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ONTHECOVER: “THE BEST WAY TO TEACH STEWARDSHIP IS BY EXAMPLE,” SAYS BIOLOGIST ROGER LATHAM ’83 OF THE 11 EFFORTTOPRESERVESWARTHMORE’SPRICELESSCRUM WOODS. PHOTOS BY TERRY WILD. STORY ON PAGE 16. F e a t u r e s Five Swarthmore P o e t s 1 2 When was the last time you wrote a poem? Departments A W a l k 16 in the Woods 16 L e t t e r s 3 The College is raising The athletics controversy its Crum consciousness. C o l l e c t i o n 4 By Susan Milius ’75 P r o f i l e s The campus is alive. Finding an End M o r e T h a n Alumni Digest 36 to Rollovers 46 1 5 S e c o n d s Swarthmore events o f F a m e 2 4 Joe Kimmel ’44 indexes a a serious auto safety problem. Winning on Millionaire, ClassNotes 38 College Bowl, and Jeopardy News of classmates and friends By Audree Penner goes beyond money and fame. By Andrea Hammer D e a t h s 4 3 Sticking With Swarthmore remembers. t h e U n i o n 6 0 B a r n a r d ’ s Stan Baker ’68 helped spark W o b b l e 2 8 Books&Arts 52 Vermont’s new Civil Unions Act. Creativity abounds. A scientific controversy at By Laura Markowitz ’85 Sproul Observatory I n M y L i f e 7 2 By Bill Kent Bath time A Hit of Poetry 62 You can read a new poet each By Marc Pachon ’96 day on Don Selby’s [’74] Web site. Ninth Man Out 32 Writer Eliot Asinof ’40 OurBackPages 80 By Daisy Fried ’89 celebrates life’s outsiders. Swarthmore friends for life

By Jeffrey Lott By Andrea Hammer Sky Dancing 68 Amelia Rudolph ’86 dances on mountainsides and skyscrapers.

By Cathleen McCarthy 2 SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN PARLORTALK I lmi n eaedtrie htthe that determined are we and alumni, you what to attention pay us. will to we say you, to send have we what read will you if that promise the produce who us of Bulletin Those magazine: this in regularly happens that transaction cu.SneeryDcme,we h or fMngr ce orsrcuethe restructure to acted Managers of Board the when December, early Since occur. riefudi orcrepnec.(o a edtefl eto vr etrto letter every of text full the the read can (You correspondence. of your expressions in and found objections, praise arguments, the of most represent but expressed ions uulrset vroebenefits. everyone respect, mutual and integrity, civility, with conducted being disagreement—is fraught fundamental or with intense, passionate, how matter dialogue—no and presented fairly is and information accurately When here. known expe- has essential Swarthmorean same every the that pages rience these in find will you the hope want We we magazine. matter), everyone’s that for else, anything (or decision athletics the pas- your value we you, with Swarthmore. agree for we sion not or whether 30—but even mag- by college editors letters—some azine 1,200 by frightened commu- be to would Swarthmore institutions about Many enough nicate. cared they views, their what matter no that, es pa fi We Sw th ha h etr nti su hwteCleesne ohv oedaou ihits with dialogue more have to need College’s the show issue this in letters The oeaun r aryagya h olg hs as u htvryutikof think you whatever But days. these College the at angry fairly are alumni Some gratitude expressed I magazine, the to wrote who all to you thank personal a In ae oehr orltest the editor. to the letters to your letters together, Taken the opposite appears column this that coincidence no t’s Bulletin nd se at ge k s ar aecranifrainw atyut nwaotSatmr,ytwe yet Swarthmore, about know to you want we information certain have ho nt th t s in ev no norWbst,icuigtoeta eddnthv pc opublish.) to space have not did we that those including site, Web our on pe ia mo er he th wn e l y yo re es sa xp he w u an e me er re ie il . l nc e Bulletin Bulletin aet,adfins The friends. and parents, alumni, 1,200 than more from e-mails and letters received have members Board and administrators College program, athletics eto o nyrfetterneo opin- of range the reflect only not section letters expanded edition’s this in appear that those but them, of all publish not could We myself. it did I know—because I number. usual the times four publication—about for intended letters 30 unprecedented an received dtn orlteswsdifficult; was letters your Editing n ymsaet o ersn a represent you to message my and hudpoieapaefrta to that for place a provide should JfryLott —Jeffrey Bulletin Bulletin itself obe to aay rio ilsi ’49 Gillespie Orbison Maralyn Emerita: Editor ’04 Gironde Stephanie Interns: Merrill-Rossi Janice Assistant: Administrative Perspectives Gaadt Designer: Publishing: Desktop Writer: Staff Editor: Collection Editor: Notes Class Editor: Managing Editor: rne nUSA nrcce paper recycled on U.S.A. in College Printed Swarthmore ©2001 19081-1390. PA to Swarthmore Bulletin, changes Postmas- College address 0530-620. Send mailing No. ter: Permit additional at and offices. paid PA postage 19081- Swarthmore PA 500 Periodicals Swarthmore College, 1390. Avenue, Swarthmore College March, by in June December, published and volume September, is is 4, August, this number which XCVIII, of 0888-2126), The e-mail: Or 328-8435. [email protected]. (610) Phone: 19081-1390 PA Avenue Swarthmore College 500 College Office Swarthmore Records Alumni to: address along new label with address Send Address of Changes www.swarthmore.edu Web Wide World 328-8297 [email protected] (610) Registrar: 328-8568 [email protected] (610) Publications: 328-8402 (610) [email protected] Relations: Alumni 328-8300 [email protected] (610) Admissions: 328-8000 (610) www.swarthmore.edu Operator: College College Swarthmore Contacting SWARTHMORE wrhoeCleeBulletin College Swarthmore efe Lott Jeffrey nraJno ’01, Juncos Andrea OLG BULLETIN COLLEGE uan eotGaadt, DeMott Suzanne ls Giardinelli Alisa 0 olg Avenue, College 500 nraHammer Andrea ahenMcCarthy Cathleen ao Brévart-Demm Carol urePenner Audree Swarthmore (ISSN KUDOS TO KATHRYN should it be our responsibility to prevent boutique hotels, Temple has discussed a S R E T T E L I was absolutely delighted when I picked Swarthmore from doing what it should not university guarantee of 4,000 room nights up my September edition of the Bulletin have been doing in the first place? How are a year. and saw Dr. Kathryn Morgan’s beaming we to know, until after the fact, just what Should an inn be developed, the College face on the cover. I couldn’t wait to read the list we have been put on? If Swarthmore is will incur significant subsidy charges for interview inside. When I did, all the memo- really interested in preserving the privacy both infrastructure and daily operation. ries of my Swarthmore experience flooded of its alumni (those “high standards,” Those funds will not be available for the back—good and bad. remember?), then surely it should not be educational purposes of the College, I recall very clearly that, among the selling alumni names in the first place. whether strengthening the curriculum, African-American students, it was so PETER KATES ’61 improving staff salaries and benefits, empowering (and so much like homecom- Norwell, Mass. expanding the library, or any other needs ing) to see this petite and striking black Paul Metzger ’54 also wrote to object. His let- characteristic of a liberal arts college. woman strut the campus in her always ter is on the Bulletin Web site. In sum, the inn does not further neatly coiffed Afro hair and long flowing Swarthmore’s liberal arts mission. It does African robe dresses, with her sassy ear- QUESTIONS ABOUT AN INN not seem to us a prudent use of Swarth- rings swinging in the breeze. We write in response to the December Bul- more’s finite financial and physical It was sheer joy to see from her inter- letin article on plans for an inn to be built resources. view that Professor Morgan is still as beau- on a section of the College campus. That ROBERT DUPLESSIS tiful—inside and out—as she ever was. article focused on the project’s purported Isaac H. Clothier Professor of History and ROSALIND PLUMMER ’73 economic benefits to the Borough of International Relations Philadelphia, Pa. Swarthmore, suggesting that the College RICHARD VALELLY ’75 seeks to improve the Borough’s economic Professor of Political Science PROTECT ALUMNI PRIVACY health. The letter from Kenneth [’47] and Virginia Whether better economic health will WHY SO UPSET? Stern Brown [’49] (December Bulletin) was result is, however, much less certain than I can understand the sadness felt by mem- disturbing. To learn that Swarthmore is the article implied. A consultant to the bers of the College community at the selling our names for profit, and thereby joint College-Borough task force on eco- demise of football at Swarthmore. As a for- actively cooperating in the encroachment nomic revitalization concluded in his mer member of the wrestling team, I share of the commercial-industrial complex on report that the inn would have no net eco- that sadness, for wrestling too will no our privacy, is ground for their legitimate nomic benefit to the Borough. It’s not even longer be one of Swarthmore’s sports. But I complaint. clear the inn is viable without heavy Col- am puzzled by the upset and anger that The response from Diane Crompton, lege subsidy. College-related business some alumni have expressed at the consid- director of development operations, was would generate optimal occupancy only ered and difficult decision to restructure appalling in its intellectual dishonesty. about 45 nights out of the year. In a 100- the athletics program. First, she claims that “only a tiny fraction room inn (the proposed size), that would I hope and trust the College’s mission of each purchase made with these cards leave 32,000 “room nights” to cover. To will always be that of providing the best accrues to the College.” Apparently, in her put these numbers in perspective, it may be education possible to its students. Re- opinion, making money from selling alum- useful to compare the plans for an inn of examining the curriculum, adding new ni names is justified because the College is the same size at Temple University, an courses and majors, rethinking the Honors making only a little bit of money. institution with several graduate programs program, degree requirements, etc. have Second, she states that the bank to and an enrollment about 20 times the size caused and will continue to cause restruc- which Swarthmore has sold its alumni list of Swarthmore’s. In negotiating with a turing of the education offered at Swarth- “shares the College’s high standards developer who also specializes in upscale more. It is hardly surprising that extracur- regarding ... privacy.” Are we really expected ricular activities, including sports, need to believe that Swarthmore is fully aware of EDITOR’S NOTE consideration and changes as well. the bank’s practices in selling its mailing Because of the large volume of let- HERB HILLMAN ’47 lists? “Sharing” implies mutuality—our ters received by the Bulletin in Cambridge, Mass. standards are equated with (i.e., lowered recent months, we have expanded to) their standards. And how “high” are the space allotted to letters in this MINDING THE LIGHT? Swarthmore’s standards anyway? Appar- issue. Even with this additional With its action in December to eliminate ently, only so high as selling names, space, many letters have been con- three sports from the athletics program, addresses, and telephone numbers but not densed, and, unfortunately, several the administration and the Board majority Social Security numbers and mothers’ could not be included. The full text call into question not only the decision maiden names! of all letters received is posted on itself, but the decision-making process. Finally, Ms. Crompton assures us, “Per- the Bulletin Web site at www.swarth- Many alumni feel that the decision is sons who do not wish to be solicited may more.edu/bulletin/mar01/letters.html. more than a failure to maintain a 122-year- be taken off the list on request.” But why Please turn to page 76 M A R C H 2 0 0 1 3 4 SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN COLLECTION

MEHRHOF/McEWEN ARCHITECTS c M renovati swhere areas M D. Lawrence M Elizabeth says “The m below). to and (left are a culation and ap brought lamps sthe as dung “ as describ ed S are a F oro floor first bright er tud the a C z n cozy a ake eon-lik r ents “reading one carpet—wh ich red n “This on. the e c o f atmosphe re e e b s f last eturned nm can groups wloung ew ym library angry”—and Ee architects, cEwen lig ht new i. A pit.” o ahon l - r uth court center ore the in created was e ryM Kirby f M f sadd was bar coffee f i i L othe to of of e and eet find to all Cb Library. cCabe the center,” social a the t black-vin stud r b lscreate elps reading ehrho who mkno wn room interact.” ent id light er, a did and f awas ea r a area, yl, the Gone ed, cir- y n a special meeting on Jan. 4, the end, we all felt that it was important to Board of Managers let stand its Dec. honor the position of those who could not I2 decision to cap at 15 percent the accept the ARC proposal by making their admissions spaces reserved for recruited ‘no’ votes part of the record." athletes, end intercollegiate football and According to Dulaney Ogden Bennett Iwrestling, and change women’s badminton ’63, Board members on both sides of the from varsity to club-sport status. The meet- issue agreed that delaying a decision on the ing, which was held in New York City, was fate of football and other sports would called under bylaws that allow a minimum have put the Admissions Office and coach- of five Managers to request a Board meet- es in an unethical position with prospec- BOARDREAFFIRMS ATHLETICSCHANGES

ing. The only item on the agenda was fur- tive students. Acting Dean of Admissions PHOTOS BY ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANS ther discussion of the recommendations of Jim Bock ’90 told the ARC and the Board the Athletics Review Committee (ARC). that Swarthmore could not admit student- In December, the ARC, which had been athletes in good faith unless the future of created by the Board a year earlier, called the sports program was clear. on the College to limit the number of recruited athletes (those students for ollege administrators spent much of whom athletic talent is a deciding factor in CDecember explaining the need for ath- their admission) to between 10 and 15 per- letics reform to students, parents, and cent of each entering class—a figure that alumni. would make it impossible to continue foot- After responding to immediate student ball. The Board approved its recommenda- and parent protests (see “The End Zone," AT AN OPEN MEETINGONDEC. 12, MEMBERSOF tion by a vote of 21–8. December Bulletin). President Alfred H. In January, the Board heard new pre- Bloom and Provost Jennie Keith, who had THEATHLETICS REVIEW COMMITTEE, TOP sentations by spokespersons for both sides chaired the ARC, met privately with foot- ADMINISTRATORS,AND BOARDMEMBERS (TOP) and conducted what Board Chairman J. ball players, wrestlers, and members of the EXPLAINEDTHEIR CONTROVERSIALDECISION Lawrence Shane ’56 called “an informed women’s badminton team. Bloom told the ANDLISTENEDTOALUMNIREACTION. FORMER and thoughtful discussion." This time, no student-athletes that he valued all aspects DEAN OF ADMISSIONS BOBBARR’56 (CENTER) vote was taken, and the Board’s earlier of their contribution to the College and WASAMONG THESPEAKERSOPPOSED TO THE decision was reaffirmed by “a sense of the urged them to stay at Swarthmore. meeting." Dean of the College Bob Gross ’62 DECISION.AFTER THEMEETING,BOARD CHAIRMAN “I thought it served a useful purpose," reported in January that three athletes EMERITUS EUGENE LANG ’38 CONTINUED THE said the Board chair. “It allowed many transferred to other schools after the end CONVERSATION WITH BOBMcCANN’89 (BOTTOM). Managers to recheck their thinking on the of the first semester and that several others issue after listening again to those who are considering transfers at the end of the balance between releasing enough informa- disagreed." academic year. tion and releasing too much." Asked to describe student reaction, Jor- Student protest included a two-hour ebate over the process that led to the dan Brackett ’01, co-chair of Student Coun- sit-in outside the Admissions Office on DBoard vote has been almost as con- cil during the first semester, said, “Reason- Dec. 4 and a large turnout for an open tentious as controversy over the decision able people can disagree about important meeting with members of the ARC and top itself. Many alumni who objected to the issues, and there’s a reasonable disagree- administrators that night. Reacting to fast- decision said that, by voting at its Decem- ment here," he said, “but it’s important to moving events, The Phoenix published new ber meeting, the Board of Managers had listen [to students]. There were mecha- articles daily on its Web site and printed an broken its tradition of reaching conclu- nisms in place, but [those] didn’t happen." unprecedented 36-page issue on Dec. 7. sions by consensus. December’s vote was Brackett acknowledged that “you can’t Sports columnist Kate Nelson-Lee ’03, a unusual, said Shane, “but the Board was have a campuswide discussion about which varsity lacrosse player, expressed the feel- unanimous in agreeing that, for a variety of sport to cut. You have to prevent different ings of some student athletes: “Though reasons, a decision on the future of athlet- segments of the community from going to neither my coach nor the Admissions ics had to be made at that meeting. In the war with each other.... But there’s a tricky Office has directly stated it to me, I firmly M A R C H 2 0 0 1 5 6 SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN COLLECTION aetefcsi rn fte hnthe made." when was them decision of front in facts the have even not did incredibly, facts—and, any consider to time had hadn’t the which by Board, decision hasty and abrupt an and process, flawed terribly a commitments, “broken called he what fac- including of tors, combination a of because from Board resigned the had he that March early in the told League, Football National Board. the from resigned also coach, lacrosse College former and ’95 Noyes of Julie father Noyes, James Light. the Mind of chairman became meeting, January after the Managers of Board the from resigned who ’61, Austrian Neil February, core In of values." set inclusive an and its past of Quaker reflective is College the the of that future ensure to College, the of pendent inde- organization, standing “a as itself describes which Light," the “Mind called organization an of formation the January in announced www.saveswatsports.com, decision. the after weeks the in students and parents, alumni, 1,200 than more from communications received administrators and members Board that said operations, development of director Crompton, Diane e-mails. and letters many to replies personal writing responses, lied questions. asked frequently to answers and decision the to related documents featuring more.edu), sep- a (http://athleticsreview.swarth- created site later arate and site Web own its support on of letters posted cause, College their the to and others rally to sites Web created two Alumni con. and pro both sages, mes- with inundated were administrators College and members Board both and A negative way." a in different you makes athlete an being that citizens, second-class they are that here mes- student-athletes a the sending to are sage they but it, like not Board may the and ARC The a athlete.... I’m ‘slotted.’ recruited was I because ago years letter two acceptance an received I that believe utinsi htMn h Light the Mind that said Austrian the of president former Austrian, site, Web alumni one of Organizers tal- and read carefully officials College insra ucl nteInternet, the on deci- quickly the spread of sion word vote, 2 Dec. the fter Bulletin e oalaun a en prepared. being was alumni all to let- ter a said, Austrian to and, e-mails alumni sent numerous have Light the Mind of ers Organiz- again." happen doesn’t it that place, so took process and decision to this as how alumni the “educate to seek would olg.H ae odthe told later He the College. of health long-term the so about caring deeply for alumni praised who Bloom, by remarks with began It Association. Alumni the of president former of and Board Managers the of member a ’76, Symonette views. their express to Meetinghouse Friends Swarthmore the in convened area, Philadelphia the from 200 mostly than alumni, more that day same 12—the on Dec. mailed was Shane Chair Board and o h olg ocmeeefcieyi the in effectively compete to College the order for in teams most for athletes out talented seek to Swarthmore required sports III Division in competition and specialization colleges. peer at programs athletics the into research and captains, team student and coaches with interviews of rounds discussion, extensive involved which process, 10-month ARC’s the for thing Swarthmore.” right the did we that am convinced I but decision, difficult was incredibly This an them. from away taken been something has that feel who alumni for terrible A Committee. Review Athletics the on served also who Abbott, Good Catherine ber mem- Board said year,” per students 375 just class— entering the in place a is Swarthmore at resource scarcest “The h eso a oeae yAlan by moderated was session The h R eemndta increased that determined ARC The of description detailed a offered Keith yPeietBom rvs Keith, Provost Bloom, President by signed community College the to letter Ifeel “I Bulletin, novdwt h College." been the I’ve with years involved 50 whole It’s the it. us face with and been problem the to is up Board walk the to to message “My said. he prob- lem," the of arithmetic the with im- pressed “I’m move. Board’s the of favor in careers." their of course the over of students development the with do to “nothing this"—have driving thing other "the scores— Board College that to emphasize on went He valued." feel less may marginalized, now … pride great with fol-lowed I lives whose “People said, admissions, here." athletics toward attitude negative a they sense if Swarthmore to apply won’t athletes student- Top activities. College involved other are in and sport one than more students play “many that said later She sports. other affect negatively would football eliminating that warned She ’89. Kathryn daughter hus- and ’65, her Stevens of Paul that band, as well as College the at experience athletic her praised ’63 Stevens Judd Diana spoke, who many Like the aisles. in up set microphones at speaking foot- for ball." needed be would men entering of the percent 10 year—and per class—just students entering 375 the in place a is more Swarth- at resource scarcest play The to football.... have would College] stu- the [male at 10 dents in 1 that football means a which field team, to players 70 to 65 takes now “it that explained committee, of the member a ’72, Abbott Good Catherine high. too was majority decided, ARC the admissions, in price percent. The 15 about lower, be would needed athletes female of number The sports. intercollegiate male other the as well as football support to were if Swarthmore athletes recruited be to students have male would the of quarter a that Board the told committee The University.) Hop- kins Johns The and colleges Maryland ern West- and Washington, Ursinus, lenberg, Muh- Haverford, Gettysburg, Marshall, & Franklin Dickinson, Mawr, Bryn includes conference (The Conference. Centennial rdKl 5,afre aae,spoke Manager, former a ’54, Kyle Fred of emeritus dean ’56, Barr Robert turns took alumni hours, two For member Board meeting, open the At JfryLt n ahenMcCarthy Cathleen and Lott —Jeffrey J o i n i n g t h e rises to an industri- ous buzz, as it does k n i t - i n every Thursday afternoon when the n a January afternoon, a dozen students cluster on the Knit Wits gather to chairs and carpet of Parrish Parlors, chatting quietly while work on their latest Ohunched over their needlework. No, this is not a quilting projects and trade bee. They’re knitting. techniques, pat- “It’s really relaxing,” says Bianca Passarelli ’01, head of the Knit terns, and stories of OWits club since 1998, “and it keeps you awake in class.” valiant—but not always victorious—efforts. After an hour, Pas- “Oh yeah,” says Maria Alvarez ’04,looking up from her latest sarelli pauses to update the group on ongoing community pro- creation, a pair of fingerless glove/mittens that dangle from a wire grams, such as the donation of knit caps to chemotherapy patients ring in her lap. “It also makes me feel like I’m being productive, at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. even if I’m just watching TV or sitting on the floor, talking to my Meanwhile, skilled knitters like Joanna Brown ’02—who works friends.” on a pair of gloves from a tricky system of single-pointed needles “It’s a tactile thing. It just feels good,” adds another student, (most gloves are made on double-ended needles)—give pointers to launching an animated discussion of yarns, from ultrasoft “bunny newcomers like Kenneth “Ross” Hoffman ’04,whose sister taught angora” to spun dog hair—something no one in this group has him to knit over Christmas break. Hoffman clicks away at a red tried. Yet. wool beret, his second project, pausing to yank the rim onto his Once thought of as the pastime of gray-haired ladies with spare head, demonstrating a perfect fit. “That’s the nice thing about knit- needles stuck in their buns, knitting has become popular among ting for yourself,” a woman says, smiling. youthful achievers, especially those frequently called on to wait. As dusk falls over the snow-covered lawn outside, Alvarez pulls Julia Roberts is known to knit between takes on the movie set. Yarn out a half-finished cable-knit sweater from her bag. “I’m really hop- is even infiltrating the fine arts. According to Philadelphia’s City ing to finish this before winter ends,” she says. “I’m from Califor- Paper (Jan. 4–11), Sheryl Robin David received a Pew Fellowship nia. I’m freezing here!” grant for her crochet art and, at Philadelphia’s Fringe Festival last —Cathleen McCarthy fall, a performance artist drew curious onlookers by knitting, unrav- eling, and reknitting the dress she was wearing. MEGAN CHOY’S [’03] HANDS AREN’T IDLE (TOP). CHOY, URSULA WHITCHER The click of needles can be heard these days in Swarthmore’s ’03 (BOTTOMLEFT), AND CATHY TA ’03 (BOTTOMRIGHT)AREAMONGA classrooms, dorms, and libraries. Now, in Parrish Parlors, the sound DOZEN“KNITWITS”WHOMEETWEEKLYTOWORKONKNITTINGPROJECTS. M A R C H 2 0 0 1 PHOTOS BY ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANS 7 8 SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN COLLECTION em fps oto,ceia sg,rccig n composting.” and recycling, usage, chemical in control, beginning—especially pest com- the of but at terms done, just have are they they what Swarthmore, of to proud pared says. very Wojcik are ahead,” colleges far of are lot we “A world, the around and States United control,green. pollution pretty already of was need campus dire Swarthmore’s in com- place But a Krakow. Poland, in with Metallurgy pared and Mining Politechnika the of at University teaches the several he and for where it Poland, explored homeland, has his He in Wojcik. years for topic familiar sustain- a “Environmental is College. ability” the of screening greening a sion: I w S 97 olbrto fteSotArbore- Scott the of collaboration A 1997. in pipes drainage cement underground to alternative an as constructed ment, manage- stormwater and reduction lution T m a e r t s o i b oee,teei lasro o mrvmn,adWojcik and improvement, for room always is there However, the in universities other to compared that doubt no “There’s niomna tde,ls otm iigsuet hi mis- their students giving time no lost and Studies, Engineering Environmental of Professor Visiting Cornell Wojcik, Wlodzimierz fall, “Wlod” this class Development Sustainable his n satal neprmn npol- in experiment an actually is Hall (right) Bond near garden rock lovely his e h t y b r a n w o D h t d l o o m o H e r g w ? odce td atfl o ae Quali- Water for fall last study a conducted Armah Stephen and Jeuland Marc majors engineering senior until however, tested, scientifically never was control pollution Creek. Crum via the waterways entered they before roofs and road- ways campus from metals would heavy which out rocks, leach river of bed a over to run water storm causing by pollutants reduce water to intended was It streambed. natu- ral a imitate to designed was biostream the Gardens, Longwood from landscape designer a and firm, engineering an tum, h fetvns ftebotema a as biostream the of effectiveness The e r n e cnmc,adCeitydprmns tdnsas compli- also Students English, departments. the Chemistry of and curricula Economics, the in awareness made environmental were more suggestions for and courses, environ- their the in for connections praised mental were departments Biology and Science cal student-designed Politi- impressive The (http://www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/org/green). an site on Web found be can details and tation, even and financial, legal, also relations. but public view of points technical only studied not Students transportation. shuttle usage, and chemical management, recycling, land dissected and Arboretum Scott the and Services, Dining Services, Environmental Management, semester, of Facilities the directors of heads, course department faculty the Swarthmore’s In grilled campus. they the committees on into loose them them divided set He and it. find to students his challenged ockssuet eotdterfnig taDcme presen- December a at findings their reported students Wojcik’s s i y m n streams. rivers and of production oxygen the tax which can water, the in phosphate and of nitrate amount the to added actually plants decomposing done, was study the fall when late in However, creeks. and rivers problems in create can which of both organic matter, of percent 31 and solids” pended “sus- of percent 20 removed biostream the that found students the storms, McGarity. Arthur Engineering by of taught Professor class a Control, Pollution and ty ln ihfrhrsuist analyze to studies further with Along three from runoff the analyzing After THINK FORMER GLOBAL PROFESSOR HEALTH RETURNS AS CONGRESSMAN ulitzer Prize–win- Pning science journalist Laurie Gar- CORNELLVISITINGPROFESSOR OF ENGINEERING rett warned a packed ongressman Rush Holt [D–N.J.], who WLODZIMIERZWOJCIKCHALLENGEDHIS Kirby Lecture Hall last November of an Ctaught physics at the College from STUDENTS TO FIND WAYS FORTHE COLLEGETO impending global health crisis and the 1982 to 1986, returned to Swarthmore MEASUREITS “ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY.“ perils of ignoring it. Garrett’s talk in February to offer an insider’s look at THEIRRESULTS WERE PRESENTEDATA CAMPUS “Public Health—For Whom?” mixed the government.Holt was re-elected in CONFERENCE IN DECEMBER (LEFT). hard, epidemiological data and socio- November as a democrat from New Jer- logical analysis with individual stories sey’s 12th district, by a margin of only and photographs culled from her award- 750 votes. mented the greening efforts of administra- winning book The Coming Plague (1994) Civility, which he defined as “not just tion, staff (especially the Scott Arboretum), and her latest Betrayal of Trust: The Col- politics [but] courtesy and conformity and the student group Earthlust but noted lapse of Global Public Health (2000). with the rules of social order,” is “gener- “a lack of collaboration and communica- Garrett described AIDS as “the ally lacking” in the government, he said. tion” among these groups. biggest killer in the history of our Without it, he warned, Congress will be The biggest surprise for Wojcik—who is species” and said that the epidemic is continually engaged in campaigning and at Swarthmore as part of the Poland still in its infancy. She also noted that will approach all issues in a partisan exchange program—was the students the United States spends more on manner. He also voiced concern about themselves. “I thought they would be more health than any other country, yet one President Bush’s “divisive policies,” aggressive and would oversimplify, but in five is still without health insurance. which he believes must be examined instead they seemed to understand the As part of the College’s Media Fellow carefully. complexities of the problem. They saw that program, Garrett also met with student He spoke with more warmth about his there is not one simple solution, that there journalists over lunch before her talk. experience at the College.“Swarthmore are many constraints and connections, and Previous fellows include 60 Minutes was a great place to be,” he said.While many factors involved in environmental reporter Mike Wallace and Tom Bettag, he taught here,Holt was an adjunct for issues.” executive producer of Nightline. “Her the government, using his academic Jesse Hartigan ’04 summed this up at command of the political climate, eco- background to give advice on topics the presentation. “We live in various sys- nomics, and all the details is just bril- such as arms control. tems, from the most general, the universe, liant,” said Kathryn Tong ’01, a political He continued as a government liaison to the most specific, local ecosystems,” he science major. “Swarthmore students, while serving as assistant director of the said. “Within each of these systems is a because of our sense of community, are Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, series of interrelated components, physical, extremely interested in the issues she before running for Congress in 1996. psychic, and spiritual…. The well-being of raises, such as access to health care in Holt ended his talk by encouraging fac- each depends on the well-being of all the the Third World. She’s definitely an ulty and students to devote a little time others.” inspiration.” to politics. —Cathleen McCarthy —Alisa Giardinelli —Jonathan Ehrenfeld ’04 seasonal effects, Jeuland suggests adding she says. “That would give us the opportuni- water-leaching wetlands plants. “The types ty to try additional plants that could serve as of plants being used there could make a sig- bioscreens. If students are able to identify nificant difference,” he says. “There hasn’t such plants, that would be great.” been much research in that area, so it’s hard —Cathleen McCarthy to know which plants work best.” For his senior design project, Jeuland plans to pro- duce a “constructed wetlands for storm- water treatment”—using wetlands plants. CLUMPS OF ORNAMENTAL GRASSES, YELLOW FLAG

