How We VOTE E X A M I N I N G T H E F U N D A M E N T A L A C T O F D E M O C R A C Y

F e a t u r e s 1 2 H o w W e V o t e The fundamental act of a democratic society has rarely seen such scrutiny. By Alisa Giardinelli, Ben Fritz ’99, and Dana Mackenzie ’79 Departments

2 0 A L e g a c y 3 L e t t e r s o f A r t Readers’ dialogue Tour the James A. Michener Art Museum, which honors the 4 C o l l e c t i o n P r o f i l e s legendary alumnus. Commencement and more By Andrea Hammer 6 0 T r a n s c e n d i n g 3 8 C o n n e c t i o n s C o r p o r e a l i t y 2 4 D e f i n i n g Alumni Weekend and other events Despite disability, Steven Sles ’62 M o m e n t s lives a full artistic life. Epiphanies that shaped lives 4 2 C l a s s N o t e s By Laura Markowitz ’85 By Elizabeth Redden ’05 Classmates’ exchange 6 6 A G r a n d P l a n 3 0 B r a n c h e s o f 4 7 D e a t h s Mark Vander Schaaf ’72 hitched T i m e Friends always remembered St. Paul’s future to its past. A photographer finds that he may By Colleen Gallagher observe—but not relive—Swarthmore. 5 2 Books & Arts By Jim Coates ’72 Catch the Light: Poems by 7 1 I n H i s B i g Douglas Worth ’62 B a c k y a r d 3 4 M y Y e l l o w Eitan Weinreich ’84 turns the R i b b o n T o w n 6 2 I n M y L i f e camera on America’s unlikely corners. A meditation on my country and home Shall We Dance? By Elizabeth Redden ’05 By Paul Gaston ’52 By Kathie Kertesz ’63 7 5 A n “ U n e a r t h l y ” 8 0 Q+A P l a c e

COVER: DAN WASSERMAN ’71 IS A POLITICAL Professor Frank Moscatelli Three alumni spend their spare time CARTOONIST FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE. MORE OF discusses physics, wine, and life. mapping caves. HIS WORK APPEARS IN “HOW WE VOTE” (PAGE 12). By Alisa Giardinelli By Carol Brévart-Demm

CONTENTS: JIM COATES ’72 SPENT THREE DAYS

THIS SPRING PHOTOGRAPHING THE CAMPUS. SEE “BRANCHES OF TIME” (PAGE 30) FOR HIS PERSONAL VIEW OF SWARTHMORE TODAY. P A R L O R T A L K

nyone paying even the slightest attention to what’s going on at Swarthmore College Swarthmore during the past few years cannot have escaped the phrase, The Meaning of Swarth- C O L L E G E B U L L E T I N Amore. Last spring, all alumni received a copy of a book by that name, and, this month, an eponymous short film will be mailed with a cover letter from Annual Fund Editor: Jeffrey Lott class agents. The Meaning of Swarthmore, you should know by now, is the name of the Managing Editor: Andrea Hammer College’s six-year, $230 million comprehensive campaign—but why those four words? Class Notes Editor: Carol Brévart-Demm Why not something less ambiguous, with more of a clarion call to support the College? I happened to be at the meeting where the name was hatched. Two experienced con- Assistant Editor: Colleen Gallagher sultants were presenting several well-researched campaign identities, but to the minds of Staff Writer: Alisa Giardinelli the assembled administrators and members of the Board of Managers, the proposed Desktop Publishing: Audree Penner names might as well have been culled from the amusing three-column Chinese menu of Art Director: Suzanne DeMott Gaadt, campaign names devised in 1979 by Bernice Thieblot, a Baltimore fund-raising consult- Gaadt Perspectives LLC ant. This foolproof system begins with a list of Administrative Assistant: participles and infinitives such as “In Support Janice Merrill-Rossi of,” “To Sustain,” “Celebrating,” “Affirming,” and Intern: Elizabeth Redden ’05 How appropriate to “A Campaign for.” A second list offers connective Editor Emerita: phrases such as “a Century of,” “an Enduring,” “a Maralyn Orbison Gillespie ’49 Swarthmore that a Vision of,” “a Legacy of,” and “a Lofty.” The final column provides noble nouns like “Leadership,” Contacting Swarthmore College chorus of individual “Covenant,” “Excellence,” “Opportunity,” and College Operator: (610) 328-8000 “Truth.” Pick one from each column, and you www.swarthmore.edu voices seems to have your campaign name.* Admissions: (610) 328-8300 Not for Swarthmore. When it became clear [email protected] represent this that none of the proposed campaign monikers Alumni Relations: (610) 328-8402 was working, a member of the Board of Man- [email protected] college better than agers spoke. “You know,” he said forcefully, “none of these ideas is what this campaign is Publications: (610) 328-8568 [email protected] any slogan or about. What this campaign is about is the mean- ing of Swarthmore.” A hush fell across the room, Registrar: (610) 328-8297 sound bite. [email protected] and we knew we had our name. These four words contain an important World Wide Web assumption—that a college can have meaning. www.swarthmore.edu They also pose an inherent question: “What is the meaning of Swarthmore?” The answer Changes of Address is different for everyone. Each of the 48 essayists in the book answered in his or her own Send address label along way. The eight alumni who appear in the film have their own answers too. (Have you with new address to: watched it? It’s really very good.) Alumni Records Office The Board member was right: At the heart of the campaign was the College, and at the Swarthmore College heart of the College is its meaning in the lives of students and alumni; in leading Ameri- 500 College Avenue can liberal arts education; and, in ways large and small, in creating a better world. How Swarthmore PA 19081-1390 appropriate to Swarthmore that a chorus of individual voices—of people who have been Phone: (610) 328-8435. Or e-mail: asked to think deeply about Swarthmore—seems to represent this college better than any [email protected].

N slogan or sound bite. I

T What Swarthmore does best is to teach young men and women to use their minds, to The Swarthmore College Bulletin (ISSN E

L 0888-2126), of which this is volume CII, L think independently, to ask questions and then some more, to care about what they are

U number 2, is published in August, Sep- B saying and doing, and to understand that every act has meaning. Although the choice of tember, December, March, and June by E

G The Meaning of Swarthmore to identify the most ambitious fund-raising campaign in the Swarthmore College, 500 College Avenue, E L

L history of the College may have happened “by accident,” it is more than serendipitous that Swarthmore PA 19081-1390. Periodicals O

C it fits so well with the ethos of the place. postage paid at Swarthmore PA and

E additional mailing offices. Permit No.

R The meaning of Swarthmore? You’ll have to think about that.

O 0530-620. Postmaster: Send address

M —Jeffrey Lott

H changes to Swarthmore College Bulletin, T

R 500 College Avenue, Swarthmore PA A 19081-1390.

W *Thieblot’s “Name Game” can be found on the Web at www.harvardmagazine.com/- S on-line/0300125.html. © 2004 Swarthmore College 2 Printed in U.S.A. L E T T E R S

CAREER CONVERSATIONS Recruiting Consortium in Manhattan; and I was interested in Peter Cohan’s [’79] por- hosted campus recruiting visits by McKin- trayal of Swarthmore as a college where sey, Deloitte, J.P. Morgan Chase, and Gold- students interested in business careers can man Sachs, to name a few. get the education they need to be success- In meeting with recruiters from Gold- ful in for-profit enterprises (“A Profitable man Sachs, Lehman Brothers, and Morgan Education,” June Bulletin). Despite the neg- Stanley this summer, we learned they are ative perceptions expressed by some inter- well aware of the value of a liberal arts edu- viewed in Cohan’s article, it is clear to me cation. As the Goldman Sachs recruiter that Swarthmore is friendly to students stated: “We seek liberal arts majors with and alumni who choose business-oriented strong research, writing, analytical, and careers. leadership skills—we can train them in the When members of the Career Services business terminology they will need.” staff meet with students and alumni to Swarthmore students bring these skills, explore ways to use their talents, skills, and coupled with a sense of purpose and an READERS HAVE ASKED WHERE THEY MIGHT intellect, we often discuss how they might emphasis on community development and OBTAIN A POSTER OF THE GRAPHIC ON THE make a difference in the lives of others social awareness, all of which are valued in BULLETIN’S JUNE COVER. THE GRAPHIC, BY both through business careers and in the the business world. PHOENIX EDITOR BENJAMIN KABAK ’05, IS nonprofit world. We see interest in a wide NANCY BURKETT range of options—from entrepreneurial Director of Career Services FOR SALE BY THE PHOENIX. FOR INFORMATION, ventures and investment banking to grass- E-MAIL [email protected], OR CALL roots organizing and public health. Our PRACTICE OVER THEORY THE PAPER’S OFFICE AT (610) 328-8172. goal in counseling students and alumni is I was intrigued to read two articles in the to provide them with ways to translate June Bulletin dealing with whether—and minor business dealings in South Africa what they have learned in the classroom to how—Swarthmore prepares its students was an extraordinarily theoretical point. It life beyond Swarthmore—to find a fit for business careers (“A Profitable Educa- made no difference whatsoever to the actu- between their personal goals and career tion” and “Women Carving Their Own al nation of South Africa, but an astonish- paths that will be challenging, rewarding, Paths”). I have given this subject a great ing amount of time, energy, and thought and fulfilling. To that end, we introduce deal of thought, and, for me, the answer is were lavished on the question. In business, students to careers through countless that the College does not do a particularly valuing theory over practice is suicidal. workshops and alumni panels, alumni din- good job in this area. Second, Swarthmore encourages critical ners, the popular Externship Program, Abstractions like Provost Connie thinking—except with respect to other employer-sponsored information sessions, Hungerford’s (a professor of art history people. Much of business is about deter- chat sessions, internships, and much more. who may, in fact, be the least qualified per- mining whether or not the person with We make a conscious effort to provide bal- son on Earth to speak about business) whom you are dealing will or can actually anced programming for students, reflecting statements about the value of critical do what he or she promises. In the name of their interest in both nonprofit and busi- thought, and so on, notwithstanding, I tolerance, the Swarthmore community ness settings. think a Swarthmore education has three vehemently objected to any kind of judg- One reason for this is that fewer stu- big drawbacks for the aspiring busi- ments about others, which, again, in busi- dents are choosing careers in academics nessperson. ness is a recipe for disaster. and many more are going into the for- First, a Swarthmore education typically Finally, Swarthmore did a remarkably profit world. The College has made a delib- values theory above practice. Pure, abstract poor job of training leaders. In business, at erate effort to support those students. To thought is emphasized, and ideas are val- some point, you have to (1) tell other peo- introduce them to the world of business, ued for their elegance, their symbolic sig- ple what to do; and (2) accept that this is the College has hosted the annual Lax nificance, their moral content, or their cre- your role. Again, in the name of a theoreti- Conference on Entrepreneurship; organ- ativity. Whether they have any hope of cal tolerance and egalitarianism, the con-

ized dinners with alumni in international mattering in the real world is not impor- cept of leadership and authority is anathe- 4 0 development, municipal finance, and tant. A classic example was the antidivesti- ma at Swarthmore, and this perspective 0 2

investment banking; provided a “Jumpstart ture protests that occurred when I was at takes some time to overcome. R E

Your Job Search” program, featuring the Swarthmore. Whether or not a tiny per- It is interesting to observe, however, B M E

former head of global recruiting for J.P. centage of the College’s endowment was that as a business, Swarthmore is excep- T P

Morgan Chase; sent students to the Fall invested in companies that had some Please turn to page 78 E S

3 C O L L E C T I O N “ B u i l d T h e r e

ADDRESSING THE CLASS OF 2004 Swarthmore memories include during the College’s 132nd writing, staging, and perform- Commencement on May 30, ing in plays in the very Marjorie Garber ’66, a Harvard amphitheater where she spoke English professor named by The this day. “It is the beginning of New York Times as one of the your world. You can come home most powerful women in the to it, and you can take it with academic world, spoke of drop- you wherever you go.” ping out of Swarthmore after President Alfred H. Bloom her freshman year in search of told the 359 graduates they are imperfection. “The time was the unique for having been educat- early ’60s; everything seemed ed at an institution that possible. And this campus, in its demands they play active roles verdant perfection, seemed, in a in defining the world, both way, too happy a place,” said inside and outside the Crum’s Garber, who received an hon- boundaries: “The rightness of orary doctor of letters. inclusion may, in fact, appear She was back on campus six somewhat self-evident to you months later. who have been so much a part “This green world we are of what Swarthmore is and standing in today, this magnifi- believes. But, I fear, it is not self- cent theater, is not apart from evident to most graduates of the world—it is the world,” said higher education today—for the the Shakespeare scholar and mission of higher education cultural critic whose fondest remains, so predominantly,

AT THE 2004 COMMENCEMENT CERE- MONY, HONORARY DEGREE RECIPIENTS WERE (COUNTERCLOCKWISE FROM BOTTOM LEFT): HERBERT AND JOY SUNDGAARD KAISER, MARJORIE N

I GARBER, AND PATRICK AWUAH. T E L L

U Photographs by Steven Goldblatt ’67 B E G E L L O C E R O M H T R A W S 4 f f condition who Awuah lik C institution attempt arts f honor Awuah lege, Ghana mode mode full should er obliging complex find knowledge equip or ounded ollege o e what Swarth prosperity address Swarthmore college and understa it ping l l ar ’ f f , s is or or said Jr , in or kind y ” Ashesi them wor Ghana . to its r doctor he ’89 some—and many f more Afri studen must or and lik , in fill is inspir ld produc said of , nd freedo e is 2002 on ca. who as their r Swart ’ Univers skills , wor s ather is e a and compassion— be. and that ” , we te first ts pags “ an ation. Institutions to rec ld ” C e of —“ with ll m place a hmore Ashes abstr (Bloom students requir the to than cre liber that eived concrete la at is 6– an ity w consid- P ate justice, the pre- 7 Y , atrick in .) act C al o i, ed an ol- an a ’ s to o m MESAB ing dents 10,000 MESAB S pro low acted African (Medical mode influenc sive struggled or K bert G our more of peac “P outh aiser od’ u ar eople war Further , f hearts y number essionals wor e ’ dentistr s 49 l. prof doctor in is pursu creat Africa. ’ but F 51 m Blacks), and l one-year ed who not r resp also has ounders d , Education ound to who in and something ion. by south ing ates mere y Joy build of a onse underst sponsors a , Since warded in Swarthmore and ” way bring black receiv medicine, that Sundg the e apartheid of ly O of gr in to a pharmacy less science, ants the 1987 more MESAB K Africa, f can the and ed medical or us almost aisers much aard a n absence direc S hon- closer , to gros live men- outh that inclu- nurs- ’ w s stu- Her- in . tly sly to c n “ Her there, there much find f and ing toring balance of enjoy a was he even thought e minor major a or lected Y e college high our tax was S “ “I HIV ber f intrigued That a or enior a ear ” are hope discussing palliative satisf policy and cause stories from progr honors t nurses Joy research by / W those l m A said back ier ' “where plenty s IDS his speak computer our said that ac beginning B am, that , over —way of tion. are each peers by discussio patients and political MESAB . ing care each er of their advanced students e the Swart will beginning. o dinner wood Ry L causes midwives, school. to back ord initiative intricacies science an of give own , speak . hmore science ns, to stor n you , Budish, knows . —to ” r Ohio, out you often when tr T cause. Bu He y o will ” ain- , , ” d- an as as t l A W S R A H B S L of can he While reading can go. subtitles. Gr r how ish and John stood ty Swarthmore, their Hall Naa * a E P P I R N Emerson, A O d , F T F w E R AT lped I D ace the R E E T must A I Or “Blues R “ jok W D N never only meat K E A . gr O Great T Aku Zvok they S G S own E Alston, O N 2 , F E land , J ” R aduat author SparkN ed R O D W Budish O D us R PA he I F R each R K AY, I be I K ” be , E G Addo T YA E from S with W could e capt pass W , wor guzzle H Medley H S M S —Elizabeth wor l—moved said I and . lived A N T A truly U S es S 0 V : G D . played N * T and in B E otes G E O “Nature lds. In R O ure R ks R gr A U concluded R . . N a through E M O A a drive A D all S A through aduates to f E — void R the A D beer under I E of , M ew ever might , S ” D the N U A E H P its G O be I AT arr liter R L E 0 at O R ” same exam I O R S S on , SUV R A E films M y e comp A Redde F N under- go anged C the I loquence stood PA E V C C page. G N E James atur C ha E O L to about , T L R Z W to A A R H s, s, let E T end way S P — ve E I build with - T S lexi- S P T R n eat e 4 it H H I by it by A E ’05 , , H ,

5 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 4 C o m m e n c e m e n t 2 0 0 4 T h e R i g h t n e s s o f I n c l u s i o n

C L AS S O F 2004, I AS K Y O U , TO DAY, TO R E S P O N D TO T H E I M P E R AT I V E O F T H I S , Y O U R C E N T U RY—TO B U I L D A N I N C LU S I V E W O R L D. By inclusive, I mean a world where neither gender, race, ethnici- ty, national origin, sexual orientation, nor disability compromises the respect that individuals accord one another; a world where good nutrition, health care, education, and the chance to chart one’s own productive course are the birthright of every human being; a world where all people live under systems of governance “We no longer enjoy the luxury of that fairly reflect their input and interests; and a world where all nations join together with mutual respect, to meet critical human simply believing that greater needs. Although the concept of a socially, economically, politically, and inclusion would be a valued end.” geographically inclusive world might seem utopian, several months ago, Nobel Peace laureate Oscar Arias Sanchez reminded us that it would take only 5 percent of the world’s combined defense budgets to extend minimum nutrition, health care, and education to the that compromise life in Mexico City, São Paulo, Johannesburg, or entire world’s population. If that estimate is correct, the resources Karachi today; and if rising expectations are not met, the geograph- are already at hand to fund an inclusive world. And the responsi- ical range of such crime is only likely to spread. bility becomes all the greater to marshal the vision and the will to Likewise, no one could have imagined how the continuing fail- accomplish the rest. ure to accommodate these transformed expectations might catalyze Moreover, we have reached a historic moment when, for the first popular support for terrorism worldwide. time as well, around the world, expectations are in place that an National failures to satisfy these aroused expectations play out inclusive world can—and must—be built. in civil violence from Northern Ireland, Chechnya, Rwanda, Kash- The spread of images and products of material comfort to every mir, Sri Lanka, and Thailand to Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and corner of the globe; the dissemination of ideals of individual rights, Palestine, reminding us of how critical it has become, for both self-determination, and democracy; the consciousness awakened by mature and emergent democracies, to respond to the heightened migration from the countryside to the city and from the Third expectations of marginalized groups to retain or build political World to the first; the centrality of global markets and institutions; cohesion. and the global dispersion of ownership of technologies of war and And failure to accommodate these transformed expectations, by peace have inspired people everywhere not only to dream of com- excluding others from the processes and outcomes of international forts, freedoms, and levels of participation of which they never decision making, only hardens barriers to cooperation in trade, before dared to dream but to infuse those dreams with a sense of health, and the environment and cripples efforts to prevent terror- unprecedented possibility—and urgency. ism and preserve peace. With revolutionary speed and across the globe, traditional In other words, transformed global expectations join to the ethi-

N acquiescence to the inevitability of exclusion—as a function of cal mandate to build an inclusive world, a pragmatic imperative I T

E color, culture, class, politics, or geography—has given way to a new that we ignore at the risk of gravest consequence. We no longer L

L sense of what is possible, what is desired, and what is fair. Indeed, I enjoy the luxury of simply believing that greater inclusion would be U B suggest that for the first time in history, in this very decade, college a valued end. E

G graduates across this nation and around the world share your legit- Yet, higher education, the best potential training ground for citi- E L

L imate expectation of a fair share of the world’s respect, resources, zens and leaders who would steer societies and the world toward O

C and rights. greater inclusion, has not, in general, recognized such training as E

R Society’s failure to accommodate these revised expectations gen- part of its mission and responsibility. O

M erates the high levels of crime currently plaguing most African, So, despite the extensive resources that societies commit to H T

R Latin American, and many Asian cities. Twenty-five years ago, no higher education, despite the significant portion of their lives that A

