Bowdoinspring 2014 Vol. 85 no. 3 M a g a z i n e contents BowdoinM a g a z i n e From the Editor Volume 85, Number 3 12 Spring 2014 Magazine Staff Editor Matthew J. O’Donnell Batter Up! Managing Editor My eleven-year-old daughter is playing softball. Late in a recent game, a new pitcher Scott C. Schaiberger ’95 took the mound and started windmilling Scud missiles from forty feet—bright Executive Editor yellow blurs into the backstop, the umpire’s collarbone, behind the batter, and every Alison M. Bennie few deliveries, suddenly straight into the catcher’s mitt. The on-deck batter froze Design in the circle and broke down in tears. The game was delayed while coaches and Charles Pollock teammates intervened. Then, I heard a familiar voice say, “Do you want me to go? Mike Lamare PL Design – Portland, Maine I’ll go.” My usually reserved daughter hurried to plate, tapped it hard with her bat, and dug in. I’ve never been more proud of her. Contributors James Caton At Commencement a few days later, the Rev. Bobby Ives ’69 delivered the Douglas Cook invocation for the Class of 2014, urging those members to “be not afraid” as they John R. Cross ’76 made their ways into the wider world. “Be not afraid to fail, and to make mistakes,” Rebecca Goldfine Melody Hahm ’13 he compelled them, “but to see all failing as an opportunity to learn and to change, features Scott W. Hood to improve and to grow.” The day before, Dean of Student Affairs Tim Foster greeted 6 Megan Morouse the Baccalaureate audience with a litany of Bowdoin graduates who have had Abby McBride the courage and resolve to achieve firsts—in science and medicine, technology 6 Bring on the Science Walt Wuthman ’14 and business, in scholarship, exploration, athletics, and in the armed forces. (Visit By ABBy MCBriDe PhotogrAPhs by MiChele StAPletoN Photographs by: bowdoin.edu/news to read all of the Baccalaureate and Commencement addresses.) grab your lab coat and goggles. At Bowdoin, scientific research has a Fred Field, Maykel Loomans, James Marshall, We each have to step to the plate against fire-ballers of our own—whether in Babe central place in the liberal arts. Karsten Moran ’05, Polina Osherov, Scott Smith, Cara Slifka, Michele Stapleton, and Ruth softball, facing a blank page like poet Prosper Barter Kasrel ’88, swinging away Bowdoin College Archives. at the glass ceiling like Jean Hoffman ’79, or toeing-in to reform an entire culture 8i nventing a Life Cover illustration by Marshall Hopkins. like Geoffrey Canada ’74. Their stories, along with those of many other alumni By KAtie BeNNer ’99 PhotogrAPhs by freD fielD you’ll read about in this issue of the magazine, reflect how fortunate we are to be a BOWDOIN MAGAZINE (ISSN, 0895-2604) entrepreneur Jean Hoffman ’79 has created a career, and several suc- is published three times a year by Bowdoin part of a community like Bowdoin’s, one that nurtures such an open-minded and cessful companies, out of grit and the willingness to be first. College, 4104 College Station, Brunswick, tenacious spirit. How enriching it is to be associated with a group of people who 8 Maine, 04011. Printed by J.S. McCarthy, provide such inspiring words to live by and actions to emulate. Augusta, Maine. Sent free of charge to all 12 What’s the Secret? Belief. Bowdoin alumni, parents of current and recent My daughter battled through that at bat. She skipped over two balls in the dirt, took By CyNthiA MCfADDeN ’78 illuStrAtions by MArShAll HoPKiNS undergraduates, faculty and staff, and members a strike down the middle, swung and missed, leaned away from one inside, got a As he prepares to step down from the helm of Harlem Children’s of the Association of Bowdoin Friends. piece of another, and watched ball four sail high and wide. She earned that jog to Zone, Geoff Canada ’74 talks with Cynthia Mcfadden ’78 about the Opinions expressed in this magazine are those first, and by the earhole to earhole smile within her helmet, she knew it. of the authors. challenges, the promise, and the future of changing the culture for Happy summer, children in Harlem and in the country. Departments Please send address changes, ideas, or letters to the editor to the address above or by email to [email protected]. Send class 2 Mailbox 53 Weddings news to [email protected] or to the address above. Advertising inquiries? Email 3 Almanac 59 Deaths [email protected]. Matt O’Donnell 18 Profiles 60 Whispering Pines [email protected] 25 Alumnotes 61 Answers 207.725.3133 26 Class News BOWDOIN | SPRING 2014 [email protected] 1 Bowdoin Bowdoin Mailbox Bowdoin Carrying the Keys ernest and Uncle gus Poem The College’s time-tested offer to I’m writing about the Hemingway