IRIS,AND JOEPYE WEED WERE PLANTEDINTHE ʼ 67 Claire Sawyers, director of the Scott BIOSTREAMTOIMITATE ANATURAL STREAMBED Arboretum, welcomes the input. “Based on (RIGHT). IN 1999,THE PLANTING SURVIVED WHAT our success with the biostream, we’re dis- ARBORETUMDIRECTORCLAIRESAWYERS CALLS cussing putting a storm-water retention “THE CAPACITYTEST,” WHEN HURRICANEFLOYD pond on Parrish lawn, near Mertz Hall,” DROPPED 6.6 INCHES OF RAIN IN 24 HOURS. STEVEN GOLDBLATT M A R C H 2 0 0 1 9 s part of the reorganization of Swarthmore’s intercollegiate are working to further redefine coaching positions to ensure that athletics program, which eliminated football and wrestling each intercollegiate team has a full-time department member as Aand made badminton a club sport, the Department of Physi- head coach. cal Education and Athletics and administration have been taking Athletic Director Bob Williams stressed that the increased time deliberate steps to strengthen the 21 continuing sports. on campus will make a significant difference in the effort to inte- In accouncing the moves, President Alfred H. Bloom said the grate intercollegiate athletics more fully into campus life. “Coaches ACollege’s goal was to “more consistently offer student-athletes the do an awful lot of counseling and work on student life issues," quality of intercollegiate experience and the satisfaction they Williams said. “This change will bring the coaches closer to the deserve.” College and help with their understanding of the overall mission of The College is creating a new associate director of athletics posi- the school, which will, in turn, enable them to provide more sup- tion dedicated to the intercollegiate program. Reporting to Athletics port for our student-athletes." Director Bob Williams, the associate director will provide support The Athletics Review Committee (ARC), whose Dec. 2 recom- mendation to limit the number of recruited athletes to between 10 COLLECTION and 15 percent of each entering class began the reorganization, is College moves devoting the next phase of its work to shaping a campus culture to strengthen that offers greater appreciation for the contributions of student- athletes. “In consultation with students—both athletes and non- a t h l e t i c s athletes—as well as representatives of the broader campus commu- for recruitment, act as a liaison to the Admissions Office, and nity, we plan to assess the current climate for student-athletes and supervise the day-to-day operations of the intercollegiate program. develop strategies to make it what it should be," said Provost Jennie The new position is expected to be filled by next fall. Keith, who chairs the ARC. The department and the Admissions Office will continue to —Tom Krattenmaker work closely to identify and recruit athletes for Swarthmore teams. Jim Bock ’90,acting dean of admissions, said that the need to Alvanos takes job at Hamilton recruit “is the reality in all levels of intercollegiate sports in this Pete Alvanos, who coached Swarthmore football for three years new era—one we must acknowledge if we are to have a competitive before the program was eliminated in December, has accepted the program. Still, our athletics and admissions staffs admit athletes job of head football coach at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y. who are students who can thrive at Swarthmore and take advantage Alvanos was also offered the head coaching job at Ursinus College, of the extraordinary academic opportunities available here." a team with a strong record in the same Centennial Conference as In addition, the coaches of softball and baseball are being asked Swarthmore. Hamilton, on the other hand, had its last winning to increase their hours this spring to as close to full time as they are season in 1996. “I really enjoyed my three years here,” Alvanos told able, and the volleyball coach has agreed to work off-season to the Swarthmorean. “I have no regrets [about] coming to Swarthmore recruit for next fall. In addition, the department and administration and doing what was asked of us."

FOURELECTEDTOBOARDOFMANAGERS he Board of Managers elected four new members at its December meeting: Wilma Lewis ’78, Carl Russo ’79, Salem Shuchman ’86, and TPamela Wetzels ’52. Lewis, Russo, and Shuchman are term Managers; Wetzels is an alumni Manager. All will serve four-year terms. Lewis has a J.D. from Harvard Law School and is an attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Russo is group vice president of Optical Networking at Cisco Systems in San Jose, Calif. Shuchman is a general partner at Patricof & Co. Ventures, Inc., in New York City. Wetzels lives in Austin, Texas, where she has been involved with numerous civic organizations. Wilma Lewis ’78 Carl Russo ’79 Salem Shuchman ’86 Pamela Wetzels ’52 SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 10 t was quite a season for Swarthmore women athletes. A record-setting per- Iformance in basketball was just one WOMENTAKE of three championships won by women’steams. Swimmers and bad- THREETITLES Iminton players also had outstand- ing seasons. Here are the highlights of a memorable winter for Garnet sports. minton Championships to lead the Garnet to a second- • Women’sbasketball (23–5) won its place team finish, earning a trip to the National Champi- first-ever Centennial Conference title, earn- onships at Albright College. ing a berth in the NCAA Tournament. The • Men’sswimming (3–6) finished third at the Centen- Garnet defeated Johns Hopkins in the cham- nial Conference championships. Ted Sherer ’01 won the pionship game, 63–53. Heather Kile ’02 paced Swarth- 100 breaststroke for the third consecutive season, and more with 22 points and Alison Furman ’03 matched her David Whitehead ’03 captured the 100 butterfly in 52.80. career-high with 21 points with a Centennial playoff The duo teamed up with Mike Dudley ’03 and John Lillvis record-tying seven three-pointers. Kile was named first- ’03 to win the 400 and 200 medley relays. team all-Centennial for the third consecutive season and • The men’sindoor track and field team placed 8th of 9 moved into second place on the Swarthmore all-time scor- at the Centennial Conference Championships. Captain ing and rebounding lists. The Garnet set a new record for Marc Jeuland ’01 won the 5000 in a time of 15:16.04 wins in a season, posting 23 victories before being defeated and set a school record with a second place finish in by Elizabethtown College in the second round of the the 3000 (8:45.41). NCAA tournament. The previous mark, established last • The women’sindoor track and field team placed 5th season, was 14. out of 10. Joko Agunloye ’01 won the 5000 in a time of • Women’sswimming (7–3) also won the Centennial 18:27.54. The 4 x 800 (9:50.25) and distance medley relay Conference championship, outpointing Gettysburg (12:46.07) teams of Agunloye, Sarah Jay ’01, Claire Hoverman 679–639. Alice Bonarou ’02 won the 100 butterfly in a ’03, and Njideka Akunyili ’04 earned silver medals in school- time of 59.67,and Natalie Briones ’03 captured gold in record times. Jay set a school mark in the 1500 in a NCAA the 100 breaststroke in 1:08.92. The duo teamed with qualifying time of 4:45.30 to earn a bronze medal. Sarah Sell- Becca Howes-Mischel ’01 and Davita Burkhead-Weiner ’03 ing ’03 set a school mark in the pole vault, clearing 6’8”. to capture the 400 medley relay in 4:04.48. The 200 freestyle —Mark Duzenski relay team of Leah Davis ’04,Tara Trout ’04,Burkhead-Wein- er, and Amy Auerbach ’02 set a Swarthmore record with a sec- ond place finish in 1:41.69. CENTER SARAH TUFANO ’03 WAS • The badminton team (7–0) captured the PAIAW cham- NAMEDSECOND-TEAMALL-CENTENNIAL pionship. The doubles team of Siobhan Carty ’01 and Karen ANDSETTHESINGLESEASONRECORD Lange ’02 placed second at the Northeast Regional Bad- FORBLOCKEDSHOTS. JOHN FERKO

lion words and retails for $4,850. M u s i c But, as Huber points out, on-line access can be had for a scholarship $300 annual fee—unless you happen to be at a place like Swarthmore, which offers it free. Among the Swarthmore g e t s w i r e d “hits,” you’ll find alumni such as composer and humorist Peter Schikele ’57; the late opera expert John Rosselli ’46; Joseph hrilled to find he had campus access to the on-line ver- Horowitz ’70, music critic for The New York Times; and H.C. sion of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians Robbins Landon, whose most recent book was Mozart Essays. T(www.grovemusic.com), George Huber, performing arts Other Swarthmoreans who have contributed articles include librarian at the Underhill Music Library, immediately did a Bill Gatens ’73 (four) and James Freeman, professor of music “full-text search” for Swarthmore. “We have 14 hits,” he and chair of the Music Department (three). You’ll also find reports happily. several people who taught at the College over the years, TSince Sir George Grove published his dictionary in the late including Jane O’Leary, Paul Lansky, David Finko, Alfred Swan, 19th century, it has become the ultimate resource in English Harrison Birtwistle, and Claudio Spies (in an article written by for music scholarship. With the latest print edition, published Robert Pollock ’68). in January, the series has expanded to 29 volumes and 25 mil- —Cathleen McCarthy M A R C H 2 0 0 1 11 FIVESWARTHMOREPOETS5 H o l a h a n VOLTAGE E h r h a r t

MUGGY ATTIC S h a w Z i m e t H o f s t a d t e r THOMASIN G AV hen was the last time SUSAN HOLAHAN ’61 you wrote olahan (called Randi Liff at Swarthmore) won the Peregrine W a poem? HSmith Poetry Competition for her first book of poems, Sister Betty Reads the Whole You (Gibbs-Smith, 1998). Her poems have As a teenager and college student, I wrote reams of bad poetry. It’s been published in Agni, Black Warrior Review, Crazyhorse, Seneca all still up there in my attic, and I cringe at the thought of running Review, The Women’s Review of Books, and many others; her fiction across that old carton of typescripts and journals. Would I read it? has been published in American Short Fiction, Icarus, and the anthol- Of course—but I wouldn’t want you to. ogy Bitches and Sad Ladies, among others. She holds a Ph.D. in English and a law degree from Yale University. She has taught writ- Even though I’m still a writer, I only rarely tackle the writing of ing at Yale and the University of Rochester, practiced law in a poem. My most recent was a love poem to my wife, written to Connecticut, worked as a restaurant reviewer and as an editor at accompany a gift a little more than a year ago. It produced a lump Newsday and the Yale University Press. She now lives in East in our throats and a really nice hug, so I guess it was an emotional Middlebury, Vt., with her husband, the novelist Thomas Gavin. success, if not a literary triumph. But I’m mostly content to leave Could Be Dyeing poetizing to the real poets. —after Elijah Bemiss, The Dyer’s Companion, TEASELS Swarthmore has produced many poets, and surely they run the 2nd ed., Massachusetts, 1815 gamut from the gift-verse variety to the true artist. Ezra Pound once wrote that “most people poetize more or less, between the On this low-color day with teasels of sun and the air a cool muggy the dyer’s only home companion ages of seventeen and twenty-three. The emotions are new, and to blanches. Across the street the school bus loiters. their possessor, interesting, and there is not much of mind or per- Raise your own teasels, Bemiss says, and you have them sonality to be moved. As the man, as his mind, becomes a heavier when you want them. Unlike children. Our Bemiss and heavier machine, a constantly more complicated structure, it kept his kids around by pledging, for example: Use milk paint, requires a constantly greater voltage of emotional energy to set it in you sleep in the room the night you paint it. Today harmonious motion." I haul up to the attic the sagging footstool to hide before These six Swarthmore poets still have the current running Mother arrives. I never finished through them. Whether you wrote a poem last week or last year— the cushion I’m making [a mess of] from a square of antique Turkoman to cover or haven’t tried one since you were 23—we hope you will enjoy the citron velvet she said spoiled the whole living room. their work. Now the son’s gone again, I could use help moving furniture —Jeffrey Lott when you stop back from where you ran off to SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 12 before the school bus lodged on Rockingham, panting, grumbling like the woman in the store last night who needed real junket, Like what you get from a kosher deli. She minced not a word about her kids demanding pudding then wheeled back FULVOUSYELLOW to cathect to Bird’s Custard, closer in colors to what she had on anyway than to the quince of my footstool. Did Mother say disgusting? the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, he is currently a research fel- FOR YELLOW DRAB: Take three quarters of a pound of fustick, low in American Studies for the University of Wales–Swansea and two ounces madder, two ounces logwood, boil well; add one quarter lives in Philadelphia with his wife, Anne, and daughter Leela. While pound of alum, run your cloth one hour; sadden with two ounces maintaining his research fellowship and a busy speaking schedule, copperas and handle till your colour pleases. this spring, he's also teaching high school English at the Haverford That not my color nor the footstool’s School. will ever please Mother, no madder how much handling, could sadden me but I’ve dropped the moment through the attic stairs near where the twelve-foot light chain On the Eve of Destruction my kid hung last time he visited dangles.Bemiss.Some The weekend Watts went up in flames, companion he turned out to be. A man we drove from Fullerton to Newport Beach who could promise Good Cider and down the coast as far as Oceanside, Easily Made as Bad never had kids. But. My sun four restless teenaged boys three thousand miles has returned with crushed, soaked weeds and from home, Bob Dylan’s rolling stones flowerheads more brown than fulvous yellow.I don’t know in search of waves and girls and anyone what else I can ask from this life. who’d buy us beer or point us toward the fun. California. What a high. The Beach Boys, © Susan Holahan. First published in the High Plains Literary freeways twelve lanes wide, palm trees everywhere. Review. From Sister Betty Reads the Whole You. And all the girls were blonde and wore bikinis. I’d swear to that, and even if it wasn’t true, who cared? A smalltown kid from Perkasie, I spent that whole long summer with my eyes wide open and the world unfolding like an open road, the toll booths closed, service stations giving gas away. What did riots in a Negro ghetto have to do with me? What could cause FREEWAYS such savage rage? I didn’t know

JEFFITZ H URW and didn’t think about it much. W.D. EHRHART ’73 The Eve of Destruction was just a song. Surf was up at Pendleton. The war in Vietnam .D. Ehrhart is the author of seven books of poetry, the most was still a sideshow half a world away, Wrecent of which is Beautiful Wreckage: New & Selected Poems a world that hadn’t heard of Ia Drang or Tet, (Adastra Press, 1999) as well as six books of prose essays and mem- James Earl Ray, Sirhan Sirhan, Black Panthers, oirs. His poems have been widely published in American Poetry Spiro Agnew, Sandy Scheuer, Watergate. Review, The Christian Science Monitor, Poetry International, Poet Lore, We rode the waves ’til two MPs Long Shot, Poetry Wales, and many oth- with rifles chased us off the beach: ers. He has edited or co-edited four military land. “Fuck you!” we shouted books of poetry about the Vietnam WATERGATE as we roared up Highway One, windows open, and Korean wars. A U.S. Marine Corps Vietnam surfboards sticking out in three directions, veteran, he has worked as a merchant seaman, laborer, journalist, thinking it was all just laughs, just kicks, and teacher; visiting professor of war and social consequences at just a way to kill another weekend, the University of Massachusetts–Boston; and writer-in-residence thinking we could pull this off forever. for the YMCA’s National Writer’s Voice Project. The recipient of a Pew Fellowship in poetry and grants in both poetry and prose from © W.D. Ehrhart M A R C H 2 0 0 1 13 FI VE5SW AR TH MO RE PO ET S PETALS ʼ 90 back of all false tongues. She thinks of the chaw ʼ ARMAND lodged in his lip when he talks or her husband’s

FELIX L middle finger in the snuff box and rubbed ANGELA SHAW ’90 along his gum. She walks, wanting him, into the latter-

ngela Shaw’s poems have twice been included in the Best math, into the primrose, the parched field itching AAmerican Poetry anthology, in 1994 (edited by A.R. Ammons) with critters. She walks, wanting and unwanting and in 1996 (edited by Adrienne Rich), and won a Pushcart Prize him while birds miss curfew into the thick of the thigh- in 1999. They have also been published in Poetry, Seneca Review, high grass, craven and dangerous, in the heavy red. Chelsea, Field, Indiana Review, and others and have been antholo- gized in The New Young American Poets (Southern Illinois University By Angela Shaw. © Poetry, where “Crepuscule” was first Press, 2000). She was a 1998–99 Fellow at the Fine Arts Work published. Reprinted in The Best American Poetry, 1996. Center in Provincetown, Mass., and received a grant from the Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts. She holds an M.F.A. in writing from Cornell. She has taught English NYLON in Taiwan; headed a grants-giving organiza- tion; and, most recently, worked as a grants- KRISTIN CAMITTA ZIMET ’69 writing consultant in Boston. She recently decided to work full time on her poetry. She lives ristin Camitta Zimet’s first book of poetry, Take in My Arms the with her husband, Felix L’Armand ’90. KDark (Sow’s Ear Press, 1999) was nominated for the Paterson Poetry Prize and the Library of Virginia Literary Award. Her poems TONGUE have been published in The Centennial Review, Now & Then, JAMA, C r e p u s c u l e Lullwater Review, Bogg, and others and in several anthologies, Yellows cast their spells: the evening primrose including HomeWorks: A Book of Tennessee shudders unclosed, sells itself to the sphinx Writers (University of Tennessee Press). She moth’s length of tongue. Again a lackluster was nominated for a 2000 Pushcart Prize husband doesn’t show. A little missus and has received awards from the Pen & Brush Club of New York, Now & Then maga- eases the burnt suffering of a cat- zine, Appalachian Heritage, Berea College, fish supper, undresses, slowly lowers JOHN Z IMET and the Poetry Society of America. A co- into a lukewarm tub. In her honeymoon founder of the Appalachian

nightgown she rolls her own from the blue Center for Poets and Writers and the Coalition for

O

Jobs and the Environment, she works as a naturalist, TTO can of Bugler, her lust a lamp the wick leading group hikes near where she lives in Winchester, Va. TA of which is dipped in sloe gin. Hands wander to her hangdog breasts, jaded Friday night Metamorphosis underpants, hackneyed nylon in heat. (for Huggy-Bear, stockbroker turned Tattoo Master)