W one could have imagined the fear of robbery and personal assault students conscientiously devote to it, and despite the central role S 6 higher education plays in shaping conceptions of society’s nature nificant and right. And rein- and purpose, we cannot be confident that graduates of higher edu- forced by a culture that asks cation will be more likely, as a result of that experience, to embrace intellectual life to serve a bet- inclusion as the long-term goal for their society or world—or to be ter world, you have directed more practiced in achieving it. Nor, can we be sure that graduates of that habit of critical inquiry to higher education will even be more alert to—or disquieted by— defining your own vision of actions and policies that explicitly serve to solidify or to deepen what kind of world that social, economic, or geographic divides. should be. We may differ about the import and implications of these exam- To judge by those of you ples, but I see evidence of higher education’s failure in this regard in whom I have come to know the alarming number of well-educated Americans who readily lend personally and by the genera- their support to dismantling affirmative action, to implementing tions of Swarthmoreans who regressive taxation, to ratifying what would be this nation’s first have occupied those very exclusionary constitutional amendment, and to accepting less than chairs you occupy today, the the most compelling justifications for unilateral decision making in consistent result of that ana- PRESIDENT ALFRED H. BLOOM the international arena. lytic undertaking, within this To those who argue that, in taking on this task, higher education deliberately inclusive commu- DELIVERED THESE REMARKS AT oversteps the boundary between fostering independent ethical judg- nity, has been your own COMMENCEMENT. ment and influencing the content of that judgment, my answer is, embrace of inclusion as the “That boundary is already porous, and it must be!” ethical and the pragmatic sine qua non of that better world. Most of us here would agree that, in addition to cultivating intel- We may not all agree on the best steps to take in particular situa- lectual honesty, cultivating interpersonal respect and social and tions at particular moments to get there. The differences that global responsibility are legitimate if not essential responsibilities of emerged among us as we struggled with issues ranging from the liv- liberal arts education. And in this transformed world, interpersonal ing wage, to the Diebold controversy, to funding closed groups or respect and social and global responsibility presuppose understand- from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to American domestic and for- ing and committing to inclusion. eign policy, are potent reminders of how necessary it is, as we pro- To those who wonder whether higher education can succeed at ceed, to remain open to diverse perspectives, to take account of com- this vital task, my answer is, “Look at what is happening at Swarth- peting interests and values, and to balance what can be achieved in more!” the moment against what is most constructively deferred for the Each of you has been part of a community that acts deliberately longer term. through its admissions and hiring practices to strengthen its own But I am confident that such differences will only add richness to diversity and, then, through the expectations it sets, to build a world a legacy that this College has transmitted to you and that this Col- in which interpersonal respect is not contingent on identity, back- lege will transmit through you to the world—a legacy of belief in the ground, or perspective—in which differences are valued in the light ultimate rightness of inclusion. of our common humanity and purpose. The rightness of inclusion may, in fact, appear somewhat self- Each of you has been part of a community that acts deliberately evident to you who have been so much a part of what Swarthmore is through its commitments to need-blind admission to meeting fully and believes. But, I fear, it is not self-evident to most graduates of assessed financial need and to opening activities to all without addi- higher education today—for the mission of higher education tional cost, to create a student experience into which—to the great- remains, so predominantly, equipping students with the knowledge est extent possible—differences in economic background do not and skills required to find and to fill their place in a complex world intrude. rather than obliging them as well to consider what kind of world Each of you has been part of a community whose students, staff, that should—or must—be. faculty, and alumni act deliberately and in remarkable numbers here As each of you takes on responsibilities of greater consequence, and abroad, to broaden inclusion in its multiple forms. gains the profound respect of others for the way you handle those Each of you has been part of a community that acts deliberately responsibilities, and makes your own individual, innovative mark, I through listening and through involving one another in the deci- ask you to be conscious and deliberate in living that Swarthmore sions it makes to live the commitment to inclusion anchored in its legacy—that imperative to build an inclusive world—and to do so Quaker tradition. through the candidates and policies you support, the actions you And, in the heart of your experience here, through your academic take, and the vision you communicate to others of what must be the

work, each of you has come to a more complex and subtle under- agenda of your century. 4 0 standing of the realities and processes of exclusion and of what it And, closer to home, I ask you to defend, to promote, and to sup- 0 2

will take to release communities and societies from their grip. port education that responds to that agenda because that education R E

Through your academic work as well, you have each honed a is society’s most powerful instrument—and hope! B M habit of critical inquiry, which enables, indeed, compels you to see Class of 2004, I wish you continuing success in this and in E T P

through situations, assumptions, and claims to what you judge sig- everything you undertake, and I wish you ever-deepening satisfac- E S 7 M a k i n g R o o m

THE BEGINNING OF THE 2004–2005 academic year marks the opening of Swarthmore’s first new residence hall since the September 1981 opening of Mertz Hall. The three-story, L-shaped structure, faced with light gray mica schist and located between Mertz and the railroad track, will house 74 students in spacious single and double rooms, including six two-story “loft doubles” on the third floor. Each floor of the new dorm has cook- ing facilities, bathrooms, and a lounge. A laundry is centrally located on the sec- ond floor. One two-room suite with a bathroom is equipped to accommodate a physically disabled student and his or her assistant. The currently unnamed building is THE COLLEGE’S NEW RESIDENCE the first half of a planned two-part com- plex that will eventually house about 150 HALL (SEEN ABOVE FROM CLOTHIER students. The beds made available will TOWER) SITS BETWEEN MERTZ HALL allow the College to reduce the number AND THE RAILROAD TRACKS. MOST of beds in a renovated Parrish Hall (see CONSTRUCTION WAS COMPLETED June Bulletin) and to alleviate crowding JUST IN TIME FOR 75 STUDENTS TO in some other dormitories. There are no MOVE IN DURING THE LAST WEEK OF plans to increase the College’s enroll- ment, which stood at 1,500 (including AUGUST. THE SIX “LOFT DOUBLES” GRAHAM ON THE THIRD FLOOR (RIGHT) WILL JIM students studying abroad and living off BY campus) during the 2003–2004 aca- LIKELY BE CHOSEN EARLY DURING FUTURE ROOM DRAWS.

demic year. OGRAPHS Designed by William Rawn Associates of Boston, the environmentally friendly PHOT building is filled with light from large windows of fritted glass that will reduce the solar load and discourage birds OUTSTANDING PLACEMENT RECORD from colliding with it. Landscaping will include a 5,000–square-foot “green Gigi Simeone, the College’s health sciences adviser, roof” over the third-floor rooms, the idea for which originated from the green reports that her office worked with 343 undergradu- roof on the engineering storage building behind Papazian Hall and a spring ates (23 percent of enrolled students) and 68 alumni 2003 Environmental Studies Program Senior Seminar project taught by Asso- during the academic year that ended in June. Sime- ciate Professor of Engineering Carr Everbach, Henry C. and J. Archer Turner one helps students intending to enter careers in the health professions—especially those applying to

N Professor of Engineering Arthur McGarity, and College Horticultural Coordi- I medical, dental, or veterinary schools—with academ- T

E nator Jeff Jabco.

L ic planning, letters of recommendation, and under- L The roof, which is meant to be viewed but not walked on, will have a 1-inch U standing the specific requirements for professional B layer of heat-expanded shale, a 3- to 7-inch layer of growing media, and plant- E health sciences programs. Swarthmore’s placement G ings of seven species of low-growing sedum as well as ornamental grasses, E

L record is outstanding. In the five years from 1999 to

L asters, ornamental flowering onions, and carnations. Its benefits include the

O 2003, 84.6 percent of Swarthmore students and alum- C control of storm water runoff through the absorption of rainwater; reduction

E ni applying to U.S. allopathic or osteopathic medical

R of energy needs by providing roof insulation; increase in the exchange of oxy- O schools were accepted. In 2003, the national accept- M gen and carbon dioxide to and from the atmosphere; and the provision of a H ance rate for allopathic programs was 50 percent; it T

R beautiful space, which will be visible from many residence hall windows.

A was 34 percent for osteopathic schools.

W —Carol Brévart-Demm

S —Jeffrey Lott 8 GOUNDIE LEAVES FOR BATES ASSOCIATE DEAN of the College for Student Life left Swarthmore this summer to become dean of students at Bates College in Lewis- ton, Maine. Goundie first came to Swarth- more in 1981 as a lecturer and lab instructor in the Biology Department. “I took longer than most students to get through here, but I finally did,” he said with a characteristic laugh. “Personally, what I’ll miss the most is going into his office at the end of the day, and going over the problems of the day— and laughing a lot,” said Dean of the Col- lege Robert Gross ’62. “I think he will be missed as a presence.” GRAHAM As associate dean, Goundie was involved JIM in virtually every aspect of nonacademic stu- BY dent life. His responsibilities included stu- dent activities, judicial affairs, new student OGRAPHS orientation, individual advising, the Col- PHOT lege’s alcohol policy, and the residential adviser (RA) program. He is particularly proud of the role the RA program plays in Swarthmore today. “I think the RA program is great. It really defines residential life at the College,” Goundie said. “We look at the RAs as sup- port systems more than quasi-police offi- cers—although we do expect them to set standards of behavior in the residence halls.” This balance of authority figure and peer has resulted, Goundie said, in wide- spread student respect for the RAs’ obliga- tions to the College while maintaining their perception as fellow students and friends. Goundie said that walking down Par- rish’s main hall, at any given time, he would know by name about a third of the students in the between-class rush. He looks forward to serving as dean at a college he was attracted to, in part, because of how very much like Swarthmore it seemed: “I saw a FROM JULY 14 TO 28, THE 10-YEAR-OLD SWARTHMORE PROJECT: TIME AND SPACE FOR DANCE SPONSORED

lot of positive Swarthmore traits there— ON-CAMPUS RESIDENCIES FOR CHOREOGRAPHERS SITA FREDERICK ’97 (BOTTOM) AND JENNINE WILLETT. 4 0

[students are] very intelligent, committed, 0

WITH UP TO FIVE DANCERS EACH, THEY ENJOYED USE OF THE DANCE STUDIOS, AUDIOVISUAL EQUIPMENT, 2

and engaged in what they’re doing.” R AND OTHER COLLEGE FACILITIES AS WELL AS HOUSING, TRANSPORTATION COSTS, AND A MODEST E “Swarthmore,” he said, “will always be a B M part of me.” STIPEND. IN RETURN, THEY WILL RETURN TO PERFORM WORKS CREATED DURING THEIR RESIDENCIES IN A E T P

—Elizabeth Redden ’05 SERIES OF WORKSHOPS TO BE HELD LATER IN THE 2004–2005 ACADEMIC YEAR. E S 9 A R o b u s t T i m e f o r H o n o r s

WHEN ETHAN KNAPP ’88 TOOK CRAIG WILLIAMSON’S CHAUCER seminar in the spring of his senior year, he didn’t know he would become a medievalist. He had even less idea that, nearly two decades later, he would return to Swarthmore as an honors examiner in that very subject. But then, it’s unlikely that Jonathan Ehrenfeld ’04, who was examined this year in medieval history by Knapp, has any idea where he will be 20 years hence. Knapp, associate professor of English at Ohio State University, is one of a small but significant number of alumni who have served as honors examiners. He was one of 174 outside scholars who descend- ed on Swarthmore in late May to probe honors students’ mastery of

their major subject during 45-minute oral exams. The students' per- ANS

formance in that oral exam—and on an earlier written exam—still KOST determines whether they graduate with honors, high honors, or highest honors. Or, in very few cases, no honors at all.

The 174 scholars—the most in the 82-year history of the pro- ELEFTHERIOS gram—tested 128 students, about one-third of the graduating class. JONATHAN EHRENFELD ’04 (LEFT), WHO GRADUATED WITH HIGH HONORS IN Swarthmore had to increase the number of examiners from last year's 130 because of the increasingly sophisticated work of the stu- HISTORY, DISCUSSES HIS HONORS WORK WITH ETHAN KNAPP ’88, ONE OF A dents, all of whom will meet with multiple scholars. SMALL BUT SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF ALUMNI WHO HAVE SERVED AS OUT- “What happens between the examiner and Swarthmore honors SIDE EXAMINERS IN THE HONORS PROGRAM. THIS YEAR, ABOUT ONE-THIRD student is an intellectual dialogue, an in-depth probing of what the OF THE GRADUATING CLASS PARTICIPATED IN THE PROGRAM. student has said in his or her written exam," says Professor of Eng- lish Literature Williamson, who coordinates the Honors Program. foreign study. Their written honors exams—also designed by the “Some aspects of what happens here would be familiar to Chaucer, outside examiners—test material covered over the entire four whose clerk of The Canterbury Tales studied much the same way in semesters, as does the oral. the 14th century. But because of the way we have adapted an old The period before honors exams is known as an anxious but program to new directions in intellectual life, the Honors Program is stimulating time for participating students. Ehrenfeld, a history also quite modern and innovative." major whose interests ranged from medieval literature to the Italian The past few years have been a particularly robust time for Hon- Renaissance to facist Europe of the 20th century, said he liked ors, the College's signature program since its creation by President preparing for his exam with Knapp. He had taken three classes with Frank Aydelotte in the 1920s. Williamson, including Old English. “It was fun going back over all Aydelotte modeled it after the Oxford tutorial system, which he the sources and literature,” he says. “It was my most enjoyable had experienced while studying as a Rhodes Scholar in England. Yet preparation.” after thriving for a decade—and becoming responsible for Swarth- Those going through the rigors of honors preparation cite a sav- more’s strong academic reputation—the program declined in popu- ing grace; following a long-standing Swarthmore tradition, the stu- larity, to the point that just 10 percent of the graduating class dents tend to help one another prepare rather than compete to out- enrolled in honors in 1996. do one another. As one recent alumnus said at a forum hosted on After a two-year study, the faculty instituted a series of changes campus, “You learn so much more by talking through your ideas

N designed to attract more students to the program, primarily by mak- with other students than by staring at your notebook." I T

E ing it more flexible and responsive to student interest in foreign The actual experience of sitting down with the oral examiner and L

L study, double majors, cross-disciplinary study, and other new direc- exchanging ideas is always challenging and often surprisingly pleas- U B tions in the curriculum. The restructuring has proved successful; ant, as many attest. “The students sometimes get anxious before- E

G participation has steadily increased to the point that more than a hand, but they come out of these oral exams exhilarated by the E L

L third of this year's graduating class is in honors. exchange," Williamson says. “It's a thrill to have the chance to test O

C To ensure the constant influx of fresh perspectives, the program their ideas against the scholar whose books they've been reading." E

R limits an outside examiner's participation to two consecutive years. As one recent honors graduate said, “Honors at Swarthmore is O

M Each student is tested by four examiners—three in the major and one of the few academic programs that gives undergraduates a H T

R one in the minor. The oral exams conclude a two-year process in chance to have a one-on-one interaction with accomplished schol- A

W which honors students have taken a series of seminars and classes, ars. I think it's a rare privilege." S often combined with an independent thesis, a creative work, and/or —Tom Krattenmaker and Jeffrey Lott 10 R o b o t s T a k e T o p P r i z e Robots designed and programmed by students and professors at the College were the winners of a top award at the annual American Association for Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) competition in July. The 15-inch–high robots, Frodo and Gollum, are each equipped with a pan/tilt/zoom camera, sonar, infrared range sensors, bump sensors, a microphone, an onboard Linux workstation, and wireless ethernet. They competed in AAAI's urban search-and-rescue catego- ry, the fifth year this event has been held.

“This year was by far our best performance,” says Associate Pro- ʼ 91 fessor of Engineering Bruce Maxwell ’91, the leader of Swarthmore's

team. “That's largely due to improved navigational ability on the MAXWELL robots and an improved user interface for controlling them. The interface looks like a first-person computer game and lets the user BRUCE effectively control the robots quickly and efficiently with a good ROBOT FRODO EXPLORED A MOCK DISASTER AREA IN SEARCH OF “VICTIMS.” sense of the robot's surroundings." In addition to Maxwell, Swarthmore's team consisted of rising seniors Nicolas Ward and Frederick Heckel. Other teams included Swarthmore is no stranger to success at this competition. In the those from the Mitre Corp., the Palo Alto Research Center, the Uni- five years of the urban search-and-rescue event, Swarthmore has versity of Manitoba, the University of New Orleans, and Utah State had three first-place finishes and two second-place finishes. University. —Alisa Giardinelli

MORE SHAREHOLDER ACTIVISM UNDER PRESSURE FROM THE COLLEGE, two istrators, and members of Swarthmore’s A NURTURER BY NATURE Fortune 500 companies agreed this year to Investment Committee. In November, the Retired McCabe Library receptionist broaden their equal opportunity policies to committee began the process to co-file the Diane Van Roden died on May 29, at age bar discrimination on the basis of sexual Dover resolution with Walden Asset Man- 78. From 1974 to her retirement in orientation. The actions follow the College’s agement. Swarthmore was joined by Domi- 1994, Van Roden was responsible for the notification of each company of its inten- ni Social Investments and New York City in security of the library on evenings and tion to co-file a shareholder resolution for the proposed Masco resolution, notifying weekends. inclusion in the companies’ proxy ballots. Masco in late December 2003. She endeared herself to students with The development mirrors the College’s “Shareholder activism is a great opportu- her warmth and understanding and, an successful efforts last year to pressure Lock- nity to work for social change in a way that enthusiastic knitter, provided a further heed Martin to add sexual orientation to its reflects the College’s values,” says Nate source of comfort in the cold of winter nondiscrimination policies. After the College Freed Wessler ’04, an honors political sci- to students and staff alike with the filed a shareholder resolution—the first in the ence major on the committee. “It’s a really scarves and hats she created. country solely initiated by a college or univer- positive model for changing a company In 1984, having read about the sity since the anti-apartheid movement in the from the inside and the kind of tactic that is plight of the homeless in Philadelphia, 1980s—Lockheed amended its policy. usually not associated with student activists.” Van Roden enlisted students and staff to In the recent action, the two companies To file a resolution, a shareholder must help her start the Homeless Help Proj- adopting the broader policy are Dover have $2,000 or more invested in the com- ect, receiving funds from the Swarth- Corp., a New York–based manufacturer of pany and must have held it for at least a more Foundation to obtain food, cloth- industrial products, and Masco Corp., a Tay- year. Wessler says Dover and Masco were ing, and blankets. Patricia Chapin O’Don- lor, Mich.–based manufacturer of home chosen because of the potentially large impact nell, Friends Historical Library archivist, consumer products. Both companies report of a policy change at such prominent firms. recalls: “I remember baking several pans billions in annual sales and have operations “We commend Masco in particular for of chicken legs with barbecue sauce in the United States, Europe, and Asia. its responsiveness in engaging in dialogue each time I volunteered—20 or 30 legs at a time, individually wrapped in little

The resolutions by the College’s 6-year- with Swarthmore,” says College Vice Presi- 4 0 old Committee for Socially Responsible dent for Finance and Treasurer Suzanne plastic bags.” 0 2

Investing, chaired by Harvard University Welsh. “We congratulate both companies In 1985, Van Roden received the Four R E

Business School Jacob H. Schiff Professor of for adopting more inclusive equal employ- Chaplains Legion of Honor Award. B M

Investment Banking Emeritus Samuel ment policies.” —Carol Brévart-Demm E T P

Hayes ’57, includes students, college admin- —Alisa Giardinelli E S 11 How We VOTE T H E F U N D A M E N T A L A C T O F A D E M O C R A T I C S O C I E T Y H A S R A R E L Y S E E N S U C H S C R U T I N Y .

