Sexual and Gender-Based Uncovering, Frankie Ferret: First Day of contributor Violence: A Complete Clinical Mascot Books School, On Common Ground: Guide, Peppertree Press International Perspectives on the Jennifer Caplan ’01, contributor Springer Community Land Trust, Laughter After: Humor Abby Bogin Kenigsberg ’60 Terra Nostra Press Lisa Reed Alther ’66 and the Holocaust, Shenanigans: A Memoir, Swan Song: An Odyssey, Wayne State University Press iUniverse Katlyn Thomas ’69 (writing as Knopf T.K. Neel) Cassie Chambers ’10 Lucy Kirk ’62 The Stealing of the Sahara, Lisa Bernstein ’86, co-editor Hill Women: Finding Family and a The Poison Factory: Operation Global Directives with Chu-chueh Cheng Way Forward in the Appalachian Kamera, Revealing/Reveiling Shanghai: Mountains, BookBaby Cultural Representations from Ballantine Books SEND US YOUR BOOKS Amy Mitchell Poeppel ’88 the Twentieth and Twenty-First Sheila Connolly ’72 Jasmine Guillory ’97 Musical Chairs, If you’ve published a book and Centuries, Fatal Roots: A County Cork Party of Two, Atria you’d like to have it listed in SUNY Press Mystery, Berkley “Fresh Ink” and considered for Kit Rosewater ’11 Shelly Bogotty Aschkenase ’86 Crooked Lane Books review, please send two copies Gillian Harkins ’94 The Derby Daredevils: Kenzie Call Me Tai Tai: The Asian to Catherine Grace, Wellesley Jane Satlow Gerber ’59 Virtual Pedophilia: Sex Offender Kickstarts a Team, Adventures of a Trailing Spouse, magazine, 106 Central St., Cities of Splendour in the Profiling and U.S. Security Abrams Windy City Publishers Wellesley, MA 02481-8203. Shaping of Sephardi History, Culture, Liverpool University Press Duke University Press Books

SPRING 2020 15

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Companions for the Journey

A few weeks after the country locked down this spring, we wondered Emily Rankin Welch ’99 suggested Catherine Nicoloff ’19 enjoyed what books Wellesley alums were turning to, whether for solace or Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. The Chosen by Chaim Potok—“an escape from the present reality. So we posted a query in two places Paula Butturini ’73 quickly replied, incredibly humane book about on Facebook: the magazine’s page, and the Wellesley Writers group. “P&P is the only book I have suc- human goodness, redemption, and Within minutes, titles began popping up on both feeds. The Àrst title to ceeded in reading since the arrival learning to see past difference.” appear? A familiar friend, Pride and Prejudice. We have whittled down of the coronavirus. I’ve read it cover- the list a bit to Àt it in these pages, but we hope you Ànd something here to-cover every year since I was about Anjali Sundaram ’18 recommends, to revisit or to read for the Àrst time. 13. Balm for the soul always.” “Literally anything by Clarice Since we reported this story, we have been thinking about books to Lispector. Her words draw you in further educate ourselves about racism, and how to better support our Sejal Shah ’94 recommends and make you feel so present. Going Black alumnae and colleagues. The entire Alumnae Association staff is Minor Feelings: An Asian American through her Complete Stories now.” reading How to Be Less Stupid About Race by Crystal M. Fleming ’04 Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong, this summer as one part of our continuing effort to Àght systemic injus- “an amazing essay collection about Julia Johnson Attaway ’82 suggests tice and inequity. We welcome your suggestions as we move through race and college friendships … My Ántonia and other books by Willa this journey together. mental health and art-making and Cather. And “anything by Fredrik so much more.” Backman, author of A Man Called —Catherine O’Neill Grace Ove, who writes about ﬂawed people with such warmth and love.” Illustrations by João Fazenda

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Within minutes, titles began popping up on both feeds. The ﬁrst title to appear? A familiar friend, Pride and Prejudice.

Catherine Bue-Hepner ’02 has E.L. Konigsburg (feral NYC child “I haven’t revisited it yet, but as Janet Arelis Quezada ’96 has turned turned to old friends: “I’m almost all theme here); Dancing Shoes by far as I’m concerned I Capture to Devotions, selected poems by the way through L.M. Montgomery’s Noel Streatﬁeld. Amor Towles’ A the Castle by Dodie Smith is the Mary Oliver. entire Anne of Green Gables series, Gentleman in Moscow for the stuck- most comforting book ever,” wrote then I’ll move on to Emily of New inside theme. Susan Elia MacNeal’s Katie Blair ’11. Mara Palma ’15 suggests Being Moon, and then on to Jane Austen.” (’91) mysteries are highly satisfying. Mortal by Atul Gawande, which was Neil Gaiman anything. Dorothy Kerry Lydon ’17 turned to the “gifted to me from an alum. The book “I still go back to Little Women by Sayers’ Gaudy Night will bring you to manga (Japanese comics) series talks about medicine, mortality, and Louisa May Alcott,” says Alison a women’s college of times past. All by Hiromu Arakawa, Fullmetal ‘what matters in the end.’ It seems Greer ’87. “I literally read it until comfort reads.” Alchemist. “I reread all 27 volumes counterintuitive to read a book on old the cover fell off during high school. this weekend, and the author age, mortality, etc., but it’s helping My dad had it custom bound in A poster who preferred to remain has a lot of philosophy related to me process the emotional anxiety.” leather with my initials on it for high anonymous suggested “books illness and risk and humanity that school graduation.” written by our sisters Susan was really soothing and made Elia MacNeal ’91 and Jasmine me remember why I loved it in Susan Gies Conley ’93 provided a Guillory ’97.” high school.” rich list, including several childhood friends: “A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Happier at Home by Gretchen E.B. Bartels ’10 recommends Madeleine L’Engle; Harriet the Spy by Rubin was the suggestion from three titles by Black writers: This Louise Fitzhugh; From the Mixed-Up Lindsay Karloff Giroux ’07—“a nice Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by read when you are really trying to Intersection of Black, Female, appreciate home now that you can’t and Feminist in (White) America leave it.” by Morgan Jenkins, Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine, Marsha Howland ’73 recommends and Men We Reaped: A Memoir by The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Jesmyn Ward. Love in Action, by Thich Nhat Hanh, Horse by Charles Mackesy. “This was the suggestion of Julia Celeste is exquisite in so many ways, with “My wife, Erin Nealer ’15, and I Chille ’15. “Written earlier than most important lessons for all of us.” have been reading The Shadow of of his other works, it is centered the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón out around how he and his community For Esther Kim ’12, “comfort lit” loud to each other each night, and practiced engaged Buddhism and includes The Guernsey Literary and the magical realism of escaping into nonviolent resistance during the Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary books in a post-war Spain struggling years of conﬂict in Vietnam. Offers a Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows and to cope in similar ways has been beautiful place to land and practice To Be Young, Gifted, and Black by both poignant and comforting,” presence in times of deep sorrow Lorraine Hansberry. says Claudia Bach ’14. and social change.”

SUMMER 2020 17

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Illustrations by Harriet Lee-Merrion