Now his black taxidermy outstares her, the stern At the bottom-most switchback, heads of squirrel and deer. Now the house confesses, groin of the watershed, some boggy turn of trail discloses her like a rumor, vague and misquoted. where tire welts and boot prints mash From the porch, from the glider she spies rose- a labyrinth you cannot thread dryshod, you always hoped to see them congregate: pink twilight flyers-sphinx moths drinking sulphur, swallowtail, great spangled fritillary, the calyx, the corolla, the stamen unrolling long proboscises to suck dry. The stuttering wings, the spread petals piss-salted mud. suggest an interlingual breathing, a beating SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 14 When war left most of your platoon ABSTRACT face-down in jungle muck, each shriek remembered slid a needle AUL B ISHOP hot under your skin, bled into you G. P a cyanotic stain. Into your hands MARC ELIHU HOFSTADTER ’67 you took them first; beneath your fingers played arc Elihu Hofstadter majored in French at Swarthmore. He a sharp tattoo of grief. Mremembers “very little creative writing” but says one French professor in particular, also a poet, inspired him. He holds a Ph.D. The more you saw flesh tatter on the wind, in literature from the University of California (UC)–Santa Cruz, small shimmerings pinched out, where he wrote a dissertation on the late poetry of William Carlos the more you loved, Williams. He taught at UC–Santa Cruz, the Université d’Orléans the more you longed to shed in France, and Tel Aviv University before going back to school at tie, jacket, business shirt UC–Berkeley for a master’s in library and information studies. He to give them opening to perch works as a librarian for the San Francisco Municipal Railway. His upon your matted arms, mountainous chest, poems and translations of the French poet Yves Bonnefoy have and golden haunches. been published in Exquisite Corpse, Pearl, The Malahat Review, Confrontation, Talisman, Berkeley Works, and others and his essays Then from the floor of the exchange, in Twentieth Century Literature, The Redwood Coast Review, Romance the larval swarm of traders at their work, Notes, and others. His first book of poems, House of Peace the tapeworm numbers reeling white (Mother’s Hen Press) was published in 1999. He is a practicing out of the entrails of the stiff machines, Buddhist and lives in Oakland with his partner David Zurlin. your heart, infinitely scaled, pumping to full extension burst you forth. Now you bear the mark of all the lost ones On Reading Frank O’Hara’s 1959 B o o k Jackson Pollock i n 2 0 0 0 everywhere; they burn toward you, cling to your tropic heat, When I first thumbed these still-glossy pages, Frank, flex wings upon your breast; your flesh was real and could quiver. they quiver at your knee, I’d take the New Haven Local train to New York City fold in your elbow, fluttering to see the riotous abstract paintings at the Modern Museum, thousands of nameless friends, knowing nothing about the man who’d organized the shows. your body the ground of their continuance, When I bought this book in the Museum store a silent requiem of butterflies. you were only an art scholar to me, not yet famous as a poet, © Kristin Camitta Zimet, from Take in My Arms the Dark and I was a kid—fourteen to your thirty-three. I wonder if I ever saw your broken nose in the lobby. If our eyes ever met. I like to fantasize, it’s fun, and besides I love you, so I can’t be blamed. Not as I love my lover, but you’re special to me, Frank. You were the blade’s edge, laughter in the street, sugar nuggets. You’re these to me now and spark my poems. I touch your pages forty-one years later SULPHUR and it’s a little like touching you. A gap of years still separates us, Frank. And death. SWALLOWTAIL But we’re getting closer. Someday we’ll have the same address. If you see me, wink. I’d be delighted. TRAIN © Marc Elihu Hofstadter M A R C H 2 0 0 1 15 SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 16 A Walk in the Woods The College Seems to Be Raising Its Crum Consciousness

By Susan Milius ’75 Illustrations by Barbara Seymour ’63

oger Latham ’83, who deserve particular attention, thinks a lot about but if the College’s woods are Rsuch matters, has to keep their biological value offered a tour of some of the for teaching, the place needs most important parts of the more protection from the ills Crum Woods. of surrounding development. I should be contemplating “Crum Woods are a priceless the nature of importance, but facility for education that is it’s Friday, it’s sunny, and it’s being allowed to deteriorate a perfect unwind-in-the- needlessly,” Roger says. His woods afternoon. I find point: This is one lab that myself wondering how the can’t be replaced. If bad man- late James Michener ’29 agement lets it degrade, the would begin a sweeping epic College can’t build another called “Crum.” Crum. He could certainly reach back to the “I didn’t really think anybody would 17th century, when Swedes put up a fort Ask anybody who spent read my report for months,” Roger says. In not far away on Tinicum Island, and just a few days, however, Larry Schall ’75, adventurous souls started settling along time at Swarthmore, and College vice president for facilities and the creek. Today’s name for it reportedly services, phoned. descends from their Cromkill or Crumkill, they have memories of the Larry, too, had been analyzing the meaning “crooked creek.” But why limit campus and the Crum as part of an overall the action to the paltry centuries since Crum—some sunny and strategy for planning for new facilities that European arrival? Pennsylvania state the College will almost certainly need in archives refer to earlier residents: the some dark. the future. He was considering a propos- “Ockanickon” tribe. al—since abandoned—to move some ath- Or why not go for the full Michener letic fields to the far side of the creek and treatment, with swirling plasma lumping make them accessible by a foot bridge. into a planet with eons of geologic wrinkling and crackling on its When they talked, Roger found that the bridge might be placed surface? He’d have a fair diversity of landscape to explain, as today’s atop one of his six gems. mostly mild-mannered creek slides by swamps, meadows, and steep Larry, of course, had not declared war on ecologically valuable hills. I check College holdings on Roger’s map. The 140 wooded wetlands and did understand the teaching value of the woods. acres on the main campus crawl northward from the Yale Avenue Some of his own formative experiences with fluid dynamics came bridge in the shape of a pudgy inchworm. from Professor Alburt Rosenberg’s “Physics for Poets” class excur- Roger, however, skips Michener’s Big Bang and jumps to a mod- sions to watch leaves floating down the creek. Larry and Roger sim- ern Big Oops. ply found an alternative place to put a footbridge, should anyone He taught plant ecology at the College during the late ’90s, and, decide to build one. before he resigned to do environmental consulting, he analyzed the This incident, among others, inspired a new committee to make Crum’s importance as a teaching resource and a biological commu- sure right hands knew what left hands were up to and that all nity. He found that easily a dozen faculty members, from artists to hands would shake on it. Several long-term advocates for the Crum zoologists, send from 150 to 300 students each year into the woods have joined the effort, now chaired by Arthur McGarity, an environ- for class projects. mental engineering professor who has been sending students to Roger identified six patches of particular ecological interest— study the creek’s water quality for the past 15 years. The College just the start of a list, he says (see map, page 20). These gems seems to be raising its Crum consciousness considerably. M A R C H 2 0 0 1 17 o show me what the fuss My tumble into lost time Tis about—both the good illustrates one of the ironies and the bad—Roger starts of the campaign to protect walking from DuPont the Crum. There’s a lot of Science Building parking lot. nostalgia and affection for As the path drops down into these woods. That’s hardly a the familiar dappled light problem. What Roger and and rustling woods, the like-minded fans protest is shouting from the adjacent the pervasive attitude that we rugby field, the slamming of all have more urgent prob- car doors and growling of lems, and that overall the motors, even the subsonic Crum can take care of itself. reproaches of the Cornell Not so, he says. For one Science and Engineering thing, so many people now Library fall away. Roger may use the woods that agendas be worrying about deteriora- easily clash. Roger describes a tion, but at first glance, the trip-up with even one of his place looks great to me. cherished allies, the Scott For one thing, it looks Arboretum. One day, he much more “the same” than noticed Scott volunteers clus- a lot of places on campus. I tering at the base of a giant haven’t been back much since tulip tree behind Lang Music I graduated, and today I’ve Building. Strolling closer, he been fighting time-travel ver- was horrified to find that, on tigo. (The steps down to the orders from Arboretum first floor of Martin look Director Claire Sawyers, they exactly the way they used had already fatally hacked to—my shoulders hunch— one of the oldest and largest but then … how can there be lianas in the Crum. double doors right there? Roger describes it at as “a Where am I?) The Crum, great, hairy serpent” of a vine thank heavens, still looks, that snaked high into the tree smells, sounds like the Crum. with a dark fringe of above- I rejoice that some of the ground roots. It had reached good things in life do withstand time. sexual maturity, so Roger could point out flowers many students I’m trying not to get too sappy about it all when Roger stops at had never seen; in the fall, great billows of foliage wowed his stu- an offshoot of the path, and there’s Alligator Rock. My determina- dents with sports-car red. A year after its destruction, he’s not tion never, ever to grow up to be a mumbling, dreamy-eyed nostal- entirely reconciled to its loss. gia bore dissolves completely. Oh, Carolyna, Carolyna, do you Claire, however, has told me her version of the incident, and she remember? I can virtually see one of my beloved roommates remains convinced the liana had to go. It was poison ivy, for heav- perched there—the people of a lost world rush back, and long- en’s sake. It may not have grown directly beside the path, but the gone escapades stream by. tree loomed near enough; she worried about the many visitors to Ask just about anybody who spent time at Swarthmore, and such a highly traveled spot. And, each year, the vine ripened enough they have memories of the Crum, some sunny and some very dark. fat little berries to start plenty more poison ivy. Freshman picnics, goofing off on a postcard-autumn Saturday, Claire cringes at the thought of airing the story. But no, I don’t falling in love, ingesting substances not approved by the FDA, try- dismiss Roger as some reckless nutso or her as a vandal. Instead, I ing to outwalk misery or find privacy for despair, wavering along think they’ve both hit on a great example of the difficulties and the the Crum-crossing log to explore the ruins on the other side, cheer- need for a comprehensive strategy for living with the Crum. ing as misguided Regatta optimists try to paddle a mattress faster As I follow Roger along the slope, we come across signs of what than equally misguided sailors on duct-taped recycling containers, he and Claire agree counts as a major menace to the Crum: erosion. skinny-dipping at midnight, encountering local flashers, huffing It figures in a report on woodland issues that Claire has hauled out upward along some of the worst of geology’s bad jokes on cross- to show me. Written by environmental consultants Andropogon country runners…. Associates of Philadelphia, the text begins: “The most significant Roger, a gentleman as well as a scholar, has been silently evalu- source of damage in Crum Creek woods, without question, is exces- ating tree spacing in the middle distance. I step sheepishly back sive storm water runoff and the erosion sedimentation that it caus- into the present. es.” They warn that so much building on the campus, so many SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 18 paved walkways, parking lots, and impervious roofs send water Native maples flare bright yellow early in the season, but Norway’s sluicing down the steep hill, gouging the trails, and cutting gullies. stay green for weeks longer. The near side of the Crum with most of And that, Claire points out, started in 1988. Now, there’s even more the College buildings, where crews have labored for several years, campus development to shed water. looks calendar fall-colorful. The far side, however, sports so many Arboretum volunteers and College grounds crews have been still-green Norway maples, it could be a woodland in a different fighting these trends. Roger points along the high edge of the slope season. to beams staked as check dams, and more beams lie across the trails Norway maples top Roger’s list of most alarming aliens, but he as speed bumps and diverters for the runoff. adds others (see “Threats to the Crum,” He pauses to nudge a beam that has slipped page 23). Already, these as well as less viru- askew, and I see a miniravine, a few inches There’s a lot of nostalgia lent takeover artists have, to some degree, deep, snaking around the beam’s edge. Soil infiltrated about half the woodland acreage, saving on such a steep hillside demands and affection for these he warns. Instead of the rich mosaic of plant constant vigilance. communities now patchworked over the woods. But there’s also landscape, the woods could end up dominat- s we follow the path behind Lang ed by fewer species or, to use Roger’s words, AMusic Building, we come to a mega- the attitude that we have “simplified and impoverished.” ravine. If I clambered down its muddy sides, squeezing among the tree limb and brush more urgent problems, oger has led the way into Crum erosion barriers that crews have built, I RMeadow, and, after so much talk about would disappear below ground level. I’m not and the Crum can menaces to the Crum, it’s a pleasure to hear exactly a towering hulk, but an erosion gully what treasures remain. Roger gestures across deep enough to swallow even a nonhulk take care of itself. the water toward roughly four acres he calls seems too deep to me. As for power of Trillium Slope. Alien species are creeping in, runoff, I’m now convinced. but the slope still offers a glimpse of what Working our way down to the water, we find a good illustration pre-European woodland probably looked like in southeastern of another menace to the Crum: aliens. Pennsylvania. In spring, before the trees leaf out, native wildflowers Roger gestures westward across the creek to another of his burst out to take advantage of their few weeks of full sun, and prime pedagogical spots. He has led students to this grove dozens of trilliums dot the slope. Of great of trees and points out there’s basically one eco-historical value it may be, but it also species. No other trees mingle, and virtually sounds lovely. nothing grows underneath. What causes He gestures toward other this distribution? Roger asks the stu- great spots to show to stu- dents. dents, including a real “The students guess that it’s American chestnut on the far something like a toxic waste dump,” side of the creek. It’s a he says. Rarely does someone figure sprout of one of the out we’re standing among botanical giants that perished bullies. The trees, Norway maples, when a blight swept are spreading throughout North through the country ear- America, crowding out other species lier this century, and the with the ruthlessness of a sci-fi alien sprout’s prognosis does invasion. And no, Roger says, no one has not look promising. Few demonstrated how Norway maples man- people still alive have had a age to do this, though his students have chance to meet a living chestnut tree, even done some great projects testing ideas such a doomed one. as killer shade. We stroll by the Scott Arboretum’s array of some Claire also worries about invasive species. 300 hollies, which Claire has called “one of the arboretum’s She’s organized a SWAT team of volunteers who most significant collections.” I still hear debate among alumni work their way through key parts of the Crum about the location, but the trees certainly look fat, during winter, wrestling out Norway maples. flossy, and happy to be there. Then we follow a To appreciate the volun- path roughly parallel to the creek, toward one of teers’ progress as well the wild spots that Roger has put on his gems as the challenge they list, the marshy hollow that had a face, Claire advises near-miss with a bridge- walking down to the builder’s back hoe. Crum’s edge in fall. Out here on a sunny M A R C H 2 0 0 1 19 T h e C r u m W o o d s o f S w a r t h m o r e C o l l e g e

AMap by Barbara Seymour ’63 Clothier Hall SEPTA R-3 Victoria Mills Tracks

Outstanding Natural Areas Crum Creek From its source in Malvern, Chester County, to its confluence with the Delaware River between Ridley Park and Alligator Rock Eddystone, 4 miles downstream from This outcropping of Wissahickon Swarthmore, Crum Creek runs schist along the main path to the 22.5 miles, draining a watershed of creek is a favorite spot for picnics, some 38 square miles—an area almost trysts, and contemplation. twice the size of Manhattan Island. Trillium Slope Three species of trillium are found in the woods: white trillium (T. grandiflo- rum), purple trillium (T. erectum), and the yellowish-green toadshade (T. sessile). Shown here is the grandiflorum, which fades to pink after blooming. TERRY WILD © RHODA MAURER SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN SCOTT ARBORETUM 20 The Ville of Swarthmore

College Athletic Facilities

Composting Area Yale Avenue

Skunk-Cabbage Hollow These harbingers of spring grow in the wetlands of a former oxbow in the creek. Southern Red Oak Crum Meadow and At the extreme northern border of its Crumhenge range, southern red oaks hide among Though they look like remnants the tulip poplars and other species. of a lost civilization, these stones were They may be the last survivors of an placed in the Crum Meadow ancient stand.

in the late 1980s.The entire meadow CLAIRE SAWYERS covers about five acres. TERRY WILD ELELTHERIOS KOSTANS M A R C H 2 0 0 1 21 Out here on a sunny afternoon, the The nearness of the woods If and when that happens, here’s one spot Crum seems roomy enough for the whole where the footbridge to the fields will not peaceable kingdom plus a soccer field or two allows at least a dozen go, Roger says. We’ve reached Skunk- besides. However, that’s just the luxurious Cabbage Hollow, familiar to generations as illusion of a Friday rambler, according to faculty members and the marshy spot along the woods route to Larry Schall. From his perspective, as the Mary Lyon. Janet Williams of the Biology person who must find places for more and hundreds of students to Department, who tracks avian matters in the more activities while preserving that rolling Crum, has told Roger this is the best place green open feeling, Larry says, “the College draw, paint, count birds, to see migrating birds resting up for the has a very limited amount of land.” next leg of their journey. Why the continued pressing demands? check water quality, Roger is fond of the spot for its trees. He For one thing, the nature of teaching has points across the creek toward a stand of the changed, says Larry. Today’s curriculum puts and study plants in the regionally rarest species known in the Crum more emphasis on student projects, original so far: southern red oaks at the extreme research, real fieldwork. Crum each year. northern rim of their That means Larry has to range. These may be the find more lab space, more last survivors of an room for computers, and ancient stand. He also so on. Courses also points out a substantial expand to keep up with tree with smooth gray the times. “We’re not bark sporting occasional just teaching French, clusters of nightmarish German, and Latin; we’re spines, each several inch- teaching Chinese,” Larry es long with wicked zig- points out. “There’s an zags and multiple environmental studies prongs. Nurseries concentration.” Such around the country sell innovations not only varieties derived from a need space themselves, spineless mutant of this but, because of their eco- native honey locust tree, nomics, they inch up stu- and many of Roger’s stu- dent enrollment. During dents have never met the the past 50 years, the untamed version. student body has grown The poor skunk-cab- 50 percent, to about bages themselves have a 1,360. lot more charm than To Claire, the future of the woods is more than a matter of num- their name bespeaks, and I remember them fondly for their opti- bers. For years, she says, the College thought of the Crum as left- mistic blooming in gloomy midwinter. For each improbable blos- over, unbuildable land and therefore less important than the som, a pear-shaped outer covering, slightly glossy like dark streaked acreage at the top of the hill. It’s not just the educational potential plastic, pokes several inches through the snow. of the woods that concerns her; they have intrinsic natural value, Roger turns the conversation to the Crum as an outdoor labora- like a rain forest or a coastal wetland. Their true educational value tory. He’s accumulated quite a list of teachers who use this great is to teach environmental stewardship, she says, and Swarthmore resource: Randall Exon as well as other studio art professors take ought to model that behavior. their drawing and painting classes outside. Sara Hiebert ’79, who In recent years, she’s been encouraged by the willingness of the teaches animal physiology and does much of her research on hum- College to consider the well-being of the woods and watershed mingbirds, finds many instructive creatures, including native ruby- when planning new projects. The arboretum has followed the throated hummingbirds. Professor of Biology Rachel Merz has Andropogon recommendations “within the limits of our guided students in her biomechanics seminar through individual resources,” but stormwater runoff and erosion are continuing research projects on such marvels as the waterstriders that scuttle problems, she says. along the top of the creek. Yet in the next five years, the College will find room for a net I’ve talked to Janet and Tim Williams ’64, who revived the expansion of 60,000 square feet of the science facilities and add a ornithology program on campus, starting in 1976. With the bur- new residence hall. “We don’t have any intention of building in the geoning development in the region, “the Crum is extremely impor- woods,” Larry says. However, he’s getting low on open space, and tant,” Tim says. The bird checklist they hand out to students the idea of eventually moving some athletic fields to the far side of reports past sightings of bald eagles migrating and great horned the creek might come up again someday. owls nesting. It’s the only place in the Swarthmore area they’ve SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 22 seen pileated woodpeckers. These big redheads with pile-driver ing that have endured for years. I easily think of three people who beaks are not really the size of a pterodactyl but can still give a e-mailed me about botanizing in the Crum for some long-ago class. casual hiker quite a start on a lucky day. The most distant of these reminiscences (see Bulletin Web site), The creek itself contributes mightily to the bird quality of the complete with Latin name and ecological context, seemed as well woods, Tim says. For example, he and Janet are able to show stu- preserved as any botanical specimen—71 years later. dents wood ducks, “probably the most spectacular of our native ducks,” nesting in logs near the water’s edge. A really lucky class s the light fades, Roger and I end up (where else) in the Scott gets to see ducklings leave their log nest with free-fall plops into AAmphitheater. Roger’s own graduating class faced the dreaded water if the nest permits. A hard landing is OK too, Williams rain for Commencement and the resulting folding chairs in the hastily assures me. “They bounce.” field house. At the last minute, his class procession went AWOL en The less charming parts of the Crum also have their value, masse, leaving family and friends in suspense indoors. The Class of according to Colin Purrington, assistant professor of biology, who 1983 marched uphill into the soggy, drippy amphitheater, and teaches plant physiology. “It’s really wonderful to have a field site President David Fraser proclaimed them graduates on the spot. right outside my laboratory, so I send my students there to learn Then they retired to dry ground for individual handshakes and the fun of field biology. On good days, they return to the lab with diplomas. stories featuring poison ivy, nettles, and mosquitoes,” Purrington Part of the power of any place comes from the strength with says. “But, on bad days, they tell how their experiments were ruined which it pulls at our heartstrings, and the Crum has pulled long by foraging deer and flash floods, or both.” Purrington says he’ll and hard today. In the gathering darkness, it seems to me more a keep sending them out there. symbol than a place—a marker of some powerful aspect of The nearness of the woods makes fieldwork so much easier at Swarthmore and my education there, where the head and the heart Swarthmore than at schools that must transport students to woods came together, an experience, a memory, a walk in the woods. reserves at some distance from the campus. Those schools, by the Then I remember something else about symbolism that speaks way, include Bowdoin, Grinnell, Oberlin, Vassar, and Williams. to the potential of the College and its precious Crum: “The best As Roger and I make our way out of the woods, I think about way to teach stewardship,” Roger said, “is by example.” T the alumni who have sent me such vivid memories of the Crum. (See the Bulletin Web site for a sample.) There’s extracurricular high Susan Milius ’75, a former Scott Foundation intern, writes for Science jinx, some of it printable, but there are also bits of up-close learn- News, a weekly news magazine about science and research.

more runoff, caus- • Japanese knotweed (Polygonum cuspida- Threats to ing erosion on the tum)—An East Asian member of the slopes leading to buckwheat family that can shoot higher the Crum the creek. The gully than 10 feet behind the Lang Threats to the Crum Woods include both Music Building is • Lesser celandine (Ranunculus ficaria)— man-made problems and botanical invaders, nearly 6 feet deep. Eurasian buttercup with tubers that including species from other parts of the sprout low glossy leaves in forbidding world—or even from different ecosystems in • Garlic-mustard patches, well before native spring flowers North America. (Alliaria petiola- try to take advantage of early-season ta)—Biennial sunlight

• Common reed (Phragmites australis)— TERRY WILD member of the Very aggressive reed that forms clumps GRAFFITI mustard family • Multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora)—Can with great feathery tan tops with coarse leaves climb or grow freestanding into an airy, and a spike of white flowers; monopolizes prickly shrub • English ivy habitats of such beloved spring favorites • Norway maple (Hedera helix)— as Dutchman’s britches and trilliums Smothering creep- (Acer platan- oides)—European er that does not • Goutweed (Aegopodium podagraria)— stay on those ivied Eurasian perennial herb that escapes gar- tree whose dense halls. (Actually, ivy dens to form swaths of invasive, jagged- shade creates attacks buildings, edged foliage; leaving even a small piece of “Norways-only” too.) Volunteers root when trying to dig out a patch zones. Removal is work to remove it renews the invasion. the only way to from trees. fight the invader. • Graffiti—Painted on rocks and carved • Erosion—

on trees, graffiti and other forms of van- © RHODA MAURER —S.M. © RHODA MAURER Development on dalism are age-old problems in the NORWAY MAPLES EROSION campus creates woods. M A R C H 2 0 0 1 23 M o r e T h a n 1 5 S e c o n d s