letter its graduates is as strong and vital as by Richard Andrias ’65 in the Winter Two poems by Prosper Barter Almanac ever. Recently, through an interlibrary 2014 issue. Ernest married Pauline Kasrel ’88 hung in Boston’s City A DigEsT oF CAMpUs, AlUMni, AnD gEnErAl CollEgE MisCEllAnY loan, I was the College library’s first Pfeiffer and thus aligned himself with Hall last winter, selected by Boston borrower of Year Zero: A History of my family (“joined” is too strong a word Poet Laureate Sam Cornish for the 1945, Ian Buruma’s remarkable study for such a cad) and received incredible Boston Mayor’s Poetry Contest. of the barbarity of war and the great backing in lots of ways from Uncle Paul At Cornish’s request, Prosper read Reads & Reasons evil that lasted from 1914 to 1945 (and (Pauline’s father) and his brother Uncle the following poem at an event he persists). The Offer of the College, Gus, to whom at least one of Ernest’s organized last spring. now gone electronic, provides insight major works is dedicated. Uncle Gus Who’s reading What and knowledge to all, villager and city bought boats, houses, cars, and sponsored Listening to Copland’s “Fanfare slicker, alike. safaris and fishing trips that Ernest never for the Common Man” and Why could have undertaken were it not for Stanley Harrison ’55 In my brother’s apartment this generosity. I believe that at least there is a poster of Louis Armstrong John Swords ’15: The Day of the Locust, by Nathaniel one of Hemingway’s major works was holding his trumpet and laughing West, because it was included on Professor of English Brock Semper Fi and Old Phi Chi written in the barn behind Uncle Paul’s sitting on the palatial steps of a hotel Clarke’s “A Too-Brief, Incomplete, Unalphabetized List of house in Piggott, AR, where there was I enjoyed the articles and letters in the he wasn’t allowed to enter. Must-Read that You Might Not Have Been Taught or Oth- a loft that had been made over into a Summer and Fall 2013 issues of Bowdoin My brother has finished lugging rocks for the day erwise Made to Read Novels and Short writing space for him. (He carelessly and sits with his eyes closed, carried away. Magazine about Bowdoin graduates Story Collections Written in the 20th and set it afire, but most of it was saved.) And yes, it’s about time Motor Pool serving in the US Marine Corps. In the 21st Centuries.” The barn and house are now part of for him to have some fanfare small world category, I recently had the Hemingway/Pfeiffer Museum. The for getting up at dawn’s first grayness the pleasure of bumping into two other Hallie Schaeffer ’16: MaddAddam tril- whole property is under the aegis of for sitting on someone else’s steps, laughing Bo-Bo a-goggo Bowdoin Marines, Paul Constantino ’62 not halfway, but wide open ogy, by Margaret Atwood, because it has Arkansas State University (ASU). It is and Bill Nash ’63, at the 2nd Vietnam with all his beautiful teeth. While restoring a rare 1959 Goggomobil, “everything I fi nd interesting…references the pressed tin roof on the second floor Marine JAG Officer’s Reunion in San antique car collector Michael Braun found to Genesis, genetic engineering, smart kids that prompted me to write. According Diego. I think the “war stories” from a Bowdoin College parking sticker on the bumper. “I thought it taking over the world, and feminism.” to family lore substantiated by research our shared Bowdoin experience may would be fun to try and fi nd out who owned it at that time and done by Ruth Hawkins, a historian at have been as entertaining as those from maybe get some original pictures,” he said. Anyone remember Sarah Johnson ’13, Bowdoin Outing Club assistant ASU, the images pressed into the tin are our shared Marine Corps experience. this little car with parking sticker number 744? director: The Goldfi nch by Donna Tartt, because, according to what inspired Ernest to write The Old Thanks for your efforts in producing her mother, it is supposed to be “the best novel of our time.” Man in the Sea. If you see the ceiling, a great college magazine. Keep up the It did win the Pulitzer for fi ction this year. as I have, you will see that this theory good work. In Bowdoin History bears looking into. Unbelievable Happiness Paul Franco, professor of government: multiple titles by Mike Anello ’65 and Final Sorrow: The Hemingway Pfeiffer Goethe, including Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship, Faust, and Marriage, by Hawkins, tells the whole, Bowdoin College @BowdoinCollege June 8 The Sorrows of Young Werther, because he is writing a book on somewhat sordid tale of lust, betrayal College Spirit Louis Armstrong (“Satchmo” or “Pops”).