Cartoons by Dan Wasserman ’71 Photographs by Jim Graham

It is as basic a to work on these issues.” right to our After the controversial 2000 election, Congress busied itself THE VOTE.democracy as with reforms, passing the Help America Vote Act of 2002, which, exists, yet how we do it has never been more complicated or under says Valelly, promises to have lasting effects on all future elections. more scrutiny than during the 2004 presidential election season. One key provision is its requirement that first-time voters show One telling number: In the two years following the last presidential identification before voting. election, more than 500 new state election statutes were passed. “This is absolutely new, so the danger is that what we saw in Change is coming, if not here already. Florida four years ago—people being turned away from the polls— “This is the most ferment we’ve seen in voting rights since the will happen much, much more in many other jurisdictions,” Valelly 1960s,” says Professor of Political Science Rick Valelly ’75, an says. “It’s very hard to know how the ID requirement will be imple- expert on American party politics and author of the forthcoming mented on Election Day.” The Two Reconstructions: The Struggle for Black Enfranchisement (Uni- Unlike the 1960s, when voting reforms focused on inclusion, versity of Chicago Press, 2004). “Why? It’s a confluence of many Valelly says the country is facing a situation more like that during things—evenly matched parties, campaign finance reform, the the 1890s when the Australian, or secret, ballot was first imple- Supreme Court’s involvement in the last election, just to name a mented. “Not in a century have we seen this kind of change,” he few. As a result, our election system is like a circus, with rings says. “With this kaleidoscopic system, we will see big changes com- everywhere.” ing in the next 20 years.” One such ring is the area of felony disenfranchisement. These changes are generating intense discussions about the Recognition of its significance within the electorate—and among next presidential election, and, as always, Swarthmore students, fac- minority voters—is growing. Citing the differing periods ex- ulty, and alumni are in the thick of them. Former West Virginia offenders are often banned from voting after their release (ranging Secretary of State Ken Hechler ’35 is actively working on behalf of from no sanction in some states to a lifetime ban in others), Asso- election and campaign finance reform. A study by Assistant Profes- ciate Professor of Political Science Keith Reeves ’88 says it will be sor of Economics Thomas Dee ’90 on punch-card voting showed as critical in this election as it was in 2000—and not just in the process is more problematic than was even demonstrated in

N Florida. Florida. Last year, juniors Nelson Pavlosky and Luke Smith success- I T

E “For me, what’s most troubling about this issue is that the fully sued Diebold Inc., the provider of more than 75,000 electron- L

L very people who brought full meaning to the franchise are now ic voting machines in jurisdictions throughout the United States to U B the very ones denied the vote,” says Reeves, whose next book, ten- continue providing Web access to memos that called attention to E

G tatively titled The Declining Significance of Black Males, examines problems with the machines. This semester, Reeves will join fellow E L

L incarceration and public policy’s effects on inner-city communities. political science professor Carol Nackenoff to co-teach their class O

C “This issue hasn’t hit nationally yet, but people are starting to con- on American elections, in which they will examine the role of policy E

R nect the dots. Ninety percent of ex-offenders return to the com- issues, political ads, third parties, and other electoral-process issues. O

M munities where they committed their crimes. If I’m an ex-offender In the following pages, you’ll hear all of them discuss these H T

R who is trying to rebuild my life, part of that reentry should be a issues—and more. A

W return to civic life and participation. Whoever is elected will have —Alisa Giardinelli S 12 Every Vote Counts— OR DOES IT? W I L L N E W V O T I N G T E C H N O L O G Y M A K E T H E B A L L O T M O R E S E C U R E ? By Ben Fritz ’99

merican election campaigns are an though, the actual process of voting is on electronic machines this November—up impressive operation. To vie for the remarkably unimpressive. Despite all the from about 17 percent in 2000. Apresidency, candidates and their effort put into swaying Americans’ choices, Last year, some 15,000 Diebold internal supporters spend hundreds of millions of it turns out there’s ample reason to worry e-mails and memos were leaked and posted dollars, employ thousands of people, and that when citizens poke that hole, pull that on the Internet by activists. Many of the e- deploy some of the most sophisticated mar- lever, or touch that screen, the vote recorded mails discuss security and quality problems, keting and public relations efforts that the may not be the one they intended. such as one that read, “I have become world has seen. The same process repeats Much of the growing controversy over increasingly concerned about the apparent

itself, on a smaller scale, for political offices election technology has focused on the lack of concern over the practice of writing 4 0 all the way down to town council. growing number of electronic, touch-screen, contracts to provide products and services 0 2

It’s all done with one goal in mind: get- voting machines made by Diebold Election that do not exist and then attempting to R E ting citizens to pick one candidate over oth- Systems, Election Systems & Software, and build these items on an unreasonable time B M ers on Election Day. As a growing tide of Sequoia Voting Systems. About one in three line with no written plan, little to no time E T P

experts and activists are pointing out, registered voters are expected to cast ballots for testing, and minimal resources.” E S 13 Among those posting the documents Diebold create a paper were Swarthmore students Nelson Pavlosky receipt. Voters will be ’06 and Luke Smith ’06, co-founders of the able to verify that the Swarthmore Coalition for the Digital Com- machine recorded mons, a group promoting open-source soft- their vote correctly ware and reforms in what members of the and, if there are any “free culture” movement see as overly later problems, have restrictive copyright laws. When Diebold proof of their ballot. sent a cease-and-desist letter to the College Former Swarth- last October claiming that posting the more Physics Profes- memos violated the Digital Millennium sor Rush Holt, now a Copyright Act, on the advice of legal coun- Democratic congress- sel, administration officials removed them man from New Jersey, from the Web site while supporting the stu- wrote legislation for dents in public statements and advising federal election funds them about legal remedies they might seek. requiring electronic Once Smith and Pavlosky, working with voting machines to lawyers from the Stanford Center for Inter- create paper receipts net and Society, sent a “counternotification” this year or not be used. any voters may be under the impres- assuming legal liability and Diebold didn’t “Because of the secret ballot, only the Msion that the Help America Vote Act dispute it within 10 days, the memos were voter can verify that his or her intention is (HAVA) passed by Congress in 2002 recorded correctly,” he said at a July House already put an end to questions about vot- Administration Committee hearing on his ing integrity. The bill authorized $650 mil- Some scholars ques- bill. “That is why a hard copy of each vote— lion in federal funds to help upgrade voting verified by the voter himself or herself— technology around the country. tion whether the Help must be required of all voting systems.” The idea was that better technology Though Holt’s bill was introduced in would help more votes be counted accurate- America Vote Act did May 2003 and has more than 140 support- ly. A study by the CalTech–MIT Voting ers, the Republican congressional leadership Technology Project, headed, in part, by Cal- more harm than has opposed it, and the bill hasn’t made it to Tech President David Baltimore ’60, found the House floor for a vote. A companion bill that 1.5 million of the 4 million to 6 million good. in the Senate has also made little progress. votes left uncounted in the last presidential A Diebold representative said his compa- election could be recovered through reposted. The two students are now at the ny doesn’t oppose paper receipts and is upgrades to the nation’s voting systems. center of a high-profile lawsuit they filed merely waiting for guidance from states on But some scholars are starting to ques- against Diebold, asking a judge to declare exactly how to create them. tion whether HAVA did more harm than the posting is legal under “fair-use” rights. A spate of recent problems has led many good. A recent article by University of North Although the memo-posting dispute cen- states into a debate over exactly that issue. Carolina Center for Civil Rights Director of tered on copyright-law questions, Smith In a March primary in California, more than Advocacy Anita Earls argued that provisions notes that the underlying issues of propri- half of the polling places in San Diego in the bill to fight “largely mythical voter etary security software concerns him and County failed to open on time because of fraud” could disenfranchise thousands of other voting technology activists who advo- computer malfunctions. And in Florida’s voters in each state, an irony given that cate open-source software, such as the wide- March primary, hundreds of votes cast on thousands of citizens, primarily African ly used Linux, which anyone can analyze electronic machines weren’t recorded. Americans, were prevented from voting in and alter. But Diebold and competitors use In response, California Secretary of State Florida in 2000 because they were wrongly proprietary software that, like Microsoft’s Kevin Shelley in April banned the use of a identified as ex-felons.

N Windows, is owned by its parent company. certain Diebold machine, required counties At Swarthmore, Professor of Political I T

E “Before we even heard about Diebold, we using other touch-screen systems to go Science Rick Valelly ’75 agrees. “Further- L

L were interested in open-source voting solu- through a complex process to be recertified more, the law’s promise to improve voter U B tions,” Smith says. “Elections are something for security, and mandated that any new technology has not been realized,” he says. E

G we do in common, and it’s important that electronic voting machines create paper “One could argue that requiring identifi- E L

L the information related to it also be com- receipts. Nevada has already spent $9 mil- cation for first-time voters would be an O

C mon, not privately held.” lion to purchase touch-screen voting sys- acceptable cost politically if HAVA had also E

R Rather than shifting the way software tems (from Sequoia) that will produce paper radically improved election administration,” O

M gets written, many activists have had a much receipts for this year’s elections. As of April he observes. “But it hasn’t done that. For H T

R simpler immediate goal: require that touch- 25, states had already or were considering one thing, lots of jurisdictions now have A

W screen voting machines like those made by related legislation and directives. machines that are useless for a recount. S 14 What a way to respond to what happened in received thousands of votes that are only the next presidential election, if not earlier. Florida—to make a recount impossible! Sec- explainable by their position on the ballot. But some question whether, ultimately, it’s ond, the machines are generally poorly Voters accidentally punched out the hole the very focus on technology that could made. They might get better, but Congress next to the one they intended. bring us another Election Day disaster. would have to spend money again in order “The California election was unique, but “Elections administration is a labor- to get a new generation of machines.” there’s some experimental evidence that sug- intensive process, not a capital-intensive With controversy swirling around high- gests people make these kind of errors even process,” Valelly argues. “What elections tech voting systems, some jurisdictions have when there are not 135 people on the bal- administration requires is well-trained elec- opted to stick with the ballot-booth classics lot,” Dee explains, noting that jurisdictions tion day workers—and lots of them—not such as punch cards. But Assistant Profes- in some of this year's “battleground states” any particular technology.” sor of Economics Thomas Dee recently are using punch cards. “And because Vote-o- looked at the problem that process can have. Matic style punch cards don’t have names Ben Fritz is a Variety reporter and co-author, Dee analyzed the California gubernatori- printed on them, you can’t even see if you with Brendan Nyhan ’00 and Bryan Keefer, of al recall election of October 2003 and found poked the wrong chad when you remove it.” All the President’s Spin: George W. Bush, that candidates whose names appeared With growing activism by liberal groups the Media, and the Truth (Touchstone, 2004). directly above and below those of major can- like MoveOn.org for paper voting receipts, Their analysis and commentary on political didates, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, that reform looks likely in many states by rhetoric can be found at www.spinsanity.org. Getting Out the VOTE T H E S T E A D Y D E C L I N E I N V O T E R T U R N O U T H A S M A N Y C A U S E S . By Alisa Giardinelli ulletin staff writer Alisa Giardinelli and can make a difference, so maybe they ought What is the biggest concern? three members of Swarthmore’s Political to go and cast it. The other, possibly coun- Nackenoff: About half the states now have a BScience Department recently explored tering that trend, is people saying, “Wait a provisional ballot, so that even if a voter is questions about American elections. Panelists second. The system found a way to discount challenged, he or she has to be allowed to were Assistant Professor Benjamin Berger, a my vote, so maybe I won’t vote at all.” cast a ballot. A federal mandate will be political and democratic theory and practice Valelly: I was surprised when a German TV expanded in future elections. You can’t be expert; Professor Carol Nackenoff, an American crew showed up on campus last December sent away without the opportunity to vote. politics and constitutional law specialist; and to cover a symposium on voting in America. Valelly: Provisional balloting was first Professor Rick Valelly ’75, whose book, The Two “Why are you here attending this little con- allowed under motor-voter, and so a lot of Reconstructions: The Struggle for Black ference at Swarthmore College on a snowy states have already figured out how to do it. Enfranchisement, will be published this fall day?” I asked. “Are (University of Chicago Press). The panel’s you kidding?” she answers have been condensed and edited. asked. “After all, you Americans have been Is the 2004 election a special moment in telling the world American voting, and, if so, why? how to run elections. Nackenoff: More attention is being directed Your country is to how we vote as a result of the mess in the going to be overrun 2000 election—not only the Florida mess. with news teams Some other states were quite closely con- from abroad who tested. The usual calculus citizens make will be watching about “Does my vote matter?” was brought whether or not you into stark relief when you saw 500 votes get it right in 2004.”

changing an election. Citizens were made Both parties now 4 0 aware of the difference that rules about vot- have ballot-monitor- 0 2

ing and vote counting can make. ing programs, and R E

Berger: Two countervailing trends came out volunteer organiza- B M of the 2000 election. One is that because it tions will monitor E T P

was so close, people realized that their vote every state. E S 15 But in those that haven’t done it, that’s Nackenoff: One thing we know where these volunteers come in. In most about the last period during places, polling is going to go very smoothly, which voter turnout was high but there are going to be many more inci- was that participation was a dents that we’ll be talking about because so male-bonding activity. In the much more attention is being paid. 1890s, there were torchlight Nackenoff: Ben said, “The system found a parades and a good deal of way to discount my vote, so maybe I won’t drinking surrounding Election vote at all.” This highlights the long-stand- Day. Bars were eventually closed ing concern about minority disenfranchise- in Chicago because the machine ment. It’s not just anybody whose vote is was handing out free liquor to not being counted. There’s clear evidence get people to vote the way they that those who were prevented from voting wanted them to. But there was or undercounted were disproportionately an awful lot of election hoopla. BENJAMIN BERGER from minority neighborhoods. The Florida People went out in the streets to project to strike voters from the rolls if their wait for the results. It was names or birth dates matched those of pageantry. It was fun. It was a public event. felons is also sharpening attention to the Voting is no longer a public event. It’s not question of justice in access to the ballot. part of the public discourse, the public Berger: This could be positive if it gets us pageantry, and I put at least some of the thinking about whether disenfranchising blame squarely on the 1920s League of felons is a good idea in the first place. It’s an Women Voters. old practice—from Greek and Roman times. In medieval Europe, you could suffer “civil The League of Women Voters? death” if you had committed certain mis- Nackenoff: Yes. The league’s “knowledge- deeds. Voting was not an issue then, but information model” reinforced the idea that there were other civil penalties, like not you have a responsibility to know in order inheriting property. The English brought to participate, and sanitized elections felony disenfranchisement to America. turned off working-class voters. The pro- It became an issue after the Civil War, gressives sought to establish a threshold, an CAROL NACKENOFF when the laws were tailored to exclude from assumption that unless you were informed voting those convicted of crimes that were about the issues, you ought not to be put- supposedly done more frequently by African ting in your 2 cents’ worth. The idea was, when 18 year olds first voted in 1974, there Americans. It’s been around for a long time, “We want to clean up government, to get rid has been around a 15 percent decline in but it’s never served a particularly good pur- of those dirty parties, their nasty patronage, young people voting. pose. In about 14 states, even after you've and the way that they appeal to voters.” served your sentence you're still disenfran- What might increase participation? chised for a number of years. In seven Has this suppressed voter turnout? Valelly: We should vote on the weekend. We states, it's a lifetime penalty. That's rather Nackenoff: Absolutely. Reforms that date vote on a workday, in part, because of our astounding if you believe that by serving a from the Progressive era correlate very neat- national respect for the sabbath, but voting prison term one pays one's debt to society. ly with a decline in voter participation. We on the weekend would increase turnout. And, unfortunately, blacks are overrepre- also know that when women were enfran- Nackenoff: Proposals have ranged from sented in the disenfranchised group. chised [in 1920], their rates of participation shortening election campaigns (which is Valelly: Yet, except for felony disenfran- were very low at first. So the eligible voting already happening with the convergence of chisement, our voting laws are as inclusive base was almost doubled, but women’s low the presidential primary season) to trans- as they have ever been. African American participation depressed turnout rates. Not forming the ways media cover elections to

N voting rights are protected under the Voting until the mid-1970s did women catch up to ending negative advertising by candidates. I T

E Rights Act, as are Latino voting rights and men in their likelihood of voting. The idea is to increase citizen interest and L

L those of different immigrant groups. Valelly: There’s an interesting contrast, attention, and to decrease their political U B because when African American men were cynicism. Participation—at least for white E

G Can balloting reforms address the lack of enfranchised during Reconstruction, their men—was higher when election season E L

L voting interest? participation shot up into the 80 percent involved many people in fun, dramatic, and O

C Valelly: We should look at how Puerto Rico range. That’s because it was a partisan mobi- partisan political activities. E

R does it—a real civic ritual. Part of the prob- lization—but in the case of [mostly white] Berger: I don’t think you’re calling for a O

M lem is that we vote on a workday, when lots women’s enfranchisement, it was a deliber- return to the “good old days” of the 1890s. H T

R of people can’t get to the polls. We don’t ately nonpartisan mobilization. There were a lot of negative things then, like A

W have as much of a civic ritual as we used to. Berger: After the increase that occurred control by the big political machines. We S 16 RICK VALELLY need to combine the best of what we’re get- Republican. Once you become independent, ting now with enfranchisement with more that itself is a form of partisanship because educated voters and more transparency. you tend to stay independent for the rest of your life. This is the first election in a long Is the two-party system the problem? time—since the 1960s—that the parties are Nackenoff: There is a downside to the two- really working hard at turning out voters party system. In most elections, Democratic through knocking on doors, handing out lit- and Republican candidates converge toward erature, and talking to people. One of the the median voter. Voters can’t tell the differ- reasons turnout dropped was that parties ence between candidates, who look alike on stopped asking for the vote. many issues because they’re courting swing Berger: Robert Putnam [’63] has done voters. Many voters have nowhere else to go, research on the decline of involvement with so the parties don’t have to give them much. civic, social, and political organizations. It’s They’re trying to convince those few voters correlated with—although it has not neces- who can determine the outcome of the elec- sarily caused—lower voting turnout as well. tion. In a two-party system, you don’t get Then, if it’s true that group membership is ideologically based parties, and you tend not declining, it’s a very discouraging finding to get ideologically based candidates. because there are then fewer social networks Valelly: People are just as partisan as they to ask people to vote. This renewed atten- ever were. Once you become a Democrat or tion to try to reach out to people could lead Republican, you tend to stay a Democrat or to building more of those networks. Plurality RULES G E T T I N G T H E M O S T V O T E S M A Y N O T B E T H E B E S T W A Y T O W I N A N E L E C T I O N . By Dana Mackenzie '79

nce, there was a former British After a century of electing their legislators voting—replacing punch-card ballots with colony with an election system by a plurality vote—the same system used electronic voting machines, for example. But Osorely in need of reform. For years, in America—New Zealand adopted a new Terrell and Nagel are among academics and two parties had monopolized the political voting system from Germany, called mixed- agitators who have been arguing for years landscape. “The leadership switched from member proportional (MMP) voting. that our voting system has much more fun- one party to another with no coalition Ten years and three general elections damental flaws, which will not be cured by building,” says Cynthia Richie Terrell ’86, a later, third parties have gained a fair share buying new voting machines. voting activist from Takoma Park, Md. of legislative seats in New Zealand. The rep- Terrell has loved politics since she was in “There was a lack of accountability as well.” resentation of minorities and women has high school. At Swarthmore, she led the stu- Although the winners chronically got increased. According to a recent article by dent government and majored in political less than 50 percent of the vote, they acted political scientist Jack Nagel ’66, “[MMP] science. After graduating, she worked on as if they had a mandate. Voters increasingly has delivered virtues commonly but mistak- Bob Edgar’s unsuccessful senatorial cam- felt that the governing parties were out of enly attributed to [plurality voting]—major- paign in Pennsylvania and Douglas Wilder’s touch with their wishes. In two consecutive ity rule, moderation, and even (after a false successful gubernatorial campaign in Vir- general elections, the party with fewer popu- start) accountability.… Other Anglo-Ameri- ginia. But her visit to New Zealand in 1993, lar votes ended up in control of the govern- can democracies would do well to look to where she campaigned for proportional vot- ment because of electoral system quirks. the Kiwis for lessons, both cautionary and ing, confirmed her belief that Americans

Were you thinking America, ca. 2004? exemplary, about electoral reform.” deserve a better voting system. 4 0

Guess again. The country was New Zealand, Voting reform burst into the American “Our country is tragically divided 0 2

and the year was 1993—when voters, to the consciousness in 2000, amid negative pub- between the reds and the blues,” she says. R E utter surprise of both governing parties, licity about hanging chads and butterfly bal- “Partisanship is accentuated by our system, B M took matters into their own hands and radi- lots. Perhaps for that reason, it has become and many people are underrepresented.” E T P

cally altered the country’s electoral system. synonymous with changing the mechanics of The problem, she believes, is combining E S 17 similar to selection Reformers argue that process used on American Idol and our voting other reality-TV shows. In IRV, voters system has funda- rank top choices. If no candidate wins a mental flaws that majority of No. 1 votes, then the candi- will not be cured by date with the fewest votes is eliminated. buying new voting That candidate’s sup- porters automatically machines. recast their votes for the No. 2 candidate. winner-take-all elections and plurality vot- The process contin- ing—which, by a principle of political sci- ues, eliminating one ence called Duverger’s Law, tends to split the candidate at a time, electorate into two camps and leaves minor- until a winner emerges with a majority. too. One way to beat the devil would be to ity groups without a voice. By contrast, the Unlike reality TV (or conventional runoff vote for him! To many political scientists, New Zealand proportional representation elections), the process would occur instantly this is IRV’s fatal flaw. “If there’s anything system appealed to her Quaker upbringing. inside a computer. Best of all, no vote is antithetical to the idea of democracy, it’s “There’s a sense of basic fairness in Quak- “wasted.” Nader or Perot supporters may that casting your vote for a candidate can erism, of trying to forge a compromise that vote for their favorite, knowing that if he is hurt him,” says Steven Brams of New York reflects as many views as possible,” she says. eliminated, they will get their next favorite. University. Robert Norman ’49, a retired “It’s better for everyone to be at the table San Francisco adopted instant runoff Dartmouth mathematics professor, has than for someone to be left out.” voting in 2002, as did Berkeley. Many of shown that in close three-candidate elec- “Indeed, Quakers have consistently been America’s elite colleges have adopted IRV for tions—where all three get between 25 and leaders in efforts to reform winner-take-all student government elections. Both the 40 percent of the vote—the possibility for elections, with their efforts contributing to Green and Libertarian parties support it. vote manipulation will occur at least 10 per- such early successes as the adoption of pro- Richie says that IRV is gaining support from cent of the time; a loser would have won if portional representation for city council mainstream politicians. “Howard Dean some voters who liked him best voted elections in New York City in the era of advocated it regularly as governor of Ver- against him. Norman’s work-in-progress Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia.” mont. If the legislature had not gone was presented at the annual meeting of the In 1992, Terrell and her husband, Robert Republican, they probably would have Public Choice Society in Baltimore in March. Richie, helped launch a nonprofit organiza- passed it for all statewide offices. The Perhaps the biggest problem for voting tion called the Center for Voting and Demo- League of Women Voters, Grange, AFL-CIO, reformers is that every voting system can, in cracy, whose objective is to bring propor- and Secretary of State were all for it.” theory, be manipulated by “strategic” voting tional representation and other new election Instant runoff voting has its problems, if there are three or more candidates. Allan methods to the United States. Technically, proportional representation only works with multimember districts because you can’t Ways to Instant runoff voting: Voters rank their divvy up one seat. But even in single-winner choices. Each round, the lowest-ranking elections, there are many alternatives to the COUNT candidate gets eliminated until a majority plurality vote, which go by such names as A V O T I N G G L O S S A R Y winner emerges. Proportional representation: Any of sever- approval voting, the Borda count, and Plurality voting (also called “first-past- al voting systems designed to give minority N instant runoff voting (see glossary). And

I the-post”): Each voter casts one vote, and

T parties or groups a legislative delegation E there are plenty of reasons to change. The the candidate with the most votes wins, L

L current system forces many people not to proportional to their numbers in the elec- U even if he or she does not have a majority. B vote for the candidate they really like torate.