GA ME SH OW CO NT ES TA NT SW IN BI G— o f F a m e BE YO ND MO NE YA ND NA TI ON AL AT TE NT IO N

By Andrea Hammer MARIA MELIN/ABC

loaded the 30 pages of rules from the Web that evening. Final Answer? An avid lifetime reader who has edited approximately 30 books during the past 5 years, Berry continued to read a “wide range of Question: Put these office supplies in the order that they were creat- topics” after graduating from the College. “My favorite thing at ed, starting with the earliest: Swarthmore was the great McCabe Library and its glorious open stacks. I gobbled down as much of its contents as I could and have Answers: A. Xerox photocopy machine been building on that foundation ever since," he said. B. Post-it notes With a “sticky memory" for “detailed knowledge"—a phrase that C. Pocket calculator Berry finds more accurate and complimentary than the dismissive D. Liquid paper word “trivia"—the political science major tested his spongelike absorption of details. Berry started calling the Millionaire’s toll-free s one of the “fastest-finger" contestants trying to land in the number nightly; after as many as 40 busy signals and redials, he A“hot seat" on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? William Berry ’73 persisted and successfully connected with the show’s computer to punched in “A-D-C-B" with confidence. answer three questions correctly to qualify for the second round. “I ... sat back, pretty sure I had gotten it right and wondered if “Making the nightly call became a fun game for the whole family. anyone else had, too," he said. “When the results went up on the After each one, Tommy (then 10) and Richie (then 6) would yell, board, and mine was the only name in green, it was an astounding ‘How’d you do?’ and I would say, ‘I got ’em all right!’ or ‘Aw, I moment—a moment of pure, unadulterated triumph and of excite- missed the third one,’ and we’d go over each question." ment about what might happen in the next half hour." The show Berry was determined to keep making nightly calls; after calling was taped for about two hours on Feb. 24, 2000, and was edited to in 15 times and answering all 3 questions right 8 times, he made it about 45 minutes for airing on March 1, 2000. through the random drawing into the second round twice. For this Berry, who lives in Norcross, Ga., with wife Roberta Eck Berry ’76 and their three sons, discovered the show by accident one BILL BERRYMADEITTOTHE “HOT SEAT" ON WHOWANTS TO BE AMILLION- night. “After watching it for about 10 minutes, I thought, ‘This is AIRE? ANDWON $64,000. HE SAID THAT REGIS PHILBINTOOKEXTRA CARE right up my alley—I have to try to get on this.’" His family down- TO LEARNCONTESTANTS’NAMES,WHICH HE FOUND“TOUCHING." SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 24 round, he was playing against 480 people for the 10 spots on a at the plate: You throw ’em;I’ll hit ’em." And Berry did exactly that, scheduled show. Berry now had to answer 5 questions correctly, progressing to the $32,000 level by knowing that Dr. Kenneth each within 10 seconds. Cooper coined the word “aerobics" in 1968 and that Anna Sui and “The first question was an easy giveaway, but the last four were Michael Kors are fashion designers—not Nobel Prize winners, clas- pretty tough," Berry recalled. “One was: ‘Put the following four sical musicians, or modern dancers. countries in geographic order from north to south: A. Nicaragua; Berry said: “The $64,000 question was tough for me; it asked B. Belize; C. Panama; and D. Honduras.’ I was able to answer this what a hockey player named Craig MacTavish had been the last one only because I had, about two decades earlier, read a magazine NHL player to do. After burning my last two lifelines, I made an article about Americans living in Belize that described the country educated guess that he was the last NHL player to play without a as ‘tucked up against Mexico,’ so I assumed it was the northern- helmet, which was correct. The $125,000 question asked how Dr. most of the four, which it is. Another was: ‘Place the following four Doolittle got his ability to talk to the animals. I didn’t have any tennis players in the order in which they first idea, was out of lifelines, was facing three “IN won the men’s singles Wimbledon plausible answers, and, with championship, from earliest ALIFETAKENASAWHOLE, $64,000 in hand, was quite to latest: A. Pete Sampras; LUCKDOESN’TMATTER....INTHEARCOF risk averse; so I retired on B. John Newcombe; ALONGLIFE,THEBREAKSEVENOUT,ANDYOUR that one." C. Andre Agassi; and ENTIRELIFECOURSEENDSUPAPPROXIMATING After the show, Berry D. Arthur Ashe. The RATHERCLOSELYWHATYOUACTUALLYARE. mostly felt relief that he tricky thing about this did not “mess up" and YOUAREWHATYOUARE,NOTWHAT one is that Agassi won the happiness that he had “come year before Sampras started his HAPPENSTOYOU.” through" for his family. Now, look- great run." ing back, Berry’s Millionaire experience has Berry felt optimistic about all of his responses, so he wasn’t also washed away any sense of previous “missed opportunities." He shocked when an associate producer called about an hour later with said, “Every bad break I might have had in my life has been more the good news. As a stay-at-home father earning a part-time income than outweighed by this; I end up in life being, to my surprise, a while his wife completed four years of full-time graduate study, Berry very lucky fellow. Even more, I see that in a life taken as a whole, was thrilled to tell his family about the Millionaire opportunity. luck doesn’t matter: I see that luck does happen—some good, some In keeping with the free phone calls, all travel expenses for the bad—but that in the arc of a long life, the breaks pretty much even New York taping were paid by the producers. The contestants out, and your entire life course ends up approximating rather close- arrived on the previous afternoon for a brief orientation at the ly what you actually are. You are what you are, not what happens to show’s rented hotel suite. At 8 a.m. the next morning, they were you." bussed a short distance to the studio, where they were always Since his appearance on the show, three strangers have recog- accompanied by security-conscious staff. nized him. When he deposited the prize check, which will actually After another orientation tour of the set, each of the contestants amount to about $40,000 after taxes, it caused a “minor uproar" at practiced walking to and sitting in the hot seat—acutely aware that Berry’s bank. Now, the bank personnel smile and greet him by only two or three would have the actual experience, whereas the name. Every time he deposits a check, the funds are immediately others would leave with a souvenir T-shirt and $150 for expenses. available rather than the five days he previously had to wait for a Before the taping, the contestants also sat in their assigned semi- check to clear. “No huge deal but nice," he said. circle seats at the edge of the set and played five practice games. “For myself, it’s given me a boost in confidence. I wouldn’t say “The questions were all quite easy, and I was always a second to a that it’s justified my life, but it has, in a sense, justified my approach second and a half behind the fastest contestants, which concerned to life, which has involved spending a lot of time gathering knowl- me a bit," Berry said. edge for no immediate, careerist purpose," added Berry, who ranks With resolve just to focus on correct answers rather than speed, this high point right behind his marriage and the birth of his three Berry developed a successful strategy. After winning the fastest-fin- children. ger question, he was given a few minutes to calm down from the By appearing on the Millionaire show, Berry fulfilled a lifelong rush of adrenaline and emotion during a break. “All I remember of dream that was first inspired by Swarthmore’s College Bowl team. those first couple of minutes after shaking hands with Regis was “One of the reasons I chose to attend Swarthmore was that its jumping up and down—literally—in the entranceway between the College Bowl team, led by Nancy Bekavac ’69, was spectacularly good audience risers, shouting, ‘I can’t believe it! A week ago, I was in the 1968–69 season, winning five consecutive shows and retir- punching numbers on the phone on my kitchen counter, and now ing undefeated. I can still hear the moderator calling out, ‘Swarth- I’m going to be in the hot seat!’ All the while, a nice young show more, Bekavac!’ over and over again," Berry said. staffer stood smiling at my side, repeating, in a very reassuring When he arrived at Swarthmore, Berry inquired about getting on manner, ‘Yes, yes, that’s right, you did great; you’re going to do the College Bowl team and was disappointed to find out that the great.’" Once in the “hot seat," Berry felt that he was in his “natural show had gone off the air. “Thus, appearing on the Millionaire show arena." He was relaxed and comfortable, feeling none of the tension allowed me to revisit and fulfill a desire so old that I had forgotten of the fastest-finger rounds. “I felt like I was finally playing a game it had existed, which made the experience even sweeter than it on my home court; I never wanted to leave. I felt like Ted Williams would otherwise have been." M A R C H 2 0 0 1 25 U n d e f e a t e d C h a m p i o n s Question: What is the most valuable in “When I was one and twenty...."? Answer: “Guineas."

ancy Bekavac ’69, the captain of Swarthmore’s College Bowl Nteam, interrupted with the correct response. “I’d memorized the poem when I was about 10," she said, still reciting: “When I was one and twenty / I heard a wise man say / Give crowns and pounds and guineas / But not your heart away." COURTESY OF FRIENDS HISTORICAL LIBRARY Bekavac, now the president of Scripps College in Claremont, Calif., and a Swarthmore Board member, was an English major and ship in 1969–70 that enabled her to travel the world—from aspiring poet at the time. “It always seemed to me that those ques- Western Europe to Russia, Yugoslavia, Israel, Iran, Afghanistan, tions, and some others, were practically designed for the way my Pakistan, India, and Nepal—and write poetry. Bekavac also went to mind works." Even though Bekavac initially South Vietnam, where she worked for two months did not want to try out for the “A T as a stringer for Metromedia News and College Bowl team, SW AR TH MO RE ,W EP RE SU ME D Catholic Welfare News. Professor Charles Raff, TH AT LE AR NI NG TH IN GS AN DU SI NG TH EM Even in the midst of the the coach, bugged WA SA GO OD TH IN G; WE AL SO RE AL LY WA NT ED 1960s turmoil of Vietnam, her to do so by EV ER YO NE TO KN OW HO WG OO DS WA RT HM OR EW AS . the civil rights movement, repeatedly mention- and the farmworkers labor TH IS SE EM ED AT ER RI FI CO PP OR TU NI TY ,P LU S ing her overdue dispute, Bekavac and College Descartes paper for his WE GO TA FR EE GE NE RA LE LE CT RI CS MA LL Bowl teammates Michael Modern Philosophy seminar. AP PL IA NC EE VE RY WE EK .” Hattersley ’69, now a writer in “I didn’t want to try out at all—I was Provincetown, Mass.; Michael Miller ’69, a sort of embarrassed that ‘general knowledge’ was always deputy planning director for the state government in Napa, Calif.; my strength, as opposed to knowing something that was useful." and William Holt ’70, an orthopedic surgeon in Quincy, Ill., kept In high school, Bekavac tried to appear “normal" as a cheer- their perspective on what really mattered—despite their national leader and yearbook editor. “Like all bright American teenagers, I exposure and success as five-time winners who retired undefeated. had to find a way to be and a role for myself at a time—even in the The College Bowl members decided to donate their $19,500 win- Dark Ages—when being ‘popular’ or athletic or, for girls, ‘cute’ was nings to a scholarship fund in memory of then–President Court- given a much higher value than knowing who Belisarius was," she ney Smith, who died from a heart attack after a College sit-in— said of the Byzantine general who lived around 505 to 565. halfway through their five television appearances. “We thought a Bekavac’s experiences at Swarthmore, where women were scholarship in his name was absolutely the right thing. We didn’t expected to be intelligent and do their best, were pivotal—allowing know what to say to all those people who had loved him, so we her to come out from under cover. “Certainly, the experience of hoped that the scholarship would express how we felt and help meeting real intellectuals who were women—Dean Susan Cobbs, someone else study at Swarthmore, carrying on the kind of learning Professor Susan Snyder, Professor Helen North, Professor Nan in which he believed," said Bekavac, who gave a moving eulogy dur- Keohane—was a huge influence. Then, when I went to law school ing one of their College Bowl appearances. “Later, after he died, it [at Yale, where she first met Bill and Hillary Clinton and was later comforted me a little to know that he took pride in our team." appointed chair of the Commission on White House Fellowships in Because of their televised College Bowl appearance, other team- 1993] and found a profession where gobs of random knowledge ... mates also received extensive attention from viewers. Hattersley, could help in a case, I realized I’d found an outlet for lots of things. who is still in touch with Bekavac, “received an astonishing amount But not all," she said. of mail," ranging from marriage proposals to haircut offers, he said. “I wanted what I knew (bits of poetry, numbers theories, names “Apparently, I was the first male to appear on the College Bowl with of Renaissance preachers and divines, the Krebs Cycle) to help me hair below my ears." do something more important. It turns out that being president of Hattersley recalled that Bekavac was chosen team captain by a small college is the thing—from breakfast talks on NCAA athlet- ics to African proverbs to interviews with biochemist candidates or NANCYBEKAVAC WASTHE CAPTAINOFSWARTHMORE’S 1969 COLLEGEBOWL French intellectual historians, my grab bag of data enlarges my TEAM.“MY JOBWAS TO ANSWER AS MANY TOSS-UPS AS ICOULD AND, ON sympathies and makes the day more interesting," said Bekavac, THEMULTIPART QUESTIONS, HUDDLE WITH MY TEAMMATESTOFORMULATE who was formerly the executive director of the Thomas J. Watson THEBESTANSWER....WEWEREREALLYANXIOUS TO WIN, SO WE COOPERATED Foundation. She was also a recipient of a $6,000 Watson fellow- LIKE PISTONS,"SHE SAID. SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 26 lot—“the right choice, by chance, and a born leader." Bekavac, who Army." He bet $4,000 of $4,800 in winnings on his question: viewed the experience with “comic relief," said: “I was glad that my “What are Pennsylvania and Maryland?" The Canadian opponent talent for reading and retaining odd and obscure facts turned into didn’t know this bit of American history, and Vanni won. something useful at what was a fairly critical time of my life. Now director of student personnel services at Bishop Eustace Looking back, it built confidence, exposed me to a certain level of Preparatory School in Pennsauken, N.J., Vanni also worked as a pressure, encouraged teamwork, and was a lark on the whole. In the part-time admissions counselor at Swarthmore in the early 1990s. smallest of ways, it helped both my hometown and high school, He had previously taught classes in counseling at the College from and it helped the college I loved." 1981 to 1984 and added a course in childhood psychopathology that was cross-listed in the Education and Psychology departments. As a five-time winner on Jeopardy, Vanni L i f e qualified for the November 1989 “Tourna- ment of Champions” (TC), with potential Q u e s t i o n s prize money of $100,000. He won the first game, placing him in the semifinals.“The TC Answer: I wanted the most people possible was exhilarating and humbling,” Vanni said. to win. He was eliminated in the second round— Question: Why did you bet to tie, attempting receiving $5,000 in addition to his previous to enable two champions to return for the COURTESY OF CIGUS VANNI $40,400, which actually amounted to next round? $24,000 after taxes. “I really enjoyed the experience of playing igus Vanni ’72 caused a stir as a five-time the game, meeting some ... people from all around the country, get- CJeopardy winner in 1988, when fellow contestants and viewers ting some time in Southern California—and honestly, the fact that noticed his altruistic betting style. Vanni, who had just left I won was a secondary but not unimportant issue,” he said. Swarthmore after working as assistant dean under Janet Dickerson “It did not change my life," Vanni added. “I also [think] that from 1984 to 1988, attributed his desire to have others also win to even if the dollar amount were substantially higher, I would not be his Catholic-Quaker education. significantly altered.... I have always lived simply—used cars, recy- As an English and psychology major, Vanni’s thirst for knowl- cled everything, thrift store purchases, no clothing bought at edge was stimulated by the “extraordinarily bright retail—and I actually wonder what a big infusion of and curious community" on campus. “I T money would do for me—or to me." “I consequently found my nat- WA SG RE AT FU NT OB E After his Jeopardy appear- ural drive to know chal- RE CO GN IZ ED IN TH EA CM EP AR KI NG LO TA ND ance, Vanni put some of lenged and affirmed the money into a CD for IN TH EE LE ME NT AR YA ND HI GH SC HO OL SW HE RE daily by classmates, pro- his son, who was 1 year fessors, and staff. IW OR KE D. BU TC ER TA IN LY IT DI DN OT CH AN GE — old at the time; pur- Having been expected as a AN DS HO UL DN OT HA VE CH AN GE D— chased a car; and bought student to be thorough, well MY LI FE ." some professional books in informed, and current in my work, it psychology and education. Vanni has was not difficult to transfer these qualities over to also established “a wild and wonderful relationship game show preparation—especially in light of the good fit between with some of the guys at my local Acme meat department and a liberal arts education and the Jeopardy range of categories." cashier corps who were trivia buffs," he said. In the late summer of 1988, Vanni went to Southern California His Jeopardy experience has been a “real jump-start to some of to try out for Jeopardy. He entered the studio with 150 others and the relationships I have with my present students, who think it is took a 50-question “general knowledge" test. He passed with 8 really cool that I have accomplished such a feat," Vanni added. In others, ultimately trusting his long-term memory to avoid “displac- addition, a few old friends also got back in touch with him after his ing secure knowledge by cramming. I read a lot ... and I am fortu- television appearance. “Among the people who re-established con- nate to have a good memory for what I encounter," Vanni said. tact were a couple of Swat buddies, and one of those restored rela- “Contestant coordinators were clearly looking for panache and tionships continues to this day." T spirit at that point.... I had a great time telling jokes in the audi- tion—I think that was one of the reasons they took me for the CIGUSVANNI,WHO RECEIVED THESWARTHMOREWOMEN’S ATHLETICASSOCI- show. But on the set itself in the late ’80s, there was a definite ATION NICEST LEGS ON THEFIELD AWARDFOR THREECONSECUTIVE YEARS, sense of highbrow decorum to be followed." APPEARED ON JEOPARDY WITH ALEX TREBEK.STEFANIEWULFESTIEG’92, So Vanni left the humor to Trebek, focusing on giving correct NOWA NEWMEDIA ACCOUNTMANAGER AT NETDECISIONSINLONDON, AND responses during each round. Finally drawing on his Civil War DAVIDGRAHAM’92,ANAUTOMOTIVECONSULTANTATA.T.KEARNEY IN knowledge, Vanni hit the jackpot on the final Jeopardy answer: SOUTHFIELD,MICH.,ARE TWOOFTHE OTHERALUMNIWHO HAVE APPEARED “These two Northern states were invaded by the Confederate ON THEGAMESHOW. M A R C H 2 0 0 1 27 ʼ 67 SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN STEVEN GOLDBLATT 28 Every aspiring scientist learns that hat happened at Swarthmore between Peter Van de Kamp the path of discovery is paved with Wand Wulff Heintz is very signif- Barnard’s icant within the astronomical world opposition—especially when an as- because it underscored the unpredictable consequences inherent in all serious re- sumption, belief, or notion that everyone search,” says Paul Halpern, a physics pro- fessor at the University of the Sciences in W bble Philadelphia, who wrote about the two thinks of as true is proven false. Swarthmore astronomers in his 1997 book The Quest for Alien Planets: Exploring Worlds In our hi-tech world, much of this Outside the Solar System. “Stories like this Was it a planet? happen often in science, but you don’t hear opposition remains comfortably in the P r o b a b l y , about them much because, let’s face it, peo- ple like to hear about the upside in making past. No religious leader has forced a said legendary important discoveries, not the downside.” Indeed, the scientific world responded modern-day Galileo to recant his S w a r t h m o r e with nothing but praise in 1963, when Van de Kamp, now deceased but then a profes- findings, and no 20th-century scientist a s t r o n o m e r sor of astronomy and director of the Sproul Observatory, announced that he suffered like the monk Giordano Bruno, Peter Van de Kamp. had sufficient evidence to suggest that he had found a planetary system beyond the L i k e l y n o t , who, in 1600, was burned at the stake solar system. said his chosen Though scientists and science fiction for suggesting that the universe could writers had assumed that other such sys- s u c c e s s o r , tems existed in the universe, the actual dis- contain an infinite number of stars with covery of one was like finding astronomy’s Wulff Heintz. Holy Grail. The 1963 announcement made planets whirling around them. Van de Kamp, already a beloved figure on the Swarthmore campus, one of the most By Bill Kent But there remains within the field of famous astronomers in the world. Sarah Lippincott Zimmerman ’42, pro- fessor emerita of astronomy and director scientific endeavor a risk almost as emerita of the Sproul Observatory, who was Van de Kamp’s research associate and perilous, whose consequences can have later director of the Sproul Observatory, remembers him as “a charming man, inter- devastating results: the possibility that, ested in a great many things outside of astronomy.” after years of searching for—and A native of Holland, Van de Kamp came to Swarthmore in 1937 and rapidly estab- thinking you have found—the truth, lished himself as a witty, charismatic per- sonality and virtuoso pianist. He conduct- a colleague comes to you with results ed the College orchestra in the 1950s and hosted “Charlie Chaplin Seminars” in that question your findings. Clothier Hall, where he showed films from his collection of Chaplin silent comedies It is almost ironic that just such a while performing the piano accompani- ment. A fan of both classical and American series of events occurred almost 40 years popular music, he composed tunes that he named after the stars he observed. Musical ago at Swarthmore in the Department of satirist Peter Schickele ’57 composed “The Easy Goin’ P.V.D.K. Ever-Lovin’ Rag” for Astronomy. Van de Kamp’s 70th birthday. During his M A R C H 2 0 0 1 29 life, many accolades included the naming THESCIENTIFICWORLD and temperament. According to Gaustad, of an asteroid for Van de Kamp in 1980 by Van de Kamp thought that the quiet, seri- the International Astronomical Union as RESPONDEDWITH ous German research astronomer would well as several professional honors. faithfully carry on his work. “He never “He was this wonderfully energetic NOTHINGBUTPRAISE expected the criticism he later got from Dutchman,” remembers John Gaustad, the Heintz, which he considered very disloyal.” Edward Hicks Magill Professor Emeritus of IN 1963, WHEN Born in Würzburg, Germany, in 1930, Astronomy. “He was well known in the PETERVANDEKAMP Heintz had an early interest in math and field for the work he’d done at Swarthmore science. “I used to love the blackouts dur- in astrometry—the precise measurement of ANNOUNCEDTHAT ing the bombing runs [of World War II] the positions of stars—all of which was because they made it so much easier to see excellent and quite reliable. But he was HEHADFOUND the stars.” best known for the work he did on He also developed a profound skepti- Barnard’s Star.” APLANETARYSYSTEM cism when his father, a physician, was per- The star Van de Kamp chose for his secuted by the Nazis merely because he was planetary quest was a rather faint red dwarf BEYONDTHESOLARSYSTEM. employed in a Jewish-run hospital. “The called Barnard’s Star after the astronomer Nazis were liars and bullies. I learned to who first charted its rapid motion, Edward question everything until I could be Barnard. It is a mere six light years away sure of the truth with my own eyes from Earth and had been previously pho- and my own mind.” tographed at the Sproul Observatory as far At the University of Munich, back as 1916. Beginning in 1937,Van de Heintz became well known within the Kamp took tens of thousands of photo- field for his work in astrometry, espe- graphic plate expo- cially in the identification of double sures of Barnard’s stars (to date, he has found some Star as it moved 900 of them and has done sig- across the night sky. nificant work in the identifi- He studied these cation of barely lumi- images, looking for a nous “brown dwarf” small perturbation, stars). He was known as a “wobble,” also eager to in the star’s path. teach courses Such a deviation in cosmology— could be caused by the study of the the gravitational pull origin of the uni- of one or more plan- verse—and other ets orbiting around aspects of astronomy that the star. had not been offered before. In 1963, after 26 “It seemed a perfect fit years of research, Van for me,” recalls Heintz, de Kamp announced whose office is now in the that a planet about observatory’s former dark- one-and-a-half times room. “I had my own the mass of Jupiter studies that I could pur- was orbiting around sue. I was looking for- Barnard’s Star. After ward to teaching in America. announcing his dis- All of this I was very excited to do.” covery, Van de Kamp, FRIENDS HISTORICAL LIBRARY Heintz came with his family to Swarth- by then 64, went on an international more in 1967,where, he says, he and Van search for a scientist who would teach de Kamp were close friends until 1970, more astronomy courses at Swarthmore, when Van de Kamp asked him to continue continue the observatory’s long-term astro- VAN DE KAMP ANNOUNCED IN 1963 THAT the Barnard’s Star observations and gather metric mission of mapping stars, and fur- MEASUREMENTS TAKEN OVER NEARLY 30 YEARS AT more data. ther his work on Barnard’s Star. Heintz recalls that Van de Kamp kept SPROUL OBSERVATORY SHOWED A “WOBBLE” IN The successor Van de Kamp found, the evaluation of the photographic plates Professor Emeritus of Astronomy Wulff THE PATH OF BARNARD’S STAR THAT COULD BE largely to himself, but the younger Heintz, was almost his opposite in style CAUSED ONLY BY AN UNSEEN PLANET. astronomer “suspected there might be a SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 30 remembers. “I was told that I should do nothing about it, and that his observations would eventually be confirmed. This I could not believe because, with the varia- tions in the exposures alone, there did not seem to be enough to make any conclusion either way.” Any friendship between the two scien- tists ended when Heintz published the first of a series of scientific papers on the sub- ject in 1976. The papers shed the first pub- lic doubts on the accuracy of Van de Kamp’s methods. “It was the interpretation that was at fault,” said Gaustad. “The effect he thought he saw was so small that it could not be distinguished from the ‘noise’ in the measurement. MARTIN NATVIG “Van de Kamp felt betrayed. For the problem with the results.” remainder of his life, he insisted that his Heintz found minute variations in the VA ND EK AM PT HO UG HT results were correct and that he had found sensitivity of the plates, causing the sizes a planet. It’s important to keep in mind, of the images of Barnard’s Star and the TH AT TH EQ UI ET ,S ER IO US though, that, in terms of the rest of Van de stars with which Barnard’s was being com- Kamp’s career, he did very important, accu- pared to vary slightly. He also questioned GE RM AN RE SE AR CH rate work, and that the field of astronomy the precomputer mathematical methods is richer for it.” that Van de Kamp had used to interpret his AS TR ON OM ER Still believing that he would one day be data—methods that Heintz claims were vindicated, Van de Kamp returned to “too crude to remove small optical imaging WO UL DF AI TH FU LL YC AR RY Holland in 1981. He died in 1995, a year errors.” Given that the margin of error in after Heintz published his final word on determining a deviation was very narrow— ON HI SW OR K. the subject. After extensive remeasure- within 2 microns (far less than the diam- ments of the Sproul plates and comparison eter of a hair)—was it possible to conclude HE NE VE RE XP EC TE D with other telescopes’ results, Heintz that a wobble existed at all? declared in the Astronomical Journal that Heintz began to duplicate Van de TH EC RI TI CI SM HE LA TE R Van de Kamp had been wrong. Kamp’s comparison studies and found “Nowadays, when you hear about other variations in plates taken in the GO TF RO MH EI NT Z, Barnard’s Star,” adds author Halpern, “it’s 1940s and 1950s. He noted that, in 1949, almost like a warning that things that can’t the telescope had been disassembled and WH IC HH EC ON SI DE RE D be wrong just might be wrong. In retro- cleaned. Could the changes in the posi- spect, what happened at Swarthmore took tions of the lenses make it more likely for a VE RY DI SL OY AL . some of the sting out of admitting a mis- wobble to appear? In 1973, an astronomer take.” In 1991, when British astronomer visiting the Sproul Observatory showed Andrew Lyne said—in error—that he’d that, in fact, this could have occurred. discovered a planet orbiting a pulsar, he The most embarrassing challenge did announced his mistake at a meeting of the not come from Swarthmore but from other American Astronomical Society soon after- observatories, which were following scien- “I CAN TELL YOU,” SAYS HEINTZ (SHOWN ward and was given a standing ovation. tific custom by attempting to duplicate Van ABOVE IN 1979), “I DID NOT WANT TO “What I did,” Heintz says, “was show de Kamp’s work. After a decade of observ- EMBARRASSACOLLEAGUE.IWASNOT that you can’t use photography to look for ing Barnard’s Star, none of these observa- COMFORTABLE AS THE [BEARER] OF BAD NEWS. planets.” tories found evidence of a planet. THERE WAS NO SATISFACTION IN IT. In the past decade, using entirely differ- When Heintz mentioned to Van de ITOOKREFUGEINMYOWNSTUDIES,INMY ent methods and instruments, scientists Kamp that he, too, was having difficulty have found some 30 stars with planets duplicating Van de Kamp’s work, “I was TEACHING,ANDWITHTHETELESCOPE.IT’S orbiting around them. T denounced among his friends—including STILLQUITEAUSEFULINSTRUMENT.” top administrators—as a nasty character THE 24-INCH REFRACTOR IS NOW USED Journalist and novelist Bill Kent is a frequent and probably mentally disturbed,” Heintz FOR VARIABLE STAR RESEARCH. contributor to the Bulletin. M A R C H 2 0 0 1 31 COURTESY OF ELIOT ASINOF