pg18-21_poetry_final.indd 19 6/25/20 1:48 PM Back inNovember,

long before our world was overturned, I sent an email to Dan Chiasson, as one might a friend rather than with the traditional English-major Lorraine C. Wang Professor of English at Wellesley. The subject line trope of “the speaker,” or “the narrator.” read: “I’m Nobody.” And in every single class, we worked as a group—auditors I was writing to ask if I could audit ENG 357: The World of Emily included—reading the poems aloud, dissecting their diction and dashes, Dickinson in the spring. I admit it felt a bit audacious to refer to one their moments of violence, their verbal puzzles, their humor, and their of Dickinson’s most famous poems. reverence for nature. Together, we were discovering what Chiasson calls “one of the most thrilling and idiosyncratic minds in literature.” This was heady stuff for me I could feel long-closed doors in my I’m nobody! Who are you? mind and imagination creaking open. I loved being around the energy Are you nobody, too? and commitment of the students, their willingness to risk their own Then there’s a pair of us — don’t tell! interpretations of Emily’s work and life. I loved Chiasson’s quirky They’d banish us, you know. erudition, his references ranging from the metaphysical poets to pop culture and TV, sometimes in a single sentence. How dreary to be somebody! There was a Tuesday in early March warm enough to allow us to hold class outside, declaiming Dickinson in the amphitheater behind How public, like a frog Alumnae Hall. We were looking forward to an April Àeld trip to the To tell your name the livelong day Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst to a 5 A.M. silent meeting in May To an admiring bog! on the shores of Lake Waban to listen to the birds’ dawn chorus to a Ànal gathering at our professor’s house to watch episodes of the cult favorite streaming TV show Dickinson. But everything changed. In mid-March, we left Wellesley’s campus, But Chiasson replied, “Catherine, with that subject line, how can I and as Emily wrote in #303, “then shut the door.” say no??” Two weeks later, we reconvened. Chiasson Àred up Zoom and set “I’m Nobody!” is the Àrst poem I remember knowing. Perhaps it up a retro blog for posting poems and commenting on them. Everyone actually was the Àrst perhaps I learned it later, and it effaced other, started a journal. ENG 357 was back, stripped down and reconsti- simpler rhymes. It hardly matters. Because what I remember, what tuted digitally. And we went straight back to the poems. From around I still embrace as “Àrst poem,” is this Emily Dickinson verse, written the country, seated in bedrooms and on back porches, in kitchens and in Amherst, Mass., circa 1861, and listed as #288 in the Thomas H. home libraries and one auditor’s piano studio, we re-entered the world Johnson edition of her poems, published initially in 1960. of Emily Dickinson. There was palpable joy in being together again, So in January, I bought a fresh copy of Johnson’s 770-page The even digitally. Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson and slipped difÀdently into my “I’m sure it has occurred to you that our interiors—our bounded Àrst college-level English class since the 1970s. Room 338, on the third environments, however large or small, and wherever we Ànd our- Áoor of Green Hall, was chilly that day. Every seat was Àlled, and we selves—are suddenly our entire worlds our predicament or opportu- sat elbow-to-elbow and notebook-to-notebook as class began. nity mirrors Dickinson’s,” Chiasson wrote to the class. Reading my notes from those Àrst weeks, I see that our class It felt to many of us that Dickinson was teaching us how to live explored Dickinson family biography, read excerpts from essays about richly within the boundaries of our new world. Reviewing my notes 19th-century material culture and attitudes to death, about the intel- from our very Àrst class, I read that after Emily’s retreat to her lectual life of Amherst, Mass., and about the role of the Civil War in room, her letters and poems became her social life. Read “Zoom” for Dickinson’s work. We went online to interpret her handwriting and “letters” and that was true for the 22 of us in ENG 357, too. her use of punctuation—those dashes!—amid the riches of the Emily “I can’t help but feel Dickinson’s language as visceral reminders of Dickinson Archive, an open-source website of the poet’s handwrit- the now,” Paige Calvert ’20 wrote in the class blog. “Today feels like ten manuscripts. We speculated about the unsolved mystery of her I’m putting ‘new Blossoms in /my/ Glass,’ taking out what has sat in withdrawal from the world into her bedroom on the second Áoor of my bed with me for two weeks and Ànding something new, something the Dickinson homestead. We began to call her Emily, addressing her that wishes to be renewed, rejuvenated. Do others feel similar? This

20 WELLESLEY MAGAZINE

pg18-21_poetry_final.indd 20 6/25/20 1:48 PM return to Wellesley, although digital, brings me a new sense of calm that I haven’t had in quite a while. The line that honestly made me tear up this morning was: ‘We cannot put Ourself away.’ Because somehow that’s exactly what I feel has happened to me. I feel like I have put away a part of myself for this time of transition, and only now have I woken up and decided to come back, come out, come ‘to Flesh’ once again. It’s really truly remarkable how Emily’s words can continue to have such impact—and now, when we are at home, turning to art, music, literature, poetry, theater to make us feel human—Emily’s poems are some of the best.” Sara Lucas ’22 wrote, “This time trapped in a smaller world has been teaching me the wonders of knowing one space very intimately. I’m so used to being out and about that I’ve never noticed the small worlds existing right in my childhood bedroom or my parents’ back- yard. I think of Emily as I watch a hummingbird drink from our rain- Àlled eaves, as I track an ant’s path over the brick steps to our front door, or as I contemplate the green leaves of the old oak tree outside my bedroom window. I think of the acuity and wonder with which she took in her limited surroundings, and I strive to do the same.” When I signed up for ENG 357, I thought I would learn more about the work of a poet I had loved since childhood. Little did I know that I was signing up for a wise, maddening, observant, and challenging guide to our post-pandemic solitude. Take, for instance, this undated poem, #1695:

There is a solitude of space A solitude of sea A solitude of death, but these Society shall be Compared with that profounder site That polar privacy A soul admitted to itself — Finite Infinity.

In 2016, Chiasson wrote in a New Yorker book review, “This is an extraordinary time to read Dickinson, one of the richest moments since her death. The publication of Envelope Poems and the growing collection of Dickinson’s manuscripts, available online and in inex- pensive print editions, coincides with an ambitious restoration of the Dickinson properties in Amherst. …” How much more extraordinary it would be to read Dickinson in spring 2020, none of us could possibly have foreseen. Yet the slight, evasive, white-clad poet Ànding her voice in her bedroom in Amherst turned out to be a perfect companion. We were each alone in our rooms, but with Emily we were together.

Catherine O’Neill Grace, a senior associate editor for this magazine, is riding out quarantine at her home in Sherborn, Mass., in the trusty New England company of Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, and Louisa May Alcott. She and the other ENG 357 auditors and a few students are continuing to meet virtually to read and discuss Emily Dickinson.

THE VERSIONS OF THE POEMS PRINTED HERE WERE PUBLISHED IN 1891 AND 1924 RESPECTIVELY AND ARE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.

SUMMER 2020 21

pg18-21_poetry_final.indd 21 6/25/20 1:48 PM 22 WELLESLEY MAGAZINE

pg22-31_commencement_final.indd 22 6/25/20 1:51 PM What We Wish for the Class of ’20

With the spring semester on campus abruptly cut short by the novel coronavirus, the members of the red class of 2020 have missed many of the time- honored traditions around graduation: senior week festivities; a big tent crowded with family, friends, faculty, and polyester robes; triumphant marches across the stage that neatly end a shared chapter in their lives. Before leaving campus, the class staged an emotional “faux-mencement,” pictured here. In lieu of a commencement address, we offer the following words of comfort, support, and solidarity from Àve members of the Wellesley community. We know that nothing can replace the time on campus that ’20 missed, but we hope that they Ànd solace in the knowledge that wherever they are in the world and wherever their lives take them, Wellesley will be there.

Photography by Kayana Szymczak

SUMMER 2020 23

pg22-31_commencement_final.indd 23 6/25/20 1:51 PM Wendy Judge Paulson ’69

Students of the class of 2020, you have spent the across the planet to pursue careers and develop and country to country, but they all are part of better part of four academic years immersed in your individual interests. the wondrous diversity of life on Earth. Many are beauty—the beauty of learning and teaching, I appreciated the natural aesthetic of the discovering a need for nature they never knew new discoveries, expanded horizons, creativity, Wellesley campus while I was there, but I didn’t they had, even as research conÀrms that time deepened understanding, friendships. realize its deeper impact until much later. When I in nature nourishes physical, mental, emotional, There’s another expression of beauty that has was troubled about a personal issue, or felt unmo- and spiritual health. embraced you during your tenure at Wellesley: tivated in my work, or simply needed to think, Your graduation year coincides with that of the beauty of the campus. I headed outdoors. Marveling at the autumn the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. It’s an oppor- The opportunity to walk to classes along palette of maples and oaks, standing at the edge tune moment to reÁect on the natural context curved footpaths, meander back to your dorm of Lake Waban during a winter snowfall, drink- for your undergraduate career—a context that in any number of ways, pause on the boardwalk ing in the tranquility and beauty of the campus the founding Durants deliberately provided to over Paintshop Pond to listen to the songs of brought solace and perspective that I sorely nourish an excellent education—and consider yellow warblers and red-winged blackbirds, or needed. I was discovering that nature held a your role in protecting and conserving nature take a long walk around the lake by yourself depth of meaning—and healing—that has devel- in the communities and cities where you will live or with friends has been a daily gift that often oped into lifelong involvement in nature educa- and work. You need not be a biologist, naturalist, is not fully obvious until you leave it. You have tion and conservation. or conservationist to support the stewardship of been blessed to have lived and studied these past I’ve learned in the decades since I left nature—to care for it, as nature cares for us. years on a campus of uncommon natural diversity Wellesley that nature has an extraordinary power and beauty. to comfort, uplift, inspire, educate, intrigue, and That fact may seem irrelevant or trivial in the delight. It should come as no surprise that in this Wendy Judge Paulson ’69 is a nature educator face of many challenges, whether they be on a time of pause and conÀnement, people the world and serves as trustee or adviser for multiple global scale like the pandemic that precipitated over are sharing photos and stories of natural conservation organizations, both domestic and your untimely departure from the campus, or of phenomena many had never noticed before: the international. She established the Paulson an individual nature. But it is not irrelevant. The exquisite unfurling of blossoms, the trill of frogs, Ecology of Place Initiative at Wellesley to spark beauty of place that you have experienced is a the migration of birds on epic annual journeys. more intentional integration of the campus into benediction to cherish and build on as you scatter The species vary from hemisphere to hemisphere all academic disciplines.

Above: The class of 2020 marched through the Academic Quad on the way to the “faux-mencement” ceremony they organized.

pg22-31_commencement_final.indd 24 6/25/20 1:51 PM ‘You need not be a biologist, naturalist, or conservationist to support the stewardship of nature—to care for it, as nature cares for us.’