E Approval voting: Each voter casts a vote

G because they are afraid it will hand the elec- Mixed-member proportional voting: Vot- E for all candidates he or she approves of. L ers cast a ballot for a candidate and a L tion to a candidate they don’t like. (Remem-

O Used in several academic societies but not

C party. One winning candidate is elected ber Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996 or Ralph yet in public elections. E from each district. Then, each party R Nader in 2000.)

O Borda count: Each voter ranks his or her

M Don’t blame Perot and Nader, Terrell and receives enough additional at-large seats to

H choices, and the ranks are added. Used (in

T make its strength proportional to its party R Richie say, but plurality voting. They advo- a mathematically equivalent form) in col- A vote. Used in Germany and New Zealand. W cate instant runoff voting (IRV), which is lege basketball and football polls. S —D.M. 18 Gibbard ’63, now a philosophy professor at the University of Michigan, gave a mathe- Voting matical proof of this rather dismal fact (known in social choice theory as the Gib- bard-Satterthwaite Theorem) in 1973. “It’s tougher to keep a head of steam under POWER reform if you’re aware that it’s not going to T H E C U R I O U S M A T H E M A T I C S O F E L E C T I O N S be perfect,” comments Nagel, a political sci- By Dana Mackenzie ’79 entist at the University of Pennsylvania. Nagel, who is also on the advisory com- IS THERE ANYTHING RIGHT WITH VOTING IN greater return on his ballot-box investment mittee for the Center for Voting and Demo- AMERICA? Well, yes, says Paul Edelman ’76, because these representatives (who Edelman cracy, says that his own views on propor- professor of mathematics and law at Van- assumed would vote as a bloc) wield more tional voting have changed diametrically derbilt University. (As a mathematician influence once they get to the council. since his Swarthmore days. “When I took teaching law, he compares himself to a Voting power is defined as probability poli-sci back in the 1960s, we read a book dancing bear: “The wonder is not how well that any given voter’s ballot will be pivotal— by F.A. Hermans, called Democracy or Anar- he does it, but that it can be done at all.”) assuming every voter chooses by flipping a chy. He blamed the rise of Hitler on propor- After he moved to Nashville, Tenn., he coin. This may or may not be a good tional representation, which led to a frag- became interested in the county’s hybrid description of real, partisan elections, but it mented government—and that was pre- Metro Council, which has 35 districted rep- is convenient for mathematical models. sented to us as gospel.” But after meeting resentatives and five at-large ones elected by When he worked through the math, Brams at the University of Pennsylvania, he the whole county. Why these numbers? And Edelman discovered that the voter enjoys became a “semi-convert” to approval vot- was there any conceivable justification for ing, which Brams has advocated for years. having the five at-large seats? One obstacle to Then, he went to New Zealand in 1986 and At-large representation disappeared from 1993 and was stunned to see the “utopian” federal elections—but not local elections—a change is that other idea of proportional representation become generation ago, after civil rights activists a reality. “Another law of political science is blamed it for disenfranchising minority vot- voting the stability of electoral systems,” he says. ers. In 1967, Congress passed a law requir- But New Zealand disproved that law. ing all U.S. representatives to be elected systems can be Although voting reform might be diffi- from single-member districts. Now, ironical- cult, and a perfect system is demonstrably ly, some at-large representation may turn manipulated by impossible, Nagel thinks that there is no out to be a good thing. “The irony is that reason to give up. “There are ways that we the law now prevents alternative electoral “strategic” voting. can do better or worse, and the system systems that would do a better job of guar- we’ve got in the United States is one of the anteeing minority rights,” says Nagel. the most power when the number of at- worst.” He thinks it is important to be open In his study of at-large representation, large representatives is the square root of to try different voting methods. “Experience Edelman constructed a mathematical model the total number of representatives. Because always teaches us more,” he says. “The based on the esoteric idea of voting power, Nashville’s Metro Council had 40 members, abstract theory is never as rich as reality.” T invented in 1965 by a lawyer named John and the square root of 40 is roughly 6, the Banzhaf. He realized existing system is quite close to optimal. that a voter exercises No such sophisticated calculations went power in two different into designing Nashville’s government. ways: First, he picks a “When the city became a metropolitan unit representative, and with the county, there was a very complicat- second, the represen- ed political negotiation. Five was a number tative votes on his that everyone could live with,” Edelman behalf in the city explains. However, he thinks that his calcu- council. The two fac- lation would provide good advice if the city tors create a trade-off. ever decided to change the size of its coun- The voter benefits cil. He also believes that his model explains from having a district why systems like Nashville’s, mixing at-large

representative, so he and districted representation, remain com- 4 0

has fewer other voters mon in medium-sized cities. T 0 2

to compete with. On R E

the other hand, at- Dana Mackenzie is a freelance writer in Santa B M

large representatives Cruz, Calif. He has also written about voting for E T P

give the voter a Discover magazine. E S 19 FAR LEFT: CLARENCE HOLBROOK CARTER’S OVER AND ABOVE #14

LEFT: FERN COPPEDGE'S AUTUMN BELOW: EDWARD HICKS, PENN’S TREATY WITH THE INDIANS

MICHENER ONCE SAID THAT HIS SWARTHMORE EDUCATION WAS HIS “PASSPORT INTO A WILD AND VIVID LIFE OF THE MIND.”

COURTESY OF THE MERCER MUSEUM OF THE BUCKS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY/OTHERS COURTESY OF THE JAMES A. MICHENER ART MUSEUM N I T E L L U B E G E L L O

C LEFT: ALAN GOLDSTEIN’S UPRIVER FROM LUM- E

R BERVILLE: WALKING BRIDGE II O

M ABOVE: DANIEL GARBER’S THE STUDIO WALL H T R A W S 20 A L E G A C Y O F A r t T O U R T H E J A M E S A . M I C H E N E R A R T M U S E U M , W H I C H H O N O R S T H E L E G E N D A R Y A L U M N U S . ʼ 67

TT By Andrea Hammer GOLDBLA STEVEN

n 80-minute train ride from Center City Philadel- College—to which phia—passing still-pristine farmland that allows the he bequeathed most eye and mind to rest—ends near the Michener Art of his estate (see side- Museum in walkable Doylestown, Pa. Five blocks from bar). SEPTA’s last R5 stop, close to shop- and restaurant- According to a display in the Mich- packed State and Main streets, a visitor winds into ener Exhibition, the 1948 Pulitzer Prize the museum courtyard, where modern sculpture contrasts with an winner for Tales of the South Pacific said, Aold stone wall still retained from the museum's original structure— “Mostly I would want to be remembered by the 19th-century Old Bucks County Jail. James Michener ’29 first that row of solid books that rests on envisioned a regional art museum here in the early 1960s, a dream library shelves throughout the world.” that was realized in 1988 as the James A. Michener Arts Center. South Pacific (1947), his first novel, later Bruce Katsiff, director of the Michener Museum, says: “Michener became a stage musical and then a popu- believed strongly that a good education does matter, that museums lar film. First editions of many of Michen- and libraries enrich our lives, and that art in public—versus pri- er’s 43 books—translated into 50 lan- vate—collections is consistent with the democratic nature of our guages—from his personal collection line the society. Through our research, our publications, our educational shelves of the exhibit's recreated library. While programs, our collections and our exhibitions, this museum helps to living in Bucks County, Michener wrote Say- promote a civil society and advances the values that Jim Michener onara (1954), The Float- embraced during his lifetime. Many of Jim’s values were formed as a ing World (1954), Cara- young student at Swarthmore College. It was Jim’s belief in public vans (1963), and Sports service and his passionate commitment to democracy that estab- in America (1976). lished the culture of this museum. Our goal continues to be docu- “It seems that I was menting and advancing the artistic heritage of this region and, by born to smile at the doing so, helping make our community a better place.” world, and such men do OF THE Once inside the light-filled museum, the Michener Exhibition—in not write tragedies,” he once said, TESY MUSEUM BREMS/COUR ART the first room, immediately left of the entrance—is an irresistible as featured in the exhibit. BRYAN A. MICHENER magnet. Here, Michener’s desk and typewriter from his Bucks Also according to the display, Michener JAMES County home, where he lived for more than 35 years, are displayed. could write 2,000 words or more a day—pecking at The original, corrected manuscript of The Novel (1991), still wrapped his manual typewriter with two index fingers. For the mammoth around the roller, gives the impression that Michener just went out South Pacific and Hawaii (1959), he relied on a photographic memo- for one of his long walks in the woods with his two dogs, Java and ry rather than researchers and didn't even take notes. Michener first Burma. A Doylestown resident for 35 years, Michener died in 1997 completed manuscripts and then often rewrote them two to three at the age of 90 in Austin, where he supported the Texas Center for times, with fact checking by publishers following later.

Writers among many other organizations including Swarthmore Just outside the exhibit, docent Janet Adler calls, “Would you 4 0

like to take the tour?” Near a vase of pink peonies, the cozy Water- 0 TOP: THE JAMES A. MICHENER ARTS CENTER OPENED IN 1988 AND WAS LATER 2

shed Café, and memorabilia-filled gift shop, Adler welcomes late- R E

RENAMED IN 1992; A SATELLITE FACILITY OPENED IN NEW HOPE IN 2003. comers along the way as she introduces the tour with Michener's B M

RIGHT: THE PATRICIA D. PFUNDT SCULPTURE GARDEN DISPLAYS KING LEAR BY Quaker commitment and sense of “duty to give back.” E T P

BARRY JOHNSTON. According to Adler, who leads the group to the first painting on E S 21 walnut table, Adler repeats his belief that “every tree has a soul.” She also says that Nakashima thought that holes or cracks were not flaws but important qualities, adding character to pieces such as the ones displayed. To experience this breathtaking space fully, Adler says that “it’s important to sit down,” gesturing to the five conoid seats—an odd number for good luck in the Japanese tradition. Others on the tour sit on the wood benches under the soshi screens, which “slide open to bring the outside in and the inside out,” Adler says, as sun- DANIEL GARBER’S A WOODED WATERSHED light streams into the room. She tells us that the “mother post”— the tour, Quakerism also influenced Michener's desire to “practice which runs from floor to ceiling in a corner—is, according to Japan- tolerance and not impose ideas on others.” Over and Above #14 ese tradition, “the strongest in the house, as in the family.” (1964) by Clarence Holbrook Carter, a wide-eyed fictitious bird- Another gallery contains a large collection of New Hope Impres- hangs his beak over the stark white bottom half of the canvas and sionists—supported by donors Marguerite and Gerry Lenfest, who encourages viewers to look with “a friendly eye when you see some- gave 59 paintings. Garber’s A Wooded Watershed (1926) commands thing that you don't know,” Adler says. immediate attention. According to Adler, the work was lost for Moving into a dimly lit gallery filled with historical paintings, she explains that New Hope, Pa., was home to American Impressionists such as Edward Redfield, who were interested in the effect of light MUSEUM on a subject, using broken brush strokes and a heightened color T AR palette. Attracted to the characteristically tolerant Bucks County area, Redfield and many other artists including Fern Coppedge MICHENER

formed a thriving artists’ colony. As just one of many examples, A. Adler pointed to The Studio Wall (1914) by Daniel Garber, one of the foremost New Hope Impressionists. JAMES Then, turning to Harry Rosin's Torso of Teshiva (1933), Adler says THE OF that he shaped this female nude with “strong, graceful influences,” using a “reverse-mold bronze cast.” TESY As the group slowly crosses the gallery, Adler points to Penn’s COUR Treaty With the Indians (ca. 1835), saying, “Edward Hicks started as a sign painter.” Typical of Hicks’ work, Penn’s Treaty reflects the artist's TRICE/BOTH

desire to paint only images that “elevated man.” Hicks is best known A. ODD

for Peaceable Kingdom (ca. 1832–1837)—two examples of which are T

in the permanent collection of Swarthmore College—painting the THE GEORGE NAKASHIMA READING ROOM same subject numerous times. “Our two Hicks paintings of the Peaceable Kingdom represent the years—until the Michener Museum was contacted and received a Quaker values that are at the heart of Swarthmore’s mission: com- grant to restore the Pennsylvania Water Gap scene with deer and munal learning and conscientious inquiry in the service of peace and sycamore trees. “The museum staff was excited because Garber was

N social justice,” says Andrea Packard ’85, director of the List Gallery. important to New Hope,” she says. “The vertical lines show I T

E Continuing to move through the Michener’s Mexican Folk Retab- strength; the horizontal ones, peace; and the diagonal, movement. L

L los exhibit, Adler explains that retablos are sacred images painted on The trees in front are like a veil,” she adds, noting the painting's U B wood panels behind altars. “These naïve artists were influenced by hazy background and detailed foreground. E

G baroque art, using curved lines and primary colors,” she says. In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Gallery of 20th-century E L

L Approaching the George Nakashima Reading Room, designed by American paintings, a plaque by Katsiff, chief executive officer as O

C the artist’s daughter, a visitor is struck by the words framing the well as museum director, notes, “This exhibition asks more ques- E

R outer arch: “When you enter this room, you're entering a way of tions than it answers.” Echoing this observation, Adler points to one O

M life.” The foremost woodcraftsman of the 20th century, Japanese of three sections that “make you think”; then, another that “makes H T

R American Nakashima followed a spiritual approach in his work. you think some more”; and a last one, “where you're on your own.” A

W Pointing to Nakashima’s book The Soul of a Tree (1981) on the In the first area, though, she interprets The Cicada (1998–2000) by S 22 Rob Evans—inviting those on the tour to offer their own reactions, cy. The Michener is a medium-size museum with a narrow collect- as earlier. “Like a storyboard, this painting is divided into three ing interest and a mandate to serve the cultural needs of the grow- areas: boy, teenager, and wheelchair,” she says of the respective sec- ing population of Bucks County. Quality and size are two distinct tions. “They are overlapping to create depth.” issues, and the expectation of excellence is no less present in a Concluding in the Pfundt Gallery, David Graham's Mule on the small museum than in a large one,” Katsiff says. Street: Colorful Character in Unexpected Places features a collection of “I believe that the citizens of Bucks County are sophisticated photos harkening back to the days when mules pulled barges in individuals who are seeking inspirational cultural experiences near New Hope. Back outside, The Patricia D. Pfundt Sculpture Garden where they live. In my view, the growing population of suburban displays Jo Jenks’ graceful Woman Washing Her Hair (1954), inte- residents will make many visits to their regional museum for every grating flowing water and other natural elements to mirror the sur- visit they make to the major urban museums.” T rounding picturesque landscape of Bucks County. “Most of the over 12,000 members of the American Association For more information on upcoming exhibits, hours, directions, and other of Museums are small institutions that serve a limited constituen- details, visit http://www.michenermuseum.org.

JAMES MICHENER: WRITER AND for Tales of $2 million in 1984 as repayment “with PHILANTHROPIST the South $1,998,000 interest” for the $2,000 Pacific. In Swarthmore scholarship that he received orn in New York in 1907, Michener was 1955, Michen- as a freshman in 1925 Braised a Quaker in Doylestown by er married • Contribution of $500,000 to the Iowa Mabel Michener. Some reports identify him Mari Sabusawa, Writers Workshop as adopted, whereas others claim that she an American • Donation of his manuscripts and other was his birth mother—a single woman who of Japanese writings to the University of Northern often took refuge with him in the Bucks descent. Colorado to establish the only official County poorhouse. In 1956 repository of his works; in 1974, he Despite these early trials, Michener was WIDMAN and 1957, completed Centennial, an epic tale of an outstanding student at Doylestown High Michener Colorado, which became a 26-hour tele- School and a star on the basketball team. GEORGE attended Tem- vision miniseries—the longest ever He received a scholarship to Swarthmore, ple University, where he completed an M.A. • Endowment of $1 million to the Mich- for which Michener says he was forever In 1962, he ran unsuccessfully on the Dem- ener Museum in 1988 followed by indebted. “As a boy I lived in dire poverty,” ocratic ticket for the House of Representa- $500,000 in 1992 to establish the Mich- Michener once said, “and was rescued by tives in Bucks County. In 1964, Michener ener Art Endowment Challenge, which scholarships, fellowships, and the generosi- was also an essayist in Swarthmore Remem- prompted the donation of significant ty of our nation. I owe a debt to America” bered and continued publishing extensively Bucks County paintings to the collection (Collection, December 1997 Bulletin). from Facing East: The Quality of Life in 1970 • Donation of $5 million, from Mari At the College, Michener participated in to Texas in 1985, when he received the Michener, to the museum for a new wing the Hamburg Show, baseball and basketball, Shane Award at Swarthmore. One of his last and exhibition honoring Bucks County and Phi Delta Theta fraternity while on works, in 1997, was A Century of Sonnets. artists campus; an honors student in English litera- According to a section of the museum • Gifts of $1 million each to the Mercer ture, he received a B.A. in 1929. He attend- exhibit, for Michener, “Wealth implied not Museum, an industrial display across the ed the University of Northern Colorado from self-indulgence but responsibility.” Drawing street from the Michener Museum, and 1936 to 1937 and received honorary doctor- on strong Quaker influences, he didn’t want the Bucks County Library Center in ates of humane letters from Harvard in 1939 to “profit from countries and subjects he Doylestown and Swarthmore in 1954. From 1944 to wrote about but further the arts—especially • Donation of $15 million to the Univer- 1946, he served as a naval historian in the writing.” So Michener and his wife, who sity of Texas to support the Texas Center South Pacific, where he developed material were married nearly 40 years until her death for Writers in 1994, donated more than $117 million- • Royalties from books published in mostly to universities, libraries, and muse- Canada and Poland to programs support- ums including the following: ing young writers there

• Gift of $10 million from his estate and

To read Michener's own words in the Bulletin, 4 0 ʼ 67

the copyrights and royalty rights to his see www.swarthmore.edu/bulletin/archive/96/- 0 TT 2

43 books, bequeathed to Swarthmore on may96/profiles.html and www.swarthmore.edu/- R E

his death in 1997; an unrestricted gift bulletin/archive/97/mar97/education.html. B GOLDBLA M

of $5 million to the College in 1991; and E T P STEVEN E S 23 D E F!I N I N G MomentE P I P H A N I E S T H A T S H A P E D L I V E S By Elizabeth Rsedden ’05

Steven Piker David Bamberger ’62 P R O F E S S O R O F A N T H R O P O L O G Y F O U N D I N G D I R E C T O R , C L E V E L A N D O P E R A A N D F O R E I G N S T U D Y A D V I S E R It was 1948, and 7-year-old David Bamberger was sitting with his The summer after graduating from Reed College, Steve Piker (photo parents in the audience of his first Broadway show ever: a D’Oyly opposite) says his plan to go to medical school suddenly became Carte Opera Company production, Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe. “It very real—and very unappealing. “I looked it [medical school] in the completely blew me away,” says the founder and director of Cleve- eye and blinked,” Piker says. land Opera, who still remembers the show as though he saw it yes- Certain only of his choice not to become a doctor and uncertain terday. “I could draw the set for you right now—if I could draw!” of anything else, Piker enrolled in a sociology graduate program at Bamberger immediately wanted to put on a production of Iolan- the University of Washington. “That lasted about a week,” he says. the at his elementary school—an idea that ran against the obvious His roommate, though, was studying anthropology and, with his obstacle of his young age and the less obvious obstacle of convinc- encouragement, Piker signed up for his first anthropology class. He ing the students of an all-boys school to put on an opera about the joined his roommate in the anthropology Ph.D. program within lives and loves of a flock of fairies. “My mission was to reproduce weeks. what I saw on Broadway. It didn’t get very far, but my passion for Piker thus embarked on a career that he calls immensely satisfy- putting on shows hasn’t ing. After completing his doctoral research in a Thai rice village, waned after all these years.” Piker spent two years teaching at Carleton College before becoming As founding director of a