OU TS ID ER S, OU TC AS TS ,A ND Ninth Man Out EL IO TA SI NO F’ 4 0 By Jeffrey Lott

ccasionally, you discover a new read the novel, especially when I learned his best-known and most successful book. author, and you just can’t get that Asinof had previously written Eight As he showed this treasure to me, Asinof Oenough. You read everything you Men Out, a baseball book I had read and said that his next appointment was with an can get your hands on, putting down one admired some years ago. auctioneer of sports memorabilia who book and immediately picking up the next. According to Swarthmore’s computer- might buy it. But now there was time for a You start seeing into a writer’s mind— ized library catalog, a dozen of Asinof’s brandy and soda and a couple hours of apart from the subjects and characters in books were in McCabe Library. Who was conversation about his life and work. his books—and you want to know more. this person with 6 novels and 8 nonfiction We swapped baseball stories. I knew he I came across the books of Eliot Asinof works to his credit? I started reading, and, was a New York–born Yankee fan; although about a year ago. A Florida newspaper ran a before long, I knew I wanted to meet him. I’m a Yankee hater from way back, I ad- brief profile on the publication of his latest mired the current World Champs from the book, Off-Season, a novel about a major e talked last summer in a dark Sixth Bronx. Only three of Asinof’s books are league baseball star who returns to his WAvenue bar in New York. Tucked about baseball, but I knew that playing the hometown to find—and fight—racism and under his arm, neatly boxed and tied, was sport was how he defined himself as a corruption. As a baseball fan, I wanted to the original manuscript of Eight Men Out, youth. SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 32 “When I grew up, it was the game,” he said. “Every kid had a glove.” He spent his early years playing pickup games in New York’s Central Park and later captained both his high school team on Long Island and the Swarthmore squad. At Swarthmore ONLYTHREEOFELIOTASINOF’S(LEFT) (where he transferred after a year at 14 BOOKS ARE ABOUT BASEBALL, BUT THE Williams), he encountered George Earn- SPORT PLAYED A CENTRAL ROLE IN HIS shaw, former Philadelphia Athletics star pitcher, then fire chief in the Ville. YOUTH. AFTER SWARTHMORE, HE PLAYED IN “In his fading years as a ballplayer,” THEMINORLEAGUESFORTWOYEARS.HE’S said Asinof, “George threw half-speed bat- IN THE FRONT ROW, SECOND FROM LEFT, IN ting practice for the College team to keep THEPHOTO(OPPOSITE PAGE) OF THE 1940 his arm in shape, and on Sundays he went ST. ALBANS [VT.] GIANTS. ASINOF’S BEST- up to New York to pitch for the Brooklyn KNOWNBOOKIS EIGHTMENOUT,THE Bushwicks for $200 a week. This is a guy who had pitched to Ruth and Gehrig, and I STORY OF THE 1919 “BLACK SOX” SCAN- DAL, LATER THE SUBJECT OF A FILM.

ELI WALLACH “I PLAYED FOR JOY,NOT FOR AMBITION. THE LONG, BATTERING BUS RIDES AFTER NIGHT GAMES, THE INADEQUATE LIGHTS, GRUBBY LOCKER ROOMS,SLEAZY HOTEL ROOMS,TERRIBLE FOOD, LOW PAY... NOTHING BOTHERED US, FOR WEWERE PLAYING BALL.” used to challenge him to throw me his best grubby locker rooms, sleazy hotel rooms, entanglements with a brutal and corrupt stuff. I could hit it all right—until he’d terrible food, low pay ... nothing bothered criminal justice system become a poignant smile and fool me with an off-speed break- us, for we were playing ball.” indictment of racism in America. There are ing pitch.” Along the way, there were cruel, despotic Craig Badiali and Joan Fox (Craig and Joan, Asinof couldn’t get enough baseball and managers and anti-Semitic obscenities 1971), two New Jersey teens who commit soon found himself playing twilight ball for from opposing players and fans. “It was, in suicide in 1969 as a protest against the a semipro team in Chester, Pa., assuming many ways, a hate-ridden, competitive Vietnam War—kids whose lives in an the name Johnny Elliott to protect his col- world, but in the end, the game was the uptight suburb seem hopeless and beyond lege eligibility. Earnshaw thought the thing, the only thing.... Baseball was played their control. The Fox Is Crazy Too (1976) is young first baseman might have the talent with a bat and a glove, not with a mouth.” a portrait of Garrett Trapnell, a bank robber to play professionally after college and His former teammate Mickey Rutner had and con man who manipulates the insanity arranged for him to play summer ball in a taught him how to cope: defense—which Asinof abhors—to evade New York–New England college league “‘F— ’em all, big and small,’ Mickey prison. sponsored by the Big Leagues. There he used to say. This became the philosophical It’s the same in Asinof’s fiction. Say It became friends with Mickey Rutner, a solid premise of my existence. Sometimes, you Ain’t So, Gordon Littlefield (1977) recasts the player who would later get a shot at the face situations where you are at the mercy Black Sox story as a dark but zany plot to majors—and who became the main charac- of forces beyond your control, and if you try throw the Super Bowl. The hero of his lat- ter in Man on Spikes, Asinof’s first book to reach a logical solution, you’re gonna go est novel, Off Season, is a major-league (1955). crazy. So how do you save your ass? Say, ballplayer named John Cagle who confronts The day he graduated from Swarthmore ‘F— ’em all, big and small.’ It gives you a some demons from his past and recognizes with Honors in history, Asinof signed a sense of liberation.” that certain responsibilities go with his contract with the Philadelphia Phillies. He fame and fortune. played two seasons in the minor leagues uch of Asinof’s work is about people And then there’s “Shoeless” Joe Jackson. before joining the Army after the start of Mwho find themselves in situations like Some say that Eight Men Out is the best World War II. this, who struggle to hold on to their digni- baseball book ever written. As every fan “I played for joy, not for ambition,” he ty and power. knows, eight members of the 1919 Chicago later wrote. “The long, battering bus rides There’s Laurence Blutcher (People vs. White Sox took small-time money from after night games, the inadequate lights, Blutcher, 1970), a young black man whose big-time gamblers to throw that fall’s World M A R C H 2 0 0 1 33 Series. When widespread rumors of a fix optioned the movie rights several times. led to an investigation, the suspected play- IN EIGHT MEN OUT, But surprisingly for such a dramatic story, ers were hauled before a grand jury, where no film was made for 25 years. they confessed. All were banned from base- ASINOF’S SYMPATHY By the mid-1970s, after Asinof had writ- ball by the team owners and their newly ten a half-dozen other books, he learned appointed enforcer, Commissioner Kene- LIES WITH THE that David Susskind’s Talent Associates saw Mountain Landis. Neither the gam- was readying a show about the Black Sox blers who ruined the players’ careers nor PLAYERS—MEN for NBC-TV. Because he could not claim a the owners who manipulated the scandal copyright on history—historical events are to further enslave their chattels were ever WHOSE LIVELIHOODS considered to be in the public domain— made to account for their actions. Asinof says he thought little of the Eight Men Out is the definitive book on WERE CONTROLLED Susskind project until he also learned that the scandal. Asinof’s sympathy lies with Susskind had told the program’s sponsor, the players—men whose livelihood was LOCK, STOCK, AND IBM, that Talent Associates owned the controlled lock, stock, and jockstrap by the rights to Eight Men Out. team owners and who became pawns in a JOCKSTRAP BY Asinof strenuously objected. He didn’t big-money game. Joe Jackson is a particular even own the rights himself, he told IBM; hero, whereas the venal owners and their THE TEAM OWNERS. they were then held by a California produc- racetrack friends get rough treatment. An er—and certainly not by David Susskind. uneducated millhand—and prodigious To its credit, IBM ordered NBC to stop the slugger—from South Carolina, the vulner- project, whereupon Susskind slapped Asi- able Jackson was first seduced by the con- nof with a $1.75 million lawsuit. It took spirators and later forced to sign a confes- many months—and many thousands of sion that he couldn’t even read. Jackson dollars—to defend himself, but Asinof tried for years to return to baseball, playing finally prevailed. Later, he wrote an angry at times under assumed names. But the book about the Susskind affair, Bleeding ban held, and a promising career was lost. Between the Lines (1979). Eight Men Out languished after that, a or an author, such a book should be tainted property. The rights returned to Fsomething to celebrate, but ultimately it Asinof, and he managed to option them taught Asinof some tough lessons about again in the early 1980s for $30,000. being a pawn himself. From the time he “Not only had I not made any money first became interested in the story, it on the book,” he says, “but defending seemed like the fix was in. myself had cost me money and sapped my The Black Sox story was almost energies as a writer. At the time, [the untouchable even before he tackled it. Asi- $30,000] was a lot of money—a year’s nof’s first attempt came in a play he was income—and it got me out of hock.” commissioned to write for live television in But, as Asinof points out, a piece of 1960, but the production was killed before writing is “just like a painting. A painter airtime by its sponsor, the DuPont Compa- sells his work for $100, and every guy who ny. Apparently, then–Commissioner of owns it after that sells it for more. The Baseball Ford Frick told company and net- rights I sold for $30,000 ended up being work executives that airing the Black Sox bought by Orion Pictures for $125,000.” story would be “bad for baseball.” So it’s no surprise that, according to A New York Times report about Frick’s Asinof, his first encounter on the set with censorship led to a call from an editor at independent filmmaker John Sayles went Putnam’s—and a book contract for Asinof. like this: He set about reading everything that had “You’re on the rumor mill, El,” said been written about the scandal and covered Sayles. “Everybody in the movie business thousands of miles tracking down surviv-

ing members of the team, many of whom ASINOFWROTEABOUT“SHOELESS”JOEJACKSON would not talk about the 1919 World Series. When it was published in 1963, (LEFT)IN EIGHTMENOUT,HISBEST-KNOWN baseball fans embraced Eight Men Out, and BOOK.FORMERMAJORLEAGUEPITCHERGEORGE it sold steadily—though not spectacular- EARNSHAW (RIGHT) THREW BATTING PRACTICE TO

ly—in the years that followed. Asinof BETTMANN/CORBIS SWARTHMORE PLAYERS IN THE LATE 1930S. SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 34 baseball becomes the apotheosis of segre- wrote. “No one ever blamed anyone for gation and race war, with one all-white taking the money…. It was a phrase that league and one all-black: could wear a man down, whittling away at his resistance until the wound was raw, the All games, then, will be a racial clash. spirit infected.... It might take a man half a I have a dream, Roomie, of high-flying lifetime to develop his powers to resist— spikes, of pitchers decking hitters, of and less than an hour to sell them out.” body-crashing drama at home plate, of violence and rumors of violence.... Base- liot Asinof hasn’t bought in, and he ball will become the heart and soul of Ehasn’t sold out. An upper-middle class racist America, bringing in crowds kid, a top student, a star athlete, he was by beyond the greediest club owner’s his own admission a “straight arrow.” dream. The World Series, then, would When he and some friends got caught be a modern reprise of the Civil War painting a red “S” on a Haverford College itself. I have a dream, Roomie, where the building on the eve of a football game, he

HIS BOOKS ARE PEOPLED WITH OUTSIDERS, OUTLAWS, AND OUTCASTS—AND HEDOESN’T

BETTMANN/CORBIS MIND IFYOU THINK OFHIM THAT WAYTOO.

thinks you’re a troublemaker.” bullshit hypocrisy of America’s quest for says Dean Everett Hunt was almost in “Why did you hire me, then?”shot back racial amity will once and for all be shock to find him among the miscreants. Asinof. abandoned. But Swarthmore changed him. His “I hired you because of it.” books are peopled with outsiders, outlaws, Sayles and Asinof became close friends. “Is this you? Your voice in Corky’s and outcasts—and he doesn’t mind if you Asinof calls Sayles’ film “a reaffirmation. speech?” I asked Asinof. “Do you think think of him that way too. He’s the self- Suddenly, here comes a first-class guy who that the quest for racial amity is false?” styled ninth man out, the uncompromising surrounds himself with first-class people. “Yes,” he said quietly. “That’s me. That’s tough guy of a professional ballplayer, com- He knew what the movie business is like. absolutely me.... Any black will tell you plete with the “F— ’em all” attitude. Yet in Making that picture was a lot of fun at a that—except those who buy in to the white his work, there’s intelligence and compas- time when I had a tendency to become cyn- world. The big leaguers now, they’re all sion; he celebrates the individual’s ability ical.” buying in.” to fight life’s battles, to stand in against the But Asinof’s problems weren’t over. The “But you have to understand,” he says. high, tight fastball. movie should have provided a golden “Part of my education as a writer was the He remembers exactly when the light opportunity for the first best-seller of Asi- impact of all my lefty friends. In [the went on in his head—the crucial moment nof’s 40-year writing career. “But on the 1930s], that was respectable, at least until in his education—in a seminar with leg- day the film opened,” he says, “there was the McCarthy period, when they all went to endary Professor of Economics Clare not one copy of my book in the City of jail or got blacklisted. You identified with Wilcox. New York,” nor anywhere else in the coun- the outsider because that’s what you are— “One night we went to his home for the try. Despite months of advance notice from an alienated character in American society. seminar, and he said, ‘Leave all your stuff Asinof about the movie, his publisher neg- It still exists in my work. In a world of peo- here—we’re going into Philadelphia.’ lected to bring out a new printing to coin- ple who buy in, I’m always trying to resist.” Seven or eight of us drove into Philadel- cide with the release of the film. Asinof spent the late 1950s in Holly- phia to see John Steinbeck’s movie Grapes wood, married for a time to Marlon Bran- of Wrath. n many of Asinof’s books, you find a do’s sister, but returned to New York in “Then we came back to his house—it Ispeech or passage that is clearly in the 1959. “I got out of LA by luck,” he says. It was close to midnight, but his wife made author’s voice—usually a cry against reminded me of a passage about the film tea and served cookies—and he spent the hypocrisy or injustice. In Off-Season, pro- industry from his book Bleeding Between the next hour talking about the economics of tagonist Cagle’s black roommate, Corky, Lines. Grapes of Wrath. I learned a lot about what makes an angry “I Have a Dream” speech “Take the money. Take the money. America was like that night. about the future of race in America. In this Unquestionably, it was the sine qua non of “I’ve never forgotten that,” he said ballplayer’s dream—a nightmare really— survival in the entertainment business,” he quietly. T M A R C H 2 0 0 1 35 Connections SWARTHMOREGATHERINGSNEARYOU

UPCOMINGEVENTS tact Alison at [email protected] or to Face exhibit; in February, Jim hosted Metro DC/Baltimore: This Connection (804) 974-9506. The Charlottesville U.S. Representative Rush Holt (D-N.J.), will join Christmas in April in Washing- Connection has a new listserv; go to who presented “A Swarthmore Perspec- ton, D.C., to renovate the house of an http://listservs.swarthmore.edu, and tive on Congress" with lively discussion elderly or disabled homeowner in the sign up. We can keep you posted on regarding the election of 2000. In early district on Saturday, April 28. Volunteers upcoming events electronically. March, the Connection went to the with all levels of experience and skill are Chicago: Alumni and parents enjoyed a Philadelphia Flower Show and to the needed. If you would like to help this unique look behind the scenes at The Curtis Institute of Music to hear Lynn year, contact Kay Gottesman ’60 at (301) Lyric Opera of Chicago—one of the Harrell, a renowned cellist. 530-5504,or e-mail [email protected]. world's leading opera companies— Philadelphia—Recent Graduates: arranged by Connection Chair Marilee Geoff Cline ’96, Kristen Lockwood Cline Philadelphia: Supper Club le Swarth- Roberg ’73. The group visited the ’96, and Ben Stern ’96 recently launched more—An informal monthly meeting of wardrobe area, the wigs and makeup this subset of the Philadelphia Connec- our Philadelphia alumni for a variety of departments, the scenery-handling facili- tion with a program at the Philadelphia ALUMNIDIGESTtasty cuisine and friendly social inter- ty, the armory and prop rooms, the Museum of Art in February. All Connec- change. The group usually meets on a orchestra pit, and the main stage. tion members are invited to participate Wednesday evening after 6 p.m. in future events! Everyone is welcome. Check the Pittsburgh: In January, the Alumni Events Web site for the Connection went to the NHL date and time of the next supper, Penguins–Flyers Game and or contact Connection chairs watched the Flyers defeat the Bruce Gould ’54 at brucegould54@- Penguins 5–1. In attendance hotmail.com or (215) 563-4811 or were Frank Beldecos '50, Jen- Jim Moskowitz ’88 at (610) 604- nifer Gross '98, Kent James 0669. If you sign up for the Phila- '84, Joseph Wilson '68, and delphia Connection listserv, you parents Susan and Fred will be informed electronically. Schultz and Chitra and Pradip Teredesai. In February, the Pittsburgh: Join Connection Pittsburgh Connection visited members at the HYP Pittsburgh Dreadnought Wines to taste Club, 619 William Penn Place, the Rhone region’s wonderful Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on the red and white wines. Owner third Thursday of the month for

COURTESY OF DON SWEARER Mike Gonz, a self-described an informal lunch. These “Third “wine educator and speaker," Thursday Luncheons" are open to DONSWEARER,PROFESSOR OF RELIGION,ENTERTAINED SWARTH- addressed the group. all Swarthmore College alumni, MORE ALUMSWHO AREATTENDING THEHARVARD DIVINITY SCHOOL, friends, and family and offer an WHEREHEISTEACHINGWHILE ON LEAVE. SWATTIESINCLUDEDNANCY Twin Cities—Martha Easton opportunity to meet new people BENSON-NICOL ’98, JESSICAMCFARLAND ’98, ANDOTAVIAPROPPER ’00 ’89 organized the first annual and establish new friendships. (BOTTOM, LEFT TO RIGHT); CAMERONDAVID WARNER ’97, DONSWEARER, Twin Cities Swarthmore Pro- Contact Melissa Kelley ’80 at kel- SARAHAZARANSKY ’97, ANDGREGORY WHITE’93 (TOP,LEFTTORIGHT). gressive Dinner in January. It [email protected] or (412) 562- was quite a success, and plans 1593 for more information. are under way for additional Twin Cities Iowa: Melissa Edwards Mohammed ’90 events. If you are interested in planning RECENTEVENTS made arrangements for alums and their or participating, contact Martha Easton Charlottesville: The first event of the children/grandchildren to visit the Iowa through the Alumni Office. new Charlottesville Connection took Children’s Museum in January. Seattle: Connection Chair Deb Read ’87 place in February at the Charlottesville Philadelphia: This Connection is always arranged for a private wine tasting at Ice Park, followed by a warm-up at a local on the go. Co-Chairs Bruce Gould ’54 Esquin Wine Merchants, the premier soup spot. Connection chair Alison and Jim Moskowitz ’88 organized several wine merchant in Seattle, in February. Meloy ’94 wants to plan a warm-weather well-attended events. In early January, The outing featured Gianfranco D'Aniel- event and is looking for ideas and volun- Bruce planned a trip to the Philadelphia lo's entertaining and educational presen- teers to help. If you are interested, con- Museum of Art to see the Van Gogh: Face tation on Italian wines. SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 36 Calling all entrepreneurs and reunion leader. What do Microsoft, CNN Headline News, Lax was active in the management of SGL Priceline.com, Sony Online Entertainment, Industries, Inc., his family’s manufacturing Reflections on and MSNBC have in common? Mark Ben- firm, for 10 years. In the mid-1980s, he fol- erofe ’81 worked with each of these organiza- lowed his own entrepreneurial spirit and Education and tions and, founded the Philadelphia-based market Social Justice through his research and consulting company, Marketing entrepreneurial Audit. A Special Alumni Event vision, made sub- The 2001 conference is also made possi- stantial contribu- ble through the generosity of the Charles Celebrating Swarthmore’s tions to their col- Boone Houston II Endowment. It is co- lective success. sponsored by the Swarthmore Business Program in Education Benerofe will Society, the Office of Career Planning and be the keynote Placement, and the Office of Alumni Rela- Friday,Oct.26 and speaker at the tions. For additional information, call the Saturday,Oct.27,2001

2001 Lax Confer- STEPHEN DANELIAN Lax Lecture Response Line (voice mail) at ence on Entre- MARK BENEROFE ’81 WILL (610) 690-6887,or visit the conference Web Save the date! This special event is preneurship, to KEYNOTETHE SECOND site at http://lax.swarthmore.edu. for all alumni involved in education— be held on cam- ANNUAL LAXCONFERENCE past or present. The two-day event pus on Sunday, ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP. What is a listserv? will feature keynote speaker Herb Kohl April 1. He will Simply stated, a listserv is a group e-mail (author of 36 Children and The Disci- share his extensive experience in the organi- list. A listserv can be created for a related pline of Hope) and other workshops, zation and implementation of Internet start- group of people (e.g., a particular class, a panels, and discussions. Read more up companies with students and members of particular interest, or geographical information, and register on the Web the Swarthmore community. Mark is cur- group). The Alumni Office has created at http://www.swarthmore.edu/ rently on leave from Walker Digital, where many listservs, and once you have regis- Home/Alumni/Events/index.html or he serves as chief marketing officer as well as tered (which you can do at http://list- by phone at (610) 328-8655 (press executive vice president of corporate devel- servs.swarthmore.edu by following the “2," and leave your address on voice opment of Priceline.com. easy directions), you can then send one e- mail). In addition to the keynote-speaker pres- mail to the listserv, which will be auto- entation, two panel discussions are planned. matically distributed to all of the people One will encourage the sharing of entrepre- who have registered. You can send e- ered the trove last year with the help of neurial experiences and expertise among the mails about Alumni Weekend, Class Kevin Schlottmann ’00, station manager, participants. The second panel will address Notes, general information—or just to believe that much of this material how Swarthmore prepares individuals for say hello. It is an easy way to communi- deserves to be archived digitally in the entrepreneurial and leadership positions in cate with classmates, but you have to reg- Friends Historical Library. the new century. Panel participants will ister to participate in a listserv. Twelve-inch 78-rpm and LP copies include Shola Abidoye ’97,Stuart Cornew were made and sold to students on cam- ’80, Andy Dailey ’91, Ingeborg Daniels ’93, Check those old platters pus at the time and may be in better con- David Goodman ’83, Dan Kohn ’94,Susan- Check your attic! WSRN, the College dition than the original recordings. If you na Levin ’85, and Curtis Roberts ’75. The radio station, recorded many folk con- have any such records in playable condi- Lax Conference on Entrepreneurship and certs, student folk singers, Hamburg tion, and would be willing to lend them Economic Anthropology was established in Shows, and other concerts in the 1940s for this project, contact Anne Matthews memory of Jonathan Lax ’71. Lax graduated and 1950s, but these old 16-inch record- Rawson ’50 at (610) 544-5175, or e-mail with a B.A. in sociology and anthropology. ings are deteriorating rapidly. The alumni [email protected]. Do not send He later served the College as class agent group Swarthmore Folk, having discov- records; just let her know what you have.