—Wendy Judge Paulson ’69

SUMMER 2020 25

pg22-31_commencement_final.indd 25 6/25/20 1:52 PM 26 WELLESLEY MAGAZINE

pg22-31_commencement_final.indd 26 6/25/20 1:52 PM Jasmine Guillory ’97

Congratulations, class of 2020! I am so proud of your failures, or think that your Wellesley family all of you. We, Wellesley alums from near and far, doesn’t understand—I promise, we do. When I from so many generations, are so proud of all of failed the bar exam as an aspiring attorney, when you. You accomplished something incredible, and I’ve lost jobs, when I despaired for my future, I hope you’re proud of yourselves. You gradu- Wellesley was always there for me. With shoul- ated from Wellesley College, not an easy feat at ders to cry on, hugs, pep talks, and useful advice any time, and at all times something to celebrate. and crucial connections that helped me pick Not only that, but you did it in the middle of one myself up and keep moving forward. of the hardest things any of us have had to live But Wellesley is also always—always—there through. This is an incredible achievement, and to celebrate my successes with me, and to mul- I hope you recognize that. tiply my joy. The success of my books have far I wish so much that Wellesley could cel- and away surpassed my wildest dreams, but ebrate you with the commencement ceremony when my Àrst book came out 2õ years ago, I had you deserve, and I hate that we can’t right now. no idea what the reception for it would be. I am It’s OK to grieve what has been taken away from so grateful for Wellesley alums who have sup- you; this end to your college career isn’t what ported me, cheered for me, and celebrated me any of us would have wanted for you, and I’m so and my books every step along the way. Of the sorry for that. But please know that, no matter more than 60 book events I’ve done in the past what, you will always have Wellesley, and that 2 õ years, Wellesley alums have been to at least the community of your fellow Wellesley alums 50 of them. We aren’t that big of a school! There will be there for you. aren’t that many of us! But from California to I have had many hard times in the 23 years New York, from Minnesota to Arizona, from since my Wellesley commencement, and Wellesley Texas to North Carolina, Wellesley has always has helped me through them all. Wellesley will be been there for me. there for you during your struggles, your grief, We, Wellesley, will be there for you, class of your sicknesses, your hardships of all kinds. And 2020. Always. Wellesley will be there for you when you fail— yes, fail—even Wellesley alums do. I would argue that especially Wellesley alums do, because we After Wellesley, Jasmine Guillory ’97 earned a are only able to succeed if we put ourselves out J.D. at Stanford Law School. She had practiced there and take risks, and sometimes those risks ODZIRU\HDUVZKHQVKHVWDUWHGZULWLQJ³ÀUVW don’t pan out. One of the things I’ve learned since as just a hobby, then as a passion, then, after my Wellesley graduation is the ability to deal with years of hard work and rejection, as a career. failure, to take those risks, to try something I may She is now a New York Times bestselling author not be good at, to fall down, and to pick myself RIÀYHURPDQFHQRYHOV+HUÀIWKERRN Party of back up again. Please don’t be embarrassed by Two, came out in June.

SUMMER 2020 27

pg22-31_commencement_final.indd 27 6/25/20 1:52 PM Heather Long ’04

It’s OK to feel a little sad that spring 2020—and But you have something unique: A Wellesley In moments of doubt, I think about Mamford, graduation 2020—isn’t anything close to what education and a Wellesley family. In the midst of a Lyft driver I met shortly before President you envisioned. I can kind of relate. As you read this crisis, younger alums have checked on older Trump declared a national emergency on this, I was supposed to be on my honeymoon, alums. They’ve organized Zoom reunions and March 13 and much of the nation went into lock- a last big adventure before my husband and I mask-making initiatives. Wellesley grads have down. We text and talk from time to time. He try to have a child. We tell each other the trip brought quarantined alums food and supplies, stopped driving. He still hasn’t been able to get is just … delayed. But we’re realizing it might and they’ve advocated for better policies at hos- unemployment. He’s worried about losing his not happen. pitals and at the local, state, and national levels. car. He always asks me, “Do you still have a job?” I’ve had a few moments of self-pity, of sitting You are now a Wellesley alum. You are part of He’s right. I’m lucky I can work from home. I on my couch eating too many mint creme this family. Your Àrst task is to keep yourself and am Àghting for Mamford and about 30 million Oreos. I’ve then berated myself for being so your loved ones safe. When you are able, check Americans who lost jobs during the pandemic self-centered at a time when friends, including in on friends. Build networks. Reach out. Then through my stories and questions to lawmak- someone in my extended family, have lost loved Ànd that issue you want to Àght to change. None ers and corporations. Class of 2020, what will ones to COVID-19, and they can’t even have a of us can solve every problem—or even most of you do? funeral. It’s OK to feel that range of emotions. them. But we can use our gifts—and education— This isn’t the year any of us envisioned, but Class of 2020, these are not easy times. And to help in our own ways. we’ll help each other through it, and most impor- they are unlikely to get rosier. Many of you have For me, that calling has taken me into jour- tantly, we will ensure this never happens again. known tough situations. You were born shortly nalism. I am an economics correspondent at before 9/11. Your childhood was impacted by the the Washington Post. Right now, I am chroni- Great Recession. Now, you leave college during cling the worst economic crisis since the Great Heather Long ’04 got her start writing about a deadly pandemic. For nearly your entire life, Depression. My apartment is a mess. Some days, economic issues in Professor David Lindauer’s America has been at war. And countless natural I don’t shower. I have no home ofÀce, so I type Economic Journalism class her senior year. disasters and refugee crises have also occurred, on my bed, much as I did in McAfee and Tower She has worked for CNN, the Guardian, the not to mention climate change. dorm rooms. I record podcasts from my closet. Patriot-News, and the Washington Post.

Above: The class of 2020 also organized their own Hooprolling and Stepsinging before leaving campus.

pg22-31_commencement_final.indd 28 6/25/20 1:53 PM Claire Ayoub ’11

My name is Claire Ayoub, and I’m a proud empowerment is so in right now!” My bank I was Áown out to Los Angeles and Sundance member of the golden class of 2011. I’m also a account was almost empty. I had moved to Los to workshop the script. As I met with industry comedy writer and director, which means I’ve Angeles to make movies and TV, so it was exactly executives who wanted to make my movie, with had a lot of other jobs in the past nine years. what I wanted to hear, right? So I promised them me as director. Even though I doubted myself Now I’m making my first movie. Empire a second draft, quit doing comedy, and let the every step of the way, I still tried. Waist is my comedy about teen girls learning script sit in a folder on my computer marked It’s a small phrase, but it isn’t easy. It’s why to love their bodies through fashion design. It “Hall Closet” for four years. I call the circles under my eyes my “emotional began in 2014 as an essay for Amy Poehler’s The fear of failure is a really powerful and baggage.” But I can promise you: It will be worth Smart Girls, in which I begged my 12-year-old debilitating thing. What if I fail? What if I fall? it—and you won’t be alone. No one has cheered self not to quit swimming just because she had What if it isn’t worth it at all? Even when we harder for me during my career than my 2011 gained weight. It was the most vulnerable I had get within arm’s reach of the things we want, it classmates and the alum community at large. ever been in my professional writing. But it was can be so difÀcult to avoid the negative thoughts We support each other, not only during the great my truth—and I wasn’t alone. The response telling us we’re not good enough. times, but the challenging ones, too. We are here was overwhelmingly positive as women from Class of 2020, as you step out into your post- for each other—and we are here for you. around the country and the world shared their Wellesley world, my challenge to you is this: own stories. At that moment, I knew I wanted to Try anyway. Even if you’re scared to take a write a movie for us all. leap or not sure you have the skills, try anyway. After Wellesley, Claire Ayoub ’11 went into In 2015, I wrote Empire Waist, a comedy Whatever it may be, don’t count yourself out sketch comedy writing and directing in New about an overweight and deeply insecure teen before you even try. York City—meaning she worked as a nanny, girl with a gift for fashion design. She can make Four years after I promised that second tutor, assistant, book editor, copywriter, com- herself anything she wants to wear—but doesn’t draft of Empire Waist, I Ànally wrote it. I threw mercial writer, Letterman joke writer, and feel worthy to wear it. It’s a story of self-love and a party for my deadline, a live reading for 20 many other writing jobs to make ends meet. the Àlm I needed as a teen girl. friends. And even though my brain screamed to She’s written for Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls, My entertainment managers were ecstatic. cancel the reading, I tried anyway. I tried anyway the New York Times, TNT, Comedy Central, and “This will make you millions! And female as I held 16 live readings across the country. As copyedits all her dad’s emails.