Swarthmore’s first anthropology professor in 1966. In addition to big-city opera company, Bam- OPERA/ teaching courses on religion and culture, Native American culture, berger has lived the dream and psychological anthropology, he has also directed the Foreign his childhood self had to put CLEVELAND : N Study Office since it was created by President Alfred H. Bloom in on hold for a while. So, part- I T

E 1992. He counts teaching at the College as one of the greatest ly by chance and partly by L L pleasures of his professional career: “Students here just like ideas,” design, his final production IOLANTHE U

B he says. “For me, that makes for a wonderful teaching situation.” this spring, as general direc- E G

Asked what he might have done if he hadn’t stumbled into tor, was Iolanthe (right). GRAHAM; E L JIM

L anthropology, Piker is at a loss. “Can’t help you there,” he says with “How many people get to O BY C a smile and a shrug. spend their lives living out O E R

Medical doctor, though, is probably safely off the list of possibili- their childhood fantasies?” he PHOT O

M ties. asks. MASTROIANNI H PIKER T

R “I’m lucky.” A ROGER STEVE W S 24 Our lives twist and turn in a thousand directions, and only rarely is it clear which of these bends will dead-end and which road will unwind to reveal an open road of possibility or change. The myriad paths that a person can take at each stage of life present mysterious—seemingly random— choices. Yet for many, it is possible to look back at a single event or moment that opened the way to a life previously unlived or unimagined. In the following stories, 10 Swarthmore students, faculty members, administrators, and alumni remember such defining moments that profoundly shaped their lives. 4 0 0 2 R E B M E T P E S 25 now his profes- Garikai Campbell ’90 sional career. It A S S I S T A N T P R O F E S S O R O F M A T H E M A T I C S is a lesson he says he has heard

The match was over, the decision in, and, stepping off the mat, in many places, CAMPBELL Garikai Campbell was struck by the feeling that he had been defeat- in many ways, as

ed in a competition he never should have lost. A serious wrestler he has struggled GARAKAI through both high school and Swarthmore, Campbell walked away through moments OF

from his match that day temporarily distraught. when caprice or TESY

He went into a corner to sulk, only to be jarred from his self-pity challenge or cir- COUR by a teammate’s stirring reproach: “You have two choices,” he told cumstances con- Campbell. “You can either be unhappy and cry it out and sit by spire to make life difficult. yourself, which won’t accomplish anything. Or you can be a leader, “I think about that an awful lot because life is a lot about those accept the loss, and try to do something about it.” moments—I wouldn’t say outright failures—but moments you’ve felt This idea of “getting back in there” is one that Campbell has some disappointment,” he says. “What’s critical is how you overcome kept in mind as he faced first the challenges of graduate school and them.”

C. Stuart Hain A S S O C I A T E V I C E P R E S I D E N T , F A C I L I T I E S M A N A G E M E N T

Stu Hain’s career path once seemed definite and determined. Having worked in construc- tion for 20 years, he expected he would remain in the industry for the rest of his professional career. But, he says, “I changed my career because of Swarthmore College.” As project manager for the construction of Lang Performing Arts Center, Hain impressed the College administration. With the completion of construction in 1991, Lawrence “Larry” Schall ’75, now vice presi- dent for administration, offered Hain a job directing facilities management for the Col- lege. “I was scared to death at first,” Hain says. He remembers coming to his office the first day and having Schall introduce him to about a dozen or so of his future col- leagues. Hain can’t remember what anyone said or did but still remembers it as an overwhelming vision. “It seemed like a sea of people at the time,” he says.

N Hain, who says he was awed by Swarth- I T

E more’s academic reputation when he came L

L here—the place where rumor had it that, U

B “We don’t even cut the grass during honors E

G exams”—is still grateful a temporary project E L

L management assignment brought him here O

C to stay more than a decade ago. E

R “I guess I’ve had a lot of good luck.” O M H T R A GRAHAM W JIM S 26 Kathleen Grace B O O K S T O R E D I R E C T O R

Kathy Grace has always had a tight-knit extended family to turn to; growing up, she became close to her cousins through the numerous family gatherings her moth- er organized. With her mother’s death in 1999, Grace saw clearly for the first time the instrumental role her mother played in creating and sustaining the kind of close family atmosphere Grace had always depended on. “I guess the main thing is I didn’t realize how much of a force she was in our family until she wasn’t there,” Grace says. In her mother’s absence, Grace has begun putting more effort into organizing family gatherings so that the children can enjoy the same extended family support system she treasured when she was young. She estimates her family holds extended gatherings about four times a year. The planning takes work, but sus- taining close family ties is more neces- sary than ever as her family attempts to fill the void created by the loss of her mother. “She was sort of like the heart of the family, and we’ve all had to chip in to replace that,” Grace says. GRAHAM JIM

cut flapping behind him in the wind, putting James Golden ’05 one foot in front of the other, year after year, R U N N E R until he won the Centennial Conference Track Championship in the 5,000-meter run in 2003 James Golden was devastated on the day of (injuries sidelined him in 2004). It’s difficult his first cross-country practice ever—in 10th for him to fathom now just how lonely he felt grade. Devastated—traumatized, really. during those thrice-weekly practices the sum- Already shy, he was nervous about aban- mer before 10th grade: Today, his friends on

ʼ 05 doning his soccer friends and teammates and the College varsity cross-country and track trying out this new sport—a situation made teams are among the closest he has. “I don’t 4 0 GOLDEN

worse when one of the upperclassmen poked know if it’s just because I want to be friends 0 2

fun at his haircut. with runners or if it’s because the runners R JAMES E B OF “It was like a mushroom—a bowl cut,” happen to be the best people on campus,” M

Golden says. he says. His smile suggests he believes the E TESY T P

Yet, Golden kept going, his mushroom hair- latter. E COUR S 27 GRAHAM JIM Rose Maio Nancy Grace Roman ’46 A D M I N I S T R A T I V E C O O R D I N A T O R , “ M O T H E R O F T H E H U B B L E S P A C E T E L E S C O P E ” S O C I O L O G Y A N D A N T H R O P O L O G Y While collecting research on high-velocity stars at McDonald Obser- Having first lost her mother-in-law to brain and lung cancer in 1986 vatory in West Texas in 1954, Nancy Grace Roman noticed a star that and then her own mother to the same affliction a decade later, Rose the literature described as appearing similar to the sun. Yet, after Maio has seen her share of suffering. She also, though, has seen God determining the star’s light composition, she saw that it “didn’t look in a way she imagines many people will never understand. anything at all like the sun.” Roman returned to her office at the “If God is tangible, he was beside us the entire time,” Maio says. University of Chicago, which managed the McDonald Observatory and “Some people never really know what it’s like to have God that close where she was a young assistant professor at the time. She wrote to you.” and published a two-page note on the star in The Astrophysical Jour- Maio says it was their faith that helped her and her husband, nal and moved on, continuing with life and research as usual. devout Catholics, survive their mothers’ illnesses. Looking back now, A butterfly flapping its wings in China can affect the weather Maio no longer feels pain. “I’m not looking back on something that here, and so Roman’s serendipitous discovery had ramifications far is a painful memory, and that’s the best part,” she says. Instead, she beyond expectation. Her short note caught the eye of a Soviet

N sees the two experiences as helping her develop an even greater astronomer, who invited her to speak at the high-profile opening of I T

E closeness with God and a stronger faith in the idea that everything a new observatory there. Her appearance in the Cold War Soviet L

L happens for a reason, however difficult that reason may be to com- Union earned her a certain amount of publicity that she counts as a U

B prehend. key factor in receiving the job offer of a lifetime: the opportunity to E

G “On a purely personal basis, it’s a trust,” she explains. “I think set up NASA’s program in space astronomy. As chief of the Astrono- E L

L that whatever way I’m directed, I trust that it is the right way.” my and Relativity Programs, she oversaw the design and launch of O

C the Hubble Space Telescope. E

R “I just happened to observe this star, and I didn’t pay that much O

M attention to it,” she says. “I certainly had no idea it would change H T

R my career.” A W S 28 Amy Cheng Vollmer P R O F E S S O R O F B I O L O G Y

Growing up in Kansas City, Mo., Amy Cheng The trip came in 1966, when Vollmer Vollmer says Chinese American families were flew to Taiwan to visit her aunt. She says so few and far between that her own ethnic that walking off the plane and finding her- background scarcely showed up on the radar self in a sea of people who looked just like screen. she did was a moment in which she first The label “Chinese American” comes eas- began to understand the implications of her ily now, but it was something Vollmer heard Chinese heritage in a context outside her for the first time only when she accepted a own home. “People who haven’t been there teaching position at Mills College in 1985. have no idea of what it’s like,” she says. Until then, Vollmer had no label with which “It’d be like a man raised by Amazons who

to define her ethnicity and had to rely sole- walks into a fraternity.” VOLLMER

ly on individual experiences, including a trip Settling in for a summerlong stay, AMY to Taiwan at age 11, to understand her eth- Vollmer looked around at the street signs OF nic identity in the absence of a cultural printed in Mandarin and felt, she says, TESY

standard. “instantly at home.” COUR Peter Wirzbicki ’04 O B S E S S E D W I T H R O C K ’ N ’ R O L L

For his parents’ generation, it might have been The Bea- tles’ Abbey Road or Bob Dylan’s The Times They Are a Changin’—the recording that resonates from their youth. For Peter Wirzbicki, though, it is a slightly more obscure album that he says spoke his own sentiments: The Crash’s London Calling. “It was 11th grade,” Wirzbicki says, recalling when he bought his first punk record. “I’ve always been obsessed with rock ’n’ roll.” Punk, though, empowered him in a way more con- ventional rock ’n’ roll never had. A former rock director of WSRN, the campus radio station, Wirzbicki graduated with honors in history and is now working on the campaign of Jim Sullivan, a Democratic Congressional candidate from Connecticut. It is perhaps not surprising that Wirzbicki has already found his way into such an assertive field as politics. “What’s really revolutionary about punk or independent music is when you listen to it, your first thought is, I want to do that,” he says. Punk music’s accessibility has taught him, he says, “to not put anyone on a pedestal—try to do it yourself.” Wirzbicki sees punk’s position outside the mainstream as a major motivator in his decision 4 0

to adopt a similar position in his own life: “If there’s an accepted 0 2

way to do something, be suspicious of it.” R E B TNEY It’s an attitude he says is not uncommon at Swarthmore. T M AL E GW T P

Elizabeth Redden is a McCabe Scholar from Lincoln, Del. E JEAN S 29 BranchesBranches ALL I SEE in my recent photos of Swarthmore are the branches—dark, stark, OO FF TT II MM EE and spidery—framing or revealing a scene, enhancing or preventing access. Even in the

N huge, partially submerged Boyer Dance Stu- I T

E dio, the branches peer in at the dancers L

L through the upper windows. U B Thirty-five years ago, I took pictures of E

G Swarthmore friends and events and build- E L

L ings and snow (which I had never seen O

C before coming to college in America). What I E

R remember from those days are chance O

M glimpses into friends’ thoughts and rela- H T

R tionships, the agony of the institution’s A

W slow-moving judgments, the excitement and S 30 A photographer finds that he may observe— but not relive— Swarthmore.

Photographs and Essay by Jim Coates ’72 confusion of new ideas, the testing of my never had this luxury (or inclination) as an the glorious achievements, missed opportu- limits, the glory of being fit and playing undergraduate. I always felt pushed to com- nities, rapturous infatuations, desperate sports. The Meaning of Swarthmore book ply and go beyond in everything I did. There losses, long nights—all the crises of a life- echoes the tension we all felt and reveals were no limits to the time devoted to the time foreshadowed in four short years. This how none of us was immune, even those of task of getting out with honor. time together creates an intimacy that an us who then seemed to be above the fray. When I showed my pictures to a trio of outsider can sense but not penetrate. The My photos taken this spring—taken 32 seniors recovering from their honors exams difference between then and now is in these years after I graduated—are colder and in the Kohlberg Hall coffee bar, they agreed bonds. Looking in generates a sweet nostal- more distant. They portray Swarthmore as a on what was missing: “Where is the stress? gia for the closeness that existed among so park, its people as figures among the trees, Where is the drama of physical and intellec- many of us—the trunk from which our T providing meaning yet devoid of a personal tual competition? Where is the pressure to branches grew. 4 0 connection. I am recently retired and keep action consistent with principles and 0 2

delight in the time I can now spend with a ideals?” I don't know. Can it be done in Jim Coates, who lives in Arlington, Va., is R E camera—getting the light and lines just photographs? retired from the World Bank, where he was B M right for traditional postcard views of Par- Coming of age is difficult to capture in a a lead specialist in agricultural economics. E T P

rish Hall, Magill Walk, and Trotter Hall. I visit or two. I can no longer be present for He uses a Nikon D100 digital camera.. E S 31 Branches O F T I M E Photographs by Jim Coates ’72 N I T E L L U B E G E L L O C E R O M H T R A W S 32 “Coming of age is difficult to capture in a visit or two.” 4 0 0 2 R E B M E T P E S 33 Editor’s Note: This essay is abridged, with per- mission, from Where We Stand: Voices of Southern Dissent (NewSouth Books, 2004). The book, with a foreword by former President Jimmy Carter, features a dozen essays by Southern historians, legal scholars, civil rights advocates, writers, and activists. Paul Gaston is professor emeritus of Southern and civil rights history at the University of Virginia and a life- long activist for social and economic justice. In 2002, Gaston received the College’s Arabella Carter Award, which honors alumni who have made significant contributions as volunteers in their community or on a regional or national level.

s I drove down the black ribbon of highway [through southern Ala- Abama], knifing through familiar red- clay banks edging pine forests, my imagina- tion ran back to fall 1894 when my grandfa- ther and grandmother, along with their four children, the youngest still in diapers, trav- eled through the forebears of these same woods, passengers on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, headed for what they had come to call their “promised land.” Their fair hopes for creating a city on a hill must have been ʼ 67

TT tried as they neared their destination, which they would find to be a desolate,

GOLDBLA thickly wooded site high on a bluff on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay. Nothing on STEVEN the route they were traveling could have BY

O been familiar to them. How could they not

PHOT have experienced at least a little anxiety? ON Family lore, however, has it that my grand-

GAST father, just turned 33, was unshakably opti- mistic, filled with confidence in his ability to create a model community free from the

LOTT/CORBIS; gross exploitation, inequality, and manifold

©HAL injustices of Gilded Age America. He ellow R y Y A meditation on M By Paul Gaston ’52 34 thought they were realistic when they where to have been fulfilled. What such a become. We came to learn because we want- named their soon-to-be-founded communi- youngster experienced most immediately in ed to. ty Fairhope. those years was a sense of freedom and Somewhere along the way, still a young Now, I was driving toward the town he security in an environment of harmony and boy, I learned that all of these blessings had created and directed for 40 years and sensuous beauty. In retrospect, I think of it were neither accidental nor the natural which my father had led for 36 more after as a nurturing communal park. There were order of things in the United States, much him. Fairhope was my spiritual home, the no private homes or commercial structures less in the American South. I have strong place where my values were shaped and my monopolizing either views or access to the memories of my father reading to me the moral compass established. I looked forward bay. In addition to the bay, the sandy beach- constitution of our community, written by to roaming the bluffs above the bay and the es, and the wooded bluffs, there were his father, declaring that Fairhope was to be beaches along the shore—and to reflecting, once again, on the dreams that had been woven into Fairhope was my spiritual home, the the place of my birth and rearing. I longed for a time machine to trans- place where my values were shaped port me to that train, carrying my grandfather along to his destina- and my moral compass established. tion. We would talk about what he really expected to accomplish and why he ravines with red-clay banks and white-sand “a model community ... free from all forms had risked so much against such formidable bottoms that cut through the town; and, not of private monopoly,” where its citizens odds. far away, a deep, clear, cold, fresh-water would have “equality of opportunity, the full As I reflected on what he had written creek, overhung with oak limbs festooned reward of individual effort, and the benefits about the imperfections and injustices of his with Spanish moss. These natural treasures of co-operation in matters of general con- America and on the better world he hoped were our Shangri-la. Nowhere did we see cern.” Our lives seemed to be lived with to create, the dark thoughts I had about my “private property” or “keep-out” signs. Nor high purpose. country, now more than a century later, kept was there a big house on a hill or a rich intruding. I remembered a passage from one planter or banker to stand over us. The com- s I turned off the interstate onto the of his early writings in which he lamented munity’s special treasures belonged to us all, Acommercially blighted last stretch of that it was impossible to live in his America shielded against the ravages of wealth, highway into Fairhope, dark broodings without becoming enmeshed in one form or power, and privilege. crowded out my reverie. Musings on the another of exploitation or injustice and the Inspired by Henry George’s belief in land colony’s idealistic origins and inspiring early abandonment of principle. The pressure as our common inheritance and his tem- history gave way to melancholy. I felt a sharp merely to exist, he wrote, moved “even a pered version of the cooperative common- sense of loss over the faded sense of a life good man to turn his back on what he wealth, the Fairhopers joined to their radical once lived with high purpose; the subver- knows to be his true self and higher convic- economic and social practices equally radical sion of a reformist mission; and the end of tions [and] to pursue with the utmost con- educational ideas. In our “organic” school, free land that had been Fairhope’s raison centration of his energies the prize of mate- as we called it—attending to the whole per- d’être. rial gain.” It was a world he could no longer son, body, mind, and spirit—we found Quite apart from all of Fairhope’s many abide. another place of security and freedom. With charms and attractions—the beauty of the our broad academic curriculum joined with bay, gulleys, pine forests, and tree-lined or a little boy growing up in the art, crafts, dance, drama, and music classes, streets; the vitality of its writers and artists; FFairhope of the 1930s and 1940s, as I we grew up feeling the school was for us, the visits of the John Deweys, Clarence Dar- did, the fair hopes of 1894 seemed every- not that we were to fit into some precon- rows, and Upton Sinclairs; the uniqueness ceived notion of what we ought to be or and fame of the school; the binding experi- ence of democratic communalism—the Rib colony’s fundamental distinguishing fea- m b y cou o ntr n y and m To y home w n 35 mother and her family first lived and across the street from the park where my father ARCHIVES had proposed to her, I exchanged the morn- enlarged to ing greeting with a fashionably dressed

125%. rescan. OGRAPHIC young woman out on a stroll with her dog.

PHOT We fell into pleasant conversation. Her face lit up with pleasure when I asked her if she

ALABAMA liked living in Fairhope. “Oh, yes, indeed,” she replied, explaining that she and her SOUTH husband had moved there just a few years OF ago, choosing it because, well, because of its beauty, its charming boutiques, and good

UNIVERSITY restaurants. The people were all friendly, and, well, she gave a sigh of satisfaction, “it is safe.”

COLLECTION, Unspoken in this encounter or in Y Fairhope booster literature is the enforced

LIBRAR whiteness of the town. Almost immediately on their arrival, the founders made a fateful PUBLIC decision to restrict their model community to white people, but they did so in the full knowledge that they were violating the fun- damental principle they had set out to OVERBEY/MOBILE demonstrate. When a supporter of the ERIK colony raised questions about the exclusion THE WHARF AT FAIRHOPE (CA. 1930), ON THE policy, there was no evasion in my grand- ture, the one from which all else derived, SHORE OF MOBILE BAY, WAS A CENTRAL GATHER- father’s reply. “The criticism of our friend,” was its land policy. Modifying Henry ING PLACE FOR MEMBERS OF THE EXPERIMENTAL he wrote, “illustrates anew the difficulties George’s single-tax theory, the colony owned and differences of opinion arising in the COMMUNITY, WHICH FOLLOWED THE “SINGLE-TAX” and made freely available to its lessees land effort to determine how far we can practical- that it rented for homes, businesses, and IDEAS OF SOCIAL REFORMER HENRY GEORGE. ly go in the ‘application of correct theories’ farms. In exchange for the rental payment, within a general condition of applied incor- the colony paid all taxes levied on the land rect ones over which we have no control.” and improvement of its lessees—a simulat- Having no idea who I was (or who my Racial discrimination, he agreed, was wrong: ed version of George’s single tax on land val- father and grandfather had been), my hair- “We believe in ‘universal equality’—equality ues. Two generations and more of settlers, cutter’s mood expanded. It was plain wrong, of rights”; no man had “more moral or nat- most of them men and women of modest she said, for people to be spending all that ural right to any particular portion of the means, attributed their material security and money, tearing down houses and buildings earth, the common heritage of mankind, sense of personal worth to the free land that all over the town to replace them with huge than any other of his fellow men.” But when gave them their start, all in a culture where expensive ones; it was plain wrong to be he asked if the colony should “follow the land speculation and exploitation were spending all that money “when there are naked principle of equality unreservedly, shared anathema. people homeless, people in the streets, peo- regardless of existing conditions” he could A spirited woman who cut my hair [at ple in poverty.” Then, turning mellow for a not advise it. To do so, he believed, would the town’s barbershop] almost immediately moment, she told me she had once seen a stir the wrath of the neighboring white began dissecting contemporary Fairhope. picture-book history of Fairhope. It seemed Southerners and bring to a cruel end the Fairhope, she informed me, “has become a to her that not only had life been simpler infant experiment.