UPCOMING Black Alumni Family Alumni CAMPUS Weekend Weekend Weekend EVENTS March 23–25 March 30–April 1 June 8–10 M A R C H 2 0 0 1 37 38 SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN CLASSNOTES alt he u laMater, Alma our thee, to Hail nations; all for freedom and Peace preservation, for work must We conservation— needs Earth Mother respected be should Differences together, along get must We interests; special the against Fight crusaders; more for need a There’s people— the all for work your But day, one remembered be will You justice, racial for fight the Join College Swarthmore old leave we As al l al Swarthmore! Hail, All Hail, poor. the house and feed die. will earth the or cry? her hear you can’t view. of points their and too; peoples all with goal. your be should that soul; and heart your give hour. finest your that’s power, or wealth for not care! you world the show fair, campus this and III II I New A ietyu omnso hs yiso oronatmtat editors. attempt the own songsmithing—to your Swarthmore lyrics—or these on comments your Direct vant biography the of subject College. the He’s State Virginia West at a professor” currently He’s visiting Virginia. “distinguished of West member from a Representatives as of terms House nine the to served assistant he an and major, Truman, of Harry rank President the to with on historian went Army 1993), an May become Garnet,” the (see Wears 1930s that early Team the the “It’s in band College the organized who Hechler, of College the at favor century. more 21st find the will version new specu- this Perhaps, Ken, years. lates recent in Commencement days—it’s from these missing much even sung isn’t song old The mater. alma more’s K o Swarthmore? for Mater Alma yCalsMoffat. Charles by ayo tt,bcueh’ endnwlrc o Swarth- for lyrics new penned he’s because secre- Virginia’s state, West of as tary years 16 hands after his retired on he’s time that extra now some have must ’35 Hechler en e ehe,Mvrc ulcSer- Public Maverick Hechler, Ken 46 SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN ALUMNIPROFILE eils(SUVs).vehicles utility sport were percent 80 over,about roll to prone most vehicles 55 the article,of the accidents.According to of percent 20 least at in over roll would vehicles those of 55 that Today. year,exclusively for last vehicles 2000 trafficcongestion.” thetimebecauseof muchof slowly Washington,D.C.,moves very around Beltway says.“The there,” he rollovers of incidence lower there’s a and more, Washington,D.C.,and Balti- of outside just suburbs Maryland the in bureaucrats live of conservatively.“A more lot drive to tend crats demographics. driver and congestion traffic of because factor a environment.Rollovers become driving the and drivers to related are percent vehicle’s 30 dimensions,and a to related are rollovers of percent 70 says considered.He be also driven,must is car the which in state the even conditions,speed,and road including rollover.probability of lowest the have vehicles lower heavier,and side.Wider, opposite the on other the of center the to one of center the from measured tires between distance the is width,which track vehicle’s height,weight,and a on based rollovers. in killed were 9,771 people that show 1998 in NHTSA from issue.Statistics the about concerned 1990s,was early the NHTSA,in that reading after sparked was extensive an in attention national received Index K organization,the advocacy consumer Safety,a Auto for Center the experts,and AdministrationSafety (NHTSA),leading Traffic Highway National the by endorsed was it accident.After an in over rolling vehicle’s probability for determining a for Index. Stability Rollover K his developed he since s r e v o l l o R o t d n E J n a g n i d n i F Usta eevdtewrtratings— worst the received that SUVs model-year popular 189 analyzed Kimmel bureau- that show statistics says Kimmel factors, other says However,Kimmel primarily is algorithm Index Kimmel’s K issue rollover the Kimmel’s in interest mathematical formula a is Index K The eonzdepr nvhcerollovers vehicle on expert recognized widely a become ’44 has Kimmel oseph . S E I T I L I B A B O R P R E V O L L O R E L C I H E V E N I M R E T E D S P L E H ” X E D N I K “ S ’ L E M M I K H P E S O J sn h ne,twsdetermined was Index,it K the Using S TodayUSA ril atJl 17. July last article USA EEVDTEWRTRTNS HTDE IMLDRIVE? AUDI. KIMMEL AN DOES AND WHAT MERCEDES RATINGS. A WORST THE HAVE RECEIVED ROLLOVERS IN AUTO PUBLISHED ON BEEN PREDICTIONS KIMMEL’S JOSEPH aigsse o eemnn vehicle’s determining a for system rating anywhere”). go can and drive (“It’s all-wheel A42.8 Audi 1999 a and base”) 122-inch wheel a has and pounds (“It’s 4,800 Mercedes SEL 420 1989 cars—a two owns Kimmel,who now,” says with compared then lightweight back very were OK.Cars windows.Fortunately,everyonetered was shat- the of out climb to had crushed.We was roof end.The over end rolled we road,and gravel a on car the of control lost sister My car. V-8 Ford two-door a in 3-month-old son sister’s my holding and 12 was 1933,I “In lem. prob- the solve help to decision the and issue future. near in published be to expected are vehicles 2001 Kimmel’s for findings Victoria. Crown Ford and Viper 528;Dodge 740, Avant;Bentley;BMW A6 3.5RL;Audi Acura the accidents,are of percent 3.9 to 1 in over, roll to likely least cars the Echo.Among Toyota and Swift Metro,Suzuki Chevrolet the accidents,are of percent 21.9 to 18 over,in roll to likely most cars traditional passenger that accidents. of percent 13 in rollover probability of a had Excursion.It Ford rollover:the to likely least SUV The Toyota RAV4. Tracker,Suzuki Vitara,and let Chevro- accidents—were the of percent 43.9 to 38 in over rolling probability of a showing nJnayNTAanucdisown its announced January,NHTSA In the to Kimmel drew experience personal A found article,Kimmel the to According S TODAY USA PR TLT VEHICLES UTILITY SPORT . S TodayUSA nthe in eygo daTe’evr effective.” very idea.They’re good very a is vehicles more in them having think says.“I wheel,” Kimmel each on pressure braking the alternating by skid a stop will system.It ing year. last cent per- 3 just from increase huge That’s a tem. stability-enhancing sys- a of form some with come will vehicles built American North all of percent 21 than more 2008 by that predicted industry,it’s automotive the organization for over.roll a precedes what often is skid,which the ling control- by cars,work high-end on available widely systems,now systems.Stability bility sta- vehicle of use increased the with rollovers vehicle of number the in reduction notable Times local the for column political weekly a written has years,he 10 for township’s the workforce,and government in patronage Republican ended that group form re- Look,a New Republican the of founder the was politics.He Republican local in active is businesses,Kimmel his to addition 1953.In Radnor,Pa.,since in lived ’44,have Kimmel Services.Human and Health of Department the operations for insurance disability and income security RYAN RICHARDS ts aaeetcnutn company, consulting management a ates, Associ- businesses:JWK two operates He Pittsburgh. of University the from nomics eco- master’s in a has and Swarthmore at economics in majored background.He statistics his economist,used industrial states. different in rates different for account don’t and gross too ernment’s are figures gov- the that states also Kimmel.He says gradations,” 10 with precise more is Mine steps. five just has system ment’s rating govern- over.“The rolling probability for aieSca Security’s supplemental Social ganize reor- helped he government,where federal the Cross,Citibank,and Red the included have services consulting his of Clients Transportation Institute. Analysis and Tesaiiysse ste notebrak- the into tied is system stability “The research market One,a Tier to According a sees future,Kimmel the to Looking Blackburn wife,Elizabeth his and Kimmel odvlphsKIndex,Kimmel,an K his develop To newspaper. uubnadWayne and Suburban Ade Penner—Audree Childbirth Choices PRENATALTESTINGANDDISABILITYRIGHTS

Erik Parens and Adrienne Asch ’69 (eds.), asked on several occasions why the preg- “good" versus “bad" is now thought of as Prenatal Testing and Disability Rights, nancy was not terminated. And which of us mere “difference" that has been “socially Georgetown University Press, 2000 does not know someone who has agonized constructed" as good or bad. A similar argu- over whether to have amniocentesis? But ment is considered throughout this book he title of this wonderful book gives when we start considering the arguments regarding the disabled. Is blindness a neu- no indication of how broad an audi- about the issue, it broadens extremely quick- tral condition, merely different from sight- Tence will enjoy and profit from it. The ly and interestingly. edness except for the social construction of title suggests that it is either a “how-to" (or One focus of the arguments—and a inferiority? Does that imply that curing “whether-to") book for prospective parents recurrent theme—is whether disability is a blindness or causing blindness in a child are or an “applied philosophy" or no worse or better than political book discussing a bringing it to be raised in a specific issue of rights. In fact, different culture? Unlike BOOKS&ARTSit is those things and much when the issue comes up in more. It is a wonderful micro- the political arena, glib lan- cosm of many pressing per- guage and mere political sonal and cultural issues of rhetoric will not do here. the broadest interest, and it is The issues must be con- completely accessible to peo- fronted and the nuances ple with no special prepara- respected. This book is an tion in biology, politics, or excellent start. philosophy. For instance, if contribu- The book is a collection of tors to the book do not articles from a conference. It object to terminating a includes excellently written pregnancy on grounds of scholarly work from special- general inconvenience to ists at the leading edge of the mother, how can some their field, but these are com- of them oppose terminating plemented by first-person a pregnancy on grounds of accounts of decisions of the particular inconven- whether to have prenatal test- ience of having a disabled ing done—some very mov- child? Co-editor, contribu- ing—plus straightforward tor, and summarizer Adri- discussions of the history of enne Asch’s point is that the such testing, the legal status latter, but not the former, of the issues, and policy pro- DRAWING BY LEONARDO DA VINCI—UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD/CORBIS impugns the worth of the posals. “social construction." Now, the issue of life of the living disabled. But is such a per- And what is the issue? At one level, it is social construction is at the heart of virtual- sonal decision the sort of thing that this simply what the title says, but the book nar- ly all topics in the humanities and social sci- sort of offense to a third person should rows its focus in an extremely useful way, ences these days. But the term “social con- influence? If one person chooses not to presenting the argument made by some dis- struction" is often used quite cavalierly in marry another because of, say, a sexual dis- ability advocates that prenatal testing for ways that suggest that the phenomenon it ability such as impotence, we might want to disabilities—with a view to the possibility of describes could be usefully wiped off our criticize them, but would we do so on terminating a pregnancy if a disability is cognitive maps if we merely decided to do grounds of its effect on other sexually dis- detected—is wrong. It is wrong, at least in so. The personal and urgent nature of the abled people? And, on a different tack, part, because it may imply that life itself is matter forces us to recognize that the blind would the argument imply that we should not worthwhile for a disabled person, and and deaf remain significantly different from not terminate pregnancies that are the this is an unacceptable insult to disabled the seeing and hearing, regardless of how result of rape or incest because of the impli- people. we “socially construct" them. cations for living people conceived in that The immediate and personal signficance “Difference" also is at the heart of all way? of this issue is pretty clear. A friend of mine discussions in the humanities and social Even these issues pale in significance in with a child whose disability can easily be sciences these days. Much of what we might light of deeper issues that simmer in this mistaken for a congenital one reports being once have thought was characterizable as book. We see here some of our most cher- SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 52 ished values being taken to extremes that and memories about family, relationships, force us to reflect on them. Politically, we ANEXPANDEDSECTION nature, and writing. have taken it as unquestioned that when no With this issue of the Bulletin, “Books & one else’s welfare is concerned, we should Arts” enlarges “Books & Authors.” We have Steven Epstein ’74, Speaking of Slavery: have the widest possible range of choices. expanded the scope of this section beyond Color, Ethnicity, & Human Bondage in Italy, But do we want to live with the conse- books to include compact disks, films, Cornell University Press, 2001. In this work, quences of such choices if it means a world videos, Web sites, art shows, musical com- Epstein shows that the ways Italians use with no disabled people in it? How about if positions, and public performances. Let us words and think about race and labor are parents overwhelmingly choose to have chil- know of your latest public creative endeav- significantly influenced by medieval Italian dren of the same sex? Even more broadly, we or. Books, videos, and CDs will be donated language to sustain a system of slavery. have strived for centuries to increase our to the College Library after being reviewed control over our lives, not just politically, but or noted in these pages. Send your work to: Michele Ruth Gamburd ’87, The Kitchen technologically. There was very little com- Books & Arts, Swarthmore College Bulletin, Spoon’s Handle: Transnationalism and Sri 500 College Avenue, Swarthmore PA 19081- plaint when that control did not, despite 1390. Or e-mail news of your latest creation Lanka’s Migrant Housemaids, Cornell Univer- our efforts, amount to very much. But it is to [email protected]. sity Press, 2000. Gamburd illustrates the amounting to more and more, and the ques- effects of female migration from Sri Lanka tion of whether we want so much choice through stories and memories of returned and control cannot be put off much longer. I 2000. Of great value to music and dance migrants and their families and interviews can frankly think of no better place to begin historians, this evaluation of Antonia with government officials, recruiting agents, that consideration than with this book. Mercé, the most celebrated Spanish dancer and moneylenders. of the early 20th century whose stage name —Richard Schuldenfrei was “La Argentina," reveals her importance Richard Goodkin ’75, Birth Marks: The Professor of Philosophy as an artistic symbol for contemporary Tragedy of Primogeniture in Pierre Corneille, Spain and its culture. Thomas Corneille, and Jean Racine, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000. This book re- Peter Berkowitz ’81 (ed.), Virtue and the examines French classical tragedy in terms O t h e r Making of Modern Liberalism, Princeton Uni- of recent theories about the sibling bond, versity Press, 1999. This book offers an particularly with respect to birth order. R e c e n t analysis of the debate over virtue within modern liberal theory and practice and an Joan (Friendly) Goodman ’56 and Howard B o o k s accounting of the role of Lesnick, The Moral Stake virtue in the classical liberal in Education: Contested Emilie Amt ’82 (ed.), Medieval England tradition. Premises and Practices, 1000–1500: A Reader, Broadview Press, Longman, 2001. This 2001. This collection of documents provides Paul Brodwin ’81 (ed.), text, designed for both a broad overview of life in Medieval Eng- Biotechnology and Culture: professional reading and land, from local writings about the daily Bodies, Anxieties, Ethics, Indi- courses in the ethics and lives of common people to well-known ana University Press, 2001. philosophy of education, political texts such as the Magna Carta. In this book, experts from offers both preservice and various disciplines examine in-service teachers several David Bennahum ’57 (ed.), Managed Care: the controversies arising philosophies on ways to Financial, Legal, and Ethical Issues, The Pil- from advances in biotechnol- teach morality. grim Press, 1999. This book examines the ogy, blurring the dividing issues facing managed care today by assem- lines of genres and breaching Alan Gordon ’81, Jester bling the viewpoints of key decision makers disciplinary conventions as Leaps In: A Medieval Mys- in the Albuquerque, N.M, health care area, they variously analyze such tery, St. Martin’s/Mino- from the chief executive officer of a hospital issues as cloning, surrogacy, RICHARDGOODKIN,AUTHOROF taur, 2001. Gordon, a system to the director of managed care, a and organ transplantation. lawyer working with the home health care specialist, a lawyer, chap- BIRTHMARKS, TEACHES FRENCH AT Legal Aid Society in New lains, and professors at a medical school. T. Alan Broughton ’62, The THEUNIVERSITYOFWISCONSIN. York City who has written Origin of Green, Carnegie a previous novel and sev- Ninotchka Bennahum ’86, Antonia Mercé: Mellon University Press, 2001. In this mov- eral short stories, offers another mystery, “La Argentina": Flamenco and the Spanish ing collection of poems including “Dawn including jester, jugglers, and knaves in the Avant Garde, Wesleyan University Mosaic," “Praise," and “The Color Is midst of political turmoil in 13th-century Press/University Press of New England, Green," Broughton expresses his feelings Europe. M A R C H 2 0 0 1 53 B o o k s Jim Huang ’82 (ed.), 100 Favorite Mysteries nication at the University of Minnesota, of the Century, The Crum Creek Press, updated this comprehensive history of 2000. This list, selected by the Independ- journalism—fulfilling a promise to co- ent Mystery Booksellers Association, fea- authors Edwin Emery, her doctoral advisor tures cherished books and reviews from and colleague, and his son Michael, a pro- booksellers across the United States and fessor of journalism at California State Uni- Canada, with additional personal recom- versity, after their deaths. mendations and comments. Eric Schatzberg ’79, Wings of Wood, Wings Joan (Moffitt) Larkin ’60 (ed.), A Woman of Metal: Culture and Technical Choice in Like That: Lesbian and Bisexual Writers Tell American Airplane Materials, 1914–1945, Their Coming Out Stories, Avon Books, Princeton University Press, 1999. Schatz- 1999. Extending from the 1940s to the berg shows that culture and ideology help present day, the stories in this anthology determine the most basic BOOKS&ARTS reveal the social mores related to the les- ABOVE: LAWYER ALAN GORDON characteristics of modern bian and bisexual experience in the United HASWRITTEN JESTERLEAPSIN: industrial technologies States during the past half-century. A MEDIEVAL MYSTERY. RIGHT: as well as the influence of the military on 20th- ERIC SCHATZBERG, AUTHOR OF Susan Signe Morrison ’81, Women Pilgrims century technology. in Late Medieval England: Private Piety as WINGSOFWOOD,WINGSOF Public Performance, Routledge, 2000. This METAL, TEACHESTHEHISTORYOF Hasia Diner, Jeffrey book explores the phenomenon of women SCIENCE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF Shandler ’78, and Beth and pilgrimage in the late Middle Ages, WISCONSIN. BELOW: GEOFFREY Wenger (eds.), Remem- examining the medieval perceptions of PLANK,WHOWROTE ANUNSET- bering the Lower East Side: gender and space. TLED CONQUEST, TEACHES AT THE American Jewish Reflec- UNIVERSITYOFCINCINNATI. tions, Indiana University Stephen Nathanson ’65, Should We Con- Press, 2001. This collec- sent to Be Governed? A Short Introduction to tions of essays explores Political Philosophy (2nd ed.), Wadsworth/ the dynamics of Lower East Side memory, Thomas Learning, 2001. In this introduc- examining the changing ways that the tion to political philosophy, Nathanson neighborhood has been embraced by Amer- presents the central themes of political ican Jews over a century. philosophy and the views of several signifi- cant thinkers. Barbara Calkins Swartout ’53, Building Canandaigua: A Collection, Ontario County Geoffrey Plank ’80, An Unsettled Conquest: Historical Society, 1997.In this work, The British Campaign Against the Peoples of which began as an inventory of historic Acadia, University of Pennsylvania Press, structures and neighborhoods, the author 2001. Plank gives an in-depth account of explores the history of Canandaigua, N.Y. the removal of the Acadians, the ancestors of the Lousiana Cajuns, and the subse- Nina de Angeli Walls ’62, Art, Industry, and quent oppression of the Mi’kmaq. Women’s Education in Philadelphia, Bergin & Institute, 2000. This set of policy memos Garvey, 2001. This book, created because Nicole (Fischer) Hahn Rafter ’62, Encyclo- was written by a group of science, business, the traditions of Moore College of Art and pedia of Women and Crime, Oryx Press, and environment experts at the Aspen Design intrigued the author, includes chap- 2000. Criminologist Rafter provides a Institute as members of a hypothetical ters on “Designing Women as Students," resource that explores the role of women as committee to advise the new president on “Managing a Women’s Art School," and offenders, victims, criminologists, lawyers, global environmental policy. “Moore College in the Twentieth Century." reformers, and workers in the criminal jus- tice system. Micheal Emery, Edwin Emery, and Nancy Barbara Winne ’41, Singular Shadow, self- Roberts ’76, The Press and America: An published, 2000. In this collection of Donald Kennedy and John Riggs ’64 Interpretive History of the Mass Media (9th poems, Winne uses vivid imagery to reflect (eds.), U.S. Policy and the Global Environ- ed.), Allyn and Bacon, 2000. Roberts, a on memories and relationships from ment: Memos to the President, The Aspen professor of journalism and mass commu- throughout her life. SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 54 F i l m David Linde ’82, producer of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, wowed moviegoers across the nation this win- ter with the hit Chinese action-adventure blend of kung fu and romanticism. At press time, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon had received 10 Academy Award nominations.

Nancy Cole and Liza Xydis ’86 completed the docu- comedy Small Metal Glasses, which aired on Through the Lens (WYBe Television, Jan. 23). The following description about the award-winning film was posted on the Web site http://www.docfestival.gr/2000/sto- ries_uk.html: “In a series of interviews with various eyeglass-wearers as well as with two opticians who sell eyewear, the film comments on the issues of medical necessity, superficial accessory, [and] the judgements we make based on appearances.”

DAVIDLINDE,WHOPRODUCED CROUCHINGTIGER,HIDDEN DRAGON(RIGHT), IS A NATIVE OREGONIAN WHO SPENT TWO FORMATIVEYEARSBEFORESWARTHMOREINEUROPEANBOARD- ING SCHOOLS, WHERE HE ACQUIRED LANGUAGE SKILLS THAT HAVECONTINUEDTOBEUSEFULINHISCAREER. CHAN KAM CHUEN M u s i c Meghan Hayes ’93, who suggested expanding this section to “Books & Arts" (see box on call for submissions), opened for Capi- tol Records recording artist Amy Correia at the Tin Angel in Philadelphia on Feb. 2. Hayes’ CD, Snow on the Waves, released in September, explores her travels through the United States and the Czech Republic as well as themes of love and fear. After graduating, she supported her music by teaching in Brno, Czech Republic, and then working for consumer advocate Ralph Nader, who led Hayes to an accidental singing appearance on National Public Radio’s E-Town. In addition to writing, singing, and playing acoustic guitar for the 12 tracks of folk, rock, alter- native country, and melodic pop songs, Hayes produced the recording with David McKittrick.

Patrick Runkle ’98 released his first CD, After the Fall, with the “80s-style synthpop” duo Ganymede. As reported in the Lan- caster New Era, Ganymede evokes a spacey, other-worldly mood and is on the racks at independent music stores in California.