SUMMER 2020 29

pg22-31_commencement_final.indd 29 6/25/20 1:53 PM Timothy Peltason

When I was about 13 and reading J. D. Salinger’s their full participation in the necessary rituals Catcher in the Rye for the Àrst time, I was struck of loss. But these more grievous losses don’t at by Holden Caulfield’s remark, after he gets all diminish your own right to be sad and mad kicked out of his third or fourth prep school, that about what you’ve missed. All of your teachers, he needs to walk around the place a bit, “trying and your class deans and residence staff, and to feel some kind of a good-by … I don’t care if everybody who has supported you here—we’re it’s a sad good-by or a bad good-by, but when all sad and mad for you, and so much of our own I leave a place I like to know I’m leaving it. If work and email and Zoom talk over the past you don’t, you feel even worse.” Struggling with few months has been about you and about the my own good-bye to the home my family was great regret that we feel on your behalf. You are leaving, I knew just what he meant, and I was a part of many different and intersecting com- excited to discover that there were characters munities, and their concern for you, along with in books who knew so much about me and who your concern and care for each other, is creat- could help me to lay hold of my feelings in words. ing new kinds of rituals and new shared experi- I offer you Holden now for his sympathetic ences. The other messages here, from your elder insight into one source of the disorientation Wellesley siblings, should make clear the sym- that we are all feeling in this strange season, pathetic warmth with which the whole Wellesley and that you members of the class of 2020 have alumnae community is thinking of you, and the special reason to feel. We were all of us wrenched eagerness with which they are welcoming you abruptly from the warm, familiar world of our into their ranks. routines into the socially distanced limbo that we Wherever you go from this time and place, currently inhabit. And we are all of us grieving you will carry with you the special distinction— this loss, you with particular reason and force. however dubious a distinction it may seem just Although you and your teachers have worked now—of being members of the class of 2020 hard to complete the intellectual work of the and veterans of the senior spring that wasn’t. term, your viral and virtual senior springtime As soon as you mention your graduation date to has not done for you its crucial therapeutic work. anybody anywhere, they will know what sets you Senior spring is always a series of arrivals and apart, which is also what will bind you together. losses, which is why it’s Àlled with rituals and I’ll venture a guess that your Àve-year reunion observances that help you to process loss and to will be exceptionally well attended, a great rite go forward. To go forward with whatever sense of return and deferred celebration. In the mean- of sadness or eagerness, but with the sense, at while, we hope that you will come back before least, that a momentous transition has been then, and often. We wish you hearty congratula- properly recognized and lived. But for you that tions on your unique and remarkable graduation process was cut abruptly short, before you could from Wellesley. We wish health and every good fully experience your season of transition or have thing for you and your families. And we stand the chance to feel your good-bye, and to feel it in with you, we stand for you, to recognize and to the company of the friends and classmates with honor this great passage in your lives. whom you have shared so much. It’s both a consolation and a complication that you are feeling this loss in the midst of Tim Peltason teaches in the English department so many other stresses and losses, some less and has been a proud and grateful member of profound than yours, some much more. I have the Wellesley faculty for 43 years. He eagerly attended two Zoom shivas in the last few weeks hopes to see Wellesley students returning to and wept there with and for the mourners who campus for at least some portion of his 44th and are also being denied by this strange, scary time last year at Wellesley in 2020–21.

30 WELLESLEY MAGAZINE

pg22-31_commencement_final.indd 30 6/25/20 1:53 PM ‘We stand with you, we stand for you, to recognize and to honor this great passage in your lives.’

—Professor Tim Peltason

SUMMER 2020 31

pg22-31_commencement_final.indd 31 6/25/20 1:53 PM pgs32–33_unplanned_final.indd 32 6/25/20 1:58 PM THEUNPLANNED VOYAGE A SMALL EMBROIDERY I made hangs in the some frustration. I was distraught in the early bedroom that I share with my husband, my days of quarantine to learn that he had gone cat, and, sometimes, my kids. It depicts a two- to the Five & Ten to get a replacement button masted ship soaring straight into the heavens, for one of his jackets. “Why did he think that sails unfurled. But the ship is not propelled by button was mission critical?!” I yelled over the wind. An external tank and solid rocket the phone when my mother told me about his boosters are attached to its hull, exploding unsanctioned trip. She sighed. it into a starry sky. The idea for the design There is plenty of turbulence on our own came to me several years ago, while I was little ship, which doesn’t have much sound- reading Leaving Orbit by Margaret Lazarus prooÀ ng but does have a 7-year-old who com- Dean ’94, a beautiful, melancholic book municates mostly at a shout. I’ve developed a about the end of the U.S. space shuttle era. I deep admiration for my children’s elementary- stitched it thinking of frontiers and explora- school teachers, who have had to rework their tion and Neverland. curriculum, on the Á y, using online tools that These days, I spend a lot of time gazing at work with varying degrees of success. (I this piece of cloth and thread. Our bedroom has loathe Seesaw.) But as the weeks have gone become an ofÀ ce for both me and my husband by, my goals have shifted from replicating my since our town, Natick, Mass., closed public kids’ pre-pandemic lives to just making sure schools on March 13 to help slow the spread they’re not complete jerks and spend some of the novel coronavirus. Our room is the pre- time reading instead of playing Minecraft or ferred location for Zoom calls if you want a Roblox. I have also, perhaps, slightly lowered À ghting chance of not being interrupted by one my own expectations for myself as an editor. of our kids, ages 7 and 10. (Our cat, Maddie, (If you discover a misplaced comma in this abides by rules of her own and has shown her issue—my bad.) Á uffy haunches to many of our coworkers.) I’ve also learned to emphasize the small When I study my ship now, I think less of things that bring us joy. My husband intro- travel and adventure and more about long- ducing us to Dungeons and Dragons, a long- term isolation in small quarters. Early in dormant passion of his. My son’s delight with the days of the quarantine, I brightly told our old Calvin and Hobbes books. Chrissy my kids over dinner that self-isolation in our Teigen’s banana bread recipe. Allowing my small, 1880s-era house would be decent prac- kids to put on bathing suits, hop in the tub, tice for making a trip to Mars. The next day, and empty a couple cans of shaving cream. my daughter and I watched The Martian The unexpected thrill that comes from taking together. (Maybe it could count as science clippers to my husband’s head. Schitt’s Creek. class, I thought optimistically.) I commented While my family is decidedly grounded for that while we may be low on Á our, at least we the foreseeable future, some things miracu- didn’t have to eat potatoes for a year like Matt lously move ahead anyway, regardless of the Damon’s character. stay-at-home advisories. On a particularly Suiting up for grocery-store shopping beautiful April morning, we all took our bikes certainly feels as complicated as preparing to the empty parking lot at the end of our for a spacewalk. My husband and I leave the street. My son, who had abandoned training house wearing homemade masks (who knew wheels last fall but hadn’t quite mastered bal- my sewing skills would be so useful during a ancing on his own, decided to give it another national emergency?), toting a precious bottle go. After much cheering and encouragement by Lisa Scanlon Mogolov ’99 Written and illustrated of hand sanitizer that we deploy before and from his sister, and a little push from my after leaving the market. husband, he wobbled past one parking spot on Perhaps my love of space travel comes nat- his own, then another, then another, keeping urally; before I was born, my father worked as up his typical all-caps commentary the entire a software engineer at MIT’s Instrumentation time. Lift off. Laboratory on the Apollo project. He is currently weathering the pandemic with my Lisa Scanlon Mogolov ’99, a senior associate editor mother in their Concord, Mass., home, with at this magazine, wrote this essay in late April.

WINTER 2020 33

pgs32–33_unplanned_final.indd 33 6/25/20 1:58 PM More than a century ago, Wellesley faculty, alumnae, and student activists fought to gain women the vote, but in the early days, they faced campus opposition from those who wanted to focus on ‘our half of the world’s work’ and let men do the governing.

THE FIGHT FORBETTMANN/GETTYIMAGES —AND AGAINST— THE VOTE

By Amita Parashar Kelly ’06

34 WELLESLEY MAGAZINE

pg34-39_suffrage_final.indd 34 6/25/20 1:57 PM Opposite: A woman pickets the White House in 1917. Above: Supporters of woman suffrage march through Washington Square in New York City in 1912.

BETTMANN/GETTYIMAGES

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pg34-39_suffrage_final.indd 35 6/25/20 1:57 PM IMAGINING THE LIVES OF AMERICAN WOMEN MORE THAN 100 YEARS AGO FEELS ALMOST DYSTOPIAN.