N place for rich people.” With a sardonic edge then; it had been better. People got along, In the decades that followed, the “exist- I T

E in her voice, she told me how the previous enjoyed what they had, lived a good life ing conditions” that had occasioned the L

L mayor had gone on a visit to Carmel, Calif., without “all this showing off, this preten- exclusion policy in the first place did not U B to come back with a scheme for turning sion, this looking down on you.” Then, her ease. Both my grandfather and my father E

G Fairhope into the Carmel of the Bay. Now, coup de grâce: “People like me had a chance spoke and wrote against the white suprema- E L

L she said, it was filled with all those silly back then.” cy culture but could not lead the colony or O

C boutiques. She didn’t mention it, but I the town government to abandon its com- E

R couldn’t help thinking of one of the new FTER MY HAIRCUT, I took a long walk mitment to segregation. In fact, as the years O

M shops for upscale ladies apparel I had seen through my old neighborhood, the area wore on and new generations were born H A T

R on my early-morning walk. It was called, now called “the historic district.” A block up into and grew up in a world of segregation, A

W without irony, Utopia. from the bay, in front of the home where my many of the single taxers came to believe S 36 that there was no conflict between the prin- “Stand up for peace” placards were nowhere scale. But Fairhope? Even in conservative ciples of their demonstration and the con- to be seen. Yellow ribbons, manicured lawns, Alabama, its 75 percent vote for Bush was 19 tinuation of a whites-only policy. By the and giant new homes—this was the Fair- points higher than the state total of 56 per- 1960s, one of the most prominent among hope of the 21st century. cent. them was a George Wallace ally, and others This lockstep display of ribbons and What seemed to stand out most clearly fell easily in line behind Alabama’s most signs, as I was to learn later, came, in part, at for me in Fairhope’s history was the gradual influential white supremacist. the request of the mayor. Fairhope, he erosion of the options open to the colony Fairhope’s population swelled with new- apparently believed, should have its patriot- leaders, the inevitable declining significance comers in the last decades of the 20th cen- ism mobilized and on display. I had once of its land policy, and then the dissipation tury. Few of them knew of or identified with been one of “our troops”—a squad leader in of the idealism and vision of most of its the founding mission. At the same time, the a mortar section of a weapon’s platoon of an remaining members and leaders. All of this Single Tax Corp. played an ever-diminishing Army infantry company. I wore my uniform made it easy for the molders of the new role in the life of the town. Its landholdings proudly and felt admired in it, both at home Fairhope to appropriate the luster and beau- had not increased significantly for decades, and overseas. But the thought that I and my ty of the historic community and to convert the town government owned and main- comrades were being used for a cause that it into a fortified jewel of contented conser- tained the public utilities once identified was less than noble never crossed the minds vatism. We historians write about unintend- with the colony, and the rising popularity of of anyone I knew or had ever heard of. ed consequences. I cannot imagine a better the entire eastern shore drove land values I was joined for lunch that day by one of example than what I saw in the walks I took up sharply. The corporation, unable to the old Fairhopers, a woman absorbed with through my hometown in spring 2003. I diminish land speculation, acquiesced in the organizing a tour of “historic” homes (“see know my father and grandfather would have felt the same way. Fortified jewels Fortified jewels of contented conservatism of contented con- servatism exist all exist all over America, cut off from the over America, of course, more of historic roots of American idealism. them in the South than ever before. transfers of its most desirable lands for huge them before they are torn down”), writing Flying their yellow ribbons, they have cut sums of money. In the midst of all these vignettes of Fairhope’s golden days, and still themselves off from the historic roots of boom times, the town annexed areas to the struggling to bring the Organic School back American idealism and are the backbone of north, where well-to-do white people lived to its founding principles. As we reflected the Bush regime. They will mobilize to but firmly resisted vigorous demands from on the yellow ribbons and the disappearing thwart regime change in 2004. We who will black leaders to annex contiguous areas to homes, she recounted the story of a Single strive to prevail against them need to keep the south, where they lived. The “existing Tax stalwart who had told an Elderhostel alive our fair hopes that the call for a revival conditions” of the 1890s and 1960s had class that if E.B. Gaston were to walk the of America’s “rich tradition of resistance” vanished, but racial mores were now too streets of Fairhope today, he would know will be answered. It will be a resistance deeply entrenched—and too little chal- that the model community of his dreams faithful to the dream of a more worthy lenged—to permit a reckoning with history had become a reality. We both shook our America, perhaps with the power of recap- and a righting of wrongs. Fairhope became, heads in disbelief, not needing to say that it turing those who have abandoned it. almost as never before, an enclave of white would be my grandfather’s nightmare, not For Fairhope, it is probably too late to people and, increasingly, well-to-do white his dream, that he would encounter. change significantly the voting percentages people. in 2004, but it is not too late for a once- I continued my walk in silence. Every- LEFT FAIRHOPE UNSURE of what my days energizing tradition of resistance to be revi- where, there was evidence of my haircutter’s Ithere had taught me about the state of talized. I have written in this essay about complaint. Charming homes, authentic our union. Three out of four Fairhope voters the spirit of the woman who cut my hair but reminders of the egalitarian roots of the opted for George W. Bush in 2000. By the not of the band of writers, artists, and free model community, were crumbling before 21st century, the South had become the thinkers that still distinguishes Fairhope the bulldozer, making way for the mansions engine driving the Republican Party. The from other non-university southern com- of the rich that so aroused the ire of the few story of how this had come about is compli- munities. They once set the tone of the remaining Fairhopers. cated, but we know it was anchored in the model community; they are now an embat- Then, there were the yellow ribbons. race-based “southern strategy” Nixon tled minority. On my last visit, one of them Hardly a yard was without one, tied to a launched at the end of the 1960s and the showed me a book my grandfather had post box, fixed to a tree, laced in a doorway, “social issues” strategy his successors added inscribed to her. “Yours for justice,” he had all shown off by the manicured lawns they a quarter-century later. The first brought written in his bold hand. “Why don’t we graced. Their message was reinforced along well-to-do whites into the party; the second stand up for justice again?” my friend asked the way by “Support our troops” signs. wooed those at the lower end of the income me. It was a good question. T

37 A L U M N I W E E K E N D 2004 A RECORD-BREAKING NUMBER OF ALUMNI and their families registered to attend Alumni Weekend this year. More than 1,700 peo- ple came to campus to enjoy the cama- raderie of old friends. Despite a stellar weather forecast at the beginning of reunion week, by midweek the forecast started going downhill. It had rained on Alumni Weekend in 2003—could it hap- pen a second year? We squeaked through Friday evening without a drop of rain, but Saturday brought a steady, fine drizzle that fell until late evening. Some outdoor events had to be moved indoors, but, in the end, good cheer—and good friends—won the day, making Alumni Weekend 2004 a memo- ABOVE: MEMBERS OF THE CLASS OF rable one. 1954, BRAVING THE DRIZZLE FOR A At Alumni Collection, Henry ’42 and CLASS PHOTO, MAKE A SPLASH. Doris Morrell Leader ’44 and Bruce Gould ’54 were presented with the Joseph Shane Award for their volunteer service to the RIGHT: ALUMNI AT THE CLASS OF College community, and Elizabeth Dun 1994 PARTY ON FRIDAY NIGHT. Colten ’54 received the Arabella Carter Award for service to her local community. Collection speaker Mary Schmidt Camp- bell ’69 talked about the importance of the arts in a time of crisis. The text of her talk can be found at www.swarthmore.edu/- alumni. Plans are already under way for Alumni Weekend 2005, to be held from June 3 to 5 for classes ending in a 0 or 5 and the Class of 2003. Mark your calendars now; let’s hope we can leave the umbrellas at home. —Lisa Lee ’81 Director of Alumni Relations N I T E

L WILLIAM SWEIDEL ’89, EMILY SIMSON ’79, AND BENNETT LORBER L

U ’64 (LEFT TO RIGHT) DISPLAYED THEIR ARTWORK AT THE LIST B E

G GALLERY. E L L O C E

R PHOTOGRAPHS BY STEVEN GOLDBLATT ’67 AND JIM GRAHAM O

M To see more photos of Alumni Weekend, visit www.swarth- H T

R more.edu/alumni, and click on the Alumni Weekend photos A

W link. Copies may be ordered using convenient index numbers. S MEMBERS OF THE CLASS OF 2002 ENJOYED LUNCH TOGETHER AT THE FIELD HOUSE. 38 O T B O A O S A E C E B B F N F C H L O O T T T O PA M V V H H W E E O I E E R D : F R R R T S A A I T I I PA R G L C G H S T U H A H H E R S M T M T K N L : : AT N P L A E M B M I I W W N E E A N C N L M G O R E S L B W G L C N E L A ’ I 6 E E R E Y R W 9 N C S O E T C T R I O F I E S K O A F H C N C D E U T E I E L H N L N S A F E I P I T A N T V E E N C Y. E A R O L D R K , A F S E L ’ S I 6 T R E S T H 9 D Y. M , O E A A F A S R R C 1 T Y C H O 9 H O U 7 I O 4 R - L D L B R A E E Y B I F R U O B T E N V : E C E I R T A O : E N S N C D S I L E O C A A C Y A S L I G S N U AT N D M O E E N F T B , P I A 1 R W P R 9 O E B 6 H F R 4 I E E F C S D O A H S W R L O W M U A R M A R I N O D S N G F S I B M M B E P A O A U O U R N Z S T E I A E C I T R F O T J U ’ V 6 ’ O S L E 4 H L R R . Y N E T Q P H A R U E L E I I S E R P T M A O R . N E D 39 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 4 C O N N E C T I O N S

RECENT EVENTS Alaska: Eighteen alumni and their guests space with a dozen small, attended a “Barbeque and Blatherfest” in stained-glass pieces that are May, arranged by Beth Silverberg ’89 at the some of the oldest known, home of Matt Zencey ’79 in Anchorage. This and learned how they’re dif- group enjoyed lots of good conversation ferent from stained glass around a grill with fresh Alaskan wild king made years later. We were salmon and halibut. technically out of time, but everyone wanted to contin- Boston: “Swat Eye for the Smart Guy”—In ue, so we traveled to the

May, this Connection toured the “Einstein” PROGRAM basement, where there was exhibit at the Museum of Science led by TS Roman Jackiw ’61, Jerrold Zacharias Profes- more glass and a lot of col- AR umn capitals, Then, the sor of Physics at MIT. Connection Chair MURAL David Wright ’69 made the arrangements Glencairn staff took us on a for this tour, which was attended by more brief tour of the master bed- than 40 Swarthmore alumni. Many thanks room, Egypt collection, and to David and Roman for making this event the tower, one of the highest possible. points in the Philadelphia David also hosted a Boston pot-luck pic- suburbs. Several alumni RAMSDALE/PHILADELPHIA

talked about how much they JACK

nic at his home in Wellesley, Mass., in late © August. This annual event allows alumni to enjoyed it; having a professor meet and discuss issues of import to cam- is something I’m going to try PHILADELPHIA ALUMNI WILL TOUR SOME OF THE CITY’S MURALS pus life today. more often!” ON OCT. 10. THE MURAL ARTS PROGRAM HAS COMPLETED MORE San Francisco: Connection THAN 2,300 INDOOR AND OUTDOOR MURALS. LAS MUJERES Philadelphia: Connection chair Jim Moskowitz ’88 arranged for a tour of the Chairs Holland Bender ’93, (ABOVE) BY ARTISTS DANNY POLANCO AND JOE BRENMAN IS Ruth Lieu ’94, and Andy Glencairn Musum of Religious History, AMONG THE MURALS THAT WILL BE SEEN ON THE TOUR. located in a neo-Romanesque castle in Wong ’02 hosted a lovely brunch in July for alumni in the Bay Area. Montgomery County, Pa., which Professor UPCOMING EVENTS Seattle: Connection co-chair Deborah and Art History Coordinator Michael Coth- Cleveland: Sharon Seyfarth Garner ’89 is ern led. Jim wrote: “We had 22 people plus Schaaf ’95 recently arranged for a sushi- planning a late-summer picnic on Sept. 26, Michael and myself. The event started with a making workshops for Swarthmore alumni 2004. For information, please contact talk about the history of Glencairn itself, at the PCC Natural Markets, Greenlake Sharon at [email protected] or call and then some discussion of the large win- store. Seventeen alumni attended the work- (440) 808-8535. Everyone is welcome! dows in the main hall of the place. Then, we shop, which focused on making cooked fish went to the Treasure Room, a very cramped and vegetarian sushi. Philadelphia: Join Connection Chair Jim Moskowitz ’88 on Oct. 10 for a tour of the Philadelphia murals, led by a docent for a behind-the-scenes look at how murals are On-Line Community Improved made. Filled with anecdotes and stories, as Have you visited the Swarthmore On-line Community lately? If not, you may find well as information about methods of mural some interesting new features: creation and costs, the tours provide a deep- er appreciation for the complexities of mural

N • An on-line directory with an increased number of search fields to help you

I making. The cost for the tour is $20 T connect with your classmates and other alumni. E

L (includes bus). For information, or to L

U • Brand new Class Notes and Connections pages reserve your space, contact Jim at jim@jim- B

E • Permanent e-mail forwarding feature mosk.com or call (610) 604-0669. Payment G

E in advance is required to hold your space. L

L • A direct link to the Career Services Office O

C Faculty lectures: The Alumni Relations

E • Chat rooms R Office is planning several faculty lectures for O

M To log onto the On-Line Community, visit www.alumniconnections.com/olc/pub/SWT for this fall—watch your snail mail and e-mail H

T complete instructions. Visit today to see what’s new at Swarthmore!

R for information about a Swarthmore faculty A

W member visiting a city near you. S 40 ALUMNI ASSOCIATION ZONE C OFFICERS Connecticut, Maine, Massachu- T h e A l u m n i C o u n c i l President setts, New Hampshire, Rhode Anna Orgera ’83 Island, and Vermont YOUR OFFICIAL LINK TO SWARTHMORE Vice President Alice Clifford Blachly ’491 Susan Rico Connolly ’78 Calais, Vt. Vice President Meghan Kriegel Moore ’972 Scott Cowger ’82 Lowell, Mass. Vice President Scott Rankin ’942 Daniel Mont ’83 Cambridge, Mass. ʼ 67 Secretary Stephen Smith ’833 TT Nick Jesdanun ’91 Winchester, Mass. Susan Raymond Vogel ’563 GOLDBLA ZONE A Worcester, Mass.

Delaware, Pennsylvania STEVEN 4 William Belanger ’66 ZONE D Media, Pa. James Fligg ’502 Austin/San Antonio District of Columbia, Maryland, North Palm Beach, Fla. Jennifer Jacoby Wagner ’92 John McKinstry ’814 and Virginia Julia Knerr ’811 Boston Swarthmore, Pa. Eric Adler ’864 Colette Collins Mull ’842 Durham, N.C. Ted Chan ’02 Bethesda, Md. Lawrence Phillips ’633 David Wright ’69 Glen Mills, Pa. David Goslin ’581 Marcia Satterthwaite ’711 Atlanta, Ga. Chicago Falls Church, Va. 2 Marilee Roberg ’73 Narberth, Pa. 3 Ann Stuart ’65 3 Mary Catherine Kennedy ’80 Chapel Hill, N.C. Durham Cecily Roberts Selling ’77 Washington, D.C. Julia Knerr ’81 Philadelphia, Pa. 1 ZONE G 4 Minna Newman Nathanson ’57 London Davirah Timm-Dinkins Washington, D.C. Alaska, Arizona, California, Col- Abby Honeywell ’85 West Chester, Pa. 3 orado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, 3 Kevin F.F. Quigley ’74 Los Angeles Jon Van Til ’61 Arlington, Va. Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, David Lang ’54 Swarthmore, Pa. 2 Washington, and Wyoming 1 Barbara Wolff Searle ’52 1 Metro DC/Baltimore William Will ’49 Washington, D.C. Janet Cooper Alexander ’68 Trang Pham ’01 Philadelphia, Pa. Palo Alto, Calif. Jacqueline Morais Easley ’96 2 1 Jonathan Willis ’63 ZONE E Deborah Bond-Upson ’71 Metro NYC Dover, Del. Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentfield, Calif. Lisa Ginsburg ’97 Kai Tai Xu ’032 Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Mis- Seth Brenzel ’941 Paris Philadelphia, Pa. souri, Nebraska, North Dakota, San Francisco, Calif. Catherine Seeley Lowney ’82 Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Panayiotis Andreou Ellinas ’871 Philadelphia ZONE B Texas, West Virginia, and Wisconsin Douglas, Ariz. James Moskowitz ’88 New Jersey, New York Samuel Awuah ’943 Elizabeth Geiger ’962 3 Pittsburgh Lauren Belfer ’75 Chicago, Ill. Upland, Calif. Barbara Sieck Taylor ’75 New York, N.Y. Elizabeth Moss Evanson ’563 Steven Gilborn ’583 Michelangelo Celli ’95 Christine Grant ’694 Madison, Wis. Valley Village, Calif. San Francisco Princeton, N.J. Sharon Seyfarth Garner ’891 Kari Elisabeth Hong ’943 Holland deWilde Bender ’93 Lisa Jenkins ’021 Lakewood, Ohio Oakland, Calif. Ruth Lieu ’94 New York, N.Y. Stephen Lloyd ’572 Harold Kalkstein ’782 Andy Wong ’02 Jane Flax Lattes-Swislocki ’571 Park Forest, Ill. San Carlos, Calif. Seattle Grand View, N.Y. Susan Schultz Tapscott ’722 James Schembs ’01 Onuoha Odim ’852 Houston, Tex. MEMBERS AT LARGE Lorrin Nelson ’00 Brooklyn, N.Y. Matthew Williams ’043 Vincent Jones ’981 Deborah Schaaf ’95 Yongsoo Park ’943 Westerville, Ohio Los Angeles Tucson New York, N.Y. David Vinjamuri ’861 Laura Markowitz ’85 Martha Spanninger ’762 ZONE F New York, N.Y. Twin Cities New York, N.Y. Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Geor- Diane Dietzen ’832 Libby Starling ’92 Douglas Thompson ’621 gia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississip- Horsham, Pa. Martha Easton ’89 pi, North Carolina, South Carolina, National Chair Marlboro, N.Y. 4 0

Renee Willemsen-Goode ’032 Tennessee, territories, dependencies, CONNECTION Barbara Sieck Taylor ’75 0 and foreign countries REPRESENTATIVES 2 New York, N.Y. KEY R 3 E Joy Wyatt ’804 Mary Ellen Grafflin Chijioke ’67 Atlanta 1 Term ends 2005 B Chirag Chotalia ’03 M New York, N.Y. Greensboro, N.C. 2 Term ends 2006 E 3 Term ends 2007 T Sonal Bhatia ’02 P

4 Nominating Committee E S 41 42 S W A R T H M O R E C O L L E G E B U L L E T I N care fortune ill-f I assi as countr school private wor mentor hard company process I I i l and C e n sa managed t s a g ’ ated w h stant ld s ve na clan o as e m L ers . the y

val T n teaching. in sector m had students it in e with attempts ime s e desk s begi that rivalries. Indochina. — A could offi t a a I a o w n ver str l , fierc in cer nnings i at e d was and officer a and n S y a . a o government g tegic Now I hier r r from at least e to

lived n m fighting o I now ethnic S sea. t f spent e cor a ag , o of In

in d planning rchical h I all r riger in gr teach As Americ USAID the e ain, a three m over , ad t a three a tribal, an change N Muslim S 1970 uate , o n la the and w d r the t a , h ’ years a s O b e s, e r e as t t h t T m e r o E a r s e a h S c a i v t e i z b e u n b , b a l f e a d t h b e a r c , k a n u d p a i n —W t e m a c y h alter l i e f r e . , i Blass n s p i r ’51 -