KATHRYN SMITH Electroage describes it as “Addictive-like Elegant Machinery, MEGHAN HAYESSTARTED WRITINGSONGS BEFORE ATTENDING SWARTHMORE, cheerful-like Cosmicity, and pleasurable-like early Anything Box; WHERESHE FIRSTPERFORMED LIVE.SHE HASPLAYEDINCLUBS ANDCOFFEE- Ganymede brilliantly plays in the old-school synthpop field HOUSES IN THEMID-ATLANTIC, NORTHEAST, AND WASHINGTON,D.C., AREASAT without a sense of déjà-vu.” T VENUES LIKE THEBLACK CAT, LUNA PARKGRILLE, IOTA, ANDCAFFE. M A R C H 2 0 0 1 55 60 SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN ALUMNIPROFILE osrln nthe on ruling mous unani- a to came justices deliberating,the of months 13 Court.After Supreme state the to up moved had case 1998,the November tionship.” rela- our to be could supports social and legal those powerful how knew also years,I 20 for heterosexual marriage previous a in been had I Baker.“Because Peter,” says with love in fell I because it did also minimal.“I be would risks the felt orientation,they sexual included nondiscrimination that with policies tions institu- at jobs secure Baker.With says sion,” deci- our supported all they colleagues,and and families our to spoke I and “Peter ward. for- stepped had men gay no plaintiffs,but be to agreed had couples lesbian several and suit, the for background material preparing been had attorneys Vermont issue.Two the in involved became also Force,he Task Marry to Freedom The for promotional video a narrate to friend a by asked was he when politics, gay Vermont in active years. 30 in movement rights lesbian and gay the for gains significant most the of one to eerdt sthe as to referred lawsuit, couples.The sexual hetero- married responsibilities as rights,privileges,and legal same the couples same-sex allows Act,which Unions Civil ing history-mak- the to ultimately led that lawsuit Vermont the filed couples, lesbian two with along St.Michael’s College, at theater of professor tenured Harrigan,a Middlebury,and in agency health mental a of director and therapist family and child refused.Baker,a politely clerk license.The marriage a requested Shelburne,Vt.,and in clerk’s office town the to went an, otr h ekntigmr,o less, more,nor nothing seek who monters Ver- plaintiffs as acknowledge the to tion] Constitu- Vermont the [of Clause Benefits Common the of extension statement:“The court’s the Republican,read Amestoy,a Jeffrey n o i n U e h t h t I i W g n i k c i t S n i ate,ee Harrig- partner,Peter his and Baker 1997, J.Stannard June n h asi a ie nJl 1997,and,by July in filed was lawsuit The already was Baker Although . T C A S N O I N U L I V I C S ’ T N O M R E V K R A P S D E P L E H 8 6 ’ R E K A B D R A N N A T S . J ae Case, Baker ae Case. Baker led he Justice Chief AECAPAN HYFLDAVROTLWUTTA E OTEHSOYMKN II NOSACT. UNIONS CIVIL HISTORY-MAKING THE TO LED THAT LAWSUIT VERMONT A FILED THEY CHAMPLAIN. LAKE ( BAKER STAN LEFT islei—utlk heterosexual couples.” like it—just dissolve to wanted ever we if bureaucratic hoops of lot a through go to having includes marriage of rights the adds,“Having Baker,who says union,” legal a is commitment;it our of mony cere- a just than more was guests.“It 270 and priest, choir,a a with Church Episcopal an couples. married as law the under rights same the couples same-sex union,affording civil institution called an create to voted Legislature battle,the bitter sometimes a people.’ After gay ‘those not Stan,’ and ‘Peter was says.“It issue,” he the on face personal a put to plaintiffs was as purpose week.“Our every groups civic and groups church to ing speak- state the spotlight,traveling around lic pub- the in was Senate.Baker and sentatives Repre- of House the in hearings public ing hold- and debating session 2000 the spent legislature couples.The same-sex to benefits and rights full grant to how decide to ture elated. were Harrigan humanity.” and Baker common our recognition of done,a and said is all simply,when relationship is human ing last- and intimate an to commitment avowed their for security and protection legal than ae n argnmrido u.3in Aug.13 on married Harrigan and Baker Legisla- Vermont the to it left court The N I ATE,PTRHRIA,CLBAE HI EA NO TABA EETO ON RECEPTION BOAT A AT UNION LEGAL THEIR CELEBRATED HARRIGAN, PETER PARTNER, HIS AND ) oet despair.” to dote anti- best the is choice.Justice a have they ple peo- young tell couples,we same-sex to apply to culture—marriage—and it our ask of tion fundamental institu- and powerful most the into go we as Baker,“that believe,” says “I ly. calm- more somewhat Vermont,albeit in ues contin- battle legislation,the union civil ing unions.Vermonters civil supporting of majority strong a showed polls that,exit only government.Not Vermont over take and governor the unseat to failed unions civil of opponents when relief of sigh a breathed and returns election local the watched iously support. the for grateful were Harrigan and Civil.” He Vermont “Keep and ward,” For- Vermont signs,“Move own their up put state.Baker’s neighbors the throughout farmer’s fields in and stores in appeared signs Vermont” Back Act.“Take Unions Civil the overturn to campaign visible highly a fund to out-of-state conservative groups from in ing flow- were money of amounts marriage,large celebrating his was Baker festivities.While hl iemr ttsaenwconsider- now are states more five While anx- Harrigan and day,Baker election On the over looming shadow a was there But LuaMroiz’85 Markowitz —Laura

ILENE PERLMAN 62 SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN ALUMNIPROFILE aymnadwmnsfwr professionals, women,software and men tary operators,designers,mili- equipment heavy also 1997,“but Anderson,in Rob and Boller partners,Diane two with site the founded Selby,who wannabes,” says academics,and newsletter.“Poets,students, e-mail weekly its to subscribers 19,000 has time).It of length any for site Web the at stay who people of number the of measure (a “visits” yearly million 3 and hits yearly million 45 boasts you!), “dot.com” fool the (don’t let tions individuals’ dona- by entirely almost funded W y r t e o P f o t i H A ihacul fcik ftemouse. the of clicks of couple a with poets featured by books order can visitors Amazon.com—so to linked is outlets,and print-media major in published poetry about articles to links poets,provides of archive an keeps also day.It each poet temporary con- different a of work the features that ny compa- nonprofit www.poetrydaily.org),is a contemporary poetry. to entirely devoted around site Web popular most the probably is what running he’d be later otyDiy(PD), Daily Poetry o eb a oie ht2 years 25 that idea no had Selby Don Swarthmore, from graduated he hen M O C . S M E O P ] 4 7 ’ [ S ’ Y B L E S N O D T A Y L I A D T E O P W E N A twww.poems.com (or at PD, vni h etbosoe.W tre talk- started bookstores.“We best the in even journals and collections poetry temporary con- find to was it difficult how noticed both had contemporary poetry.They in interested employee—Boller—who was an with talking to got there,he tenure 20-year his of end the and-business publications company. Toward law- off-line and on- massive NEXIS,the LEXIS- of part became eventually which ny, compa- publishing Charlottesville legal small a with job a got law.Instead,he practiced never but Virginia’s school law of University up.” it gave I accomplishment,so that surpass to way No magazine. high junior my for was effort last himself.“My poet a not is college,Selby in major” self-described English “last-minute A people.” more to journals magazines,and books, their of news bring publishers help to like,and they poetry and poets find to people Antartica!” in ship research a Even India! Dakota! South from mail get We theirday! redeem to on sign they us tell who tors doc- and lawyers persons,and unemployed rmSatmr,ewn ietyt the to directly went Swarthmore,he From PD’s ttdmsin“omk tese for easier it make mission:“To stated DI DO N A oecmn nweekly. in coming more dozens basement,with his in up piling books poetry of mountain massive the with do to poets.” fellow and friends,family, their of network new gigantic a immediately get poet,“we a features site the time every lists,and copy review lishers’ pub- journal and book poetry most on now is Journal Street Adthat’s how “And Selby. audience,” says wider a it get could we poetry,how for happen could what about ing okTimes,York Web. the on happening was what see to around browsing were newspapers at editors on,cultural us.Early find search to engines for easy it make to how knew we so sites, designing experience had we and com,” “poems.- got we that enough early URL our got Web.We the on searched-for things most the of one is poetry out turns it early,and on-line were we self-promotion.“But much done not have they employee,says time FF S N ON ER o,asSlyteol rbe swhat is problem only Selby,the Now,says eb,h scretytest’ nyfull- site’s only the currently is Selby,who EL PR EN BY OF C T IT RU ON CO the NS TE MP on sadddarticles.” did and us found MP PO Times AN ET OR otyDaily Poetry F Y RY AR EA DA P Y fLno,n the London,and of TU IL OE Y RI D T AT NG AI WW TH DiyFid’89 Fried —Daisy began.” LY W E W. . PO OR h New The EM O K S. A F CO PD M, Wall

GARY STOTTLEMYER 68 SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN ALUMNIPROFILE onane swl saworld-class dancer. a as well mountaineer as skilled a company,Rudolph is the of rest the dance.Like they positions while their hold and descend self-locking to use devices and climbing harnesses wear anchored ropes,they pended-dance technique.Hanging from 25. at covered dis- Rudolph passion climbers,a avid were All Bandaloop. Project up make now who dancers the of four with working began ritual,” she “American as dance modern on thesis her ing Berkeley.While prepar-Theological in Union Graduate the comparative at religion,this time returned to injury,she knee a after Morris.But Mark as such artists dance prominent modern me.” transformative very for it made recalls.“That students,” the she with work to in people amazing bring to ability its incredible in is Swarthmore at program dance dance.“The of lot a comparative took religion,she in majored Dance.Although she go’s of School Hubbard Bandaloop. Project drives that mountaineering dance and of hybrid it’s the ground, the on perform often Although they Oakland,Calif. in lives Rudolph,who intrigues says me,” what problems is those choreography,but solving of terms in tions California.Pacific of cliffs Lisbon,Portugal,and the Tower in Gama da Seattle’s“stages” Vasco Needle,the as Space such performednet.Rudolph’s on has group sophisticated the without high-wire of act sort gymnastics—a dance,rappellingmodern and Bandaloop’s and flight parts equal specialty is National Park. Yosemite 2,400-foot in cliff granite a of face the “Luminescent called dance Flights” off in and forgotten. easily not ago—is decade a nearly founded Rudolph group Bandaloop—the Project performance by ground.A above feet hundred several forms per- often who one only the be may Rudolph S k S Together,the sus- developed their group graduation,she performedAfter with Chica- Swarthmore from to came Rudolph limita- its rappelling“Dancing while has appropriate title,consideringIt’s an that PBS recently featured on Bandaloop was choreographers Amelia dancers,but and notable produced some warthmore has M A Smithsonian Magazine D y L E A I U R O D n a P L promn a ,performing ’ H i c 6 8 O C g n B M N I uligayoe”seamt,btwe we when building admits,“but anymore,” she 10-story a or feet register 150 don’t even “I conscious,” says. she extremely safetyprofessional are riggers.“We two employs company looks.The it as gerous dan- as insists,it’s Rudolph audiences,but not heart-stopping on effect a formances have mountains.” the Per- experience of the ing skyscrapers—focus city “captur- on on those that.” do can dance gravity-skewing performance good of A its. spir- our lift community and a together as us bring meaningful that rituals in lacking is ture American cul- North modern think religion.“I interest in her is So do.” I throughout what continuing theme a art.It’s create incentive to powerful a me mountains gave the in Being is—profound. was—and nature experience of climbing,” explains.“My Rudolph rock with do everything traditional to more track,has climbers. career to even considered challenging walls traverse cliff to have dancing,they of rigors the of top On AM FO S E otdne Bandaloop performs—even dances Most RN EL ttksaltt rgtnhrteedays. these frighten her to lot a takes It a than this,rather chose I reason “The IA IA W T CO RU AS P O DO T, LP NO ' H S A RT 86 I S O H ( RI N O S F GH AN T : S A ) FR ND O M AN HE CI N U SC ATH O. ER A T BA N I ER E E PE RF Tower!” Clothier on perform to cool so be would Rudolph:“It particular attractionsholds for that there’s wall man-made.And one and natural on,both dance to left vertical stages situations.”unusual these movement,enabled explore by can I that creative ways the motivation is my cliff.But a of edge the over 23rd-story or window a out go first you there’s incredible feeling when an that don’t deny says.“I work,” she the enjoy and palms sweaty the ignore to people want dance.“I the subtleties of the miss they that perceived danger the distracted by so often are audiences that says,is dizzying heights,she choreography.” the on focused pletely com- become rehearsing,we start we once onto.But hold to root a find can’t even you building, a ground.On the we’re on until back going no is there that moment that in aware We’re below! all cars tiny those seeing about scared—something was year,I last Houston downtown 23-story in window a out went I R OR enhl,hr r lnyo impressive of plenty Meanwhile,there are choreographing such drawback to at One G N W M IT N A P H M D RO JE CT D O BA R E ND Ctle McCarthy—Cathleen AL D N OO O P N A T N E C HE CA . LI -

SHARY McVOY B a t h T i m e ANHOURATTHE ONSEN ISN’TENOUGH.

By Marc Pachon ’96

yoko and I arrived at the Mawaki onsen (public bath) at 5:50 p.m. We walked past it up a covered, wooden path that Kstretched up to the hotel at the top of the mountain. In the empty restaurant, we were greeted by a young woman in the hotel’s uniform. She informed us that the restaurant wouldn’t be officially open for another 5 minutes, but we were free to sit at a table and look at the menus. We took the table closest to the entrance because of its view of the bay, and I was glad we had arrived while it INMYLIFEwas still daylight. The prices were higher than we had remembered—twice what I was used to paying. But it was the only restaurant around that did not specialize in noodles, so we ordered and then started talking about nothing. A group of six old men came into the restaurant and started smoking and talking loudly at their table right behind us. The smoke bothered me more than the noise because I’m used to blocking out the constant conversations around me I can’t understand yet. The food arrived, and we ate quickly—Kyoko get- ting my pickles and I snagging some of her cooked fish. It was a good meal, but I knew I’d be hungry again after the onsen. We finished an hour after arriving, having slowed down later in the meal to discuss bigger nothings. I told Kyoko about my dream house design, which sidetracked into a discussion of how I would change if I had the money to build it. Kyoko likes me the way I am, and I’m not sure that I do. I feel like I have some huge change in personality approaching, but I don’t know when or what it will be. Maybe Kyoko sensed it, too, and was afraid about its implications.

I’m not too worried about my future with MICHAEL S. YAMASHITA/CORBIS her, though. Uso. After eating, I paid, and we left for the baths. IN THE POOLS, MY whether you’d make me wait miserably out I carried her piggyback down the path- here while you enjoy the stone side for a few way for no good reason, and we arrived at MIND SLOWS DOWN. more minutes.” the onsen laughing. Kyoko pointed out the She wrinkled her face. “8:15, yo, since I moon, now just above the tree line. It was in IN THE SAUNA, MY don’t want to rush.” Point, Kyoko. one of those phases where the crescent is “Tell you what, 8:15, but you owe me a illuminated, but the rest of the sphere looks HEART STARTS TO favor.” darker than the surrounding sky. We bought “Like what?” tickets at the machine and looked at the RACE, AND EVERY “Don’t know yet. I’ll cash it in at my clock: 7:02. leisure.” “Let’s meet at 8,” I said. BREATH, EVERY She glanced at the clock. “Now it’s 7:08, “Mmmm ... 8:15, yo,” she said in a bilin- so yappari, it’s only an hour.” gual mix. SECOND GOES BY “Too bad. You’ll still owe me.” “An hour’s good enough, ne?” We kissed and went to our respective “But I have the stone side, yo.” She FULLY REALIZED. sides. A wooden porch with matching wood- smiled at me. We both think that the stone en shelves marked the “shoes-off” bound- side of the onsen is better than the wood ary, and I removed mine and placed them side. This onsen is divided by sex, and which gender is on which on one of the shelves. There were little key lockers available, but I side changes every week. Unfortunately for me, the last three times like to give humanity the benefit of the doubt. Not only do I feel we’ve come, I’ve had the wood side. Kyoko isn’t exactly crushed for pretty sure about my possessions in rural Japan, but my shoe size is me. also an inch larger than most Japanese brands go. “Well, I’ll be here in an hour,” I say, playing my typical games. I ducked under the split-cloth curtain and opened the wooden “We’ll see how strong your feelings for me are.... You know, sliding door to the changing room. Like most onsen changing SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 72 rooms, it consisted of a sink/mirror area for post-bath primping the sky. In one of life’s perfect moments, my ears picked up the and a series of wooden cabinets and shelves for possessions. The voice of an old man in the deeper pool singing at the same time shelves had large wicker baskets on them, and I stripped quickly that my eyes locked on to the comet. The moon was in front of me, and placed everything in one of them. Another sliding door led to black and white against the navy sky, and a few degrees to its right the indoor section of the baths, and I entered armed with only a was Hale-Bopp at its brightest, a speckled teardrop half the size of small blue towel and my glasses. the moon. The elderly bather’s scratchy voice traced over a Japanese The first stop was the shower area. “You need to be clean to folk song and perfected the mood. I had no job to complete, no enter the baths,” I once told my friends visiting from LA. I soaped, meeting to go to, and the onsen provided the perfect excuse to do shampooed, and rinsed in about 15 minutes. I try to take a little nothing and enjoy it. Some of my friends smoke to achieve this longer in this stage than the Japanese around me, a small contribu- state, others hang out at coffee bars. The Japanese have the onsen. tion to the fight against stereotypes of the dirty foreigner. This For about 20 minutes, I watched the moon slowly descend from hygienically and culturally cleansing activity finished, I proceeded view. Around the same time it disappeared behind the small build- to one of the actual baths. ing housing the sauna, a group of college-aged men entered the The indoor pools in onsens are typically much hotter than the outdoor area. They entered the pool I was in and started talking outdoor ones. This particular onsen had three indoor pools, two of loudly to each other. One of them pointed to the comet and shifted which were moderately hot, and the third—the pool that fed water the conversation. The Japanese pronounced it “Hey-bup,” in two to the other two—barely tolerable. I sat in the uncomfortable one quick syllables. I left the pool and entered the sauna. for about 5 minutes and allowed most of my muscles to melt out The sauna is the polar opposite of the onsen pools. In the pools, through my pores. Aaahhhhhh. my mind slows down, and the world gels into a few very mellow I moved outside, to the salted pools. I will, at some point, find observations. In the sauna, my heart starts to race, and every out what they put into these treated pools, breath, every second goes by fully realized. but I am currently ignorant. It gives a yellow Thoughts rush through my mind, trying to tint to the water and has a salty taste. The distract me from the heat, but my con- wood side of Mawaki onsen had four out- sciousness keeps returning to the intense door pools, two of them treated. In each discomfort of the room. I don’t know how case, a small, hot, elevated pool served as a much hotter Japanese saunas are, but I’ve feeder to a more shallow but much larger never counted the seconds in a U.S. sauna. pool. After five minutes by the little egg timer I slid into the shallow treated pool and next to the entrance, I left to enter the cold lay back, using my towel as a pillow. The pool. water in the pool was almost perfect body It’s outside, next to the sauna, and the temperature. This was the part of the onsen near-freezing water provides an experience that I loved. To my right, a raspy speaker I’ve always imagined akin to a lightning was attempting to play radio music. I let the strike. My mind cleared like a jostled Etch-a- static and the Japanese lyrics run together Sketch, and simple bodily activities like into a meditative white noise and scanned blood flow and heart pumping suddenly

BOB KRIST/CORBIS became the focus of my existence. I usually enter, then hold my breath under water for as long as possible. (Two-and-a-half minutes is my record.) This marked the end of my onsen routine. I emerged from my cold dip, imagining icicles forming on my body as I walked across the out- door area and re-entered the building. Inside, I returned to one of the shower stalls and rinsed off my body quickly, removing salt and sweat that the cold dip didn’t take care of. I also rinsed out my towel, which I then used to towel the water off myself. I checked the clock: 8:05. Putting on my clothes and hand combing my hair back to a semblance of order took another five minutes, and I left the men’s side of the onsen five minutes early. Kyoko was waiting for me, a lit- tle smile of triumph on her face. “Osoi, yo.” She tapped her watch and raised an eyebrow.

MICHAEL S. YAMASHITA/CORBIS “I guess I owe you a favor.” I smiled, put my arm around her, and

“YOU NEED TO BE CLEAN TO ENTER THE BATHS,” MARC PACHON TOLD A we left the baths. T FRIEND.EVERY ONSEN IS DIFFERENT. THESE PHOTOGRAPHS HINT AT THE Marc Pachon taught at Kanazawa City Schools in Ishikawa Prefecture, VARIETY OF EXPERIENCES TO BE FOUND IN THE JAPANESE BATH. Japan. He is now a first-year law student at Northwestern University. M A R C H 2 0 0 1 73 the College’s sense of com - S Letters munity is to go back to

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N ing the challenge of fulfilling uproar diminishes, without Swarthmore’s mission. We this commitment it will have formed an organization mean that a large segment of

S to try to reverse this trend. the community will have Please see our Web site, given up on the College, S www.mindthe-light.com, for their love replaced with

A more analysis of the deci - indifference. sion and its consequences. WILLIAM ROBINSON ’60

L The essence of the Quak - Westlake Village, Calif. er tradition of decision mak - C ing is patience, active listen - ing, and a determination to THE VIEW FROM DIVISION I understand all opinions and I write to support and to find an accommodation applaud the College’s deci - that preserves the spirit and sion to limit the number of the health of the community. recruited athletes to 15 per - It is an expression of love cent of the student body and mutual respect. and, consequently, to cut Tragically, this tradition some athletics programs. I was not maintained in mak - have a different perspective ing this decision. Unlike the on this question than most debate about Swarthmore’s members of the College com - investment policies toward munity because I teach at South Africa, which took the University of Virginia eight years of full and open (UVA), an excellent academic discussion to reach a conclu - school but also a National sion, this decision was made Collegiate Athletic Associa - in one day without a written tion Division I school with a report and verifiable data to large sports program and substantiate the Athletics dedicated athletic scholar - Review Committee’s recom - ships. mendation. No attempt was I imagine most people made to engage the talents associated with Swarthmore of the full Swarthmore com - would agree that UVA is the munity to discuss the recom - last sort of place they would mendation. Students, alumni, want to use as a model for faculty, and parents were not the role of sports on cam - consulted. pus, but, in my view, the risk The aftermath of this of compromising educational decision and the way it was programs is, in fact, far made have been the destruc - greater at Swarthmore than tion of Swarthmore’s sense it is here. The central issue is of community. Two Board size: Despite having more members and many class than 11,000 undergraduates, agents have resigned to UVA supports just 24 varsity date, and many more are sports (12 each for men and N I