Maybe you were one of the aggrieved, oppressed, and lucky ones—born white and fraudulently deprived of wealthy enough to live a mostly their most sacred rights, we comfortable life, though still insist that they have imme- with little autonomy. Maybe diate admission to all the you came of age when colleges rights and privileges which like Wellesley opened, and you belong to them as citizens of were able to access higher edu- these United States.” cation. Maybe you worked in Beyond Seneca Falls, one of the limited jobs available there were small move- to women, earning a fraction of ments popping up across what a man would have made the country—including by for the same work. If you were women of color—to lobby married, any property, wages, states to allow women to or inheritance you earned vote. Women were begin- could belong to your husband— ning to break out of their

because you did not exist sepa- FPG/ARCHIVE PHOTOS/GETTY IMAGES prescribed roles and step rately from him. If you were Suffragists in New York City hold umbrellas advertising a May 1912 parade. into every corner of society. Black, the fresh legacy of By the early 1900s, slavery still barred you and your family from years ago, with the ratiÀcation of the 19th Wellesley’s campus was already awakening nearly every right and beneÀt of society. Amendment to the Constitution, which guar- to the suffrage movement, and faculty and Put simply—legally, politically, and eco- anteed most women the right to vote nation- alumnae were involved in local and national nomically, women were not considered wide. (It would still be decades before millions chapters of suffrage leagues, according to individuals. of women of color could exercise full voting news reports and notices from the time. Until they fought back. rights in practice.) The amendment boils In 1902, students were invited to partici- “If we have a responsible share in govern- down to just 28 words: “The right of citizens of pate in an essay competition by the College ment, we shall ourselves proÀt in growth of the United States to vote shall not be denied Equal Suffrage League—a fundamental power and character, and we shall be more or abridged by the United States or by any part of the movement that was created by intelligent and loyal citizens. … Womanhood state on account of sex.” two Radcliffe alumnae to attract younger is getting restless under its stigma of irre- participants. sponsiblity,” reads a 1912 notice for the Equal Wellesley had its own chapter of the Equal Suffrage League in the Wellesley News. WHEN WELLESLEY OPENED ITS DOORS IN 1875, THE Suffrage League, which frequently advertised By the 1910s, the College and the nation suffrage movement was already humming. open meetings in the Wellesley News. The were approaching the Ànish line in the Àght The Àrst women’s rights convention was con- notices are a window into the start of student for suffrage—and women were restless vened in Seneca Falls, N.Y., about 25 years activism at Wellesley. “We have our contribu- indeed. A Àght more than seven decades in earlier—ending in the forceful declaration tion to make to the government, as well as to the making culminated in August 1920, 100 that “because women do feel themselves the census, and we shall not be less admirable

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pg34-39_suffrage_final.indd 36 6/25/20 1:57 PM women because we are more efficient citi- cause alongside their chosen professions. everyone,” he told the Baltimore Sun. “Few zens,” read one notice. Famed writer and conservationist Marjory of us keep optimistic about any subject for so “It should be the joy of every woman Stoneman Douglas 1912 lobbied for women’s long a time.” to believe in the capacity of her sex,” read suffrage. Faculty member Emily Greene It is worth noting that there were few another. Balch, who studied the economic role of African American students at Wellesley at Perhaps the most visible demonstra- women and went on to win the Nobel Peace the time. Black women nationally, however, tions of the movement were the marches Prize, was also active in the movement. And were organizing passionate suffrage move- and parades—comprised of rows of women Mabel Seagrave 1905, a physician who treated ments despite being largely excluded from in long white dresses, often with sashes and battlefield casualties and ran a hospital in the national leadership of the movement. signs reading “Votes for Women,” and some France during World War I, was an advocate In February 1913, Mary Church Terrell, a men. The Wellesley community participated of women’s voting rights. Charlotte Anita nationally known advocate for civil rights in several such parades leading up to the Whitney 1889 was an early communist who and suffrage, came to speak at Wellesley on passage of the 19th Amendment. led a campaign for a suffrage amendment to “The African Woman in America” and “the Wellesley student E. Eugenia Corwin the California constitution and later worked subject of opportunities, or rather the lack 1914 wrote of attending a suffrage parade on for the movement in other Western states. of opportunities, for colored girls,” accord- May 2, 1914—a day when coordinated parades In February 1906, Mary W. Calkins, a ing to The Crisis magazine. Mary Eliza Clark were held across the country, including a large professor of philosophy and psychology at Wilber 1913 was quoted: “I do not know when one in Boston. The parade, she said, “meant Wellesley, shared a Baltimore stage with other a speaker has aroused so much interest and not only the music and banners and swing of women’s college representatives and suffrage changed so many ideas in a short time.” a great procession, but inconvenience, long legend Susan B. Anthony. Calkins was active waiting, a hard march. It gave us, in a very in the movement and spoke at several suf- small way, a chance to sacriÀce something to frage conventions. TO THE WOMEN EDUCATED AT WELLESLEY AND a noble idea.” That night, the crowd—“brilliant in dress, other colleges, their involvement in the suf- The next year, Massachusetts held a suf- in intellect and in achievement,” according to frage movement was born of a desire to reach frage “victory parade” in Boston, beginning a Baltimore Sun story from the time—had beyond their own educations. on Massachusetts Avenue, to support a state assembled “to pay tribute to Miss Anthony Women back then graduated from colleges ballot measure, which later failed, that would and to her cause.” When Anthony rose to like Wellesley into professional and political have guaranteed women the right to vote. The speak, “the handkerchief of every woman in arenas that were still largely closed to them, Wellesley News reported that 80 students, the assembly Áuttered—a white Áag of affec- says Ellen Carol DuBois ’68, author of the “clad in white, with Wellesley blue bands and tion—and the assembly arose as one man— new book Suffrage: Women’s Long Battle for Áaunting yellow chrysanthemums, marched in or rather one woman—to do honor to this the Vote (see page 14 for a review). “Women the college division”—one of the largest con- courageous pioneer.” Anthony confided to got to go to college before they got to have tingents in the section. Faculty and alumnae the president of Johns Hopkins, who hosted jobs that used those college educations,” in caps and gowns formed another group in the event, that she was optimistic about the DuBois says. the section. “The Wellesley section, headed by cause of suffrage, as she had been for nearly Wellesley’s Equal Suffrage League a large college banner,” the News reported, 70 years. “That is a magniÀcent lesson for deployed that argument on campus. “The “received much applause along the line of march because of the splendid marching order which it kept.” Elsewhere in the country, alumnae and faculty were doing their part. Henrietta Wells Livermore 1887 was a leader in New York’s Ànal push for suffrage. In 1910, she organized a group of activists at her home—a meeting that evolved into a statewide movement that ultimately won suffrage there in 1917. She later became the Àrst president of the Women’s National Republican Club. Mary Church Terrell, “You have it in your hands to win,” pictured here in the late 1800s, was a well-known Livermore said in 1920, according to a proÀle African American activist by the Independent Women’s Forum. “You and proponent of civil have new ideas, new methods in politics, and I rights and suffrage. She cannot impress upon you too strongly the part addressed Wellesley students on the topic of you have to play in the coming campaign.” “The African Woman in

Other alumnae worked to advance the UNIVERSAL GROUP/GETTY IMAGES IMAGES America” in 1913.

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pg34-39_suffrage_final.indd 37 6/25/20 1:57 PM college woman is under special obligations WHILE WELLESLEY WAS IN MANY WAYS A NATURAL Some feared women’s entry into the to support the movement for woman’s suf- Àt with the suffrage movement, not everyone political sphere would disrupt the family. In a frage,” the group stated in the Wellesley News joined the cause. query received in Wellesley’s Equal Suffrage in 1912, “because at present she is enjoying “We suffragists were truly a minor- League’s question box in spring 1912, a the privileges which the Àrst pioneers of the ity group, sponsoring a cause unpopular Wellesley student asked: “Why don’t we put woman’s rights gained for her. In the second with a large majority of the students,” our whole strength of mind and purpose into place, in the professions which college women McNally wrote. doing what is distinctly our half of the world’s take up after graduation, they are constantly In 1911, Wellesley classes and faculty par- work, and let the men go on, doing the govern- hindered by the preference given to men ticipated in a suffrage poll. The News reported ing and Àghting?” over women.” two-thirds of students opposed it, while most In many corners, the opposition was bla- The movement provided one of the Àrst faculty supported the movement. tantly racist, classist, and, of course, sexist. paid occupations for young, college-educated The paper mostly brushed off the oppo- Opening the vote would allow uneducated women, DuBois says. Wealthy women sition as naiveté, attributing it to lack of endowed the movement, which allowed young knowledge and indifference on the part of the graduates, many of whom were middle-class majority of the student body. Unlike Vassar, in those days, to get paid for their work. “where the spirit seems uncommonly mili- ‘IT WAS NOT ONLY But these graduates also saw their work as tant of recent years,” reported an editorial, bigger than the paycheck—it was along a con- at Wellesley “this vote on woman’s suffrage tinuum of rights they had already started to scarcely reÁects anything but the indiffer- A POLITICAL THING, beneÀt from. “From the beginning of women’s ence to contemporary life of a lot of sheltered rights, the sequence was education, economic young women.” rights, and political rights,” DuBois says. But few activists at the time, it seems, could have predicted just how much the suffrage movement would affect their own lives and subsequent progress for women. In the winter ’82 Wellesley magazine, Almira Morgan McNally 1912, then in her 90s, recounted her involvement in the suffrage movement, along with her roommate Helen Paul 1911—sister of suffrage leader Alice Paul. McNally was president of Wellesley’s Equal Suffrage League her junior year. “In our college days, few suffragists spoke of women’s rights other than political ones—the right to vote and hold ofÀce,” she said. “The ramiÀcations of the feminist movement with all its economic implications were largely in the future.” Ruth Belcher Dyk 1923 followed her moth- COURTESY WELLESLEY COLLEGE ARCHIVES er’s path in attending Wellesley. She was born Wellesley students participate in a march for suffrage in Philadelphia in 1915. in 1901 and recalled joining her mother to march for suffrage in Boston holding a “Votes for Women” banner. But the anti-suffrage arguments were women and people of color to gain more She and other suffragists, she said in the actually much deeper than naiveté. Since the power. Some suffragists played right into 1999 documentary Not for Ourselves Alone, beginning of the movement, an anti-suffrage that argument, selling out the rights of Black believed great things were going to come response had existed. Early suffragists were citizens to advance their own political cause. out of the movement. “Great in terms of the sometimes met with vitriol, as Ellen Carol As DuBois writes, the Black abolitionist and position of women in our culture, position of DuBois documents in her book. When Susan suffrage movements worked together early women in their jobs, position of women every- B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton on, but that connection broke down as suffrag- where, and this was going to improve that,” campaigned in Kansas in the 1860s, an ists choose to more narrowly focus on white she said. “So it was not only a political thing, “anti-female suffrage” faction spewed nasty, women. Celebrated suffrage leader Elizabeth but it also was a personal thing. Lives would sexualized innuendo, calling woman suffrage Cady Stanton went so far as to argue that be changed, you see, lives would be changed.” advocates “male women” and “poodle pups.” women would be degraded if Black men were