BOB KRIST B O O K S & A R T S

www.ipgbook.com. A Gift of Light “THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND for as long as grass shall grow Douglas Worth ’62, Catch the Light: Selected and water flows” Poems (1963–2003), Higganum Hill Books, you promised 2004

in writing TH a century ago n the back cover of Catch the Light, but the yellow ODouglas Worth’s poetry receives glowing metal that makes you reviews from others in the field. Richard crazy was stronger. HOURIHAN-WOR Wilbur writes, “Almost all of Worth’s poems DOUGLAS WORTH Now the blue-playing rivers TRICIA A contain some fresh act of the imagination.” you harnessed lie blackened P According to The Boston Globe, “Worth’s in pools, or crawl barren we suffer, come to think of work explores the choices confronting the in chains through the broken as our lives human species.” Daniel Berrigan adds, “Like hearts of a thousand cities as if there were no mystery good wine, Douglas Worth excels with age!” the grass has gone under Worth has garnered this recognition no miracle a crazy golden in the clear fact despite an ongoing struggle for acknowledg- ocean of greed flowing over ment as a poet. Fortunately, during his that we are here, living together the bones of the green-waving prairies that we are here at all sophomore year, Worth had the support of you cleared for your harvest. under the familiar Samuel Hynes, who taught in Swarthmore’s This land Department of English Literature from 1949 husk is your land now, truly, the old broken the live kernel to 1968 before going on to teach at North- promise fulfilled. smoldering western and Princeton, where he is Wood- suddenly blazing row Wilson Professor Emeritus of Litera- LINCOLN TO JFK out of the dark ture. “In the course Modern Poetry, he Does it bloom became a mentor to me,” Worth says. “He in every dooryard, brother MAYBE WE HAD TO COME THIS FAR liked my papers, and I showed him some of lifting sweet petals to each shower for this meadow my poems. He was enormously encouraging and after, fragrance so rich to pierce us and helpful to me.” when the clusters brush your cheek with such a rush of green Worth says that he once asked Hynes it stuns the breath? why the College did not teach creative writ- for this faint trickle Or does that dream still lie of life at summer snowline ing. “He told me, ‘The ones who will mutilated, wasted, torn become poets will become poets on their to remind us how precariously roots and leaves drifting crawling we are own. We provide them with a close look at in another flood on the thin crust of the Earth the great poets who have gone before of statesmen’s rhetoric for these woods them.’” and soldiers’ blood? Hynes recommended him for the Honors cool and fragrant, still with the hush of arrival Program in English literature, says Worth, MOMENTS who continues to send books to his mentor. to refresh us so, offering streams for our kneeling, berries A jazz musician who returned to playing the flesh blooming more precious than jewels saxophone seriously after leaving teaching a bathed in a soft shimmering for these butterflies N decade ago, Worth also minored in music at I

T nimbus busy with sweetness

E Swarthmore before completing a master of L resting a moment L arts degree at Columbia University in 1964. dimmed U B The book is his eighth. “It represents my by the conflicting unafraid, on our hands E desires, demands, limitations to seem such an honor G life’s work,” he says. “So far.” E

L of mortality for us to want so urgently L —Jeffrey Lott and Andrea Hammer O

C blighted, obscured to fit in

E taking our place in the landscape R Higganum Hill Books, a member of the Inde- by the expedient O as creatures among creatures M pendent Publishers Group, may be contacted abuses, perversions H

T of this or that system turning, not back, but at last

R at (800) 888-4741 or on the Web at

A humbly, in praise W S 52 to the clear grace of water cal perspective can shed light on contempo- Joseph Piatt (guest ed.), Pediatric Neuro- the common gift of light rary debates over race and education reform. surgery, Saunders, 2004. The guest editor of Risto Fried ’50, Freud on the Acropolis: A this volume of Pediatric Clinics of North Other Books Detective Story, Therapeia Foundation, America, Piatt is also chief of neurosurgery Farrell Bloch ’62, Michael’s Inheritance, Gar- 2004. This book is a critical study of Freud’s at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children denia Press, 2004. Inverting the romance essay “A Disturbance of Memory on the and a professor in the Departments of Neu- genre, Michael’s Inheritance views dating Acropolis” (1936). The author noticed that rological Surgery and Pediatrics, Drexel and relationships from a young man’s view- the deceptively simple essay summarizes University College of Medicine. The con- point. Set in the suburbs of Washington, Freud’s lifelong self-analysis and went to tents include Piatt’s “Recognizing Neuro- D.C., this novel weaves in philosophical Athens to reconcile the widely different surgical Conditions in the Pediatrician’s questions—fram- views of commentators. Office,” “Birth Injuries of the Brachial ing a balanced Plexus,” and “Unexpected Findings on portrait of con- Charles Miller ’59 (ed.), Homer’s Sun Still Brain and Spine Imaging in Children.” temporary Jewish Shines: Ancient Greece in Essays, Poems and identity. Michael Translations by Vera Lachmann, Trackaday, David Randall ’93, Clovermead: In the Shad- is forced to exam- 2004. This work, which includes a compact ow of the Bear, Simon & Schuster, 2004. In ine his freewheel- disk (CD), is a tribute to a German-born this young-adult fantasy novel, the 12-year- ing behavior as Hellenist, Vera Lachmann (1904–1985), old daughter of a country innkeeper dreams his romantic and who founded and directed a school in of adventure. A traveling stranger comes to financial adven- Berlin for children excluded from the public the inn and teaches her sword fighting, and tures fall short of schools. In 1939, she emigrated to the Unit- Lady Moon visits, revealing a vision in his expectations, ed States, where she founded and directed a which the girl discovers a long-lost object. presenting a bewildering array of predica- summer camp in the mountains of North ments. The book contrasts the mores of Carolina and taught classics at Brooklyn hedonism, business, sports, and Judaism. College, Hunter College, and New York Uni- Music The novel examines Judaism with minimal versity. Maia Nisi ’56, Laternenträume, Hildegard reference to the Holocaust or Israel and Publishing Co., 2003. This composition for studies the reaction of nonobservant Jews Diane Batts Morrow '69, Persons of piano and voice by the former Elsie Long is to Torah teachings. Michael’s Inheritance was Color and Religious at the Same Time: a cycle of six songs with words by the post– a winning entry in the 2002 First Novel The Oblate Sisters of Providence, 1828– World War II German poet Wolfgang Writing Competition at Gardenia Press. 1860, University of North Carolina Borchert. A piano composition, Palantír, Press, 2002. Exploring the antebellum based on themes from Laternenträume, was Jack Dougherty ’87, More Than One Strug- history of this pioneering sisterhood, performed gle: The Evolution the first permanent African American by Michael of Black School Roman Catholic sisterhood in the Golzmane Reform in Milwau- United States, Morrow demonstrates at the Uni- kee, University of the centrality of race in the Oblate versity of North Carolina experience. Massachu- Press, 2004. In setts at this work, the Yongsoo Park ’94, Las Cucarachas, Akashic Amherst. author tells the Books, 2004. This story is a coming-of-age story of black tale of an irreverent young boy growing up Ellen school reform in the racial blend of Queens, N.Y., in the (Faber) ’64 movements in 1980s. It is the second novel from the and John Wright ’62, I Shook Hands With Milwaukee from author of Boy Genius, which was selected as Eleanor Roosevelt, John Wright, 2004. This the 1930s to the 1990s, highlighting the a notable title by the 2002 Kiriyama Prize CD includes works such as “Little Liza multiple perspectives within each genera- and as a finalist for the 2003 Asian Ameri- Jane” and “Whispering Hope as well as the tion. In profiles of four leading activists, can Literary Award. autobiographical song “I Shook Hands With Dougherty shows how different generations Eleanor Roosevelt”—“introduced with the redefined the meaning of the Brown v. Board Pat Parnell '45, Talking With Birches: Poems of caveat that none of the celebrities men-

of Education decision over time to fit the his- Family and Everyday Life, Journal Press, tioned could possibly remember the 4 0 0

torical conditions of their particular strug- 2004. This book of poems, many of which author.” Both singers are 2

gles. He concludes by contrasting three are spiritual, celebrates ordinary lives—past faculty members at Northwestern Universi- R E interpretations of the progress made in the and present—discovered to be extraordinary. ty, who play and sing old-time music, with B M

50 years since Brown, showing how histori- some variations. “We sing songs we’ve E T P E S 53 P R O F I L E

Transcending Corporeality

D E S P I T E D I S A B I L I T Y , S T E V E N S L E S ’ 6 2 L I V E S A F U L L A R T I S T I C L I F E .

ost remarkable about Steven Sles isn’t Emeritus Gilmore Stott Mthat he has overcome great physical and an interview with odds to achieve prominence in his field, nor Dean William Prentice ’37,

that he was born with cerebral palsy and has who questioned Sles’ VED. never had use of his hands or arms. What is intellectual capacity. They astonishing about Sles is how fully he has agreed on a trial semester, RESER lived and how he creates opportunities to and Sles proposed that if RIGHTS

ALL

express himself as a painter,composer,and he finished two years, musician. Swarthmore would A.

He looks indomitably cheerful, despite expand its art program. AMFP OF the wheelchair that almost swallows him up. Sles did well in the Hon-

A smile lights his face, yet he wears a serious ors Program initially, pre- TESY

black hat. Sles, born into a Conservative senting the first one-man COUR Jewish family, became a self-described show in the then new “unconventional modern Hasidic Jew” some Pearson Art Gallery

years ago. and Center. REPRODUCED When Sles was in high school and col- Sles became a working lege, society had little consciousness about artist, painting in New STEVEN SLES IS CONSIDERED ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST PROLIFIC accessibility for people with disabilities. York City, then in Mar- PAINTERS BY MOUTH. HIS WORK HANGS ON WALLS IN 42 COUNTRIES. Although he benefited from the advantages tinique, Paris, and THIS 1985 PAINTING IS TITLED PICASSO’S EYES. of supportive parents (his father co-founded Cannes. Three years the United Cerebral Palsy Society) and pio- after graduation, he set up a studio alternative healing, from Feldenkrais and neering doctors and therapists, he had to in Valencia, Spain. Rolfing to macrobiotics and Qigong. He overcome many social prejudices, stereo- He has won numerous prizes and awards says, “As I palpitate through life, I feel an types, and naysayers. His high school guid- for experiments with oils, casein, aniline inherent spiritual force dwelling in me that ance counselor suggested that, being handi- dyes, silkscreen inks, and stained glass and transcends corporeality.” capped, he probably shouldn’t think about for his works in abstract, figurative land- Having a strong spiritual life has helped going to college. His high school art teacher scapes, figures, and faces. Sles through some of his hardest times. He told him to give up his dream of painting But painting is only one artistic expres- says he is still is haunted by “those child- and plan on being an art critic. He was sion for Sles. He has written 33,000 pages, hood, cobwebbed tapes that reverberate advised not to dream about travel, a career, including thousands of poems and lyrics. He within me no matter how spiritual, holistic, marriage, or fatherhood. composes classical and New Age music and and Feldenkrais therapy–trained I am.” Sles came to Swarthmore in 1960 as a oratorios, recently releasing his second CD Connecting to the mystical tradition of junior, transferring from Bard College, of original works performed on a synthesizer Judaism “enables me to get myself into and where he had studied art. Using his mouth he operates by mouth and feet. out of who I could, should, ought, or want to

N to hold the paintbrush, Sles was already In addition to his career accomplish- be,” he explains, “and to know that what I I T

E becoming an accomplished mouth painter. ments, he was married for 22 years and am meant to do is explore and express and L

L Swarthmore made its first accessibility adap- raised a daughter. exude light and creativity. The arts are the U B tation: a handrail outside Wharton. Room- Sles credits his passion for creation to his vehicles—vocabulary, palette, universal E

G mate Dave Swanger ’62 signed up dorm- explorations into what he calls “the univer- orchestra—through which we transform our E L

L mates to a schedule to wheel Sles to meals sal soulfulness” of us all. A hunger to move individual human conditions as offerings to O

C and seminars. Friend Steve Izenour ’62 took closer to the “radiance of the divine univer- the divine and to humankind.” E

R to showing up in the morning to help out. sal essence” fuels him despite ongoing phys- —Laura Markowitz ’85 O

M Others accompanied him to lectures, con- ical pain and increasing complications from H T

R certs, and films. He recalls two life-changing his evermore debilitating condition. His ill- A sampling of Steven Sles’ poetry and art may be A

W conversations with now Associate Provost ness also turned him to explorations of found at www.stevensles.com. S 60 I N M Y L I F E S h a l l W e d a n c e ? A N A L U M N A C A R R I E S T H E J O Y O F D A N C E T H R O U G H H E R L I F E .

By Kathie Kertesz ’63

A TALISMAN HANGS ON MY BEDROOM WALL. It is a photograph of me, age 3, in a grass skirt—the 1940s American vision of Hawaii. I am laughing into the camera. When I look at that picture, I feel the way that my body felt then, hips swaying easily back and forth, the grass skirt tickling my legs, the pure joy of being alive flooding through me. We are all born with the impulse to dance. Young children swing from side to side at the sound of music or laugh out loud with delight as they jump up and down. They are uninhibited—at least until the world insists they don suits of armor that get increasingly rigid as they learn life’s so-called survival skills. I was lucky. I grew up in the slow, easy-going South of the 1950s. I was allowed to feel warm summer nights, to move to Elvis’ sensual rhythms, to know the joys of being held in someone’s arms, to delight in the pure movement of flying off together into a space that is only dance. I still feel that innocent, pure experience when I am dancing. Dressed in a then-chic long taffeta dress, I went to my first dance when I was 9 years old. I remember that a boy and I solemnly two- stepped around the gym floor. I danced with the same boys for years. Attending traditional ballroom classes, we waltzed, fox-trot- ted, jitterbugged, and bopped. I can still hear our very proper dance teacher chiding, “Kathie, don’t wiggle your bumpter so much!” We Oak Ridge, Tenn., kids were known for our dancing skills. I still go back to high school reunions and dance with men I barely knew when I lived there. Yet the moment we walk onto the dance floor, we know each other perfectly. As a young woman, my mother roomed with Judy Holliday in Greenwich Village, N.Y. She was part of a group of friends that ABOVE: KERTESZ AS A YOUNG HULA DANCER

N included Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and RIGHT: KERTESZ TODAY I T

E Gene Kelly. Even though I never met him personally, Kelly was my L

L idol. At age 6, I pretend to be his body, moving through space, leap- quickly change into my dancing shoes and enter the studio where U B ing in the air as high as I can, or bouncing from one side of the Tom, my friend and teacher, holds salsa and swing classes. If he has E

G street to the other. In one of my favorite teenage fantasies, Gene free time, I can get in a 20-minute a private session. When we first E L

L Kelly becomes my dance partner, gliding with me in his arms across begin to dance, I feel very self-conscious. Do I still have the ability? O

C an empty stage in Carnegie Hall. The best part is that I am dancing Will I be a good partner? Will the dance take over? Five minutes into E

R effortlessly. We look wonderful together. I am almost bursting with the practice, my endorphins begin to kick in. Tom looks at me and O

M the joy of it all! grins. “You get happier dancing than anyone I have ever known, H T

R But tonight is my actual dance lesson. After coaching adults, I including all of the professionals,” he says. A W S 62 “I was allowed to know the joys of being held in someone’s arms, to delight in the pure movement of flying off together into a space that is only dance.”

After majoring in English literature at Swarthmore, completing that we feel the stillness of the center. The Sufis are known to enter an M.Ed. at Temple University, and studying theater at the State altered states by twirling. We experience much the same sensations University of New York, I hoped someday to earn a Ph.D. Yet the doing this Zydeco turn. Yet unlike the Sufis, we are performing the only topic that interested me was one that I concocted. My idea was same movements while holding each other in our arms. to travel all over the world, studying different types of dance as an I also love other forms of dance. Imagine a warm summer day, expression of a culture’s psychology and communication skills. The the afternoon of the Gatsby picnic. Located on the grounds of the fieldwork would include learning some of the actual dances. I still Dunsmuir House and Gardens in Oakland, Calif., my imaginary believe that the added kinesthetic awareness of the flexible neck dance scene is like entering a movie set from the 1920s. We are all movements of India or Bali, the earthy power of African dance, the dressed in ’20s garb, the men in summer blazers and boaters, the smooth gliding steps and high kicks of the Ukrainians, helps stretch women in elegant flapper dresses and broad-brimmed hats. I have the mind and the psyche as well as the body. been chauffeured to the lawn in a sleek, antique car. The Royal I got firsthand experience of this during a summerlong stay in Society Jazz Orchestra is playing, and I am doing the two-step, the Brazil. While there, I would enter parties composed of uptight for- Charleston, the waltz, and the fox-trot. A complete contrast to mal scientists and their wives, all talking in polite, soft voices. Then, Cajun, this scene is one of a spirited, yet much more formal party. someone would put a bossa nova samba on the record player, and The scene changes, and finally, I have actually merged with the the Brazilians would start to sway back and forth, with the men Hawaiian dream from my childhood. I am at my daughter’s wedding pulling off their ties and their wives letting their piled-up hair come reception at the family homestead on the Big Island of Hawaii. tumbling down. All at once, social veneers disappeared, and every- “Show me how to partner dance, Kathie,” says Kalapana, my son-in- one was smiling. They had come back to life again. law Kukui’s brother. “I want to learn how they really do it on the These days, I often go Cajun/Zydeco dancing on Friday evenings, mainland.” Kalapana’s smile is so radiant that it pulls me right onto but that final step out of the safety of my house is difficult. I always the dance floor. I have already been dancing for hours. It is now 4 have some excuse. “It’s too far, I’m too tired, maybe I won’t get to o’clock in the morning. We are the only ones dancing, ringed by dance enough.” My housemate describes my exit maneuvers as sleepy, smiling people. Back and forth we dance, one and two, turn those of an airplane taxiing up and down the narrow hall of my and glide. It’s so easy to teach; the live music carries us like a cloud. home. Finally, I leave. After a 45-minute drive across two bridges Occasionally, another couple joins us. But mostly, it is the two of and down three freeways, I enter the dance hall. It is filled with peo- us—until Primo, the youngest brother, looking like an Italian prince ple of all ages, cultures, and races. I am bathed in a warm, friendly, with a ponytail, jumps onto the dance floor and joins in. welcoming atmosphere. The music is hot and lively. Everyone is We dance until the sun rises. People drift out of the house and dancing. The workout is often so intense that people bring fresh cook breakfast in the outdoor kitchen by the stage. The band mem- clothes to change into at the intermissions. bers have been playing for hours; although they are handed food Cajun dance started in and drink, they barely stop the music. We continue to dance. I can Louisiana. It is smooth and, in still smell the sweet fragrance of the wedding flowers arranged on the Zydeco form, can be quite the tables and posts over the banquet and dance area. Finally, at 10 fast, sometimes combining a.m., the band stops for a real breakfast. They’ve been playing for 7 intricate arm and leg work with hours, yet they look as if they’ve barely begun—amazing to me. I’ve kicks and occasional stomps. been dancing all night and feel as if I’ve been reborn. What a mar- My favorite part of this dance velous way to become a mother-in-law! We have been able to share form is the Zydeco twirling. The our dances, and the cultures have started to blend. experienced dancers are expert “You are a true member of our family now,” Primo says, and he at this movement. “Please, can drapes his arms gently over my shoulders, like a never-fading T we twirl?” I ask my dance part- lei. 4 0

ner. He smiles and begins to 0 2

turn with me in his arms, faster When she’s not dancing, Kathie Kertesz is a coach/consultant/trainer in R E

and faster, until we are like a the fields of learning and communication. She lives in Mill Valley, Calif. B M

top, our bodies so much in sync Her two married daughters and six grandchildren all love to dance. E T P E S 63 P R O F I L E

A Grand Plan

M A R K VA N D E R S C H A A F ’ 7 2 H I T C H E D S T. PA U L’ S F U T U R E T O I T S PA S T.

hat will it take to turn America’s aging Wcities around? New sources of jobs? An

all-out commitment to crime prevention? ʼ 72 Fresh political approaches?