T deeply disturbed by this women)—three more than E

L decision. Hundreds of alum - Swarthmore plans to sup - L

U ni and College community port in its reconfigured pro - B

E members—athletes and gram. According to figures I G

E nonathletes, men and recently received from our L

L women—have joined the Athletic Department, only O

C Mind the Light organization about 4 percent of UVA stu - E

R to fight for a restoration of dents receive athletics schol - O

M Swarthmore’s traditional val - arships, and fewer than 6 H

T ues and decision process. percent participate in varsity R

A The only way to restore sports. Although Swarth- W S 76 more’s student-athletes doubtless have a THE ATHLETICS DECISION not considered to be Meetings for Worship. stronger academic profile than UVA’s, AND QUAKER PROCESS There is no common sense of seeking God’s Swarthmore will still be reserving, in pro- I write in order to present one Quaker will, nor is there any provision in the charter portional terms, three times the number of Board member’s perspective on Friends’ or the bylaws—as there would be in a Quak- athlete slots in each entering class, even decision-making processes and the deci- er organization—about the requirements after eliminating football. sions made at the meeting of the Board of for making decisions according to the sense As an educator, it astounds and disturbs Managers on Dec. 2. of the meeting. Rather, there has been an me that some in the College community When decisions are made by groups of understanding that consensual decisions are think it would do no harm to push the num- Quakers both in their meetings (monthly, valuable because they do not create a victori- ber of recruited athletes to 20 percent or quarterly, and yearly) and in the nonprofit ous majority and a defeated minority, higher. Even at the Division III level, athlet- organizations that they oversee, delibera- because the expectation of consensual deci- ics recruiting significantly alters—and in tions are carried out during what is called a sion making often disciplines members to many cases weakens—the academic profile Meeting for Worship for Business. At these explore all the alternatives and arguments in of the student body. If that were not the meetings—which are fundamentally reli- the greatest depth, and because a decision case, there would be no controversy, and all gious in character—Friends are expected to behind which people are able to unite is the teams could be filled with walk-ons. meditate, pray, and seek God’s will in reach- usually more powerful in conveying the will Swarthmore is, and will remain, in many ing what Friends refer to as “the sense of of the group than decisions made in other ways more invested in its sports programs the meeting.” That is what is meant by ways. It is my understanding that the prac- than “football schools” like UVA. The Col- “minding the Light.” All who gather are tice of consensual decision making is now lege’s decision to limit athletics recruitment experienced in the process of seeking God’s commonly thought to be the most effective is wise, responsible, and the only decision will, all are committed to the centrality of method in many nonprofit organizations. for an academically serious institution. the spiritual and religious bases of decision The decision before the Board of Man- JOSHUA DIENSTAG ’86 making, and all accept the premise that agers last December was a complex and dif- Charlottesville, Va. there can be no decision until the sense of ficult one in many ways. The factors under the meeting is reached. consideration by the Board had been devel- SHORT-SIGHTED DECISION In organizations governed by Friends oping for 20 or 30 years, not only at I find the College’s decision to eliminate cer- whose boards include non-Friends (general- Swarthmore but also across the country at tain intercollegiate sports, particularly foot- ly fewer than half), training in and commit- our sister schools. Unfortunately, the Board ball, to be extremely shortsighted and cer- ment to these principles is expected. As a and administration did not fully understand tainly to the detriment of the College; stu- lifelong Friend and a participant in and the urgency of these issues for our mission dent body; and, shortly, Swarthmore’s repu- clerk of many Quaker groups and organiza- and policies until the fall of 1999. At the tation as a well-rounded academic institu- tions, I have a deep conviction about the December 1999 meeting, President Alfred tion. From the publicity given this action, I power of this kind of decision making. H. Bloom brought to the Board’s attention can only conclude that the agendas of a few Since my student days at Swarthmore in the need to consider and resolve the twin thoroughly trampled the desires and wishes the 1960s, however, I have understood that problems of athletes’ and coaches’ increas- of many. Swarthmore College is not fundamentally a ing dissatisfaction with their experience of RICHARD KERSEY ’58 religious institution and that most people intercollegiate athletic competition at Trumbull, Conn. who become associated with it have had lit- Swarthmore and the increasing pressures tle contact with Friends. At the same time, I from athletic recruitment on admissions. LOVE SWARTHMORE, LOATHE DECISION have been impressed that the College has For not recognizing the great importance of I love Swarthmore. But I loathe your deci- maintained the Friends’ traditions of com- the developing issues 5 or 10 years ago, we sion to abandon the football program. mitment to peace and justice, a commitment must all take responsibility. As a former lacrosse player, theoretically I to service to the community and social After hearing from the president, the should applaud the ostensible goal of change, and a belief in minimizing the Board moved quickly to ask the administra- recruiting more lacrosse players (with the material and upholding moral and ethical tion to form an Athletics Review Committee now-available football slots). But some of goals. (ARC). The goal of the Board was to have all the very best lacrosse players on our very One aspect of the Friends’ tradition that the information it would need for a thor- best lacrosse team (1982) never played the has continued at Swarthmore has been the ough deliberation of the issues. We did not sport until [former coach] Jim Noyes went practice of the Board of Managers of mak- ask the ARC to determine what was the to the football team after its season and gave ing decisions without taking votes. Indeed, most popular decision among any group, anyone who wanted one a lacrosse stick. in the 12 years I served, the Dec. 2 meeting whether students, faculty, or alumni, but And thus were born Eddie Meehan, John was the only time the process of voting was rather to include the whole range of per- Hiros, all the Walsh brothers, and so many used. At no time during my years, on the spectives in their material and recommenda- other great Swarthmore lacrosse players. other hand, were decisions made according tions. ADAM REEVES ’85 to the manner of Friends. At this point, those of us on the Board New York Meetings of the Board of Managers are made a second mistake. We extended the M A R C H 2 0 0 1 77 78 SWARTHMORE COLLEGE BULLETIN LETTERS we could have delayed the decision,the we delayedhave could we that believed vote.we a Had by made been have to recommendations the about sion deci- the record,would,consider the forwe that stand—and division the let should we that consensus a reached we meeting, this at decision a reaching of importance the on minority.the agreed in point,having that At those of some least at of minds the change to able be not would majority the that clear also views.was their It change to majority the of minds the in questions enough raised majority,not the had they that but with disagreed people several that realized stood.Wewe where indicate to us of each clearer,became askedsion Shane Chairman divi- College.this the forAs best be would paths other that and wrong, were dations recommen- the that strongly believe to ued contin- recommendations,members several ARC favoredthe majority large a Although consensus. by ARC the of mendations recom- specific the on decide to able be not might necessary,we was that sion knew we deci- immediate an that consensus through recommendations. the on other each with disagreed who members Board many of support passionate the with and it from aside standing one consensus,no by with made was decision.decision the This pone post- to was option possible worst the that agreement firm in were ARC the of dations recommen- specific the on opinions varying widely with those that clear was it sion, discus- of period question.a the After to ing speak- members Board many engaged,with December.deeply in was sion issue This deci- the make to reasons compelling were there that decided meeting December its unclear.were futures whose teams for athletes recruit to them for unethical and unprofessional was it that stated clearly Office Admissions The football,timing. particular,the in of because end to decision immediate an making to tantamount was May following the decision a December,making that suggested many students. potential and students, coaches, of lives the on part our on decision a of delay a of implications the and year College the of seasons the account into sufficiently taking without 2001 May to 2000 December from decision a for set date Yet at the moment that we decided we that Yetmoment the at at arguments,Board these the by Moved in meeting Board the to prior Just limits that Swarthmore finds appropriate finds Swarthmore that limits the within athletes recruit that teams ball foot- with schools other eight find cannot college our States United the of half ern triumphed. and opportunity,their seen have view it, grasped former the of proponents that be well may school.the It of life the in place vital a has competition intercollegiate that believe who others and position this hold who those between decades for place taken has tle bat- hidden all.barely is A intellect that and time of waste a are sports that Swarthmore of community academic the in many by held view consistent the is subtext This sion. discus- open and analysis further requires that subtext unstated an ever,exists there rational.be How- to appear Swarthmore at athletics of issues complex the about made decisions the explain to Committee Review Athletics the by forth put arguments The UNSTATEDSUBTEXT in December after 12 years of service. service. of years 12 after December in ended Managers of Board the on Bennett’sterm College in their policies and decisions. and policies their in College the of mission the out carry to strive they as them before Friends of Society the of tices prac- good and inspiration the keeps agers Man- of Board its and College Swarthmore that be,believe to I traditionQuaker a with institution secular a for appropriate and possible is it as decision.much divided As a of necessity facingthe ourselves finding about regret deep of sense felta we that and method, traditional our to exception an was instance practice,preferredthis the that is making decision consensual that agreement in be to Board the of members perceived College. the of interests best the in acting were we circumstances,that the and given process, possible wisest the creating were Webelieved,sons. also however, we that rea- compelling were believed we what for exception an consensus,made by we sion deci- every make to required being Not able. unavoid- but unfortunate were vote a to us led that circumstances the that understood consensus. reaching of meetings,hopes later in at sion discus- the continue to agreed have would I find it hard to believe that in the east- the in that believe to hard it find I Throughout this difficult process,have difficult I this Throughout all we meeting, December the During D ULANY O GDEN Portland,Ore. B ENNETT ’66 sports. intercollegiate (!) 21 supporting of idea the support not could some least at because was that issue.trust this I on consensus reach less. no and more recreation—no wonderful as athletics rediscover and humor and detachment our faroff,recover too will not we day and, some cycles, in run things Possiblythese phy? community’sSwarthmore the in philoso- value a been such as competition has when since But competition? murals—except intra- in found be equally cannot that sports intercollegiate from obtained is value What AGAINSTCOMPETITION Undoubtedly,have who others are there J.D.a received who one and M.A.s, received M.D.s,received havehave who three istry,classics,philosophy), who and four economics,mathematics, psychology, chem- Ph.D.sreceived (in have who eight count years,quickly four I those during mates team- my of credentials academic the of classroom. the in rates similar at succeeding were teammates achievements,athletic my these with rent once. And,country concur- the in 16 final the to twice,advanced Championships and National the twice,for semifinals qualified ConferenceMid-Atlantic the to advanced nationally.times, 3 division Weour won but locally competitive,only highly not 1993.was team period,our this During to 1989 between years the during team men’sthe of member a as riences soccer applicants. undeserving for spaces admissions of allocation with synonymous are efforts recruitment ics] [athlet- that believe fallacyto a simply is It CLASSROOMS IN ATHLETESCOMPETING and as yet unacknowledged—reasons. yet as and wrong— the for made was it if troublesome especially is and worse it makes decision asset.This strongest its not is institution offer.can we what to equal less or more competition provide would that and I am pleased that the Board could not could Board the that pleased am I To use an admittedly simplistic yardstickTosimplistic admittedly an use expe- my of because strongly this state I Swarthmore’seffete an as reputation R OBERT P HILIP Greenfield,N.H. New YorkNew City H B ILLEGASS RICKNER ’50 ’49 chosen not to receive advanced degrees but ated on such a small margin, the new admis- leyan, Amherst, Oberlin, Lawrence, Pomona, or are faring well in the world. sions emphases (without any corresponding Carleton as our peer institutions, Swarth- ESTEBAN CARDEMIL ’93 role for athletics) spelled doom. The Board more would be configuring itself to compete Providence, R.I. of Managers and its tradition of consensus with Bennington, Antioch, Haverford, Sarah (or, more precisely, its inability to reach a Lawrence, Vassar, or Brandeis. “NEGATIVE PATHOLOGIES” consensus on either eliminating football or The absence of football would tell appli- I write not to support the decision to drop supporting it properly) produced a negative cants who wish to be part of a well-rounded football (as the College asserted on its Web situation where players failed to enjoy the student body: You’ll be happier elsewhere site) but to point out that the issue is far positive aspects of the sport and where because at Swarthmore your class will not more complex than either side’s public com- coaches had their careers short-circuited— contain a total range of classmates with ments admit. or else retired embittered. Perhaps a few whom you can interact; this college excludes Looking at Swarthmore’s won-lost rec- powerful alumni “preserved” football but at and does not esteem the physically robust ords since the 1960s—when the National what human cost? who enjoy teamwork and vigorous athletic Collegiate Athletic Association allowed two- Although the Board’s action was trau- competition. platoon football, making it impossible to matic for the current coaches and players, Retention of a diverse student body is a compete with a team of 30 players—it is what has been done to them follows the his- social responsibility of the College. Swarth- clear that most Swarthmore football teams tory of Swarthmore College. Many players more is unique in the education it pro- endured losing records and the pain that and coaches who loved the school and their vides—especially the social ethic it trans- goes with them. Even those who experi- sport have had their hearts broken by failure mits. Perhaps unique among American col- enced winning seasons felt marginalized as predestined by the College’s admissions leges, its Quaker tradition encourages its mainstream male athletes on Swarthmore’s policies. Like me in 1990, they were foolish students to select socially meaningful campus. One of my ex-players commented enough to believe that they had a chance to careers and to assist the less fortunate in on the Board’s decision, “at least kids won’t do what had never been done since the our society. And I think our nation would be have to suffer what we did”—and this young 1960s—to make football a long-standing, the poorer if, 20 years and more from now, man played on teams with winning records successful program. Should we all have Swarthmore’s influence would no longer be 3 of his 4 years at Swarthmore! Many nega- known better? Probably so, but hope can as strongly felt among our nation’s leaders tive pathologies develop on losing teams blind even the smartest people. in commerce, politics, law, and even academ- and in environments where people feel like KARL MIRAN ics. Such people are frequently scholar-ath- outcasts. Swarthmore, Pa. letes. All members of the Board should also be Miran was head football coach from 1990 until Instead of an institution with a future- honest concerning their role in the deterio- 1998. oriented mission, Swarthmore will have ration of traditional team sports at the Col- transformed itself into a college that exists lege. Several teams (including football, with CHANGING THE COLLEGE’S CULTURE solely to serve a special kind of contempo- a 7–3 record in 1990 and a 5–3–1 second- I write as a former member of the Board of rary clientele. It will have become a precious place Conference finish in 1992; and basket- Managers and a fellow educator to express little community of the like-minded that has ball, with an Eastern Collegiate Athletic my deepest concern about the abolition of little sense of its responsibility to educate Conference playoff team in 1991) enjoyed football at Swarthmore. I believe this deci- and influence the nation’s future leaders. success in the last years of Bob Barr’s [’56] sion would, first, be disastrous for Swarth- MICHEL OKSENBERG ’60 tenure as dean of admissions. more; second, alter the ethos of the campus; Atherton, Calif. When the Board hired Al Bloom and and, third, be socially irresponsible. This letter was written in the days before the approved his policies to increase diversity Swarthmore’s deserved reputation Board of Managers’ decision on athletics. Sadly, while also increasing the academic rigor of among undergraduate liberal arts colleges Michel Oksenberg died on Feb. 22. the entering class, it set in motion the stems from its decades-long, successful pur- demise of football. By the mid-1990s, suit of two interrelated goals: academic T almost all team sports were laughably bad, excellence and diversity among its student and the traditional male team sports were body. Abandonment or significant narrow- CORRECTIONS anemic. It was at that point that the Board ing of its current intercollegiate athletics Thanks to Nell Lancaster ’74 for pointing “discovered” the crisis and attempted the program (of which football is the flagship out that the quotation attributed to Nelson heroic rescue of football that has been program because of the unique historical Mandela on the January 2001 page of the ended by last December’s decision. and cultural role it has played in the history Swarthmore calendar is actually from a Since 1992, the Bloom administration of American higher education) would signal poem by Mary Ann Williamson. Mandela made clear that its mission was to make that the college has decided to abandon its used it in his inaugural address, and it is Swarthmore more uniquely Swarthmorean. previous commitment to recruit a diverse frequently misattributed to him. Although there was no overt desire to harm student body. Also, the photos of Lea Haravon Collins athletics, it was a case of malevolent neglect. Abandonment of football would signal ’89 (December “In My Life”) were taken by At a school where the successful teams oper- that instead of considering Williams, Wes- Jane Martin, not Linda Kahlbaugh. M A R C H 2 0 0 1 79 Friends for Life SWARTHMORECONNECTIONSWITHSTANDTHETESTOFTIME.

By Andrea Hammer ʼ 67 he power of Swarthmore friend- ships, tended over many decades, is Tpalpable. At campus gatherings, chatting friends visibly soak up the pleas- ure of each other’s company. Three elderly STEVEN GOLDBLATT MARYLOBROOMELLEBERLE (LEFT) AND LYN PURDY women in matching pink jackets whisper to each other as they did during College; a JONES GRADUATED TOGETHER IN 1940. DURING quartet of men, at first intently debating a VOLUNTEERLEADERSHIPWEEKENDTHISYEAR,THEY point, pat each other on the back. STILLSTOODSIDEBYSIDEINFRIENDSHIP. Still central to their lives, Swarthmore friendships remain a guiding force despite athlete and class president who died in campus events like Volunteer Leadership the challenges of time. Several groups from 1986; she also had 4 children and 13 grand- Weekend, when they enjoyed bagged the 1940s—a fraction of innumerable life- children to rally her—in addition to long- lunches together on a Kohlberg Hall bench.

OURBACKPAGEStime friends from Swarthmore—illuminate time friends. Soon after her husband’s Their eyes sparkle with a shared zest for the mysteries of keeping these lifelong death, Eberle wrote: “One doesn’t realize life, magnetizing two friends who radiate links connected. how important friends are until something 60 years of common connections—with like this happens. My Swarthmore friends Swarthmore at the center. Parallel Lives are my oldest and best.” Mirrored in Modesty In memory of her husband, who was Psychological Proximity nseparable at alumni events, Lyn Purdy active with Friends of Athletics at the Despite Geographic Distance IJones ’40 and Mary Lois Broomell Eberle College, Eberle supported the Eberle ow living worlds apart, Don Smith ’47 ’40 mirror each other in quiet modesty: Internship Program for interns training to Nof Long Island, N.Y.; Phil Gilbert ’48 crowns of white hair framing rosy cheeks, write about sports. In 1965, Jones and her of Kennett Square, Pa.; and Si Goudsmit bashful giggles still percolating from their husband also created the Edmund A. Jones ’48 of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, have 20s, and exchanged looks of instant under- Scholarship—keeping the spirit of their maintained a strong connection across the standing from a golden friend. Jones, cur- deceased son, Ted, alive by helping dozens miles and years. In addition to e-mail and rent class secretary, and Eberle, current of talented area scholars attend Swarthmore. snail mail, they have never hesitated to stay class agent and class president, first met in These lifetime friends have both been in touch by telephone internationally. 1936 as freshmen on the same hall in dedicated to community service activities. “There may have been geographic dis- Parrish Fourth West—they said simultane- “We are both members of the League of tance,” Gilbert said, “but psychologically, ously. As roommates in their senior year, Women Voters,” said Jones, an active we always live around the corner from each their friendship bloomed. Swarthmore Friends Meeting member. other.” “Our brothers also became roommates Similarly, Eberle has given time and energy Gilbert and Goudsmit were first pulled at the College,” Eberle said. “It just hap- to the Unitarian Society of Germantown. together on campus when Smith drew the pened,” Jones marveled. The College recognized their outstand- best Wharton suite and invited them in as Their common interests at Swarthmore ing service to the College by bestowing the suitemates. “In the beginning, I much ap- have kept their steps in sync. Both were Joseph P. Shane Award on Eberle in 1990 preciated Phil’scheerful disposition,” Goud- French majors, members of the Women’s and Jones in 1992. Both have taken turns smit said. “My family lived in Holland, and Student Government Association, and field as class secretary, class agent, and Alumni Phil soon introduced me to his parents,who hockey players who joined Gwimp—the Council members. made me welcome when I visited them.” sports managers group. After graduation, In between writing Class Notes, which As a chemistry major who later received Jones and Eberle both also taught at Jones hand delivers on deadline without a master’s in business administration from Philadelphia’s Friends Central School. fail, she shares Eberle’s interest in Alumni Adelphi University, Gilbert also learned Continuing in rhythm, both married College Abroad trips. “I’ve been on 25 of many lessons from his friends over the their College sweethearts in 1941 and them,” said Eberle, who has relished these years. “Don introduced me to Quakerism; “were in each other’s weddings,” Jones opportunities to “learn from excellent pro- Si introduced me to international affairs,” said. She betrothed Edmund ’39, now a fessors and achieve a close feeling between he said. Now, “I am the same garrulous senior partner with Jones, Strohm, Crain & Swarthmore alumni.” character. Don and Si are the same deep, Guthrie, and had four children. Eberle When they’re not traveling, you can quiet fellows. But I learned better and bet- wedded Charles “Buzz” Eberle ’40,an avid find Jones and Eberle sitting side by side at ter to listen when they spoke, learning that SWARTHMORECOLLEGEBULLETIN 80 whatever they said had thought behind it.” Goudsmit was an economics major at “My Swarthmore friends are my oldest and best.” Swarthmore, who received a master’s in business administration from Harvard. men plus a shipload of Navy V12 sailors in ditionally. “We have a telephone tree when “Phil says that I am a private person, and Wharton. Sticking together as they moved tragedy strikes. Although we’ve been pretty that is probably true. But there are people to other floors—most to Third East as fortunate, we have lost two husbands and a with whom I intuitively connect and feel sophomores—they scattered during the grown son—and there have been many comfortable,” he said. “In this type of rela- next two, with about half rooming nearby. divorces, both ours and our children’s,to tionship, years and distance are irrelevant: As seniors, many were reunited in Worth. weather. In earlier days, we went to each the friendship will stay constant.” “We spent a lot of time with each other’s weddings, which were always happy As part of Swarthmore’s Quaker match- other,” said Lois Ledwith Frost, the Round times,” Frost said. Of the 15, 10 originally box, Don married Jane Ann Jones ’48,and Robin organizer. “We shared meals and married Swarthmore men. Phil committed himself to Alice Higley ’48. late-night gab sessions, agonizing over Nancy Burnholz Rawson—another In 1950, Si returned to Holland and mar- exams and papers and visiting in each member in Massachusetts, was a recipient ried Dona Carrington ’50. “Soon Alice and other’s homes over the holidays.” of the group’s strength on both ends of the Phil paid a visit to Now hailing from North Carolina to spectrum. “When my husband, Ed ’48,died Amsterdam, one of the California and beyond, the same pattern in 1986, the Robins provided incredible many European trips continues—with the diverse group recon- support. Of course, they had all known Ed that they took over the necting during five-year reunions, mini- as long as I had. They shared our court- next 50 years,” Si said. gatherings, and Round Robin letters. Frost ship, so somehow it lives on in a way it On one trip, they sends a note to the group members, each wouldn’t otherwise. A couple of them had were walking through responds to her, and then the entire one of the massive package is circulated. flower shows that are Winnie Muir Martinek, another “regular fare in the Robin in Connecticut, said she eagerly Netherlands,” anticipates the package. “When the Goudsmit said. “I Round Robin arrives each year, I drop noticed that every time I everything to sit down and read!” was thinking of making Before their 40th reunion in 1988, a turn, right or left, I they decided to meet privately first— found Si taking that turn,” Gilbert said. ABOVE: SOME OF THE ROUND ROBINS—PATTY Recently, the Goudsmits INGLESBYTHOMAS,ISABELBROWNGALLIGAN, were able to visit the MAGGIECLOUGHSCHWERTNER,GERALDINEFINK Gilberts, still sharing WASSERMAN, LOIS LEDWITH FROST, AND PAT PLANK their interest in fine DICKINSON (LEFTTORIGHT)—APPEAR AT THE gardens. COLLEGE IN 1945. LEFT: THEROBINSWERE Reflecting on the strength of the trio’s REUNITED AT A 1996 MINI-REUNION. HALCYON PHIL GILBERT ’48, lasting friendship, without husbands or children. The group even dated him before I did! We all have a Gilbert added: “Most was still hungry for more time together, so long history. In happy times, we share each SI GOUDSMIT ’48, important, there has members met again for field trips to the other’s joys,” she said. AND DON SMITH ’47 been nothing to come Barnes Foundation in Merion, Pa., during Martinek also received help from fellow (TOPTOBOTTOM) between us. We are three 1990 and the Gardner Museum in Boston member and accomplished potter Susie HAVE MAINTAINED men, each married to during 1992. McEldowney Dean, who lives in Fairbanks, ALIFELONGLINK. the same women for 50- “A memorable [gathering] was in 1996,” Alaska. When the stepson of Martinek’s plus years, each rather said Frost, “when all 15 of us met at the daughter, Barbara, was in a car accident in successful in our careers, and none putting Media Inn for a weekend, chartered a bus Denali Park and flown to a hospital in Fair- unreasonable demands on the others.” to go to the Cézanne Exhibit, and had a banks, “Susie and her husband helped.... It wonderful time.” Martinek also has vivid was an act of kindness on Susie’s part that Round Robin Keeps memories of the gathering, when they I am most grateful for,” she said. Circle Connected exchanged photos and reviewed their lives. The Round Robins—from a psychiatrist n November 1944, in the waning days of “It was like being back on Second East, sit- to an avid gardener to an Antarctic travel- IWorld War II, 15 members of the Class ting around in our pj’s, reminiscing about er—thrive on their varied interests. “We’re of 1948 formed a lifelong group. They start- old times,” she said. a diverse bunch, with a lot of different ed out as freshmen together on Parrish As genuine friends who share joy as well interests, which is why it’s such fun to get Second East, when the class had only 10 as sorrow, they support each other uncon- together,” Frost said. T M A R C H 2 0 0 1 RETURNTOTHE WOODS TERRY WILD

Alumni Weekend Swarthmore’s lush campus is an integral part June 8–10, 2001 of the College experience. We invite you to explore the beauty of Swarthmore today. Join us for Alumni Weekend, and make plans now to return to the woods.