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pg34-39_suffrage_final.indd 38 6/25/20 1:57 PM also granted the right to vote. “To raise the two people do the work of one and there were deployed to keep them from voting. lowliest of men above the most elevated of result twice as many votes at no gain,” she By the time students came back in fall women,” DuBois quotes Cady Stanton as said. “If the wife votes against her husband, 1920, Wellesley’s campus was buzzing with a preaching, “was ‘a deliberate insult to women the two votes nullify each other and are new kind of political activism. of the nation.’” equally useless.” On Oct. 30, just days before women voted Perhaps ironically, some prominent anti- She also argued that women should not for the Àrst time, students held a large politi- suffragists were women who had beneÀted be allowed to vote as long as men were the cal torchlight rally through campus, culmi- from college educations. Alice Vant George primary wage-earners—unless they were nating in speeches in favor of their favorite 1887, reportedly one of the most prominent willing to become equal earners themselves: presidential candidates in front of Tower opponents of suffrage in Massachusetts, “If women want equality with men in suffrage, Court. “Nearly everyone in college took argued that women should have some role they should be willing to accept it in other part in the rally with the spirit which was in shaping policy and work, but that giving departments of life.” bound to make it a success,” the Wellesley News reported. “‘Yea Harding!’ ‘Cox and the League’ and other cries equally desirous of drowning all sound but their own, rang out on campus Saturday night.” The victory of the suffragists echoed throughout campus that night, as it has in the BUT IT WAS ALSO A PERSONAL THING. lives of women in the 100 years since. That Nov. 2, Ruth Belcher Dyk 1923 proudly went to vote with her mother, with LIVES WOULD BE CHANGED....’ whom she had marched in Boston. As excited as she was, she later said in Not For Ourselves —Ruth Belcher Dyk 1923 Alone, she was even more thrilled for her mother, who had “worked longer than even I had.” “I was terribly frightened that I would them “political responsibilities” would detract BY EARLY 1920, THE TIDE ON CAMPUS HAD TURNED push the wrong lever. I still go into that booth from that. to favor suffrage. “A great awakening is taking with the same feeling,” she laughed. “What if “Until we are sure we are going to get place,” wrote the Wellesley News in February I vote Republican?” a better State with the woman’s vote than 1920, “suffragists and old-time antis and Dyk’s life spanned a remarkable arc of without it, we should hesitate before we hinder women hitherto indifferent to the whole ques- American history. Born in 1901, she fought for the best service women can do by putting tion are today earnest students of government suffrage, was educated at Wellesley, and spent them into political activities … ,” George said and practical politics in their determination to her Ànal year campaigning for a Senate seat before the Committee on Woman Suffrage in be ready for the new responsibility of voting.” for Hillary Rodham Clinton ’69, who would go Massachusetts in 1913. “The anti-suffragists Women had flooded into the workforce on to nearly win the highest political ofÀce in believe that it is expedient for the State that during World War I, which not only added the land. the motherhood of the state should not be to women’s value in the eyes of men, but also When Dyk died at the age of 99, Clinton drafted off into political channels.” woke up many women to the injustice that called her “an example for women every- Announcing George’s visit to campus they had no say in the political matters of the where.” To her daughter, Penelope Carter, in 1914, the Wellesley anti-suffrage group day despite making unquestionable contribu- Dyk’s legacy was one shared by suffragists addressed “criticism from the Suffragists that tions to the country both in the workplace and across time and generations. Carter told the those who are not for suffrage are incapable of at home. New York Times that one of her earliest mem- thinking or do not think.” After several state amendment efforts ories was her mother looking her in the eye “On the contrary,” the group wrote, “many failed, national leaders stepped up their and telling her, “Don’t be so good.” of the non-suffragists in college are not only tactics, launching pickets of the White House, “She meant you had to have some spirit,” ‘on the fence’ but are Àrmly convinced that facing jail time, and organizing hunger strikes. Carter said. “Go against the grain.” suffrage for women is not the wisest nor the In August 1920, the 19th Amendment best thing for our country or its people.” was Ànally ratiÀed and became part of the Amita Parashar Kelly ’06 works at NPR as a A couple years later, the campus anti- Constitution, giving most female citizens the Washington editor, where she sees the fruits of suffrage group brought Marjorie Dorman, right to vote in all elections. Black women, women’s hard-fought participation in democracy president of the Wage Earners’ Anti-Suffrage however, still faced enormous obstacles in in action every day. League of New York, to campus to speak. “If exercising their voting rights, as literacy tests, a married woman votes as her husband does, poll taxes, and other discriminatory measures

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

FROM THE WCAA PRESIDENT Facing the Unknown—Together

and every phase of this challenging journey. First, challenges, and this is no exception. We have they put the health and safety of our current alums working on the front lines of this pandemic, students as the highest priority. Our amazing and we have many supporting our students, faculty members quickly adjusted their teaching faculty, staff, administration, and each other. approach and embraced distance learning, while Let me close by sharing how grateful I am to also Ànding clever ways to stay connected to stu- our editor, Alice Hummer, and her staff, for cre- dents. The staff on campus worked tirelessly to ating a magazine that not only informs us, but keep the 180 students still in residence safe, fed, in this time, provides us with wonderful stories and supported. about topics that take our minds away from the And once again, our alumnae have shown challenges we are facing each and every day. exactly why we are so often referred to as the If you are asking yourself what else you can world’s most powerful women’s network. The do to help Wellesley during this time, I encour- stories I have heard of alums helping students age you to consider a Ànancial donation to the get home on short notice in March, of provid- College. I also hope you will consider ways to ing support to those remaining on campus, and support our newest alumnae as they embark on contributing to emergency funds have all been their careers—and other alumnae who may be in inspiring. I have heard about local Wellesley transition. Check out the Hive on the Wellesley clubs reaching out to those members who may website. (You can also learn more about Career need assistance to see how they can support each Education’s work to support the class of ’20 and other. And there was a letter-writing campaign other alums on the opposite page.)

RICHARD HOWARD from one of our younger classes to members of Thank you to all who are supporting the several of our older classes. (For more on this, see College, our students, and each other during this GREETINGS, ALUMNAE, page 43.) And the list of selÁess, kind acts to keep difÀcult time. We are Wellesley. We will rise to the As I write this note to you in May from my our alumnae connected to each other and to stu- challenge, we will be part of the solution, and we living room—now commonly referred to as dents goes on and on. will be even stronger on the other side. “Mom’s ofÀce” by my three sons and husband—it While there are so many unknowns, I continue is very difÀcult to imagine the next chapter of this to be so proud of our College and our alumnae. Yours for Wellesley, global pandemic. First and foremost, I want to The Wellesley community has always risen to Martha Goldberg Aronson ’89 extend my sincere condolences to the families and friends of alumnae whose lives have been taken in recent months. My heart goes out to anyone in our Wellesley community who has lost a loved one during this time. And I hope that anyone seri- This fall, the College will survey all alumnae. We want to know about how ously impacted by this virus is healing. It is clearly We Want Wellesley prepared you for life and work, about your engagement in your a moment unlike any that most of us have ever To Hear community, your well-being and sense of connection, your life priorities, experienced in our lifetime. and your assessment of Wellesley’s priorities. Hearing from you helps us While there is so much uncertainty, it is com- From You! grow as an institution and focus the Alumnae Association’s work. forting and, honestly, quite inspirational, to see But we can’t ask you for your input if we can’t reach you! Please update how our College administration and our alumnae your information online this summer so that we can contact you by email in are working through the many phases of this pan- November. Visit alum.wellesley.edu and click “Update My Proﬁle.” demic. I am so proud of President Paula Johnson and her team for the way they are tackling each