To that ambitious arsenal Mark Vander SCHAAF Schaaf would add: a really good myth. ANDER To turn around a city, “You need some- V thing a whole lot more powerful than public

policy wonks getting together and deciding ELIZABETH to launch an economic development pro- gram,” says Vander Schaaf, director of plan- THE SPIRIT OF THIS SUMMER’S RE-CREATION OF 1854 LIVES ON IN “STEAMER TRUNKS” PACKED WITH ning and growth management for Minneso- CLASSROOM MATERIALS THAT VANDER SCHAAF HELPED DEVELOP FOR THE REGION’S SCHOOLS. ta’s Twin Cities Metropolitan Council. The idea that myth has the power to St. Paul’s ongoing renaissance. “Rather than at Swarthmore with a concentration in spark an urban revival might seem like just the little standard, everyday riverfront urban studies and received a doctorate in squishy social science to some, but Vander festival, why not link ourselves to something religion at the University of Iowa—sees the Schaaf has had plenty of converts ever since deeper?” he reasoned. humanities and data crunching as natural he resurrected a forgotten tale about St. The Grand Excursion also meshed with complements. Paul’s first hesitant moment in the national the aim of placing St. Paul front and center “To operate comfortably in both a quanti- limelight. in the Upper Mississippi Valley—parts of tative and a qualitative environment, I think The Grand Excursion of 1854, which Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota— Swarthmore really laid the groundwork for brought 1,200 prominent Easterners by which had been the general destination of that,” he says. locomotive and a flotilla of five steamboats the original excursion. Vander Schaaf sees In a Russian novel course taught by now to the remote reaches of the Upper Missis- their attempts to forge a common identity Emeritus Professor of Russian Thompson sippi River, seemed to Vander Schaaf to be and economic base today as key to St. Paul’s Bradley, Vander Schaaf seized upon the con- precisely the inspiration St. Paul needed. prosperity. cept that cities have souls—spirits, charac- The story quickly captured the imagination The stories a city tells about itself work ter, personality—that steer their destinies as of Vander Schaaf’s colleagues and eventually their way into a community’s psyche to sub- surely as any manufacturing base, balmy cli- the whole community. Most had never heard tly shape prevailing attitudes, says Vander mate, or cultural amenity. Ever since, he has the tale of a time when the nation’s eyes were Schaaf, formerly an economist and demogra- looked at city planning as “not just the num- fixed on what was then a backcountry town pher for the city of St. Paul. bers, but getting at the personality of a city.” of 5,000 inhabitants as former President A far different narrative—St. Paul as the Although the Grand Excursion story Millard Filmore arrived with various literary firstborn of the Twin Cities that ended up proved popular, it doesn’t paint an entirely

N and political luminaries and a national press being the runt—long ago insinuated itself positive picture. One New York reporter in I T

E corps. into the mind-set of the city through sibling 1854 wrote a scathing dispatch that the city L

L This summer, Vander Schaaf’s unconven- rivalry with Minneapolis. was unsuited to visitors. Vander Schaaf has a U B tional wisdom culminated in the Grand “In the mythology of this area, a large ready answer: The flotilla had arrived a day E

G Excursion of 2004, which re-created the part of the story is we were the first twin,” early, with about 700 more visitors than E L

L expedition. The spectacle exceeded expecta- Vander Schaaf says. “Lo and behold if [Min- expected. The city scrambled to make O

C tions as 40,000 people took the riverboat neapolis] didn’t get bigger than us. amends. E

R excursions and hundreds of thousands more “This has really affected the psychology In 2004, the lesson was not lost, he says, O

M turned out to greet them. of this area pretty deeply in that [people as St. Paul’s preparedness paid off. “A good H T

R Vander Schaaf, 54, came up with what he wonder], ‘Where did we go wrong?’” myth is sort of ambiguous.” A

W calls his “crazy idea” 10 years ago to celebrate Vander Schaaf—who majored in history — Colleen Gallagher S 66 P R O F I L E

In His Big Backyard

EITAN WEINREICH ’84 TURNS THE CAMERA ON AMERICA’S C UNLIKELY CORNERS. I H P A R G O E G L

or Eitan Weinreich, an Emmy Award– A N O winning freelance documentary filmmak- I T

F A N er who spent much of the 1990s directing / L E National Geographic productions, mystery P M U and intrigue are not restricted to the glam- G Y O our of the Himalayas, the Amazon, or the R South Pacific—but can just as easily be found in the underground of New York City WHILE WORKING ON A NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC FILM ABOUT THE NEW WATER TUNNEL, WEINREICH (LEFT) or the greyhound racetracks of Florida. WATCHED WHILE THE CINEMATOGRAPHER FILMED AN ELEPHANT ON 34TH STREET IN MANHATTAN. “I had this agenda of finding the exotic and the mysterious and the interesting and became absorbed in this world that prized ing, Weinreich was dismayed to find his job the unknown in more ordinary places,” its dogs for their speed, majesty, and agility entailed taking the subway to the location of Weinreich says. Having grown up in Israel, and yet systematically and often brutally the shoot the night before, lining up a series South Africa, and Italy, Weinreich had never exterminated them when they did not per- of orange cones, and preventing New York even been to the United States before com- form. The film, Greyhounds: Running for Their City drivers from parking there. In the ing to Swarthmore; so, for him, America is Lives, was credited for a dramatic increase in morning, when shooting began, he was sent just as exotic a locale with just as much to the adoption of greyhounds that would oth- away. It was a closed set. uncover as any international realm. “Being erwise have been killed. It won numerous “If there was a bottom of the totem pole, foreign enabled me to look at certain things awards, including the Jackson Hole Wildlife that was it,” Weinreich says. in America in a more quizzical way. I could Film Festival Best Investigative Film, and Greater opportunities were forthcoming, find strangeness and mystery in things that was a television success, winning the Cable and, from there, Weinreich moved on to a most Americans think of as ordinary.” Ace for Best Magazine Series Special. variety of clerical jobs in film before getting His desire to turn the lens inward to the Documentary filmmaking, Weinreich into editing and writing. It took about seven seemingly familiar opens doors to a multi- explains, embraces the liberal arts ideal years before he was finally allowed behind tude of miniature worlds that many people through its resistance to specialization and the camera himself. In his first directing would never otherwise know existed. its flexibility in finding subjects in the most project, Weinreich turned the camera on a One film, Water Blasters, focused on the unexpected locales. Many of his college California-based entomologist and Holly- Sandhogs of New York City—an entire sub- friends went on to graduate or professional wood insect wrangler. The documentary was culture of miners who dynamite through schools, but Weinreich is grateful that he well received, opening the door for Wein- solid rock to create water tunnels and shafts never needed to specialize. “It’s been very reich’s career. 800 feet beneath the city’s surface. Fascinat- satisfying to me because I did not have to Weinreich has worked in some capacity ed by this subterranean culture of men, give up that diversity of experience, that on about 40 National Geographic produc- many descended from Irish miners, who diversity of exposure to different ideas,” he tions and has directed about 10. As a free- build crucial infrastructure most New York- says. “I could sustain a lot of what I liked lance filmmaker, he works on a variety of dif- ers would never see,” Weinreich says. “You about Swarthmore in my professional ferent projects outside of the Geographic could be in New York City, then go a few feet career.” genre as well, including commercials, which underground, and you’re not in New York Still, he couldn’t help but feel a bit out of he says offer an entire realm of creative

City anymore.” sync with his peers when he accepted a options almost unheard of in documentary 4 0

Another assignment for National Geo- string of menial film jobs. The first of these filmmaking. 0 2

graphic sent him to Florida to film behind- was on the set of Woody Allen’s 1985 movie It has always been in the seemingly off- R E the-scenes greyhound racing. “Never in my Hannah and Her Sisters—or not the set per beat that Weinreich has found his most B M life would I have thought I’d have anything se. Imagining that his job as “location assis- potent magic. E T P

interesting to say about greyhounds.” But he tant” would allow him to observe the film- —Elizabeth Redden ’05 E S 71 P R O F I L E

An “Unearthly” Place

THREE ALUMNI SPEND THEIR SPARE TIME MAPPING CAVES.

was in a passage just large enough for me Ito crawl on hands and knees. Then, the

floor opened up into a long hole looking KORNACK

down 30 feet into a rocky pit with a full OM T stream flowing at the bottom. I had to crawl OF

along on narrow rails of rock at the edges of TESY the hole, straddling this window for 20 feet before reaching tunnel again.” COUR Despite such occasional scares, Tom Kor- AFTER 8 HOURS IN CASSELL CAVE, W.VA., (FROM LEFT) CHARLES DANFORTH,TOM KORNACK, AND EDGARD nack ’98 finds burrowing through caves BERTAUT REACH THE END OF A DAY’S MAPPING AND ANTICIPATE THE 3-HOUR TRIP BACK TO THE SURFACE. deep underground an exhilarating pastime that first seduced him as a child. Along with Charles Danforth ’95, who first caved with a of Cassell Cave, W. Va., called The Bratwurst, Magic Carpet, an undulating sheet of flow- College outing club; and Edgard Bertaut ’80, he remembers “squeezing through a very stone suspended by a single edge, about 1 who began caving in high school, Kornack tight and watery crack, where the passage foot off the ground. belongs to the Gangsta Mappers, a group of seemed to have ended. I heard dripping, Cave types vary according to location, cavers who survey and sketch caves. echoing in what sounded like a large room. Kornack says. U.S. caving hot spots are lime- “I don’t know what attracted me more— The passage, about 12 to 24 inches high and stone-rich areas in the Virginias; Kentucky; the exploring aspect or just plain getting 2 feet wide, was about twice my body length. the corner where Tennessee, Alabama, and muddy,” Bertaut says. Removing my helmet and turning my head Georgia meet; and the Southwest. Far from “Tourist” cavers visit well-known caves sideways, I inched through the tightest part being barren environments, caves are home merely to look around, whereas “project” near the end and landed on the floor of a to bats; large, “creepy-looking” crickets; spi- cavers like Kornack, Danforth, and Bertaut medium-sized room. That was my first real ders; salamanders; and translucent crayfish. explore unknown or little-known caves, underground discovery—and the definitive Respect for the fragility of the cave envi- using modern mapping techniques to meas- caving experience for me.” ronment is essential, says Danforth, an ure distance and angles of elevation, sketch- Caving is not for the faint of heart. First astronomer in Boulder, Colo.: “A footprint ing as they progress. By determining how of all, caves are pitch dark. “Lots of people can last for thousands of years down there, neighboring caves relate to each other get stranded when their flashlights die,” says and stalactites grow at the rate of millime- hydrologically and geologically and by Kornack says. “Caves are also confusing, ters per century. A carelessly broken cave for- knowing where a cave is relative to surface with complicated, winding passages.” Cavers mation won’t grow back in your lifetime.” He streams and topography, they are able to traverse, horizontally and vertically, miles of also warns against the possibility of injury, locate other cave entrances and caves. mud-brown rock tubes, some tall and wide, saying that getting an injured person out of Bertaut, a senior environmental manager others mud-filled crawl spaces. Jagged pieces a cave can be harrowing. “Nonetheless,” he for Allegheny Technologies in Pittsburgh, of “breakdown” litter the floor. Streams, continues, “caves are amazing and, ironical- says, “As an engineer, I find the thorough- from trickles to deep creeks, abound. “But ly, unearthly places, where you have to deal ness of cave mapping, checking each passage every now and again,” Danforth says, “you with each problem as it comes to you. It to see if it goes anywhere, interesting.” find a beautifully decorated grotto—stalac- focuses the mind in a wonderful way.” Caves present varying levels of difficulty, tites in all sizes and shapes; delicate, translu- Kornack, a graduate student in physics at

from those needing only the ability to walk cent soda straws cover the walls and ceilings; Princeton, concurs. “Squeezing into pas- 4 0 or crawl to others requiring ropes and lad- crystals, knobbly popcorn, wavy bacon, huge sages, surrounded and compressed by rock, 0 2

ders, says Danforth, who, like Kornack, had wedding cakes, and other beautiful fea- is a truly awesome feeling. You feel very R E previous rock-climbing experience. tures.” insignificant and powerless. It makes you B M

Especially exciting, Kornack says , is dis- Once, while at Cassell, Danforth discov- sincerely appreciate life.” E T P

covering “virgin” cave. Mapping in a section ered and named a formation called the —Carol Brévart-Demm E S 75 UC–Berkeley and UCSF. She has screw, Paces, fall formals, and so been working as an instructor on. L E T T E R S for North Carolina Outward When we look back on our Bound. Lisa Jenkins is studying memories from Swarthmore, nursing at NYU. there are certain people we Continued from page 3 dwelled on how alumni live Andy Wong is the San Fran- always think of and wonder how their values while working in cisco chapter leader of a grass- they are doing: our first date at tionally well run. Financially, it business. For example, most roots organization working for the College, freshman-year is extraordinarily strong, and a alumni I know feel strongly equal marriage rights for same- roommate, orgo lab partner, and Swarthmore education is one about working in companies sex couples. He organized the even that crush from Orienta- of the most impressive brand- where people maintain high rally that helped assemble the tion Weekend. ing exercises I have ever expe- ethical standards and care first same-sex couples to ever As we all move on with be married in San Francisco back ambition and fear both growing rienced. about treating employees well. in February. He is now involved at a very fast rate, we should PETER DARLING ’84 Alumni who go into business in spearheading a national Asian realize that this is only the San Carlos, Calif. live Swarthmore values in their Pacific American coalition for beginning and that there will be everyday work and interac- marriage equality. Hillary many more memories to come. VALUES AND BUSINESS tions. Kathryn Dresser has been act- The dispersion of the Class of “A Profitable Education” (June My message to those who ing and modeling in Philadel- 2004 around the country and Bulletin) sets up an unneces- frown on alumni who choose phia. She has been in two the globe started right after sary and unfair dichotomy business careers is not to judge movies this year as well as sev- graduation. between “doing business” and them using preconceived eral theater pieces. Brendan Moriarty and Matt “doing good.” The case for notions but instead to under- Chris Scheller was in Goldstein spent part of their doing business is simple: stand nuances. After all, aren’t Boston, supervising a group summer biking in France. Bren- home for adults with develop- dan will spend the year living in Someone wants to buy some- these Swarthmore’s values? mental disabilities. He just Center City Philadelphia and thing—a house, computer, GIRIDHAR SRINIVASAN ’98 moved to LA and plans to start working as a consultant in Jenk- newspaper, lifesaving drug, New York graduate studies in religion next intown, Pa. etc.—and someone else has to year. Tanya Wansom spent the His roommate, Justin Cros- produce it. Many Swarthmore NO OFFICIAL TRAINING summer in Bangkok doing by, will be working with graduates decide to go into It’s intriguing how many HIV/AIDS activism and advoca- Philadelphia public schools as a business to help produce those Swarthmore graduates have cy and presenting at the inter- literacy intern teacher. things. There’s nothing moral- been successful in careers for national AIDS conference there. Tara Trout left a week after ly wrong about this. In fact, which their courses or majors Sonia Mariano is doing a graduation on a tour of Europe. doesn’t creating these goods at the College have only yearlong translating internship Matt Williams will be moving and providing these services obliquely “prepared” them. in Moscow, after which she farther east to China next year plans to go to medical school. for a Fulbright. Erik Elwood will advance our economy? People The June Bulletin article “A Susie Ansell bought a house be in medical school at Penn are motivated to go into busi- ‘Mediated’ World” (“Collec- in Nashville, Tenn. She is study- State–Hershey, and Aaron ness because it allows them to tion”), about the emerging ing education policy at Vander- Rubin will be at the U. of Michi- pursue their intellectual inter- Film and Media Studies Pro- bilt U. Diego Johnson is paint- gan Law School. ests while, at the same time, gram at the College, says that ing a visual novel in Uruguay. I accepted a job offer as a helping them afford to feed several filmmakers emerged Gabriel Fairman is working at a personal assistant to the direc- and clothe their kids and send from now William R. Kennan metal trading company in Brazil. tor general of Nigeria’s National them to fine schools like Jr., Professor Emerita of Art Eric Martin is in California, writ- Agency for Food and Drug Swarthmore! History T. Kaori Kitao’s film ing a novel. Administration and Control, so I The article also reinforced a classes, which began in the leave for Nigeria in a week. Swarthmore misconception: 1970s. I think I gave the first (Remember, this is being writ- ten in June.) that people in business are lecture on film at Swarthmore, No matter how busy we all fundamentally greedy and self- on Hitchcock’s Psycho, for the

N 04 centered, and that they can Film Club in 1967.

I might be, it would be a shame T

E Njideka Akunyili to lose touch with all the mar- only align themselves with Alumni of our era who L

L 6034 Richmond Highway velous people you met at Swarthmore’s values if they went on to have careers in film U B Apartment 218 Swarthmore. To share what you pursue altruistic endeavors or theater—actors such as E

G Alexandria VA 22303 are doing with the rest of the such as microfinance, commu- Steve Gilborn ’58 and Lynn E

L [email protected] class and the Swarthmore com- L nity service, or helping the vic- Milgram ’60, film directors O

C munity at large, write to me at tims of the Sept. 11 attacks. I Bob Kramer ’61 and Peter

E Congratulations, Class of 2004. the e-mail or home address at R have the utmost respect for Gessner ’61, theater director O As the summer advances, it real- the top of this column, so that, M these endeavors, but I think Ike Schambelan ’61, and critics H ly begins to settle in that my as a class, we will be able to T

R time at Swarthmore is done. No stay together in memory as well that it might have been more Peter Biskind ’62 and A

W more track meets, Sharples, as in spirit. illuminating if the article had myself—did so without any S 78 ness vations tain my things, lyricis tent—seeing entangl ever scholars Döblin, ature er thorou the man of I A in—the par f mal Swar itable lar Swar benefit ound was V s 1 A B S y i m m t a t c l T , e t Prof h e w o and h o w E n This to 9 v ed u books y a u June t y n e busi n u e e not R a d 0 l a t thmoreans thmore and G y s t l text course, n c deeply that r m a e r 8 Educat Y r f t e C themse s B eor ess gh t e or— i t u r n b in really 1 ement of t l o s on h he situa h s hip r u b of busin ness only e e i O o d e Bulletin s n l m the n m e l , or t o and ge as l f his u from any t N descr l i e t , these narr e taught s r o e o n e o and S e s t that g p d Emeritus t . a r saddened A s tr g 5 r tion ion, h w i leitmotif K F r b scr educa e ever a compar e i lves t i e g ess s ver “ passionate 0 of C wondrous ai e n R t u . h afk a . r c offi t ati n this e ibed 0 e e onsequently suc L l . 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F R A N K M O S C A T E L L I K N O W S T H E I M P O R T A N C E O F A S K I N G T H E R I G H T Q U E S T I O N .

By Alisa Giardinelli

hy does Professor of Physics What’s so cool about cold atoms? And your worst? Frank Moscatelli wear his The manipulation of atomic motion with Sometimes, I do give up hope. I’m also con- W light is a new field. My research is pitched to tradictory. celebrity so well? Because of his the possible realization of a quantum com- cutting-edge research with cold puter, which would be very fast and could If you could add one thing to the new sci- atoms. Because he and his wife process a lot of information simultaneously. ence center…? We’re not building one, but such a computer Well, we often speak nostalgically of a sail during an annual chartered will require a “chip,” an integrated circuit, in faculty club. Its day has truly passed, but, of cruise in the French Caribbean. which atoms move around via light forces course, it would include a wine cellar, a sher- Because his calculations on why alone just as electrons do in an ordinary ry cabinet, The New York Times, and a flat- computer chip. This research is designed to screen television. Oh, also a locker room the World Trade Towers fell were produce cold atoms and load them into such with showers—wellness, you know. cited by Scientific American, the a structure to show that it can be done. It’s BBC, The New York Times, and the never been done before, and no one else is Who is your favorite fictional hero? working on this application. Mario, the lead tenor in Puccini’s Tosca. State Department, among others. Because he and Edmund Allen How cold is it? Who are your heroes in real life? Professor of Chemistry Robert Between 125 and 245 micro-Kelvin—very Eleanor Roosevelt, Enrico Fermi, and cold. It’s all done with lasers, mirrors, mag- Richard Fyneman. Pasternack once presented them- netic fields, and radio waves. selves to President Alfred H. What was the most surprising part of being Bloom as a “nonconsultative You have a photo of a Porsche on your per- a media darling? sonal Web site. What’s your current ride? The amount of interest. It was not necessar- committee” to revamp the faculty A BMW M-Roadster, red. All my sports cars ily a hard answer; any physicist could have lounge, to no avail. Because, have been red. done my calculations. But it was a good when he was president of Swarth- question. That’s a lesson—knowing the What’s your dream journey? right question. T more’s Sigma Xi chapter, he A transatlantic crossing on a sailboat. brought Nobel Prize–winning physicist William Phillips to You’re quoted by students in the Daily Jolt [an on-line campus forum] as saying, “I’ve campus. Because his father still been known to throw things.” Is that true? calls him “Frankie.” Because, as Well, I’ve never thrown anything heavy, for a Brooklyn, N.Y., native, he momentum considerations. N I

T consistently finds the good life

E What’s your favorite food and drink combi- L L in Delaware County, Pa. nation? U B Lamb and bordeaux, probably the purest E

G marriage of wine and food. Also champagne E L

L and anything. O C E

R What’s your best quality? O

M My optimism. H T R A W S 80 “ F r a n k i e.”

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