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pg40-43_wcaa_final.indd 40 6/25/20 1:59 PM Mid-Pandemic Help for Launching a Career

BACK HOME IN TEXAS before Ànishing her senior year, Katie White ’20 Elyse Cherry ’75, CEO of the Boston-based community Ànance struggled to juggle online learning with trying to Ànd a job. Logging institution BlueHub Capital, jumped to sign up for the Senior Support on to LinkedIn, she was disheartened to Ànd that newly posted jobs Network after years of mentoring Wellesley students through a variety already had hundreds of applicants. of Career Education programs. Before the pandemic, White was conÀdent she could Ànd a fulÀlling “Lending a hand to Wellesley students is a great way to build the job in marketing or user experience that matched her skill set. But world we want and to have that world continue beyond our individual now, in the age of the coronavirus, she’s not so sure. “The job market lives,” Cherry says. “Besides, none of us got where we are now on our is more competitive than ever,” White says. “It’s really scary, and it’s a own.” Mentoring, she says, is “both a pleasure and an obligation to the very tough time for seniors.” ones who came before.” Now, White, along with other recent Wellesley graduates, has a Cherry has participated in speed mentoring programs with new program at her disposal to help her navigate the complicated and Wellesley students and hosted students during a job-shadow program uncertain job market she Ànds herself in: the Senior Support Network. in January. Each summer, she also welcomes a Wellesley student into Spearheaded by the College’s Career Education office, the her ofÀce through the college’s Lumpkin Summer Institute for Service program is part of a broader strategy, Hive 2020, to support students Learning program. This year, she is hosting a student virtually. and alumnae in the midst of COVID-19. Through the Senior Support “Students are coming out into a difÀcult world,” Cherry says, “but Network, interested seniors were matched with an alumnae mentor in it’s a world that needs their expertise and compassion and intellect. their Àeld of interest, in addition to Career Education staff members. I view the connections I make with Wellesley students and alumnae The program harnesses the power and reach of the Wellesley network. as ongoing relationships. It’s a great pleasure to see people moving “Our goal is to build this network around each senior to provide forward in their careers.” them with support throughout the summer and beyond,” says Jennifer Pollard, director of operations and analytics for Career Education. —Deborah Lynn Blumberg ’00 “Networks of support have always been a critical aspect to building a successful career. Now, more than ever, the Wellesley community will be a lifeline for students as they explore and embark upon careers in a changed world.” More than 500 alumnae have volunteered to support Wellesley seniors, with many offering to mentor more than one student. Alumnae have connected with seniors by phone or video chat, shared information about how their industry is evolving in the midst of the pandemic, and given tips for breaking in. They’re helping seniors adapt to the changing job market and navigate remote work. Through an online form, faculty and staff can refer students to the program. By mid-June, the College was able to match all 335 interested seniors with alumnae, and it’s considering extending the program to incoming seniors in the fall. “Seniors are relying on the Wellesley network,” says White. “The Senior Support Network has helped people forge more connections at a time when you can’t just go out and have a coffee with someone.” In addition to the Senior Support Network, Career Education has also launched micro-internships—two-week virtual internships with alumnae—and Career, Coffee, and Conversation—a drop-in conversation series for seniors. Students can participate in Alumnae Career Conversations as well, which are one-hour, moderated 4&As between an alumna and a staff career community advisor. The Career OfÀce is also supporting

ROBERT NEUBECKER C/O THEISPOT.COM alumnae, offering counseling to those out of work.

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New Alumnae Association Board Members ERIN BROWN ’07

Laura Wood Cantopher ’84 Laura Sue Cohen Lauren Young Durbin ’99 Amy Huang ’99 Leilani Stacy ’18 Mount Pleasant, S.C. D’Annunzio ’85 Richmond, Va. Washington, D.C. Cambridge, Mass. President Elect, 2020–21 San Antonio, Texas Director, 2020–22 Director, 2020–22 Young Alumnae Director, President, 2021–24 Director, 2020–22 2020–2023 •Founder/career transition •Senior manager, •Recently retired from a •Former executive vice coach, Tyche Career Marsh and McLennan •Americorps Foodcorps career in educational pub- president and chief people Coaching Companies Global service member at the lishing and philanthropic officer, Rackspace •J.D., New York Law School Technology Infrastructure Mayor’s Office of Food consulting •M.B.A., University of •Wellesley activities: •M.B.A., New York Access in Boston. Plans •M.B.A., Harvard University Chicago Co-chair of the WCAA’s University to attend the University of •Wellesley activities: chair, •Wellesley activities: Inclusion and Diversity •Wellesley activities: Southern California’s Gould 2019 search committee member and former co- Engaging Alums (IDEA) member and admis- School of Law in the fall for WCAA executive direc- chair, Business Leadership Working Group; mentor on sion interviewer for •Wellesley activities: tor; former WCAA board Council; mentor on the the Hive; mid-Atlantic rep Washington Wellesley mentor on the Hive; while member, interim executive Hive; alumnae admission for Wellesley Alumnae of Club; mentor on the at Wellesley, an inaugural director, and staff (director representative and inter- African Descent (WAAD); Hive; mentor, panelist, Ministrare Fellow for Career of clubs); current class viewer, Chicago, Atlanta, former president, vice and assistant matching Education’s Office of of ’84 Wellesley Fund Texas; former class of ’85 president, admissions interns with mentors for Civic Engagement, where representative; former ’84 president, vice president, rep, and webmistress for Wellesley in Washington she coordinated student president, reunion chair, and reunion committee Wellesley in Central and internship program volunteer opportunities nominating chair, Durant member; former member, Coastal Virginia at the South Middlesex giving chair; former member Wellesley in China host Correctional Center of the National Development committee and Outreach Council.

For Exceptional Service to the WCAA

ROBIN MARSHALL of Library and Technology Based on her depth of understanding of project, Marshall dedicated countless nights Services took home the Alumnae Association’s platform features and volunteer web admin- and weekends to meet the necessary timelines Faculty-Staff Service Award for 2020. As the istrator needs, Marshall partnered with the with the resources available. key contact in LTS for alumnae group website WCAA to identify a new vendor and imple- “Marshall has been an ambassador for support, Marshall has been a valuable partner ment a system that will support greater inde- Wellesley to our key alumnae volunteers and to the WCAA. She has built relationships with pendence in alumnae communications and has had a signiÀcant impact on our ability to alumnae volunteers from the classes of the 1950s connections. Over the past year, Marshall, fulfill the mission of the Wellesley College to recent graduates, helping them maintain an information technology business analyst, Alumnae Association,” said WCAA Executive their websites and send email communications. facilitated the migration of 140 sites to a new Director Kathryn Harvey Mackintosh ’03 in Marshall has provided instruction and assis- web platform. Working tirelessly to move presenting the award. tance, adapting to all levels of technical skill. site content during the peak months of the

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This magazine is published quarterly by the Wellesley Connections in a Crisis College Alumnae Association, an autonomous corporate body, independent of the College. The Association is dedicated to supporting Wellesley’s MUCH IS MADE of the Wellesley motto and its imperative says. “It makes me proud to be part of the class of institutional priorities by to serve others, but it is a sentiment that rings true for 1983, and it certainly makes me proud to be part of connecting alumnae to the many alumnae, especially during times of crisis. The the alumnae group at Wellesley College.” College and to each other.

global pandemic has made people around the world feel Focusing on others has also been a boon for WCAA BOARD OF DIRECTORS scared, isolated, and helpless. Although staying home Charlotte Kiang ’13, community service chair for the President was the most important thing most people could do, for Wellesley College Club of Los Angeles. After hearing Martha Goldberg Aronson ’89 many Wellesley alumnae, it simply wasn’t enough. of the Washington (D.C.) Wellesley Club’s Community Treasurer/Secretary At the beginning of the crisis, when stay-at-home Connections Initiative—which allowed alumnae Margaret Loebl ’82 orders began to ripple across the country, one alum to offer or receive assistance—she wanted to start Dolores Arredondo ’95 came up with an idea to help those in the Wellesley com- something similar in her area. She created a form for Laura Wood Cantopher ’84, munity stay connected. Class secretary Lara Trimarco alums to sign up to either give or receive assistance president elect Prebble ’19 suggested that alumnae from the more in a variety of ways, from simply reaching out with a Laura Sue Cohen D’Annunzio ’85 Kimberly Miller Davis ’88 recent classes could write and reach out to alums from letter or phone call to offering to help pick up groceries Leslie de Leon ’07 the older classes. Emails went out asking for volunteers, or prescriptions. And after just a few weeks, the initia- Lauren Young Durbin ’99 and more than 1,000 alums signed up. tive had already reached over 100 alumnae. Crystal Churchwell Evans ’07, “Service has been my way of staying sane during chair of The Wellesley Fund Sheltering in place in New York City, Shloka Charlotte Hayes ’75 Ananthanarayanan ’08 is just one who answered the this time,” Kiang says. “It’s been my way of staying Albina Thakkar Heidebrecht ’03, call. “All of the rules were up in the air, things were con- connected to the world.” chair of Alumnae Admission Representatives stantly changing day to day, and there was a little bit —Jennifer E. Garrett ’98 Stephanie Hsieh ’89 of a helplessness, [a feeling of] there’s nothing tangible Amy Huang ’99 that you can do,” she says. “When this hit my inbox, Sally Katz ’78 Amy Tsui Luke ’90 it was such a great feeling of, ‘Oh, here’s something I Martha McGowan Marlowe ’68 can actually sit down and do.’” So she did, choosing two Leilani Stacy ’18 alumnae from the class of 1948 and two from the class of Cheryl Whaley ’87 1958. She heard back quickly from one alum in the class Ex offi ciis of 1948, who called her after she received her letter. Kathryn Harvey Mackintosh ’03 Alice M. Hummer “It was lovely,” Ananthanarayanan says. “She was very excited and thrilled that Wellesley had done this.” Alumnae Trustees Alvia Wardlaw ’69 Creating connections during this isolated time was Grace Toh ’83 on the minds of many Wellesley alumnae, particularly Suzanne Frey ’93 those in leadership positions in classes and clubs. Class Amanda Hernandez ’18 Elyse Cherry ’75 of 1983 President Wendy Salz hosts a regular conference call with her fellow class ofÀ cers, ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION and as the crisis hit, she was in the process of SENIOR STAFF scheduling that call when she had a thought. Executive Director “Why don’t I just open it up to the class as a Kathryn Harvey Mackintosh ’03 place to drop in and check in and vent and just Editor, Wellesley magazine have a place to be,” Salz says. Since then, the class Alice M. Hummer has held a call every Sunday at the same time, with Senior Director alums participating from as far away as Paris and Janet Monahan McKeeney ’88 Greece. “To be able to focus on my friends, my class- Director of Alumnae Association mates, and to be able to provide them with something Board and Offi ce Operations Helen Gregory ’90 that they need, makes me really, really happy,” Salz Director of Alumnae Marketing and Communications Stacy Chansky

SUMMER 2020 43

pg40-43_wcaa_final.indd 43 6/25/20 2:00 PM 062320_cn_r6.indd 44 6/25/20 2:18 PM We Are Together for Wellesley

In a spring semester unlike any other, the Wellesley community was buoyed by the resilience of our students, the ingenuity of our faculty and staff, and the generosity of our alumnae. These actions and the spirit that guided them showed us all that Wellesley is so much more than a place. We are a community—a community of learning, of belonging, and of purpose.

The bonds forged here transcend time, geography, and, as we have seen, pandemics. As we rise to meet the challenges that lie ahead, we know we can accomplish even more together. Your gift to Wellesley helps ensure we will emerge more resilient and better able to advance our mission and support our community.

Thank you.

Together Wellesleyfor

Wellesley.edu/togetherforwellesley

062320_cn_r6.indd 45 6/25/20 2:18 PM 1973

The class of ’73 marches in the procession during their commencement ceremony.

Photo courtesy of Wellesley College Archives

062320_cn_r6.indd 46 6/25/20 2:11 PM CONTINUED

sister, Sheila Butler ’80, her brothers (Lee, Maurice, and Reginald), and many friends. Julie’s loyal friend- ship and mischievous humor will be deeply missed. Exceedingly well done, Julie. Donna Edwards ’79

Mary Nicholson Sampson ’80 died on Sept. 14, 2019. Mary was a lively, engaging freshman my senior year in Stone Hall. Summers, she loved showing Wellesley pals her hometown of Newport, R.I., where she led tours of the mansions. At Case Western Law School, she met her future husband, Craig, on the À rst day. They returned to Newport to practice law, and she served for many years in the chambers of U.S. Appeals Court Senior Justice Bruce M. Selya. Mary believed almost anything could be cured by a dip in the ocean and some sand between your toes. She treasured her years at Wellesley and the friendships she made there. Her death leaves an indescrib- able void in the lives of Craig, their two children, and the many who loved her. Mary O’Loughlin Rafferty ’77

Shelf Life

BLACK GIRLHOOD TAKES FLIGHT Continued from page 14

the characters draw on an inner strength, a sense of knowing who they are, that comes from persisting despite adversity. In her introduction, Caldwell describes her childhood love of science À ction and supernatural stories and how the books she found about Black characters were too often limited to stories of suffering. She recalls searching for a future for #DavisAtADistance herself. But without seeing oneself in fantastical or speculative worlds, a Black girl’s possibilities seemed limited. Caldwell’s search for a future ties the stories together—not always a future with spaceships and holograms, but a future free of chains or limitations. In Phoenix, this future exists across time and space. Though Phoenix is Caldwell’s À rst published book, it is far from her À rst publishing venture. Now a literary agent, she began her publishing career as a children’s book editor and founded the grassroots organization People of Color in Publishing. Caldwell’s mission is clear: She visit the galleries at wants to ensure that children of color have a wealth of worlds to explore and literature to lose themselves in. With Phoenix, Caldwell has WWW.THEDAVIS.ORG curated a stunning, remarkably diverse collection that seamlessly À ts together to tell Black Photo © Davis Museum at Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA girls that their possibilities are endless. @DavisMuseum @theDavisMuseum @thedavismuseum —Olivia Funderburg ’18

Funderburg studied English and education studies at Wellesley and now works in children’s book publishing in New York City.

SUMMER 2020 79

062320_cn_r6.indd 79 6/25/20 2:12 PM Endnote

Spacing Material

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The last Monday on campus was beautiful. I had an afternoon English already moved home and having said good-bye to places and friends, class in Founders, in a room with a desk next to a window. From my somehow that week in May still resonated as a transition. It pulled me seat at that desk, I had observed the sun hitting Galen Stone Tower right back to what would usually be happening on campus. and then setting over the span of each class period. But on that last, Maybe a month before we were sent home, I was in the Book Arts beautiful Monday, we convinced our professor to take us out onto the Lab learning how to set type. These little pieces, our professor pointed, Academic Quad. Despite an early-evening coolness setting in, we could are spacing material. 8VHWKHPEHWZHHQZRUGVDQGWRÀOOLQ\RXUOLQH spend all of class under the spring sun and disperse in the light of the RIW\SHXQWLOLW·VWDXW Otherwise, as she then demonstrated, your type golden hour. So unlike the dark evenings of the semester’s start, I does not fare so well in the bed of the press, if you can even get it there couldn’t help but marvel. We planted ourselves near a tree. A worm before it tips over. The line of the spring semester was far from taut in inched up our professor’s pant leg, and he read to us in the grass. March, and we had to leave campus without the spacing material that On Saturday, I woke up to the cheers of student-organized we needed to bridge the gaps. Student-led senior events helped here, Hooprolling and a two-thirds empty dorm room. The sun had returned and virtual commencement there. All through late March to May, we after a bleak Friday the 13th, and I kept all our windows open as I tried our best to À ll in what we could. À nished packing. Sounds of collective mourning, music, and last-ditch In my experience, though, it can be the littlest pieces of spacing efforts to socialize drifted in from the Tower courtyard. Through the material, forgettable slivers, that are the most crucial to get in place. still-bare trees, I could see the lake sparkling, and that felt odd. If I’m That walk across campus after your last class session to meet up with SDFNLQJIRUKRPHWKDWVKRXOGPHDQWKHWUHHVKDYHÀOOHGLQEORFN friends. Returning a big stack of books to Clapp. Slowly witness- ing our lake view. For just a moment, the warm weather had fooled ing the cues that time has passed—at night, Orion shifts from his me into thinking this move-out was in some way normal. But while it winter stance above the ClaÁ in arch; in daylight, the outdoors tickle seemed as though everyone around me showed their emotions more you with the feel of bookending your year. On one side, there’s the openly than ever, I felt detached. All I could really think was Huh. waning summer days of the fall semester, and now, a return to bright, So this is what it feels like when Something, capital “s,” happens. bright green. I’ve never done well with transitions, so I surprised myself by calmly There is no one thing at Wellesley that grants us closure at the end packing up my things and leaving campus—something that was bless- of each year. Really, I tried to come up with something, some meaning- edly manageable, with Cambridge, Mass., as my home and parents to ful symbol of mid-May at Wellesley College, but instead I uncovered come collect me. a collection of mental snapshots—of seemingly forgettable slivers. Later, when May arrived, it felt like nothing much had changed, yet Right now, I look back and I see a messy imprint of a spring semester, I detected a particular sadness creeping into my days. I asked myself but an imprint nonetheless. And I also see a future, eventually, some what it was, ruling out various factors, before it hit me. Oh. This is the time, some day, when Wellesley À lls in all the space around me again. last week of classes. I realized that even being in class online, having

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80 WELLESLEY MAGAZINE

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P M KEEP IN TOUCH | KEEP INFORMED MAGAZINE.WELLESLEY.EDU

On March 14, the class of ’20 held a ﬁnal Stepsinging that they organized themselves. KAYANA SZYMCZAK KAYANA

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